The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-19 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

PAWNBROKERS' PROFITS.—Mr. Thirni/eby, a pawnbro-
ker, residing in Old-street, was summoned by Byers, the
common informer, before Messrs. GROVE and TWTFORD.
Edward Sweet, the informer's witness, on Friday last, offered
three wine glasses and a tumbler to pledge at the defendant's
shop. He saw a young man, of whom he asked ls. for the
lot. The shopman said that he would divide them into two
lots, and would give 9d. for the articles. Witness said
that he would rather have one ticket, as by having two he
might lost one of them. The shopman, however, would not
let witness have any money on them unless he had them in
two tickets. Witness then consented, when the three wine
glasses were made as one lot, for which he allowed 6d., and
the tumbler formed the other lot, for which 3d. was allowed.
Witness called in the evening for the glasses, and paid the
9d. for them, one penny. in addition being charged for
interest..

Byers contended that the defendant ought not to have'
given any more than one ticket for the lot, since by dividing:
the lot into two they were taking an advantage not allowed:
by the Act.
Mr. Humphries, who conducted the defendant's case:,
cross-examined the witness.
__ _

Byers remarked that the difference to the pawnbroker
by making the lot into two pledges was immense. In the
one case they bad their legal interest ; in the other the in-
terest was equal to 3001. per cent., as upon the 3s. they
had 2001., and on the Gs. 1001. per cent.
The summons was dismissed.

NEW WORKS PUBLISHED THIS DAY.—We are
requested to state that Mr. Colburn, of Great :Marlbo-
rough-street, has this day published Mr. Sulivan': ; " Flit-
tings of Fancy," in 2 vols. post Bvo., and Captain. Scott's
" Rambles in Egypt and Candia, with Details of •the Mili-
tary Power and Resources of those Countries, arta Obser-
vations on the Government, Policy, and Cramer cial Sys-
tem of Mohammed Ali," in 2 vols. Bvo., withill u strations.

Yesterday morning, between three and. beer o'clock,
Sider, a police constable, 103 R, stopped a mr,n opposite
the Prince Saxe Coburg, in the Kent-road, %those bulky
appearance excited his suspicions, and upon S'2arching him
found six live ducks in his pockets ; he was conveyed to
the station-house at Greenwich, and in the course of the
day the property was identified. by Mr. Stoneham, a farmer
residing at Crayferd, Kent. The prisoner's name is Wil-
liam Cooper ; be has been, convicted at Maidstone for steal-
ing a donkey at Crayfe.;d, and has only been out. of Maid-
ston.e gaol fourteen days. He stands fully committed on
'ciao charge of duck stealing.
In the violent gale which prevailed at Calais on
Sunday night, the English brig the Montrose, In-,m Mon-
trose to Bordeaux; laden with coal, was driven on the coast
et the distance of a league from the port of Ca'tais. The
crew, consisting of ten men, were saved, but it was feared
that the vessel would be dashed to pieces with the next
tide. It was also apprehended ;,hat accounts of other dis-
asters at sea would bo received. before the next morning.
On Tuesday, about one o'clock, a respectable man,
about sixty years of age, fell down dead in GeraCechurch-
street, inquiring for a Greenwich-stage. He was
dressed in a brown great coat, black body coat and. waist-
coat, and drab trousers, Blucher boots, and walked with a
stick ; had some property about him, but no papers were
found by which he could be known. The body now lies at
the parish Church of Allhallows, Lombard-street, to be
owned.
On Saturday last about three o'clock in the after-
noon a curious animal, supposed to he of the wolf species,
made its appearance in the inclosurc belonging to the rail-
road company, near Euston-square. It was chased by the
workmen for two hours, and after biting two or three of
them severely, made its escape. It returned again on Sun-
day morning, and sprang over a %call six feet high an d
attacked some hens which were in the yard, and was eve! a
tually killed by Mr. Robinson, of Drummond-street. It
measured about one yard and a half in length, and was al-,.yst
twenty-six inches in height, and is supposed to have r natio
its escape from some of the travelling caravans.-21Iur ring
Parer,

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

There are many valuable hints in the letter of the
'Rev. Sydney Smith, which Ministers would do well
not utterly to disregard. When, for instance, a whole
class of men are found to differ from all other classes
in the community in this respect, that in the other
classes individuals are found of all shades of political
opinion, while in this class all, to a man, are servile,
there must be some peculiar cause to account for the
circumstance. Lawyers are indiscriminately Reformers
and Tories ; but Parsons are to a man the enemies of
civil and religious liberty. How is this ? Why are
the men who unfortunately monopolize the education of
the nobility and gentry of England, Whig as well as
Tory, base and servile in their politics, and in all
periods of difficulty ranged against the people ? In
the excellent pamphlet to which we alluded some time
ago, ascribed to the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel, the
despotism of the Church of England is loudly com-
plained of. A practical exemplification of that despo-
tism, serving to show why it is that the clergy of the
Church of England are almost of necessity servile,
will, we suspect, be found in the following passage of
the Rev. S. Smith's letter :

" What is called taking care of the Church is taking
care of the Bishops ; and all Bills for the management of
the clergy are left to the concoction of men who very natu-
rally believe that they are improving the Church when they
are increasing their own power. There are many Bishops
too generous, too humane, and too Christian, to oppress a
poor clergyman ; but I have seen (I am sorry to say) many
grievous instances of partiality, rudeness, and oppression. I
have seen clergymen treated by Bishops with a violence and
contempt which the lowest servant in the Bishop's esta-
blishment would not have endured for a single moment ;
and if there is a helpless, friendless, wretched being in the
community, it is a poor clergyman in the country with a
large family. If there is an object of compassion, he is one.
If there is any occasion in life where a great man should
lay aside his office, put on those kind looks and use

those kind words which raise the humble from the dust,

these are the occasions when those best parts of the Christian
character ought to be displayed. I would instance the un-
limited power which a Bishop possesses over a curate as a
very unfair degree of power for any man to possess. Take
the following dialogue, which represents a real event :
" • Bishop—Sir, I understand you frequent the meetings
of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
" 6 Curate—Yes, my lord, I do.
" Bishop—Sir, I tell you plainly, if you continue to do
se, I shall silence you from preaching in my diocese.
Curate—My lord, I am very sorry to incur your in-
dignation, but I frequent that Society upon principle, be-
cause I think it eminently serviceable to the cause of the
gospel.

Bishop—Sir, I do not enter into your reasons, but
tell you plainly, if you continue to go there, you shall be
" The young man did go, and was silenced ; and as
Bishops have always a great deal of clever machinery at
work of testimonials and benedieetes, and always a law-
yer at their elbow, under the name of a secretary, a curate
excluded from one diocese is excluded from all. His re-
medy is an appeal to the Archbishop from the Bishop.
His worldly roods, however, amount to ten pounds ; he
never tv:ts in 'London ; he dreads such a tribunal as an
Arehbishop ; he thinks perhaps in time the Bishop may be
softened ; if he i 3 compelled to restore him the enmity
will be immortal. it would be just as rational to give to a
frog or a rabbit, upan which the physician is about to ex-
periment, an appeal to the Zoologhhil Society, as to give a
country curate an appeal to the Archbishop against his
pa ride oppressor."
Now the Rev. Sydney Smith complains, and we
think with justice, that the Whigs do not go the
right way to work to cure the servility of the Church—
" The clergy themselves," lie says, " in a state of the
greatest ignorance as to what is passing in the world, find
their chains heavier and heavier, without ',snowing -who or
wh:it has produced the additional incumbrance. A good
honest Whig Minister should have two or three stout-
hearted parish priests in his train to watch the Bishops'
Bills, and to see that they are constructed on other prin-
ciples than that Bishops can do no wrong, and cannot have
too .mach power. The ‘Vhigs do nothing of this, and yet
they complain that they are hated by the clergy, and that
in all elections the clergy are their bitterest enemies. Sup-
pose they were to try a little justice, a little notice, and a
little protection. It would take more time than quizzing and
contempt, but it might do some good."
One of the first acts of Lord Brougham on his ob-
taining the seals had no doubt for its object to cast
on the tails of the Bishops, but it failed to soften
their obdurate hearts, while it threw away a powerful
means of influencing the inferior clergy, who were
thereby placed in more abject dependence on their
spiritual superiors—we mean the relinquishing to the
Bishops the patronage of all livings under 2001. per
annum. The men to whom such livings would be
acceptable _are precisely the men to rally round a
liberal Administration—they are without family patron-
agepand, consequently, without the tie of family po-
litics. Both Irish and English papers furnish occa-
sionally instances of most cruel oppression of unfriended
curates. One case where a Beresford was Bishop, and
another Beresford an incubent, filled all feeling minds
with indignation. Can we wonder that such depen-
dent wretches should be ready tools of temporal and
spiritual despotism ? The Reverend Author deems
the Bishop of London in possession at this moment
of more spiritual power than Laud. He traces his
finger in every part of the scheme—
" By this scheme," he says, " every present incumbent
of St. Paul's is instantly deprived of eight-fifteenths of his
patronage ; while every other member of every other cathe-
dral (as far as patronage is concerned) remains precisely in
the same state in which he was before. Why this blow is
levelled against St. Paul's I cannot conceive ; still less can
I imagine why the Bishop of London is not to wait, as all
other Bishops are forced to wait, for the death of the pre-
sent patrons. There is a reason, indeed, for not waiting, by
which (had I to do with a person of less elevated charac-
ter than the Bishop of London), I would endeavour to ex-
plain this precipitate seizure of patronage, and that is, that
the livings assigned to him in this remarkable scheme arc
all very valuable, and the incumbents all very old. But I
shall pass over this scheme as a mere supposition, invented
to bring the Commission into disrepute—a scheme to which
it is utterly impossible the Commissioners should ever affix
their names.
" I should have thought, if the love of what is just had
not excited the commissioner bishops, that the ridicule of
men voting such comfortable things to themselves as the
prebendal patronage would have alarmed them : but they
want to sacrifice with other men's hecatombs, and to enjoy,
at the same time, the character of great disinterestedness,
and the, luxury of unjust spoliation. It was thought neces-
sary to make a fund ; and the prebends in the gift of the
bishops were appropriated to that purpose. The bishops
who consented to this have then made a great sacrifice ;
true, but they have taken more out of our pockets than
they have disbursed from their own ; where then is the sac-
rifice ? they must either give back the patronage or the
martyrdom ; if they choose to be martyrs—which I hope
they will do—let them give us back our patronage; if they
prefer the patronage, they must not talk of being martyrs
—they cannot combine the sweets of rapine with the odour
of sanctity.
" And who does not see the end and meaning of all
this ? The lay commissioners, who are Members of the
Government, cannot and will not attend—the Archbishops
of York and Canterbury are quiet and amiable men, going
fast down in the vale of life—some of the members o the
commission are expletives—soma must- be absent in their
dioceses—the Bishop of London is passionately fond of la-
bour, has certainly no aversion to power, is of quick tem-
per, great ability, thoroughly versant in ecclesiastical law,
and always in London. He will become the commission ;
and when the Church of England is mentioned, it will only
mean Charles James, of London, who will enjoy greater
power than has ever been possessed by any Churchman
since the days of Laud, and will become the Church of
England here upon earth. As for the commission itself,
there is scarcely any power which is not given to it."
The reverend author does justice to the Whigs, and
he approves of their measures in all but the pampering
of the Bishops—
" As for my friends the Whigs, I neither wish to offend
them, nor any body else. I consider myself to be as good
a Whig as any amongst them. I was a Whig before many
of them were born—and while some of them were Tories
and Waverers. I have always turned out to fight their
battles, and when I saw no other clergyman turn out but
myself—and this in times before liberality was well recom-
pensed, and therefore in fashion, and when the smallest
appearance of it seemed to condemn a churchman to the
grossest obloquy and the most hopeless poverty. It may
suit the purpose of the Ministers to flatter the bench—it
does not suit mine. I do not choose in my old age to be
tossed as a prey to the bishops ; I have not deserved this of
ny Whic, friends. I know very well there can be no jus-
tice for deans and chapters, and that the momentary Lords
O f the earth will receive our statement with derision and
persylage—the great principle which is now called in for
the government of mankind. Nobody admires the general
conduct of the Whig Administration more than I do. They
have conferred, in their domestic policy, the most striking
benefits on the country. To say that there is no risk in
what they have done is mere nonsense—there is great risk,

and all honest men must balance to counteract it—holding
back as firmly down hill as they pulled vigorously up hill.
Still, great as the risk is, it was worth while to incur it in
the Poor-law Bill, in the Tithe Bill, in the Corpo-
ration Bill, and in the circumscription of the Irish
Protestant Church. In all these matters the Whig Minis-
try, after the heat of party is over, and when Joseph Hume
and Wilson Croker are powdered into the dust of the earth,
will gain great and deserved fame."—Morning Chronicle.

When Mr. Beaumont began his recent coquettings
and correspondence with the Irish Agitator, who seems
to have turned the poor gentleman's head, we con-
cluded, that being young in his political teens, and
manifesting such an inability to write grammatically as
betrayed a yet unfinished education, his sudden rush
into print was a mere passing indiscretion, which his
friendly advisers would probably prevent him from re-
peating. But it seems we are to be disappointed in
this. Another of his precocious productions has just
made its appearance ; and more, we regret to learn, are
threatened from the same quarter. Nay, judging
from certain symptoms and intimations, we should
almost infer that the Hon. Gentleman's guardians are
determined to bring him out as the prime debutant of
the season. It is even hinted by himself, and not
contradicted by the family, that he means to lead off
by moving an amendment to the address. For these
reasons, we think it a pity that Mr. Beaumont's friends
should remain any longer unapprised of his real con-
dition, or that the feelintis of a large and respectable
connection should be exposed to future mortification by
what might be called on our part an inconsiderate and
ungenerous silence. How it is possible that this eccen-
tric
and unfortunate gentleman can possess the con•
fidence of the numerous and respectable constituency of
South Northumberland we make no pretensions to divine.
His checkered and changeful career, however, will no
doubt be painfully vivid in their recollection : nor is it
likely that they will feel perfectly comfortable under
the. humiliating conspicuousness which it seems to as-
sign them above all the electors of the empire. The
first thing for which their Hon. Whig member distin-
guished himself was such a total neglect of his Parlia•
mentary duties, as compelled him, in answer to their
remonstrances, to write a humble acknowledgment of
his fault, accompanied with a promise of amendment ;
thereby showing, that his passion for letter-writing and
amendments is not quite so new with him as we had
inadvertently supposed. Scarcely was the duty affair
satisfactorily adjusted, when there issued from the
learned seclusion of this senatorial mute, as patriotic a
protest against O'Connell's anti-peerage mission as
his contempt for good English admitted of. Whe-
ther animal impulse had or had not any thing to do
with that protest, is no business of ours ; it was at
least creditable to the zeal of a constitutional English-
man ; and when he showed that " he could not find
" words" to declare his abhorrence of the Popish Minis-
terial emissary, his later inability to express himself
intelligibly proves that his declared incapacity was
confessed by him with equal sincerity and truth. As
great efforts are generally succeeded by langour, the
Northumberland patriot next dropped into a dozing si-
lence for more than a year ; during which the cheering
belief prevailed that he had betaken himself to a course
of tempet ate and profitable study. But the fact is, the
caprices of genius can never be perfectly relied on. In
the space of the intervening twelve months the ardent
defender of the Peers becomes a member of the Popish
Association, instituted to destroy their order. The
indignant remonstrant against O'Connell becomes
both an epistolary and a pecuniary contributor to the
accomplishment of his desi:ns. In a word, the steady
and consistent gentleman ships himself on a tour to
Ireland, suddenly seizes his pen again, breaks out into
a fit of Anglophobia, asserts to-day what he contra-
diets to-morrow, kisses the face which lie presently
spits at, and exhibits, on the whole, those conclusive
claims to restraint which admit of no other doubt than
whether the commission tie lunatico should be issued
against his constituency or himself. To that constitu-
ency his last letter is addressed. It is, in many re-
spects, a curiosity in its way, and being somewhat of
the sententious and didactic order, a commentary on our
part will scarcely be deemed superfluous. In the
first place, the South Northumberland electors must
doubtless feel gratified by the very flattering esti-
mate which their Whig representative has formed of
them. From their e:orchy Member's residence in Ire-
land he has discovered, with Inglis and other tourists,
that the population there are sunk in ignorance, and
that they are chiefly (Lstinguislied for rapine, abduc-
tion, murder, plunder, and fire-raising. But, accord-
ing to Mr. Beaumont, the South Northumbrians arc
not a whit better. Speaking of the aggregate Irish
community, he says to his constituency, " Their feel-
ings are as high, the aspirations of their mind are as
noble, and their talents are as serviceable to social life,
as those possessed by yourselves." Whether this coin-
parison between Northumberland and Tipperary be
,fully warranted or not, we do not feel ourselves called
upon to say ; but, in consequence of the respectable
quarter from whence it proceeds, the Newcastle Calen-
dar, especially as regards the indictment of electors, must
henceforth be an object of suspicion and interest to a
degree we had not heretofore dreamt of. Another dis-
covery of Mr. Beaumont's is, that " the Catholic
Irishman is as loyal a subject as the Protestant. From
this announcement, taken in connexion with that low
opinion of his constituency which he has avowed by
putting them on a level with Popish bogtrotters, we
shrewdly suspect that the Hon. Member's Parliamen-
tary position at home is by no means in a safe or com-
fortable state. That he is manifestly on the outlook
for an Irish borough, and that such is the interpreta-
tion which he himself expects to be put upon his con-
duct, is evident from the pains he takes to tell his con-
stituents that he " will not praise the Irish to their
face, lest you might think I am courting their popu-
larity," in which sentence, by the way, seeing
that the words " their popularity " (meaning the
high repute they themselves hold in general
estimation), are ignorantly used by him in place
of the words " their favour," this aspiring com-
moner virtually identifies himself with that pecu-
liar style of literary accomplishment whereby the an-
cient popish Bishops were accustomed to grant licenses
for indulgence, by adhibiting thereto their mark.
But no matter : the well-appointed gentleman has set
himself up as the instructor and adviser of the South
North umbrians in all that concerns the character and
claims of Irish Popery ; and in this capacity he so-
lemnly informs them that the millions of blind and
bigotted Papists—of whom he knows about as much
as he does of his native- language=have at length
thrown aside all their notorious hatred of the civil
ascendancy of Protestantism ; that they have be-
come passionately attached to an exclusively Pro-
testant succession on the throne of these realms ;
and that to his Majesty, who is the temporal bead
and sworn protector of the church of England and
Ireland, their allegiance is as faithful and zealous
as if he were a Popish King I If Mr. Beaumont
mean any smaller absurdity than this, by saying that "the
Catholic is as "loyal as the Protestant," he will proba-
bly be good enough to get some friend who can write
English to point out what his meaning really is. Mean-
while, allowing his sagacious observation to pass down to
South Northumberland with what credit it may, we
cannot refrain from remarking, that the ingenious con-
elusion which-the worth)' Member draws from it evi-
dently betokens a desire on his part, not only to establish
a new course of policy, but to usher in a new system
of logic. Declaring that O'Connell " is right in his
determination, and imploring him to adhere to it—
that Ireland shall not be permitted to be tranquil until
Catholics shall enjoy a perfect religious equality with
Protestants"—this honourable metaphysician avows,
nevertheless, that he is a decided enemy to the volun-
tary principle in religion, or, in other words, that lie
is favourable to a State Church. This latter avowal
he may think it very expedient to restrict exclusively
to England ; but why the Dissenters of South North-
umberland should not push Mr. Beaumont to a direct
and consistent application of his religious-equality-
system on this as well as on the other side of the
Channel, there may be some difficulty in perceiving.
, Unless he maintain that the English Dissenters are an
; inferior race to the Irish Papists, or that religion is less a
point of honour with them than with the Catholics, the
Hon. Gentleman has either bound himself to the vo-
luntary faction out and out, or he has plunged himself
into a slough of inconsistency, from which if he suc-
ceed in extricating himself, his new logic will to a cer-
tainty become exceedingly popular. But the chief

thing that frightens Mr. Beaumont out of his wits is
the possibility that Ireland may actually be tranquil-
lized by the 'Tories ! Yes, truly ; the prospect of that
great object being achieved (a very remote one on Mr.
Beaumont's terms) is no pleasure to him at all. What
he is distressed about above all things is, that the Con-
servatives may probably take it into their heads to re-
volutionize and ruin the country.
If the Conservatives," he says, " were to get into of-
fice, self-interest might open their eyes to the necessity of
pacifying Ireland in the only way in which it is possible to
tranquillize her. Stand in the way of their profiting by a
mistake of the Whigs."
Poor Mr. Beaumont may sleep very soundly on this
head. The Conservatives, we can assure him, will
govern Ireland with wisdom and moderation ; and, what
is more, they will actually attempt this without his ad-
vice or assistance. To conclude. Till we read these
epistles of the future ex-Member for Northumberland,
we were disposed to believe that Sir William Moles-
worth was the weakest person out of his teens in
Great Britain ; but now we are compelled to admit
that the North-East can show quite as simple an Ar-
cadian as the South-West : Et vitulii to clignus, et
hie.--Times.

Birmingham, with its forty-six simultaneous meet-
ings, affords an admirable evidence of its own perfect
organization, and to all true Reformers a spirit stirring
example of union and the effect to be produced by the
" pull altogether." Let those who would divide the
Liberal forces, and advise them to act in detached par-
ties, take a lesson from this cheering and convincing
illustration of the good to be effected by a combination
of action and unity of purpose. These are not times
for Reformers to quarrel amongst themselves about
minor questions, when measures affecting the first and
most vital interests of the State are in jeopardy. Let
the common enemy who is now vaunting in the field,
and exulting in the threatened disunion of the friends
of the people, first be overcome, and then the differ-
ences amongst Reformers may be far more easily and
safely adjusted. The measures proposed by Minis-
ters in the last Session were rejected, nay, spurned
from the Lords, as being too liberal. By some of
these measures Ministers pledged themselves to
stand or fall. When unable to carry them through
the Hereditary Chamber, legislation stood still—
Parliament was prorogued—and an opportunity was
afforded to the people of pronouncing a calm and
deliberate opinion between the Ministry and its
opponents. The Tories, wisely appreciating their
own interests, and the importance of the occasion, im-
mediately commenced an organized system of anti-
Ministerial agitation, and scarcely anything was to be
heard of through the country but " most eloquent
Conservative speeches," and " grand Conservative
meetings." How did the Reformers act ? They
scarcely moved. For this we do not blame them, be-
cause the demonstrations they arc now making in
every part of the united kingdom prove that they have
reserved their exertion for the most favourable time, and
that their forbearance did' not proceed from apathy.
But what justification can those offer for their conduct
who, instead of directing their energies against the
main obstacle to a redress of grievances, turn upon
their friends, whom, in the emergency, they deserted, and
direct their puny efforts against Ministers, who failed
in their measures, merely because these measures were
too liberal for the digestion of the birthright senators ?
The Reformers of Leeds have announced their inten-
tion of assembling at a political convivial meeting to
be held yesterday, of which we expect to lay a full
report before our readers to-marrow, when we have no
doubt. the sentiments generally expressed at all the
Reform meetings will be reiterated, and that a further
testimony will be added to those already given, that
all that is wanting to secure the progress of Reform
and the stability of the Ministry, is a fixed principle
of action on the part of the people, and a hearty ac-
quiescence in their just demands on the part of the
Ministry. This alone can secure the speedy triumph
of Reform, and the safety of a Ministry called into
office by public opinion, in defiance of the intrigues of
faction, and the prejudices of the Court. We have
heard that his Majesty has lately stated his conviction
of the necessity of yielding to the wishes of the
people, and his willingness to assent to every measure
intended to pi omote their happiness and welfare. This
is no more than we expected from the unbiassed im-
pulses of his own generous sentiments ; and while ac-
tuated by such influence, in the bosom of his people
he will ever find an impregnable bulwark against the
phantom dangers with which faction would threaten
his throne—a throne which he inherits from a people's
choice, and which, with a people's support, will ride
triumphant through the wrecks of the oligarchic in-
stitutions, whose members, in affecting to maintain it,
would endeavour to grace their own destruction with its
downfall.—Morning Advertiser.

Another part of our paper contains a report of the
Conservative Dinner which took place yesterday at
Maidstone. If we were to believe what the Radicals
and Destructives tell us concerning the exploits to be
performed in the approaching Parliamentary campaign,
the Conservatives and Constitutionalists must be the
rashest people in the world to think of enjoying them-
selves at all, much more of celebrating the very cause
which is just on the eve of extinction. This would
be the inference if we could rely upon what some of
the Journals and more of the orators in the Radical in-
terest have been telling us for the last six months.
But there seems to be a pretty general impression that
the want of a small ingredient called truth interferes
most essentially with the authority of their vapouring
manifestos. Neith the Church nor the House of Lords
are yet on their last legs, nor has the patronage of Mr.
O'Connell rendered the. Melbourne Administration
invulnerable to the shock of public opinion. We
therefore hail it as a good symptom in the aspect of
affairs, that the Conservatives have met, and continue
to meet, in all parts of the country, not only in
great
numbers, but in high spirits, and with every indi-
cation that portends a successful struggle with their
adversaries. We do not like to attach too much im-
portance to eating and drinking, for fear of offending
the Court of Aldermen, but still we cannot help think-
ing that there is something ominous in the late ab-
stinence of the Whig-Radicals. Certain it is that
for some reason or other they have passed but a
dull Christmas of it, and we cannot discharge our
minds of the belief, that this very approaching
meeting of Parliament, towards which they pretend
to look forward with so much hope, has interfered not

a little with the state of their stomachs and the condi-
tion of their digestive organs. Be this as it may, the
two parties exhibit a very different spirit all over the
country at the present moment ; and the tone of the
Maidstone meeting may be taken as a sample of the
zeal, the courage, and the perseverance with which the
friends of the Constitution are prepared to take the
field. If public opinion is to be sought for in public
assemblies, surely we have some ground for inferring
that it is favourable to our existing institutions, when
we point to the number and character of the meetings
that have recently taken place. Really, if the Whig-
Radicals persist much longer in their antipathy to eat-
ing and drinking, we shall begin to suspect that they
arc getting into a decline.—Morning Herald.
Our readers will do us the justice to acknowledge
that we are not prone to censure the conduct of the
police magistrates of the metropolis upon light or fri-
volous grounds, or to animadvert with any excess of
severity upon the errors, however manifest, into which,
in the discharge of duties always arduous, and often
painful, they may occasionally be betrayed. Nor,
called upon as we are, by a sense of duty, to direct
public attention to a recent decision of the chief ad-
ministrator of municipal justice in the western part
of the metropolis, do we intend in this instance to
deviate from our ordinary habit of caution and re-
serve. It is possible that we may not yet be iii
possession of the whole facts of the case which yes-
terday led Sir F. Roe to what certainly appears to
us to be a most extraordinary and a most dangerous
conclusion ; and that the decision of this worthy
Magistrate only requires some explanation which
we have not yet received to show that it is quite con-
sistent with justice, good sense, and the public safety.
On Monday a person of the name of Inners was
charged at Bow-street (according to the police re-
port furnished to the morning papers of Tuesday,
and not since impeached) with the offence of firing
a loaded pistol at a Mr. Crisp, an unoffending pas-
senger, in the Strand. This assault took place at mid-
night on Sunday, and after no other warning to its ob-

ject than the word " cut" twice repeated, and accom- '
panied on its last repetition by the threat " or I'll fire
at you." Inners fired, missed, and was taken into cus-
tody. On being searched, another loaded pistol and li
some Bank-notes were found in his possession. He
pleaded intoxication, and was remanded until yester-
day, when he was brought before Sir Frederick Roe,
who is reported to have said that as there was no
proof of malice against the person fired at he should
only fine the prisoner 5/. ; one half of which sum was
understood, the repot ter proceeds to say, to have been
given to the prosecutor. Now as there are galleries in
the Strand, at which young men may practise pistol-
shooting without danger or annoyance to anybody, it
does, we own, appear to us to be scarcely right, if it
were only with a view to the fair claims of those meri-
torious establishments, that no severer punishment than
a fine of 5/. should be inflicted upon an individual
who has thought fit to indulge a capricious pre-
ference of the open street for his practice gallery, and
the person of one of the King's lieges for his target.
We wish to know in what position the inhabitants of
the Strand are to consider themselves placed by this
decision of Sir F. Roe. Is it to be understood as
settled law at Bow-street, that any passenger in the
street is henceforth to be subject to the agreeable salu-
tation " Cut, cut, or I'll fire at you," and that after
a pistol-ball has been sent whizzing close to his ear, he
is to be satisfied by the pleasure of looking in the next
morning upon Sir F. Roe at Bow-street, to touch 50s.
We do not deny, by any means, that, as times go,
50s. is a very considerable object to most men ; but
yet we think it is rather of the cheapest for standing a
pistol-shot across the gutter.—!tl'orning Post.

CURIOSITIES OF MEDICAL ExpERIENcE.—No
experience is so fertile in themes which powerfully arrest
the curiosity of man as that which is consequent on the
practice of a physician. Human nature abounds in pheno-
mena ; almost every individual is, either morally or physi-
cally, a riddle to himself, and the medical man is a kind of
father-confessor to all. What strange things, what pro-
found mysteries must, therefore, constantly be presented to
his observation ! The author of the present volumes is
Dr. Millingen, a gentleman whose professional experience
has been considerable, both here and on the Continent.
Among the subjects of which he treats the following are
exceedingly curious :—Unlawful Cures, Ecstatic Exaltation,
Inhumation of Dead in Cities, Lunar Influence, Medical
Powers of Music, Love Philters, Ventriloquism, Dmmono-
mania, Causes of Insanity, the Night-mare, Incubation of
Diseases, Dreams, the Homoeopathic Doctrines, Animal
Magnetism, Affections of the Sight, &c.
HORRIBLE DEATH BY HYDROPHOBIA.--We
can conceive nothing more dreadful than the state of sus-
pense a man must be in who is hourly apprehensive of an
attack of hydrophobia, and whose suffering is prolonged for
months, and finally ends in a most horrible death. An eye-
witness gives in the Morristown New derseynran the fol-
lowing account of such a case :—" Nathan Smith, a resi-
dent of Stanhope, Sussex County, New Jersey, was in a
store in that town in June last, when a mad dog ran in and
bit him on the back of one of his hands. The wounded part
was soon after cut out -and cauterized. From that time
until the 21st of November last nothing occurred to relieve
or increase his apprehensions respecting the issue. During
this interval he partook of skull-cap tea. The wound
healed, but was at times sensitive, and occasional exercise
or passion would cause it to ,break out afresh. The first
symptoms of malady appeared on the above day, when ha
complained of a pain in the head and in the wounded part.
The following day, restlessness, fever, and increased pain
came on. Toward midnight appeared alarming spasmodic
affections in the throat, and a feeling of suffocation, at-
tended with a general agitation of the system. These oc-
curred at intervals, and increased till Thursday evening,
when an abundant flow of saliva began, and the spasms in-
creased in violence. During the intervals, he begged his
attendants to hold him more firmly, as he should probably
run raving mad, and he did not wish to injure any one,
which lie might do if not prevented. The last spasm oc-
curred on Thursday evening about 9 o'clock, and termi-
nated his existence. He lived but two days after the first
attack, and all that time presented a spectacle of horror be-
yond description. His countenance was vacant and un-
earthly, and his sufferings extreme. He begged in the most
imploring manner for some one to put an end to him, and
rid him of the misery of being choked to death, such was
the extent of his sufferings. His thirst was extreme, and
when drink was presented to him he was seized with inde-
scribable horror, and ordered it away. If he did attempt
to drink, violent spasms ensued. He left a wife and two
children, and was 25 years of age."
The Dublin Evening Post says that the heads of
the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland will most energe-
tically oppose any arrangement for a State provision fo
their clergy.

THE Two DELAMOTTES.—A singular case was
heard one day last week, in Paris, before the justice of peace
of the second arrondissement. It appeared that on New
Year's Day a Madame Delamotte expected a small party
of relatives and friends to a family feast. The cover was
layed, when a ring was heard at the bell. It was the porter
of the diligence, who brought a hamper from Amiens, con-
taining a huge pie, three young partridges, and a fat duck.
Such a present could not have arrived more apropos, and
Madame Delamotte hastened to pay the carriage, and to
serve up for her company the game so opportunely brought.
Everything was consumed, and pronounced to be delicious
save the duck, which it was suggested might have been a
grandmother. Two days after the porter of the diligence
reappeared, but, instead of bringing another hamper,
claimed that which had been left before at Madame Dela-
motte's, of No. 13, instead of Monsieur Delamotte's, of
No, 23. "It is all swallowed up," chuckled Madame,
" and I have nothing to restore. If you left the good
cheer by mistake so much the worse for yourself." This
reply not being satisfactory, Madame Delamotte was sum-
moned before the Tribunal, to pay the sum of thirty francs,
the value of the hamper. The Counsel for Madame ar-
gued that she was fairly justified in consuming the 'huge
pie, three young partridges, and the venerable duck ;
whilst the opposing advocate contended that, according' to
article 1,376, whoever received, by mistake or knowingly,
anything which did not belong to him, was obliged to make
restitution. The Judge acting upon the point of law,
condemned Madame Delamotte to pay to the diligence
proprietor the sum of 18 francs, at which lie (the Judge)
valued the huge pie, three juvenile partridges, and the an-
tique duck. This decision gave satisfaction to all concerned.
GRESHAM LECTUREL.—Tuesday the Rev. Mr.
Pullen, the Professor of Astronomy to this endowment,
concluded his course of three lectures on this sublime and
interesting science, on which, as well as the two previous
days, his audience were numerous, consisting altogether of
nearly 200 persons. From the limited period allotted to
him, the lecturer very judiciously chose for his subject the
history of the science ; glancing at the probable degree of
knowledge possessed by the ancient inhabitants of the
world ; tracing every successive early and modern develop-
ment which have added to our fund of scientific information
down to the present moment, and reconciling the apparently
opposed systems and epochs adopted in former periods of
time with that which is in use by ourselves. The lecturer
was greatly applauded at the termination ; and a gentleman
present proposed the thanks of the audience to him for the
liberal manner in which he alone amongst the professors
had advocated the removal of these lectures to a more
convenient and available situation. The motion having
been seconded, was ultimately withdrawn, at the request of
Mr. Pullen, who remarked that such a course would be in-
vidious, his colleagues by their exertions being equally well
entitled to their approbation.
SIR HANS SLOANE.--The celebrated Sir Hans
Sloane, though he expended prodigious sums in making a
collection of curiosities, was of a most penurious disposition.
At the age of 90 he complained bitterly to Dr. Mortimer
then secretary to the Royal Society, that all his friends had
deserted him ; upon which the doctor observed, that Chel-
sea was at a considerable distance from the residence of
most of them in London, and therefore they might probably
meet with much disappointment on finding that he kept no
table, but usually dined on a boiled egg, to which, indeed, a
half-starved fowl was added, when Dr. Mortimer was de-
tained several hours in showing Sir Hans's famous collec-
tion to distinguished foreigners. This gentle remonstrance
put the old Baronet quite out of humour, and he exclaimed,
" Keep•a table ! Invite people to dinner ! What, would you
have me ruin myself ? Public credit totters already, and,
if there should be a national bankruptcy, or a sponge to
wipe out the national debt, you may yet see me in a work-
house.!" His landed estates at this time were considerable,
and his collection was estimated at many thousands beyond
the price given for it by Parliament, to incorporate it with
the British Museum, which, however, was 20,0001.—Pin-
flock's Guide to Knowledge.
Considerable excitement was occasioned in the village
of Abridge on Wednesday last, in consequence of the dis-
covery of the head of a child upon some green sward, near
the 15th milestone upon the high road in that parish. A
shoemaker, named John Hyde, who was on his way from
Navestock to Latnbourne, was 'horror-struck on perceiving
the trunkless remains, which appeared to have been recently
severed from the body with a sharp instrument, in rather a
skilful manner ; he carried it to the White Hart Inn, where
an inquest was held on Friday last, but there being no evi-
dence beyond the discovery above mentioned, the inquiry
teas adjourned. The head has a large quantity of hair
upon it, and is supposed to be that of a full-grown child,
which, it is the opinion of a neighbouring surgeon, bad been
born alive.—Essex Paper.