The Sun.
London, England, 1837-10-11 00:00:00

LITERARY PROSPECTS.

Some of our Contemporaries, we observe, speak of the
publishers being about to awake from their summer slum-
bers, but we do not think that they have been particularly
idle oflate. One alone (Mr. Colburn of Great Marlborough-
street) has produced at least *dozen books within the last few
weeks ; and the same active publishce has now,we are informed,
no less than fifty works in a very forward state for the ap-
proaching winter. Among them are, the eleven Years'
Voyages of his Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, by
Captains King and Fitzroy, with the Journal of Mr. Dar-
win, Naturalist of the Beagle ; Memoirs of the Court arii
Times of George IV., from the original papers in the
possession of- a distinguished Nobleman ; The Life and
Correspondence of Admiral Earl St. Vincent, by Captain
Brenton, R.N. ; Portraitures of his Contemporaries, by
Henry Lytton Bulwer, Esq. ; Memoirs of the Duchess
of St. Alban's, by Miss Sheridan ; Memoirs of the cele-
brated Irish Rebel, General Holt, written by himself ;
The Travels of Marshal Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, in
Hungary, Transylvania, Southern Russia, the Crimea,
&c. ; Travels in Egypt, the Holy Land, &c., by Prince
Puckler Muskau ; the Fanqui in China, being the Narra-
tive of a late Resident in that Country ; The Rhone and
the Carthusian Deserts, by Miss Pardoe, author of The
City of the Sultan, &c. ; A Year in South America, by
the Honourable P. Campbell Scarlett ; Woman and her
Master, by Lady Morgan, &c. &c. ; besides works of fic-
tion, by the author of Tremaine, Mr. Theodore Hook, the
author of The Subaltern, Douglas Jerrold, Esq., M. J.
Quin, Esq., Lady Charlotte Bury, Mrs. Gore, Lady Step-
ney, Horace Smith, Esq., Captain Marryat, Captain Cha-
mier, R. Sullivan, Esq., the author of Cavendish, the au-
thoress of the Desennuyee, the authoress of The Peeress,
&c. &c. This list furnishes, we think, pretty conclusive
evidence that Mr. Colburn, at all events, is not slumbering.
—Morning Chronicle.

GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENTAL

DISTILLERY.

The extensive premises formerly the Hope Brewery, in
Brown's-lane, Spitalfields, having recently been fitted up as
an experimental distillery upon a large scale, under the
superintendence of Dr. Birkbeck, by order of the Lords of
the Treasury, for the purpose of fully testing the efficiency
of Mr. Rudkin's apparatus for taking the excise on spirits
in process of distillation, several preparatory distillings have
taken place within the last fortnight, and yesterday the dis-
tillery was set at full work. The experiment so far has
been in the highest degree satisfactory, and in the opinion
of Dr. Birkbeck and other scientific men sufficiently con-
clusive as to the utility of the invention. Its object, and
_ _

its great importance in a financial point of view, if it should
realize the expectations of the inventor, and of the scientific
gentlemen (Professor Breed, Dr. Birkbeck, and Mr. Lub-
bock) who have recommended it to the Government
for universal adoption in room of the present de-
fective system of Excite, may be rendered intel-
ligible as well as interesting to the public by the follow-
ing particulars. The instruments at present in use for de-
termining the amount of duty which the distiller is re-
quired to pay are the sacchrometer, by which the officers of
Excise are supposed to ascertain the quantity of saccharine
matter contained in the liquid before it goes into the still,
and there from the quantity of alcohol which the distilla-
tion should produce in the thermometer for ascertaining the
temperature, which is important for determining ultimately,
by comparison with the bulk, the actual strength of the
distilled spirit ; and, lastly, the bunging rod, by which the
contents of the vats, puncheons, &c., are ascertained in
Gallons. _ _ .

....
Now the utter inefficiency of the sacchrometer and ther-
mometer for the purposes for which they are used has long
been well known, and indeed universally acknowledged ; so
rnoel, so that in the last report ef the Commissioners of Ex-
cise Inqulry it is declared that " there is at present no se-
curity for the collection of any portion of the revenue, ex-
cept in the conscientiousness of the distillers ;" and 2.5 per
cent. is allowed to the distillers to compensate for the errors
of the instruments, by which it is calculated the Government
loses from 2 to 4 millions sterling per annum ; but notwith-
standing this liberal allowance, or rather unwilling sacrifice,
a far greater quantity is actually distilled and brought into the
market than the excise officers, with all their vigilance, have
ascertained to be produced, even in distilleries where no
freed is at tempted or desired, respectable distillers, as, for
instance, Mr. Smith, of Whitechapel, often paying to the
Exchequer the duty upon 60,000 or 80,000 gallons in a
year which had escaped the calculations of the Excise, over
and ebeve the twenty-five gallons in every hundred which
they are ellewed free of duty, on account of the imperfec-
tions of the instruments: The Government, chiefly through
the medium of the Royal Soclet,•, has long applied itself to
remedy this evil. About seventy years ego Lord George
Cavendish carried on a series of laborious experiments for
this purpose, which led to no result, and upon his failure
the matter was committed to Sir Joseph Banks ; but his
labours were attended with no better success. Several
others, amongst whom the most remarkable was Mr. Pat-
tinger, have since attempted various improvements on the
system, but all the expense that the Government has hitherto
incurred has been literally thrown away. But, to use em-
phatic declaration of Dr. Birkbeck in reference to the pre-
sent experiment, " Mr. Rudkin has solved the great and im-
pertant problem." If his instrument eventually realises his pro-
fessions, and bears out the results of yesterday's trials, as
well as previous experiments, it will do away with all the
inconveniences of the present system and prevent the pos-
sibility of loss to the revenue, as it registers the quantity,
temperature, and strength of every gallon of epirits as soon
as it is produced, and before it comes under the controul of
the exciseman and distiller. It will also relieve the distiller

from the interruption to which he is at present subject, and
which one distiller, Mr. Smith of Millbank, states to be at-
tended with a loss of 3,000/. a-year, being obliged to pre-
pare the wash at one time and to distil at another, besides
other interruptions not easily explained in a newspaper
article. The Government anticipate a saving of several
millions a-year, should the new plan succeed, besides the
total suppression of illicit distillation.

DARING ROBBERY AND ATTEMPT TO MURDER.

—lt is our painful duty this week to record a most atro-
cious outrage, committed in a close, near to the neat little
village of Barwell, in Leicestershire, on Wednesday even-
ing, the 27th ult., on a young man of the name of Joseph
Barnes, a printer, from Londonderry, by a person of the
name of Robert Harrold, alias Moore, of Leicester, for-
merly of Earl Shilton. Barnes arrived in Leicester on
Tuesday afternoon previous, and proceeded the next morn-
ing on his way to Hinckley. On reaching the end of Braun-
stone-gate, and while noticing a newly-built publichouse, kept
by Mr. Johnson, Harrold accosted him with " That's my
brother's house, young man;" this led to a conversation, in
which Harrold expressed a wish to accompany him to Hinck-
ley, which was agreed to, and they forthwith proceeded.
They arrived at Barwell (11 miles from Leicester) about
six o'clock in the evening, where Harrold was well known,
and called at the Queen's Head. It being Barwell feast, they
took a little ale with the villagers, but both were quite sober,
and after calling at a friend's house in the village, they
started about nine o'clock on their way to Hinckley.
They took the foot-road across some fields, and before they
had crossed the third close Harrold laid himself down, and
said he should proceed no further, for lie had lost his way.
Barnes then said he would return to Barwell and leave him,
which he was in the act of doing, when Harrold sprung
from the ground and gave him a dreadful kick in the small
of the back, which brought him to the earth ; he then
kicked or struck him in the most brutal manner over his
head, eyes, nose, and mouth ; the upper lip of which also
was completely cut in two. This . demon then left him for
dead, first dragging him by his coat from the foot-path,
where the deed was committed, towards the hedge, the coat
being torn completely off his back. His victim being now
senseless, he took his shoes, hat, umbrella, bundle, and
about twelve shillings in money, and in this miserable state
left the unfortunate man. Barnes remained insensible till
the village clock struck one ; he then crawled, in the most
dreadful agony, through an aperture in the hedge, into a
dry ditch on the other side ; about three o'clock he heard
voices coming from the spot he had left, and the exclama-
tion of " He's gone ; I'd give twenty guineas if I was out
of the country !' Barnes, in his own words, says, " It's
impossible to express my feelings at that time, not doubt-
ing that he had come back either to finish his bloody work,
if not complete, or to bury me." He lay in this dreadful
state in the ditch, more and more exhausted from the loss
of blood, until five o'clock, when he was seen by the
villagers, who conducted him to the house of a
Mr. Harrold, a distant relation of the perpetrator
of the dreadful cruelty just committed. The head,
as described by a witness, " was more like a mass of putrid
liver than a human head ;" and such was the effect upon
some females in the house, that he was immediately re-
moved, to Thomas Clamp's, the constable, who, vith the
asiistance of a Hinckley constable, apprehended Harrold
the same morning at his mother's house in Hinckley, and
conveyed by him to Barwell, where he was committed by
the Rev. G. Mettam, for trial. Of the prisoner's charac-
ter we have nothing good to report, and shall therefore re-
frain from prejudicing the minds of individuals against him.
Some months since he kept a beer-shop, called the " Staff
of Life," in Belgrave gate, Leicester, and since then has
been travelling round the country with his brother, vending
fancy bread and confectionery. When apprehended,
Barnes's hat and bundle were found upon him, and the
shoes were discovered on the road near Hinckley.—
Leicestershire Alercu) y.

WRECK OF THE TIGER MER-
CHANTMAN.

CREW AND PASSENGERS SEVENTY DAYS ON
A CORAL ROCK.

The following brief account of the wreck of the Tiger,
.which sailed from Liverpool, bound for Bombay, in June
last year, in company with another vessel called the Tigris,
is from a youth of 16, a son of Mr. Wrightson, of the firm
of Wrightson and Webb, booksellers, Birmingham. He
was an apprentice on board the vessel, and his account of
the wreck, as related to his friends, was to this effect :
" Nothing of more than ordinary note occurred for the first
few weeks. We hid brilliant weather, and held on stea-
dily ; the Tigris getting a-head sometimes, at others we
look tLe lead. Soon, however, the 7V,/ is shot away ra-
pidiv, and After a few days, we lost sight of her. Upon
this, the Captain, who before had been all life and activity,
was observed to gr.;w gloomy and reserved ; and the sur-
mise was rife among-
the crew, that some heavy stake
ryas pending on the sailinz powers of the two vessels.
To allay his chagrin, the Cai:stain drank spirits in large
quantities, and symptoms of insanity were speedily
discerned. One night, pacing the deck, and talking inco-
herently, he suddenly stopped, and lifting up his dog, who
crouched at his feet, by the neck, flung him overboard,
saying ' Poor devil ! I shall soon follow you.' After this
he was watched narrowly ; the surgeon of the vessel not
considering himself justified in putting him under arrest, nor
did he think it absolutely necessary. He contrived, how-
ever, to elude our vigilance, and a few days after his ex-
clamation threw himself overboard, and though a boat was
instantly put out, he sank before it reached him. The
command of the vessel now devolved upon the mate, named
Spurge, a well-conducted but inexperienced seaman, who

. _
got out of his latitude ; and after many weeks of wander-
ing and anxious pain, were eventually wrecked on an
uninhabited island ; which, as we afterwards learned, was
10 deg. S. of tha and between 600 and 700 milt s E. of
Madagascar ; crew and pasFengers, twenty-six in number,
including one lady, the wife of a naval officer on board,
all being saved. The island, called Astovia, was a coral
rock, and nowhere could we discover any vestige of ve-
getable matter. After hoisting some remnants of can-
vas from the wreck in three different parts of the island,
which was about six miles long, by three or four wide, we set
out in quest of fresh water, but to our inexpressible anguish
the search was without success. Our thirst became intole-

rable ; and to appease it, we were compelled to ring off the
heads of Bea fowl (with which the island providentially
abounded, and which were not by any means difficult to

catch), and drink the blood. Our food was turtle ; and
we used to take it by going out in small parties of six or
seven in number, and wading through a creek, on the banks
of which they congregated. Here we were in constant
danger of oar lives from the sharks that paddled slowly and
stealthily up the creek ; and on one occasion a poor fellow,
too daring and adventurous, was seized, and torn piecemeal
among them. After the lapse of two weeks, fourteen of
the crew agreed to take the long-boat, with a single barrel
of biscuits, the oaly provision saved, with a solemn pro-
mise to touch at the first- island to which they came,
if possible, to procure aid, and return to us. Their parting
shout was the last we ever heard of them. A day or two
after they had left us, two of the crew picked up a barrel
of spirits which had been washed ashore, and for sometime
kept it to themselves, and upon Spurze, the mate, discov-
ering it, and upbraiding them with the selfishness of their
conduct, they, in their inebriation, drew their knives and
would have despatched him on the instant., had not some
of us rushed to his rescue. The poor lady, the only fe-
male, suffered dreadfully, and notwithstanding we did all
that was possible under the circumstances to alleviate her
condition, and whilst she endeavoured to bear up with a
seeming fortitude, it was evident her spirit was completely
broken. With the canvass and spars from the wreck, we
erected a sort of tent, where she was in some measure pro-
tected from the intense heat of a tropical sun. We had
been three weeks on the island, and our only drink was blood,
and, for the last few days, the spirits which had been secreted
by the men and discovered by the mate, when to ohr infi-
nite joy a fresh-water spring was at last discovered, and one
and all scoured away, yelling like bedlamites with delight
at this priceless Godsend. Week after week passed away,
and still no sign of deliverance. To mark the days, we cut,
like Crusoe, notches in a spar. At one time we were buoyed
up with the hope of rescue, at others steeped in the lowest
depths of wretchedness. In consequence of the nature of
our diet, many of our number suffered greatly from diarrhoea,
though ro fatal consequences attended it. At the expiration
f seventy days our signal was discov, r d in a South whaler,
by which we were taken to Mahe, an island, or rather clus-
ter of islands, the Governor of which supplied us with ne-
cessaries, and forwarded us to the Cape, from whence we
tcok passage to England, in a vessel that touched there
shortly on our arrival."

A SAD MISTAKE.--A man employed by some
medical students to procure a subject dug up his own wife
by mistake, and has been inconsolable ever since.—Wor-
c,yter Journal.

Tile subscription for disputing the validity of the
Braintree liturcii-rate, we find, is proceeding. On Mon-
day, a meeting of the Hackney Church-rate Abolition So-
ciety was held, when five guineas were voted towards the
fund for defending Mr. Balder.
FEMALE TURN-OUT.--,Nt the Public-office on
Thursday, Charlotte Wain, Emma Read, Anne Eadren,
Ellen Minshull, Sarah Turner, Elizaiiseth Whittall, and
Robert Basford (a master manufacturer). were charged
with creating a disturbance on the 26th ult., ud offering in-
timidation to Mr. Weaver, bone button manufactorer, of
the Aston-road, and his workpcople. The case was ad-
journed from Monday by Dr. Booth, who having heard the
evidence against the prisoners, and the defence set up in
their favour by Mr. Smith, observed that the Magistrates
did not think they ought to pass over the matter as a com-
mon assault. It was of too serious a nature, and of too
much public concern, for them to do so. It was evidently
a case of combination on the part of the defendants to pre-
vent Mr. Weaver's servants working at their present wages,
and the Magistrates would deal with it under the Act. of
Parliament relating to such offences. On Thursday the
evidence was resumed before the same Magistrates, and
Mr. Spooner having consulted his brother Magistrates, ob-
served, that with respect to Basford, his case was of an ag-
gravated nature, inasmuch as, being the master of one of
the girls, he ought not to have encouraged them to acts of
violence, which, but for his example, they might not have
attempted. They, therefore, ordered him to be taken to
the House of Correction, and there kept to hard labour for
three months. Anne Eadren had been guilty of very excit-
ing and dangerous conduct in carrying about an effigy, and
throwing it in a burning state on Mr. Weaver's premises ;
they therefore senteuced her to two months in the House of
Correction and hard labour ; and with respect to the rest,
they were aiding and assisting, and were therefore responsi-
ble ; but not having committed any distinct acts of vio-
lence, they would pass upon them a more team: nt sentence,
and adjudge them to one month's imprisonment, with hard
labour.—ilirmintsbant Grnette.
On Wednesday, while the steam-plough was a
work, on the farm of Grain, in Lochar Moss, one of the
numerous spectators, Mr. Gawn, an extensive land-proprie-
tor, and.banker in the Isle of Man, became suddenly un-
well. As pear as may be about eleven o'clock, he was
standing close to one of the turning points of the steam-
plough, conversing with Mr. Smith of Polmadie, Glasgow,
when all of a sudden he raised his hand to his head, and
muttered, as is believed, in an under tone, "my God." A
little before this, he remarked to our friend---.o' there is
more water in that ditch than a neighbour of mine could
muster on his whole farm, and who, in fact, as far as the
boiler is concerned, set the steam-plough in motion ;" and
scarcely had these words escaped his lips when he stag-
gered and tumbled into the very ditch to which he alluded.
For a few moments he disappeared amidst the depth of
water ; but was instantly rescued and laid on the bank,
and at the same time attended by medical gentlemen, who
attempted to bleed him. But the effort was vain, and after
a few convulsive motions, the unfortunate gentleman ex-
pired, to the deep regret of all who were stationed near the
spot, or made aware of the occurrence. The deceased,
who was in the highest sense rest;ectable, and one of the
most influential characters in the hit; of Man, was, per-
haps, of the age of sixty, and so stoutly rn„:de and heavy,
that the general impression is, that he died in a 5t of apo-
plexV.—earlisk Journal.
GAMBLING.—A desperate attempt at suicide was
made a few days ago at Boulogne-sur-Mer, by a young
English musician who had lost 2001. at a gaMing-house in
Paris, and the same sum at Boulogne, on the very day of
his arrival. The unfortunate but misguided young man
went into an apothecary's shop in the town, and asked for
a small quantity of laudanum, to lull the pain arising from
a pretended local irritation. While the druggist was ithel-
ling the'phial intended for his customer, the latter seized
the large vessel containing the narcotic, and swallowed
considerable. portion before the master of the shop was able
to snatch it from his grasp. The instantaneous application
of a powerful emetic prevented immediate danger, and the
rash young man was with as little delay as possible conveyed
to the town hospital, where he received such further assis-
tance as his case required. He was soon pronounced out
of danger. On his removal to the hospital, not more than
twelve anus were found in his packet.
On Sunday se'nnight, as a boy 11 years of age, the
son of William John, labourer, of Cartlett, Haverfordwest,
was amusing himself by swinging on the triangle used for
loading timber in the yard of Mr. .1. Jardine, merchant of
that borough, the machine was thrown down, and falling on
tctihiireec rt
boy ~,f,neaelsleo:itvrh,oalktv killed
thed in at
hde:o3sn,
tet;o‘l,lteeel
eswpmeoiotin.
th
brook,sl t.ais sisternat
ositol:.;:tilicalher
she had fallen in the attempt to I reac t some blackberries
that hung over it.—Cartibrian.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Revenue accounts, made up to the 10th of
October, will be found in another column. On the
year ended 10th of October, 1837, as compared with
the year ended 10th of October, 1836, there is a de-
crease of 2,097,2591. On the quarter, as compared
with the corresponding quarter in 1836, the decrease
is 1,187,7621. The great decrease is in the Customs.
On the year the decrease in that branch is 1,793,9731.,
and on the quarter 917,6611. The only branch on
which there is an increase in the last quarter, is the
Post-office, 19,0061. The raising the rate of interest
on the part of the Bank of England, and other mea-
sures necessary to restore the currency to a more health-.
ful state, the havoc occasioned to all who 'were en-
gaged in the trade with the United Ste.tes, and the
distress in the manufacturing district; in consequence
of the cessation of the American, demand, sufficiently
account for the decrease in one Revenue of 1837, as
compared with that of Is6.—Morning Chronicle.
The fate of the O'Connell Ministry does not turn
upon the Issue of the forthcoming petitions to Parlia-
ment against the Radical and priest-elected interlopers,
whe'.'ner English or Irish. T hat fate is, in one sense,
quite independent of the result of such petitions. The
expulsion of some of those usurpers from Parliament
by a report of the Committees may, indeed, render the
downfall of the Ministry more immediate ; but nothing
can render it more unavoidable than it is at the mo-
ment while we write. That the doom of this despica-
ble Cabinet should be realised with all convenient speed
is unquestionably not a little desirable, for the sake
of seeing the country settle at once into some safe,
steady, and dignified course of action, rather than be
blown and bufFetted about from day to day, amidst
conflicting violences, on the brink of unfathomable
dangers, with none but reckless knaves or shallow
blunderers on whom to rely for help, as we have been
witnessing for these four or five returns of the Legisla-
tive season. Our Correspondent " B." has treated the
pretensions of certain frightened bullies, who would make
the House of Commons of 1837 an humble copyist
of its predecessor in the 17th century, with much
ability. For ourselves, we have only to express our
scorn of men who pester the ears of a rational people
with assumptions on behalf of one estate out of three,
of a supremacy over both the others. Not many months
have passed by us since some of the more bilious re-
volutionists in and out of Parliament chattered about
" resolving" this, and " declaring" that, in defiance—
nay, to the extinction—of the House of Lords ; as if
the legislative capacity of the Peers of England de-
pended on the will of half a measuring-cast majority,
composed of Papists and Revolutionists in the Lower
House of Parliament, or as if any formidable section
of the physical strength of the empire would back the
propounders of such absurdities in the attempt to en-
force them. It is not more than a week or
two since some newspaper partisans of a gang
of traitors had the impudence to charge thousands
of honest and loyal men, who were coming for-
ward from all parts of the kingdom with sub-
ncriptions to vindicate the purity of election, de-
filed and degraded as it has been by many of
the late false returns from Ireland—to charge them,
we say, with nothing short of conspiracy against the
political rights and interests of the whole Irish nation I
But, besides all this, the same profound constitutional
authorities did in their wisdom threaten the Conser-
vative subscribers to the petition fund with some novel
and pretty decisive measure in the shape of a vote of
the House of Commons, which should instantly have
the effect of upholding the Irish Papist and English
Radical usurpers in the seats which they harob-
tained through fraud and violence, and of frus-
trating all efforts to disturb them by petition to a
:House of Commons where the majority was on
their side—that is, of superseding the law of the
land, annulling the Grenville Act by a resolution
of the " Hon. House," and establishing a precedent
whereby, whatever ephemeral faction 'was supposed
to he the strongest on any given dal of the year, any
Jack Cade, with his half- breeched myrmidons, might
sweep away the constitutional monarchy by a breath,
commit any profitable or promising outrage upon
the people, treat every demand of redress as a rebellion,
make their own foul " mouths the Parliament of Eng-
land," that " no Peer shall wear a head on his shoul-
ders unless he pall us tribute," nor yeoman wag a
tongue but at our pleasure. Here is a fair picture of
what the state of England would be, if those clamorous
hypocrites in the name of freedom were once in full
possession of power to deal with the rights of other
men according to the measure of their own disin-
terested consciences, metamorphose the general body
of the law until it suits their general purpose, and when
any unprovided and especial emergency shall arise
seize into your own hands the exclusive authority to
legislate, and " let your will avouch it." Such is the
genius of that which now calls itself " Reform I" Such
the samples of " good government" we may look for
when Romish priests mix up the cant of Radicalism
with that of superstition.—Times.
If ever Parliamentary Reform was worth a great na-
tional struggle, surely to protect the principle of Re-
form in Ireland—the sacred and invaluable right of
freedom of election—from being swamped, trampled
on, and practically abolished by a nefarious conspiracy
of priestly and lay agitators, is worth a great public
effort. That effort is now making in England, as our
readers are aware, in the shape of a general subscrip-
tion, to assist the Conservative electors of Ireland to
vindicate their grossly-outraged rights, and regain, for
the lawful representatives of the people, according to
the provisions of the Reform Act, the seats which,
by means of violence and fraud, heve been most
foully usurped. If it be wrong that such an effort
should be made, then it is wrong that right should
be done !—then it is wrong that the law should be put
in motion to restore property, wrongfully abstracted
by force or fraud, to the rightful owner. The elec-
tive franchise is a public trust for the national be-
nefit, and the public are interested in its vindication.
In assisting the cause of the constitutional elec-
tors of Ireland the British public only fight their own
battle. The Irish majority, surreptitiously obtained,
is to be made use of in crushing the constitutional
rights of the people of England, and " in inflicting a
heavy blow and great discouragement upon Proles-
tantism"—the great source of England's freedom, civi-
lisation, and moral pre-eminence among the nations of
the earth. The terror with which this public effort to
obtain " justice for Ireland" has inspired the faction
that at the late elections as completely set aside the
Reform Act, by force and fraud, as if no such law
were in existence, is observable in the alarmed tone of
their journals, which, instead of inviting investigation,
as conscious honesty would have done, have recourse
to the most wretched and contemptible shifts and expe-
dients to prevent the inquiry which conscious guilt has
so much reason to dread. At one time, those journals
that work in the harness of the Whig-Radical-repeal
firm of O'Connell, Melbourne, M'Hale, and Co., re-
sort to the most puerile cajolery of the British public to
dissuade them from assisting the Irish Protestants. At
another, they indulge in menaces equally impudent and
absurd, threatening, forsooth, with the vengeance of
the House of Commons all who endeavour to prevent
a considerable number of seats in that House from being
occupied by intruders, who have no more right to be
there than they have to take possession of apartments
in St. James's Palace, except that the usurpation of
seats in " the people's House" is a much more serious
public wrong than trespassing in the royal household.
It is quite certain, that, if the Popish majority in Ire-
land had been fairly and lawfully obtained, they could
have nothing to fear from the prosecution of inquiry
before Committees of Parliament ; they know that to
petition on grounds that are frivolous and vexatious
entails the whole expense of the proceeding upon the
petitioning party. Independently of the absurd waste
of money which would attend the prosecution of fri-
volous and vexatious election-petitions, the Irish Pro-
testants and their supporters in this country would ma-
terially damage their own cause by petitioning without
any solid grounds to go upon. The friends and hire-
lings of Ministers would, of course, be exceedingly
glad to see the Conservatives adopting so foolish a
practice, and one so mischievous to themselves—they
~"tvttiaald) pot wish to stop them—on the contrary, they
woug.:po6h them to go on, that they might enjoy
Elie eahilarati spectacle of their discomfiture. But
"..thijMininteiinvriters know too well the strength of
- tie.ProtfAaat use, or, at least, the ricketty infirmity