The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING,

SHARE MARKETS.-(THIS DAY.)

MINES.

1 all Agua Fria
1 all Anglo Austrin. Gold 4d par
10s. all Anglo Californian $ 1p 1
10 2 Australasian id par
20 5 Australian
1 all Australian Cordillera Ad p
J. all Australian Freehold d
1 all Ave Maria
1 all Baden (Gd. Duchy 00 id par
1 all British Austrin. Gold id . p 1
20 13.5 British Iron
35 24A Brazilianlmp.(issued
at £5 pm 4A 5A
30 all Do. Cocaes & Cuiada 4A 5 41
20 15 Do. St. John Del Rey 31 33xd
1 all Carson's Creek
40 all Cobre Copper 47i
—• • •
5 1 Colonial
. . 14 Copiapo
Si. all Copper Min. of Eng 55 —75
25 all Do. Pref. 7i p. cent. 8 9 p
5 all English and Austrin.
Copper Smeltg. Co. 2 lid
20 all General l6 —l7
2 all Great Nugget Vein._ 14 lip 34
2 all Do. Registered
3 all Great Polgooni
1 all Lake Bathurst
1 all Liberty
3 all Linares
1 all Lond.&Califoru.Gold
Quartz Crush. Co. a
1 all Mariquita
10 9 Mexicang-S.Americn 7 84
1 all New Gra-Ida P P
1 all Nouveau Monde lgP
10 5 Nova Scotia Mining „.
and Copper Smeltg
5 1 Port Philip id iP
1 all Quartz Rock
50 all Rhymney Iron 26 —2B
15 Do. New 7 9
30 10; Santiago de Cuba
1 all South Australian id p
10 7 Tin Croft 8 —lO
288 all United Mexican 4 4A
1 all Waller — Ad
1 all West Granada d— par
3. all West Mariposa
1 all Yuba
JOINT-STOCK BANKS.-
40 all Australasia Bl 83
50 all British N. Ameri
20 2 Chrtd. Bnk. of India,
Australia, & China A lip 38
100 25 Colonial ..•
100 20 Commercial of Lond —
20 10 English Scottish and
Austra''an a
20 12A Lond. Chart. Bk. o
Australia 2A 2i p
50 20 London and County — „
50 10 Loudon Joint Stock —
100 20 Loud. & Westminster 35i
20 2 London Bank of Aus-
tralia and India
50 22A National of Ireland —
25 all Oriental Bank of
Corporation 5l 53 52
25 5 Do. Is.-ew —
100 25 Provincial of Ireland
10 all Do. New —
5 1 Royal Australn.Bkg
& Gold Imp Co d 4 d
25 all South Australia 5l 53
25 all Union of Australia 77 79
... 2A Do. New B4 8g
50 10 Union of London —
40 all Union of Madrid —

BRITISH RAILWAYS.

RAILWAYS.

Closing Prices
Saturday.

Business done
this day.

27 - 28

5i 5i
9t -

8 6 disl

20 - 22
34 - 24
100 - 102
681 - 684,
22 - 22;
20 - 21

a. 4p

8- 9

-
13 - 13

11 -12 t

72 - 73

54 - 57
70 - 72

ii -1- ai

87 -- 8$
54 -- 56
134 -- 136
110 -- 112
89 -- 89
7i -- 8
95 -- 97
14i -- 15ip
78-7
4 -- 40
3 -- 2d
15} -- 16

8i -- 91
11 -- lip
104 -- 105
115 a 116
2 -24 p
1 -- li
89 --904 5
--
4 -- 3d
12 -- 1
19 -- 21
30 -- 31
31 -21 d
724.-- 73
40 -- 42

52 - 54

I P
- 3
8i
50 52
3i 21c1
33 ... 34

...d
...
5 4d
Bfi - 8i

MISCELLANEOUS
100 35 Australian Agricult. 72 74 714 3_l
20 8 Australsn .Pc i fic. Mail
10 7 Australis. Royal Mail ...
50 38q Brit. American Land 71 73 70
100 32 Canada 65 70
5 5 Crystal Palace I2I 2 p 78
4 2 Crystal Pal. of France 1 1
20 1 Eastern Steam .,,
1 1 Electric Teleg. of Ir —
15 14 Gen. Steam Navigat —
20 14 General Screw Steam
20 5 Irish Beetroot Sugar
1 all Nat. Pat. Steam Fuel
10 2 Netherlands Land —
20 74 Nrth. ofEurope Steam
50 all Peninsular & Oriental 754
50 25 Do.
[OO 60 Royal Mail Steam
25 25 South Anstral.Land 44 46 f 45
1 all Submar. Telegraph —
5 2 Univeral Emigration
and Colonization
100 281 Van Diemen's Land 184 191

- - -pi

49 - 50
95 - 96
59 - 61
62 - 64

70 74
14 ld
17 19
8i 9i
13 15
3 —3d
20 21
734 724
354 36
13 14

23 -- 25
14i -15 i
9 -- 9A
31 -- 33
10 -10 i
ad -- par
69 -- 70
7i -- 701
2. --
GOA -- 6li

jUNE 20, 1853.

DEATH OF JAMES RARMER., ESQ.

decision ; for Sir James Mackintosh was among his eulo-
gists, and declared that his evidence before the committee
for the reformation of the criminal law was unequalled in
its effect. Let us still remember the time when a Recor-
der could take means to threaten a jury who petitioned
for the respite of Eliza Fenning, and then we may estimate
Mr. Harmer's courage, when he braved the avowed dan-
ger of being struck off the Rolls for exposing the delin-
quency of the witnesses, and the mode in which the con-
viction had been obtained in the case of Holloway and
Haggerty. The part he took in the abolition of the hor-
rible blood-money ought never to be forgotten. Indeed,
his well-earned fame assured his being retained in every
remarkable trial. The night as well as the day was
often devoted to the concerns of his clients, for his exer-
tions were unsparing and untiring, while his perfect
frankness and good temper secured him always the kind-
est attention of all concerned in the administration of
justice. He was the legal avenger of the victims of
Peterloo, and if he did not do more for the punishment
of their butchers, it was because the tyranny of the age
defeated him. On the death of Mr. Waithinan he was
unanimously elected Alderman of the ward of Farringdon
Without, and his services in that office, and as Sheriff,
are such as might be expected from one of his experience
as well as capacity ; he was humane, merciful, and just.
He had learned to look upon life in all its aspects,
and he brought the benefit of his knowledge to the
exercise of his functions. The practice he relinquished
on accepting the rank of Alderman was worth no less
than 4,0001. a-year. As Sheriff, he acted in troublous
times, and even offered to collect taxes, which were re-
sisted in person, which had the effect of averting a dan-
gerous
sedition. On that, as on all other occasions, he
showed himself a loyal man, a friend indeed of freedom
to the height, but a lover of order, and a respecter and
supporter of all its representatives. His charities, pub-
lic and private, belong to a more sacred record : but it
is fit to note, on account of the results, that he took a
leading part in establishing the Royal Free Hospital in
Greville-street, which set the example of receiving all
applicants without a governor's order, a course now
most happily imitated at other great charitable institu-
tions of the like description. We have alluded to the
opposition raised against his natural succession to the
Mayoralty. It must not be supposed that those who had
without any kind of solicitation from himself, elected him
a Common Councilman and an Alderman with unanimity,
suffered him to be defeated without a struggle which should
at least confer the honour of a victory. On the show of
hands, he was chosen by a large majority ; on the poll,
he received the votes of a greater number of liverymen
than had voted for the whole four Reform candidates at
the previous election. We believe that, whatever tem-
porary mortification he might have endured, the circum-
stance really released him to the life he most coveted.
All right-minded men desire an old age in the peace of
the country. It was granted to him. Without sever-
ing himself from many objects of most active interest,
with which, indeed, his large property kept him con-
nected, he entered upon a life of peaceful gentlemanlike
retirement at Ingress Abbey, such as might be the choice
of any wise ambition. His farms, his house estate in
Gravesend, his shares in the boat company, not only
gave him occupation, but a territorial authority. Many
a petty German Sovereign might envy his condition,
commanding all he could require without one item•
of needless ostentation. When the band of one of
his own steam-boats, played the "Fine Old English
Gentleman," on his stepping ashore at his own pier at
Greenhithe, after an anniversary rejoicing with his
establishment of the Dispatch at his own Hotel, part of
his estate at Gravesend, there was more in the com-
pleteness of his influence than in the poor means of the
homage, and James Harmer, the weaver's orphan,
might be acknowledged a magnate in his land. To the
last he enjoyed his position, sometimes entertaining,
sometimes entertained by, his civic friends, a welcome
guest at their festivals, and even just before the illness
which terminated in his death, he presided over a large
and happy company at the festival trip of a new steam-
boat, the Mars ; so that, to the last, he enjoyed his
honours and felt the use of his wealth and station. We
might say more, but enough for those who did not know
him ; for those who did, they might themselves, say
more and better. Let his example remain for those
who adopt his motto : " Labore et Honore."

(From the Weekly Dispatch.)
The notice of Mr. Harmer's career, which we feel it
our duty, not only to ourselves, but to our readers, to
publish, will afford, we are sure, its own vindication in
the importance of the many public affairs with which
our deceased friend was intimately and influentially con-
cerned, and should possess that interest, as a picture of
an English citizen's career, which would make it a con-
tribution to the history of the manners of the time. Our
regret is not for the acts we have to commemorate.
Mr. Harmer was identified in his fortunes with the
Dispatch, and he scorned, at the time when the chief
honour of his ambition was in his view, to accept that
as the price of severing himself from the cause of this
paper, while he accepted its emoluments. We know
how this assertion will be received by those who opposed
him in his candidature for the office of Mayor of London.
It is true, nevertheless. The cause he maintained was
that right of conscientious public discussion, by those
engaged on the press, and charged with the considera-
tion of public affairs, which he felt that a proprietor had
no right to override. All his conduct, before and since,
was of a piece with this' conviction, that men who
had seriously devoted themselves to the study of public
affairs, who were capable of expressing their views to
the public, and were accepted by the public as teachers,
could not be justly diverted from their path, or biassed
in their conduct, by others who had a pecuniary right to
their services, but had not bought their convictions. The
opinions advocated in this paper, which were made, by
the bigots of the tune, the weapons of offence against the
public representative of a liberal and progressive journal,
might or might not be founded in justice, but we know
them to have been conscientious. It is but just to say
that the writer who was mainly answerable for them died,
as he lived, in the pursuasion of their truth and value,
and that, calmly upon his death-bed, aware of his dan-
ger, he declared he had written nothing which he did not
then believe, and which he would not willingly repeat.
In this we have no desire whatever to re-open what has
been disposed of, but let those who make a great parade
of death-bed opinions, and who look upon them as the
seals, not only of conscientious judgment, but of abstract
truth, learn a little charity, as well as other wisdom,
from this fact, and believe that ideas totally opposed to
any that they can conceive may be entertained upon con-
viction, and honestly promulgated as a duty. Let ano-
ther matter be remembered, that if the assaults upon
pretence and hypocrisy have since been tempered, the
offences themselves have grown less open and less rampant,
and have provoked contempt rather than scorn in those
who had to reprove them. The warfare has become
more civilised, and the need for demanding a fair hearing
even for the most extreme opinions, which was the offence
of the Dispatch in the eyes of its remarkably intelligent
civic critics, was occasioned by the arrogant inquisi-
torial bitterness with which the orthodox asserted their
right, not merely to damn hereafter, but to be exclu-
sively heard here. It was the battle of religious free-
dom of speech which Mr. Harmer became identified
with, and in which he and his allies have at least so far
triumphed, that there exists not the power in England
that dares condemn any man for entertaining and de-
claring any opinion,' provided it be conscientiously
adopted and asserted without unnecessary offence to
others. This is a result worth having lived and borne
somewhat for. It is our privilege also to record that he
never used the journal as an instrument of private pre-
ference or public influence ; that he never had the re-
motest idea of interfering with the scrupulous judgment
of its editor or contributors ; that, in taking pleasure
in its successes, he gave evident tokens of preferring those
which redounded to its credit to those which merely added
to his profits. He sometimes, indeed, while he remained in
public life shared most worthily in its labours. He contribu-
tedmost valuable exposures of the infamous conduct, the
daring perjuries, of common informers, and such writings
mainly assisted in procuring the amendment of the law,
by which a magistrate has the option of awarding a shil-
ling only of the penalty to the party who lays a success-
ful information. Nor did the "black sheep of the law"
escape from his effectual lash. But the main aim of him-
self and of his co-proprietor was always to sustain those
really responsible for the conduct of the paper in the
fearless and conscientious discharge of their duties. At
the dinner given to the proprietors by the medical pro-
fession—in recognition of the efforts of the journal to
put down the nuisance of advertising quackery, Dr.
Birkbeck filling the chair—Mr. Harmer, in returning
thanks for the complimentary proceedings of the occa-
sion, limited his merit and that of his associate to their
readiness to encounter all pecuniary risks in holding up
to public detection and shame the evils which concern
the public. His words are worthy of remembrance :
" They had at all times instructed the editor of their
journal to avoid private slander, but at the same
time boldly and fearlessly to attack all public abuses
whenever they were known to him to exist, and he
believed the editor had on all occasions fulfilled
those instructions to the very letter." We can bear tes-
timony how cheerfully the consequences of this deter-
mination have at all times been met. His words were
no empty professions. And in the social circle, in which
ev cry year every member of the establishment, from the
highest to the lowest, was invited to partake of that din-
ner and holiday of the " office" at which he presided, on
a thorough equality with his humblest dependents, it
was well to remark the interest he took in the fortunes
of all connected with him, the desire that they should
thrive in his prosperity. He was one of the few masters
worth serving ; for he was a true man who might be
trusted to appreciate service.
It is the fate of prosperity always to be conservative ;
and of wealth always to be cowardly. So long as a news-
paper has its way to make in the world, nothing is too
bold or fearless for its proprietors. They demand spirit,
life, " slashing composition," at any cost or any hazard.
But whenever the circulation becomes large, and the ad-
vertisements become numerous, proprietors tremble for
their property; become timid in reference to every article
and writer; interfere in everything, permit nothing to be
inserted of the exact safety or effect of which they are
not fully assured. To award him his due share of a praise
which is not his alone, it showed at once Mr. Harmer's
astuteness, knowledge of mankind, and philosophical cou-
rage that he saw the prosperity of the paper could best be
expected to continue by holding on in the same course
in which it first earned its name and influence ; that if
men be earnest and true in their thought and utterance,
they may perfectly rely on the sympathy of mankind,
even to "a setter forth of strange doctrines," if these
be sound and real ; and that the composition which will
infallibly meet with the surest acceptance from the
public is that which proceeds from the man who speaks
from the truth and conviction that are in him—not from
the text that is set to him by a. proprietor. It was his
sterling good sense and high-minded respect for the
truthfulness of public instructors, which made the con.
tributors to this journal feel that it was not the proprie-
tors, but the writers, who were responsible for its pro-
sperity.
He addressed with a simple eloquence the friends who
assembled to present him with a valuable testimonial of
their regard, when he was defeated in his hopes of
the Mayoralty, the not unworthy prize of one who had
been identified in fortunes and friendships with the City
of London. He told them that he was the son of
a Spitalfields weaver, left an orphan at 10 years of age.
He spoke of his father as a kin d man, though a poor one
and he must have been a kind loan, in such circumstances
to have left such an impression. The young James
Harmer knew little, of course, but he worked. He
learned to write a good hand--n clear, manly one it was
to the last. At that time, 179:1, there were, fortunately
for him, no stamps upon attor rdes' articles, and he was
articled to an attorney. And. now comes a bit of ro-
mance worthy of Dickens. Thte poor Spitalfields lad fell
in love, and, though he was timed out of his employer's
office for his folly, he conqnexed circumstances, and
married the lady he was attaalied to. He had his ar-
ticles transferred to Messrs. Fletcher and Wright, of
Bloomsbury, one of whom, so) n e fifty years afterwards,
was obliged unwillingly to ibrego the pleasure and
honour of standing by his side,. when his friends met to
vindicate his claim to the hon our he had been refused.
Much of his great practice as: an attorney was in the
Criminal Court. In that he er einced a sagacity and wis-
dom which, had they been e x erted in another rank,
would, beyond all doubt, have raised him to the Bench.
For it would, indeed, be in cjiustice to estimate Mr.
m. 4 re successful deviser or
Harmer as a lawyer, as a
refuter of quibbles, or an ari anger of evidence. He
was born for his work, and h. e did it. In the days in
which he practised, the law wa. s the wholesale murderer.
The entire sympathies of scruiety were, by a most
righteous instinct, identified rc ith those who sought to
save even criminals from most wickedly disproportionate
punishment. When Judge 11 eoth thought it a mercy to
hang a man for cutting down a young tree, because he
thought society would make t' Ito poor wretch a Pariah—
when Fleet-street shopkeepei s insisted upon executions
for the security of the goods e) posed at their door—when
the Bank made capital puni aliment and its notes one
idea—when decent firms, hor ?ever they might incur the
abhorrence of their brothers in :trade, prosecuted to death
the youths who, as clerks, rob (bed them of a few pounds,
there need some ingenuity on the other side which
should now and then baffle th to legal Moloch of a victim.
And what Mr. Harmer witn( esed as a legal practitioner
he made tell upon the public opinion and Parliamentary

FEVER IN TILE HOUSE OP CORRECTION.—Typhus fever,
of an alarming type and malignant character, has broken
out amongst the prisoners confined in the Middlesex
House of Correction, Clerkenwell, and several deaths
have occurred. It would appear that the outbreak of
fever in this densely crowded prison is, in a main degree,
attributable to the magistrates committing parties affected
with illness, and even with fever, as was instanced in the
last fatal case in the prison, when the deceased, a mendi-
cant, was sentenced by the magistrate, and conveyed,
while suffering from fever, in the van with the other pri•
soners to the house of correction, where immediately upon
his admission, he was sent to the infirmary. Mr. Wakley,
the coroner, and the juries that sat upon the bodies of
the persons who died of fever, and Dr. Wakefield, the
surgeon of the prison, blamed the magistrates for send-
ing prisoners suffering from disease and fever to a place
where, from its crowded state, its inmates were more or
less susceptible of an epidemic ; and they also expressed
a hope that in future no prisoners suspected of suffering
from disease would be sent there before the divisional

surgeon certified that it was neither infectious or conta-
gious. This precaution is essentially necessary, as the
prisoners in the house of correction generally average
1,200. Dr. Wakefield and his coadjutor, Dr. Smyles,
have constantly complained of wretched vagrants having
been sent to the prison, who were more suited for the
workhouse infirmary than a gaol.
EXTRAORDINARY DEATH.—Mr. W. Baker held an
inquest on Saturday, at the Cannon Tavern, Cannon-
street, St. George's in the East, respecting the death of
Elizabeth Amy Kemble, aged 32 years, who, it was
stated, was a descendant of the late John Philip Kemble
the tragedian, and lived with her sister, a sempstress, at
No. 2, Green-bank, Wapping. On Sunday night she
went into the shop of Mr. Solomon, in the Back-road,
and was taken very ill. After remaining there nearly
two hours, the servant asked if a surgeon should be
sent for. The deceased said, "Oh no, fetch Joe Bray,
for lam dying." The young man Bray, who worked in
a stable opposite, was called, and the deceased was taken
home in a cab. The deceased had cohabited with Bray,
but through his ill usage she had left him for some time.
Dr. Henry Letheby made a post morZent examination.
On opening the abdomen about half a pail of blood
escaped, and upon seeking for the cause he found that
the deceased had died from internal hemorrhage. Wit-
ness found that the deceased was eight weeks advanced
in pregnancy, but it was a false conception, which,
through the increase in the size of the child, had burst,
breaking the blood-vessels and causing her to bleed to
death. The jury concurring, returned a verdict of Natu-

ral Death.
THE NATIONAL LAND COMPANY.—MASTER'S OFFICE,
CHANCERY-LANE, SATURDAY.—A fresh and important
step in the slow process of winding up this scheme was
taken on Saturday, at the meeting before Master
Richards, at which Mr. Roxburgh, Mr. Pratt (counsel),
the official manager, and other parties, were present.
The allottees had elected to prepare their own con-
veyances of their respective allottments from the official
manager and trustees to themselves, at their own ex-
pense, and the question settled was, the form of such
conveyance, subject to the rent-charge. Considerable
discussion ensued as to the rights to be conferred on the
official manager of distress and re-entry, or in default of
payment, and the costs of the deeds. Ultimately the
Master approved of a form, and expressed his hope that
the three trustees named by Mr. O'Connor, namely, Mr.
T. S. Duncombe, M.P., Mr. Searll, and Mr. Ernest
Jones, who were formal parties, would concur without
delay, and expedite the winding-up. When these con-
veyances are completed the company and the allottees
will have legal titles, and be able to dispose of their
respective interests. Already has 10,0001. been bor-
rowed by the official manager on security of the pro-
perty unallotted, and the rent charges, and the sale of
all the interest, will enable a wind-up to be accom-
plished by payment of the expenses and a dividend to
the shareholders. Complaints prevail of the snail-like
progress of this case, whose wind-up has occupied about
four years already.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRE NEAR BIRMINGHAM. —At mid-

night on Saturday a fire was discovered, and a few
minutes afterwards it burst forth and spread with extra-
ordinary rapidity, on the works of Messrs. J. H. Porter
and Son, situate beyond Spring-hill. near the Heath, a
short distance from Birmingham. The buildings, which
were still far from completed, extended over a very large
area, and had been recently erected by Messrs. Porter
for purposes connected with the galvanised iron manu-
facture, and especially for the construction of iron
buildings for California and Australia. The demand
for this novel description of building has within the last
few months, become so enormous, that Messrs. Porter
have been compelled to hurry on the manufacture
before the works were thoroughly completed, so that
in addition to the extensive ranges of shedding on the
premises there was a very large quantity of timber for
future use. Up to a very late hour at night everything
was apparently safe at the works ; they were so seen
within a quarter of an hour of the fire bursting forth
with the violence above described, when flames suddenly
shot out and spread instantaneously from shed to shed
with so much fury, that in a few minutes the whole
range of building was wrapped in one huge volume of
flame, so great that the valley on one side and table land
on the other, for a mile round, was lit up with a terrible
grandeur. The effect was increased, too, by the exces-
sive darkness of the night, and although the rain poured
down in torrents, for the first quarter of an hour, the
fire increased so prodigiously, that there was little
hope of saving any portion of the premises. The
population turned out in thousands, and expresses
having been dispatched to Birmingham,
in a very short
time the engines from the various fire-offices were on
the spot, and in full work ; but in the meantime the
fire had gained ground so rapidly that for some time
little progress was made in checking the progress of de-
struction, the huge sheets of flame, which the piles of
burning timber sent forth, being but slightly diminished
by the streams of water poured upon them. No precise
, information is known as to the cause of this occurrence,
but there seems good reason to believe that it was en-
tirely accidental.