The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-22 00:00:00

THE BABINGTON CONSPIRACY.

Homer, for asserting that even the Macedonian conqueror ,
who boasted a descent from the ruler of Olympus, did oc-
casionally doze :

" Until at length, with love and wine opprest,
The vanquish'd victor sank upon her breast."
Far be it from us to suspect, that either the one or other
of those soporific influences throws its Morphine charm
over the faculties of our Colonial Secretary. Sleep he
does, however, as soundly as Alexander ever did, and pro-
bably without such visions as beguiled " the blind old man
of Scio's rocky isle." Timotheus sweeping the strings of
his lyre, in the frenzy of impassioned genius, dispelled the
enamoured trance of the victor of the Granicus. We

question if any instrumental performer in England, from
Lindley, with his violoncello, and Dragonetti with his bas-

soon, to the man who plays the double drums at the Italian
Opera, or the hurdy-gurdy Orpheus of the Arcadia of St.
Giles's, could succeed in breaking the slumbers of such an
accomplished, steady, out-and-out sleeper as our Colonial
Secretary. No, neither organ or trombone, or even Scotch
bagpipe, or any other instrument could do it. It demanded
vocal powers of a rare and extraordinary kind, the vocal
powers of such an orator as Lord Brougham—a master of
sarcastic eloquence—one who could throw the " concen-
trated bitterness" of faded friendship and disappointed am-
bition into every tone, intonation, and accent of his exas-
perated rhetoric ; and well did he address himself to the
task of dispersing the slumbers of his late colleague and
noble " friend," like one who felt he " had his work to
do"—to

" Break his bands of sleep asunder,
And rouse him with a rattling peal of thunder."
Whoever could haye continued to sleep under the pelting
of such a pitiless storm of invective, caustic ridicule, so-
lemn irony, and merciless sarcasm, as Lord Brougham let
loose upon his fjrmer colleagues, and more especially upon
the Colonial Minister, of whom he was once the satisfied
yoke-fellow in the harness of " do-little" and " do-less"
reform—weoever, we say, could have continuedto sleep under
such "iron sleet of arrowy shower" must have a gift that way
which Sancho Panza himself might have envied. It was
too much for the " passive resistance" of Lord Glenelg's
quiescent constitution. It effectually roused him. It
opened his eyes, his ears, his understanding—it unsealed
every sense, and they svho saw him under the infliction of
that excoriating speech—the " schoolmaster's" long-
pickled and fiercely-flourished rod—say that no man in
this world was ever more thoroughly awake 1.

" Hark ! the horrid sound
Has raised up his head ;
Amazed, he stares around
As one waked from the dead I"
A sudden excitement from great torpor is somotimes suc-
ceeded bye confusion of mind closely allied to stupefaction.
If Lord Glenclg suffered this sort of inconvenience from
the electrifying process of the ca-Chancellor, he had time
to recover from it before the time arrived for him to reply.
But previously to that time the great experimentalist upon
the nervous system of his Lordsh;p had decamped—vulgo
" bolted." This was all the better for Lord Glenelg, who
summoned courage to grasp one of those thunderbolts of
Roman eloquence which Cicero hurled at the head of Cali-

line, and sent it smoking after the fugitive patron of the
Cana'lian conspirators. " evasit, eritpii," exclaimed
the writhing Secretary, in a tone of unwonted animation.
" Having t anted," he continued, " his thunder with no
sparing hand, and having also heap, l upon me those mea-
sures of wrath and indignation which se: ned to be inex-
haustible in his mighty bosom, be has at length shown rne,
that having discharged his deadly bolts, he is capable, lake
the Thuclerer, of veiling himself in clouds." Only think
of Lord Gienelg grasping the lightnings of Tully end
B-o igliam, with a prescience of dagger f:.orn the awakening
foe, similar to what the Scottish seers call " second sight,"
scampering from the anticipated vengeance! During three
lm:g hours did the ex-Chancellor operate upon his Minis-
terial victims, but to wait half an hour longer for the
reto -t courteous was more than his Scotch philosophy cr
his constitution could bear. So it was with Papineau,
Browne, and M'Kenzie. They launched their rebel-thun•
drs, and, alarmed at their ovn noise, fled! In truth it
was a sight doleful and, at the same time, delectable to
behold ; only the graphic humour of Gilray mild have
done it justice, or that of his able successor, who attests
his identity with the same initials that are used by the
learned Lord Harry himself. It is possible that if Hogarth
lived 'n these day, and had witof.ssed the process of flay-
ing old friends alive," as practised by the learned Baron
who studied anatomy while on the woolsack, he would have

tahen some hints fro:n it for an additional series of his

" Provess of Cruelty." One dly a noble friend taken ab•
ruptly -from his easy chair in the sinecure office of the
duchy of Lancaster, is laid upon the table of the great ope-
rator, and made to feel severer twitches than he ever did
from his old enemy, the gout. Another day a lecture is
given upon the " hanging" of a Premier's " glazing,"
tongue : the peculiar construction of that courtly organ is
examined with curious and cruel precision, and its aptitude
for performing in high company the office of that singular
production of nature, called " Venus's fly-trap," is ably and
clearly demonstrated, only substituting for "Venus" the
name of " Adonis." These and other experiments of a
similar kind will undoubtedly raise the Majendie of the
senate to high, if not unrivalled scientific reputation, un-
less a well-known Society should be enabled to stop his
career by bringing his experimental lectures within the pro-
visions of " Martin's Act."—Morning Herald.
Lord John Russell's proposed " Bill to abridge plum&

_ .
tics, and to make better provision for the residence of the '
clergy," which was postponed tdl after the recess, will, we
presume, take precedence of other subordinate measures
as soon as the paramount Canadian question has been dis-
posed of. It is a most excellent measure, and whatever
may be the other deficiencies of ecclesiastical reform, will
very effectually complete one desirable step in Church re
formation. Equalization of ecclesiastical incomes is one of
the great interior reforms of the Church of England, de-
manded both by the spirit of the age and by the per-
manent interests of the Establishment itself. Something
has been accomplished towards this object by the present
GoVernment ; but what has been done is very inadequate
to meet the entire merits and claims of the question. The
incomes of the Bishops have been rated at far too high a
scale ; and the average incomes of the working clergy have
not been made sufficiently remunerative for their bona
fide exertions. In order to make good the de-
ficiencies left by this primary abuse, another abuse
(to which Lord John Russell's Bill applies, viz.,
that of non-residence and of pluralities,) has been suf-
fered hitherto to exist to a wide and mischievous extent.
During the predominance of the High Church Tory Mi-
nistry, a systematic jobbing in Church pluralities and non-
residentship was carried on to a most flagitious extent.
Livings in distant parts of the country were given to High
Church partizans, as rewards for their enmity or their
treachery to Reformers, and for their general " thick and
thin" partizanship of the High Church Ministry. In these
cases the clerical jobbers were never expected to visit
their flocks except with a view of fleecing them periodi-
cally for their private benefit. These abuses are not per-
petrated now. But what is the interior condition of
the Church at the present day ? On the one hand we
see golden prebendaries and cathedral dignitaries—exhi-
biting a luxurious ostentation., foreign to the genius of
Christianity, by the possession of large incomes de-
rived from a plurality of livings. The opposite group-
ing of the picture, on the other hand, exhibits the working
clergymen in Wales, and in other remote districts of
the country, ekeing out a miserable subsistence by means
of petty pluralities—riding post-haste from Church to
Church in order to go through a hasty and disreputable
service ; and possibly working in their own field during the
remainder of the week, in order to make up the deficiency
of their starving incomes. We are not stating on this oc-
casion a problematical case, but a fact which we have our-
selves witnessed. The exhibition produced by the con-
trasted lights and shades of the whole picture is this—that
the functionaries of the Church who do work are paid little
or nothing for their labour, while those who do not work
are paid inordinately for doing nothing. Might not a sur-
plus, drawn from those inordinate episcopal endowments,
which are as injurious to the Church as: they are alien from
the simple manners of the first Episcopai be devoted to the
palliation, or the removal of this ecclesiastinal scandal ?
Are there not ecclesiastical funds misappropriated and
wasted sufficient for the purpose ? Why is not Queen's
Anne's bounty fairly applied as intended ? If that
fund were honestly maintained from the first
fruits and tenths of episcopal incomes, according to
law, there would be amply sufficient to provide de-
cent incomes for the working clergy. Of this we
are certain, that the pluralities kept up by the op-
posite extremes of luxury and penury, equally scan-
dalous, and equally injurious to the reputation and in-
fluence of the Church, cannot be longer maintained in the
face of public opinion. They are not suited to the times.
Society has no sympathy with deputyship. The abuse vio-
lates its ordinary feelings of probity and common sense. In
every soeial function, it expects that every man shall be
adequately paid for his labour ; but it also expects that he
shall not do it by proxy or by deputy. It expects that he
ould do it himself—that he should not pretend to perform
duty in two places at the same time, nor to undertake and
eceiee remuneration for attempting to do that which he
nnot honestly accomplish. We are not now arguing the
uestion of an exterior reform of the Church. A thorough a
xterior reform would greatly serve its ultimate nd perma-
ent interests ; but the time is not yet ripe for it, although
will inevitably come. That thorough Reform will doubt-
S 3 embrace a due adjustment of all the funds of the
. leurch, and their re-appropriation to their three-fold ob-
ect—ineirection, charity, and clerical remuneration. We
. re confining ourselves to the question of an interior Re-
form of the Church Establishment. To that it func-
tionaries are perfectly competent. An inane-fiat e remedy
for the abuse is expedient for the present as well as the
future interest of the Church. The visible corruption of

pluralities impairs its efficacy, cripples its influence—hn-
pairs it means, nourishes dissent—creates contempt, alike
for its dishonest partiality and unjust misappropriation of
service—for its mingled meanness and ostentation—and
infects it with a disvaluation in public opinion, which—like
the dry rot—is always the moral precursor of a substantial
decay at heart aad ultimate downfall.—Morning Advertiser.

Anthony Babington (whose collateral descendant is the pre-
sent Thomas Babington, Esq., of Rothley Temple, in Leices-
tershire), was attainted in the time of Queen Elizabeth for
conspiring to release Mary Queen of Scots, and is a conspi-
cuous person at that period of our history. Sir Walter
Scott describes him as " a young gentleman of good parts,
large fortune, and an amiable disposition, but addicted to ro-
mantic ideas on the subject of love and friendship, and an un-
hesitating zealot in the cause of the Catholic religion." The
plot originated with three Catholic priests, two of the name of
Gifford, and the third Hodgson; and it contemplated the death
of Elizabeth, with the consequent enfranchisement of Mary. It
was first determined that Savage, an English Catholic, holding
a commission in the Spanish service, should put Eliza-
beth to death with his own hand ; but it being considered
afterwards as rash in the extreme to entrust an object so im-
portant to a single arm, Babington undertook to carry the plot
into execution with a band of ten gentlemen, with whom he
was connected by the closest bonds of community in studies
and amusements. The names of these persons were-1N ind-
sor, Salisbury, Tilney, Tichbourne, Gage, Travers, Berne-
wall, Cheswick, Dunn, and Jones. The number was more than
double that deemed requisite, but the rash and romantic mind
of Babington totally unfitted him to lead such a band of conspi-
rators. His imagination, excited in an extraordinary degree,
displayed by one single act his utter incapacity. This was
nothing less than the causing to be painted a picture, repre-
senting six of the principal associates, with his own portrait
in the centre, the whole bearing a motto expressive of some
hazardous purpose in which they were engaged. Babington,
in the arrangement of the special part which each conspirator
was to perform, as might have been expected, assumed for his
own share the most romantic and least guilty portion of the
enterprise, by undertaking the liberation of Mary from
the place of her confinement. What a man of such
romantic character might hope from the gratitude of
a Queen released from prison, raised, as his extra-
vagant plan inferred, to a Crown far richer than that
which she had lost, besides the great chance of recoverinc the
government of her native kingdom, we can only guess at.
Thus far is known, that Queen Mary, exhausted by imprison-
ment, disease, and suffering, no longer possessed those per-
sonal charms which might have once inflamed to feats of
the moat ardent and extravagant valour in her cause the sons
of that chivalry which was not yet quite extinguished.
When she was permitted to repair for the advantage of her
health to the hot baths of Buxton, she is described as an elderly,
lame, and bloated woman, altogether deprived, by long years of
retirement and misery, mental and bodily, of those personal at.
tractions which she once possessed in such an eminent degree.
She was however sequestered from public view ; and a warm
imagination, like that of Babington, might figure her in hie
idea as still possessed of her unrivalled charms; or perhaps,
her high rank as Queen might, in his opinion, compensate fur
advanced age and personal deficiencies. Salisbury, with
others, were to assemble forces in the neighbouring counties,
while Tichbourne, Savage, and four associates, undertook the
assassination of Elizabeth. The plot was discovered through
a person named Polly, a spy of \Valsingham's, who had en-
gratiatedhimself with the conspirators ; and one of the Gil-
fords havieg turned informer, Babington was arrested with the
whole of the band, excepting Salisbury, who effected his
escap! abroad, and lodged in the Tower. Being separately
examined, they confessed their guilt, were Wird, condemned,
and executed.. —Extr- acts from Burke's Commoners, Part 15.

TILE LILY STEAM-BOAT.—Saturday night shortly
before eight, a fire broke out in the engine-room of dne of
the steam-boats, named the Lib, belonging to the London
and Westminster Company. This vessel is moored with
several others off Hungerford-market, and in consequence of
tie severe frost for the last few days has discontinued running
up and down the river with passengers :o and from London-
bridge. Saturday afternoon a fire was iglited in the engine-
room for the purpose of oiling and I.,2eping in repair the
works of the engines, and about dusk c men came on shore,
having left every thing apparently pe 'ectly safe. About a
quarter to eight o'clock, however, M. Baxter and another
salesman belonging to the market we: going to take some
refreshment at the Dolphin tavern, wi - •, they discovered the
fore and aft cabins on fire. They inst ly spread the alarm,
and in a few seconds a strong muster of itermen hastened on
board to assist in extinguishing the fl while messengers
had been dispatched to the Chandos-: -ct station, the men
and engines from which were speedily Attendance. The fire
spread with frightful rapidity, and an was formed at one
time of scuttling the vessel, but .throe the exertions of all
present the fire was fortunately extitr lilted without adopt-
ing that remedy. The vessel is insuL iin the London As-
surance Company.
- - - - -

S Iturdav an accident, attended with a fatal result,
occurred at Battersea, by which a poor woman and six help-
less children have been bereaved of th( protector and only
support. Between three and four o'cloc't a number of men in
the employ of Mr. Upton, engineer, of Battersea, after having
partaken of refreshment at the OA S xan Tavern, near the
Church, went to a pond in the neighLoo, hood, which is sup-
plied from the Thames, for the purpose of anv,sing themselves
with skating and sliding. The party bad not been long on
the iae when it gave way, and the whole of them were im-
mersed in the water. It was nearly dark when the catastrophe
took place ; and, from the isolated situation of the pond, it
was a considerable time before assistance arrived, when the
men were struggling amongst the ice, most of them in a state
of exhaustion. After great difficulty and danger, six out of
the seven who had fallen through the ice were rescued ; but
one unfortunate man, named Joseph Laleham, foreman to Mr.
Upton, perished. The poor fellow who lost his life was a
very steady, sober, and industrious man ; and, what is deeply
to be deplored, he has left a widow advanced in pregnancy and
six young children.

Lord and Lady Munster, and their family have
been passing the Christmas recess at Byam House, Brighton.
His Lordship was at Petworth for several days last week, for
the purpose of transacting family affairs with his brother-
in.law, Colonel Wyndham. Lady Burrell, and Mrs. King,
wife of John King, Esq., are the sisters of the Countess of
Munster who benefit by the will of the late Earl Egremont.
M.P.'S AND MORTALITY.—It has been re-
marked. as an extraordinary occurrence, that although six
months have elapsed since the election of the present Parlia-
ment, no vacancy has as yet been occasioned through death.
The average number of deaths among Hon. Members has
been estimated at eleven annually, or somewhat more than
one and a half per cent.
M. Archdall, Esq., M.P., has lost the sight of one
of his eyes by an attack of ophthalmia. The other eye, for
which serious apprehensions were entertained, is out of
danger. —Doncaster Gazette.
A Welsh Paper states that a gentleman in the town
or Brecon has a spaniel whose weight is only 42 ounces.
The late Earl of Eldon and Lord Stowell form the
most remarkable instance upon record of two brothers, by
more dint of talent, raising themselves from comparatively
low situations to those of the highest distinction in their pro-
fessions ; and each living to enjoy an 06111)1 CUM dignitate to
extreme old age.
Clara Novelle had the honour of singing before the
Grand Duchess at the Court of Weimar on the 17th of last
December. At the conclusion of the concert the Grand
Duchess condescendingly conversed very kindly for some time
with her, and after many compliments paid on her charming
performance, presented her with an embroidered purse, filled
with gold Fredericks, acid a set of turquoise necklace, ear-
rings, brooch, &e., as marks of her approbation.
MusrcAL ANitcDoTE.—Senerino and Farinelli,
when in England together, were engaged at different theatres
on the same night, and had not an opportunity of hearing
each other sing, until by one of those sudden stage revolu-
tions, at that period very rare, but at present by no means
unfrequent, they were both engaged to sing on the same stage.
Senerino had the part in a new opera of a furious tyrant to
represent, and Farinelli that of an unfortunate hero in chains ;
but in the course of the first song he so softened the heart
of the enraged tyrant, that Senerino, forgetting his stage
character, ran to Farinelli, and embraced him in his true one.
i\IARA AT OXPORD.—When this celebrated
singer was in the zenith of her popularity, she attended a
musical festival at Oxford (about 1784), and not having been
accustomed to join in the chorusses abroad, she sat still dur-
ing the performance of the first chorus ; but when she rose to
sing a solo, she was greeted with loud hisses ; upon which
she walked out of the orchestra, and went to her lodgings. A
deputation of gentlemen waited on her and promised she
should do as she pleased ; on which she returned and sung the
airs allotted to her, but not with the same effect as Orpheus,
for she did not charm the brutes ; and on her remaining seated
when another chorus was sung, the cry became universal—
Turn Mara out." Not understanding what the audience
said, she smiled ; this provoked them still farther. The Vice-
Chancellor said that it was always a rule for every vocal per-
former to join in the choruses ; on this being explained to
Mara by Miss Gurge, she said, " 0 I me does not know his
rules, me vil go home ;" and home she went.—Musical World.
The Shropshire Magistrates, at the late Sessions,
came to a unanimous resolution to apply to Government for a
Parliamentary enactment, enabling them to appoint and pay
out of the county rates an efficient rural police, the present
system not affording means either for the prevention or detec-
tion of crime.—Hereford Journal.
AMSTERDAM, JAN. 12.—The cold has set in all
at once with extraordinary severity. According to the ob-
servations, made eight times in the twenty-four hours, which
base been communicated to us, beginning on the Bth instant
at eight o'clock in the morning, when Fahrenheit's thermome-
ter was at 22 deg. (10 deg. below freezing point which is at
32 deg. above zero) ; the most severe cold was in the nights
of the Bth and 9th, when the mercury was at 8 and 8i deg.
On the 1 1 th, at eight o'clock in the morning, it was at
deg., since which it has been at 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 deg.
To-day it was at eight o'clock 11 deg., at half-past ten, 17
deg., and at one o'clock in the afternoon, 19 deg.
The Marylebone Coal and Potato Association, like
all the charitable associations and institutions of the country,
is in want of means to meet the increased demand upon its
funds during this inclement season.
At the close of a brilliant lecture on electricity on
Friday evening, at the Royal Institution, by Mr. Faraday, he
said he wished- to mention a piece of very foolish chemical
philosophy, which was too much practised at the present severe
season. People, said Mr. Faraday, are in the habit of sprink-
li g salt upon snow before their doors. They could not do a
'n "
more silly or injurious tiling. The result is to change dry
snow or ice, at the temperature of 32, to brine at 0. The in-
jurious effect of damp upon the feet at this excessive degree
of cold is likely to be extreme. If then, continued the Lec-
turer, any one does sprinkle salt upon snow in the street, be
I ought to feel it a matter of conscience to sweep it away
immediately.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

ROLLS' COURT, J.N. 20.
GREEN V. lIEWIT.

This was a bill filed-17; an assignee under the Insolvent
Court, to set aside the sale of an equity of redemption which
had been sold without the consent of the Insolvent Debtors'
Court, and contrary to the Act of Parliament. The defendant,
Mr. Hewit, purchased the equity of redemption of certain
leasehold houses, formerly the property of an insolvent named
Green, on which property he had lent 1,5001. on mortgage.
Mr. Laing, the former assignee, brought a suit into this Court
for an account of the estate ; but, before an answer was put in,
Mr. Hewit agreed with him, by consent of all the creditors of
the insolvent, to sell the equity of redemption and abate the
suit for the sum of 701., which was paid, and a conveyance
was made to the defendant.
The MASTER of the ROLLS said that there was net the
smallest charge of fraud in the transaction ; and the plaintiffs
having failed to show that the sale was to the disadvantage of
the insolvent's estate he must dismiss the bill, with costs.