The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-14 00:00:00

Derby, without putting Mr. Lawrence Heyworth and
his friends to the incalculable expense of a petition. A
simple process in an ordinary court of law, a judicial
tribunal created for the purpose, a local commission of
inquiry in every case of disputed return, and even an
oath put to every member, obliging him to state his be-
lief that no bribery had been committed to bring about
his return, could not but abate the nuisance. But the
House of Commons is not serious on this point, nor will
it ever be till the terror of some imminent catastrophe—
the ballot, perhaps—drives it to the work of self-purifi-
eation.

That there is no real necessity for very strong mea-
sures, much less for so great an experiment as the ballot
would undoubtedly be, we may see from the case before
us. How much has been done under the existing state
of the law ? First, "W. B." censured and disgraced ;
then Mr. Frail in trouble and denounced ; then his
agent, Mr. Morgan, caught, examined before magistrates,
indicted, a true bill returned against him, and to be'put
on his trial forthwith, or his bail forfeited ; then a con-
siderable number of persons found guilty of bribery, and
requiring only the operation of the police to be forth-
coming ; then thirteen corrupt voters struck from the
poll, and just as easily struck from the register, if
the house desires ; finally, the sitting member un-
seated, and the petitioner put in his place. All
this has been done with the existing machinery of
the law, and, though it is true plenty of money
has been spent in the process, and there has been
treason in the camp of the member petitioned
against, no one can read the evidence and the report
before us without feeling that every case of a corrupt
return could be investigated with the same success, if
the house only wished it. It is the will alone that is
wanting. But how can that will not be wanting when
the facts are as everybody knows them to be ? With
some few happy exceptions, every member of the Lower
House knows that, since last July, he has paid to some-
body, on account of his election, a sum very much
larger than his legal expenses could possibly amount to.
Indeed, be has not ventured to ask what those legal
expenses are. He shuts his eyes to the expenditure as
much as the miserable creatures who confess in the
evidence before us that they presented themselves at a
bedroom door backwards, with their hands behind them,
and received 2/. without seeing the donor. What one
takes blindly the other gives blindly also. It's a case
of walking backwards with one's hand behind through-
out the whole affair ; the candidate and his constituents
walking backwards about the town, and sovereigns pas-
sing from one unseen hand to another. Of the whole
656 members, at least 600 know by the diminished
balance at their banker's, if not by a still severer proof,
that this is the real fact of the case, and coward con-
science accordingly unnerves them. Nay, since nothing
is so bad as hypocrisy, and itself acquires a new horror
when it pretends to be virtue, we cannot complain that
the House of Commons refuses to manifest any extra-
ordinary indignation at every proved case of bribery.
They that are so happy as not to be petitioned against
only congratulate themselves on their good fortune, and
blame not the sins, but the blunders and inexperience of
the less fortunate. But this state of things cannot long
endure. Something must and will be done, or we shall
have the ballot, and Heaven knows what beside. We
must set our House in order, or we shall lose it, and
with it, most probably, no small portion of what is
valuable in the British constitution.—Times of Thursday.

STATE OF TRADE.

(From the Manchester Guardian of Saturday.)

MANCHESTER, MARCH 11.—The receipts of cotton at
the American ports continue to be so much larger than
was expected, as to give rise to a very general persuasion
in this market that existing prices cannot be maintained.
Spinners are willing to take fully Ad. per lb. less than
they would accept last week ; and manufacturers also are
prepared to make some little concession from what they
then required for most articles. Since the decline com-
menced, we have lost id. to Ad. per lb. in the me-
dium and lower counts of twist and weft—warps, pin-
cops, and India mule having suffered in the greatest de-
gree. Even printing cloths do not command quite the
same prices, and 40-inch shirtings are now fully 44d.,
6d., and 7Ad. per piece below the late highest rates. To-
day there is a more decided impression than there was
either on Tuesday or yesterday, that a further decline
must take place in the raw material.

GLASGOW, MARCH 11.—The cotton market during the
week has been very quiet, and the amount of business
transacted rather limited.

BRADFORD., MARCH 10.—Wool—The transactions in
all sorts of combing wools are not large. The prices
sought and held for totally preclude the spinners from
buying, and the staplers act on the defensive, seeing no
chance of replacing their stocks.
NOTTINGHAM, MARCH 10.—That the trade of this
town has increased very considerably of late years, there
can be no dispute, but with the exception of a trifling
extent to the United States, and a few of the States of
South America, there does not appear to be any decisive
increase in the amount of export to foreign countries.
We have heard of some Nottingham goods that have
been sent to Australia having realised large profits.
The lace and hosiery trades remain much in the same
condition we have recently reported them.
LEICESTER, MARCH 10.—The confidence felt by many
manufacturers, that the present advanced rates both of
worsted and cotton will be maintained, keeps employ-
ment plentiful. There is a fair business doing in the
' warehouses for the season in worsted goods, and the
demand for cotton hose is very extensive.

SUSPECTED MURDER.—On Saturday afternoon Mr.
W. Carter, coroner of the eastern division of Surrey,
held an inquest at the King's Arms, Rotherhithe, on the
body of a female unknown, who was found in the River
Thames on Tuesday last, with a very extensive lacerated
scalp wound, and some other serious injuries. Mr.
Crutch, surgeon, of Rotherhithe, deposed that he had
made an examination of the body, but could not posi-
tively state whether the wound on the head had been
received before or after deceased was in the water. The
body not being owned, and the coroner having expressed
his opinion that in such a serious case further evidence
ought to be obtained, the inquiry was adjourned for a
week.

CALIFORNIAN INDUSTRY. —Owing to the spongy,
' springy nature of the soil in the burying-ground of San
Francisco, many of the corpses there interred, instead of
decaying, have been converted into a substance well
known to chemists by the name of adipocere--a sub-
stance analogous to, and intermediate between, stearine
and spermaceti. In passing the ground this morning to
my place of employment, I saw a person busily engaged.
in collecting the adipocere from the exposed bodies.
Struck by the singularity of his employment, I interro-
gated him as to its object, when he coolly replied, that
he was gathering it to make soap. —The Panama .Herald.
NEW ZEALAND.—The following is an extract from
a letter dated Wellington, New Zealand, Septem-
ber 6, 1852 :—" We are at present in a very
awkward position here. The return of a few people
within the last ten days from the goldfields, where
they have been very successful, and letters from
others who left but a few weeks since, have created
such an excitement that it is hard to say what will
be the immediate consequences. I really believe that
hundreds will leave. It is not only the labourer,
but the mechanic and shopkeeper are also infected
The auri sacra fames has even seized upon and
overcome the laziness of the natives, many of whom,
it is reported, are about to go to the diggins.' The
next twelve months will be a most trying time ; no
labour, business at a dead lock, and bread high. I po-
sitively believe that our new constitution will arrive
when there will not be sufficient males to work it. I
am not, however, in a desponding mood. I think that
most of the people will return ; if successful, Cant mieux ;
if otherwise, they will buckle to again, as before, satis-
fied that there is no good to' be got- by roaming. Per-
haps the land question may in the meantime be settled ;
it it just now as unsettled as ever ; no arrangement yet
made for selection of the supplemental orders, or for ex-
changing lands selected in unpurchased districts-"

STRANGE AFFAIR.—NOTTINGHAM Thursday. —Con-
siderable sensation was created this morning in the
neighbourhood of the new bath and washhouse, Notting-
ham, in consequence of the following tragical occurrence
It appears that this morning, at about a quarter to one
o'clock, a matt, named David Bain, a smith, employed at
the establishment of Messrs. Cowan, left the works, and
proceeded towards his own house. When near the baths
he observed three men, and upon passing them he wished
them " Good night." One of them returned an offen-
sive answer, and Bain remarked, " You
.are very polite."
Upon which Bain was instantly struck across the eyes
and forehead by one of the fellows. A scuffle between
the former and his opponent ensued, and he got away
from his antagonist by knocking him down. A second
ruffian then attacked Bath, and the man, after a scuffle,
also shared the same fate as his accomplice. The smith
then ran away towards his home, and was followed
by the third fellow, who overtook him about. 30
yards distant from his companions. Bain then turned
round upon the man, and said, "If you follow
me, you will have something." The ruffian then turned
back, and Bain was not further molested.
LOSS AND RECOVERY OF £I.OO.—HONESTY REWARDED.

—A few days since, Charles Blasden, a cab driver, badge
1,392, took up two gentlemen at Osborne's Hotel Adel-
phi, and conveyed them to the terminus of the South-
Western Railway. About half-an-hour afterwards he
was called by a fare in Dean's-yard, Westminster, and
on opening the door of the vehicle discovered a purse
amongst the straw, the contents of which consisted of a
cheque, drawn in favour of Mr. Arbuthnot or bearer, for
1001., and some silver ; when he had deposited his last
Eire he drove with all possible dispatch to the Adelphi,
for the purpose of making inquiries respecting the two
gentlemen whom he had taken from that establishment.
On arriving, one of them, who had returned and was in
a state of great excitement, on account of his loss, asked
the driver if he had seen anything of a purse ? The reply
was prompt and in the affirmative ; at the same time
the purse and contents were handed over to the owner,
who with extreme liberality presented the driver with
half-a-crown for his honesty, loss of time, and trouble.

[ADVERTISEMENT.]—EQUITY AND Law LIFE ASSUR-
ANCE SOCIETY.—The annual general meeting of this
society was held at the offices, 26, Lincoln's-inn-Fields,
on Friday, the 11th instant,—George Lake Russell,
Esq., in the chair. It appeared, by the . report of the
directors, that 4,3171. 7s. 7d. had been received for new
premiums on assurances in 1852 ; that the expences of
management had been diminished, while the losses by
death was 2,000/. below those of the preceding year, and
less by upwards of 1,6001. than the amount received for
new premiums. The receipts for the year exceeded the
charge by upwards of 17,0001., and the investments had
increased in the same period nearly 22,0001. The retir-
ing directors and auditors were re-elected.

li .. i ~