The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-31 00:00:00

SCOTLAND.

THE StIPPEAGE.—CORN-LAW —On Thursday night, Mr.
Reed delivered his second and last lecture on this subject.
The attendance was very numerous, and the lecturer was
loudly applauded. At its conclusion Mr. Howison was called
to the chair, in the absence of Mr. Whiseham; and a rather
stormy discussion ensued, in which Mr. Waugh; Mr. Peddle,
and several others, took a share. By the one party, it was
contended that it was in vain to petition the House of Com-
mons to repeal the Corn-laws, so long as in that House
the landed interest held so great a preponderance. To this
the other party replied, that it was still more vain to ex-
pect that the House of Commons, as at pre'sent consti-
tuted, would ever grant Universal Suffrage, Annual Par-
liaments, and the other articles of the " National Pe-
tition." It was further observed that, as the Chartists
had professed to fix a period, within which, if their requests
wore not granted by Parliament, they would seek redress else-
where, the question came to be, on their principles, not which
of the two things is the House of Commons most likely to
grant, but on which of the two things will Reformers be best
able to take their stand against the -House of Commons in case
of a refusal ? Whether onli.e demand of an abstract, a theo
retical, and disputed right, or on the denunciation of a real,
practical, and most unquestionable grievance ? After a vote of
thanks to the lecturer, whkh was unanimously responded to
by l=oth parties, who, as far as we could judge, seemed equally
numerous, the meeting broke up.— Scotsman.
ANTI--ENDOWMENT MEETING IN LEITH —On Wednesday
evenit.g, a public meeting teas held in the Rev. Mr. Ste-art's
church, Leith, for the purpose of petitioning Parliament
ag&nst additional endowments to the Church of ScAland.
At the conclusion of the proceedings, a knot of Universal-
Suffrage agitators, headed by. one Partgier, made an attempt
to procure the sanction of the meeting to the so-called
" People's Charter," instead of a petition against endow-
ments ; but after some contusion, arising from the pertinacity
with which they insisted- upon being heard in a meeting with
which they had nothing to do, they were put down by almost
universal consent, and the petition against endowments carried
by general acclamation.—lbid.
RENFREWSIIIRE POLITICAL UNION. —A meeting of the
Council of this Union was held on Wednesday night, at
which Mr. Brewster attended, and which sat in deliberetion
till two o'clock next morning. The main features of dis-
cussion, we understand, was the respective merits of moral
and physical force, in carrying forward the movement of the
men of the Charter. The ph) sical force men proved most
numerous, r n I carried their point by a majority of ,22 to 19.
The minority deeming themselves inculpated thereby refused
to submit, and insisted that the matter should be laid before
the whole Union. A meeting of the Union was called next
day by tuck of drum, was held in the Old Low Church, and
protracted till midnight. At this second meeting the Secre-
tary explained what had been done on the night before, and
contended that the Union was bound to cancel the m, tion
that had been agreed to by the Council, for by that moCon
they had all been rendered amenable to the law, and might
fall into the fangs of Government, and a number of members
would retire.

The principal speaker of the evening was the Rev. Mr.
Brewster, who mov,d the following resolutions, which were
carried by acclamation :
" That the Renfrowshire Political Union most decidedly
and unequivocally condemn the conduct of all those who
have employed language, tending to recommend the use of
physical force, in gaining the obj, eta of the nat'onal petition
And ti's people's charter, as both illegal in itself, and as hi_hly
iljtuious to the pe-ple's cause. And, that we expressly re-
pudiate and renounce all connexion with such individuals,
and with all who approve of their conduct, and will not, in
any respect, recognise or co-operate with them, either di-
rectly, or indirectly, personally, or by deputy ; as associates,
or allies in this movement, till tbei have 'retracted the lan-
guage, and disowned the principles they have inculcated, or
appproved of in reference to physical force, until they have
given satisfactory assurance to us, that they will abstain from
such conduct in future.

" That we rely with unshaken confidence in the efficacy of
the many moral means the people possess for the achievement
of their rights. Beiag fully persuaded that such appeals to
physical force tend to diminish the vast influence o' moral
power, to rouse and keep alive the lowest and worst feelings of
their nature—to tempt them, smarting as they are under a
sense of manifold wrongs and sufferings, to make unlawful
attacks on persons and property, thereby alienating many
:riends of human freedom, and bringing disgrace on the sacred
_ause in which the people are so honourably engaged."
INCENDIARY FIRE.—On Thursday night about twelve
o'clock, the farm-yard of Mr. Famblt ton, at Hillend of Pent-
land (about five miles from Edinbur%:ll), was observed to be
on fire. The only damage done was, the destruction of two
large ricks of straw and one of hay ; but front the fury with
wbich the fire was raging when first discovered, and the di-
rection in which the wind blew the flames, there is every reason
to believe that, but for the timely efforts we have mentioned,
the whole contents of the yard (amounting to about twenty
stacks) must inevitably have been destroyed. Though nothing
has yet transpired to lead to the detection of the perpetrators
of this, barbarous ac', no doubt is entertained that it was the
wolk of an incendiary. —lbid.
ACTS ors SEDERUNT.—In virtue of powers given by the
late Court of Session statute, to meet during vacation or
recess for the purpose of preparing and passing Acts of Sede-
runt, the Judges of the Court of Session assembled on Mon-
day last, and -passed four Acts ; (1.) To regult-te the business
of the Bill- Chamber ; (2.) The form of extract; &c. ; (3.)
Proceedings in the Outer-House ; and (4.) The process of
Cessio- Bonorum. Taken in connexion with several recent
statutes to which they refer, these Acts of Sederunt, with the
schedules and forms annexed thereto, contain most valuable in-
formation for the members of the profession both in town and
country, as well as for all Extractors of Judgments, and
Keepers of' the Record of Deeds, Messengers-at-Arms, &c.
The Acts come into operation on Tuesday first.
CROWtED STATE OF THE GLASGOW HARBOUR. —On Friday
there were 69 applications for berths at the Bromielaw ; of
these 14 obtained inside places, 5 in the second tier, while 50
were unprovided for. On Saturday there were 60 applica-
tiona-7 berthed inside, 2 in the second tier, and 51 unpro-
vided for. —Glasgow Argus.
The London morning mail of Thursday did not reach town
last night (Saturday), cause of detention unknown. __Paisley
Advertiser.

Late on the night of yesterday week, three carters were on
their way from the west country to Paisley with three carts of
stones. When about a mile on this side of Barrhead the two
who were foremost heard an alarming cry behind, and on run.
ning back to see what occasioned it, they found the cart
stopped by the body of James Findlater, the carter, being
jammed between the tram and the wheel ; they had much
difficulty in extricating the body, and before they could do so
life was extinct. His face being towards the cart, it is sup-
posed he bad missed his footing when jumping up, and thus
met his untimely fate. The night was very dark.—lbid.