The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 18.1

They frequently travel about to seek Work, and after
going twenty, thirty) or fifty miles, as is given in evi-
dence, return home without having found any. An
inquiry by letter, made at the expense of a penny, or
a smaller sum, would have saved them a fruitless jour-
ney. The Shoemakers' Society at Nottingham, says
Mr. HENSON, tell me that 350 persons have come
there for relief ; they allow them 6d. in money, and a
bed, the bed is 3d. ; very few of those persons would
have gone on the tramp, if they could have sent circu-
lar letters to a number of the largest towns in
England at ld., to leceive information whether a
job could be got or not. But when a man
goes on such expeditions, the wife and family are,
perhaps, left behind, " and the mental anguish,"
says Mr. HENSON, " I have known them to suffer,
from not knowing what has become of the husband,
has been extreme." In this country, where the rapi-
dity of communication is continually opening new and
distant sources of employment for labourers, it has
become a matter of necessity that they should be able
to move where their services are most in demand, and
morality is deeply concerned in encouraging, rather
than prohibiting their communication, by letter, with
one another. Their welfare and their business re-
quire it as much as the merchant requires it for-profit,
or the literary man for improvement. We are not
aware, in fact, of any tax, the reduction of which
would do more to improve the social character of the
working classes, than the reduction of postage.

If the proceedings at the Mansion-house, yes-
terday, with reference to the high price of coals, be
correctly reported, the commencement of the LORD
MAYOR'S duties in the Justice-room must be regarded
as peculiarly inauspicious. Our readers are aware
that a monopoly has lung existed in the coal trade—
that a sort of conspiracy has been formed for keeping
up the price of coals, which, with the cruel tax imposed
on all coals entering the port of London, nakes the inha-
bitants pay a third more for one of the great necessaries
of life than is paid by the rest of the inhabitants of the
United Kingdom. They are probably aware also that
the Court of Aldermen !I-tying been accused of great
neglect of duty, and something more, Parliament took
from them the power to ina'e regulations on the sub-
ject, and transferred is to the Court of Common
Council, who have passed certain bye-laws, which
come into operation this day. Mr. BRAD-
FIELD, who has evinced some knowledge of
the doings of Coal-factors, and Coal-owners, and
Aldermen, appeared before his Lordship yesterday,
' and stated that the same parties were still at work
underhand, and that machinations were formed for
rendering these bye-laws inoperative. The LORD
MAYOR was quite incredulous on that point. Alder-
men appeared to him such pure, charitable, spotless
beings, that he considered it quite absurd to accuse
them of conspiracy, or any individuals that manifested
such anxiety to serve the public. Now we would
come just to the contrary conclusion. These manifes-
tations of anxiety for the public good, are too often
cloaks to conceal selfishness and peculation, and city
functionaries are no exception to the general rule, as
their extravagant expenditure of the corporate funds,
their jobbings in city property and patronage, and this
very tax on coals abundantly testify. If they were so
anxious for the poor, would they tax the starving inhabi-
tants of Spitalfields to build a Royal Exchange ? Or
would they expend in the management of city affairs about
ten times as much as is paid by the same number of
inhabitants in the district of Marylebone ? At the
commencement of the interview, the LORD MAYOR
did not show any great anxiety to enter on the subject,
and towards the conclusion he gave a very good reason
for it—a reason which, no doubt, will be perfectly sa-
tisfactory to all those who are interested in keeping up
the price of coals. "It is, no doubt," said he, " the
object of every person who deals in any commodity to
get as high a price as he can, and I don't know how
the LORD MAYOR can or ought to prevent it." No
doubt this is the object of the Coal-owners and Co.
It will be their object, therefore, to defeat the inten-
tions of the Common Council, and compel the public,
as they have hitherto done, to pay 355. instead of 25a.
the ton ; and if the public submit to this enormous
charge they have themselves only to blame.

It appears from the Annual Report of the Justices
of the Peace for the county of Middlesex to the Secre-
tary of State for the Home Department, that several im-
provements have taken place during the last year in the
management of the House of Correction in Coldßath-
fields and in the New Prison at Clerkenwell. In the lat-
ter prison, in which the inmates have been accustomed to
sleep in a sort of higgledy-piggledy manner, produc-
tive, among other evils, of nightly quarrels, separate
sleeping berths have now been, or are in the course of
being, constructed.
The Report also states, on the authority of the
Chaplain of the House of Correction, that the silent
system has continued to work beneficially, making the
prisoners peaceable and orderly during the daytime,
and that when the rule of silence is infringed in the
night time, it subjects the offenders, in addition to the
punishment provided in such cases, to absence from
public worship on Sunday. The propriety of this
latter mode of punishment we are very much
disposed to doubt, and hope that some other method
of enforcing the necessary discipline may be devised
There is in this gaol a decrease in the number of pri-
soners, as compared with that of last year, of
the number, in 1837, being 8,760, in 1838, 8,021.
The number of commitments to the New Prison, in
1837, was 6,105, and during last year, 5,517. It is
possible, however, that this reduction may be ac-
counted for by a change which has lately taken place
in practice, by which offenders, who would have been
sent to this prison, are often committed to that of
Westminster.

We are glad to see that the classification of the
prisoners is as much attended to as the limits of the
prisons will permit. This is a point of the very first
importance, and we trust measures will be taken to
render it practicable, on an extensive scale, in all the
Metropolitan prisons.

The Spanish Government, finding that the officers
of the late British Legion will not be cozened out of
their claims, has had the decency to appoint a Com-
mission for the purpose of settling them, to the pro-
mised satisfaction of the parties principally concerned.
The Commissioners appointed are, are Senor XimENES
and Colonel WITH ERA LL, the former to act on be-
half of the Queen of SPAIN, and the latter as the
representative of the officers and men of the Legion.
General ALAVA, Spanish Ambassador at the Court
of St. James's, is nominated umpire in all cases where
differences may arise het wecn the Commissioners ; and
it is but justice to his Excellency to state, that we
know of no person more likely to discharge the dit-
ties of such an office to the satisfaction of the Bri-
tish claimants. But the appointment of a Com-
mission to settle the claims of the officers and
men of the Legion, and the payment in full of the
monies due to them, are two very different things,
particularly as regards the Government of her Most
Catholic MAJESTY. A Ministerial Morning Con
temporary, whose daily occupation consists in plodding
heavily in the track of the Times and Standard,
announces, " with much satisfaction," the fact of the
appointment of th;s Commission. We, however, look
upon all rejoic:n.„ i.,cmature. Our columns
during the two last wears record the history of Com-
missions! appointed to accomplish the same object as

the present, which terminated in empty noise, smoke,
and dirty, valueless paper. We are not aware that the
Spanish Treasury is richer hoW thaii it was at any
period since the commencement of the civil war ; and
even if it were, we should doubt the willingness of the
present Cabinet to perform an act of justice to English-
men, which the CALATRAVA Ministry so shamefully
neglected. Henceforth, therefore, we shall be guided in
cur laudations of Spanish justice and generosity by
facts. When the officers and men of the Legion have re-
ceived the full amount of the arrears due to them—
when they can inform us that the money has actually
found its way into their pockets, subject to no draw-
backs and deductions—then shall we join the Chro-
nicle in announcing the fact with all becoming expres-
sions of pleasure. But till such an event takes place
we pray the public to be satisfied with the bare an-
nouncement of the intelligence that a new Commission
for inquiring into the claims of the ill-used British
Legion has been appointed, and that the Commis-
sioners are, personally, gentlemen of great respectability.

The breach between the Courts of Berlin and Rome
threatens to be productive of the most disastrous con-
sequences. Throughout the whole of Rhenish
Prussia the Catholic population is in a state of fearful
excitement ; and according to a letter from Berlin of
the Ist inst., published in the Franconian Mercury,
an insurrectionary movement is hourly apprehended
in the Grand Duchy of Posen. Some disturbances
are reported to have actually taken place, in the quel-
ling of which the military were called out, when the
troops, to restore order, were compelled to employ their
arms. This intelligence would not appear so mo-
mentous to us, was the cause of these disturbances
an affair of merely civil or criminal jurisdiction. But
the danger is, that they originate in the religious feel-
ings of a large body of Prussian subjects, who have long
borne with impatience the yoke which an arbitrary
Monarch wished to impose upon their consciences.
By breaking faith with his people in the matter of h
Constitution, and by seeking to sap the foundation of
the Catholic religion by ridiculous ordinances relative
to mixed marriages, the aged Sovereign of PRUSSIA
has compelled a very numerous section of his
Polish subjects to question the -title which an
unjust possession of territory wrenched from Po-
land gives him to their allegiance. Russia has
her own reasons for fomenting the dispute between
the Courts of Berlin and Rome, and, if possible,
kindling a civil war on her western frontier. It would
afford her an excellent opportunity for conferring the
greatest obligations upon Prussia ; it would conciliate
the Protestant Powers of Western Europe ; and it
would serve as a tub for amusing the " whales" of
England and France, till she could noiselessly recover
the ground she has lost in the East. We can trace
the intrigues of Russia in the dangers that threaten
the internal repose of Rhenish and Polish Prussia.

The Paris Journals of Sunday and Monday have all
been received this morning. Sunday's Papers were
delayed for twenty-four hours, owing to the stormy
state of the weather in the Channel. In none of these
Jou' nals do we find any news of engrossing interest. The
Debats has a long article, evidently intended to reconcile
the people of France to the evacuation of Ancona, which
has been finally agreed to by the KING, and is likely
to be hastened, in order to anticipate any opposition
on the part of the Chamber of Deputies. The
reasoning of the Debats in substance amounts to this,
—That Austria, having consented to withdraw her
forces from the Papal frontier, and the Sovereign
Pontiff having signified a strong desire that Ancona
should be evacuated by the French garrison, it would
argue sinister intentions on the part of the French
Government, to hesitate for an instant to comply with
the wish of the rightful Sovereign. Being no longer
under any apprehension from Austria, France is bound
in honour to restore the fortress without let, hindrance,
or hesitation to the Holy See.
By an ordinance of the 10th November, the KING
has conferred the dignity of Peers of France upon
the Viscount LE JESSA INT, and the Baron de ST.
DID I ER.

What other intelligence there is in these Journals
will be found in another column.

Letters and Papers from Madrid, to the sth instant
inclusive, have been received, from which some inte-
resting extracts will be found in another part of
The Sun. MUNAGORRI, it appears, is prevented from
entering Spain, by ESPARTERO, who has threatened
to punish him as a rebel ! So much for the boasted
patrotism of the QUEEN'S Commander-in-Chief. The
capital continued tranquil.

CHANCERY COURT-(THIS DAY.)

WINTER V. INNES.---JUDGMENT.
The LORD CHANCELLOR gave judgment to-day in this
case, which came before the Court some time since upon
appeal from the decision of His Honour the Vice-
Chancellor. The bill was originally filed by the repre-
sentatives of the late Mr. Winter, who, up to the year
1824, carried on the business of a West India merchant in
partnership with Mr. Innes, and the object of that Bill was to
have the debts due to and from the partnership, ascertained,
and the accounts of the partnership taken. In the year 1835
the cause came on to be heard before the Vice- Chancellor,
who: declared that certain freehold estates belonging to Mr.
Winter, were liable to the payment of the partnership debts, and
his Honour also directed a reference to the Master to take the
accounts. The Master made his report, by which he found
there was a debt due from the partnership of Winter and
Innes, to a Mr. Bayliss, of 37,0001. To this report the assig-
nees of lanes who became a bankrupt in 1833, took exceptions,
upon the ground that the Master ought to have found that the
debt due to Bayliss was due from the estate of Winter alone.
The Vice-Chancellor overruled those exceptions, and de-
clared that the debt was due from the partnership, and from
this decision the present appeal was brought. His Lordship
was of opinion that the estate of Mr. Winter was liable to the
Payment of the debts of the partnership, and referred it back
to the Master to review his report. The costs of the excep-
tions to be paid out of the partnership assets.

COMMON PLEAS.-(THIS DAY.)

GIBBON V. ElibT INDIA COMPANY.
The particulars of this ease w, reported when it first came
on last week. The action was brought by the assignee of a
bankrupt named Mellantine, who had been in the military ser-
vice of the Company, to recover a half-yearly instalment of a
retired allowance which the Company had agreed, by a reso-
lution of the Directors, to pay him. The question, which arose
upon demurrer, was, whether this resolution, sanctioned by
the Board of Controul, was to be considered finally binding
upon the Company, or• whether the grant required to be made
by deed.
Mr. Sergeant WILDE on the former occasion had argued
for the plaintiffs, that the resolution of the Directors was
conclusive.

Mr. Sergeant SPANKIE now continued his arguments for
the defendants. He contended it was a fixed principle of the
law of England, that Corporations could only be bound by
written deeds, to which their seals were attached. The ex-
ceptions were only in the case of Companies--such as Gal'
Companies—which were established expressly to deal in detail,
and in which deeds could not therefore be employed.
Corporations might doubtless light a candle, or kindle
a fire, without a deed.—(A laugh.) Nay, they might further
retain a butler, or appoint a cook, persons exceedingly requisite
to the physical, if not the legal, existence of Corporations—
(Laughter)—without a deed. But no contract tending to
divest a Corporation of any interest, could be binding on the
Corporation if made merely by parole agreement, which would
clearly constitute an assuntpsit binding on a private individual.
Now, in the case under consideration, the Learned Sergeant
urged that the resolution of the Directors was but a parole
agreement—a preliminary step, to authorise the grant of the
retiring allowance, by a deed to which the common seal
of the Company was to be affixed—without which deed the
grant could not be legally completed. He was not there
to deny that the Company were not, in faro conscientice, bound
to fulfil the agreement which might have been the inducement
to the officer in entering their service. But in a point of law
that was not the question ; the point to be decided was, if the
agreement as it at present existed was legally binding.
The COURT intimated that it would be desirable to have the
commission under which the officer entered the East India
Company's service, and a statement of the regulations and se •
curities with which it was accompanied.
Mr. Sergeant SPANKIE went on to argue that as the agree-
ment by resolution only was not a legal contract with the
bankrupt, no interest could pass under it to his assignee. It
should not be lost sight of further (he said) that a provision
intended by the Company for the proper sustentation of their
retired officers, was not properly applied, if suffered to be ab-
sorbed in liquidating debts, incurred either by folly or
misfortune.

Sergeant WILDE replied. There was a difference, he said,
between an annuity and a mere annual payment. Undoubt-
edly an annuity was an annual payment ; but it did not at all
follow that an annual payment was an annuity. And though
the grant of an annuity required a deed, the agreement to
pay an annual sum by way of remuneration for past services,
by no means required a written instrument to make it valid,
and legally binding. As to the East India Company's being
ready to complete the agreement by a deed, it was their
bounden duty to have done so before, if it was necessary to
secure the grant. It was quite evident, however, that it was
not their intention to take any such step. There could 1),3, no
doubt that a pension for past services was assignable.
The Court took time to consider their judgment.

EXCHEQUER COURT.-(THIS DAY.

CORRALL V. CATTELL.

This was a part heard case in the Special Paper. There
was no point of interest in it, and was not concluded when
our Reporter left.

BAIL COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

THE QUEEN V. THE► DIRECTORS OF THE BRITISH GAS-LIGHT

COMPANY.

Mr. BODKIN applied to the Court for a writ of certiorari to
remove into this Court an indictment found at the last Middle-
sex Sessions. It was for a nuisance, and consisted in a com-
plaint against the works of the British Gas Company, in Rat-
cliffe-highway, of which the defendants were the Directors.
The affidavit stated that the works had been erected at an ex-
pense of 120,0001., and they had been carried on in
+he same way as at present for a period of thirteen
years and a half uninterruptedly; and that there had
been no alterations made except such as the ad-
vance of science had suggested, in order to render
them less objectionable. It was sworn that it was necessary to
examine scientific men, and that a question of law would arise,
and therefore the defendants were desirous of having the case
tried before one of their Lordships, and of having the assist.
ance of a Special Jury.
Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE thought sufficient had been stated,
and directed that each of the defendants should enter into his
own recognizances in the sum of 100/., and that they should
jointly find two sureties, to be bound in 501. each.

THE QUEEN V. THE TOWN COUNCIL OF CARMARTHEN.

Mr. WILLIAMS moved for a rule to show cause why a
mandamus should not issue to the Town Council of Carmar-
then, commanding them to execute a bond or obligation for
the payment of an annuity of 661. 13s. 4d. to John Williams,
the award to him by the Commissioners of the Treasury as a
compensation for the loss of his.office as Clerk to the Borough
Magistrates, under the Municipal Act. The affidavit stated
the appointment of Mr. Williams, his dismissal from office,
his appeal to the Lords of the Treasury, their award, and
the refusal of the Town Council to execute the bond in pur-
suance thereof. The application was of the same nature as
that made in the Bridgewater case, which was granted in
full Court.

Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE granted the rule.
STUBBINO V. DeDRATH.

Mr. ARCHIBALD applied far an order for the discharge ol
the defendant from prison, made under the 48 Geo. 3. c. 123,
he having been imprisoned upwards of a year, for a debt
under 201.

Mr. BAEL opposed the application. It appeared by the
affidavit of the defendant that the action was brought to re-
cover 181. 4s. 7d. ; but on the 15th of April, 1837, he was in
the King's Bench Prison, and remained within the walls
until after the 15th of June, in the present year,
when the rules were granted, and he has continued since then
to reside in Chester-terrace, being in custody in this cause.
The words of the Act were, " All persons who shall have
lain in prisog for twelve successive calendar months next before
the time of their application." It appeared that the defendant
was not now lying in prison, but that he had been within the
rules from June last, and he, therefore, submitted that he did
not come within the meaning of the words " next before,"
which were precise and unambiguous.
Mr. ARCHBOLD was about to reply, when
Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE said that his impression was against
the application, because the Courts had decided, that being
within the rules was not within prison in'the meaning of the
Act. He was of opinion that he ought to have been in actual
custody for the whole twelve months. He however did not
wish to prevent Mr. Archbold from taking the case before the
full Court, by deciding the matter now.
Mr. ARCHBOLD then intimated that be would make the ap-
plication in full Court.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.
(THIS DAY.)

EXTRAORDINARY CASE. —At the sitting of the Court this
morning, Sarah Obee, of prepossessing appearance, and who
stated her age to be 22, but apparently much younger, was
charged with stealing a quantity of articles of wearing apparel.
From the evidence it appeared, that about two months ago,
the prisoner had been taken to the Kensington Sessions, on a
charge of attempting to drown herself in the Serpentine river,
from which she was extricated with difficulty. Her story then
was, that she had come up from Maidstone to seek a place,
but was disappointed. It further appeared, that afterwards,
she was introduced to a military officer, but it was not stated,
that she had been seduced. The Magistrate before whom she
was taken, (E. Halswell, Esq.) humanely procured her a
lodging with board, until she procured a situation, which she
shortly after did with Mrs. Garner, the wife of a butcher in
Little Chelsea. She had not been i❑ the place a week, be-
fore she committed the offence charged, and being again taken
before her former benefactor, Mr. Halswell, he felt it his duty
to commit her for trial.

The case being clearly proved, the Jury found her guilty,
with a recommendation to mercy on account of her youth and
destitute condition.

CHAIRMAN-Gentlemen, she is 22 years of age, but the
Court will take care of her, and that she be reclaimed, if pos-
sible, by sentencing her to two years' imprisonment in the
Penitentiary.

The prisoner, who is of good address, refused to give any
account of herself.

MARYLEBONE-(THIS DAY.)

James Oscar Alexander Cameron, the young man who on
this day week was charged with having robbed several per-
sons lodging in his mother's house, at No. 9, Howland-street,
(the details of which appeared in The Sun of that day) was
again brought up for final examination.
Thomas Hughes stated that be was a clerk in the employ-
ment of Mr. Bailie, pawnbroker, residing at No. 8, Hamp-
stead-road. The prisoner was often in the habit of coming
to the shop. On the two days, the 23d of July and the 20th
of August he pawned two lots, one under the name of
Cameron," the other the assumed. name of " Campbell."
He produced these lots, containing six pair of trowsers and
some waistcoats, and minor articles of wearing apparel,
which Mr. Russell fully identified as having been stolen'
from him.
The prisoner
foraking any defence, and was fully
committed to Ndewgate trial.

BOW-STREET—(THIS DAY.)
A young man named Cornelius Barrett, of King-street,
Drury-lane, was convicted of stealing nine herrings from the
stall of Joseph Holmes, in Gate-street, Lincoln's Inn-fields,
and sent to hard labour for one month.
The prisoner said he had committed the offence, as he was
quite destitute, and in a starving condition.
John Berry, 14, Drury-lane, and George Sabre, 8, Exeter-
street, Strand, who were described by the constable as well-
known thieves, were charged with shop.liftinc, last night in
Hungerford Arcade, and stealing an article value 2d. Having
failed to give a satisfactory account of themselves they were
sent to bard labour for two months.
Joh?, Morton, 56, !Monmouth-street, was brought up on a
charge of committing an aggravated assault upon the police.
It appeared from the statement of a young gentleman named
Walker that he was passing through Monmouth-street yester-

day at two o'clock, when he saw the prisoner drunk and be-
having in a tiotons manner, and constable Parsons, who, from
the injuries he had received in the riot, was unable to attend,
expostulating with him to go away quietly, which he refused to
do. Upon being taken into custody, he threw himself down,
and 'nide such a disturbance, as to cause a mob of 200 per-
sons to assemble, who commenced ill-treating the constable in
the most scandalous manner, the prisoner exciting them all the
time.
Constable Chapman, who was called to assist, proved that
he saw the prisoner with his hand inside his brother constable's
stock, trying to choke him, while a number of thieves who
were present, kicked him as he lay on the ground.
Mr. Bartholomew, carrying on business as a currier,
in Monmouth-street, deposed that numbers of young thieves
are daily collected in the streets getting up sham fights
for the purpose of committing robberies. It was impossible
for any lad to be employed in any of the shops, without being
soon corrupted by them. He considered that the police ought
to be very vigilant, as the locality was getting worse every
day ; and there was a strong instance of the necessity of hav-
ing an increased number of constables, by the barbarous treat-
ment they met with in the discharge of their duty.
Mr. TWYFORD thanked the witness, and said he would be
happy to receive any communication from him, in order that
the police might act upon his suggestion. After conferring
with Mr. Thistleton, a county magistrate, the worthy magi-
strate directed a recommendation to he entered on the police-
sheet to the Commissioners on behalf of Constable Parsons,
who is at prese'at suffering from the effects of the bruises he
had received.
The prisoner was ordered to pay a fine of 51., or go to bard
labour for two months.

THE MARKETS.-(THIS