The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-28 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Duke, Duchess, and Prince GEORGE of CU ES
Ie-
LAND, and the Duchess of GLOUCESTER, visit yl their IVA-
JESTIES on Saturday, at St. James's Palace, and pat tcok
of a ddeune, at two o'clock.
The KING and QUEEN, accompanied by Prince GEOE( E
of Cambridge, left the Palace, with their suite, in thri e
carriages and four, about half-past four o'clock, for Winds, r
Castle, the Rev, Mr. HERVEY, Preceptor, and the Rev.
Mr. WOOD, Sub-Preceptor, to Prince GEORGE of Can -
bridge, accompanied the Prince.
The Prince of ORANGE was present at the dinner party
given by the Duke and Duchess of CUMBERLAND to their
MAJESTIES, on Friday. In the evening their Royal
Highnesses entertained the whole of the Foreign Ambas-
sadors and Ministers and their Ladies, the Cabinet Mi-
nisters and their Ladies, and a very numerous party of the
Nobility and Gentry. The band of the Royal Horse
Guards attended in an ante-room adjoining the state apart-
ments, and performed several pieces in the course of the
evening for the gratification of the company.
Prince LEOPOLD was present at the opera of 11 Jlatri-
monio Segreto, at the Italian Opera House, on Saturday
evening.

Divine Service was performed yesterday at Kensington
Palace by the Dean of CHESTER. The Duchess of KENT,
the Princess VICTORIA, and their Royal Highnesses'
Hou,ehold, attended.

The Duke, Duchess, and Pi ince,GLottos of CUMBER-
LAND, and their Royal Highnesses' Household attended
Divine Service yesterday in their apartments in St.
James's Palace. The Lmigravine of HESSE HOMBURG
and a select party dined with the Princess AUGUSTA, on
Saturday evening, at her residence in St. James's Palace.
The Duke of SUSSEX, the Duchess of GLOUCESTER,
and the Princess SOPHIA visited the Princess AUGUSTA
yesterday.
The Duke of CUMBERLAND honoured Sir GEORGE
WARRENDER with his company to dinner, on Saturday
evening, at his residence in Albemarle-street. There was
a select party to meet his Royal Highness.
The Landgravine of HESSE HOMBURG honoured Lady
CAROLINE WALDEGRAVE with a visit yesterday, at her
residence in Curzon-street.

A Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon at the
Foreign Office, which was attended by the LORD CHAN-
CELLOR, Earl GREY., the Marquis of LANSDOWNE, Lord
DURHAM, Viscount MELBOURNE, Viscount PALMERSTON,
Viscount GODERICH, Viscount ALTHORP, the Eatl of
CARLISLE, the Duke of RICHMOND, the Right Hon. C
GRANT, and Sir JAMES GRAHAM. The Ministers re-
mained in deliberation four hours. Lord HOLLAND, the
only Member of the Cabinet absent, was prevented from
attending by indisposition.

During the times that the Council was sitting, Prince
TALLETxAND, the French Ambassador, and Baron Butow,
the Prussian Minister, arrived at the Foreign Office, for
the purpose of having an interview with Viscount PAL.
MERSTON. Their Excellencies, however, left before the
conclusion of the Council, without seeing the Noble
Viscount.

The. Spanish Minister had an interview with Viscount
PALMERSTON yesterday at the Foreign Office.
A deputation of the Agents of the West India Colonies,
among whom were Mr. BURGE, the agent for Jamaica;
Mr. MAYER, the agent for Barbadoes ; Mr. COLQUHOUN,
the agent for Dominica, St. Christopher, and St. Vincent;
and Mr. BROWN, the agent for Antigua, had a conference
with ViS. GODERICH on Satuniay, at the Colonial Office.
A deputation from the Coach and Postmasters of Scot.
land and the North of England, had an audience on Friday
with Mr. SPRING RICE, at the Treasury, relative to an
alteration in the Stage Coach Duty Act, and Assessed
Taxes on Carriages, kept for hire. They were intro-
duced by Sir M. S. STEWART, B art., Mr. CAMPBELL, of
Blythswood, and Mr. HOME DRUMMOND.

-Despatches were receive•l yesterday at the Colonial
Office, from the Hon. General PONSONBY, the Lieutenant-
Governor of Malta.

ARRIVAL OF THE KING AND QUEEN AT
WINDSOR.-Saturday Evening, Seven o'clock.—We stop
the press to announce the fact of their MAJESTIES having
just arrived at the Castle. The Royal cortege, consisting
of their MAJESTIES and suite, in two carriages and four,
prece led by two outriders, entered the town by Frogmore,
an] proceeded at a walking pace through High-street, by
the Town-hall, and up Castle-hill, to the grand entrance
of the Palace. The arrival of the royal party was an-
nounctql by the firing of half-minute guns from the
Bachelors'-acre, and the ringing of the Church and Castle
bells. The reception of their MAJESTIES was hearty and
nthusiastic, and it must have been highly grat lying.
Preparations are making fur a brilliant illumination to.
night,—Windsor Etpress.
His MAJESTY personally suggested the ap-
pointment of the amiable and accomplished Duchess of
NORTHUMBERLAND as Governess to the young Princess
VICTORIA. The Duchess of NORTHUMBERLAND is a
daughter of the present Earl Powts, a lady of the
highest mental acquirements, and of great personal beauty.
—Court Journal.

The Duke and Duchess Of NORTHUMBER-
LA Nn, with their numerous suite, have left Sion House
for the season, and taken 1:p their residence at Northum-
berland House, the splendid furniture of which has been
uncovered, and all the apartments newly adorned for their
reception. The Duke and Duchess intend giving se-
veral parties upon a scale of great magnificence—at one of
which their MAJESTIES, the Duchess of KENT, the Prin-
cess VICTORIA, and the other branches of the Royal Family,
are expected to be pres, or.
His Grace the Duke of NORFOLK is about
to erect a handsome Town-ball at Arundel, which wiz be
an ornament to the place, and a monument of that Noble-
man's liberality.—Hampshire Telegraph.
It is said that Sir ROBERT PEEL is about to
erect a new and very splendid mansion on his estate at
Drayton, Staffordshire, which will give employment to an
immense number of hands in various trades. Wolver-
hampton Chronicle.

THE GREEN PARK.—On Saturday morning
several workmen commenced marking out walks and
shrubberies in the Green Park, which is to be laid out in
a similar m inner as the enclosure in St. James's Park, to
which the public will have free admittance, subject to the
same restrictions. The whole is under the superintendence
of Mr. SHFDDON ; and in the course of a tew days em-
ployment will be given to a number of workmen, in pre-
paring the ground and planting the trees and shrubs, which
are in readiness for transplanting. The improvements
will not be completed before the middle of April.
THE KING'S THEATRE.—The opera II
Segreto was given at this Theatre on
Saturday night, fur the first time this season. The part
of Carolina was sustainA by Madame VESTERHANN,
who was not more successful on this occasion than in the
two operas in which she has already appeared. We ima-
gine that tl.is lady his been more accustomed to " opera
seria" than " buffs," and her apparent want of familiaray
with the Lingusge renders her peculiarly inefficient in the
delivery of the recitative. She is obviously, however, a
good musici in, and sang ocea-ionally with considerable ex-
pression. Signor DAVID played Paolino, and seemed by
no means at bis ease in the part. The opera went off
very well upon the whole. GARDEL'S petit ballet of
CEnone et Paris followed ; but we are prom's d speci-
mens of DESHA YES'S superior talents ; and we await them.
A few days since L— left town in a great
hurry for Brighton, wi ere, passing along the Steyne, he
met the KING. His MAJESTY, with his usual frank urba-
nity, accosted him as an old acquaintance, " Ah, L—,
how are ye? what brings ye here how long do ye stay ?"
L— replied, he came to see a sick relation, and was obliged
to return the ensuing day. " Pooh, pooh, pooh," said his
MAJESTY, " you must dine with me first." " Please
your MAJESTY, I am under. the necessity of returning
imme liately." " Nonsense ; come to-morrow. Sir HER-
BERT, do you mind, L— does not go away without dining
with me." L— whispered to Sir HERBERT that it was
quite impossible he could avail himself of the honour\ for
he was deficient in a certain article of dress. Sir HERBERT
overwhelmed poor L--, by at once informing his MAJESTY
of his reason for declining the honour,—namely, that he
bad no breeches. " Nonsense—ceremony—stuff—let him
come without, let him come without," said the KING„—
Zikrary Gazette.

REDUCTIONS ON SALARIES AND THE
CIVIL LIST.--The Committee on Salaries last week re-
soletd, that in future no superannuation allowance ought
to he made to retired public servants who had filled high
offices without a special vote of the House of Comm, ns in
each case, and that a reduction of 1,0001. a year shall
tike place in the sa'aries of Ministers, making the Secre-
taries of State and Mist Lord of the Admiralty 5,000/. a
year. The Secretaries of the Treasury to be reduced from
1,0001. to 2,500/. The Committee on the Civil List on
Wednesday came to a resolution that thesalaries of Lord
President and Lord Privy Se.,! should be abolished. It
was proposed, we belive by Mr. HumE, to reduce them
to 1,000/. a yor. This proposal appeared so radical that.
Lord STORMONT, to express his condemnation in the
strongest manner, proposed to take away the whole sal,ry.
The Committee ad,pted his ptoposal, The Committee
have also recommended a reduction of one-third from the
salaries of the Great Officers of the Household. The
whole of the reductions do not exceed, 10,00Q1•

SPIRIT OF THE P
,ti '00,31;
On Saturday the House *Coot
at noon, avowedly for the purpose: oion •rar.-
hers that opportunity which the itn:MtilelPfesSure
of business had previously prevented,. of presenting
petitions on the subject of Parliamentary Reform ;
and the sitting continued till after six o'clock, the
House being exclusively occupied with the receiv-
ing of those petitions, many Members presenting
them in bundles of thirty, fifty, or a hundred, and
the Members on - presenting, the petitions chielly
contenting themselves with nam:ng the places
whence they came, sometimes adding the number of
signatures. There were some few exceptions to
this general plan ; but even those Members who
did preface the presentation of petitions with re-
marks, were very concise in what they said.
Amongst those who so briefly prefaced their la-
bours, Lord Althorp may be mentioned. His
Lordship, who presented en masse an immense
number of petitions, stated that he bad long been
convinced of the absolute necessity of Reform, in
order that the institutions of the country might be
maintained, and that without it the Government
could not act advantageously for the country. He
added that he had accepted office only on the con-
dition that the Government should propose the Re-
form of Pat liament ; and that as the measure pre-
posed by the Government was so soon to be brought
forward, he would not make further observations, as
it was not his object to provoke discussion. Sevs-
ral Members concurred in the opinion expressed Isy
Lord Althorp as to the necessity of Reform. Mr.
H. Davis presented a. petition against Reform,
from Bristol, observing that he agreed with
the petitioners, and that he lamented the agi-
tation of the question by the Ministers in the.
present state of the country, he being of
opinion that Reform meant neither more nor
1. ss than revolution. Mr Hunt replied that it was
most disorderly and unwarrantable in the Member
for Bristol to call the reformers revolutionists; and
that he very well knew the histery of this petition.
It was not the petition of Bristol; it was " a holes
and-corner" petition; and, to get a show of signa-
tures, it had been sent to all the parish authorities
within fouru en milt sof Bristol. Mr. H. Davis de-
clared that the signatures were those of respectable
persons; and that out of 5,000 signatures, there
were only 700 of persons not resident in Bristol,
and those we're c,rtairily not the signatures of
paupers. This was the only petition against Re-
form—certainly the only one heard in the gallery.
An immense proper ion of the petitions called for
the " protection of the vote by ballot ;" and many
of them, particularly those sent from Blackburn and
other places in Lancash're, at the same time prayed
hat, if the pi oj- ete I Reform were not accompanied
by the vote by ballot, they might not be burdened
with the " curse" t f the Cective franchise, Mr.
Hunt, on pr. sonting a bundle of petitions, made an
extracrdina.y communication. Having stated that
he Members of the Hone did not know the state
of the country, that even he had been surprised
with the change of decision that had evinced itself
within the last three months, he communicated, as
he said he neither wished to keep matters secret
that ought to be made public, nor to be guilty of
" misprision of treason," that at Bolton, in particu-
lar, the young men had signed a declaration pro-
claiming, that unless they were allowed p!) partici-
pate in the elective franchise, " they would rot in
gaol nether than serve in the militia, if drawn."--
Morning Herald.

Saturday seemed at least to be a day of promise
for the cause of Reform. Innumerable petitions
were presented and not a dissentient voice was
heard. Even the Beresfords and Dundasses showed
no sign resistance. Lord Chandos made a sort of
an appeal to the compassion of Ministers,—a cry for
mercy that the opponents of Reform should not be
sent to be tried by their country fur resisting the
just and universal demand for a purer system of
Parliamentary Representation. But, in spite of this
' fair outward appra'ance, it is pretty well known
that the boroughmongers are hard at work, and in
their usual unscrupulous way. Attempts are made,
and by a person whom we have more than once ex-
posed, and whom we fear we shall again have to
hold up to public scorn, (ditty and disgusting as the
task is to meddle with such a creature), to neutralize
and nullify the alleged consent of the King to the
projected Reform : it has been audaciously a.-
serted, that his Majes v, in his repeated and
earnest declarations in favour of Reform, was
insincere, and humbugging his Ministers. We ask,
without he itation, does a.v man believe our
frank, generous, upright Monarch to be ca-
pable of such dissimulation ? No : the King
is most zealously anxious, after long and minute in-
ye tiga.ion of the details of the subject, that this
great question should be carried. But, powerrul as
the Rnyal sanction must be, let not Ministers trust
to that alone. Their enemies have not forgotten
the Ministerial pledge that the rresent Government
will stand or fall by this question. There are two
modes by which they propose and hope to gain a
victory. Otte is characteristic enough of the military
quarter from which it proceeds: it is, to meet the
Bill at its very entrance, and to scout it by an
avowal that no Reform is required. The other is
more circumspect, and equally characteristic of the
very " candid" person from whom it emanates : it
is, first, to allow that many abuses exist—that it is
most desirable to yield to public opinion, and pure
away those faulty excrescences: then, after this
liberal display, to deprecate the particular measure
proposed, as subversive of our ancient institutions,
and not even calculated to conciliate those the dread
cf whom is the sole cause of the intended Reform.
How shall the Ministers meet these two modes of
atta k ? The first, we apprehend, is not very formid-
able, and may be disposed of by a very short sally:
indeed, we doubt whether the assailants will not be
too few to be worhy of any counter.attack at all.
The second mode of proceeding can be defeatel it,
only one way, Let the Reform (and we gather
hope from Lord Althorp's speech and. Lord
Brougham's charac er) be so comprehensive and
efficient, while at the same time it avoids the absur-
dities of uni versa! suffrage and annual Pa.liaments, that
the whole country shall at once feel the sincerity of
the Ministers, and their right feeling and correct
appiecitrion of the real wishes of the people. With
a measure thus manly—thus fitted to the wants and
demands of the nation—they may laugh at a Par-
liamentary defeat. They may appeal at once to the
country, and the country will support them. 'But
if their measures shall be a mere trimming er mpro-
mise—a mere complaisant attempt to coatat'iate Par-
liamentary Whigs and Tories—it will is'astneilly tail.
They may dissolve Parliament, but the usual conse-
quences of weak and inefficient measures will over-
take them; and the people will reject their appeal
with contempt and disgust. Let them be liberal
and firm, and we will guarantee their success. Half-
measulei will as infallibly conduce to defeat and
ignominy.—Times,

If the l T. gent Whig
ry
aNtjks:id:Gm,)7irEiaoiiirss?eattriurnalatsaitoo:lennusFll.:dleiN.viiiellig(a,:eynffier,ecigildtt
no other good, we are sure that the country
er
them a debt of applause and gratitude tin. the tiracis
monfanaabgues,.nswnwt hoifchthethpeuybhliacvme
money by
ierxepeoeaseindgitsitliititmhieie:
stems.
►uent, than
in bringing ftrthe country ihenrat‘to:aeoirtsfd. fact never theft) re a c o w ed g e
or so much as glanced by any official gentleraan
__,,amely, that 5.9 fAr as that immense branch ',t the
public e :7,,,eutiture, the naval service, %%as con,.er,,t,d,
the dpproprialion Act—the only solemn lc.gal gua_
tillltee we possess f(:r the honest etnployrdent of die
revenue of England....-,had, for an indefinite number
of years, bey:, coolly set at defianco. The,navy
Estimate.,, to give a summary of Sir James GI
word*, had been sham estimates. Large sums had.
been demanded by the heads. of the naval depart-
ment, and voted by Parliament in credulous (bur
unwarranted) reliance on their good fall), esteri- •
sibly for one class of purposes, but redly
af:t7
others,uecc9 wwliiicthhhelal.citelf•
ro"n'erethweithkniottidtegecooref the •

House of Commons ! If this be not impeach-
able, .we know not what impeachment means, or
for what end but that of gross deception such a
process finds place in the theory of the British C 011.•
st itution. To come to particulars. The present
First Lord of the Admiralty, after stating that he
did not wish (in him it might certainly seem invi-
dious, though not in members unconnected with
office) to bring a specific charge against any one in-
dividual, said, that it had become necessary for him
"to enumerate a very few' items of the public
expendture, which already in consequence (of the
bad practice alluded to) had taken place, without
having ever been brought under the notice of the
Commons, although the surplus of the money voted
had been ostensibly intended for other purposes !'
The Victualling Board of Portsmouth had been under-
taken by Government without one syllable having ever
b !en breathed upon the subject within the walls of Par-
liament: the money thus unlawfully expended was no less
titan
At the Island of Ascension
Works at Woolwich, of which the estimate
was 84,0001., bad actually, but clandestinely,
rol,'!:ed the nation of the difference between that
sum and 325,0001., equal to
Unauthorized works at Leith
A ship at Bombay

£364,000

This is not all : more than 3,000 seamen and
marines had not long since been kept on foot beyond
what the navy estimates intima'ed, or the votes of
Parliament had sanctioned. This transfer of the
actual but acknowledged " surplus under one heafl,
to supply the deficiencies under another head," has
been carried, as Sir James Graham says, to an extent
almost incredible. In four years the votes for
timber and ship-building had amounted to upwards
of 3,700,0001., and the expenditure had fallen short
of 2,700,000/., leaving a fund for fraud, peculation,
or crrruption, of more than a million sterling ! So,
in provisions, the estimates of four years exceeded
the expenditure by 905,000/., making, with the sums
already ref, rred to, a total (and that under " a few"
beads only of misappropriation) of about 3,270,000/.
and this in four years. Now look a little into
the possible—nay, inevitable—working of such
a system, where, instead of an un-anticipated sur-
plus being placed to the credit of the nation, it
is perverted to whatever uses the will and pleasure
of the First Lord of the Admiralty may think fit.
Sir James Graham states in so many words, that
owing to the unlawful misapplication to other ob-
jects of the large sums voted within the last four years
to the purchase of that essential article
he finds the Dock-yards in absolute want of timber,
and is therefore compelled to ask from Parliament a
larger sum for the supply of the present year than
he would have done but for that instance of dis-
honesty in his predecessors. For what, we repeat.
was the power of impeachment aiven ? But is this
the woist ? No. The money thus' described to have
been employed in the public service, though on ob-
jects not contemplated nor allowed by Parliament,
might have been turned to any purpose that the
private or par y interest of the Adminis,ration sag-
gcsted,n multiplying officeis,—in bribing voters,
—in any of the thous Ind-and-one criminal schemes
which selfishness, devoid of public principle, may
plead to its colleagues or dependents some com-
mon end in mis fppropriating. The quantity
of timber wanted fer ship-building was not a
thing subject to contingencies ; the ship-build-
ing service is of a regular arid systematic
nature. It must always have been foreseen at the
beginning of a year, what gross amount of timber
would be wanting fer the average progress of a cer-
tain number of ships throughout the course of it;
yet we find a regular annual excess of estimate over
expenditure in that great article for four successive
years, and not one farthing of credit given on ac-
count of that surplus to the public ! Then it is
plain to everyman that it was the deliberate intention
of the Ministers to ask more money than the public
service wanted; or if not, they must, with their
eyes open, have cheated the service of what it did
really require. In either ca a the country was
robbed, and a "high crime and misdemeanour" was
beyond all question committed. If, again, the an-
nual vote for provisions was, during a period of four
years, regularly above the wants of the service, and
to the extent of 225,0001. per annum, why the thing
is palpable : it was not a venial error, it was not a
blunder, but a deliberate offence, and as such it ought
not merely to be expoeei, but punished.—Tinges.
The meetings on the subject of Parliamentary
Reform are so frequent that there is hardly a post
which does not bring us accounts of a number of
them. In the country papers received yesterday
we find reports of Reform mce!ings in Wiltshire,
Exeter, Bradford, Wisbeach, &c. 'ln short, there
is scarcely a town in the island which has not had
its Reform meeting, and we have found ourselves
utterly unable to chronicle them. It may be said
in general of them, that they have been attended by
nearly the whole body of the inhabitants, the excep-
tions being generally persons hostile to improve
merit from interested motives. Thus the Western
Times observes—
,6 We did not see on the bench the Rey. Dr. Collyns,
the :Master of the Grammar School at Exeter, and Rec-
tor of Stokeinteignhead, or Mr. Barnes, the Chapter Clerk,
or any of the church or chamber men, that have hitherto
attempted by their presence and their probing to damp the
liberal ardour of the citizens."

Another feature of almost all the meetings is, that
the vote by ballot, whenever proposed, has been al-
most unanimously adopted. At Exeter, says the
Western Times—

The arguments against the ballot were put to the
meeting by one of the best speakers in the city; but the
amendment, introducing the vote by ballot into the peti-
tion, was carried by as large a rneetintz as we ever wit-
nessed in the city, with only five dissentients. There
were only five hands held up against the ballot, out of a
meeting of as crowded a hall as we ever witnessed. As
far, therefore, as public opinion can lya gathered from this
city, the ballot is most decidedly the opinion of the people.
Tradesmen can best judge of its effects. This was a
meeting of tradeimen, and they have expressed themselves
desirous of expressing their votes in secrecy. Why should
they be debarred the privilege? Men who would exercise
undue influence may object to it, and that is the very rea•
son why it should be granted."
There never was a question respecting which the
people of this country were so much agreed, as the
necessity of Parli.tmentsry Reform.—Morn. Chron.
On the occasion of Lord Brougham's elevation to
the ii.rst dignity in tire law, we gave warm expressicn
to our anticipations of the great national benefit-
likly to result flan) !his accession of powt r and tee-
fulness to a the whole tenor of whose rovious
life afforded evidence of desire. so earnest to improve
the Juridical Institutions of his count; y, and who
was on all hands allowed to possess in an eminent
degree the mental endowments, activity, and indus-
try, necessary to the successful execution of so great
a work. Since he accepted the Seals only three
brief months have elapsed, and we find him a:lncline-I
ing from his high place, that the so long desired niea-
su.-es of Reform in the Court of Chancery are already
matured and ready to be submitted to the consideration
of the Legislature. When we contrast the energy and
dispatch of his proceedings with the indecision, tad -
tress, and timorougness of his immediate predecessor,
whose big promises, from time to time reiterated, awl
,on one occasion solemnly announced in the King',
14tveech, proved utterly abortive and ineffective, we
thi.alt we have an abundant justification of the anti.
cipat:.ons in which we indulged. That Lord Lynd-
hurst possesses in a high degree the
talents of a mai,
of business, we readily admit, and we do not doubt
that, with some shades of difference in the details,
Lord Brougham's plan will receive from him a cor-
cient support. . But there was a defect
dial and effi
somewhere, probably in the absence of that magna-
nimity which indaccs Lord Brougham, new as he i•
to a Court of Equity, to commit his great name anti
place by
making propositions on. a subject when ht
is liable to be encountered by the perverse applica-
tion of minute professional knowledge tol. defeat ant;
thwart him, and to all the reflections w sinuous
ingenuity may cast on his legal reputation. Nor is
r.this all. Comparing Lord Lyndhurst's scheme foi
sitending the jurisdiction, and by consequence aug-

menting the emoluments of the Commissioners of
Bankrupt, with Lord Brougham's unreserved ;than-
sloncnent of that vast field of patronage, it must be
admitted that a character of nobleness and gene-
rosity attaches to the present Lord Chancellor,
which sets at immeasurable distance the merits of
his predecessor. Let him proceed in his undertaking
without misgiving or apprehension, and we can con-
fidently assure him that the applause and approba-
tion of the country will not be wanting to sustain
his most meritorious efforts.—Morning Chronicle.
It will be seen in our Parliamentary report, that
on the prsetitation of a petition from the city of
Edinburgh, signed by 21,700 persons, praying for
Parliamentary Reform, and complaining that the
representation of that city, containing upwards of
160,000 inhabitants, was virtually vested in three
individuals, Mr. WilUam Dandas, the tepresentative
of these three individuals, s iid, " he would never
consent to any Reform by which the institutions of
the country could be endangered." We have not
the smallest doubt of the sincerity of Mr. Dundas's
admiration of the existing state of the representa-
tion. Indeed, we know no man who has mare rea-
son to be satisfied with things are they are. Our
able contemporary (the Scotsman), in the number
for Wednesday last, has some excellent remarks on
the disclosures in a Parliamentary Paper, respecting
the Signet and Sasine offices, from which the Right
Hon. Gentleman draws a jolly revenue without care
or labour. The net emoluments from these two
offices, during the last ten years, have been 58,0721.,
nearly 6,000/. a yerr.
" These," says our contemporary, " are not the gross,
but the net emoluments which the Member for E lin-
burgh receives from the offices, after paying clerks,
subalterns, and incidents. When he told us recently in
Parliament, that his two sinecures yielded him only
1,500/. a year, we must suppose that his modesty in-
duced him to underrate his wealth. A correspondent,
however, who has access to good sources of information,
states, that Mr. Dundas pays over 1,000/. per annum of
his emoluments; as Keeper of the Signet, to Lord Mel-
ville, who resigned the office in his favour when he got
another. But this is a private arrangement, with which
the public have nothing to do, farther than as it affords a
glimse of the corrupt machinery by which the Covet nment
is moved. Mr. Dundas may share his profits with his
cousin Robert, or his cousin Henry, or with the Pope, or
Charles the Tenth, if he pleases ; but still the fact re-
mains certain, that he receives 5,800/. per annum from
the country for doing nothing !

" A fact like this we hold to be an instantia crucis.
It fixes the character of the system more unequivocally
than all the expositions and glosses of Blackstone or Paley.
Here is neatly 6,0001. per annum lavished on a man,
who, even on the showing of his own friends, has never
rendered the country the smallest service, who has never
fought her battles abroad, or filled any public station at
home, requiting even common mechanical labour. What
talisman makes so large a sum flow into the pocket of an
individual who has no visible claims On the national
? The answer is obvious. Our Government is a
Government of influence ; and those who get possession
of the springs of that influence, snake use of it to fill the
pockets of themselves and their friends. Lord Melville
has dune no mare than many others would have done.
The political machire was lull of corruption, and as head
distrihtitor of patronage, he naturally kept the hest things
for himself and his relatives. Merit was never thought of,
and the nature of the system was so well understood, that
00 offence was taken at the principle of distribution. It
was an exchange of votes and political services fir place
and money, by which corruption was kept rolling in a
perpetual circle—jobbing electors returning jobbing Mem-
bers, who laid on tax after tax, of which a part always
flowed hack by some channel into the hands of these same
representatives and electors—while the people, who paid
for all, had their complaints silenced by coercion and terror.
" Sinecures, useless or overpaid places, are bounties for
bad Government. This is their true character ; and Mr.
Dunda', gaining 6,0001. per annum, without present la-
bour, or the merit of past services, or any intelligible
claim on the British public, is an admirable type of the
system alder which our debt and taxes have grown to
their present magnitude. The Reformers never can, and
never will be satisfied, while a single abuse like this meets
the public eye. That the profits ate derived from fees
does not alter the nature of the case. This is merely
taxing a particular class, instead of a country at large.
Why should every suitor in the Courts, and every young
man beginning busiiuss as a W.S, and struggling with
difficulties, be taxed in a large sum for the benefit of the
Dundas fatuity ?"
Sir John Walsh (the third edition of whose pam-
phlet we have _now before us) says, that " if the
House of Commons be now swept away, or undergo
such extensive modification as entirely to destroy
its identity, its last acts will have been worthy of
its long and noble career; it will have escaped the
decay of time, and its existence will have termi-
nated in the meridian of its vigour, and in the per-
formance of acts of great and permanent benefit to
the country." We will answer for it that the Rev.
Mr. Thuriow, who receives 11,0001. a year from
the suitors of the Court of Chancery, for doing no
one act (as lie does not even subscribe his name),
and every other sinecurist and pensioner will, like
Mr. Wiliam Dundas, be ready to die in their last
ditch for the institutions of the country, that they
may be transmitted unimpaired to our descendants.
Oh, what clearness of perception is given by a sine-
cure of 6,0001. or 8,0001. a year.—Morning Chron.
The enemies of the present Ministry—of Re-
form and retrenchment—have been busily engaged
during the past week in endeavouring to sow dis-
sension in the Cabinet, and to create a belief in the
public mind, that its days wen: numbered, and that
it must give place to another, but of what materials
it is impossible to divine. These reports, we need
scarcely add, are as totally without foundation as
they are malicious and interested. There neither
is, or has been, any dissension in the Cabinet, what-
ever disagreement of opinion there may exist on
different points of policy; arid as to a change of
Ministry, what possible ground can be urged to
show that it is either desirable or probable ? Has
the new Ministry forfeited any of its pledges ?
Has it fallen short of any of its promises at the time
of accepting office ? Has it lost the confidence
of the country ? Or, rather, is not the country
iooking towards it now as its only hope of
being saved from the political convulsions
,if which the other States of Europe are the
theatre? Every one can easily supply the only an-
swers of which these questions are capable; and we,
therefore, ask again, what motive should there exist
tati render a change of Ministry either probable or
desirable ? Has not a laudable anxiety been evinced
to retrench the expenses of the state—to shift the
burthen of taxation from the should( re of the poor to
those of the rich, and retrieve industry from the
fetters with which it has been shackled by preceding
Administrations ? What a host of abuses have not
neen knocked on the head by Sr James Graham, in
he Admiralty department, as proved by his admirable
of Friday last ? Is it no benefit also, let us
ask, that the duties on coals, on candles, and on printed
;!alicoes, have been surrendered ? Oh, but then, say
the opponents of the Government, the budget has met
with poor support, and several taxes have bcen altered
or abandoned which formed part of it ? And what
of that ? Who ever brought forward a budget which
mils not altered in various respects before it pa4sed
through the two Houses of Parliament ? And is it
not the duty of the Govt rnment to alter and to re-
,nodel, to abaedon and to change, until it finds a
•najority of the people on its side ? We regret that
lie Chancellor of the Exchequer should have listened
so far to the remonstrances of an interested. few, as
to have abandoned the proposed taxes on tae funds
ind land, and the remission of the tax on glass ; but
,ve see no culpability in the matter, beyond a too
ready compliance with the suggestions of the inte-
rested parties, and no symptom at all either of want
of sense, or of unsound notions of taxation. The
principle was good, and the public ought to have
supported the Noble Lord in carrying it into effect.
Co conclude, howevi r, those parties who are desi-
rous of a mcra dictatorial Government than the pre-
sent, may rest assured that their expectations will
be disappointed. " No Reform," in the present
Itate of the COUrEtry and of the continent of Europe,

is an effectual bar to such a possibility, until an
actual and efficient Reform has taken place.—
Morning Advertiser.

The whole fabric of Chancery abomination totters
to its fall; the venerated dust and rubbish of anti-
quity is to be swept away; the cobwebs are to be
brushed from their prescriptive corners; the spiders
cry. out that the world is at an end; and, as daylight
is let into the intricate crevices of the building, the
obscene birds who have formed their hereditary
nests there, from generation to generation, hoot at
the light, and, in their purblind struggles, fly in the
faces of the unwelcome intruders. The Chancellor
has redeemed his pledge ; he now stands fortla,—
not the popular declaimer—not the opposition ora-
tor,—but the practical, ministerial, reformer of the
law. He proposes no petty amendment—no aho.
lition of minor offices or minor evils—no palliative
—no sedative—no p/ webo—no compromise between
acknowledged evil and conflicting interests. He
lays his axe to the root of the evil—he aims a mor-
tal blow at the pocktts of his adversaries—he
refuses the supplies, and the ways and means of cor-
ruption are at an end. Judicial officers, and their
administrative subordinates, are to be paid by sala-
ries—not by fees ; or if in part by fees, then only
in that stage of proceeding over which they have
no controul to multiply, hasten, or retard the steps
of the suitor. The Master's clerks grieve for their
graluilies—the registers for their copy-money; those
pleasant unctions—those cordials to pen-wearied di-
ligence—those stimulants to expedition—are gone
for ever. The Masters plunge their hands into the
depths of their femoralia, and, with lengthened faces
and lack-lustre eye, meditate the departed glory of
their warrants ; while seventy Commissioners of
bankrupts, dispersed to all quarters of the wind,
wonder what the world is to do without them. Yet
all this is done with so much judgment, with so
much due consideration for individual interest, that
those who inwardly curse, and privately mutter,
cannot openly complain. If they remain in office,
they are liberally paid for the proper execution of
their duty. If their services are dispensed with,
they are as liberally compensated for the loss of their
emoluments. A present and permanent good is
cheaply purchased at the expence of a temporary
and decreasing incumbrance; and this, too, is put
on its just footing : there is no twaddle of the in-
defe:►sible rights of vested interest—no prattle of
freehold—no talk of inheritance in official exactions.
Thus the sinecures held by the Reverend Mr.
Ihurlow* amount to between nine and ten thou-
sands a year; among these is the most iniquitous
office that it ever entered into the mind of man or
courtier to imagine—a tax of seven thousands a
year out of bankrupts' estates, to be collected at a
further expence of about fifty per cent. !
" I an► aware," says the Lord Chancellor, " that the
hAder of the patent place I have alluded to has vested
rights in it : but if he should be very exorbitant in his
demands, let him not think himself very sure of the tenure
by which he holds off►ce. If my tenure of office is secure,
I will not fail to grapple with it ; and that I may go out
there is no chance, for I am sure that I am at present well
fixed in it : but if I should not go out of office, I will
grapple with this patent place ; I will let the patentee see
that I can exercise the power which the law confers on
me. The fe,s for making all commissions of bankruptcy,
whence the patentee derives his revenue, the law gives me
the power, by a side-wind, to put an end to, by prevent-
ing the seal Bing put to commissions. If Ido that, what
then becomes of the. patentee? I will not say that the
patentee has not a vested right, but it is a joke to say that
he holds it on the same tenure us your Lordships bold
your freehold estates, of which you cannot be deprived but
by the failure of the seasons, or the conquest of an enemy.
The vested rights of this patentee depend on the clause of
an Act of Parliament; and he who holds the Great Seal
can put an end to them when he please'. I think, then,
that the holder of this place, if he attend to morality, to
honourable feeling, or if he take counsel of common sense
and prudence, will take into his consideration what I have
now stated to your Lordships; that be will consult his at-
torney, his counsel, his conveyancer, and take all those
legal steps necessary to make up his mind to accept the
liberal offer I shall make. From the abolition of this
sinecure, then, we shall save 8,0001. a-year out of 11,0001.
which, added to the 51,000/. I have already mentioned,
will make the whole saving amount at least to 73,0001."

Thus, therefore, the expense of compensation is
balanced by an immediate saving to the public : but
though the saving is indirect, and the charge must
be immediate, his Lordship does not propose to tax
the people to raise it ; there is a fund, which if he
does not apply it to the furtherance of legal Reform
some future Minister will borrow for the exigencies
of warfare—the Suitors' Fund of the Court of
Chancery, in which some millions remain, and ever
will remain, unclaimed, and unclaimable, by the
real owners. Out of this it is proposed to pay the
new burthens, and it cannot be better applied :
since, at the expense of those who are long since
beyond the reach of their mortal vexations, the
means will be afforded of averting similar evils from
their posterity. Generous, however, as this mode
of treating sinecurists is, it will not conciliate ail
interests : some will stickle for the last fraction of
average income; many dread inquiry into the amount
and sources of their emoluments : exactions, extor-
tions, crcroachments, and usurpations, are entitled
to no place in the scale : therefore, the _Morning
Post, speaking for its order, fruges consumere flats,
puss fotth its wailings; and the Clerk of the Pleas
in the King's Bench deranges his crisped head in
anxious meditations on the progre's of referms,which
may extend from equity to law. Much opposition—
some open, more in secret—must therefore be ex-
pected. In the House of Lords, it is true, not a
voice was heard in vindication of the once venerated
system—Lord Eldon was not there ; and of all who
had cringed to his favour, or fattened sons or ne-
phews on his patronage, there was not one to uphold
Isis favourite jurisdictions, or to defend the manner
in which, for five and twenty years and upwards, he
had administered his high office. His once an:a-
gonist, his now successor, was more generous; ex-
plaining why he had hurried into Reform, he endea-
voured to excuse the inaction of Isis predecessor :
" I, who have little or no experience, whose knowledge
of the practice of the Court must necessarily be limited—
I, a mere novice in the law of that Court, nevertheless
begin with attempting what others, to the very close of
their career, hose not attempted—a change, an innovation,
and to sum up all in one expression, so hateful, so alien
to long established habits, so sore, so agonizing to the ex-
perienced practitioner—in one hateful word, " the head
and front of my offentling"—a Chancery Reform. Reform,
odious and reprobated in all ptdces, is especially odious and
especially reprobated there, where it appears as if it were
a monster, composed of two parts so utterly irreconcilable
and incongruous as Chancery Reform. My answer to this
charee is, that short as my experience his been in that
Gaut, I almost already begin to feel those difficulties and
those incunibrances which have overpowered and mastered
the good intentions of all my illustrious predecessors. I
am already, as it were, attached to the soil—l am already
in the course of seduction. I feel that lam getting in-
volved in the integuments and entanglements which I have
Keen describing as forming the excuse for my•predecessots.
I, who came into the Court pouring out prayers for Re-
form, am almost already incapacitated for attempting it;
and, if I remain there inactive a little longer, shall be
wholly so.
Vix prece finita, torpor gravis alligat artus :
Walla eingunturtenui prwcordia Miro
In frondem crines, in ramos brachia crescunt :
Pes modo tans velox pigris radicibus harret :
.Ora cacumen obit: remanet nitor onus in ilia.'

" I feel that I am on the point, if I delay any longer,
of becoming, in my flight from the day, fixed and routed
in the soil ; and that I shall flourish only like the laurel in
the fable, a monument of her escape from the embraces of
the god of light."

The wise physician, who is obliged to live in a
pest house, does not delay his purification till he be-
comes infected with the disorder; he applies the
first and full vigour of his strength to the work of
cleanliness; if he omits it till the languor of disease
incapacitates from exertion, or the familiarity of the
objects of disgust reconciles him to corruption, be
may himself fall a victim to his delay, but the sys-
tem stands little chance of amendment. Lord
Brougham has the advantage of which Lord Lynd-
hurst failed to avail himself; he comes into a new

So perfectly useless is this sinecure, that its holder is
not even called upon to sign his name to the commissions
which are issued on his teste. The title of Lord Thurlow,
the last deceased patentee, continues printed at the foot of
the parchments even to this day !

Court—things, familiar to its ordinary practitioner's,
are strange to him—forms to which they are accus-
tomed from their days of pupilage, and which they
took unexamined from the dogmas of an equity
draftsman, to him require explanation : it was not
so with Lord Eldon, he was trained in these abuses
and absurdities, till they became part and parcel of
his intellect : he was born, reared, educated, made
as a public character in times and circumstances, in
which passive submission to all existing institutions
was religion, in which change was heresy, in which
innovation was rebellion against Church and State.
We do not wonder that Lord Eldon was not a re-
former—can he now stem the tide? No.—lf he
cannot, who can ? No one ! • Yet we will not be
supine, we will not risk eur victory—(our victory !)
—by inattention to the movements of a retreating
enemy; we still see their skirmishers-lurking in the
ditches, from which we must drive them; nor are
there wanting deserters of doubtful fidelity, who
might stab their new leaders in the back, should
they find an unguarded opportunity. On these we
have our eyes—we shall show no quarter to detected
treachery. As far as the Chancellor's plans are de-
veloped, they will be best collected from his speech
(of which we need not say that it was luminous,
eloquent, and powerfully sarcastic); they resolve
themselves into these heads :—The substitution of
a Judge of the superior Courts of Westminster, in
certain cases for the Commissioners of Lunatics;
the fotmation of a Board to secure the proper treat-
meat of those unfortunate wards of the Crown ; the
substitution of ten Judges for the seventy Commis-
sioners of Bankrupts, and the consolidation of that
jurisdiction in one Court ; the regulation of the
Master's offices, the registers, and six clerks, with
the genetal abolition of fees, copy money and gra-
tuities; an appellate tribunal in lieu, or improve-
ment, of the Privy Council ; and lastly, the substi-
tution of viva voce examination, fei the present mode
of taking written depositions and affidavits in Chan-
cery. It is obviously impossible to review these
matters in detail, within any ordinary space; we
shall yet probably notice them, from time to time,
as they are discussed in Parliament, especially if any
insidious attempt be made to mar the matter in Come
mittee.—Examiner.

MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT PUTNEY.

(From the Observer.)

It would appear that the family of Mr. Clarke
consisted of himself, his wife, and two daughters,
both of whom are under twenty years of age; and
Mr. Clarke having amassed some little property, de-
termined some years since to retire from the busy
world. To accomplish this he purchased a piece of
ground in the Richmond-road, and has erected a
very handsome residence, which was rendered pe-
culiar by its resemblance to the house built for Buo-
naparte at St. Helena. Being of an economical
disposition, and quite domesticated, he had latterly
no other domestic besides his own family. Mrs.
Clarke and her husband, however, lived very un-
happily together, and Mrs. Clarke ultimately be-
came insane ; so much so, indeed, that she was
confined about twelve months in St. Luke's Hos-
pital. On her return home she insisted on having
separate beds, and from the frequent return of the
unfortunate malady, great unhappiness was the con-
sequence. About three weeks sinee, the boy of
Mr. Layton, baker, at Putney, brought to the house
a bag of flour, containing two quarterns, each guar-
tern being separated by a string being tied in the
middle of the bag. Mr. Clarke, on answering the
gate bell, observed that onlv one quartern had been
ordered,when the boy repliedthat he was aware ofthat,
but that he had forgot to leave the other at a distant
hotae. It being nearly dark, Mr. Clarke, rather than
take the trouble of emptying the first quarter,' out,
consented to take the two quarterns. The first quar.
tern was placed in the flour tub, and the other re-
mained in the- bag. On Monday last Mr. Clarke
ordered a pudding to be made, and the eldest
daughter, during the absence of her father, p:e-
pared the eggs. On his return he observed that
he thought
.the pudding would be late before
it was done, arid, as was his general practice, he
assisted the eldest daughter in making it. Mrs. Clarke
seldom or eV( r troubled herself with the culinary
department. His daughter then said there was not
enough of flour in the tub, upon which Mr. Clarke
opened the bag, and emptied the other quartern into
the tub, a portion of which Mr. Clarke mixed up in
a basin for the pudding. At dinner, after partaking
of cold roast beef, the dumpling was first taken up
by the younger daughter, who sugared and buttered
it. She then offered a piece to her father, who
refused to partake of it, alleging as a reason that lie
was not partial to heavy dumpling, but observing at
the some time that Betsy, the elder daughter, would
perhaps like some, and instantly put a piece in . her
plate, which she ate. The youngest daughter had
no sooner swallowed a portion of the dumpling than
she complained of a heat in the mouth and throat.
The elder girl also similarly complained ; when Mr.
Clarke observed, that it would be necessary to take
good care of the pudding, which was almost imme-
diately after taken up and placed before Mr. Clarke,
lie being in the habit of helping the family. Upon
cutting it from the side of the basin, it was observed
to have an unusually brown appearance, Mr. Clarke
remarking that he never saw a pudding look like it.
He, however, divided it into four pieces, and served
the young women, when Mrs. Clarke said," Come,
give me my piece." Her husband eipresEed again
his astonishment at the appearance of the pud-
ding, and said he thought it was not fit to
eat. In reply to this observation, Mrs.
Clarke said that there was - nothing in it,
unless lie (Mr. Clarke) had put in some-
thing, and requested to have some sugar, which
was given to her. She then ate the whole in her
plate. The younger daughter was shortly taken
ill, and, to allay the violent heat in her throat, she
procured some water and drank it. In consequence
of her indisposition, Mr. Clarke desired the elder
one to take a portion of the pudding to Mr. Layton,
the baker, to know if he wild account for the sin-
gular appearance of it. Mr. Layton and three other
persons in his house tasted of it, who, in about an
hour, were taken ill with a violent vomiting. On
the return home of the elder daughter she found
her mother exceedingly ill, and, at the request of
her father, the instantly proceeded to Mr. Wade, a
surgeon, in High-street, Putney. Before, however,
she had reached the house of Mr. Wade, she felt an
inclination to vomit which gradually increased, till
at length she became alarmingly ill. The young
woman vomited very much, and laying her head on
the shoulder of Mts. Wade, said that she and Ulf
family had been taken ill by eating a batter-pudding.
Mr. Wade shortly came in and administered the j
proper remedies on such occasions, after which the
female was put to bed in a most agonizing state.
Mr. Wade, as soon as he could leave Miss Clarke,
proceeded to her residence, where he found Mrs.
Clarke apparently in the agonies of death. After
advising Mr. Clarke how act in such an emergency,
Mr. Wade left the house to attend upon Miss Clarke
and the four persons at the baker's, arid also to
make up a draught for Mrs. Clarke. So ill was
the elder d eughter that it was deemed proper not
to remove her, and she remained at Mr. Wade's till
the following day, when she so far recovered as to
be enabled to return home. The younger girl was
not so violently affected as her sister, and after some
hours had elapsed she was considered out of danger,
although very weak. Mr. Clarke who had
only pariaken of a stria!' portion of the pud-
ding, was attacked with sickness, while con-
versing with Mr. Layton's young man, at the
gate, respecting the flour, whom he informed that
tie had been ill ever since he had eaten a piece of
dinner. About eight o'clock, Mrs. Clarke who had
vomited a great portion of blood, asked for some ale
and sugar, which were given to her by Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke then retired to his chamber, aid was
about getting into bed as Mr. Wade again called.
This was about nine o'clock ; and on Mr. Wade
entering the room of Mr. Clarke, he was requested
by him 'to -see how his wife was. Mr. Wade im-
mediately repaired to the chamber of Mrs. Clarke,

whom he found lying on the bed quite dead, which
circumstance he instantly communicated to her hus-
band. On the following day Mr. Wade again called
at the house of Mr. Clarke, and inquired where the
remainder of the pudding was ? The younger
daughter replied that she had thrown it into the
garden. He wished her to find it, when she went
out, and brought back with her a very small portion
of it, not more than an ounce. Mr. Wade requested
to know where the remainder was, and she said
that she had thrown it into the garden, between the
gooseberry bushes, and had covered it over with
dirt. Her father took a shovel, and, accompanying
Mr. Wade into the garden, du g up the other portion
of the pudding from the place where Miss Clarke
had pointed out. Her motive for burying the pud-
ding is said to have arisen from her dislike to have
in the house any thing which was supposed to con-
tain poison. On Thursday, Mr. Carttar, coroner,
and a Jury composed of highly respectable indivi-
duals, met at the house of Mr. Clarke, and held an
inquest on the body. After an inquiry, which lasted
from two till six o'clock, the inquest was adjourned
till Monday next. Shortly after, information reached
the coroner and jury that the pudding had been
analysed, and a portion of arsenic was discovered to
have been mixed with it. The flour from which
the pudding was made, we are given to understand,
was found to be quite free from any poisonous in-
gredient.