The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-20 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, FEB. 19.
JACKSON AND ANOTHER V. GALLOWAY.

This was au action to recover demurrage under a charter-
party, and also damages for the detention of a vessel beyond
a certain time at various ports. The plaintiffs were owners of
a vessel balled the City of Rochester, and the defendant was
the charterer and freighter upon the voyage in question.
The cause occupied the Court the whole day, and after the
summing up of the Learned Judge the jury returned a verdict
for the plaintiff—Damages 1701.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER, FEB. 19.
TAYLOR V. PARSONS.

Mr. Platt, for the plaintiff, stated that this was an action
upon a bill of exchange drawn by one Padmore, alleged to be
accepted by the defendant and indorsed by Padmore to the
plaintiff. The plaintiff was a lady of some property, and
had advanced money upon the bill for the accommodation of
Padmore. The bill had been drawn on the 12th of April, 1834,
and had become due on the 14th of June in the same year.
_

The jury, after hearing evidence, found a verdict for the
defendant.

There was a foolish rumour yesterday in the City,
as will be seen from our City intelligence, that Lord John
Russell bad tendered his resignation to her Majesty, in con-
sequence of the strong minority which voted against him upon
the Ballot question ; but the rumour is utterly devoid of
foundation. Lord John Russell has, according to the infor-
mation which we have received, never even dreamed of ten-
dering his resignation. it is at the same time quite clear and
undoubted that Lord John Russell must either think diffe-
rently of the Ballot in the course of the next twelve months,
or resign his seat in the Cabinet. The question cannot be
again treated as it was upon the last division. —Morning
Advertiser.

The Duke of Sutherland's dinner party on Friday,
at Stafford House, was given to their Royal Highnesses the
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Miss Kerr, Duchess
Countess of Sutherland, Earl and Countess of Surrey, Lord
and Lady Francis Egerton, Lord and Lady Eliot, Lord
Stuart de Rothsay, and the Duke of Wellington. There was
also an evening party.
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.—(Extract of a
letter from Chatsworth. )—" His Grace, during the whole of
the inclement season has enjoyed excellent health, and has
daily visited, in his sledge, every cottage and hovel for many
miles around, not unfrequently making a detour of thirty
miles in search of distressed objects ; and, on his return home,
despatching clothing and food. For the last six weeks the
weekly allowance to every family has been fourteen pounds of
beef and eleven pounds of bread. No talk of his Grace's
visit to London."

Sir Robert Peel's first grand Parliamentary dinner,
on Saturday evening, was attended by the Marquis of Chan-
dos, Lord Darlington, Lord Granville Somerset, Sir Ed-
ward Sugden, Lord Henniker, Sir Edward Knatchbull, Mr.
Jackson, &c.
THE MARQUIS AND MARCHIONESS OF SALIS-
BURY'S GRAND PARTY.—The above Noble Marquis and his
MarchioneSs gave a !grand dinner on Saturday evening, at
their elegant new residence in Arlington-street. After din-
ner the splendid salons were thrown open for the reception of
company, which included the Duke of Wellington, Duke and
Duchess of Sutherland, Duke and Duchess of Montrose, Mar-
quis27of Douro, Marquis of Granby, Prince and Princess
Soutzo, Marquis of Lansdowne, Viscount Villiers, Earl of
Aberdeen, Russian Ambassador, Count and Countess Pozo di
Borgo, Count Pollen, Count and Countess Sebastiani, Vis-
count and Viscountess Beresford, Lady Cowley, Lord and
Lady Francis Egerton, Marquis of Anglesey, Lord A. Paget,
Lord and Lady Elliot, Mr. Parnther, Baron and Baroness
de Cetto, Earl and Countess Cadogan, Earl and Countess
of Tankerville, Lord Ashburton, Sir Robert Peel, Sir Henry
and Lady Emily Hardingc, Viscount and Viscountess Syd-
ney, Earl and Countess of Cawdor, Earl of Chesterfield, Hon.
H. Liddell, Marquis of Chandos, Sir Francis Burdett, Sir
Robert Gordon, Lord and Lady Fitzroy Somerset, Lord El-
lcnborough, Lord Hill, Hon. Fred. Shaw, Earl and Coun-
tess of Haddington, Earl Durham, Earl Stanhope, Lord and
Lady Mahon, Earl and Countess of Harrowby, Lord Gran-
ville Somerset, Lord Sandon, Lord Eastnor, Hon. S.
Herbert, Count Bille Brahe, Duke de Regina, Baron Mun-
chausen, &c. _ _

In the petition presented on Friday by Mr.
Thornely, signed by upwards of 5,000 merchants, bankers,
and other inhabitants of Liverpool, praying for the vote by
Ballot, one of the allegations of the petitions is as follows :
" That in this borough, at the last Parliamentary election,
more than two thousand pervons, whose names were upon the
register for that year, did not vote ; and your petitioners
firmly believe that this circumstance mainly arose from the fear
of the consequences that would have followed such voting upon
that occasion." It is obvious that in so hot a canvass (there
were four candidates in the field) no elector would be over-
looked; and the inference is, that the 2,000 who did not vote
dared not exercise their right.
HANDLOOM WEAVERS.—We hare at present a
Board of Trade ; might we not more usefully have a Board
of Industry, whose duty should be to assist any class of arti-
sans who may happen to be thrown out of employment in
favour of steam power ? Granting the introduction of the
power-loom has enriched this country by many millions, is it
right that no steps should be taken to prevent the handloom
weavers from being made martyrs to the public good ? The
only obstacle to any scheme of this kind being carried into
execution, is that the working classes have no weight in the
Legislature. There is a Corn Law interest in Parliament,
which, by laws of its own making, causes the poor man to
pay one shilling for the sixpenny loaf. There is a West India
interest in Parliament, which was strong enough to take
20,000,0001. of the public money for committing the most in-
human crimes under a different name than they did before.
But there is no Handloom Weavers' interest, no Working-
man's interest in Parliament ; nor will there ever be till the
people get the franchise.—Belton Free Press.

ADELPHI THEATRE.—Last night the Ili*
Brigade, a laughable little piece, was produced at this theatre.
Mr. Doddleton (Yates), a whimsical gentleman, has just
been married to Emma (Miss A. Taylor), a sweet young
girl, who happens to have a cousin, Captain Nugent, of the
rifle brigade (0. Smith) on furlough. The Captain pays a
isit to his lovely cousin, whom he has not seen since her
marriage. Doddleton is made aware of the visit, and be-
comes desperately jealous. Mrs. Major Masterman, an en-
terprising lady, an agitator, and also a young rifle (Mrs.
Nisbett), like a rattling soldier's wife, tells Mrs. Doddleton,
her friend, that she ought to cure her husband's foolish
jealousy ; for which purpose Mrs. 'Westerman equips her-
self in the undress uniform of a Captain of the Rifles.
The servants hint to Doddleton that something dreadful
is going on ; he is frantic with love, jealousy, and doubt ;
pretends to go to his Club, but resolves soon to return home
to surprise the guilty pair. His picture has just been
finished—nay, yet stands on the easel ; he takes it out, and
thrusts his head and bust into the frame—the allusion is per-
fect, and the change is not apparent to the pseudo Captain
and Mrs. Doddleton, who, however, are aware that the jea-
lous Doddleton has placed himself in that posture as a spy ;
in an instant the parties appear, the lady wrapped in a cloak,
and the officer bearing sundry band-boxes, &c., necessary fur
his fair companion in flight. Doddleton, perfectly enraged,
sees all this, and much more going on under his nose ; he de-
mands instant satisfaction, and runs for pistols. In his absence
the assumed Captain flies to the chamber where Mrs. Doddl?-
ton has taken refuge, there to laugh at the success of the
scheme. Meantime the real Simon Pure, Captain Nugent,
himself arrives, and a great deal of funny explanation and
equivoque.takes place, finally ending with the reconciliation
of all parties. Mr. Y.ates was very clever as Doddleton, and
Mrs. Nisbett must have been bewitchingly sweet to all the
young ladies in the house as the young Captain. 0. Smith's
tipsy Captain was perfect. The piece was most favourably
received.

THE SNOW STORM.-EXETER, FRIDAY AFTER-
NooN.—Our county has been visited with the severest snow

storm that has been remembered, except that of 1814, which,
indeed, it is said to exceed in duration. It is now Frk'ay
afternoon, and with few intervals it has been snowing ever
since Wednesday night. The fall has been accompanied with
a stiff breeze, amounting at times to a piercing gale, from the
eastward, and the drift in the open country places is tremen-
dous. The keenness of the wind and the blinding effects of
the snow have made travelling scarcely possible. Few, but
very few, villages to the westward can they get a cut, and
horse and the turnpike roads have been in several places com-
pletely blocked. No one has ventured out but these compelled
by stern necessity. Yesterday afternoon and evering the ap-
pearance of the streets was lone and melancholy in the ex-
treme. The shops were lighted as usual, but the d ors were
closely barred against the elements. Customers there were none,
either to receive or refuse. The exposed partions of the win-
dows and doorways were covered with the drift. Tne snow,
as fine as the desert sand, penetrated the very crevices of the
windows, and imparted a chilliness even in the presence of a
"sea coal" fire. Our market was completely deserted to-
day, and those were fortunate whose domestic economy had
stored their larders beforehand. The Plymouth mail arrived
this morning at half-past ten instead of eleven last night. It
was stopped at Haldon, and returned to Chudleigh to sleep.
In some parts of the road the snow has drifted to the height
of thirty feet. They have, however, cleared a passage for the
coaches, but not without immense labour. The Falmouth
mail and Regulator coaches, due Thursday', have not yet ar-
rived, supposed to be blocked between Launceston and Bod-
min. The whole of the London, Bath, and Bristol coaches
have kept their time except the Herald, which was to come
over the Dorset Downs. The loss in sheep, tee., is antici-
pated to be very great.—Western Times.
Yesterday, as Mr. F. Strickland, of Bond-street,
was returning from Highgate, he saw a poor girl, named
Caroline Jones, struggling in the canal at Kentish-town,
where she had been sent for water; he instantly gave an
alarm and proceeded to the spot, and with the assistance of a
young man who heard the call, succeeded in conveying her,
apparently dead, to a public house, where she soon reeoveree.
Sir John Tyrrell had so far recovered from his late
accident as to be enabled to attend upon the bench yesterday.
The worthy Baronet, however, was compelled to make use of
crutches. Chelm§ford Chronicle.

The members of the Oxford and Cambridge Uni-
versity Club intend to open their splendid new Club-house, in
Pall-mall, with a conversazione on the 24th inst.

Lord Erroll, Lords Frederick and Adolphus Fitz-
clarence, Lord Alfred Paget, and Captain Cosby, will leave
town this morning, for Aylesbury, where they will meet her
Majesty's stag hounds. The party, and other members of the
Royal Hunt, will, after the day's sport, dine together at the
White Hart Hotel, at Aylesbury; the Noble Master of the
buckhounds, Lord Erroll, in the chair.
DREADFUL ACCIDENT BY FIRE.---OR Saturday
morning, between eight and nine o'clock, two children, the
one eight and the other five years of age, belonging. to poor
parents, named Marshall, living at No. 9, Noel-street, Soho,
were playing with the fire, during the temporary absence of
their mother,and set fire to their clothes. They were so
dreadfully burned before the flames could be extinguished,
that neither of them is expected to surrwc.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE ICE.-0a Saturday
morning, between nino and ten o'clock, a young gentlfman,
named Fish, living at No. 14, Princes-street, Pimlico, fell
down while sliding on the Pimlico Canal, and so severely
fractured his skull, that lie expired in about twenty minutes
afterwards.

SNOW STORM.—We were visited during Friday
night and Saturday morning with a very heavy fall of snow,
so much so, that in some places, where it had drifted, it was
between two and three feet deep. None of the mails reached
the Post-office until after the usual hour on Saturday morning.
The coachmen of the short stages felt likewise the inconve-
nience of the heaviness of the roads, by being prevented from
reaching their destination at the accustomed time. The ve-
getable gardeners experienced also the greatest difficulties in
Cringing their various commodities to the London ma: ket in
time for sale.

CIIOBHAM, FEB. 16.--An alarming fire broke out
about nine o'clock on Thursday evening week, on the pre-
mises in the occupation o!' Mr. Henry Edmeads, farmer, Chob-
ham, which destroyed the barn, stable, cow-stall, granary,
lewins, &c., together with other contents, consisting of bar-
ley in sacks, wheat, hay, straw, waggon, carts, and agricul-
tural implements. The live stock was providentially saved,
and also three ricks of hay and straw, and likewise the dwel-
ling-house. Had the wind been in a contrary direction, the
whole must have fallen a prey to the flames ; and had it broke
out half an hour later, no doubt the live-stock (which was
valuable) would have been burnt. There is no doubt it was
the act of an incendiary, and no cause can be assigned for the
diabolical act, as Mr. Edmeads is much respected in the
neighbourhood, and remarkable for his kindness to the poor.
The premises were the property of Mr. Ja:ncs Fladgate, and
insured, as was the stock. The loss is estimated at about
2501. The inhabitants of Citobham have generously come
forward and raised a subscription of 100 guineas as a reward
to any persoa giving such information as may convict the vile
incendiary or incendiaries.-IVindsor Exiress.
BURSTING OF A STEAM•BOILER.—SEVERAL
PERSONS INJURED.—About half-past nine o'clock on Thurs-
day, one of the rt ‘am-engine boilers, propelling the ma-
chinery of a mill in Newbridge-lane, Stockport, in the occu-
pation of Messrs. Fernley and Wilsons, burst with a tre-
mendous explosion, carrying with it the roof of the house,
driving in the windows of the card, throstle,. and blow ing-
rooms opposite, and damaging and forcing the walls and
machinery of the mill in all directions. The gable end is
about ten yards from the boiler; yet such was the force of
the concussion that a carding-engine, weighing upiiards of
half a ton, was driven to the other end of the room, and in its
course breaking down nearly all the machinery. Burning
embers fell amongst and fired a quantity of cotton in the
blowing-room ; but any extension of the fl.,mes was quickly
prevented, and without the aid of the engines, eh] ough they
were immediately on the spot after the alarm of fire had been
given. The principal portion of the windows, even cn the
other side of the mill, were broken and shattered to pieces.
All the machinery was at work, and many of the wotkpeople
have been more or less scalded and injured by the instant ant ous
collision of the machinery. The engineer, who was sup-
posed to be near the boiler when the accident happened, is
very seriously scalded. The cause of the explosion has not
transpired.—Macclesfield Courier.

NON-ATTENDANCE OF ALDERMEN.-A court
of compensation was appointed to be held a few days since at
the Town-hall, to award compensation to Mr. Leary, of the
White Swan, Joiner's-street, the Greenwich Railway having
destroyed the trade on his premises. Mr. Sergeant Arabin,
with the Counsel and Jury, were in attendance at eleven
o'clock, but as no business could be transacted without the
presence of two aldermen, and not one attending, an cfficlr
was dispatched to various parts to find two, but without
success. After waiting two hours, Mr. Valiance offered to
go into the City and kidnap two aldermen if possible, but he
returned without having succeeded. The consequence was
that no court was formed ; and as the expenses of the day
amottatcd to 150/., it is s'id to be the intention of the
parties to proceed ag,ainit those aldermen who wina sum-
moned to attend for the penalty of 501., which they have each
incurred.

INTERESTING AND VALUABLE WORKS.-
Mr. Colburn, of Great Marlborough-street, has ju=t pub-
lished the following New Works :-1. South America and
the Pacific, comprising a Journey across the Pampas and the
Andes, &c., with Plans and Statements for establishing
Steam Navigation on the Pacific, by the Hon. P. Campbell
Scarlet, 2 vols., post Bvo., with illustrations. 2. Diary of
the Times of George IV., with numerous Letters of Queen
Caroline, and other Royal or distinguished persons, 2 yols.,
Bvo. 3. The Autobiography of Joseph Holt, General of the
Irish Rebels in 1798, edited from his original M. S., by
T. Crofton Croker, Esq., 2 vols., Bvo., with Portrait. 4.
The Duchess of Marlborough's Private Correspondence,
illustrative of the Reign of Queen Anne, with her Sketches
and Opinions of her contemporaries, 2 vols., Bvo., with Per-
traits. 5. The City of the Sultan; or, Domestic Life in
Turkey, by Miss Pardoe, new edition, in 3 vols., small Bvo.,
with numerous illustrations. And 6. The First Part, price
7s. 6d. (to be completed in six Monthly Parts), of Mrs.
Jameson's " Memoirs of the Beauties of the Court of Charles
II.," new edition, with additions, illustrated by a Series of
21 splendid Portraits, engraved by the most distinguished
artists.

THE NEW HISTORICAL ROMANCR.—" In
" Royston Gower," observes the Literary Gazette, Mr.
Miller has produced an extraordinary work. The scene is laid
near Sherwood Forest, and in the reign of King John. The
chief characters arc Royston Gower, an old crusader, the
King and his haughty Norman Barons, the Priests of New-
stead, Saxons of high blood, lovely damsels, Robin Hood and
his merry men, and a number of other romantic agents. The
meeting of King John and Langton, the account of the
.Royal
Chase, the archery practice in the Forest, the trial in the
Court of Eyre, and all the melees of these turbulent spirits aro
amongst the most striking events; but the who!e work is a
vivid picture of a memorable period, arid must place the au-
thor's name very high in the list of writers in this class of
literature."

SHOCKING OCCURRENCE.—Last night an Inquest
was held at the Board room of St. Thomas's Hospital, be-
fore Mr. Payne, the City Coroner, and a respectable Jury,
on view of the body of Monsieur Lewis Delcmere, aged 73,
a native of France, and a merchant and distiller, whose
death was occasioned by scalds whilst performing a chemical
operation, under circumstances of a very shocking and af-
flicting nature. In addition to the melancholy death of the
deceased, another young man, who was in the deceased's em-
ploy, was so severely scalded that he at present lies in the
London Hospital with but slight hopes of recovery. It ap-
peared, from the evidence, that the deceased resided in
Mount-street, Whitechapel, and had extensive warehouses
in Houndsditch. On Friday se'nnight the deceased was. en-
gaged in the latter place with some of his men in preparing
some acids in the process of sugar baking. The 1 iquid was
contained in a large vat, which exploded, driving the lid
off, and a quantity of the liquor flowing over, the deceased
and his foreman were frightfully scalded ; the former was con-
veyed to the above ho-ipital, where he lingered in groat agony
until Saturday last, when death put an end to his sufferings.
The Jury returned a verdict of " Accidental Death." On
the Coroner making out the warrant for the deceased's bu-
rial, the widow objected to receive the same, stating that it
was her intention to deliver up the body of her deceased bus-
bond for dis-ection as teneficial to his fellow-beings. The
Coroner and Jury expressed great disgust at such a declara-
tion, and the former requested the beadle to see that the rites
of burial should be performed over the remains of the unfor-
tunate deceased.
The distress of the poor in Liverpool is awful ; gaunt
famine stalks abroad, and is doing its deadly work.

LONDON :
TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 20, 1838.

In the House of Loans, last night, the Parliamentary
Electors' Bill, and several other Bills were advanced a stage.
The only other business transacted consisted in the presenta-
tion of petitions for the abolition of Negro Apprenticeship,
relief from Church Rates, in favour of the Ballot, and also
of a National System of Education. A petition was also pre-
sented by the Earl of ABERDEEN from Edinburgh, praying
that means may be taken to extend Religious Instruction in
Scotland.
In the House of COMMONS Lord BRABAZON took the oaths
and his seat fur the county of Dublin. New writs were or-
dered for West Kent in the room of Sir WILLIAM GEARY, who
has accepted the Chi:tern Hundreds; and for Portsmouth, in
the ro•m of Mr. CARTER, deceased.
The Notting-hill Footway Bill, after some discussion, was
read a second time and ordered to be committed. The send-
ing the Bill into Committee was opposed by Mr. G. HOPE
alone.

After the presentation of a great many petitions, most of
them having far their object the improvement of our defective
legislation and political system, Lord JOHN RUSSELL stated
what he proposed should be the course of the public business.
The third reading of the Parliamentary Electors' and Free-
mens' Bill, was carried by a small majority of 17-189 Mem-
bers voting for, and 172 against it. For the discussion, which
is interesting and important, we refer the reader to our Par-
limentary report. Sir ROBERT PEEL and his party, of course,
opposed the 13111. Any measure promotive of the free and
fair representation of the people, being in its nature and ten-
dencies destructive to Tory ends and aims, will always meet
with the opposition of that most odious and eminently selfish
faction.

The remainder of the sitting was occupied with a considera-
tion of sumo of the clauses of the Irish Poor-law all, in which
measure considerable progress was made. The House ad-
journed at half-past twelve o'clock.

The Poor-law for Ireland Bill, advanced seine clauses in
Committee, last night, after an unsuccessful attempt
by Mr. SHAW, C)lanel CONOLLY, and Mr. O'CON-
NELL, to foist in a clause restricting the relief under the
Bill, to the lame, impotent, old, blind, and such as are una-
ble to walk. Had this clause been adopted, the Bill would
not have been worth the acceptance of the people of Ire-
land. The Hon. and Learned Member for Dublin, in sup-
porting the amendment, ridiculed the idea of increasing
capital in Ireland, by abstracting a large sum from the
fund now devoted to the payment of wages ; and yet the
want of capital was confessedly the greatest evil that Ire-
land laboured under. We should be glad to hear an ex-
position of any plan by which Mr. O'CONNELL would pro-
pose to increase Irish capital without a Poor-law. Why
is there a paucity of capital in Ireland, blessed as she is
with the best soil, and some of the finest harbours, and
other natural advantages, to be found in the United King-
dom ? Because there is at present no security for capital
in the sister country. And how does this happen ? Because
her landlords are irresponsible for their oppression of their
tenants, and these tenants have no resource in famine but
starve, unless they have recourse to acts' of outrage. In
guaranteeing the impossibility of d3ing of hunger, a Poor-
law will do more to tranquilize Ireland—to protect life and
property—than would a military force of 40,000 men.
This legal protection of life in Ireland—for such is the
real principle of the Poor-law Bill—must precede the influx
of that capital which Mr. O'CONNELL deems all-sufficient
to render Ireland as productive as England. There is
no system of police so efficacious for the preservation
of the internal tranquillity of any country as that of
a well-administered Poor-law. Besides, Mr. O'CoN-
NELL makes a gross blunder when he says that
poor-rates in Ireland will abstract a sum equal to their
full amount, or even to one-fifth of the amount, from the
wages of a labour fund. He must know well that under the
Bill one moiety of the rates must be paid by the landlords,
of whom, according to himself, the majority are non-resi-
dent, and not one in ten ever contribute a farthing to a la-
bour fund. Should the landlords be so short-sighted as to try
to shift the burthens of the rates from their own shoulders
to those of their tenants, the oppressive policy will speedily
work its own cure. A brief experience of the operation of
a good Poor-law will teach the landed Aristocracy of Ire-
land an useful lesson—of which they are at present in the
greatest want—namely, that properly understood the real
interests of a landlord are identified with the social and
moral happiness of his tenantry.

A party division took place last night in the House of
Commons on the third reading of the Parliamentary Elec-
tors Bill, which was carried by a majority of only 17.
Seventeen therefore in a House of 351, or about 32 in the
whole House, is the extent of the Ministerial majority.
At present, too, not many of the election petitions have
been decided, which may possibly, though we hope not,
judging from the decisions already given, make that poor
majority still poorer. It is under such difficult circum-
stances that the Ministers have chosen, by their proceed-
ings in relation to the Ballot, to convince all their friends
in the country, that it is of no importance to
support them. Two new writs were last night moved for,
and the zeal of their friends at Portsmouth, and in Kent,
will scarcely be warmed into a contest by the vote of
Thursday evening. Certainly in the latter the dependent
freeholders, the multitude of small land-owners, who are
from a variety of causes at the mercy of the conspiring par-
sons and the combining squires, and who are anxious to
escape from this thraldom, by the instrumentality of the
Ballot, will not care to support the Ministers, since they
cannot obtain by that the dearest object of their wishes.
Sir EDMUND FILMER will, we are afraid, walk over
the course in Kent, giving all the moral strength of
unanimity to the opponents of Ministers. Nor is it likely,
we apprehend, that the vote of Thursday night will secure
the election (in the room of Mr. BoNHAm CARTER) of
one of the Ministers' friends for Portsmouth. The pros-
pect which such a relaxation of zeal throughout the
country gives, in case of a general election, there being

nothing in their conduct as to Church-rates, or Church
Reform, or additional endowments for the Church of Scot-
land, to counteract their fatal conduct as to the Ballot,
must be appalling for them, and triumphant for the
Tories. We should think and say less on this sub-
ject, interesting as it is to the public, were we not
thoroughly convinced that the Ministers, by following the
course we indicated, might have preserved their consistency,
and might have been quite sure that the Ballot would not
have been carried, and might have strengthened their
party in the country by not opposing it, and by leaving it•
(if needs must) to be rejected by the Lords. Then the Mi-
nisters would have gone to the country with the strongest
possible recommendation to the constituency, while now
they will scarcely be distinguished, except by the hopes
they have deceived from the Tories, who will be sure, in
almost all contested elections, to defeat the Whigs.

Our advice and our opinion was, that Ministers should
have waived their own personal opinions, and have sided with
the bulk of their supporters. At auy rate, they ought not to
have made opposition to the Ballot a Cabinet measure. For
it was, in our opinion, as dishonourable in them to use the
influence of office, conferred on them by the votes of Re-
formers, to thwart the wish for Reform, as the Times of
this morning says, it is dishonourable in a subaltern office-
holder to vote against the Cabinet under which he serves.
What dishonour would it have been to Lord JOHN
RuSSELL—what inconsistency would it have displayed—
if he had stood up on Thursday night, and spoken to the
following effect, and made that the rule of the conduct of
the Cabinet :

" I have already informed the House that I do not be-
lieve in the virtue of the Ballot, as pourtrayed in such
charming colours by the Member for London. It will in
my opinion neither prevent the influence of property, which
I think ought to be preserved, nor the influence of the non-
electors, whom I do not wish to exasperate by wholly
shutting out from all power iu the Constitution ; it will, I
believe, supply a certain means for safely bribing small con-
stituencies, and is scarcely required in the large towns. It will
encourage moral feebleness and want of self-reliance, while
every person should be prepared to avow his poltical senti-
ments, and be ready atall times to defend them. None of my
objections to the mode of taking rotes in secret have been
removed by any thing I have heard or read ; but as I can-
not avoid recognizing the existence of much and most un•
seemly intimidation under the present system, which makes
the votes not the free suffrages of the electors, but the
suffrages of those who intimidate them, and which falsi-
fying the expression of the sentiments of the electors, makes
the House not the genuine and true representative of public
opinion, which it ought and is intended to be ; as I have
not devised any remedy, nor heard any one devised, for these
great evils; as I am assured that the Ballot will remedy them;
as the great body of the electors require it ; and as all my
friends and supporters here and in the country wish to
have it tried ; as it violates no constitutional principle,
being a mere mechanical mode of taking votes ; as it
deprives no man of liberty and no man of property ;
as it takes away no man's franchise, and does violence to
no man's feelings, I, for one, Sir, shall waive my own
well-formed opinions, and will not oppose by the influence
of the Government the motion of the Hon. Member.
I shall record my own vote indeed against it, but I will
use no other means ; and I will urge no argument to defeat
the wishes of the supporters and friends of the Ministry,
of which I have the honour to form a part,"

Such a proceeding would have done honour to Lord
JOHN Russzu, ; would have preserved his consistency
and would have stren3thened the Ministry in the coun-
try. Giving free permission to all their friends, in-
cluding Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE and Mr. POULETT
THOMSON, to vote for the motion, would scarcely
have carried it in the House of Commons, and it would
certainly have been thrown out by the Lords had it ever
reached that House. The Ministers might have served
the interests of their party, secure that the Ballot would
not have become law. To have treated it with indifference,
too, would have begotten a corresponding indifference, per-
haps, in the advocates of the Ballot. By their determined
opposition, on the ground that it was the key to other re-
forms, they have only strengthened that desire to obtain it
rhieli ere long 'will destroy the Ministry. But we hear
s)me person saying, " What! would you have Ministers
hold office on condition of not carrying their own policy
and opinions into effect ?" Is not that, we ask, what they
now do ? Will the Tory Peers permit them to act on their
own opinions? Where, then, are their promised Irish Muni-
cipal and Church-rate abolition measures,? They are ac-
tually now without the power to give effect to their own opi-
nions. They defer to the Lords, but think it a disgrace to de-
fer to the electors. They seem to have forgotten their own
Reform Act. Before that was passed, the Minister of the
day made his arrangements with the Peers, who settled the
votes of the Commons. The Reform Act has transferredthe
power from the Peers to the electors; but the Ministers, unable
to get out of the old track, still defer to the Peers and thwart
the electors. They cannot abide the principle that they
are, as Ministers, the creatures of the people. They adopt
the theory in words, but their pride will not allow them to
act on it. They insist on being the master of their mas-
ters. They think it dishonourable to defer to the wishes
of their own party in the Commons, while they submit
do the work of the Tory Lords. They take a false view
of their position, and the course we have chalked out,
which they may yet have an opportunity of following,
would be the true recognition of that dependence on the
electors on which tPte Reform Act has placed the Ministry.

The question of the " Danish Claims" comes on to-
night in the House of Commons, on the motion of Mr.
CRESSWELL, and will, we trust, be set at rest for ever. It
is really most discreditable to the national character that
a claim, which is so based on justice that, if the parties
concerned were private individuals, all opposition to it in a
Court of Equity would be utterly hopeless, should have
been so long resisted by the Government. The merits of
the question lie in a nutshell. The unforeseen, and we
may add, unprecedented, aggression made upon Denmark
by Great Britain in 1807, by which the capital of that
country was bombarded, her fleet carried off, her naval
arsenal plundered, and her ships in our ports seized, natu-
rally led to measures of retaliation. The Danes took pos-
session of all the British property within their reach, which
they :confiscated. Now can anything he more clear to
common sense, or more conformable to justice thee
that the British subjects who suffered this confiscatio❑ of
their property, through the conduct of the British Govern..
;Tent in attacking a power, against which we had not only not
declared war, but with which we were carrying on all the
relations of amity, should have been compensated for their
losses out of the proceeds of the Danish property, seized
and sold by ordet of that Government ? It cannot be
alleged that. the funds thus arising were inadequate : they
amounted to four times the sum required to liquidate the
whole of the claims, and were is fact set apart for that
express purpose nearly thirty years ago. The money,
however, was devoted to other purposes—in other words,
was spent by a needy Government ; and in order to evade
the payment of a just debt, he mean subterfuge was
adopted of dividing the claims into various classes accor-
ding to a supposed scale of validity. One class included
book debts—another goods and cargoes seized on shore—
a third ships and cargoes seized in the ports and close seas
of Denmark. Now we should like to hear the argument
by which it is attempted to prove that there is the least
difference, in nature or in strength, between these classes
of claims. There is obviously none whateeer—yet the
first and second have been allowed and liquidated, while
the third, amounting to the paltry sum of L 50,0001., has
been—if not rejected—delayed and higgled about, and
shuffled off to the present moment. This is truly pitiful.

One of the main objections to the Ballot put forth by
Lord JOHN RUSSELL in his late unfortunate speech on
that question was, that it was necessarily connected with,
and would lead to, other changes of an organic nature,
namely, an extension of the Suffrage, and the shortening of
Parliaments. The Noble Lord neither attempted to prove
this connection, nor to show how the changes which appear
to him so formidable would, of necessity, follow the adop-
tion of secret voting. To us the questions appear to be
perfectly distinct, and to have no other relation to one
another than that which is common to all measures having
the extension of liberty for their object. The spirit of
freedom is expansive and self-propagating ; every advance,
therefore, which it makes enables it to make others ; and ip
this view the Ballot may be said to be the
forerunner of the changes to which we have
alluded ; but the ame observation, be it remembered, ap-

plies to every measure of a liberal tendency which Lord
JOHN Ityssru. and his colleagues have sanctioned with
their approbation. If, however, the Noble Lord imagines,
that, by setting their faces so determinedly against the
Ballot, the Government will prevent or even retard those
alterations in our representative system, the necessity of
which is demonstrated by the experience of every passing
day, he will, we apprehend, find that ho has committed a
grievous error. The advocates of the Ballot, having now
nothing to hope, but every thing to fear, from Ministerial
interference, will be compelled to fall back for assistance
upon the non-electors, who have hitherto kept aloof from
them, because their interests were not sufficiently con-
sulted in the proposed reform. The great mass of the
working population will thus be brought into the field
of action, and no doubt can be entertained by any
reflecting person, that if a judicious—that is to say, a
peaceable but resolute—course of agitation be pursued,
such a " pressure from without" will be created as will
crush the ribs of the strongest Government that ever was
formed.

This, it appears to us, will be the inevitable consequence
of the opposition given by Ministers to the Ballot—an op-
position which, the more we reflect upon it, the more un-
wise,
not to say infatuated, does it seem. We can make
allowance for the reluctance of individual Members of the
Cabinet to sacrifice their opinions, however erroneous we
think them, upon this question ; and therefore we might
have forgiven the Government for not at once making it
Cabinet measure ; but we are utterly at a loss to find any
apology or excuse for its not being made an " open ques-
tion." Precedents were not wanting for following this
course. On the great measure of Catholic Emancipation
the Members of the Liverpool Cabinet were left at perfect
liberty to vote as they pleased ; and :they actually did vote
on different sides. This was a degree of liberality, though
in a Tory Administration, well worthy of imitation by the
MELsouRNIE Government. Had it been imitated on this
occasion there would not have been that alienation of the
Reformers from the Ministry, for which Lord JOHN
RUSSELL may, perhaps, discover, when it is too late, that
a pat on the back from Sir ROBERT PEEL is but a poor
compensation.

The great Meeting of SOO persons at the Freema-
sons' Tavern yesterday, of which we published an ample
report in our Second Edition, seems to have had a great
charm for two of cur Morning Contemporaries. The
Herald cannot crowd the proceedings into less than
four columns and a half, or only one co!umn less
than it gives to all the debates in both Houses
of Parliament. The Times far out-does the Herald,
and swells the discussion of which Messrs. WALTER,
OAiTLER, FIELDEN and MURPHY are the heroes, into
eleven columns. What our two Conservative Contem-
poraries mean by thus giving great importance to such a
wretched meeting, at which the most virulent per-
sonalities were, combined with a demand for Universal
Suffrage, and the most outrageous denunciations were
made against the laws and those in authority, probably
their readers will call on them to explain. Nothing, how-
ever, it is now plain, is too gross or too bad for the Tory
journals which seems for the moment to serve their
factious purposes. Hence, we find one of them
making war day after day on capitalists ; in another,
giving point and power to the speeches of those who recom-
mend the destruction of property, and hint at treacherous
massacre as a means of obtaining the repeal of a law. Till
we witnessed the conduct of the Times and the Herald, we
could not suppose that disappointed personal feelings and
party spite, could ever drive any journals to act so com-
pletely in opposition to their own political principles, and to
the moral feelings of the public.

Sir ROBERT PEEL was loudly cheered by those opposed
to the Ballot when he expressed his conviction that no
Ballot-box could be made which would ensure secrecy, or
prevent a suspicion that it had been tampered with. " I
greatly distrust the secrecy of the Ballot-box," said the
Right Hon. Baronet ; " and I have that confidence in the
ingenuity, the character, and the skill of the people of this
country, to believe that no Ballot-box that could be de-
vised, in whose ever hands entrusted, would prove an
effectual guarantee against their curiosity:' 01 all the
sophistry poured forth on the occasion this is certainly the
most remarkable. We believe not the slightest doubt re-
mains in the minds of those who have turned their atten-
tion to the subject, that a box may be mado which shall
ensure perfect secrecy—no one during the course of the
debate, with this exception, denied the fact--and the
cheering which followed the assertion must, there-
fore, be attributed to that inherent quality of human
nature which leads the washed, as well as the unwashed
multitude, to assent to every word that falls from a loader.
But even admitting that fraudulent ingenuity
might oc-
casionally evade the law, is that any argument against the
Ballet ? We might as well argue against the use of a
lock or a seal, because a thief could pick the one, or
a forger counterfeit the other. The same argument too
would apply against the present mode for securing a cor-
rect return of votes at elections. By the 65th section of the
Reform Act, it is enacted that at the close of the poll,
the poll-books shall be delivered, enclosed and sealed, to the
returning officer or his deputy, who shall keep them un-
opened until the re-assembling of the Court. What is the
use of keeping them closed and sealed but to prevent fraud
—and can it be denied that if " lavish bribery" could
make an individual tamper with the Ballot-box, the same
means would not make him tamper with the seal ? Perfect
security is unattainable. We must therefore be satisfied
with the nearest approach to it. The large minority on the
division holds out vast encouragement to the friends of the
Ballot ; but we confess that is trifling when compared with
the arguments—and this is a fair specimen—used against
it by all th, speakers in the debate, because the public
will in time see that they are without foundation—that the
real cause of opposition arises from an unwillingness on the
part of the Aristocracy to allow the people the free
exercise of the franchise, and that Is ithout the Ballot they
cannot enjoy the full fruits of the Reform Bill.

yaw
By the packet-ship Hibernia, which arrived at Liver-
pool yesteray, we have received New York Papers to the
29th ult. inclusive—five days later than the last arrivals.
They contain various rumours from the frontier, to the
effect that a remnant of the Navy Island rebels had
reached the Island of Bois Blanc in Lake Erie, where,
after robbing the town of Detroit, they established their
head-quarters. Hither they were promptly pursued by
the Loyalists, who dispersed them in all directions,
after taking possession of a schooner, three pieces of can-
non, and four hundred stand of arms. Several of the
leaders were made prisoners, and n
MACKENZIE succeeded in making his escape. wcapea. s Inbutillthepe-
rusal of the annexed extracts, great allowance should be
made for that love of exaggeration so characteristic of the
Americin Newspaper Press. The affair of the Caroline
continues to excite lively interest on the frontier. Mr.
WELLS, the Proprietor, asserts that she was never "bought,
chartered, hired, or bonded, in any manner whatever," by the
Navy Islanders—that she was started to run as a ferry-boat
—had her regular papers—and carried no flag but the flag
of the United States; nor had she any other on board when
destroyed. This may be all true, or it may not, and the
latter is the more credible ; but whether true or false, it
will not now affect our friendly relations with the United
States Government. If we have violated the territory, or
unwittingly offered an indignity to the United States' flag,
there is not a British subject, worthy of the name, whose
voice will be raised against our making the Federal Go-
vernment ample reparation

• '
(From the Daily Erpress, Jan. .25.)
THE IMPORTANT NEWS FROM MICHIGAN.
" DETROIT, JAN. 7, 1838.
" Our city is at present in an unprecedented excitement. Are. 9, of the United
gfaodriear-Ggeenatedralofßmracelo
to
protect the
Arsenal at Dearbonville, 10 miles up the river Rouge, and the powder
swilaitseitsioannnhays,
übpeeenn
the
eadGe
y
magazine in this city. ' Night before last, the patriots seised upon a
obvernßorri
srnall schooner at our wharfs, stole 300 stand of arms that had been
put in the jail for safe keeping, and embarked in open daylight yester-
day morning, with some 300 men, down the river, to possess themselves
of a small island nearly opposite Fort Malden—the island belongs to
the English. Our Deputy-Marshal and 30 men went in pursuit, but
were ordered not to approach the patriot vessel. They returned to the
city last evening. The Governor has ordered out 200 men, and sent to
Dearbonville for cannon and small arms to go in pursuit of these
patriots, to compel them at least to leave our waters. 300 stand of
arms were stolen at Monroe a few nights since.

" All these circumstances have thrown our city into the greatest
excitement. A meeting of the citizens was called yesterday, and vo-
lunteers raised to preserve our neutrality and protect our property, I. e.
to shut the stable door after the horse is stolen.

" The Patriots arc receiving voluntetrs from all parts of our State.
Even the interior is sending in its quota. There is no doubt that they
will muster at least five hundred men on Fighting Island to-morrow.
The Canadians !me, to r.pposethi.se, four hundred and fifty drafted mi.
litia and two companies nf volunteer negrocs. There will Lea battle in
a day or two.

" The Patriots, it is said, are commanded by one General Sutherland,
a brother of Judge Sutherland, of your State, I believe.

(From the Albany Argvs.)
FROU THE WEST.—The Buffalo Papers are of Thursday last. The
Slar of that date says
A rumour very much like the truth has reached• this city, that offi-
cial news has been received by Colonel M'Nab that Duncombe had
taken Malden, and other towns on the Western frontier of Canada, and
wasmaking rapid progress, with nearly two thousand men, well armed
If.this be true, which we have very little reason to doubt, the scat of
war will soon return to the Niagara illgontter. M`Nab will only have
got rid of Van Rensselaer for a season, to be met by both Duncombe
and Van Rensselaer in such a position that he will be obliged to fight
or run.

And to balance these accounts is another by an express at Kingston,
from the London district, signed by John B. Askin, stating that a de-
tachment of Royalist boats had succeeded in capturing, after a short
engagement, near Malden, a schooner with 400 stand of arms, 3 pieces
of cannon, and an abundance of ammunition on board ; the number of
men not mentioned, but it is stated that the schooner lost I killed, 8
wounded, and 12 prisoners.
(From the Kingston (Upper Canada) Herald, Jan. 15.)
The Traveller brings the accounts of a gallant action at Amherst.
burgh. A gang of pirates robbed the arsenal at Detroit, loaded a
schooner with the spoils, and sailed to Amherstburgh, and fired on the
town.

The inhabitants had no arms, but they collected in the night, armed
with pitchforks and whatever came to hand. They then at..
tacked and captured the schooner, killing one man and taking 12 pri-
soners, with 300 stand of arms, three cannon, and a large supply of the
munitions of war. Thus in every quarter defeat and ruin wait on the
rebels and pirates.
(From the Hamilton (Upper Canada) Gazette.)
JAN. 10, Six A al.—Lieutenant Wright arrived by express, bringing
the satisfactory intelligence of the capture of a rebel schooner, without
the loss of a man on our side, with three pieces of cannon and 30 pri-
soners; among the number a Dr. Theller, of notorious memory. The
number of rebels killed not ascertained.