The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1838.

shake hands with Mrs. Virrier. Saw several persons there
besides Mr. Carlisle and Mr. Berkeley.
Cross-examined by Mr. CROWDER—CouId have heard
the whole conversation if she had attended, as she was in a
small room in the passage. Had said very little about the
case to Mrs. Virrier. Did not know any thing about it till
she went to Mr. Harmer's. Could not tell when it was
that Mrs. Virrier first mentioned the caso to her.
Mary Love, examimed by Mr. TALBOT—Was 16 years
of age ; was in Mrs. Virrier's employ during the election
in 1837. Did not sleep in the house. She ran about with
newspapers, and cleaned the house. When Mr. Berkeley's
canvassing party came round, witness was on the top of
the cellar stairs. Upon hearing Mr. Berkeley's name men-
tioned, witness, wishing to see him, ran to the fire-place,
where he could see the whole party. Mr. Carlisle asked
Mrs. Virrier for whom her husband intended to vote, and
upon her stating one and one, he said he was a wise man,
and should be sure to have the 61. at Christmas.

- _
Cross-examined by Mr. ADOLPHUS—Had been on
and off at Mr. Virrier's for four or five years. When
the party came witness was out of the room. Saw Mrs.
Virrier show Mr. Virrier a sovereign, and throw the
Paper, in which it was wrapped, in the fire. Was no re-
lation to Mrs. Virrier.
Sarah Plummer examined by Mr. THESIGER—In July,
1837, witness lived a servant with a Mr. Rigge. Was in
the habit of going for water to the Adam and Eve-passage.
Saw a crowd of persons there on the day in question, which
she discovered to be Mr. Berkeley and the Low Party.—
(Laughter.)
This witness corroborated the other witness as to Mr.
Carlisle's stating he would endeavour to get Virrier the 61.
at Christmas.
Cross-examined by Mr. CRowDER—Did not know Mrs.
Virrier until the present prosecution ; and when it was in-
stituted, she called upon her, and told her what she had
heard. _ _ _

Catherine Knight, examined by Mr. TALBOT.—Lived
l Adam and Eve-passage. I saw the canvassing party
e 0
_come up to Mrs. Virrier's. Mr. Berkeley and Mr. Carlisle
knocked at the door. Mr. Carlisle asked which way Mr.
.Virrier.intended to vote ? To which she replied, one and one,
In answer to which Carlisle said that was right, and if he
toted for Mr. Berkeley he would get him the 6/. at Christ-
mas, to which Mr. Berkeley added, " Yes, if you can do
it, as I think they are deserving people."
Cross-examined by Mr. ADoLnius—After she left Bris-
tol went to reside at Cardiff, where she was now in service.
Several tracts were then put in and read, which had been
distributed about at the election.
This closed the case for the defence.
Mr. CROWDER then addressed the Jury in reply. It
had now become his duty to offer some observations in
reply to the case made by his Learned Friend, and al-
though his Learned Friend's speech commenced with
various complaints, one of them was, not that Mrs. Virrier
bad not the means—the full means of conducting
her defence : she has had the most able Counsel in this
Court, notwithstanding the statements that had been
made respecting her poverty. His Learned Friend had
said, that he (Mr. C.) was not justified in calling Mrs.
Virrier a wretch, and that he had done so for the purpose
of stigmatizing her before the Jury. He would fearlessly
assert, that that person was not better than a wretch
who had sworn falsely and against whom a charge
of perjury had been preferred. Now what was the
charge made by the person whom he had called
a wretch, why that Mr. Berkeley and the other
gentlemen with whom he had associated, had prostituted
the public money for political purposes. He (Mr.
Crowder) thought the attack of his Learned Friend,
Mr. Thessiger, on Mr. Ball the Attorney-General
for__ Ireland, most unwarranted and uncalled for.
He had charged that gentleman with putting questions to
the defendant in the Committee of the House of Commons,
for the purpose of entrapping her ; so far from doing so,
be had called her attention from moment to moment to
what she had said ; he asked her did you not say so and
se, and what do you mean by conditions ; and his
Learned Friend had said that was affected ignorance
for the purpose of entrapping the witness. Now, what
was the fact ? Why, that during the whole course of
the examination of the defendant before the Committee,
there was nothing but prevarication on her part, stating
One thing at one time, and another at another. He trusted,
therefore, the Jury would think that his Learned Friend's
attack was most unfair. Another complaint of his Learned
Friend was against the manner of the ro
psecution that
four persons were indicted for perjury in order to make
them stigmatised witnesses. He (Mr. C.) thought that
celoplaint totally unfounded ; there would, however, have
been something in it if they had been indicted for a con-
spiracy, because then they would all have been indicted
together and could not have given evidence. His Learned
Friend had thought it expedient to attack Mr. Berkeley
and to make those inquiries about his private mode of
living which the Jury had heard. If his Learned Friend
thought it would have any effect on the mind of the Jury,
he (Mr. C.) had no right to complain of it, but if he (Mr.
C.) took a right estimate of the understanding of the Jury on
those matters, such subjects would not affect Mr. Berkeley
in their opinion when his credibility was attacked.
His friend had also made a direct attack against the Trus-
tees of the Charities of Bristol ; he had boldly stated that
the, had prostituted in the most disgraceful manner the
charity funds to political purposes ; and his Learned
Friend had thought proper to put into the hands of Mr.
Somerton a paragraph that was in the Bristol Mer-
cury, in order to make the Jury believe that the
Trustees had sanctioned it. Now he (Mr. Crowder)
would request the Jury to look at the tracts that had been
read, and having done so, be would defy any person to
wrench from them the construction that his Learned
Friend had put upon them. Now, what were the
facts, upon looking at those tracts ? why, that the trust
funds were not now administered by the old Cor-
poration—that it was not until the Municipal Act
Passed, that there was any alteration in these
charities, and that the present trustees were appointed by
the Court of Chancery, after the Master of that Court
had made every inquiry into their fitness. Now, the first
tract was an attack upon Mr. Fripps, the Tory sitting
Member ; it stated that Tory trustees had misapplied the
fund ; that now there were new trustees ; and that they were
determined that in future the funds should not be
applied for political purposes. So far from this being a
statement to the freemen that the Charity property would
be misapplied, it was a direct statement to them, that
they need not expect in future to be paid for their
must
vot:es out of the Charity funds—that they
in
futur„e vote according to their consciences and that
every poor freeman entitled under the will of the
founder of the charity would be entitled to the
benefit of let him vote which way he would. The
whole object 0; the tract was to express the determina-
tion of the trustee: to administer the Charity Funds pro-
perly ; for after going ,'..nto the defalcations that took place
in 1814, it stated " that the principle of being generous
with other people's money Iva,: bad, but it was peculiarly
so in Charity Trustees." He vr,s sorry to occupy the
time of the Jury so long upo► this point, but
his Learned Friend, Mr. Thesiger, bad endeavoured
to cast such a stigma upon the Trustees generay, and upon
the three trustees that had been called before them, that
he felt bound to adopt the course he had done. Now,
what had been the statement of 111 r. Berkeley with respect
to those tracts ? Why, that he knew of them, and of
every word contained therein. Mr. Visger had said the
same thing, and both those gentlemen had distinctly told
the electors that they were not now to look to
those funds, for that in future they would be dis-
tributed only according to the will of the founder.
Now having stated thus much, what were the facts of the
case ? The jury had before them several gentlemen, w
respect to Mr. Berkeley be would give his friend the whi hale
benefit of the hit he bad endeavoured to make against
the
m.
If Mr. Berkeley had any alarm or apprehension did
jury think he would have come forward to have instituted
the present prosecution ; Mr. Berkeley felt that it was a duty
to himself and the trustees that he should bring the present
prosecution forward, and he (Mr. C.) would fearlessly as-
sert that unless the Jury believed Mr. Berkeley, Mr.Visger,
Air. Carlisle, Mr. Saunders, Mr. Rankin, and Mr. Somer-
ton were all perjured, it would be their duty to find the
defenalpt guilty. Mr. Berkeley had sworn most positively
that Caril.;sle had never said any such thing, as that he
would give at Christmas to the Virriers. Mr. Visger had
said that if suCb a statement had been made lie should have
recollected it. hrsp was at a loss to know what his friend
had to say against alt those gentlemen. Did he mean to
say they were all perjured ? Who were they ? Men of
the highest character and )-eputation in Bristol, above all
suspicion. But some of the Nyitnesses had said that Mr.
Berkeley had given money in a whib•per. Now what was the
evidence upon that ? Why all stated tha: Mr. Berkeley spoke
in his usual tone of voice. Mr. Carlisle might be strongly
Prlljudicad with respect to his politics, but there was nothing at
all to induce the Jury to doubt his veracity. Then as to
Mr. Somerton, what could be said against him ? fie was
a man of acknowledged integrity in Bristol, and the con-
ductor of a public journal there. The same observation
might be made with respect to all the other witnesses for
the prosecution. Indeed in his ( Mr. C.'s) opinion, a stronger
I"dy of high and unimpeachable testimony than had been
adduced on the part of the prosecution never had been
brought forward in any Court of Justice, and all that he
asked wag that the Jury would contrast it with that hteug-ht
forward on behalf of the defendants, all of whom were
either relations, friends, or servants of the accused,
and some of whom bad beer, raked up mast 31arvel-
lotialy at the last moment ; indeJ, one witness, ga-
lah I!lumer, had so much philanthropy abotit her that, upon
e
aring that a charffe had. been made against Mrs, Virrier,
41e„ Caine voluntarily forward to protect injured innocever
'4l Conclusion, the Learned Counsel felt convinced the

Jury would find the defendant guilty—for no person, life,
or property would be safe, if parties were allowed to come
forward with impunity in a Court of Justice, and make
statements that were totally without foundation.
Lord DENMAN then proceeded to sum up the
case to the Jury—He said that it was an indict-
ment preferred by Mr. Berkeley, one of the sitting
Members for Bristol, against Sarah Virrier for perjury,
in stating that Mr. Berkeley bad been guilty of bribery at
the last Bristol Election, that bribery, as it was alleged,
having taken place at the time when Mr. Berkeley called at
the house of Virrier. The first assignment of perjury wasin
the statement that Mr. Carlisle had promised Mr. Virrier
N. at Christmas ; and the second, that he had given Mrs.
Virrier a sovereign into her hand. The question for the
Jury to consider was, whether that was true or false. They
were doubtless aware perfectly well that in every allegation
of perjury they must be satisfied upon the evidence of two
witnesses that the party accused was guilty. It might be
possible, although he (Lord Denman) would not give au
opinion upon that because the Jury had nothing but facts
to decide upon, that they might find no second witness as
to the fact of Mr. Berkeley giving the sovereign to Mrs.
Virrier ; but if they should be of opinion that Mr. Berkeley
did not give the sovereign, that would have some weight
with respect to the other part of the case, as there
they would have before them a person telling a
deliberate falsehood. The other assignment of perjury
was, that Mrs. Virrier had falsely stated that Mr. Car-
lisle had promised to give her 61. out of the charity at
Christmas. Now, upon that part of the case they bad
positive evidence that it could not have been stated,
and as the questions the Jury had to decide were pure
matter of fact, he (Lord Denman) thought he could not
do better than read his notes of the evidence to them.
[The Learned Judge then read the evidence.] With respect
to the paragraph in the Bristol Mercury, it did not
appear that it had been authorised by any of the gentlemen
that had given evidence to-day. As to the tracts, the time
at which they were issued did not appear to his Lordship
to be material. The question was the animus with which
they were issued ; and with respect to that, he (Lord
Denman) thought the argument had been carried rather
too far on both sides. If the Jury believed the evidence on
the part of the prosecution, then the question would be,
whether the charge of perjury had been made out ? If those
witnesses were not contradicted, it appeared to his
Lordship to be impossible that any such statement as had
been charged to have been made could have taken place.
It was for the Jury, looking at the whole case, to say
what set of witnesses they believed, and looking at the
time some of them had come forward, it would be for
them to say whether they were stating that which was
true or false. If the witnesses for the defence had said
that which was true, the whole of the witnesses
for the prosecution were clearly convicted of perjury.
The witnesses on the part of the prosecution were persons
of the highest character, and it was a strong thing to say
that persons in their situations should come forward, within
the knowledge of each other, and state that which was
false. The Jury were, however, bound to consider on the
other hand that the feelings of parties often got enlisted in
the cause of those they advocated. Unless Mr. Ber-
keley and his witnesses were perjured, the attempt to
set up the promise of Mr. Carlisle fell to the ground.
The Jury would consider both sets of evidence, and dispose
of the case according to their view of where the truth lay.
The Jury retired at six minutes past twelve o'clock, and
returned into Court at twenty minutes past two o'clock, and
delivered their verdict to the following effect, in writing :
" The J ury have much difficulty, from the confficting evidence,
in coming to a conclusion. They find the defendant Not
Guilty on the first assignment, but Guilty on the second."

sacks and bags 251 b. ; 866 newspapers, lcwt. 141bs. ; 365
chargeable letters, 81bs. ; 108 franks Blbs. I2oz. ; Coat
came to lcwt. 2qrs. 271bs. 12oz. I should mention, that
from London to Louth is only 148 miles ; there is a great
difference, therefore, between that and Edinburgh. The
total cost of conveying the mail once from London to Louth
by the present contract, which is just about to expire, for a
new contract is just entered into, and I might be almost jus-
tified in taking the expense under the new contract, but,
taking it under the present contract, one trip is 1/. 17s. 7d.;
therefore, on 1/. 17s. 7d., the 365 letters being charged to
it, it turns out that each letter comes to lid., and seven-
tenths of a id., instead of being one thirty-sixth of a 1 d.,
for the cost of transmission, as stated by Mr. Hill. In this
case, for only 148 miles, the cost will Le I id. and seven-
tenths ; if we take the average, perhaps it would be about
Id. a letter. According to ''Mr. Hill's calculation, taking
it on his own figures, the average cost of the transmission
of letters is I d., instead of one thirty-sixth of Id."
" The cost of a trip to Edinburgh is Si. The cost of a
single trip to Louth 1/. 17s. 7d. by the present contract.
The day on which this experiment was mach is an average
day." _ _

The question may be shortly stated thus :
If 6951 b. 9oz. (the weight of the two mails) cost
61. 17s. 7d., how much will one quarter of an ounce cost ?
This may be worked mentally with great ease, and with
sufficient nearness for the purpose, if the weight be taken as
7001 b., and the cost as 71.

Now let us look at the facts established by his Lordship,
and then at his reasons.

His Lordship establishes—
That Mr. Hill's estimate as to .5/. being the cost of the
conveyance of the mail to Edinburgh, is correct.
That the average weight of both mails 6951 b. 9oz.
That the weight of the newspapers and privileged weights
is 6521 b. 81oz.
That the weight of the chargeable letters by the two
mails is 421 b. 14oz.

That the number of franks by the two mails is 592.
That the number of chargeable letters by the two mails
is 1,920.
That 592 Parliamentary franks weigh more than 1,920
chargeable letters.

We proceed to examine his Lordship's reasons. The
question to which his Lordship is speaking, is the actual
cost of the transit of a letter which Mr. Hill had stated
to be one thirty-sixth part of a penny from London to
Edinburgh ; and his Lordship tells the Committee that Mr.
Hill is right in his gross calculation, but wrong in dividing
the amount by the weight conveyed. And why ? Because,
says his Lordship, I carry 15-16ths of the weightfor nothing,
and, therefore, I am entitled to say the other sixteenth costs
the whole!

Now let us suppose that the writer of the sixteenth letter
did not choose to send it on any given night—and this
self-paying class of correspondence is leaving the Post-office
very rapidly—to whom would his Lordship debit the letters
of the nobility and privileged gentry ? Could he then say,
that the letter that stayed at home, put him to the expense
of carrying the other fifteen.

The question being between the People and the Go-
vernment, as public carriers, the cost of conveying a given
weight ; his Lordship converts it into a question between
the Government and himself as their servant, and then
deals with his substituted question, and takes no further
notice of Mr. Hill's, which his Lordship veiled as he passed
by it. If the Government were finding fault with his
Lordship for paying the mail contractor for carrying the
fifteen privileged weights, then his Lordship would have a
right to say, I must charge you for those weights which you
compel me to carry. But that not being the question be-
fore the Committee, and to which his Lordship professed
to be speaking, his reasoning does not answer the question.
Put the case thus—sixteen distinct passengers start to-
gether for Edinburgh, and the gross sum to be paid for
the journey is 801. The question being raised, what is the
cost of each ? Ordinary calculators would say 51. If the
coachman were to insist upon one of the passengers paying
the whole 801., we think his Lordship would see the in-
justice of saying, that any one of them cost 80/., because
the coachman chose to fix the whole upon him. Suppose
that the coach proprietors had issued free tickets to fifteen
of those passengers, and had directed the coachman to take
those tickets as cash, would the coach proprietors be en-
titled to say to the coachman, when he presented the
fifteen tickets and a Si. note, we will not receive these
fifteen tickets, you most go back to the sixteenth passenger,
and insist that he cost the whole expense of the journey,
and if his name is Rowland Hill, persuade him that he does
not understand arithmetic.

The irrelevancy of the case put by his Lordship, and
the fallacy of his Lordship's reasoning, consists in his not
debiting the parties who oblige him to carry for nothing
with the cost of the carriage they impose ; it is not because
that party refuses to pay that the account is not to be
truly stated, or that the sixteenth ounce occasions the whole
outlay. It is one thing to bear the whole outlay, and
another thing to occasion it ; and this his Lordship has
overlooked.

For the same cost of carriage, then, fifteen times the
quantity of chargeable letters could be conveyed, for there
is no propriety in language, if, in arguing the case of the
chargeable letters, any increase caused by the unpaid is put
down as an item against the chargeable.
The fact that 592 franked letters weigh more than
2,368 chargeable letters, should be attended to. There
cannot be a doubt, that if postage were reduced to one
penny, a large proportion of those franks would become
chargeable letters, as the indulgence of official franks is
now largely granted on account of the heaviness of postage,
and as to Members' franks, it is within common observa-
tion, that more than one half of those are given away by the
Members, who would not be intruded upon if postage were
reduced to one penny. It is therefore a warrantable sup-
position, that one-third of those franks, which would of
itself nearly double the number of chargeable letters, would
be brought into the class of chargeable letters.
Every chargeable letter, out of London, is shown by his
Lordship to carry 15 others, and it follows, that the mail
could carry fifteen fold the present amount of chargeable
letters, without any increase of expenditure on their ac-
count.

An increase of fivefold and a half only is required to sus-
tain the present revenue, and far more than that number
is shown by the evidence to be certain. The increase,
therefore, beyond that number will be nearly all profit, as
the carrying of 2,000 letters instead of 1,000, though it
would double the amount to be paid to Government, would
but slightly increase their expenditure for carriage and dis-
tribution, and there would be no attendant increase of dead
weight.

Six thousand letters weigh about 1 cwt., and the cost of
their conveyance to Scotland, by weight, would be, let us
suppose 205.; the Government would get for that number,
at one penny, 251.

Then let it be considered, that the evidence before the
Committee demonstrates, that if postage were reduced to
one penny, an increase in letters might be confidently looked
for, to the extent of from twelve to twentyfold. Govern-
ment would then get, if twelvefold 501. for 12,000 letters
paid in advance to the Stamp-office, and would have to pay
less than 40s. for carriage.
The masses of letters which arrive in any large town are
taken by a few principal houses, and are either fetched or
put into a box at the Post-office for those houses, and this
practice would increase as the number of letters increased ;
and, the distribution added, the whole outlay need not be
more than a farthing per letter.
The Post-office now frequently do not deliver letters
when they arrive at post towns without charging an extra
penny for delivery, unless the persons addressed live within
a very short distance of the Post-office ; they confine them-
selves, in most borough towns to the limits of the old Par-
liamentary boroughs. The extra penny is a constant source
of complaint to the Post-office authorities, from all parts of
the Kingdom, politely answered, but seldom remedied.

The following correction applies to an article which
we inserted yesterday from the Chronicle :—We have an
apology to offer to the Weekly Chronicle, for an error of
the Press in our yesterday's Paper. We had written,
"As a specimen of the criminations in question we
take the following, which the Weekly Chronicle at-
tributes to one of their leaders, Mr. Bronterre
O'Brien, their Sunday organ." Instead of this, the
printer, by transposing the words, makes the Weekly
Chroniclethe Sunday organ of the Chartists. All who
read the IVeekly Chronicle know that it combats the Chart-
ists a outrance. In the same article, for " This is a ca-
ricature of a fracuion of the middle classes drawn lately by
a hand from whom better things might have been cx-
pected,i' read portrait in place of fraction.—Morning
Chronicle.
An inquest was held yesterday afternoon, at St.
George's Hospital, on the body of a y )ung man named
Stokes, who died in that institution on Friday night, from
the effects of fire. It apr,eared that the deceased was a
bargeman, and while on board a barge off Chelsea, had in-
cautiously gone to sleep near a fire which was placed on the
deck, when his clothes ignited, and he was dreadfully burnt.
Verdict—Accidental death.

PARISH BENEFACTIONS.—Yesterday coals,
amounting in weight to upwards of forty tons, were distri-
buted to the poor of the parish of St. Bride's, which was
provided for them by a subscription of the inhabitant house-
holders of the above parish. There are still left at the
only remain for now applicants.
depot in Bride-lane between thirty and forty tons, which
annual custom, by a grant made by two maiden ladies to
On Sunday morning, at eight o'clock, according to
the :parish of St. Mary, Paddington, a quantity of small
loaves of bread and slices of cheese were distributed to the
poor of the parish of Paddington. By the terms of the
grpt the loaves must be thrown from the steeple of the
chuF"eli intq tlle 949rchrrd vly which was aceordin done.
, • ; 7

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO-MORROW.
Morning 23 minutes after 9 Evening......... 59 minutes after 9

The publication of THE SUN NEWSPAPER commenced this day
ai 10 minutes past Three o' Clock.

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LONDON:
TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 25, 1838.

'We rejoice to see in the terrors of the Herald the
growing fruit of the " solemn" meeting at Manchester.
Our Contemporary is quite wild with agony, from cor-
rectly supposing that the meeting of the Chamber of
Commerce is the commencement of a severe and de-
termined struggle on the part of the manufacturers to
save their property from annihilation, and the millions
who inhabit our manufacturing districts from misery
and starvation, by procuring the unconditional re-
peal of the Corn-laws. It will be time enough
to examine the Herald's arguments when it
can muster, as it hopes to do to-morrow,
calmness enough to state them ; its observations
to-clay, which we insert, are as curious a specimen of
raving as we have lately encountered. The restric-
tions on the trade in money, which were enacted in
1819 by the Tories, are, with a total forgetfulness of
this fact, ascribed to the free traders. In the same
manner, while the country has been pining since 1815
under a restricted corn trade, which has gradually ex-
cluded us from foreign markets, and limited us to the
narrow resources of our own soil, when the whole world
offered its bounties to supply our wants, the Herald bawls
out that its decline has been caused by free trade, which
its Tory patrons and the stupid suicidal landlords have
never tolerated for a single moment. With free-
trade and cheap food the handloom-weavers, over
whose fate all men must mourn, would have continued
to flourish ; but they have been starved by the Corn-
laws, and the Herald stupidly ascribes their miseries
to a non-existing free-trade. Such rhodomontade,
so totally contrary to facts, is worthy of no other
notice than to be preserved as a curious specimen of
the perverting effects of fear.
We have no consolation for our Contemporary. An
anti-Corn-law Association has been formed at Stock-
port as well as at Manchester, and similar asso-
ciations are in progress in almost every large
town, in the manufacturing districts. Mr. PA ULTON'S
lectures, which he continues to deliver at different
places, are every where attended by crowds, and
heard with enthusiastic applause. At length the ma-
nufacturers have formed a manly resolution, and are
determined to rescue themselves and the nation from
the villainous griping rule of a selfish Aristocracy, which
carries on robbery by law. It is, indeed, time that the
dominion of the corrupt descendants of the feudal Barons,
who retain, as the Corn-laws show, all their love of
plunder, but want their courage, who have adopted
the low, safe tricks of their ancestors' slaves, instead of
using the strong hand, which would be attended with
some danger, as their ancestors did, it is indeed time
that this villainous dominion, which has subsituted le-
gal fraud for open force, should in its turn be brought
to an end, as it will be by overthrowing the Corn-
laws. The manufacturers, however, have no easy task
before them ; they must take Lord MELBOURNE'S
advice, and resolve earnestly to accomplish their object.
Never, in the whole course of our history was justice
obtained from our selfish landowning lawmakers, but
through the medium of their fears. Too zealous, and
too earnest, the manufacturers cannot possibly be.
Every moment between this and the meeting of Par-
liament, must be diligently employed. There is, how-
ever, great hope of success, for now all the Liberal
Journals seem inclined to prefer the Corn-law agita-
tion to the question of the Suffrage, which, as Mr.
PAULTON observed at Stockport, will be ripened, not
delayed by our success. We wish, however, to learn,
as a general stir is now beginning, what the anti- Corn-
law Association of the metropolis has done to promote
it, and what that Society is doing ? Nobody hears of
its existence.

We perceive the sages of the Marylebone Vestry
have been at loggerheads about the annual decoration
of their parish Church with holly. The Vestry, it
seems, had, on Saturday se'nnight, very much to
their credit, voted the discontinuance of this foolish
custom, which had its origin in those days when the
rulers of the Christian Church deemed it advisable to
conciliate Paganism by incorporating its usages with
those of Christianity. At this horrible innovation the
so-called friends of the Church took alarm. The
abrogation of so ancient a custom, Pagan as
they acknowledged it to be, would, they con-
tended, infallibly lead to the downfall of the
Establishment. They accordingly, on Saturday last,
rescinded the vote of the former week, and directed the
Church to be ornamented as usual T. We heartily wish
this practice were altogether discontinued, on this, if
on no other ground, that it leads to extensive depreda-
tions on the gardens in the vicinity of large towns.
There is hardly a garden, within ten miles of London,
where a holly is to be found that does not bear testi-
mony to the piety of the metropolitan Church decorators.

We inserted yesterday a letter containing a deplo-
rable account of the labourer's condition in Dorset-
shire, and some equally deplorable accounts have
been made public of their condition in Wiltshire. We
do not affirm that the incendiarism which unhappily
prevails in the latter county, and of which two fresh
instances are contained in The Sun of to-day, are
the " natural results" of that wretched condition, but
the facts are conjoined, and seem to be cause and effect.
In some counties, as in Sussex, we understand that
the landowners and farmers have generally agreed to
increase their labourers' wages, and the people are said to
be comparatively well off and contented. The landowners
and farmers of Essex were sometime ago recommended
to adopt the same plan, but we apprehend they have
declined. In the last number of the Essex, Hens, and
Kent Mercury we find the report of a meeting held at
Chelmsford, on Monday week,
in which a Mr. JOIN-
STONE made the following statement

" I have been in houses where a loaf of bread or a potato
was not to be found. I have been in houses in the neighbour-
hood of Tiptree Common, Wickham Bishops, Little and
Great Totham, Goidhanger, and Beckenham, where the people
are receiving only 75., Bs., and 9s. a-week. In the adjoining
parish of
Springfield, many are receiving but 9s. a-week.
Children are crying for bread before Saturday night ar-
rives, when the father comes home with his scanty allow-
ance. From Pattiswick, a mother is enduring 14 days' im-
prisonment in the Convict Gaol for taking a few turnips of
the value of twopence. She was fined with costs 13s. 6d.,
and could not pay. Her husband has had six months' sick-
ness ;
and he and their children are deprived of the only com-
fort of their hearts, the solace of his mind, and the protector
of his children, and all this for twopence.—( Loud cries of
Shame I)"
As long as such statements are uncontradicted, and
as long as they are a tolerably correct representation
of the condition of the people, theft, outrage, and in-
cendiarism may be anticipated.

The Paris Papers of Saturday, delayed by stress of
weather, and the whole of the Journals of Sunday,
have been received this morning. On Saturday the
Chamber of Deputies proceeded to the olectiou of a
c9iipmittet 9f ;title Members to re are an 0,44(9§5,

in answer to the Speech from the Throne. In this
grand trial of the strength of parties the Ministers
were signally defeated—six of the nine Members
elected being decided anti-Ministerialists. What
must add to the mortification of Count MOLE and
his colleagues, they are all men of distinguished ability,
so that the Chamber will not lightly set aside any pa-
ragraph in the draft of an address prepared by them.
Their names are MM. TRIERS, GUIZOT, PASSY,
ETIENNE, DUVERGIER DE BAURANNE, and
MATIIIEU DE LA REDORTE. The systems they re-
present, the extent of their hostility to the Cabinet,
and their influence in the Chamber, are well summed
up in the following article on the election of the Com-
mittee, which we extract from the Courrier Francais
of Sunday :

" Six out of nine members of this Committee belong to the
different fractions of the Opposition. They are, moreover,
among the most able of the Chamber, and are distinguished
for their decided hostility to the system. M. Passy, for in-
stance, represents the principle that " the King reigns, but
does not govern ;" M. Guizot, in consentinc, to be chosen,
wished to prove to the country that he concurred in the opinions
his partisans had hitherto defended in his name ; M. Thiers is the
personification of the antipathy of France for a system of
foreign policy, which induces incessant concessions to
the Holy Alliance ; M. Mathieu de la Redorte professes the
principles and shares the national feelings of the left; M.
Etienne is the antagonist of the priest and Court parties ;
finally, M. Duvergier de Hauranne, as a man of sense and cou-
rage, has levelled the barrier which hitherto divided parties.
To crown the work, M. Dupin reprobated, in the Standing
Committee, of which he is a member, the system of the Ca-
binet, and voted in favour of M. Passy.
" The effect of these appointments, is as nothing in
comparison with the tone of the debates which preceded
them. Messrs. Guizot and Duchatel, in the third Com-
mittee, warmly attacked the tendency of our foreign po-
licy. M. Odillon Barrot and M. Thiers, in the sixth,
silenced all the arguments adduced by the Ministerial-
ists in support thereof, who contended that the principles
advocated by the Opposition would necessarily lead to a war.
M. Jouffroy, in the seventh, severely stigmatized the corrup-
tion employed by Ministers to gain partisans to their cause.
M. Mathieu de la Redorte forcibly pointed out the dangerous
consequences which might accrue to France out of the dis-
solution of her alliance with England.' M. Dufaure and
M. lsambert described the stupidity of the apostolical zeal of
our rulers, who seek proselytes even in our African posses
sions. 'Jo sum up, here are six appointments against three,
and two hundred votes against one hundred and seventy-four.
Such is the bulletin of the day."

The three partisans of the Ministry are—MM.
DEBELLEYISIE, DE JUSSIEU, and LA PINSON-
NIERE—aII Members of little note and less influence.
DUPIN, President of the Chamber, is ex-officio
Chairman of the Committee, but DUPIN is too
crochety, and too subject to fits of independence to
serve the purposes of any party. He was evidently
seized with one of these fits on Saturday, for on
assuming the Presidency of the Chamber he
stated that he was wholly unconnected with
party, and laid so much stress on his determination to
maintain the privileges of the Deputies as to elicit
loud cheers.

It is rumoured that the KING has already consulted
several influential Members of both Chambers about
the appointment of a new Cabinet. A well-informed
Journal has the following announcement :

" At a late hour last night the King had a long conference
with the Duke de Cazes, who appears to be called to replace
Prince Talleyrand in critical circumstances. This evening
( Saturday), at ten o'clock, the Ministers were still at the Tuile-
ries, where several political personages likewise attended."

The evacuation of Ancona by the French has been
followed by some disturbances between the citizens and
the Papal troops, in which one young man has al-
ready lost his life. He was shot in a scuffle with some
police.
We are happy to learn, that favourable accounts
of the health of the Duchess of WURTEMBERG
(Princess MARY of ORLEANS) have reached Paris.
The worst symptoms of her complaint have disappeared
since her removal to Pisa.

The settlement of the Belgian question continues
to excite a good deal of attention in Paris. We un-
derstand from other and more authentic sources, that
the final adjustment of this affair will take place very
shortly.
FRENCH FUNDS.-P►RIS. DECEMIIZA 22.

-
Five per Cents., 1091.45 c. 50c. 40c Latest Prices-109f. 50c.
Four per Cents., 10lf. 60c.
Three per Cents., 78f. 70c 65c.
Bank Actions, 2,68)f.
Nente de Naples, 98L 85c. 80c.
Roman Five per Cents., 10034 Ditto 100 A
Spanish Actives, 16 15% 16 Ditto 16
Belgian Five per Cents., 98 L'Ssai Ditto 99
Belgian Bank, 590 E 550 f. 560 f.
Haytaan Loan. 370 f.
EICHANON on LeNnoN.—One montkpaper, 25L 20c I money, 251. 15c;
rkree months, paper, .25t; —c ; money, 9.5 F. --,

Letters and Papers from Madrid, of the 15th inst.,
have arrived this morning. The Chambers were
treating the new Ministers with remarkable forbear-
ance, in the expectation of receiving from them, so soon
as they should have matured their plans, an exposition
of that system which General ALAIX has declared
adequate to the regeneration of Spain. General
CORDOVA was at Osuna, and General NAR-
VAEZ at the camp of Gibraltar, where they had
each received directions to prepare for trial by
a Court-martial. As for ESPARTERO, he is
so occupied with procuring their condemnation that
he has not time for the adoption of any measures
against the Carlists. He is now the uncontrouled
ruler of Spain, and dictates every proceeding of the
QUEEN and the Cabinet.

On the 30th ult. Prince GEORGE of Cambridge
landed for a few hours at Ceuta. In the course of the
day the Wasp, having his Royal Highness on board,
sailed for Tetuan.

Of warlike intelligence we find nothing but what is
contained in the following paragraph from a French
journal :
The Phare de Bayonne of the 20th has the following article :
We learn by express that Baron de Meer fell in with the Cata-
lonian bands on the 10th, and defeated them. That a second ac-
tion took place on the 12th, between Astaron and Llavorsi, in
which the factious were completely routed and lost many men,
killed, wounded, and dispersed. The main body of the rebels
retreated in disorder to Avis Santa Crew and Castello.
The Count d'Espagne entered Novis on the 12th, and on
the 14th continued his march towards Organza, where all the
bands are to meet.
On the same day the Baron de Meer and his troops oc-
cupied Realp, Llavorsi, and Esterry.

THE Moorr.—M. Arago, the French philcs;opher
and astronomer, has been engaged for some time in labo-
rious researches respecting the supposed influence of this
planet on the atmosphere, and on animal and vegetable bo-
dies, and has come to the conclusion that the popular no-
tions concerning the influence of the lunar phases (change
of moon) have no foundation in theory, and no correspond-
ence with observed facts. This will astonish sailors and
shepherds—the great and undoubted weather-prophets
from time immemorial, but he is about to astonish the mad-
doctors also, and prove that the " Queen of Night" has been
cruelly maligned, and that she is entirely innocent of the
murders and other countless crimes committed by lunatics.
The Great Supply of New Publications issuing
from the Press, and the approaching New Year, induce
Mr. Bull, Public Librarian, to remind Private Families,
Book Societies, and Literary Institutions, throughout Eng-
land, Scotland, and Ireland, of the favourable opportunity
offered to avail themselves of his New System of supplying
all Works, Magazines, and Reviews regularly for perusal,
in any quantity, upon the most advantageous terms. Full
particulars can be had (gratis), with a List annexed, of all
the valuable New Publications, or sent by post as a single
letter, on application to Mr. Bull, Librarian, 19, Holies-
street, Cavendish-square, London.
The navigable canals used for the transport of goods
and produce in England alone are estimated now to ex-
ceed 2,200 miles in length, while the navigable rivers ex-
ceed 1,800 miles, making, together, more than 4,000 miles
of inland navigation, the greater part of which has been
created or rendered available during the last eighty years.
The whole extent of navigable canals at this moment avail-
able in Ireland does not amount to 300 miles ; and, includ-
ing navigable rivers, the entire water communication does
not exceed 400 miles for the whole island.
INFAMOUS PUBLICATIONS.—A correspondent of
the Advertiser suggests the formation of a Society for the
Protection of Private Character. He truly enough says,
" So atrocious have been some of these attacks that the
excitement to the nervous system has been too great to
bear, and the innocent object of the attack has been
snatched to a premature grave ;
other poor victims , ilaye
beenor, wounded in
~eir feelings so acutely as la bring upon
th
4nat malady—the total'depsivati4n of reason."