The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-20 00:00:00

POST-OFFICE REFORM.

(From the Times of Saturday.)
It is calculated, and would appear to be an estimate
formed upon an exact and careful consideration of the sub-
ject, that if the number of letters sent through the Post=
office should be increased five times, there would be derived
the same revenue as is derived from the present rate of
charge, though that charge were reduced to one penny only
for a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight sent to
any part of the United Kingdom !
This is the great and important point contended for by
the advocates for Post-office Reform, who are aware, that
so long as the vile principle is clung to of making the re-
♦enue of the Post-office, at whatever cost and sacrifice else-
where, supersede all other considerations, it will be in vain
to adduce any arguments for a change that do not go to the
almost absolute proof that no loss, even to the Post-office

itself, would thereby be sustained.
Fortunately for the public, who possess an universal in-
terest in this great question, a most valuable collection of
facts bearing upon this part of it has been made by the
" Mercantile Committee on Postage," composed of some
of the first merchants of the City of London, to whose la-
bours we have ready alluded. These facts are in part ob-
tained from the evidence taken before the Committee of
the House of Commons, but the credit must, at the same
time, be assigned to the Mercantile Committee of having
been instrumental in bringing the greater part of that es i-
deuce together, and of assisting to diffuse it when given, by
employing a solicitor or Parliamentary agent for that pur-
pose, the proceedings of this Committee being " secret," and
the evidence not published for months afterwards—a course
which would appear, in such an inquiry, to be perfectly un-
justifiable.

We shall now proceed to give some idea of the evidence,
derived from various trades and classes, upon which the ex-
pectation of a great increase of revenue from a reduction of
the rate of postage to one penny is founded, and begin with
the book trade. In the evidence of Mr. J. W. Parker,
bookseller to the University of Cambridge, the following
occurs :

" You are of opinion that a very large addition of corres-
pondence would take place ?.---.There is no question of that ;
the reduction of postage to Id. or 2d., which has been talked
of, opens up the idea of such an extensive correspondence that
I really hesitate to say the extent to which I think it might be
carried ; but I estimate that our receipt of letters alone would
be six or eight times what they are, and that the number of
letters we should decline enclosing would amount to three to
one of all we now receive ; but I cannot estimate the number
of communications in the way of circulars and advertisements
we should send in the course of the year ; I do not think I
overstate it when I say they would be 20,000 or 30,000 in the
year, where we do not now send one."
Mr. Knight, the publisher to the Society for the Diffu-
sion of Useful Knowledge, says
It is of the greatest importance to our business, consisting
for the most part of the monthly publication of periodical
works, seven or eight in number, adapted for general reading,
sold almost universally throughout the United Kingdom, that
we should be able to apprise country booksellers, about the
20th of the month, what particular portions of works, describ-
ing them, or what works altogether, we should publish on what
is called magazine day,' that is, the last day in each month,
when those works are sent off to the country. We have a list,
of 1,860 country booksellers, all respectable people, with whom
we should not deal ourselves, for they are, for the most part,
supplied by the wholesale house, but to whom we should send
about the 20th of each month invariably, if the postage were
reduced to id. I should direct, for example, 1,860 circulars
to be sent this month, and should continue them every month
during the year, as long as I was engaged in my present busi-
ness; that would give an average of about 24,000 letters sent out
by our establishment annually for that object. But I will
*mention to the Committee the desirableness of the means of
meeting another class of persons. We publish a work that is
having a very large circulation—the Pictorial Bible;' it is a
Bible with notes, which, not being doctrinal, suits every class
of the religious community ; patronised equally by members of
the Church of England, and by Wesleyans, Independents, and
so on ; that work will be completed in two months from this
time. There is no difficulty in obtaining a list of all the clergy-
men in England ; there is no great difficulty in obtaining a
very complete list of all the Dissenting ministers : to all those
I should send a circular, announcing the completion of this
work, stating the nature and peculiarity of it; that alone,
upon a rough calculation would dispose of 20,000 circulars."
" I assume that postage would be paid by myself in advance,
and seeing that 100,000 circulars might be sent annually for
about 4001., I should conceive that would be by far the most
efficient mode of advertising that could be adopted."
" I consider that, availing myself of the advantages of the
post to "distribute such circulars as I have mentioned, we should
send out at least 100,000 annually, having reference to our pre-
sent publications; the other increase I have mentioned makes
the total letters we should receive and_ send, as far as I have
calculated, 127,000. We now receive and send only 11,000
annually; if the average rate of a post letter is 61d. which it
is stated to be, the revenue would be very nearly Lubled in
our case by a change from a high rate of postage to a low rate
of postage. 11,000 letters at 6id. pay to the Post-office
2971. 18s. ; 127,000 at Id. would pay 5291. 3s. ; it is nearly
double."

The evidence of Mr. Knight upon this subject has been
confirmed by Mr. G. B. Whittaker, of the house of Whit-
taker and Co. ; and it is obvious that the facts stated arc
those which must occur in every publishing, house in the
kingdom, and in every month of the year.
From the evidence of Mr. de Porquet, scholastic agent
and publisher, the following striking passages may be
taken

" Have you formed any opinion as to the rate to which it
would require to reduce the postage to create a large increase ?
—I may state that the smaller the charge, the greater would
be the circulation of my circulars and the letters addressed to
me. if the postage on circulars (I say nothing about written
letters at present) were to be Id., I should send not less than
25,000 to 40,000 in the course of a twelvemonth ; but if it
were half that amount, according to the size of the circular, if
I could send a circular of a quarter of a page, I should send
100,000 to 150,000 in the course of a twelvemonth. I should
not mind contracting to the amount of 100/. or 150/. a-year
for the conveyance of those small slips by post; that accom-
modation would increase my business, I should think, at least
to four times what it now is.

" Do you allude to being able to send those printed circu-
lars at Id. each ?—Yes; then I could send from 20,000 to
30,000; but if, according to the rate of postage, it were only
half that amount for a small slip, I could send not less than
five times that amount.

" Should you expect to receive a considerable accession of
business?—lmmense; I have tried it, when the stamp-duty
was reduced on newspapers. I have often purchased from 500
to 1,000 copies of one particular newspaper, the True Sun and
General Advertiser, in which I have, of course, caused an ad-
vertisement to be inserted, which may have cost me from 81. to
10/. ; still I purchased, at the trade price, 500 to 1,000, and
sent those very newspapers to all persons connected with
my business, such as schoolmasters and booksellers, and it has
paid me well. It has increased my business more than one-
third. „.

....•"
—•
What postage do you pay now ?—Not 101. a-year, sending
by post only when I am obliged to do it ; but I send
inpar-
cels, and by friends, and I have had my circulars printed
on the spot where they are to bo circulated, rather than send-
ing them by the post. At this time I should consider it a
great facility if I could renew my correspondence in France
with all the schoolmasters, amounting to 4,000 or 1,000. If
from this place I could pay the Post-office of this country one
penny for each letter to Dover, and then pay two centimes in
France for sending my letters throughout France, I sould send,
I dare say, within the next three years, from 12,000 to 15,000
of those circulars; but I am not able to do it, owing to the
present charge in England. Once I wrote-to France, ,and
caused prospectuses to be sent thence, but it was imperfectly
done, in consequence of my not being there. I intend to go
again, and send from 5,000 to 8,000; but if I could issue them
from this country at a low rate of postage, it would answer my
purpose better than absenting myself. •
" What number of circulars should you send each month,
if you could send them at a penny postage ?-1 should not send
less than 25,000 a-year if it were a penny, but I should send
about 100,000 if it were a halfpenny.
But the evidence of increase from the diffusion of
trading circulars generally under a low rate of postage is
still more conclusive, especially if they were permitted to
be accompanied with a letter of advice on the state of the
markets, and also (as would be the case under an increased
allowance of weight at the same time with the reduction of
the rate of postage) with samples and patterns of all kinds,
circulated for the purpose of obtaining orders and commis-
sions. The extent of this increase," says Mr. Ashurst,
can hardly be fully estimated by those not intimately ac-
quainted with the details of trade and commerce, and, exten-
sive as it would be, there is this further important conside-
ration, that they are permanent sources of increase, and
must increase as the wealth and commerce of the country
increase."
A further quotation from this part of the pamphlet
perhaps
than extracts from the evidence before the Parliamentary
Committee :
" It would lead to the publication of prices current, or
market statements, from many houses in the particular marts
of trade in the United Kingdom, for immediate transmission
to their customers and connexions, and to the collection of
those statements into other lists, and they would supply the
materials for most useful tables and statistical statements, and
produce a very great source of increase through the. Post-
office. But it is not alone from the inland marts of trade that
these communications and prices current would proceed.
" There is not a mart, or market, or place of any commer-
cial importance in the world, whose merchants and traders
would not transmit to their correspondents in this country simi-
lar communications.
" Such is the necessity for documents of this kind, both for
transmission outwards and inwards, that merchants, who are
compelled to send them very extensively to foreign houses, are
obliged to write one here, and send it abroad to be printed and
distributed there ; thus transferring business, that would be
done by
our own mechanics in a superior style, to foreign coun-
tries, and imposing upon the merchant the necessity of doing
that through the medium of others. but partially affected to-
wards his interests, which he could do better under his own
eyes,. '
and for himself; and which it is most hnportant with
ieference to many collateral circumstances, he should do for
himself. Agents frequently defer the printing, or neglect to

urge it, and to despatch the circulars with thst rapidity that is
essential to render them greatly advantageous; or may confide '
the information to, or use it for, others ; or permit it by negli-
gence to be obtained by them, and in a variety of ways defeat
the purpbses of the clreulat, and injure the interests of the
Principal. Besides this, a want of becoming secretiveness on
the part of agents frequently opens to the negligent cr the
knavish the operations of the active and the diligent, and car-
ries from the rightful owner the advantage of his mind, skill,
activity, and attention.
" It is well known that, although the buyers of articles are
not generally indisposed to look at specimens of the things
they want, yet sellers are in a much greater degree anxious to
submit them to buyers, than buyers are solicitous to have them
submitted. Some idea may be formed of the great increase
that would flow into the Post-office from this source when the
fa..t is brought into view, that such is the necessity felt by ma-
nufacturers and buyers of having lists of prices in different
.branches of trade, that large houses keep by them printedforms
of letters, to be filled up by their servants„and addressed to
the various tradesmen and mechanics who supply them, re-
questing that lists of their prices and specimens may be sent
in, or that their travellers may call.
" Now, if this is so frequent as to lead to having printed
forms of request prepared, even by buyers, it may be readily
conceived how numerous would be the next source of increase
to which I shall draw attention—that of the power to transmit,
through the Post-office, samples, specimens, descriptions, or
illustrative prints, drawings, or outlines, at Id. for half an
ounce weight. Considering the facility the Post-office, at Id.
for half an ounce, would open for that purpose to sellers, and
that these great advantages would be unalloyed by the power,
on the part of the senders, to inflict the postage on those they
addressed—a power which the present Post-office arrange-
ments place in the wrong person—the increase would be im-
mense, and yet subdued byajustrestriction, the necessityof :rank-
ing- it. But before I quit this class of circulars, I must advert to
an implied concession, put forth in some of the questions of the
Committee. It was inquired whether, if printed letters only were
allowed to go through the Post-office, that would not give the
chief advantages sought by prices current? Now, this it is ob-
vious would be comparatively valueless ; it would convey a
permission, under the aspect of relief, retaining restrictions
that would strangle its utility; it would be a vain attempt to
reconcile inconsistencies, and to gain the advantage of free
commerce, not by removing, but by shifting the fetters,' and
easing them a little."
But it is fully demonstrated, we think, further, that the in-
crease of circulars for the purpose of enclosing samples or
patterns would be far greater than any others. Mr.
Richard Cobden, a calico printer, produced a single pat-
tcrn, which he stated had undergone in one season 70
changes; that those changes could not be described by
words, with the precision requisite to enable a party to pur-
chase, and they could not send them to their customers to
ask their opinion and solicit their orders, except through the
medium of a traveller ; but that if the postage were one
penny, every one of these changes of the same pattern
would be forwarded, and would give rise to additional cor-
respondence. . . .

The same principle is shown to prevail in the lace and
riband trade, where it would often happen that 200 or 300
patterns would be transmitted to the same dealer, to enable

him to adapt his stock to the taste of his customers. This
is altogether barred by the present rate of postage. An
anecdote is given to show to what extent this question of
taste or fancy prevails, and to what ranks it descends, and
which forms part of a deposition on oath in a court of jus-
tice by a large dealer of this class. He showed a box of
ribands, which he thought would suit from their price and
colour, to a fislawoman ; she put them on one side, and
very contemptuously said, " They may do for a chimbly-
sweep's wife, Sir, but no respectable woman would wear
them ;" and a higher priced riband was purchased. On
this it is well-remarked, that " whatever descends to and
influences the masses in their choice is matter of great im-
portance to the tradesman, for all, from the highest to the
lowest, are in chase of the consumer ; to that end, to that
alone, the great hive are in motion.
In scientific and other exhibitions it is satisfactorily shown
that a great increase must arise from a low rate of postage ;
also in travellers' circulars announcing an intended call to
transact business. _lt is estimated that there are 20,000
travellers in England, and that each of them, at a very low
calculation, calls upon 1,000 persons in the course of the
year, all of whom would have notice if the postage were
only a penny. At present the shifts and evasions practised
to avoid any postage at all are endless, and would take a
volume to describe.

In the wine and spirit trade the facts collected and bear-
ing on this part of the subject are exceeding curious, as
are those derived from the land-agents and auctioneers.
The evidence of Mr. Brooks, of Bond-street, relative to
this department of business, is very remarkable. • We take
the abstract of it from Mr. Ashurst's pamphlet :
" The increase of letters into the Post-office, at one penny

postage, from their house, would be 20,000 in the shape of
particular estates only. It is known to all, that many hun-
dreds of thousands of particulars are printed by land. agents
and auctioneers in a year, for the purpose of distribution ; that
it is their wish, from a sense of duty to their employers, as it is
their interest, that those particulars should be transmitted to
persons known to be in the market as capitalists, as land-
agents, as solicitors for men of landed property, as speculators,
or as men in the habit of communicating to these who are
seeking investments.
"This gentleman stated to the Mercantile Committee a
consequence flowing from the heavy rates of postage, and has
since stated the same thing to the Parliamentary Committee,
on the subject of advertisements, which must not only be
greatly injurious to the public press, as diminishing the num-
ber of advertisements, but occasion a great loss to the public
revenue. One half' of their inducement to advertise is done
away with; for advertisers get nothing like the replies they
would get, in consequence of the very expensive postage both

ways.
"It has become a necessity to say, letters must be post
paid,' and that checks inquiries—parties will not go to the ex-
pense of 2s. for an inquiry and an answer ; and, although
anxious to have the particulars of property, and very likely to
become purchasers, they decline sending for the particulars at
the cost of ls. or 2s. ; and much property is, and many houses
are, now lying unsold, and deteriorating in the hands of parties
desirous to sell or let, although there are many persons who
would desire to have that property, if they knew the thing
they want to be in the market.
.61 The more,' said this gentleman, we advertise, the more
Government get in the way of revenue; and the more they
would get in postage, also, if it were reduced to a penny ; but
it checks our disposition to advertise when we arc obliged to
add, that letters must be post paid. I should advertise ten
times more than I now do, if postage were reduced to a penny,
for I wish to induce inquiries. I used to advertise some years
since more largely than I now do; and if postage were re-
duced to one penny, I should again advertise in the public pa-
pers far more ostensively. lam surprised at the stnall num
ber of replies we have, and I should send in strings of 40, 50,
or 60 advertisements together, if I thought it consistent with
the interests of my employers. Persons are unwilkg now to
write and incur the postage of a reply, and wait till they come
to town ; and the inquiry dies, and the advertisements are corn
paratively fruitless."
A mass of evidence of the same kind has been given,
but it is unnecessary to go further into it. If what is
given—being, as it is, no more than a sample—will not
carry conviction to those who are to decide upon the ques-
tion, nothing will.

(From the Times of yesterday.)

In our last article on Post-office Reform, we presented
the leading facts collected from the evidence of practical
men of business, to prove the great increase of revenue
that must arise to the Post-office from the adoption of a
universal penny postage. We now proceed to consider
what may be termed the social or moral part of this division
of the subject—that is to say, the extent of the augmenta-
tion of Post-office income which is to be looked for from
private correspondence, or correspondence originating in
other causes than trade or money-making of any description
whatever. It is obvious that we could not possibly obtain
evidence of so precise and exact a nature in this case as in
the other ; that it must be rather circumstantial than direct ;
and yet it will be found that the same force of conviction
must attach to it, and, moreover, that it holds forth a still
greater prospect of increase than in the departments of
trade and commerce.

We are indebted in this, as in the former instance, to
the industry and research of the Mercantile Committee on
Postage, and will consider first what they state of the
, ' suppressive effects" upon science and the arts of the pre-
sent heavy rates of postage. They remark—" There are
various societies existing whose objects can only be effectu-
ally promoted by eliciting froin the operatives in the va-
rious brances of science and the arts the knowledge which,
hourly familiarity with practical subjects has supplied to
their minds. The operatives are engaged in working out
the principles of science ; and though they may not always
connect the theory or principles with the practice, still they
are constantly marking coincidences by which they learn
what is, and frequently are enabled of themselves to trace
causation, and where they cannot, they can supply the
facts by which other minds may be enabled to trace the
cause, and thus enlarge the stock of science and open new
fields of activity. The improvements in the mechanical
arts have in most cases resulted from the observa-
tions of the working artisan, but the heavy rates
of postage have prevented the most effectual mode
of drawing forth and reaping for society the produce of
their experience ; their knowledge in multitudes of cases
dies with them, because their education does not enable
them to convey their knowledge to educated men of science,
who could use their facts and carry forward the results of
the great teacher—experience."
Following out the general rule here laid down, the
Committee proceed to consider its application to the nu-
merous learned and scientific bodies which exist in this
country. What is stated with respect to the society of
civil engineers is, perhaps, as fit for our purpose as any,
and to that, with the quantity of matter of the same kind
before us, we can only afford a very brief space for de-
scription.
Subjects are constant!y occurring before this society
which render it of the utmost importance to collect facts
from all' quarters. Within the last two or three years, but

NATION.

or the prohibitory tax of the Post-office, they would have DARIN G ROBBERY
circulated inquiries all over the kingdom— OF THE TH
On the subject of cements, and the manufacture of arti-
ficial cements ; how they were compounded and the pro-
portion of the ingredients:
On the relative strength of materials for building ; of
iron and wooden beams, and, in connexion with these, ti
most important question, upon which there exists a great
difference of opinion, as to the deflections for given weights:
On the data and facts relating to the wear and tear of
locomotive engines and of railroads, the different speed of
engines, and the general details of the subjecf:
On the quantity of steam to be produced by a given
quantity of coals, and on the elastic force of steam ; on
the duty of engines, especially of the Cornish engines ; and
the work to be done by a given quantity of fuel :
On the subject of blasting rocks, the quantity of powder
requisite for a given quantity of stone, and the quantity for
different stones, coal, and slate. •
These and numerous other subjects would have put this
Society, which •has members resident in all parts of the
kingdom, into a state of incessant activity, and produced
thousands of letters of inquiry, with the answers to them,
where few, or comparatively none, could be sent.
Among Societies established for religious or educational
purposes another wide range of correspondence, under so
cheap a rate of postage, would immediately be opened. Oc-
casions constantly arise in such Societies wherein circular
letters would be addressed to the whole of the Clergy col-
lectively, to the Churchwardens and Overseers in every pa-
rish, and to the Dissenting Ministers of each congregation
officially, and without any knowledge of the name of the
party addressed, for it is provided in the proposed univer-
sal penny postage that it shall uniformly be paid by the sen-
der, in the shape of a stamp to be affixed to the letter, de-
priviug the Post-office of its financial department, and leav-
ing it no other duty than that of collection and delivery of
letters, None sent would therefore be refused.
To the Society of Friends such a reform would, it is
conceived, be acceptable on other grounds than those of
the economical and rapid diffusion of information all over
the kingdom, though these are advantages not less sought
after by them than by the rest of the community, in its
moral effect of takitig away the temptation to deft aud the
revenue, which, in spite o' all admonition, is found, in the
case of postage, to be irresistible. - -
We must borrow from Mr. Ashurst's pamphlet is
stated of the operation of the high rate of postage on reli-
gious societies
:
A letter from one of the officers of the Religious Tract
Society says—
" The correspondence of this Institution extends to every
part of the world ; and we have been particularly inconveni-
enced by the charge on the printed reports of our foreign
auxiliaries, which seldom exceed two, but are more fre-
quently contained in one sheet of paper, put in an envelope
open at both ends, and brought, free of expense, by the ves-
sels from abroad. These are, with the letters, placed in the
Post office bag, and reach us with a charge of from 6s. or 7s.
up to Si. or 91. for inland postage of parcels, whose intrinsic
value does nut exceed Is. or 2s. ; the consequence is, ,the
packet is refused, and the waste paper is all the Government
obtain, and thus the intercourse between kindred societies is
paralysed.'
" 'Fhe effects of these suppressive rates are not witnessed
by the many subscribers to these various and useful institu-
tions, but it is matter of great regret to its executive officers
to see the :efforts that are made, and the usefulness of the
Society, so grievously suppressed ' • the extent to which this
suppression goes is shown in some degree by the examination
of one of the officers of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts.
Thlst gentleman stated, that the Society bad drawn upon
them annually about 700 half-yearly bills from missionaries for
their salaries ; that the expense of postage was very great ;
and that when appointed secretary, and he had once seen the
handwriting of each missionary, he sent them a circular, that
they need not in future advise the drawing of their bills. Now,
if a communication so essential to accuracy, and which would
also present the opportunity to the missionaries to make a
report of their exertions, were suppressed, it is easy to con-
ceive how the interest would tend to die away between men at
a distance whose communications are thus restricted ; but, on
the other hand, imagine an active and intelligent body of up-
wards of 300 of such men, encouraged to make such reports
as might reasonably be expected from men of their intelli-
gence, and with such duties, and all those reports coming to
a common centre, and the mass of valuable and various know-
ledge that would be brought together may be in some degree
conceived.

Then let the number of other Associations and subscribers
be brought to view, all engaged in the prosecution of the
same general objects, and the mass of useful materials that
would thus be collected, and the extent to which the spread of
the Gospel is limited; may be perceived.
" The increase into the Post-office from these Societies may
be estimated in some degree bithe facts stated by the under-
treasurer of the last-named Society. That Society has from
12,000 to 15,000 subscribers ; they have 300 branch societies ;
they now make a report once a-year, but they are desirous to
report oftener, and would do so if they had the advantage of
a penny postage.
" NN, e have attempted,' said Mr. Staitsbury, the plan of
insinuating a quarterly report, a brief statement of the opera-
tions of the Society, and'extracts from its correspondence. We
should probably do that monthly, if we could do it without
any great expense, the principal cost being the cost of trans-
mission. Such brief statements, in the majority of instances,
we should send by post ; at present we send the major part of
them by coach parcels. I have no hesitation in saying, that
we should employ the Post-office for all except about 10 or
12 parcels.'
" It will be obvious to all who take an interest in these
objects, that the reduction of postage to one penny would
lead to frequent reports to their subscribers and friends, and
that a continuous steady interest might be kept up, which
would render the important annual meetings that now take
place more effective, by bringing their friends together with
a fuller knowledge of the exertions that have been made.
Frequent short reports would be read; thick annual volumes
are not."

In the mere private correspondence of the lower and
middle classes it becomes necessarily still more difficult to
adduce facts, but it is enough to consider the almost total
privation under \which they labour, to come to the conclu-
sion that in their case an enormous revenue would grow
out of next to nothing. For this we would entreat the
readers who follow us in this, to peruse again the affecting
cases published last week of efforts made, by the extremely
indigent and half-starved, to raise out of their scanty means
the sum required to gain news of distant friends and rela-
tives. Can it be doubted that millions of letters would be
written and received by such persons, if they could be car-
ried for Id. from any one part of the kingdom to the other ?
It happens, however, that the letters of soldiers and sailors
when on duty, which only incur that rate, afford a sort of
practical illustration of what the poor would do, if they
were not cut off from communication by the postage tax ;
and the Mercantile Committee, among other inquiries,
have not neglected this point. Nearly all the soldiers and
sailors who can write are eager, it is stated, to avail them-
selves of this privilege.

THE LATE ATTEMPT AT ASSASSI-

(Concluded from The Sun of yesterday.)

The prisoner having expressed a desire to make a state-
ment he then proceeded thus :—" I was at an inn called
the Crown, on the road towards Greenwich, on Friday
night, which is about a mile from the Duke of Normandy's
house, at Camberwell. I dined at the Duke's house, and
left about a quarter to seven o'clock in the evening. I
straight to the Crown. It was about seven as near as pos-
sible. I went into the first room on the right-hand side,
and when I entered I took my seat by the fire, and had
half a pint of beer and some meat, which I brought with
me from the Duke's house. There was a little boy and
also a Frenchman, who has been here for the last three
months, in the room at the time. I spoke to the French-
man on Saturday morning for the first time. About
nine o'clock the same night I went for a half pint
of beer to a neighbouring house, at which they
sold a better article than at the Crown, and after having
partaken of it I went back to the Crown. It was then
nearly ten o'clock by the servant's watch, and I went up
stairs to my bed. There were several persons in the tap-
room of the Crown, and also at the other house,_ who
must have seen me at the time I was there, but I do not
know their names. I had no conversation with the French-
man who lodges at the Crown on Saturday morning about
the Duke of Normandy. I spoke but a few words to him,
and it was the first time I did so, and what took place did
not relate to the present affair.

It was stated that the wounded man is yet consi-
dered in danger, and that he thinks he can identify his
assailant.

The prisoner was remanded for a week.
It was stated that an attempt bad been made to assassi-
nate the Duke of Normandy in France a short time per-
vious to his coming to this country.

At a meeting of the Radical Political Union of the
Potteries, held on Wednesday, the hustings gave way in
the middle of Mr. Feargus O'Connor's speech, and about
fifty persons fell to the ground, but nobody was seriously
hurt. Mr. O'Connor went to a heap of coals near the
spot, and continued his speech to the close. The females
of the Potteries have formed a PolitiCal Union.—Siafford-
shire Examiner.

The Northampton Herald, in allusion to the late
accident to the mail train on the Birmingham Railway,
says—" The place where the ground is said to have given
way has long been so obviously insecure as to make it a
matter of perfect astonishment that it should have been
framed, or, if so, suffered to remain without artificial sup-
port by brickwork and arches. Indeed, we should not be
surprised to hear of a train being turned over into the._
water close by, since the soil at the embankment on this
b
side the Leighton station is of the loosest Jesemp m
whilst the width is scarcely more than is absolutely neces-
saryn
i
for the passage of the wheel."

AND
lEVES.

CAPTUR

BATH, Nov. 19—On Friday evening last some thieves
entered the house of Colonel Kaye, in the Royal Crescent,.
in this city, and took from thence a quantity of jewellery,.
consisting of diamonds, pearls, gold watches, &c., amount-
ing id the value of 3,000/.
The robbery is supposed to have taken place about eight
o'clock in the evening. Colonel and Mrs. Kaye left their
residence about that time to attend an evening party, se-
veral servants remaining in the house ; and the discovery
took place immediately on their returnhome before midnight.
Information being promptly given at the police station,
Hall, a very clever officer, acting on some previous intel-
ligence, that if any robbery should occur similar to those
which had been so daringly executed in Bath, for several
previous winters, that the booty would probably be sent to
Birmingham instead of London, immediately sent off two
of the most active of the police establishment to Bristol.
On arriving in that city one of them, standing at the door of
an inn in Wine-street, for, the purpose of observation, saw on e-
whom he had reason to suspect belonged to the party coming
towards the inn, attended by a porter, bearing a carpet bag.
Keeping a strict watch on the further proceedings of this
individual, he found that he had ordered a bed, and de-
posited other baggage at the Plume of Feathers (the name
of the inn.) He was seen shortly after to leave the house
and get into a hackney coach. From the driver of the
coach information was obtained that he had got into a gig,
waiting for him on the Gloucester-road, where he had been,
joined by two others, and proceeded at a rapid rate
in that direction. The officers, now certain that.
they were on the right scent, looked about for the.
spediest means of pursuit, and, finding a stage-coach about
to start in the same direction, immediately acquainted the
coachman with the necessity for expedition, followed so
quickly that they arrived at the door of an inn about six
miles from Bristol in a few minutes after the gig, which:
was standing in a shed near the inn, had deposited the
party. After some resistance two were captured, and the
third succeeded in making his escape—but not with the
booty, for the whole of the valuables stolen on the
previous night from Colonel Kaye were found, eon-
cealed in the -pocket of a Mackintosh cape. The rob-
bers were then secured by being handcuffed, one on each
side of " Perry," the strongest of the officers, whilst the
-"her undertook to drive them back to Bristol in their
own gig. When they had proceeded some miles, one of the
thieves made a :lesperate effort to attempt to threw himself
out of the vehicle, :nd would probably have succeeded
but for the prompt assistance e rendered by a young gentles
man, who was fortunately at hari:l. and was summoned in the
Queen's name to aid the officers. They were then
secured by one being fastened to each officer, and compel:,
ling one pair to walk, whilst the young genti;.Aman drove the
gig containing the other, back to Bristol ; and the rob-
bers were safely lodged in Bath prison on Saturday night..
The examination, which took place this day, was private„
for the purpose of? securing the third ; and from ;ghat.
transpired there is little doubt but there will be a.
full discovery of the gang of housebreakers who,
have committed so many daring robberies in Bath for
the last three years, so as to seriously frighten some of
the elderly inhabitants into a resolution to leave the place.
if they sij!l continued undetected.
Many very ccious implements used in housebreaking,
&c., were found in the boxes left at the Plume of Feathers,
this day exhibited at.
in Bristol, which have bt2.l'll
Guildhall.

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON,

SOMERSET HOUSE.

MATRICULATION EXAMINATION FOR 110-5011 S 1
MATHEMATICS.

Mr. G. B. Jerrard,
EXAMINERS. Rev. R. Murphy.
STUDENTS ARRANGED IN rHE ORDER OF PROFICIENCY.-
Hargreave, University College, I
Sargent, King's College, .m.quaies.
Goodeve, King's College,
'Mason, University College,
Greenwood, Do.
Davison, Do.