The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It would seem that those miserable devils, the
;nob of Dublin, are kept in a state of incessant fe-
ver by Mr. O'Connell and his gang. Lord Angle-
sea, however unaffected, unobtrusive, and void of
pretension in his personal habits, cannot take a quiet
ride of recreation without being assailed, as he passes
through the streets of the metropolis, with hideous
yells, and other unmanly insults. An account of
what the Noble Marquis encountered in this way
from the rabble, on the first day of term, when he
happened to be riding along the quay near the
Courts, is given in Tuesday's papers. "No Alge-
rine Act,"—" Repeal of the Union," and so forth,
rung in the ears of the Lord Lieutenant. As if
the wretched creatures who thus assaulted him had
any notion of " Algerine Acts," or of " Repeals,"
but such as their own arbitrary and tyrannical ba-
shaw thought fit for his own purposes to propa-
gate amongst them. But while this fury of the
multitude was betraying itself out of doors, Mr.
O'Connell and his associates were, within the walls
of the Court of King's Bench, list( ring to the
construction put by Mr. Justice Jebb on the proceed-
ings imputed to them, and on the law which they
were charged with having offended—a construc-
tion somewhat different from that which the same
law and the same acts had borne, when Mr. O'Con-
Nell stood forth to be their expounder. From the
charge of the Learned Judge we are confit med in
the conjecture yesterday given, that Mr. O'Connell
had in his several speeches and letters lately pub-
lished, dwelt with prefessional and characteristic it:-
genuity on that branch of the accusation against
him which was merely subordinate, and least dis-
tinct in the description of it, while the really promi-
nent and grave offence was passed over by him as
if it had no existence. It appears that the actually
meeting in direct violation of the statute stands
foremost in the bill of in&ctment, and that the con-
spiring to " evade" the pre clatnation about which
we have heard so much, is called, in direct terms, by
Judge Jebb,-a conspiroci to commit a breach of Me
law, by meeting under false names and devices, but
really for the same ends as those prohibited by law,
and intending likewise that the meditated meetings
should be composed of the same persons as had been
placed under legal ban by the Lord Lieutenant. It
has been argued by an Evening Contemporary here,
that even should the same end be proved against
the subsequent meeting, as th-it which the former
meeting had been foi bidden to prosecute, mere
" community of purpose" will hardly be allowed
to establish the identity of the two association,.
" For," saith the logician, " we have Reform meet-
ings at the same time in London and at Manchester,
and successive meetings at London, yet nobody efer,
in common discourse, calls these the same meetings."
Undoubtedly not ; but a material link of the chain
of reasoning is absent in the above instance, because
no allusion is made to the persons of whom the
meetings are composed. Now we conceive, that
under the Irish Act of Parliament in question, (and
let the disturbers of the peace of Ireland answer
for her being afflicted by such Statutes), the same
person:, dispersed on one day, and meeting on a
subsequent day in the same city, for the prosecution
of the same purpose, if that second fact be proved
as well as the first, will be held to have committed
an offence against the statute, by having held an ad-
journed meeting in that very form and substance
which the law has prohibited. Mr. O'Connell's
rigmarole about a certain mode of warning by the
Magistrates being necessary to bring the members
of a meeting within the penal provisions of the lam,
is effectually quashed by Judge Jebb, who states
that the meeting together. may be unlawful, and
therefore punishable, whether the parties disperse
or not on receiving the order of the Magistrate.
We are borne out in our assertion of a few days
back, that scarcely one man of property or respec-
tability in Ireland is leagued with Mr. O'Connell in
this revolutionary and fatal project.—Times.
At the meeting of the parish of St. Andrew,
Holborn, on Tuesday last, Dr. Bowring's allusion
to the opinions of the Lord Chancellor on the ques-
tion of Reform is variously reported. In the Chron-
icle he is reported to have said—
" On this as well as on all political subjects, the
present Lord Chancellor was deservedly looked up to as a
great authority; but (continued the Learned Doctor)
this I know, from a personal conversation with him, that
his mind has been much shaken by the discoveries of the
people on this subject. Only three days before he ac-
cepted his present high office, 1 had a conversation with
him and he then said, I shall henceforward be an advom
cate of radical Reform—(Cheers)—to which I replied,
that by which we radical Reformers test the honesty of a
man, is by the ballot, for they are the only radical Re-
formers who are ready to remove the voter from the in-
fluence of hope and fear, so that they may be able to dis-
charge their duty without fear of punishment, or expecta-
tion of reward.' His answer to this was, ' If I cannot
support the vote by ballot, or go to universal suffrage, at
all events I would support a plan which should give every
householder an opportunity of freely exercising his opinion.'
To this my answer was, so far-so good ! And I have an
opportunity of knowing that within these few days, his
Lordship has said, that to the question of the ballot he is
i idifferent." _

This, we believe, to be a correct report of what
Dr. Bowring actually said. In the Morning Herald
the following version is given :
" The authority of Lord Brougham bad great weight,
and he (Mr. B ) had good reason to know that the mind
of that Noble Lord had undergone a change respecting the
ballot of late. Three days before his elevation to the
woolsack, he (Mr. B.) had a conversation with that
Noble Lord, on the subj. ct of Reform, when he said lie
should be a zealous advocate for Radical Reform. Wh tt
we Radicals mean by. Radical Reform, observed Mr. 8.,
is vote by ballot. I will not suppot t the ballot, observed
Lord Brougham, but I will support universal suffrage.
I wish to see every householder invested with the franchise.
This was the substance of the conversation. And Mr. B.
knew that Lord Brougham had said, a few days ago, that
he was indifferent about the Lallot, which showed the ef-
fect which the expression of public opinion had on his
tnind.—(Applause.)"
There are here to be noticed what Dr. Bowring
did state to the meeting, assuming the account in
the Chronicle to be correct, and what he is reported
to have stated, but which he did not state. We
can take it upon us to state, and we have distinct
authority for doing so, that the Lord Chancellor
never said to Dr. Bowling that he should be a
zealous advocate for Radical Reform, or that he
should support universal suffrage. For this ,bsurd
statement, however, Dr. Bowring is not responsible.
But we are confident Dr. Bowring's memory has •
deceived him, when he attributes to the Lord Chan-
cellor the saying, that he should thenceforward be
a Radical Reformer. At the time when this con-
versation is alleged to have taken place, the Lord
Chancellor was attending meetings of bodies of
the House of Commons, and unfolding a plan
diametrically opposite to what is understood to he
Radical Reform, which plan he was to bring in the
Tuesday before he took office; arid it is inconceiv-
able, therefore, that he should declare himself a
Radical Reformer. As the statement of the Lord
Chancellor's charge of opinion upon the ballot is
only given upon hearsay, the whole, perhaps, reAs
on a mistaken inference, his Lordship's arguments
on the night when he made the speech against it
having been chiefly directed against its efficacy
merely. We cannot let the opportunity pass with-
out expressing our regret that the substance of
private conversation, even on public subjects, should
be stated at public meetings. Were such a prac-
tice to be tolerated, all freedom of intercourse would
soon be at an end.—Morning Chronicle.

It now appears that the Irish Government do not
intend to confine themselves, us was at first repre-
sented, in their legal proceedings against Mr. 0' Cmt-
nell and his fellow agitators, to the charge of "con-
spiring, by shift and device, to evade the Lord
Lieutenant's proclamation," but have also charged
them with " having assembled and constituted a
meeting or association prohibited by the Lord Lieu-
nant's proclamation. This latter is an accusation
which, in a legal point of view, we can understand.
Though we impugn the policy of issuing such pro-
clamations, because the Act of Parliament which
authorises them is of a despotic character, and the

calling it into action must make the people of Ire-
land feel that they do not share the freedom which
the Constitution guarantees to their British fellow-
subjects, yet we admit that Government, having
once adopted the course of issuing those procla-
mations, are bound to see them respected, other-
wise they would stultify themselves, by setting up
an authority only to be knocked down, and by
showing the inclination to adopt arbitrary mea-
sures, without the courage to enforce them. If,
herefore, the proclamations which prohibited cer-
tain meetings have been disobeyed, they could not,
for consistency sake, avoid prosecuting those who
were guilty of such disobedience ; and, if meetings
coming within the description of those prohibited
by the proclamations have been held, a clear ground
was laid for the penal proceedings which have fol-
lowed. This constitutes a dcfined and tangible
offence, and is very different from any thing implied
by the vague and shadowy charge of " conspirine
to evade the Lord Lieutenant's Proclamations." If
the latter accusation were the only one on which
Mr. O'Connell was to take his t•A!, we still adhere
to the opinion—for which we have given our rea-
sons—that it mas not likely to be borne cut either by
the words of the statute, or sustained under an in-
dictment for conspiracy at common law. If a penal
statute be so drawn up that it can be evaded, every
man who, by his own ingenuity, or by acting on
the advice of others, can evade it, has a right to
do so, for the very term evasion implies the avoid-
ance of any thing that can be construed into a
violation of the law. So did the clergy of old
evade the Statutes of Mortmain by inventing the
doctrine of uses, long leases, and other contri-
vances. Were those who so combined to evade
the law indictable for conspiracy ? No Crown
lawyer in England ever thought they were—and
therefore it became necessary for the Legislature to
pass new enactments to meet those cunning shifts
and crafty devices, which were calculated to elude
the spirit of the law while they violated not its
letter. There is no precedent of an indictment fer
evading a law, or of a conspiracy to evade it—
otherwise certain commercial transactions of open
and daily occurrence, by which a particular pre-
vision of the Stamp Act is evaded, would render
the parties indictable; hut the only constitutional
mode of counteracting a new device to evade a
particular law, is by passing a Supplemental Act
of Parliament. That, in the first instance, Mr.
O'Connell and his associates were only charged
with " conspiring to evade the Lord Lieute-
nant's proclamation," is evident from this fact—
that Mr. Wallace, the King's Counsel, one of the
most learned, able, and eminent la myers at the Irish
bar, addressed a letter to Air. O'Connell, of whom
he has been a political opponent, making him an
offer of his professional services in his defence, on
the ground of the unconstitutional nature of the
charge, and the dangerous precedent against public
liberty which it went to establish. What does this
gentleman say ?
" In my opinion the charge savours strongly of illega-
lity and oppression, and in this view of your case, if my
very feeble proressional aid can be of use in your defence,
I shall most cheerfully give it. With sincere respect for
Lord Anglesey personally, and a wish to support his Go-
vernment, even against you, so long as it is conducted on
principles of law and the Constitution, his Lordship seems
to me to have violated both, in his proceedings on the
ILlawful Assembly Act. To me it appears that he has
misapplied that law to cases to which it was not appli-
cable, and has strained it in his proclemations—particu-
larly the last—to an extent which greatly endangers public
liberty."
This opinion only applied to the " charge of con-
spiring to evade the proclamations." But if Go-
vernment have since obtained further evidence,
which enables them to put Mr. O'Connell and the
other defendants on their trial, on a distinct charge
of violating the law by holding a meeting which
the proclamation had actually prohibited, they had
a right to do so; for they can lay the conspiracy in
one count of the indictment, and the actual violation
of the law, by holding an illegal meeting, in another.
If they succeed upon this last count only, the pe-
nalties of the Act will apply. It is quite ridiculous
to argue that the Act expired last Session ; it is the
present Session that limits its duration.—Morning
Herald.

FURTHER ACCOUNT OF THE DESTRUC-
TION OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, BIRMINGHAM.

(From the Chronicle Birmingham Correspondent.)

On Tuesday morning, soon after midnight (about half-
past twelve), this beautiful structure was discovered to be
on fire, the flames and smoke being perceived by the
watchmen and passing persons to issue from ,the open
arches of the tower. Nearly twenty minutes elapsed be-
fore an entrance could be effected into the body of the
church, and the supply of water for the engines was very
limited. The fire was observed to run in flames along the
roof, and, it appears, passed rapidly along the dry timber
work and rafters of the ceiling, near the tower. It did
not appear at first in the ground flour or body of the
church, as the glaring li4ht of the blaze, reflected through
the windows, exhibited distinctly the upper progress of
the flames, and the area of the building at first entirely
safe. It raged with unabated and devouring fury till
the entire wood work, altar piece, and pews of the
building were one vast body of ignition. The lead on
'he roof melted, and pound into the common blaze,
and the bells soon yielded to the devastating element.
The roof fell in, and for a time added to the rage of
the conflagration ; and the shell of the lantern tower,
and the bare stone walls are the only remaining vestiges
of the church. The alarm occasioned in se populous a
town may be well imagined, and ti:e situation of the build-
ing at the top of Dale-cad, nearly the highest elevation,
occasioned the numination of the fire to be seen in all the
adjacent parts of the neighbouring counties of Stafford and
Worcester, contiguous to Birmingham. The church was
entirely new, and had been completed not more than five
years since, at an expence of 20,0001., part of its cost
being defrayed from the Two Million Fund of the church
Commissioners, and part by subscription. The incumbent
is the Rev. Mr. Clarke, son of the King's Counsel. The
cause and exact origin of the fire are involved in complete
mystery, and wiil probably so remain. It has been sup-
tinged that the flues—always the first and easiest suspicion
—were the remote cause of accidental ignition. On a
full inquiry and examination into this probable origin, nn
ground whatever appears for the supposition : and, on the
contrary, much against such a cause of the conflagration.
Strong auspicions are entertained and expressed that
it was the work of an incendiary. The church lead
been as usual cleaned the previous day, after the ser-
vices of Sunday, and no fires or light were observed when
it was left. The time of night and absence of any
apparent accidental cause, have increased the apprehension
of the concerted and wilful nature of the destruction of
the building. It is ate undoubted fact, that the Rev. M.
Moseley, the Rev. Mr. Garhett, and the Rev. Archdeacon
Hodson, have received threatening letters, and one sonic
few weeks since, expressly stating that St. Peter's, among
other of the parish churches, would be destroyed in five
weeks. Mr. Clarke, however, is not obnoxious in his
political or clerical character, and we believe that no tithes
whatever attach to the church ; indeed, there could be no
assignable cause fur the selection, by a fanatic or incendiary,
of that particular parish church, further than that it
might, perhaps, be entered unobserved inure readily than
others. The above circumstances have given rise to strong
suspicions un the minds of the Clergy anti many of the in-
habitants; but the fire is otherwise involved in utter
mystery. Some individuals, it is reported, were appre-
hended for purloining prayer boeks, bibles, and moveable
' property, which may have occasioned a rumour that persons
were in custody on a charge of wilfully setting fire to the
building. The most probable accidental cause may have
been the gas. It is intended to establish a watch in the
other churches.

GORMANDIZING EXTRAORDINARY.--We
received the following particulars about three weeks since,
but the fact appeared so extraordinary that we could not
place any belief in it. We have since been assured that
the " Receiver-General" did actually perform it, and
upon that authority we publish it. A man, at Hasling-
den, fur a trifling wager, ate, first, three pounds weight
of thick porridge, one quart of water, one pint of milk,
one quart of small drink, two oat-cakes; next, nine
pounds of cow-head, without bone, four quarts of water,
one quart of ale, and three oat-cakes, very cleverly ; after
this, he said he could like a dozen penny pies, of which
he ate seven, when he gave it up. Ile is a pauper in
11,slingden workhouse, and when he rose the following
morning
he wanted to repeat the dose. It is computed the
whole weighed about 32 or 33 pounds.—Bolton
Chronicle.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

The LORD MAYOR received a letter from his
Majesty's Consul at Calais, stating that an English
gentleman had died in that town, and requesting his
Lordship's assistance in procuring an identity of the
body. The letter mentioned that the deceased had
at Dover got on board the Salamander post-officer
packet, and on the passage to Calais had thrown
himself into the sea. By the prompt and active
exertions of Captain Sher lock, however, he was
taken up, and he was professionally assisted by a
Mr. Henry Rickards, a medical student who hap-
pened to be on board, but notwithstanding all that
could be done, he did not live three hours after the
arrival of the vessel in France. There was no paper
found on the person, or in the trunk of the deceased,
from which the identity could be ascertained, but
from his pockets were taken twenty Spanish bonds
for 1,020/. each; together with about 1001. in cash
and notes, all of which property and his watch were
in the hands of the Consul. It was believed by a
passenger named Merewethers, brother to the
Serjeant-at-law, that the deceased was Mr. J.
Roarke, a highly respectable Chancery solicitor,
who formerly belonged to the house or Sand) s,
Horton, and Roark, of No. 5, Crane-court, Fleet-
street ; but the Consul wished to have a more com-
plete satisfaction as to the identity before the inter-
ment. The LORD MAYOR directed Mr. Brown, the
Marshal, to make the necessary inquiries.
Mr. Brown went accordingly to Mr. Roarke's
former partners, who expressed great surprise at the
statement, but could not give any information on
the subject. The Marshal then extended his in-
quiries, but could only learn that Mr. Roarke had
been absent for some days. A gentleman, however,
left London for Calais immediately upon hearing of
the occurrence.

A Jew's trick, the circumstances attending which
were curious, was exposed in the Justice-room.

A fish•salesman was summoned before the LORD
MAYOR, by a young Jew, charged with having sold
stinking fish. The facts were as follows :
The Jew purchased at an early hour in the morn-
ing at Billingsgate-market a quantity of soles, at
3s. 6d. a dozen, of one of the salesmen. Soon
afterwards the fish fell to Is. 6d, a dozen, and as the
Jew could not sell his purchase as he expected, and
the salesman would not think of abating the terms
of the sale, the former hit upon a plan, by which he
thought he could be even with the latter, and do a
slice of injury to the character of the salesman be-
sides. He dabbed the fish in the puddle, and beat
them about in such a manner that he easily made
some of the officers at the Mansion-house• believe
that the soles were stinking al; hough they were not
long dead. The fact was, that their appearance
was such as to induce a person not to approach
them without putting his fingers to his nose. A
summons was granted at the Justice-room; but the
salesman, upon receiving it, appealed to Mr. Gold-
ham, the clerk of the market, who had seen all the
fish, and who knew that the charge was false. Mr.
Goldham immediately ordered that the soles should
be exhibited by the Jew, and, perceiving at once
" how the cat jumped," desired that three of the
fish should be left at his office, and said he would
attend on the appointed day at the Mansion-house.
The LORD MAYOR, having heard the complaint,
asked the Jew whether the fish happened to be so
bad that he could not eat any of it ? The Jew—
S'elp me Goth, my Lor, I wouldn't give them to
a dog; they vas enough to poison the devil. I
yonder the gentleman could sell sich a bominable
harticle.

Mr. Goldham—But is it very odd, that you who
have been so long a buyer at Billingsgate, should
not know whether the fish you buy is good or bad.
I know you to have as good an eye and nose for a
Hat-fish as any one in the market ?—The Jew was
not so nice a judge. He left it to the salesman, and
he knew nothing about the cheat until he was going
out of the market, when he met a man wot he
knowed, named Solomons, and Solomons put the
laugh upon him, and axed him how he would sell
his stink by the foot.—(Laughter.)
The fish was here produced, and certainly it had
a revo!ting appearance.
The LORD MAYOR began to be a convert to the
opinion of Mr. Solonrons that the odour could not
be very agreeable ; but
Mr. Goldham thought he could convince his
Lordship that the whole was a Jew's trick.
The Jew—A trick ! Blesh my soul! how can
you say it's a trick ? Why its colour is quite
changed with the stink.
Mr. Goldham—To be sure it is discoloured; and
how could it be otherwise ? Dutch Sam might as
well have been whacking at them as you. (Laughter.)
The Jew—Dutch Sam ! Take care vot you sav,
Mr. Goldham. S'elp me Goth, I'm a respectable
man. I a'nt n, fighting man.
Mr. Goldham—l don't say you fight with men,
but I'll be on my oath that you have been whop-
ping these poor fish most unmercifully. However,
you hav'nt been able to beat them as you deserve to
be beaten yourself—till they stink.—(Laughter.)
The Jew (greatly disconcerted)—Stink ! Why
it did that afore I seed it.

Mr. Goldham—Now, what would you say if I'd
eat some of the fish ? 'Tis now two days since you
complained that the soles were unfit for use. I shall
taste what you were too delicate to smell.

One of Mr. Goldham's men then brought in a
broiled sole, and a boiled sole, which he swore
were two of the worst-looking fish in the whole
batch. If their appearance and smell were (Ls-
agreeable before they were cooked, the fire had cer-
tainly purified them, for they looked as fresh as if
they had been but that morning taken out of the
%%quer. .

If the Jew was dismayed at this change in the
appearance of things, he was quite knocked up at
being invited by Mr.Goldham to take a share of the
fish, which soon disappeared, after the clerk of the
market and a few of the officers had taken a mouth-
ful a-piece, amongst the astonished and delighted
paupers.
The LORD MAYOR told the Jew that the trick
was an ingenious one, and might, if the case had
not been taken up by an experienced man, have
succeeded. The defendant had, however, gained a
caution by the result, if he lost his time and his fish.
The Jew hoped than, at all events, the cooked
fish would be paid for.—(Laughter.)
His LORDSHIP expressed himself happy at the
detection of the trick, and dismissed the complaint.

B 0 TV-STREET.
Yesterday a decent-looking man named John
Proctor, was charged with having stolen some ar-
ticles of plate belonging to the lion. Mr. Wm. Pole
Wellesley, in whose service he had lately lived.
Augustus Guillarnian lived as valet to the Hon.
Mr. Wellesley, whose town house was at No. 39,
Dover-street, Piccadilly. The prisoner had also
lived in Mr. Wellesley's service until within the last
three months, and during that period witness acted
in the capacity of butler as well as valet, and had
charge of some plate which was kept in a cupboard
in the housekeeper's room, to which no one but
witness had access. The plate deposited in this
cupboard was not in use by the family. About the
beginning of last August witness went into the
country, and whilst there he forwarded the key of
the cupboard in question to a servant named Pearse,
and, on arriving in town, about three weeks after,
and examining the said plate, he found missing a
silver soup-ladle, two silver forks, a silver fish-knife,
and half a dozen of table-spoons. To the best of
witness's knowledge and belief the silver soup-ladle
and other articles now produced formed part of the
plate he had so missed, and which was of the value
of 101.

Ana Pringle, of No. 108, Titclifield-street, Ox-
ford-street, in August last lived as housekeeper with
the Hon. Mr. Wellesley, at West-green House,
Hampshire. During that time the prisoner lived in
his service also, and was in the habit of going to
London, and returning to West-green House. A
few weeks since the prisoner came to witness's
room, and, placing a brown paper parcel on the

table, said, " Will you take care of these things for
me until I ask you for them ?" Witness said,
" Very well ;" and put the paper parcel, the contents
of which she was ignorant of, into a cupboard in her
room, and she had since delivered the same parcel
to the first witness. To the best of her belief the
brown paper parcel now produced was the same as
that of which abe had spoken.
Sir R. BIRNIE observed that it was a remarkable
feature in the case that the prisoner should have
placed the plate in the hands of Mrs. Pringle, who,
had she examined the parcel would, in all probab-
lity, have recognised the contents as belonging to
Mr. Wellesley.
The prisoner was then fully committed to New-
gate for trial.

We mentioned in our last the lamentable pre-
valence in town of typhus fever. We learn that in some
of the neighbouring villages it is still more frequent ; and
is regarded as one of the most infectious diseases that have
appeared in this country since the extirpation of the plague.
Whole families are taken ill ; and there are many cases of
relapses.— Glasgow Chronicle.

One day last week a whimsical circumstance
occurred in Ship-street. A little dirty ragged boy had
been fighting with another, and getting well beat he lay
down in the mud so thoroughly begrimed that he might
have been mistaken for a bundle of rags; nor could all
the entreaties of his friends and gibes of his opponent
induce hint to rise from his fallen state. At this junc-
ture a donkey cart came by, when some of the by-starders
wi!li the consent of the driver, thew the boy into the
cart. Sympathy, they say, is contagious, and so it proved
in this instance ; far scarcely had the boy been thrown in
when the donkey lay down in his turn, and took his pas-
time in the dirt; nor could all the thumpings and bump-
ings of iris master induce him to go forward one step with
the little dirty donkey in the eart.—Brighton Gazette.
PUBLIC EXECUTIONS.—At one of the re-
cent executions of an incendiary, it is reported in the
newspapers, that " great numbers of people attended the
execution; and because the execution was delayed a few
minutes over nine o'clock, they began whistling and clap-
ping, something in the style of the galleries at the theatre
when there is any delay." Such is the beneficial
effect of the punishment of death upon the feelings of the
people. It is notorious that pickpockets are never so active
as at an execution. On a similar occasion in the North,
some time ago, when the peasantry had come from far and
near ta see a man hanged, and he was respited a short
time before the hour fixed for his death, discontent of the
loudest kind was manifested. The people exclaimed, in
true Yorkshire, " What a sheam, to bring us all this way
for nought !" They are mistaken who value highly the
effect of public executions on the morals : executions are
considered in the light of very serious melodramas, where
sympathy may\sometimes be excited for the sufferer, but
no horror for the crime, and by which, in fact, the fear
of capital punishment is weakened.—Spectator.
MURDER OF A PROTESTANT MAGIS-
TRATE. —On Friday evening last Mr. WiLLIAn Br.oon,
of Applevale, county of Clare, and in the neighbourhood
of the celebrated Corofin, was inhu►rtanly murdered. The
following is an extract of a letter, containing the dreadful
particulars :—" About eight o'clock on Friday evening a
party of men came up to the house of WILLIAM BLOOD,
of Applevale, Esq., a Magistrate for the county of Clare,
near to Corofin, the peaceable parish of the Rev. Mr.
MURPHY. Mr. BLOOD was sitting alone in his parlour,
when a shot was fired through the door, upon which be
retreated to the kitchen, and thence to the back yard, where,
dreadful to relate, he was barbarously murdered ! It ap-
pears the party robbed the house of some money, and then
decamped ; and, although this took place so early as eight
o'clock in the evening, it was not known to the police,
who are stationed within half a mile of the spot, until the
next morning, nor has any clue been bad to the perpetra-
tors of this sanguinary act, so complete is the spirit of in-
timidation in that unhappy district."—Dublin Evening
Mail.

An accident happened at the side lock at
Cardiff, on Sunday week, which has very much incon-
venienced a large fleet of vessels, and interrupted the trade
of the port most seriously. It was no less than the total
disappearance of the lower gates of the canal. It was
occasioned by the immense body of water pressing them
within, and a vessel coming violently in contact with
them from without. The effect was instantaneous ; the
gates were completely torn from their situations, and the
immense torrent which followed was of a most appalling
description. Vessels outside, waiting to be admitted,
were violently tossed about for some minutes. A young
man belonging to the Canal Company was standing on the
platform of one of the gates when the crush came, and
was instantly whirled in the vortex beneath. Being a
good swimmer, after the lapse of about four minutes, he
made his appearance at some distance, and was ultimately
picked up, with a short pipe still sticking in his mouth,
which was there when he disappeared. The Canal Com-
pany arc indefatigable in their exertions to repair the mis-
chief, and it is hoped that in a few days the canal will be
again available for purposes of trade.
DARING OUTRAGES IN WESTMINSTER.
—About eleven o'clock yesterday morning a party of men
and boys, about 200 in number, and principally dressed as
seamen, passed through the City into Westminster, for
the avowed purpose of presenting a petition to the Lords
of the Admiralty, praying the redress of certain alleged
grievances, and particularly those of flogging and impress-
ment. They had with them a union-jack ; and, from
the orderly manner in which they passed through Holborn
and Long-acre to the Admiralty, no apprehensions were
entertained hut that they would quietly disperse imme-
diately after accomplishing the ostensible object for which
they had assembled—in consequence no extra precautions
were taken by the police; on their return, however, a fir
different spirit was manifested. In passing through Long_
acre they stopped in front of each eucees.ive baker's shop,
gave several cheers, and then demanded bread. Some of
the mob were heard to call out " Bread or blood !" Iu
every instance in Long acre they succeeded in getting bread
given to them. Serjeant PERKING and a few of the F.
division of police, who were following them, interfered to
check them, but were deterred from acting decisively by
their inequality in numbers, and the determined spirit dis-
played by the mob, who were loud in their execrations of
the new police. On coming to the shop of Mr. MooRE,
a baker, in Great Queen-street, their demand of bread
being met by a refusal, they smashed one of the shop win-
dowe, anti forcibly possessed themselves of three quartern
loaves. A similar outrage was committed at the shop of
Mr. ALEXANDER, in Holborn. The mob, on passing by
the City boundary by Gray's-inn-lane, turned round and
shouted at and derided the police, who they knew had no
power to follow them any farther. The mob was under-
stood to have collected about Wapping, and, there is rea-
son to believe, was in a large proportion composed of re-
gular thieves.

APPREHENSION OF THE BASILDON IN-
CENDIARIES.-It will he recollected that on the night of
the 2d instant a rroat terrible and destructive fire took
place on the farm of Mr. IlaiNitam, an extensive farmer,
at Basildon, near Billericay. Tile barns, stables, grana-
ries, stacks of corn, witli a number of cattle, were en-
tirely destroyed, and the damage done exceeded :3,000/.
It was quite evident that this occurrence was the work of
au incendiary, and the most active measures were adopted
to discover the perpetrator. A reward of 1,0001. was
offered to any person who should give information which
should lead to the detection of the miscreant, but, up to
a few days ago, nothing satisfactory was developed. The
circumstances of the fire were curious. Mr. R. had a
threshing machine upon his premises, which he had not
us-d for some time. Ile received an anonymous letter,
informing Mtn that if he did not take it to pieces his
house would he burnt down. In consequence of this let-
ter he packed up his machine, bur, on the Friday before
the fire, he unpacked it, and had it prepared again for
work. On the Saturday night following his barns and
stacks were fired. In the early psrt of the week two
labourers were apprehended by a constable named CURTIS,
in consequence of information given by Mr. BREWITT,
large fanner, at Rayleigh. The men's names were La.cir
and ATKINS, the latter of whom has a brother in Dlr.
BaEwires employ. A few days ago the brother went to
visit his father, who lives with the prisoner at Basildon.
When he returned to Rayleigh he appeared very melan-
choly anti dejected, and upon being questioned, he stated
that his brother had a hand in Mr. RAINHAM'S fire. He
said his brother had confessed to him that he knew who
did it, and that be had been very unhappy ever since.
The brother further added, that his brother's language
implied that he had a hand in the fire, and that LACH had
assisted him. The prisoners on this information were
apprehended by order of the Magistrates of Billericay,
when the statement of ATKINS'S brother was taken down.
Another witness swore that he walked to a neighbouring.
village and back on the night of the fire with Lull, and
left the prisoner about one o'clock within a few yards of
Mr. BAINIIAM'S barn. The fire b:.oke out about two
o'clock. Lads, however, denied the truth of this, but
admitted that he was out till a late hour without, how-
verr; seeing witness that night.—The prisoners were re-
manded.

MYSTERIOUS ATTEMPT TO SET FIRE
to the PARSONAGE-HOUSE of WITHYCOMBE.

(Fromlteßridgewatera
instant,ndSern a man v‘a
ersetshire H er,as ex-
amined On Monday,l the 17th x_
amined before J. F. LUTTRELL, Esq. M.P. a.
Dunster, on a charge preferred against him by the
Rev. C. A. Verelst, Rector of Withycombe, of at-
tempting to set fire to his house. From the evi-
dence of Mrs. Verelst and servants, it appeared that
the man came to the house and asked alias on the
morning of the preceding day, and that soon site'
he left some matting, which had been nailed up
against the outside of the house to protect some
shrubs from frost, was discovered to be on fire ; that
the man was instantly pursued and searched, but
nothing whatever was found upon him except two-
pence, which had been given him by some people
in the peighbourhood. It was further proved that
the man was only a short time on the premises.
The worthy Magistrate dismissed the charge, but
committed the prisoner upon another, under the
Vagrant Act, for one month to the tread-mill.
On the Friday following, a young women who
had lived about three weeks in Mr.. Vetelst's
service, was brought before the same Magistrate by,
her master, charged with having attempted to art
fire to his house on the preceding day. The worthy
and excellent Magistrate, before the several deposi-
tions were read, addressed the prisoner, a very mild
respectable-!ooking young woman, and told her he
was sorry to see a person of her appearance in such
an awful situation. " If," said he, " the evidence
which shall he given be such as will oblige me to
commit you, and you, in another and superior court,
be convicted of the crime you are charged with,
your punishment will be death; therefore I entreat
you to pay every attention to the reading of the
depositions, and put any questions to the witnesses
which you think proper, or suggest any thing to nee
and I will do it for you." The prisoner, making a
low curtsey, said, " Thank your honour; I am
wholly innocent."
The Rev. C. A. Verelst was then sworn—The
substance of his evidence was, that the prisoner had
lived in his service about three weeks as house-
maid; that he had seen the prisoner about half-past
two o'clock on the preceding day, near a door up
stairs, the pulley of which he was adjusting; that
about half-past three he noticed a strong smell of
fire, that it was discovered to have been caused by
a fire which had been in a sort of cupboard, under
a window-seat, in an unfurnished room in his house,
and that a piece of paper and a skipping-rope,
partly burnt (which he produced), were taken from
it by his gardener, George Littey; and that be
(Mr. Verelst) and his butler, Pincornbe, after-
wards found, in the same place, a small piece of
candle, wrapped in a little bit of greasy newspaper
(also produced); that he charged the prisoner with
having done ir, and had her apprehended.
Mrs. Verelst was next sworn and examined—She
saw the prisoner about half-past twelve o'clock on
the preceding day searching for a piece of soap in
an unlocked closet appropriated to the housemaid,
holding in her hand a bit of candle without a candle-
stick, about two inches long, wrapped in a piece of
newspaper. On being asked by the Magistrate,
" How she knew the paper was part of a news-
paper ?" she said, " I was near enough to discover
that it was so," and she swore positively that it was
a piece of newspaper. This drew forth a remark
from Mr. Luttrell, that in another place, if the charge
went there, she (Mrs. Verelst) would undergo a
most searching cross-examination. " For how,"
said that gentleman, rolling up a small piece of
printed paper, printed with type about the size of
that used for newspapers, " can any person posi-
tively swear from looking at this paper in my hand
that it is, or is not, part of a newspaper ?" Mrs.
Verelst then said, she would swear it was a piece of
newspaper to the best of her belief. " But you
have already, Madam," said the Magistrate, " twice
sworn positively that it was a piece of newspaper."
At this period the other witnesses were ordered out
of the room. Mrs. Verelst then went on to say
that the prisoner went up stairs about two o'clock,
though she had no business there, and described the
discovery of the smell of fire, and her going into
the room where the smoke was, when she instantly
directed Littey, the gardener, to the window-seat,
and cried " There is the fire, tear down the boards."
On being asked what made her direct Littey to the
window-seat, she replied, " I saw the smoke issuing
from it." She admitted the room was full of
smoke at the time. She was asked if any rooms
in the house had been washed or scrubbed that day,
which it was the prisoner's place to do when it was
necessary; she answered positively " No." She
further said, in answer to other questions, that the
prisoner had given her notice to leave her service at
the end of the month, but that they had had no
quarrel.
The next person examined was her own maid,
Harriet Merry, whose evidence was also an echo of
her mistress's.

The butler, Pincombe, was examined next: he
swore that he saw a candlestick, which was pro-
duced, about the time mentioned by Mrs. Verelst,
near the housemaid's closet, with a piece of candle
in it about two inches long ; but whether it was
wrapped in paper or not, he did not know.
George Littey, the gardener, then swore that be
was alarmed at the cry of fire, that he emered the
house, ran up stairs, went with his master into the
room, which was full of smoke, and began to ex-
amine the creaks of the floor, when he was directed
to the window-seat by his mistress, who said,
" Look in the window-seat, look in the window-
seat I" which he did, and found the piece of paper
and the skipping-rope, partly burnt. There was
no fire there then, and those things were cold.
The Magistrate now directed the room to be
cleared while he consulted his clerk. In about five
minutes the prisoner and her accusers were called
in, and were again admitted; when the worthy and
excellent Magistrate, addressing the prisoner, said,
" I feel great pleasure in saving that you are dis-
charged, and that I believe you to be wholly inno-
cent, and that when you leave this room, you will do
so as free from imputation of being guilty of the
charge thin day brought against you, as you would
have done had you walked out of it a week ago.
Cause for suspicion there was, and it is my belief
that there was a fire to create an alarm, or,some
worse purpose, and that that fire originated with
some one residing in the house ; but that person, I
believe, was certainly not you ; and I heartily wish
that the real criminal may yet be discovered and
punished."
It was market-day at Dunster, and the room was
filled by the yeomanry and tradespeople of the
town and neighbourhood, who heartily congratulated
the poor girl (a stranger in the neighbourhood and
a native of Exeter) on her escape, and a subscrip-
tion was instantly made for her, which did as much
honour to the subscribers as did their sympathy and
anxiety during the examination.:
The expressions of feeling during the time of
Mrs. Verelst being examined were so strong, that
Mr. Luttrell was obliged to restrain them, and to
declare, " that however unwilling to do so, he
should order the room to be cleared if they were
continued." At one time during her examination,
Mrs. Verelst was so annoyed by the questions put
to her, that she declared she would answer no more.
Her husband and Mr. Luttrell, however, told her
she must do so.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.—On Monday
a meeting of the inhabitants of the borough of Salford
was held! for the purp.,se of petitioning the Legislature
for the right of being represented in Parliament. IV:A.
HILL, Esq. the Chief Constable, presided, and opened
the.. business of the day with a neat and appropriate speech.
Several resolutions, declaratory of the great increase of
rpulation, and the consequent right of being repres nted
in Parliament, were proposed and carried, upon which a
petition was founded, which is to I;e forwarded to Lords
HOLLAND and Minion]. for presentation, and a deputa-
tion was appointed to proceed to London for the further-
ance of these objects. The meeting was held in the Sal-
ford Town Hall, and was attended by from 200 to 300
persons.