The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-11 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—an your paper of Thursday, the 17th ult. you admitted
a statement of an application made to the Lord Mayor, on the
preceding Monday, relative to a transaction at Gerard's-hall,
which, in many of its details, was utterly devoid of truth ; we,
therefore trust, that as an act of justice, you will do us the
favour to admit a few lines in explanation. The facts arc simply
these :
On Friday, February llth, our Bristol coach came in, bringing,
amongst other passengers, a woman and child; who, on referring
to the way-bill, we found had been booked outside at Bristol, but
had got inside at Chipenlram ; and that there was a sum of 12s.
more stated to have been due from her, as the difference of the
outside and inside fare from that place. The woman refused to
pay this amount, stating that she had been requested to ride
inside by the coachman. We did not at first feel justified in
believing her statement, in opposition to the evidence of the
way-bill; but afterwards, on a fellow-passenger happening
accidentally to come into the office, who confirmed the woman's
statement, we immediately relinquished our claim for the Its.
difference. The 12s. charged for extra luggage, which weighed
173 lbs. and for the fare of the child, was never given up, except
that we voluntarily returned 9.5. to the woman on her pleading
poverty, a fact which her appearance did not bespeak. It was
not till after this had occurred that the summons from the Lord
Mayor was brought in, and on its being explained to the officer
that the affair was settled, he replied " Then of course you will
not attend." We therefore had never expected to have heard
any more of the matter, particularly after the lapse of several days.
The statement that a person in the office said, " that lie would
never go by the coach, as such gross imposition was committed
by those who seemed to control it," is an entire fabrication of the
complainant; for, the party, after having satisfied us of the
woman's having got inside at the coachman's request, booked
three places (for himself and two friends) back to Bristol.
We are, Sir, your obedient humble Servants,
Gerard's Hall. LOUISA DIBBIN and Co.
[The above would have been inserted much earlier, but that
the letter had been mislaid.—En. Sex.]

Who can wonder at the degraded state of
public feeling in Spain, when there are, in that unfortu-
nate country, at the present moment, no less than two
hundred thousand monks of all orders, whose sole occu-
pation (with the exception of self-aggrandisement) is to keep
the people in the darkest ignorance and superstition ?

We regret our inability, from want of space,
to insert the many reports transmitted to us of the inte-
resting meetings to which the Ministerial plan of Reform
has given rise. On 'Wednesday there was a meeting, nu-
merously attended, at Manchester, at which all parties
seemed to vie with each other in expressions of praise of
the conduct of Ministers, and all seemed determined to sup-
port them. When Mr. SHUTTLEWORTII, after condemning
the conduct of the last Ministry, observed that "their more
wise, more able, and more virtuous successors—happily for
their own honest fame, and still more happily for the peace
and prosperity of their country—have identified their inte-
rests with the people on this great subject—and have thus
nobly redeemed the distinct pledges they gave to promote
Reform as the condition on which they accepted office,"
the observation was, it is stated, received with." enthusi-
astic cheering which continued for some time." The as-
surances which have been given at other meetings that
" the people will do their duty," were given here. Let
the people bear constantly in mind that their salvation de-
pends on their promptitude and resolution.—Morn. Citron.

We would strongly recommend our readers
of the more opulent class, and all who are large con-
sumers of coals, to set their faces decidedly against any
attempts which are or may be made to deprive them, and
the public in general, of the salutary boon which the re-
peal of the sea-borne duty ought to confer upon them.
We appeal to these classes, because it is in their power to
protect the lower classes of the community from imposi-
tion. It is only the buyer of chaldrons who can protect
the snore humble purchasers of single sacks and bushels
from the attempt which is evidently making to transfer
the lite tax from the Treasury to the pockets of those who
can have no earthly right to it. One of the many tricks
of the coal trade is, to take the highest price of the
hest coals as that of every inferior description. In our
Paper of Thursday, under the head of the " Coal
Market," our readers will perceive given the prices of no
less than 79 different species or denominations of coals,
the average prices of which are about 265. the chaldron;
to which, if 12'. per chaldron are added, for the coal-
merchant's expences arid profit, the average price of coals
ought to be about :38s. the chaldron, or less than 14d. the
bushel. But of these 79 species, no less than 38, or
neatly one-half, are various kinds of " Wall's End" coal—
a name which has for many years been held forth as a
delusion on the public, as being the best kind of coals,
which, in fact, they are ; but then, unluckily, they are
the worst also, as the price list we have referred to
proves; for in that list they vary from 245. to 31s. 6d.
the chaldron. Now the trick the public have to guard
against is this highest price being charged to them as ;hat
of all coals, which would make them ss. a clialdron
dearer than they ought to he. It may be said that this
variation, and therefore this trick, existed before the sea-
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The hawkers of remarkable occurrence, who
crowd the streets of Edinburgh, hit upon an expedient on
Wednesday, which increased their trade marvellously.
They manufactured early in the morning an account of a
duel b?tween, the Duke of WELLINGTON and Lord Ai--
THORP, in which it was said that his Grace was mortally
wounded. The account occasioned no little uneasiness,
and we have no doubt many persons who were in town
at the markets have returned to the country in the belief
that the story was true.—Caledonian Mercury.

MORE FIRES IN LINCOLNSHIRE.--011
Monday afternoon about five o'clock, sonic stacks in the
farm-yard of Mr. THOMAS MARSHALL, White Hart Inn,
spiisby, were discovered to be on fire. The farm being
only about a quat ter of a mile from the town, and it being
mirket day, a large number of persons were speedily col-
lected on the spot, by whose prompt exertions the fire was
speedily extinguished without much damage being done;
we bear about 25!. On the same evening about six o'clock,
a fire was also discovered in a stack-yard on the farm of
Mr, KENT, in the East Fen, where the result was less
favourable, about 60 quarters of wheat being destroyed
The flames were distinctly seen at Spilsby, where they had
an awfully grand appearance. We understand a servant
tnen in the employ of Mr. KENT has been apprehended on
,uspichm, and underwent an examination before the Ma-
gistrates at Spilsby, on Wednesday.—Stamford News.
RUTLAND NEWS.—ALLEGED M
The following circumstance agitates Oakham and the
neighbourhood, and was the subject of conversation in
the Assize Court on Friday last :—An old woman of the
name of JANE LEVISON, who lately died at Braunston,
in the county of Rutland, confessed a little before her
decease, that she once lived as a servant with one
SMITH, a farmer, then residing at a lodge house
by the side of Owston Wood, iu the county of
Leicester ; and that she and the master of the house,
with the consent of the rest of the family, actually
murdered a man who was a beast jobber, though
a stranger in that part of the country, and had come to
Smfries house to receive money for cattle. This JANE LE-
VISON held the poor man's head while her master beat out
his brains with a coal-hammer. A human skeleton was
found about ten or twelve years ago near the house re-
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Slam, News.