The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-14 00:00:00

Hon. Member had made a comparison between the two
countries, hut he would ask were there any
schools in Ireland in which there were children
who were ignorant of their Redeemer, end who knew
nut the way of salvation ? Had they, in Ireland, any
professors of political economy who wrote for
public newspapers which were patronised by the
Government, and who held out the doctrine
that the people of Ireland should be starved
down to what the diminutive capital of that country
could allow for them, and that they should not interfere
with the will of God, who had visited upon them a great
calamity, or to attempt to save them from death? Was
it not cruel that people who were perishing without
having committed one single outrage, who went to the
clergy and after receiving the sacrament, going hack to
linger in the agonies of tuudne, should be crushed in
such a harsh and reckless manner. They
had shown wonderful fortitude and had sub-
mitted with admirable resignation to the trials
which Providence had inflicted upon them.
and was it just that they should be made the subject of
any attack or slander in that House? It was Irish
money, as well as English money, that had been given
to them, and not, as stated by the Honourable Gentle-
man, English money alone. If the House gave
them the management of their own affairs they would
not ask for any money; but Vie House had taken up;,n
itself the managLreent of their rinks, and they would
not now submit to meet the consequences of their own acts.
Ho had not intended to take any part in this debate,
but he had thought it necessary to say thus much in
answer to what the Hon. Gentleman had said.—(Hear,
hear.) The Government had acted nigardly towards
Ireland, but at the same time he must do them the justice
to say that had they proposed large grants, the House
could not have supported them.—(Hear, hear.) It was
too bad then to attack' Ireland fur her misdeeds
which the policy of the House and Government had
goaded her people on to, and he trusted they shuold
bear no more of tthese misdeeds, it misdeeds they could
be called.—(hear, hear.) _ _

,
Sir H. W. BAIi,RON was surprised that any English
Member should have evinced bo bad a spirit towards
Ireland; but the Honourable Gentleman, the Member
for Sheffield, in his orinion, had completely
contradicted himself. The Honourable Gent'eman,
in his opening, said the landlords of Ireland
ought to drain their estates with their own money, and

in the next breath ho said the land ought to beculti-
vated for the benefit of the people. Why, good God, this
could not be done without the aid of public grants. He
denied that the money voted by the House went into
the pockets of the landlords ; and as a proof of this he
might mention that during the last year the landlords
had subscribed 160,0001. for the relief of the Irish

people.—(Hear, hear.) These attacks, thcn, were
mcst unjust, and he regretted them the more because
they were likely to dig up the channels of charity in this
country, and leave the people of Ireland to die of abso-
into starvation.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL remarked that the Hon.
Member for Sheffield having been absent from the
House for some time had of course a much keener appe-
tite for Irish subjects than the majority of other Hon.
Gentlemen.—(Laughter.) The house, however, had
heard so much during the present session of Ireland that
the Honourable Gentleman's speech was not so much
relished as it might otherwise have been.—(Hear, hear.)
He would not attempt to defend the Irish land-
lords, he would leave that to themselves, but with
regard to the labourers of Ireland, he thought the Hon.
Gentleman was unjust in his attacks on them.—(Hear.)
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

TATTERSALL'S-THIS EVENING

Six O'CLOCK.

DERBY.
2 to 1 agst Flying Dutchman
9 to 2 agst Nunn kirk
13 to 2 agst Tadrucr
10 to 1 agst Elthirun
13 to 1 agst Vatican
to, 1 agst Chatterer
20 to 1 agst The Ktwut
Ito Lo I agst Old Dan Tucker
25 to 1 Qgst Honeycomb
40 to 1 ttg4 Montaol:
t.,0 to 1 agst Old Fux

OAK s.
6 to 1 agst Wadrastra filly
6 to 1 agst Glauca
9 to 1 agst Sister to Alkwrigliti
16 to 1 agst Emma-donna
1G to 1 agst Caricature

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF EXCHEQUER, May 12.
(Sittings at Nisi Prius at Westminster, before the CHIEF
BARON and a Special Jury.)
ATTORNEY-GENERAL V. SHILLIIIEER.
This was an information filed at the instance of the
Crown, for not paying the necessary excise duty upon
horses let out for hire by the defendant, for the purpose
of conducting funerals.
The Solicitor-General and Mr. Watson appeared for
the Crown, and Mr. Shillibeer conducted his own defence.
It appeared that under the 2d and 3d of William IV.,
c. 120, a person letting out a vehicle for hire has it at his
option to pay the excise duty, either at the rate of lid.
per mile, or by paying one-fifth of the whole amount of
hire ; and a considerable number of cases were proved
against the defendant, in which he had returned ,a much
smaller nmcunt to the Excise than that which he had
charged to the customer. There were altogether twenty-
four different cases against him, and by each of which he
rendered himself liable to a penalty of 20/.
The defendant complained of not being supplied
with the necessary information by the Crown to enable
him to conduct his defence, and that, he had been prose-
cuted a second time for the same offence, the first action
having failed, and obliged to incur an enormous expense.
He said that he had no intention whatever to commit
any wilful fraud, and that he had repeatedly asked the
officers of the Excise, if he were wrong with respect to the
duty, to put him right, but they refused to do so, and he
believed, in fact, that they did not know themselves
what was the proper amount of duty. He contended
that, being an undertaker, and having his own horses, he
was no more entitled to pay duty than a wine merchant,
a coal merchant, or any other tradesman who kept a
horse to carry on his business, and most of the cases
against him were for horses used in his own jobs. He
had been the means of giving a revenue of about
400,0001. per annum, by his introduction of omnibuses,
and this was the return he met with—persecution.
There were great doubts as to the law, and all he wanted
was to have the law declared by the Court of Exche-
quer, not only for his own guidance, but for the guidance
of the postmasters throughout the kingdom. But with
all his offers and all his efforts with the Commissioners
of Excise, he had been unable to accomplish his object.
Why should they not have a special case argued and the
judgment of the Court taken upon it? The question
would then be settled as to the construction of the Act
of Parliament. If his opinion were wrong he was
quite ready to pay, but let the matter be settled. The
defendant then cited several clauses of the Act, every
two of which having application to the same point, con-
tradicted each other, and argued that there ought to be
a settlement of the variances which those different
clauses of themselves created.

The Lotto CHIEF BARON left the matter to the jury,
remarking that the defendant, ably as he had con-
ducted his case, must understand that it was not be-
cause he had combined the two callings of postmaster
and undertaker, that he was to evade the payment of
the duty as directed by the statute. The defendant had
been placed in a different position, no doubt, to other
persons furnishing funerals, because ho had combined
in his own person the undertaker and the postmaster,
but still it was quite clear that he was in the latter
character subject to the post-horse duty. The questions
then were, whether in that capacity he had neglected
to make the proper returns, and whether he had made a
fraudulent return. The defendant was mistaken in his
view as to charging himself only at the rate of ss. a
horse; he must charge himself at a reasonable rate, such
as he would charge to a customer.
The jury consulted for half an hour and then retired,
and after an absence of ten minutes, came into court with
a verdict for the Crown for one penalty of 201. on the
second count, and for one penalty of 501. on the sixth
count. They also said that in their opinion the de-
fendant had done all he could to slain such information
from the Excise as would enable him to make the proper
returns.

The court was crowded the whole of the day by per.
sons who were interested in the result.

THE WEATHER.—The continuance of north-
easterly winds has had the effect of checking the pro-
gress of vegetation to a greater degree than might have
b-en expected. The atmosphere, indeed, for several
days past, has been remarkably chill and ungenial, par-
ticularly during the night. The days, too, have been
very gloomy; and if occasional sunbeams have prevailed,
diffusing an agreeable warmth, their sudden withdrawal
has been succeeded by a chilliness more indicative of
March than the merry month of May; and these sud
den changes have proved anything but beneficial to
health. If, however, vegetation has not, under the cir-
cumstances, made rapid advances, little comparative in-
jury has been occasioned.—Leeds Mercury.
The Steeplechase horse Hieover, while out exer-
cising on Thursday, at Liverpool, jumped upon a hurdle,
and was staked. He is likely, however, to recover.
ROYAL ARTILLERY.—WOOLWICII, MAY 11.—The
officers of the Royal Artillery gave a grand ball last
evening, at their splendid mess room at Woolwich bar-
racks, and upwards of 700 persons were present on the
occasion, presenting a most brilliant assemblage, the ele-
gence of the dresses of the ladies contrasting beautifully
with the varied costumes of the army and navy. Rear•
Admiral Sir James Gordon, K.C.8., Lieutenant-Gover-
nor of Greenwich Hospital, Commodore Henry Eden,
and a number of officers of the guards, cavalry, and line
regiments were present.
flusies PISTOL.—A man who gives us a real name
and address, writes to us as follows:—" On Sunday last,
May 6, passing through a field near Potash Farm, I
found a large double barrelled pistol bedded in the
ground, with J. B. Rush engraved on the guard over
the trigger, and a bunch of skeleton keys. You can
mentitn this circumstance in your paper if you think
proper." Of course we cannot say whether the above
is a hoax, or a serious matter of fact; but we have put it
in train for investigation.—.Aenfolk Chronicle.
ROYAL NAVAL SCHOOL, NEW CROSS..—NeiII
Mal-
colm, Esq., has presented the munificent sum of 1001.
fur the purchase of four debentures qualifying him to
nominate the suns of naval and marine officers as pupils
of the institution. We understand that several of the
firmer pupils, following the example of other large
public schools, have ass,xiated themselves together, with
the view of testifying,- the estimation in which they hold
their school. by attending the ensuing anniversary din-
t er, under the presidency of the Loud Mayor.
PLYmou.lll, MAY 13.—Wind S.S, W.-12th, Sid.
Victolia, Adelaide, South Africa,