The Sun.
London, England, 1831-06-21 00:00:00

THE STARVING IRISH.

The LORD MAYOR stated that, in order to increase
the contributions to the poor famishing Irish, whose
privations exceeded on this melancholy occasion any
former miseries to which they had been exposed, he
should give directions to place charity-boxes before
the railing of the Mansion-house, for the reception
of pence and halfpence, in aid of the great charity.
He felt convinced, from what he had heard, as well
as from the suggestions of the Press, which had en-
tered so cordially and unanimously into the feeling,
that thousands of passers-by would drop their loose
pence into his poor-box. He shAuld also, he said,
take care that in other populous places boxes should
he placed, in order to give to those who could not
afford to give more than a penny or an halfpenny an
opportunity of gratifying their humanity. Care
should, he added, be taken that the boxes should be
accessible to none but those on whose integrity the
greatest reliance could be placed.

Mr. Hobler said he felt convinced that thousands
would be collected by penny contributions. He
knew, perhaps, as well as any man, the effect of an
appeal to a British public in behalf of the distressed
objects, and there never was known any calamity
more dreadful than that which now, when eve:v other
country was smiling, ravaged unhappy Ireland.

BOW-STREET.
Remy Hetherington, printer and publisher, of
No. 13, Kingsgate-street, Holborn, appeared yester-
day before Sir It. BIRNIE, Mr. HALLS, and Dr.
RoniNsoN, to answer to informations preferred
against him, under the 60th of George 111.. for ex-
posing for sale certain publications, called The Re-
publican, or the Sovereignty of the People, and the
Poor Man's Guardian, both of which, it was al-
leged, contained the news of the day, and were pub-
lished periodic.tlly, and came, therefore, within the
description of a newspaper, and ought to be stamped
as such. The full penalty in each case is twenty
pounds, with a power given to the Magistrates to
mitigate it to five pounds ; and the defendant, if
convicted, may appeal against the decision, arid have
the question re-argued at the Sessions.
Mr. ALLEY appeared for the Crown ; and Mr.
ARNOLD attended on behalf of the defendant,
not, however, as he stated, to defend his writings,
but to argue in his behalf upon the construction of
the Act of Parliament tinder which he was sought
to be convicted.

Mr. ALLEY stated that he appeared, by direction
of the Attorney-General, in support of four infor-
mations preferred again•t the defendant by Mr.
Timm, Solicitor to the Stamp-office. The defen-
dant was charged, under the 60th George 111., with
having sought to evade the stamp duty on news-
paper publications in the four ca•es in which pro-
ceedings had been taken ; but he (Mr. Alley) hoped
it would not he necessary to proceed upon all the
informations; and he took this opportunity of
stating, that while his Majesty's Government were
determined to proceed against all parties who, like
the defendant, should endeavour to escape the Stamp
Acts, they were at the same time disposed to treat
the offenders with every possible mildness.
The first information charged the defendant with
having exposed for sale a newspaper called the
Republican, or the Sc.,vercignty of the People, which
paper was liable to the usual stamp of 4d., and for
which offence the defendant forfeited the sum of 20/.
It was then read by the clerk, and the defendant
pleaded " Not Guilty."
Mr. ALLEY then stated the case, and said that he
should not only prove that the defendant was the
publisher of the paper in question, but that in every
respect the publication came under the description
of a newspaper, according to the definition which the
Act of Parliament gave of that class of publications.
• The defendant, in the paper in question, referred to
nearly every topic of the day. He spoke of the
theory of the House of Lords, the proceedings ut
the Rotunda, where a Mr. Keene and Mr. Gale
Jones had held forth, and then he had a slap at his
(Mr. Alley's) worthy and mach-persecuted friend
Sir Claudius Stephen Hunter, of white horse me-
mory—(Laughter)—but in the last page of the
work he (Mr. Alley) was grieved to see an attack
upon his present Majesty, one of the best men that
ever sat upon the British throne. The Learned
Gentleman, after referring to other parts of the pub-
lication, observed that the present proceeding was
instituted in a spirit of mercy and forbearance, for
had the Attorney-General thcught proper, he mi2ht
have brought the defendant into the Court of Ex-
chequer, and sought for heavy penalties, instead of
which the present proceeding would fall compara-
tively light upon him.
Mr. James Whole, inspector of stamps, proved
that he purchased the number of the Republican
now produced from the defendant himself, at his
hotre in Kingsgate-streer, on the 6th of June inst.
The paper contained the news of the day, and
ought to have borne a stamp of td.
A long discussion here took place as to whether
the whole or part only of the publication ought to
be read by the clerk, in order to prove to the Court
that to all intents and purposes it was a newspaper.
Mr. HALLS decided that enough had been shown
to give the Bench jurisdiction in this case, The
part which had been read was a complete farrago of
nonsense, but there were several passages which
proved that the publication was a newspaper.
Mr. ARNOLD, at considerable length, proceeded to
argue upon the law of the case, contending that no
proof whatever had been given that the publication
was periodical. It was true that it stated at the
end of the last page that it was printed and pub-
lished every Saturday ; but ho.v did that prove that
new and sep nate numbers of the work followed
each other in regular succession? Might it not
rather he inferred that the present publication was
reprinted every Saturday ? In construing a penal
Act of Parliament it ought to be done strictly, and
he (Mr. Arnold) was ready to admit that he was
quite willing to take advantage of any quibble
which the law might afford to aid his client. He,
therefore, insisted that there was no proof whatever
that this publication was brought forth at regular
intervals.

Dr. ROBINSON-Why the paper itFelf affords
evidence of that fact.

Mr. ARNOLD denied that such was the fact, and
said that, according to Dr. Johnson's explanation of
the term periodical, the present publication could
not form one of that class. The Learned Gentle-
man concluded by saying, that if the Magistrates,
upon the evidence before them, should find his
client guilty, they would press this Act of Parlia-
ment beyond the limits which its framer, Lord
Castlereagh, had assigned to it, anti further than
Sir, Thomas Denman himself had declared it ever
could be carried.
The defendant, in a strain of intemperance, pro-
ceeded to address the bench, attacking the Govern-
ment in coarse and virulent language, and designa..
in g the Learned Gentleman who appeared on be-
half of the prosecution and the Magistrates on the
bench as the paid agents of a corrupt Ministry, who
were obliged to do the dirty work which was as-
signed them.
The Magistrates having consulted together, agreed
in convicting the defendant in the mitigated penalty
of 51. and costs.
Mr. ALLEY then proceeded upon the other infor-
mation, in which a conviction was also recorded.
The Learned Gentleman then said that he hoped
enough had been done to teach the defendant that
he was not to offend so in future, and under that
hope he refrained from pressing the remaining
formations.
The defendant said he scorned to accept of any
favour at the hands of the present Ministry ; and
he scented anxious to record his martyrdom by
going direct to prison instead of paying the penalties,
but some friends advised him to put in bail, in order
that the question might go to the Sessions on an
eppeal, which he at last consented to do, and the

neeessary recogn;zinces having been entered into,
he retired with his friends.

UN/ON-HALL.

Yesterday a miserable-looking Italian, with
scarcely any covering nu him, was charged with an
act of vagrancy. He was found begging in the
streets, and ead only arrived in England a fortnight.
He could not speak a word of English ; but in his
own language, in reply to the Magistrate (Mr.
CHAMBERS), stated that he was a naive of Parma,
and that owing to the advice of a countryman of his
who had visited this country, and who described
that a fortune was to be made by begging in Lon-
don, induced him (defendant) to come here.
On landing from the steam-packet at the Tower,
he commenced operations at onca ; but soon
found by experience that there was more to be had
in this way at Naples, Genoa, Milan, Florence,
or Pisa, the inhabitants of which cities had more
bowels of compassion for the unfortunate than he had
found in this capital. The most he ever took in one
day since his arrival was Bd., and out of that
he had to pay 6d. for his bed ; and as for a morsel
of maccaroni or parmesan, he had never tasted either
since he took his departure from the continent. He
had solicited alms all over the west-end of the town,
and finding it an unprofitable speculation, he had
ventured over the bridge that day, and met with as
little charity as he had done previously, and bad been
taken into custody in the bargain. He added, that
there were several of his countrymen in London who
had come over here owing to the flourishing account
given by persons who had deluded them, and there
were many as badly off as he was, and at a great dis-
tance from their homes.

• The Magistrate asked him where he slept, and he
replied at a house in Laystall-Atreet, Clerkenwell,
where numbers of his countrymen lodged, and that
he paid 6d. a night.
Mr. CiftmßEßs inqu'red what number of men
slept in each room ?—The defendant replied 18, and
that there were six rooms in the house.

Mr. CHAMBERS expressed his astonishment, saying
that the very circumstance of such a number of hu-
man beings huddled together in one apartment at
this season of the year was quite enough to engender
fever, or some other fatal disease. If there were six
rooms in the house, and each contained IS persons
nightly, the enormous number of 105 human beings
must occupy one tenement, the landlord of which, by
charging 6d. a head for sleeping, would average no
less a sum than IS guineas per week by the mendi-
cants who resorted to his house.
The defendant said that if he were once at
Parma, be would never leave to seek a fortune by
begging again. He had not a single farthing in the
world, and had no means of getting back again to
his own country.
When asked why he did not make application to
the consul for the Duchy of Parma resident in Lon-
don, he stated that he had applied at Mr. Roths-
child's office, but was informed there that he had no
funds for such a purpose. He added, that if he
could only muster up 10s. to take him to Calais, he
would be enabled to travel through France home by
a little assistance from his countrymen who lived on
the route.

Mr. CHAMBERS humanely told him that he
should have his passage paid for him to Calais, if
promised to quit this country immediately. To this
proposition the defendant willingly assented, and he
was directed to be taken care dirndl inquiries were
made when the next steamer started for France.

IRELAND.

ROSCOMMON COMMISSION, .TuxF 17.

This day Judges Moom: and JEun entered the
Court at an early hour, and swore in the Grand
Jury ; the array of rank, as well as of all classes,
were most numerous.

Edward illoylan was put to the bar, charged with
having, on the 2d of November, at Glantane, fired
at John White, a serjeant of police, and with aid-
ing and assisting one Egan in firing at the police.
He was also charged with having posted threaten-
ing notices.
William Pearce, John White, and Richard White-
side, policemen, all concurred in their evidence to
the sin a class of facts.

First notice called upon the inmates to quit their
habitation forthwith, else the vengeance of" Captain
Rock" would visit them with some lead balls.

Second notice called upon the inmates to quit in
six days, or, by " the eternal God," they would get
the death of a trooper's horse.

Third notice was in substance as the former.

All these facts were proved, and the prisoner had
no defence to make. The Jury retired. Verdict—
Guilty.
Bryan Egqn was put to the bar, for the same
offence, though differing in some particulars. His
verdict was not known up to the hour of post. The
prisoners will be sentenced this day.

The Rev. Dr. RANDOLPH, Rector of St.
Paul's, Covent-garden, died at his residence in the Col-
lege green, Bristol, on Tuesday, in the 77th year of his
age. The rectory is in the gift of the Duke of BF ',roan.
The Rev. Doctor also held the vicarage of Banwell,
Somerset, which is in the presentation of the Dean and
Chapter of Bristol and a prebendal stall in Bristol Cathe-
dral, in the gift of the LORD CHANCELLOR.
A few days ago, a large snake of the adder
species, was killed by one of the workmen in Buckingham
Gardens, at Pimlico. Near the spot in which it w,is dis-
covered, a swan, that was nestling her young, first at-
tracted attention towards it, by her unusual restlessness,
and led to the destruction of the unwelcome intruder.
Various have been the conjectures as to how it could have
obtained ingress, as the gardens are walled round. Ahout
five years back one was killed near the same spotond the
present is the only one that has been seen in the gardens
since that period.

NEW BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS.—The kye.
and Correspondence of Sir TaomAs MuNno, of w'iicts
a new and cheaper edition, with additions, is just published,
comprehend a faithful and able development of the present
condition of East India affairs, and amusing sketches of
character, especially among the Anglo Indisns.—Dr.
PARrs's Life of Sir HUMPIIIir DAA'r is now published
in Svo. In writing this popular work, the biographer
has retorted the effects on science brought about by the
discoveries of Sir llumerlaY, and has exhibited to the
reader the private passages in his life and the peculiarities
of his personal character.—Among much interesting co,
responden6e and anecdote contained in the Life of Sir
THOMAS LAWRENCE there is a diary written by the
painter during a long visit at Claremont, in which will be
found many affecting particulars respecting the brief wed-
ded life of the late Princess CHARLOTTE and Prince LEO-
POLD.-Mr. K vowl,Es's Memoir of FusEm accompa-
nies the literary works of that celebrated historical painter
and critic ; the memoir is rich in anecdote, and the work
contains the inimitable Lectures of FusEr.i, together with
his hitherto unpublished Aphorisms and history of the Ita-
lian Schools of Art.

A NEW CURE FOR RATS.—A French
sheep's head,
pe-
destrian tourist, lately took tip his quarters at one of the
and de four legs de mutton ; not de four legs
principal inns here, and ordered for dinner one black
tie mutton from the body to de knee, but de four legs from
de knee to de terre. The waiters, after some trouble,
found out that Monsieur wanted the good old Scotch
standard dish, of sheep's heads and trotters. Dinner wa,
served to the Frenchman's taste, and loud was he in the
praise of the cook. Next morning precious to starting,
lie called for his bill, which, for dinner, wine, lodging,
&c. &C. amounted to ten shillings. Frenchy swore that
de waiter was von great cheat, to charge for von black
sheep's head and de lbur legs de mutton, two shilling and
sixpence, since he saw von sold de oder day for sixpence ;
and refused to pay, demanding to see the landlord. The
terrified waiter went to seek his master, followed by the en-
raged Frenchman. They found him in the li.ack-yard, with
all his posse of post-boys, ostlers, &c. armed with pitch-
forks ; " what is de matter ?'' replied Boniface, "we
are sadly pleagned wi' rats." " What viii you give Inc:.
if I tell you how to put dent all away ?" " I will frank
your bill," said Boniface, smiltn.;y ; " l )one," says Frenchy ;
" Den ou viii catch von, and make lion pay de ten sh alms
and he
ytell all de rest, end no
'c'otie to your
. hlm. again ;"
forvon voofn nigw
ht's g h tviii ' oedvgeirn
ins, he flung his knapsack on Inshark, shouldereo d Iyds
umbrella a la militaire, and marched off„ whistling the fi-
vourite French tune of " Le Grand Empereur," leaviot;
Boniface and his men in a state of gaping
Perthshire Advertiser.

NT!; n A 1.1 DPl' I) BY MURIA) YOUNG, AT
.Sltrg OITICE, 112, STRivt), I.ONDov