The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-25 00:00:00

LAMBETH POLITICAL UNION.

At a meeting held on Wednesday evening, abou
seven o'clock, at Procter's Hotel, Bridge-road,
Lambeth, for the purpose of forming a Reform
Union, Mr. John Moore was unanimously voted into
the Chair.
The CnArasrAs stated, that since the measure
had been adopted by some influential inhabitants of
Lambeth to form a Union, an important circum-
stance (namely, the shortly-expected meeting of
Parliament) had given the lie direct to the rumours
at that time afloat, of the insincerity or hesitation of
Ministers with regard to the measure of Reform so
anxiously expected by the country. It was certainly
a gratification to him, and all desirous of peace, as
well as of Reform, that an early meeting of Parlia•
ment had been determined on. He then adverted
to the Proclamation lately considered necessary to
be issued by the King in Council, which, he stated,
did not at all effect the formation of any Political
Union, but was levelled chiefly against those bodies
of such Unions who had formed themselves into
organised parts, and entitled classes and distinct
companies, which might thus tend to embarrass or
subvert the Government of the country. But the
formation of the Lambeth Union did not tend to
embarrass Government, but to assist his Majesty's
Ministers, by every constitutional means in their
power, to carry, in the most efficient manner, the
object so warmly anticipated by all those who were
willing and anxious, as they were constitutionally
able, to subvert the overweening faction by which
the people had been so long oppressed.
Mr. ROFEY then moved, " That it is expedient
(at the present important crisis) all real friends of
Reform, resident in Lambeth, should form them-
selves into an amicable Union, for the purpose of
affording every loyal and constitutional support to
our most gracious and patriotic King and his present
Ministers, in carrying into a law the measure of Re-
form, to which they stand pledged to the country,
and which has been approved of by the former."
Mr. WAnritiwroN, M.P. felt convinced that the
principles on which their Union was intended to be
established were perfectly legal and constitutional,
and that it was indispensable, by meetings of that
kind, to collect the general sentiments of the parish
of Lambeth, which formed so material a portion of
the metropolis. Still he could not but feel per-
suaded of the impropriety of personally enrolling his
name among the members of the Union, however
personally sanctioning its objects. It was not im-
ws!ble that a vindication of such Unions would be
required
.elsewhere, to which he might be able to
give efficient support so long as unconnected with
such Unions; but such a vindication would be per-
fectly unless, were he personally connected with one.
Mr. GEORGE rose to propose an amendment, that
it was riot expedient to form themselves into any
Union for the purpose of supporting an indefinite
measure of Reform, however Ministers might be
pledged their own persons. Ile considered that
the measure to which the Ministers were said to
he pledged was solely intended for the benefit of the
middle classes, and intended to exclude the working
classes, which formed the real and effective majority
of the people.
Mr. BURFORD seconded the amendment.

Mr. DELMORE supported the amendment.
Mr. RoPF.Y could see no feasible objection to the
present resolution, because the intended Bill did not
(because it could not) at once go so far as might
generally he deemed necessary.
Mr. FAIRY trusted they would again have the
Bill—at least, one as efficient as the Bill—and could
not but consider the inhabitants of Lambeth parti-
calm ly as pledged to the measu►e; for 700 of them
had formerly appended their signatures, sanctioning

OnWednesday an inquest was held at the Prince of
Wales, Brixton-hill, before Mr. R. CARTER, on the
body of William Merritt, a child nine months old,
destroyed by his own mother, who afterwards made
an attempt upon her own life.

The circumstances attending the catastrophe are
of the most afflicting nature, the unfortunate mother
being now confined in Guy's Hospital for the wound
she had inflicted upon herself subsequently to
taking the life of her offspring.
Edward Reynolds, servant at the Black Horse,
Brixton, stated that on Sunday last, between three
and four o'clock, as he was standing at the door of
a house in _Brighton-place, he saw William Merritt,
a gardener, residing at No. 31 in the row of
houses, throw up the sash of one of the windows
in the front attic, and cry out for assistance. He
exclaimed, " Make haste, break open the door, my
wife has murdered her child, and she has attempted
to take her own life." He was then holding his
wife, who appeared to struggle hard to get away
from him, while the blood flowed from a gash in
her throat down the front of her person. Witness
finding the street door shut, immediately got into
the house through the parlour window, and pro-
ceeded up stairs to the room where he had seen
Merritt and his wife from the road. On entering
the apartment the sight was truly appalling; Mrs.
Merritt was lying on the floor with her throat cut,
and her husband holding her down while she strug-
gled to regain possession of a bloody razor, which
was at a short distance from the spot ; the lifeless
body of their child also lay extended upon the floor,
with the head nearly severed from its body, and
the floor itself was deluged in blood, which flowed
from mother and child. Merritt, who had great
difficulty in holding down his wife and preventing
her from getting the razor, on seeing witness, ex-
claimed " Good God ! here's a job !—my wife has
cut her throat and her child's; run for a doctor."
A Mr. Henderson, who lives opposite, having ar-
rived by this time, secured the razor, and assisted
in placing the unfortunate woman on a couch ; and,
in the interval that elapsed before a medical man
arrived, she expressed a desire to be left to die, and
called for paper, which having been furnished with,
she wrote, in a hand scarcely legible, a few sen-
tences to the following effect :—" I have not had a
cross word with my dear husband ; he has been
, very kind to me, nor did he know what I went up
stairs for." The paper upon which she had written
the words was stained with the blood which issued
, from the wound in her throat. Upon the arrival of
, a surgeon the wound was dressed, and she was con-
, veyed to the hospital, where it appeared she at-
, tempted to tear off the dressings and pull open the
wound.

There were several other witnesses examined,
whose evidence proved that the unhappy woman
was a tender mother, and particularly fond of the
child she had destroyed while labouring under a fit of
insanity.
The Jury having expressed a wish to hear Mer-
ritt's account of the tragical affair, he was accord-
ingly sent for, and he attended immediately.
He stated that his wife, by whom he had three
children, complained of illness for the last fort-
night, and exhibited at times great despondency.
On Sunday last she did not eat any dinner, owing
to illness; and, while they were both sitting at the
tire, she having the child sucking at her breast, she
said that she should go up stairs and place it in bed.
She then got up, as he supposed, for the purpose ;
and, as he was about to shave himself, he went up
to the first floor, where he kept his razors, and
missed one of them. He became alarmed, and was
proceeding up to the attic, when he met his wife on
the landing-place, and asked her whether the child
I was asleep ? Her reply was, " Aye, it's asleep

CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.--SITTING OF Nov. 21.
The Minister of War rose to make a communica-
tion, which he introdsl by saying,—" Gentlemen,
the Government has a-trended with a lively interest
to the debates in both the Chambers upon the Bill
relating to the decorations and promotions granted
in the interval between the 20th of March and the
7th of July, 1815. Its sentiments upon these points
have been so fully manifested by acts, that we can
have no occasion to make any new declarations re-
specting them. The King has restored to their
ranks in the army and in the Legion of Honour a
great number of cfficers who had been deprived of
them. Nevertheless, enlightened by the discussions
alluded to, it has appeared to him necessary to lay
down the basis of a general provision by which
it may be possible to conciliate the claims Pf
all who are interested with the rights of
third persons, and with that discretion which
ought to attend every measure causing an augmen-
tation of the public burthens. Other difficulties,
tint at first apparent, would have soon fettered the
execution of provisions voted in favour of the offi-
cers of the old army. A general acknowledgment
of all the promotions would have been followed by
the most serious inconveniences. To enable you to
appreciate these, it will be sufficient for me to point
out to your notice that the law is silent as to such
officers as have been long dead—to those who, hav-
ing voluntarily renounced the career of arms, have
retired into civil life—and as to those who, having
rendered themselves liable to punishments for
offences not of a political nature, do not merit to
be re-admitted into the army, and much less to a
superior rank ; and, finally, those who, in 1815,
occupied employments or stations which no longer
exist under the present organization of the army, and
at the same time have no claims to pensions—all of
whom have no interest in being acknowledged to
have been in possession of those grades. But your
wishes, Gentlemen, have been understood, and the
King has given orders that they shall be fulfilled,
after an accurate examination of the position of each
individual. Already several ordinances have been
issued to this effect ; and as the claims of those that
remain are established, new ordinances will grant
them their commissions also. Thus Gentlemen (he
continued), the first part of your expressed
wishes as to promotions and decorations will
be completely accomplished. The King is happy
at finding that it comes within the circle of
his prerogative to acknowledge claims and ser-
vices upon which the sentiments of the Crown are in
perfect accord with yours. The proposition you have
adopted relative to retired pensions contained other
provisions which are evidently within the dominion
of the law. The Government admits the principle,
and we should now have only to reproduce them li-
terally, if we had not been satisfied that difficulties
would have arisen against their being carried into
execution, which would be insurmountable, or at
least which it would have been impossible to get
over without a new application to the Legislature
for an explanatory law.' The Minister then pre-
sented the Bill, which contained special provisions
respecting the mode of regulating the pensions in
question. The Bill was ordered to be printed.
The Chamber then proceeded to continue the dis-
cussion of the Bill definitively regulating the accounts
of the budget of 1829.
M. Roget took several objections to the items re-
ating to the Department of the Marine, which were
replied to by M. de Regny and M. Baudet-Lafarge.
The general discussion was then declared to be
closed, and the Chamber proceeded to discuss the
articles,numbers one to ten, of which, relating only to
details of receipts and expenditure in 1829, now
possessing no interest, were successively adopted
without any discussion of importance.
M. de Alosbourg presented two additional articles,
which the Chamber decided to take into considera-
tion on the morrow.—Adjourned.

CHAMBER OF PEERS.—TUESDAY, roux, r. m.
This being the day fixed for bringing up the new
Peerage Bill to the Chamber of Peers, great inte-
rest attached to the business. I never saw such an
attendance of Peers since the time of Prince Polig-
nac's trial. The seats were all nearly filled, and the
Peers were every where engaged in the most ani-
mated conversation. At twenty minutes after
two o'clock the President took his seat, and
shortly after the following new Peers, whose verifi-
cations had been completed, appeared on the floor,
and took the usual oath. The Duke de Bassano,
Count Bondy, Baron Cuvier, M. Davitiler, M.
Cepai, Gilbert de Voisins, Lepertier, and de Su-
renne. There were five other verifications not
finished. Bassano declared his " I swear it," as
loud as Hamlet's ghost used from his tomb. The
new Peers took their seats, and were congratulated
by several friends.
The whole of the Ministers were in attendance,
and in full costume. M. Casimir Perier wore the
withthe
new Peerage. Casimir Pe-
Cross of July next his Legion of Honour Star.
Marshal Soult presented his project of law for
regulating army promotions, and Baron Louis the
project for dividing the Bank of France surplus
M
capital.
Brci
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ascendedat
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Htee
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utmost
phtbeforemreooctser.:proceeded
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tribune
at
ne et
ereigned through the
o'clock
considerable length to
preface the presentation of the Bill with a speech
upon its merits and necessity, similar to that which
he delivered in the Chamber of Deputies when he
introduced the measure. He described the Bill as
one dictated by imperious necessity, arid only brought
forward by the Ministers from a calm and deliberate
conviction that the public voice called for it, and
that it was a necessary sacrifice which the Peas
must make to consolidate and preserve the public
institutions of the country, as established by the
late glorious revolution. He denied that in bring-
' ing forward this measure the Government hat!, to

some had asserted, laid the axe to the root or the
Constitution. On the contrary, they had proceeded
with moderation and caution, and in the strict path
of legal and constitutional duty. They relied upon
the co-operation of the Peers, whose motives must
.zoincide with their own for the public good ; and
they hoped to receive their conviction of the neces-
sity of this Bill, from the full persuasion that the
voice of public opinion had already decided upon it
in a manner so clear and dispassionate as to leave no
hope of revision.
M. Perier was still speaking at post hour in this
strain, and the Peers were listening with deep and 1
silent attention to him.
It is not expected that the debate upon the Bill
will take place for several days.

The following letter, complaining of the conduct
of Austria, is from Generals Romarino and Langer-
mann, late of the Po/ish army :

" Quarantine of Waidmunehen, in Bavaria, Nov. 11.
The Journals resound with the good treatment
experienced by the Poles who have sought It mo-
mentary asylum in Austria. As to us, we feel it
to be our duty to make known to Europe, that if
the intentions of the Government of the country
have been benevolent—if the mass of the inhabi-
tants, and even of the army, have shown sympathy
for the most noble of causes—it is no less certain
that some of the authorities have abused the power
which the King has confided to them.
" In arriving upon the territory of his Austrian
Majesty, on the 17th September, Field-Marshal
Baron de Bertoletti gave assurance, in the presence
of ten General Officers (Poles) who were around
him, that when the quarantine terminated, each
'
should upon demand obtain a passport to go where
he pleased. This declaration of the General was
made while we had still arms in our. hands ; it was
explicit, unconditional, and `Lonsequently applied
alike to soldiers as well as o4:;icers—to Poles, French,
German, English, Sl':edes, and banes, who had
served in our corps;

" After the F.-u-rrencier of arms, which took place
three days P";ter our passage, the troops were di-
rected up•on three different points, where they' were
placed in bivouac until the 25th of October, and thus
exposed for 38 days to all the inclemency of the
weather, although the greater number of the sol-
diers had neither cloaks nor stockings.
"The General Officers were closely guarded in the
Castle of Sieniava ; none of them could enter the
town without an ascort, and the garden of the
castle, though surrounded by walls, was interdicted
from them.

Two days after our arrival in this castle, we
were violently removed from it, and separated in
spite of our protestations, and escorted to Breszow,
in Gallicia. The orders of General Bertoletti were
so positive, that, during the route, and in our pri-
son, we could not communicate with each other
either by word or writing. One officer, four cor-
porals, and five sentinels, furnished by a guard of
twenty-five men, not only watched us during the
day, tiut surveyed our sleep by night. The prayer
of One of us to communicate with a comrade for a
few minutes, and in the presence of a third person,
was refused. We were strictly in what the Aus-
trians call "im strengen verhaft" (in secret). It
was in vain we made reclamations to him who had
prescribed these iniquitous measures. General Ber-
toletti answered us jesuitically, sometimes that we
must have patience, at other times that he must
transmit our complaints to Lemberg.
" Not content in depriving us of the exercise of
walking, so necessary to us after so many fatigues
and marches to which we were accustomed, we
were interdicted from communicating with the re-
presentative of our nation in Vienna.

" We are far from imputing to the Austrian Go-
vernment measures so inhuman and inexplicable—
vexatious without motive or end—but it ought to
be known that such was the conduct of Genera!
Bertoletti towards two Generals, who had confided
in the generosity of the Government under whose
protection they placed themselves. 'Why were we
denied our common rights? why interdicted from
all intercourse with the inhabitawts of the country ?
and why were we deprived of air, and nearly of sleep
during forty days ?

" The General of Division, RONIARINO.
" The General of Brigade, LANGERMANN."

(From the Morning Herald.)
We have received the whole of the Paris Papers
of Wednesday, and the Messager des Chambres and
Gazette de France dated yesterday. Their contents
are very satisfactory.
At the close of the sitting of the Chamber of
Deputies on Tuesday last, M. Dupont (de l'Eure)
laid on the table a proposition for an address to the
King to recall the late Ordinance for the creation of
36 Peers. According to rule the proposition was
referred to the nine Bureaux or Committees of the
Chamber, by eight of which it was on Wednesday
resolved that the proposition should not be enter-
tained. All opposition to the Ordinance may be
therefore deemed at an end.

From an apprehension that the address might be
carried, the funds fell early in the market of Wed-
nesday, but recovered when the fact became known.
The only interesting article of foreign news con-
tained in these papers is the confirmation of the re-
port that Cracow was to have been evacuated by
the Russians on the 24th instant (yesterday).
PARIS STOCK ExcHANGE, Nov. 23.—Five per Cents. 9&. 30c.
95f. 80e. ; Three per Cents. 69f. 75c. 69f. 40c. ; Bank Actions,
1820 f. IBlof. ; Rente de Naples 82f. 82f. 25c. B:.'f. 81f. 75c. ; Rente
d'Espagne, ltP,4 ; Royal Spanish Loan, 741.4 75 74. 75 '7474 ;
Rente Perpetuelte d'Espagne, 584 st”:, ; Haytian Loan, Mlf.
Exchange on London, one month, paper, 25f. 20c.; money, 25f.
20c. Three months, money, 25f. sc.

We understand that the riband trade is ex-
ceedingly bad in Coventry. We stated some time ago
abet a hand-loom weaver could not get in full employ more
than 6s. or 7s. a week : but at the present time we are
credibly informed that they do not average more than
2s. 6d. a week. To talk of a man's living upon this sum
is preposterous. He may manage to linger on a miserable
existence, but live, properly speaking, he cannot. Much
less can he maintain a family. The earnings of the
power-loom weaver average about four times those of a
hand loom one ; so that it would appear the former is
now getting about 10e. a week. The Coventry people
attribute the miserable condition of their trade to the ad-
mission of French goods, and to that alone. A letter to
the Coventry weavers, by a manufacturer, has been put
into our hands; and we are informed that it has excited a
good deal of attention among the persons to whom it is
addressed. The writer says that, " without an immediate
repeal of the Bill for the encouragement of the French
trade, the manufacturers of Coventry cannot exist ; delay
is destructive. At the moment I am writing French
agents have received orders which will supersede our la.
hours for the spring (I state it on an authority no one
would question) to an extent three times greater than in
any preceding year. While our looms have been stand-
ing empty (I give the official return) no less than 29,000
lbs. weight of manufactured silk has been imported from
the 6th of October to the 6th of November last. How
workmen might have earned
many of our now perishing
the bread of industry from this import? Well might an
Honourable Gentleman, whose practical knowledge all
must allow, say, lam convinced that what is called free
trade may benefit individuals, but it is a public injury.'
By the side of this remark how painfully ludicrous does the
question appear of the President of the Board of Trade, to
the deputation from Spitalfields, 6 have you any new facts
to offer, Gentlemen?' New facts ! ! Merciful Heavens,
do not the convulsive cries of despair from our once happy
and peaceful city supply new facts enough ? What fresh
light does my Lord AUCKLAND require when lie reads that
men have been labouring fur eighteenpence two to shil-
lbws per week ? Is not the struggle for life which this
most melancholy new fact evidences misery enough, that
we must call in the artizans of France to increase it? Is
not the competition amongst their employers sufficient,
that in addition to those fluctuations, which by one cause
or another every trade is at times depressed, they must be
marked out—l repeat it, marked, singled out from every
other class and trade of the empire, to sustain the fluctua-
tions of French commerce ; for it is a fact which I desire
you to hear in mind, that as soon as their trade was im-
paired by the want of demand in their own market, fol-
lowing the revolution, ours was immediately inundated
with their goods, ordered to be sold at any price." We
will not make any comments upon these observations, but
leave them to speak for themselves.—Morning Herald.