The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-05 00:00:00

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SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—We wish we could altogether acquit her
Majesty's Ministers of having themselves provoked
the suspicions with which the Post-offices changes are
assailed. There has lately been a concurrence of
blunders, of a nature to annoy the religious feelings
of the country. The worst specimen of coinage that
ever came from the Mint has been rendered still more
disagreeable in the eyes of loyal subjects by the
absence of two or three letters, to express our recog-
altion
of Him by whom Kings do reign. Then there
came the unfortunate laches of appointing no general
day of humiliation and prayer at the approach of the
pestilence, now happily abated. Such inadvertencies,
as we cannot but think them, make a deep impression
on sensitive minds. There are not a few persons who
are, perhaps, even more anxious to ascertain whether
we live under a religious Government than to
know their own spiritual state. We are, there n
fore, by no means surprised to find a- propositio
which encroaches considerably on the observance
and enjoyment of a Sunday stigmatized as an im-
pious innovation, " a desecration of the Sabbath," a
•'xn comeneement of Sunday husineas,"opening of,
the Post-office on Sunday, " a point of the wedge,'
and a great deal snore not
ggstrictly d
manner, a and literally true,
very
but expressing, in an exaerate
respectable feeling. We respect the agitation against
the change just as we d 3 the strenuous determination
of the Dutchmen at the Cap? not to admit convicts,
though it was carried to the verge of rebellion, and
was not in all respects reasonable. Should Lord
Clanricarde find himself obliged to bend to the storm,
it will be a lesson to him and his colleagues to stand
rather on their P's and Q's for the future, and to
treat the religious sentiment of the country as a real
and substantive power. In point of fact, however,
the question is one, not of principle, but of details.
The Post-office authorities and the gentlemen who
spoke yesterday at the Hall of Commerce lay equal
claim to the argument drawn from religious con-
siderations ; the former wish to protect the pro-
vincial Sabbath, the latter the metropolitan. The
most zealous stickler for the Sabbath, therefore,
must admit that there are two sides to the question
A communication which we publish - frordtotir South-
ampton correspondent, and which re, ors,
to the foreign mails, will show, that in our ,former
remarks on this subject we have not at all 'o"yetstafed
the inconveniences of the present practice, asfede as
foreign letters are concerned. When we are told
that foreign letters which have been brought from
South America, the West Indies, or the Spanish
Peninsula with meat
end costly expedition, and
which have passed Cowes on Saturday morning, can-
not be delivered at Liverpool or Manchester till
Monday eight, and in most other parts of the country
till Tuesday —‘e hen we are told that the homeward
and outward hotted steamers have lain side by side
in Southampton harbour for forty-eight hours, with-
out the possibility of a merchant out of London an-
swering his letters by the outward mail, one is forced
to admit that something ought to be done. Certainly
this must be religion. pushed to the extreme of su-
perstition.
'The varhus remedies suggested show
the greatness of the evil to he removed. To our taste,
we must confe::s, the worst psrt of the evil is its un-
fairness. A rule ought to be equal in its operation,
especially if it is a herd rule. In this instance the
merchents of the metropolis find their llii-mburgh,
their West India, and South Aineiican letters on
their desks as soon as they sit down to: business on
Monday Morning. The ma•chant3 at: Liver-
poet, on the contrary, are lucky if they get
them late on the Monday afternoon. This
throws them a whole day behindhand, and
gives the London merchant a twenty-four hours'
monopoly of information. When such is the case,
the religions part of the question becomes invested
with an unusually delicate character. A very heavy
burden is laid upon Liverpool, hut London does not
touch it with its little finger. When metropolitan
piety obtains so immediate and so pelpable a reward
as a whole day's start in the great race for profit,
promotion, and honour, it ought to be doubly suspici-
ous of its spirit and motives, lest haply it should be
found to have its reward. As the public are now
thoroughly aware, it i 3 only a figure of speech to call
the new arrangement an " opening" of the Post-office,
or a fundamental change of any sort. Sunday work
in the General Post-office is, unfortunately, no in-
novation.' As we are informed, a number of clerks
and messengers varying from 26 to 57 is, and has
long been, employed at the Pest-office on the Sunday,
and chiefly during the hours of Divine service. It
is proposed to add 25 to this number, but they are
not to be employed between ten A.M. and five
P.M., and it is pert of the plan to do what can be
dune to relieve the present staff from employment
during the same hours. Could we he sure that
the proposed object is attainable at so small a cost
as an addition of 25 to more than that number
already employed ; and could we also hope
thet all the middle of the day will be
reserved to its more proper uses, we might acquiesce
in the change. It is evident, however, that these
promises must be taken on trust, and if any people
think that they have reason for suspecting the Post-
s ffice authorities, they will condemn the new ar-
rangement, not for its own sake, but because it pro-
ceeds, as they think, from unprincipled men feeling
their way to the ultimate abolition of all our religious
observances. But, whatever suspicions of this sort
may be entertained, the present question must still
be discussed upon its own merits ; so we will proceed
with the present Sunday arrangements of the Post-
office. The men now employed are, and always have
been, engaged in sorting letters from Ireland and
Scotland, and foreign letters received in London by
the Sunday morning mails, for the London de-
livery ; and in reply to the argument of the " wedge,
it is urged that this practice has never led to such
delivery having been made on the Sunday.
The letters lie sorted and ready for delivery
from Sunday morning to Monday morning, yet
neither is the Post- office anxious to deliver them,
nor the public to receive them. The additional
letters arriving in London on Sunday will consist
of such as are to pass through London,
English letters for London remaining, as at
present, at the country offices. Hence the small
number of sorters said to be required. The number
of such additional letters is about 60,000, instead of
200,000, the estimate lately put about ; and, as it is
part of the new arrangement that no letters shall
Have the privilege of Sunday transmission unless
they are stamped, the 50,000 will be quickly
disposed of. It is evident that the plan as it
now stands entirely supersedes our suggestion of
a distinctive envelope, with a higher rate of postage,
for the trans-London correspondence, seeing that
no other letters will arrive on Sunday. We are
assured that it has never been intended to employ
any but volunteers in the new service; and that, if
it were made imperative, it would rarely come to the
turn of each individual. This, again, is a point
whish we must take on trust, as, if the plan is once
in practice, the public will have very.little check on
the hardehho and violations of conscience that may
be inflicted on the crowd of subalterns; and certainly
there is some reason to apprehend that non-volunteers
will find their scruples interfere with their promo-
tion. As to the connexion of the new arrange-
ment in the General Post-office with the relief
of country offices, we have already observed that
Sunday. transmission cannot fail to diminish the
number• of country letters written on Sunday, and
received on Sunday. As an extension of the plan for
closing the money-order offices on Sunday through-
out the United
_Kingdom, it will give relief on the
Sunday to some two thousand persons in the pro-
vincial ofrecesa' so that, assuming the official estimate,
the prOphrtliinate saving of Sunday labour is, say, as
2,000 to' 25. The present arrangement, which it is
unnecessary to say has undergone no change since its
promulgation, we are further told, stands in all its
details as it did last February. That it has been long
in contemplation is well known to the numerous suf-
ferers by the present system. When Mr. Rowland
Hill was examined before the Lords' Committee on
Postage in 1847, while he decidedly repudiated all
idea of a Sunday delivery he proved that a Sunday-
transmission would involve very little additional la•
bour. By the common admission of nearly all parties,
the only really debatable point is the natural an intrinsic
tendency of the change to end in a London Sunday,
delivery. On this point we are bound to confess our-
selves very ill at ease with the measure. Sir James
Duke touched its vital weakness when be observed,
that it would give Liverpool a priority of information
over London ; and that however he, or some other
people, might submit to that disadvantage, the majo•
rity would not be so patient, and London would de-
mand a Sunday delivery. If foreign letters are to be
despatched over the country by the Sunday morning
mails, and lodged in the post-offices all over the king-
dom that afternoon, it is difficult to see how they will
fail to reach the owners, who will thus be a mail in
advance of the metropolis. Should that be the case,
it is equally difficult to sea where the change will
atop short of a London Sunday delivery—a con-
summation of which we feel the most unqualified
abhorrence.

[ADVERTISEMENT ]—The extensive publication of
The Observer commences at four o'clOck Sunday morn-
ings. Newspaper a;eats can have any number of copies
before five o'clock on Sunday morning in time to supply
passengers 'going by all the ralway trains, as well as by
early steam-vesael3. Price of The Observer, 40 folio
columns, 6d:, Pablishrd by Mr. Clement, junior, 170,
Strand. Mlnlay Edition of Ike Observer is regularly
publiehed. at four o'clock Monday afternoons.
POLITICAL OEFENDEES. —On Wednesd ty night a
meeting wal he'll et the South London Chartist 111,11,
Blaekfriars-roadvto faloi t a memorial to the Queen to
grant a generslamtesty to cell political offenders. Messrs.
M'Grath, Biker; Clark, and other Chartist leaders, were
present. Mr . presided, end the memorial was
adopted.. The memorial, it was thcklcd, should be en-
trusted fox i)ra.ritation to the Home7office, to Mr. Al.
arraaan Hurapheei,,ap.id Tellers wore yead_from Sir J.
Walmsley, Mr. COfiden, and Mr. Aume, approving of
the object of the meeting.

SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock.

BERMONDSEY MURDER.

...—.—,-----
RE-EXAMINATION OF THE
MANNINGS.—(THIS DAY.)
Mr. Lamond, stockbroker (in continuation from our
Afternoon Edition), said—l witnessed the signatures to
the transfer certificate. lam the subscribing witness.
I bought ten shares in the Sambre and Meuse Railway
on the 27th of April last for Mr. Patrick O'Connor.
Tie did not pay me for them until the 24th May, when
he took possession of them as well as the Eastern Coun-
ties shares, for which he also then paid. I have not the
numbers of the Sambre and Meuse shares, but there is
a name upon them by which I can tell them. I bought
them from Mr. George Cooper Russell, of the Stook
Exchange. Looking at the ten shares produced by Mr.
Inspector Yates, I find the name of Russell, a hich
enables me to swear to them. It is usual for us to put
the name upon shares when purchased in a significant
way, so as to identity them afterwards. lam certain
that the ten shares sold to Mr. O'Connor were purchased
from Mr. Russell.. A person of the name of Wenharn,
a clerk of Mr. Russell, brought the shares to our office
and received a cheque for the amount. lie took the
numbers of the shares in my presence.
Donald Wenham, clerk to Mr. Russell, of the Stock
Exchange, examined, said—l remember Mr. Lamond
purchasing ten Sambre and Mouse shares from Mr.
Russell, which were delivered on the 30th of April last
by me. The ten; shares; were numbered from 26,5:2E;
•cs 26,532 inclusive, and the numbers correspond with
11 those produced by Inspector Yates. I made an entry or
[
1 the numbers in a book at the time of the transaction.
Mrs. Bainbridge, the wife of the brcker to whom
Manning sold the goods, was next called to hear her do..
position read over. Af.er this was done she gave tho
following additional evidence :—I remember Manning
going to assist my husband in removing the furniture
t rom 3, Ilinver-pl...ce, on a Tuesday, about nine or ten
o'clock in the morning. When Manning came back I did
not hear him say anything, but on the Monday before
the furniture was removed I asked him if he was going to
sleep at Minver-place that night, and he said
he would not do so for twenty pounds. Oh
the same occasion I asked him if Mrs. Manning wits
coming to tea, and he said " I have sent her into the
country."
The girl Weldor, servant to Mr. Bainbridge, stated
that on the day the, furniture was removed Manning
told, her if any one inquired for him, the was to say
that he had gone a fortnight. lie gave no
reason; that was all he said, and I replied, " Very
..s ell."
This being the conclusion of the evidence,
Mr. Bodkin said (addressing the Magistrate)—This
is all the evidence I am in a condition to lay before you,
and ell I propose troubling you with. As I have already
intimated in the course of the investigation, it any fresh
evidence should transpire between now and the time up-.
pointed for the trial the subztance of it will be communi-
cated to the legal advisers of the prisoners as early as we
know it; but I do think, as I have already, stated here,
that: no publinbenefit will result from a, further remand
of the prisoners; there;fore, : Sir, I beg of ycu, on the
evidynce already given, which appears to me abundant for
:he purpoSe, toccendlit these prisoners to undergo thew-Jul
issue of a trial before a jury on the charge of murder.
, By a late Act of Parliament it is, I fled, absolu:eiy
necessary to read over the whole depositions before the
prisoners can be called upon to say anyling in answer
to the charge. The Act to which I allude is Jervis's
Act, 11 and 12 Vict., c. 42, relating to the duties of
justices of peace out of sessions with respect to indictable
offences. The 18th section states—
" Aed be it enacted, that, after the examination of all
the witnesses on the part of the prosecution, se afore-
eaid, shall have been completed, the justice of the peace,
or one of the judges by or before whom such examination
shall have been so completed, as aforesaid, shall, without
1 requiring the attendance of the witnesses, read, or cause
to be read, to the accused the depositions taken against
him and shall say to him these words, or words to the
like effect—' Having heard the. evidence, do you wish to
say anything in answer to the charge? You are not
obliged to say anything unless you desire to do so, but
e hatever you say will be taken down in writing, and
may be given in evidence at your trial."
I 0;11 upon you, Sir, (continued Mr. Bodkin) in com-
pliance with that Act, to read over the depositions, and
:o address these words to-the prisoners.
Mr. Bimas—l am requested to state, on behalf of my
client, who well remembers the whole of the evidence
that has been given, that he dces not wish to trouble you
to read it over again, and to give rise to the loss of time
that will take place if that is done.
Mr. SECKER—In a matter of this kind I must adhere
strictly to that which is prescribed by the Act of Par-
liament.
Mr. Edwin, the chief. clerk, then read over the whole
of the depositions, which it may be imagined occupied a
very considerable time.
The prisoners in the first instance both sat down In
the dock, the female prisoner having drawn down
her vei‘, which nearly concealed her features. When
the depositions were read through, Mrs. Manning
lifted up her veil. Her . face was very much
flushed, but she laughed and smiled several times whilst
conversing with Mr. Solomons and the female searcher.
Manning, also, had a smile upon his countenance, and
seemed altogether more composed than on any previous

occasion.
After a short discussion between Mr. Bodkin and the
Magistrate,
Mr. SECKER said—Frederick George Manning, having
heard the evider,ce, do you wish to say anything to the
charge?
The prisoner (who rose up with a smile upon his face,
and spoke in a very confident voice) said—l have
nothing to say, Sir.
Mr. SECIER, addressing the female prisoner, who had
already risen, said, Maria Manning, having heard the
evidence, do you wish to say anything to the charge?
The female prisoner replied—l will leave all in the
hands of my attorney.—(She spoke in a low tone, but
without evincing any appearance of agitation. In ut-
tering these few words the ear could not catch any
foreign accent.)
Mr. Binns then repeated his former application for
the restoration, of the moneys found upon the female
prisoner for the purpose of conducting the defence of
both, alleging that no evidence had yet been given to
show that they belonged to another person.
Mr. SECLER said at present the title to the property
was questionable, and must be decided by a jury. On
a former occasion he had taken upon himself to deter-
mine the ownership of such a portion of it as he thought
might enable the solicitors for the prisoners to conduct
'heir preliminary defence, but further he could not
interfere.
The prisoners were then immediately removed, and
the court was soon cleared.
They will be kept at Ilorsemonger-lane gaol anal
six days before the commencement of the next Old
Bailey Sessions.
The following is a copy of the commitment :
" To the Keeper of her Majesty's Gaol of Newington,
or his Deputy.
" Receive into your custody the bodies of Frederick
George Manning and Maria Manning, charged Leon)
ire Isaac Onslow Seeker, Esq., one of the magistrates of
the police-courts of the metropolise, sitting at Southwark
Police-court, within they metropolitan police district,
upon oath of James Burton and others, taken in the
presence and hearing of the sail Frederick George
Manning and Maria Manning; for that they the said
Frederick George Manning and Maria Manning, on the
9ch day of August last, at the parish of St. Mary Mag-
dalen, Bermondsey, within the Central Criminal Court
district, did feloniously, wilfully, and with malice afure•
thought, shoot one Patrick O'Connor with a pistol loaded
with gunpowder and a leaden bullet, and did then and
there murderibim, the said Patrick O'Connor,jagainst the
statute and against the peace, &c., &c. And I, the
said magistrate, under the authority of an Act of Par-
liament passed in the reign of his late Majesty King
IV., intituled An Act for establishing a new
court for the trial of offences committal in the metropo-
tisi and parts adjoining,' do commit the said Frederick
George Manning and Maria Manning to the said gaol,
and do hereby require you, the keeper thereof, safely to
keep until they shall be discharged by the due course of
the law. And for so doing this shall be your sufficient
warrant."
This document is signed in the usual form by Mr.
Seeker.
The following letter from Manning to his solicitor
may give some idea of his acquaintance with ortho-
graphy. The writing, it may be mentioned, is very dis-
tinct, cod appears to be that of a person who has had
much practice In caligraphy. It resembles much the
writing of a lawyer's clerk, being written in a slanting
direction to the left instead of the right:—
" My dear Sir,

"punctuality his the order of the
day, I must beg of you to attend if possable this morn-
ing at ten o'clock you will greatly oblige,
" Yours,

" Truly
"FREDIE. GEO. MANNING,