The Sun.
London, England, 1831-12-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TME PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We yesterday received, by the Dutch 'mail; an
important note presented by the two Dutch Ple- 1
nipotentiaries in London, on the 14th inst., to
the Conference of the Five Powers who lately
framed the treaty of separation between Holland
and Belgium. This document, which may be
considered as a formal protest against the arrange-
ment in question, and a demand for the recom-
mencement of negotiations on a new footing,
appears to us to come rather too late. The Five
Powers have already become parties to a conven-
tion with the King of Belgium, embodying the
treaty to which the King of Holland now ob-
jects. That treaty, after having been discussed
with great heat in the Belgic legislature,—after
having been adopted by the Belgians with much
reluctance, and only as a concession to general
tranquillity,—after having been accepted and ra-
tified by the Great Powers,—has now become
part of the public law of Europe. On that con.
vention Leopold is now a recognized Sovereign,
—on that convention, he sends his ambassadors
to Paris, London, Vienna, Berlin, and St.
Petersburgh, and receives envoys from these
courts,—on that convention a new flag is ac-
knowledged, and a new kingdom is seceived
into the community of European States,—from
that convention the very throne of the Belgic
King derives all its stability ; for his subjects
would either shake him from it, or shake it from
under him, if he should consent to make any
farther concession, or to propose any unfavour-
able condition in its stipulations. Before all
these measures were executed—before all these
engagements were made—before all these obliga-
tions were established—before this settlement
was universally recognized—there might have
been a door left open for changes and modifica-
tions in the treaty ; but now that door would
appear shut for ever, so far as the Conference is
concerned, by the implication of the interests,
understandings, and pledges of third parties.
With this observation we might dismiss this
diplomatic note, ahly drawn as it is, as probably
the Conference will do ; but looking at its con-
tents, its matter appears to us as unreasonable
as its presentation is ill-timed. It again recurs
to the hacknied claim of being beard according
to a decision of the Congress of Aix-la-Cha-
pelle ; as if, indeed, his Dutch Majesty had not
been heard by two of the most respectable and
ablest diplomatists whose services lie can com-
mand. The article to which they allude, and on
which they lay an unnecessary stress, was in-
tended to prevent the adoption of any decision,
by the Amphyctionic Council, which the Con-
gress at Aix-la-Chapelle established against any
of the minor Powers, without inviting that minor
Power into court, hearing its plea, and making
it a party to the proceedings going forward. It
was never meant to imply that the Great Powers
should have no secret sittings, or that they
should not be allowed to retire to consider their
verdict, though the party was to be heard in the
first instance, and was to be called in to listen
to the judgment in the last. Is there any body
who considers the immense quantity of paper
wasted in making known the claims both of
Holland and Belgium, and the immense number
of oral as well as written communications
which furnished topics for so many meetings in
Downing-street, and articles for so many pub-
lished protocols, who will have the boldness to
say that Holland has not been attentively heard
by the Plenipotentiaries during the late nego-
tiations ? It was generally understood before,
that his Dutch Majesty objected to only two or
three parts of the treaty of separation, and that
provided he could maintain the exclusive use of
his canals, and get a little more money to pay off
the joint debt, he would be satisfied ; but this
note places things exactly in :the same position
in which they were when the Duke of Welling-
ton's Ministry was dissolved, and would de-
molish every arrangement that has since been
concluded. The division of the debt,—the
limitation of the territory,—the navigation of
the rivers and canals,—the relation of the King
to the Germanic body by means of Luxemburg,
—every thing, in short, is thrown open to dis-
cussion. " A formal treaty, the Plenipotentia-
ries complain, has been concluded between their
Excellencies and the Belgic Plenipotentiary pre-
judicial to the rights of the King, those of Hol-
land, and of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg,
and injurious to those of the Germanic Con
federation, agreeably to which, none of its mem-
bers (an be dispossessed of his territory without
his consent." It is rather singular that the
Germanic Confederation should not have per-
ceived the injury done it by the treaty in ques-
tion, and should have, by its two most powerful
members, given it a full assent. The great, and
probably the only important, objection to the
twenty-four articles lies against the provision
which admits, by right, Belgic navigation
through the Dutch canals, but even here it
ought to be recollected that a river often ends
in a canal, or becomes a canal in some part of'
its course, and that if Belgium were excluded
from the use of such canals, her trade could not
exist. To this part of the subject, and to some of
the other matters contained in this clever paper,
we may again recur. Why do not Belgium and
Holland try to settle their present differences by
negotiation, as they both complain of the Con-
ference ?—Times.

The long-promised communication of the I
French Ministry to the Legislative Chambers
on the affairs of Lyons, was made on Saturday,
and is inserted in all the Journals of Sunday.
It was delivered by M. Casimir Perier, the
Prime Minister, and bears every mark of being
exclusively his own. Though it is long, we
have thought it necessary to insert it nearly
entire, and beg to eall attention to it as a very
able and Statesman-like document. The Mini-
ster distinctly admits, that among; the imme-
diate causes of the explosion at Lyons was the
adoption of a tariff of prices between the rnanti,-
facturers and the workmen, in which the Go,
vernment bad not conctirred, but which the
local authorities appeared to sanction. It was
quite evident that any transaction respecting the
rate of wages, in which the Government took' a
side, could either not be enforced or must lead
to mischief. The Prefect might command the
rnaster-manufacturers to pay a certain fixed price
to their workmen, for every yard of silk which
they took out of their looms ; but he could not
command them to afford more work at the same
rate. In short, he might enforce an agreement
already made about work already executed,
though at a loss to the manufacturers ; but he
could not compel them to go on in supplying work
to be executed at a loss. Both sides may be free
in making their contracts, or the Government
must declare both under authoritative regula-
tions, and settle the rewards of industry and the
relations of society at its pleasure. Its duties,
where wisely exercised, are limited to the pro-
tection of both parties alike—to the removal of
obstructions which oppose their common free-

dom—to the opening of the new markets which
may promote the consumption of the commodi-
ties which they. Wave conjointly 'contributed to
produce. If any thing is granted by its inter-
ference, to enable, on the one hand, the manu-
facturer to employ his capital, or, on the other,
the workman to obtain a higher reward for his
labour, it must be the result of a contribution
from the whole State, and not supplied at the
expence of one individual class for the benefit of
another. The silk-manufacturer of Lyons was
no more bound to pay a franc for work which
was only worth to him two-thirds of a franc, than
lie was bound to ruin himself by paying unau-
thorised taxes to support the cotton-spinners of
Rouen. .Hjs proximity to the suffering objects
whom he formerly employed might more forcibly
call forth his charity or sympathy, but could not
impose on him any legal obligation to employ
their labour at a loss. All are bound to main-
tain the poor who cannot work, or to assist
the labourer who cannot subsist upon the too
scanty fruits of his industry ; but what is the
obligation of all, according to their means, ought
not to be imposed as a ruinous burden on any
particular class, trade, or profession. The French
Government had previously • acted on this prin-
ciple by procuring a vote of the Chambers for
funds to assist national or local enterprise, and
to yield employment to a population without
work, at the national expense or risk. It has
now given a public sanction to the same neces-
sary maxim, by annulling the authoritative tariff
of Lyons. In giving an account of the mea-
sures taken by Marshal Soult and the Duke of
Orleans, in their Lyonese mission, M. Casimir
Perier ascribes to the prudent delay which they
observed the peaceful termination of the embassy.
Instead of pushing forward to enter the insur-
gent city by precipitation and with force, trust-
ing in the fidelity and numbers of their army,
they remained for several days active, though
not hostile, in the neighbourhood, to allow the
passions of the multitude to cool, and to pre-
pare, by the concentration of an irresistible mili-
tary body, the means of a N ictory without blood-
shed,—of a triumph without resistance. No-
}thing could be better calculated to secure the
objects of the Government than such a con-
!ciliatory procrastination—such an overwhelming
'display of force. If an attack had been made
upon the workmen with inadequate forces, they
:might have gained a second success, and by
success have acquired political leaders ; but the
'increasing difficulties of delay, and the antici-
:pated resentment of a whole nation, they could
!not withstand. They therefore laid down their
,power, without attempting to stipulate for terms
of capitulation,—unreserved submission was
exacted and agreed to,—the reign of the laws
was restored without any new breaches of order,
:and the insurgent workmen received the civil
land military authorities as a deliverance from
ithemselves. Thus no compromise was made
!with rebellion, and the facility with which the
!National Guard was dissolved and disarmed,
ihas probably rather strengthened than weakened
the power of the general Government. If this
!civil militia in Lyons was wanting in zeal or
!patriotism, the deficiency was amply, compen-
Isated by the despatch and fidelity with which
!the moveable bodies of this same force hastened
!at the call of the authorities from the neigh-
bouring departments to join the troops of the
!line, and to envelop the rebellious city for the
Ipurpose of re-establishing order. We must refer
to the report of the Minister for the measures
taken to alleviate that distress which the abo-
lition of the tariff would occasion, but which its
continued enforcement must have aggravated.
The introduction of these measures leads
him to a general defence of the Government
and the revolution of 1830, out of which
it sprung, from the charge of having caused
.that
interruption to industry,—that loss of
:commercial confidence,—that dilapidation of
!private fortunes,—that increase of the public
burdens,—that depression of wages, and thoie
!other national calamities which factious writers
:have ascribed to them. He traces the origin of
:these evils either to a more distant source or to
lan unavoidable necessity, and shews that the
!Administration and the Legislature, instead of
!aggravating their pressure, had done all in their
!power to alleviate or remove it. Hence, for
!material improvements, he refers to the laws,
leither passed or in progress, for encouraging lo-
cal enterprise.—for making roads or constructing
!public works,—for introducing the warehouse
Is'
and
improving the Custom-house laws,
and other measures relative to trade and in-
dustry. And hence, for the satisfaction of the
`moral wants of the nation, he enumerated the
;law of elections, the law for municipal admi-
nistration, the law for establishing the National
!Guards, and other similar enactments. The
taxes he showed had only been increased in con-
'
templation of a war with which France was threa-
tened ; and the prudence and gootl fortune with
`which that war had been avoided,—due mainly
to his own administration,—presented the best
guarantee that every practicable means would be
employed to cultivate and improve those bless-
ngs of internal order, liberty, and confidence,
!which peace alone can secure. The Minister's
communication, which will be read with atten-
tion in this country as well as in France, was to
give rise to a discussion on Monday.—Tinzes.
Our Journal to-day contains at considerable
length an account of a process or law-cause of
ihe moat singular nature that was ever laid be-
pre the public. It is an action in nullity of a
iwill,—that is, an action to set aside the will and
testament of the last member of the illustrious
House of Bourbon-Conde, made in favour of a
young Prince of the House of Orleans, the
youngest son of the Duke of that name, now
!Louis-Philip, King of the French. This is the
object of the action in a civil sense ; but in a
;moral one, it is neither more nor less than to
!accuse the present King of the French of con-
piving with the mistress of the late unhappy old
!Puke of Bourbon, to induce him to make a will
against his own wishes and intentions in favour
of this youthful branch of the stem of Orleans.
This will is sworn to have beep made under re-
peated acts of menace and violence on the
part of the woman, but was no sooner exe-
cute,d, than the most cutting and painful
reflections followed, and harrowed up the
bosom of the testator. He even meditated
and planned an escape from the clptches of his
she-gaoler-, when somehow or other be died. The
mistress obtained immense legacies and be-
quests. The house of Orleans will enjoy the
principal estates, unless the effect of this most
important law-suit be to establish the nullity of
the will, and so to strip the chief of that house
not only of its new and vast acquisitions, but of
all title to the respect of mankind. What may
be called the eNculpatory part of the process is
all that has appeared yet. The depositions on
r.
the side of the legatees have ri a been heard, nor
indeed has the defence of the will beep opened ;
but among the documents produced is enough to

show that there was an understandiDg and a cor-1
respondence between the Duke of Bourbon's
mistress and the -Duke of Orleans, unless the
documents can be proved to be forged. Our
readers are aware, that the Duke of Bourbon
was the father of the murdered Duke of Enghien.
He died on the 11th of August, 1830, in the
75th year of his age. "He disappeared," says
111. Hennequin, the advocate, " in the midst of
a horrible catastrophe, the darkness surrounding
which is now dissipating every day."—Times.

We have directed the attention of our readers,
from time to time, to the sufferings and wrongs
of Poland. The subject is appalling—not merely
as it is a history of wrong triumphant, and right,
and valour, and virtue depressed, but as it is also
a record and testimony, to the disgrace of civi-
lized Europe, of all those powerful and enlight-
ened nations which, pretending to regulate the
destinies of the world at other periods, looked
on at that great murder, called the battle of
Warsaw, without . lifting a hand to strike one
virtuous blow in the cause of freedom and huma-
nity. We would not insult the heroes—whom
we neglected in the hour of peril—with offers
of condolence now that their doom is fulfilled.
If we could they would not accept it. No ; they
have spurned the compassion and denounced
the selfishness of Europe—of Europe, which,
after countenancing the crime of their overthrow,
lis not in a state of moral elevation high enough
to offer them its sympathy. Still it is impossible
but that we should feel and ex els an interest 1,
in the fortunes of that in a people, and
jo
should notice the wrongs i ictvl on them,'
though, in doing so, we re ster events which
cast a stain upon the age., the last accounts
from Warsaw are dreadflt The pretence of
clemency is still kept up b ose who call them-
selves the conquerors of ; but what do
their acts proclaim ?—Ban ent, confiscation,
death ! It is true we hear little of the details,
for the Journals are all silenced on the subject ;
or if they write, must write at the word of com-
mand. To speak—nay, to whisper—nay more,
to be suspected of a whisper to the disadvantage
of the barbarians, is a crime of the greatest mag- 1
nitude, for which there is a bullet law, without
even the summary process of a drum-head Court-
martial. And yet this, the common expedient
of tyranny to prolong its own reign, and evade,
as it were, the execration which its conduct
merits, is not capable of suppressing the whole
truth. In spite of this system enough has
transpired to show what sort of magnanimity
that is which injustice vouchsafes to misfortune.
We have read over and over, usque ad nauseam,
promises of magnanimity and moderation on the
part of the Russian Emperor; but late accounts
inform us how far this magnanimity has been
realised by putting us in possession of one re-
markable fact. It is stated that even the instru-
ments of husbandry are refused to the Poles,
lest they should turn them into weapons of of-
fence against their oppressors. Famine is appre-
hended as the consequence ; but still the instru-
ments are refused. And is this the magnanimity,
and are these the fruits of conquest, that those who
lay claim to both should be afraid to trust the
hands they have subdued, not with arms, but
with any thing capable of being employed by
the ingenuity of man as weapons of protection or
revenge ? It may be, as the German Newspapers
have repeatedly asserted, that these are not the
spontaneous acts of the Autocrat—that he may
be controuled and overruled by the state of opi-
nion amongst his own subjects. But what a pic-
ture does this afford of despotism ? With so much
power to do evil, has it so little to do good ?
And is this, indeed, the real condition of despots,
after all we have been told about their authority,
that even when they have justice and clemency
on their side, and a wish to conform their con-
duct to those principles, the fear of the bow-
string, or some horrible vision, interposes to
check and alter the course which might other-
wise have reconciled them to themselves. Surely
it may be hoped that, as reason advances, this
dreadful eminence will become less an object of
desire, as it will certainly become daily an object
of more difficult achievement. If the last ac-
counts from Warsaw be correct, the conduct of
the Russians, and the feelings to which it will
give rise in every well-constituted mind, will
contribute, with the example of the heroic
Poles, to promote the cause of freedom by mak-
ing despotism, if possible, more hateful than it
was before.—Morning Herald.

We refer our readers to another column for
an account of some curious proceedings con-
nected with the putting down a Political Union,
on the model of that of Birmingham. In this
country the Magistrates, and not the Legisla-
ture, make the law. What in Birmingham is
lawful, is unlawful in Fairford. Our columns
of yesterday contained a curious specimen of
the airs which the Great Unpaid choose to give
themselves. 'We allude to the correspondence
between Lord Althorp and Mr. Hutton. His
Lordship, who, of all public men, perhaps, is
the most anxious to avoid language at which ex-
ception may be taken, and whose good temper
is prove:bial, happened, in opposing the motion
for an inquiry in the case of Deacle, to take a
distinction between that case and the Manches-
ter one of 1819, and because his Lordship did
not appear to approve of the Manchester pro-
ceedings, this was quite egjtai to induce Mr.
Hulton to withdraw his AlZlNenatice from the
Government. The accouilt dif Mr. Hulton's
act was conveyed to Lord,. Althorp by a Mr.
Philips, in a tone which, we suppose, indicated
his persuasion that the MirAstrcould not sur-
vive the displeasure of Mr. 1-14.11t0n, of Hutton.
His Lordship did what few men, in.his situation
would have done—conceiving that Mr. H. was
labouring under some misapprehension as to what
he said, he endeavoured to satisfy him that he
had said nothing at which Mr. Hutton could
reasonably take offence. So far from appeasing
this choice specimen of the great unpaid, his
Lordship's well-intended communication only
served to feed his arrogance. He declared that
he felt himself " called upon, as Chairman of
the Committee of Magistrates, upon whom the
responsibility in 1819 devolved, publicly to de-
clare, that I would not submit to be thus taunted,
especially at a crisis when, if I acted acted ac-
cording to my deliberate construction of the law
of England, I should repeat the same line of
conduct which I pursued in 1819. If I neg-
lected thus to act, I should probably have to
witness the conflagration of the great manufac-
turing establishments I was bound, by my oath,
to guard ; if I conscientiously performed my
duty, I should expose myself to a prosecution by
bis Majesty's Attorney-General," What a con-
trast between the unassuming gentlemanly tone
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the
swaggering of this district-dictator T, In the
case of the Political Union of Fairford, the pro.
ceedings were laid before Lord Melbourne, with
' a request to know whether the Union violated
the law ; but one of his Majesty's Justices of
;he Peace having giwn an opinion, his Lordship

prudently declined giving another. Who knows.
but the whole magistracy of Gloucestershire, with
the Lord-Lieutenant at their head, would have
struck, if a whisper had been uttered against the
construction of the law of one of the rural aristo-
cracy! If MinistAponceive they, are above the_Ma-
gistracy, they are'* .under a delusion. They are
on their good behaviour with the Tory Lieute-
nants and 'Squires, who are lying-in-watt..for ex-
pressions on which to ground a ,441enge.
" Meaning me, Sir !" would be in &millionth of
every indignant 'Squire, if a word susceptible of
a doubt that the country is not at present in-
debted for its existence to the Great Unpaid,
were to be expressed by any Ministers. No, no,
Ministers are not above the Magistrates. Beau-
marchais, it is said, engraved on the collar of a
large dog—" Beaumarchais belongs to me."
The Tory 'Squires conceive, no doubt, they do
Ministers great honour, by extending to them
their protection. They are like the dog that
owned Beaumarchais. Our sentiments with re-
spect to the Unpaid have long been known, and
we believe there are now few reflecting persons
who do not share our belief, that the degradation
of the peasantry of England is their work. A
people sublipet to discretion and not to law, are
slaves ;-ted the .peasantry are at the discretion of
t ustices of Peace. A machine better calculated
or crushing a peasantry, and extinguishing in them
all feelings of self- respect,neyer existed in any coun-
try. The power of the Barons in the feudal tjap es
was less mischievous ; because the Kipg.Wheil
the Barons ; and the 'squirearch*bring tlilPower
of their whole order to bear,aliinst individuals. It
is only since the American war that the unpaid
tyranny has exhibited itself,in'all its mischievous-
ness. It seems to have been about that time
thought by the Tories that the people could
only be kept under by protecting the unpaid in
all sorts of discretionary freaks. Before that
time the Courts used freettenary to hit the Jus-
tices very hard. The rule with the Courts now
is to protect them through thick and thin ; and
their tyranny has produced in the south of Eng-
land (for in the north of England Justices are
not in general plentiful) the effects which ty-
ranny always produces. The substitution of
discretionary powers for law is tyranny. We
hardly ever receive a paper which does not con-
tain abundant proofs of the lawless state of Eng-
land under the Justices ; for when every Magi-
strate makes his own law, it is the same thing as
if there were none. In the Bolton Chronicle of
Saturday last, there is an article on the subject of
an Auxiliary Police, in which the writer alludes
also to the Magistracy. The following passage
from it points out forcibly, by apt instances, the
impossibility of expecting anything like an admi-
nistration of law from the present men :

" We now pass," says the writer, " to that part of our
plan applying to the appointment of the Magistracy being
confirmed by the sanction of the people; and as our pre-
vious remarks will apply to this part of the subject also,
we will confine ourselves to the benefit that would result
from the administration of justice being under the guid-
ance of a head or stipendiary Magistrate, he being assisted
by other gentlemen in the commission of the peace. The
great benefit, and the only one we shall enlarge upon, will
be that those anomalies in the decisions (often on the
same bench) that exist under the present system would be
guarded against. We need only mention one to illustrate
this point ;—a conviction under the Game Laws, which
appears in our Sessions report of last Monday. The
case was as follows :—Five men were seen unlaw-
fully attempting to take game in the day time.—
They all escaped. In a few days two of them were
taken into custody, brought before the Magistrates, and
the case proved against them. The Magistrates, Major
Watkins and Mr. Allen, on reference to the statute, put the
construction upon it, that they were bound to convict the
prisoners in one penal sum and costs, and in default of
payment to send them to the House of Correction ; and
neither of the prisoners could by law be discharged from
the consequences of their offence until the whole penalty
and the whole of the costs were paid, or justice satisfied
'by the other alternative. Two more of the poachers were
subsequently taken into custody and brought to the same
Sessions room to have the charge against them heard, but
before different Magistrates, though the two who had
heard the former case were in attendance. The same evi-
dence was given as in the former case, but these Magis.
traces, Mr. Ridgway and Mr. Kearsley, on reference to
the statute, convicted each prisoner in the penal sum of
40s. and costs. Probably, when the fifth is taken, if he
is examined before a different Magistrate, a different and
fresh construction may be put upon this extremely ♦er-
satile clause •f an Act of Parliament which has bad all the
wisdom of nearly all the Squirearchy exhausted upon it."
We could say much more on this subject ;
but we shall leave it for the present.—Morning
Chronicle.

The principle of concession to brutal violence
is deliberately announced and elaborately de-
fended by all the public writers, without excep-
tion, who profess themselves the friends of the
present Administration, as the only safe and
wise and universal maxim upon which Govern-
ment can act. Is the question the Legislature is
called upon to decide a question as to the main-
tenance of a Constitution under which the na-
tion has outstripped every competitor in the
race of glory, prosperity, and power ; or its sub-
version, for the purpose of building upon its
ruins some new-fangled and untried form of Go-
vernment of which no man can foresee the effects?
There is really no question at all, say these appel-
lants to brute force ; the change must be made
forthwith, or the land will be covered with
blood. The same reasoning is applied, and
from such persons no other indeed could be ex-
pected; to another question of not inferior
importance, that, namely, of the mainte-
nance or desertion of the Protestant Church
in Ireland. " What !" say these partisans
of our liberal Government, " pretend to vindi-
cate the rights and protect the property of the
Protestant Church ! Surely no such prepos-
terous design can possibly be entertained. Were
not twelve policemen and a process-server mur-
dered last week merely because the Roman
Catholics of Ireland do not like to pay tithes ?
Talk of legal right indeed ! What is the'value
of legal right unless the people will aid the law
or not oppose it ?" Such is, without colour or
misrepresentation, the reasoning of the Press
ythich.diguides the Statesmen who at the present
moment . Apinister the affairs of the British
„ It is.l plain invitation to every portion
of the community which happens at any time to
be dissatisfied with any part of the law to resist
with violence and bloodshed that part of the law•
It is a distinct announcement that such are
the means by which the change they de-
sire, be it what it may, will most cer-
tainly be accomplished. The question which
occurs to the leaders and patrons of Ministers
to ask, upon the occasion of a massacre of
the agents of the law, is, not how the law
may be most vigorously enforced, and its san-
guinary violators brought most promptly to the
punishment they so well deserve, but simply
whether any tithe, or any equivalent for the actual
tithe, can be levied much longer upon Irish Ca-
tholics, to support a Protestant Church ? This
question having been answered, as no doubt it
is intended that it should be answered, practically
in favour of the object of the murderers, and
against the law and the Church, the next ques-
tion to arise in Ireland may easily be anticipated.
Is it possible that any taxes, or any equivalent
for the actual taxes, can be levied much longer

upon Irish Catholics to support a Protestant
Government ?" And no doubt, after two or
three dozen of excisemen and custom-house
cers shall have been murdered by the friends of
liberality and Reform, this question, like the
former, will have to be answered practically in
favour of the object of the murderers, and against
the law and the Exchequer. But is it not plain
that the real question now at issue, however it
may be disguised by the friends of a Ministry
too feeble and timid to avert it, is simpler
and shorter than either of these, although it
comprehends them both ? It is, whether there
is or is not any Government in existence in Ire-
land ? Mr. Stanley may find employment for
Committees of the two Houses of Parliament
in the examination of witnesses from now to
Midsummer, but, cui Bono, if Government
cannot or will not enforce the laws ? Is it in-
tended to call before the Parliamentary Com-
mittees the elite of the two thousand murderers,
on account of whose exploit our Ministerial
contemporaries insist that the property of the
Irish Church must of necessity be surrendered,
in order to ascertain what kind of arrangement
will be agreeable to them and their instigators ?
And if this were done, who can be sure.4,hat be-
fore the stipulated enactment could come into
operation the lay ruffians, or thesacerdotal Po-
pish traitors who train and impel them, might not
have changed:oo%l74i ? All inquiry, all le-
gislation upon this subject, is mere childish folly
until it be shewn that law can be executed and en-
forced. These may help to disguise for a' time the
melancholy and disgraceful fact that the Execu-
tive Government of Great Britain has per-
mitted the authority over Ireland to slip out of
their feeble hands ; but it will require other in-
quiries' and a far different kind of legislation, to
enablelibm' to regain it. How instructive a
selection might now be made from the speeches
and writings promulgated by the liberal party
during the discussion of the Catholic question 1
How the wisdom and honesty of this party
would shine were their confident predictions and
solemn promises of that period contrasted with
their base concessions or arrogant pretensions of
the present day ! Where are the halcyon days
which they foretold and promised ? Where the
loyalty and satisfaction which were to overflow
in every Catholic heart ? Where the resolute
determination of the liberal conceding Protes-
tants that they would unite with their brethren
of the reformed faith in stedfast resistance to
every future attempt of Popish aggression ? In
three short years gone to the limbs of vanities
—gone where the present declarations of the
Reformers, that they mean the Bill to be final,
will in much less than the same space of time
inevitably have followed them.—Morn. Post.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

W 0 R SHIP- STREE T.

On Monday evening three prisoners, named Ann
Williams, James Peake, and John. Satin, were brought
before the sitting magistrate, Mr. BROUGHTON, upon
the following extraordinary charges of robbery :
Inspector M‘Namus, of the Finsbury division,
stated that, in consequence of being informed that a
robbery had taken place on the 4th instant, at the
house of Messrs. Vede and Verdure, No. 6, King-
street, Cheapside, from which blond lace and other
property was carried off to a large amount, he had
been • making every inquiry, so as to discover if the
perpetrators were in his district. From information
he had received, on Saturday last, that eleven per-
sons were secreted in a house in Baldwin-place,
Baldwin-street, City-road, with fire-arms in their
possession, lie proceeded thither with a body of
men, and, having gained an entry into the house,
he found only the three prisoners, whom he took
into custody. The prisoner Peale, against whom
he had another charge to prefer, for robbing a Mr.
Careless, a jeweller, in whose employ he was on the
18th of November, was secreted in a coal-hole,
covered over with a bed.

Mr. Careless, the person ahovenamed, stated
that the prisoner Peake had formerly been in his
service, and that on the day mentioned lie walked
off with a valuable gold. watch, a gold seal, a musical
snuff-box, a time-piece, and a lady's gold neck-
chain, since which time he had not seen him, until
the Inspector informed him he had a suspicious
young man answering his description in custody.
Inspector M‘Namus added that, on searching the
female prisoner, Ann Williams, at the station-house,
lie found the following letter, which the prisoner
Peake snatched out of his hand and attempted co
swallow, but witness prevented him:—
" Wolverhampton, Dec. b.

41 DEAR ANN ♦ND JAM: - -This CODA with my beet
respects to you both, as I t -7ill find you boatli in
good health, as it -•es it eery indifferent, as if

James recollects wit befurt be came to
London, toot was t- _tatter - He should not
be at hall surprised me not aefore the thime, as
I told Nina the timk was to :istnias, as, if I came
before, it would be a data site worse, since Savin has come
to London. Dear Hann, I hope you won't think any
thing at me not riting before, as your letter was dated No-
vember 16. Mrs. Williams received the letter on Saturday
the 19th. She missed the letter, and never found it
until Saturday night, the 4th of December, and then she
gave it to me. From day to day I have been making the
strictest enquiry about the affair you sent about things.
A little silver crucifix is not placed, and no gammon. It
is a fixture on the altar of the communion that for any-
body thinking, to crack in that place, might just as well
think of breaking into Newgate, as it consists of sky
lights, and there is but one door to the chapel, and when any
body goes through that door they have got to pass througk
two other doors which is very strongly barred, as they al-
ways fasten the doors inside. Its the Bishop's house joins one
end of the chapel ; there is a roade into the Bishop's house
out of the chapel. There is two sleeping roams windows
comes into the communion, and that is all the windows
there is in the chappel besides those at the top. Its a
thing impossible to think about getting into that place
without being found out. Dear Ann, I met your mother
in the market-place last Wednesday. She asked me about
you. I told her as how I had seed you. She said she
but not heard from you for twelve months. She bid me
good morning, and I bid her the same, and that was all she
said about you. Dear Hannah don't chaff me about
having a wife Jane in Wolverhampton, nor a pal in Lon-
don. I know nothing about her, and nothing I want to
In. Dear Hannah, I seed Jack Foster, and he told me he
had seen you ; and that he bad seen Jacky Burke, who
told itn a pretty tale about a thing or another done in
Birmingham, but I will tell you all about it when I see
you. Dear Hannah, I. often think about what passed be-
tween you and we. I shall never forget that. There was
a -- pull in Birmingham before he started for London.
Dear Ana, I have nothing more to say, than I remain your
well wisher, JAMES PEAKE."
,‘ To Mrs. Williatns.—" Call again."
Mr.BROUGHToN,after hearing the evidence against
the prisoners, asked Peake what he had to say in his
defence ? Peake—Why I did the robbery at Mr.
Careless's, but nothing else. I know nothing about
the city robbery.
Mr. BROUGHTON—I did not ask you to confess.
You confess one robbery to get rid of the other.
A police constable here stated that he heard the
prisoner Savin, on being taken into custody, say to
Peake, " mind you don't split." " Split be --,"
replied the other. On the prisoner Savin he found
a gold seal belonging to the prosecutor, Mr. Careless.

The prisoners— were all remanded for further exa-
mination.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

A young man, in the full dre*s of a Naval Cap-
tain, on Monday appeared at this Office, to prefer a
complaint against a respectably-dressed young man
named liaslop.
The complainant, who gave his name as Sir Jo-
nathan Crompton, on being sworn, stated that as lie
was walking along Regent-street at ten o'clock the
previous evening, the defendant and several otlitr
"fellara" surrounded him and insulted him amazingly;