The Sun.
London, England, 1822-08-19 00:00:00

[HORNING CHRONICLE.]

The public have seen that Bridle has been
convicted of one of the two charges preferred
against him—that of having inflicted a species of
torture on a prisoner in solitary confinement, by
means of the application of a blister on his head,
and the constraint of a straight waistcoat.—
Strange as it may appear, the Government Scribe
discovers extraordinary cause of gratulation
in this termination of the judicial inquiry,

and affirms that Mr. Bridle " has indeed risen
triumphantly from the load of obloquy and
reproach which was heaped upon him for
months !" That Bridle has been found guilty,
The Courier• can scarcely deny, but he comforts
himself with the character for humanity given in
his favour by the Magistrates, whose servant he
was ; a character which is singularly impugned
by the fact that the Jury have been compelled
to find in their verdict. We have little doubt
that the Gentlemen who vouched so confidently
for Bridle's general conduct, did so to the best
of their knowledge and belief, for it is not very
likely that he would have shewn himself to his
employers in his true character, which seems to
be that of a capricious intemperate man,not metho-
dically cruel, but at one moment all favour and in-
dulgence, at another all rigour and tyranny,
—the very last temper to be suffered in the per-
son of a gaoler, and which doubtless he had the
prudence not to betray to his employers. Cha-
racter should, and will, always have a certain
influence i❑ a Court of Justice, but it can never
outweigh substantial facts. Every hypocrite has
a character, excellent in proportion to his craft,
and the mitred miscreant, indeed, were he to-
morrow put on his trial, might subpoena wit-
nesses of high station to speak to the sanctity,
piety, and. moral regularity of his life. But
the public, in possession of one notorious fact,
would scarcely be imposed upon by the ob-
servation of those who have evidently been the
dupes of hypocrisy, and were themselves im-
posed on. We only use this case as an illustra-
tion of a general principle, and should almost
apologize to Mr. Bridle for having alluded to
this monster, with the remotest reference to his
case.

[BRITISH PRESS.] •
The Annual Meeting of the Petersfield Agri-
cultural. Society was held at Petersfield on
Tuesday, the 13th day of August. The exhibi-
tion of stock took place in a field belonging to
John Shackleford, Esq., adjoining the town.—
The stock produced was considered to be of
the first description, and gave great satisfac-
tion to the company present, which chiefly
consisted of farmers and breeders of stock ; and

it was much regretted that several Gentlemen
who formerly patronised the show by their per-
sonal attendance were absent upon the occasion,
and upon the whole the meeting was thinly at-
tended, and did not go off with that spirit which
had been observed heretofore. The utmost har-
mony prevailed at the dinner, which was served
by Deane, at the Dolphin Inn, in his usual excel-
lent manner, and a conversation connected with
agricultural subjects kept up during the day. It
seemed to be the prepailing opinion that the ca-
pital of the yeomanry was rapidly declining ; that
they were totally unable to sustain the present
weight of taxes, tithes, rates, and other outgoings;
and that an overwhelming crisis was approaching.
Several practical farmers gave their opinion upon
the subject of rents and outgoing, and it was
stated that if the present tenantry of the country
and their families were reduced or annihilated,

the land would go into hands unequal in skill
and capital, either to employ or to administer the
necessary relief to the poor, thereby creating not
only much local distress and inconvenience, but
considerably augmenting the existing difficulties
of the country in general. Mr. Ellman, of Glynde,
the celebrated breeder of Southdown stock, was
present, and addressed the company in a clear
and perspicuous speech upon the distressed state
of the agricultural interest, which he attri-
buted chiefly to the great weight of taxa-
tion under which the country laboured, and
which, in his opinion, entirely -prevented the te-
❑antry from getting remunerating prices for their
produce. The company separated under the
pleasing hope, that although they could not any
longer continue their exertions for the improve-
ment of stock, they might, by their intended
meetings, conduce not only to the benefit of the
tenantry of the country, but also of the landed
proprietors, whose interests are inseparably con-
nected with those of their tenants.

NEW SOUTII WALES.—By the last letters
from Neer South Wales, down to the 7th March, it appears,
such is the rapidly increasing population of this territory, that,
agreeably to the official census in October, there were muster-
ed in Sydney alone 13,400 souls, being 1,'!90 more than, in
the year 1310, were in the various settlements of the whole ter-
ritory, including Van Diemen's Land. The total population
of Sydney, Paramatta, Liverpool, Windsor, Bathurst, New-
castle, and the surrounding districts, was mustered at 34,500;
and, including Van Diemen's Land, the inhabitants of the
territory at large, at 42,000 souls. The increase of respect-
able
settlers during the preceding two years exceeds the
whole number that had arrived in the preceding thirty-two
years of the establishment of the British Government in this part
of the World. So late as 1818 there were only ten Magistrates,
and by the last papers we see that Sir T. Brisbane had directed
a Dedimus Potestatem to be issued to twenty-six gentlemen,
exclusive of the Magistrates of Van Diemen's Land. Lieut.
it. Johnstone, R. N.,who has been sent to examine the coast
to the southward of ervis's Bay, to ascertain if a river fell into
the sea near that place, found at the head of Bateman's Bay,
the entrance of a fine, clear, capacious river, with nine feet
water over the bar, deepening after to six fathoms, and con-
tinuing, from four to seven fathoms for 25 miles. For the first
fifteen miles the land is stated to be good forest land, after
which it becomes lower and fitter for cultivation. Mr.
Throsby had also proceeded over land from Sydney to
Jervis's Bay, (having set out on the 23d of Novem-
ber, and returned on the 6th of December), and is decid-
edly of opinion that a good road may be cut from Sydney
to that harbour, and reports the land to be extremely rich and
promising. The Sidney Gazette of March Bth says, "In con-
firmation of the many avowals that New South Wales has lat-
terly rapidly increased in commercial prosperity, we state the
pleasing fact that ten vessels have left the ports of 4ustralasia,
with cargoes for Europe within the space of 12 hours."

EXECUTION.—On Wednesday last were exe-
cuted at Bury, pursuant to their sentence at the '
last Assizes, James Phillips and John I'Vade, for
a burglary at Hadleigh, in Suffolk.
PUGlLlSM.—ltresterday morning a most dis-
graceful and profligate exhibition took place at
the top of the Haymarket, by two athletic men,
apparently in a state of intoxication, who for a
considerable period were engaged in a pugilistic
contest, being surrounded at the time by great
numbers of spectators. They fought in the most
ferocious manner, and were encouraged by the.
by-standers to proceed in their savage conflict.
Iln the affray one of the men got his leg broke in
a fall, and the other received a tremendous blow
on the jaw, which fractured the bone. They
were both conveyed in a deplorable state to the
Hospital. We cannot help asking how the
Police were engaged at the time

BIRTHS.
On the 13th instant, Mrs. Ramsay, 15, Dublin-street, Edin-
burgh, of a son.
At Bury, near Gosport, on the 7th inst., the Lady of George
Starr, Esq., R.N., of twin boys.

.• MARRIED.
On Wednesday last, Robert Haynes, ESq., of Great Glenn,
to Miss Deel, sister of the late Mrs. Kirk, of Wellman Lodge,
Leicestershire.l
On Tuesday, the 6th instant, at Mansfield, the Rev. John
Muck, M.A., of Enfield, to Eliza, daughter of the late F. Ellis,
Esq., of the former place.
Lately, at Preston Capes, Northamptonshire, William Lee,
Esq., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, to Elizabeth,
daughter of the late Rev. Charles Knightley, of Preston.
On the 6th instant, at Little Hampton, by the Rev. R. C.
Willis, Mr. Robert Witherby, of St. John's College, Cam-
bridge, to Emma, second daughter of William Hale, Esq. of
Petworth, Sussex.