The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-27 00:00:00

RICHMOND PARK.

Sir Robert Inglis stated, during the debate on the mis-
cell.ineous estimates on Monday night, that 'llklnond
Park some years since was considerol the privat,- pro-
; petty of the Crown, and no one was allowed to go
through it without permission. The right of the public
was disputed, and the foot-path elth-ed against persons
who did not produce a ticket. The park, at last, was
only opened to the public in consequence of an action
tried in the Court of King's Bench.
Mr. Williams, the Member for Coventry, was in
error, when he asserted that the action was brought
to decide the public right to pass through Bushey,
and not Richmond Park. When the Prine,:ss Ame-
lia, aunt of George the Third, was appointed Ranger,
the public right to the foot-way through the p irk
was established by the issue of a suit at law (1758),
tried at Kingston Assizes, in consequence of which
decision, ladder gates were put up at some of the
entrances. The fact is thus recorded :—" The beauty
and convenience of this terrestrial paradise (says the la.e
Gilbert Wakefield), were essentially impaired by having
the foot-way shut up, and no passage allowed without a
ticket. Mr. John Lewis, of Richmond, brother to 1)1..
Lewis, who wrote the Philosophical Commerce of,
Arts,' takes a friend with him to the spot, waits for the
opportunity of'a carriage passing through, and when the
door-keeper was shutting the gates interposed, and
offered to go in. • Where is your ticket?'—' What oc-
casion fur a ticket? Anybody may pass through here:—
No, not without a ticket.'—' Yes they may, and I will.'
You shan't.'—' I will.' rhe person with Mr. Lewis
pushed to get through, and Lewis suffered the door to
be shut against them. He then brought his action and
was triumphant.
" The cause was tried before that upright Judge, Sir
Michael Forster. After the verdict in his favour, Lewis
was asked whether he would have a step ladder to go
over the wall or a door. Ile hesitated some minutes, but
reflecting that strangers might not be aware of the pri-
vilege of admission through a door which could not
stand open, on account of the deer, considering also that
in process of time a bolt might be put to this door, and-
then a lock, and his efforts gradually frustrated ; seri-
sible,too; that a step ladder, would signify its use to
every beholder, he preferred that mode of vane.
In mere spite the steps of the ladder were set at
such a distance apart as rendered it almost useless.
At a subsequent period, when the same Judge happened
to be going the Home Circuit, Lewis complained to the
Court. My Lord,' said he, They have left such a
space between the steps of the ladder that children and
old men are unable to get up it.' I have observed it
myself,' replied the honest Judge, ' and I desire. Mr.
Lewis, that you will see it so contrived that not only
children and old men, but old women too muy be able to
get over.'"

The park is eight miles in circumference, and con-
tains 2,253 acres. George 111., in 1802, gave the new
stone lodge, with sixty ruses of surrounding land, tx
life to Viscount Sidmouth, then Prime Minister.—
R. N.—British Queen.

A dreadful accident happened near Liege last
week. It appears that the railway station is three miles from
the town, and that the usual conveyance is an omnibus twenty
feet high. In consequence of the shameful overloading
of one of these vehicles, there being from twenty-five to thirty
passengers, besides an unu,ual proportion of luggage, the
gigantic vehicle was completely renverse in descending the hill
one mile from its destination. There were tweve persons
wounded, but the most severely itjun d was an English lady,
the Hon. Mrs Ives, who received a wou,ll in the head, and
whose courier is likely to be a cripple for life . A French gen-
tleman had his leg broken. An action has been commenced
against the tiroprietors, and the damages laid at 20,000 francs.
Belgian Journal.