The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-06 00:00:00

" Limerick, Five o'clock Wednesday evening.

" I have seen the Mayor just now with two troops
of Lancers. All the shops are shut—no business is
doing—not a potatoe is in the market ; the farmers are
afraid to come near the town, and, from the insuffi-
ciency of troops, nothing; I think, is, under Heaven,
preventing the town from lacing plundered, but the
agency of sobriety. At this hour there is a body of
5,000 persons parading George-street and Patrick-
street."

HEBREW WOMEN.—Whertverthe women of the
Hebrews are to be found (and where are they not ?) they still
exhibit the type of that intellectual beauty which subued
Egypt, and reformed the penal statutes of Persia, and their fine
heads are cited by science as models of the highest moral con-
formation. Bright thoughts flash from their bright eyes, quick
perceptions animate their noble lineaments, and if the force of
circumstances is no longer directed to elicit the high qualities
of an Esther or a Judah, the original of the picture drawn by
the prophet king of the virtuous woman " whose price is above
rubies," may be found among the Jewish women of modern as
of ancient t►mes, for " they eat not the bread of idleness," and
" the hearts of their husbands trust them."—Lady Morgan's
Woman and her Master.

TIIE FINISH.—The die is cast. Our deputies,
after having gone to their posts, have returned to their homes.
Men and money have both been mustered. The cry of the
nation has been loud and long. The voice of calamity has
been clamorous—articulated in the thunder of 1,500,000 British
voices. Industry has toiled, skill has been exercised, and capital
has been expended in vain. The warning of an increased
expenditure rendered necessary to meet the rebellion of
national discontent, and of a greatly diminished revenue,
caused by the decreasing power of consumption in the
people, has been disregarded. The wailings of the
famishing, the mutterings of the mutinous artisan,
the tears of the orphan, and the cries of wife and mother, have
all been without effect. The Representatives of the people will
not hear the people, and the ruin of the nation seems hastening
on. To the state of China several nights' attention is de-
voted. Whether Ministers shall be in or out, farms the anxious
debate of four long days ; and whether the people shall be fed
or starved, whether England shall live or die, is a question
which the Commons of Britain will not permit to occupy their
time even for the whole Of oae short night. The countryman
complained that he couldn't see tendon for the houses ; and
the country gentlemen declare. that ti,e business of Parliament
is obstructed by attending to the affairs of the people.—Anti-
Corn-law Circular.
WATERLOO-BRIDGE.—The half-yearly Gene-
ral Assembly of the Company of Proprietors of this Beate-wile
held, on Thursday, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, Stra.rel->-
It was very numerously attended. The Rev. John Rush having
been called to the chair, the Secretary read the report of the
Committee, from which it appeared that the amount of tolls
collected during the six months ended last February was
6,5741. ss. 6d. being an increase of 801. over that of the cor-
responding period of the previous year, and that notwithstand-
ing very unfavourable weather had prevailed. The reduction
of' the tolls at the horse-gate had not been attended with
the success anticipated : for while in the eleven months
envied June 1839, the receipts from this source had amounted
to 2,984/. 12s. 7d., they had diminished in the ensuing eleven
months, to' 2,9181 It was to be observed, however, that
although the reduction had at first entailed considerable
loss, the extreme point of depression soon passed, and was
followed by an increase of traffic. A dividend of 2s. 6d. in
the pound had been declared in February last, and there re-
mained a-balance of 1361. The Committee had taken a fresh
lease of the Company's house, their former one having ex-
pired; and they had caused soundings of the bed of the river to
be made from time to time, by which it was ascertained that
scarcely any variation had taken place for six months. The
struethre itself remained in a satisfactory state. The receipts
for the half-year were stated to be 7,145/. 14s. 7d., including
6,5741. by tolls, 38:1/. by rent of arched vaults, and 351. by di-
vidend on stock. The total expenditure was 7,0091. 10s. The
report was unanimously adopted. On the motion of aproprie-
tor, it was resolved that the assistant clerk, in addition to his
present duties, should be appointed surveyor to the Company,
and that his salary be increased from 5501. to 200/. per annum.
Sir John Rennie was then elected. Director in the room of the
late Mr. H, Vbeape, and Mr. W. Woodvar a member of the
COmmittee, in the place of Mx. J. P. Robinson. A vote of
thanks having been giv.en, to, the Rev. Chairman, the meeting
separated.
M,ELANCH:OL.Y ACCIDENT IN THE ISLE OF
-Tt is, with deep regret, in which we shall be joined by
litany of• our respectable townsmen, that we have to record
the death of James Crone, Esq., late of Glasgow. This
mournful event took place at Douglas, in the Isle of Man, on
Saturday, the 23d ult., under eircumstanssee, singularly
affecting. Mr. M'Crone and part of his family hatJ, been at-
tending Divine Service in the Scottish Church at Douglas on
the forenoon of Sunday, the 17th. After service, he, with his
eldest daughter and a Miss Quaile, went into an open carriage
to return to his residence at Rock Villa, about a mile distant
from the church, and situated on an eminence which overlooks
the town of Douglas. At the bottom of this hill, the road to
Rock Villa takes a sharp angular turn. In descending the hill,
the horse started off with such fury, that the driver was quite
unable to restrain him. Most unfortunately, when turn-
ing the corner, the ladies got quite alarmed, and, hav-
ing unhappily made a movement toward that side
of the carriage which had a previous inclination, it
was overact, and the whole party were precipitated with great
violence against Mr, Duff's garden wall. When taken up it
was found that Mr. M'Crone had his collar bone and three of
his ribs broken—that Miss. M'Crone, whose head came into con-
tact with the wall, had suffered severe concession of the brain
—that Miss Quaile, her companion, had also her collar bone
broken—and that the driver, to whom, we believe, no blame is
imputable, was dreadfully bruised. The sufferers were imme-
diately tak' n into the mansion of Mr. Duff, which he and his
family most benevolently resigned for their accommodation, and
where everything was done that the kindest attention and the
highest medical skill could devise for their comfort. Mr.
M-Crone promised to do well up till Friday, when he took a
fatal turn, and sunk under his accumulated distresses. Miss
M'Crone, an interesting young lady of twenty-one years of age,
I has little prospect of ultimate recovery. Miss Quaile, also a
fine young woman of about the same age, has been declared out
of danger, and the coachman is in the same state.— Glasgow
Courier.

- -
AN AMATEUR HANGMAN.—There is now
no permanent executioner in Glasgow. The
person who ope-
rated in the recent execution of Templeton, is a tall, and has
been a strong man ; he is at least sixty years of age, and wore a
long great coat and broad brimmed hat. Although he is an
amateur, and not a fixed hangman, he had been lodged in Glas-
gow gaol for ten days, and after he had received the fee for his
revolting work, he bolted, but in what direction no one knows,
of course. He is or has been a tradesman, and, is not a resi-
'denter in the ciV,ltext'always makes it his busineSs to be prc-
sent three times a year, viz. about the time of the Circuits, in
the hope that something in his line may be needed. He will
scent an aggravated criminal case from the heart of Yorkshire
to the town of Inverness, and so soon as he hears that any un-
fortunate man has been " east," he either goes personally, or
writes tc, the Magistrates of the place, offering his services at
a reasonable rate; he states that he has " let down''-(3'19 is
his ownplirase) a considerable !Amber I and

PUNISHMENT FOR LIBEL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sir,—l beg to correct what I think is a mistake, in
your Leader of yesterday, respecting Lovett and Collins
being the first persons that were convicted of libel—that
were compelled to herd with convicted felons. The accom-
panying hand-bill will show you what I suffered in mind
in 1833. I will tell you a little of what I suffered in
body when I and my wife appeared in the Court at
Taunton, to take our trials. I bad on a clean shirt
and a shave. Immediately after my sentence of six
months imprisonment I was heavily ironed by the leg,
and at night securely locked by the leg to an iron ring
in the floor of the prison, with not more than two
feet long of strong heavy chain, with ten or twelve
convicted felons. My shoes and coat were taken from
me, and I had nothing but a little straw to lie down
on. I had not thc least covering except the straw. I
had the irons on when my wife came to the conversa-
tion-room the day after my sentence, to see me with
her infant at her breast, and I was not allowed to have
the child brought near enough to me to kiss it, although
it held out its little hand, and cried to come to me.
Just after my wife left the prison, I was put into
the prison van, and chained by the leg, with twenty
convicted felons, and taken to Ilchester gaol. As soon
as I arrived there I was taken to a shed in the yard,
and stripped, and brought, in the presence of eight or
ten convicted felons, and compelled to go into a large
trough of water—the same water that all sorts had
washed in previously. When I came out my own
shirt, and stockings, and hat, were taken from
ine, and the prison shirt, and stockings, and cap were
'put on me. I was then taken to a ward to herd with
convicted felons. (I could name them.)
I had to live on the prison diet, skilly, and had to
undress on a stone floor, in the passage, and stand to
be searched, with nothing on but my shirt, shoes, and
cap, previous to being locked up in the cell, at sun-set.
I then had to turn down the straw pallet, and spread
the blanket and rug on the narrow iron bedstead,
without sides. All my clothes were taken from me at
night, ;except as above named. I was compelled to
empty the utensil in the morning, and carry it up
with me to the cell at night. As for visitors, I only saw
one during the whole six months I was at Ilchester
gaol. A tradesman of Bath called at the prison to see
me, he was told it was too late for that day. He has
told me that the parish church clock had not gone three
o'clock. He only asked to see me for five minutes, but
was r efused. I have been told that this person's father
was refused on the same plea.—Your's respectfully,
J. COGSWELL, Newsvender.
Chandos-buildings, Bath, May 28, 1840,

The following is an extract of the hand-bill referred to
in the letter :

POLITICAL PERSECUTION, &c.

In January 1833, an industrious, sober man, of the
name of James Cogswell, by trade a shoemaker, opened
a shop in Union-passage, Bath, for the sale of the
London political publications. In the early part of
March, the Corporation conspired to put down Cogs-
well, and Pat Quin purchased of the wife of James Cogs-
well, while the husband was present sitting at his work,
a copy of a paper printed in London, entitled, " The
consequences of having Kings, and Priests, and Lords,"
in which it was clearly shown that the consequences are
all bad. The next. day Cogswell and his wife were
dragged to the Town Hall, and after being kept there
all day, she with an infant in her arms, and two other
infants left at home in an otherwise empty house and
open shop, they were both ordered to be locked up until
they had given twenty-tour hours' notice of bail. Mrs.
Cogswell begged Hall, the Mayor's officer, a great
boaster of his religion, to let her go home with him for
a napkin for her infant, and to see some care taken of
her two other infants and the house ; this was also asked
of the Town's Clerk, but it was refused. Bail
was found the next day, and as the County Assize was
at hand, both Cag mel! and his wife were bound over to
appear at Taunton, on the 28th of March. The dis-
tance from Bath to Taunton is about fifty miles. Mr.
Justice Park was their Judge. He obtained a verdict
of guilty against both from a Somersetshire Jury. He
sentenced the husband to six months' imprisonment,
and fined the wife half a crown. The paper in question
had never been prosecuted before.
Mrs. Cogswell. on applying to the parish to have her-
sell and three children supported, was packed off with
three shillings per week, and repeatedly told she should
have no more, even when it was stated that she, the
mother, was laid down on a bed of sickness. Under
this shameful persecution, the poor woman became sick
at the heart, with her husband in gaol, and her children
with the bad prospect of wanting sustenance, and she
died just a month after her return from Taunton.