The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-15 00:00:00

CHARTIST PREACHERS.

Mr. Vincent preached a sermon at Bath on Sunday
last, the 12th inst. The text was chosen from John viii.
12, "I am the Light of the world ; he who followeth
after the shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life." Mr. V. proceeded to give a brief outline
of the person and character of Christ: the lowliness of
his temporal origin; the apparent insignificance of his
birth; the honour poverty had conferred upon it by the
Deity introducing his choicest blessing to the world
through the medium of the industrious classes. He spoke
of this lowliness of origin as showing that worldly wealth
and titles are not great in the eyes of God; and that the
humility of Christ was a severe rebuke to the lofty and
wicked ones of the earth. He then glanced at the condi-
tion of the Jewish and the Heathen world at the time
Christ appeared; and at the extraordinary impression
made by his doctrines. He then took the words of the
text " I am the Light," and showed that light was
the best personification of TRUTH. The light of Christ
was spoken of as spiritual, moral, intellectual, social, and
political. The spiritual light spoke of man's immortal-
ity. Mr. Vincent dwelt at length on the importance of
this LIGHT ;—how it levelled the artificial distinctions of
society—how it raised the slave, pauper, and beggar,
when it showed that within their emaciated bodies God
had implanted immortal souls that should be received
into his eternal presence when the turmoil of life should
be past. The king and the pauper would pass through
the same tomb, and their reception in heaven would
not depend upon wealth or poverty, but upon the ful-
filment of God's laws—an imitation of Christ—and
the proper performance of their earthly duties. The
moral light taught men they were brethren ; that God
made of one blood all the nations of the earth ; we
were to love one another ; delight in charity and
mercy ; to give heart worship to our Creator ; and let
our faith be of that lively character as should evince it-
self in works of practical good towards all with whom
we came in contact. Intellectual light was necessary to
make men acquainted with the laws of God and the
laws of their own being; to elevate their characters; to
give increased beauty to the moral light; to diffuse the
blessings of science; to enable men to defend their rights
against the encroachments of others; or to win rights
when withheld. Social light was necessary to teach
men how institutions could be so fashioned as to pro.
mete the good of all. Political light was necessary to
show the iniquity and atheism of our present rulers,
and the injustice of all exclusive systems of govern-
ment. Mr. Vincent, at great length, (supported by
passages from the Scriptures) proved that Christ's
Gospel was this light; that it established the equality
of man ; that it was the foe of darkness and vice ;
that it bore testimony against all wrong ; and
that as soon as all men saw the Light the world would
be religiously, intellectually, morally, socially, and poli-
tically revolutionised. Mr. Vincent concluded a sermon,
of which it is impossible to give anything but a mere
outline, by showing how all classes needed "the Light,"
and by imploring the Deity to enabi.e all to become il-
lumined by the spirit and practice of Christ. The
building was crowded to suffocation. Hundreds outside
were unable to gain admission
evening, at
Mr. Philp delivered his second lecture on the same
crowded. A powerful impression was made upon all
present. The precepts and practice of Christ were con-
trasted with the exactions of the Church, and the gene-
ral 3, Gallaway buildings. The room was
immorality of the higher and other classes. The im-
morality and irreligion of our present system of Govern-
'a
mnrtwerea
expounded. eloquently set focrita;hkeandleetitleereCshrieistitahne dutiessame
clearly e
place next Sunday evening, at half-past six o'clock.

DEATH OF PHILIP COURTNAYi ESQ;/ BAR- •
RISTER-AT-LAW, FROM HAVING TAKEN AN OVER-DOSE
OF MORPHIA.—We regret to record the demise of this
highly respectable gentleman, which took place at the
Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, on the night of Friday last,
under circumstances of a
peculiarly distressing charac-
ter. It appears from the evidence adduced upon the in-
quest that Mr. Courtnay, who had been a barrister-at-
law on this circuit, and lately the representative in Par-
liament for Bridgewater, had contracted the dangerous
habit of taking medicines without consulting a profes-
sional adviser for certain pains and ailments under which
he occasionally laboured, and that laudanum or some
preparation of opium was his favourite dose. Having re-
cently come back from Ireland, where he had been en-
gaged in the transaction of some family business, he was
staying at the Adelphi for a few days, prior to his return
to London, where he resided. Having purchased a phial
of solution of acetate morphia from Mr. Rawle, of
Church-street, and a second phial of solution of muriate
of morphia from Messrs. Butler and Colquhoun, of Castle-
street, the whole, or the greater portion of both of which,
it would seem, he swallowed on the night of Thursday
last, for some pains under which he probably laboured
at the time ; the consequence was that death ensued on
the following evening. The deceased was in his sGth or
57th year. A Coroner's Jury, without a moment's hesi-
tation, returned a verdict to the effect, " That the de-
ceased, intending to take a certain quantity of the medi-
cine, took an over-dose, which caused his death."—Liver-
pool Mail.
The Siecle has the following amusing fling at
Mr. and Mrs. Standish :—" Mr. and Mrs. Standish, the
heirs of the rich Englishman who bequeathed a fine
library and a magnificent gallery of pictures to Louis
Philippe, are invited to all the parties given by the Royal
Family. In the summer they were at Fontainebleau ;
and the Duke of Orleans diEl the honours of reception.
As he was showing them over the Palace he stopped and
said, " This is the gallery where Queen Christina bad
Monaldeschi assassinated." At these words Mr. and
Mrs. Standish, who had only the day before passed the
evening with Christina Queen of Spain, were struck with
horror to think they should have been in such society."
The laving down of wood pavement here by way
of experiment has corrmaiced in the Rue Neuve des
Petits Champs, which is a great thoroughfare, and near
the Bank of France. The Charivani, alluding to the
name given to this ;pavement—which is, I believe, ste-
reoconique—calls it, purposely, stereocomique ; and then
adds that it is likely to become stereotragique, by causing
the death of hundreds, who will be run over before they
can get out of the way of the carriages, which will come
noiselessly upon them. There is this danger %o be ap-
prehended, for it is impossible to get French people out
of the habit of walking in the middle of the streets, even
where there are wide foot pavements. Should the expe-
riment, however, succeed, the adoption of wood pave-
ment in some parts of Paris will be equal to an additional
value of 25 per cent. to house property, for the noise of
the carriage wheels at night, in some of the narrow
streets, is so great that tenants can scarcely bo found for
the houses.—Letter from Paris.
The prize ox which fell into the kitchen of the
hair-dresser's shop at the corner of Vere-street, Clare-
market, on Monday, was obliged to be slaughtered there
this morning, all attempts to get it out proving unavailing.
TRADE OF DUMBARTON AND NEIGHBOUR-
nooD.—This ancient county town is suffering severely
from the present depressed state of the shipping
trade, upwards of 200 carpenters and joiners being out of
employment. But Dumbarton is not alone in this respect.
Greenock and other ports on the Clyde presenting a si-
milar decline in ship-building. The Dumbarton Crown
Glass and Bottle Works, however, forms an ex-
ception, the proprietors preceding steadily in the in-
crease df their manufacture, thereby affording-a portion
of the population of the town a handsome remuneration
for their labour. We have nothing favourable to note
regarding the printing in the Vale of Leven, as many
hands still go idle.—.Edinburglt Chronicle.
In consequence of the continuance of wet
weather the banks of the Arun, in the neighbourhood
of
have overflowed, and the hay-stacks are
now
in three and four feet of water. Persons
A r
standingundel,
are obliged to be conveyed along the roads in waggons
Some of the meadows have been undvy.yvater for the
last three months.

BOROUGH MAGISTRATES.
(Abridged from the Devonport Independent).
A very numerously attended public meeting was held
on Wednesday evening last at the Town Hall, according
to a respectably-signed requisition, for the purpose of
considering the propriety of memorialising her Majes-
ty's Government on the contemplated appointment of
new Borough Magistrates, and praying the Legislature
to take into consideration the whole present system of
magisterial appointments, with the view of substituting
for them Stipendiary Magistrates, to be paid by the
State. It was evident that the greater number of those
present. were averse to the proposal.
Capt. SAUNDERS, R.N., having been called to the chair,
Mr. W. J. LITTLE said he felt great pleasure in ad-
dressing them now, as he should on another occasion a
Jury composed of men who would go into the box
having no bias either for the• plaintiff or defendant--
either for the prosecutor or the prisoner. Any question
connected with the administration of the law, and with
the administration of justice, did indeed demand their
serious consideration as much as a question that affected
the rights of the public in general, the rights of any one
branch of society, or the rights of any particular person.
The meeting was called to consider the propriety of me-
morialising her Majesty's Government, or rather peti-
tioning Parliament to deliberate on the expediency of
appointing throughout the kingdom gentlemen with a
competent knowledge of the law, as Stipendiary Magis-
trates. Before he proceeded further he wished them
thoroughly to understand him, because he understood
that some gentlemen had come to the meeting prejudiced
against the motion before them, because, if Stipendiary
Magistrates were appointed throughout the kingdom,
and if they had one in this town, it would add to the
heavy burdens they were exposed to, in the shape of taxes,
and for that reason they were opposed to it ; but, before he
concluded, he trusted that he should satisfy them that it
would not entail on them any extra expense, while it
would be the means of giving the people what they ought
to ask for and had a right to require, a purer administra-
tion of justice and of the law—(Hear)—throughout the
kingdom. The present system was attended with certain
evils, which he trusted would be removed by the mea-
sure which he proposed to carry out. Magistrates were
appointed now, in counties by the Lords Lieutenant, and
in municipal boroughs like this it might perhaps be said
by the Council, or it might be contended, on the other
hand, by the Government of the time being. It was
against these appointments thitt he then addressed them;
he would contend that these appointments were not made
as appointments of such vast importance ought, to be,
and his reason for saying so was this, that competence to
fill the office was always lost sight of, legal competence
was lost sight of, and the appointments were made pro
and con, according to whether the Government exercised
the power of appointing men of political opinions coinci-
ding with their own. In the appointment of Magistrates
of counties they would find that wherever there was a
Whig Lord Lieutenant, if he created Magistrates he gene-
rally culled them from gentlemen of his own political
party. He need say no niore than this, but simply ask
them the question, was that the basis on which the fabric
of justice ought to be built ? Was the simple fact of a
man being a Whig or a Tory, a qualification for a seat
on the bench, when it ought to be filled by men compe-
tent to discharge the duties of the office ? Magistrates
were petty judges, and ought to have a knowledge of
all questions argued before them. Gentlemen of his
(Mr. L.'s) profession were in the habit of appearing be-
fore the Magistrates, and there were gentlemen of more
eloquence than he possessed, who might make black ap-
pear white.—(Laughter and cheers.) There might be
gentlemen of powers of speech so great as to make black
appear white in the estimation of ignorant people--
(Laughter)—he would say then, were they, the public,
the people, who were in the habit of having their rights
and liberties tried before the Magistrates, were they to
have those rights and liberties endangered by having
them placed before those whose only qualification to fill
the chair of Justice was their being Whigs or Tories?
This had been carried out, though Lord Fortescue, Lord
Mount Edgcumbe, and Sir William Trelawny, all men
respected in private life, and who would not have ap-
pointed any man as a Magistrate who was not respected
in his private character, but he would ask them if this
alone was sufficient to fit men to preside on the Bench?
He would ask them whether the fox-hunting squire or
the clergyman of the parish were qualified for Magis-
trates? Was the sportsman a competent person to de-
cide on questions arising from the game-laws? Or was
the clergyman, whose duty it was to speak on topics
of religion, a fit and proper person to sit in judgment on
vice and immorality ? He thought they would agree
with him that a clergyman who properly discharged his
duties—he regretted that there were many who did not,
but a gentleman who filled the pulpit, and performed the
duties of a church had enough to attend to, in supplying
the spiritual wants of his congregation, and had no
business to interfere in political meetings—(Cheers)—nor
had any right to decide questions on the Bench. It had
been said by Lord Brougham that by combining the
office of Clergyman with that of Magistrate, two good
offices were spoiled.—(Hear, hear.) If he devoted all
his attention to one, he must neglect and probably spoil
the other. He would now ask them to take into con-
sideration the appointments under the Municipal Act,
and in doing so he would refer first to the appointments
in this borough. When the Municipal Act came into
operation he believed it was intimated that the Govern-
ment would appoint those gentlemen as Magistrates
whose recommendations were sent up by the Town
Council ; for the majority of the Magistrates he believed
that such a recommendation was sent up, and certain
gentlemen were appointed. But after those appoint-
ments, by an act of the late Government, two gentle-
men were, to use the language of the Conservative,
" pitchforked" into the Magistracy. If there was one
act of the late Government which Whigs ought to
frown at more than another, he thought it was this
one, that of "pitchforking" on the Bench (he quoted
that term from the Conservative) two gentlemen not in
the original recommendation from the Town Council.
Ought they to see the temple of justice thus desecrated
to political purposes ?—(Loud cheers)—he was sure
there was not an honest man before him who would not
agree with him that this act was a blot on the conduct
of the late Government.—(Cheers.) It was a bad pre-
cedent that had been introduced by the late Government.
—(Hear, hear.) It had, however, been copied by the
present Government at Bristol, Worcester, and many
other boroughs; and because in those places the;
Whigs had gained a political ascendancy, six, or eight,
or ten Tory Magistrates were now to be nominated.
These were all evils connected with the present system,
and those evils ought to be remedied.—(Hear, hear, and
cheers,) The gentleman who filled the chair, (and it
was with great pleasure he had heard him named, and he
should bow with respect to him in private life), might
possibly be one of those who was intended to be placed
on the Bench, and if so, he begged to say to him that it
was not his wish, nor did he come there to make this a
party question, nor to make a personal attack against
him or the gentleman (he alluded to Mr. Rees) who sat
on his left.—(Hear, and cheers.) The object to which
he would direct their attention was this : the Magistrates
were petty judges, and ho could prove from his own ex-
perience of five years—and when he gave them his
word that it was truth he told them he trusted that
every man present would believe him—his own ex-
perience would go to prove the fact that the present
men were incompetent to fill the offices they held,
or at least that they had not that legal know-
ledge which lie trusted they would agree with
him in saying was necessary ; Magistrates ought not
to be appointed because they were partisans of the powers
that be ; they ought only to be appointed from their
knowledge of the law, and their power of being able to
give their decisions unbiased and unprejudiced,aind with-
out
any local attachments on the questions that were so
often argued before them.—(Cheers.) He had just told
them that he was prepared to show them from the result
of his own experience that the gentlemen who filled the
Bench were incompetent to discharge the duties of the
Magisterial office. A few months ago he himself had a
case of a poor woman, the wife of an artisan in this dock-
yard, which was brought before the Magistrates of this
borough ; she was charged with stealing a cotton gown.
He had attended as the advocate in that case, he was not
often in the habit of doing so for prisoners, but he did so
in this case. He conscientiously believed she was inno-
cent, and he therefore entered with more than ordi-
nary spirit into the merits of the case. She
solemnly assured him that she had not stolen the pro-
perty, and he was strongly induced to take the matter
up, and he did so. The whole evidence against the
poor woman was this: the prosecutor lived in Cornm all-
street, and the prisoner lived in King-street; the gown
was seen by a child of the prosecutor in the hand of the
prisoner on the afternoon of the arrival of Mr. Dawson
in the borough, when, as they were aware, the streets of
the town were crowded to a great extent. She was seen
in King-street, at five o'clock in the afternoon, with that
gown in her hand, or part of it ; the child who was pass-
ing identified the property and went home and told her
father. Her father obtained a warrant or a summons,
and he (Mr. Little) attended for this poor woman, the
defendant, before the bench of Magistrates. It was ra-
ther singular that Mr. Abbott and Mr. Somerville were
the Magistrates on that occasion, and upon the simple
evidence of the two prosecutor's children, one of whom
swore to her own work in the gown, and the other to
her sister's work, this poor woman, although he contended
that there was not a tittle of evidence on which a Jury
would convict the prisoner, and although he was prepared
to account for the possession of the property, was com-
mitted, and sent to take her trial at Exeter.—(A voice
"Where was Mr. Bone ?") Mr. Bone was not there, but
his clerk, Mr. Gedye was, and was not that another evil
of the existing system ?—(Hear.) When he addressed
the Bench, he told them he was prepared to prove by the
evidence of a person who lived in the same house as the
prisoner that the frock had been worn long before the
prosecutor missed it, and be was prepared to prove that
it had been bought two years before the period of the
prosecutions at Plymouth, yet, would they believe it, the
Benth told him that they would not hear any evidence
on that point, and that if such evidence was produced on
the trial, the Jury would not find the woman guilty ; the
woman was actually sent to take her trial at the County
Sessions. When the Bench themselves allowed that if
such evidence was produced the woman would not be
found guilty, was the county to be saddled with the
expense of prosecuting, and was the poor woman to be
placed is the situation of a trembling prisoner, with her
personal liberty put in jeopardy, because the Bench
would not hear him ?—(Cheers.) He put a case to
them thus :—Supposing a person was charged with
an abominable offence, and he was prepared with
evidence to prove an alibi,, were they to tell him
that they would not hear that evidence ?—(Con-
tinned cheers.) He put another case to them : Sup-
posing a Banking House in. the town were robbed, and
the notes were traced to a merchant's establishment,
would they refuse to hear the evidence of the clerks of
that establishment, to prove :that they were left there in
a parcel ? Yet Mr. Somerville told him that if such a
case were brought against hi mself (Mr. Little) he (Mr.
Somerville) would commit him n.—(Cheers and laughter.)
But before he turn(md to
should state the anott er part ..of the subject, he
.slid go to Exeter, a brief

I was handed to Counsel, and she underwent her trial, and
the result was that the Jury stopped the Earl of Devon
, in his summing up, said they were 'perfectly satisfied,
and returned a verdict of not guilty.—(Cheers.) Yet by
and bye his friends, perhaps, would tell him that there
were no evils in the present system, and that justice
was better administered by it than if a Stipendary Ma-
gistrate were placed here. He was sure that there was
not a
.person then present but must agree that they
were incompetent ; it might be said, perhaps, that
they were ill-advised, but it was the people, the
public, the suitors who often had to appear at this
tribunal, who were the parties that suffered from it.
He felt that the subject was of vast importance ; some of
them were tired of this discussion, and he was sorry that
he had trespassed on their time so long, though from
knowing the formidable opposition he had to encounter,
he had felt it right to enter more into detail than he
otherwise should have done. He only asked them for
their calm reflection, and to give their honest votes on
the subject.
Mr. LITTLE then read the following petition --
TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF GREAT BRITAIN
AND IRELAND IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
The humble Petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of
the Borough of Devonport, in the County of Devon.
Showeth—That your petitioners have witnessed with
feelings of great concern the course that has been pursued
by the late and present Government in the appointment
of Justices of the Peace in various Municipal Towns, and
most earnestly but respectfully solicit the attention of the
Legislature to the propriety of appointing District Sti-
pendiary Magistrates throughout England of competent
legal knowledge, to be paid by the State, as are the
Judges of the superior Courts of Law.
That your petitioners are induced to direct the serious
attention of both Houses of Parliament to this important
question, from the conviction that great and growing
evils exist under the present system, in the appointment
of Justices of the Peace as well in Counties, as in the
municipal Towns of England. That it cannot be denied
that in Counties (the appointment being almost abso-
lutely vested in the Lords Lieutenant), such appoint-
ments are made too frequently with regard, only to the
political opinions of the party, whilst in various towns
in which so many as ten gentlemen were appointed
under the Municipal Act, as many more, or nearly so,
have recently been appointed (for what reason your pe-
titioners are unable to learn), by the Right Hon. Baronet
who now fills the important office of Secretary of State
for the Home Department in her Majesty's Government.
That in the short limits of a petition, your petitioners
cannot enter fully into the various arguments which
might be urged against such appointments, or the evils
which exist under the present system, but that your pe-
titioners with confidence submit that the Legislature in
the solemn discharge of its duties, cannot hold it to be
right on the one hand, that the administration of justice
should be entrusted to men who are not competent by
education to understand the questions of law and juris-
prudence that are frequently discussed at Courts of Quar-
ter and Petty Sessions, nor on the other that the appoint-
ment of Justices of the Peace throughout the kingdom
should be made subservient to political purposes.
Your petitioners, therefore, most respectfully solicit an
inquiry into the subject, and trust that the result will
lead to the appointment throughout England, of gentle-
men of competent or legal knowledge as district Stipen-
diary Magistrates, to be paid by the State, and appointed
by such of the Judges of the Superior Coarts as it may
be deemed advisable to invest with so important a power.
Such (continued Mr.L.) is the petition to the Houses of
Parliament that I shall move to you, and it is upon the
whole merits of the question that I ask you to give your
votes, if votes are to be called for. That evils do exist
is undoubted, and those evils ought to be reformed. But
you may ask me, how are they to be reformed ? My
answer to that question is brief, for I will answer it by
putting another—who is it that suffers by the present
system ? It is yourselves, it is the people who have
cause to complain. The power of King, Lords, and
Commons, says the eloquent Junius, is not an arbitrary
power; they are the trustees of the State, not the owners;
the fee simple of the State is vested in the people. It is
you who have cause to complain ; it is for you to adopt
the legitimate means for reforming the evils I speak of ;
and if you ask me how that is to be done, I will tell you
it is by respectfully petitioning the Houses of Parliament
to take into consideration those existing evils, in such a
form as I trust is embodied in the petition. It is by such
means that our ancestors removed those evils, the very
existence of which, if they had not been depicted on the
page of history, they, at the present would have doubted;
it is by such a course we arrived at the second Magna
Charter of our liberties, the Reform Bill ; it is by such a
course that the foul blot of negro slavery was wiped out,
it is by such a course we made the negro free.—(Cheers.)
Mr. T. HAwKER seconded the resolution for adopting
the petition. In so doing he would ask the Chairman if,
in the honourable profession to which he belonged, there
was ever an appointment made without the person pass-
ing proper examinations, and being a regular bred sea-
man ? Why, then should it not be so in the profession
of the law ? Was there any professional man but must
go through a regular course of training to fit him for that
profession ?
Mr. RYDER immediately moved an amendment to the
effect, that the motion before the meeting was unneces-
sary and utterly uncalled for, as it would entail a heavy
expense on the boroughs to which a Stipendiary Magis-
trate might be appointed. If a paid Magistrate were to
be appointed he would be appointed by precisely the
same person as the present ones were appointed ;
therefore there was no seeurity for the appointment not
being made a political one ; in fact it was more likely to
be so, it being an office with emoluments attached to
it. In Ireland these appointments had been made politi-
cal. The petition was foreign to the call of the meeting,
which was convened to memorialise her Majesty's Go-
vernment, not a word had been said about a memorial,
but a petition to both Houses of Parliament was pro-
posed. The proper time to have called the pre-
sent meeting was when the " foul blot" was
committed by the late Government and not
now.—(Hear, hear.) He had said that it would not be
attended with any increase of expense, but he had not
proved it by a single word. He read the 96th clause
of the Municipal Act to prove that the Government could
not legally appoint a Stipendiary Magistrate to any
borough, as the application for such an officer must
come from the Town Council, who alone had the power
of fixing the amount of his salary ; even in case of the
death of a Magistrate, so jealous had the law been, that
no appointment could be made till a second application
had been forwarded. There were no means of paying
him but directly from the borough-rate, as there were
no possible means of interfering with the fees of the
Magistrates' Clerk, except by a special arrangement with
him, or by his taking the office on condition of giving up
his fees and receiving a fixed salary instead. Even the
amount of the fees, if it could be obtained, would not be
sufficient for the purpose, as he must be a very
.poor
barrister indeed if he did not make by his profession a
larger sum than this or any other borough would be
likely to give. He pointed out the difference between a
permanent Magistrate and a Recorder-who.only sat four
times a year. and dissented from the opinion filet lawyers
make the best Judges. What Mr. Little had himself
said was sufficient to prove it. He should be ashamed to
belong to a profession that could purposely make
" black appear white." He defended the appointment
of the two gentlemen who were styled the " pitch-
forked" Magistrates, as they were only thrown out of the
recommendation by party trick and party spite, and he
thought the Government had exercised a salutary power
in appointing them. He considered that Magistrates
sat as jurymen, to judge right from wrong ; and he be-
lieved any honest man, with the power of discrimination,
could tell right from wrong. The mover had alluded to a
case of his own; but he thought it was not for him to come
there and impugn the decision of the Bench : if the
Magistrates had acted illegally, it was his duty to have
prosecuted them. Cases were as often lost from the want
of tact on the part of the advocate as from incompetence
in the Magistrates, and the fact of the Grand Jury
having found a true bill in the case, was sufficient to
exonerate the Magistrates from the charge of incompe-
tence. In that case a lawyer attended as clerk, and a
i lawyer on the Bench was as likely to err, as the clerk.
Had the paid Magistrates at Bow-street and other
offices, never given wrong decisions which had been ap-
pealed against ? The motion was unnecessary and un-
called for, the charge would entail a heavy expense on
the borough, and he hoped therefore that the meeting
would in no degree entertain it.
Mr. J. BEER seconded the amendment in a speech of
immense length. He remarked on the time chosen to
bring the petition furs' ard, and on no one having been
found to second it but two lawyers. He corrected the
mover as to the appointment of County Magistrates,
which laid ultimately with the Lord Chancellor, and
contended that it pia neither becoming nor . proper
that a Stipendiarygistrate should be appointed in
such a borough as this. He challenged a comparison
between the manner in which the public business was
conducted when the County Magistrates acted in the
borough, and the way in which it was conducted at the
present time. He condemned the principliemopfopssoilbilteicatol
appointments as totally bad ; but as it 'was
appoint Magistrates without political feelings, all he
asked was, that political preponderance should be done
away; ought they all to be of one opinion ?—(Hear.)
He objected to the expense, observing that in Plymouth
where the borough had large resources, they were al-
ready complaining of the expense of the Recorder's
salary of 2001. a year. If a Recorder, who only sat on
an average twelve times in a year received 2001. a
year, what would be required for a barrister who should
be required to give up all his time, and to renounce all
his fees ?—(A Voice--" 8001. a year !") Some one
fixed it at 8001. a year, but he had rated it considerably
below the mark ; they would never get a barrister of
any standing for any such sum. The barrister, too,
would be as much liable to political bias as the 3
gistrates. He acquitted the Magistrates hereu .ouf
everi
Irea :-
having acted politically on the Bench,
land the office of Stipendiary
j‘lmtr
prostituted to political purposes. atbe thald been
lle would agree to
their appointing a good WhigLaaunrd,
paying the salaries of both.—(Laughter.) litae rg. rdllle'oarll'uadie' alluded
been refused to the order of the Town
amount, but if lie could
to the return of the fees of the
111,10atniacraoticsi'ciCl1;etrilliehyawvienrge
therefore in the dark as
he would certainly
get the amendment.
prove that they werecatsrimdtuoucfh
uausela,srgoou/Luoural,o6lolot/hua year.score
of expense.
party spirit had
1 a °Teat knowledge of the law necessary
Mr. A statedXFOßldDieilsoetch in g thatt dohewiltvhastzueitperseasteinsfitemdottihoant.
I He did not thin ,
be honest. It should be proved
right administration of justice ; it might be done
by. any John Russell it was
i for the
in the recommendationinine(l totoLord
that
were Whigs.
the
-Councillors were
I specified who
man determined
FOSTER stated that it was done.
Mr. AxFORD thought in that case
unworthy of the office they filled ; Lord John Russell had
only acted on the recommendation of the Council.
Mr. BEES
replied
againston
thethem
motion.otin
Mr.
stating
that he had
very little to answer, for he would ask them whether they
hofil heard one honest reason why they should not give

EVENING SUI

him their votes on this occasion ? The gexitlmen had
drawn their attention as much as possible to the argu-
ment of expense, in order to entrap as many votes as
they could ; they had used not the arquvzenLur ad 4_4'o
hominem, but the argument addressed exclusively tc. their ----
pockets, as if they valued not their liberties or their
rights so much as they did their purses. Tfaekapptopte.
the objection as to the appointment of the Stipenditry IQ
Magistrate, and the question of expense, was contained
in the petition, which he was sorry the mover of the
amendment had not seen, nor did the seconder seem to
have read it. Mr. L. then read the extracts from the
petition, praying that the Magistrates should be paid by
the State, and appointed by such of the Judges of the
superior Courts as the Legislature might think fit to
name. He should not have been silly enough to ask
them for their votes for a plan that would add to their
expenditure, but it was an important consideration that
the Magistrates were petty judges of points of law, and
ought not to be compelled to look always at the desk be-
neath them for assistance.—(Cheers.) The great ques-
tion waft were there evils or not, and could they be re-
medied?

The CHAIRMAN then put the amendment to the meet-
ing, and it was carried by an overwhelming majority.
A vote of thanks was moved to the Chairman, second-
ed by Mr. Little, and carried unanimously, and the meet-
ing broke up.
Though advocating an unpopular subject, Mr. Little
commanded, throughout his address, the attention of the
meeting, and was repeatedly cheered even by those who
voted against him.

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE FROM
SHIP WRECK.

The fine brig Amity, of Newhaven, 252 tons register,
John Scott, commander, sailed from Colombo, in the
island of Ceylon, on the sth of June last, with a valuable
cargo, consisting of 264 tons of cocoa-nut oil, in tanks
and casks, a large quantity of deer and buffalo horns,
about 150 coils coir rope, 5,000 packages coir junk,
2,000 bundles of coir yarn, and several bales of coir
fibre, which, together with the value of the ship, was
valued by Mr. Hennin, a salvage agent, of Mount-street,
Whitechapel-road, at 15,6411. The ship, in tilting her
course up the English Channel, owing to the dab fog,
was obliged to run into Dungeness Roads for a pilot
before daybreak on the 30th ult., and there let go both
anchors ; but the wind and waves racing in a most ter-
rific manner, swept all before them, and the Amity
struck on a sand-bank, which carried away her rudder,
and consequently she was obliged to slip her cables,
and run from her anchors. Her windlass, owing
to the heavy beating of the sea, was broken, bit
gone, foremast sprung between decks, and nine feet
water in the hold. In this disabled state, with the
prospect of her becoming a total wreck, the Pandora, of
Dover, Thomas Collins, master, with four men' while
cruising off Dungeness, perceived the brig with a woff
in her main riggirg, and signals of distress flying at
her mast-head, made for and boarded her about nine,
A.M., when John Adams and James Aldenbury Hender-
son (an old twenty-six year North Sea pilot), went on
board, and found her to be abreast of Brockman's barn,
off Dungeness, bearing N.N.W. in four fathoms water,
and very leaky, and in the crippled state before men-
tioned ; upon which they
.made signals for more assist-
ance, and the cutter, having made fast two hawsers, one
on each quarter, endeavoured to steer the brig for Dover
harbour, and got sail upon her about ten, A.M. About
tkis time the lugger Catherine, of Dover, 'William Da-
vidson, master, with four men, hove in sight, boarded
her, and took the Amity in tow. The leak in-
creased, and great fear was entertained that the
Amity would go down in deep water, and all hands
were kept to the pumps. The Amity made Dover
bar, in charge of the salvors, about one, P.M., of
the same day, and it was discovered that there was not
sufficient depth to cross the bar. The wind was 'then
blowing a tremendous gale and the sea running strong.
On the Amity reaching within fifteen fathoms of the
south pierhead a heavy sea struck her, she pitched
heavily, and was, in a few minutes, forced about forty
fathoms to the eastward of the north pierhead, and, beat-
ing round, stranded on the beach. The boatmen were
now compelled to cut adrift, and, to save their own
lives and property, make for the Downs. The pumps
on board were still kept at ‘s ork, which so lightened the
brig that she floated about an hour before high water,
and about one A.m., on the Ist instant, she was brought
into Dover Harbour by the boatmen, and her cargo
is now being discharged there. During the time she
lay stranded on the beach great fears were enter-
tained by at least 800 spectators, who watched her
with great anxiety, that she would become a total
wreck, especially as the wind at that time was
blowing very strong from the S.W. Not one life
was lost in this dangerous enterprise, and great
praise is due to those courageous men, Collison, Davison,
Adams, and Henderson. and the boatmen generally for
their exertion. But for their nautical skill and perse-
verance, the Amity would have become a total wreck,
and every man on board would have perished. Davison
is known at Dover as " Old Jumper," who has many
times risked his life by taking foreign mail bags over sea
when others would not put off. On Monday a Board of
Commissioners was called by Messrs. Latham, Lloyd's
agents at Dover, on behalf of the ship and cargo, and
Mr. T. J. Hennis, salvage agent, on account of the
salvors and pilot, at the King's Head, Hotel, Dover, be-
fore Thomas Pain, Esq., R.N., Chairman, John Hyons,
Esq., Harbour Master, Deputy ; Captain Mudge,
Captain Shylock, R.N., Daniel Peake, Esq., and the Col-
lector of her Majesty's Customs.for the port of Dover,
when, after receiving evidence similar to the above state-
ment, and the valuation of Messrs. Latham and Mr. lien-
nis, at 15,6411., the Court unanimously awarded the
salvors the sum of 5034 which was instantly paid.