The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-16 00:00:00

ALDERMAN HARMER.

As the defeat of this gentleman has imparted to the
late election of a Mayor of London a most unusual in-
terest, and as the causes of it bear on principles of no
small importance, we think it not unseasonable here to
set down a few facts and remarks in connection with
that event.
The personal character of the Alderman is reported
by all who know him to be excellent. Out of the
many testimonials which the recent struggle called
forth on this point, we confine ourselves to the following
decisive one :—Mr. Richard Taylor, a London printer,
well-known as an intelligent and conscientious man,
stated, on the hustings, that, in his own ward,
Alderman Harmer had done the greatest good,
and was one of the most pains-taking Magistrates
that ever presided on the Bench ; that he was
a man also of great private virtue, and his charity,
though not brought before the public, was extensive ;
and that, if the majority against Alderman Harmer
had been ten times as great as it was at present, he
,'Mr. Taylor) should have been proud of standing by
him, for he thought that a more honourable, upright,
and conscientious man did not exist.

From the composition of the London Corporation,
as we showed on Thursday, it was not strange that
the worthy Alderman did not succeed. But he had
other opposition with which to contend. " AU the
saints," we were told, " were against him. The
Bishops and the Lords," as he himself says, "were
against him. The vilest arts were employed by his
opponents to blacken his character and influence the
people. Without the least regard to truth, the most
vulgar prejudices were appealed to ; the Monarchy
and Christianity were said to be involved in the
contest.; the.people,were told be would get no chaplain
and :it vi•tie.itisinuated that, during his Mayoraity,:all!
communication between the City and the Court would*

-
be cut off." # -
We regard this election as involving more than
one question of no small public importance. It is high
time that the friends of freedom should universally re-
solve to set their faces against the principles which a cer-
tain class of religionists, in each of the British Esta-
blished Churches have lately been trying to make the
governing rule at civic and political elections. Ha man
is proposed as a magistrate, these people care nothing
for his acquaintance with the official functions which he
ought to discharge, but demand whether he is sound in
the faith ; that is, whether he adopt their peculiar views
of Christian truth. Can a greater absurdity than this
be imagined ? Yet this ridiculous notion is implied in
the grounds on which Alderman Harmer was rejected.

Another question which the recent contest for the
Mayoralty is, how far a newspaper proprietor is respon-
sible for the opinions maintained in the journal with
which he is thus connected ? If it is said that be is en-
tirely responsible for them, then what must we think of
those parsons who set up prints, the chief contents of
which are lies and blasphemies, while the professed ob-
ject of them is the promotion of the interests of religion ?
—Aberdeen Herald.

PURLOINING NEWSPAPERS.—During the last 1
1
twelvemonths, especially since the introduction of the
new postage, numerous complaints have been forwarded '
to the several newspaper offices, newspaper agents, and
the Stamp-office, from the subscribers to newspapers, in '
consequence of the papers never reaching them. In order I
to remedy snch evils, both the Post-office and the Stamp-
office recommend that the direction of the person for '.
whom the paper was intended should be written on the '
margin of the paper, instead of being inscribed on the
envelope. But even this precaution was unavailing, as
the papers were never forwarded, and continual com-
plaints were made at head-quarters. The opinion gene-
rally entertained was, that the clerks in the office, or the
postmasters, appropriated the papers to their own use,
Several plans were adopted for finding out the guilty
parties, and those plans have so far proved successful,
that an examination was instituted on Thursday, of Several
so appro.
prch iaartgeeds a
ea
wg asinst
papers.aP esTt-
hoeffi efaec
facts
ageanntd fothr
the result
of
the
in..
of our konag
quiry will, it is expected, be made public on Saturday.
(Farewell I
Indeed, one of the metropolitan journals has dispatched a
reporter to attend the investigat,on, if it be open to the
m°bglend'afnleig°hgbmoUrrhio"od, presented
public. The result will be highly interesting to newe-
1, •
paper proprietors and agents.
, already familiar, I
A TRAVELLING PARTY IN CIRCASSIA.
Our cavalcade, which issued from the yard
faasnreldwsetlltlh)efrocmrietsheoefssie'
public, as the national banner
a train as motley and picturesque almost as that of the
pilgrims to Canterbury. Foremost of all, borne by my
Greek, whom I had constituted my beiraktar, or standard_
bearer, fluttered in the morning breeze the white arrows
green silk
a violumes), having Islam
apnredaustmares
toontthhee fiEeoldgioisfh
of Circassia. The standard-bearer himself, with his
dashing dress of the Islands ; the embroidered
jacket and redundant trowsers ; his
gallant bearing
and military glee at finding himself once more on
a war-saddle, formed no contemptible figure-head to
After h
the procession.Alcide Bey (the
metamorphosedl t
Gheri Indar Oglou one lawrig. 1
ith ihen'b
date As for mself,
his rogue of a Iladji
on his left. The form
Rifled de ow, quiver, alreadytume, the gentle and dig . l meanour I have
described ; the latter joggTinugrka ong
in the high turban,
and shalvar of the ,as fidgety and talkative as
antery,
my other companion
my sentiments, at
the dress I wore was likehad Iyetents, at that limey n a
or renounced my European
state of transition ;
writer
via of
gf r
ii thesemveacnadmsee
Europeanseprejauf ices. The costume of
sui tout, or all my
the rest of my train, comp° cl my servants and escort,
variety,
exhibited much the same r
---°n9worth's Year
among the Circassian.
..SINGULAR SUPERSTITIOUS CEREMONY.
Asingular rcmony was performed the day
cn before yester-
day Montmartre on
day at the cemetery .. ~ . , occasion of the
t one of the cor •
funeral of a workman ". corporations called the
when
Conipagnons du Devotr;
who
the coffin was placed in
the mourners, were
the grave, one of .
of all compagnons,
went into it with a bottle. wine.and two glasses, and the
with which
hammer of the deceased,, . _ the neck of the bottle
it being against the rules of the society
leas to be broken,
to draw the cork. The grave was then covered with the
pall. A few moments afterwards, one of the compagnons
struck the coffin three times with his cane, and the man in
the grave uttered plaintive els, which were responded to
by those round the grave. T is was the last adieu. The
pall heir g removed, the man who had gone into the grave
returned to his companions with the bottle with the neck
broken off, and two novices were invited to drink with
him, this being their draught of initiation. The re•
minder of the wine was_ then poured into the grave,
which was immediately closed up with earth in the usual
manner. Navin t'
The General Steam ba ion Company's
steam ship the Ocean, Captain Fife, arrived off the Tower
yesterday, from Rotterdam, after a fine passage, bringing
her Majesty s mail.

SlR,—May I beg to call your attention to the para-
graph in the Cambrian of Saturday last, headed " Im
mense Payment of Wages." I know the substance of
it to be true, namely that Sir John Guest, the Liberal
M.P., pays 24,000/. per month in wages. It is also a
filet that Sir John Guest has lately given 50/. for a
Methodist chapel at Dowlais Iron Works. A few years
ago he built a market-house, a church, pays the minis-
ter, and has endowed the building ; he has also erected
a very large Sunday and day school. Only contrast
this with Mr. Joseph Bailey, M.P. for Worcester, and
his sou for Sudbury (both nries). They arc getting as
much by the Nant y Glo and Beaufort Iron Works
as Sir John is by the Dowlais, but yet no church, mar-
ket-place, or school, has been erected at Nant y Glo or
Beaufort. The young M.P. of Sudbury is about to
offer for Herefordshire ; what will he say to the two
enclosed paragraphs, from papers of last week's date,
the one the Bristol, and the other printed at Hereford.
For want of religious and moral instruction, the work-
men about the Monmouthshire iron works and collieries
are in a state of discontent and Chartism, although they
have full work, and are well paid, say from 14s. to 50s.
per week. Then look at the contrast about Ross,
where the people are better educated ; they earn little,
but are happy and contented. It is also worthy of re-
mark that none of the Newport rioters were from Sir
John Guest's works. T. L.
Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Oct. 12, 1840.