The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-15 00:00:00

filled by the original borrower. At this time,
however, through some misfortune, default was made,
and the officers of the loan society immediately fell
upon the surety. The very first intimation which
William Jones received of his position was by the
service of a writ from the Palace- court. Inexpe-
rienced as the poor man was in such matters, he knew
enough of this dreaded tribunal to feel that its clutch,
unless shaken off by some sacrifice or other, for-
boded utter ruin. He proceeded, therefore, without
a moment's delay, to the secretary of the benevolent
" society," and was by this officer informed that the
costs had commenced with the sum of 11. 10s., and
that nothing but the instant liquidation of these ex-
traordinary expenses, could stop the progress of the
suit. Even these terms were preferable to the terrible
talons of the Palace Court, and the unfortunate man
therefore accepted them, paying one sovereign, his
whole stock of money, at once, and undertaking to
provide the remainder before the close of the week.
But in the meantime the pestilence was at its height.
The destroying angel visited the little workshop in
Store-street, and when the call was made on William
Jones for his promised payment, five of his family
had been smitten down, and three were lying dead
corpses ! It is not very surprising that under such a
visitation he was unable to raise the sum required ; but
the Palace Court, itself happily in the very agony
of extinction, could take no cognizance of a plague.
Another peremptory call was served upon him, and
in the warrant of this modern Inquisition he read the
number of his days in the event of a further default !
Agonised and bewildered he again repaired to the
loan office, and received a promise of protection in
the event of his paying down 135., which he contrived
to do. With this assurance he returned to his deso-
lated home, but with the light of the very next morn-
ing a familiar of the Palace Court made his appear-
ance and swept off the furniture and contents of every
room in the house, under an execution for 91. ls.
With such an incident tales of this kind usually con-
clude, but on the present occasion there is yet some-
thing
more to be added. The furniture was trans-
ferred in bulk to the sale rooms of an auctioneer,
himself an ex-officer of the Palace Court, and the
prompt and hearty cooperation of these kindred
spirits in the work of plunder was striking indeed.
The goods were put up to auction before the eyes of
their late owner, who watched with natural anxiety
the disposal of his property. To his astonishment he
observed that in place of his own bed, on which his
children had died, and which was worth at least eight
guineas, a very inferior one was offered for competi-
tion, and knocked down at 365. On further examina-
tion he found that other articles of his property had
not been inserted in the catalogue of sale ; and,
among the rest, a Kidderminster carpet had been kept
back. The result of the whole arrangement was,
that the total produce of the goods, which had cost
him more than 501., amounted to 141. 153. ; and when
he applied for the difference between even this sum
and the sum for which they had been distrained, he
was informed that it would be a matter of settlement
between the auctioneer and the Palace Court, and
that in all probability the extra expenses of the said
Court would swallow up the balance. In this
distress poor William Jones adopted a course
which, if, as in his case, it effects little else,
has at least the advantage of giving publicity to
truth, and of depriving such wicked deeds of that
darkness in which alone they can be done. He
repaired to a magistrate, and told the tale which we
have now repeated. The cursory inquiry which
then followed confirmed the substantial truth of the
sufferer's statement, but procured no effective redress.
The auctioneer could not recollect the particulars of
the transaction ; the porter, whose duty it was to
attend such sales, "never took notice of the addresses
of purchasers;' and all the parties to the business
treated the poor man's ruin as an accomplished fact,
which it was extremely troublesome, and wholly un-
professional, to bring again upon the table. Pub-
licity, however, rarely fails iu these days to bring
either conviction to imposture or redress to wrong.
The case of poor Jones has not only attracted many
substantial proofs of sympathy in the form of sub-
scriptions remitted to the police magistrate for his
use, but it has even been more seriously taken up by
some dr=criminating advocate, and an attempt is now
being made to extort redress from that very Court
which so conveniently served as the instrument of
the original injustice. In our last impression it was
reported that a solicitor, acting under private
instructions, presented himself before the Palace
Court, and without any misplaced petition for sym-
pathy or compassion demanded the reconsideration of
the case as having involved oppression even beyond
the liberal customs of that tribunal. The Learned
Judge who presided, arguing, as we presume, from
comparison, thought that "there had been a great
deal of leniency shown to the defendant." As cases
go in the Palace Court this might possibly have been
true. Perhaps the proceedings against William Jones
present rather a favourable specimen of the business
transacted in that snug retreat. We venture to
think, however, that public opinion will take rather a
different turn. The Court, however reluctantly,
granted the rule applied for, and the case will be re-
considered. We are not competent to define the exact
character of legal practice which may be considered as
equitable and merciful according to the traditions of
the Palace Court, but if William Jones's plight re-
mains what it now is, we are sure it will be time for
Englishmen to forego their proverbial pride in their
Constitution and their laws.
is

A deputation of the Lambeth Anti-cholera and
Dwellings Improvement Committee waited on the Sur-
veyors of Pavements at the Vestry-ball, Lambeth, on
Friday evening, to present a resolution, unanimously
passed at a numerous meeting held at the Clayton Arms,
Kennington-oval, embodying the sense of that meeting
in favour of the introduction into the parish of Lambeth
of the street-orderly system of cleansing the streets,
courts, and alleys, by which means the able-bodied
paupers would be advantageously employed, the parish
rates lessened, and the health and comfort of the inhabi-
tants promoted. The Surveyors of Pavements received
the deputation with great courtesy, and evinced every
desire to further their objects; and referred them to the
Board of Guardians for the purpose of carrying out
their excellent resolution. This is one of the happy re-
sults flowing from the large meeting presided over by
Mr. Benjamin Hawes, M.P., at the Horns Tavern, a few
evenings ago.
THE FIRE IN LONDON-WALL.'—On Saturday it was
ascertained by the surveyors connected with the different
insurance companies that policies to the undermentioned
amounts had been effected at the respective offices for
property deposited upon the premises belonging to
Messrs. Gooch and Cousins, in London-wall, and which
here burned down on the 6th inst. :—The Sun Insurance
Company, 18,0001.; the Alliacce Insurance Company,
11,5001.; the Atlas Insurance Company, 6,0001.; the
Union office, 6,5004 ; the Legal and Commercial,
15,0001.; the Imp2rial office, 9,0001.; total, 66,000/. The
wool was insured under floating policies, and the above,
therefore, covers the stock in certain warehouses in
various parts of the metropolis. Upwards of twenty
men were busily engaged yesterday (Saturday) in get-
ting the immense quantity of salvage out of the ruins,
and taking it away to be dried and sorted. This will
occupy at least three weeks or a month, when it will
afterwards be sold by auction, and there is no doubt it
will realize several thousand pounds, which will be di-
vided for the benefit of the several fire-offices concerned.
The dessicated floor of the London Coal Exchange
c3nsists altogether of upwards of 4,000 distinct pieces of
wood, of various kinds and qualities. Tha great feature
of the affair is, that the whole of these pieces were, only
a few months since, either in the tree in the growing
state, or cut from wet logs, and were prepared for use in
the course of a few days, by their method of seasoning.
The names of the woods thus introduced are black
ebony, black oak, common and red English oak, wains-
cot, white holly, mahogany, American elm, red and
white walnut (French and English), and mulberry. It
is mentioned as a proof of the rapidity of this mode of
seasoning, that the black oak is part of an old tree which
was discovered and removed from the bed of the Tyne
river, about the latter end of last year. The mulberry
wood, introduced as the blade of the dagger in the city
shield, is no less than a piece of a tree which was
planted by Peter the Great when working in this
country as a shipwright. The patentees state that no
one piece of the 4,000 occupied more than ten or twelve
days in seasoning.—The Builder.
THE KING'S•ROAD, EATON•SQUA.RE.—This fashion-
able locality, so far as regards the central portion of it,
called the King's-road, which leads in a direct line to the
westward from the Palace, is still, owing to the non-ar-
rangement of the misunderstanding which exists between
the local authorities and the owner of the property, left
in a state of total darkness. The road lamps are left
entirely unlighted at night,which is the cause of much in-
convenience and danger to pedestrians, as well as to the
drivers of vehicles passing along the road, and which
will, of course, not be at all lessened by the advent of
dark nights and bad weather, to be expected at the en-
suing season. The present condition of the place is cer-
tainly very inconvenient to the public, and very disgrace-
ful to the parties concerned, and it is hoped that some
satisfactory arrangement will speedily be come to on the
subject. Above all things the inhabitants should remem-
ber that they cannot be compelled to pay their paving,
lighting, and watering rates so long as the principal
thoroughfares in the district are neither repaired, lighted
or watered.
SUNDAY LABOUR AT THE POST•OZTICE.—Bags
from Sheffield and several other large towns were re-
ceived at the Post-office in consequence of the new re-
gulations as to letters, &c., passing through London.
Moat of these were well filled, but they were not opened
in consequence of the order of the Postmaster issued on
Saturday, postponing the increased Sunday duty for a
fortnight, on the ground of the necessary arrangements
for carrying it out not having been quite completed. The
order
ono on the Sunday o
that the country
intotrydel operationiveries yesterday.shouldb
be reduced to
The Lord High Commissioner of the lonian Islands
her(n o w Sir
Majesty Henry
a Knight George
ra Ward)nodcuCross
etrhovaDsassl beeniuesormf
xathni
die laosner,Secretary
preerrt nominatedonuerfuy
rsbat yto..
ThoaneilaannpdoSlitiiaelurge.
the lonian Senate;C
teur-General to the lonian Government; and Chevalier
numaschino, President of the Legislative Assembly of
the lonian Islands, have been nominated Knights Com-
manders of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
The Earl and Countess Grey left town on Satur-
day, for Howick Hall, Northumberland.

THE SUN,