The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-31 00:00:00

THE WIDOW YOUNG.

About seven years ago her husband, a woodcutter in
the parish of Landego, Monmouthshire, died, leaving
seven children. lie was possessed of a cottage and
three small pieces of land, in all about three acres, on
which there was a mortgage for 751. Three years and
a half ago she sold two of the three pieces of land to
clear off the mortgage, but the tithe, which was only
7s. for the whole, has been raised for her small rem-
nant to 15s. On receiving a citation, for 31. 103,, to
the Ecclesiastical Court of Llandaff, forty miles dis-
tant, she told the person who delivered it that she
could not then pay the money, but that she would it
they would give her but a little time. ThTM:ngh illness
from an accident she was unable to travel to Llandaff,
and having been in consequence pronounced in con-
tempt, she was dragged front her home and children in
bad health, and thrown into Monmouth gaol, where she
has lain upwards of seven months, and where she would
have been removed from all her sorrows by death, had
it not been for the kindness of the family of Mr. Ford

the gaoler.
Before we say anything of the humanity of Dr.
Lyle, let us advert to the justice of the proceeding. By
Captain Pechell's Act of 183.5, suits for tithes for sum.
under 101. can only take place before Justices of the
Peace. The Act was passed expressly to prevent suits
for small sums, in the most expensive and vexatious of all
Courts, the Ecclesiastical. The Bishops' Courts arc, there-
fore, expressly interdicted from entertaining suits for
sums under 10/.
Yet it appears, from the cases of Sarah Young and
others, that the Bishops' Courts, in the teeth of the Act.
of Captain Pechell, do entertain suits for sums under
101., and that the practice is prevalent of using these
Courts as a means of robbing the poor through the
enormous costs in these iniquitous tribunals. The Act
of Parliament not only 'prohibits the suing for sums
under 101. in Ecclesiastical Courts, but limits the costs
to 108. But the expenses of the proceedings in the Ec-
clesiastical Court of Llandaff, against Sarah Young,
amounted to 181.
If this be not robbery, we know not the meaning of
the term. The widow Young is committed for con-
tempt. But it appears, from the case of Mr. Hill, in
the Bishop's Court, at Exeter, that a party appearing
to the citation, and pleading the Act of 1835, is not
allowed his costs, even though he give notice that he
will hold the plaintiff accountable for proceeding in the
teeth of the Act of Parliament. Whichever way,
then, a party turn himself, he is robbed by the Eccle-

siastical Courts.:
And now with respect to the humanity which has
been shown by Dr. Lyle to Sarah Young.. Hcr
statement—that if they would give her a little time
she would pay, but that she could not immediately
pay—has nut been contradicted. In defence of the
Act of Parliament, passed for the protection of such
poor creatures as Sarah Young, she is cited to the
Birhop's Court of Liandaff, and dragged to prison.
TM: is humanity ! She is suffered to lie seven
months in prison (a punishment greater than the
person who deprives a fellow-creature of his life is now
subjected to), and then, when nothing is forthcoming
—when Dr. Lyle begins to suspect that the proctor's
bill of 18/. may, without some management, be thrown
on himself, he sends a proctor to her dungeon, who very
considerately proposes that if she herself, her two sons,
and her brother (the father of fourteen children), will
join in a promissory note for 181., her discharge will be
forwarded to her. This humanity was declined, from
the conviction of the parties that to pay such a sum was
beyond their ability.
attract attention. The Morning Chronicle takes " the
But the circumstances of the case
widow in tow," to use the phraselogy of the Standard,
and the humanity of the Rev. Dr. Lyle takes an-
other shape. A gentleman from Llandsff makes his
appearance in her dungeon, trying to persuade her
that a paper he wished her to sign was a mere
matter of form, and which paper was an acknow-
ledgment that she had been lawfully cited to the
Ecclesiastical Court, had been contumacious, Wu sorry
for what she had done, extolled the clemency of the
Rev. Dr. Lyle towards her, in sending her discharge,
promised to give him no further trouble, and to pay
him as soon as she was able. The latter condition
would have been waved, but the humanity of the 1.1,_
verend Doctor was not unaccompanied by saving know-
,
ledve ; for in his charity he had an eye to home.
The acknowledgment bore what we must take leave
to say was a downright falsehood. Sarah Young was not
lawfully cited to the Ecclesiastical Court ; and if she
has been deprived of her liberty for upwards of seven
months by the illegal proceedings of Dr. Lyle, aided
by Courts which ought to have been swept away long
ago, the reverend doctor may find the tables turned
upon hint. Another party, imprisoned for contempt,
signed the acknowledgment to obtain his liberty ; but
Widow Young did not set her hand to a falsehood, and
she remains in her dungeon.—Morning Chronicle.

THE FIRE IN PITFIELD-STREE

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

in Pitfield-street. The fire oc-
cuSut,-1 will thank you to correct the statement
in your paper of yesterday, relative to the fire
o
the small work-
shops ; which, together with the stock therein, and
the workmen's tools, is totally deStrOycd. My
ltrretl my
olt)tre ll.Ciisdeas; evening, in one of
other workshops and timber-yard have not been
injured.
The prompt exertion of the firemen, aided by
my neighbours and workmen, prevented the further
extension of the fire, there being a good supply of
water, and several engine.

My business is going on as usual, with but little
inconvenience.

am, Sir, your obedient servant,
WILLIAM LAWRENCE,
I'MM-street, Dec. 30, 1840.

We are informed that the donations to the Lich-
field Diocesan Church Extension Society were the follow-
ing :—Rev. Thos. Gishorne, of Yoxall Ludge, 1,0001.;
William Evans, Esq., M.P., 1,000/. ; Mathew Gisborne,
Esq., 2001, ; and Samuel Evans, Esq., 5004