The Sun.
London, England, 1812-12-07 00:00:00

POLICE.

. BOW-STREET.—Human Skeleton.—Friday even-
ing' last, a student to a Surgeon who resides in,
the neighbourhood of Long-acre; and who was
formerly of St. Paul's School, was brought to
this Office, _charged with having in his possession
part of a human body, which was discovered on
Thursday morning last, lying in the gutter, on
the top of a house inLong-acre, by sonie la-
bourers who were employed to repair the rooL
After a full investigation of .the case, which has
excited SO? much alarm, it turned out to be the
peineipal part of the body of a young woman,
which the young. student (a person of very re,
spectable connections) had put out to bleach,
with an intent to try an experiment, and had had
it .in his possession since last year. Several re-
spectable persons attended, who gave the young
Gentleman an excellent character, when the charge
was dismissed.

Thomas Ben, a servant in the employ of Mr.
Moody, the Windsor Coachmastcr, at Hounslow,
was brought to the Ofliceon Friday, charged with
being concerned in robbing Mr. Moody of hay
and corn to a considerable amount for twelve
months past. Mr. Moody stated, that there were
two other men who had been concerned in plunder-
ing hint of his property ; and an Innkeeper, who
kept
.the Tankerville Arms, at Hounslow, of the
name of George Whiting, who had received it. In
consequence of which Mr. NARES, the Sitting Ma-
gistrate, granted- Warrants against them all. Mr.
Moody, accompanied by Westbrook, one of 'the
Conductors of the Patrole, went to execute them.
They went to the Tankerville Arms Inn, and in-
quired for, Whiting, the Landlord, to know if he
could have a bed there ; he was answered that he
was not at'home. Westbrook, after drinking the
liquor he had called for, left the honSe, but remain-.
ed near it; in a short time heard a noise, screaming,
Westbrook returned to the hOuse immediately.
where he learnt that Whiting's wife had gone up
stairs, for the purpose of informing her husband,
Who was congealed in her bed-room, that the,
stranger, meaning the patrole, bad left the house,
but found the door fast, and 'could not procure
an answer from him. • His brother, bi conse-
quence forced'open the door, when a most hor-
rid spectacle presented itself, he Laving
,cut his
throat with a razor, in such a dreadful' manner,
so-as all but to sever his head from his body,—
Ire had perpetrated• the deed. with such violence,
that the-side of the room, that was two yards
from him, was literally covered with blood "from
the spirting of it before he fell. The scene that
followed was truly tragic, froM the screams-, the
shrieks, and the' general distress of a disconsolate
wife, six children, his mother, and all,present,

WOOTT, of No.? 22, Russell-court,
,BrycFges.:itreit,r, Covent-gar(
;E., No. 112, Strand, wkere ilduertisemonts Ordeis to

BRITISH REVIEW.

INFLUENCE OR PREROGATIVE?

Being an Attempt to remove i3ertainPort-.LAn :N.LsCONCEI,.
tio;cs, respectin,, the Present State of the Bu&risu CON-
STITUTION and COVEDNIMNT. BY HORACE: Twins, Esq.
Barrister at Law_
(Continued from •our Paper of Nov. 528.)

But the changes which occurred in the relative,
weight of the-three bodies, and destroyed the sim-
ple equipoise established.by our forefathers, were
not so sudden as to leave the Crown altogether
without remedy dr defence. It is true that tire
Royaf prerogative was losing at once on both
.sides : by the aggrandizement of the people on
the one hand, and by its own disuseand decay on
the other. It rs true, too, that this disuse and this
decay were in a great measure occasioned by that
very aggrandizement of the people ; by that
growing power, information, and public spirit in
all ranks of the nation, which made it almost im-
pos ible, for the Crown to exercise any of its,vio-
lent and'summary prerogatives, without the dan-
ger of a tumult little short of rebellion. But then
it is also true, that the discontinuance of them
was partly owing to the spontaneous policy of the
Court itself. -The sovereigns and ministers of
Great Britain had practically discovered, in the
"r-atronage allowed to them by the_Con•titution, a
quality 'or which the capabilities had not been
folly appreciated in the original cOnformation of
the political machine. They perceived that what,
they could not accomplish by forcible'. checks,
they might obtain by courtesy and co:;cession ;
anl t'.at the balaneing principle might still be
kept ~lire, not indeed in its rude and pristine sim
pici,v, but with modifications better suited to the
general improvement of the times. The opera-
tion of that principle now became pervasive e
there was no longer. lvviolent
/oscillation of the
whole r"Oval power separately, against the, whole
separate power of the nobility'or the people; but
as prerogative died away, and influence began to
supply its place, a balance of the three estates es-
tabished itself in the House of Commons ; some
of the members inclining to the party of the CrOwn,
some to the People, and some to that of the Nobi-
lity, bywhose interest they were eloeted. The same
kin:l of equipoise took place in the Irouse of Peers,
and the Crown, instead ofexercising its-prerogatives
as formerly, at the lisle. of counteraction from the
direct force of the Lords Or Cotnaions, became
acenstoined thus to "consult- their. temper in the
first instance, and. shape its course by their incli-
nation : herein effectually, though tacitly acknow-
ledging theirirnpOrtance, and pursuing the ,prin-
ciple of the original balance. By these gradual
changes, the contests of the three conntervailing
powers completely lost their former asperity ; and
a general spirit of conciliation succeeded; conduc-
ing equally to the dignity of the monarch and to
the substantial freedom of the-subiect. For,.
the three, interests .being all indirectly amalga-
mated in each assembly of the legislature,—and
the sudden and successive checks upon the Com-
mons, which' the Constitution has provided, in
the Peerage, and in the Royal veto being Con-.
verted into one regulating and graduated, pres-
sure,—we. practically find, as a celebrated .writer
in an eminent Review has, with his usual felicity,
observed,' that the operation of all those checks—
" becomes infinitely more smooth and manage-.
able, and no longer proceeds by jerks and bdunds,
that might endanger the safety of the machine :
%ilia, its movements, instead of being fractured
and impeded by the irregular impulses of opposite
forces, slide quietly to the mark in the diagonal
produced by their original combination.' —Editz.
Rev. No. 20 p. 413.
It is not to.he concealed, that by this 'new ar-
rangement, the force of the people has. beCome
weaker in the House of Commons than the Con-
stitution intended it to be. We may-perceive that
their representatives have lost much of their jea-
lous and nhnost imperious warmth ;' but we may
perceive also; that the very necessity :fin; sncb a
zeal has been in a great measure shperseded by
the cessation of that dangerous, domineering
hos-
tility which-formerly characterised the measures
of the Crown. And even if this alteration in the
general policy of the Government were not suffi-
cient to compensate the people for the increase of
the ministerial and aristocratical party in the
House of Commons; we should never allow oar-
selves to forget the strong and undeniable fact,
that the people have now a powerful party in the
House of Lords.: a quarter where certainly they
have as little constitutional right to interfere, as
the friends of the monarch and of the nobility can
have among the popular representatives.

Without the insensible alterations of which I
have thus endeavoured to trace a general outline,
lam firmly of opinion that, at this day, the ba-
lance of the constitution would have been but an
empty name. Wiles' the 'direct power of the
Crown, namely, Preogative, was' gone, with all
its invidious appendages, and gone ,too so com-
pletely, that its restoration this become a measure
too dangerous to be attempted in a frce country
—the only mode in which•theThrtinecould thence=
fOrWard be supported, was by indirect power;
otherWiSe called influence, The .popular
but for this influence, would haVe overgrown-its
proportion, and SAVallbwed.-up not Only 'the. mo-
narchy; but probably the aristocracy also : and
England Would have been reduced to the dreadful
necessity of another. revolution, in order to pre-
pare a new frame of government, better suited to
the altered condition. of society. Siieh a frame of
government she'has now Obtained, Withmit blood-
shed or danger. She has relexedthe letter or the
Constitution; it is true ; but by relaxing the let-
ter, she has secured the spirit.
I am well aware, incteed,Of the prejudices that
qist in such thatters;against%all alterations, even,
of, form ; but I have very little respect for pre-
judices; When they'staklitin Opposition to
pies. IVby did,our fathers teach us to guard so,
NalOuslYagainst every change in the,Constitution %
et beeinse the word Constitution' coiriprehen6"
any magical.niystery that elainis our superStitiotfs
awe; but because they conceived the 'System itself
to embody, in the highest possible -p!-I.fection,,
those great first principles on which the, Jile and
liberty,of nations depend. If then, by some gra-
duar"alterations, we have alwroximated yet nearer'
to the reali4tion of .the *blessings, which those

BIETHS

MAktRIED.

DIED.

den; %Published by WILLIAM ARMIGER SCRIPPS, South, ;golton-street, Qi•osvonor-squarr,
r_thr Toper, I,4tiers for the Editor, titC. (,cyst pulfl), 1-11Ii3t be addre,lea.

principles promote, and for the sake of which,
alone, the Constitution was valuable, let us mit,
by way of compliment to the Constitution, be-
come enemiee. to" ourselves, and sacrifice the e r
oym ent reality for the pursuit of a specu-
lation.

Ido not say this fro m-any pas6ion- for innovat-
ing ; on the ccotrarv, 1' believe that almost :tile
changes in political matters Whig, with them f:?-1--
too great a .hazard of_ ill to be advisable without.,
the prospect of a clear and Very
But I apprehend the present to he precisely one of
thO-gceases where such .an 'advantage is most ob-
viously to he .discerned ; and) at any rate, \47(.:
know. the worst. For this change; is actually
completed whatever ill, if any, anay have heel,
to result from it, has re.v:ited:. already ; and alt'
Ita4ard is therefore at sm end:
'l,) be continued.).

FOR: THE SUN.

. AP -THECARIZS.
MR. EDITOR,
I have to request your inlulgence in permitting
me-to point out the injustice of certain aLimad- .
versions of your Correspondent (subscribing him-
self a Patient and,Sufferer), on the recent Meet-
ings of the Apothecaties at the Crown and An-
chor Tavern, uscribin7 their assembly to motive
e,
very different from the real object.
This personage is not content With upbraiding , 1...4
them for their public conduCt, but he even de- —.Pio
scends into their domestic concerns, and
_corn-
plains of the extravagance of theniselves and their
.1
wives, and the means they make use of "to sup- ( -
port their chariots and whiskies, ' to.' enable their i''
Ladies to dizcn themselves out at a fashionable
milliner's, and play at six-penny whist at Apo4
thccaries' Ilall."

Such absurd assertions require no refutation,
as there are rare instances of Apothecaries being
able to, -keep carriages or drive whiskies, till they
have grown grey in their professional practice,
unless they have some private-property ;•and there
fore it is not likely that their wives can he sup-
ported in the extravagant follieslyour Correspon-
dent has so ingenionsly,invented and described,
when le so: cleverly discloseS . their extravagalz
card-playing at Apothecaries' Hall (where, in fact,
there is no room for such goine4), and their diz-
enilfg, themselves-out:at. fashionable tnilliners, who '
can easily discern the difference between the ho,
nest customer and diStinguished profligate of high
.!
life.

For your Correspondent'6 information, be it.
known, that this " hubbub" he complains of, and
ascribes to
,such 'has: for its pri-.
mary object, thebeuefit:of .The Pro- • ,
fession haS met ;-ether to propose and adopt
such regulations effeetually Prevent imp-ro-
per, persons, and others not' regularly
educated and incompetent to practice, from 1111-
posing upon the Public .their deleterious draughts
and quack medicines.; too many adventurers have..
intruded themselves ii to thiS as %veil as'other pro-
fessions ; Many pretend to skill- and. knowledge
which they. do not possessj (no •offence to your •
Correspondent). ,
It h s been suggested, that an application'
should_ he made to Parliament to 'aftix--Some large
premium or duty,on the. Indentures, one mole! y to
be 'paid to the King, the other -moiety te the
Fund 'for Apotheca,:ies'. WidowSL; and that The-
candidate for the prOfession shall b;:. absolutely
well grounded in the Classics,. before he can lie
apprenticed, and shall not be admited to practise „la
until approved of by a Medical hoard, expressly
appointed for this purpose, who are to ex,lmine
the party as' to his qiialifications, to ascertain his.
abilities, and compel theproduction ofcertiticates
of his having regularly*se:ved an apprenticeship,
walked the' hospitals, and attended the different
.
medical lecture'.
As- to • increasing the charges on medicines, or
for attendance, when it is 'considered what the
prices of articles of necessity are,' anti that for
nearly a eentury past there has been little or no
variation in the Apothecaries' charges, surely the
Public will, for its own,security, enable fit persons
to practise a profession so useful and indispensa-
ble,
,by •giying them a proper compensation for
medicines and attendance:

your.. Correspondent had directed hit attack-
against some of our Physicians who drive about ita
their carriages, and take large fees for a flying
visit and writing a few lines, frequently difficult to
be decyphered by the Apothecary, who does the
drudgery, perhaps the Public mightadmit the pro-
priety of his comments, and here,indeed, the card-
parties, &c. might be fairly canvassed ; surely the
abilities of the Physician ought not to be so flinch
over-rated, when,in fact, an Apothecary attends.
ten patients where aPhysician visits only one:—
On the score of reason, on which side is the scale,
of skill and experience likely to preponderate.
So 'much. for fees and the prices of medicines and
attendance !

A CONSTANT READER.

Oi Thursday eirening; the seCt!l Ult. at their'touse in tTp-
per Svyrnour-street,.the lady 'et Coionii-Se‘vdl4 of a Son and
. . •

,Ou Saturday, the 25th ult. at limn, theladyof,sir FL C.,
Ylotitgoiriery, Bart. of a .
Oo We4ncsday last, the Lad; of H. Gregg, E*(l. of Bed-
ford-s-quare of a Sou.. • , - . ;.. •
(In the.4tl inst. at Stockwell Comruou,'Mis. Pounu,tt,
Daultter. • -*

("ju idav, 1-I,le Lally of-IR./ill C.. Beiholey; Esq. of tin-
coln's-ititi-fit':ldvoi s flaltg;i:tek..= •

On Saturday, at. St. Jana::,',,Westinitster Mr. Thomas
irToe;gliinsua, oilsitfw Esnid-street, 'to Miss Martin, of ricez...-
dilly.

On Thurscluy, the ifitli'ulte after a painful illness, Katt,e-
riiie :Mitchell, wife. of •Michael Mitchell, Esq. of,.,H.orti&ey,.
Middlesex. ' •

On Friday, the 2Ot ult. at Milhorne Port, Somerset, Mr.
William White, at the aaan.:ed.age of .105 years and eleven
months.
On Fric6,y 'lr John Covttitry, aged 74,-4 Red.-
.
cross-street, Soutimark. .
Lately, at St. Margaret's Cliff, Canterbury, at the ad;
vati6ed. age of 94, Ayilliam Kenny.

•
HIGH WATER Al' LhNI)ON BIUDGE TOMORROW.
Morpirit,47 minutes after •5. En ring, 12 minutes after G,