The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-25 00:00:00

MILITARY COMMISSION.

It has been stated that the delay
is attributable
producing the
Report of the Military Commission attributable to
the First Lord of the Admiralty. Such, however, we
are assured, is not the fact ; the delay is with the Me-
dical Department, and it is fit that the saddle should be
put on the right horse.
It is to be hoped that in any arrangement to which
the Report may lead, the claims of the Clerks
of the Navy will not be overlooked. The indi-
viduals comprising this class are in a worse condi-
tion than those of any otherin the public service.
Although they act in a purely civil capacity, and
their services may on that account be underrated
when compared with those of the military grades, their
duties are nevertheless of so much value as to entitle
them to some encouragement. It will not be denied
that it is of importance that the official duties of the
fleet, which devolve on these officers, should be pro-
perly conducted ; nor will it be denied that ability and
assiduity are necessary to an efficient discharge of these
duties. The clerks of the navy, therefore, both from
the relative position in the service of the department to
which they belong, and the capacity and qualities they
are required to apply in the execution of their duties,
are entitled to a treatment very different from the neg-
lect which they have hitherto experienced.—Naval and
Military Gazette.
The speculations in regard to the successor to the
vacant Colonelcy arising out of the demise of General
Sir Josiah Champagne, have, as we expected, turned
out to be most fallacious. Sir Frederick Wetherall
has got the 17th, Sir Archibald Campbell the 62d, and
Sir John Macleod the 77th regiment —Naval and Mi-
litary Gazette.
The Court of Directors of the East India Company
having intimated that arrangements are being made for
the return home of the 13th Light Dragoons, 6th Foot,
16th Foot, and 54th Foot, no officers or men belonging
to those corps will leave England.

SUNDAY TRADING ON CANALS.

The following circular has recently been issued :
TO THE TRADERS ON THE WORCESTER
AND BIRMINGHAM CANAL NAVIGA-

TION.

Many applications having been made to the Com-
mittee of the Company of proprietors of the Worcester
and Birmingham Canal Navigation, to put a stop to
trading upon their Canal on the Sabbath Day, they re-
spectfully request you will give directions to your
steerers to avoid such a practice as much as possible.
Navigation Office, Birmingham,
• January 10, 1840.

FALMOUTH RAILWAY.—We have just re-
ceived the following observations from a Correspondent in the
West Indies :—I am glad to hear there is a probability of your
getting the railroad to Falmouth ; it will be a great thing for
the county. When complete, in conjunction with the Exeter,
and Great Western, a day will, of course, take one to London ;
and as this could not possibly be done by water, all passengers,
light parcels, &c. arriving in the Channel will be landed at
Falmouth. The establishment of a regular steam communica-
tion would be a great thing, too, for these islands. The average
passage now, 31 days to Barbadoes, would then be only 21 ;
and if, in conjunction with this line, the contemplated
Pacific steam-line be carried into effect, by crossing the Isth-
mus of Panama, this would bring Australia within 70 day's
journey of England. The West Indies would then be in the
high road of this magnificent line ; the stormy passage round
the Cape would be avoided; and the English traveller might,
with the greatest ease, see much of North and South America
cross the Isthmus of Panama, pass in smooth water to Otaheite
the Friendly Isles, New Hebrides, and Australia, thence to the
East Indies, and home by the Red Sea, crossing the Isthmus of
Suez, in six months; and thus circumnavigate the globe in just
the same time as your men of fashion now take to stroll over
Europe.— West Briton.

FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE.—On Saturday
afternoon a fire, attended with loss of life, occurred on Saffron-
hill. It appears that some of the inhabitants observing
smoke issuing from the front attic of the house No. 7, occu-
pied by Mr. Back, grocer, gave the alarm. Messengers were
sent for the assistance of the engines, and, after considerable
exertions, the fire was got under before much damage was
done. On the firemen entering the apartment where the fire
originated they found the body of an elderly female most shock-
ingly mutilated by the flames, and who had evidently perished
in them. She proved to be Mrs. Allcock, widow, a lodger of
Mr. Bask's.

STAGE COACH DUTIES.—The grievances of
stage-coach proprietors have been brought under the notice of
the House in a petition from the coach-masters and others inte-
rested in stage-coaches and post-horses in the city of Edin-
burgh. They state that they are taxed as follows :-1. An
assessed tax of 255. for each coachman or guard employed. 2.
annual license of 51. for each coach. 3. A mileage duty
charged upon the number of passengers the coach is licensed
to carry. 4. A supplementary license duty of Is. for every
change of license. besides this they are subjected to the fol-
lowing post-horse duties :—I. The postmaster's license of
7s. 6d. annually. 2. The assessed tax of Si. ss. on
every four-wheeled carriage, and of 31. ss. on every
two-wheeled carriage used at any one time during the
year. 3. The duty of 2s. &I. for every horse hired by
the day. 4. The duty of I id. per mile each horse is
hired to go when the company are not brought back, and if
brought back the fifth part of the whole hire received. 5.
The duty on hackney coaches of ss. weekly for each pair of
horses employed, or the duty of 3s. weekly when one horse
only is used. Such are the great discouragements under which
the petitioners labour in the face of competing interests which
are every day gaining force, and extending over the whole
country. The petitioners state that, in consequence of the
competition occasioned by untaxed or partially taxed steam
power, they will be under the necessity of giving up their busi-
ness, unless some of the taxes which press upon them be taken
off. We fear that the stage-coach interests have nothing to
hope from this mode of relief, but must endeavour to find other
channels for the employment of their capital. It would be un-
just towards them, if we did anything to encourage the expec-
tation of relief from the Legislature. Neither in the temper
of parties, nor in the financial condition of the country, can we
discover any prospect of a diminution of their burdens,

ACCIDENT.—On Saturday morning, about eight
o'clock, James Leigg, in the. employ of Mr. Travers, surgeon,
was exercising his master's carriage horses, near Russell-square,
when one of the horses became restive and threw him, and
caused a compound fracture of the elbow. He was taken to St.
Thomas's Hospital.

A singular lease was brought before the magis-
trages at Eton on Wednesday, in which Mr. John Atkins, of
Slough, was charged with a rape on a girl of sixteen, in la is
service, of the name of Mary Wilder. The case was established
yielt.rhieeedc. The
witnessesm ag magistrates
tctem,
could
by the evidence of the injured party, and confirmed by other
testimony, but on the following day the witnesses had all dis-
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adjourned
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untiliudl inaedye noa
tvnchedaerryrst carried
otduuarldda'
prosecute,
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trates refused to di charge the prisoner, or to accept bail.
POST-OFFICE 11 ROBBERIES.—Rea y
the
plun-
der of newspapers in the Post-offices—we care not whether
metropolitan or provincial—has now attained such a pitch, that
it behoves the proprietors generally to take steps towards re-
medying the evil. The public, which, to a certain extent,
are equal sufferers, will, we are sure, concur in any measure
resolved upon. All chance of redress from the functionaries in
that establishment may be considered as hopeless.—Evening
Mail.
STROUD.—On Monday evening a meeting of
Dissenters of various Congregations was held in the school-
ro connected with Bedford-street Chapel in this borough,
the Rev. John Burder in the chair. The Rev. H. Griffiths
read petitions to both Houses of Parliament on the subject of
grievances. On the motion of the Rev. W. Yates, and seconded
by the Rev. B. Parsons, the petitions were adopted. Mr.
Paine then moved the following resolution :—" That this Meet-
ing has learned with deep regret that Lord John Russell has
not only refused to support a Bill for the liberation of John
Thorogood from prison, and for relieving Dissenters from liabi-
lity to pay Church-rates, but has also uttered in the House of
Commons gratuitous insinuations against the independent cha-
racter of the whole body of the Dissenting Ministers. That
these proceedings on the part of Lord J. Russell are matter of
much regret on many grounds :—First, because the insinua-
tions in question are untrue ; Dissenting Ministers, generally,
being well known to be inferior to no class of Englishmen, either
lay or clerical, in honesty and independence; and this Meeting
feel assured that had Lord John's connexions and prepossessions
allowed him to become better acquainted with Dissenting
Ministers, his opinion of them would have been widely different :
Secondly, because Lord John Russell went altogether out of
his way in instituting a comparison, on such an occasion, be-
tween the ministers of different religious bodies ; it being ob-
vious that if he deemed it expedient to avow his attachment to
the State-Church, the avowal might have been made without
any such invidious comparison : Thirdly, because this Meeting
cannot but entertain the apprehension that the conduct and
language of Lord John Russell, on the evening in question,
will tend to alienate from him not merely numerous individuals
in this borough (which circumstance alone would be of small
importance) but an immense body of Dissenters in every part
of the island ; whereby, it may be feared, the cause of civil and
religious liberty will be damaged, and its enemies made to
rejoice." Mr. J. Partridge seconded the motion, which was
supported by Mr. John Read, and carried. The meeting then
separated.
THE SCOTT INlONumENT.—Operations have
been going on for some days in Prince's-street Gardens, oppo-
site St. David-street, with a view to ascertain whether that
place would afford a proper site for the monument to be erected
to Sir Walter Scott. The experiment, we understand, is not
very favourable. Firm ground has been obtained for the foun-
dation at the depth of 37 feet below the level of Prince's-street;
and, as Mr. Kerrip's magnificent design will require a foundation
of fifty feet square, it may he doubted whether the funds at the
disposal of the committee will allow of so much under-building.
—Edinburgh Courant.