The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-30 00:00:00

THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD.

Theadvisiarents
being
(FROM A COiRIsSPONDENT.)
The Rev. Mr. Snowden, Curate of Charlton, Dover,
has at length entertained an opinion that he should be
justifiable in refusing Christian burial to all Dissenters,
unless they had received Christian baptism at the hands
of clergymen of the English Church. About a fort-
night since, the child of a shoemaker, named Pine,
died, and the parents made the necessary preparatio
for its interment, when the Rev. Mr. Snowden sent
word to say that he should not bury the child, beau's'
it had been baptized at a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.
Mr. Pine, who is a member of the Methodist Society,
immediately sent to the Rev. John Geden, the• Super-
intendent of the Dover Circuit, who wrote to the
Archbishop of Canterbury upon the subjcc`,, laying the
case before him. He has subsequently written a second
letter to the Right Rev. Prelate, but hitherto no *ln-
s wer has been received by either of them.
Committee of
A letter was also dispatched to the Co
Privileges, which has been answered,
. .b
keep the child until an answer has been
the Archbishop, who, they were of ep!olo
coffin, which) was neees-
that it should be instantly interred.
poor, the expense of a metal
body ove ground, has
sarily required for keeping the a el
"gel vumel dd theta
order
rr etmor
been subscribed for, we understand,
members of the Wesleyan body.
ble sensation in the
by some of the
minTdhsisofsutbhjeepeteohpalsecoafas
Dedovccorridera

••-•—•---7---=--- ___
ORIGIN OF SILK FOR DREss•—lt was long
before silk was in general use, eren for patrician garments.
was weight fol.!
It has been supposed that the famous Median vest, invented
en db
who brought silk
by Semiramis, was silken, which might account for its
great fame in the west. Be this as it may, it was so qp-,
army. Under
graceful, that the Modes adopted it after they had 4
g ,w. as sti wered
forbiddent thhee
Greeks
re
er
es
tikaosn
osb
ffeo
Alexander'sl
worn
oowreon.,
their example. in
the time of the Romans the price of silk
weight with gold, and the first persons
iqTnuitb:eerEdi
Tiberius
srAosipti Asia;
said that tbf. Emperor Aurelian even yf men ; and it 'I
requea of his Empress for a silken dre vs-d the earnet
its extravagant cost.-7 he ,r rC2i, on +he plea o:
Countess of Wilton. 4- t ror A eedlavork, by ti.•

*:

tIV ENING EDITION.

ABORIGINES' PROTECTION

SOCIETY.

On Wednesday evening a meeting of the friendaef
the above Society was held in the Rooms of the South-
wark Literary Society, in Bridge-road, far the purpose
of forming an Auxiliary Society.
By seven o'clock the room was well filledSeitilit‘:
Hour B. H AWES, Esq., took the Chair, and lu an ins.•
pressive speech detailed the objects of the S.itiety, in
which be most cordially concurred.
Mr. F. M. INNES, the Secretary to the Society, pro-
posed the first resolution, which was as follows:
" That contemplating the vast extent of theeolonial
dependencies of Great Britain, with the important
amount of influence for good or for evil necesarily
exercised by them over the aboriginal tribes, in or near
those deloendencir s, this meeting rejoices in the exist-
ence of a Society, having for its special object
the protection zad civilization of the aborigines."
And in doing at, he said—l wish, Sir, for once in
my life. I might command that ease and self-possession
by which a speaker is enabled to excite the reluctant
attention, and awaken the slumbering sympathy of a
public meeting. This meeting is called by the Aborigi-
nes' Protection Society. Tile nature and objects of this
Society are not readily apprehended froto its name—
they are the protection and civilization of the native
races of our colonies. It is the boast of Eegland, that
the sun never sets upon her dontinions ; would that
it shined on ons spot where British colooiz ition had not
been identified with injustice, ferocity, er extermination
in reterence to the native races. From a Report pub-
lished by the House of Commons a few years since,
and published by this Society, I take a few ex-
tracts illustrative of the point in ques:ion. In New
South Wales, a colony only fifty years old or
so, whole tribes of the aborigines arc extinct ; in Van
Diemen's Land, while i was in the colony, not one
native was understood to remain ; I have travelled
north to south in the island, but I never heard its
wood re-echo to the wild shout of the once simple,
honest natives. And what is the history of this extir-
mination, and the process through which the same
event is threatened in New South Wales 9 England
appropriated the colonies in question, making no re-
serves for the natives—no compensation. Not only
this; she established on the territories a system of con-
vict management disgracing the science and the humanity
oh the country—which dispersed the nativesin sni ill groups
over the country without any control upon their license.
Wiveless, they appropriated those of the natives ; and
thus induced an indiscrimate warfare, which has dimi-
nished the natives of the first, and led to the transporte-
tion of the last to Yinder's Islam 3, where, under an em-
pirical system of management, wish unwholesome waters:,
and under continual irritation, arising out of their ha-
ni::ticd state, they have been d)ing off—dying off, until
they are now only 70 or 80 from 2,000 in number. But

it has been objected ia the meetings of this Society—
.' Oh I these are inferior races ; it is an crlination of
Provldence that they should give way to the superior."
This ol.j!..ction is as shallow in its philosophy as it is bad
in its moral principle. Even in reference to the lowest
in the ,tale of humanit:s the evidence of a common origin
was, obvious. 1.1, j.ir Mitchell, in his travels through
New Sown Wales, remarks several analogies in the
familiar customs of the comparatively intetiar races
there to those of which we find records in reference
to (Mental tribes in the Sacred Scriptures—their
burning-fires of warning on the top of the mountains;
the "bough of peace,' &o. &c. It is a fine metaphor of
Miiton in his Areowiritica
1. Truth, indeed, cline once into the world with
the Divine INlastxr, and was a perfect slmpe, most
glorious to look on ; but when he ascended, and
izis apostles after hire were laid asleep, then str,:i6lit
c a wicked race cf deceiv2re who, as that story
the Egyptian Typhon with his conspirators, how
they dealt with the God Osiris, took the. virgin Truth,
hewed her lovely form into a thousand pieces, and teat-
tered them to the four winds. From that time ever
since, the gad friervls of Truth, such as durst appear,
imitatiiN the careful search which Isis made for the
inarr.Ced bodv of Osiris, went up and down eathering
up 1.1'.::u by limb, still as they could find them."
To apply this metaphor to the case in point, who
can doubt that if but the careful search which Isis
made for the mangled body of Osiris, if moral evidences
like those referred to were gather° l up limb by limb,

the one origin of the human family, on which all our faith
in the redecinabi!ity of the lowest even in the scale of
humanity must ultimately rest, would be established!
But, Sir, this cause does not rest on the degree of
civiliz,tion which belongs to its objects; it is a cause Of
humanity. We have Seci?ties, and very properly, for
tic prevention of cruelty to animals ; and shall we at
the same time sanction the wholesale ill-treatment and
este:ruination of that noblest animal, man ? I trust
that enoisgh has been said to enforce the cause of the
aborigines of our colonies upon your interest and spas-
Nary ; and I beg to Move the first resolution.
M. BELL seconded the motion, and the resolution
was carried unanimously.
Tne Rev. Mr. BURNETT, in a most eloquent speech,
!therein he most beautifully contrasted the proceedings
of,ll4iatelliolor. en the conquest of these islands, with
those of the - English on taking possession of our
lately acquired colonies, and showed, that so far as jus-
tice and humanity were concerned, the balance was
greatly in favour of the Pagan over theChristiao,moved—
" That this meeting contemplates the past effects of

,colonization, not only as having been derogatory to the
national character, but greatly injurious to the success
of Christian missions, and the progress of &vi:ization
among aboriginal tr;bes."
Mr. Wilma seconded the motion, which was also
luaanimously adopted.
Dr. HODGSKINS said the meeting having so harmo-
niously adopted and approved of the objects of the Parent
Society, and having also determined to form an Auxiliary
'Society in Southwark, he hoped that three or four of the
gentlemen present would form a Committee, and organ-
ize the Society in a proper manner ; and after passing
a high and deserved culogium upon the conduct of the
ilCkairmen, he mood
" That this meeting resolves to give its active,

watchful, and earnest support to the. cause of the Abo-
rigines' l'roeetion Society, and pledges itself to the
formation of an Auxiliary Society."
Mr. YOUNG seconded the motion, which was put and
gassed with acclamation.
Th," Worthy CHAIRMAN returned thanks, and the
Meeting separated.

ALLEGED INCENDIARISM• IN

SEIEERNESS DOCKYARD.

COURT-MARTIAL ON JOHN HENTY.
THIRD DAY.

Sheerness, Thursday, 00. 29.
Tl_! Court resumed its sitting at nine o'clock on board !
Ale 0 ~tn. Admiral Bouverie presided.
Wii.i m D traici Limes, who was examined on Tues-
ilay, re railed, but his evidence was of no importance.
f: ery 1-I)is was celled in, and deposed—l am assist.-
ant maver•shipwright in the dock-yard at Sheerness. I
quested Ihnty to recount to me, officially, on the
Friday evening the circumstances of the fire on board
the Camperdown. He told me the reason why he did
not go out with Inspector Duff was because he had to
1-,s umbrella from the Admiral's cabin, and he
went on to state to me that he saw a fl ish of light as he
c eme down with it, and that he then went into the cock-
pit. I understood him that he came down from the
upper-deck to the middle-deck, but he did not say where
he first saw the flish of light. Heat), told me, in con-
tinuation, that while in the cockpit he heard something
drawn along like a tarpaulin. I visited the cockpit with
}aim, and he informed me, that in throwing the first
bucket of water on the ire, which he stated was very
fierce, he fell down, arid just at that moment he heard
some one, appearing to have nailed shoes, run up the
ladder of the fore hatchway. He then gave the alarm,
and ran down again to put out the fire, which he found
very fierce. Two pieces or two bits of fire struck him
in the face, and he ivas obliged to hold his head back.
1 then asked him what threw him down. He said he
could not tell, he believed it was the bucket rope got
entangled. I looked for the bucket, but could not find
it. 1 asked him where it was. He said in the heat of
the bustle last night it misht have been taken on
shore. I then went with him along the orlop to the
fore-cockpit into the carpenter's storeroom. He pointed
out the place where the combustible substances had
been found the night before, showing me where a lu-
cifcr•match had lain, particularly in front of the reek.
1 examined the deck close to the front of the rack, and
found some dust of resin. He said the fire had burnt
the front of his hat. I looked at his hat, but I could
not perceive anything particular upon it.
On cross-examination, he said, I knew very little of
been attentive, as far as 1
Ilea prior Co this. He bas
have had an opportunity of judging.
Mr. James A tkins examined—•I am master-shipwright
of Sheerness dockyard. After receiving intelligence of
the fire at Devonport, I ordered that the whole of the
ships in the dock, slip and basin, whether they had work-
Tn.2n on board or not, should be examined by the inspec_
tar and carpenter superintending conjointly, and to see
that the lights were put out. They were to examine
them noon end evening when the workmen were done,
and to report to the foreman under whose charge the
slips were p'accd the result of their examination. I am
not aware that I gave any such order to the ships' car-
penter directly. My orders respecting the ships under my
chafe are frequently promulgated through my assistant,
the foremen, and subordinate officers, and in some instances
by myself. I vas with the foremen, Messrs. Banes and
Peake, on the evening of the fire when I heard the
alarm, Mr. Peek:: might have left me a second or two.
.leri t on board the Camperdown with Mr. Banes very
shortly after that. Hearing an alarm of fire, I gave di-
rections that the people were not to go out of the yard
until further orders. Witness here repeated the evi-
dence already
examination givenalreadyi
about the alarm of fire, and the
the general character and on cross-examination said
the general characte
and conduct of the prisoner while
under my observatiorn
very
Nicholas Pearce exwa as good.
. division of Metroporl:itnaenci— I am an Inspector of the
ploy ed sixteen years in Poiice. I have been em-
the detection of
u.richty, the 4th of October, I crime. Oa
examined for the first

time the ship '4; perdown, attended by the prisoner
Henty. He e ,seined to me the particulars of the fire
which happened in that ship on the 2d October. On
the morning of-Sunday, the 4th, I went on board the
Camperdown accompanied by John Henty, Mr. Miller,
the storekeep'er, and others. I requested Henty to take
me to din place from which he fetched his umbrella,
rand he took me tole Admiral's cabin, on the starboard
-side of which he *Misted out the 'place where the um-
brella had been put. 1 said,.., !4 N
, —ow take me through
the ship the same way as you sent on the evening you
discovered the fire." I then went on to the main deck.
Henty said, "It was here, near the .ladder, I heard
the rustling of the tarpaulin." We ascended the ladder
on to the middle deck, when Henty pointed out the
place where he had put his umbrella. It was a shelf, or
what appeared to be a shelf. He then took me to the lower
deck by a ladder, which was a double one. At the top
of the ladder leading down to the lower deck, he said,
" Here I first saw the light through this grating, and
I descended a step or two of the ladder, and saw a flash
as if it was an explosion of gunpowder or something of
that kind ; and when I got down to the orlop deck, I
saw the fire in the midshipmen's berth. I ran to a

water cask that I knew was here—(pointing it out at this

moment to me)—" and took a bucket of water out and
slipp•ad down. I took a second bucket and went to the
midshipmen's cabin to the fire, which was in a blaze, and
threw the water on it. I then ran on deck and called
Fire,' and Police,' and came down the ladder again.
I fourid the fire blazing then as bad as it was when I
first saw it. I took five or six buckets of water and
thre ev it on to put. it out. I asked him how high the
fi true was ;he said it was up to the deck above. He
said, that on the throwing the vessels of water on the fire,
it flaw out and burnt his face, and that the smoke had
such an effect on him that be was obliged to stoop on
the deck ; and he called my attention to a small mark
cn his lip. That was blistered, and he said, " This
must have been by brimstone." No further conversa-
tion nor anything material took place between us at
this time.

Do you mean to say that the berth on that day did
not exhibit an appearance consistent with the descrip-
tion of the fire given by Henty ?—lt did not, there
was no mark on the paint of the bulkhead or partition,
I don't know what you call it, above the locker.
Can you state any other inconsistency ?—lf there had
been such a fire as that described by Hem, would
hive been perceivable, it would have taken effect on the
paint. I should say the paint would have blistered, or
have been discoloured, not only by the fire, but by the
smoke against the deck
Have you been accustomed to view the effects of fire
on panned:jog and wood work in your duty as a police-
censtable P—l night have been celled upon to do so,
but I do not recollect any particular instance.
I have noticed the appearances after a fire has
been extinguished. I made some experiments as
to the effects of a fire in a locker in the presence
of Lieutenant iVise. I took a locker, and with about
a quarter part, or not so much of a broom, and placed
Ca: same in one end of the locker, and set fire to
it, and it was instantly in a blaze. The blaze as-
cended nearly too feet above and out of the top of the
locker. It burned about two minutes and a half, or
rether more. All the broom placed in the bin was on
fire, and after burning the time mentioned I requested
a little water to be thrown on it, and it was done.
The smaller pens of the broom were burnt and charred,
as was aLo the locker at the top and sides, but I
s'neuld say not quite so much as the locker taken from
the Camperdo.s'n. The ashes were not burnt there as
the ashes in the bin of the Camperdown. I searched
the prisoner's house on Sunday, the 4th of October.
I found pia of a box of a lueifer matches, two pieces
of resin, and also some common house matches tipped
with brimstone. Oa finding the matches I asked
..What do you use generally F' to the prisoner's wife,
in his presence. She said " Lucifers," and came to the
place is here I stood. The matches were then on a shelf
in the cupboard. I took them in my hand, and said,
" Where did you buy them ?'' She answered," Just up
here—l don't know the name—at the druggist's shop."
I asked, " When did you buy them ?" Her answer
was, "On Thursday last." The matches were in •
two old bottoms of match boxes. I asked for the new
box, or the top corresponding to either of the bottoms.
She said, " I don't know ; sometimes we take out some
of the matches, and put them in an old box. The two
bottoms contained thirty-nine matches. I took away
the matches and the resin, which Henty said he had
had by him for some time. One piece of the resin was on
a shelf in the cupboard, and the other in a box under
the table. I have compared the resin and matches I found
there with those alleged to hove been discovered in the
Camperdown ; the resin appeared to have been of the
same quality, and the matches were of the same quality
and description. The resin found on board the Camper-
down shown to me was pounded up, it was fined, and
broke off a bit of what I found at Henty's house, and
compared them together; the colour appeared to be the
same ; there was also a bit, which I was informed be-
longed to the dock-yard, which was of a different colour,
or, I should say, there was a difference in the colour.
The lucifer matches corresponded in length and by the
dippings, the ends being 30 very blue. I have pro-
cured other matches to compare with those found in the
ship, and they appeared to be of the same description, I
corresponding in length and colour, the ends being
blue, and very smooth. I purchased matches at one
shop only. On the 4th instant, I inspected the birch
and other articles found in the locker of the Camper-
down. The locker was shown to me at the Captain
Superintendent's office. I saw a part of a broom in the
locker, mixed up, apparently, as if it had been shaken
up together. I took it, and was some time placing it
together so as to bring it as nearly as possible to the
state it was in when it formed a broom. I discovered
that the small end of the broom only was scorched, and
that slightly. The broom must have been in the same
state when it caught fire, as there was no other part but
the tips at the small end of the broom at all burnt. I
took out the wood ashes at the bottom of the locker,
and found that it was burnt through in the large end. I
should say it must have burnt four minutes to be in that
state. I have compared the lucifers found at Henty's
house with others, besides those I bought and those
found in the Camperdown, and find they all appear to
be similar. I examined the hat and clothes worn by
the prisoner. The hat appeared to be burnt or singed.
I saw nothing particular about the clothes. The front
part of the hat was slightly singed.
Crosssexamined—You spoke of blisters produced on
paint by the burning of houses, would not the heat be
very great which caused that. 2—Yes ; but then it would
depend a good deal on the distance of the fire from the
paint. Heat without flame will blister paint.
Could a blister be produced by a slight heat ?—lt
depends on the distance. Ido not know what amount
of heat will blister paint. 1 should say it would not
take much heat.
Have you ever tzied an experiment on this point?—
No, not on paint.
Would not the fire, in this case, be much confined
by the thickness of the locker?—The top of the locker
was off, so that a fire would rise towards the deck.
Would not the cover in the back of the locker, which
projects from the bulkhead, divert the flame in a consi-
derable degree from the bulkhead 2—Yes, as the fire
was in the end of the locker.
If there were a draft of air from the after-part of
the ship between the two doors of the midshipmen's
berth, would not that also tend to carry away the flame
from the bulkhead ?—No.' It might have some effect,
but I do not think it would carry it away.
Will not resin on being burnt cast a flash like gun-
powder, more especially in a powdered state?—l never
tried the experiment, but I should think it would pro-
duce a flash.
Have you ever seen any other resin of the same
quality as th tt found at Henty's house and in the Cam-
perdown ; what was produced at the Captain-
Superintendent's office, on the 4th inst., was stated to
have been resin from the yard.
Have you inquired in Sheerness whether there are not
other qualities of resin, or whether you could buy more
of the same quality ?—No.
Do you not know that matches such as those found
arc of a very common description ?—I do nut think
they are the common description of matches. Ido not
recollect any person having said so, or having any per-
son's opinion upon them.
Have you endeavoured to ascertain whether other
similar matches were to be bought commonly ?—I have
net.

Why did you not make more extensive inquiry
The whole of my time was devoted to the investigation
into the case while I was here, and at that time I
thought 1 had made every inquiry necessary.
Did youkot think it your duty to make such in-
quiries before you swore that theywere peculiar matches ?
—I saw the matches compared with others at the Cap-
tain-Superintendent's office on October 4, and they
differed. I have also been in the habit of using matches,
and I do not recollect ever using any of the kind.
Do you think it was a part of your duty to cross-
question the wife of the prisoner on the subject of the
matches you found in his house ?—She answered the
question without its being intended for her. It was not
Put to her, that is, the first question ; but the rest I
thought consistent with my duty.
, Have you not sworn that you asked her where she
bought the matches, and what matches she used ?—I
asked her " Where did you buy the matches?" That
vvas_,_ny question, I think, but that was not the first.
of NraVabtacti:sasdtoheyofiurstuqscue?s„tiaosn ?rhladsabiedio:e‘ NsVelelantskoti
COMmon
dipped
int thatchea
Do you not her evidence could not be re-
ceivedid angoatinHstaohteyr
afford
danydou assistance w
?
everylres 'when
searched his house?-1 persuaded him three oe r fouryou
times to sit down ; he would not, but kept constantly
following me at my side. He objected to nothing I did.
Did he net point out matters which you had missed ?
—I think not.

ir J. Hill ?—Not that Henty pointed out.
Did you not swear so at the examination of the pri'
asonnyetirlinb
to my koowledgc.
Arc you now prepared to swear that it was not down
gefotoremSe,
the after-ladder that the prisoner said be Went from the