The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-04 00:00:00

THE STATE PRISONERS.

ARRIVAL OF THEIR REPRIEVE-DE-
PARTURE FOR THE HULKS.

MONMOUTH, MONDAY.
Immediately on the arrival of the mail here yester-
day the town was thrown into the greatest state of ex-
citement, in consequence of military expresses (Lance►s)
being dispatched to the High Sheriff at Usk, and
Colonel Considine, at Newport. It was at first sup-
posed that the Chartists were coming down from the
hills, under the impression that their chiefs would be
executed, and which they would, if possible, prevent.
A thousand other wild rumours were speedily circu-
lated. All doubts are now removed. Superintendent
May arrived here yesterday, bearing a reprieve, as also
an order for the immediate removal of the state pri-
soners to the hulks, whence they will be transported for
life. Arrangements were immediately male to put
into execution the latter order. The Lancers, under
the command of Lieutenant Bernard, were mounted at
the Bell Inn-yard, at lit o'clock p.m. About 40 minutes
before one, p.m., this morning, the prisoners were roused
from their beds, and informed, for the first time, of
their fate. They were then supplied with refreshments.
Shortly before one o'clock, the prison van, under an
escort of Lancers, was drawn up to the gaol entrance,
the prisoners' beds, fay niture, &c., were placed in it,
after which the prisoners themselves, hand-bolted, en-
tered the van, followed by the Governor of the gaol,
Superintendent May, and the body of the London Po-
lice who were on duty during the Special Commission.
The Governor had a letter from the Home-office, which
he was not to open until he had gone some distance.
He appeared ignorant of the destiny of his prisoners,
which is now no longer a secret.

The only person present when the prisoners were
brought to the van were Mr. Owen, their solicitor ;
Mr. Whiting, of the Beaufort Arms ; and two officers
of the Rifles. As soon as the van was secured it was
surrounded by the Lancers, and pursued a rapid course
towards Chepstow, where a vessel awaits their arrival
to convey them to Bristol, where also a special steamer
will receive and carry the prisoners to the hulks, lying
at Portsmouth.

The five other state prisoners will be confined in this
gaol for three years, and then discharged.
(ANOTHER ACCOUNT.—FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
MONMOUTH, FEB. 3, 1840.—At one o'clock on Sun-
day night, or rather on Monday morning, Frost, Wil-
liams, and Jones, went off in a van for Chepstow, drawn
by four horses, and escorted by a troop of the 12th
Lancers. They arrived at Chepstow at 4in the morn-
ing, the night being dark and tempestuous, the rain
falling in torrents. Chepstow is 16 miles from this
place, on the Wye river.
At six o'clock this morning the three prisoners went
down the river in the Usk steamer, for the purpose of
going round the Land's End to Portsmouth, thence to
be transported.

I went to see the three prisoners in the parlour of the
gaol here at half-past twelve on Sunday night. They
were seated round a table, with some toast and corned
beef. Mr. Frost looked much dejected.
At ten o'clock this morning the Lancers returned
here, having trotted thirty-two miles going and coming.
There was not a single Magistrate, Sheriff, or Mayor
to see the prisoners before they left. The only persons
present being a Bow-street officer, who came down yes-
terday, the gaoler, turnkey, Major Cooke (commman-
dant), the officer of the steam-packet, and the officer
commanding the Lancers.

Only fancy the astonishment of all the Magistrates
in the neighbourhood and the other official authorities,
on hearing that the prisoners had been carried off in the
middle of the night, and before daylight running into the
Bristol Channel.

TYRANNY OF TILE DOMINANT SECT.-Mr.
John Thorogood is still in Chelmsford gaol—a damp building
by the river side—where he has been confined no less than
TWELVE MONTHS AND TWO WEEKS for non-payment of a
Church-rate of ss. 6d.—We understand that petitions from
several congregations in this town will be sent to Parliament
praying for his liberty. Hand-in-hand with this movement
ought to be a subscription for the wife, and the aged father
and mother of the martyr for conscience-sake.—Manchester
Times.

We regret to learn that Mr. John Hughes, the
secretary for twenty years of the Drury-lane Theatrical Fund,
died on Thursday night at his house in Tavistock-row. He
was indisposed for the last two months. The deceased was
twenty-six years connected with Drury-lane Theatre.
Both parties in Spain, the Moderados and Exal-
tados, claim the majority on the recent elections.

Ouvrard, the celebrated French financier, was
in Madrid towards the close of last month—it was said, about
to sound the monied interests there (will it be credited?) on
the subject of a loan for Don Carlos !

The Shah of Persia, according to the latest ad-
vices, was assembling another army to renew his attack upon
Herat. The Shah is said to have declared his determination
to exterminate " those manufacturers of knives," a name by
which he is pleased to designate the English.
The Spanish War Minister is stated in some of
the letters from that capital to have resigned, and it is added
that Villabois has been made a Teniente General, to induce him
to accept the vacant office of Narvaez, ad interim.
General Sebastiani, it is said, will leave London
during the present week for Paris. Baron Bourqueney, his tem-
porary successor, has arrived in town, and will, under these cir-
cumstances, we suppose, be the representative of his Royal mas-
ter, Louis Philippe, at the approaching marriage of Queen Vic-
tot ia. The London Embassy is intended for M. Guizot ; this
movement is stated to be preparatory to the introduction of M.
Thiers into the French Cabinet.

The Blackburn Tories are about to start Mr•
Joseph Fielden, of Witton, the nephew of the present Member,
to contest the representation of that place, in conjunction with
his uncle, in order to oust Mr. Turner, the Liberal.

A meeting has been Field at Andover for the es-
tablishment of a Mechanics' Institute.

Mr. Macleod, M.P., intends, it is said, retiring
from the representation of the Inverness burghs, is which event,
it is stated, that Mr. Morrison, formerly Member for Ipswich,
will come forward, and will obtain the support of the -Liberal
party.

•
PETITION FOR THE TOTAL REPEAL OF THg
CORN- LA WS. —The Manchester borough petition for the total
and immediate repeal of the Corn-laws, which is now corn-
pleted, bears 56,555 signatures. An Address of the females ,of
Manchester to the Queen, praying for repeal, is in preparation,
and will shortly be ready for signature.;
THE OPERATIVES AND THE CORN-LAWS'
—The working-men have seriously taken the field against the
Corn-laws. The Chartists are corning over to the Radicals of
the middle and operative classes, and uniting with them in their
holy efforts towards bread tax emancipation.
THE BISHOP OF EXETER'S PROPAGATION
OF SOCIALISM.—We understand that the effects of the Bishq
of Exeter's attack on the Socialists in the House of Lords, 15
already becoming apparent in the increased demand for copies
of the New Moral World, the organ of the Socialists. Of a°
great importance do the Socialists conceive the speech of the
Bishop, and the debate which followed it, that we have been
informed, they are actually about to throw off an immense num-
ber of copies for gratuitous circulation throughout the length
and breadth of the empire. —Leeds Times.
It is impcssihle to shut one's eyes to the great
moral revolution now in course of being effected throughout the
southern parts of Ireland, through the agency of the Rev. Thee'
bald Mathew. It is stated that nearly a million of individual'
have taken the Temperance pledge at his hands, and that a case
of relapse is rarely, if ever, met with.
VESSEL SUNK.—On Thursday night, about
eleven o'clock, another disaster connected with the late boisterous
weather occurred in the river Ouse, near Naburn Lock. I‘
heavy squall of wind caught the vessel belonging to Mr. Wilber'
force of York, which was laden with coals, and she immediately
capsized. The great flood had been partly the cause. Th°
crew escaped without injury.—Doncaster Gazette.
The Bishop of Worcester has conferred the
incumbency of Christ Church, Birmingham, with the l,re-
bendal stall of Lichfield annexed, on the Rev. George Lea'
M. A., formerly Curate of Wolverley, and now of St. Clement's,
Worcester.

The Duke of Buccleuch will commence his din'
ner parties, at Montagu House, to-morrow.