The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-27 00:00:00

[Some diseu3Aion ensued for which we cannot find
room.—ED. Sun.]

CITY of LONDON REGISTRATION.
On Saturday a decision was made in this Court before
F. Bayley, Esq.. which will have the effect of increasing
the constituency of the City in the liveries to the amount
of 700 or 800. The particulars of the case are as fol-
low :—By the 32d section of the Reform Act
it is provided, that no person who shall have been elected,
made, or admitted a burgess or freeman since the Ist
of March, 1831, otherwise than by birth or servitude,
shall be entitled to vote in any election, unless that right
be derived from some person who was entitled to vote as
a burgess or freeman previous to the Ist of March 1831
or through some person who shall become a burgess of
freeman in respect of servitude. The 33d section of the
Refbrm Act appears to have a reservation for those who
may purchase into liveries, as it uses the words free-
men and liverymen," relative to those who may have the
right of voting in cities or boroughs. A Mr. Baggally,
of Camberwell and Lincoln's Inn, purchased into the livery
of the Merchent Tailors' Company, and claimed to be
placed on the registry last Tuesday, and urged his
claim with much • cogency before Mr. Bayley. The
authorities in that Court were all against him up to
this registration, but the Learned Barrister,. in giv-
ing judgment yesterday, affirmed the right. The
question he had to decide was, whether the first
proviso of the 32d section applies to freemen and
liverymen, or was it confined in its operation to persons
entitled to vote as burgesses or freemen only. His de-
cision proceeded on the legal principle, that disfran-
chising clauses must be construed strictly, without re-
ference to the intentips 'ef
;the framers of a law. In
" Fludyer and Lombe Rep." tempore., Lord Hardwicke,
307, cited also by Mr. Elliott, p. 146, Lord Hardwicke,
speaking of the statute 11 Geo. 1., c. 18, which was
made to define who were entitled to vote as householders
within the City of London, he observed, it had been
rightly said that this being a law to take away people's
franchises, should be construed strictly, and that men
were not to be excluded from voting unless they were
excluded by the plain words and pennings of the statute.
A question then arose, was there sufficient doubt reason-
ably entertained of the intention of the Legislature in
reference to the liverymen ? He thought there was ;
and, further, that the proviso did not apply to freemen
and liverymen, but may be fairly construed to apply to
persons only who, but for the proviso, would have been
entitled to vote. He considered the Legislature had
words sufficiently expressive to convey their meaning, if
they intended to disfranchise all those who purchased
their livery since March, 1831. He therefore admitted
the name of Mr. Baggally to the registry.
This decision, in a political light, will cut both ways.
It is difficult to say whether it will enfranchise a greater
number of Tories or Reformers ; but it is the first deci-
sion since the Reform Bill which has registered pur-
chased liverymen.

AYR JUSTICIARY COURT, SEPT. 21.
The Autumn Circuit was opened here yesterday, by the
Lord Justice Clerk and Lord Mackenzie.
John M'Culloch, ploughman, Wheatpark, parish of
St. Evox, was charged with culpable homicide ; having,
on the 14th of July last, recklessly thrown a dog into a
coalpit, situated on the farm of Wheatpark, by which • a
person of the name of David Steel, who was corning up
the pit at the time in a bucke, was precipitated to the
bottom, and killed upon the spot.
The prisoner pled not guilty.
Robert Harvey, bank man, deposed that on the 14th
of July last, the prisoner came to the pit for coals, which
were _ refused, because •he had neither money nor his
master's line for the same. He had a dog along with
him. Pannell, after talking awhile, said he would give
any man a gill of whisky that would kill the dog. Wit-
ness answered, in jest, that the best way that he knew to
kill the dog was to throw him down the pit. 111‘Culloch
immediately caught the dog by the tail, and threw it into
the pit. He heard a cry come up the pit before the tub,
! which contained one man and two boys, reached the top.
David Boyd, the oversman was in the tub, and some
words passed between him and the pannel, at the pit-
head, which witness did not hear. About twenty minutes
afterwards the dead body of Steele was brought up. It
was quite a common thing fur workmen in the pit to
come up at all hours of the day.
John 111. Cal hillsman, was next interrogated, and corro-
borated the testimony of the preceding witness regarding
the prisoner's coming to the pit for coals, and the sug-
gestion that led him to commit the rash act, which, he
averred, took place about mid-day. No remark was
made when the dog was thrown down ; but he heard
two squeels come up the pit a few moments thereafter.
The dog did not strike any part of the railing, but went
straight down. When the tub came up the pit the overs-
man who was in it, said a man was knocked down. At
the moment the act was committed, pannel came to
witness, and caught him by the shoulder, while tears
were running down his cheeks ; but he said nothing
whatever. Pannel never said that the dog had escaped
out of his hands. Witness knew there were men coming
up in the bucket at the time by the signal. The dog
was about forty or fifty pounds weight. Witness did not
think that the prisoner intended to throw the animal
down the pit.
David Boyd, the oversman, then deposed that he, the
deceased, and two boys, were coining up the pit at the
time alluded to—two holding on by one side of the chain
and two by the other. He did not know what it was
that struck Steel and knocked him out till he came to the
top. The dog fell into the tub, and was brought up along
with them. The tub was about 12 fathoms from the top,
and about 36 from the bottom—the pit being about 453-
fathoms deep. Steel's son was in the tub at the time.
He gave two cries when his father went away from him.
The tub was about four feet in length, and nearly twenty-
four inches in height. The thing fell straight on the
man's head ; and witness drew Steel's boy to him, nd
said, " hold your tongue my wee man, your father's
gone sure enough." M'Culloch, several times after wit-
ness got to the top, came to him, and wished him to go
down and get the corpse •, but never mentioned that the
dog escaped from his hands.
John Stephenson and 1). Campbell, Esq., Mounthamil-
ton, were then examined in exculpation, who stated that
the prisoner, during the time he was in their employment,
was of a mild disposition, good to his horses, and a most
inestimable servant.

The Jury retired to consider their verdict, and re-
turned, after the lapse of some
.time, finding the prisoner
guilty as libelled, but recommending him to the leniency
of the Court.

The LORD JUSTICE CLERK, after alluding to the rash-
ness and culpability of the act which he had committed,
sentenced the pannel to three months' imprisonment.

THE SLAVE TRADE.-EXTRA-

ORDINARY EXPOSURES.

The following is a copy the petition presented to the
House of Lords on Monday night by Lord Brougham:—
"TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORDS
„7-)!RITUAL AND TEMPORAL cmri
ut\„:"Ell KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN
--‘
ND' IN PARLIAMENT ASSEM •
AND IRLLs
c the Committee of the Bri-
" 'rite Peitlpn b. Society.
tish and paitigti -ers sincerely
" Shutteth-‘-.Thati whilst "tpir• rot, 'ls been
rejoice ft* flit that the Aftlean slave trade,_
declared piracy V Oki t/r Otis country,
that the law of the land tiOtitmes- eury British
subject directly or indirectly engaged therein as a
fekm, and subjects him on conviction to the ignir.
Inin;.ous punishment of a felon, they deeply lament
n and
y
that not a few of their opulent countrymen,oocu-
pying influential positions in ety
in her M soci a maar nufactur-
ers and merchants, as officers ajes sty's
navy, and as civil functionaries, are well known to have
been guilty of this flagrant crime, either personally 'or
by their agents, unawed by the fear of God or of
man,
and that they still persist in the same, unaffected by
cruel sufferings and degradation they inflict on humanity,the
and uninfluenced by the requirements and denuneiat
ions
tmitionn(e)rrsdii‘Yionieild the attention of
of
,l,alw:irawt•heytohnerr human
your Right Hon. House to the fact, that there have been
formed, at different periods during the last fifteen years,
various Mining Companies in this country, with large
capitals at their disposal,
who carry on their operations
in the empire of Brazil, or in the Spanish island of Cuba;
ctiiir:atsea theirby t
Izienaegseiaitt•seolfvothtseedcpanics; that the Itveater
principally by slaves pur-
p4.4l, if not the whole, of these victims of oppression have

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from us ; in the other, the sharper. Now, if one of the
lawmakers had detected the sharper picking his
pocket, he would have lifted up his eyes to heaven in
pious abhorrence, wondering how be could be such a
villain, and would have had him committed to bridewell.
Yet how aptly might the sharper plead 1 He could
say, " I wanted more money. lam too idle to work :
to rob is easier. But, alas ! lam not a lawmaker ! had
beets sat I could have robbed respectably; I could have
passed a Rhin* to enrich myself, and with the proceeds
have built churches utid prisons for the benefit of those
who rob by the ignoble industry of their hands instead of
by the invisible and ingenious machinery of a Corn-law."
That which on the small scale is called cheating, on the
large scale is designated statesmanship. " One murder
makes a villain ; millions a hero." These laws, being
unjust, must be maintained by physical force. A just
and equitable law requires no forest of bristling bayonets
to enforce,it. As a commercial people, we have too
strong an interest in the security of property to oppose
any laws which guarantee the welfare of society. • It is
even doubtful whether force alone would be effectual in
maintaining such enactments were their whole iniquity
apparent. If the bread of ivhich we are defrauded were
openly taken from off our tables, the villainy would be
so palpable and insufferable that no Government would
dare to attempt it. But the assistance of fraud is called
into effect that which brute force alone dare not attempt;
and a portion of our bread is taken from us by fraudn-
lently raising its price, and thereby diminishing the
quantity which we can buy for a given amount of labour.
We have the best authority for saying that the Corn-
laws impose an amount of taxation more than equal to
the whole expense of Government ; and this, not tor any
general purpose, but for the exclusive benefit of the law
making class. .But this enormous injustice is not the
worst. By the unequal operation of indirect taxation,
this burden is made to press heaviest where it can least
easily he borne. Rich and poor alike are bread-eaters ;
but the poor man who spends. ss. a week in bread out
of a weekly income of 10s., pays 25., or 10 per cent.
income tax ; while the aristocrat, with an income of
200,000/. per annum, or 40CI per week, pays only 25.,
or less than three farthings per cent. upon his income.
Now, his fair proportion ought to be 40/. per week, or
20,0001. a-year, to the robbery chest ; indeed, as he can
afford to pay in higher proportion, he should be charged
more than this, especially as he probably will receive
part back again in the form of increased rent, while the
poor artisan receives nothing back ; on the contrary, by
diminishing trade, his wages are lowered and his income
diminished, as well as his expenditure increased.—Anli-
Becad-tax Circular.