The Sun.
London, England, 1823-06-11 00:00:00

HOP INTELLIGENCE.

SOUTHWARK, JUNE 9.—We have had a quick sale for
Hops to.day„ occasioned by the letters from the Plantations,
stating the fly to have increased very much, and the appearance
of some Kentish Gentlemen on our market as purchasers.
IllarnsToxE, JUNE 9.—From a survey of the Hop-grounds
in this neighbourhood, we find that by far the greater proportion
are dreadfully affected by the fly, many of the leaves having
from 70 to 100 on them. A small leaf gathered on Sunday
evening from a ground at Boxley, had on it the almost
incredible number of 129 of these insects. Another leaf, pluck-
ed on Saturday, at Yalding, we hear, had on it 131. We re-
cord these circumstances, from a belief that the plantations
were never before remembered to have been so much infested
with this insect as they are at present. The fly being a sure
forerunner of lice, a species of vermin most destructive to the
plant, and the bine being in a very backward and uneven state,
there is hut little prospect of having any thing like a tolerable
crop. But few bets are now offered in favour of 100,0001.

(From the Kentish Gazette, 'luxe 10.)
We lay before oar readers this day the following official let-
ter on the postponement of the payment of the Hop Duty, ad-
dressed to Sir EDIVARD KNATCIIBULL, Bart. M.P. by J. C.
lIERRIES, Esq. one of the Secretaries to the Treasury, in
which the views of the Lords of the Treasury are more fully ex-
plained regarding the cultivation of Hops :
Treater!' Chambers, ,larre b, 1823.
Sut,—The Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury.,
having had under their consideration the Memorials transmit-
ted by you to this Board, from persons concerned in the growth
of hops, representing the extreme distress of the cultivators of
that article, and applying for reliefby a total or partial remission
of the duty upon it. I am commanded by their Lordships to
acquaint you, that after bestowing the most careful attention
upon the representations contained in those memorials, and
upon much other information upon the same subject, derived
from the most respectable and authentic sources, they are
under the necessity of repeating (and upon the same grounds)
what has already been communicated to many of the same par-
ties in answer to former applications, viz. that they- do not
feel themselves warranted by any just view either of the in-
terests of the public, or even of those of the parties themselves,
in recommending to Parliament to repeal or to diminish the
existing duties upon hops. Their Lordships are, however,
deeply impressed with a conviction of the extreme distress of
several of the districts from which those'applications proceed,
additional proofs of which have recently been laid before them,
and they are desirous of extending such relief to the pressing
difficulties of the memorialists, as may not be calcUlatesd to en-
courage them in that over cultivation of the article, which
would inevitably lead to a renewal of their present embarrass-
ment at some future and not distant period. Such they are
' confidently of opinion would be the only consequence of a per-
manent remission of the duty, or of a suspension of it for se-
veral years; but being satisfied by the general result of all
the accounts which they have received, as to the nature and
extent of the present distess, that a suspension of the duty for
one year only, would not be a sufficient inducement to those
who have engaged in the cultivation of hops on lands unsuited
to the purpose (and who are now the persons most affected by
the general depression in the price of the article) to continue
or to renew a species of cultivation which has proved so ruin.
ous to them. They conceive that in this case of extreme and
peculiar hardship, it would be advisable to meet the prayer of
the petitioners by a relief to that extent. They have therefore
determined to grant that indulgence by postponing the collec-
tion of the duty now due upon the growth of the year 18'22,
until the period when in regular course the duty upon the
growth of 1823 will become payable, viz. in April, 1824, be.
fore which time they will be enabled to submit to Parliament
some measures for empowering their Lordships to relieve the
Planter from the duty chargeable upon the growth of the year
1823. Their Lordships prefer this mode to a simple semis.
sion of the duty on the produce of 1822 now in charge, be.
cause they are given to understand, that a considerable portion
of that produce has already been sold by the grower, and
purchased by the consumer upon the presumption, that the
duty was to be paid upon it, and that any general remis-
sion would therefore operate unequally upon the parties, ac.
cording as they may have disposed of their produce or not.—
I am to observe, that in conceding this relief in a case of dis-
tress (which appears to their Lordships to call for it in so pecu-
liar a degree) they feel that they cannot too strongly guard
themselves against the possibility. of its being drawn into apse-
eedent ; and they, therefore, desire to be distinctly understood
as consenting to this suspension, together with the further mea-
sure of relief contemplated by them, upon the sole ground of
the extreme and pressing distress of the parties, and the utter
inability of a large praisortion of them to pay the duty, if it were
to be insisted upon.--I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
J. C. HERRIES.
Sir Edward Knatchbol, Bart. M.P., &c. &c. &c.

Jt D'EsPurr.—The. Duke of Luxembourg
had a deformed figure ; and William 111. whose constant an-
tagonist he was, once said, with some impatience, What !
shall I never beat this hump-hacked fellow ? This speech be-
lug reported to the Duke, How should he know,' said he,
4 the Shape of my back ? lam sure he never saw me turn it to
him.'

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JuxE 10.
THE ICING V. T. POWELL, ESQ.
Mr. Cer4PßELirnoved for a rule calling on Mr. Powell, a
Magistrate for the county of Hereford, to show cause way a
criminal information should riot be exhibited against him.
Although this Gentleman acted as a Magistrate the offence
now imputed to him did not arise from the discharge of any
of his official functions, or his name would have been suppress-
ed on the present occasion. The application was made at tbe
instance of the Rev. Dr. Venables, who acted as a Magistrate
for Herefordshire, and for several adjoining counties. Many
complaints had recently been made against the drivers of stage-
coaches in that part of the country for furious driving, and
the Magistrates accordingly determined to put in force the
recent Act of Parliament which gives a summary punishment
for such offences, and after the last Epiphany Sessions advertised
such intention in the Hereford Journal. Soon after this, as
Dr. Venables was travelling on the road, between Hereford and
Worcester, he saw the Eclipse coach attempting to pass the
Camden, and making several desperate efforts for that purpose,
which did not succeed. At length, as the Camden was stopping
at the top of Malvern-hill, for the purpose of locking the wheel,
the coachman of the Eclipse drove violently against it with his
wheel unlocked, and struck off one of the wheels. Upon this
Dr. Venables, thinking the case one in which an example might
fitly be made, summoned the coachman before him, and on
a full hearing of all the circumstances, convicted him in the
penalty of 191. The party so convicted appealed to the Sessions;
and while this appeal was pending, a letter appeared in the
Hereford Journal tending to prejudice the case in favour of the
defendant. On' the 16th of April a second letter appeared
signed " An Inhabitant of Hay" (the place where the coach-
man resided), impugning the motives and the conduct of Dr.
Venables, expressing the sympathy of the inhabitants with the
proprietor of the coach, and stating their intention of defraying
the costs of the appeal. On the 23d of the same month ano-
ther letter appeared in the same newspaper of a still more li-
bellous descnption, but which it was not necessary to quote, as
it -was not brought home to Mr. Powell. In consequence.
oft ° these attacks, Dr. Venables called• on the Editor of the
Journal, who showed .him the manuscript of the letter
which appeared on the 16th of April, and which he found
to be in the hand-writing of Mr. Powell. Dr. Venables
then wrote to Mr. Powell, to inquire whether he was really
the author of the letter, to which he sent an answer, deny-
ing that he had affixed the signature to the letter, but ex.
pressing his disapprobation of the proceeding of Dr. Venables, to
which it alluded. Regarding this as a mere evasion. Dr.Venables
demanded a more explicit answer, when Mr. Powell admitted
that the body of the letter was in his handwriting, but denied
that he was its author. To explain the animosity which induCed
the defendant to adopt this line of conduct, the Learned Coun-
sel referred to some previous letters, in which Mr. Powell spoke
of.the prosecutor in abusive, terms; and further stated that his
client had found, on inquiry, that the whole statement respect.
ing the subscription was untrue. Dr. Venables swore, in posi-
tive terms, that in the transaction which was the subject of the
letters, he had been actuated by none but pure and conscientious
motives, which entitled him to the protection of the Court from
the abuse of those who were influenced by private malice.—The
COURT grinted A rule to shew cause.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

A GRAVE OFF.ENCE,-ATTEMPT TO BURY A

_ _
'SEXTON ALIVE.
BCM-STREET.—Tuesday Wm. Thompson, John Hick:,
and John Wells, were brought before Sir R. Binxis, the
presiding Magistrate. charged with making and causing a riot
and disturbance, at the parish church-yard of Chiswick, dur-
ing the interment of the body of a man named Ifasker,
ville,. on Sunday evening last. The funeral cavalcade had
only just set out, when it was whispered by one of the
mourners that he had just learnt that an offer of two guineas
had been made to the widow if she consented to give up the
body of her husband 'without burying it, as the trouble and
risk of extracting it from the ground would then be done away
with, but if she refused; it was determined that it should be
taken up, and that the Sexton had consented to connive in the
business, and was at the time actually drinking with part of
the money he had received for this breach of his duty. Enraged
at this intelligence, the party proceeded to the Church-yard, the
corpse was lowered into the grave, gin was produced, and each
of doe mourners drank the dead man's health, and then poured
some of the liquor on the lid of the coffin, the sexton unfortu-
natelyt liew mourners
as
alr
already
at this insnt mane to the grave he was directly seizea
to fill in ; theyivelbyurtaceuetpled'to
whenn
unfortunate usirtee o
sextonf
and thrown in,u
his knees, when a party of constables arrived, and by help
of ropes again brought him into the land of the living. The
three defendants, who were noticed to be particularly active
in the affray, were then taken into custody and secured in the
watch-house. They urged nothing in their defence, and were
all ordered to find hail.

SINGUL %it DEATH CAUSED BY A SHEEP.---.
About nine o'clock on Sunday morning, as a
poor man, named James Sinden, was coming
towards Ashford from Hythe, when within
a short distance of the former place, "i)e
met a. hock of sheep, pursued by a boy,
who hallooed out to him to stop the ani-
mals, which he attempted to do, when one
of them, in trying to pass him by a leap, struck
him a violent blow on the forehead, which
knocked him down, and caused his death almost
instantaneously. The body of the poor fellow
was conveyed to Ashford, where it awaits a Cot.
roner's Inquest. He was 27 years of age, and
we regret to say has left a wife and three small
children to laMent his melancholy death.

.
COURSE OF EXCHANGE, June 10. •
Amstet dam . IV 9 C.F.
Ditto, at Sight l2 7
.
Rotterdam 'PI 10 ,
Antwerp . 12 9
Haniburgh 3B 2 94 Us
Altona
Paris,3 Day's sigut
Ditto
linureleaux, ditto
Frank forton the Main
Madrid
Cadiz ''',
.
Bilboa 3 Effective
Barcelona

, .
.
'
Seville
Gibraltat
Leghorn
Get,ua ..........43 -Venice, Ital. Lir 2B 10
Malta 45 -Naples 304
Palermo
Lisbon
Oporto ' 515
.
Rio Janeiro , . 47
Dublin .... 95 Cork 95 pet Cent.