The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-18 00:00:00

THE YIELDING OF MINISTERS.

(From the Examiner.)

" Captains are casual things."—Beaumont and Fletcher.
In the Coercive Bill, as passed through the
House of Peers, we see the tyranny which the Mi-
nistry designed and the Lords approved. In that
document we have damning evidence of intention.
Whatever alterations may be made in the Commons
will be forced upon Ministers, and show how far
their despotic purposes have exceeded their powers
—how far they had cast their plan for the invasion
of liberty beyond the subserviency of their majority.
They would have carried the measure with all its
enormities, but their supporters durst riot commit
themselves to such an outrage against public opi-
nion. Hence modifications ; hence Lord Althorp's
statement on Wednesday, that
" In consequence of the representations to Ministers, by
those who were generally disposed to support the Bill, it
had been determined to mak.- two alterations. The first
related to courtsmartial. Ministers were ready to pro-
vide that no p...rson should be net mitted to sit upon a court-
martial under the rank of captain in the army. They
were also prepared to concede that, when the number of
members of a courtmartial should not exceed five,,the ver-
dict must be unanimous; when the number should not
exceed seven, at least five must concur in the decision;
and when it exceeded Rev- n, seven members must agree
before punishment could be inflicted. The second altera-
tion related to domiciliary visits, regarding which Minis-
ters were ready to mike a change in the Bill, and to pro-
vide that it should be sufficient if, when the names of the
residents were called over, they answered, and showed
themselves ; when this was done, the visiting party should
not h ive the power to enter the house."
They give way, because the could not maintain
the scheme of encroachment ; but is the ground they
stand upon sounder than that they have abandoned ?
Like all extortioners they pitch their demands at the
utmost extravagance, and hope to ge' a mere abate-
ment of exorbitance accepted as good terms. " Trial
by subs won't do; take the Field Officers, then,"
cries the charlatan. " Sweep your chimneys with a
goose hauled up by a string," ail vii•ed the man in the
story. " Horrid wretch ! barbarous cruelty 1" cried
the lady. " Lord, ma'am," replied the fellow, "if
you object to the eoo-e, a couple of docks will do
every bit us well." " Excellent thought," assented
the tender soul. This is the opposite case; we
began with the two ducks and we have got to the
goose. The first proposal was for trial by infants
in arms, and it is improved upon to tral by grown
gentlemen. The enormity of making judges of en-
signs having been cried out against, captains are
offered. If one epaulette is thought hardly a qualifi-
cation for judgment, take two. Two epaulettes are,
we suppose, as much better than ooe a, two heads
proverbially are; M..jo, W) ndham wears them,
Major Dundas, and some other worthies, of whose
exploits we have had occasion to speak ; but so also,
we must admit, do Napiers and Beauclerks, and
others we could name, who are actuated but by one
interest—the interest of their fellow men. It is far
from our purpose to vilify military men ; as a class
they are, of necessity, peculiarly subject to the in-
floences, and the boys are more foolish than the boys
of other professions, having their heads turned with
the newness of gold lace arid embroidery, the admi-
ration of milliners asd chambermaists, and above all,
the jingle of their spurs and the clang of their sabres
as they stamp the streets. It is something to get
from the subs to the seniors ; among whom, not-
withstanding all sinister influences, there will be
found some of that pure inflexisle integrity which
will maintain itself in the most unfavourable circum-
stances ; for virtue is a hardy plant of every soil,
nay, there is not a rock on which it will not flou-
rish, not a barrenness, not a waste, which it will not
redeem from utter worthlessness with its presence.
For aught we know, it may be found ou the Bench
of Bishops. We repeat, that the substitution of
senior for junior officers (of justice) is an improve-
ment, but we must not be led away by comparisons;
,se are under no necessity of accepting a bad thing
because a worse has beets proposed ; and the rae
tional way of rating the merit of the new plan is to
consider how would have struck the mind if the
other had never been suggested. It was better to
make the horse consul than the colt, because the
horse is of a better regulated hoof—less apt to bite
and kick, and run riot in authority, but nevertheless
we look iu vain for any consular faculties in his
mouth. Turn the captain round and round as we
may, we cannot find in him any judicial qualifica-
tions. We can make nothing of him but tits own
quality. " Fleas are not lobsters," said the Sir Joseph
Banks of Peter Pindar; and all the hot water of a
disturbed district will riot boil them to another genus.
However, it is vain to address these arguments to
the Ministry which plays a game of rouge et noir.
They have tried the black cloth without successond
now therefore they put on the red—they have no better
reason. " Try all things" is their motto. They
are experimental, as Mr. Macaulay stated, quid-
libel in quodlibet; and who knows what may
be the result ? The Irishman did not know whe-
ther lie could play the fiddle till lie tried—playing
the Judge may be easier. Should the soldiers
why, perhaps, they will try the sailors; and there is
some reason—as much as for anything they do—far
trying the sa:lors, namely, that the Captains and
Field Ofliceis employed in Ireland are not of num-
bers to serve on courts, and to do the duty of their
regiments. A battalion scattered about in detach-
ments may have a dozen officers eligible to serve as
judge and jury, and could only constitute two
courts, supposing they could all he spared from
their commands arid conveniently assembled.
The regulation that the verdict must be unani-
mous, or of certain degrees of agreement according
to the number of the members composing the
court, pretends an analogy to juries where there is
none. The senior officer in courtsmartial is seldom
troubled with difference of opinion. After all, should
the experiment be tried, and said to succeed, as
surely will be said in that case, we trust that Mr.
Hume will immediately move that the Judge's sa-
laries be reduced to Captains' pay, or that their
Learned Lordships will yte d their seats to C ;ptaiiis
u. capable of administering justice as themselves—
nay, who have succeeded where they have failed—
Majors should supplant the Chief Justices.
Instead of the night searches for absentees, Lord
A thorp adopts the suggestion, that the names of
inmates may be called over and answered to, and
the bodies corresponding to them exhibi.ed ; but
then, with his matchless ingenuity, he seems to im-
ply, that if this order be not obeyed, the House may
be searched—for what? Patrick O'Brien has not
answered to the cull, or manifested minted in ine
P To
tnt pie-
sp luddeu
tiouer
osisiiip,e6;ti!
jest
eh,,forte. Is
ittne icitt.eso, thetboo ef p
ceHvolt::,eucittesiieeivishrtde: r
et behiAai
sstneintaisi
eurrcoffittuii
aces,siel
he be
(dtittiokiegrpg:adpii:ifiaol:tyidtla to exempt him, to prove min within
stihartejetheeri (e)Lit;i:efolar'dv :es r i
ILI
ge
hLeorpdo
wer
of nigh -searches
The Times observes—

" A mo lye for autfadizing this measure of domiciliary
search has, indeed, heeu mentioned, more serious than that
of inertly ascertaining the presence or absence of one or
two individuals of a family. Assassins, it is stated, are
borrowed by on:, district trout another, pet haps 50 miles
apart, to execute the behests of the local conitnittee of
murder. These villains ate said to be lodged by night in
cabins near the spot marked out as the scene of bu'criery ;
and it is for the detectioo of such gings of miscreants that
the right of search, on reasonable suspicion, has been re-
quire.,, full as much as Mr that of individuals absent float
tne visited habitation."

But how is he absence of an inmate of a cabin to be
made presumptive of the presence of the suspected
assassins ? Unless some one is not forthcoming, the
seuich is nut authorized. Titus the measure does
nut foi ward the object. The search, according to
the repre.eniation of the Times, should not be for
inmates but for strangers, and a sea ch of this sort,
to be effective, cannot be hampered with any condi-
tions. It should nut be left to the discretion of a
soldiery, or allowed on light grounnis, but when jos-
tifianle on a strong case of suspicion, it were idle
indeed to make it depend on a circumstance which
the guilty can always guard against. If II be enacted
that the absence of itituat,s shall wairant search,
when there is occasion fur the search (by the har-
bouring of villains) the confederate inhabitant 4 will

never fail to be present, and to answer to their
names.

The clause intrusting the confinement of pri-
soners to their captors is now admitted to be so
objectionable that Ministers consent to its altera-
tion. Here we have another confession of the want
of due consideration (at best) in the framing of this
tremendously severe measure. The Lords, the
Conservative Lords, the guardians of the Constitu-
tion, the opponents to innovation, found no fault
with this or any other of the mitigated clauses. The
truth is, that when Ministers have every prospect
of being beaten, or utterly disgraced with the coun-
try, they begin to have a perception of errors, and
they abandon as indefensible what they cannot, by
force of their majority, defend.
Mr. Stanley has stated that it is intended to with-
draw offences, purely political, from the cognizance
of the military tribunals. Somerville (how hateful
must be that instance) was not tried for his political
offence, but he was scourged for it nevertheless.
The gentlemen of courtsmartial have shown that
they know how to try for one charge and to sentence
for another. A pretence of one sort will never be
wanting for a punishment of another.
We cannot comprehend the princ;ple of policy
upon which Mr. O'Connell moved amendments,
making the concurrence of the judges or the council
necessary to some of the powers of the Lord Lieu-
tenant. Slight, indeed, is the moral responsibility,
but it would become nothing with division. No one
can doubt that the judges and the council would see
the wisdom of any step that the Viceroy proposed,
and to what purpose but to take the weight of re•
sponsibility from his head, make them parties in his
measures ? If Ireland is to be subject to a despotism,
the more naked the better. Let it be seen that all
depends upon the Bashaw's pleasure. Rather than
give him the cover-slut of a council we would have
an amendment proposed that his weed should be
law, with a special provision that its utterance in the
IW/in Gazelle should be received as evidence of
priimulgrition in every part of Ireland. Next to the
securities for liberty there is not, lug so desirable as
the nakedness of a tyranny. If men clearly know
what they have to do with, they know what to do
with it.

MIDDLESEX INTER ‘IEDIATE SESSIONS,

SATURDAY, MARCH 16.

Samuel Scott was indicted, jointly with James Booth
and Jos-ph Smith, for stealing three s cks, nine bushels
of oats, and a quantity of beans and chaff (mixed), the
prop rty of Mrs. Sarah Ann Miiiinrain.
James Collins and Thomas Betteridge, two active
policemen of the N division, saw the prisoner and Booth
on one of Mis. Mountain's vans, from which a sack of
provender was thrown down to Smith at the Crown, at
Holloway, and afterwards secured them ; but they did
not apprehend the pris-ner until last night (Friday),
when they were obliged to make a forcible entry into his
apartment.

George Wallis, the granary-man to Mrs. Mountain, of
the Saracen's Head Inn, proved that on the let inst., 40
.acks were loaded, and it was Booth's duty to drive the
van to Whetstone ; 42 empty sacks were delivered back
by Scott, who had been allowed to drive the van atter
Booth had been taken. Scott had been discharged by
Mrs. Mountain (for intoxic ition) a fortnight before this
happened, but he saw hint in the yard on the morning
the van was to start.

J. Green and Willi m Murrell, two persons in the em-
ploy of the pi o,ecutrix, at Whetstone, deposed, one of
them, that the prisoner told him that Booth had been ap-
prehended for " dropping" a sack of corn at Holloway,
and that there was one extra sick on the van, which must
he taken care of The other witness saw the prisoner
after this conversation, when he said there were two sacks
extra, and they must be put on one side, for the sake of
Booth.

The Jury consulted for about twenty minutes, when the
foreman, at half-paq four, informed the Court that one of
the jurors differed from all his fellows as to the verdict
they should return, hence he hoped the Court would allow
them to retire.

The CouaT ordered the bailiff to be sworn, and they
left their box, and at half-pa•t 9, after an absence of five
hours, the Chairman sent a summons to their chamber, to
know whether they were likely to come to a determina-
tion, as the Magistrates could not wait any longer.
The Jury acme into Court.
A Juror—Sir, there are 11 of us ready to return a ver-
dii.t, but one individual has taken a particular view of the
case, different from what we have.
Another Juror—Sir, this delay is a great loss to me;
I have a wife and five children and a business neglecting
at home ; can't you give me relief ?
. .

CHA IRKAN—I have no alternative than to lock you up.
A Juri,r—Cannot we have food and fire ?
CHAIRMAN—No, nor anything either to eat or drink.
Another Juror—l have had nothing to eat to-day, what
am I to do ?

CHAIRMAN—I feel for you, but I cannot help it.
Some one of you has, it seems, suggested a defence which
the prisoner did not make himself; but I do not know
what it is upon which you differ, nor do the Magistrates
near use (viz., Messrs. Ling and Haswell).
The CHAIRMAN then said that it appeared evident that
the ju o should be locked up ; but the Court was not
satisfied with the oath administered to the bailiff, and it
was their wish that he should be re-sworn.

The bailiff, a very young man, looked " unutterable
things" as he approached the officer who administered the
oath, the tenor of which was that he should " faithfully
goad the jurors and see that they had, during their con-
sultation, neither meat, drink, fire, nor candle; that they
should not be allowed to speak to any one excepting him-
self, and to him only, unless that to his inquiry they told
him that they were agreed."

A Juror (with desponding countenance)—What are we
to do if either of us is taken ill?

Another Juror—Nlr. Chairman, I should lilt?. for 11 of
us to be allowed to depart, and that the one who objects to
our opinion should remain.
Another Juror—Sir, 11 of us are of opinion that the
one who differs is not competent to judge of the merits of
the cas.-.

CHAIRNIAN That's a new point; I did not know that
before.

The dissentient juror then approached the chair, and
said--." Sir, have you seen anything in my conduct,
during the session, to induce you to think that I am un-
able to judge of the case before us ?"
CnatxmA N—Certainly not; have you any point of
law, which you wish to have explained ? The facts are be-
fore you.

Di•srntivnt--Are you addressing me personally, Sir?
CIIA IRMA N —Yes ; do you disbelieve the evidence?

_ .
Dissentient--I do believe it, but my brother jurors do
not believe it.

S,veral jurors—No, no, say not so ; we do believe it.
The CHAIRMAN then said that they woul i retire for a
few minutes, and requested the jurors to be seated.
During t e absence of the magistrates, tb, eleven gen-
tlemen who had agreed again consulted, but the dissentient
[Armed himself in a sleeping position.
Ac ten k the magistrates resumed their seats, after
having consulted Mr. Alien, when—

Thy CHAIWMAN said—Gentlemen, I am instructed by
Iny brother magistrates to discharge you.
The H D. Geoti..man then adiiressed the prisoner, and
told him, that although the jury hail, %ery unexpectedly
by him, been discharged, the Court were desirous of
knowing whether he would take his trial at the adjourn-
ment day (Thursday we,k), or at the April sessions, be-
cause be would be detained in custody until he again stood
upon his deliverance.

The prisoner would prefer Thursday week.
The Cour, then adjourned at half-paq ten o'clock.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, MARcit 16.

EX PARTE SHARMAN, IN RE SHARMAN.
This was an application made by the hanklupt to su-
persede the fitc issu,d against hirn, on the grounds that
Robins, the petitioning creditor, was himself an uricerti-
fi atell bankrupt, and that his (the petitioning crtditor's)
assi4nees ciadned the debt and refused to adopt the com-
l. issiun.

Mr. W lIITAIA ASH, jun., for the assignees of Robins,
on being applied to oy the Curt, claimed the debt, but
refused to ad,.pt the otnunasion.
The COURT then decided that the fiat be superseded, the
costs ul ail parties to he paid out of Robins's eat,te, and in
Cate of any deficiency t.. be personal as agains, Robins.
Soave other petitions, chit fly involving questions of costs
and of no iniportai,ce, were then disposed of.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, MARCII 16.

Charles Richard Parry teas opposed by Mr. COOKE,
for M. Jones and Mr. Stuttard ; and supported by Mr-
oonttor. r E.

The Insolvent had been a lir:ea-draper, at No. 29,
High-street, Islington. In October, 1831, he had cow-

pounded With big creditors, and paid 10s. in the pound.
His present debts were 5171., of which 3061. were stated
to be due to his father, on a loan in 1630, when he went
into business. His father had received nothing of the
composition. The examination of the father was to show
that hie claim against the state of the insolvent was bona
fide. Towards the end of the inquiry, from the very
protracted silence of the father to an important question,
as to whom he had been trustee for of certain sums in
the public funds, Mr. Commissioner LAW, after waiting
in vain a very considerable time for an answer, ordered
the petition to be dismissed.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

G UILDHALL.

-William Brain, a journeyman type-founder, attended
before Mr. Alderman HARMER on Friday upon a summons
for neglecting to perform a contract entered into by him
to do certain work as a journeyman.
Mr. Knight, who superintends the foundry of Messrs.
Knight and Co., Green Arbour-court, Old B tiley, stated
that the defend int was hired about three weeks ago to as
itist in completing a fount of type which had been delayed
through the idleness of the workmen. Sometimes seven-
teen of them would leave off work at dinner-time and
waste the rest of the day, while his stoves were left burn-
ing uselessly and his metal was wasting. The defendant
had fallen into the same habit, and he had selected him as
the 1 et comer for punishment as an example to the rest.
The consequence of this general neglect of business was,
that an order to the extent of 9001. might he thrown upon
their fuinds for exceeding the stipultved pet iod for delivery.
Nor was this all, they were obliged to refuse advantageous
orders for founts for diff,rent periodicals.
Mr. Alderman HARMER said the punishment was im-
prisonment and hard labour for three months ; but if he
would promise never to neglect his work again he should
be forgiven.

The defendant, making this promise, was discharged
with a further admo.i, ion.

MARLBOROUGH STREET.

A ha named Baldwin was re-examined, chareed with
attempting to pick the pocket of Mr. Brougham, M. P.
Mr. CONANT committed the prisoner for three months.

HATTON-GARDEN.

On Friday Robert Paragreen, a master baker in
Brook •street, New-road, was charged by Mr. Ward, mil-
ler, of Burton Mills, 'Wimbledon, under the following cir•
cum-tanee.t:

Mr. Ward stated that on the 24th of January the pri-
soner ordered of him 25 sacks of flour, which he sent home
by his carman. In about a month afterwards witness's
son called for p iyin-nt, on which the prisoner informed
him that the flour was so bad that he could no, use it,
and several of his customers had felt themselves so az-
erieved that they refused any longer to deal with him.
Witness sent seven other sacks of good flour, with orders
to bring those complained of tiack to the mills, which was
accordingly clone ; but on the sacks being emptied, 1 rge
substances rolled against the man's legs, and it was evi-
dent that some method had been adopted to adulterate the
fl .ur, and after the sixth had been emptied, witness de-
termined on examining the seventh sack, on which he dis-
covered that the top and the bottom of the sack contained
pure flour, such as was originally sent from witness's
mills, but the middle of the sack contained a mixture of
ingredients, which witness was confident never had been
upon his premises, and lie made an application for a war-
rant air.ainst the prisoner.
A Mr. Wethers tried the samples, and proved that the
stuff now produced was nut flour, but a mixture of spu-
t ions ingredients.

Alexander Smith stated that, when the twenty-five
sacks of flour were delivered, he was in the service of Mr.
Paragr,en, and worked in the bakehouse, when, by his
master's directions, he put a bushel of stuff in each sack
complained of.
The solicitor submitted that there was no offence proved
to justify a criminal charge, and Mr. ROGERS, ciincurring
with him, discharged Mr. Paragreen ; at the same time
intimating to Messrs. Ward that if they thought proper they
might indict him or bring a civil action against hint.
Q UEEN-SQ UARE.

CRUELTY TO A CHILD —On Friday Mr. William
Carver, the master of a classical academy in Chelsea, was
charred with violently assaulting George Woodbatch, a
boy about eleven years of age, belonging to the Chelsea
parochial school, under the following circumstances :
It appeared from the evidence of a Mr. Gilpin that the
poor lad was going to his school on Thursday afternoon,
and was playing very innocently with a battledore and
shuttlecock. As he passed the defendant's school he came
out and took his plaything from him. The lad began to
cry, when the defendant again came out of his house with
a cane and beat him in the most cruel manner.

The defendant said he was sorry fur what had occurred.
Mr. WHITE ordered the defendant to pay a fine of Si.
to the King, with an understanding that if he made the
parents of the child a compensation of 40s. the fine
would be remitted,

Mr. Carver paid the 40g. to the lad's mother.
UNION HALL.

On Friday two young men named IViliam Robinson
and William Moore were charged with stealing a quan-
tity of linen and other articles, the property of Mr. Alder-
man Lucas.

Harriet Burt, laundryrnaid to the Alderman, hung out a
quantity of linen and silk handkerchiefs in her master's
garden to dry. She went out into the garden between
srven and eight o'clock the same evening, for the purpose
of taking down the things, and while engaged she heard a
rustling noise behind one of the trees, and in a moment
afterwards Robin,on presented hitnsdf before her, and,
making use of an oath, swore that he would murder her if
she made the least noise. She was so dreadfully alarmed
that she fainted away, and during the period she remained
in a state of insensibility the whole of the lines were
stripped of the clothes. A policeman met the prisoners in
the Kent-road, carrying bundles, and, suspecting them,
took them into custody. The bundles cont ,ined the linen
and other articles belonging to the Alderman. Burt
identified Robinson.

The pi isoners were committed.
GROSS CASE OF AFFILIATION,--MF. W. TVnrd, pro-
prietor of the Horseferry toll at Rotherhithe, an aged man,
was summoned at the instance of Anne Murray, aged IS, a
straw bonnet-maker, who charged him with being the
father of her illegitimate child.—She said the mischief
was done at the defendant's house, when nobody but them-
selves were at home. The defendant s.id to her after-
wards, "If you don't swear your child to me, to expose
.ne, you shall n ver want." She declared she was never
intimate with any other person ; hut a letter, s,nt by her
to a Mr. Ward, which threatened to charge him with
being the father of her child, unless he " came down
hindsomely," was produced, and a witness was brought
forward to prove that his son had lived three months with
the girl, who, the young scapegrace represented, was mar-
ried to him.—Case dismissed.

THE EX-ROYAL FAMILY OF FRANCE.
—We learn that L.• Baron de DAM" Governor to his
Royal Higline!. the Due de BORDEAUX, has trinsmitted
the sum of 301. sterling, for the monument about to be
erected here to the memory of Sir WALTER SCOTT,--
Edinburgh Courant.

CAMBRIDGE, MARCH 15.—A meeting of
the Philosophical Society was held on Monday evening,
the Rev. Professor SEncwicx, the President, being in the
chair. A memoir by the Marchese SPINET() was read,
containing object,ons, founded on astronomical considera-
tions, and on the examination of ancient authors, to the
chronological system of Sir ISAAC NEWTON ; and reasons
for preferring th- more exten ed clivonobigy which is sug
Bested by the study of Egyptian antiquities. After the
meeting, Dr. JEaMYN exhibited various ornaments of
glass and enamel, a bronze bracelet, and other imple-
ments of metal, and vessels of earthenware, some of them
of the kind culled " Satnian." These relics were found
in association with bones, partly interred and partly
deposited in urns, which have been discovered at Exning
and at Birtlow, in this neighbourhood. The skele on,
have invariably been found lying in threes, with their
faces downwards. Professor SEDCWICK also gave an
account, illustrated by drawings and sections, of the
geology of North Wales. He stated that, by various
traverses across Carnarvonshire and Alerioneti,shire, it
was ascertained that the strata of that district are bent into
saddles and troughs, of which the antic/bat/ and synclinal
lines occur alternately, and are all nearly parallel to the
" great Merionethshire anticlinal line." Toe direction
of thus lines is neiriy N.E. by N. and S W. by S.
and th y appear to pass through the following points:—
(I.) Near Carnarvon, (Nlynyild Mawr, (3.)
Garn
Drws y Coed. (4.) Moel Hebog, (5.) Moel Ddu, (6.) n
tietwet Pont-Aberelas-yn and Cuicht, (7.) The great
Merioneth Anticlinal, (8.) The west side of the Ber-
n vn,,, (9.) The calcarioui! beds to the West of Llanar-
mim The bearing of these facts upon the
general views of Elle de BEAUMONT was noticed ; and
. justice
mountain
this t
h c:
it was observed that the approximate parallelism of the
n
loary up
insoftoW:lecse,rttahine Isle
point ;
' o f
Alan, Curnbei land, and the south of Scotland, corro-
bii:rtate prominent ;u
although the
tin a wider scale the apparently parallel straight
lines may be found to be portions of curves of small
curvature.
s