The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-29 00:00:00

ADDRESS.

When the Reform Bill extended the Elective Fran-
chise in: Scotland, it provided, that the electors of any
city, burgh, or town, were to be the " true Owners,"
or occupants (see see. XL and throughout,) of premi•
ses of the yearly value of 101. or upwards ' • and, ac-
cordingly, none but those who, bona fide, held property,
either as owners or occupants, in the city, burgh, or
town, were to be registered as electors. Of late years,
however, in order to serve political purposes, a system
has sprung up in many other burghs of Scotland, as well
as our own, which has for its aim, the fabricating or
manufacturing of votes in a fictitious way, and not iu
compliance with the plain and honest meaning of the
Reform Bill, which specifies that " true owners or occu-
pants," are alone to be registered.
It may be necessary to point out in this address the
way which these fictitious votes aro manufactured:—A
proprietor of a house, or other property in the burgh,
willing to serve a political purpose, divides his property
into lots, each of the value of 101. yearly rent; he makes
over each lot to a person who will serve his political end;
he gives him a disposition to the 101. lot; takes his bilf
for the pretended value of it; but the voter is never in-,
feft in the property, nor is the disposition, in general,
delivered up to the party in whose favour it is made. It
is, therefore, quite apparent that this system is not in
accordance with the true spirit and honest meaning
of the Reform Bill, as by means of the illusory'
votes thus fabricated, it has already been employed tor
swamp the votes of the real or bonz fide constituenoy..
In the burgh of Haddington a considerable number of such t
votes exist, which have been frequently exercised at the
municipal elections, to the prejudice, loss, and detri-
ment
of the bona fide voters ; and in course of time, the:
evil may be so much increased, that the Parlia
mentary, as well as Municipal influence of burghs, mayi
be s.3lely vested, not in the resident and true voters, but i
in parties altogether strangers Co the burgh, and who can
have no real or immediate interest in it at all.
Connected with this system, attention is particularly
requested to the nature of the oath, which the Reform
Bill allows to be administered to voters, suspected 0,
holding fictitious votes. The oath is as follows
A. 8., do solemnly swear, that I am the individual de-
scribed in the register for as A. 8.,
of , that I am still the proprietor (or occupant,)
of the property for which I am so registered, and hold
the same for my own benefit, and not in trust for, or at
the pleasure of any other person, and that I have not
already voted at this election.
It may be said in justification of these fictitious votes,
that they have been placed on the roll by the registering
sheriff, and hence are legal votes, and this may be the
way in which the holders of them soothe their consci-
ences, in taking the oath, but it was just because the
Legislature foresaw that legal votes might be made,
which yet ought to be excluded, that it has appealed to
the moral and religious feelings of the voter, by interpos-
ing an oath ; for it must be evident, that an oath would
not have been resorted to, had it been possible by
the force of law to prevent such practices. If, then,
the oath ought to have been taken in the plain
sense in which it was enacted, and without any men•
tal reservation, equivocation, or explanation, inconsistent
with the purpose of its enactment, it is earnestly sug-
gested to all to whom the oath may be put, that they
reconsider the grounds on which they are satisfied, they
can, with a clear conscience, take the burden upon them-
selves of answering as before God, and that, in their
case, the evident intention of the Legislature in im-
posing the oath, has been complied with. In the inde-
cency and irreverence with which the oath has been
often taken—its solemnity, as the most sacred assevera-
tion a man can make, is entirely broken and disregarded;
and a wholesale deterioration of public morals, as well
as much moral guilt, is the natural and necessary conse-
quence of such a system.
The Town Council of Haddington, therefore, feel it
to be their duty to impress on every individual elector of
this burgh, the necessity of lending a helping hand to
prevent, if possible, the further increase of such a perni-
cious system, alike discreditable to those who are the
means of making them. It is the intention of the coun-
cil to correspond with the other burgs of Scotland, in
order to obtain their co-operation, in an application to
Parliament, for a remedial measure ; and to request
them to bring the subject particularly under the consi-
deration, both of their representatives, and of their con-
stituencies. In the meantime, however, much may be
done by each individual elector, condemning the system
as mush as possible, and bringing it, by the force of
public feeling, into just and merited unpopularity and
odium. WM. DODS, Provost.
The above are the resolutions and address of the
Town Council of Haddington on the subject of ficti-
tious votes in the burgh. We have only to mention
Lion that the Council is composed of Conservatives as
well as Whigs, and that the resolutions and address
were unanimous adopted„ Several fictitious voters are
reported, before the issuing of this address, to have re-
nounced their claims, and we should think that those
who hold them after this " expose" by foe and friend,
are destitute alike of intellectual and moral perception,
and totally void of self-respect.

BARBADOES COAL.—The following analysis of the
bituminous coal found in ♦arious parts of the island of Bar-
badoes, has been made by Mr. Herapath, of Bristol :
" The specimen of coal sent me for analysis contains, in 100
parts, as follows :
Bitumen, resolvable by heat into tar and gas 61.6
Coke
Ashes
Sulphur...... none

100
The large proportion of bitumen, in comparison to the coke
or carbon, will prevent this coal from being used as a com-
mon fuel, unless some means are taken to remedy the incon-
venience; it should be mixed with some substance more
fixed in the fire, and consequently of longer endurance in
the heat. Hard charcoal, more refractory coal, and even
perhaps earthly substances, would be beneficial. If
it could thus be made to give a more solid heat, there
is nothing to prevent its being made use of gene-
rally, as the ashes are in very small proportion, and it
contains r o sulphur, which is very injurious in several.
manufactures. I should think it could advantageously be
employed in the production of gas, of which it would furnish
a large quantity, and of a very rich quality, even exceeding
that of the cannel coal, the best for that purpose hitherto
known. It is useless for me to give the number of thousand
elbic feet to be obtained from a ton, as the quantity and
quality varies according to the heat administered during the
gas-making; but I can say with certainty, that a larger
quantity can be made from this variety than from any known
coal.— William Herapath."—Colonial Gazette.
USEFUL POETESS.—MrS. Sigourney, the celebrated
poetess, took the premium at the late fair of the American In-
stitute, for the beet pair of domestic pia atockhige.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, Jan. 28.
(Before Vice-Chancellor WIGRAM.)
MORSE •. TUCKER.

His HONOUR delivered judgment in this case this morn-
ing. It appeared that Owen Edwards made a will in 1823,
devising his estates to his wife for life, and to his daughters
as tenants in common, making the wife his executrix. After
Ithe testator's death. in 1826, it was found that he had granted
a re-lease to Mr. Morse ef some property, but that his re-lease
had not been properly executed. Morse was turned out of
the property in 1831, and by him an action for mesne profits
was instituted, in which he recovered costs against the repre-
sentatives of Edwards to the amount of about 2,0001. In 1837 a
bill was filed urging payment of that sum, and in the month
of May, 1845, the case came before his Honour, who directed
an action by the representatives of Morse against Edwards,
whereby Morse recovered damages to the amount of 1,4651.
That sum was given by the verdict in consequence of his
Honour's order in consideration of the value of the lease,
and of the crops on the ground at the time of tke ejectment.
The plaintiffs in the present suit claimed the sum recovered
as damages, and the costs of the various suits in which they
had been engaged, and interest on the same, resting their
Claim against the real estates of the defendant as a debt
within the will of the testator. His Honour went through
the authorities quoted on both sides, and, after commenting
on the cases cited, made an order in favour of the plaintiffs
in the suit.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
BOW-STREET.
Mr. Edward Bryant Carey, solicitor, of Southampton.
buildings, Chancery-lane, was placed at the bar for re-exa-
minaticn, on the charge of forging a document purporting to
be the office .copy of a certificate of the Accountant-General,
acknowledging the payment into the Bank of England, to
his account, of the sum of 2,5961.175., in pursuance of an order
of the Court of Chancery, in the matter of the Rev. E.
Franks, a lunatic, deceased; and also a further document,
purporting to be the receipt of the Bank of England for the
same amount.
Mr. Clark (with Mr. Hayward, from the Treasury-office)
attended on behalf of the Crown, and Mr. J. H. Parry (with
Mr. Horsley, solicitor) appeared for the prisoner.
The Learned Counsel for the prosecution referred briefly to
the particulars deposed to at the last examination, when Mr.
Bellamy, of Brighton, and Mr. C. J. Foster, of Lincoln's Inn,
as co-trustees of the affairs of the deceased, explained the
part taken by themselves in obedience to the orders of the
Court, and the instructions given to the prisoner, as solicitor
to the trust. The letters of the prisoner to the trustees, en-
closing the documents alleged to be forged, were then pro-
duced, and Mr. Clark now proposed to offer evidence as to
the forgery. The cheque, signed by Messrs. Bellamy and
Foster, and crossed to the Accountant-General, was altered
after leaving the hands of the trustees, the words " Messrs.
Gosling and Co." having been written across the cheque,
and the words " the Accountant-General" erased therefrom.
Mr. G. Strange. of the King's-road, Chelaa, clerk in the
bank of Messrs. Gosling and Co., of Flee -street; deposed
that the prisoner kept an account at their bank. On the 24th
of June last witness received two cheques to the credit of Mr.
Garey, the prisoner, one of them being for the sum of
2,5961. 17s. Witness endorsed the cheque, and it was the
same as now produced, although he could not say if it was
in the same condition.
Mr. Frederick Strachan, another clerk in the same bank,
deposed to having taken the cheque to Messrs. Coutts and
Co.'s, upon wham it was drawn, and it was paid in the usual
course of business.
Mr. J. Hayward, clerk to Mr. Maule, solicitor to the Trea-
sury;produced an office-copy of the order made by the Lord
Chancellor in the matter of the Rev. E. Franks, and was
examined as to its accuracy, &c.
Mr. S. Parklnson, chief clerk at the Accountant-General's-
office, in Chance ,y-lane, inspected the document produced
by the last witness, and after stating in detail the mode in
which business was conducted in the Accountant-General's-
office, he deposed that within the last few days he bad exa-
mined the direction-book, the ledger, the journal, and the
receipt-book, and there were no entries in either of them
relating to any payment under the order in question. He
had examined them from the sth of November, 1844 (the
date of the order of the Lord Chancellor), up to within a
day or two ago.
Cross-examined by Mr. Parry—l have been in the Ac-
countant-General's-office upwards of thirty years, and have
known the prisoner, as having business with the office,
nearly the whole of that time. He is known also to every
other clerk in the office. I know nothing of him beyond this.
Mr. S. J. Smyth, a clerk in the Chancery-office of the
Bank of England, where sums of money were received under
the direction of the Accountant-General, and placed to the
credit of the particular cause specified in the certificate, said,
on the production of the certificate or direction of the Ac-
countant-General, with the sum of money mentioned therein,
the clerk receiving it would make out a receipt, which, after
being entered in the cash-book, would be handed to the per-
son paying the same, to take over to the cashier in another
department. A memorandum of the payment would then
be sent up to the Accountant-General's-office, and the certi-
ficate filed in the Chancery-office of the Bank of England.
Witness had held his present situation for nine years, and
was acquainted with all the cashiers in the Bank, and all the
entry clerks in his department. There had not been, during
that time, any cashier named " W. R. West," nor any entry-
clerk named "F. H. Ward." (These were the names signed
to the document represented by the prisoner as an office copy
of the receipt given at the Bank of England.)
Mr. Clark was about to examine the witness upon the
contents, or rather the non-contents of the cash and entry-
books, but
Mr. Parry objected to any such statement being made in
the absence of the books of which he was going to speak.
Mr. Clark said he believed the Governors of the Bank of
England did not allow the production of their books.
Mr. Parry denounced this notion as a parcel of stuff, and
observed that the Bank of England was as much bound by
he laws of the land as a greengrocer. He stated that in the
case of Barber and Fletcher the books of the Bank of
England were produced at the Mansion-house and thoroughly
examined.
After some further discussion the point was deddel in
accordanee with Mr. Parry's view of the matter. His
Worship, therefore, ordered the production of 54 looeks,
although Mr. Smyth stated that, if assented to, it might
have the effect of stopping the entire business of the Bank
of England.
Mr. Smyth was subsequently cross-examined by Mr. Parry
as to the payment of the cheque. If it had been crossed as it
originally was, instead of bearing the words "Gosling and
C 0.," it would not have been paid. The cheque, as drawn by
Messrs. Bellamy and Foster, the trustees, would not have
been received, unless previously cashed elsewhere.
Mr. F. Reid, a clerk in the report-office, corroborated the
evidence of Mr. Parkinson as to the furnishing of office-
copies of the Accountant-General certificates on payment of
the usual fees, &c., and explained some other routine busi-
ness of his department. He was confident that the docu-
ment produced (the one sent by the prisoner to the trus-
tees) was not an office-copy, from the fact that it was not
in the handwriting of any of the clerks, and was not drawn
in the manner invariably adhered to in the office, there
being nineteen lines to the page instead of twenty-six, and
six words in the line instead of seven. The amount of the
fee was also different.
Cross-examined—He was certain that the handwriting
was not that of either of the clerks in the office, because all
the copies passed through his hands. There might be hun-
dreds of thousands of these copies in the course of the year;
he could not speak within a thousand. Many writers out of
the office were employed to furnish copies.
A lad, who had been in the prisoner's service from No-
vember to Saturday last as a clerk, proved that the alleged
office-copy was written by him, in obedience to his master's
directions, on Saturday, the 17th instant, from a copy which
the prisoner gave him. The prisoner desired him to be
careful with it and not to spoil it, as he had no other paper
folded in the same manner; he also explained the form in
which he was to write it. On the same evening witness took
a large letter to the Post-office, directed to Mr. Bellamy, of
Brighton, The direction produced was the same.
No further evidence was offered, and the case was conse-
quently adjourned, for the production of the Bank books,unti
Wednesday week.
Mr. TWYFORD refused, on application, to admit the pri
sone r to bail, and he was accordingly remanded for a foe
night.