The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-07 00:00:00

moral principle. The League held out to them hope and
encouragetnent ; they ware saved from the wild excesses
of de6pair, and tranquillity was restored without blood-
shed. Men at a distance were astoniadled and perplexed
by such a phenomenon. They called fee it,quiry, and it
was granted ; the investigation only showed that physi-
cal suffering had prompted to the movement, and that
moral principle had brought it to a peaceful end.
The crisis passed over ; a more prosperous period
arrived produced by the causes which the League had
accurately predicted, and attended by all the circum-
stances which it had minutely foretold. The soundness
of our principles had thus been tested by the two ex-
tremes of fortunes ; our confidence in their truth was
strte:gthetied ; the process of conviction was acc
and rt,w converts gathert d around us ev, ry day. We
had multitudes of recruits, and nut a singe renegade ;
countless volunteers, and not ene deserter. The League
had taught the lessons upon which evatts supplied a
commentary ; the evidence of the tru•hs-we inculcated
was brought within the daily range of every man's ex-
perience.

For a long time the monopolists viewed the progress
of free-trade opinions with apathy or indiffi-rence ;
sound opinion had already taken a deep root in the
country before they showed themselves conscious of its
existence. At length they discovered their danger, and
began to prepare for defence. All the fallacies which
Adam Smith had exposed, and his followers demolished,
were dragged from obscuri!y and obstruction, and were
reiterated in nearly the same words and sy.lables at
every farmer's dinner and agricultural association. But
the free traders had gained an immense advantage by
forcing the monopolists to speak out. Fallacy after
fallacy was demolished as fast as it appeared ; farmers
began to think, and labourers to reason ; they saw the
monopolists ever shifting their ground driven from
pillar to post, and from post to pillar—while the free
traders constantly preserved the same simplicity and
consistency of truth.
Publication was one of the earliest modes of diffusing
sound principles a hich the League adopt( d. Tracts were
disseminated throe;, h a large portion of the electoral
body, and a journal was 4 stabli4ied in Manchester as a
record of proceedings: When the increased importance
and interest of the debates on Mr. Villiers's motion gave
evidence that the time of a decisive struggle was rfp•
proachieg, the journal was removed to Lenden, where it
took the name of the League. Like the bedy which it
represented, the journal strictly confined itself to the
discussion of free trade and its collateral topics, holding
itself independent of every political party, unawed by
the frowns of power, and inaccessible to the blandish-
ments of seduction. No man. no journal. and no
iestitution. can be expected to please ever body ;
but there never was a journal so widelj circulated against
which wer complaints were made, either in public or
in private. Whatever may be thought of our pretensions
to talent, we believe that no one will contest our claims
to temper and discretion, even under cireumstances
which might have rendered a little warmth excusable, if
net justifiable. It is neither our wish, nor our purpose,
to enter into any details of the management; but we
may state that it is an unprecedented event in literary-
history for a journal, devoted exclusively to a single
topic, to maintain a permanent interest for its readers
terough anything like the period over which our
mild:cation has extended. A progressive increase of
demand is, at least, some evidence of sustained influence;
and though the parer was published at a price which
rendered it unprofitable as a pecuniary speculation, we
have reason to know that this was more than compen-
sated by the subscribers it procured to the general fund.
There was one department of the business of the
League, unconnected with its educational mission, which
has excited much attention on account of its constitu-
tional importance ; we mean the registration. Sir R.
Peel was the first to proclaim that the battle of the con-
stitution should be f .ught in the registration courts, and
his party found the benefit of following his advice. As the
League depended fer success solely on constitutional
meat's, it was necessary, as the combat deepened, to in-
vestigate the means which the constitution had placed
at their dispos 11. By the ancient laws of the realm
the possession of a forty-shilling freehold confers a
vote in a county ; and hence free traders were
urged to procure such freehold; the League pro-
vided proper agency to fecilitaee their acquisition.
It has been absurdly supposed that some of these
freeholds were purchased from the League fund; but in
every instance they were bought and paid for by the in-
dividual free trader, the League only procuring for the
purchaser legal aid and guidance in effectine the trans-
fer. Had the existence of monopoly been protracted to
a new Parliament, we have little doubt that the League
system of registration would have been found as effec-
tive in other counties as it proved to be in the West
Riding of Yorkshire.
The announcement of the Ministerial measures just
brought to a successful issue under the guidance of Sir
R. Peel, tested the strength and consistency of the
League. It was supposed that it should of necessity
declare either for one party or the other; but it held to
its independent course, and submitted to the House its
demand for total, immediate, and unqualified repeal.
When that motion was rejected, it refused to play the
factious game of the monopolists, but steadily supported
the Minister who "paid I7s. 6d. in the pound, and gave
good security for the remaining half-crown.
Let it be remembered that the free trade agitation
was the only movement exclusively originating with,
and conducted by, the middle classes recorded in British
history. The League sought no aristocratic leader, and
submitted to no titled guidance ; it was perfect demo-
cracy with all the unity of a despotism ; it had no re-
cognised head in whom itsipowers were concentrated, no
absolute leader by whom its proceedings were uniformly
directed. When any business was to be done, the fit
man was found to volunteer without the trouble of a
search ; and he took the lead in his selected depart-
ment until his mission was accomplished. Mutual
agreement and mutual confidence supplied the place
of command and obedience ; and hence the steadiness
of the power applied effectually prevented any de-
rangement of' the machinery. Everywhere in the
League the spirit of self-sacrifice destroyed the
spirit of selfishness so often apparent in oilier asso-
ciations. The desire of all was to have the good effected;
but the individual instrumentality was never brought
into question. But the League itself was founded in
self-sacrifice to an extent unparalleled in the world. The
ge
aunpd power. They were
an agitation as a
means i
members of the Council were not idle men of fashion,
to place
on whose hands time hung heavy; as little were they
aprlornf eesrs politicians,ohf7),nplte3nainn dg
manufacturers
tapklacinto whom their counting-
houses, paths
t
houses, their warehouses, and their factories were mere
valuable and precious than any offices which it is in the
power of the Crown to bestow. Splendid as were their
pecuniary donations, their devotion of their time and
toil to the cause was a far heavier tax, and involved a
greater amount of loss. They had no ambition to gra-
tify; and, as the event proves, so far from seeking to
make the League a leverage for personal elevation, they
objecthaye rhesaos been a rnpli
resolved on its dissolution
the moment that itss ceo
Many zealous friends of the cause will no doubt
hed.
grieve over the dissolution of the League, and regret
that its machinery was not applied to effect some other
social improvement. But the League has never broken
faith with the public. The most precious point in its
history is its unsullied honour ; and this must be pre-
served not only without taint, but without suspicion.
To preserve the organisation and machinery of the
League, and hand over the direction to some other as-
sociation formed for a different object, however benefi-
cial, would be inconsistent with the promises made from
the beginning of the agitation, and would violate, if not
the letter, most certainly the spirit of the League's en-
gagements. Hitherto there has been the most perfect
unanimity in the working of the League. Never was
there so large a body in which there was so little, not
merely of dissension, but even of difference of opinion.
But this unanimity would be at an end the moment that
it became necessary to choose a new subject for new ex-
ertions, and the result would exhibit a majority with
little reason to boast, and a minority With much reason
to complain.
Singleness of object has been one of the chief ele-
ments of the success which has crowned the efforts of
the League. There were many occasions in the course
of the struggle when a large addition of strength seemed
likely to be gained by allying our cause with other de-
mands more or less popular, but the seductions of tem-
porary advantage were resisted, for the League relied
for success more on strength of argument than on
strength of numbers. Truth must, in the long run,
prevail, and its prcgress would be retarded if it had
been presented to the public mind in such a form
as to distract attention. To have superadded another
topic to our legitimate demand would have alienated
many whose aid was desirable, not merely to increase
our strength, but to smooth down the preju-
dices of adversaries. We sought to win our
way, not by conquest, but by conviction; our victory
has, therefore, been noiseless, and for that very
reason is likely to be perpetual in its results. The
silent ebb and flow of ocean produces eternal
changes on the continents of the earth, but the
effects produced by
again altered by the next convulsion
the storm and the tempest are either
effaced by time or
of the elements. Truth, like its Divine Author, is to
be found neither in the worldwind nor the earthquake,
but in the still small voice.
That on some occasions more violent language was
used than the occasion required, or than strict decorum
might sanction, may
immen-
sity of the means was from the excess. An
. . inseparable
Britain agitation spread over the whole extent of must
have occasionally fretted and foamed, like the tide when
it passes' Over a shoal or is impeded by rock ; bui
safely be cenfessed ; the immen-
these aberrations were lost in the general advantage ;
the dashing of the spray was but an incident in the
onward flow of the mighis waters. There was an ele-
ment' of safety present in the very worst of th ,se perils
--the perfect publicity of the League's proceeding ;
publicity is the best means to keep men innocents
end
of the League to keep them rational. In noneand
pro-
ceedings was there any vulgar denunciation against the
Government, or any
lion ;we had no crime to conceal, and folly of which
we should be ashamed. my.! tcrious admiration of revolu-
tion

The objects of the League were national, not selfish ;
they sought to protect the rights of the industrious ft tun
the wrongs of the idle ; to secure
to every man who
sought to earn his sub,istence " a fair day's wags for a
fair day's work," and they sought this as earnestly for
the labourers of Dorsetshire as for the operatives of
Lancashire. They showed that protection deprived
labour of its fair remuneration, and they listened to
the cry of distress which the agricultural labourers
uttered in their homely but forcible language, " We
be protected, but we be starving." If the country
is now convinced that the condition of the agricul.
tural population imperatively deman i investigation and
redress, it is Owing to the League ; if the Arcadian
pictures of rural felicity which floated before the
poetic vision of lords and squire.; have been di,.:
gelled to reveal the naked realities of inis,ry
and de4radation they concealed, it ii owing to
,the League ; if the rayageo committed by gala* on 1

the property of the farmer, and the moral ruin brought
by game laws en the character of the labourer, hare been
so exposed as to render the continuance of such a system
impossible. it is owing to the Leage ; if the wrong which
insecurity inflicts on the tenant, and the limitation which
the same insecurity affixes to the amount of employ-
ment for the labourer be now notorious and palpable, it
is owing to the League. In fact the League bas done
more for the agricultural than for the manufacturing in-
terest ; and ere long farmers will hallow its memory
more affectionately and more devotedly than traders.
Our association, like every other institution, must
perish when its destiny is fulfirel ; but it leaves to the
world the rich bequest of a bright example. Hence-
forth let no labourers in the cause of enlighted philan-
thropy despair of final success. The stripling with his
stone and thug has proved adequate to the overthrow of
the mighty giant. Noble ends sought by noble means
more than' compensate for any original disproportion of
physical strength and power. The League is truly a
great fact—a fact gained for humanity, and established
as an etetnal precedent inn hug: a 1 improvem,,rit. Re-
corded honours shall gather round its monument," for its
origin was in rectitude, its course in justice, and its end
In blessing.

LA W INTEL LIC4EN CE.
ROLLS' COURT, July 6.
The Court was occupied (hying the greater part of the
day iu hearing motions, which were of no public interest.
BARNES V. HASTIWGS.
This cause which was on the list fur to-day was postponed
till the 22d instant.
Several other causes fired for to-day were also postponed.

COUP►T OF EXCHEQUER, July 6.
(Sittings at Nisi P:itui.)
Special jury causes were tried this morning, none of which
possessed any feafure of public interest.

CENTRAL ciunrNAL COURT

OLD COURT.

These sessions, the ninth during the present mayoralty,
were opened this morning before the Common Sergeant, the
Lord Mayor, and Aldermen Sir James Puke, Sir Chapman
Marshall, and Challis.
During the short interval since the close of last sessions
the cases have accumulated to 89, as appears by the calendar,
and th..t number will be likely to he augmented during the
sitting of the grand jury. Among the cases to be tried there
are 5 for cutting and wounding, with intent to do grievous
.lily harm, 10 for embezzlement, 3 for forgery, 49 for
larceny of different deevriptions, 2 fvr manldtighter, 5 for
misdemeanour, 1 for murder. 1 for perjury, and 1 for rape.
Of the 89 cases, 12 have been sent from London, 55 from
Middlesex, 3 from Essex, 4 from Kent, and 15 from Surrey.
When the grand jury had been sworn,
The COMMON. SERGEANT proceeded to address them. After
alluding to the short time which had elapsed since the pre-
vious session=, only a fortnight, and the number of cases,
some of them of a very serious nature, already appearing on
the calendar, which he expected would be increased to
above a hundred before the grand jury had finished their
sittings, he directed the attention 3f the grand jury to several
cases of rape, some of them indicted as misdemeanours, and
laid down the distinctions which were drawn in law upon the
subject. The second class of cases on which the Learned
Sergeant thought it proper to comment was that for the
crime of cutting and wounding the person, which he was
sorry to say was very much on the increase. He then ad •
verted to the three cases of this nature from Middlesex, and
drew their attention particularly to the case of Thomas
and Catherine Posths, directing the grand jury to consider es-
pecially. whether Thomas Posths was involved criminally
in the act. He said, in reference to the case of William
Woolf, charged with cutting and wounding a policeman with
a brickbat, that it was enough if the wound was inflicted by
any instrument, and it was not necessary that the instrument
should have been one made for cutting, so that whether the
wound had been inflicted by a knife or a brickbat, it equany
came under the words of the statute. The Learned Sergeant
then turned to the case of Benjamin Gibb,ns, committed to
take his trial for the wilful murder of Anne Sloman, and
went at great length through the facts deposed to before the
magistrate, adding that the grand jury would no doubt think
it such a case as ought to be sent for further investigation
before the judges and another .;ury.
The Court. then proceeded to swear in the petty juries.
Richard Cutmore, aged 24, clerk, was indicted for stealing
a parcel containing some printed books, the property of the
South-Western Railway Company, his employers.
Mr. Doane prosecuted, and Mr. Clarkson defended the pri-
soner.
It appeared from the evidence that on the Ist of May, a
parcel containing books was sent by a bookseller named
Jones to the South-Western Railway, to be conveyed to Odi-
ham, and the prisoner, who was engaged as clerk in the lug-
gage department, was proved to have been in the office when
the parcel was brought there. It never came to hand, and a
few days afterwards, in coosequ 'rice of some information that
was received, an officer proceeded to the prisoner's ltdging,
when he found the parcel of books in a box belonging to the
prisoner, unopene I, and exactly in the state when it was
sent to the railway. The prisoner, on being called upon to
account for the possession *f the parcel, said that he picked it
up on the railway platform, and he took it home without
thinking of the consequences, but intending to return the
property.
The jury found the prisoner Guilty, and he was sentenced
to twelve months' hard labour.

Thomas Connor, alias O'Connor, 36, a person of gentle-
manly appearance, wa,= indicted for feloniously inter-
marrying with Mary Carr Burt, his wife being alive.
Mr. Cooper conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Ballantine
appeared for the prisoner.
The Learned Counsel, in stating the case for the prose-
cution described it as being one of the mo►t heartless descrip-
tion that had ever come to his notice.
Evidence was then adduced, to show that on the 11th of
April, 1839, the prisoner was married to Maria. Twycross, at
the parish. chnrch of
.St. Andrew, Holborn, and that he mar-
ried Mary Carr Burr, at Mary-le-bone Church, on the 27th
June, 1843, at which time, it was shorn, Maria Twycross,
the first wife, was alive.

Miss Mary Carr Burt, a very lady-like young woman, was
then examined. She deposed that she knew the prisoner,
and that the ceremony of marriage was performed between
them in June, 1843. Before the marriage she had lived with
the prisoner as his wife. When she first became acquainted
with the prisoner, she was residing with a relative, and at his
death lie left her 2,600/. in money, and 4001. worth of plate
and furniture. The prisoner had the whole of this money
and property.
Cross-examined.—They were together about three years.
They did not live in an extravagant manner. The prisoner
set up in business as a furrier in London, and they had a
country house and kept two servants. Witness's sister had
heard that the prisoner was a married man, and he was taxed
with it, but denied that it was true. A woman who it was
suspected was his wife, was introduced to her, but to show
that there was no truth in the supposition, this same woman
was present at her marriage with the prisoner, and gave her
away. She was not of age when she first lived with the pri-
soner, and the marriage did not take place until she was 21,
when she came into possession of her property.
Mr. BALLAIIIKNE, on behalf of the prisoner, said he did
not think his Learned Friend was quite ja-tifi.d in describing
the present case as the most heartless that could be ima-
gined; and although he could not deny that the conduct of
the prisoner had been very bad, yet it appeared that he had
tcontinue
d
vo tor
she
h,
eai vned
was wt hi
et
ethlr
te tt
whl
eeads un
nt oof o
prhtr
:0
don
fa tbt e young
h expendedla add y
improperly, andfr t thathe
: r
joinsquandered away any portion of it.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty.
Miss Burt was next called, and in answer to questions put
to her by the Common Sergeant, she said that part of the
money was invested in the business, but it turned out unsuc-
cessful, and the whole of the money was lost.

The COMMON SERGEANT asked it none of her money was
left? Miss Burt replied that there was not a single shilling
remaining.

The COMMON SERGEANT inquired what had become of the
plate and furniture? Miss Burt replied that everything was
gone. The furniture had been recently seized for debt due
by the prisoner.
The COMMON SERGEANT, in passing sentence, said that it
had long been his opinion that the offence of bigamy bad
been too leniently dealt with. He knew of no crime that
was the means of inflicting more misery upon its victims,
and also upon society at large ; and he had made up his
mind to inflict the punishment of transportation in all cases
where parties were convicted of it. There was nothing in
the present case that could at all induce him to alter his
opinion. The prisoner had obtained possession of the person
of a young, innocent girl ; he had been the means of squan-
dering the whole of her property, and left her without a
chilling, and in the most degraded position. Under those
circumstances, he felt it to be his duty to pass upon him a
sentence of transportation for seven years.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.

A man of respectable appearance, forty-eight years of
age, with a bald head, and very defective articulation,
named George Merriott, alias Charles Metcalf, was
brought before the Lord Mayor, in the custody of Ser-
geant Dubois, of the Metropolitan Police Force, charged
with having conspired with others to defraud Messrs.
Neville, and Co., hosiers and warehousemen, of Gres-
ham-street West, of goods to the amount of 1341. and
upwards.
The justice room was excessively crowded durirg
the investigation. The prisoner had just been brought
up from Stockton, where he was apprehended on pre-
mises which he had recently taken, and which a trades-
man of that town was furnishing for him.
Mr. Humphreys appeared for the prosecution. The
prisoner, he said, called on the 6th or 7th of May last, at
the warehouse of Messrs. Neville and Jourdain, of No.
11, Gresham-street West,' presented a card on which
was printed
George Merriott and Son, wholesale iron-
monger, No. 16, Trinity-lane, said that he was Mr,
Merriott, and that he wished for some goods in the pro-
secutor's line, to send out to his son, or sons. in Seuth
Australia. As he was not himself in that way of business
he requested that the firm would look out tor him some
articles to the amout of 100/. or 1201., and after some
conversation, he gave a reference to a house in Austin-
friars, and stated that the goods must be ready by Tees-
Aar, the 12th of May, as the ship was to clear out on the
following day, and if punctuality were not observed they
could not be shipped. Application was accordingly made
to the.referet's, w hi itgave th, prisoner a most unexeept;on-
a'ole character.and said iheywereabouttoexecuteauor.ler
for him fur tee-urns and articles of that description to the
amount of 801 or 1001 By a manoeuvre that prisoner
contrived to get away the goods in a cart hired by him•
self en the day appointed. Tney were not conveyed to the
London D icks, but to a house in a court, and disposed
of, and the referee.s disappeared from tteir place of
business. It was, however, ascertained that the
prisoiter had gons to Stockton, and a warrant was ac-
eurrlingly granted for his apprehensiiin.
Sergeant Dubois, N 14, of the Metropolitan Pace,
stated that he executed the warrant at Stockton, where
the prisoner had furnished lodgings in the name of
Charles Metcalf. Witness showed the warrant to him
in the station-house, in which tie had been previously
deposited by oee of the clerks of the prosecutors, and
the prisoner said the transaction was a bona fide one,
that he had bought the goods in the regular course of
business, and when he came t.i the Court he would
change the face of affairs. One of the Stockton police
asked the prisoner, in witness's presence, whether his
father ever lived there, to which he replied, " Yes, thirty
years ago." The p. in then asked him whether
his name was Cbarlls Metcalf, and he replied, "Y. 5,
that's my name."
The prisoner hed taken a house at
•
100/, a • year, and witness believed he .had also taken
another house. there.
izi-Nevilteitateil that the prisoner had ebtailied the