The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-28 00:00:00

TUESDAY EVENING,

PARLIAMENTARY DIVISIONS.

From the Votes and Proceedings of the House Commons.)
MONDAY, MARCH 27.

LIVERPOOL, MANCHESTER, AND NEWCASTLE-
UPON-TYNE JUNCTION RAILWAY (ABANDON-
MENT OF THE RAILWAY AND DISSOLUTION
OF THE COMPANY) BILL.;
Order or Second Reading read; Motion made, and Ques•
tion proposed, " That the Bill be now read a second time:"
—Amendment proposed, to leave out the word " now," and
at the end of the Question to add the words " this day six
months:"—Question put, " That the word ' now' stand part
of the Question." The House divided:—
MAJORITY—AYES, 76.
Aglionby, H. French. F. Parker, John
Anson, Viscount Gaskell, J. M. Pugh. David
Arundel, Earl of Granger, T. C. Raphael, Alexander
Baring, Usury Guest, Sir John Reudlesham, Lord
Blake, M. J. Hall, Sir Benjamin Renton, J. C.
Bowring, Dr. Hallyburton, Lord Ricardo, J. L.
Boyle, Hobert E. Hardcastle, J. A. Richards, Richard
Bruce, Lord E. Haste, Archibald Russell, F. C.
Bunbury, E. H. Heald, James I Sandars, George
Busfeild, William Heneage, G. 11. Scrope, G. P.
Childers, J. W. Herries, J. C. Seymer, Henry Ker
Clay, James Ilindley, C. Smith, R. V.
Cochrane, A. Hobhousc.., T. B. Smith, M Tucker
Colebrooka, Sir T. Howard, C. W. Stanley, B. J.
Colon°, C. R. Inglis, Sir It. Stanstield, W. R.
Copeland, Ald. Lemon, Sir C. Sturt, Henry G.
Deedes, W. Lushington. Charles Tonison, E. K.
Denison, J. E. M`Taggart, Sir J. Thosiger, Sir F.
Dodd, G. Marshall, W. Thompson, Colonel
Duff, G. S. Martin, J. Vane, Lord H.
Duncan, Viscount Masterman, john Wall, C. B.
Duncan, George Melgund, Viscount William/An, Sir 11.
Ellice, Edward Mitchell, A. T.
Elliot, J. E. Morris, David TELLW.
Evans, William O'Connor, Feargus Hutt, William
Fordyce, A. D. Osborne, Ralph Forster, M.
Fortescue, J. W. Palmer, Robert

HARRIS v. NICHOLSON.

TO THE EDITOR OF 7'llE SUN.

Sut,—Under the above heading, in your paper of Sa-
turday, I find a report of certain proceedings alleged to
have taken place in the Westminster County Court, on
Friday, March 24Lb. In that report there is a vast deal
of mischiev us fiction founded on one isolated fact, viz,
that I do o e the plaintiff 181,, and when he can legally
obtain it he will be paid, and not till then. There are
some ettims which, though legally recoverable, may be
offensively pursued,: engendering ill feeling on one or
both sides, enforced with impetuosity, and resisted
with indignation. The case in question is one of them.
The report states that a judgment had been obtained
against me, and that I had been ordered to pay the debt
by instalments. No judgment had been obtained and I
was not ordered to pay the debt by instalments, nor did
I ever solicit, either personally or by agent, any such
indulgence. The next statement is, that I sent a friend
to say that I was ill in bed. I was not ill in bed, but
publicly in my business all day, and I did not send a
friend or any body else to make such a statement. The
"friend" is next made to say that he had not seen me
that day (FRIDAY), but he had seen me the day before,
in bed at two o'clock. No person saw me in bed any day
at two o'clock. lam neither an invalid, nor a sluggard,
and on the day in question I was up and out before
eleven o'clock. At this part of the case a scene is got
up between the judge and the agent, or the stranger
to me, who is called in the report my " friend."
A facetious crossfire is carried on to the great
amusement of the crowd, who express their approba-
tion by intermittent bursts of laughter. The judge
observes to the gentleman who gratuitously undertakes
to be my deputy, " that he supposes he is not a doctor."
Then, after supposing him no doctor, he asks him " it
he has felt my pulse, and what are the symptoms of my
disorder."—(Renewed laughter—vide report.) My
Learned Brother then proves that there is but one step
from the ridiculous to the sublime, and who with such a
facile grace can turn from grave to gay, from lively to
severe! After deploring my irregularities and late
hours, after tenderly inquiring if my pulse has been felt,
and the nature of my indisposition, instead of "frater-
nizing," my brother coolly, and with a livid hardihood,
sentences me to twenty days imprisonment in the
county gaol. Who could have imagined so tragical an
end? The great art of the playwright is to conceal the
" denouement." Here is the farce of Midas, con-
cluding with a tragic scene. "He can bear no brother
near his throne." Now, Sir, I solemnly declare that I
never instructed any "friend," " agent," or any other
person to appear fur me in the case before you. If the
report be a correct one, some officious persons must have
tendered the excuses made, but I am no party to them.
There may be persons about the County Court, es about
police offices, who are ready to speculate their services,
uninstructed and unauthorised, upon the remote chance
of a few shillings reward, if a point is gained.
Bold Turpin rode the King's highway,

To magnify his stores,
Ile did not like desk practice
So he practised out of doors ;
The public were his clients, for
He was a road solicitor.
These peripatetic lawyers are injurious to the best in-
terests of society, and, in my humble opinion, should
not be heard in any of our courts. Not even in the
County Courts, as amicus curia to a sportive judge in
the discharge of his jovial and laughter-stir-
ring duties. I now, Sir, presume to remark
upon the ill-natured character of the report.
The plaintiff not being present was non.
suited, and then comes the following remarks, semi-
editorial—" The warrant of commitment was then re-
scinded, the Chief Baron thus escaping, through the
absence of the plaintiff, incarceration in the common
gaol of the county for the present." Supposing the
plaintiff had been present, and the warrant made out, the
payment of the money would, I presume, have saved the
Chief Baron from so ignominious a fate. But in the
remarks quoted I am spoken of as a lucky felon escap-
ing a just punishment by an accielint—a kind of flaw in
the indictment amounting to this admonition:—" Don't
let me see you here again, young man. You have had
a narrow escape, for which you are indebted to the
neglect of the prosecutor, and not to any want of guilt
on your part. Lead a moral life, and don't owe any-
body eighteen pounds again; if you do, such a miracle
may not await you." The County Courts wore formed
as a merciful tribunal, to take honest debtors out of the
hands of malignant creditors and rapacious attornies—
a court of arbitration between man and man—but the
report of proceedings therein is most cruel and unjusti-
fiable. A man, and many there are, meritorious and
honest, but still short of money, who would go privately
to a solicitor, or a plaintiff, and say, " Pray take this
small debt of me by weekly instalments," yet might rea-
sonably dread to make the same appeal to the County
Court, because the chances are that his distress is
blazoned forth in the papers the next day, his little
credit damned, and his censorious neighbours point at
him as a tainted example of a man who cannot pay a
few pounds. To being short of money I plead guilty,
and I only wish that the numbers who crowd round my
door daily to borrow, and to beg, would believe me.
With every apology for so long an intrusion upon your
valuable space, and thanks for the insertion of this
explanatory communication, I have the honour to be
your olyddieut servant,
RENTON NICHOLSON.
Garrick's Head, Bow-street, March 25, 1848.
[The report in question was taken from a morning
contemporary.—ED. Sun.]

IRELAND.--LIYERPOOL, MONDAY.—The following
letter was received this morning by a tradesman in this
town from a relative residing in the neighbourhood of
Dublin .—" Saturday Night, 9 o'clock.—An officer that
is lodging with us has just received information that
there is an outbreak at Limerick, and the people have
beaten the soldiers. The hills which are seen from here
are illuminated with large fires. We can see twenty
from our window." We have received no confirmation
of this report.
BRITISH AMERICAN LAND COMPANY.—The an-
nual general meeting of the shareholders in this com-
pany was held yesterday. The objects which the com-
pany have in view are the settlement of lands in the
eastern townships of Lower Canada. The business of
the day was to receive a report from the directors, and
to re-elect members of the board. M. A. Gillespie, the
governor, took the chair, and after the minutes of the
last court had been read, the secretary went through the
report. Mr. Gillespie remarked that the accounts of the
company were now before the meeting, and he trusted
that the report was sufficiently explanatory. From a
visit he had made to the company's lands, he could state
that he thought very favourably of those situated at
Sherbrook, Stanstead, St. Francis, &c., where the crops
were luxuriant and new branches of cultivation were
being introduced. Besides paper and grist mills there
were various factories established, and the railway
would open up their lands for settlement. The governor
then went into further details about the progress of the
railway, the accounts, &c. The report was then adop-
ted, the election took place, and thanks having been
voted to the board, the meeting broke up.
BURGLARY AND ATTEMPTED MURDER or A
POLICEMAN.—A burglary, attended with unparalleled
cruelty to one of the City police constables, was perpe
trated by a gang of notorious characters yesterday
(Sunday) morning. It appears that shortly after three
o'clock the constable on duty in Petticoat-lane, in pass-
ing the premises of Mr. Joseph, a general and marine
storedealer, discovered a number of sheathing nails ly-
ing on the cellar flap. This excited his suspicions, and
having aroused the inmates, it was ascertained that the
premises had been burglariously entered and a consider.
able quantity of copper nails taken away. Information
of that fact was instantly communicated to the several
police stations, and from questions put to the officers on
the beats surrounding the lane, it was clearly ascertained
that none of the property had been carried past them,
consequently it was imagined that it was concealed in the
neighbourhood, and that when the night men went off
duty at six o'clock in the morning an attempt would be
made to remove it. To prevent the same, some of the
reserve police was sent out in private clothes to watch.
Amongst the number was a constable of the name of
Pearson, and whilst ho was walking along the
lane, four or five fellows pounced upon him and cried
out, " Here is one of the b— dogs that is looking
after us, let us settle him." They had barely uttered
the words, when they all pitched into him, first throw-
ing him upon the ground, then kicking and jumping
upon him, evidently trying all they could to deprive the
poor fellow of life. To such an extent did they carry
out their brutality, that they nearly kicked out his eyes.
In jumping on him they broke one of his legs. Having
as they thought killed the constable, they made off, and
up to nine o'clock last night had not been heard of.
The constable when found by one of his comrades, who
had left him only for a few minutes, was in a dreadful
state of suffering. Medical aid was immediately pro-
cured, and the unfortunate fellow remains is a very
precarious condition. One of the fellows is well known
to the City and Metropolitan police, and a full descrip-
tion of the party, with his name and height, has been
sent to every station-house in London, so that in all
probability the villain will be speedily brought to jus-
tice. From certain information received by Mr. D. W.
Harvey, the chief commissioner, it was expected that
some of the gang would make an attack upon the police
in Petticoat-lane during the night; a number of men
from each of the City divisions was therefore ordered to
meet there at twelve o'clock last night (Sunday), to pro-
tect the constables on duty.
Principal contents of the Observer, of Sunday,
March .P 6 :—Thirteen folio columns of first-rate and
latest political news from France, Austria, Prussia,
Italy, and all parts of the continent—Saturday's Elec-
tion Committees, a folio column—Upwards of a column
of Saturday Marylebone Vestry Meeting—About 100
useful Advertisements—Two columns of latest Irish
news—Upwards of a column of births, marriages, and
deaths, and sixteen columns of latest miscellaneous in-
telligence. Price of the Observer, 6d.—Monday's edition,
at four, Monday afternoons.
RECREATION FOR THE PEOPLE CHEAPER AND MORE
EFFICIENT THAN HOSPITALS AND GAOLS.—The Legis-
lature, public bodies, should provide places of healthy,
innocent recreation, good for.both soul and body, and
accessible to the whole population; gratuitous baths,
washhouses, libraries, museums, parks, reading-rooms,
gymnasia, concert-rooms—places, in short, where harm-
less, inexpensive, recreation might successfully enter the
lists with debauchery and vice. God knows they would
be better, cheaper, more efficient than gaols, peniten-
tiaries, panopticons, and patent drops; which, indeed,
they would in time replace. Sanitary and moral reforms
go together; and as a healthy cheerful, well-lighted,
well-regulated, abode is found cheaper and better, more
conducive to health and happiness than ono that reeks
with dirt; disease, and immorality; so reading-rooms,
museums, parks, and picture-galleries would be found
civilizers, cheaper and better than the silent cell, the
gallows, and the scourge.—Dr.ll‘Cormac, of Belfast, in
the .Builder.