The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A-few days ago we adverted to the danger
of making protests in a certain House, where
Noble Lords, in expressing their dissent from
the majority of their Peers, often record, for the
benefit of posterity, nothing but their own false
views, bad reasoning, or inveterate prejudice.
On the occasion to which we referred, a Noble
Duke had found three colleagues to join him
in his dissent, and that, indeed, would be a very
singular opinion to which no second or third
party could be induced to adhere. We have
now, however, before us a protest against the
Scotch Burehs Bill, to which we find only the
solitary name of Melross. What has become
of the 16 Representative Peers for Scotland,
whom Lord Lauderdale, at the last election, so
snugly returned from the Tory conclave of
Holyrood ? Could none of these 16 sworn
Tories he prevailed upon, in ca•e of need, to
back the new-made title of Melrose, or would
no other Lord north of the Tweed maintain
the bles'ings of burgh self-election ? We
are not surprised, however, on looking at
the contents of the document, to find that
the Noble Lord retains its undivided merit,
as he enjoys its undisputed authorship.
What man of sense, after the innovations
which we have recently witnessed, would protest
against the policy of a measure merely because
it differed in form from -the ancient institutions
of which it pretended to embody the spirit and
the intention ? Yet such is the Noble Lord's
first ground of dissent from a Bill which has
given satisfaction to a whole kingdom. The se-
cond ground of dissent would be still more ridi-
culous, if it were not distinguished by as great
an appearance of bad faith as of bad logic. The
Noble Lord pretends to feel for the robbery of
the ill-used burgesses, and for the transference of
their plundered rights to the 101. householder
constituency of the burghs ! At what time
within the memory of man did the said burgesses
exercise those rights which are now said to he
violated in their innocent persons? Do the bur-
gesses elect their magistrates, or their council,
or the guardians of their burgh property, at the
present moment ? Have they done so any time
within the last 100 years, or could they ever do
so without a change of the existing law ?
No: the protest itself mentions that the
act of 1694 deprived them of that power
which they are now to be admitted to
share with their fellow-citizens of property
and respectability. It is, forsooth, a star-
ject for great sympathy and commisseration
to see innocent Scotch burgesses, in the year
1833, obliged to participate with their fellow-
citizens in those rights of which they had been
totally deprived for nearly a century and a half !
The right must have become precious in pro-
portion to the length of time in which it has
been in abeyance, or acquired a new relish by
long abstinence from its enjoyment. The third
reason for dissent is a mere repetition of the
second, or a corollary deduced from it, and
therefore deserves no attention. The fourth
would have some weight, if the assumed facts
on which it proceeds were correct ; but " the
common good" of the Scotch burghs has never
before been managed by trustees elected by the
burgesses, or for their benefit ; and will be well
managed for the first time under a council
chosen according to the clauses of the act
against which the Noble Lord protests. The
charities alluded to are generally governed by
special regulations derived from the will of their
founders, which the Bill has no tendency to
disturb. The fifth reason of protest against the
Bill is the most curious and ingenious that can
be conceived. The Noble Lord objects to it,
not because it is wrong in itself—not because it
displays ignorance—but because he assumes that
its framers had not all the knowledge which
they may happen to possess some one or two
years hence ! To come at last to the end of this
jumble, we find it asserted in the Gth reason of
dissent, as in the case of the Reform Bill, that
it invades " chartered rights and long-established
interests." In answer to this foolish charge, we
must tell the Noble Lord that " the chartered
rights" which it invades are the rights of malver•
sation and abuse,—that the "established interests"
which it disturbs are the interests of the corrupt
cowries who have perverted " the common good"
of the burghs for their profit, emolument, or
influence. Never did a system of self-election
produce a more rank and offensive crop of job-
bing venalty and dishonesty than was lately to
be found in the burghs of Scotland. In almost
every one of them the public property has been
squandered for private ends,—public trusts have
been abused,—the superintendance of charities.
and the patronage of establishments for religion
and education,mismanaged,—and, as an evidence
of their gross corruption, nearly every one of them
is steeped in debt, and some of them are actually
bankrupt. Yet Lord Melross protests against a
change ! ! Times.
SCOTCH BURGHS REFORM BILL.
Protest agains, the second reading of the Bill fur altering
and Amending the Constitution of the Royal Burghs in
Scot Ind.
Dissentient,

1. 13, cati,e, while the preamble of the Bill purports to
restore the ancient free constitutions of the burghs, the
enacting clauses establish a system twally different from
any that ever existed in these communities.
2. B. cause the transference of the right of voting to
the 10/ householders alone, is a manifest violation of those
rights which the ancient law of Scotland recogniz-d in
the burgesses, into whose hands a simple repeal of the
Act of 1649 would have thrown that power, which is
now to be conferred on the Parliamentary constituency.

3. Because, in order to ab,lish the system of self-elec•
Con, it was not necessary to have recourse to this eaten.
tensive innovation.

4. Because the power to elect the managers of the
common good of the burghs, and at many of the charities
therein, is conferred on persons having no right or in-
terest in either, instead of having been bestowed on the

burgesses, who are parties lepally interested in both.
5. Because the bill has been brought forward in mani
fest ignorance of many most important matters, an accu
rate knowledge of which must be necessary, in order to
enable Parliament to determine, in a anal and satisfactory
manner, on the mode in which the municipal councils of
the Royal burgh,' in Scotland ought to be chosen. This
is virtually aomitted by the framers of the bill, who have
advised his Majesty to issue a commission with ianst ex-
tensive powers, embracing every matter connected with
these communities, anti especially the mode of election
which ought to be adopted therein ; and it would have
been more consistent with justice and with common sense,
and in every respect more convenient, as well as more
rational, to have founded legislation up on inquiry, instead
of deciding first and inquiring afterwards.
G. Because this hill, recklessly invading chartered rights,
And injuriously affecting long established interests, on the
grattii,ous assumption that some such enactment is called
for by popular feeling, forms a dangerous precedent, and
;s in•tified on principles inconsistent with the permanence
of the chartered rights throughout the empire, and adverse
to the true interests of the people. mEutoss.
It may be premature to speculate with v.fly
confidence upon the tone of satisfaction with
which the editor of the Antigua Herald has
commented on the Ministerial plan for
.the abo-
lition of slavery. The tone, however, is at the
same time so agreeable, and so unusual, coming
from the plantations, that, " as a stranger,' we
" give it welcome." Happy shall we be to find
that it proves but the first and faintest sound of-
a.long succession
,of harmonious combinations

from the same quarter. All we know, however,
for certain is, that whether the music be pro-
vided for or not, the people of this country have
already engaged to pay for it handsomely. It is
rather an extraordinary circumstance that the
colonial paper should express some dislike of
the apprenticeship'clause, not as an individual
editorial opinion, but as the result of many con-
versations, from which a general inference is
drawn respecting the sentiments of men of pro-
perty
in the island. "We have conversed pretty
generally on the subject," says the Antigua
Herald," and can say, without hesitation, that
masters, in this island at least, think that
the freedom had better be easy, simple,
and unrestricted, and feel convinced that
everything will soon find its level." This is ra-
tional and manly. We hail it as an auspicious
omen at least. Indeed if it should turn out to
he a correct representation of the real sentiments
of the planters in tl,e different islands, the success
of the measure will be no longer problematical.
It was to this very provision that the Aboli-
tionists themselves were most strongly opposed,
because it appeared to hold out a prospect that,
by a little management, coupled with a sufficient
quantum of had faith, the period of apprentice-
ship might be rendered a period of slavery, ag-
gravated in its evils by the disposition to make
the most of the time allowed. Should the
planters be sincere in the desire to hasten the
period of emancipation, it is evident that they
have discarded all unworthy purposes, and are
prepared to co-operate with the Government—
the only condition necessary to the full success
of the plan. We must confess that this specu-
lation looks too sanguine upon paper. Let it
not be forgotten, however, that it commenced
with the West Indies, where the state of feeling,
if righly described by our contemporary, would
seem to justify all that we have said. In times
when we are accustomed to hear so much of re-
actions, the re-action of the planter in favour of
the slave, would be a glorious specimen of the
doctrine.—Morning Herald.
We yesterday noticed the able political
pamphlet, entitled " The Reform Ministry and
the Reformed Parliament." We remarked that
much had been done in the first session of the
reformed Parliament, and that " the wedge was

fairly driven in." We should, before entering
on our summary of the important and valuable
legislative proceedings of the session, observe
that an unparalleled pressure of public subjects
overwhelmed the attention of the Cabinet, and
oppressed the powers and attention of the Le-
gislature. Moreover, the House of Commons
was inundated with Members inexperienced,
elected by public gratitude for their patriotic
exertions in the great national contest to reform
the Representation, and anxious, as in:all new
Parliaments, to discharge debts to their local
constituents, and to redeem prodigal pledges on
various minute political questions. Neverthe-
less the wild and fanatic predictions of the Tory
opponents of Parliamentary Reform have been
singularly falsified. The new distribution of po-
pular power has not produced " anarchy ;" and
so far from the Duke of Wellington's prophecy
being accomplished—" that no Ministry will be
hereafter able to conduct the King's Government
with a Parliament such as will be returned by

the Reform Bills"—the present House of Com-
mons has been reviled by the Ultra-Radicals, as
too subservient to Ministers! Indeed, the leading
and more sensible Reformers throughout the
kingdom always estimated the Ministerial mea-
sure as too " Conservative," and considered the
101. franchise of the new boroughs, and the
perpe-uation of the class constituency with open
voting, as only a partial amendment of the na-
tional representation, and as continuing to the
aristocracy more than ample influence in elec-
tions. Schedule B, in fact, left the aristocracy
a strong hold, increased by the force of their
" tenants without will," and by the division of
some agricultural counties, which strengthened
the electoral power of the aristocratic and landed
interest. But such as it is, the product of the
Reformed representation is a vast gain to the
people, and its certain consequences must in-
evitably yield far more grateful results. In the
peculiar political state of this country, a more
extensive and sudden increase of popular power
might have been attended with great political
risks, not merely to the forms of the Constitu-
tion, but to the organization of society and to
he security of property. Unquestionably there
are benefits in progressive reforms—especially
when all our institutions were corroded by the
rust of time, and in a country where the mass of
the people have not enjoyed the benefits
of any real education. But we return to
the pages of the " matter of fact" pam-
phlet. The House of Commons is indis-
putably, in intellect, intelligence, disinterested
public spirit, and the Tory qualificaion of.
" property," superior to any British assembly
since the Revolution of 1688. It does not
contain so many wild young suckers of the
Aristocracy ; it lacks some scores of political
and needy adventurers seeking their own indi-
vidual emolument; it wants the presence of
Mr. John Wilson Croker ; it has lost the small
military satellites who moved in the orbit of the
Duke of Wellington, hidden in the twilight of
his setting power ; it is deprived of the " any
party " support of many legal aspirants to the of-
fices of Attorney and Solicitor General ; it has
no Welch Judges, no John Singleton Copley,
Master of the Rolls, to oppose or support, " as
need be," such a party question as Catholic
emancipation ; it contains no colonial "plumbs"
—no millionaires, who bought borough seats as
men enter London clubs for fashion's sake ; it
has the benefit of no experienced Tory
" Whipper-in," like Mr. William Holmes. But
the new Parliament possesses the practical
abilities, knowledge and experience of men of
local character and influence in their several
communities ; and we do not marvel, under these
" revolutionary" circumstances, that the new
Members enjoy the envy, the misrepresentation
and the jealous bate of the Tories and
Conservative writers. The former monopolists
of the representative power of the people have
indeed a forlorn hope before them. We make
ample allowance for their corresponding despair,
suddenly deprived of their influence and sweets
of office—and bereft of them mainly (as the)
acknowledge in private) by their shameful abuse
of power, and by their blindness to the " signs of
.he times" in the year 1830. We pass over the
question of the Irish Coercion Bill, and its vin-
dication in the pamphlet, because it is a nau-
seating subject ; in our judgment its necessity
might have been obviated by political wisdom in
1832; and even if extraordinary executive
powers Were required to control Irish agitation,
some parts of tine measure were as useless as
they were an unnecessary violation of the spirit
of the British Constitution. But, be it ever
remembered, that the causes of Irish agitation
originated with the Tories, and that the aban-
doned clauses of the first draft of the Coercion
Bill received their strenuous support, and were

erased against their bitter party protests. More-
over, the execution of the powers of the 8.11.
has been indisputably lenient, and its action in
terrcrem has temporarily produced comparative
security of life and property, which we hope
will be the precursor of real remedial measures
for the cure of Irish misgovernment. In the
meanwhile, the Irish Church Bill, the
Grand Jury and Jury Bills the Tithe
Bill, and the Commissions of Inquiry into
Corporations and the State of the Poor, are
substantial measures pro tanto, which will effec-
tually remove some evils, and form the ground-
work of the ultimate redress of many Irish
griev-
ances. We will only ask, what would have
been the grateful acknowledgements to Tory
Ministers had they introduced such legislative
measures ? The vi. tual abolition of negro
slavery, under ail the aggravated difficulties of
the \Vest India question, is a magnanimous act
of national philanthropy and legislative gene-
rosity, unequalled in the history of any country ;
and, if achieved by his Grace the Duke of Wel-
lington, wo:ild have miraculously transformed 'he
Society of Friends into a political union of
Tories. In Finance, the Ministry has partially
redeemed its pledge of economy. The expendi-
ture has been materially reduced, and the foun-
dation is laid of an early and considerable further
diminution of our overwhelming burthen of
taxation. We fully admit the honest reductions
effected by the Duke of Wellington ; but what
proportion of those reductions was really effected
by the old Whig opposition—by Mr. Home,
Sir .T. Graham, arid other popular Members of
the then Parliaments ? Mr. Spring Rice, in a
recent useful public statement, detailed the real
reductions effected by Lord Grey's Administra-
tion. We extract the following simple facts
from the pamphlet before us :
" In 1830, when the present Government came into
office, the total net income of the country was in round
numhers, 50,000.0001., of this sum, 35.000 0001. were
ab,orbed in the payment of the D bt, Civil List, Ha'f-pay
of the Army and Navy, Superannuated and Retired Al-
lowance to Civil Officers, and other fixed charges . leaving
about 15.000,000/. susceptible of reduction, exclusive of
any diminution which might be effected in the expenses
of collection.
" The expenditure of the year ending the sth
April 1532, was
The expenditure of the year ending the sth April,
1833

45,365,000

Actual diminution of expenditure in 18.33 2,493,000
The estimated expenditure of the present year,
ending sth April, 1834 44,922,000

Further reduction of expenditure 443,000
Total estimated diminution of expenditure be.
tw•een April, 1832, and April, 1834 °,936,000
" A reduction will thus ►.ave been effected, during: the
years 1831, 1832, and 1833, to the extent of about three
millions upon that portion of the expenditure which ad-
mits of reduction, viz. About 15 millions."

We shall hereafter give the details of these ma-
terial reductions ; at present we must content
ourselves with observing that the general system
of taxation—of the cost of the Army, Navy,
Diplomatic and Civil departments—is now un-
dergoing a rigid and minute inquiry, which
must necessarily precede and ensure further eco-
nomy, and an extensive reform of the national
expenditure. This part of the pamphlet is
evidently compiled from official information : it
is unostentatiously and simply written, and is
useful because the People ever overlook past
reductions of their hurt hens in their natural and
shrewd anxiety to obtain further fiscal relief.
The " unit economies," also, which form an
aggravate diminution of taxation (often the only
practical mode of immediate saving) are seldom
observed and less frequently acknowledged by
the public. We reluctantly postpone our ex-
tracts from this portion of the pamphlet, because
it forms its most substantial political exposition.
The Bank Charter Bill is the most questionable
Ministerial measure ; we hope, however, that it
will promote that " free trade in money" which,
based on an invariable standard of value and a
convertible currency, is essential to our national
prosperity. It is singular that this measure was
supported by two parties of economists—those
who object to any relaxation of " Peel's Bill,"
and those who advocate depreciation, both
parties expecting opposite effects. This fact
may illustrate the difficulties of legislation on
the subject of money, especially in a country
" awkwardly" situated as we are with a huge Public
Debt, and an awful super-structure of credit
circulation. The trade of the nation is also
hewn to have received a due share of the legis-
lative attention—in the Tea Bill ; the Reduc-
tion of Duties on Soap, and other articles of
trade and consumption ; the Consolidation of
the Commercial Laws ; the Sugar Refining
Act ; the Commercial Mission to France ; the
Factory Commission and Bill, and the laborious
Committee on Trade and Agriculture. The Law
Reforms will require our future separate atten-
tion ; they are most important. The bog land
of English law is in a fair course of draining and
cultivation, and our defective tribunals will be
subjected to re-construction. The Lord Chan-
cellor deserves infinite credit for his determina-
tion to enter this augean stable, and to cleanse it
out; and the Solicitor General, Sir John
Campbell, is the first Law Officer of the Crown
distinguished as a practical law reformer. The
results of the important and invaluable Com-
missions of Inquiry into the state of the Corn
mon Law and the Laws of Real Property
(originating wi:h Lord Brougham six years
since), are now practically exhibited in many im-
portant and long required legal reforms. Those
legislative enactments and propositions which
relate to the Court of Chancery will demand one
separate exposition and commentary. The dif-
ficulties of law reform—the sinister interests
opposed to it—the dark and scandalous prejir-
dices opposed to its progress, and the disgrace-
ful national ignorance of the science of legislation
and jurisprudence, rendering this undertaking an
herculean labour, and many silent and unseen
labourers in the great cause—especially the Real
Property and Common Law Commissioners—
deserve honourable mention and national grati-
tude. We cannot, however, omit to state that
a Commission is formed for the arrangement and
reduction of our heaps of Statute Law, at the
head of which the Lord Chancellor has honorably
placed Mr. John Austin, a jurist of the highest
talents and attainments. In Municipal Reform
the plough is put into our corrupt and oligarchical
provincial municipal institutions. The Scotch
Burgh Bill has survived the Tory plots against
its vast popular improvements in Scotch municipal
government. The « English Parliamentary
Boroughs Bill," for the incorporation of the
newly enfranchised communities, is, on the whole
(when it shall have received some improvement)
a most popular and valuable measure, and it is
honestly submitted to public criticism and
animadversion during the vacation, before it
becomes law. The Municipal Commissions for
inquiring into and remedying the defective
organization of the English, Welsh. Scotch, and
Irish Corporations, respectively presided over
by Mr. Biackburne, Mr. Sergeant Perrin, and
Mr. Greenshields, aided by competent Sub-
Commissioners, men of popular opinions, and
known zeal for the public good, gives an earnest

of an early and real system of Corporate and
Municipal reformation. Our Foreign Policy
has been partially ambiguous ; but peace has
been maintained, and if war had been expedient,
the Tories have tolerably anticipated our means
of enjoying this ruinous pastime. We do not
think that the British people would covet a
larger national debt, at a period when they are
striving to scratch off every tax on their weary
backs ; and we have surely affairs enough at
home and in our colonies, on our hands, to
make us chary of meddling rashly with the con-
cerns of other countries. The protocol business
was assigned by Lord Aberdeen to Viscount
Palmerston, and was no invention of the latter
Secretary of the " War Department ;" the sooner
it is declined the better, and we shall have less
suspicions of improper connection with the ac-
cursed Holy Alliance of " legitimate Kings."
Such is a rapid sketch of the contents of this
valuable and timely pamphlet. We shall here-
after extract its details. We do not desire to
flatter the present Administration, but it is right
that justice should be done to it for what national
good it has really effected. We shall, to-mor-
row, detail what it has not done, and what it
must do, or give early place to another and an
advanced Government. It will, however, ever
enjoy the great and signal reputation of having
proposed and carried the measures of Parlia-
mentary Reform, and of having deposed the
Tory faction which reigned with tyrannic and
blasting rule over this great nation ; and in the
last words of the pamphlet, the present Ministry
" will last as long as they deserve, and they
ought to wish to last no longer 1" Vie are con-
fident that, controlled by a Reformed Parliament,
tney must respect or tall under the pressure of
public opinion !—Morning Chronicle.
The Ministerial papers have for the last few
days been puffing and filling their columns with
extracts from a pamphlet recently published
under the title of The kform Ministry and
the Ryon): Parliament, and we preginne from
this circumstance that the production is to he
considered as a kind of Ministerial manifesto at
the close of the session. This extrinsic evidence
of the official origin of the production in ques-
tion is materially strengthened by a perusal of
its contents. The pamphlet is entirely worthy
of the Administration and of the Parliament in
honour of which it has been put forth. It is at
once feeble and violent, heavy and vet absurd,
paradoxical but not ingenious; it substitutes
pertness for spirit and dogmatism for boldness ;
it is as tiresome as Lord Grey, as rude as Lord
Brougham, as stupid as Lord Althorp, and as
frothy as Mr. &anley. Of any elaborate dis-
cussion the thing is totally unworthy ; but, as
the Ministers and their party have pledged their
political reputation upon its success, we feel
bound to present our readers with one or two
specimens of its merits. Our first specimen
shall he the opening passage of the work :—" I
would wish to ask the Noble Lord (said the
Duke of Wellington to Earl Grey in a speech on
the Reform Bill) how any Ministry will here-
after be able to conduct the King's Go-
vernment with a Parliament such as will be re-
turned by this Bill ?" " Well," continues the
pamphleteer, "the experiment has been tried ;
the first Session of the Reformed Parliament has
closed." This is quite enough to stamp the
character of the production. " The experi-
ment has been tried," as if the Duke of Wel-
liegton's prognostication related to consequences
which were to ensue in the first Session, or even
in the first Parliament, under the Reform Bill—
as if the Noble Duke, in common with every
other man in the country at the time when he
uttered the o vinous words so flippantly quoted
by the pamphleteer, did not clearly foresee that
the first eleciions under the Reform Bill would
give the Reform Ministers a decided majority in
the House of Commons., and place the Govern.
ment of the country absolutely in their hands—
and as if this result did not entirely coincide with
the spirit and even the letter of the Noble
Duke's prediction, the government which has
been carried on in such circumstances, not being
in any sense of the word time King's Govern-
ment, but in every sense of the word the Govern.
ment of the Ministers who concocted the Reform
Bill. But waving this, which is the true view of
the subject, and assuming that the Govern-
ment which has been carried on in the King's
name is of necessity the King's Government,
what is there in the circumstances which attend
the conclusion of the first session of the reformed
Parliament to indicate that the Duke of Wel-
lington misapprehended the character or miscal-
culated the eventual consequences of the Whig
measure of Reform ? Is it not a notorious fact
that before the Reformed Parliament had sat for
three months the impression had become ge-
neral, which has not been effaced to the present
moment,that anothergeneral election would con-
siderably reduce at least, if not altogether destroy,
the power of the present Ministers to carry on the
Government, whether it he called the King's
Government or their own ? Is it not notorious
that official arrangements which were deemed
convenient and advantageous to the public ser-
vice have been abandoned or postponed simply
because the Ministry, conscious of its loss of
popularity, dreaded to expose any of its Members
to the ordeal of a popular election, now the only
mode in which they could find readmission to the
House of Commons ? And, if it can by any
license of speech be said that the King's Go-
vernment is still carried on by a Ministry
fettered in the manner and to the extent we have
described, by the necessity of recurring upon
every emergency which requires new official ar-
rangements to the suffrag.s of a numerous con-
stituency, does not the existence of such a state
of things, at so short a period after the passing
of the Reform Bill, indicate but too clearly the
near approach of a season in which it will no
longer be possible for any Administration to
carry on the Government of the King ? He
must be a very shallow person indeed who says
in a tone of triumph, that " the experiment has
been tried" which decides against the accuracy
of the Duke of Wellington's prediction. So
far from having been tried, the experiment
yet scarcely begun, and as completely as an in-
cipient experiment can do so, has confirmed the
Noble Duke's anticipation in the opinion of all
impartial and considerate men. We may pro-
bably on a future day notice some of the othea
exhibitions of sobriety and truth which dis in-
miish this elaborate manifesto of the Admini-
station.—Morning Post.

SUMMER TOURISTS.--Straiigers continue
to flock into the North, and there nev-r perk ips was a
time when the Highlands had so many visitors. Our
inns are all full, bed and h Yard ; coach seats are almost a,.
difficult to obtain as a lottery prz? wiR in the olden time
of Dish and Cu. ; steam-boats are equally crowded, and
gigs and horses are everywhere hut at home. In the in
terior of the country we find pirties of all descriptions—
sportsmen with dogs and guns, the pirient angler with
his rod, the geologist with his bag and hammer, the bo-
tanist with his hook of specimens, the scene-hunter with
hs pencil or nienioranth, and numerous groups intent
only on pie-nicking among wild bills., streams, or waterfAle.
invernesB Courier,

OLD BAILEY, SEPT. 5.

OLD COURT.

FORGERY. —David Dundas was put to the bar,
charged with a forgery upon Messrs. Drummond and
Co. The prisoner applied to the Court to post-
pone his trial till Saturday, on the ground of the
absence of Colonel Rowan, whom prisoner swore
he believed to be a material witness to his defence.

Mr. BODKIN, on behalf of the prosecution, would
not object, although it would be very inconvenient
to Lord Dundas and his witnesses, who were in
attendance.

The trial was then postponed till Saturday.

SHOOTING WITH INTENT TO MURDER.—Charles
Reynolds, with whose name the public is already
acquainted, was put to the bar charged with mali-
ciously shooting at Sarah Parry, with intent to
murder her.

The prisoner's age was stated on the calendar to
be only nineteen, but he appeared at least two or
three years older. His face exhibited a frightful
scar under the right eye, the effect of the wound in-
flicted on himself. He was perfectly composed
throughout the trial, exhibiting but little anxiety,
and certainly none of that wildness of the eyes or
restlessness of deportment which generally accom-
pany insanity.
The first witness called was the prosecutrix, Sa-
rah Parry, rather an interesting looking girl of about
24. She was examined by Mr. Baron GURNEY—
Is a single woman. Knew the prisoner, who was a
fellow-servant of hers for about three months, at
Mr. Wetherell's, at Highgate. Prisoner had left
the place. In the month of June last prosecutrix
lived with her sister, at Hammersmith. On the
28,h of June was in the kitchen with her sister.
The prisoner came there. Before prisoner came in
she did not know he was in the house. She had
not seen him for a week before. He stood at the
kitchen door, and had a large pistol in his hand.
He said to her sister, " If you move you are a dying
woman—l'll shoot you." Prisoner then went to
the other kitchen door, and pulled out two more
pistols, and said, " You shall suffer for the injury
you have done my character with my parents."
Shortly after there was a ring at the bell. She
said, " Good gracious ! there are some of our people
coming." She was standing by the dresser at the
time. The prisoner raised the pistol and fired at
her. Was hen about four or five yards from the
prisoner. Was wounded in a finger and the neck.
Her finger was shot off. She did not remember
whether prisoner said any thing when he fired the
pistol. She was so frightened, that had he said
any thing, she probably would not have remembered
it. When shot, she fell down, and was carried to
the hospit 1.
Coss-,-xamined by Mr. C. PHILLIPS for the de-
fence—Had been friendly with the prisoner as a
fellow servant. Did riot see the prisoner after the
shot was fired till she saw him at the police-office.
Did not see anything particularly wild in his ap-
pearance; but was so flurried that she might not
have observed it. Never saw the prisoner before
she went to Mr. Wetherell's.

By the COURT—Prisoner never courted her, or
paid her any atientioui.
The prisoner was called on for his defence. He
replied in a very (atm tone, that he was not aware
of what he ,%'as doing at the time.

Mr. Baron GURNEY said that in this case the
only question was whether the prisoner was in an
accountable state of mind at the time the deed was
done. No evidence had been given of the state of
his mind before that time. The only evidence on
his behalf was as to character. The defence of
insanity was one which of late years hail risen to a
fearful height. The security of the public demanded
that such defences should be most scrupulously
sif ed and scrutinized. The circumstances which
bore most strongly on this view of the case, were
the utter absence of all jealous or mal gnaw feeling,
or oilier re,sonable motive for the act. There was
not even any courtship, therefore, there could not
have been any disappointment.
The Jury, after consulting some time without be-
ing able to agree, retired, but returned in an hour
and a half, when the foreman gave in a verdict of
Guilty, but strongly recommended the prisoner to
mercy, on account of his previous good character,
the absence of revengeful motives, and the other
peculiar circums,ances of the case.
BIGAMY.—JoIIa ,Tames Fraser was indicted for
intermarrying with one Anne Bliss, his former wife
be tig still all ye.
The prisoner was married in 1830, at Queen-
borough, to a widow, named Dann, and he was
described in the registry of marriage as John James
Fraser, widower. He married in rather more than
a year afterwards, Mary Ann Bliss, like the former
wife, a widow. This marriage took place by banns
in the Parish of St. George the Martyr, and lie
was described in the registry as James Frazer,
widower. Mrs. Bliss had at the time of this mar-
riage six children by her former husband, and was
carrying on some business by which she was enabled
to maintain them. She told the prisoner that the
property in that business belonged to those chil-
dren, and made that an objection to tilt marriage;
but he wooed so earnestly that she consented,
and when he had made himself master of the pro-
perty, he quickly turned it to his account. It was
subsequently discovered that his former wife was
still living, and proceedings were taken against him.
The case for the prosecution having been clearly
proved, the difference between the true names of
the parties and those inserted in the registry was
accounted for.

The prisoner was called on for his defence. The
successful wooer of three wives was a sharp-faced,
vulgar, ill-looking man, with a very unpleasing
Scotch brogue. The choice of him reflected no
credit on the taste of those who made it.
The Jury, without a moment's hesitation, found
him Guilty.
The COURT intimated that he must prepare him-
self to leave this country, for that under the circum-
stances of this case, he could have no hope of
remaining, het e.
NEW REMEDY FOR THE CHOLERA.—James Wat-
son, aged 20, was indicted for stealing twenty-four
yards of calico, the property of John Middleton
and Co.
T.e prisoner was engaged by the prosecutors as
a porter, and on the night of the 23d of July, as he
was about to leave the warehouse, a remarkable ap-
pearance of obesity in his person attracted the
attention of a fellow servant, named Jones. Jones,
thinking this increase of size rather suspicions,
;harked the prisoner with having something con-
cealed tinder his garment. This the prisoner denied,
but on being searched, the calico was found wrapped
round his loins.

The prisoner, in defence, isa;(l he had a sudden

attack of cholera, and knowing the virtues of calico
when brought into close contact with the person,
he had wrapped the calico round him a* the best
,pecific at hand. He had two witnesses to prove
this.

Mr. BODKIN, who was for the prisoner, was about
to examine them, when
The RECORDER said that such a defence could
not be seriously entertained.
Mr. BODKIN—Oh ! I don't know that. Those
attacks come on veiny suddenly.
The RECORDER—Not attacks from calico.—
LauJiter.)
The Jury found the prisoner Guilty, but recom-
mended him to mercy on account of his previous
good character.