The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A Tory print has put forth some flippant
remarks, where the usual arrogance and ignorance
are shown, respecting an inquiry which is making
with a view to the more economical management
of the civil departments of the army. We have
been for some time aware that such an investi-
gation was in progress, and as no inconvenience
can now arise from givinga publicity to the matter,
we may state that a Royal Commission has been
issued, appointing the Duke of Richmond, Lord
John Russell, the Right lion. Edward Ellice
(Secretary at War), Sir James Kempt (Master-
General of the Ordnance), and Major-General
Sir Robert L. Dundas, K.G.8., members of a
Board to examine into the expediency and
practicability of consolidating., or in any other
way so to arrange the different offices in the civil
department of the army, such as the Ordnance, the
office of the Secretary at War, and the Paymaster
of the Forces, and also the Commissariat-office
at the Treasury, as to produce a diminution of
expense, hut without lessening the efficiency of
those establishments. Sir John Bisset is, we be-
lieve, the Secretary to the Board, who has had
practical experience in the Commissariat Depart-
ment ; but he receives no remuneration for this
service, nor do the members of the Board. Se-
veral witnesses have been examined for sorre
days past, and should the result of the inquiry
be a recommendation to consolidate some of the
above-mentioned offices, and place them under
one head, and thereby to save a considerable
sum to the public, without any injury but with
benefit to the King's service, whatever may be
the lamentations of the Tories, or rather angry
vituperation, at this lopping off of patronage,the
country will render justice to the exertions of
Ministers to accomplish reduction and economy
in all the various branches of expenditure. It
may be a question whether a commission so
constituted as this may have the courage to do
its duty, but we are sure that the objects for
which the commission was appointed are good
and useful.—Times.

We have received a feeling and well-written
letter from Glasgow, signed " A Hand- loom
Weaver," advocating the interests of that class
of workmen. Our humble correspondent states
a fact with which we were previously well ac-
quainted,—" That while almost every other me-
chanic is comparatively well paid, the hand-loom
weavers remain in the same poor and starving
condition as before." He afterwards proceeds
to inform us, that these suffering operatives are
at the present moment "endeavouring to form a
combination or union, like other trades, for the
advancement of their wages," but he adds, that
from their scattered situation over the villages of
Scotland, they will find a perfect combination
difficult, if not impossible. Our correspondent,
in speculating on the distressed condition of
his own branch of manufacture both in Scot-
land and England, ascribes its diminished
wages to the want of that concert among its
members to raise them, which other trades
have long established. It is on account
of the mistakes in his reasoning on this
point, and not by any means with an intention of
denying his facts, that we allude to his commu-
nication, and that we proceed to make a remark
or two. w hich may he of advantage or benefit to
the class to which he belongs. The wages of hand-
loom weaving, then, are low and inadequate to the
comfortable support of the weaver, not because that
class of workmen have neglected to form unions,
but because they are opposed by power-loom ma-
chinery. There cannot be two prices for the
same article in the same market, if there be no
difference in their quality to create a preference.
The purchaser, if he finds as good a fabric made
by power-loom machinery as by hand-loom labour,
will not pay a farthing more for the latter than
for the former. Thus the cost at which machi-
nery will %Rake the article is the price at which the
hand.loom weaver must sell his labour ; and
as by the aid of this machinery one man can do
the work of three hand-loom weavers, the latter
can earn only one third of the wages of the
former, deduction being previously made for the
interest of the capital invested in the machinery.
It is plain, therefbre, that no combination among
hand-loom weavers can raise the price of an
article which depends for its price not upon the
abundance or scarcity of their kind of labour,
but upon the cost at which it can be manufac-
tured by machinery. Accordingly, the hand-
loom weaving at Blackburn and in the country
districts of Lancashire, as well as in Scotland,
has long become so unprofitable that the
operatives engaged in it cannot earn more than
%. or 4s. per week. Hand-loom weaving is
likely, therefore, to be discontinued altogether
at no distant period, or, if persevered in at all,
only to he continued in retired situations,
where living is cheap, or where distance from
great factories may prevent the immediate
competition of its products with those of
power loom machinery. The remedy for
the workmen engaged in it is not, therefore,
to combine to raise their wages, but to leave
the manufacture itself for some more lucrative
employment as soon as they can, and not to
bring up their children to such a waste of their
labour. Before the invention of the art of
printing, the transcription of manuscripts was a
considerable trade, yielding high wages. Sup-
pose the scribes thus employed had chosen to
contiuue in their profession after the use of
moveable types, and to run a race with the press
driven by a steam-engine, their wages would
certainly have fallen to a rate inadequate to sup-
port existence. No combination or union among
the craft of transcribers could then have placed
them on a footing with printers in multiplying,
copies of books ; they must have died off; not-
withstanding the most perfect concert among
themselves not to work except at the rate of
wages common in other trades. We need
scarcely ask our Glasgow Correspondent to ap-
ply the example to hand-loom weaving, as corn-
pared with the efficiency of power-loom ma-
chinery, and to abandon the idea of his Trades'
Union, in order to raise the rate of his wages.—
Times.

The subject of Corporation Reform continues
to excite an extraordinary public interest
throughout the kingdom, and the disclosures of
municipal corruption and defective political
organization inulliplY upon us in the reports of
the Country papers. The systematic bribery
and venality of the freemen of the larger towns,
exposed before the Commissioners, far exceeds
even the insight afforded by the recent reports
of the Election Committees in the last Session
of Parliament. Liverpool, Norwich, Bristol,
iill'elitistone, are pre-eminent examples of this
ihamelOs, debauchery and corruption of the
inuniciiml.francliise and Parliamentary constitu-
ency. need not wonder that the Tories
and the 'Conservative Press displayed such alarm
and horror at the " illegality" and consequences
40L of the Inquiry. It was indeed high time that a
Lit-),}:. thorough change should be effected in the muni,

cipal system ; which, as at present constituted,
seems to comprehend all the corrupt, and all the
accessible to corruption, and to exclude those
classes who possess real intelligence and property,
And who at least ought to participate in municipal
Hower and influence. We should be at a loss to
understand how such gross political corruption
could thus long continue did we not know that
it was carefully preserved by the boroughtnongers
is the main spring of their political machinery.
If the Government deals with this vital question
of municipal reform in a wise and honest spirit
the good effects to Miuisters'and the country
will be invaluable. The opposition of the
Conservatives to the corporation commission is
extremely amusing. They assert the purity of
he corporators—the perfection of the municipal
system—and the integrity of the administration
of the public funds ; but they, nevertheless,
would deny the means of proving this assumed
Perfectibility. An inquiry, authorised by Act
of Parliament, it appears would be compara-
tively unobjectionable ; but a Royal commission
is a distressing stretch of the royal prerogative,
although a dozen various commissions have
originated with Tory Administrations. The
'node, therefore, of inquiry is the plau-
sible objection ; but this crafty pretence will
not conceal the real motives of opposition, viz.,
a mortal enmity to any substantial measure of
municipal reformation. The Tory Journals li
would now have us believe that the liberties of
the people, and the freedom of the press, should
he vested in their custody and keeping ; but it
will be some time before they will succeed in
obtaining the necessary leave of the country to
assume such a public trust. All their efforts
have been recently consolidated to induce the
Corporators to disobey the King's Commission,
but unavailingly ; and two or three solitary in-
stances of absurd contumacy appear to be the
only product of their superfluous labours. The
Corporators have been alternately cajoled and
abused by those who have so long used them as
political tools ; but the veil is removed—they see
the impossibility of resisting the tide of political
improvement, and creditably defer to public opt.
nion. Among the most palpable and cabalistical
modes for exciting a refractory spirit, the " opt-
nions" of Sir James Scarlett, Mr. Follett, and a
Mr.Rennall, have been most sedulously and pomp-
ously advertised as a justification of opposition to
the Commission. We published on Wednes-
day an able and unanswerable letter on the law
and political manifestoes of these barristers, un-
der the signature of " Civis"—by an intelli-
gent and eminent city solicitor ; and we direct
the attention of our readers to his second letter
in the Morning Chronicle of to-day. A more
complete expose of legal craft and political per-
version of facts was never made than in this
acute commentary on the opinions of three
Counsel "learned in the law." A more paltry
or despicable quibble to prove that the Mer-
chant Tailors' Company is not an integral por-
tion of the City of London Corporation could
not be devised ; and it appears that Sir James
Scarlett not long since maintained the very op-
posite doctrine to his present opinion in respect
of this same City Company. We hope that
the author of these letters wiil publish them in
a more permanent form, as they are most op-
portune, and should be extensively known
to the freemen of the city before St. Thomas's
Day. Sir James Scarlett, more crafty as an
advocate than a case lawyer, has egregiously
committed his legal reputation ; Mr. Follett, by
his brevity, has endeavoured to do so as little as
possible. Civis grapples with their chicanery,
and has placed them in a pillory from whence
they will not easily be rescued. In the mean-
while it is highly creditable to the London Cor-
poration and the majority of the city com-
panies that they oppose no obstacles to a public
and full inquiry into their constitution and exe-
cutive management. An active and public spi-
rited committee of the city freemen and new
constituency has been formed to aid the com•
mission ; and the citizens we are confident will
duly appreciate their own interest in the inquiry.
It appears that notice has been given to the
corporation and different parties interested of
the commencement of the inquiry in the City on
Monday next, but the place and course of pro-
cedure are not stated in the letter of the Se-
cretary of the Commission to the Lord Mayor.
—Morning Chronicle.

We understand that there has been a Com•
mittee sitting at the Office of Ordnance for
some days past, composed of the Duke of
Richmond, Lieutenant-General Sir J. Kempt,
Mr. Edward Ellice, and Sir R. Dundas, for the
purpose of endeavouring to collect a show of
evidence sufficient to serve as a pretext for car-
rying into effect Mr. E. Ellice's new job—the
transferring the patronage of that office to the
office of the Secretary at War. A more fla-
grant and manifest job than this, or one likely to
be attended with more inconvenience and detri-
ment to the service, has never yet been at-
tempted. We suppose the step is merely pre-
paratory to Mr. E. Ellice's long proposed intro-
duction into the Cabinet, where this addition
to his present office and patronage will give him
the weight which Lord Grey considers ought
to belong to his son-in•law.— Morning Post.

The bronze statue of the late Duke of York
is in such a forward state that it is expected the artist
will shortly be enabled to place iron the pillar lately:erected
to receive it. It will have a tine appearance from the parade
in Sr. James's Park.

We are glad to learn that Lord Western is
recovering from his late severe illness.

WHO IS THE TRAITOR ?-This question
stands on very tieLlish grounds at present. All the 'fail
have after a fashion publicly disclaimed the title; and a
few—a very few of them—have been expurgated by Mr.
Hill, in a private correspondence, intended for the public
eye. We shall not be satisfied until every one of the 40
shall have taken up his character from the Member for
Hull in the same way. Were there in this precious Tail
any person of independence, or one permitted to exercise
his own free will, we should excuse him from the degra
dation of this servile proceeding; but with creatures of
the kind they have proved themselves to be, we have no
scruples about hurting their feelings; for if they possessed
any, they would not submit to do the drudgery of such
an overbearing tyrant as O'Connell. It seems their
master himself is not satisfied either with their conduct.
He declares, " I am not satisfied with the course fol-
lowed by the Irish Members in reference to the silly
assertion of Mr. Hill, of Hull." Why, it was the
very course himself ordered. But he goes on to say,
"He (Mr. Hill) will not tell us the name of the traitor or
of the informer." That is true ; but Mr. Hill has pro-
mised to tell the traitor himself, if he ask the question ;
and it is then for the traitor either to inform the public of
the fact, by publishing Mt. Hill's letter, or to leave the
public to infer the fact by suppressing it. Every one of
the forty, therefore, Daniel inclusive, must go through the
ordeal until the traitor is discovered. But Mr. O'Connell
says, ic I, for my part, will not write to him" k Mr. Hill).
Then, Daniel, our dear Daniel, suppose the other thirty-
nine write and receive a clean bill of character in reply,
solely the inference must be that you are the traitor your-
self. At present nobody suspects you ; but the fact is, you
must put the whole forty to their purgation, or the public
will never be satisfied that either you yourself, or some
one by your instigation, is not the culprit. We shall
' watch and publish the names as they appe,r, purified or
otherwise, from Mr. Hill's alembic:.—Dublin

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, DEE. 12.

London Sittings at Nisi Priers, before Mr. Justice

BOSANQUET.)
SOWERS V. LAW.

This was an action brought by the plaintiff, a
dress-maker, against the defendant, a young gentle-
man of fortune, to recover the amount of seven
weeks' board and lodging.
Mr. Sergeant WILDE, with whom was Mr. HILL,
appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant JONES
conducted the defence.

Miss Colburn, a young lady of prepossessing ap-
pearance and most intelligent manner, proved that
the plaintiff, who now resided at No. 213, Great
Surrey-street, Blackfriars, had lived formerly in
Sloane-street, Chelsea, and that the defendant came
to lodge there at the recommendation of his guar-
dians on the 14th January last, and continued there
until the 4th March following. The agreement
made between the plaintiff and defendant was, that
when the latter came of age he would pay hand-
somely for the accommodation. A bed was fitted
up expressly for him in the back drawing.
room, and he was provided with all his meals,
breakfast, lunch, dinner, wine, coffee, and supper.—
(A laugh.) The defendant came of age on the
29th of flay last, but had never paid the amount
due to the plaintiff, which was calculated at the
rate of three guineas and a half per week. The
witness, in answer to questions put by Mr. HILL,
also proved that the defendant eat a very hearty
breakfast, generally disposing of five or six eggs;
and his average potations were a bottle of wine per
day.—(Loud laughter.)
Cross-examined by Mr. Sergeant JONES —T h e
plaintiff is about 28 years of age, and is still a single
woman. Has heard plaintiff say that the defendant
was married in July last.

Mr. Sergeant JONEI—Was he a pleasant young
man ?

Witness (with peculiar archness)—Not par icu-
larly so.
Mr. Sergeant JONES—Was he not what you
ladies term a nice young man ?
Witness—Not particularly so.—(Laughter.)
Mr. Sergeant JONES—D;d he always go to the
play alone ?
Witness—No, Sir, I have gone with him and the
plaintiff threg or four times, but not at his expense.
Mr. Sergeant JONES—Why, Miss Colburn, do
yeu mean to say that he was so ungallant as to let
the ladies pay for themselves ?
Witness, with great naivete—Oh yes, Sir, he did.

. -
Mr. SergeantJoNEs—l am very sorry to hear it.—
(Loud laughter.) But pray now, Miss Colburn,
have you never noticed any little flirtation between
the plaintiff and the defendant ?
Witness (with surprise)—Oh dear, no, S]r,—no-
thing of the sort. I suspected something of the
kind when first Mr. Law came, and I mentioned it
to him in a joke.—(Laughter.)
Mr. Sergeant JONES—Had you any peculiar ob-
ject in making that inquiry ? I mean, any object
peculiar to yourself.
Witness—Oh ! no Sir, most certainly not.—(Loud
laughter.)
Afin Allen, the plaintiff's female servant, corrobo-
rated the evidence of the last witness in the main
particulars, especially as to the articles and accom-
modation supplied to the plaintiff.
Cross-examined by Mr. Sergeant JONES— Was
the defendant a very pleasant, nice young man ?
Witness—Nothing out of the common way. He
was passable.—(The tone and manner in which the
answer was given elicited a general burst of laughter.)
Mr. Sergeant JONES—Did you never suspect that
something relative to marriage was going on between
your mistress and the defendant ?
Witness (with manifest surprise at the question)
—Oh, no, Sir ; my mistress had more sense than to
think of such a boy as he was.—(Renewed laughter.)
Mr. Sergeant JONES—I suppose marriage would
be the last thing that would enter your head ?
Witness (after some hesitation)—l do not know;
I should never think of such a boy as he was.—
(Roars of laughter.)
Two witnesses (lodging-house-keepers) proved
that the amount demanded (three and a half gui-
neas) a week was a fair and moderate charge for
the accommodation supplied.
Mr. Sergeant JONES, for the defendant, contended
that the plaintiff had never expected to be paid, and
that it was a mere speculation by the plaintiff, in
the hope of inducing the defendant to marry her.
Ann Potter proved that she had lived in the
service of the plaintiff while the defendant lodged
there, and deposed to the familiar terms on which
the parties lived together. They were very agree-
able with each other, and the plaintiff was very
attentive to him. They often went to the theatre
together, arid the plaintiff always dined with him.
Mr. Baxter, a solicitor, proved that the plaintiff
came to him in May last to be paid 151. for money
advanced by her to the defendant. She said she
had been at great expense in supplying him with
necessaries, but she did not mean to make any
charge for them, and only wanted to be paid the
money she had advanced. This the witness paid,
and the plaintiff went away.
Mr. Sergeant WILDE replied. He said a more
paltry and mean defence he never had heard set up
in any court of justice. He contended that the
whole facts in the case completely negatived the
insinuation raised by the defendant, that it was never
intended to charge for the necessaries supplied.
Mr. Justice BositscluET then summed up the
evidence.
The Jury, after a short deliberation, found a
verdict for the plaintiff—Damages, 25/.