The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-31 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We learn from good authority, that there is not a
word of truth in the circular communication to all the
morning papers of yesterday, of an anonymous letter to
Mr. Hall, partner of Mr. Cooper, of the date of Oct.
12, signed " A True Reformer," having been laid be-
fore the Privy Council. Of course the addition, " that
it created a considerable sensation in the Council," and
" that this letter was considered by their Lordships of
that importance, that they determined that further in-
quiry was indispensable," is utterly without foundation.
The writer of the circular communication above alluded
to also details a conversation which he had with Mr.
Cooper, in the course of which that individual, among
other things, stated to him that " he arrived in town in
sufficient time to attend to business on Saturday morning,
and the first thing in which he was engaged was re-
ceiving orders, and taking the measure of some iron
railing, for the new 'Westminster Hospital, opposite the
Abbey. He then met with Mr. Barham, the archi-
tect, and the course of conversation naturally led to
the circumstances attending the destruction of the
Houses of Parliament. He mentioned to that gen-
tleman, in an incidental manner, the fact of the con-
versation at Dudley, as he had done to several other
individuals ; and at half-past twelve o'clock on Mon-
day, to his utter astonishment, he received a summons
to attend before the Privy Council." There seems
to be some fatality about Mr. Cooper's account,
for in this case there is either misconception on the
part of the reporter, or mis-statement on the part
of his informant. We have the best authority for
stating, that so far from having been taken by surprise
by receiving a summons at half-past twelve o'clock on
Monday to attend before the Privy Council, Mr.
Cooper was actually excused, between eight and nine
o'clock on the Monday morning in question, from at-
tendance at the Old Bailey, as Foreman of the Petty
Jury, on account of his wish to communicate evidence
respecting the fire ; that he went from the Old Bailey
with a note to the Lord Chancellor ; and that he must
have seen the Lord Chancellor that forenoon by half-
past ten o'clock. If he was not under a delusion with
respect to this, the reporter must have caught theliability
to delusion fromhim. We cannot conclude without cau-
tioning the public against placing any reliance on the
stories respecting the origin of this fire, which there
seems a disposition in some quarters to propagate. We
have seen a circular statement to the morning papers
of other evidence, said to have been given by Cooper
before the Privy Council on Wednesday, in which the
most atrocious imputations are thrown out against a
gentleman of the highest respectability, utterly incapa-
ble of saying what is attributed to him. Whether
Mr. Cooper gave any such evidence to the Privy
Council or not we cannot say ; but of this we are cer-
tain, that the eminent architect alluded to never could
have afforded any grounds for it. It would almost
seem as if an experiment were now making to ascertain
the extent of the public credulity. We had imagined
that the days for a Sir Edmondbury Godfrey and Dr.
Titus Oates were gone by.—Morning Chronicle.
Our contemporary (the Times) must be driven to
hard shifts for abuse of the Lord Chancellor, when it
makes the account furnished by Mr. Cooper of his
own evidence before the Privy Council to the writer of
the circular communication to the morning papers, the
.subject of an attack on his Lordship. That Mr.
Cooper's statements, no matter from what cause, are
not always to be implicitly relied on, is proved by the
singular delusion under which he labours with respect
to what took place at Dudley. It required no great
stretch of candour, under such circumstances, to have
supposed that what might appear incomprehensible in
the cross-examination of Mr. Cooper was attributable
to him rather than to Lord Brougham, who could
not have attained to the professional eminence he
.Anioyed, if he were such a tyro in cross-examining
as the mak . Even from the
very imperfect account given,
Chancellor was following a practice neither uncommon
nor injudicious, when he asked whether the man who
communicated the account of the fire to Mr. Cooper
was black or white ; and " Mr. Cooper (quoth our
Acontemporary) seems to have been dumb-founded by
this extraordinary inquiry ; and indeed, the learned
examiner does not give us any insight into his parti-
cular object, though no doubt he had in his mind some
philosophical connection between colour and confla-
gration—between flame-coloured taffeta,' and blazing
buildings." This is intended for wit, no doubt. The
.object of the questions is obvious enough. Witnesses
are often led by mention of such circumstances as co-
lour, shape, age, &c., to the recollection of individuals,
and the Chancellor might have wished to discover
whether any person answering the description of Mr.
Cooper's informant actually told the news to him on
Friday morning. But be this as it may, the
.public
will see in this fact evidence of the fixed determination
to put the worst construction on everything said or
done by the Chancellor.—Morning Chronicle.

We learn from Ireland that Mr. Otway Cave has
lately ls:),,en a sufferer from some most outrageous pro-
ceedings. That gentleman has resided for some time
on his estate of Castle Otway, near Nenagh, in the
county of Tipperary; Fire
wasset to his house by a
gang of ruffians ; and if it had not been for the great
zeal of his neighbours, the inj7v would have been
greater than it actually was. Oneliee,-
however, has
been lost by it, and another is likely to be .)st• The
people of the neighbourhood exposed themse:7s to
every danger in their eagerness to stop the confla-
gration, and displayed a presence of mind, and a
scrupulous regard for property, which cannot be too
highly praised. They succeeded in conveying all the
property out of the house with very little damage,
and it was re-conveyed by them without loss.
It is understood that a fair which was lately
established near the residence of Mr. Otway Cave, has
given offence in some quarter, and Mr. Otway Cave
was, when we received our information, actually pre-
paring to set out for Dublin with a view to endeavour
to obtain justice. He conceives that he has obtained
sufficient evidence to ;;ring home the perpetration of
this outrage to one of ti local magistracy, whose
emissaries were the actors. The 01,,ject.is supposed to
have been to drive Mr. 0. Cave out of ,`.',2e country ;
in which, however, they have signally failed, the
warm-hearted zeal of the people has only served to
strengthen his wish to remain among them. Many fe-
males, under such circumstances as a conflagra-
tion, by a savage and infuriated party, would have
taken the alarm ; but we understand that Mrs. Ot-
way Cave says, that after what she saw of the
people about them, she should never feel herself so
safe in any other neighbourhood. Mr. Otway Cave
is himself determined to try whether it is possible to
obtain justice in Ireland, in a case in which the local
Magistracy are implicated. We trust that the Go-
vernment will see the necessity of acting With vigour
on such an occasion as this. The Magistrate or Ma-
gistrates concerned, directly or indirectly, in such an
atrocious outrage, or in endeavours to screen the guilty
authors of it, ought not to be suffered to disgrace the
Commission. From what we know of Mr. Otway Cave,
we are satisfied that it will not be his fault if the affair be not
proceeded with fearlessly. But justice is an affair
only.known of by name in Ireland, and it will require
an equally honest and fearless determination on the
part of the Government to defeat the combination in
the way of justice. The English public will look
with anxiety to the issue of this affair. We confess
we are not sorry that the Orange magistracy have had
the audacity to provoke a gentleman of Mr. Otway
Cave's known resolution. In the case of the wretched
peasantry, to expect that justice could be obtained, in
a case in which magistrates stick to each other, would
be utterly hopeless. We have no doubt, from what
we have heard, that disclosures calculated to throw a
valuable light on the nature of local justice in Ireland,
may be confidently expected. If we expect the law to
be held in reverence, they who administer it ought to
be above suspicion.—Morning Chronicle.

Mr. Edward Ellice is about to quit the Govern-
ment ; not, his friends say, from any political disagree-
ment with his colleagues, but on account of a disagree-
able complaint in the trachea. It certainly is a very
nnpleasant disorder, and may suffice to cover the Right
-Honourable Gentleman's retreat. We think, how-
ever, he remained in the Cabinet the Chancellor
would mike that, as the incendiaries have made
the House c►! Lords, " too hot to hold him." It
is a pity that Mr Ellice should have permitted

the wine to drive out the wit at the tom-foolery
dinner at Edinburgh, and to induce him to spout
out his adhesion to Lord Durham. For if that had
not happened we think his throat would not have
been sore, and then he might perhaps have been
made First Lord of the Admiralty, for which ex-
traordinary event it is said Lord Auckland was quite
prepared. The Solicitor-Generalship is. yet unfilled.
Several messengers have been sent all about England,
and even to the continent of Europe, in order to pick
up somebody to undertake it. One of them (an in-
telligent courier we believe) has written home from
Italy that he has discovered at an inn, somewhere in
that classical country, an English barrister of the name
of Coltman—we are not aware whether we are quite
correct in the orthography--who says he knows law
and will accept the office, and accordingly he is, we
hear, to be the man, and the Government are waiting
his arrival. Mr. Rolfe, the gentleman they found out
a week or two since, they have given up.—Morning
Post.

COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.

(Concluded from The Sun ofyesterday.)

TIIE LOW STATE OF THE FINANCES OF THE CITY.

The CHAIRMAN of the Finance Committee brought up
the Report of the Committee on the state of the Chamber.
The Report stated that the Chamberlain had laid be-
fore the Committee a statement of the actual receipts and
expenditure of the City cash for the quarter ending the
10th inst., and of the probable receipts and expenditure for
the preseut quarter ending the sth of January, together
with a statement of the probable extraordinary demans for
the same period. It appeared that notwithstanding there
would probably be a surplus of 11,7501. of the ordinary in
come beyond the ordinary expenditure of this Corporation
for the present quarter, yet after reimbursement of the sum
advanced by the Chamberlain on the 10th of October, and
providing for the extraordinary demands of the present
quarter ending on the sth of January, amounting to 5,9501.
45., 2,8291. 10s. sd. only would remain in hand at that pe-
riod to meet the demand for extraordinary claims in rela-
tion to the sums granted for the Corporate Schools, the
erection of the Reform Almshouses, and the bills of
other expenses not included in the above-mentioned
sum of 5,9501. 4s. The Committee had also direc-
ted the Chamberlain to lay before them a statement
of the debts for which the Corporation were non an-
swerable, the period when the same became payable, and
of the assets applicable to the discharge of the same.
From the statement of the Chamberlain it \appeared that
the sum of 34,0001. was payable in May and November in
the next year, 25,0001. in 1837, and the remaining 51,000/.
in 1838, or within seven years of that period, amounting in
the whole to 110,000/. ; and that the only assets applicable
to the liquidation of that sum was a capital of 89,1651.155.6 d.,
New Three-and-a-Half per Cents., which, if entered at par,
left a deficiency of the means at present possessed by the
Corporation of meeting their engagements of 20,831 Ll 4s. 6d.
The Committee further stated, that though the ordinary
income, for several years past, had been more than adequate
to meet the general expenditure of the Corporation, yet as
very considerable diminution was now occasioned by the
sale and extinction of the package and scavage dues, and
the deficiency, as compared with former years, of the sale
of, and fees for, the admission of persons to the freedom of
the city by redemption, which two causes of deficiency alone
could not be estimated at a less amcunt than 8,964/. per
annum.

The Report concludes with calling upon the Court to
give their most serious attention to the present situation of
the finances, and their future prospects.

INCREASE OF THE POWER OF THE COURT OF REQUESTS

The Report of the Committee recommending an appli-
cation to Parliament to extend the jurisdiction of the Court
of Requests as to the recovery of debts above 51., and that
process should issue against the goods instead of the per-
sons of defendants, was agreed to.