The Sun.
London, England, 1833-07-05 00:00:00

'SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNAL§.

A motion was brought forward last night by Mr. W.
Torikt, on the subject of the delay whicli has taken place
do ir,Tanting a Charter to the London University. Si long
ago as 1830, a charter was applied for on a petition of
the Duke of Somerset, Mr. John Smith, and Dr. Lush-
ington ; the draught of the charter was approved of by
the then Attorney and Solicitor-General ; it wr.9engrogsed,
..ead went through all but the last sanction of the Great
Seal, at an actual expense, in fees, 0f268/. The charter,
however, was, when thus neatly completed, s'opped in
consequence of applications from the universities of Ox-
ford and Cambridge. Mr. Tooke contended that these
two learned bodies could have noelaini to circumscribe the
Royal prerogative in its most beneficial exercise. The
public will be gratified in learning through him, that the
dilliculties which retarded the progress of the Univer-
sity in its outset, are now surmounted ; that the able
body of professors have the entire conduct of the
discipline, and literary and scientific portion of the
establishment ; that a junior school has been esta•
blisbed within the walls of the University ; and
that "in aid of the medical students an hospital is
now bu.'.l.ding by voluntary subscription, which is cal-
culated by the facilities for clinical lectures and the
practical information it will afford to the medical cl•iss, to
constitute the metropolis the first school of medicine in the
United Kingdom, if not in the world." Mr. John Hominy
ably seconded Mr. W. Tooke. He contended tint the
single condition on which such charters ought to be granted
was, that the parties asking them were capable of fulfilling
the purpose of giving the proper instruction. The London
University had completely fulfilled that condition. It
had established hood regulations, chosen accomplished and
able teachers, and was therefore entitled to the charter.
We are glad to find from the speech of Lord Althorp that
every thing is in a proper train. His Lordship said "he
was one of those anxious for the success of the London
University, and who thought it reflected great credit on
those who founded it." And he added—" after what he
had stated, he would recommend the Hon. Gentleman to
Withdraw his motion." This recommendation having
been also made by Mr. Abercromby and Mr. Hume, Mr.
Tooke reluctantly withdrew his motion.—Morning

The corruption of the Liverpool freemen is not to
escape detection or punishment. The House of Com-
mons divided early this morning, son the question of the
revival of the Committee on the recent petition, when a
majority of 82 (166 to 84) determined that the reformed
Parliament should not be allowed to stultify or degrade
itself in the estimation of the country. It will be recol-
lected that the Tories, in their excessive patriotism, on the
'discussion of the first English Reform Bill, contrived a
back water in the Ministerial plan for amending the re•
presentative system, by perpetuating the city and borough
freemen—a class of electors always purchasable by their
oonservative capital. The epicurean taste of the Tories
is very discernible. If universal suffrage, under open
voting, serves their purpose, they are its earnest advocates;
and they are equally earnest enemies of any alteration of
the constituency, by addition or subtraction, which limits
'their means of improperly influencing the elector,. The
part which Lord Sandon has taken in this matter is any-
thing but creditable to him as a Legislator or Repre-
sentative of Liverpool. His peculiar relation to the
borough might have disposed him to promote inquiry,
as a real justice to the petitioners, whom he repre-
sents, and the only effectual mode of clearing the charac-
ter of the freemen. Instead of such a straightforward and
palpable course, however, his Lordship has been sedulously-
endeavouring to prevent investigation ; and by his motions
and speeches last night, after the division, to Burke the
real object of the appointment of the Committee, the Noble
Lord was at least consistent and decided, though his general
character is that of a waverer. The convenient political
neutrality of this class of public men is always suspended
when they are interested in a direct course. The occupa.
lion of the time of the House of Commons in these Tory
discussions Is extremely mortifying; the Conservative alloy
in the reformed Parliament is still the great obstruction
to public business, and the drawback from national im-
provement. Toryism, however, is in the last stage of
consumption, anti its latter end will be, as usuil, pro-
tracted and tenacious of life. The Liverpool inquiry must
and will end in a substantial redress of the notorious
grievance existing, and there are many modes of cure.
The Mouse of Lords will not he able to perpetuate the
chronic disease in the Liverpool constituency. Great
praise is due to the public-spirited individuals in Liver-
pool, who, despite of calumny and unreformed Parlia-
ments, lo ive, at last, succeeded in their remedial object.
Morning Chronicle.
We have elsewhere noticed the arrangement made in
the House of Commons yesterday for the conduct of busi-
sem We think that not only will the work be quicker
but much better done by this new method. Still, looking
to the advanced period of the session, we do not see how it
II possible to carry through the immense quantity of pro-
jected measures now on the order-book, except in the most
slot enly and unstatesmanlike manner, or with an expen-
sditure of time which will keep Parliament together for at
least three months to come. As Ministers cannot think
of detaining the Houses till the end of September, we would
recommend that all the business which can conveniently
and safely stand over shall be postponed till next session.
We take it for granted that the English Tithe Bill, which
tsatisfits no party, and which will evidently be fought line
by line, will not be pressed through till next year. The
renewals of the Bank Charter and of the East India
Charter might, we think, be both safely and beneficially
deferred : the first is clearly a source of all but universal
discontent; and the second must be a subject of length-
ened and repeated discussion. Two short Bills which
am party could reasonably object to would suspend these
questions for one year without any detriment. Parlia-
ment will even then have enough to do. The Civil Esti-
mates, at all times and now more than ever, an interesting
subject of debate, will occupy no little time. The Irish
Church measures (excellent, as far as they go—would they
went further !) will require all the vigilance, all the acti-
vity, all the firmness and energy which Ministers can
muster to carry them in any reasonable time through the
Haute of Commons, and to carry them at all through the
reluctant phalanx which constitutes the majority of the
House of Lords. A hope is expressed in some quarters,
that the House may rise in the first week in August, but
this will he impossible unless the postponements which we
take the liberty of suggesting are ogreed to. We may per-
haps be allowed to hint, that if some of the oratorical Mem-
bers would have the forbearance to suspend their eloquence
(we are aware of the sacrifice both to themselves and the
country) till next spring, they would facilitate that termi-
nation of the session which even they must desire when
they are not on their legs comtnanding the admiration of
their attentive auditors.— Times.

The House of Commons, on Wednesday evening, by its
acquiescence in the extravagant bargain for the renewal of
the Bank Charter, or its consent to establish an immense
paper monopoly for 10 or 20 years, in consideration of a
paltry deduction from the overrated charges for acting as
Government paymaster, with payment of the dividends,
has established a claim rather to the wonder than the gra-
titude of the nation. To have allowed the public for two
years to discuss the question as one on which both Parha •
meat and the nation required to be informed,—to have ap-
pointed a Bank Committee—nay, "a Secret" Committee,
on Bank affairs, to procure information,—to have opened
before that Committee an inquiry into the general circula-
tion of the country,—to have summoned or received on its
list of witnesses metropolitan and country bankers, mer-
chants, and joint-stock shareholders,—to have pub-
lished a huge folio volume of their depositions,
with an appendix of accounts and documents be-
fitting the size of the report,—to have entered sub-
sequently into formal negotiations with the Bank Di-
rectors on the knowledge thus obtained of all the facts
which the Bank could disclose—to have authorized meet-
ings of Bank proprietors to announce the decision of the
Government—and, at last, to have proposed the settle-
ment of the whole matter in Parliament, and to have pro.
cured the consent of the House of Commons to such a
settlement for the insignificant sum of 120,0001.—" The
crumbs which fall from the Bank Directors' table" seem
really, if not a mere mauvaise plaisanterie, a very insult-
ing disregard of public opinion aad public expectation.
The Conservatives some months ago expressed an al irm
—real or effected we shall not stop to inquire—that the
Reform Bill had filled the House of Commons with theo-
retic innovators—with foes to existing establishments—
with hazardous experimenters in liberal legislation—
with bidders for mob popularity with the pledged
delegates of the national volition instead of the delibera-
tive organs of the national judgment—and, in short,
with persons who would be more inclined to pull
down than to repair, to change than to modify or improve,
our institutions; but could any House of Commons, even
of the rotten borough dynasty, have agreed to a more
extravagant bargain with the 'Vest India body and the
Bank Directors, granting the former 20,000,0001. of an
indemnity, when 15,000,000/. was too much, and re-
ceiving from the latter 120,0001., when 250,0001. would
have been too little? Under no Parliament which we
remember, since the last renewal of the Bank Chat ter,
wook. such an arrangement as that sanctioned by the
Comm ittee on Wednesday night have been listened to for
a moment. No Ministry would have ventured to pro-
pose it to an unreformed House of Commons, though it
had included the whole 24 Directors among its 111emi 5.

If Manchester, Leeds, and Birmindhain, had been silent,
as having then no voice in St. Stephen's, Corfe Castle
and Gatton (unless bought with Bank money) would
have spoken mat in the language of indignant protest.
We have so often established the right of the public
to participate in all the profits of the Bank, after paying ft,
reasonable dividend to the proprietors, that it. would be
superfluous now to renew the discussion. In enumerat-
ing the immense gains Which the B ink proprietors have
divided among themselves during the continuance of their
expiring 'Charter it was not, of course, our intention to
found upon their past accumulation any proposal to adjust
the balance by requiring from them any conditions incon
sistent with their present interests. Public bodies, or the
trustees for public bodies, cannot afford to be grateful ; but
we took thrie past profits as a measure of their future in-
come, when their circulation shall extend to nently its I
farrier magnitude. In looking attentively at the accounts
which the Directors themselves communicated to the Secret
Committee, we find that instead of making only
178,5751. of profit by their monopoly of the circula-
tion, and their management of Government business,
they ought to have put down their gains at triple
that sum ; and, let them be paid off to. morrow,
is there any Bank proprietor so insane as to expect
that without the privilege to issue notes, or to hold Go-
vernment deposits and pay the national dividends, this
great corporation could realize eight per cent. on their
overgrown capital ? In order, without further repetition,
to show, for the last time, that we are not singular or un-
reasonable in requiring better terms for the public from
the Bank, we shall just recur to the opinion of a great
authority on the subject—an authority- to which Lord
Althorp might be expected to pay particular deference ;
that eminent financier tohl the Bank Directors in April
last, after, no doubt, mature deliberation, and after con-
sulting with most intelligent persons of his acquaint-
ance, that if a half of their capital which is lent to Go-
vernment were paid up, and the Bank were to divide only
on such a reduced amount, they could, by the monopoly
of the currency, afford to manage the dividends for
nothing, and, after paying ten per cent, on their stock,
divide with the public their remaining profits. The fol-
!towing is the "equitable adjustment " suggested by this
distinguished diplomatist of the Treasury

" The result of this will be, the Government will pay the
Bank 7,Z,fi,000/., and the Bank will engage to continue the
management of the public debt without receiving from the
State any annual payment for the performance of this duty.
" It is further proposed, that after the proprietors of Bank.
Stock shall have received a dividend of ten per cent. upon
their nominal capital, which will then amount to 7,000,0001.,
at the end of each year, whatever accumulation shall have
taken place in their rest' during the preceding year shall be
divided into two equal portions, one of which shall be added
to the capital of the Bank, and be at the disposal of the pro-
prietors, and the other half shall be deducted from the pay-
ments made to the Bank for interest or other charges which
they may haVe against the public."
To every item of this scheme we heartily subsetibe.
The adoption of such propositions would have been grati-
fying to the country, and perseverance in supporting them
would have been creditable to the Ministry. Lord Al-
thorp himself must have applauded the dexterous patrio-
tism of the original negotiator, and would have heard no
contrast to his disadvantage between the Chancellor of the
Exchequer in April last, demanding from the Bank
248,0001., with a half of its contingent profits, and th,_!
Chancellor of the Exchequer in July surrendering the
greatest monopoly in the world, for the paltry saving of
120,0001., without any stipulation for sharing in its pro-
fits at all.—nnes.

We suppose that the Gallant Postmaster-General, and
his subalterns, take great credit to themselves for the
activity of their recent proceedings. It is true they keep
a sharp look-nut after the pounds, shillings, and pence,
and if the principle of getting money at any rate, and at
all sacrifices, oe a correct one, they are entitled to claim
under that rule of morality the suffrages of a certain class
of economists. Still it engirt to make them pause and
reflect a little, when they bear nothing hut complaints
against the system they are pursuing. The attorneys
denounce it as an injury to them and their clients, without
any adequate return even in the way of revenue, to balance
the disadvantage on the other side. Commercial men, and
indeed all men, whether engaged in commerce or not,
deprecate the practice of opening parcels and letters as an
unwarrantable breach of confidence, calculated to erect
the Post-office into a sort of inquisition, and to leave the
concerns of every perso❑ obliged to have recourse to
correspondence at the mercy of that establishment. Public
meetings have been held at different places, arid inure are
i❑ contemplation, at which the screwing-up system and
the spy system have been exposed and condemned as un-
worthy of a liberal Government, and prejudicial in the
highest degree to the interests of a great commercial coun-
try ►ike this. As (or the screwing-up system, it is quite
ridiculous to look upon the Post•offrce establishment
chiefly as a source of revenue, which those roust do who
arc willing to sacrifice every thing to that one object. As
for the spy system, the extent to which it has been carried
may be inferred from this one fact, that letters have been
opened—nay, the seal has been actually broken in some
instances—for no other purpose titan to ascertain whether
they had been put into the Pest-office at the place from
which they were dated ; and is it for a wretched, paltry,
pitiful object like this that the whole confidential character
of what is falsely called private correspondence, should be
sacrificed ? Surely such a crotchet must have sprung from
the head of some Old Bailey lawyer, or of some petty
clerk, whose mind never stretched beyond the verge of his
little desk. But how any man calling himself a States-
man could give it his sanction, that Statesman is bound
to explain. If to facilitate the irtercouree of life be a
paramount object in all enlightened countries, what shall
we say of the Government, or the public functionary,
who, in a trading community like ours, would cast diffi-
culties in the way of communication? The authorities
of the Post office will do well to consider that there are
other sources of revenue besides the one which they are
racking their ingenuity to screw up to the highest pitch,
and that the success of their exertions may, by possibility,
injure those other and more important sources. Much
better would it become them to devise means for lighten-
ing the expense, and thereby adding to the facilities of
communication, than mispend their time in the con-
temptible undertaking upon which they seem at present
so deeply intent.—Morning .Herald.

Fursey is acquitted ! the Verdict of the Calthorpe
Jury has received a second confirmation—the conduct of
the police is attain condemned as brutal and uncalled for !
We have no room for comments ; but the fact requires
none. Justice has been done, and we are satisfied with
the result. Will the Government attempt another pro.
secuti,,n ? Will it back the Solicitor-Gtneral in quashing
another verdict ?—Morning Advertiser.

It is matter of surprise that Ministers, in recommend-
ing the reduction of the number of Irish Bishops, should
have overlooked or forgotten the arguments and assertions
of their earlier or opposition days. In those times, so
rich in rhetorical exercises, those who now more silently
figure as grey birds of :linerva hopped from bough to
branch of our constitutional tree, now tappi❑g at all the
suspected portions of its trunk, and now chirping in a
delirium of joy at the discovery of a few rotten atoms.
Among other topics of triumphant vituperation was the
unnecessary size of our dioceses in general ; they were
much too large to be paternally watched ; " a smaller
field of duty would secure an improved supervision ;" as
well as he " i❑ stricter conformity with primitive times."
But now it is discovered that several Irish dioceses are
most ridiculously small; so small, when compared with
those of England, as to be worthily doomed to extinc-
tion, or, in other words, so easily comprised within
the ken of a Bishop that to retain them would be au
absurdity. We would seriously ask whether our Consti-
tution is essentially Protestant? Is Protestantism still
such a❑ object of solicitude to the State as to be in its
estimation worth upholding? Now a regard for Protes-
tantism would include anxiety about its future prospects,
as well as its immediate condition; and is the possibility
of Ireland becoming Protestant numerically, as it is now
in regard to wealth and to intelligence, so very remote
that no provision nerd be made for such an event ? " Our
wishes" are not, in this case, " fathers to the thought."
Such activity has been displayed during the last ten years
in Ireland in the cause of true religion as to render such
an event far from improbable to the minds of those
who know the expansive force of truth in the hands
of men resolute to do their duty, and unbounded at
the same time in their reliance on the good pro-
vidence of God. How greatly would the cause of
Protestantism be furthered if, when it merges from
the darkness that covers it, the means, the full unim-
paired means, are at hand to perpetuate its improved life !
Among these means a number of powerful and accredited
defenders are the most important in the estimation of all
who believe that the Deity loves to put honour upon
human means whe❑ employed in a dependent and humble
spirit; and the smaller the several dioceses the greater
would be the chance of their proper regulation. We
would say to our rulers, " Reduce the stipends, if you
are determined upon exercising the power which you pos-
,ess, but do not, in the spirit of Goneril and Regan, re-
duce the number of the effective servants of your own
religion. Argue not the need,' the immediate need, if
you know in your hearts, as you roust know, that to
Protestantism England owes almost all those blessings
which have been poured in such profusion upon her, and
that Ireland never will find repose and equilibrium till she
eonbraces it; if you are sensible that the views of Popery

art essentially selfish, and inevitably tending earthwards,
and that all its fictitious aids are debasing and demoralit-
ing. "—Morning Post.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, JULY 4.

JOHN ALMOND, APPELLANT, MESSRS. JOHN DARKER,
WILLIAM HOLDEN, JAMES CHAPMAN, AND WILLIAM
ANDREWS, RESPONDENTS.
This was an appeal of importance to rate-payers gene-
tally. The respondents were the overseers of the Hamlet
of Mile-end Old Town, and the charge preferred against
them by the appellant was, that they had, in the course of
one year, diverted out of the poor-rates the large sum of
5441. 14s. 4d., from the legitimate purposes for which it
was raised, and applied it to the procuring unnecessary
luxuries and refreshments for themselves.
Messrs. ALLEY and BODKIN appeared for the appellants,
and Mr. ADOLPHUS for the respondents.
Mr. ALLEY stated the facts of the case, and dwelt upon
its importance, not only to the parishioners, but to the
public at large. The inhabitants, generally, felt them-
selves excessively aggrieved by what they considered the
unfair and unjust charges made by the overseers in their
accounts. The respondents had for several years filled the
office of overseers, and only retired from office last April ;
but the law would only allow the appellant to object to
their charges for the last year. The overseers, as required
by the statute, did, on the 211th of May last, exhibit their
accounts before two magistrates, and obtained from those
gentlemen the following certificate, written at the foot of
their accounts :-
" Middlesex.-At a special sessions of his Majesty's jus-
tices of the peace acting in and for the county of Middle-
sex, held in the police-office at Lambeth-street, White-
chapel, in the said county, on the 25th May, 1833, for
the purpose of examing into the foregoing accounts, we,
two of the said justices, dwelling near the said hamlet, do
hereby allow and approve of the said accounts.
" T. WALKER.
"EDMUND HALSWELL."
Many of the inhabitants being dissatisfied with very
many of the items in the respotrients' accounts, especially
the feasting charges, Messrs. Stevens, Langley, Little,
and North, were deputed to examine into them, which
having done, they made a written report, loudly and
justly complaining of many of the charges. Mr. Ste-
vens attended at Lambeth-street, and opposed the
allowance of what he and his friends conceived to have
been improperly and unwarrantably expended ; but not-
withstanding his objections, the above two magistrates
allowed the accounts to pass, on the ground that as cer-
tain persons had audited the accounts and approved of
them, it was their duty to allow them. The charges
complained against might be ranted under seven distinct
heads i-lst. Respondents' private table, including spirits.
SW. Respondents' expenses, said to be incurred on visiting
nurse children. 3d. 115 newspapers. 4th. Expenses
charged as being paid to the collectors of the poor rates for
brokers' fees, but which fur the most part were consumed
in guttling. sth. Reliefs by respondents, and for which
no vouchers were produced. 6th. Private reliefs, said to
he given at their own houses, and no vouchers. '7th and
last. By cash said to be paid expenses of officers at Larrabeth-
street and the Home-office.
Mr. Daniel Edward Stevens deposed that he had in-
spected the various books of account kept by the respondents,
t-,e town clerk, the beadle, and Miss Mudge, so far as the
same were accessible to him, and that upon inspecting
them he discovered that a sum of 1031. 14s. 6d. was ex-
pended for the respondents' own private table, and that of
such sum 311. 3s. 10d was for wine, brandy, rum, gin,
bsc., and ei2/. 10s. 6d. for poultry, fish, butchers' meat,
kc., which witness has re rson to believe was consumed at
the workhouse by the respondents and their friends.
Among other items he found charged V. fur decanters and
glasses, by order of the respondent Barker. The other
items were evidently not for articles purchased for the use
of the poor. He also found charged to the overseers' ac-
counts the sum of 201. 11s. 3d. for visiting the nurse
children, and it appeared from the overseers' own account
that more than two-thirds of this money was expended :n
feasting. There was also a charge for 115 newspapers ;
also a charge of 1501. 17s. 7d. as cash paid collector's ex-
penses for collecting the poor rate, independently of the re-
gular commission. He likewise found several sums, va-
rying from 15s. to 41., charged as sums given away by
the respondents on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and other days
at the workhouse, but for which they produced no
vouchers. Witness finding the names of several respectable
tradesmen entered in the respondents' general relief book,
as though they were receiving relief, applied to several of
them, and from them learnt that the money had been paid
them for fish, poultry, gin, brandy, lac. He also found
entered on the respondents' book and charged to the ham-
let 1261. 2s. 4d. for relief given them at their private
houses, and for which, although he had applied, he had
been unable to obtain any vouchers from them. Seeing a
charge made of Si. 18s. 6d. for cash paid, expenses of
officers at Lambeth-street and the Home-office, he bad
made inquiries and found that no fees had been paid at
either. He opposed the allowance of these accounts by the
magistrates, but without effect, Mr. Walker remarking
that the parish auditors had signed them as correct, and
that business was always better conducted over the convi-
vial board than otherwise.
Stone, the beadle, deposed that the respondents, with
the exception of Andrews, kept books, in which were
entered the particulars of the sums expended, as for reliefs
at the workhouse, and at the respondents' own private
houses, and that witness or Mr. Parker used to past the
items from such books into the general account. There
certainly was considerable feasting at the workhouse.
Many of the entries were for spirits.
Miss Ann Mudge kept a book, called the Officers' Ex-
penditure Book, which contained an account of what was
ordered by those gentlemen for their own consumption.
Mr. Shields deposed, that he was a poulterer, residing
in the hamlet, and that having been told his name ap.
peared in the parish hook as though he had received ss. 6d.
for relief, when, in fact, it was for a couple of ducks, he
immediately applied for an inspection of the hooks, and
finding such false entry, insisted upon the clerk correcting
the same, which he did in the following terms :-
" January 11, 1833, Shields, ss. 6d. N.B. This was
entered in error, it was not for relief, but for goods sold to
Henfree, the beadle, for the use of the overseers, as far as
relates to the name of Shields."
Mr. Heavens stated that out of the sum of 150/. 17s. 7d.
charged for distraining upon persons in arrear for poor
rates, a large proportion was expended in feasting, of
which the respondents took their share.
The following is a correct tabular account of the items
objected to :-
Officers' table, including spirits £97 14 11
Expenses visiting nurse children and coach hire .lO 19 2
115 newspapers
By cash paid brokers and expenses. &c.
Relief by respondents, and other charges and expenses
no vouchers or account
Private reliefs
By cash expenses at Lambeth-street and the Home-
office sm. 3 18 6

£514 14 4

Mr. Anonesus, in reply, contended that the charge
for refreshments was moderate, and was perfectly justifi-
able, fur it was not to be expected that tradesmen would
give up their time during the whole day, and, as was
often the case, up to nine o'clock at night, without par-
taking of some refreshment. Their services were gratui-
tous, and therefore it was but common justice that those
they served should bear their expenditure. There was an
old book, which, however it might be scoffed at by the
wits in court, he would not hesitate to quote; he meant
the Bible, and there he was told, " Thou shalt not muzzle
the ox that treadeth out the corn." His Learned Friend
(Mr. Alley) had talked of the dinner charges as ex-
cessive, and had contracted it with what he was
in the habit of paying at the London Coffee-house
and other taverns, but his Learned Friend bad forgotten
to take into account the beverage which usually followed
the dinner, namely, a bottle of port, and after that the
same of Sherry.—(Laughter.) The fact was, the waiters
❑o sooner saw his Learned Friend, than they rubbed their
hands, and exclaimed, " Oh ! he is a good customer, and
will pay, and tip well afterwards." A good deal had
been said about the consumption of brandy, but it was to
be remembered that the cholera prevailed last year, and
that spirits were required meiicinally, and if the overseers
did, at their periodical meetings, take a little of this brandy
as a preventive, he could see nothing objectionable in it.
The CH♦IRMAN, after a consultation with his brethren
on the bench, who were more than usually numerou,,,
,;ionounced the judgment of the Court. He commenced
by observing that lie was extremely sorry it did not fall to
the lot of a more able person than himself to pronounce
judgment in so important a case ; but it ',vas a matter
of satisfaction to him to see so many gentlemen in the com-
mission, and who had a practical acquaintance with the
subject, present; and it was still more satisfactory to Lim
to know that the body of magistrates to his right and to
his left concurred in the opinion which lie himself enter-
tained. The abuses in this parish appeared to have been
so many, that at last the parishioners were aroused, and
he considered that Mr. Stevens had performed a most
useful and meritorious service. Every difficulty had
been thrown in his way. He had to tight up hill, and
every door was closed against him but those the law, by
main force, compelled to be kept open. The Court were
unanimously of opinion that The appeal ought to be
allowed to its full extent.
On the application of Mr. ALLEY, the costs were also
allowed,

INFANTICIDE IN THE EAST.

While infanticide, merely for the purpose of
avoiding the expense of bringing up female
children, was the open disgrace, and is still the
secret practice of many classes of Hindoos, the
curse of sterility has ever been considered, both
by rich and poor, as the greatest misfortune that
can attend the married state. When prayers
and gifts to Brahims have been unsuccessfully
employed to obtain the desired blessing, the
despairing supplicants not unfrequently attempt
to propitiate their blood-thirsty goddess, Doorga,
by the promised sacrifice of their first-born.
Should their desire be accomplished—a benefit
which is of course attributed to the direct inter-
position of a deity delighting in the waste of
human life—they consider themselves to be so-
lemnly pledged to the performance of the vow,
and the hallowed spot in which the Jumna
throws itself into the Ganges, is very com-
monly chosen for the fulfilment of the awful
duty. Though the crime of infanticide, upon
any pretext whatever, is not permitted by the
British Government, there is not much diffi-
culty in eluding the laws in force against it,
since the natives are possessed of so many fa-
cilities for accomplishing in private, what they
no longer dare to perform before the world.
A small quantity of opium, administered in
the first nourishment given to a new-born
babe, will send it to its everlasting rest ;
and as no inquiry is instituted respecting ..he
cause of death perpetrated without apparent
violence, and where the probabilities are
in favour of its having been occasioned by na-
tural accidents, the murderers escape detection.
It is not difficult, when the broad surface of the
united rivers is covered with boats, to drop the
intended victim into the stream, a catastrophe
which may be attributed to accident, and which
the religious prejudices of the surrounding mul-
titude would prevent from being brought to the
notice of the public authorities ; while the fatal-
ism which renders Hindoos apathetic, in the
midst of danger to themselves or to others, is
too great to induce them to make any attempt
to rescue a drowning person from the grave. It
is said that the Brahmins, on the supposition
that Doorga may relent, and willingly relinquish
the offered sacrifice, station themselves in boats
a little way down the stream, and pick up those
children who have escaped the dangers of the
first plunge ; they are not, however, restored to
their families, but retained by their protectors,
and brought up in the performance of religious
offices. When the affection of the parents for
their first-born has been too strong to allow
them to devote so beloved an object to the con-
sequences of a rash oath, the intended victim,
when arrived at maturity, stung with remorse at
the violation of a duty held so imperative, and
attributing every family misfortune to the wrath of
the justly-incensed Doorga, have voluntarily per-
formed the sacrifice by plunging into the river,
or precipitating themselves from some rugged
height to a frightful abyss below. In the Rajpoot
States, the destruction of female infants was,
and it is feared still is, common in the highest
families for political reasons. The representation
of the British residents, and their eloquent
appeals to the better feelings, of kind-hearted,
though misguided men, have done much, espe-
cially in Guserat, towards the abolition of this
inhuman method of getting rid of a dilemma ;
but there is no law against it, and the tragedy
of Kishen Koor, the most cold-blooded murder
ever perpetrated by the hand of man, is still re-
cent. The brother of the beautiful victim,
slaughtered to secure a State measure, now sits
upon the throne of Oodipore ; he was innocent
of the cruel deed, and there is reason to hope
that so shocking a scene will never be acted
publicly again. In less exalted families, the
money essential on the part of the relatives of
the bride, to furnish the wedding paraphernalia,
and to defray the expenses of the feasts, with-
out which no wedding can be celebrated in India,
is so difficult of attainment, that although there
are plenty of suitors of the same class to be
found, it is deemed better to avoid the weariful
business of saving cowries and pice until they
amount to rupees, by giving the coup de grace
to time impertinent intruder who has put the
family to inconvenience by entering it in a female
shape. " Daughters to marry," is the excuses
given by servants who, having high wages, ap-
pear ill-appareled, and in ragged case ; years of
privation must be endured, that all their ac-
quaintance may banquet at the period of nup-
tials. This is the " one thing needful ;" beauty,
accomplishments, and amiable qualities may be
dispensed with, but a hurra khan (great dinner)
there must be, and where it is not practicable to
furnish forth the wedding feast, parents, with
admirable forethought, strangle their children,
who would otherwise grow up to be married. In
former and more barbarous times the junction
of the Jumna and the Ganges was the scene of
those fearful human sacrifices, which were not
more savage than absurd, in a religion professing
so much humanity towards the brute creation.
A youth and a maiden, representing two of the
favourite deities of the Hindoo Olympus, after
having received divine honours from the crowd
following their triumphal cars, were flung into
the sacred waters, and supposed by the ignorant
multitude, deluded by a clumsy device of priest-
craft, to be borne upon the holy stream to their
dwellings in the paradise of the blessed. Figures of
clay are now substituted forthe human performers
in the pageant, which, degenerating into a vulgar
show, serves to amuse the rabble on the anniver-
sary of a festival fast falling into contempt. Ano-
ther of these horrible spectacles used to be ex-
hibited at the commemoration of the triumph of
Rarna and his ally, Hunaman, attended by an
army of monkeys, over the giant Ravana. The
luckless beings selected to enact the principal
characters were at the end of the festival no
longer visible to mortal eyes. The uninstructed
imagined that they had been absorbed into the
divine essence, and claimed by the deities whom
they had represented, a process of which the
officiating priests knew the secret. Poison was
said to be mixed up with the sweetmeats pre-
sented at the termination of time feast, and the
unhappy groupe, brought from a distance, and
unseen except during the short period of their
performance, were by many supposed to have
been the deities themselves, descending to assist
at the celebration of their avater. The Moghuls
have the credit of being the first opposers of
these shocking rites ; the Christian governors of
the land have insisted on their total abolition ;
and the example set in the Company's territories
has been followed in the independent states :
human sacrifices, excepting such as are volun-
tary, have become rare in India. The slaugh-
ters of the temple at Jyepoor have ceased, and
the most fanatic of the priesthood are fain to be
content with the blood of goats upon the pave-
ments once purple with the currents which ran
in the veins of their fellow-men.—Asiatic
Journal.

COURT CIRCULAR.

ills :MAJESTY left town about half-past six o'clock on
Wednesday evening, on his return to the palace at
Windsor.

The Princes ALEXANDER and CHARLES Of Solms ho-
noured Lord HILL with their company at dinner last
evening, at his Lordship's residence, Westbourne-house,
Paddington.
Prince CHARLES of Solms attended Almack's ball on
Wednesday evening.
Prince TALLEYRAND, Baron But-ow, the Prussian
Minister, the Baron de WEssEtituitc, the Austrian Mi-
nister on a special mission, M. de AIATTOS, the Bra-
zilian Minister, and Mr. BouaxE, the Danish Charge
d'Affaires, visited Viscount PALmEnsTort yesterday at the
Foreign-office.
The Governor and Deputy-Governor of the Bank vi-
sited Viscount A LTHORT yesterday.
The Duke of RICHMOND, the Marquis of LANSDOWNE,
Earl of RIPON, the Right Hon. CHARLES GRANT, and
Lord AUCKLAND had interviews yesterday with Earl GREY
at the Treasury.
The Earl of CARLISLE entertained some of the Cibinet
Ministers at dinner on Wednesday evening, at his residence
in Grosvenor-place.
Mr. a,rd Mrs. WELsir, with their daughter, a remark-
ably uri.ticient musician of about six years old, have had
the honour of performing before the Princess AUGUSTA,
at Fregmore, and afterwards before their MAJESTIES, at
the Castle. The Royal party have shown the strongest
proof of their gratification by commanding this musical
family to prolong their stay for several days.