The Sun.
London, England, 1833-02-27 00:00:00

KING'S THEATRE.

The opera of the Donna del Lago was presented last
night for the purpose of introducing MAIr. ScH/AsETT/
to an English audience in the part of Malcolm. Madle.
ScHIASETTI is very young, and her voice has evidently
not yet attained its maturity ; but its quality, which is
already exceedingly good, and her style, which has been
lactated in the very best school, enable us to perceive with
certainty that she possesses all the requisite qualifications
for becoming a very eminent singer in a few years. The
part of Malcolm we do not consider to have been judi-
ciously selected for her, a decidedly contrialto voice being
required to give due effect to it. Her voice, though it
may and probably will change its character in a abort time,
must for the present be classed as a soprano. Tier opening
scene, with the air 0 pante lagrime, was exe-
cuted with much taste and discrimination ; but her
must successful efforts were the air A si pera, and
the subsequent passages. She was very favourably
heard throughout, and applauded in all her scenes;
upon the whole we may say that, though not as yet a
first-rate singer, she is one of high promis-, and can-
not he heard without satisfaction and pleasure. Her face
and figure, as far as e e could judge through the disguise,
are both good. Madame de Manic appeared as Ellen,
and her well-known talents were a sufficient guarantee
that she would acquit herself well. DONZELLI was the
Roderic, and nothing could be better. The strength of
his magnificent voice shone to the finest advantage in
his appeal to his clansmen; and not less delightful was
its mellow softness in the address to Ellen immediately
following. GALLI was a very effici-nt representative of
Douglas. The opera was followed by the ballet of Faust,
which has undergone several alterations since the first
night ; some of them judicious, others perhaps not.

NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT, FEB. 23.
A circumstance occurred at the Guildhall -on Saturday
last, which tends to prove the extreme caution which
should always be used in convicting on the testimony of a
single witness. A young man from liembridge, named
JA)/ES ATTRILL, was placed at the bar and sworn to, in
the most positive manner by one of the Preventive Service
men, named EDWARD KENNEDY, as having been engaged
in carrying and conveying tour tubs of contraband spirits
on the morning of the 24th of January. About four
o'clock in the morning KENNEDY secured the tubs, but
the offender escaped, and ATTRILL was taken up the next
day, and on the evidence of KENNEDY convicted and
sentenced to See years in his Majesty's navy. The de-
fendant strongly protested his ignorance of the facts, and
produced his brother, who slept in the same bed with him
on the night in question, who swore to his being in bed
at the time the transaction was said to be going on, and at
a distance of SA miles. Another witness also deposed to
his having called up the defendant at a later hour ;
hot from their differing in their accounts as to the
number of beds there was in the room, and whether a
candle was there or not, some doubt was felt as to the
truth of their testimony, and a conviction ensued, and
he was sentenced as above stated. Mr. CHARLES Woks-
LEY on Saturday addressed the Magistrates, urging a re-
vision of the sentence, or a re-bearing of the case, stating
that he could produce. a person, who was then in the
Court, who was the actual offender, and would come
forward and prove the fact; that he was led to this from
feeling the greatest distress of mind in seeing an innocent
person, who was the chief support of a widowed mother,
suffering a punishment for an offence of which he was
perfectly innocent. The ihaitnian on this occasion, the
Rev. Mr. WORSLEY (who was absent when the trial took
place) said, that however they must regret the circum.
stance that had happened, they had no power given them
by the Act, either to re-hear the case or revise the sen-
tence. The only mode of proceeding, by which the party
could obtain redress, and to which he would lend every
assistance in his power, was by petitioning the Secretary of
State to obtain the King's pardon and a discharge, or by
an affidavit of the facts being laid before the Judges of the
Court of King's Bench, whereby a writ of habeas corpus
would be issued for his removal. Mr. WORSLEY then
retired, to adopt one of these two suggeotione.--Portg.
mouth Herald,

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LONDON,
WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27, 1833.

There is a report in circulation in what are
called « the best circles," that a hostile message
was delivered to Mr. HUME in the House of
Commons on the night when he made his obser-
vations on officers of the army and navy, holding
seats in Parliament, and that it was in conse-
quence of this message, information of which
was communicated to the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER, that the latter addressed the
Speaker, and obtained from the disputants a pro-
mise that nothing unpleasant should result from
the warm discussion which had taken place.
We give this statement as it reached us. It may
be, and we hope is, untrue, for we cannot ima-
gine anything more deserving of censure than an
attempt to deter a Member of Parliament from
making observations which arise out of a sense
of public duty, whether his views be erroneous
or not, by holding out threats of personal con-
sequences. Mr. HUME is not a man to be
terrified by a challenge from a military Captain,
even though the bearer should be an Admiral
but he has too high an estimate of the duties of
a legislator to put his life in jeopardy whenever
the pride or vanity of an individual may have
been wounded by his attack.

The communication made by Lord GODD-
RICH to the Committee of West India Planters
having been considered confidential, nothing has
transpired officially respecting the interview be-
tween his Lordship and the Committee. The
plan of arrangement which has appeared in some
of the Papers, is, however, correct in most of the
essential points.

The Committee, previously to waiting upon
Lord GODERICH, had sent a paper to his
Lordship, in which they state that " the
Colonists are themselves ready to bear their
share of any national sacrifice which may
be required for the purpose of cautiously substi-
tuting a better system, if such should be the na-
tional determination ; but they mean to show
that Great Britian is herself responsible for the
establishment and actual existence of colonial
slavery—that with the view of extending the
market for her African trade, she passed laws
and made grants of land, expressly enjoining
cultivation in the colonies by slave labour, and
that thus, through the instrumentality of her sub-
jects, all eagerly contending for participation in
the traffic, she gradually peopled the West India
colonies with slaves, and received the value of
them in money ; consequently, that any measure
of legislative interference, tending to impair or
endanger the value of property so acquired, must
either be accompanied by adequate eompensa-

tion, or give a death blow to that confidence in
the national faith and character which has hitherto
been the sole support of private property in this
country." . _

Lord GODERICH appears to have recognised
the claim for compensation made by the planters,
and to have submitted to their consideration a
plan to which most of them are willing to agree.
His Lordship proposes, we understand, that
a loan, redeemable in thirty years, shall be
raised for the purpose of compensating the
slave owners, and that two days' wages of
each manumitted slave in every week shall be
set aside as a redemption fund. It is thought
that the three days' wages out of crop, and fuur
days' in crop, will be sufficient for the sup-
port of the labourer, and that the wages of
the two days will be sufficient for the re-
demption of the loan within the specified time.
In order to insure the cultivation of the soil
and the amount required for the re-payment
of the loan, the labourer is to be compelled
to work by a Magistrate, so that so far as com-
pulsory labour is concerned, the change will be
merely a transfer of power from the owner to the
Magistrate, but in every other respect the slave
will become free.

Lord GODERICH has not, we believe, stated
how the value of the slaves is to be determined—
whether a fixed price is to be set upon all, or
the value to be determined according to locality.
On this point, should the principle of his plan
be adopted, it will be easy to agree.

His MAJESTY held a Levee to-day at two
o'clock, at St. James's Palace—all the Ministers
and Foreign Ambassadors were present. It was
thinly attended.
On Friday their MAJESTIES give a grand
dinner to Count Pozzo nz BORGO and the
whole Corps Diplomatique, and take their de-
parture for Windsor on Saturday.
The Duke of GLOUCESTER gives a dinner to
Count Pozzo DI BORGO on Monday, who is
expected to leave for Paris on Wednesday.

It is perfectly true, as stated in the Madrid
correspondence of a Morning Paper, that M.
ZEA BERMUDEZ continues opposed to the re-
cognition of Donna MARIA as Queen of Por-
tugal. The last despatches from Sir STRAT-
FORD CANNING leave no doubt on this point,
but it is understood that if Don PEDRO will
consent to some arrangement by which the influ-
ence of the democratic party in Portugal could
be kept down, the objection of M. ZEA BER-
NIUDEZ might be removed. According to the
latest accounts from Oporto, M. CARVALHO,
and two other Ministers of the Regency, are
determined to reject any overture for the pacifi-
cation of Portugal, the basis of which would be
a compromise of the constitutional charter. We
are sorry to say that both the British and
French Cabinets appear more favourable to such
a compromise than the friends of freedom
could wish.

We understand that there are in London, at
this moment, more than four hundred Polish,
Spanish, Portuguese, and German refugees al-
most wanting bread, and that among the last
named are some who are subjects of the King
of HANOVER—men of education and character,
whose only offence was an attempt to obtain
from that Sovereign those concessions in favour
of rational freedom which in this country he has
not the power, did he even entertain the wish,
to *ithhold. The " spectre-seeming" exiles who
wander through our streets, and most of whom
once enjoyed the comforts of a home, and the
distinction which is shown to rank, are a sad
commentary upon the non-interference policy of
the Foreign-office, and a strong reproach upon
the Cabinet at large, by whom that policy has
been encouraged and upheld. Some of the
Poles are actually starving. They have no
longer & country of their own ; and that country,
which was bound to aid them in their arduous
but unsuccessful struggle for independence, now
denies them bread. How readily has the treaty
of 'Vienna been forgotten ! How unblushingly do
the advocates of non-intervention avow their po-
litical turpitude, and with what indifference do the
luxurious revellers in office look upon the vic-
tims they have made ! How can Lord PAL•
MERSTO N, after having declared that "come what
would, the nationality of Poland should be re-
spected,"—after having excused himself for not
interfering during the struggle, by stating that
he had positive assurances of the magnanimous
intentions of the Russian Autocrat to grant a
general amnesty, and to respect the property of
every Pole, whatever might have been his poli-
tical conduct,—now justify his apathy to the
wrongs of Poland, and look with an eye of un-
concern on the work of spoliation and butchery
which is going on ? If the groans of the per-
secuted be records of vengeance against the
persecutors,—if the sigh of the Siberian exile,
or of the forlorn wanderer on our, to him, in-
hospitable shore, can reach to Heaven, what an
hour of retribution for the oppressor and the
abettors of oppression must be at hand.

We have never been of those who have wished
to turn the Sunday from a day of thanksgiving,
—of innocent and healthful recreation,—from
a day for opening the heart to GoD, and GoD's
works, into a day of gloom, weariness, or sot-
tishness,—but we have always opposed our-
selves, as far as it is consistent for a Newspaper
to interfere in such matters, to every thing
which, instead of tending to the attainment of
any of the important objects to which the insti-
tution of a day of rest may be made subservient,
tends only to riot and disorder. Of this nature
are corporate elections. We dare say there
are many of our readers unaware, that in
several (no less than eighty-seven), of our
corporate towns the election of officers either
may or must, occasionally, take place on a Sun-
day. By a return lately made to the house of
Commons, on the motion of Mr. FREDERICK
NORTH, we find such to be the case in the fol-
lowing boroughs of England and Wales :
Abingdon, Aldeburgh (Suffolk), Banbury,
Bedford, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Bideford, Bod-
min, Boston, Bradninch, Bristol, Buckingham,

Cambridge, Canterbury, Christchurch, Coventry,
Daventry, Denbigh, Derby, Devizes, Dunwich,
Exeter, Faversham, Folkestone, Gravesend,
Guildford, Harwich, Hastings, Hedon, Helles-
ton, Hertford, Hull, Huntingdon, Hythe,
Ipswich, Kinston-upon-Thames, Leicester,
Lichfield, Lincoln, Liverpool, East Looe, West
Looe, Louth, Ludlow, Lydd, Lymington,
Lynn Regis, Milton, Montgomery, Newark,
Newbury, Norwich, Nottingham, Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, Oxford, Penryn, Plymouth,
Plympt6;), Pontefract, Portsmouth, Queenbo-
rough, East Retford, Richmond, New Rom-
ney, Romsey, St. Alban's, St. lye's, Saffron
Walden, Saltash, Sandwich, Scarborough, Sea-
ford, Southampton, Southmolton, Southwold,
Sutton-Coldfield, Tam worth, Tenby, Tenterden,
Totness, Truro, Walsall, Pool, Wells, Wenlock,
Weymouth, Winchelsea, and Great Yar-
mouth. It is true that elections do not occur
every year on a Sunday in any of these towns ;
but, whenever they do occur, public offence
must nevertheless be given to the feelings of a
large portion of the community—a circumstance
of itself sufficient to call for the total abolition
of the practice. This is a subject which might
very properly come under the investigation of
Sir ANDREW AGNEW Or some other active
Member of the late Committee, appointed to
consider of means for better enforcing the ob-
servance of the Sabbath ; and we trust that it is
with that view Mr. NORTII has called for the
return which has given rise to these observations.

We have perused, with some attention a re-
port of the discussion that took place on Thurs-
day last at the Court of Common Council on
the subject of the projected new North-road from
Farringdon-street, but have been able to draw no
safe conclusion from it, except that Mr. CHARLES
PEARSON essayed the facetious, and a Mr.
DRINKALD the argumentative, and that the wit
of the one was happily proportioned to the wis-
dom of the other. We have a great horror—
which we believe we entertain in common with
the majority of his hearers—of Mr. PEARSON'S
facetiousness. An elephant dancing the gallo-
pade would not be a more preposterous spectacle
than this Gentleman doing the funny. He is
the most heavy-headed wag we know of.
On the occasion in question he opposed the
projected improvement, not by argument—
for this would have been difficult to an
orator of his calibre—but by bringing the
heavy battery of his wit to bear against it.
He inferred, that because the new Fleet-
market had failed, therefore the new Far-
ringdon-street must fail also, omitting to take
into consideration the vast difference that exists
in the character of the two schemes ; that the
former was not absolutely indispensable, whereas
the latter, whether morally or physically consi-
dered, is one of the most beneficial improve-
ments ever yet imperatively called for. Is it
nothing to purify the crowded neighbourhood
of Holborn and Ludgate-hill, from the pesti-
lential atmosphere of Field-lane, and the hun-
dreds of unsavoury alleys that adjoin it ? Is' it
nothing to let in a stream of fresh air into the
very heart of the City ? To beat up the quar-
ters of the thieves and vagabonds that have in-
fested that district for ages ? Yet, in the eyes
of all those who rejected the petition, an im-
provement like this must have worn the aspect
of a mere superfluity !
We say nothing on the subject of Mr. C.
PEARSON'S comparison of Fleet-market to a
Paphian bower," which so electrified the
classic sensibilities of his audience, that they fell,
one and all, into extempore ecstacies of admi-
ration. The comparison was astounding, cer-
tainly, but it was not apposite, and would have
been the perfection of wit if it had not been the
ne plus ultra of nonsense. Mr. PEARSON'S
" salt"—he will excuse the candid observation—
is any thing but " attic," though it must be
confessed it smacks strongly of a back garret in
Grub-street.

We are strongly of opinion, notwithstanding
the declared opposition of Mr. C. PEARSON,
that the projected line of Farringdon-street will
be completed. The majority of our influential
citizens are men of sound sense and judgment,
and inasmuch as they prefer fresh air to mephitic
vapours, cannot fail to see the great advantages
to be derived from the improvement.