The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Our readers, who have shared our feelings and sen-
timents with regard to the gross attacks recently made
upon the Lord Chancellor--who, like ourselves, have
witnessed with satisfaction the public demonstrations
of respect shown towards him by great numbers of all
classes, moved by a generous indignation against
groundless and unmanly abuse—on reading that por-
tion of Lord Brougham's speech at Salisbury, which
manifests differences of political opinion with Lord
Durham, will also share our deep regret at this disa-
greement. Reformers generally lamented the loss of
Lord Durham's services in the Cabinet ; and when his
health was restored, the infirmity of which was under-
stood to be the cause of his retirement, his return to the
Cabinet was looked forward to with anxiety. In this view
his Lordship may imagine why so much of his speech at
the Edinburgh dinner as not only indicated a difference
of opinion between him and the Lord Chancellor, but
conveyed that difference in peculiarly pointed terms,
was read by the Reformers of England with great ap-
prehension ; and in this view also it is that we frankly
avow that we could have wished that the Lord Chan-
cellor had riot been tempted at Salisbury to follow his
example. Lord Durham is of opinion that needless
and avoidable delay has been shown in relation to the
improvements which the people have a right to expect
from a Reform Government in the Reformed Parlia,
ment. The Lord Chancellor appears to be impressed
with a contrary opinion, and claims for the Government
credit for what it has done, the difficulties it has had to
encounter, and the danger of exposing the great prin-
ciple of Reform by too much haste and precipitation.
Amongst the best and most enlightened friends of
reform will be found numbers who entertain both
views ; and we conscientiously believe there
are many very honest Reformers, friends of order and
good government, who incline towards the somewhat
dangerous course that would reproduce evil by too
much precipitancy, from a laudable impatience of
abuse, and a wish to realize great national improve-
ments with the least possible delay ; whilst those again
who, under a sense of these dangers, are actuated by
an extreme anxiety to avoid them by a timid policy,
may be occasionally confounded with the class who
fatten upon abuses, and hate all improvements, and
are not slow to deceive the public by representing the
mistakes made by Reformers in attaining reform
as substantive objections against reform itself.
With such difficulties before them, exposed to
such dangers, who but the enemies of reform
can avoid deprecating the schism between such men
as Lords Brougham and Durham ? Differences
of opinion must occasionally arise between public
men, of the most distinguished talents, and equally
honest in their pursuit of the same great objects ;
but policy, sound judgment, the dignity of official
station, and, above all, the public welfare, enjoin men
of the same party to abstain as much as possible from
making a sort of public parade of such differences ;
and whenever they exist in a form which makes their
developement unavoidable or the discussion useful, it
is so be wished that they should never be conveyed in
terms calculated to afford a triumph to the common
enemy. Our readers will readily give us credit for ap-
proaching this subject with no slight feeling of reluc-
tance ; but a sense of duty to the public compels us to
advocate a regard to public principle, rather than to in-
dulge in private sentiments of attachment towards even
those we may have been long accustomed to es-
teem. With reference to the progress of reform which
the public will view with greater interest than even the
mistakes or jarrings of public men, we hail the decla-
ration of the Lord Chancellor that the Government are
making " the most active exertions to mature some of
the greatest and most necessary improvements in se-
veral large branches of the internal economy and admi-
nistration of the country." We assume that he here
refers to the results of the various Commissions which
are now actively engaged in collecting information ;
and we are still amongst those who are cordially dis-
posed to repose confidence in his Majesty's Govern-
ment, and who expect from them in the next Session
measures of reform and amelioration which will satisfy
the country. The Government, thus strong in the
confidence of the people, will doubtless obtain
the support of the Sovereign ; and then, should
the House of Peers continue its factious opposi-
tion to all measures of substantial improvement, and
set at defiance the spirit of the age, the people
will be prepared for such great measures of further or-
ganical reform as the exigency may demand. The
love of peace and order pervades the population of this
great and industrious nation ; but there are occasions
when something must be hazarded to avoid impending
danger ; and the mode in which the Reform Bill was
carried ought to be a lesson to the factious majority of
the House of Lords that when the people are deter-
mined on any great measure, it must be obtained. In
the meantime, we ardently hope we shall see a suspen-
sion of political conflicts between eminent public men,
in the main agreed on all great questions of policy. In
the next Session, we shall need the combined and cor-
dial exertions of all classes of Reformers.—Morning
Chronicle.

It is not true that the Duke of Wellington advised
Don Carlos, through the medium of the Princess of
Beira or the Bishop of Leon, or in any other manner,
to publish an amnesty. It is not true that his Grace
has been in Scotland, or is going to Scotland, or to
Liverpool, or that he has been in London since the
prorogation of Parliament, excepting on his passage
through town into Hampshire, and on his return into
Kent. On neither occasion did lie quit his house.
Nor is it true that the Duke applied to King Leopold
to be paid 28,000/., or any other sum for superintend-
ing the construction of the fortresses for the defence of
the Netherlands.—Morning Post.
It appears that Lord Chancellor Brougham prose-
cutes his political canvass throughout the country with
an alertness and eagerness not to be exceeded by the
Irish agitator himself. Whatever may be his Lord-
ship's case, his successors will be at no less for a pre-
cedent, should they desire to add the Chancellor of
England to the number of circuit-going Judges, nor
does Sir William Smith any longer stand alone in the
quantity at least, if not the quality, of his extra-judi-
cial speech-making. Lord Brougham has been at-
tending what is termed by courtesy a public meeting
at Salisbury ; one account of which (that published
by us) was given in a morning paper of Saturday, and
another, for which we have not room, we have re-
ceived from the Salisbury Herald of the same day,
which latter Journal supplies its readers* also with a
curious estimate of the value of the requisition pre-
sented to the Mayor for calling the aforesaid assem-
bly, and of the class of persons who attended the
complimentary summons. It may be remarked, in
passing, that of eighteen Members of Parliament
who arc returned by the county of Wilts and
by its several boroughs, one only !—to wit, Mr. Bro-
die, of New Sarum (the other member for New Sarum,
Mr. Bouverie, being absent,)—appeared to do honour
to Lord Brougham. We hope it was blunder, and not
ill-natured irony, which led this Mr. Brodie to put for-
ward the consistency of the learned Lord's public con-
duct among his claims to general approbation. But,
whether or no, Lord Brougham, like a cool and well-
bred Frenchman, took the panegyric in good part,
and with edifying and solemn gratitude put the
praise of his consistency "in his pocket. In
other respects, the speech of the learned Lord, how-
ever surprising or however lamentable when con-
sidered by those who had formed their hopes and
expectations on the promise of his early career,
had no faculty of creating either concern or asto-
nishment in the minds of his more recent observers.
His Lordship began, as he did at Edinburgh, by as-
cribing the civility shown him to his office of Lord
Chancellor, an assumption which had the double merit
of proving (if well founded) that the compliment
was worth nothing at all, and of plumply contradicting
the repeated declaration of Mr. Brodie—viz., that the
honour was designed for the individual, and not for
the Minister. But all this was matter of taste. The
pith of Lord Brougham's speech is its pitiable sore-
ness at the rebuke which has been more than once ad-

ministered to the Learned Lord by the independent
press, and particularly by Lord Durham, for his ma-
nifest quailing into language little short of the most
common-place Toryism. When a whale has been
wounded in the northern seas, it often is found after-
war,ll4 in more southern latitudes, rolling and tumbling,
and wri.:Nng with agony, unable to shake from its

festering carcase the barbed and inextricable harpoon.
So the extraordinary fish harpooned at Edinburgh
some weeks ago, has already spouted forth brine
and bitterness on the Avon, and will ere Fong, we
fear, be caught floundering within the estuary of the
Thames. Lord Brougham "can only express his sin-
cere pity for a few vain and misguided persons, who in
some parts of the country would represent every one as
the enemy of improvement, who clings to any one part,
however useful, of the existing order of things." Who
be they ? Not assuredly, any portion of.the respect-
able and influential Press of London or the provinces
—not, assuredly, any man connected with this Journal,
or any of those among the contemporaries or readers of
the Times, who agree with it in sentiment upon the
nature and value of our great national institutions.
This Paper, we can aver conscientiously and without
boasting, was the first to denounce the schemes of the
" Destructives," and to affix to them that name by
which they are now generally known, and condemned
throughout Great Britain. We have resolutely stood
up for the rights, the welfare, and stability of that
first and noblest of English and of human institu-
tions, the establishment by law of a religion believed
in by the greater portion of an enlightened commu-
nity. Against popular clamour we have stood up
for the rights of property and the unshackled exer-
cise of the rights of industry, in utter contempt of
those threats and conspiracies which on all sides
menaced our own existence as Journalists with de-
struction,—despising them, indeed, as heartily as
the boastful denunciations of a resolve to ruin us
wherewith we were visited by the Learned Lord
himself. Whom, then, does Lord Brougham mean
to stigmatize as " enemies of all our national institu-
tions ?" But his Lordship proceeds with his pity for
another " still less considerable set of persons, who
cannot perceive any difference between taking time to
prepare and mature great measures of reform, and
being reluctant to reform at all,—persons who actually
think that because his Majesty's Ministers are resolved
never to bring forward any plan that is crude and un-
digested, therefore they aro putting off the day for
preparing those plans." Now, this was very clearly
meant for Lord Durham, and in answer to the obser-
vations of that noble Earl at Edinburgh and Dundee ;
but we can protest, as lookers-on at what has been
passing, that there never was in the world a more un-
fair or uncandid mis-statement of any man's opinions, as
inferred from his expressions, than the above attempt at
a rejoinder by Lord Brougham. Why, Lord Durham's
reproof of the Learned Lord's language was because
the Lord Chancellor avowed, if there be any sense in
words, that the Government " had done too much
already." Was it not, therefore, reasonable to presume
that they were not about to do anything more, or to
prepare for doing it ? We do not recollect Lord Dur-
ham's having recommended " crude or ill-digested"
measures : on the contrary, he would wage war upon
recognized abuse, and apply to it the "best-considered"
remedies. Upon the whole, there is but one inference
to be drawn from these restless wanderings—those
waspish effusions of an official personage, who ought
to be an example, as most of his predecessors have
been, of patience, dignity, and temper. The inference
is, that the mind of the party is oppressed by some
weight which ought not to be there, by some painful
craving after that which cannot be accomplished, or
some perhaps more painful consciousness of that which
ought not to have existed, but which it is impossible to
forget. In either case, we, in the words of the
Learned Lord, " can only express pity" for Lord
Brougham.— Times.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY-(SATURDAY).

LATEST INTELLIGENCE OF BENTLEY.

We understand that a letter was on Saturday received
in town from Mr. Notcutt, of Ipswich, dated Friday, 10th
of October. The writer states, that Bentley called on a
Mr. Learwold, a linen-draper at Ipswich, upon the 23d
ultimo. Mr. Learwold imagined that he came into Suffolk

to see after some bad debt, and therefore said, " Why, what
brought you here ; something wrong, I doubt." Bentley re-
plied, " Yes, it was a.sad affair," and seemed much dejected.
Mr. Learwold, thinking that Bentley alluded to a loss he had
sustained in consequence of some person's failure, said,
" Well, it is not any body in Ipswich, I think."—Bentley
replied, " No, it is not here ; " and added, " I have come
down in a hurry, and am without any cash ; will you let
me have 101. on account ? " Mr. Learwold said, " Oh,
yes, to be sure," and took down his ledger for the purpose
of Bentley's giving him credit for the amount. Bentley
then said, " I tell you what, it is almost too bad to ask
you for money ; but perhaps, you would have no objec-
tion to discount a bill for me for 201.," adding, " You
know the party very well, it is Mr. Elliston of Cambridge."
Mr. Learwold said he had no objection to do that, and,
after looking at the bill, he gave Bentley a check for the
amount. Shortly afterwards Mr. Learwold went to the
White Horse Inn to see Bentley. He then appeared much
agitated, and asked Mr. Learwold to discount another bill
for him, at the same time producing one on Mr. Wall of
Yarmouth, for upwards of 1001. ; but this Mr. Learwold
declined doing. When Bentley produced the bill upon
Mr. Wall, Mr. Learwold observed that he had two other
papers in his hand, which appeared to be bills, and also a
51. note, besides the amount of the check. The writer of
the letter stated that it was reported that day in Ipswich
that Bentley had been taken, but he could not ascertain
from what quarter that report originated. On the same
day that the above conversation took place Bentley obtained
a thirty-shilling bill stamp from the distributor at Ipswich,
and at the same time inquired what amount that stamp
would carry.

EXAMINATION OF THE ACCEPTOR OF BENTLEY'S ACCOM-

}IODATION BILLS.

William Austen Grocock, a merchant, residing at Bellina
Villa, Kentiih-town, who had been lately declared a bank-
rupt, was examined before Mr. Commissioner MERivALE, at
the Bankruptcy Court. The bankrupt is the person who
accepted a great many of Bentley's accommodation bills.
The first person who applied to prove on one of Bentley's
bills, which was accepted by Grocock the bankrupt, was
Mr. Tarrant, silk mercer, of Spitalfields. The bill was
dated July, 1834, drawn by Bentley, Dear, and Co. for 1111.,
and purported to have been accepted by the bankrupt.
Mr. Whitelock, the solicitor to the fiat, having directed
the Commissioner's attention to the bill, and explained the
manner in which that acceptance and others had been ob-
tained from thi bankrupt by Bentley, proceeded to exa-
mine the bankrupt.

Have you had any connection in trade with Bentley P
Yes ; I had goods from him.
Have you accepted bills for him ? I have accepted bills
for goods.
And have you not accepted bills for his accommodation ?
—I have.
Are you able to state the number of bills that you have
accepted for Bentley ?—No, I cannot.
Did you keep any account of the date and amounts of
those bills which you accepted for Bentley's accommoda-
tion P—No, I did not.

Were those bills filled up when you accepted them ?
No.

Then, I suppose, they were mere blank paper when you
put your name to them ?—They were blank stamps.
Does this bill (producing the bill exhibited by Mr. Tar-
rant) bear your acceptance ?—Yes.
What consideration did you receive for it ?—None
at all.

Are you sure that this bill was accepted by you for
Bentley ?--Yes ; I will swear it was.
Mr. Tarrant was then sworn, and examined by Mr.
Whitelock.

Mat consideration did you give for this bill ?—I fur-
nished goods to Bentley, Dear, and Co.
What kind of goods ?—Principally silk goods.

Have you the bills of parcels with you 2—No.
Mr. Whitelock here observed that he did not entertain
the slightest doubt that full consideration had been given
by Mr. Tarrant for the bill which he now wished to prove ;
but under the peculiar circumstances of the case, and when
it was known under what circumstances the bill was made,
he felt it his duty to require the fullest explanation of every
claim, and must therefore request that the proof should be
adjourned until an examination had been made of Mr. Tar-
rant's books.

The COMMISSIONER entirely agreed with Mr. Whitelock
that a most searching inquiry should take place into every
claim to which the slightest objection should be made.
The proof was therefore postponed.
A gentleman, who represented Mr. Alitchell, of Leicester,
then applied to prove on two bills drawn by Bentley, Dear,
and Co. and accepted by the bankrupt Grocock. One bill,
dated Bth Sept., 1834, was for 300/. ; and the other, dated
the 10th September following, was for 4911. 18s. 10d.
Mr. Whitelock placed these bills in the bankrupt's hands,
and asked him whether he accepted them, and if so, what
consideration he received for them ?—The bankrupt said he
accepted the bills, but received no consideration for them.
Mr. Whitelock inquired what consideration Mr. Mit-
chell had given for the bills ?—The Gentleman who wished
to prove said he believed Mr. Mitchell had advanced 4001.
upon the bills. _ . .

The COMMISSIONER said that this claim must also be
mosts trictly inquired into ; and it was therefore postponed.

Mr. Whitelock said he had objected to the claims as he
felt that it would he impossible to allow such bills to be
proved without inquiry.
The COMMISSIONER said that Mr. Whitelock was quite
right in the course he had taken.
Mr. Bland, of the firm of Harvey, Bland, and Co., of
Friday-street, then claimed to prove for a bill for 1291. 65.,
drawn by Bentley and Co., and accepted by the bankrupt.
The bankrupt said he accepted that bill also for Bent-
ley's accommodation.
Mr. Whitelock to Mr. Bland—What consideration did
you give for the bill? Mr. Bland—l gave goods.
Mr. Whitelock—l must trouble you -to bring your
books to explain what you gave for this bill. Mr. Bland—
Certainly, I have no objection to show every book I have.
The COMMISSIONER said if Mr. Bland had given conside-
ration for the bill he would be allowed to prove ; but it was
very necessary that a strict inquiry should be made, to as-
certain the manner in which the bills were concocted.

Mr. Hitchcock, of 23, Wood-street, next applied to prove
upon one of Bentley and Co.'s bills for 1351., accepted by
the bankrupt.
The bankrupt looked at the bill, and said that he accepted
that also for Bentley's accommodation, and received no con-
sideration for it.
Mr. Whitelock informed Mr. Hitchcock that he should
be obliged to examine his books, to ascertain what conside-
ration was given for the bill`
Mr. Hitchcock said be had no objection to produce his
books, and the claim was postponed.
Mr. Saunders, of Mark-lane, who had been employed to
arrange the bankrupt's affairs in North America, was also
examined. He stated :—ln the early part of this year I
was consulted by the bankrupt respecting his affairs abroad.
The bankrupt represented to me that he had no satisfac-
tory accounts from his partners abroad, stating his inability
to go abroad himself, and asked me if I would undertake
the mission for him. He said that he had no accounts
from his partners, and that he was determined to wind up
the concern, and to close the partnership at any sacrifice.
He requested I would proceed to St. John's, New Bruns-
wick, with the least possible delay, demand a statement of
the whole transaction from the commencement of partner-
nership, and if I found any breach of the articles of copart-
nership, or that his other partners were unprepared to pay
up the balance due to him (Mr. Grocock) I was then to
dissolve the partnership legally, close the books, collect the
accounts, wind up the concern, and receive from his two
partners a full and complete assignment of everything they
had, all of which I accomplished. I found many breaches
of contract, which induced me to insist upon the dissolution
of partnership.
Messrs. Honeyball, of Cheapside, tendered a bill for
proof. The bill was drawn by Bentley and Co. upon Gro-
cock, and accepted by him ; it was dated the 6th of Sep-
tember last, for 2001.

Mr. Whitelock opposed the proof, until Messrs. Honey-
ball could show that they had given valuable consideration
for the bills.
The COMMISSIONER directed that this matter should
stand over as well as the others, to be investigated at the
next meeting, when the parties must be prepared to prove
the consideration which they had given for the bills, or their
proofs would not be allowed.

Total amount of acceptances tendered to be proved :-
Messrs. Tarrants Xlll 10 0
Mr. Mitchell 491 8 10
Ditto 3OO 0 0
Messrs. Bland 129 6 0
Messrs. Hitchcock 135 0 0
Messrs. Honeyhall 2OO 0 0

£1,367 4 10
All the above were blank acceptances to accommodate
Bentley and Co.
Mr. Slater and Mr. Duthoit, of 'Wood-street, were ap-
pointed assignees ; and the meeting was adjourned to the
14th of November.

CORONER'S INQUEST-EXTRAORDINARY
CASE.

On Saturday an investigation of a rather extraordinary
nature took place before Mr. BAKER, Coroner, and a re-
spectable Jury, empannelled to inquire into the circum-
stances attending the death of Edward Dennis, a boy aged
nine years, the son of a very eccentric gentleman, living at
White Cottage, Lamb-lane, Hackney. The inquiry took
place at the Dolphin Tavern, Mare-street, Hackney, and
' the house was crowded to excess, owing to a report which
had gained extensive circulation, that the deceased had been
starved to death by his father.
Evans, the beadle of South Hackney, in consequence of
the alarming reports in circulation, bad considered it his
duty to give information to the Coroner. The child was
seen out of doors on Wednesday, and then appeared in a
very weak state. On the following night the sister of the
deceased informed a neighbour that the child was dead, and
as the father was so secluded in his manners, and had no
servant in his house, or any one to attend the child, the
suspicions of the neighbours were aroused. On the night
of the child's death, the father fired a piece of ordnance,
which he had planted in the window for the purpose, and
it was reported that the body had been buried in the gar-
den, and a salute fired over it. The father had obstinately
refused to allow any of the neighbours to see the corpse,
and had threatened to shoot the first person who attempted
to enter his premises.
The CORONER said the father must be sent for, and a
messenger was dispatched to White Cottage, but Mr. Den-
nis refused to hold any conversation with him, or to open
his door. The messenger on his return informed the Jury
that the house was fortified with cannon, and that Mr.
Dennis, who carried several loaded pistols about him,
would, no doubt, make a determined resistance if the Co..
roner and Jury attempted to enter his cottage.
The CORONER said that the Jury must see the body, and
if Mr. Dennis attempted to obstruct them, he would ren-
der himsolf amenable to severe penalties. They must by
some means effect that object, or no legal inquisition could
be taken. Mr. Baker then swore in the beadle to act as
his officer, for the purpose of taking Mr. Dennis into cus-
tody, and gave him a warrant for that purpose.
Evans procured the assistance of Mr. Bedford, the in_
spector of police, and some of his men, who accompanied
him, with the Coroner and Jury, to the house in which the
deceased lay. It is a cottage situate in a very secluded
place, and of antique appearance. It is surrounded by a
garden and wall with a castellated tower on the south end,
on which were placed several pieces of ordnance and other
weapons of offence and defence. Mr. D. was observed march-
ing- backwards and forwards on the top of this tower with a
musket in his hand, and attired en militaire. In a window
another cannon was planted, with which we understood he
had alarmed the neighbourhood two or three nights, partly
by firing shot at his own wall. The Coroner, Jury, and
officers having viewed the premises, attempted to engage
the occupant in conversation, but he refused to speak to
any one, or open his doors. A consultation here took
place as to the propriety of making a forcibly entry, the re-
sult of which was, that the inspector was dispatched to Wor-
ship-street police office, for advice how to act from the Ma-
I gistrates sitting there, while the Coroner and Jury returned
to the inquest room.
The inquest was then adjourned until the evening.
At seven o'clock, the Coroner and Jury re-assembled,
and were informed that nothing had been done, and that
the officer had not returned from 'Worship-street, and that
Mr. Dennis was still determined not to admit any one on
his premises. The Coroner and Jury sat for some time in
silence, looking at each other, and no one seemed anxious
to encounter the danger. of going into the fortified house.
At length various plans were suggested for securing Mr.
Dennis, without coming in contact with his pistols.
Evans, the beadle, soon afterwards entered the room, and
informed the Court that a gentleman named Day, had been
holding a conference with Mr. Dennis, the result of which
was, that he was willing to admit the Coroner alone.
The CORONER was rather startled at the proposal, but
said he should have no objection if he thought it would
answer any good purpose, but it was useless for him to
enter the house without the Jury.

The CORONER then proceeded towards White Cottage,
around which a dense mass of people were assembled, who
were in a state of great confusion and excitement, and ap-
peared filled with indignation at the conduct of Mr. Dennis.
The officers having cleared the way, a conference was
carried on between the Coroner and the owner of the cot-
tage, Mr. Baker being outside the gate, and Mr. Dennis
within.

The CORONER requested admittance, and warned Mr.
Dennis of the consequences of resisting his authority.
Mr. Dennis defended his conduct on the ground that the
inquiry was uncalled for, the child having died a natural
death, from consumption. He denied that the Coroner had
the least authority to enter his premises. An English-
man's house was his castle, and must not be intruded upon
without proper cause being shown. There was no cause
whatever for this attempted intrusion, and in consequence of
the crowd his children had been kept in a state of alarm all
day, and his eldest daughter, who was more timid than him-
self, was very ill from the fright. His privity was not to be
intruded upon, nor his affairs exposed to a set of persons.
He would, however, from feelings of courtesy, allow the
Coroner to enter his house alone.

The CORONER pointed out to Mr. Dennis that it was
quite useless for him to see the body alone. Twelve Jury-
men must see it, or the inquisition would not be legal. He
asked Mr. Dennis where the body was ? Mr. Dennis—lt
is in my bed-room.

The CORONER inquired what he meant by exposing fire-
arms and pieces of ordnance on his cottage ? Mr. Dennis
replied that he made the display to intimidate people from
entering his house.
The CORONER—Ba will did you discharge them on the
night the child died ? Mr. Dennis—There is such a day
as St. Dennis's Day. I, as one of the ancient family of