The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-20 00:00:00

GERMAN PAPERS,

VIENNA, DEC. s.—The inheritance left by Prince
Esteihsay is immense; his expenses, however, were no
great, that a sequestration was placed upon his property,
which was to last ten years, and during this time he was
to receive an income of 80,000 florins. By his death
many pensions will terminate, !,0 that the period of the
sequestration will be shortened. It is thought that his
principal heir, Prince Paul Esterhazy, will soon resign
his office as Ambassador to England, in order to attend
to his family affairs.—Frankfort Papers, Dec. 14.

AUTHENTIC ANECDOTES of the GREAT

CHANCELLOR THURLOW.

He began his legal career with acknowledged superior
talents, but from a turn of mind, almost peculiar to him-
self, never did what was called much at the bar, until the
Minister of the day discovered and wished to employ those
talents in the service of the Government. Mr. Thurlow
almost of course, in a very short time, became Solicitor
and Attorney. General under Lord North's Cabinet.
The strong measures that the Minister thought it ne-
cessary to adopt in carrying on his master's favourite
object, the coercion of his refractory subjects in North
America, required all the strength in the House of Com-
mons that could be procured. The means to obtain this,
it has been said, were dealt out with an unsparing band.
The time and the subject seem to have been especially
propitious in bringing forward a Thurlow and a \Vedder-
burn, who perhaps never were excelled in the good ma-
nagement of those two important offices. If they shone
more in any one attribute than another, it was in
biting their wonderful powers in Parliament.
It happened, on some very particular occasion, a very
strong measure was to be propounded in the Commons,
when Lord North, as is the custom, summoned a meeting
of his friends, who were expected to support it. The
plan seemed to meet general approbation, and consequent
tilers of support, but Lord North observed that Mr.
Attorney-General had not given his sanction. Mr.
Thurlow merely said, " I hope your Lordship does not
expect that I am to tell the House of Commons that this
is law ;" then took his hat and wished them good morn-
ing. N.B.—He went to the House that night, and made
the hest speech be ever made in support of the measure.
The writer of the above, who, by the bye, is now alive,
tells another trait of the singularity of this great character,
thusr--

The house tax, so much the talk of the present day,
was hid on in 1755 or 6, by way of commutation for a
seduction of the duty on tea. I was then Secretary to
the Board of Taxes. A clause was inserted in the Act
to exempt ficm_houses, whose annual value did not exceed
.51. a }ear. Lord Thurlow had recently built a fine
Louse at Knight-hill, and there being no other house upon
the estate, which consisted of about 500 acres, some of
his Lordship's people claimed an exemption on account of
there being no other farm-house, and refused payment of
the tax. Of course, this obtained publicity, and an almost
general refusal to pay the tax took place in the neigh-
bourhood of Dulwich, and every day's post brought letters
from the collectors and surveyors asking for instructions.
sly Commissioners were, as well as myself, quite at a 10-s
what step to tike ; in the meantime I tried all my friends,
who I knew had acce,s to the Chancellor, to get them to
mention the matter to hint, suggesting that nothing but his
Lordship's ignorance of the fact could have produced so
palpable a misconstruction of the Act. I failed entirely,
ter such appeared to me the dread of speaking to the
Chancellor upon the subject, that even up to Mr. Pitt
himself the task was declined, and the evil, of course,
getting worse, and conceiving all the trouble and
worry of it cast upon me, I ens morning, while his Lord-
ship was sitting in the Court of Chancery, handed up to
his Lordship the following letter, or something to the same
put port, for I kept no copy, nor did I mention it till long
after his Lordship's death to anybody.
"My Lord—From a duty I owe the public, which is
also my own, and the high respect for your Lordship's
high station, which is yours, I have presumed to state to
your Lordship, that some of your people at Knight's Hill
have considered that your house there is exempt from the
new house tax. lam in waiting, in the humble hope
you will favour me with a few minutes of your time, when
I shall endeavour to show this refusal of payment can
have arisen in nothing short of a mistake in the construc-
tion of the Act. I need not use many words to show your
Lordship whit what avidity a certain set of people catch
at any opportunity, to show their disrespect for rank and
power. I trust to your Lordship's high and manly cha-
racter for pardon for this intrusion, and that you will con-
sider that, whatever impropriety may attach to me in the I
step I have presumed to take, I have been, in a great
measure, driven to it.

I have the honour to be, &c., Ste.
W. S. G.
I bad the satisfaction to see his Lordship open and
read the letter, and hear him tell the messenger to show me
into his private room. He followed me almost before I
could seat myself. He was preparing to attend the House
of Lords, the mace and all the cortege being in the passage.
His first salutation was with a stern look and overpower-
ing accent—What are your commands with me, Sir?
Answer—My business is contained in the letter I bad
the honour to send vow• Lordship.
The Chancellor—Do you say I am liable to pay the tax ?
Answer—l humbly conceive there can be no doubt.
The Chancellor—Then I will take order fir the pay-
ment.

I then bowed to the ground, certainly more happy than
such a, after all, trifling incident in my passage through
life ought to have made me. But there was something
yet to come that for a moment checked my extreme joy.
I bad no sooner reached ten steps towards the hall than
I found the Chancellor calling after me, and upo❑ my
turning about, with a still lower bow, if possible, his Lord-
ship uttered these words in, for him, a pleasing manner.
" Sir, I wish you to understand I think myself much obliged
to you."

The emcees* seems to have justified the measure, and it
is true that I got some credit by it, but I am far from ex-
pecting every body to do ao.
N.B. Perhaps I might not have been entirely unknow❑
to Lord Thurlow, having rnet him at dinner at Lord
Shelburne's, in Hill-street, about twenty years before, and
where he showed, in my mind, strong indications of his
future celebrity.

REMARKABLE CIRCUMSTANCE.--011 the
night of Weer,silay, the 4th instant, a narrow horse-
-139 it, laden a ith crates of earthenware, was upset and
.sink in the eanai about a mile from Runcorn. Plenty of
bands wer!inunedlitely put on to haul up the crates, and
whilst doing so one of them caught
boll of something
wiih a boat-hook, which proved to be tie body of a man
quite dead and his countenance much discoloured. It has
since been (deafly proved, that he left Runcorn on his way
cn foot towards Warrington, and was seen much intoxi-
cated only about an hour before he was drowned. His
hand was marked with the initials T. C. in blue, 'and he
had a letter in his pocket directed to Thomas Cresswell ;
but, as he was a perfect stranger in Runcorn, it is not yet
known to what place he belongs.— York Chronicle.
A woman who travels the country, pretending
to be deaf and dumb, and who calls herself Betty Elemsly,
has been committed to the House' of Correction, at Wake-
field, for seven days as a vagrant. When taken into
custody she was told that she would not have anything to
eat until she could ask for it. In the course of a few hours
she not only found means to ask for food, but strength to
pummel Mr. Pearson, the deputy constable of Dewsbury,
oundly. —Halifax Express.

ROME, DEC. s.—Cardinal Odescalchi has returned
from his journey to Lucca; the Duke had declared to him
his intention of coming to Rome himself shortly. It is
said that Governor Grimaldi will reeek-e the cardinal's
hat as well as M. Brignoli. The French ambassador,
M. de Latour Maubourg, who has returned to his post,
received the diplomatic body and the grandees yesterday.
It was remarked that twenty-one cars4ibais appeared on
the occasion. The winter will b'e very gay here, k`.- We
have not only an unusnal number of foreig'vz,':;., but many
Italian nob!es—an agreeable prospect fc'e 'Coe Romlns, who,
according to themselves, would soon be ruined without
strangers in their city. It is said that a vessel has arrived
in port with the his of Don Carlos on board, which
perhaps were shipped during the lifetime of King Ferdi-
nand. Thorwaldsen has several works of importance on
board. His last work, several reliefs, excites universal
astonishment.

'VIENNA, DEC. 9.—Five per Cent. Metalliques, '94 3.16;
Four per Cent. ditto, SI ; Bank Shares, 1,219 i.— Alige-
',Leine Zeitung, Dec. 14.

BERLIN, DEC. B.—On the 4th, the trihinal of the
Chamber (Rammer Gericht), began its new system of
summary and public trials, and in a few days the tribunal
of the city wiil follow its example. It was an event en-
tirely new to the inhabitants of Berlin to hear lawyers
plead, and to see the -contending parties defending them-
selves at the bar. The greatest order prevailed, deci,ions
were promptly given, and in one morning more business
was despatched than in many weeks under the old system,
with enormous notes of information. It was curious
that the first law suit under the new system in Prussia
was between two ladits.—Nureraury Correspondent,
Dec 12.

NEW WORK BY THE AUTHOR OF " BRAM-
BLETYE HOUSE."
This day, in 3 vols. post we.,
GALE MIDDLETON.
A STORY of the PRESENT DAY.
By HORACE SMITH, Esq.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.
Agents for Scotland, Messrs. Bell and Bradfute, Edin-
burgh ; for Ireland, Mr. John Cumming, Dublin. To be
had also of all respectable Booksellers.