The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-14 00:00:00

GhttIVIAN Y.

A letter from Berlin, Bth, says—" The Minister
of Finance has formally declared that he has re-
nounced the idea of giving in his resignation. We
learn that our Government is the only one which still
admits any rights to the Duke d'Augustenbourgh,
but if he will not accept an equitable indemnity, the
Prussian Cabinet will not be disposed to struggle any
longer for the secondary rights of the house of Au-
gustenbourg. The Government has just addressed to
the different states of the Zollverein an invitation to
send a plenipotentiary to the Customs' Congress,
which is to assemble here next year. Tne invitation
is accompanied by some propositions, on which the
Prussian Government wishes to have the opinion of
the different states before the meeting of the Con-
gress. The letter will be shortly published."

THE TYROL.
FEARFUL INUNDATIONS.

Intelligence from Innspruck of the 4:h states that
the battalion of infantry and the staff were delayed
36 hours by a heavy fall of snow and the accumu-
lated mass of snow on the road. The accounts of the
inundations caused by the overflowing of the rivers
from all parts of the Crown lands are very di3tress-
ing. In many parts dreadful devastations have been
caused.

In Murburg the largest bridges have been carried
away. The rushing masses of water as they passed
through Murburg carried with them gigantic trees,
which were torn up by the roots, fragments of houses,
mills, carriages, timber, utensils, boats, and numerous
animals.

The inundation which caused these fearful disasters
appears to have been caused by the bursting of a
water-spout in Carinthia. Many places in Carinthia
are quite destroyed, churches and hospitals were
broken down by the fury of the water, and were
speedily reduced to a mass of ruins. Many corpses
have been found in the Tyrol—whole districts have
been swept away—the telegraphic lines have been
destroyed, partly by the water and partly by the fall
of immense masses of snow. The mails have been
stopped from nearly all parts of the country. The
accounts from Agram are of the same melancholy
character. The rise of the waters nine and ten feet
above the ordinary water-mark, combined with heavy
falls of snow and the accumulated masses of water
rushing impetuously from the mountains, have caused
incalculable damage.

NEWSPAPER SUBSCIBERS IN AMERICA.
COLLECTING THE ACCOUNTS.
_

The following amusing account of the sort of pa-
tronage of which the newspaper press in America can
boast, appears in a number of a "far West" journal
which has just reached
_us. It is no wonder after
reading the report which follows of the progress made
in collecting the subscriptions, that our American
contemporaries should eulogise to the third heavens,
as the noblest being in creation, the " man who pays
for his paper." The collector, it will be observed,
reports progress to the unfortunate newspaper pro-
prietor : _ _

- I have just returned from a tour through this state,
and proceed to furnish you with an account of my
labours and their success. I have been gone for
three months, and assure you, in all sincerity, that I
am fully satisfied. You furnished me a list of one
hundred and seventeen owing subscribers, as you will
recollect. I have called upon one hundred and four
of them, and have the honour of paying over to your
order three dollars and twelve and one half cents.,
being the amount to which your are entitled. I re-
turn you the list, numbered from one to a hundred
and seventeen, and now give you the reply of each :
No. 1.--Is a minister. He says in the first place,
he never got one half of the numbers (a lie accord-
ing to the account of the postmaster), and in the next
place, your joker's column was too scurrilous. He
can't think of aiding to sustain a paper that adver-
tises horse race and gander pulling. Besides, he
knows from the tone of your editorials that you drink
and paying you would only be the means of your
ending your days in the kennel. lie wonders at your
impudence in sending him this bill, after publishing
the great prize fight between Left-handed Smoke and
Battering Bill. He wants nothing to do with you—
never wants to hear from you again.
No. 2.—ls in gaol for debt. He has not seen a
half-dollar for a year. Says he would pay with the
utmost cheerfulness if he only had the money, but
had to borrow a shirt to put on last Sunday. Admires
your. paper wonderfully, and hopes you will con•
tile sending it to him. He wishes you to take a
with gentlepna;enrsi,nhehihsopsietsuathtiaotny.
bold stand in favour of the abolition of imprisonment
for debt, as he think it would be a very popular move
en-
joy your lucub.rations. Sends his best respects.
any more
postage is paid, as otherwise he will bou 'ei If yllouunseaebs
No. 3.—lt is a young doctor. Says your paper is
beneath the notice of a gentleman. Would'nt give a
-- for a cartload. Says you inserted an article
refLcting on the profession.. Only wishes he could
catch you here. Is going to persuade everybody
that takes your paper to sto.p it. Cursed your bill,
and says you may
collect it in the best way you can.
No. 4.—ls an old maid.. Says you are always
taking a
_fling at single ladies of au uncertain age.
letehn ad
tot himth

Wouldn't pay you if she was rolling in wealth, and I
you hadn't cash enough to buy a crust of bread.
Sent all the papers she had back a month ago, and
says now that she sent them back, she don't owe you
anything. Says she is even with you, and intends to
keep so until the day of judgment. Asked me not
to forget to tell you that you are no gentleman, or
you wouldn't undertake to slander a large and re-
spectable class of the female population of the
country.
No. s.—ls a gambler—a sporting gentleman—says
he got completely cleaned out last week at the races.
Couldn't accommodate his grandmother with half a
cent, if she was starving. Likes your paper tolerably
would like it better if you publish more races, and
would occasionally give an account of a cock-fight.
Liked the description of the prize fight amazingly—it
redeemed a multitude of your faults. Hopes you
will not think hard of him for not paying you now ;
but has got a prospect of soon having some loose
change, as he is after a rich young greenhorn who
arrived here last week. Will pay your bill out of the
pluckiegs.
No. 6.—ls an old drunkard. Hasn't got anything,
and never expects to have. Gathered up all the pa-
pers that he had, and sold them for half a pint of rum
to the dwgery keeper to wrap groceries in. Wishes
you would send him a pile, as they cost him no post-
age, his brother-in-law being postmaster, and per-
mitting him to take out letters for nothing. Winked
at me when I presented your bill, and inquired if I
wasn't a distant relation of the man that butted tne
bull off the bridge.
No. 7—ls a magistrate. Swore he never owed you
a cent, and told me I was a low rascal for trying to
swindle him in such a barefaced manner. Advised
me to make tracks in a little less than no time, or he
would make out a warrant against me as a common
cheat, and have me sent to prison. Took his advice.
Is, by all todds, the meanest man I_have_seen yet.
'Pill never go near him again.
No. S--Is a politician. Says, although you profess
to publish a neutral paper, it is not so. Thinks be
has seen considerable squinting towards the side to
which he. was opposed. Meant to have told you a
year ago to stop the paper, but forgot it. Tells you
to do so now, and thinks you are getting off very
cheaply in not losing any more by him. Believes you
to be a rascal, and is too honourable to have anything
to do with you, as it might compromise him and in-
jure his prospects.
No. 9—Paid up like a man. The only one. Likes
your paper first rate, and means to take and pay for
it as long as you publish it or he lives. Asked me
to dinner and treated me like a king. An oasis in the
desert ! A man fit for heaven.

No. 10.—Is a merchant, expects to break shortly.
Must save all his small change. Offered me a pair
of breeches and a cotton handkerchief for the debt.
Rejected them with scorn. Had a long jaw. Threa-
tened to break my head. Dared him to it. Threw
a hatchet at me. I dodged it and put out.
Nos. 11 to 117.—Mean as rot. Had no money—
wouldn't pay—didn't owe. I swore I'd sue. They
said I might sue and be hanged. Cursed all the
little ones and hurried from the big. Never got the
first red cent from one of them. _

The foregoing is a true extract from my note book.
I have not succeeded a whit better with the patrons
of the other publications for which I am agent, as it is
impossible to collect from those who are determined
not to pay. I have said I have been away three
months. I have expended in that period two hundred
and ten dollars travelling, and my entire commissions
amount to eighty-two dollars and forty-five cents. I
am willing to do my share towards the propagation of
news, but more than that no reasonable man could
ask. This business don't exactly suit me—l can't
stand it.

Please accept my resignation, and strike my name
from your list of agents. I admire your paper very
much myself, but it would be a queer-looking sort of
a concern that would come fully up to the require-
ments of everybody. One wants independence in an
editor—another don't want any. One wants all
slang—another wouldn't touch a journal that con-
tained an irreverent line with a ten-foot pole. One
sentimental, lackadaisical miss in pantalettes wanted
nothing but love poetry—another never read any-
thing but the marriages.
All kinds of abuse I have to bear, too. I wouldn't
mind it so much if they only cursed you and your
paper, but they curse me too 1 Swindler, rascal,
villaie, bloodsucker ; these are some of the names
they think proper to bestow npon me. I tried fight-
ing for a while, and thrashed several of your patrons,
but occasionally I get licked like thunder myself.
Once I was put in gaol for an assault and battery, and
only escaped by breaking out.
Send me a receipt for the three dollars twelve and
a half cents., and believe me yours in despair,
AARON SWEATWELL.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF EXCHEQUER, Nov. 13.
(Before Mr. Baron MARTIN.)
LIBEL—O'REILLY V. CHURCHILL.

This was an action brought by Mr. O'Reilly, of John-
street, Adolphi, against Mr. John Churchill, publisher
of tho Medical Times, for an allegk-d libel in that journal.
Mr. Humphreys, Q C., and Mr. Mathews appeared for
the plaintiff, Mr. Montagu Chambers, Q.C., and Mr.
Phipion for the defendant.
Mr. liummuErs said the plaintiff was formerly an
assistant sPcretary to a society called the Medical Pro-
tection Office, under the management of a Mr. Breary.
This society having been broken up in consequence of
pecuniary difficulties, plaintiff was about to establish
another society of a similar kind, called the Medical
General Agency Office, for the purpose of protecting
medical men from the frauds practised upon them, and
enabling them readily to recover debts due from their
patients. The following remarks were made respecting
the plaintiff and the new society in a letter published in
the Medical Times, from a correspondent signing him-
self " Philo":— _

" I understand, Sir, notwithstanding all you have
written [respecting the Medical Protection Society],
one Mr. O'Reilly, the managing man of Mr. Breary's
office, and, as I am told, the getter up and factotum of
the celebrated Mail Delivery Office, had the audacity to
attempt the establishment of another Medical Protection
Office, somewhere in the locality of Foley-place, and
that he actually sent round circulars to the profession,
and found men silly eneugh to confide their accounts to
him for collection. This hornet's nest must be dispersed,
and every member of it driven beyond the limits of the
profession. If the profesion honestly wish to dissociate
themselves from disreputable connexions, and to protect
their own interests, they will effectually put down all
such attempts as those I have referred to. • • . .
I say, then, to all nay brother members, rally round the
Medical and Surgical Practitioners Society, and defeat
all the efforts made by cunning adventurers to impose
upon your confidence. As en evidence of what this new
society is doing, it has collected for me since its forma-
tion 12i., from among a mass of debts which, while in
the hands of the defunct Medical Protection Office,
brought me exactly 12 pence."
The publisher of the paper had decliced to give the name
of the writer of the letter, and the action was accord-
ingly brought against him by the plaintiff. The sting
of the libel was the allusion to plaintiff's supposed con-
nexion with the Mail Delivery Office, which was pure
invention of the writer's; the other statements in the
letter were hardly less calculated to injure the prospects
of the plaintiff, who was endeavouring to earn his live-
lihood in an honest and upright manner.
Mr. T.Simmonds was then called. He knew the plain-
tiff when he was a clerk in Mr. Breary's office, and he
had no doubt he was the person to whom ho had re-
ferred. . .

Cross-examined by Mr. CHAMBERS—Was clerk in the
Medical Protection Society's-office, 43, Lincoln's Inn-
fields, which had been established since the former society
broke up, an assignment having been made from one:-to
the other. Witness and plaintiff were both clerks in
the former office, of which Mr. Breary was the head.
Had just seen plaintiff and Mr. Breary together ie the
hall. Mr. Breary had now an office in John-street,
Adelphi, for the discovery of lost addresses.—(A laugh.)
Know that a great many debts had been collected by
the Medical Protection Society which had never been
paid over to the parties to whom it was due. The
society's books had been lost, and were afterwards found
by a waterman in the Thames. The books were in the
care of a youth about nineteen years old. Was aware
that many subscribers called for their debts, which had
been collected and were not paid. Their complaints
were numerous. Did not know that cheques were re-
turned dishonoured from Messrs. Dixon, their bankers.
Payments were sometimes made by the clerks down
stairs drawing cheques upon Mr. Breary, who was up
stairs. These cheques were sometimes crossed by the
clerks. Was aware that the Medical Times had pub-
lished an admission of their error with regard to plaits-
tiff's connexion with the Mail Delivery Office. Plaintiff
had told witness that be was not satisfied with it.
By Mr. HUMPHREYS—PIaintiff was only a clerk in
the Medical Protection Office. He had nothing to do
with their pecuniary deficiencies. Certain charges had
been brought against plaintiff, but he denied them all.
Mr. CHAMBERS commented upon several portions of
the witness's evidence which identified the plaintiff with
the Medical Protection Society, and contended that the
Medical Times was only discharging a publio duty in
warning the profession against being induced to trust
their accounts to him for collection, as there could be
no doubt that he was a party to the serious defalcations
of the former society. He urged that nothing had been
brought forward to show that the Mail Delivery So-
ciety was one of such a nature as to render it libelous
to connect the plaintiff with it; and that the other re-
marks in the letter were only such as a public journalist
was fairly entitled to make respecting the establishment
of a society under very suspicious circumstances.
His LORDSHIP having briefly summed up.
The jury found a verdict for th© plaintiff—One
farthing damages.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, Nov. 13.:
(Before Mr. Commissioner PHILLIPS.)
IN THE MATTER OF VISCOUNT DE SEGUEVILLE.
This insolvent, Charles Hypolitua Mansell, Vis.
count de Segueville, applied under the Protection Act
for his final order. Mr. Cooke opposed for Captain
Bristow ; and Mr. Nichols supported.
The case has been before the Court on some former
i.occasions, the last time in July, when the discharge
was ordered, and tha present hearing appointed for
the final order. The point now raised wl►s that a

debt of 2001. had been incurred with Captain Bristow,
without reasonable or probable expectation of pay-
ment.

It appeared that the insolvent had been the mana-
ging director of the Duisburg Iron Company, which
failed through the political state of Germany a few
years back, and the affairs of the company were now
before one of the Masters in Chancery, under the
Winding-up Act. He obtained 2001. of Captain
Bristow on, it was alleged, some scrip of the com-
pany, but the insolvent alleged that it was a private
debt, to assist him in the formation of the same. Be-
sides the debt, Captain Bristow had been put to about
801. law expenses by the insolvent pleading to an ac-
tion he brought against him to recover the 2001.
Mr. COOKE thought that the costs so contracted for
the vexatious defence might be considered as a debt
incurred without probable expectation of payment.
Mr. Commissioner PHILLIPS said the Legislature
had omitted a vexatious defence from the Protection
Act. It was certainly an anomalous state of things
that in the other Act, under which a man could not
apply without going to prison, it should be an offence,
and that under this indulgent Act, which was avail-
able without imprisonment, it should be omitted. It
was certainly very strange ; and as it was omitted he
could not consider that it came within the section of
contracting a debt without reasonable or probable ex-
pectatio❑ of payment.
The insolvent, on his arrest in May last, petitioned
under the Protection Act, and applied for his dis-
charge before hearing. He was opposed on the part
of Captain Bristow, and his application was refused,
on the ground that the debt had been incurred with-
out reasonable expectation of paying it. Ile remained
in prison until the end of July, when he applied to be
heard, and was not opposed. On that occasion he was
discharged, and had remained at large till the present
occasion, when he applied for his final order.
Mr. COOKE thought the Court had exceeded its
duty, as the discharge should not have been granted
till the final order. Captain Bristow was out of
town, and had not opposed when the application was
made.

Mr. Commissioner Primal's was of opinion, as
there was no opposition when the application was
made, that the insolvent was entitled to his discharge.
Mr. CooKE still urged upon the Court that the
2001. debt had been contracted without reasonable ex-
pectation of payment, and referred to the insolvent's
schedule and the debts he owed at the time he ob-
tained the advance.

Mr. Commissioner PHILLIPS, without deciding
whether the money was advanced on scrip or as a pri-
vate debt, was of opinion that, looking at the debts
the insolvent owed, it was incurred without reasonable
means of payment. He could not consider that the
the expectations of the insolvent, as to certain specu-
lations, were to be considered reasonable. There was
no fraud in the case, but he could not grant the final
order.

At the rising of the Court, the Learned Comms-
SIONER said he bad considered the three months' im-
prisonment the insolvent had already suffered, and
he might come up in a week.
The insolvent asked for protection.
Mr. Commissioner PHILLIPS told him he would
willingly give it, but he had no power , he might
come up on Thursday next for his final order.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
GUILDHALL.

William Griffiths Kemp, a porter, was placed at the
bar before Alderman Sir Robert Carden, charged with
forging a cheque for 391. 10s., in the name of William
Palmer, draper, of 18, Aldgate, with intent to defraud
the London and Westminster Bank.

Sir R. W. CARDEN said he thought the prisoner had
been made the dupe of some designing person, and
therefore remanded the case for inquiry.

WORSHIP-STRgE7'.

A middle-aged man, named John Jeffries, described
as a hawker, was charged before Mr. Hamlin with
an assault of an aggravated description upon a young
married woman named Elizabeth Edwards, residing
at Baden-place, Hackney.
The complainant stated that while standing at the
door of her house about three o'clock on that after-
noon, the prisoner came up with a bundle of hearth-
brooms, which be offered for sale. She told him she
was not in want of such articles, and attempted to
close the door, but the prisoner forced it open, and,
following her along the passage into the back kitchen,
immediately made overtures to her of the most
scandalous kind. The prisoner at the same time
placed a shilling on the table, and offered to present
her with one of his brooms if she would comply with
his wishes, but she indignantly repelled his importu-
nities; and on telling him that she would give him
into custody unless he instantly left the house, the
prisoner threatened that if she ventured to do so he
would charge her with having robbed him of the shil-
ling. He then endeavoured to lock the door, but sbe
succeeded in preventing him from so doing, and at-
tempted to escape from the room to raise an alarm, but
the prisoner caught her firmly round the neck, and
proceeded to the commission of acts of the grossest
description. After a violent struggle she succeeded
in disengaging herself, and hastened into the street,
followed out by the prisoner, who walked rapidly
away, but she pursued him until she met with a police-
man, and gave him into custody.
The prisoner, in an impudent manner, cross-ex-
amined the prosecutrix, with a view to prove that she
met him the same morning at a public-house in the
neighbourhood, but she positively denied that there
were any grounds for such an imputation.
Police-constable 67 N stated that upon the prose-
cutrix giving the prisoner into his custody she appeared
much alarmed and agitated, and that on taking the
latter to the station, he said that he was sorry he had
not met him first, for he would then have given her
into custody instead for detaining a shilling.
The prisoner was about to enter upon a rambling
and irrelevant defence, but was stopped by the magis-
trate, who told him that he had better reserve what
he had to say, as it was his intention to commit him
for trial ; but he should order him to be remanded till
Saturday, for the completion of the depositions.