The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-22 00:00:00

THE RIOT IN BARHAM UNION WORK

HO USE.

' The Ipswich Empress, of Tuesday, says—" If we can-
not prove that this over-crowding of the house, and the
subsequent riot, were the results of a wilful and planned
attempt to effect political and selfish objects, we shall,
at all events, present such a case as will imperatively
call on the Government to probe this ma:ter to the
uttermost."

The riot took place on Sunday, the 9th instant.
" Let the reader," says the Express, " remember that
on Tuesday evening—less than forty-eight hours after
the riot—Mr. Disraeli stood pledged to introduce in the
House of Commons his'motion regarding agricultural
distress ! On ;y!, Sunday night, then, we had 124 able-
bodied paupers in the house, 37 of whom—and amongst
them the 'principal rioters—had come in on the
Saturday. On Xonday ten out of the number
were committed to prison, and on the follow day (Tues-
day) no less a body than 50 of them left the house at
their own requestl Not a single application had been
made by a !armor for labourers, and yet, the demonstra-
tion being over, half a hundred of them suddenly de-
camped."
The Express then asks the following questions:—
" 1. Was there, or was there not, a prevalent report
that some of the farmers of the Bosmere and Claydon
Union intended to MI the workhouse for the sake of ac-
complishing private and political ends?
" 2. As a consequence of the feeling outside, were
not acts of insubordination in the union-house fully
expected, and were not paupers as they came in
cautioned by the governor against aiding in a riot?
"3. If the guardians were cognisant of this state of
things, did they make adequate or reasonable provision
for checking riotous conduct at once?
"4. Has any guardian ever said We'd fill the union-
house to overflowing; that will speak volumes to the
Legislature? '
"5. Have any, faimers of the Hundred been heard to
say, We wish the paupers would pull the house down?'
"6. Did a pauper named Putig (one of the rioters),
when charged wi:11 a. misdemeanour before the magis-
trates in the board-room a short time since, tell those
gentlemen that the, farmers had told him when he came
to the house to kick up a sow?'
"7. Is it a fact that any farmers in this hundred have
said, iu the hearing of their labourers, they wi.h they
would go into the union-house and kick up a row?'
"8. Are the able-bodied paupers principally from the
wealthiest parishes and from the wealthiest farmers?
" 9. Have not a great majority of the applications for
relief been made within the past month? _

" 10. Has a guardian who employed four men, dis-
charged three of them oa •the plea that he could not
het his rent reduced?' And did he add,' As soon as there
is an arrangement in my rents, I'll send for you?' And
are not these men still in the union?
" 11. Did a pauper, who, on being discharged, said,
I shall have to go to the union,' receive this reply from
his you'd all go; we want to swell the
rotes
master,
a a as 't
0I
makwishe
down in their rents and Wheat
the landlords and parsons come
" 12. Did a guardian ever say, ,6 I wish you'd fill the
house so full that the paupers had to be hung out of the
windows ?' "
Our contemporary
this concludes:—"It is ont of our
province to place witnesses on oath, and subject them
to severe examinations, but we call on the Govern-
ment to institute a searching inquiry into the case, with
a view of eliciting whether any parties in connexion
with the Barham Board, or other residents in the union,
have encouraged an undue crowding of the house, for the
purpose of effecting selfish and political ends."

POLY TECHNIC INSTITUTION.
From time immemorial, from the earliest to the latest
periods of scientific research, the principle, called fire,
seems to have engaged the attention of mankind, and we
arenot surprised to find Mr. J. H. Pepper's lectures on
this
Prometheus. stole fire from Heaven (perhaps was an
electrician), tr übi
aj subject
sbtuiltl
he
eell
m iaatbtetnde
haved atsp
spared himself the danger the Royal Polytechnic.
es ic
of s.eeking celestial fire could he have had a glim-
feogielonwt
emd aythebe
lecturer
rd from
h
terrestrial
the ease with
mertng idea of the wonders of modern science, and
much pleasure through his
matwtehri.ch
Wtheis
varied experiments. Fire
producing water, and water fire; perfectly cold
materials by contact evoking heat and light ;
the element oxygen, the most popular attendant of the
chemist, performing its untiring work until we almost
looked round with dread, and asked ourselves, how can
so much fire be produced with safety? But all passed off
well, and the fires were succeeded by the opposite agents,
the very antipodes, or antagonists of fire. Water, the old
enemy of combustion, was seown to be useless in many
cases, but the exclusion of oxygen (what is termed
smothering flame) quickly extinguished fire; and, finally,
an invisible agent—gas—called carbonic acid, on the
principle of Phillips's Fire Annihilator, which was
spoken of most favourably, completely assured us that
fire-engines are not the only weapons to he employed
against fire. And here the lecturer concluded with very
satisfactory evidence of the delight of his audience.

PAUPERS IN SCOTLAND.—The fifth annual report
of the Board of Supervision for the relief of the poor in Scot-
land, shows a gratifying diminution in the pauperism of that
country. From the passing of the Scotch Poor-law Amend-
ammeonutnAt act,ld inl leBo4sst,
ofth erpeauhia,edribsem up to last year, when the
destitution steady increase in the
destitution began to ebb. On the 14th May, 1849, 106,434
persons were on the register of regular poor ; at the same
.theredawyeirn4
were
1719, there were 95,65ki ;in 1ti350, they 101,454 ; of casual poor re-
ldiaevteedin ISont n 5 e 0 same