The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-16 00:00:00

FUNERAL EXTRAORDINARY.

(From a, Morning Paper.)
The bustle of that bustling place, Leadenhall-market,
has been considerably increased lately in consequence of the
lying-in-state of an old inhabitant of that spot, lately de-
ceased, who was known amongst the poulterers and pur-
veyors there by the cognomen of " Old Tom." For the
last twelve years he has been running about, winter and
summer, without shoes or stockings, and wearing the same
coat. He was a native of France, lived a useful life, and
was much respected by all his acquaintances. But to avoid
mistake, though a biped, gentle reader, the deceased was
only a goose. By his odd tricks and sagacity he secured
to himself a host of friends, and did much to rescue his or-
der from the stigma of stupidity, which has been almost
universally thrown upon it. This singular bird was hatched
at Ostend in June, 1797, and became the property of
M. Bottane, a dealer in poultry of that port, who
employed him in the capacity of a decoy goose. Upon
the death of this his first master, he was purchased
at a large price by another dealer, named Blaney, in
whose service he remained until the year 1823, perform-
ing the duties of his office with great success, and frequently
travelling at the head of a numerous and obsequious flock
upwards of ten miles a day, leading them to the place of
embarkation. While at Ostend he lived a merry life, was
taught a hundred diverting tricks, and at the annual fair
was always seen amongst the fantastic group with a mask
and other grotesque appendages, exciting considerable
amusement, and receiving general applause. By some acci-
dent, poor Tom was sent to Mr. Grover, of Leadenhall-
market, with a retinue he had escorted to Calais. As
soon as his departure was discovered, letters were sent to
request that he might be saved from the fate which
awaited his companions, and returned to his master. But
it seemed that he was not destined to revisit his native
country, for though he was easily selected from the rest
by calling " Tom" and offering a piece of bread, as often as
he was sent to the Custom-house in a return-basket, some
accident or oversight caused his further detention. He had
many narrow escapes for his life, and in 1829 was sent to
Mr. Levy's shop in Houndsditch with eleven others, nine of
which were already slaughtered, when Mr. Grover's son
arrived just in time to save his neck from being wrung.
At length his legitimate master arrived in London, and
was recognized by his old servant as soon as he saw him.
Having, however, declined business, M. Blaney, after point-
ing out Tom's acquirements, requested Mr. Grover to keep
him, and he would cheerfully pay all his expenses. Tom,
the gander, then became the patriarch and guardian of all
the geese and goslings that came to the market, and he was
never known to let one go astray. He was a favourite with
all and the pet of many. He was a frequent visitor at
the neighbouring gin-palaces, and would 'take several drams
of the " cream of the valley" in the course of the day ; not,
indeed, without being the worse for it sometimes ; and then
he would be, as the police term it, both " drunk and dis-
orderly." Such was the effect which bad company had
upon him ; but it should be remembered that Tom was
only a goose, and could not help himself. He distinguished
his kindest friends by a mode of expression peculiar to him-
self, and clapping his wings. At a particular hour every
day Tom might be seen walking with great dignity
into the sign of the Rose and Crown, the hostess of
which had some delicious morsel always prepared for him.
One morning poor Tom was missed from his accustomed
route, and on search being made, was found dead in his
nest, having lived upwards of 37 years. Some of his sur-
vivors immediately set about paying their last tokens of re-
spect to their deceased acquaintance. A process similar to
that of embalming was gone through, and the body, placed
in a deal box three feet long. was deposited in one of his
master's stalls, where he lay in state, surrounded with fune-
ral furniture, two of his favourite geese being posted at the
door dressed in crape. A penny was demanded of those
whose curiosity led them to take a last look, and the money
thus collected was appropriated to the purchase of a stone
tablet, and the other expenses of his interment. On the lid
of his coffin is an engraved plate, with his name and age
Poor Tom is this day to be buried in a grave dug in the
centre of the poultry-market, over which the stone will be
laid, and the passenger may read thereon the following in-
scription and epitaph :
The grave of Poor Old Tom.
" In memory of Old Tom the Gander.
" Obit 19th March, 1835, wtat. 37 years, 9 months, and 6 days.
" This famous gander, while in stubble,
" Fed freely, without care or trouble :
" Grew fat with corn and sitting still,
" And scarce could cross the barn-door sill :
" And seldom waddled forth to cool
" His belly in the neighbouring pool.
" Transplanted to another scene,
" He stalk'd in state o'er Calais green,
" With full five hundred geese behind,
" To his superior care consigu'd, •
" Whom readily he would engage
" To lead in march ten miles a-stage.
" Thus a decoy he lived and died,
" The chief of geese, the poulterer's pride."

TEMPERA NCE SOCIETY.—Judge Crampton gave
five pounds to one of the Temperance Societies in Cork, and
expressed his wish to preside at a meeting, if his professional
avocations permitted him. There is a Female Temperance
Society in America, each member of which pledges herself not
to accept the addresses of any young man that is not a mem-
ber of the Temperance Society. The number of members, as
appears by last account, has amounted to 160.

EXECUTION OF BURDOCK.—Yesterday, at Bris-
tol, this woman was executed for the murder of Mrs. Smith.
During the religious service performed before execution, she
sat sullenly silent, never once rising or kneeling. At the con-
clusion of the sermon she got up without betraying any emo-
tion, and left the chapel with firmness. But afterwards when
in the room, just under the platform, having her dress ar-
ranged, when the fatal cap was placed on her head, and the
rope round her neck, she certainly joined in the prayers which
the Chaplain continued, with something like feeling—repeat-
ing the responses of Lord have mercy on my soul," " Christ
have mercy on my soul," with earnestness. In this room she
lingered long, and appeared to lengthen the time, and it was
here generally expected that she would have confessed the
justice of her sentence —but, alas ! she made no confession
whatever ! She ascended to the fatal drop, by help of assis-
tants, with comparative firmness, but looked pale and ghastly,
and evidently now felt intensely. She quickly dropt the hand-
kerchief, and the fatal bolt was drawn by a man in a great-
coat, with crape over his face, at exactly twenty minutes to
two o'clock. Her weight evidently caused almost instant
death. She possessed the greatest controul over the nerves
we ever witnessed. The crowd which attended the execution

lined both banks of the New Cut, and must have amounted to
at least .50,00 persons.

_.
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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Our readers are referred to yesterday's proceedings
in the House of Lords for proof circumstantial, if not
direct, that the work of Cabinet-making is as yet to do.
The Duke of Wellington was compelled to break his
promise of moving the adjournment of the House to the
30th inst., because it would be " inconvenient to his

Majesty's service" that the House should so adjourn.
In other words, it is not yet settled what writs. are to
be moved for, and the only certainty is that all the re-
quisite writs cannot be moved this day; so that Parlia-
ment must be kept together. His Grace, therefore,
postponed his motion until this day, and gave notice
that it would probably be necessary to abridge the
period of adjournment. This will be thought by
most people to speak for itself, as to the slow, if not
uncertain, progress of the negotiations. Indeed, we
are but little surprised at this ; though, speaking
frankly, if the thing is to be done, we wish, for the sake
of the public service, that it could be accomplished
successfully and at once. The business of the country
is, as seamen say, " going to leeward like a haystack"
—the requisite funds for the several departments are
not yet voted—no budget has yet been brought for-
ward—and as for the great measures of church or.
other reform which Sir Robert Peel's official existence
just sufficed him to explain, should they, from jealousy
or other party causes not be followed up by the Right
Hon. Baronet's successors, we should like to know at
what time the nation will have a chance of obtaining
substitutes for them at Lord John Russell's hands. But
we repeat that there is no room for astonishment at the
above or any further evidence of difficulty in the task
which Lord Melbourne has undertaken. It is not
disgraceful to his Lordship or to any man, that he can-
not alter the nature of things—that he cannot
disperse obstacles which are rooted like rocks
within the soil—that he cannot create materials
where there are none—or enable a recognized
minority of Whigs to outnumber a large ma-
jority composed of English and Scotch Radicals,
and of Irish Repealers, for such are the relative
ingredients of that which was until within these few
days, and again bids fair to be a little while hence, the
House of Commons Opposition. These proportions
of the several elements which Lord Melbourne has to
deal with, it is no crime in him unquestionably that
he has not found means to transpose. But aware, as
he must have been, that the obstructions thus consti-

tuted were so intractable and so immoveable—con

.
scums, as any dispassionate man who took a moment's
time to consider must have been, that he had no alter-

native between an impossible Government, and one
which could not fail to be its own destroyer and that
of the country too—we are bound to charge his Lord-
ship great want of judgment, or what is more
probable, though still strangely out of character for
Lord Melbourne, with a weak subserviency to judg-
ments less discriminating than his own, in accepting, in-
stead of manfully eschewing, the invidious and hopeless
office assigned to him, and telling his Majesty without
hesitation, that he could no otherwise imagine an
effective Government than by throwing overboard the
Radicals of both countries—the English levellers and
the O'Connellite repealers—and striving to bring to-
gether the only sections of British party which ac-
. knowledge a common interest in the maintenance of
our institutions—viz., the 150 'Whigs and 270 Con-
servatives to be found in the existing House of Com-
mons. It would be dreadful to believe that the minds
of men are too much imbittered by the animosity of
political conflict, that they are too deeply immersed in
selfishness or vengeance, to hear the wholesome coun-
sels of those who have no party but their country. The
Whigs, it is obvious, would, on purely selfish grounds,
be vast gainers by such a coalition, inasmuch as they
would get five votes in exchange for three. -We are sure
that Lord Melbourne is above being actuated by an
unseemly wish to exult over his Sovereign, by a reta-
liation for any past discomfiture which he may him-
self have suffered, and which his Lordship must well
know was not inflicted on him through any but the
most conscientious anxiety in the mind of the Monarch
to promote the well-being of his subjects, and from a
conviction of the difficulty of keeping together_ that
Cabinet which it is now found so difficult to recon-
struct. In the vulgar estimate of worldly vicissitudes,
Lord Melbourne may be said to have had his revenge:
but his Lordship, if we mistake not, has already found
reason to be satisfied that " revenge is (not always)
sweet."
.We at least envy not the Minister whose
Cabinet must unavoidably be bottomed upon the very
narrowest foundation afforded by the political parties
now in existence. The strongest of all being that
against, which he has declared open hostility, and
the next, by whose precarious, alliance he is
forced to strengthen himself, . being one which will
not act but for his eventual ruin ; can Lord
Melbourne again stand the constant barking of
Lord Brougham as his exasperated- enemy ?‘ Can
he stand the more imminent peril of Lord Brougham's
friendship, already known to him ? Will he endure
to be blasted by O'Connell's support ? And does he
not feel that a single adverse vote from the Repeal de-
magogue will on the instant burst the bubble of his
air-built administration ? O'Connell has already fur-
nished a sample of the sort of forbearance and good
behaviour by which he seeks to sap the Whigs, by his
missive to the electors of Drogheda, commanding them
to re-elect Mr. O'Dwyer, lately thrown out on peti-
tion ; and we find, from the Irish papers, that the
priests of Ennishowen having hunted down the Pro-
testant Clergy, are turning their hands against the
landlords of the country, and promising, from the
altar, the help of the agitator in their resistance to the
payment of rents. Such, Lord Melbourne, are your
allies.—Times.
The business of Cabinet-making goes on but slowly.
There has been much putting together and taking
asunder within the last few days. The ill-matched
materials are not easily dove-tailed. Lord Melbourne
is conscious that he labours under the eye of a task-
master who, if not pleased with his work, will speedily
kick it to pieces, though he looks on at present with
that affected tranquillity of temper which is but the
calm before the storm. Lord Melbourne knows that
if his Cabinet be not of such materials and construc-
tion as to obtain a certificate of character from Mr.
O'Connell, he had better have remained all his life on
the most obscure seat of the Opposition side of the
House, than have tempted the chastisement which, in
that event, his ill-fated ambition is sure to bring upon
him. Better for him to share with Earl Spencer those
rural felicities which Lord Morpeth so classically
ascribes to him—the mugitusque boom dulces que sub
arbore somni—than encounter the terrors of that slash-
ing " tail," which is wont to inflict upon delinquent
Whig Ministers a punishment worse than the most lace-
rating discipline which galley-slaves endure. But it is
a melancholy thing to see English statesmen reduced to
the state of political degradation which the Whig-
Radical section of the Whigs are obliged to endure to
preserve the favour of the Irish Agitator, whom not
very long ago they advised the Sovereign to denourice
in the Speech from the throne—the Agitator, who
avows that the great ulterior object which he has in
view, and to which all his projects are subservient, is
the dismemberment of the empire by the repeal of the
Union—a consummation which the same Whigs so-
lemnly declared they would encounter the bloodshed
and horrors of a civil war to prevent. When Sir. R.
Peel was in the act of forming his Administration,
much stress was laid by the Whig-iiad:_cal Papers
upon the circumstance of Lord Stanley declining
to join his Ministry, though he promised to give it
his support, if its promised measures-of reform should
be such as to satisfy the country. Why is it we do
not hear now of Lord Stanley or Sir James Graham,
or any of the more independent and respectable
portion of the Whigs, joining the Administration
of Lord Melbourne ? Can they place no confidence
in it ? Are they disgusted with the Means which were
adopted to prevent the measures of Sir Robert Peel
from being submitted to the dispassionate attention of
Parliament and the public ? Do they dread the resto-
ration of a Papal tyranny in the British dominions, as
destructive of the liberties which the Protestant Con-
stitution secured ? Do they foresee that the confica-
tion of the property of the Irish branch ,of the Church
of England is but the beginning, as in the instance of
the zrand rebellion and the French revolution, of a
system of spoliation and terror, which will endanger and
unsettle all other species of property, and for which

there will be no remedy but in the desperate alternative
of a military despotism ? We believe that not only
Conservative Whigs such as we have mentioned, but
the great majority of the English people, are now con-
vinced that the dangers to be apprehended from the
political influence of Popery are no longer speculative
—that they ate real and imminent, and that the Minis-
ter who does not resist the attempt at a counter-refor-

mation which is now in progress betrays the country.
For our own part we cannot understand, we confess,
those Whig-Radical instructors of the public who re-
present Popery as so exceedingly weak as to make it
quite ridiculous to have any alarm about it, and yet
who tell the world that Mr. O'Connell, the child and

champion of the Popish system, is so powerful that it
is wisdom to conciliate and madness to provoke him.
In what does his power consist ? In wielding a band
of some 50 or 60 Members of Parliament—either Pa-
pists themselves, or elected by Popish influence—the
nominees of the Agitator and the Irish priests? What
proprietor of votes under the rotten borough system
ever had so many nominees in the House of Com-
mons ? What Popish agitator ever was so powerful
in this country (leaving Ireland out of the question)
since the dark and superstitious days of Thomas
b.'Beckett ? We quarrel not with any man for his
religious opinions; we speak of the Papal system in
its political character and aspect, and we think recent
events abundantly show that Papal influence in this
country " has increased, is increasing, and ought to be
diminished." Protestant liberties and a Popish ascen-
dancy cannot, co-exist.—Morning Herald.
We have occasionally observed allusions, in some of
our Contemporaries, to conditions which the Court
was supposed to wish to impose upon the Ministry now
in a course of formation ; and in particular, that they
should not presume to interfere with the Horse Guards.
Whether any such condition have been offered to the
Whigs, we possess no means of knowing ; and we sus-
pect our Contemporaries are not better informed on the
subject than ourselves. But, however this may be, of
one thing we are certain—that the Ministry who should
take office on any condition so degrading to themselves,
would soon find that the readiness to submit to one
encroachment would lead to others ; and learn from
bitter experience, that improper compliances, in the
outset, are not the most efficacious means of enabling
them to act with the dignity and firmness ne-
cessary to obtain the support of the people, on
which alone a Reform Ministry can place a secure
dependence. The Ministers of the Crown are its
only responsible advisers known to the nation, and
they cannot be responsible for the exercise of an au-
thority not placed under their control. The Consti-
tution recognises no withdrawal of any of the powers
of government from the control of the Ministry, and
the attempt to stipulate for any such withdrawal ought
even to be felt by a Minister as an indignity offered to
him. To say that the Horse Guards shall not be un-
der the control of the Minister for the time being, is to
say that power shall be exercised without any responsi-
bility. The proposition. carries absurdity on the face
of it. The King can only act through responsible ad-
visers, and yet the responsible advisers of his Majesty are
to recommend that the Commander-in-Chief of the
forces shall act subject to no responsibility It is .im•
possible that if they have not the same power over the
Horse Guards which they have over every other office
under the Government, they can undertake to conduct
the affairs of the nation with advantage, for they cannot
know how powers may be exercised over which they
have no control. To accept of office subject to any
restriction whatever, would be practising a fraud on
the nation. But we cannot believe that such an in-
sulting overture has ever been made to Ministers, as
that to which we are now alluding. We are inclined
to attribute the reference to the subject by our Con-
temporaries as mere conjecture, in the absence of po-
sitive knowledge. At all events, we are certain that
neither Lord Melbourne nor any of the Statesmen now
co-operating with him, would for a moment listen to
any proposition to take office on terms incompatible
with their own honour, and calculated to deprive them
of the esteem of their coun t rym en.—MorningChronicle.
Although nothing of a positive nature has yet been
declared respecting those who are to constitute the
new Cabinet, we have reason to believe that the most
important Members of it have already received, and
agreed to, the position which they are to hold, and
that this evening will not pass over without the an-
nouncement of several names, not only familiar to the
public, but gratifying to it, as guarantees of thoroughly
liberal measures. Mr. Spring Rice, Mr. E. Ellice,
Lord Palmerston (who, we understand, is to be made
a Peer), Viscount Duncannon, Lord .Morpetli, the
Earl of iViulgrave, and Mr. Poulett Thomson, are,
we believe, to be Members of the new Cabinet, or
in possession of high official situations connected
with it ; and we have also reason-to believe that Mr.
Hume, Mr. Bulwer, Mr. Tennyson, Mr. O'Connell,
and many others who represent large sections of the
Reform interest, will be appealed to for their support.
Lord Brougham has. the seals in commendam, if we
may use the expression ; and Lord John Russell, who
as a matter of right as well as of gratitude for his past
services, must be a leading member in the Cabinet, has
expressed his determination not to yield one iota of
liberal principle, for the sake of forming a Cabinet
agreeable to views entertained in high quarters. With
such a Cabinet, and with such principles, the country
has nothing to fear. It will be strong in public
opinion and in public confidence—it will have the
nation at its back—tranquillity will be restored—com-
merce will resume its former prosperous course—and
all the great interests of the country will feel that what
of all things they have least to dread, and what they
now fear the most—change—is the last evil of which
they have a right to entertain any apprehension.—
Morning Advertiser.
In addition to the almost innumerable testimonies of
respect and affection that have been already offered to
Sir Robert Peel, an address from the members of the
English bar is in course of signature, which, notwith-
standing the absence from London of a great majority
of the profession, has already received a very consi-
derable number of names, and before many days are
past a demonstration of the feelings of the learned and
enlightened body in question will be afforded, which
cannot fail to convince even the most obtuse and in-
credulous. In addition, indeed, to every other induce-
ment, we can easily imagine the sensations of those
engaged in legal pursuits on the most remote prospect
of the return to the Woolsack of the eccentric and in-
consistent individual whose only object seemed the de-
gradation of the profession to which he owed his eleva-
tion, and of which he was the nominal head ; of those
who have found in Lord Lyndhurst the steady friend of
rising merit and youthful talent, the learned, courteous,
and patient Judge, the man born, as it may be said, for
the eminent station which he at once dignified and
adorned; of those who saw, at the same time, in the
advance of an Abinger, a Pollock, a Follett, and a Cole-
ridge, the earnest of future promotions equally charac-
terised by judgment and propriety. We know it will be
said, " of what value are the opinions of lawyers wedded
to narrow and confined views ?" This is untrue. The
members of the bar have been liberal to afault. It was al-
ways urged by the advocates of Roman Catholic eman-
cipation that at least one of the learned professions was
favourable to it, and we know that many excellent and
distinguished members of the Bar greeted the first an-
nouncement of the Reform Bill with satisfaction. They
have, however, seen the extent to which what is called
" Liberalism " may be carried ; they have observed
with enlightened eyes and unobstructed vision the
meaning of the terms with which the Russell-
O'Connell faction have attempted to blind the peo-
ple of England ; and. they spurn with t: :e indig-
nation peculiar to the wise and intelligent the odious
yoke which Popery and infidelity would place on the
necks of the British nation. We learn, indeed, on
all sides, that the prospects of the Conservative, or, as
we should rather call it, the Christian party, are
cheering and encouraging. The daily, the hourly,
manifestations of 'confidence in, and admiration of, Sir
Robert Peel, which proceed not simply from the rich
and learned, but in an especial degree from the poor
and humble, cannot fail to add courage and animation
to our friends, and to fill the hearts of our opponents,
of the enemies of all that is valuable and excellent,
with terror and dismay. But there must be no cessa
tion. Our good, patriotic, and true-hearted Monarch
should be supported by his Protestant people ; his
memorable declarations should be graven on our hearts,