The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS►

Some of the foolish enemies of Reform are
now exerting all their malignant, but happily in-
efficient, efforts to convince the public, that since
the people have obtained their constitutional
rights, they have become indifferent to their
possession, and even averse to their exercise.—
The misrepresentations and mendacity of this
class of persons will never cease, however fre-
quent and signal may be their detection and ex-
posure. During the discussions on the Reform
Bill, when the people, satisfied with the progress
of their cause, and certain of its ultimate suc-
cess, took a moment's pause, and ceased to pe-
tition or to agitate, this party immediately raised
the cry of " re-action." " The nation," they
bawled out; skA would have sworn it if asked,—
" the nation cares nothing about Reform. See
how it has become silent and lukewarm. No-
thing but a revolutionary press and a place-
hunting Cabinet has produced all this turmoil.
The people have now their eyes opened, and
their mouth is shut." This falsehood, echoed
from Parliament to the anti-Reform Press,
and by the anti-Reform Press circu-
lated over the country, was received at first
with silent contempt, but at last was repeated so
often as to provoke indignation. The anti-
Reformers meanwhile began to act on their own
misrepresentation. They intrigued vkith the
Court, and instigated the Lords to throw out the
bill. Then the people, rising in their might, and de-
mandingtheir tights in a tone which made their
enemies tremble, convinced the anti-Reformers
that there was no " re-action." An equally ab-
surd cuckoo note is that now sounded about
" the indifference " of the nation to the glorious
results of the victory for which they so nobly
contended, and which their own zealous perse-
verance and admirable firmness alone achieved.
But where is the " indifference " shown ?
At the numerous dinners and public meetings to
celebrate their late triumph ? No. Is it shown
in the aversion which they evince towards the
hiends of reform who solicit their suffrages, or in
the kind reception which they offer to its adver-
saries, who insult them by asking their support,
without first beseeching their forgiveness ? No.
That would be a result in which they would
triumph, but which, happily, is not within their
grasp. Is it shown in the scrutinizing questions
which the Reform voters address to candidates
soliciting their votes ? No. The anti-Re-
formers know the contrary fact to their cost, and
consequently many a bitter sarcasm and lugu-
brious complaint do we see in the anti-Reform
journals, of the " insolence " and " presump-
tion " of the new catechists. Even the anti-
Reformers are obliged to declare themselves the
friends of a law which they exerted all their arts
to oppose, and to babble something of a reason
or an excuse for their change, earning the epithet
bestowed upon one of them by a Scotch elector,
of being " conformers," if not Reformers. In
none of these enumerated cases do we see any
indication of that " indifference" of which we have
lately heard so much ; and we do not wish to
see agitation among the people continued after
they have gained the end they had in view. '1 hey
ore satisfied with the prize which they have at-
tained, and contentment is a quiet virtue. They
have dined on Reform—they have toasted Rs-
form with nine times nine—they have speechified
on Reform—they have kindled bonfires for Re-
form—they have congratulated their friends on
Reform—they are organizing themselves on
Reform principles for the future return of Re-
form candidates—and they are looking for great
political improvements from a Reformed Parlia-
ment. Where, then, is their " indifference" to
Reform ? Let their enemies, in order to prove
it, meet them on a Reform hustings ! But
though we have observed no " indifference" in
the cause of Reform, we have seen in the adver-
tisements of reform candidates, and in the pro-
ceedings of reform electoral committees, some-
thing which proves the want of " indifference"
by a more reprehensible fault—by an excess of
zealous egotism—by an indiscreet personal ar-
dour, or by unbecoming political dissensions on
account of personal considerations. In some
districts Reformers are found opposing each
other, and thus opening a path between their
ranks for the entrance of their common foes.
Nothing can be more unpatriotic, more injudi-
cious, more selfish, or more dangerous. Re-
formers, joined in a common cause, should
pursue their objects by unanimity and con-
cert. Where several candidates, on Reform
principles, have offered themselves for the same
place, their friends should ascertain on whom
the greatest number of suffrages would ulti-
mately fall, were the contest continued to the
end,—which of them would be most likely to be
returned if opposed only by Tories ; or which
of them could add the greatest personal in-
fluence in Parliament to the greatest reputation
of political honesty. After this point has been
ascertained with scrupulousness and integrity,
the least popular Reformer should retire, and
try a new position, or wait a new opportunity
for the display of his Reform principles. In
recommending this self-denying policy, and sug-
gesting this personal sacrifice for the public
good, we are not surely presuming too much on
the sound sense and disinterested patriotism of
our countrymen. The French Liberals, whom
we ought not to consider as our leaders on such
subjects,—but by whom it would be disgraceful
to be outstripped,—have shown us the example
at their last two general elections. Many liberal
candidates on those occasions, whose pretensions
were well received in private, and whose success
might have been certain had their names been
thrown into the electoral urn, withdrew their
claims when they saw that their interference, by
dividing the popular interest, was likely to injure
the public cause, and give the victory to an
ultra Royalist.— Times.
Nothing pleases us so much as to see the
working classes engaged in inquiries into the
means of improving their condition, and into
the obstacles at present opposed to their efforts.
There is always hope of the man who inquires ;
and, though the inquirers may not always arrive
at just conclusions, their intentions entitle them
to respect. In noticing the meeting of the As-
sociation for Exchanging Labour in the Chro-
nicle of Thursday last, we (lid justice to the
praiseworthy intentions of the associators,
while, at the same time, we deemed ourselves
bound to endeavour to expose the mistakes into
which they had fallen. There has been sent to
us from Birmingham an account of a discussion
carried on at the Mechanics' Institution on the
subject of the works published for the benefit of
the working classes, by the Society for the Dif-
fusion of Useful Knowledge. The first dis-
cu,sion took place on the 21st June; a second
took place on July .5 ; and a third, at which cer-
tain resolutions were agreed to, took place on
July 20.—We have derived great pleasure from
a perusal of the accounts of these discussions,
and we think the Society of Useful Knowledge
would do well to take the objections of the Bir-
mingham Mechanics into consideration. The

discussion was opened by Mr. Pare, who
thought it would be well to convey to the So-
ciety for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge the
opinion of a large portion of the working-classes,
as to the publications of that Society.

" These opinions he would venture, from very exten-
sive communications with the class in question, to say
that he thought it was in his power to state. It was his
own conviction that the leaders of the Useful Knowledge
Society themselves laboured under some misconception,
and were impressed with the idea that their opinions
were implicitly received, and their works read by the
working classes, when, in fact, their chief circulation was
among the middle class. The first series of works put--
fished by the Society in question—the " Library of Use-
ful Knowledge"—was a collection of admirable treatises,
hut abounding in works on the higher branches of ma-
thematical and other elevated sciences—works useful to
the finished student rather than to the tyro. Other worke
had since appeared, in various series, but still not touch.
ing on the wants and condition of the labouring class.
Surely it was to be wished that works of a more
simple and practical nature had been given to
the public. Mr. Pare then read an extract from
the Monthly Repository for this month, in which it
was complained that 'the instruction for which mil-
lions . were craving—political instruction—that is, the
principles of social morality, was not yet provided for the
people : and that the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge, as well as Mechanics' Institutes, were, in a
great measure, inoperative, because of the exclusion of
those topics about which people cared the most.' When
Lord Brougham established Mechanics' Institutes, he (fe-
el teed the question not to be whether the people should
have knowledge or not, but whether that knowledge
should be useful or not; so the question now was, not
whether they should have political knowledge or not, but
whether they should acquire it at the pot-house or from
carefully digested works. When he spoke of political
knowledge, he did not mean the party politics of the day,
but the great principles of the social connection, which
intimately concerned the working classes."

Mr. Pare then proceeded to urge a variety of
objections to one of the publications of the
Society—" The Results of Machinery." The
discussion on the part of the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, was maintained
by Mr. Alfred Fry, who observed—

" That the Society had set the example of publishing
cheap books, and if the world were now deluged with
cheap publications, it was mainly owing to the Society
who commenced the issue. Who would say that the
working classes could not comprehend all prepositions ?
If so, it was not for want of capacity. He was convinced
that an English mechanic was capable of understanding
every thing. But they wanted leisure, and they wanted
money. The Society, with all its wishes for their im-
provement, could not remove both these difficulties, but
it was surely well to remove one. The cheapness of their
publications rendered them generally accestible. Still the
Society's works, it was said, do not circulate among the
working classes. He was sorry for that, but if those classes
chose to neglect the publications in question, it was not
the fault of the Society. Suppose be were to say to a
working man, You spend two shillings in gin ; why not
spend one of them on a Working Man's Companion ?'
Oh, it contains errors.' It may be so (he would reply),
but nothing is :free from error, and it is your duty to lay
hold on truth as far as you can, when it is offered to you.'
As to the fret that the works in question were supported
by the middle classes, it was doubtles4 true. He who
read these books becrme one of the middle class. It was
the midd'e chats who supported everything, because they
had all tie industry and all the intelligence."

We ourselves observed, two or three years
ago, that the Society had begun at the wrong
end ; that they ought to have deemed moral
science (including, of course, politics) of far
more importance to the welfare of society than
physical; and that it was in particular of the
very utmost importance that the labouring classes
should receive instruction with regard to all that
concerns their happiness or misery. The Lord
Chancellor, in a pamphlet on the education of
the people, published in 1825, expressed him-
self in the same way, declaring that political as
well as other works should be published in a
cheap form, and in numbers; that " every topic
of politics, party as well as general," might be
treated of in cheap publications; that the "great
interests of civil and religious liberty are mightily
promoted by such wholesome instruction ; but
the good order of society gains to the full as
much by it. The peace of the country and the
stability of the Government could not be more
effectually secured than by the universal diffu-
sion of this kind of knowledge. The abuses
which, through time, have crept into the prac-
tice of the Constitution, the errors corn
mitted in its administration, and the im-
provements which a change of circum-
stances require, even in its principles, may
most fitly be expounded in the same manner.
The resolutions adopted at the institution de-
clare, that the publications of the Society " are
but ill-adapted to the present and immediate
wants of the mass of the people—the labouring
classes, who have little time or inclination for
reading either elaborate treatises on the sciences,
or works of a light and entertaining nature,
whilst themselves and families are surrounded by
poverty and misery, produced by an irrational
and vicious system of Government ;" that the
Society would have best consulted the interests
of all classes, but particularly of the working
class, by either publishing works calculated to
supply the desideratum, or breaking down the
barriers which oppose others doing so. The 4th
resolution may almost be taken as the profession
of faith of the working classes at this time :

" 4. That, in the opinion of this meeting, the object
of the author of Rights of Industry' (Section 1—
Capitol and Labour') should rather have been to insti-
tute an honest Inquiry into the principles of the distribu-
tion of wealth most conducive to human happiness, than
to have attempted a defence of the present principles of
distribution—the manifest tendency of which, experience
woefully proves, is to favour the accumulation of power and
riches in the hands of the few, who are either idle con-
•umers or mere distributors, whilst it degrades and im-
poverishes the many—the producing millions. That we
find it asserted in the work in question, that capital is
ready to be won by the power of the working man'—
that, ' in their general effect, the laws by which the ex-
changes of society are regulated secure to labour the
certainty that there shall be abundance of capital to
exchange with'—and that if prudence and diligence go
together, the labourer may himself become a capitalist,
and even pass out of the condition of a labourer into that
of a proprietor, or one who lives oval accumulated pro-
duce.' (Pages 55, 56.) And, further, that accumu-
lations in the form of private wealth are ready to be ex-
changed with the labour of all those who are in a condi-
tion to add to the store.' (Page 62.) Ere the indivi-
duals composing this meeting, however, can believe the
foregoing assertions to be founded i❑ truth, they must
either forget their own experience, or reject the evidence
of their senses ; for so depreciated is the value of human
labour, that in many branches of industry it is not of suf-
ficient value to procure for its possessors more than the
merest subsistence, though they exert their powers for
fourteen, sixteen, or even eighteen hours daily. And so
utterly worthless is it in ❑umerous instances, as to have
become notorious that, in nearly every city, town, and
hamlet in the three kingdoms, there are numbers of per-
sons, possessing strength, vigour, and skill, who, though
they offer themselves daily for hire, can find no one that
thinks their labour worth having, even at the cost of a
wretched and bare subsistence. Finally, it is the opinion
of this meeting, that if the Author of The Rights of In-
dustry' was in possession of the facts just stated, he has
offered a gratuitous and gross insult to the working classes,
in the passage above quoted from his work ; but if, on the
contrary, he had no knowledge of these facts, (which, in
charity, this meeting is willing to believe,) then was he
rot warranted in assuming to himself the title of The
11'orhing Man's Companion.' "
We offer no opinion on the work which ap-
pears to be so unpopular with the working classes
of Birmingham ; but we can see in the objec-
tions to " the present principles of diatribution,
the manifest tendency of which experience woe-
fully proves is to favour the accumulation of
power and riches in the hands of the few, who
are either idle consumers or mere distributors,"
principles involved which we think of a danger-

oils chat actett. It may be true that the condition
of the working classes in many places is so
wretched that they cannot extricate themselves
by any exertion of industry from their misery,
and yet the present principles of distribution
may not be objectionable. There is at present a
notion very general among the working classes,
that the working classes ought to have all that
they produce ; and this we conceive to be the
principle involved in the above Resolution. If
A and B, with nothing to begin the world with
but their industry, take opposite courses, A sav-
ing a part of what he earns, while B regularly
consumes what he earns, ought A and B at the
end of their career to be in the same situation ?
Without savings out of the produce of labour,
there could be no stock to support the advance
of society. If I wish to till and sow a field, I
must first obtain the seed, and I must be sup-
ported till I reap the produce. To the indivi-
dual who supplies me with the seed and sup-
ports me till I can reap my harvest, a return
must be made beyond the mere repayment of
what has been advanced me. He is a capitalist,
and he contributes to the production as essen-
tially as I do. The rate of the remuneration
depends or. circumstances which are of a variable
nature. The buildings, the machinery, the roads,
the bridges, the canals, the drains, &c., are all made
out of the savings of labour; and by means of these
savings, labour is rendered infinitely more produc-
tive than it otherwise would have been. But if
the workmen were to receive all that is produced,
what motive would there be for any one to save,
in order to augment production ? It is not, pro-
perly speaking, the principle of distribution
which can be objected to, but the transference,
through the evils of misgovernment, of an un-
due share of the produce of industry to those
who do not contribute either as capitalists or
workmen to that produce. The due adminis-
tration of justice, the defence of the country
against foreigefoes, and the protection of per-
sons and property, are all essential to produc-
Lion ; but unfortunately, in this country, these
necessary burthens are as dust in the balance,
compared with the unnecessary burthens with
which industry is weighed down. We may
have mistaken the views of the Birmingham
mechanics, for there is a vagueness in their lan-
guage ; but it appears to savour of the heresy
which is but too general among the working
classes, namely, that by destroying capital they ob-
tam the hen that lays the golden eggs. However,
there are hopes for a people when they begin to
reason respecting their condition. It is due to
them for those who either are, or think themselves
better intormed, to meet them fairly, and to avoid
all assumption of infallibility. We are sorry
learn from the opening speech of Mr. Farr, that
" the middle classes seemed jealous of the ad-
vance of the working classes in those kinds of
knowledge which most concerned them. The
circumstance of the meeting of that evening formed
an instance of this. It had been thought ne-
cessary to remove from their usual place of meet-
ing, because certain gentlemen, proprietors of
the lecture-room, were supposed to cherish such
a dread of discussion."—Morning Chronicle.
We regret to have to announce in our Mary-
lebone report the apprehension of a clergyman
of the Church of England, in a situation and
under circumstances which leave no reason to
doubt of his having been guilty of an unnatural
offence. It has been too much the custom with
clergymen to visit the crimes of individuals on
the classes to which they belong. For instance,
nothing is so common as their endeavour to make
it appear that every one under sentence of death
read Tom Paine, and associated with radicals.
We should be ashamed of ourselves if we could
descend to retaliate on the many respectable men
in the Church of England, by reproaching them
with the frequent instances within these few years
of clergymen disgracing themselves and their
families by this disgusting offence. It is not
long since the public were shocked by an in-
stance of a distinguished Dignitary at one of the
Universities. These instances ought to teach
the Church humility and charity. Let its mem-
bers learn from this to avoid the practice to
which they are so much addicted, of striking
through the guilty at the innocent.—Morning
Chronicle.

There was a time when our refusing to give
unqualified approbation to Lord Grey's plan of
Reform, and to join in the ignorant and sense-
less cry of '' the Bill, the whole Bill, and no-
thing but the Bill," gave occasion for much invi-
dious comparison to be drawn by the giddy,
the interested, and the intemperate, between our
moderated and sober advocacy of the Ministerial
remedy for an imperfect representation, and the
flaming patriotism of the sycophants of Govern-
ment, and the place-hunters of the Press ; but
we went On through " evil report and good re-
port," supporting the principle of the measure,
but describing its machinery as complicated,
clumsy, and inefficient, and predicting that with
such machinery the working of the Bill would
be productive of a great deal of trouble, expense,
and litigation. Our objections to the machinery
and to much of the detail of the Bill are now
realized, to the severe disappointment of all that
portion of the people who were led to believe, by
the pompous and declamatory praises of the more
servile of the Ministerial papers, that the Bill was
all perfection, or, at least, was as near the character
of pure and unblemished excellence as any thing
of human legislation could be. It was, certainly,
long enough on the anvil to be wrought, not
only with careful, but exquisite skill. A great
deal of hammering produced a great deal of noise
—the legislative bellows did not want for
wind, and the fires were fiercely stirred ; yet
the object of all this labour—the sheet anchor
of a country's hope—has come forth in a most
unworkmanlike form, and the people's rejoic-
ings are rapidly followed by the expressions of
the people's disappointment. Making the pay-
ment of taxes a preliminary condition to the
registration of the new constituency in cities
and boroughs was the adoption of' a very vicious
principle. We have said before, and we say
again, that a Bill of political rights ought not
to he a Bill of fiscal exactions. The laws for
the recovery of taxes are already strong enough.
The last debt that a man has any chance to es-
cape the payment of is a debt due to the Crown ;
a Reforming Ministry ought not to have insist-
ed upon the people passing through the ordeal
of the Exchequer to reach the registration office
—they ought not to have made a barter between
revenue and reform. Is this to make up for
the failure of all the financial projects of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer—to supply that
fountain of charity which the same official per-
sonage conducts into the overflowing stream of'
the pension list—to repair the damage done to our
finances by the Russian Dutch Loan job, and
to make a provision fur the future calls, aris-
ing out of our foolish Anglo-Russian com-
pact with regard to Greece ? Truly where
there is so much waste, there ought to be a large
supply. Our " economizing" Government em-
ploy six Counsel, with large fees, to prosecute the

poor Innatit who threw a stone at the King.
Such economy, of- which this is only one ex-
ample, demands extraordinary means to raise
taxation—so the right to the elective franchise is
to be regulated by the books of the tax-collector.
We are not, however, of the same opinion as
some of the speakers at the recent meeting of the
rate-payers of St. John's parish, Westminster,
who seem to think it necessary that scot and lot
voters should have paid taxes, as well as rates,
as a preliminary condition to being registered.
The Attorney-General has stated in Parliament
that the scot and lot voters are still to qualify
under the " old law.' We agree with him in
opinion that they are to qualify under the old
law, in all but the circumstance of being re-
gistered ; though we confess there is consider-
able obscurity in the Reform Act upon this im-
portant point. All the new constituency of 10/.
householders must have paid, by the 20th of
July, the rates and taxes payable up to the
preceding 6th of April ; and if scot and lot
voters choose to qualify as 101. householders,
which, of course, they may do, if their
houses be of that value, they must comply with
the conditions imposed upon the other 101.
householders, and pay taxes as well as rates, but
not otherwise. We also say, notwithstanding
what fell from some of the speakers at the meet-
ing in question, that the rates of the scot and lot
voters must have been demanded, to make
their non-payment amount to a refusal to pay,
and consequently to prevent their right to being
registered. We tell them confidently, that if
the registering Barrister should refuse to register
their names, because they have not paid their
rates where they have not been demanded, they
will have a right of action ; and here arises the
litigation which we said the Bill would produce.
The trouble and vexation of its clumsy arrange-
ments many have already experienced ; and there
are many who would rather give up their rights
than go to the expense and additional vexation
of contesting them in a Court of Law. We
observe that the rate-payers at the meeting ex-
pressed their disapprobation of the conduct of
Sir John Hobhouse, not because he accepted a
plaCe, which Sir Henry Parnell could not retain
without the sacrifice of his honesty, but because,
by his attack on the pockets of the electors, he
has roused all their dormant feelings of patri-
otism.—ltlerning Herald.

We have received various communications
upon the subject of our observations yesterday
relating to the affairs of the Bank of England.
We select two of them for publication, which
will be found in another column. Our primary
object was to show that the action of the
Bank up to October, 1824, could not have
tended to create the excitement that was then
in full operation ; and, therefore, if mischief had
been caused by the over issues of the Bank, they
must have taken place previously to October,
1824. But we have no hesitation in accepting
the challenge of our correspondents " Mercator"
and " G." in carrying the amount of circula-
tion into 1825, when it will surely be al-
lowed on all bands the excitement was begin-
ning to wear itself out, and was rapidly moving
towards the panic. On the Ist of January,
1825, indeed, we allow that the circula-
tion was increased by 1,300,000/. And why
was it increased ? Because in February, 1824,
when gold was continually pouring in upon
the Bank, it concurred in the proposition of
the Government to lend ita aid to pay off the
dissentient Four per Cents. upon the stipulation
of receiving 500,0001. per quarter, which was
strictly fulfilled, and the consequence of that
transaction was an increase in the circulation to
the extent of 1,300,000/, for a few months.
After the increase of the circulation had taken
place on January 1, 1825, the Bank was then
possessed of bullion equal to one-third of its
liabilities. This comparatively trifling increase of
circulation is fully justified by the fact we have
stated ; but if the Directors had not been sup-
ported by this fact, and had, without a sufficient
cause, extended their issues, they would only
have pursued the police of the Finance Minister
of the day, the present hopeful Colonial
Secretary, who, two months afterwards, was
asserting the prosperity of the country
upon every occasion, and continued his
fabrications about overflowing wealth and
successful enterprise to the very eve of
the panic. On the 18th of November, 1824,
the first demand for bar gold was made upon the
Bank, which is the only criterion by which the
Directors can judge of an unfavourable exchange.
But what would have been the censure cast upon
the Bank if it had entered upon a forced contrac-
tion of the currency when the Chancellor of the
Exchequer was boasting about the prosperity of the
empire in all directions and upon every occasion ?
Why the Directors would have been charged
with casting an incubus upon British industry,
and checking mercantile enterprise, and extin-
guishing the rising prospects of the country, after
the long and arduous stuggle she had been en-
gaged in. At the risk of extending this article
beyond the limits we had intended, we can-
not hut allude to the evidence of a noted
stock-broker and stock jobber, said to have
been given before the Committee of the
House of Commons on Bank Affairs, who,
strange to say in these enlightened days,
has maintained that the Bank ought not to
invest any proportion of the deposits in securi-
ties, and that the amount of deposits held by
the Bank ought to form the judgment of the
Directors as to the period of a redundant currency,
notwithstanding the fact of that currency being
daily upon the increase, by the import of gold
and silver bullion from foreign countries, or, in
other words, during the continuance of a highly
favourable foreign exchange. We understand
this individual has boldly asserted this monstrous
doctrine before the Commitee, and with these
opinions he would set himself up, together with
his friend, Mr. Page, and the Editor of the
Times, as guides for the correct management of
the Bank. The result of this wiseacre's reasoning
is neither more nor less than this—that subse-
quent to January, 1822, when, as we stated yes-
terday, the circulation of the Bank notes stood at
17,700,000, the Bank ought to have remained
passive, and never invested one shilling of the
Government deposits that accumulated in their
hands between that time and April, 1824 (not
less than five millions), thereby either reducing
the circulation of notes to 12,700,000, or suf-
fering such contraction to have occasioned a fur-
ther import of bullion, accumulating the further
account in the hands of the Bank to the extent
of that increase of deposits, which would vir-
tually have left the Bank, in April, 1824, with
an amount of bullion of nineteen or twenty mil-
lions, nearly,if not actually, equal to their cir-
culation. We should like to know how such a
system could . have been beneficial to the public,
and whether it would not have had a most pre-
.judical action upon the commerce of the coun-
try ? During the whole of the period of which
we have been speaking the importation of gold
and silver, arising from a high foreign exchange,

was enormous ; and we believe that from 1820
to 1824 the amount which passed through the
Bank in the form of circulating medium was not
much less than twenty millions sterling.—
Morning Post.

PALACE COURT, AUGUST 24.

JOHNSON V. THOMPSON.

This was an action to recover 41. Is. Bd., for the use of
apartments in the plaintiff's house.
It appeared by the plaintiff's witness, that in March the
defendant took a first floor of the plaintiff at 31 6s. Bd.
per month, and also a room in an upper floor, at 2s. 6d a
week. At the end of the first month the plaintiff dis-
trained for the rent then due, and the present action was
brought for a subsequent month, as well as for 155., be-
ing six weeks' rent of the upper room.
Several n itsesses for the defendant deposed, that so far
from his having taken the first floor as a monthly tenant,
he had taken it as the former tenants, viz., at 401. a year ;
that about the end of the first month, fearful of an execu-
tion which was threatened against the goods of the plain-
tiff, the defendant commenced removing his own property
for security, and that then the plaintiff distrained what
was left for the month's rent, and that a few days after-
wards he broke open the rooms and took possession of
them.

Mr. Ross, for the defendant, contended that the plain-
tiff was not entitled to recover for the month subsequently
to the seizure of the goods, upon two grounds—first, be-
cause it was a quarterly hiring, and consequently no rent
was due ; and secondly, because even if it had been a
monthly hiring, the plaintiff had forcibly obtained posses-
sion of the rooms before the month for which the action
was brought had become due, thereby being guilty of what
was termed a legal eviction.
Mr. CAPRON submitted, that the plaintiff was entitled
to recover ; his obtaining possession was solely to prevent
the place falling into dilapidation, and was, therefore, jus-
tifiable ; and as to the hiring, it was distinctly sworn, on
the part of the plaintiff, to be monthly, and was so treated
by the plaintiff, who had distrained for the first month.
The Jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for the Iss.
for the upper room, and for the defendant as regarded
the other apartments, on the ground that it was a quarterly
hiring.

SUMMER ASSIZES.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT—LANcAsrEn, Aua. 22.

NICHOLSON V. PHYSICK.

This was an action in which the plaintiff sought
to recover damages from the defendant, for the piracy
of the copyright of a print or map, which the plain-
tiff had published, and which the defendant had
copied in a lithographic print, without the permis-
sion of the plaintiff. The right of action was given
by the 17th Geo. 111., c. 57, and there would be no
doubt that the engraving in question came within
the description of publications which it was the ob-
ject of that statute to protect. The plaintiff was art
engineer living at Manchester, and the defendant
was an engraver living in the same place. In 1827
it occurred to the plaintiff that it would be useful t,
publish a map or table in which the different im-
provements which had occured in machinery might
be analytically displayed, and accordingly he had ap-
plied himself to the task, and produced the work
which had since been pirated by defendant. The
map was entitled " An Analytical Table of Improve-
ments in Machinery ;" and it consisted of different
views and sections of various arrangements of machi-
nery. It was a copper-plate engraving, and sold for
the price of ss. Messrs. Ackermann, of London,
were at first intrusted with the sale, but it had
afterwards been removed into the hands of Messrs.
Banks, the booksellers, of Manchester. A short
time ago some circumstances had occurred that led
to an estrangement between the plaintiff and Messrs.
Banks, and in consequence the latter desisted from
the sale of the work. Soon afterwards a print made
its appearance, published by the defendant, which
was an exactfac-simile of the print published by the
plaintiff. The defendant's, however, was a litho-
graphic print, and sold for the price of ls. The
consequence had been a material diminution in the
sale of the plaintiff's work. The present action,
therefore, had been brought to recover damages,
and to put down the pirated copy.
Mr. PoLLocK admitted that the defendant's pub-
lication was a fac simile of the table published by
plaintiff.
Some evidence was then given to show that the
plaintiff's was the first publication of the kind.
Mr. Pou.oex, for the defendant, submitted that
the plaintiff was not in a situation to maintain the
action. It was true that the plaintiff's publication
had preceded the defendant's, and that the latter was
a fac simile of the former, even to the extent of co-
pying its errors; but the plaintiff could not lay claim
to an original publication, as his own table was en-
tirely compiled from Rang and .Bellancourt's Essay
on the Construction of Machinery, a French work
of great ingenuity and labour.
Mr. Baron BOLLAND interrupted the Learned
Counsel by saying that, in his opinion, as the facts
stood, the plaintiff was entitled to a verdict.
A verdict was then taken for the plaintiff—da-
mages, 404., the defendant entering into a rule of
Court to give up his plate, and all the copies of
the print that remained unsold.