The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-23 00:00:00

LEWES AsSIZES, iNIARcH 22.

Samuel Thornecraft, aged 23, labourer, was in-
dicted for feloniously setting fire to a barn containing a
large quantity of wheat, barley, beans, and peas, and to
three hay-stacks, the property of Charles Ade, a tenant of
Lord Plymouth, at Milton Court, in the parish of Ar-
lington, on the night of Sunday, the llth of December last.
The prisoner was a farming servant of Mr. Ade, in
whose service he had lived some years. In November
last several sacks of corn were stolen from the premises of
Mr. Ade, and some suspicions arose that the prisoner was
implicated in the business; in consequence he was taken to
Lewes to be beard before the Magistrates, but nothiug ap-
peared against him. The transaction seems to have excited
his animosity against his master, and in the presence of
several witnesses he expressed himself in strong language,
saying—" He would be if did not pay him off for
the wheat. "He would be —if he did not fire the
barn." On the 12th of November he was at the Royal
Oak public-house, in company with a man named Ford,
on which occasion Ford lost a " steel," which prisoner
picked up, and subsequently several times said, " This is
the steel with which I fire barns." At the Royal Oak, a
short time before the fire, he was heard to sing a song,
which alluded to an incendiary then in the county prison.
The words were—
" Collins is merry merry there
We will be merry merry here,
And we will burn their barns about their ear."
Immediately after the fire he returned the steel to Ford.
On the day of the fire the prisoner was in company, the
whole of the day, with John Reeds, (an accomplice, who
was admitted King's evidence), drinking at the beer shop
of one Levett, and subsequently at the Royal Oak, at Long-
bridge, and he was seen by many witnesses, a very short
time before the fire broke out, going towards the barn at
Milton-court, in company with Reeds. To the testimony
of these witnesses the prisoner could produce nothing con-
tradictory. There were many witnesses called to prove
minor circumstances in the link of evidence.

The Jury found a verdict of Guilty, and the Judge pro-
nounced sentence of death in a most impressive manner.
The prisoner, who is a very fine young man, betrayed no
symptoms of emotion. His father, who was in Court,
addressed the Judge in his favour.

THE DRAMA.--PUBLIC MEETING.—At
this meeting, of which we gave a full report yesterday, but which
was not concluded when we went to press, various resolutions
deprecating the injurious monopoly of the major theatres were
proposed and carried, after which the meeting dispersed.
Some recent discoveries have been made at
Pompeii, particularly a chamber full of amphora—several of
quite new form ; for the most part they bear Greek or Latin
inscriptions, written in black characters. In some of them was
found dried wine, which, when liquified,' had preserved not
only its odour but its taste; charcoal and 'cinders were found in
one of the hearths of a kitchen; near it was found a settle, sup-
posed to be that in which the slave who had the care of the
place slept. These late discoveries have given a new spur to the
spirit of search 011 the part of the Neapolitan Government,

It is a remarkable fact, that amidst many hundred
Parliamentary papers which we receive annually,
some of these, consisting of bulky volumes, we have
looked again and again, but always in vain, for a
statement of the Revenue of Scotland! Our tables
and shelves are literally groaning under returns
about malt and grain, sugar, coffee, tobacco, Irish
tithes, convicts, shipping, slaves, gloves, and a
thousand other things ; but so incurious are our
worthy representatives, that though they see the
revenue of Ireland reported as regularly as the year
comes round, they never once thought of ascertain-
ing what contingent our country furnishes to the
Exchequer of the empire. About two months ago,
however, somebody was so bold as to move for an
account of the revenue of the three kingdoms sepa-
rately, and here is the document at length in our
hands, presenting results of no trifling importance,
but hitherto unknown to every Scotsman. The
paper gives the net produce of the taxes for Eng-
land, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland ; but as Wales
has not one considerable sea-port, while more than
one-third of the British revenue is derived from the
Customs, it is evidently a deception to separate its
revenue from that of England. Uniting Wales
with England, the amount stands thus :
England. I Scotland.

X 1,478,231
2,576,965
534,986
318,578
204,593

Ireland.

X 1,463,624
2,193,079
482,041

253,357