The Sun.
London, England, 1832-10-20 00:00:00

...WIRIT-,OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.,

We have been much amused with Mr. Cob-
bett's description -of the condition of the agri-
cultural labourers of the South-Eastern districts
of Scotland, in The Register of this day. He
is struck with the high cultivation of the country.
—" You will know what the land is when I tell
you that it is by no means uncommon for it to
produce seven English quarters of wheat upon
one English acre, and forty tons of turnips
upon one English acre ; and that there are
almost in every half mile from fifty to a hundred
acres of turnips in one piece, sometimes ttriite
turnips, and sometimes Swedes ; all in rows as
straight as a line, and without a weed ever to
be seen in any of these beautiful fields." But
then " there is neither village, nor church, nor
alehouse, nor garden, nor cottage, nor flowers,
nor pig, nor goose, nor common, nor green."
It is very true there are few villages in Scotland.
The country is divided into farms, and each
farm has upon it the population necessary to
the work required on it, and no more. In
short, the farms are, as Mr Cobbett terms
them, " food-factories, and nothing more nor
less." But who consumes the food that is
raised in such abundance on these farms ?
The answer to that will be found in the large and
magnificent cities and towns with which Scotland
abounds, and in the supplies which enter the
ports of England from Scotland. The rural
population of the south-eastern districts of Scot-
land is, and has always been, very scanty. The
counties of Haddington, Berwick, and Rox-
burgh raise three times more food, compared to
the number of their inhabitants, than any dis-
tricts of England. This food is all consumed
by human beings, though not on the spot. It
is quite true that the Scotch agricultural la-
bourers do not possess the beautiful cottages of
the labourers of the south of England. They
have little taste for ornamental gardening. The
greater severity of the climate of Scotland will
partly account for that. Vines do not bear in
the open air in Scotland. In those districts de-
scribed by Mr. Cobbett as so fertile in corn and
turnips, the east winds of spring rage with such
severity that the trees yield little fruit. Old
habits, also, go for much. In almost all coun-
tries in Europe, in which land is much divided,
and consequently there is not a powerful Aris-
tocracy, there are beautiful cottages and gardens.
Wherever there is a feudal Aristocracy (and
Scotland has hardly well escaped the gripe of the
worst feudal Aristocracy that ever a country was
cursed with), the labouring people are meanly
lodged, and have little taste for gardening. Na-
tions do not easily relinquish their old habits,
even when circumstances change. Any one may
tell, from the appearance of Scotland, that it has
never been (like Switzerland, for instance) a coun-
try of small landowners. But what does Mr. Cob-
bett say? He saw "the people looking very hearty,
and by no means badly dressed, especially the
boys and girls, whose good looks I have admired
ever since I entered Scotland ; and about whom
the parents seem to care much more than they
do about their houses or themselves. They
do not put boys to work hard when they
are young, as they do in England ; and, there-
fore, they are straighter and nimbler on foot."—
Now Mr. Cobbett may be assured, that where
people look well and hearty, are well dressed,
and do not put boys to work hard when they
are young, that they cannot be very miserable.
The truth is, that the Scotch hind and his family
have abundance of the food they like and
are accustomed to. Oatmeal porridge and
milk is a hearty and agreeable food, and
the finest race of men in Britain, the bor-
derers of England and Scotland, are reared chiefly
on this food. There the houses are warm, and
they have abundance of fuel, at hardly any cost,
carried by the farmer to them. Abundance of
food and fuel are no small elements in the way
of comfort in a northern country. If Mr. Cob-
bett were to enter a Scotch labourer's house in
the depth of winter, he would see a blazing fire
and a happy family around it, and we are sure
that in many parts of Hampshire and Surrey,
the interior of the cottages, in winter, is desola-
tion itself. What on earth could lead Mr. Cob-
bett to believe that " a cow is a thing more in
name than in reality." A cow is everything to
the Scotch labourer. It is supplied with food
in abundance, winter and summer, and yields
abundance of milk—Nothing ! There is not a
married labourer through all the district he
crossed without a cow, and it is the cow that
enables him to rear these healthy children that
Mr. Cobbett admired. As to the slavery, that
is sheer nonsense. There is no class of men more
independent than the Scotch hinds. So much is
this the case, that they seldom remain more than a
year or two on one farm. Their disposition to change
residence is, perhaps, one main reason why they
are without a taste for comfortable cottages.—
Every thing considered, we have no doubt
that the Scotch farm-labourer is a much hap-
pier man than a labourer in a farm in the south
of England. He can bring up a large family without
being indebted to a human being for food or
clothing. He always educates his children at his
own cost. His food is inferior in quality, no
doubt, but he has more of it. He works heartily
on it, and does not consider himself entitled to
compassion. He is highly moral ; for, in the
three counties of Berwick, Haddington, and
Roxburgh, crime is hardly known. The prisons
may be said to be untenanted. Morning
Chronicle.

An unmeaning outcry has been raised by the
Conservatives against any measures for carrying
the treaties of the Conference into execution.
They forget that there is in the nature of things
but a limited number of forms according to
which the Belgic question can be settled. The
British, French, and others of the allied Go-
vernments, propose to restore Antwerp to its
rightful owners, and to extricate Holland and
Belgium f om each other's gripe. " No," say
the Conservatives, " that would be disagreeable
to Holland." Very well, let U 3 hear how you
would arrange matters. Would -you re-unite
the Belgians to the Dutch by force ? The
Duke of Wellington, even before he went out
of office, pronounced that re-union to be im-
possible. \\ ould you make over Belgium bo-
dily to France ? That were indeed a settle-
ment, to re-animate with delight the mouldering
bones of St. Helena ; but will those who cry
out against French ambition recommend it ?
Would you divide the Belgic territory between
France and Prussia, leaving the Scheldt a French
river, and Antwerp a French naval depilt,
and interlacing her dominions with those of
Prussia ?—a precious guarantee this against
future wars!. Will you, finally, do nothing :"
But the Belgian people and the French people
will not at your desire " do nothing," so long
as Antwerp remains in the hands of her rival.
They will go to war in spite of the English
Conservatives. Once more, then, we pray you,
gentlemen, in your great wisdom, condescend
to decide for us—What is to be done ? A

French army, however, it seems, from the prat-
tling of these worthies, must never think of
marching. Oh, no! General Chasse will of
course surrender Antwerp without a trench be-
ing opened, and the King of Holland, with his
excited nation and his disciplined and numerous
army, will of course be frightened by the ap-
pearance of a few ships of war off a coast upon
which they can make no shadow of impression,
and in a season when it is impossible for any
vessel that ever swam to be mistress of her own
movemtmtB for twelve hours together ! Oh these
Conservatives are shrewd fellows on a pinch !
But the English people are shrewder, and see
through all their party sophistry, and despise all
their factious invective.—Times.

The Trinidad paper contains a circular de-
spatch to the Governors of the West India
Colonies, announcing that, in consequence of
the appointment of Committees by the Houses
of Lords and Commons to inquire into the
present condition of the West India Colonies,
his Majesty's Government had determind to sus-
pend for the present the operation of the circular
of the 10th December, 1831, and that no further
steps would be taken to induce the Colonial
Legislatures to adopt the provisions of the
Order in Council of the 2d November. It
would be better undoubtedly for any Govern-
ment to avoid if possible the dictation of mea-
sures which there is, upon the face of things, a
probability that they may not afterwards feel
themselves justified in enforcing. Next, however,
to the merit of being right at first, comes that of
repairing an error. Instead of a suspension of
the new regulations in the Crown colonies,
however, Ministers have resolved to indemnify
those colonies to a certain extent in money for
any loss sustained by them through their obe-
dience to the Orders in Council, the quantum of re-
lief afforded to each being limited to a moiety of
its annual revenue ; such relief, however, being
no more than provisional, and Lord Goderich
peremptorily enjoining the Governors of these
Crown colonies to make use of all the powers
vested in them for the enforcement of the law.
In one paragraph of this despatch, satisfactory
grounds are afforded by Lord Goderich for
hoping that slaves, when liberated, will not be so
unwilling to work steadily and industriously for
stipulated wages as has been taken for granted
by some zealots in the cause of everlasting sla-
very. Lord Goderich concludes with some con-
ciliatory propositions relating to the allowances
of food and clothing, under the Order in Coun-
cil, and holds out to the planter the liberty of
making an arrangement (voluntary on both sides)
with the slave, by which the latter may commute
any portion he thinks proper of his leisure hours
for au increased allowance of food.—Tinies.

Though every present appearance, especially
its two months' further prorogation, tends to
the conclusion that Ministers have no intention
of reassembling the present Parliament, yet there
are many persons who still imagine that they
must and will do so. Indeed, should hostilities
with Holland actually take place, such must
inevitably, we conceive, be the case. To dis-
solve Parliament on the eve or commencement
of a war without its having been at all appealed
to upon the subject, would be a novel and un-
precedented proceeding. As matters at present
stand there does not seem to be the most remote
possibility of the new Parliament being got to-
gether before February, or perhaps March—an
interval which, added to that which has elapsed
since the two Houses separated, will have been
longer than any Ministry, at such a crisis of the
nation's affairs, can be justified in allowing to
cake place, even were the threatened proceedings
against Holland to end in smoke. We have
always coun'elled Ministers, and we do so still,
that they ought to reassemble the present Parlia-
ment, were it only to open a door for the ad-
mission to the exercise of their franchise of the
great mass of voters under the Reform Act,
who, some by their own neglect, but a still
greater number by the intricacy of its machinery,
are at present shut out from voting. At any
time there would be a manifest absurdity in
first giving new rights, and then withholding
from them the exercise of them. But at
the present moment, and on the first election
of a reformed Parliament, it is more especially
necessary that that Assembly should be the
express image of the sentiments and feelings of
the country upon all the great measures of pub-
lic policy, both foreign and domestic; but which
it is not very likely to be, if one-third (or we
might say more) of the constituency are placed
hors de combat. This must be remedied—es-
pecially the criterion by payment of rates and
taxes—either by the old Parliament or the new.
If it is not done by the former it will only lead to
perpetual discontent, and, probably, to a speedy
dissolution of the new one. This is reason
abundantly sufficient why Parliament ought not
to have separated, or, having separated, should
meet again, to remedy so striking a defect in the
working of the great and memorable measure of
the last Session. We regret that the same rea-
son does not operate where it ought. Beyond
that self-condemning measure, we have no fond-
ness for the present Parliament. Still we think
that Ministers dare not involve the country in a
war—and that a war, on the justice and policy
of which the country will be so much divided,
without appealing to the other estates of the
realm for their sanction. It is true that the
question of peace or war is the prerogative of the
Crown, but the question of supply belongs to
the House of Commons; and the Whig Minis-
ters must have stranger notions of constitutional
propriety than any which even they have yet ex-
hibited, were they to counsel the Crown to de-
clare war, and, at the same moment, place the
popular branch of the Legislature, by a dissolu-
tion, in abeyance.—Morn. Herald.
The scribes of the Whig Journals are taking
great pains to convince their readers that the
free navigation of the Scheldt is, of ancient
usage, the right of British merchants, and that
the resumption or denial of that right is our
present cause of quarrel with the Dutch. There
is not a particle of truth in either proposition.
No man who has studied the history of our
previous relations with Holland can fairly main-
tain the legal claim of England to this privi-
lege ; no man who is acquainted with the cause
of the late negotiations can honestly assert the
disposition of the Dutch to withhold its actual
enjoyment. It is not suggested that any right
to the free navigation of the Scheldt existed be-
fore the treaty of Vienna concluded in 1815.
The regulations of the treaty of Vienna give us
our first claim to this advantage. What are the
regulations prescribed by the treaty of Vienna ?
After pronouncing in, general terms, that the
navigation of the Scheldt shall be free, they
decree " that the ulterior arrangements on the
subject shall be made on the principles which
shall seem most favourable to commerce, and
most analogous to the plan pursued with re-
gard to the navigation of the Rhine. To
.ascertain therefore the conditions on which the

Treaty of Vienna, if it be still in force, gives
us a strict right to the free navigation of the
Scheldt, we must inquire what plan has been
pursued with regard to the free navigation of
the Rhine. For fifteen years questions con-
nected with the free navigation of the Rhine
Were under discussion. The matter was at last
set at rest by the adoption, in March 1831, of
the Tariff of Mayence. That Tariff was the
result of an agreement between all the States
whose territories border upon the Rhine. The
States whose territories border upon the Scheldt
are Holland, Belgium, and France. In conse-
quence of the union of the two first under one
Crown, and the silence of the latter with respect
to her comparatively slight interest in the ques-
tion, the terms of the free navigation of the
Scheldt were never defined by any agreement,
such as had settled by the Tariff of Mayence
the terms of the free navigation of the Rhine.
When the separation of Belgium from Holland
took place the Conference of London perceived
clearly the difficulties which were presented to
them by this state of things. The conditions
of the free navigation of the Rhine had been
prescribed by the common assent of States upon
its borders : the conditions of the free naviga-
tion of the Scheldt were now to be prescribed
by a similar procedure. But in the first case
the discussion had lasted many years ; in the
latter case not less doubt and delay might be
anticipated ; and it was essential that the Acts
recognising the independence and defining the
boudaries of the two kingdoms should be im-
mediate and conclusive. For this reason the
Conference wisely waived the present considera-
tion of a topic involving matters of much deli-
cacy and of extensive detail ; and they stipulated
for the application to the Scheldt of the Tariff
already applied to the Rhine, " until a defini-
tive arrangement should take place ;" that is to
say, until, in pursuance of the Treaty of Vienna,
the States bordering on the Scheldt, Hol-
land, Belgium, and France, should agree upon
the terms upon which its waters should be freely
navigable. This stipulation is to be found in
time Ninth of the Twenty-four Articles, into the
consideration of which Holland at first refused
to enter. It is to be found in the Treaty of No-
vember between Belgium and the Five Powers,
to which Treaty Holland was no party. When
Holland afterwards consented to negotiate upon
the basis of the Twenty-four Articles we find
her specially approving and adopting this stipu-
lation, and adding, in confirmation of its princi,
pie and corroboration of its force, that " Hol-
land considers the freedom of the Scheldt as the
necessary consequence of an equitable Treaty of
Separation." The projet of a Treaty submitted
by Holland in last June contained the same sti-
pulation. The projet of a Treaty forwarded to
Conipeigne in July repeated the same stipula-
tion. And no difference arose on this point
until the King of the Belgians assumed a new
character, and had objects to gain, and argu-
ments to urge, as the son-in-law of Louis
Philippe. But this is not all. If it seems for
the interest of Belgium that any modifica-
tion should now take place in the. en-
actments to which hitherto her full sanc-
tion had been given, it is surely natu-
ral that Belgium should demand that modi-
fication—that Holland should oppose, if she
dislikes, its introduction—that the Five Powers
should mediate, as they have ever professed to
mediate, between the two. No such thing.
Lord Palmerston, to use the expressive phrase
of the Morning Chronicle, is determined " to
make short tvoa with the King of Holland."
He returns to Holland the stipulation which she
had originally receivedfrom France and Eng-
land. He informs her in what manner that sti-
pulation must be changed to the detriment of
Holland. And he insists that the change must
be made upon the express proposal of Holland
herself. At the risk of being prolix we have
endeavoured to give a dear statement of the
whole of these transactions. Our readers may
judge from it how much foundation there is for
either of the fictions which we began by contra-
dicting. If Holland had used this lan-
guage to us,—" The Treaty of Vienna
gives me Belgium for ever; the Treaty of
Vienna opens to you the Scheldt ; an in-
fraction of the Treaty of Vienna takes from
me Belgium ; the same infraction of the Treaty
of Vienna shuts against you the Scheldt ;"
would England have had reason to complain ?*
But the tone of Holland is not that which her
strict right might justify. " I recognise," says
she, " what the Treaty of Vienna enjoins,
though I resign what the Treaty of Vienna be-
stows. The Scheldt is still free, though Belgium
is no longer mine." The British merchants are
not likely to be deluded by the mis-stated facts
and the perverted reasonings by which their pre-
judices and passions are daily assailed. They
know it cannot be for their honour or for their
interest that England should enforce at the can-
lion's mouth a privilege which, on the one hand,
she has no title to demand, and which, on the
other hand, her antagonist has no desire to deny.
—Morning Post.
We are glad to learn, from an article in The
Sun of last evening, that it is no longer the inten-
tion of his Majesty's Ministers to reduce the
salaries in different public establishments to the
extent originally contemplated by them—that is,
one-fifth ; not because we are not friendly to
economy, but because the reduction in question
would have borne hard upon those who have
small salaries, and have allowed, at the same
time, those possessed of larger incomes to
escape comparatively free. Any uniform scale
of the kind would indeed be fraught with the
greatest injustice; for although an income of
1,5001. or 2,0001. might not be greatly da-
maged by a reduction of one-fifth, a similar re-
duction in one of 2001. or 3001. would be felt
as a great hardship, and operate a great loss of
comfort. We hope, therefore, along with our
evening cotemporarv, that " Ministers, when
they reduce salaries, will spare the bees and visit
the drones unsparingly"—that they will busy
themselves as much with equalization as with
reduction—and that they will rather add to than
subtract from those salaries whose amount is
trifling, and which are fairly and industriously
earned. Their first step should be to reduce
the higher salaries to the amount required by the
duty to be performed, and after this has been
done, but not till then, to carry retrenchment
into the smaller.—Morning Advertiser.

We are glad to find that the Liberal Papers
of Essex are sanguine as to the triumph of
Messrs. Western and Brand, notwithstanding the
industry of the Tories. The Essex Independent
of yesterday says :
" The Tories, we know, plume themselves much upon
their having stolen a march upon us : they have been
actively engaged for some months in a strange and anoma-
lous canvass, aided by a renegado Whig, in which they
cut the same awkward figure which a recruiting serjeant

• Let it be remembered that the basis assumed by the
Conference for the allotment of the boundaries of the two
countries is the status quo of 1790, at which period the
Scheldt was shut.

would exhibit who was beating up for volunteers with the 1
assistance of a deserter by his side, instead of a comrade of
his own flag. But we can assure them that the plot will
not answer any other purpose than that of convincing our
friends that the Blues are become desperate, and having
found no candidate of their own colour, have beets forced,
as a forlorn hope, to bolster up their falling fabric with a
metamorphosed Orangeman, whom they hoped to make a
sort of lure bird to decoy a few of the unwary and luke-
warm Whigs of this county. The parsons and clerks of
nearly every parish in Essex have likewise been instructed
in their new office of canvassers, and have gone about like
so many Don Quixotes and Sancho Panzae, attacking the
ghosts and monsters of their own creation, and persuading
the farmer that the enemy of the agriculturist was at his
door ; and this, too, with the unparalleled impudence of
offering as a succedaneum of their wounded interests an
old hackneyed supporter of free trade!"
We wish we could say that the Liberal party
in Essex were as much agreed in other matters
as in the determination to return Mr. Western
and Mr. Brand. The Liberal Journals com-
plain that Ministerial candidates are thrown on
them, whom the people cannot support, and they
repeat the complaint, which we have more than
once noticed, that Ministers are not sufficiently
liberal in their measures. Thus, for instance,
the Essex Independent says :
" The Ministry, in their choice of Government candi-
dates for those places over which they possess influence,
have been unhappy—many of their nominees being unpo-
pular—and, what is worse, continued after the Liberal
party had unequivocally declared dissatisfaction with their
political principles. We need go no further than Har-
wich for proof of this fact. Why, there is not another
town or village in the county of Essa, where Mr.
Tower's pretensions would not have been instantly scouted ;
and yet this, of all others, is to be the gentleman whom
the Ministers seem determined to force upon the electors
of a Treasury borough. What is doing there, is unfortu-
nately a fac-simile of what is doing in other places.
Transactions of this description are sadly weakening the
hands of the Executive. Another ground of complaint
arises from what to us appears most unaccountable—we
refer to the fact, that all the various underling offices, from
the highest to the lowest, still continue filled up by the
creatures of the old regime ! Now either the Ministry is
or is not strong enough to oppose the Tories: if they
feel confidence in their own strength, why do they per-
mit themselves to be continually bearded by their re-
tainers? If they are not strong enough, why do they
persist in a course which is making enemies of those Libe-
rals whose friendship would instantly enable them to
give these gentlemen notice to quit? Besides this,
there are measures and principles of the utmost im-
portance, which the Ministry either oppose or fear to
encounter, but upon which the public at large have
already formed their opinions. The most inattentive ob-
server must perceive that the people have determined on
the abolition of tithes, church rates, taxes on knowledge,
slavery, sinecures, and pensions ; and are at the same
time loudly calling for the imposition of a Property Tax,
Vote by Ballot, and Triennial Parliaments. Upon all
these points the Ministry display either a want of sincerity
or courage. The people see and deplore their wavering
policy. They wish to see the men who gave the original
impetus to Reform, continue to direct its course. Their
disinclination to do so, though it may impede, will not
prevent the accomplishment of what is so ardently desired.
Symptoms of decision on the part of the constituency are
becoming every day more apparent, and if the Cabinet of
Lord Grey is to stand, as we trust it will, its Members
must immediately alter their course, and by putting them-
selves at the head of the national movement, destroy all
suspicion of the sincerity of their motives."
We attach some importance to the complaint
with respect to Government candidates. It is
to be regretted that a man like Mr. Tower, for
whom, only a year or two ago, Sir John Tyr-
rell was too liberal, and who proposed a more
outrageous Tory to the Essex freeholders, should
have been selected for Harwich. Some allow-
ance, however, must be made for the difficulty
of obtaining correct knowledge of character at
head-quarters in all cases. But with respect to
the complaints that Ministers do not go far
enough, the people have the remedy for this in
their own hands. Let them only return liberal
Representatives, determined to give effect to the
Reform Bill, and Ministers will be justified in
displaying courage. Under a Reformed Parlia-
ment, Ministers must take their complexion from
the complexion of the Parliament. If elec-
tors only do their duties, they may rest assured
that Ministers must do their's. Do not
let the electors suffer themselves to be deceived
by names. Every man who calls himself a Li-
beral is not a Liberal—every man who calls him-
self a Reformer is not a Reformer. They must
see that there is no mistake with their candi-
dates. They must question them closely on all
points of importance. We have a long way to
go before there can be any thing like a good un-
derstanding between the class from which we
have hitherto taken our representatives, and the
body of the people. The Aristocracy are the
slaves of fashion, to a degree which' would
hardly be believed. The dread of being exposed
to a sneer in a fashionable circle, paralyses
many a man possessed of the best intentions.
There is hardly a man in the upper ranks, for
instance, if he have any understanding, but will
admit that Thomas Hardy was a man to whose
remains too much respect could not have been
paid. But still Thomas Hardy was a shoe-
maker ; and even Burdett (kind and generous as
he was to him) dreaded the ridicule of attending
a public funeral to a shoemaker. Well does our
contemporary (the Standard) know this foible
of our upper ranks, when he commences his ob-
servations of yesterday on the subject of
Hardy's funeral thus :
Air. Thomas Hardy, once a patriot of distinguished
note, but for many years a retired cobbler, living upon
alms, received yesterday the honours of a public funeral, at
which attended 4,000 or 5,000 persons, presenting, as a
friend who saw them assures us, specimens of all common
classes, except gentlemen."

When our contemporary has said that Hardy
was a cobbler, lived on alms, and that no gen-
tleman attended his funeral, he has said enough
to make every Aristocrat rejoice that he escaped
the ridicule of being in the procession. We
know the cowardice of the upper ranks well.—
We will answer for it that ninety-nine in a hun-
dred of the most liberal of the Aristocracy would
deem it less disgraceful to be seen at the funeral
of a rogue, who had acquired a fortune by all
manner of frauds and unprincipled actions, tha❑
at the funeral of an honest man like Hardy, be.
cause he had been a shoemaker, and lived on
the contributions of those who respected him.--
Had he been a pensioner of the State to the tune
of a five or six thousands a year, and had bro-
thers and sisters quartered on the public purse,
then he would have been most respectable—then
a liberal Aristocracy might-have been seen with-
out disgrace at his funeral. However the time is
not tar distant when the tables will be turned on
a'l such cowards. Let the people bear in mind
that the Aristocracy must be hereafter what they
chuse they should be.—Morning Chronicle.

At a tailors' club, one of the standing toasts
is, "Measures, and not men."

A coroner,
sinquest was held by Mr. CARTER
yi sterd y, at the George public-house, Dockhead, on the
body of a fine little boy named GEORGE Dixort, aged 7
years, the son of poor parents, living at Bishop's-terrace
Mill-pond. It nppeared from the evidence of the uncle of
the deceased child, that on Wednesday last he strayed
front the door, where he was playing with some other
children, and was missing the whole of the day, and al-
though every search was made, he could not be found till
the following morning, when witness saw his nap floating
in Mill-pond-ditch, in the vicinity of his parents' resi-
dence. lie caused the ditch to be searched, when the
body of the unfortunate child was found. Witness had
no idea how he got into the ditch, but imagined that he
tell in by accident. The Jury therefore returned a ver-
dict to that effect.

THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE UNDER
THE REFORM ACT.

The Barristers resumed their sittings yesterday
morning at the same hour as the day before (ten
o'clock). They went very patiently and carefully
through a variety of cases; but many of them were
so perfectly analogous to those decided on the pre-
ceding day, that few d iscussions of any novelty
took place. In the parish of St. Michael Bassishaw,
an alien, whose name we understood to be Bitter,
claimed to have his name put down on the list ; but
the Barrister observed, that under the old scot and
lot right of voting, no alien could be entitled, and
therefore not under the Reform Act. In the parish
of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, a police constable,
named West, claimed the right to vote. The
Barrister said it was well known that the Metro-
politan Police were not to have the right of voting,
but the case might be different with respect to the
City Police; and he should between that and Tues-
day inquire into the authority tinder which the City
Police were embodied,and then be prepared to pro-
nounce an opinion. Several cases of the indirect
payment of rates came under consideration, but
were of course disposed of in conformity with the
principal laid down on the former day. When the
lists of the parish of St. Michael, Cornhill, were
bef,,re the barrister, Mr. J. D. Powles, of Freeman's-
court, Lombard-street, stated that he and Mr. John
Pirie held a house by lease from one of the colleges
of Oxford for a term of twenty-one years. It had
been arranged between him and Mr. Pirie that each
should alternately pay the rates and taxes for periods
of seven years; during the last two years Mr. Pirie
had paid the rates, but Mr. Powles nevertheless
conceived himself to be substantially a rate payer,
and thefore entitled. The Barrister then observed,
that he might get upon the rate-books next year,
but for the present it must be held that he could
not vote. No doubt, he might at the next
election tender his vote, and if there were
a contest eventually, take the opinion of a
Committee of the House of Commons on the
hsuebidjeecnt
t; bitleudt,toinvohti
es judgment,unless
shno c
e wasnriaetecdouilnd
be
the
parish books. In the course of the day the barris-
ter laid it down more than once that it was not ma.
terial whether a householder paid rates for the four
quarters preceding the 31st of July 1832, in the
parish in which he at present resided, or in any
other parish, provided that they were both within
the city. He also decided that the lists given in
by the overseers to him should be exact copies of
the lists placed on the church-doors ; and if he saw
any reason to doubt that they were otherwise, he
should administer an oath to the overseers. He
expressed strong disapprobation of two names being
struck out of the lists of the parish of St. Alban,
Wood-street, without due notice to the parties or
to any one. A great many other cases were dis-
cussed, arising certainly not from any obscurity in
the Act, but from the cursory readings of it by the
parties, or from their slender experience in the busi-
ness of construing Acts of Parliament.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MARLBOROUGH STREET.

The well-known Miss Zouch came yesterday to
this office, to inquire if Mr. Conant, the Sitting Ma-
gistrate, had received a communication which she
had made to him by letter.
Mr. CONANT replied he had certainly received a
letter from her, enclosing a large packet of letters,
but having glanced over the purport of her applica-
tion, he did not see in what way a Magistrate could
assist her.

Miss Zouch then stated, that after she had been
taken from the parish workhouse, where she had
been compelled to resort through distress, a sum of
U. per week had been allowed her by her noble re-
lative, the Earl of Lonsdale, which sum she received
through the hands of Sir John Lowther, who had
intrusted an individual, whom she named, to pay it
over to her. The allowance had been paid up to
last August ; but since that time it had been with-
held from her through the misconduct of the person
intrusted with it, and the consequence was that she
was in daily expectation of being arrested, having
got into arrears for board and lodging, and also to
her laundress, who had detained a great portion of
her wardrobe.

Mr. CoNANT replied that he considered the con-
duct of Miss Zouch, in thus coming forward and
making charges against an individual who was not
present, to be very reprehensible, and he thought
she was acting in a highly imprudent manner by
parading before the public her circumstances, and
publishing those benefits she received from Noble-
men disposed to commiserate her situation. Such
conduct could not fa.l to disgust them, and prevent
them from bestowing that consideration on her case
she attempted to claim. _

Miss Zouch—Oh dear! My noble relatives have
no objections to the statements I make. The fact
is, I cannot make 1/. a-week support me—it only
pays for my board and lodging; therefore my only
alternative will be to get passed to Ireland by the
parish, where I have no doubt I shall find friends to
espouse an injured female's cause. The public,
however, will shortly be in possession of the full
particulars of my melancholy case, for a bookseller
has offered me a hundred guineas for the history of
my life, which I am now writing.
Mr. CONANT—lndeed ! I should have thought
your history was already sufficiently known from
the pains you have taken to bring yourself before
the public.
M.ss Zouch, after again pressing the Magistrate
to do something for her, as she said she found it ut-
terly impossible to live on 1/. per week, was again told
she could not be as,4sted, upon which she folded up
her papers, and left the office.
Sophia Tree was brought up by the overseers of
S.. George's-parish, to affiliate her infant child on
a middle-aged person, named Robert Morebutt.
The usual oath having been administered, the de-
fendant was asked what sum he proposed to allow
weekly for the maintenance of the child.
Mr. Morebutt—Why, a couple of shillings or
half-a-crown is all my circumstances will enable me
to afford.
Mr. CoNANT—That is a very small sum for a
gentleman to allow, which, from your dress, I pre-
sume you to be.
Mr. Morebutt—l certainly do always conduct
myself as a gentleman, but I am deficient in one re-
spect, and that is in my circumstances. lam a clerk
to a curiosity dealer in St. James's-street.

Mr. CONANT—Your emoluments must be very
considerable to enable you to make that appearance.
Mr. Morebutt—Upon my salvation my income,
including perquisites and salary, hardly exceeds
1001. Besides, I have two very strong reasons why
I should pay but a small sum in this case. The first
is, that I paid the doctor's bill, and found the girl
in food; and the other is, that an order has been
made on me at Union-hall lately for a similar case.

Mr. CONANT did not think these two reasons at
all improved the defendant's case, and therefore or-
dered he should pay 3s. 6d. for the maintenance of
his offspring.
It would appear from what transpired, that the
defendant is a very Lothario among maid-servants,
as he sent the girl a taunting letter only the day
previous to inform her he had just made another
conquest. The reticule of the female was filled
with epistles from Mr. Nlorehutt, written in a fine
round text hand, it being his custom when he failed
in making an impression in prose to resort to the
more irresistible medium of verse.
The following is an extract from one of these
epistles, sent to the girl after she had intimated her
determination to drop his further acquaintance :
" Then will the wild waves and rugged rocks of the
ocean roar round your pil ow when you sink to soft re-
pose on your balmy bed; then will you, in recalling the
recollection of your past reminiscences, bring to your
mind the memory of him who has adored you to eternity,
ant whose heart beats with affection for his ever-beloved
Sophia."
The defendant, on leaving the office, begged the

overseer to deliver the order when at the shop in
the most delicate manner possible.

MA RY L.EB ONE.
Henry Gray, who was examined at this office Of
Tuesday evening last, on a charge of attempting t°
murder his wife, was yesterday again brought uP
for final examination, before Mr. RAWLINSON, the
Sitting Magistrate. He was fully committed to
Newgate for trial.
LAMBETH- STREET.
Thomas Randall, a young fellow in the garb of
a sailor, with a strong Munster brogue, was yester
day brought before Mr. 'WALKER, charged with dei
frauding several females out of various sums °
money in the following ingenious manner:—He cote
trived, by inquiries, to ascertain to the names and resi•
dences of fetnales, who had either sons, husbands, or
brothers at sea, and paid them all visit; in some be
represented that their son, husband, or brothel',
the ca,e might be, had left the vessel in which they
had embarked in this country, and gone into another,
destined to a most remote part of the globe, and
that they had commissioned him (the prisoner) t°
call on them, and communicate the fact, as well Is
that of Captain O'Brien, with whom he (the Pr'
soner) had sailed, having in his possession a certain
sum of money to pay them on their meeting him 61
an appointed place; to other parties he said their
relatives were dead, and had left them large legacies'
which were also intrusted to Captain O'Brien t°
be handed to them; and to a third, and by far the
most numerous class of his victims—the old ladies."'
he represented that he had been intrusted by the':
friends with a handsome squirrel, a monkey, °e
poll-parrot. Amongst the victims present was an
old lady, who stated that the prisoner had called 0°
her, and stated that a son of her's had died in Nese
South Wales, and bad left her a large sum of money
which bad been handed over to Captain O'Brien to
be paid to her. After eating and drinking ay her
expense, the prisoner got from her 10s., which Wee
all the money she had in the world, saying that be
would meet her on the following day at the house
where the Capiain stopped, and return it to her. °""
went, as directed, to a publicshouse in Thole!:
street, in search of Captain O'Brien, but cola°
neither find him nor the prisoner there.
Several witnesses deposed to the prisoner re.‘
ceiving various sums of money from them Under 6,,V
milar circumstances, besides plenty to eat and drill"'
Mr. M'Donnell, the landlord of the Harrorrr
Poplar, here came forward, and stated that Wit,17,111,,
the last few days no less than from seventy to eignv
females had called at his house to inquire for Cap
O'Brien, and the prisoner Randall, as well as now
keys, squirrels, and parrots, which they said Weried
left there for them by the latter, and nothing coo
be more d stressing than the scenes which they el.:
hibited on being told that they were hoaxed. MA
fainted away, while others flew into violent hYslerti
rics, and some, with great philosophy, support
their disappointment with a few drops of brand'
Their custom did not compensate for the annoys.ttler
wh ch the scene altogether (3th.bitid, and he (i"„tri
M‘Donnell) wished that the prisoner would dire.'
his dupes elsewhere for the future.
A
The prisoner was committed to the tread-rn;llorf
three months, as a rogue and vagabond.

Q UEEN-S Q UARE.
A PRECIOUS PAlR.—Yesterday, an old us!:
named Michael Harwood, whose "grimy" count`,
nance, with a three-weeks' beard at least, loge"
with the whole of his " outward man," reminded 11'4
of the noted " Dirty Dick," of Leadenhall-street'
,vas placed at the bar, in company with Elizaberg
his spouse, under the following circumstances
It appeared from the evidence of a policenl
tl at on the previous evening he found the fetp;.
ing on the pavement in Belgrave-square, in a sts,"
of intoxication. He endeavoured to remove
when her liege lord and master, who was suprorift:
mg himself against a post, a short distance e Lilo
reeled towards him, and "sweared he'd punch Ir
nob" if he did not let the woman alone. On thej
policeman continuing to use the authority inveAto
in him, the old man struck him in the face, 11 •
in the scuffle the three welcomed the ground
heap; assistance being at hand, the defeat:lov
were luggeii" off to the station-house. to
I‘ll.. WHITE asked the woman what she ha'•
say to the charge of being drunk ?
Mrs. Harwood—Lord love your Honours 70
ships, I was not drunk—l was only overcome ill,. )
fatigues of the day, and Ifainted away.—(Laughte;:o
Mr. WHITE—But you lay down. Do you PI?
to tell me you had not taken anything to drin r,
Mrs. Harwood—Why, yes, your Lordship, I e.
tainly had taken a little, for my husband had Pio
received his pension, and he is such a good soult,
always makes me take a drop of summit in conl7""'
ntory, as he says, of the great battle be fought., ye
Mr. WHITE.—SO every time your hashanoLi
ceives his pension, you make it a practice of get''8.
drunk together.
Mrs. Harwood-0, no, your Honour—not eyed
time.
fif.
Mr. WHITE—WeII, Madam, I shall fine you
shillings for being drunk. What have you got to"'
Mr. Harwood, for assaulting the policeman ?
Mr. Harwood—Me salt the policeman ?
scorn it. All as I did was to prevent him to",„.0
improper liberties with my wife there—she, to viu:0:1
I have been married for upwards of thirty Woe
years. He knowed he did want to dishononlio
because he saw'd the poor cretur overcome. ;as,
I popp'd on him unawares, and dragged the Ono
muffin from his destroying grasp. Didn't ) her
dear (addressing his wife, who looked dovirl 00
nose and curtsied) ? But here she is as vertuy
as ever—thanks to my not being far from bed-
[This last expression was accompanied by 0%1, or
of Mr. Harwood being placed round the 0 ,
his spouse.] ol
y
mrT.hHe
aprowliocoedm,anp,osiwtihvnelysainssiluerdedathitshewasosreiltli.poo
10,
the woman was in such a filth state of ioto% 60
don, that it was no pleasant task to remove bec
the station house. itd
Mr. WHITE convicted Harwood in the pena',7o,ll
10s. for the assault, and being unable to paY
fines, himself and wife were locked up.
A man named WARD, servant to vv ;Ai
SHALL, Esq. of Treworgey, in St. Clear, poi•°'`...,tpsits
self last week. He was in love with the dairy
who withstood all his importunities to become his
A few weeks since, in excavating underl3coot
the old Castle walls, at Launceston, a large stone votbi
was discovered, containing, in a perfect state, 000
bouts which must have belonged to a man of inig/3/
stature, the arm bone exceeding by six inches thst
ordinary man of the present day. A considerableooP
of silver coins were also found of the reigns of AW,
I. and 11., JOHN, ELIZABETH, CROMWELL, and Col,
1., all in a state of excellent preservation.--North
Journal.
.00v