The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-30 00:00:00

SPMtIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The public have observed, with some satisfaction,
the conduct of the Bishops, who abstained from sup-
porting Lord Aberdeen's motion; but that satisfac-
tion would have been infinitely greater had they
opposed it, because the inevitable consequence of
defeating Ministers would have been general war.
On the night in question the Anti-Reformers played
their last card, and proceedings in both Houses were
simultaneously taken to crush " the Bill," by eject-
ing the Ministers. Though Europe was to be de-
luged with blood, they cared not, provided they
could continue the corruptions, which would gra-
tify their ambition and avatice, by allowing them
to return again to power. It behoved, however,
the Bishops to have taken a more decided part. As
Ministers of the religion of peace, they should have
acted in a body (as they did against Reform) to
prevent, as far as in them lay, the possibility of a
renewal of the miseries of war. They may cant for
ever in their charges, interfere with the innocent and
healthful recreations of the laborious classes on the
only day open to them, and act tyrannically to-
wards their less fortunate brethren (insolently called
the inferior clergy), without gaining the respect and
esteem necessary to render their order serviceable
to the ends of its institution. That they can only
do by showing themselves ready, in and out of sea-
son, to sacrifice their personal aggrandisement and
pecuniary advantages to the love of peace and their
hatred of corruption. Should their absence on
Thursday from the House be the consequence of a
determination to withdraw altogether from politics
(however it may be lamented that they should have
acted upon it in the first instance, when by the
presence they might have diminished the chance
of lighting up the flames of war), they may he con-
gratulated as having chosen wisely for themselves.
The Spiritual Lords are not necessary to constitute
a House. It has been decided by the Judges that
the King may hold a Parliament without aey of
them. This was exemplified in the two first Par-
liaments of Charles 11., to which no Bishop was
summoned. The Act of Uniformity, in the reign
of Elizabeth, was passed without the concurrence
of any of the Bishops, and therefore the style of
" Lords Spiritual" is omitted throughout the whole.
—Morning ( hroniele.
The abuses of the Church Establishment are now
in a fair way of remedy and correction, the active
and intelligent Reformers of Birmingham having
been provoked to the task of reformation. We have
inserted an abridged report of the proceedings of a
public meeting of inhabitant rate-payers of that
town on Wednesday last, of a remarkable character
—a meeting which, we predict, will involve future
questions of no ordinary moment. The singular
ignorance of the High Church party of the state of
public opinion is constantly placing the hierarchy
in unpopular situations, and the infatuated folly of
the ultra churchmen in the pursuit of additional in-
fluence ever occasions a loss of present power. The
history and jobbing of the Commission appointed to
build new churches, under several snug Acts of
Parliament, which some years since appropriated a
million sterling for the supposed spiritual wants of
the English laity, are well known to our readers.
Those Act=, passed by Administrations and Parlia-
ments of which Englishmen will never see the like
Heflin, violated, unperceived by the public, many of
the anc ent principles of our popular parochial sys-
tem. (hider the semblance of a gift, they imposed an
eventual burthen, not only on the members of the
Established Church, but on the Dissenters of all classes,
by means of rates, and entailing on the local districts
the cost of repair. How far this appropriation of the
public money has contributed to advance the best in-
terests of religion and the Church, may be estimated
by the fact that in all the large towns, particularly
in Leeds and Sheffield, the inhabitants have peremp-
torily and successfully resisted the rates proposed
for the maintenance of these new edifices. The
churchmen view them with jaundiced eye, 'as a
grievous and questionable addition to their local hur-
thens—as a new channel for jobs and patronage ;
and the Dissenters are naturally opposed to coercive
contributions in support of churches to which they
do not belong;. The Acts were notoriously smug-
gled through the House of Commons, and unfortu-
nately the odious nature of many enactments was
now detected by those Nlerebers who opposed the
Bills. The levy of tithe on all classes of the agri-
cultural comraunity may be borne with temper and
fortitude, as an ancient custom protected by awful
powers of the law ; but in the nineteenth century
it was improbable that the spirited inhabitants of
cur large commercial towns should willingly allow
the grant of rates unjustly imposed upon all sects
and classes of religionists. The facts connected with
the recent meeting at Birmingham, as developed in
the proceedings, are as follow :—A large church in
the centre of the town was erected by the London
Board of Commissioners in 1528, and consecrated by
tae name of St. Peter. It was destroyed by fire, origi-
nating in defective flues, in January last, the bare walls
and belfry alone remaining. The church was not in-
sered,and the cost of its re-erection will be about 6,000/.
The London and Country Boards of Commission
have called on the inhabitants of Birmingham, en-
der the sanction of divers law opinions, to raise a
tare and restore St. Peter at the sole expense of the
parishioners, under the last Commission Act, which
directs parishes to " repair" commission churches.
The rate-payers contend, that they cannot repair
what does not exist. They argue that the church
was burnt in consequence of defective work ; that
the Commissioners did not take sufficient surety for
its proper erection ; and have not yet ascertained ,
the liability of their architects and contractor,.—
They further allege, that they did not ask for the
church, and that no public investigation of the
causes of its destruction has been vouchsafed. The
liberal churchmen again urge that they will never
burthen their dissenting fellow-townsmen to defray
the cost of the places of worship of the Establish-
ment; and the Dissenters say, whatever the law,
they will not, in these days, submit to so odious
xind scandalous a levy on their property. The Rec-
tor of St, Martin's and the churchwardens convened
a public meeting nevertheless, and submitted to the
aae-payers the following modest proposal :
' Thet the report be received, and that a rate of ls.3d.
in the pound be made by the churchwardens, to be applied
by them in repairing and restoring the church, according
to the drawings and specifications by which it was built;
and that they be further empowered, if possible, to obtain
the proposed loan of 5,5001. from the Board for lending
Exchequer Bills, upon the terms mentioned by their Se-
cretary, and, if obtained, that the churchwardens and over-
seers be authorised to give the securities required."

A crowded and tumultuous meeting received the
resolution with indignation and contempt. An
amendment was proposed by the Low Bailiff, Mr.
Wills, ably and numerously supported by men of all
classes and sects, and ultimately passed as follows :-
4‘ That it is highly unjust that persons who are not
Members of the Church of England, and who are dissen-
ters from it, should be compelled to contribute towards
the support of the churches and inatitutions belonging to
that establishment. That a Committee be appointed to in-
vestigate the circumstances under which Saint Peter's
Church was built, to inquire into the legal liability of the
architects and builders, to ascertain the liability of the in-
habitants to repair and restore the said church, and that
such Committee do report to a special vestry to be called
and advertised for that purpose."

The meeting, after other resolutions, o ad• ur ne d
the vestry, and thus concluded this extraordinary
assembly. Many speakers avowed their determr-
nation to resist any levy, and in a body of several
thousand persons, scarcely a dozen individuals
supported the original resolution. If the rate is
ultimately refused, a mandamus may be granted
on the construction of the word " repair :"
but the Court of King's Bench cannot extract
the needful from the pockets of the Birmingham
people, the only remedy being exconzinunica-
tion. Thus all the congregations of the town
( Birmingham, for parochial purposes, being one
parish) may be cast out of the communion of the
Church," and ten oA Churches emptied for the device
of filling one new one ! When ecclesiastical ex-
oommunications formerly banished menu from the
society and conversation of the faithful," it had ;ti

terrors, but the remedy of suspending Birmingham
laymen oh ingresses ccelcsi(e may, doubtless, be
questioned. This local contest involves principle
of the highest moment, and we trust that on that
simple and immutable foundation the inhabitants
of Birmingham will erect their standard of oppo-
sition. The spirit of the Acts in question never
could contemplate the liabilities of rate-payers to
re-erect these churches ; hut, however that may be,
it is high time to make a stand against the encroach-
ments of crafty legislation. " The signs of the
times" will not warrant these scandalous attempts
to tax men of one religion for the maintenance of
another ; and we are amazed at the lack of judg-
ment in those who at the present juncture gravely
attempt such ecclesiastical felony. Anc ently the
Bishops had the whole tithes of the diocese, a fourth
part of which in every parish was applied to the re-
pairs of the Church. Custom, that expansive com.
mon law, by the cunning devices of the Priests,
transferred the burthen of reparation on the pa-
rishioners. But nevertheless, rates for repairs of
churches can only be legally made and levied by
virtue of the act of the major part of the parishioners
assembled upon public notice. If the Churchwardens
are cited in defect of repairs, the parishioners are
only liable to spiritual censures; what terror or
effect that process will have in Birmingham, we
leave to the judgment of those who peruse the re-
port of the meeting.—Morning Chronicle.
A Sunday Paper, which has advocated the Reform
Bill with a calmness of tone suited to the importance
of the subject, contains the following reflection upon
the determination of Ministers to resign, had they
been left in a minority in either House on Thursday
last :—" This determination," says our contem-
porary, " plainly proves that there is a sense of fail-
ing power and influence in some quarter, and that
their supporters must have good reason for the ex-
pression of the opinion that the Government must
be strengthened before they can carry the Reform
Bill." Our readers are already aware that the
questions which put the existence of the Ministry
to such imminent peril were those of the Dutch loan
and the Dutch and Belgic negotiations. The party
Journals upon both sides claim a triumph on the re-
sult of the divisions ; but we, who have no party
views to serve, and no triumphs to participate, ex-
cept those which the public, and not persons in
place, or in expectation of place, derive from the
proceedings of the Legislature,—we see nothing in
the result of these divisions to give a triumph to
either party ;—the Ministers have had a narrow
espape, and the Opposition have tried an unsuccess-
ful manoeuvre. To return, however, to the obser-
vation of our contemporary, we cannot concur in
thinking that, because Ministers, who were not
beaten, had made up their minds to go out of office
if they had been beaten, we are to infer from
thence that they were actuated by " a sense of
failing power and influence" with respect to
another, and totally different, question of policy, in
which they have the people of the United Kingdom
at their backs. If we must look to the question of
Reform in conjunction with the tssc questions to
which allusion has been made, the conclusion, as it
strikes us, would be that the strength of the Reform
question was precisely what had saved the Ministry.
That Ministers took the same view of it themselves
—that they depended on it for their deliverance in
time of need—is evident from the use which they
made of it in extremity. For what was that use ?
Knowing that the Dutch loan involved the principle
of economy—the most dangerous of all principles
for a Government to encounter—they stated their
intention to resign if they should be beaten. The
statement of that intention was a threat, the force
of which depended on the popularity of the great
measure in which they are chiefly committed as an
Administration. The threat, it is true, did not take
effect upon some of the more staunch economists;
—but does any man doubt that it had effect upon
others, and that it contributed much to embarrass
and perplex the conduct of those whom it did not
succeed in bringing over ? We are aware that there
have been, and still are, reports in circulation unfa-
vourable to the success of the Reform Bill; but it
does not look as if Ministers were afraid of it when
they threw themselves on its influence for support;
and, a, to making their continuance in office depend
upon any other contingency, we do not see how, in
justice to themselves, they could remain if they had
been beaten upon any of the leading points which
affect their character as an Administration.—ellorn-
ling Herald.

We have received a formidable volume of 330
pages, consisting of returns on the population and
assessed taxes of 11() of the smaller boroughs, toge-
ther with Flans of the said boroughs, and of the
towns or districts with which they are connected.
These returns are made in answer to the instruc-
tions of the Secretary of Sate for the Home De-
' partment, with a reference to Parliamentary rine-
sentation, end are the same which were so loudly de-
manded on the proposition that the House should go
into a Committee. By fixing in the Bill the number
of boroughs of which the disfranchising schedules
are to consist, and then taking from a list of 110
boroughs, arrangedi according to their importance,
the first 56 for schedule A, and the following 30 for
schedule B, Ministers have skilfully narrowed the
fighting ground of the opponents of the Bill, and
destroyed a fertile source of future cavil and delay.
No deceptive attempts to swell the number of its
inhabitants can now rescue a borough from the ranks
of the condemned, la ithout substituting another in
its place. Hence every epithet was employed by
the Opposition to stigmatize this proceeding, and
every effort made by them to resist going into Corn-
tnittee till the reports of the Commissioners were laid
before the House, although they well knew that the
information contained in these reports might affect
the arrangement, but could not by possibility
affect the number of boroughs to be chosen, and
that their reluctance to decide upon this number
would neither be modified nor overcome by the
production of the information for which they so loudly
clamoured. The reports in question have, after
some delay arising from their magnitude and the
difficulty of preparing and arranging the numerous
plans which accompany them, been laid before the
House. Having devoted some time to their exami-
nation, we shall briefly explain the object of these
reports. Many of our readers will be surprised to
learn, that such is the imperfect and irregular man-
ner in which a variety of our statistical returns are
prep, ared —so unfit the boundaries formed centuries
ago for the present state of things, that it is im-
possible to procure accurate returns of the popula-
tion, number of houses, and amount of assessed
taxes, for a large proportion of the towns of
England, without instituting inquiries on the
snot. Fewer still seem to have reflected that
the word " town" is a vague and undefined ex-
pression, neither known nor adopted in official re-
turns, and that while the old borough is marked
by a well-known line, the modern town, fre-
quently of mueh greater importance, has no legal
or recognized boundary ; so that any attempt
to estimate the comparative importance of the
places liable to disfranchisement required, as a pre-
' liminary step, that limits should be assigned to the
town, and the houses, taxes, and population within
these limits ascertained. To the Commissioners
employed to report on boundaries for the new
boroughs, this additional task was committed, after
the late Bill was lost ; and the volume to which we
have alluded is the result of their labours. It con-
tains reports on 120 boroughs, explained and illus-
trated by 72 lithographed plans, the statistical in-
formati tri being conveniently arranged in the form
of tables. The duty of Commissioners has been
one of responsibility and difficulty. By the limits
which they have assigned, several places, such as
Chippenham, Bridport, and Totness, have been
placed beyond the schedules,while the claims of others
to be associated to their parishes or townships, or to
have the limits of jurisdiction substituted for those'
of the elective franchise, having been carefully ex-
amined and discovered to be groundless, such places
have been returned to the schedules where they
were originally placed, sad from which, by repre-
sentation alone, they appear to have effected their

escape. Complaints will of course be readc, that in
some instances limits too extensive, in others too nar-
row, have bccn adopted—that a practice has been
adopted at 011 C place which has not been followed
at another. These and similar charges, this volume
of reports will enable the Government to meet with
confidence, and repel with ease. Referring to these
documents, we are now enabled to estimate
.the
value of the many bold and unblushing assertions
made during the discussions on the disfranchising
clauses of the late Bill, with a view to patch up a
deficient population. We may cite the cases of Ap-
pleby, Plympton, and Saltash. The limits of these.
boroughs were said to be unknown, and undistm-
guishable from those of their parishes, and the
framers of the Bill were vehemently reproached for
disregarding their just and lawful claims to consider-
ation. It will scarcely be credited that, during the
discussion on one of these boroughs, it was stated,
on the authority of a petition from some of the
principal inhabitants, that the boundary of the
borough could not be ascertained,—that it was
known to extend far into the adjoining parish, but
to what extent was unknown. Now what is the
commentary on this statement, furnished by the re-
ports of the Commissioners ? Why, that the
boundary is perfectly and accurately known ; that it
was perambulated in 1817; that a record of that
perambulation is preserved in the office of the town-
clerk, duly certified by the authorities who were pre-
sent; and that a copy of the record of this perambu-
lation has been forwarded to the Home-offiee. A plan
accompanied this report, setting out the unknown,
undefined boundary in question, for the especial edi-
fication of those who may be disposed to pursue a
similar course when the borough comes again under
discussion. Saltash is disposed of in a similar man-
ner. Many similar instances might be quoted from
these reports, which are creditable to the exertions
and industry of the Commissioners and to the Go-
vernment by whom they have been directed. To
their opponents they will probably furnish additional
food for abuse, in proportion as they may tend to
facilitate and promote the great measure with which
they are connected. In the execution of their duty
the Commissioners of the Government were in-
structed to procure information on a variety of topics
connected with the Reform Bill. As a great deal
of wrangling hail occurred on the question of what
was the town and what was the borough, these Com-
missioners were directed to inquire—I, into the
amount of population " of the town" beyond the
borough ; 2, into the number of houses in the said
town beyond the borough ; 3, into the number of
houses worth 101. arid upwards in the town; 4, into
the number of houses in the borough ; 5, into the
number of houses worth 101. and upwards ire the
said borough ; and 6, into the amount of assessed
taxes paid by the town within the last year. For
our own parts, we have never seen any necessity for
such minute inquiries. The smaller boroughs, to a
greater amount than are made to figure in the two
condemned schedules A and B, were either so cor-
rupt, or so much under extraneous influence, com-
posing either so inadequate a constituency, or such
a burlesque upon a constituency,—that they might
have been struck out almost at random from the
general mass of " insignificant pl ices." Ten or
twenty more disfranchisements ought to have made
no difference in the account, and instead of dis-
cussing the merits of each particular borough below
4,000 or 5,000, the schedule ought to have- been
voted at once. It was impossible to go wrong
within the limits of 110 or 120 boroughs taken
from the lowest part of the scale, by any standard
of wealth or population, whether that standard was
established by the census and assessments of the
last ten years, or by the census arid assessments of
the present. Ministers, in answering useless scruples,
have undertaken a great deal of ungrateful labour,
and lost a great deal of valuable time; and we can
scarcely hope that at last this immense volume will
be as satisfactory to their enemies as it was unne-
cessary to their friends.—Tintes.

' The notions of the present Administration as to
what is required or admitted in pecuniary matters,
by the laws of honour and good faith, are somewhat
whimsical. Their first Budget—which fortunately
failed, for we had not then a Reforming House of
Commons—was signalised by an attempt to impose
a tax upon the transfer of funded property, in vio-
lation of the contract with that portion of the British
people, who had trusted their property to the honour
and integrity of the Legislature—ofa contract re-
corded and attested in numerous Acts of Parliament.
Let any man of ordinary understanding contrast this
fraudulent endeavour to break through the obli-
gation of an express contract, in which British sub-
jects were the parties interested, with the vague,
unmeaning, and absurd pretences now set tip by
the same Ministers, in order to show that good
faith required them to continue the payment to the
Russian Government of large sums of the public
money of Great Britain, and to perpetuate the obli-
gation of an onerous contract with that Power, from
which, in virtue of its express terms, and its plain
and obvious meaning, circumstances had set them
wholly free. It is scarcely possible to think so
meanly of the understandings of any body of men
as to suppose it possible for them, with whatever sc-
'enmity or vehemence they may assert it, to enter-
tain the opinion which Ministers profess, that the
separation of Holland and Bel; uin leaves in full
force a contract, one of the conditions of which
was, that it should be void from the moment
when those two countries should, by any means
whatever, be dissevered from each other. With
no disposition to think too well of the capacity
of his 31ajcsty's Ministers, we can at least say
that we have tried to imagine this mistake pos-
sible in their case, and have found it impossible.
The British Government undertook the payment
of her portion of the Russian Dutch Loan because
Great Britain had, or supposed itself to haste, an
interest in maintaining the union of Belgium and
Holland, and undertook it upon a condition which
was likely to interest Russia also in the maintenance
of that union. If circumstances have, at the same
time that they exonerated us from this obligation,
created a real or supposed British interest, in respect
to the policy and conduct of Russia, opposite to
that which at first gave rise to it—if, instead of de-
siring that Russia should be vigilant and zealous in
the maintenance or restoration of the union of the
Netherlands, we have become anxious to obtain the
ready acquiescence of Russia in the dissolution of
that union—this might perhaps have been a reason
for offering to Russia some new inducement to con-
cur in our altered views, but it could be none fur
clandestinely and illegally reviving a national obliga-
tion which circumstances had extinguished; it could
be none for appropriating to one purpose the funds
which Parliament had voted for a purpose diame-
trically opposite; it could be none for an attempt to
withdraw an important transaction, in which the
interests of the nation are deeply concerned, from
the revision and controul of Parliament. The only
rational view of the transaction seems to be, that the
continued payment by Great Britam of the interest
of this loan has been intended as a bribe to Russia
to keep quiet. The remittance was a kind of
protocol dorec, by which it was intimated to
Russia that in disregarding her guarantee, as Great
Britain and France had determined to disregard
theirs, she should lose nothing. " Agree with us
to abandon Holland," we can imagine Lord Palmer-
ston to have simpered, " and we shall pay notwith-
, standing the terms of the treat:a Have we not so
intoxicated the people by our delightful question of
Reform that they will be blind to every thing else ?"
It' the Noble Lord did say this, and it is probable that
he may have said something at least to this effect,
he must by this time begin to think that he has
trusted to the Reform intoxication rather too much.
It is a fine thing no doubt to talk of having pre_
served the peace of Europe; and up .n the whole it
is perhaps more favourable to Ministers to suppose
that they have given away a very large sum of mo-
ny t
for otßussia,disturbed,
orderthan to
in to
prevent the peace of Eu-
ropept the alterna-
tive of supposing that they have given it away
without motive of any kind. Yet they might as
well have ascertained that this gift to Russia would

he sufficient inducement to that Power to be as un-
just as themselves towards Holland, and as accom-
modating towards France. They might also, if it
were only for form'► sake, as well have applied to
the House of Commons for its sanction to their be-
nevolence ; and during the height of the Reform ma-
nia what is there that the House of Commons would
have dared to refuse them? Perhaps, however, they
were afraid of the people, and it may, we own, be rea-
sonably doubted whether the people of England would
have tamely endured to be told, even by Reform
Ministers, that they had thought it necessary to
bribe Russia into peace, and had given away the
money of the British nation lest the revolutionists
of the Continent should be obstructed in their
career. This is plainly what they have done, for,
notwithstanding the palaver of the Attorney and So-
licitor General, nobody can believe that the treaty
of 1815 was anything more than the cover of the
bribe. Fortunately for the country these incapable
and dishonest Ministers visibly approach the termi-
nation of their course. A decided majority (if the
dependents of Ministers be deducted from the divi-
sions) of both Houses of Parliament have, on the
same night, pronounced them to be unfit and un-
worthy any longer to administer the affairs of the
nation. The discovery might, we think, have been
made sooner. Happily, however, it is not yet too
late. They have had time deeply to injure, but not
entirely to ruin, the community.—Morning Post.

COURT OF CHANCERY, JAN. 28.

MILLER V. TRAVERS.

In this cage, which was beard before the Lonn CHAN-
CELLOR, assisted by the Lord Chief Baron of the Ex.
chequer and the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Coin-
man Plees, their Lordships came to the Court of Chancery
this morning, for the purpose of delivering judgment.

The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE pronounced the decisio❑ of
the Court. The cause was instituted by the plaintiff, who
claimed to be entitled under the will of the testator, Sir
John Edward Rigges Miller, to oertain estates in the
county of Clare, in Ireland. By that will, the testator
devised to the plaintiff all his estates in the city and county
of Limerick. The Vice-Chancellor had ordered an issue
to try whether the testator meant to give the plaintiff his
estates in the county of Clare, and whether a paper writ-
ing which it was said was intended to form one of the
sheets of the will, but had been accidentally omitted, did,
i❑ fact, constitute a part of the will. The case had conic
before this Court on appeal from the decision of his
Honour. The main question appeared to be, whether
parole evidence was admissible to show what was the in-
tention of the testator as to his estates in the county of
Clare. The facts relating to it were very simple. The
testator by his will gave his freehold and leasehold estates
in the county and city of Limerick to the plaintiff. He
had an estate in the city of Limerick, hut none in the
county. It was said that the estate in the city of
Limerick was so small and so encumbered, that the testator
could not mean to bequeath that alone, because it would
be inconsistent with the intention he expressed elsewhere;
and it was also alleged, that in the draught of the will
the words estates in the counties of Limerick and Clare
had been inserted, lut were left out by mistake in the
copy, which was afterwards engrossed, and with those
omissions the will was sent to the testator for execution.
If parole evidence could be at all admissible in such a case,
perhaps enough had been shown to incline the Court to its
admission here; hut, on consideration, they were of opi-
nion that as the will did take effect in passing the estate
in the city of Limerick, this case did not come within the
range of the (I, cisions to which the rule relative to latent
ambiguities applied. There was no ambiguity on the face
of the will, because it effectually passed, as it purported to
pass, an estate i❑ the city of Limerick, and there was
none in the county to pass. His Lordship then com-
mented on the cases cited in the argument, and said, that
o❑ the authority of those cases, as well as on reason and
principle, it would be useless to try the issue. As to the'
second point relating to the last sheet, that was a question
merely of fact, and further evidence was desirable : a snore
precise investigation might, therefore, he properly granted.
It had been contended at the hearing, that the estate i■
Clare would pass under the will as it now stood, but as
that question had not been fully argued, it remained for
further consideration.

The LORD CHANCELLOR fully concurred in the judg-
ment pronounced, and expressed his thanks to their Lord-
ships for the assistance they had rendered to him, and for
which the parties to the suit were also indebted. The
first part of the order of the Vice-Chancellor was dis-
charged by this decision, and the issue confined to the
question whether the omitted sheet had been intended to
form a pint of the will.
INGRAM V. WYATT.

Mr. FOLLETT followed on the same side as S;r Herbert
Jenner, and having concluded his argument, the case was
ordered to be resumed on Tuesday next.

EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.

Early on Saturday morning the inhabitants of
Chelmsford were alarmed by the report that a man
was lying dead in the church-yard, with his throat
dreadfully cut, which, on proceeding to the spot,
was found to be but too true. It appeared that the
unfortunate man committed the fatal act in the porch,
and, from the quantity of blood therein, must have
remained there some time before he went into the
yard, where he was found by the sexton, quite dead,
more than twenty yards distant from the porch,
with his head lying on a grave, upon which he had
fallen, no doubt, from exhaustion and loss of blood;
and it would seem that the act must have been com-
mitted on the Friday evening, as the porch doors
are not open till nine in the morning, long before
which the body was found. A gentleman of the
registry-office (which is over the porch) heard some
person enter it a little after six the previous evening,
and afterwards stagger out as if intoxicated, but he
heard no groan or other sound of distress, although
itt all probability it was then the deed was done,
There was found, at a short distance, a knife with
a blood-stained razor blade. He was a stranger at
Chelmsford, where he had been begging a day or
two previously, and was in distress. He was ad-
vanced in years, and, from his personal appearance,
seemed to have been in better circumstances, but
nothing was discovered upon his person, that we
have heard of, shelving either his name, calling, or
where he came from. Monday morning an inquest
was held at the poor-honse,when, amongst other evi-
dence, the following by John Harold was given:—
" I am assistant to Mr..J. Cremer, silversmith. I have
seen the body, and recognise it as that of a man who
came to Mr. Cremer's shop about eleven or twelve
o'clock on Wednesday last. The front part of his
head was bald, and he had on a speckled waiscoat.
He begged alms. I asked him where he was going.
He said to Edinburgh. I asked him where he came
from ; he said America, and that he had been living
in Canada. He also said that that he had been a
Writer to the Signet at Edinburgh, and there saved
a considerable sum of money. That he went out
to Canada, and speculated largely in the corn and
timber trades, and that he had an establishment at
Montreal. His address was very good indeed, and
he was evidently a person who had had a very supe-
rior education. He had, he said, lost his money by
speculating, and could not work—all he could work
at was his pen. He also told me that he had ar-
rived at Devonport about a month ago. I asked him
why, if he was going to Edinburgh, lie came into
E cie money,%e
him,ari
butd
dis
edncot?k
referrednHe
o wh
is%ar'ilditeorhetehtleo' aogd:en.ros efleired}iini(di not
the churchyard.
odue, whattorthe ansihi
come
m he to v I sawelduphishattd
r
aAirOdmshaaeride of :'''eOntOh
ar,
him after that. My belief at the time
verye good."eased s h
oTuhl d
be stripped, and his clothes closely searched, to seee
the manlier of •
was that he hadhisbeeanddaremssa,nanodf riersispecctloaltrhileitsy,,wfhroicmh
Coroner ythetl
appeared
hteorehigtvaevebeoerndeorrsigtii)naatll
if anything could be discovered respecting, him ;
but only a few blank papers were found. The Co-
roner then remarked upon the evidence ; and, after
a short consultation, the Jury returned a verdict that
the deceased destroyed himself in a fit of temporary
insanity.—Essex Standard.

- -
Sir RozERT PEEL, has evidently relinquished
his former position of leader of the House of commons to
3lr. CHOKER. It must have been very painful to the ex-
treme modesty of the latter, to find himself the political
successor of the Right Hon. Baronet, particularly as Sir
CHARLES WETHERELL presented equal claims to the situa-
tion, as being an inflexible Tory, and a perpetual opposer
of the Reform Bill in all its stages.—Morniny Advertiser.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

90W-STREET.

SaturdayUu a youth dressed in a most fashionable style,
a la Prince de Cumberland, with the short Hussar jacket,
was brought before TrzostAs HALLS, Esq. charged with
being one of the !moat expert pickpockets. in the western
part of the metropolis, and with cutting open the reticule
of a lady (who arrived that morning in a carriage at the
entrance of the new Strand Theatre, to take places at the
box-office), with intent to steal her purse. According to
the statement of the police, a more I.rececious little vil-
lain does not exist " upon the town." He dressed so re-
spectably, that he has been able to carry on a thriving
trade at the theatres for some time unsuspected ; and the
plunder obtained at places of public amusement by regular
pickpockets is so considerable, that a thief lately examined
at Bow-street-office offered Higgins, a policeman, 201.
weekly if he would allow him " the run" of Covent-
garden Theatre.
The policeman swore to the prisoner cutting the lady's
reticule. Several officers stated that the prisoner was a
reputed thief.
Prisoner—l have done nothing. I have robbed nobody,
and there is no one here to charge me with robbery. I
request that my property, taken by the officer, may be
returned to me.

Air. HALLS—You attempted to commit a robbery, and
you are known to be a common thief. You are on the
high road to the gallows ; and the sentence of the Court
is that you be confined two moaths in the House of
Correction.