The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-01 00:00:00

MUNICIPAL REFORM BILL.

RAMS GATE.
On the House of Lords going into the Municipal Bill on
Tuesday last, the 25th inst., the Duke of -Weilingtou is re-
ported to have said--
" That he had three clauses to propose, the object of which was to
continue the jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports precisely as it stood,
so that they might administer justice as usual."
Lord Lyndhurst said—
" That he had reason to believe that Margate and Ramsgate ob-
jected to being thrown into the jurisdiction of the county, owing to
the heavy expense which it would entail on them."
Lord 11Ielbourne, in reply, said—
" That the corporate towns only ought to be regulated by the
Bill, and that the other towns ieparate from those should be thrown
into the county."
We know not upon what grounds the tovo first Noble Lords
formed their opinion that Ramsgate objected tO b. 4 the own into
the county; the following proceedings in that toffn on the
subject of the Municipal Bill, are in direct opposition to a wish
to continue subject to Sandwich as at present:—
" At a meeting of the inhabitants of Ramsgate, holden on June
22, it was resolved that it is inexpedient for the inhabitants of
Ramsgate to take any steps towards being united to the borough of
SandWich for any municipal purposes whatever.' "
Copies of this resolution were transmitted to the Members
for East and West Kent, to the Members for Sandwich, to
Lord John Russell, and to the Mayor of Sandwich:
The inhabitants of Ramsgate, the population of which town,
in 1801, was 3,110, and according to the census in 1831
amounted to 7,985, and at the present moment may be esti-
mated at 9,000 (while that of Sandwich, which, in 1831, was
only 3,136, and is now considered below that number), are
naturally enough desirous of being emancipated from the
borough of Sandwich for municipal and all other matters, as
far as they can be, as they would find it much more convenient
to be released from its jurisdiction.
On June 27th, a letter was addressed to Mr. Plumptre, one
of the Members for East Kent, in reply to his inquiry as to
the wishes of the town, stating that the inhabitants of Rams-
gate were desirous of being severed absolutely and entirely from
Sandwich as to municipal power.:—
" That with regard to judicial power they were not as yet in
possession of sufficient information to enable them to decide on the
advantages or disadvantages of remaining under the jurisdiction of
Sandwich, but that any attempt on the part of the corporation of
that borough to retain its present irresponsible control over the
Liberty rates, would meet with the most determined opposition from
the inhabitants of this town."

Is it not probable that the Members for Sandwich had some
communication with the Duke of Wellington on the subject of
the Bill? If so, how could any opinion be entertained that
Ramsgate was desirous of continuing under Sandwich ?
Ramsgate contributes 5-7ths of the Liberty-rates, to which
Sandwich pays rather more than -7th, the remainder being
levied upon the other limits ; and under the present system of
dependence on this decayed borough, whenever any vacancy
occurs in the Customs, Post-office, any other Government
department at Ramsgate, a Sandwich person is always ap-
pointed to the office through the influence of the Members of
that borough. It is worthy of notice that when the Town-
clerk of Sandwich gave his evidence before the House of
Lords as to the appropriation of the corporation funds, he
stated that a large sum (8,0001. we believe) had been expended
towards building the gaol there, when, in fact, it was merely
a loan on excellent security, and at a good rate of interest ;
and he forgot to mention that Ramsgate was taxed towards
repaying the advance in the before-mentioned proportions of
5 parts out of 7.

On Thursday evening a petition signed by 250 inhabitants
of Ramsgate, was forwarded to Lord Melbourne, to be pre-
sented to the House of Peers, praying that " by the enact-
ments of the Municipal Reform Bill, Ranzsgate nuzy be wholly
freed from the municipal control and judicial jurisdiction df
the corporation of Sandwich."
* See Morning Herald, of August 26.
j See Standard; of same date.

Preparations are being made for the arrival of the
Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria on Saturday next at
Bishopthorpe Palace, the residence of his Grace the Arch-
bishop of York. The Lord Mayor of York will meet their
Royal Highnesses there, with an address from the corporation.
It is now ascertained that their Royal Highnesses will honour
the Earl and Countess of Harewood with a visit, and Hare-
wood House, which is permitted to be shown daily to strangers,
is ordered to be closed for a fortnight to ordinary visiters.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge
and children are expected to pay a visit to her father, the
Lar.dgrave of Hesse Cassel, on their way to Hanover.
The Duke de Nemours, and several friends, and
the Duke of Cambridge, were below the bar yesterday to hear
Lord John Russell's opening speech on the Lords' amend-
ments to the Municipal Bill.
BELFAST ELECTION.—A petition has been already
forwarded to the House of Commons against the return, the
result of which cannot be doubtful.— Cork Reporter.
DISTRESS IN MAYO.—We have extreme gratifi-
cation in being able to announce that the progress of famine
has, at length, been stayed at Mayo and the adjacent Islands,
where, during the last two or three months, many unfortunate
beings have actually died of starvation.—Cork Reporter.
EVERY MAN HIS OWN GRAVEDIGGER.—We
are glad to learn, from it paragraph in the Inverness Courier,
that a Committee has been appointed by the Town Council of
Inverness, to consider what means may be adopted for lessening
the expense attendant on funerals. The poorer inhabitants
complain of the charges "'Jade for grave-digging, and request
permission to perform that duty themselves; under the inspec-
tion of a proper .officer.—Aberdeen Ob.s.e7 ver.

passage :
p On detection, the author of the Modern Dunciad,' shall
be iat) two chairs—his breeches and drawers taken down
7-and his youth renewed by repeated applica-
tionby his own Itanni>,
be,:ther-bent, which Mrs. Ambrose has of a bundt
up cream. A young medical
hi-
therto employed in ivisipp:ct
# 13„,„1Sul Irishman'—shall stand by
student—a cousin of the
to inform us when the culprit bras. been flogged within half
ess will then be ro-
an inch of his life. The amiable monin,
impiemeni pf justice to the
quested to desist, and commit the
.
flames. The patient will then be carried by the , .:10k into the
kitchen, and laid on the dresser, with his back to tht, ceiling,
and the scullion will rub in pepper and salt, to prevent mer,:tifi-
cation. The lips of the leading wound having been sewed up,
they will be held together by ligaments of sticking-plaster,
under which is deposited a slip of paper, cut from the notes to
'The Modern Dunciad,' inscribed with his crime. Who was
lit,rd patron of Sir ,Ytralter Scott? England. Who
ruined him ? His kind cou'airymen, the -Scotch We shall
then order him to be seated, and take some tripe—for no base
parsimony shall ever compel Scotland to starve a critic from
Cockaigne on a visit to her shores. As soon as he has quelled
the rage of hunger, we shall request him to give us a lesson in
elocution—to read with his own proper emphasis his own con-
cluding note."
, The " Science of Swindling" is an ironical dissertation, the
specious gravity of which is well sustained throughout.
"Fragments of a Journal in Bretagne," unlike the gene-
rality of travellers' journals, contains' much novelty in the
way of observation, and considerable smartness of expres-
sion. 'ci;p hasty description of Jersey is capital :
" Its atmospil,:re is impregnated with sea.' It sleeps, in-
deed, in a complete .dine vapour bath. Every cabbage and
onion on the island is alre,;.`ly pickled. The ribs on the living
cow or sheep might be packet,. up, and sent, without further
preparation, on the circumnavigattn: of the globe. The very
evening dew is profitable here ; and tn.: man can return from
his idlest lounge, 'under the vesper star,' without bringing
home his own salt. Even on the single eveni,c7 of my halt
on the island, I saw a pair of lovers who had sen,`imentally
loitered a little beyond sunset, return like the princess in the
" Arabian Nights,' frosted from top to bottom."
There is the smack of the true Attic salt in this piquant
description, which is, besides, remarkable for its truth ; so
much so, indeed, that we have heard that every foreigner
who visits Jersey, before he
,has resided there a year,
hardens, like Lot's wife, into a pillar of salt, which will at
once account for the circumstance of none but flying visits
being ever paid to the island. " William Pitt" is a fine
display of ambitioni 'common-place, containing not one ar-
gument or speculation, that has not been suggested, at least,
once a week, by, all the Conservative journals in the king-
dom; In the translations from the " Greek Anthology "
we recognize the hand of a graceful and practised scholar.
We wish, by the bye, as Christopher is so fond—infinitely
to his credit—of classic translations, he would favour us
with one from Ovid'S beautiful story of Ceyx and Halcyone,
the most beautiful even he ever wrote, full of eloquence,
1'11;1 of pathos, and. what is very unusual with him, display-
ing in tilz. conduct of the catastrophe, consummate dramatic
skill. Why 41)es . not , the author of " Unimore," who is
remarkable for the; luxuriance of his imagination and the
felicity of his style, turn his attention to the similarly gifted
(though in an inferior degref) Ovid ? " Departure and
Return " is a pleasing tale, but the leading idea is taken
from a novel published two or three yeai,s since, entitled the
" Old Maid."