The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We are nut altogether surprised, on a subject
of so much anxiety, that a slight degree of im-
patience should be expressed by the friends of
Reform to sec the Peers requisite for carrying
the measure made forthwith. "Is the list of
the new Peers out ?" has been frequently de-
manded. However, the public will recollect
that a man, generally speaking, can marry but
once, and he is then a married man for the rest
of his life. So, when the new Peers are made,
they are Peers ever afterwards, and they will be
made in time enough to beget an heritage of
freedom to their countrymen for future ages ; so
that a short delay at the beginning of their career
can be of no moment. They are to be made or
created to carry an important measure, and who
knows how many will be wanted (scattered as I
the body is at present) for the occasion ? Let
the re-assembling of Parliament bring together
all the Members of the Upper House, and ren-
der it practicable to ascertain the sentiments of
each, and there will then be no hesitation, from
motives of delicacy, in securing, by one com-
prehensive creation, a majority in favour of the
people's rights. Let not, therefore, the enemies
of the great measure indulge a hope, or its
friends feel an apprehension, that there is any
faltering. Every thing is in train to ensure
success. An error with respect to. one Peer's
vote makes a miscalculation of two upon the di-
vision : an intentional or accidental absence has
only half the effect. The power of the Crown
will be exerted, not lavished ; and this fact may
serve to assuage the fears of those who fancy the
House of Peers is to be deluged with new Mem-
bers.—Times.

It has become an almost universal impression,
that the Magistrates of Bristol, by their criminal
neglect of all rational and legal means for avert-
ing the outrages which they ought to have fore-
seen in that great city,—and, foreseeing, were
bound by every tie of duty to provide against,—
have been the immediate and undoubted authors
of the worst results of the October tumults ; in-
cluding amongst them the much-lamented fate
of the amiable officer whose remains lie still un-
buried. Had a large power of constables been
prepared by the authorities, and had that power
been instantly put in motion, supported by even
the smallest demonstration of military force in
its rear, the multitude would have been checked
at the very outset ; the lives of those who perished
under the tardy and deplorable application of the
sabre would have been saved ; and the dreadful ex-
amples of capitaipunishment, about to be furnished
in the persons of the five unhappy convicts, need
not have disgraced the penal records of Bristol.
Even after the rioting had commenced, it was
several hours before the Magistrates, who had
left the scene of their jurisdiction destitute of all
protecting civil power, thought of authorizing
Colonel l3rereton to take upon himself the guar-
dianship of the city. We therefore concur with
the great majority of respectable persons who
have fallen in our way, that the conduct of these
same Bristol corporation gentlemen must be
made the subject of a formal inquiry by the law
officers of the Crown, or at the instance of the
Commons House of Parliament : otherwise we
may expect to find the calamities of Bristol re-
peated
in .50 other quarters, and as many occa-
sions taken, through the perhaps designed ab-
sence of a constitutional civil force, to bring the
British soldiery into direct personal conflict with
the people, that thus an habitual exasperation
against the populace may be created in the mili-
tary mind of England, and the groundwork laid
for a yrompt recourse to the bayonet and sabre
as the ultimo ratio of the Tory faction, when-
ever it shall (and its hopes are not yet extin-
guished) resume, which God forbid ! the Go-
vernment of this ill-starred realm.—Times.

The Parliamentary campaign was re-opened
last night. By a sort of tacit understanding
the subject of Reform has been seldom brought
forward of late, in order that the period of the
holiday's might be exempt from excitement and
agitation. The repose will have given fresh
vigour to the combatants. We must now pre-
pare for a desperate struggle ; for it must not
be supposed that the boroughmongers will yield
to anything short of a stern determination on
the part of the people not to be trifled with.
The Charles-street Club, and the Dorsetshire
Tories and Parsons, have not found it conve-
nient to support Lord Ashley, and that Noble-
man last night stated to the House, that he
should not be able to resist the petition against
his return without incurring an expellee which
he was not in a condition to afford. Report, in-
deed, says, that the attorneys, who, like the
publicans, are always glad to encourage an oppo-
sition, will be severe sufferers on account of their
outlays in the contest, on the faith of Tory
liberality. The outstanding bills are enormous.
One of our contemporaries (the Globe) states
the expences of the contest on both sides at
80,000/. Mr. Ponsoliby has himself paid
thirty thousand pounds, and ten thousand pounds
have been borne by the freeholders of the county.
We have heard, that though Lord Ashley has
renounced the intention of opposing the petition,
some of his Tory constituents intend to oppose
it. They had better reflect in due time on the
pc4ctice of the House, which always views unfa-
vourably the interference of third parties to pro-
long a contest renounced by a candidate himself.
and usually subjects such parties to heavy costs.
If any of them have more money than they
know what to do with, they ought to consider
the case of the tradesmen, whose accounts re-'
main to be discharged. Mr. Croker furnished a
good example of " Much Ado about Nothing."
On presenting a petition from Helstone, com-
plaining of the erroneous mode in which Lieu
tenant Drummond had proceeded in his calcu-
lation, he charged Ministers with having inten-
tionally delayed a number of papers necessary
to the discussion in the Committee, in order
that their opponents might not be possessed of
the requisite information ; and he started a va-
riety of objections to some of the returns, with-
out any justification in fact. He complained,
for instance, that the total population of no one
county was given ; indeed, there was no total
whatever given. The various divisions of the
several counties had been taken, and the popu•
lation of each division given separately, although
assuredly the professed purpose of the returns
:4-'was to spew the total amount of the population
in each county. These cavils furnished,accord-
ing to Mr. Croker, a substantial reason for the
delay of a week or two. Lord John Russell
coolly informed him, that the returns io
question were not prepared for the purpose
of showing the
population of the counties at
large, because that had already been ascer-
tained in other returns before the House, but
with a view to the division of the counties. Our
readers may remember that Mr. Croker, whose
forte does not seem to be skill in calculation, bid
the assurance to hazard an attack on the principle
on which Lieutenant Drummond had made the

calculations. Lord J. Russell reminded th e
confident Ex-Secretary, " That he had pledged
himself to prove the ignorance of Lieutenant
Drummond, and to show that the same results
to the relative value of the boroughs set down
in the schedules, will be obtained by the simple
addition of the population, and the houses, and
taxes, as had been arrived at by Mr. Drum-
mond's more elaborate calculation. Now he
(Lord J. Russell) thought that if the Right
Hon. Gentleman would not incur the imputation
of ignorance which he cast upon Mr. Drummond
—an imputation which might be thought not a
little presumptuous, especially as that gentleman
is known only for his great learning in that par-
ticular department of science." Mr. Croker
twisted and turned, and talked an amazing deal
of nonsense, and at last confessed he knew
nothing about the matter. Mr. Warburton ad-
vised him to refresh his memory a little, by look-
ing into Cocker, or any of the vulgar Treatises
on Arithmetic, for the use of children, before
he again meddled with such questions. Mr.
Hunt counted out the House on the Anatomical
Science Bill, so that the arrangements with re-
gard to the next stage of the Reform Bill were
not fixed.—Morning Chronicle.

Parliament has resumed its labours, and, as
will be seen from our report, even the first day
of their meeting did not pass over without some
skirmishing on the Reform Bill. The first alit!.
sion to it arose out of a very novel proceeding
on the part of Lord Ashley, who candidly
avowed his inability to resist the petition against
his return ; not because his right was defective,
but because his purse was not long enough to
maintain the right. Nothing could more clearly
demonstrate the necessity of some Reform than
a statement such as this; and Mr. Hume took
advantage of it to lecture the Anti-Reformers
• upon the one hand, and his Majesty's Govern-
ment upon the other—the latter of whom, he ,
hoped, would introduce some measure or some
provision into the Bill to lessen the expense of
elections. The Anti-Reformers seem to have
taken the hint more readily than the Ministers.
Sir Charles Wetherell expressed concurrence,
for once in his life, with Mr. Hume ; but there
was no pledge from the Treasury Bench that
the new topic would be added to the long list
already awaiting discussion. There can be but
little doubt that the present Reform Bill, or any
Reform Bill, which, by making the House of Com-
mons what it ought to be, the representative ofthe
people, would interfere with the system of corrupt
influence, must also contribute to diminish the ex-
pense attending elections, for the:price ofa seat de-
pends in a great degree on the value of a seat,
and the value has a direct reference to the good
things which it can command for its possessor
at the hands of a jobbing Administration. But,
though much is likely to be effected by the ge-
neral
measure towards the correction of this
monstrous evil, something more specific should
be attempted. The enactment of a bribery oath,
to be taken by the candidates themselves, has
been often suggested. Would it not be likely
to prove effectual ? Those who think not en-
tertain a worse opinion of our legislators, elect
or expectant, than we should be willing to adopt.
The next allusion to the Reform Bill was on an
attempt made by Mr. Croker to postpone the
Committee, which stands appointed for Friday.
There are many difficulties connected with the
• details of a Bill -ntended to regulate the whole
representation of the country, which an expert
debater, like Mr. Croker, knows how to take
advantage of. We may therefore conclude,
though he did not succeed in his endeavour last
night, that, as delay appears to be his object, he
will neither want nor emit opportunities of
throwing impediments in the way of despatch.
The distinction, however, between necessary
and vexatious delay is, we hope, plain enough to
disappoint many of the Right Hon. Gentleman's
intended interludes. His proposition last night
was founded on the feasible pretext of waiting
for documents ; but the documents referred only
to parts of the Bill, they supplied but a lame
argument for postponing the whole measure, and
the attempt was consequently defeated. What
followed on the question of Mr. Warburton's
Bill, for which we refer our readers to the de-
bate, affords but little prospect of any immediate
arrangement for the supply of anatomical sub-
jects.—Morning Herald.

Whatever may be the state of opinion with
regard to the right or propriety of punishing
certain crimes with death, we presume there can
be but one opinion as to the necessity of guilt
being clearly and indisputably proved, before
the dreadful sentence of the law shall in any
case be carried into execution. This principle
—to which no ►man, however sanguinary, will,
at the present day, refuse his assent—is often
fearfully and flitally violated in practice. There
is not a year that passes in which some persons
are not executed of whose guilt great and reason-
able doubts are entertained. This is particularly
the case when any species of crime which in-
spires public terror happens to be prevalent—for
then it is difficult to divest Courts of Justice
and Juries of that passion and alarm which dis-
turb the clearness of the understanding, and too
often make prejudice supply the deficiencies of
proof. The history of Criminal Jurisprudence
shows, from the earliest times down to the pre-
sent day, that the public mind is sometimes in
that state which renders accusation almost, if
not entirely, tantamount to evidence of guilt.
This has been the case, of late years, in the agri-
cultural districts, where the atrocious crime of
wilful burning—or, as it is technically called,
arson—has spread alarm among that class of men
who are generally called upon to decide, as
Jurors, upon the guilt or innocence of persons
clic) stand accused of crime by which the pro-
duce of a year may be reduced to ashes between
the setting and the rising of the sun. The
chances of an innocent moan being able to clear
himself of a dreadful accusation under such
circumstances are considerably decreased when
rewards are offered for the production of evi-
dence—because such rewards operate as a
direct temptation to that most malignant
sort of perjury which swears away human
life for the price of blood. Accordi►►gly, since
arson became frequent, several doubtful cases of
conviction have occurred, and in every one, or in
all but ono, of those doubtful cases execution
has followed, as if the present Government had
come to the resolution to take time risk of hang-
ing persons by possibility innocent in cases of
arson rather titan advise a reprieve, upon the
ground of there being cause to entertain rea-
sonable doubts of guilt. Witness the case of
Dyke, who was executed at Pennenden-heath
about a year ago, on slight and most unsatisfac-
tory evidence ; and that of Ewens, executed at
Clieltrisloal soon afterwards, although there were
laid before Lord Melbourne documents afford-
ing, in our opinion, strong presumptive grounds
of innocence—and several have since suffered
death upon evidence by no means convincing or
conclusive, Of the five men convicted of rioting

'and burning at Colwick-hall and Beeston-mills
there are no less than four of whose guilt the
proof is exceedingly doubtful. On this subject
an intelligent correspondent of a Morning Paper,
who writes from Nottingham, has a passage
which we give in his own words. After paying
a suitable tribute of praise to the considerate and
dispassionate conduct of the Learned Judges, he
says, " Still, with all those feelings operating
upon me, I cannot help wishing that they had
not selected so large a number of victims for the
vengeance of the law. If the infliction of terror
on the multitude, and not mere blind, indiscri-
minating revenge, be the only excuse for the sa-
crifice of human life by the hands of the execu-
tioner which can bear a moment's examination,
surely much less than the deliberate destruction
of five human beings will answer all the ends of
public justice. Thank God! it is not for me
to say which of these parties are more or less
guilty : still I cannot hide from myself that there
are strong ,;rounds for doubting even the guilt
of some of the parties now exposed to the ex-
treme penalties of the law." We have not space to
go into the particulars of the examination of the
evidence in each case; but the result of that
examination is such as to excite considerable
doubts of the guilt of the four unfortunate men—
Berkins, Shelton, Hearson and Beck. The
fifth man, Armstrong, pleaded his youth in ex-
tenuation of his offence. Yet this is the sacri-
fice or holocaust about to be made, not to " au-
gust and god-like Justice," but to vindictive law,
under the Special Commission at Nottingham—. '
namely, one man so young as to be a fit object
for mercy, and four others whose criminality is so
doubtful as to make it a matter of extreme peril
whether their execution would not bring upon
the Government the fearful responsibility of
shedding innocent blood. We may briefly state,
and we call the attention of the Home Secretary
to the subject, hoping that the obstinate error
r committed in the case of Richard Lewis, at
Merthyr-Tydvil, will not be repeated, that Per-
kins was convicted as one of the rioters at Col-
wick Hall, on the unsupported evidence of a
witness whose credit was successfully impeached ;
and not only was the evidence of this witness in
every material point unsupported, but it was
actually contradicted by respectable persons, who,
as the correspondent to whom we have referred
states, had better opportunities of knowing the
(-
truth ; and, indeed, the most material part f his
n,evaesd
sNcooiritnrattolicbtyionoi.ily Aa sstiongSlehehoii
evidence was in itself so highly improbable as
hsciasricdeelynttioty
wit-
ness, under circumstances on which no positive
reliance can be placed—he not pretending to
have seen him for more than a moment, through
the confusion and smoke of a riot and conflagra-
tion, being, as he said, at twenty yards distance;
but, as it has since been ascertained, at more
than thirty yards. In the cases of Hearson and
Beck it is perhaps enough to say, without going
into any particulars, that the conviction of both
was procured by the evidence of two accomplices,
which " was shown to be so unworthy of credit
that on subsequent trials two juries refused to
convict upon it." If human life be taken on
such testimony, the law will be less terrible to
guilt than dangerous to the lives of innocent
men.—Morning Herald.
At the commencement of the present session
of Parliament the Ministers of the Crown, who
wanted something to redeem their innumerable
blunders and failures, thought proper to com-
municate to the country, by a channel no less
solemn and august than that of the King's
speech, that the arrangement of the separation of
Holland and Belgium was finally concluded, so
far, at least, as the Five Powers and the King
of the Belgians were concerned. In communi-
cating this we now feel ourselves entitled to say
that his Majesty's Ministers imparted, whether
wilfully or not, a falsehood to the country. It
was not true that the Five Powers had agreed
upon the terms of separation. They have not
even yet agreed ; and we venture to say that
they never will agree, unless the revolutionary
feeling of the Governments of France and Eng-
land should' so far have abated as to admit of
something like justice being done to the King of
the Netherlands. The senseless and unfounded
boast of the King's Speech is in the following
words

" The arrangement which I announced to you at the
close of the last Session for the separation of the States of
Holland and Belgium, has bee❑ followed by a treaty be-
tween the Five Powers and the King of the Belgians,
which I have directed to be laid before you as soon as
the ratifications shall have been exchanged.
" A similar treaty has not yet been agreed to by the
King of the Netherlands ; but I trust the period is not
dist int when that Sovereign will see the necessity of ac-
ceding to an arrangement in which the Plenipotentiaries
of the Five Powers have unanimously concurred, and which
has been framed with the most careful and impartial atten-
tion to all the interests concerned." _

In this statement it is difficult to say whether
wilful deception or gross ignorance is most con-
spicuous. The King of the Netherlands was
not likely to see any necessity of acceding to an
arrangement which could have no validity until
he had acceded to it. The unanimous concur-
rence of the Plenipotentiaries oldie Five Powers
was worthless, inasmuch as it was certain
that two or three of the Five Powers, not
having been revolutionized into injustice,
would refuse to ratify the treaty until the
King of the Netherlands had acceded to it.
Why then introduce this treaty into the King's
Speech at all ? Why, above all, introduce it to
public inspection as a structure wanting only the
audition of an insignificant ornament, when in
truth the keystone of the edifice was wanting,
without which it must crumble, as in fact it has
crumbled, into a heap of ruins ? The Emperors
of Russia and Austria have, it appears, positively
refused to ratify the treaty which it has cost
Prince Talleyrand and Lord Palmerston so much
pains to concoct. The King of Prussia will only
ratify it upon the condition that all the Powers
whose Plenipotentiaries have signed it do the
same. So that at last it turns Out, after the boast
of Ministers, promulgated through the medium
of the King's Speech, tli.tt the treaty is nothing.
more than a project of the revolutionized Govern-
ment- of France, and the revolutionary Govern-
ment of England.We described this precious treaty
some weeks ago as a piece of waste paper.
Who can now describe it as anything more
If six weeks ago Ministers trusted that the
• period was not distant when the King of the
Netherlands would see the necessity of acceding
to an arrangement in which the Plenipotentiaries
of the Five Powers had unanimously concurred,
we now in our turn trust that the period is dis-
tant when that upright Sovereign will be reduced
to the necessity of acceding to an arrangement
which has no Power in its favour but Prince
Talleyrand and Lord Palmerston, and the revo-
lutionized or revolutionary Governments which
they respectively represent. To boast of having done
something when nothing is done is the resource of
impotence. To say that parties are satisfied when
they neither are or ought to be so is the expe-
pedient of dishonest umpires. The union of
Belgium and Holland was guaranteed by the

Five Powers, and to absolve those Powers
from the -obligations which that guarantee im-
plied required the full and complete assent of
both Holland and Belgium. The guarantee was
secured by solemn treaty, and to say, as the Ple-
nipotentiaries in Conference by some of their
recent Protocols have said, that the obligation
can be released by means less formal and solemn
than a treaty, is in effect to say that there never
can be any difficulty in getting rid of obligations
which are felt or supposed to be inconvenient.
What has England, or France, or Austria, or
Russia, or Prussia to do with the language which
the King of the Netherlands may have thought
proper to address to the States-General of Holland
or of Belgium ? What have the proclamations
of the Prince of Orange to do with the matter ?
Have the Five Powers been exonerated from
their guarantee by a treaty as formal and solemn
as that by which they undertook it ? This
is the single question. They might get out,
as shabby people are never at a loss to get out,
of an agreement which they find burdensome.
But if they will not do justice to the
King of the Netherlands, why attempt to re-
strain him from doing justice to himself? Terms
of separation are offered him which he thinks
unjust. He very properly says, " No; I can,
without the assistance which, nevertheless, if
required it you are bound to give, recover my
dominion." Can any thing more monstrous be
imagined than that those who are bound to
protect him in the possession of his territories
should turn round and tell him that they mean
not only to refuse the assistance they have
pledged themselves to afford, but that they will
prevent him from exerting the independent
strength for the maintenance of his right which
Providence has placed in his hands? The refusal
of a majority of the Great Powers to ratify a
treaty of which the scope and object were so
iniquitous rescues the character of European di-
plomacy from a stain which would have been
indelible. This gross breach of faith, as it was
meditated only in deference to the revolutionary
spirit, will now be the exclusive trophy of revo-
lutionary governments.— Morning Post.

Our readers will remember that we mentioned
yesterday, that according to information which
had been furnished to us, but which we did not
authenticate, the names and titles of some of
the new Peers would make their appearance in
the Gazette of last night, No such list, how-
ever, (lid appear, nor were we very sanguine upon
the subject. Our information has, in fact, led
us all along to entertain the belief, that the in-
tended creation would not take place until it was
no longer possible to delay it, or useful to con-
ceal it; and in that belief we still remain.
There is only one ground, however, on which
the policy of such delay can be defended,
and that is that the creation of new Peers,
previous to the demonstration of the necessity
for their creation, might tend to delay the
his Majesty's
of t a
esty,le Reform
siMinisters sters and
ne e tdol e
sesmbdeafreriaws
es
of their conduct in the matter ; for, in every
other respect the immediate creation of the ne-
cessary number of Peers would be a God-send
to the country, whose trade and prosperity have
so sadly sunk under the uncertainty, whether the
Bill would be ultimately carried, or convulsion
and anarchy ensue from its rejection. We ac-
knowledge the validity of the reason, however,
and shall endeavour to wait in patience for the
time which his Majesty and his Ministers may
deem to be the most convenient for ridding the
public of its uncertainty, and ensuring the suc-
cess of the Reform Bill. With regard to the
second point in our correspondent's letter—
" That the King has found no difficulty in select-
ing a sufficient number of persons willing to accept
the intended mark ofdistinction"—who can doubt
the fact ? Was there ever in this country a more
popular, or a more discriminating and revered
Sovereign—or was a creation of Peers ever S 6
loudly called for, at any period of our history, as
now ? And will not the new Peers be equally,
nay, more, honourable than those who now have
the advantage of them, created, as they will be,
by such a King, and called for, as they are, by
the unanimous voice of the public ? Talk of
degradation, indeed, as some Peers, not five
years old, have lately done, with respect to the
new Peers—why we tell them, and the public
will also tell them, that it is impossible to de-
grade the House of Peers in public estimation
by any new creations, and that the great source
of its stability, and not of its degradation, will
be in the infusion into it of men known to the
public as men of honour and talent, and who will
only have been honoured with their titles because
they are the friends alike of the King and the
people.—Morning Advertiser.

EAST INDIA COMPANY'S SALE OF IN-
DlGO..—.Yesterday the: Company's sale of Indigo com-
menced at the India House. There was nut a very full
attendance of buyers on the opening of the sale, hut as the
quantity declared is small the demand was active. The
total quantity declared is 3,991 chests, of which 3,827
are Bengals. The prices obtained yesterday have
ranged, as far as the sale has proceeded, from 4s. 6d. to
10. 10d. per lb., which are higher prices than those sus-
tained at last sale for the same quality.

SPICES.—The periodical sale of Spices, by
order of the Lords of the Treasury, for the Ceylon Go-
vernment, took place on Monday afternoon, and was fully
attended.. The quantity of Cinnamon declared was 1,400
bales and 116 chests. The first pile (119 bales), taxed at
6s. 6d., sold at from 6s. 7d. to Bs. 10d. per lb. ; the se-
cond pile (496 bales) were taxed at ss. 6,1., and sold at
frcsin ss. 7d. to 7s. 2d. per lb. The thin! pile (about
700 bales), which were taxed at 4s. 6tl. for the best sorts,
sold at ss. sd. to 6s. ad. ; the second qu,lity was taxed
at 3s. Gd., and sold at from 49. Id. to 4s. I Id. per lb. ;
and the third was taxed at 2s. 6J., and sold at 4+. to 4s. 4d.
per lb. Subsequently Nutmegs went off at front 2s. 2d.
to 94. 3d. ; Mace, front 4.. al to Lid. ad. ; Cloves, from
s. 2.1. to Is. 3d. ; Java Coffee, from 525. to 525. 6d.,
The Cinnamon went off very briskly, and Spices in ge-
neral are firm.
It appears that in the plague, which cut off
more than 1,000,000 of people in Upper and Ltwer
E2ept, nut a single oilman, or dealer in oil, had suffered ;
and also that alum; the Barbary coast, where the plague is
there never
f, iglntfu', watt known krnoir anyti:'enoiirlnst't4onrcees:ltwitg in the
i
of the
porterscoolie=, or
least ,tfected by the disorder. The phenomenon (so to
' .pe„k) may be the same in cholera, for any thing that we
: who u
have yet heard about it. Let your able correspondent at
Sunderland ascertain whether this exception now holds in
the north. If it does, we have a simple preventive within
our reach, and so obvious, too, that any one can see it.—
Times.

ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.—There is, per-
no portion of the globe that offers, at the present
moment, a spectacle so full of interest to the contempla-
tive mind as the islands scattered over the vast ocean in-
terspersed between the Asiatic and American Continent,
Half a century ago many of these islands were scarcely
known, even by name, to the civilized world ; and most
of them, though indeed casually seen by early mariners,
had never been explored by Europe till the expeditions
equipped by the British Government in the early part of
the leign of GEORGE HI, and the indefatigable rese,iichts
of our great circumnavigator, Captain COOK, exhibited
their inhabitants in all the freshness of a new discovery,
and opened to the Philosopher a fertile theme of inquiry
and specubtion. M. SzEwartis "Narrative of his Visit
to the South Seas," just published in two volumes, not
only shows the existing condition of the various islands,
but introduces to us scenes and characters such as no other
traveller bas bad it in his power to describe.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

BOIV-STREET.

Yesterday James Sparrow, a salesman in Covent-
garden-market, 'vas brought in custody before Mr.
MlNstim, by Mr. Thomas, Superintendent of Pc-
lice, charged, on suspicion, with having been acces-
sory to the death of a woman who had passed as
his wife. _ _

Mr. Thomas stated, that one of his sergeants had
that morning reported to him that a woman with
whom the prisoner had cohabited was found sus-
pended by the neck and quite dead, in the room
occupied by the deceased, at No. 23, Great Wild-
street, Lincoln's-inn-fields. In consequence of this
information, he (Mr. Thomas) went to the house,
and horn circumstances which he there ascertained,
he felt it his duty to take the prisoner into custody.
The prisoner, who appeared somewhat agitated,
had lived with the deceased for the last sixteen years,
during which time she was constantly in the habit
of absenting herself front home, pawning his pro-
petty, and getting drunk with the produce. She
went away an Wednesday last, and he saw no mote
of her until Monday night ut ten o'clock, when he
was informed by some of the lodgers in the house
that she was lying across the landing overhead, so
drunk as to be unable to walk. He immediately
had her conveyed to her own apartment, and at seven
o'clock that morning he got up for the purpose of
going to Covent-garden-market, but before he left
the room, be asked the deceased whether it was her
intention to absent herself again from him. She re-
plied that she was unable to get up then, but he
might, if he pleased, lock the room door until he
came back to breakfast, and she promised she would
get up in the mean time, and prepare some soup and
tea for their breakfast. He accordingly locked the
door, and went to the market intending to return at
nine o'clock. It was one o'clock, however, before
he returned, and on entering the room he saw that
the bed was made, but not seeing the deceased, he
conceived that site might have hid herself under
the bed, as she had often done before. He accord-
ingly looked under the bed, and on raising his eyes
saw the deceased suspended by a rope in front of
the looking-glass, He immediately cut her down,
arid found that she was quite dead. The prisoner
added, that about a fortnight before he locked her
up in the same manner, to keep her from making
away with his property and converting it into gin.
Mr. Thomas said, it was very odd that the pri-
soner, if his own account were true, did not imme-
diately on his entering the room see the deceased,
as she was suspended nearly opposite the door.
Perhaps the prisoner could account for a wound
which he perceived on the right side of the head of
the deceased.

The pi isoner had no knowledge how the wound
was inflicted, unless the knife had done it in cutting
her down, or her head had come in contact with the
corner of the bedstead as the body fell on the floor.
He then repeated that the deceased was a most aban-
doned drunken woman, and considered it very hard
that he should be taken into custody, because she
had chosen to commit suicide.

Mr. Thomas said that the appearance of the de-
ceased did not warrant the character she had re-
ceived from the prisoner. She was a very respec-
table looking woman, clean, and decent in her dress,
and had no appearance, as far as he could judge,
of her having been addicted to drink.
Mr. MINSHULL asked Mr. Thomas to describe in
what manlier the rope was fixed round the neck of
the deceased.

Mr. Thomas produced the rope, and pointed the
attention of the Magistrate to the peculiar manner
in which it was knotted. The cord had been passed
three times found the neck of the deceased, who, if
the act was done by herself, must have stood upon
the side of the bed in order to reach the hook to
which the rope was fastened.
Mr. MiNsfium, observed, that the circumstances
of the case, as related by the defendant himself, were
so far suspicious as to warrant him in detaining the
prisoner until the result of the Coroner's Jury should
be made known.

The prisoner was accordingly directed to be de-
tained in custody at the police station in Covent-
garden for the present.
An application was made for his liberation in the
course of the day, but the Magistrate adhered to his
former decision.

A gentleman, named Burgess, who resides in
Kentish-town, came in thecourse of the morning, to
give information of his having been robbed, on the
previous night, of his gold watch, chain, and seals,
at the box-entrance of the Covent-garden theatre, by
a group of well-dressed thieves, by whom himself
and family were surrounded and hustled. The watch
was capped and jewelled, and was made at Paris by
the celebrated Brequet, whose name was written on
the dial. The property was ordered to be described
in the Hue and Cry.
HAT T ON-GARDEN.

Yesterday Waddington, the gaoler of this esta-
blishment, made the following singular application
to Mr. LAING, to procure the discharge of a prisoner
named Mason, who had been committed until he
procured bail, fora riot.
It appeared that on Monday night last, Wad-
dington was proceeding to the House of Correction,
when a woman, named Murphy, was seized with
convulsions, and he was obliged to unloose the pri-
soners. Mason, although at full liberty, stayed to
assist
oi
rriegctoo
iv) yt h
aotf thee w
o‘uvlodmnaont,
taand said
ke t
advan-
tage of the opportunity, but he would go to prison
like a man. Hall, the officer, came up, and Mason
still continued to assist the woman, in the meat
humane manner, until she was brought partly to
her senses, when Mason actually carried her to the
House of Correction, where he was locked up
himself.

Mr. LAING asked Waddington what he wanted ?
Waddington—Why, your Worship, the man's con-
duct was so excellent, that I wanted to get him
discharged.
Mr. LAING—He must find bail (throwing the
commitment back to Waddington.)
Mr. Mallet said he understood the man's con-
duct to have been most praiseworthy.
Waddington—lf he thought proper he could
have made his escape.
Li the course of the morning Mason was brought
up, and a housekeeper became his bail, on which he
was liberated.

On the afternoon of Saturday the court of
offices at Dalswinten, the seat of JAMES M'ALrxaeE LEVY,
Esq., was discovered to be i❑ flames, and a hay-loft, stable,
and byre, &c., were speedily consumed. Some suspicions
are entertained that the file was not accidental, and pur-
suit is making after certain vagrants who were seen loiter-
ing in the neighbourhood, and who made their way into the
Mansion-house in the forenoon in a clandestine manner,
and were expelled with little ceremony .—Duntfries
Courier.

DEATH OF A CHILD FROM STARVATION.
—Oa Thursday, the 22d ult., the mother of an illegiti-
mate child, six years old, named SMITH, applied to the
overseer of WoManton parish, for an order to admit the
child into the workhouse, which he granted. The fol-
lowing morning she brought the child, and on the over-
seer remarking that it was unwell, she replied that it was
not, but had recently had the measles. He told her that
if she could leave the child safely she might, and go about
her business. The mother then put the child to bed and
left. In a few minutes after it was taken out of bed by
one of the women of the house for the purpose of being
cleaned. On proceeding to wash it she found it very ill
indeed, and requested that the surgeon might be sent for.
The child died shout three hours after entering the house.
Au inquest was held on the Sunday following, hut from
the necessity of a pose mortem examination of the body, it
w,s adjourned till the 30th ult. At the adjourned in-
quest the Jury, after mature deliberation, gave their ver-
dict that the c; ilk came to its death by ill-treatment, viz.
neglect and starvation. The mother is commited to
Stafford gaol, to take her trial at the Assizes on a clia4;e
of manslaughter. It appeared in the evidence that the
mother was married, and res:ded at Uurslem. She re-
ceived weekly allowance from Woolstanton pat ish for the
child's maintenance, which she is said to have appropriated
to other purposes, the child being sent out to Leg, and it
unsuccessful, to starve.—. Pottery Gazette.

BIRTHS.
On the 12th inst. at Henstead-hall, Suffolk, the lady of Onley
Saville Onley, Esq. of a daughter, still-born.
On the 16th inst. at Sennowe, Norfolk, the lady of J. Scott,
Esq. of a daughter.

MARRED.
On the 17th inst. at St. Giles's I,
Camberwell, John Charles
Thorowgood, Esq. of Totterldge, Herts, to Sarah, second daugh-
ter of Thomas Napier, Esq. Peckham.

DIED.
On the 17th inst. in Saville-row, Francis Knight, Esq., in
his 85th year.
On the 17th inst. at Chitts-hill, near Southgate, J. Overeat],
Esq., of Lombard street.
At Boisselas, near Blois, Joseph Bullock, Esq., Commissary-
General of his Majesty's Forces, and for many years, the most
eventful of the last war, Chief of his Department on the West
India command.
On the 15th inst. Joseph Wheelwright, Esq. of Lowca, near
Workington, Cumberland, and late of Stamtord-hill, ri.uch re-
gretted and universally respected.
On the 12th inst. at Little Hea t h, Charlton, Caroline Mari, the wife
of Captain Robert John Little, of the Royal ner, and
daughter of the late Captain Wm. Holberton, Paymaster of the
South Devon Militia.
On the 10th inst. at Southampton, Lieutenant-Colonel Phair,
of Killoughram Forest, county of Wexford.
On the 10th inst. at Stanmore, J. 'Ferment, Esq , of Pool La'
narkshire, aged 67.

PICINTED AND PuntoED ET MURDO YOUNG AT TI;
SUN OFFICE, 112, STR4IND, LONDON.