The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-01 00:00:00

time, he would now be in the possession of compensa-
tion, as he intended to have sent his son out as a
settler. In this respect the directors were to blame;
but he admitted that the Government were to blame
also for the excessive severity of the terms they had
proposed to the directors. He fully coincided in the
resolutions; and he believed there was justice enough
in the British Government to cause them to entertain

tnetr ciatms.
A SRAREHOLDER said the directors had had
160,0001. in money for awards of land, and asked what
had become of it.
Mr. TOLLEMACIIE said that 200,0001. more, bor-
rowed from the Government, bad been spent.
The CHAIRMAN thought the money could be ob-
tained from the Government through the Court of
Chancery. He did not think the proprietors would
get an acre from Lord Grey, except he was compelled
by the Parliament to give it.
Mr. MOORE (ten years a resident in the colony)
bore testimony to the fair play always shown by the
resident settlers in the colonies to the absentee pro-
prietors. They were for the most part men of the
highest standing in the colony. He had left the
colony, however, in 1847.
The CHAIRMAN said the matters complained of re-
ferred to December last.
Mr. MOOSE still believed those gentleman had only
one feeling—to do justice to the non-resident pro-
prietors. It was not the settlers, but the company's
agents, that were to blame.
This statement as regards the resident proprietors
was, however, strongly combatted by the chairman
and other speakers.
A general resolution, embodying the spirit of the
series of resolutions propounded, as the sense of the
meeting, was adopted.
A deputation was then appointed- to wait on the
directors of the New Zealand Company to enforce the
claims of the non-resident proprietors, in accordance
with the resolutions, and the meeting separated.

TEETOTALISM.
The Parliamentary vacation is the era of harmless
enthusiasm—the season of balls, dinners, and demon-
strations. The Poles and the franchise, and the coming
Exhibition, church securities from within and religi-
ous aggressions from without, supply the plea for an
entertainment or the topic of a discussion ; the tide of
talk and the tumult of conviviality visit impartially

every corner of the kingdom, and the scenes are as
various as the objects of the fuss. At Bury the
political, at Bristol the theological, difficulties of
the day are dealt with. At York municipal splen-
dours add lustre to the efforts of commercial and mecha-

nical ambition ; while here at head-quarters we are
invited by Lord Dudley Stuart to dance in the name
of benevolence, or may go, with the more sober phi-
lanthropy that befits the occasion, to learn at Drury-
lane the mischiefs that arise from fermentation. On
Monday there gathered in that shrine of unreality the
friends and advocates of teetotalism, those advocates
not a less medley set than usually occupy the ample
stage. One lingering representative of the scat-
tered House of Commons appeared to testify the
interest of the Legislature ; two ministers of
religion raised their voices against alcohol ; the
Comic Annual and the Charter had each a son and
supporter there; the backwoods of America and the
labour market of England each contributed a quota.
In deference to the genius of the place a semi-dramatic
air was thrown over the proceedings, and the exul-
tations of a pure morality were tempered by the softer
influences of mirth. In place of the usual orchestra,
Mr. Shapcott and family preluded and interluded
upon the saxhorn, and the traditions of the green-
room were consulted by the introduction, iu Ojibbe-
way attire, of the Rev. George Copway, alias
Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh. Whether the ordinary attrac-
tions which Drury-lane offers are directly con-
ducive to the elevation of the species may be matter
of controversy, but on the occasion we commemo-
rate there was no room for dispute. The purpose
of the assembly was strictly and solely a moral one,
for the teetotal sohiety is, to borrow the words of one
of the speakers, " a man-uplifting society." The
theatrical accompaniments of melody and strange
raiment ; of the " Drum Polka" and Indian finery ;
the presence of an accomplished comedian in the per-
son of Mr. George Cruikshank, were a wise, and
perhaps a necessary, addition to the sublimer por-
tion of the entertainment. Mere moral excitements
are apt to weary without some occasional intervals
of recreation and repose, and, besides, the committee
had not been so successful as they could have
wished in the oratorical department. Lords
Ashley, Harrowby, and Kinnaird, with Mr. Silk
Buckingham and other untitled philanthropists, had
beerr compelled to decline attending from the pres-
sure of other engagements. The cause of total ab-
stinence had even to mourn a more important refusal,
Field Marshal his Grace the Duke of Wellington
having some public duties to perform which prevented
his coming to town. In the absence of these dis-
tinguished persons the desired variety of thought and
elocution was hardly to be procured, but the speakers
made up in earnestness what they wanted in force of
argument or grace of style. They said a good
many hard things of those who still acknowledge the
utility of fermented liquors. They threw out warnings
to the clergy and religious classes, to the aristocracy
and educated section of society, as to the danger of
falling in the rear, and announced that " the people
were going before the priests, who could not be in-
duced to forego their one glass of wine after dinner,
though admitting that the working classes were
driven by alcohol to pauperism, sickness, and death."
The three chief speakers of the evening were
Mr. Lawrence Heywood, Member for Derby, Mr.
George Cruikshank, and IL ah -ge- ga- gah- bow h.
The first of these, who occupied the chair, con-
sidered himself qualified by an experience of fifteen
years to speak in favour of teetotalism • but inde-
pendently of his own experiences he had powerful
support in the admonition of the wisest of Kings,
" Look not upon the wine when it stirs itself in the
glass, because, it bites like a serpent and stings like an
adder ;"—the —the argumentum ad verecundiam: which Mr.
Heywood proceeded to base on this text being that
Solomon was himself a teetotaller. The state of the
logical faculty revealed by such an inference is not
encouraging to those who may have thought of
resigning their after-dinner glass, nor is the one
other proposition enunciated in the same speech
much more encouraging ;—" If a man never takes
a first glass he can never be intoxicated." Un-
doubtedly ; but it is equally true that if a man
never ate turtle soup or venison he would be in less
danger of becoming a gourmand, and that if he re-
stricted himself to dry bread he would be tolerably
secure. As for the individual experience, that is in-
variably met by some opposing experience ; and while
we congratulate the Member for Derby on his undi-
minished We must beg to decide for ourselves
whether vigour,
eauddrition or subtraction of alcohol from
our drinks is most conducive to our own. We will
pass to the caricaturist. Mr. Cruikshank, after bearing
witness to the sufferings he had endured because his
mother had in his early days
,held the poisoned
hsaid that he had pictured the
opposition
o to
liis-
manner. lips,
of the clergy to temperance in a very
striking
" I recently," he says, " made
a sketch, but thought it too strong to publish, of a
chalice
clergyman with a Bible in one hand and a bottle of
rum in the other. For that idea I was indebted to
swell, perlhaps, to have removed instead of
my friend the Indian Chief, who threw it out at a late
meeting at the Ijondon Tavern." It would have
been"
adopting the misconception of the Ojibbeway. The
fact that rum has done more to degrade and exter-
minate the Red Indian than religion has done to
ii
rescue him could not be truly represented by such
a figure, nor could the idea communicated by Mr.
Cruikshank to his audience be limited in their minds
by such an interpretation. The reserve which
deemed the picture too strong for publication was
very effectually discarded in the speech, and we
can only excuse Mr. Cruikshank on the ground
that a perpetual search of the ridiculous has an in-
toxicating effect no less than draughts from the
black bottle. Morally speaking, therefore, the cari-
caturist makes a bad advotate, and, like the Member
of Parliament, may be dismissed. The third remark-
able orator, Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh, added his Indian
reminiscences to the total of civilised experience.
The most forcible part of his harangue was a
bit of personal relation. A cousin and associate of
his own bad been in boyhood the wonder and
delight of his companions. When the chief
returned to his tribe after long absence, he
found his early friend dead, drowned in a fit of intox-
ication, the work of the white man's rum s he there-
fore was for total abstinence, of which he should
endeavour to erect in his own land a monument.
The Indian argued well from his premises, for he
knew that "firewater" had been the destruction of
his kind, and that the appetite of the red man could
admit no partial indulgence; he drew no overstrained
picture of the facts, and, perhaps, his recital was the
most natural episode in the history of the meeting.
Whatever of absurdity lay in his rambling language
and grotesque attire was due, not to him, but to those
who played off his incoherent and irrelevant appeal as
a part of the evening's amusement; and certainly
Kah-ge-ga-gah-howh was not more ridiculous than
the caricaturist, or a worse logician than the represen-
tative. To drive drunkenness entirely out of the world
would indeed be a glorious achievement; but the
gentleman who hoped he might live to see that
more than golden age must be prepared for an
antediluvian if not a Rosicrucian term of existence.
We also acknowledge a hope that religion and
morality may avail by their progress to moderate
all sensual indulgence ; but we doubt how far an
external covenant wilt suffice to remedy man's
frailties or accelerate his perfection. At all events
the late Drury-lane meeting has not done much
either to convince the doubtful or conciliate the
reluctant. Questionable caricature and untenable
arguments from Scripture are not of much avail
except with an audience partly ignorant and
partly coarse. The assumption that
_total abstinence

aud temperance, are one and the same thing, that
he is by implication a drunkard who does not con-
fine himself to the cistern or the spring, is a piece of
illiberality not over -consistent with the political tcne
prevalent at teetotal assemblies. Let those who re-
quire drtificial restrictions use them and profit by
theta ; tho:x who do without are not chargeable
with setting a bra example because their moraqty is
a principle instead of a force.—Times.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, Oct. 31.
(Before Mr. WITHAM, Chairman, and a Bench of
Magistrates.)
W. Howard, a dog and pigeon fancier, in Bethnal-
green, was indicted for having unlawfully taken a
reward for the restoration of a stolen dog.
Mr. Ballantine appeared for the defendant.
It appeared that the prosecutor, Mr. J. T. Main-
waring, of 11, Victoria-place, Hoxton, having lost his
dcg in the early part of the last month, amongst other
places to which he went in search of it called at the
defendant's house, when he requested that he would
endeavour to discover the animal for him. This course
he had adopted, under the impression that, as the de-
fendant had upon a former occasion recovered the dog
for him for the sum of 21., he would again be able to
effect its restoration. In entertaining that idea he
proved to have been justified, for the man at once
offered to obtain the animal, upon condition that he
was paid Sl. for the re-capture, and that "no
fuss should be made about it." The prosecutor
then gave information of his loss to the
ar.d stated what the defendant had de-
manded. By the advice of an officer he gave three
marked sovereigns to Howard, whereupon the latter
set out upon his search, and was soon afterwards
seen leading the lost dog along the street. Police-
sergeant, N 27, accosted him, and inquired where
he had got the dog from. The defendant replied that
he had obtained it for a gentleman. The sergeant,
however, told him that it was a stolen dog, and at
once took him into custody. The prosecutor then
preferred the present charge against him. The de-
fendant thereupon said that he could very easily in-
form the officer where he had obtained the dog from,
but if he were to do so the parties would kill him.
Mr. BALLANTINE, on behalf of the defendant, said
that he was unable to deny the fact that his client had
been guilty of a violation of the law. He had, without
doubt, been guilty of an offence against the law, but
he must urge, not by way of excuse, but rather in
extenuation of the offence, that the defendant was in
total ignorance of the existence of any law which
went to make the course he had adopted an offence.
Several witnesses were called who spoke in high
terms of the defendant, whom they described as a
most honest maa in all his dealings.
The CHAIRMAN having summed up the evidence,
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty.
The CHAIRMAN then sentenced the defendant to pay
a penalty to the Queen of 20/., and to be imprisoned
until such sum were paid.
Mr. BALLANTINE was afraid that such a sentence
would prove very much like a sentence of imprison-
ment for life.
The defendant said that he had not 205., much less
201., in the world.
The CHAIRMAN entertained no doubt, as the de-
fendant was a shopkeeper, but that be would find
the means of paying the penalty.
One of the police force here intimated that be had
been desired by the committing magistrate to inform
the Court that the defendant had on two previous oc-
casions been charged with a similar offence, but had
escaped in consequence of the parties having declined
to press the matter.
The defendant was then removed from the court.
Joseph Thomas, described as a respectable trades-
man, was indicted, charged with having committed
an assault on Henry Spicer whilst in the execution
of his duty as a broker.
Mr. O'Brien appeare i for the prosecution, and Mr.
Ballantine was retained for the defendant.
In this case it appeared that the prosecutor went
to execute a distress warrant for arrears of rent due
to his landlord. When he called he at first only saw
the wife of the defendant, but having made the pur-
port of his visit known to her she quickly fetched her
husband. A conversation then ensued between them,
which resulted in defondant sending for a receipt
stamp, which, having been filled up and signed by the
prosecutor, the defendant, paying the money, took it
and said, " 'Well, now you hese got the money, and
so I'll take the worth of it out of you;" and fol-
lowed up this remark by striking the prosecutor with
great severity. The wife attempted to restrain him,
but without success, whereupon the prosecutor com-
menced a precipitate retreat. The defendant followed
him through the garden, and as he was stooping down
to unfasten the gate the defendant made a kick at that
part of his person upon which certain debts of honour
are occasionally paid. Unfortunately, however, the
defendant, not being very steady, missed the spot at
which he had aimed, and the blow was received in a
part of a more tender character, and so bad were the
results that the prosecutor was compelled to be the
subject of medical treatment for several days.
in his cross-examination the prosecutor stated that
he had not been tried for murder, but had been tried
for manslaughter about two years ago. The facts of
that case were these :—Two men were fighting,
one of whom at length stabbed the other in several
places and gouged out an eye, and whilst he was lying
upon the wounded man, endeavouring to inflict further
wounds, the present prosecutor ran and got a pair of
tongs, and on his return, in striking a blow at the
arm of the uppermost man, with the hope of compel-
ling him to desist from his brutal conduct, struck his
head. The man died two months after wards of de-
lirium tremens, and he (the prosecutor) was taken up
and indicted for manslaughter, it being supposed at
the time that the blow he had given the deceased with
the tongs had been the cause of death. lie had also
been tried for perjury, and at the present moment had
an action pending against the person who had made that
charge against him. He had likewise been charged
in that court for an assault; but in every one of those
cases he had been acquitted. In the scuffle with the
defendant he had lost the warrant under which he was
to have made the levy.
Mr. BALLANTINE then addressed the jury on behalf
of the defendant.
The CHAIRMAN summed up, and
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty.
The CHAIRMAN sentenced the defendant to three
months' imprisonment.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.
Mr. Sirrell, gold and silver refiner, of Barbican,
whose name has been so familiar to the public in
consequence of charges of having received stolen
property, appeared before Alderman Gibbs for the
purpose of answering certain charges of having re-
ceived property which had been stolen in the city of
London.
Mr. Powell, barrister, appeared to prosecute upon
the part of the Crown ; Mr. Lewis, of Ely-place,
solicitor, attended for the prisoner. There were seve-
ral respectable citizens present, who seemed to be on
intimate terms with the prisoner.
Mr. Powell stated, that in consequence of com-
munications received by the metropolitan police, In-
spector Lund of the detective department of the
force, and other officers, went on the 2d of October
to the residence of the prisoner in Barbican, and took
him into custody. Upon searching the premises
they found a considerable quantity of plate, amongst
which were the articles that would be the subject of
the present inquiry. One of these articles was a
piece of plate which had been stolen from the Rainbow
Tavern in Fleet-street. Part of the mark on that
article had been obliterated with a file. Another piece
had been taken from the house of Mr. Godden, a
gentleman who resided near Maidstone, and whose
house had been plundered some nights previously ;
and there was a variety of other articles which would
i❑ due time be brought forward. It was proper to
observe that the prisoner had come forward volun-
tarily to meet any accusation Ns bich might be pre-
ferred against him in the city of London, as would
be stated by Mr. Lewis ; and, as the principal wit-
nesses were not present, it was necessary to take no
more evidence than would be required to authorise a
remand until the details could be gone into.
Mr. Lewis—l appear for Mr. Sirrell, who, as has
been stated by the counsel for the Crown, voluntarily
surrendered himself in order to have a complete in-
vestigation into the charges alluded to. My client is, I
as is well known, under bail, to appear to answer
other charges of a similar kind elsewhere, and he is
most desirous that the strictest inquiry should be
made into all the circumstances. I have bail ready
to answer for his appearance at any time the Alder-
man may think proper to appoint to answer all accu-
sations which may be preferred against him. He
surrendered himself by appointment, and gave no-
tice to the police authorities that such was his in-
tention.
Mr. Powell—l shall call witnesses to a few facts.
Inspector Lund, of the metropolitan detective police,
said—ln consequence of information which I received,
I proceeded to 53 and 64, Barbican, with other
officers, and found the prisoner there. I apprehended
him upon two distinct charges from these. Upon
searching the place I found a quantity of plate. I
subsequently discovered a silver tablespoon which 1):,-
longs to the proprietor of the Rainbow Tavern, and
which I produce. The letter "M" is on the handle
or stem of the spoon, and is partly obliterated, appa-
rently by means of a file. While examining the
spoon through a magnifying glass I perceived the
words " Rainbow, Fleet-street." I also found three
silver pepper-castors with the arms six doves on a
shield divided by,a bar. I ascertained that the
pepper-castors belonged to Mr. Henry Godden, who
resides at Somerfield, near Maidstone. I have seen
Mr. Godden, and he identified the pepper-castors as
part of property stolen from his house on the 25th of
the preceding month.
Mr. Lewis, upon being asked by Alderman
Galas whether he wished to tWk any questions of the