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

THE MARSHALSEA AND PALACE

COURTS.

Yesterday some provisions in the Act of last session
(12 and 13 Victoria, cap. 101) to amend the Act fur
the more easy recovery of small debts and demands in
England, and to abolish certain inferior courts of
record, took effect. It is enacted that from and after
the 31st of December, 1849, all the power, authority,
and jurisdiction of the Court of the Marshalsea, and
of the Court of the Palace at Westminster, shall cease
and determine, and that all the actions and suits then
depending in the courts respectively shall be trans-
ferred, with all the proceedings thereon, to her Ma-
jesty's Court of Common Pleas at Westminster if the
debt or damages sought to be recovered in such
actions or suits respectively shall exceed the sum of
201., and to the County Court for the district in which
the respective defendants shall then reside if the debt
or damages sought to be recovered in such actions or
suits respectively shall not exceed the sum of
201., and such actions or suits respectively
so transferred shall be dealt with and de-
cided according to the practice of the courts
respectively or of the court whence the same shall be
transferred, according to the discretion of the court,
which shall, for the purpose of such actions or suits
only, be deemed and taken to have all the power and
jurisdiction to all intents and purposes possessed before
the passing of this Act by the court whence such
action or suit shall be transferred. Further; it is pro-
vided by the Act that all judgments obtained in any
of the courts hereby abolished on or before the 31st
of December shall, notwithstanding the passing of
this Act, be as valid and effectual, and as capable of
being enforced by the process of the court in which
such judgments shall respectively have been obtained,
as if this Act had not been passed. The records are
placed under the charge of the Master of the Rolls.
There are some hundreds of orders of commitment
under the Small Debts Act to be executed, and the
question is whether, as they were made by the Palace
Court, they can be enforced. At present nothing has
been done on the subject of compensation to the
officers.and other persons connected with the abolished
courts. The claims are under the consideration of
the Treasury.
CONVICTED PRISONERS.

The following report, upon a subject of considerable
interest to the citizens of London, has been ordered
by the Court of Aldermen to be printed
"In obedience to an order of the Court, of the 29th
September last, to further consider our report respect-
ing the maintenance of criminal convicts in the gaols
of this City ; to report the expenses thereof for the
last four years ; and also the expenses of prosecutions,
and whether they should be paid by the Corporation
or the Consolidated Fund, and to report our opinion
thereon ; we certify that we directed statements of
these accounts to be made out by the solicitor, com-
mencing with the year 1846, the period from which
by a resolution of the House of Commons, those
items of charge on the county rate were to be
defrayed out of the Consolidated Fund, under the
Annual Appropriation Act; and we do further
certify that we have received from the solicitor,
in a tabulated form, which we have hereunto
annexed, a statement of the costs of prosecutions,
and the cost of the maintenance of prisoners for the
years 1846, 1847, and 1848, averaging 4,8541. per
annum. The corresponding accounts for the year
1849 will be laid before us as soon as the year closes.
The Solicitor reports, as far as he has proceeded with
the past months, he thinks it will slightly, but not
materially, exceed the average of the three preceding
years. And we do further certify that the Solicitor
reports that the Corporation of London are entitled to
claim payment half-yearly of these sums, out of the
annual vote, the magistrates of sessions being entitled
by law to levy a county rate for the amount. And
we do further certify that, having taken., the whole
matter into our consideration, e recommend that an
account for the charges of prosecutions and the main-
tenance of convicts for the half-year ending 6th Oc-
tober last, be made out by the governors of the
prisons, in the forms prepared by the Solicitor, and
that application be made to the Lords of her Majesty's
Treasury for payment of that amount, and of the
annual grant made by the Appropriation Act for these
purposes."

THE RECORDS of the MAYOR'S COURT.
The following is the report made by Mr. Sergeant
Merewether, the Town Clerk, relative to the arrange-
ments of the records of the Mayor's Court :

" In obedience to the order that I should report
from time to time the progress made in the examina-
tion and arrangement of the records of the Mayor's
Court, I have to certify that, in pursuance of the
authority given to me on the 13th April, 1847, to
employ a proper and competent person to examine
the books and the records connected with the practice
and proceedings of the Mayor's Court, I did employ
Mr. Brandon, the Deputy Registrar, for that purpose,
and that he has proceeded in the task, the progress
having been from time to time reported to your Co.n-
mittee of General Purposes.
" That a strong iron proof closet in one of the
Record rooms under my care, has been fitted up for
the reception of the records, numbers of which, pre-
served from the fire in 1838, have been removed from
the office in the Old Jewry to that depository, and
secured in bundles.

" Other rolls, nine in number, during the reign of
Edward the First, have been examined, arranged,
lickettd, and epitomised, and forms of each separate
proceeding have been extracted in extenso.
" Records of the reigns of Edward the Third,
Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth, Fifth, and
Sixth, have also been arranged.
" There are books of precedents of the reign of
James the First, illustrated with marginal notes, and
references made to them by an index.
" Records from the reign of Elizabeth to George
the First, in 236 bundles, have been numbered and
dated, so as to be capable of reference and inspection
as occasion may require, rendering these records
available for the future regulation and practice of the
Court.

" After the reign of James the First, I did not think

it necessary that so copious an index as had been before
made should he continued, many of the plaints being
of an usual and ordinary description ; they were how-
ever classified and duly arranged for preservation, and
others were arranged for future reference ; and, after
a series of precedents had been secured, a shorter
mode of indexing was adopted, curtailing the time
necessary for completing the who!e arrangement
which I now consider sufficient for ordinary practical
purposes, though many records still remain unar-
ranged.
" During the last three months of the employment
of Mr. Brandon for the purpose of completing the
work, a shorter mode of arranging and indexing has
been adopted, not so satisfactory as the former, but in
as great detail as I felt justified in ordering, without
the further sanction of the Court, with whom it is left

to consider the expediency of continuing or discon-
tinuing the undertaking
"The arranging ceased on; he 31st of January,
184 fl, the classing of each species being completed to
the 20th Charles 1., leaving the subsequent records to
the Bth Geo. I. unclassed, but sorted in bundles.
"It will be a satisfaction to the Court to learn that
in a late case in the court of St. Martin's-le-Grand,
the Judge required a selection of 12 records lor the
purpose of showing the ancient practice of the Court,
which were easily produced, in consequence of the
arrangements which had been made, and the records
so produced materially affected the proceedings in the
cause.

"11. A. DIEREWETIIER, Town Clerk."

MADAME SONTAG'S CONCERT.
We approach our office of critic this week with no
ordinary feelings. We well remember with what
regret we learned, some eighteen years ago, that the
musical world was about to be deprived of one of its
choicest ornaments. And little did we think then that
it would ever again fall to our lot to have to record
the public appearance of Henrietta Sontag. What
wondrous changes have passed over the world of music
since the enchantress was last heard in England !
Composers that were then in their zenith, and even
others that have appeared since, have gone to their last
home. Pasta and Pisaroni, Malibran and Schechner,
were either in full fame, or in the promise of their
young bloom. Kemble, Shaw, and Novello, were
not thought of. Grisi and Viardot were at school,
and Jenny Lind a child at play. How curiously does
this illustrate the rapid and extreme mutations of this
branch of the arts during the last twenty years!
And yet, allowing for associations and recollections,
which poetry forbid that we ever should grow too old to
retain and cherish—the simple and surprising truth 's.
that never was returning artist so able to abide
all these as Madame Sontag. That her voice has
been cared for like some precious pearl is evident, and
"Time has treated the lady like a lover, not like a
destroyer." But the sweetness and eve nnesss of the
organ are as surprising as they are delightful. How
much must that delicacy and tenderness, which the
other evening came o'er the ear, have. struck and
charmed every hearer, especially when it compared
with the rougher singers of a new generation. Then
how chaste and complete is her style, how pure and
easy, how elegant and sparkling her execution, how
sound and truthful her expression. We were delighted
to find unimpaired those exquisite flute passages,
which she chiefly executes a mezza voce and with the
most perfect articulation ; and though her voice is
mostly adapted for the adorned Italian style, for the
sentimental or playful and graceful song, yet in the
prayer from Der Fretschutz, "Und ob die Wolken
sich verhullen," and in Bishop's charming air,
" Home ! sweet home!" she abundantly showed that
she is no less perfect in the simple song.—Leeds
Times, Dec. 22.

OLYMPIC THEATRE.—Mrs. Mowatt made her first
appearance last night as Bratrice in Much Ado about
Nothing, at the conclusion of which she was called before
the curtain with Mr Tlnvannnrt

HIGH TIDES AT YARMOUTH.
The following letter has been addressed to a
morning Contemporary :
Sir,—Asl an inhabitant of Yarmouth I feel it to be
a duty I owe equally to yourself and your readers; to
give the most unqualified contradictien to a para-
graph which appeared under the above head in your
journal of December 29, and in which a most gross
fabrication was palmed off upon those residing at a
distance from our seaport; and in order that the coos
tradiction may be as explicit as possible, I will, with
your permission, notice the inventions of the Writer
of the paragraph in question as they occur.
The writer states that Yarmouth and Lowestoft are
"laid under water," as well as " the whole of the sur-
rounding country for miles." I can only say this is
utterly false, nothing of the kind having occurred, nor
indeed the slightest thing which could have given
even a bare foundation for such a statement. Next,
" The lower flats of most of the houses are flooded to
the depth of from three to six feet ;" the fact being
that in some of the under-ground cellars on the quay
the water has risen (not flowed) about six or eight
inches deep, owing to the drains not being able to dis-
charge themselves into the river by reason of the tide
not being low enough to permit them, and owing also
to the springs being affected invariably by the tides
more or less. " Great destruction of property in
consequence." The only damage I know of is in
Mr. J. Palmer's salt warehouse by the river side,
where salt to the value of 301. or 1001 has been de-
stroyed, and a few planks of the jetty into the sea
have been forced up, but 51. will pay for the damage.
" The quay, market-place, and streets, are inundated."
There is just truth enough, as regards the quay, to
save it from being false ; but the rest is entirely false,
not one drop of water having entered those places
save and except the water arising from thawed snow.
On the quay, near the bridge (where there is at least
200 feet of open plain), the river certainly overflowed
to a distance of about twelve yards, and to a depth
of five or six inches, not the slightest damage, how-
-1 ever, being done beyond that mentioned above. "The
water over the bar was twelve feet deeper than usual:'
I need only say that the water was two feet lower
than at the high tide which teok place four years ago.
As a confirmation of my assertion I subjoin a copy
of the register of the depth of water at the tide-
gauge at the pier, furnished me by Mr. W. Teasdel,
deputy-engineer, at the pier :
December 11, 1845, depth 12ft. Bin.
Is 27, 1849, depth 10ft. 4in.
28, 1849, depth 10ft. in.
Thus it will ba at once apparent the total depth was
not as much as the writer stated the excess alone wits.
"Eleven vessels got on the sands," &c. Up to the
present time only two vessels have been on the sands.
and they have been assisted off without matezial
damage. The " exertions to save life and property,"
with which the writer concludes, sounds so well it
were a pity to contradict it. Suffice it to say, the
only particle of truth in the entire paragraph is that
part which relates to the railway, which is substfins
tially correct.
_ _

fam sorry to have been compelled to trouble you at
this length, but I doubt not, for the sake of truth, you
will find room for this letter; indeed, in justice to
your high character for accuracy the impudent fabri-
cation should be exposed.—l am, Sir, your obedient
servant,

Louis A. MALL.
Great Yarmouth, Dec. 29, 1849.

STRETHAM.

SINGULAR INSTANCE OF THE POISONING Or A
LARGE QUANTITY or PouLTRY.—Wm. Read, Esq.,
of Stretham, who is in the habit of rearing a large
quantity of poultry, of a choice breed and fine de-
scription, on his plantation farm, was considerably
surprised to hear from his steward, on Tuesday morn-
ing, the 18th instant, that the greater proportion of
them, consisting of remarkably tine guinea and game
fowls, upwards of twenty in number, were found
lying perfectly dead upon the floor of the apart-
ment where they were accustomed to roost.
The fowls being all young ones, in fat and excel-
lent condition, the first impression was that they
had in all probability by some means been poisoned.
In order to ascertain this fact, Mr. Read had the dead
animals immediately forwarded to Mr. Pearson, an
analytical chemist at Ely, for the purpose of a post
mortem and chemical examination of them. Mr.
Pearson gave it as his opinion that the animals all
died asphyxiated or suffocated, occasioned by the re-
spiration of two poisonous gases, viz., carbonic acid
and charcoal vapour—which was afterwards ascer-
tained to have been generated and mixed up with the
atmosphere of the apartment where the fowls slept, in
the following manner appears that the room in
which the fowls roost at night is exceedingly low and
close, and one of small dimensions,•deficient in proper
ventilation, and almost air-tight when the door is shut;
in the same room is an oven and furnade
for the purpore of baking, which had been heated on
this occasion with a large quantity of green wood.
After the operatio❑ of banking was completed, the
furl and ashes were removed from the furnace in a
state of combustion, in the form of charcoal, the
burning embers being left to c xtinguish themselves
during the night upon the floor of the apartment,
with the doors and windows closed, whilst the fowls
were at roost. 'Thus, from want of proper caution,
two of the most poisonous and deadly gases in nature
were generated and accumulated, which are alike
rapidly fatal to animal and human lire; and had any
person been so unfortunate us to have been exposed to
the influence of these deleterious agents, even for a
few minutes, they would undoubtedly have shared a
similar fate to that of these poor fowls.— Cambridge
Chronicle.