The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDA 7 EVENING, FEBRUARY 23, 1844.

BILL.

Mr. CHARLES RUSSELL movcd the second reading of
this Bill.

Sir WILLIAM HEATHCOTE said he should oppose the
second reading of this Bill, unless he had a clear understanding
from the Hon. Member for Reading (Mr. Russell) that no
opposition would be offered to the second reading of another Bill,
to which the present one was closely allied. Two competing
lines of railway had been proposed, one by the South Western
Railway Company, from Basingstoke to Newbury ; and the
other by the Great Western Railway Company, from Hunger-
ford to Newbury. The former Bill he ( Sir William Heath-
cote) would introduce in a few days. He thought, there-
fore, that it would be well to postpone the second
reading of the present Bill for a fortnight, in order that both
Bills might be read together and afterwards be referred to the
same Committee. If the Hon. Member for Reading would
undertake not to oppose the second reading of the Bill, for the
Branch Railway from Basingstoke to Newbury, he (Sir W.
Heathcote) would not offer any opposition to the present Bill,
but unless the Hon. Member gave this pledge, he should move
that the second reading of the Bill be postponed for a fort-
night.
IMr. R. PALMER hoped that the Hon. Member for Read-
ing would agree to the proposition of the Hon. Baronet. He
should have a petition to present against this line from nine-
tenths of the landholders through whose property the New bury
and Basingstoke line would run. He had, however, no wish
to oppose the second reading, if the two Bills were permitted to
go together before the Committee.
Mr. C. RUSSELL would not consent to any delay. The
Hon. Gentleman had said they would sustain no disadvan-
tage by delay—neither would they gain any great advantage
by having the Bill now read a second time. Ali the Stand-
. ing Orders had been complied with. The Bill would be re.
ferred to the Committee of selection, and he should wish
at once to take the judgment of the House. He thought he
was not asking too much, in moving that the Bill be now read
a second time.
Mr. FRANCIS BARING had no doubt but that the Right
Hon. Baronet would withdraw his opposition to the second
reading of the Bill, if the Hon. Member for Reading would
give the House his assurance that the second reading of the
Bill for the competing line should not be opposed, but that
both Bills should be referred to the Committee at the same
time.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member for Reading,
however, had not consented to give any such assurance.
He believed that the inhabitants of the part of the
county with which he was connected were much
opposed to the present Bill, but he desired nothing unfair.
He only wished that both Bills should be referred to the same
aeuns
nscoutht
obat
fneo et
opposedhhe
ee
at
srhe act tho ent
hah eer
sentimentses s eah reading
uon Ingdd
Committee, and unless the Hon. Member for Reading gave
vps he° someorn
yue much
certainlyinivliootfethfoer otthheer pest
should l ke
ghtHHe
Gentle-
man at the head of the Board of Trade upon this subject.
Mr. GLADSTONE said he regretted that his Hen. Friend
the Member for Reading, who was the Chairman of one of the
great railways, seemed to be disinclined to a postponement of
this Bill.—(Hear, hear.) He thought it would be much
better if these two Bills were to be brought before the House
at the same time.—( Hear, hear.) He agreed with his Hon.
Friend that it would be meet unfair if the consideration

of this Bill were to be postponed for any very long
time, because he was aware of the great advantages to be
derived by the public from diligence and celerity, but there
could be no suspicion of a want of either on the part of the
promoters of these Bills ; but still he thought their postpone.
ment for a fortnight would do no harm.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. AGLIONBY said one of these Bills was before a Com-
mittee, of which he was a member, and he thought that before
the next meeting of the House the Committee would be pre-
pared with its Report.
Mr. C. RUSSELL said that on behalf of himself and of the
Company to which he had the honour to belong, he begged to
say that he had no desire to act counter to the wishes of the
House, and he should consequently accede to the required
postponement.
The second reading of the Bill was then postponed for a
fortnight.
REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES—SUPPLY.

Mr. FIELDEN presented three petitions from Manchester,
Liverpool, and Oldham—the last bearing 3,200 signatures—
praying that the House would not vote the Estimates for the
army and navy until the grievances of the people were in-
quired into and redressed.
Sir GEORGE STRICKLAND presented a petition to the
same effect from Preston.

Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD presented a petition,
signed by Andrew Cross, chairman of a public meeting of the
inhabitants of Taunton, complaining of the unjust and extra-
vagant legislative, and oppressive and partial monopolies, civil
and ecclesiastical; and they prayed the House not to vote the
supplies necessary to support the present enormous military
force till these causes of complaint are redressed. Also, peti-
tions from Crediton, in the county of Devon, and from Whit-
church, in Hampshire, to the same effect.
NEW ZEALAND.

Mr. B. BALDWIN presented a petition from New
Zealand, stating that they paid 30,0001. a-year for protection,
and yet that sufficient protection was not afforded them. They,
therefore, pra}ed for sufficient protection, and also for an in-
quiry into the land titles.
SURPLUS REVENUE.

111 r. WALLACE gave notice that instead of moving the re-
solution of which he bad given notice, that the surplus revenue
be applied to the reduction of those taxes which bear most
heavily on the working classes, he should, believing it to be
more consistent and Parliamentary, move an address to the
Crown for the same purpose.
ASSESSED TAXES. _

Captain PECHELL gave notice that, on Thursday next,
he should call the attention of the House to the system of
punishing persons who were defaulters to the assessed taxes.
POOR-LAW AMENDMENT BILL.
Sir J. GRAHAM said it would be in the recollection of the
House that when he introduced his Poor-law Amendment Bill
he did so at a moment's notice, the House having met on the
Saturday in consequence of its having counted out the previous
evening. He took advantage of an opportunity he did
not anticipate having, and explained the provisions of the
Bill very briefly, and without the assistance of any note or
document. On that occasion the Hon. and Gallant
Member for Brighton (Captain Pechell) put a question to him
which he answered at the moment, and he had since found ont
that that answer was not a correct one. He ( Sir James
Graham) had stated that there was no provision
in the Bill authorising interference with the Gilbert
unions. He was incorrect in stating this, and he apo-
logised to the Hon. and Gallant Member, and to the House
for the mistake. There was one clause In the Bill,
having reference to local Acts, the object of which
he should be prepared to discuss on a future occasion.
He would propose the second reading new, and take the dis-
cussion on the motion for going into Committee. But if this
course should be objected to, considering the important debate
which stood on the Order of the Day, he would feel it his duly
to postpone the second reading of the Bill till a future day. If
there was no opposition, however, to the course which he pro-
posed, he would move that the Order of the Day be then read.
Mr. P. BORTHWICK, for one, had no objection to the
Right Hon. Baronet reading the Bill a second time, provided
he gave an understanding that there would be an opportunity
of discussing, not only the amendments proposed in the Bill
itself, but also the whole principle of the 13111.—( Hear. )
Sir JAMES GRAHAM said such opportunity would be
afforded on the motion for going into Committee.
Capt. PECHELL said thes6thisclause, in connexion with the
lith clause in this Bill,had created considerable alarm amongst
the persons he represented, for they looked with great jealousy
at any attempt at interference with the powers of their
boards of guardians, or any interference) with their affairs.
He hoped the Right Hon. Baronet would not persist in inter-
fering with the rights of those who had conducted the affairs
of the poor with satisfaction both to themselves and to the
ratepayers.
Colonel SIBTHORP would not oppose the second reading
of the Bill ;but he should at a subsequent stage take the sense
of the House as to the propriety of the total annihilation of the
Commissioners.—(Cheers and laughter. )
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE exonerated the Right Hon. Baronet
from all blame for introducing the Bill on a Saturday. It was
by the desire of himself (Mr. T. Duncombe) and other Hon.
'Members, that the Right Hon. Baronet had so introduced his
Bill. He should not oppose the second reading, although he
thought it capable of amendment. Those amendments, however,
might be made in Committee. He wished to ask the Right
Hon. Baronet when it was his intention to move for a Com-
mittee to inquire into the operation of the Gilbert unions ?
Sir J. GRAHAM said, it had been his intention to move for
the appointment of the Committee before Easter. He would
give the Hon. Gentleman due notice of his intention to move
for the Committee, so that the parties concerned might have
time for preparation. He should propose that the Bill be
committed on Monday fortnight.
After a few words from Mr. S. WORTLEY, the Bill wag
read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Monday
fortnight.
ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.

Sir G. CLERK moved that the House, at its rising, do ad-
journ till Monday.—Agreed to.
Sir R. PEEL moved, in conformity with the notice which
he had given last night, that Mr. M. Blake be substituted in
the room of the Hon. Member for Montrose as a Member of
the Gaming Committee. He did so because the Ho-
nourable Gentleman had voluntarily retired from the Com-
mittee, and because he said he had no great knowledge of the
turf, and had never made a bet.—(Laughter. )—Agreed to.
POSTAGE PAPERS.

- _
Mr. WALLACE wished to know from the Hon. Gentle.
man, the Secretary for the Treasury, when the Free Postage
papers would be issued ?
Sir GEORGE CLERK said, that directions had been
given to have a certain number of half-sheets prepared, as
an experiment, which would be ready in a few days for deli-
very. They would be sold to the public at the lam e
price as the present envelopes, namely at two shillling and
three pence a quire, and lid. each separate sheet of paper.
ADJOURNED DEBATE.—IRELAND.

-
The Order of the Day for resuming the adjourned debate
having been read,
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, he rose to discharge a
duty which, he believed, that House and the country expected
from him, in consequence of what had occurred in the course
of this debate. He had been so often called;upon, challenged,
and alluded to, that if he had any reluctance, which
he had not, he could not possibly have declined joining in
the discussion, and expressing his views and sentiments
on the subject that had been before the House. He was pre-
pared to have performed this duty at an earlier period of the
debate, and to have followed the Hon. and Learned
Member for Worcester, and to have commented on tke
observations he made. But he was sure the House would ex-
cuse him for saying, that the moment he heard that Hon. and
Learned Gentleman drop from his lips the words,lHis Honour,
in referring to his Right Honourable and Learned
Friend, the Attorney-General for Ireland, he at
once thought it would not become him (the Attorney-Ge-
neral) to step in between any Hon. Gentleman and the vindi-
cation of his personal honour. He gave way, therefore, to
the Attorney-General for Ireland. In what manner that Right
Hon. and Learned Gentleman discharged the duty imposed on
him in vindicating that honour, of the able and admirable
way in which he had discharged that duty, it would scarcely
become him to speak. The House had already judged, and
decided on that point; he might be permitted to say also that a
more able speech, delivered in a more gentlemanly tone, and
with more manly bearing, he had never heard.—(Loud cheers
from the 'Ministerial benches.) He would at once express to
the Hon. and Learned Member for Dungarvon his entire sa-
tisfaction at the explanation he had given of what took place
at a trial in the county of Tipperary, some fourteen or fifteen
years ago, when as many as thirty-six jurors were
set aside on the part of the Crown. He was
thoroughly convinced that the Hon. and Learned Gentleman
was only actuated by a desire correctly to discharge his duty
and ensure the satisfactory administration of justice. Having
to far discharged a debt of justice to the Right Hon. and
Learned Gentleman, perhaps the House would allow him to
set himself right on a point alluded to by the Right Hon. and
Learned Member for Worcester, as to the conduct
that was pursued on the part of the Crown in
a case recently before the Exchequer, where he, as
Attorney-General, consented that the trial should be sus-
pended, the jury discharged, and the defendant permitted to
have an opportunity of stating his case on another occasion.
I think it right that I shortly state the circumstances con-
nected with that case, that no mistake may be made as to the
grounds on which he then acted. Before that trial it
had been the invariable practice in the departments
of the Customs and Excise to fix the precise day on
which the trial was to come on. The able and learned person
whose assistance I had in that department, for a reason which
satisfied him at the time, and instead of keeping to the day
fixed, which was the 24,10 August_, it for tour
months, namely to the 24th of December. That was
an entire departure from the ordinary course, end one which he
(the Attorney-General) greatly discountenanced. When the
charge was made he told the Hon. and Learned Member for
Worcester he was as conscious as himself of the practice of the
office. When the trial came on he had not the slightest
idea the alteration in the time appointed for the trial would
have been made a cause of objection. It was not until the case
for the prosecution bad closed, and counsel had risen to
address the jury for the defence, that he was
aware a grand grievance was to be made of this
alteration of the day fixed for the trial. The Solicitor
he xeise w as out into the box and admitted it had been:
invariable practise of the department to insert in the notice
real day fixed for the trial, and that a delay of four months
taken place. That there might be no ground for corn-
nt, he interrupted the counsel for the defence, and said he
Id agree to have the jury discharged, and another day of
ch the customary notice should lie given, appointed for the
rial. This wan done with the consent of the other
side and the sanction of the Court. The course he (the
Attorney-General) adopted was advantageous to the de-
fendant and honourable to the Crown. That approbation
had been expressed with reference to the course of proceed-
ing at Lancaster, at Cardiff, and at Carmarthen ; and he
should presently have occasion to call the attention of the
House to the circumstances that occurred with reference to each
of those transactions. The favourable notice the House had
been pleased to take of his conduct would undoubtedly
animate him in the faithful discharge of his duty.
He would be wanting in fairness to his Right Hon.
Friend at the head of the Government if he did not state one
of the principal encouragements he had received in the course
of his public career to adopt that course which had been fa-
vourably noticed by the house. He hoped it would not be
considered out of season if he mentioned very shortly what had oc-
curred when he was first appointed Attorney-General in 1834.
Very shortly after his appointment, some diffculties arose, and
he had reason to consult his Right Hon. Friend, new again, at
the head of Treasury. His Right Right Hon. Friend was
kind enough to give him his advice, and in doing so, he said,
" You need never come to me again for advice. The respon-
sibility is yours, and let me give you this general direction,—
consider well what you are about—make yourself master of the
subject—don't decide in a hurry—ascertain what is your duty
with reference to the public interest, and when you have
ascertained it, look neither to the right nor to the left—look
to the interest of the Crown on the one hand, and the public
on the other, and when you have so ascertained your duty,
then discharge it. When I differ from you, I will do justice
to your motives. This is the only advice I wish to give
you, and having given you that advice 1 leave
yov to the discharge of your duty. That was the
only advice he had received, and it was advice
worthy of the first Minister of the Crown to give to the first
law officer of the Crown. It gave him confidence in the
course which he Lad pursued, because it enabled
him not merely to look to the letter of the law--
not merely to read the statutes, or a digest :of
the common law; but to administer the law in such a manner
as to make it in accordance with sound public opinion and in
unison with the feelings ;nd sympathies of the great

body of the co-nrnurit:,-,—(Cheers. ) It appeared to him
that the present discaiosen was forcibly illustrative of the
danger which must arise ftern bringing subjects of this nature
under discussion while ;;or,; eedings were pending.—( Hear. )
He perfectly admitted ti ight of the House to discuss thi.
subject, and would admit h,t circumstances might occur which
might render it neeessar) i•-i• the House to interfere at once ;
but admitting the right of the House, he contended that the
exercise of that right --vas n general calculated to Interfere with
the purity of the administration of justice. To-day their
discussions might be rtiaee, to protect a person who was supposed
to be unjustly accosed—( Cheers)—to-morrow to immolate a
victim to popular prejudice.—(Cheers.) He, therefore, should
have desired that that the Eouse had abstained from discuss-
in pending, and which must
ang ter
d would be wbrhc
oiuhgb:cl still
eir erdiliiscussion elsewhere.—(Hear. )
He would discuss only so south as he was compelled to enter
upon, and he woule endeavour, in so doing, to avoid all acri-
monious allusions and top.ca. The debate, as far as it had
gone, was very much coained to members of the legal pro-
fession, ank to legal topics; but only the Hon. and Learned
Member for Cork (Mr. Sergeant Murphy), and the Right
Hon. Gentleman ths.; Meander for Edinburgh, had so studiously
avoided those topic and 11 much repudiated the profession to
which they both ..elonged, he did not know. He recollected
going with the Right Heil. Gentleman on the Northern Cir-
cuit and holding briefs with him ; he possessed too powerful
a mind not to master all fle details of the law if he applied it
to them, and he was toe tonest a man not to practise in the
profession if he had not done so. He would therefore still
continue to call him his Right Hon. and Learned Friend.—
(A laugh.) He vas selected as a lawyer for office, and was
employed in India in dot construction of a code, and he
was succeeded by ;Mr. A 05, a gentleman of the highest
attainments in Wesiminster Hall. He did not know whether
his Hon. and Learned Friend had mixed up bad law with
worse politics, therefore repudiated the profes-
sion, but having bieiself attained the highest pro-
fessional honour, ha was not content to lose this
deeds et tutamen of the profession.—(Hear, hear.) He
would go after him, and reclaim him, and try and bring him
back again to the fold. He had heard the speech of the Right
Hon. and Learned Gentleman with the greatest pleasure. He
heard his splendid oration with the greatest delight—it was the
outpouring of a mind most richly stored with varied informa-
tion—of a mind full of ,intellectual wealth, intermingled with
that, similes drawn from ancient and modern literature
and illustrations from every part of the world, and from all times
and places. He had listened to that epeeists till he was almost
lost in admiration—it was impossible not to listen to his glowing
language—his magnificent periods—his powerful and shining
points, without feeling the highest pleasure and gratification.
But it was rather the oration of an author, a poet, or an
orator than of a great statesman. He had looked in vain
from the beginning to the end of that speech for something
practical. The Right Hors. Gentleman complained of every body
and of everything, but he had suffered his sympathy for Ireland
to expend itself in barren generalities. There was nothing like
a practical application to the present subject. The Right Ho-
nourable Gentleman complained of the construction of the
jury and said that they onght to be contented with a
common jury. This was repeated by the Hon. and Learned
Member for Worcester and the Hon. Member for Dungarvon.
Now, he begged to say, this bad never before been suggested by
any human being. The coansel for the traverser., fifteen in
number, had never even hinted at such an expedient.—
( Hear, hear.) Under these circumstances he did not feel it
his duty to speculate on what would or ought to have been
the reception of such a proposition, if it had been made.
The suggestion ought to have been made when it could
be acted upon ' • it should not have been reserved
for that debate. Now with respect to the question of a special
or a common jury—though he was not versed in the details of
Irish proceedings, he begged to say that in this country he
would no more have thought of trying such a case by a common
jury than he would have thought of trying a case of high treason
at the sessions. He was not aware of a single instance in
which a triol of this kind had taken place by a common jury,
and if he (the Attorney-General) representing the Crown, had
on any occasion consented to depart frets; the general practice,
he would have been betraying the duty which he owed to the
Crown, without feeling at all certain that he either added to
the security or the satisfaction of the subject.—( Hear.) In this
case, the law officers of the Crown were consulted as to the
practise, and they gave and unhesitating opinion that the trial
ought to be by a special jury, and they did so for this reason,
that in the case of a special jury, the forty-eight names were
indifferently taken from the centre panel. In the
heat of argument, the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite had
spoken of the jury as being selected. Why, there

- -
Forty-eight names were taken by ballot from the list; the .0
were reduced to twenty-four, by each side striking off twelve
twelve more were to 'be taken off by a further ballot, and
the twelve remaining were to form the jury. This
method, he contended, was free from reproach, free from
difficulty and satisfactory to the public. It was preferable to
allowing the Crown the power of setting aside a common jury.
The Hon. and Learned Member for Worcester• himself ac-
acknowledged that this practice would have such odium attached
to it, that the Crown would not exercire it. This mode was
established for the purpose of avoiding that; it was smile,
and it was impartial, because it played the Crown•and the tra-
versers on the same footing. The Hon. and Learned Gentle-
tleman (Mr. Sheil) had said that the lottery" had not
turned out so favourably for the traversers as it
might have done. But that formed n• ground
of accusation against the public officer. —( Hear, hear.)
One reason why he entered so deeply into these matters was,
that he was himself at Carmarthen placed precisely in the same
situation. He weot down to Carmarthen to the trials. There
was a small population and a limited jury list.
He was sorry to have to enter into these details
publicly, for they were not very des:rable for
publlicotion, but he was compelled to do so. When the jury
list was laid before him he f6und only saventy-two names upon
it, and he was creditably informed, that a very consi-
derable number of those persons on the jury list
could not be trusted ; that some of them actually had
taken part in those riots and outbreaks, and others were re-
presented by their relations, their neighbours, or their friends.
In what he found there were upwards of thirty names he
could not call upon with safety. What was he
to do in that situation. He said at once, he would commu-
nicate with his Hoe. and learned Friend the Member for Bath
(Mr. Roebuck), and he half shrunk from his duty, but he did as
he felt he ought to do—he did exactly as the Honourable
and Learned Member for Dungarvon (Mr. Sheil) had done
in the case which he explained to the House
last evening. He did set aside those he could not
trust ; and he knew that if his conduct was questioned
in that House he had but to explain his motives and his peal-
tion to obtain an approval of his conduct. He knew too the
purity of his own motives, and he dared to do
his duty. He had consulted the gentleman who
was associated with him in his duty, and who
was entirely opposed to him in polities. He men-
tioned this to show that he placed confidence in them.
He felt that they were prepared to do their duty as much as ha
was prepared to do his. They told him what was the custom
in that part of England, and they told him that no trial ever
took place without challenges being mad• en both sides. He
had the authority and support of his Learned Friends, and
he felt thet he ought to exercise to the fullest extent the pre-
rogative of the Crown, and obtain a jury from whom a firm
but impartial verdict might be expected. Could the Attor-
ney-General for Ireland have dared to do as much ?
(LEFT £PLYING.)

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FllO3l THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAT.
STANDA RD.—A kind of promise was last night given on
the part of the Opposition that the long debate shall tersninate
andai we shall be, of course, expected to say some-
ts conclusion, we readily avail ourselves of the
our crowded columns for saying little about it to-day.
i
debate has been a long, a dreadfully long one—unparalleled
in to,x
duration even already, but it is to be remembered, that
etthicienntugsi s geoh of
, it at
f
her Majesty's Alinisters.
n—could separate their per-
its frightful prolixity is in no respect attributable to those who
%b interests of the country,
per-
sonal
holnonednyaeei
Indeed,
ought
dli
hlf
ttdohtiefieor
official
servants
oainterestsnc advantageets oinfttihif
eerf
or
tedious
ite
rot
debate that has so nobly
justified every one of their acts, and so firmly fixed their
power. We shall not be surprised to hear the fault-finders
say that the easy permission of this nine days' nuisance is but
another instance of Sir Robert Peel's craft, arid that as he was
merely laying a trap in allowing scope to the " monster meet-
ings " of the Repealers, he has been in like manner preparing
a pitfall, by conniving at their " monster speeches," still
with the same view of exposing to all men the vanity,
the worthlessness, and the guilt of his adversaries in
the end. Mr. Shell speech was by a great deal
the longest speech last night. Alr. Shell is a clever
man in a party which has but three clever men (Mr. C. Bul-
ler, Mr. Alacaulay, and himself), and we never grudge him
praise when praise is due ; but last night's speech was un-
doubtedly a failure—a failure, we mean, for Air. Sheil, for it
would be a prodigy from the lips of Lord J. Russell, Air. Jos.
Hume, Lord Howick, or Sir C. Napier, or any other opposi-
tion member but one of
the three that we have named. The
speech was a failure, lively as it was ; like all Mr. Sheil's
speeches, it was beyond them all, thin, extravagant, and incon-
clusive, and soiled by personalities such as we hoped Mr. Sheil
had left behind him when he withdrew from " the Catholic As-
sociation." There was one allusion—we will hope that Mr. Sheil
is ashamed of it—that compelled us to recollect, however invelun •
tarily, a once notorious speech of l!ititi ; but we pass this in the ex-
pectation that such offences against decency and good feeling
will not be repeated. It would he a jest to investigate the
success of Mr. Shell's speech, as a reply to the unequalled argu-
ment of silo Ati....,...5y-Ceoci Ai for Ireland; such an attempt
would be as absurd as that of the mathematician, who tried to
bring the " Rape of the Lock" to trial by " Newton's Prin-
cipia." Widely different as the speeches are in the degree of
merit, still more strongly are they contrasted in kind, and in
the matter about which they are conversant.

MELANCHOLY REVERSE OF FORTUNE.—An in-
stance of the sad changes to which persons who have
moved high in commercial credit and worldly comfort,
are frequently subjected, has occurred in the case of Mr
Robson' the projector and publisher of the " Post
Office Directory," which bore his name. The unfor-
tunate gentleman, after suffering the loss of his fortune,
and beholding the wreck of his hopes, sank lower and
lower in poverty, until he was compelled to seek pa-
rochial aid, and at length died on Tuesday last in the
Peckham workhouse, of which he had been for a con-
siderable time an inmate.
THE WILLS' FORGERIES.—We learn from a source
on which we place reliance, that Mrs. Dorey, one of the
parties charged with being an active agent in the exten-
sive conspiracy by which large sums were obtained by
means of these forgeries and fraudulent personations,
has made a full confession ; and that the document is
in the hands of the authorities. We presume that the
fact of such confession having been made was the cause
of Mrs. Dorey's solicitor taking no part in the last exa-
mination of the parties before the Lord Mayor, beyond
requesting that the unfortunate woman should be allowed
to remain in the Compter until the eve of the session.
Captain the Hon. John Gordon (1818), brother of
the Earl of Aberdeen and of Captain the Ron W. Gordon, one
of the Lords of the Admiralty, is appointed to the command
of the America, 50, frigate, fitting at Devonport, to relieve the
Dublin, 50, in the Pacific.
VIGILS.—(FRONT A CORRESPONDENT).---It is given
out that there will be " vigils," to-morrow night, at the new
Protestant church at Wilton-place. Will the Bishop of Lou-
don be present ?

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Ft b. 22.
(Before Chief Justice TINDAL.)
FRASER r. lIAGLEy.—CnIII. CON.
(Continued from our Third Edition of last night.)
Mr. TuEslGEtt then replied in a powerful and able speech.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE summed up, and the jury re-
turned a verdict for the defendant at ten o'clock last night.