The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-15 00:00:00

It 1
be sacrificed by a longer continuance in the said gaol.
"That, in proof of your petitioner's statement of ill health,
certificates of the precarious state of it, signed by six eminent
physicians, and three general practitioners, have, with a me-
morial from your petitioner, been presented to Sir James
Graham, her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment, but. without prOcuring for your petitioner any al-
teration in the restrictions complained against, or any remis-
sionof his sentence. '=

"Your petitioner, however, gratefully acknowledges that,
from the visiting magistrates of the said gaol, and also from
the sheriffs and the governor, chaplain and surgeon of the
prison, he has received every humane attention consistent
with the orders and regulations laid down for their govern-
ment by the said Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment, and the prison inspectors, and your petitioner is now
permitted the use of a chair with a back to it, and also a
feather bed, but without sheets or a pillow, and is allowed
a partial alteration in the prison diet. without which his life
must ere this have been sacrificed ; And he is also permitted
to read the works of Shakspeare ; all the other restrictions,
as against convicted felons, continuing to be enforced against
your petitioner.

" Your petitioner humbly prays that your honourable
house will be pleased to take his case into your humane
consideration, and obtain for him such immediate relief as
will obviate the fatal effects of his imprisonment, which are
anticipated by himself, his family, and his medical advisers.
" Your petitioner also prays (if not contrary to the rules
and orders of your Honourable House) that he may be al-
lowed by himself or counsel to appear and be heard at the
bar of your Honourable House in support of the allegations
i and statements in this, his petition, and against those re
strigtions keing longer enforced against him.
".And 3four petitioner likewise prays that persons hereafter
L convicted of libel may not (like your petitioner) suffer the
-same and .the like prison discipline and privations as persons
convicted of criminal offences.

" And your petitioner will ever pray, &c.,
" B. GREGORY."

MR. MACAULAY.

It will probably be in tho_ remembrance of our readers,
that, a few weeks ae, at a large- and influential meeting of
the constituency of Edinburgh, it was resolved, that when-
ever another election- take place for that, city, anti-corn-law
; candidates shall.be started for its representation, should the
present Members not before then give in their adhesion to
0 the cause of total and immediate repeal. The resolutions
0 adopted at this meeting having been transmitted to Mr. Ma-
' caulayl-as well as the other Member, he has addressed a long
'and elaborately-written letter to his constituents by way of
answer. * The Hon. Gentleman avows himself an immediate
and entire repealer, and as a con Sequence intimates his inten-
tion of voting far the coming motion of Mr. Villiers.
verthetess, his letter in different parts betrays the deepest
. mortifieation that the corn-law repealers of Edinburgh
shoulth,lihve presumed in any way to interfere with the course
which lie might deem it proper to adopt on the corn-law
question. Such interference is, by implication, denounced as
an unjustifiable attempt on the part of the constituency to ty-
rannise over and dictate to Members. Mr. Macaulayis mistaken.
Such an interference with Members is perfectly justifiable.
When a majority of the electars of any place,.whether borough
or county, have made up their minds that the adoption of a
certain line of conduot, on any great question, is essential to
the well-being of the conntry;-they haVe-ti clear, undoubted,
constitutional righTTO call On'thscii• representatives to give
effect to theii Vieiva; opposite opinion, and what
follows? - 'Why, that Ahe terms member and representative,
instead of being, as they are conventionally supposed to be,
synOnymous, are, or 'may become, as opposite in their import
as the words black and white. To apply, the term repre-
sentative to a man setting at .-defiance the-Wishes of his con-
stituents, is a glaring-perversion bf language. It is to dis-.
regard the obvious and legitimate meaning of wordi.. The
Member who sets up his own views in opposition to those of
his constituents, on any of the great questions of the day,
does, in effect, insultinglyiell them„ that-they elected him to
be his own representative, hot theirs, Are 'the constituencies
of England prepared to submit to this attempt to seal their
lips against all further remonstrances with. those Members
who venture to set at nought their .will-known views and
wishes? Are they to be, put to silence by 'the supercilious
sneers or open insolence of those very, men who on the
hustings protested that it would be the • end and aim
of their legislatiVes lives, to
,give• effect in Parliament
to the principles which their constituencies entertained ?
If Mr. Afacaulay'S notions are to be adopted, political elec-
tions will become a mere mockery. There was at least more
•consistency, if less virtue, in .the old noenination borough
system, when a man, "if he purchased 'a scat, was considered
the representative of his breeches pocket, 'or if he received
the seat as a gift from some Peer of the realm, considered
himself bound in honour to represent the views and wishes
of his noble patron. But good is often educed. from seeming
evil. 'We anticipate,much benefit from that portion of Mr.
Macaulay's letter in which he advocatdSthe right of Mem- '
bers to act according to their own views, kowever much
their notions may clash with the views of their constituents.
The effect will be to make the electoral body more careful

hereafter as to the kind of candidate Von whom they bestow
their suffrages. Th.eelectors, as - regards" the 'future, haVe
the remedy in their Own. hands. If persons presenting them-
selves as candidates, refuse to carry out the views of a par-
ticular constituency, let thm be suynnarily•orclered about
their business. No terms Must be kept With such persons.
If the electors are not to haVe the right of taking all needful
precautions for the, effective representation- of their prin-
ciples in Parliament, why, we beg to ask, did the Legisla-
titre confer the franchise on.thern ? With the. construction
which Mr. Macaulay thinks proper to rpfle on the duties of
the constituent body e-Truriers of the Reform Bill, in ex-
tmding the franchise,' offered a gratnitOUS insult to the new
constituency which that measure created. If Members are
not prepared to give a. practical expression to the principles
of the electoral body who. elected them, it is a piece of un-
warrantable impertinence to solicit the suffrages' of such
electors. To prevent all misconeeptionin future, as to the
relative duties of the constituencies and the candidates who

. .
ask their votes, let tile electors, before giving any candidate
their support, obtain from hims,arwritten pledge that he will
vote in a particular way on the great questions of the day—
these questions, and the manner in which Mefhbers are ex-
pected to vote on them, being stated in away which can
leave no room for doubt, evasion, or equivocation. While
Mr. Macaulay intimates his intention of voting in favour
of Mr. Villiers's motion for the immediate` and• total re-
peal of the corn-lawS, the sole:object •of :ltis letter seems to
be to persuade the country. that it ought most; thankfully
to accept of a fixed duty. This is Whoever•
vet knew a Whig that wag la his heart, whittever 'he might
be in. profession, in faviiiief Of any truly popular mea-
sure? It is clear, that if Mr: Villiers receive the support of:
the Member for Edinburgh, it will be• from expediency, not
• from principle. It is equally' clear, that 'were Sir Robert
Peel to sacrifice his sliding-scale and propose to substitute
fur it. a.moderate fixed duty, Mr. Macaulay would at once
abandon the cause of immediate and total repeal (to which
he has, with evident reluctance, conditionally given in his
adhesion), and support the Tory PreMier. All such time-
serving-Members ought to be marked men—persons who are •
to be suspected. They are black sheep, who do immeasur-
ably more mischief to a cause than if .they had.. never pro-
fessed to identify themseb,*l4 with it.• Hollow-hearted friends
are always more to be dreaded.than open enemies. The letter
of Mr. Macaulay is not ontjrctitenlated, but is•manifestly in-
tended, to do irreparable miSehierto the Anti-CornAaw agi-
tation. He labours hard to, underrate the influence of the
League. :He affirms that its .power. is .exceedingly
We trust that it will join isgue with him here; and furnish •
such a proof of its influenealiis even he shall not be able to
resist. Let the League Tut....i.:)ttli its energieS,-snaLeonvinee •
Mr. Macaulay of what it is. capable of doing, by. turning him
out of the representation of E?Taiburgh whene.yer an election
for that city take place.7,-A&-rasie;•. = - • - • •

• EscArE FROM Friday morning, at three
o'clock, a person who was passing through Beech-
street, Barbican, obsei-d an' appearance of fire in the
kitchen 'at No. 37, and sipoß.his giving information at
'the Whitecross-street station, in the immediate neigh-
bourhood, Mallet, the resident engineer,. instantly
.got out a small engine and rolled it to the spot. Flames
were then distinctly sem:through the-kitchen.window,
and. admission being obtained, it was discovered that
some shavings and moil, left by. a carpenter whe had been
at work in the kitchen. on Thursday.evening, had by
some means ignited, and the flames had • communicated
to the furniture and woodworlein-the.kitehen, and were
spreading so rapidly that the-upper part of the house,
where the whole of the inmates were in bed, would in a
short time have been in a blaze. Considerable damage
was done in the kitchen, bat the engineer' had been so
prompt in his arrival that he was enabled 'to prevent
any further mischief. The house, a 'millinery ware- ,
house, in the occupation of Mr. Todd, is ingured in the
Sun-office.

MURDEROUS ATTACK.—On Wednesday evening
A most diabolical outrage was committed by a bargeman at
Diglis, near this city, undeTtlieTalleiving7. circumstances :
Two men, named Halley and Bentley, employed on board the
Prince Charlie, a barge pletig:tietWeen Irpnbridge and Glou-
cester, had been quarrelling 1j). lip the river. The
cause of the dispute has-noi-s.iyo'Cilieen ascertained ; ,but on
the arrival of the barge at Digliaf the quiirrel had become so
warm that Hailey knocked the other min off the.' deck into
the river. With some difficulty, be -scrambled to the bank,
completely covered with mud; when he picked up some
pieces of turf and threw them at his assailant:" .Hailey in-
stantly went below deck-,and fetched up a gun,triok delibe-
rate aim at Bentley as he was on-th'e bank, and' diSoliarged
the contents at him. Bentley was struck in the-,eye, and
immediately fell to the 'ground ;. on partially-recovering,
however, and, with the assistance of another person who came
, up, he managed to proceed towards the bridge, notwithstand-
ing considerable hemorrhage was taking place: On being
taken to Mr. Orwin, surgeon,- of 'Bridge-street,' it was dis-
covered that, although the eye-ball had not been forced out,
the sight was irrecoverably lost ; he was then taken by some
policemen to the infirmary: The. brute (Halley) was shortly
afterwards taken into custody, by Sergeant Saunders, after
an ineffectual attempt to escape by steering his vessel to the
other side of the river. The wounded man remained in the
infirmary all night, and on the following morning, at seven
o'clock, a man came, and, laving been permitted to see him,
after soar time they left together, and have not since been
heard of. On Thursday morning the case was investigated
at the county magistrates' office., The prisoner was remanded.
Worcestershire Chronicle. ' . •
The town of Redditch, has4this week been thrown
into a state of great excitement by the disclosure of circum-
stances leading to the suspicion that,a female servant in the
house of Mr. J. Warrin, needle-manufacturer, had on Sunday
last clandestinely given birth to. a child, which she after-
wards destroyed by burning it. The woman is now in cus-
tody; and has .undergone an -examination by Mr. Royston,
surgeon, which leaves no doubt of her recent delivery; and
the appalling rumour has received further confirmation by
.Allday, the constable, after a diligent search on the premises,
having succeeded in discovering- the head of an infant !
Worcester Herald

V. ClO7. secntersecdt:
wilalsodNeElirv.eTedthtoemfor.llDowowinimg. laetttheirs,
housewith
in Houghton-le-Spring, on Saturday'evening last :—" Sir,—
The enclosed is a restoration for property destroyed in the
garden belonging to the late Mr. Elliott, by a person then
living near to him. The real, value of the property is un-
known, but the enclosed will more -than meet it.—Yours
respectfully, Gtrutrztus —To the heir of the late Mr. El-
liott, surgeon, of Houghton7le-Spring.*-4th of May, 1844."
—Durham Advertiser.
TIMATRICALS IN TROUBLE.---LThe Rev. Joseph
Ridgeway-, rector of High Roothinth, *attended at Dunmow,
to prosecute a charge against John- 'Wm., Stpr„-tdNo,ll,
Thomas-street, Waterloo-road; London,
-desOribed ,
;oxn the
charge sheet As a wagoner 'and cotnediiin, for conducting his
properties and vehicles through the parish of High Roothing
on the Sunday, being on their way to Dumnow fair. Fined
11. ; coto 941,--,Esser Herald

"That your petitioner shortly before his commitment to
prison ruptured a blood-vessel in the lungs, being the fifth
I time of such an occurrence within four years, and he was
upon his said commitment, and is now, in a very infirm and
I precarious state of health.

" That for more than the last four months your petitioner
has not left his cell, and, being deprived of his accustomed
air and exercise recommended by his medical advisers, ho is
now reduced to such a state of -mental and bodily debility as
to excite the apprehension of medical men that his life will