The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-09 00:00:00

features are several guns of Chinese manufacture, cap- ,
tured by the British during the recent campaign in China.
. ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, REGENT'S-PARK.
The season for visiting these gardens commenced yes-
terday, and if one might judge by the number who
flocked to them, they stand pre-eminent in the exhibi-
tions of the metropolis. During the past winter great
alterations have been made in the gardens, as well for
the biped as the quadruped, and the number of animals
has been greatly increased. An?ong the novelties is a
young giraffe, born in this country, and about five or six
months old. Ths time of feeding the anima's has been
changed—the pelicans at one time and the lions at an-
other, so as to enable the visitors, who did not feel in-
clined to stay all day, to see some of the animals fed.
The most amusing, to the young folks, is the ouran-
outang, who likes tea and eats bread and butter in the
most accomplished style ; the dress consists of a crimson
velvet tunic with white trousers. The museum belong-
ing to the Society is in a great state of forwardness.
The Diorama, the Panorama, the Cosmorama, the
British Institution, and numerous other instituticns in the
metropolis, also received a fair share of the patronage
of the holiday seekers. In various parts of London and
the suburbs amusements of all descriptions were going
forward for those who had not the means of going to
Greenwich or any of the foregoing exhibitions.

DEATH OF LORD ABINGER.
(From the Times.)
It is with deep regret we announce the melancholy in-
telligence that the Noble and Learned Lord, alio for the
last ten years has filled the office of Chief Baron, has
breathed his last at Bury, early on Sunday morning.
Lady -Abinger and several members of his Lordship's
family were present when he expired. He never ap-
peared to regain consciousness from the first moment
that his fatal illness supervened.
During the long period of half a century Lord Abin-
ger had practised or administered the law. His active
and distinguished life was passed during the reigns of
four Sovereigns. When he entered upon the exercise
of his profession Lord Kenyon presided in the Court of
King's Bench, Sir James Eyre was Chief Baron, the first
Earl of Rosslyn at the head of tha Common Pleas, and
the first Earl of Eldon Attorney-General. To climb
the heights which these great men had already attained
formed the object of his youthful ambition. To contend
with the formidable rivalry of their imitators and suc-
cessors became the business of his life; and no reader
now requires to be informed that he prosecuted this
great design with an amount of professional learning,
moral energy, and intellectual power, such as have been
rarely equalled, and never surpassed.
He was the descendant of a family which settled in
Jamaica as long ago as the first establishment of the
colony. In that island they lived long enough to ac-
quire considerable wealth and distinction, and there Lord
Abinger was born, the second and last surviving son of
Robert Scarlett, by his marriage with Miss Elizabeth
Anglin. His youngest brother, Sir William Anglin
Scarlett, was also a member of the legal profession, and
eventually became Chief Justice in the island with which
he and his relatives had been for so long a period con-
nected. As a natural result of the in which he
had been born, it was necessary for Lord Abinger to
leave his home and travel to Europe, in order to secure
the benefit of such an education as his early powers
seemed entitled to receive, and for this purpose he was
consigned to the care of a friend in the north of Eng-
land, at as early an age as lie could venture to travel
alone. He was placed for a short time at a public school,
but was soon removed to Cambridge, whera he entered
as a fellow-commoner of Trinity College. In four years
he took the degree of 8.A., and shortly afterwards
quitted the University. Within one year after his call
to the bar—viz., on the 22d of August, 1792, he mar-
ried the third daughter of Mr. Campbell, of Kilmorey,
in Argyleshire, by whom he had three sons and two
daughters ; of the latter the eldest is the lady of Lord
Campbell, who enjoys a peerage in her own right as
Baroness Stratheden.
On quitting the University he came to London, and
devoted himself to his profession with great ardour,
selecting as the chief object of his laborious studies the
perusal of modern reports, which he esteemed the spee-
diest road to success as an advocate. By the Hon.
Society of the Inner Temple he was called to the bar in
thelyear 1791. Although lie inherited more than a com-
petent independence, he devoted himself to the most
laborious of all professions with an earnest perseverance
of which there are few examples, and with an industry
rarely called into existence by any stimulus less than the
pressure of actual necessity.
The practice of the common law was that to which he
gave a preference ; and the Northern was the circuit to
which he attached himself. Years rolled by ; and, like
others, he was compelled to go through the usual proba-
tion. In due course the leader of his circuit presented
him with a bag ; but not until he had business enough
to render that species of accommodation quite needful.
Not many years elapsed before that bag laboured under
a plethora. The opinion entertained of him by attor-
neys, clients, and jurors, at first favourable, gradually
grew into admiration, and at length ripened into un-
bounded confidence ; until, in the end, men began to
think that it would be almost " a tempting of -Provi-
dence" for any one engaged in litigation to omit retain-
ing Mr. Scarlett. At the time to which we refer, his
personal appearance was, in a remarkable degree, cal-
culated to win the favour of every beholder. Though
born in a tropical climate, his physical strength and
animal spirits were indomitable, while his command of
temper also presented an exception ,to the ordinary rules
which apply to West Indians. He was as calm as any
Englishman, and as discreet as " if bred at Glasgow or
at Aberdeen."
In the year 1816 Mr. Scarlett was called within the bar,
invested with a silk gown, and became, therefore, one of
that eminent body known as " his Majesty's Counsel
learned in the lave." From this time forward a large
proportion of the leading business of the Court of King's
Bench fell into his hands. To enter the House of Com-
mons became the next object of his ambition, and he
forthwith offered himself as a candidate for the borough
of Lewes ; but his opponent, Sir John Shelley, was
elected by a majority of 19. The demise of George 111.,
however, necessarily led to a general election, and he
accepted' the offer of the late Earl Fitzwilliam to come in
for Peterborough. -
Although his professional fame had not even then at-
tained its highest point of eminence, he entered Parlia-
ment with the character of being one of the ablest coun-
sel at nisi prius that had ever adorned the English bar.
Yet there were many amongst his rivals and contem-
poraries who excelled him in the attributes of an orator.
He was no sentence maker; his style was so unadorned
and unpretending, that his audience never suspected
themselves to be in the presence of a great man; he
never abashed a jury or benumbed their faculties by any
display of intellectual superiority; but rather sought to
comfort them and mould them to his purpose by in-
ducing them to conceive a very high opinion of their own
wisdom and intelligence; he never made the least at-
tempt to exercise imagination, and always gave prac-
tical proof that he had no wish to excite the passions
of a tribunal by anything approaching to declamatory
appeals.
The first subject to which he applied himself in the
House of Commons was the financial policy of the Ali-
nisters who were in power when lie first obtained a seat
in that assembly. He urged the expediency of apply-
ing the sinking fund to make good the deficiency in the
revenue ; but, as might be expected, these early efforts
of his in the way of Parliamentary opposition, produced
little effect upon the general policy of the King's Govern-
ment, and he therefore thought it expedient to lose no
time in applying. himself to subjects more congenial to
the habits, and probably more agreeable to the natural
construction of his mind ; accordingly, we find him
giving cordial and efficient assistance to Sir Samuel
Romilly and Sir James Mackintosh in their efforts to
amend the criminal law. In the next stage of his
career as a legislator he introduced a proposition for
altering the Poor-laws. That attempt proved abortive,
and the practical carrying out of the principles which he
then put forth was reserved for a later period and another
Parliament.
In the year 1822, a vacancy occurring for the Univer-
sity of Cambridge, he became a candidate, but Mr.Bankes
was returned by a majority of 138 ; and Mr. Scarlett
continued to sit for Peterborough, still a supporter of
the Whig interest, though so quiet, unobtrusive, and
discreet, that he could scarcely be called a partisan. On
the breaking up of the Liverpool Administration, in
1827, Mr. Canning invoked the assistance of the Whigs,
and Mr. Scarlett became Attorney-General. This was
his first approach towards thosg Conservative principles
by the consistent maintenance of which he has been dis-
tinguished for nearly 20 years.
In the office of Attorney-General Mr. (now Sir
James) Scarlett was succeeded by that able and very
learned, but somewhat eccentric person, Sir Charles
Wetherell. Then came the Wellington Ministry, and with
their accession to office came many changes, amongst
which was the measure of Roman Catholic relief. To
this Sir Charles Wetherell opposed himself with extra-
ordinary effect and characteristic vehemence, where-
upon the Duke, in his usual way, intimated that the
resignation of the worthy and Learned Knight wotAl d be
o
very acceptable ; and without loss f time Sir James
Scarlett became once more his of
Attorney-
General. This was the period of the Brunswick Clubs- ;
and the enthusiasm which characterised those associa-
tions naturally extended itself to their organs amongst'
the daily and weekly press. Several criminal informa-
tions were filed against a publication, long since defunct,
called the Morning Journal, against the Atlas, and other
papers, fur libels on the Duke of 'Wellington and the
Lord Chancellor. These prosecutions, in which Sir
James gained verdicts, formed the leading features of his
official life. He still continued to owe his seat in Parlia-
ment to Lord Fitzwilliam, whether sitting for Malt° n or
for Peterborough, and yet he gave his unqualified sup-
port to those principles which, about that time, ceased to
be designated by the term "Tory," and assumed the de•
nomination of " Conservative."
As might be expected, lie resigned the office of At-
torney-General when Lord Grey became the head of
the Government., and zealously co-operated with Sir R.
Peel and his supporters in their opposition to the
several Reform Bills which, during the years 1830
and 1831, were submitted to the consideration of Par-
liament. He had, however, for some time ceased to be
the nominee of Lord Fitzwilliam, having been returned
for Cockermouth in 1831, and for Norwich in 1832.
Lord Lyndhurst filled the office of Chief Baron in
1834. Towards the latter end of that year Sir Robert
Peel was unexpectedly called upon to form a Conserva-
tive Ministry. Lord Lyndhurst was, therefore, required
to withdraw from the Exchequer, in order that he should
preside in Chancery; and the office of Chief Baron was
conferred upon Sir James Scarlett, who, at the same
time, was called to the House of Peers by the title of
-Baron Abinger.
It has long been proverbial in Westminster Hall that a
distinguished advocate, when raised to the bench, does
not always become an eminent judge; on the contrary,
-it has happened in more instances than one, that men
wird never had enjoyed much fame at the bar have, when
placed on the judgment teat, acquired, amongst the sages

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of the law, the highest and most ends ing reputatrons• •e•-- -
To this rule Lord Abinger formed no exception, for his -
fame as an advocate has not been equallet: by his
racter as a judge. The same result having often happened
in similar cases did not prevent considerable .51trpriSe •
in some minds that a man, who for nearky forty vei611:1! (TS
had been accustomed to influence juries with almost
disputed sway, should suddenly lose some portion of his
ascendancy over their minds when he attained to a more
elevated position and a weightier responsibility. For
s !me time after his elevation to the bench Lord Abinger
did not get his verdicts out of the jury-box with all the
facility that long habit at the bar probably led him to
expect. As an advocate he had been the wonder of the
age in which he lived. Under every variety of circum-
stance be exerted himself body and soul to present the
facts of • his client's case clearly and consistently and in-
disputably beture a jury. Few men excelled him in the
art of cross-examination; but he outstripped all compe-
tition whenever he found it necessary to restore, to com-
fort, and to set up one of his own witnesses whose testi-
mony might have been damaged by a severe cross-
examination from the adverse counsel.
Lord Abinger was for many years a bencher of the
Inner Temple, and was for many years Attorney-Gene-
ral of the County Palatine of Lancaster; and his Lord-
ship was also a Privy Councillor.
His first wife died in the year 1829, and after remain.-
ing a widower for fourteen years he married, in41843', •
the daughter of the late Lee Steere Steere, Esq., of
Jayes, in Surrey. Lady Abinger had previously been
married to the Rev. H. J. Ridley, of Ockley.
Lord Abinger retained the full use of his remarkable
and vigorous faculties down to the very day on which he
was attacked with the fatal disease that terminated his
valuable existence. -He was one of the judges of the
Norfolk Circuit during the present assizes ; and being
at Bury St. Edmund's he presided in Court on the se-
cond of this month up to the late hour of seven o'clock
in the evening, going through the business of the day
with the same clearness, precision, and skill which dis-
tinguished him in the prime of life. Within two hours
from the adjournment of the court he was speechless, and,
within the short space of five days, he breathed his last,,
having reached the advanced age of 76, and having ac-
quired, as a leading counsel at nisi prius, higher re-
wards in fame and in wealth than have yet fallen to the
lot of the most fortunate amongst his contemporaries.
His eldest son, Robert CaMpbell Scarlett (now Lord
Abinger), was born on the sth of September, 1794. On
the 19th of July, 1824, he married Sarah, the second
daughter of George Smith, Esq , Chief Justice of the •
Mauritius. The issue of this marriage was two sons
and two daughters. The present Lord Abinger was:
called to the bar, and practised for a short time. lie was
returned to Parliament for Norwich in 1835, and for
Horsham in 1841 ; and his elevation to the peerage will
therefore occasion a vacancy in the representation of
that borough. The second child of the deceased ?ecr
is Lady Stratheden, the third is the widow of Sir Ed-
ward Currey, the fourth Colonel Scarlett, of the sth
Dragoon Guards ; and his youngest sou, who had been
marshal and associate of the Noble and Learned Chief
Baron in the Court of Exchequer, has been recently ap-
pointed her Majesty's Secretary of Legation at the Court
of Tuscany.

THE HIGH PRICES of the FUNDS.
It appears that for the first time for nearly a cen-
tury, the Three per Cent. Consols are at par, or 100/-
money for 100/. stock. The last time they were at
100/. was in 1749, the year after the peace of
Chapelle; at which period the amount of the public
debt was rather more than 78,000,000/. The highest
price the Three per Cents. ever rose to was in June,
1737, and again in May, 1739, when they attained
the high price of 107/. Between the years 1729 and
the year of the Rebellion, 1745, the Three per
Cents. ware never lower than 89, and for a consider-
able portion of that period they were above par.
Again, in March, 1792, they rose to 974, when
the amount of the national debt was 239,350,0001.
During the period between the peace of Paris,
in 1763 (when the amount of the debt was
138,774,000/.), and the breaking out of the:
American, war, they fluctuated between eighty an&
ninety per cent. Towards the close of the Ame-
rican war—namely, in February, 1782, they were a$
low as 544. At the termination of the American war
the debt was 249,851,628/. In the years 1797-8, in
consequence of the great success of the French. armies
on the Continent, and of the mutiny at the No,,:e, and
of the rebellion in Ireland, together with the ,Pailure
of the attempt to negotiate with the French RepAblic,
the price of stock became less than it has been before
or since that time. In May, and again in June, 17:97,
the Three per Cents. Reduced were as low as 46. t.
In the September of that year the Three per Cent:-
Consols fell to 474, being the lowest price to which!
they have ever fallen. Dr. Hamilton, in his valuable*
work on the national debt, states that they were also.
at that price in January, 1798. The Three per Cent.
Consols have not been under 68 since the latter part
of the year 1820, when they were 674. The highest
price the Five per Cents. ever attained was 1074, in
August, 1791 ; and the lowest price was 594, in
January, 1798. The highest price the Five per Cents.
ever attained was in August, 1791, when they were
1'221, and the lowest price was in August, 1798, when
they were only 694.

STATE TRIALS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—lt may be of use to call the attention of those
who are intrusted with the defence of Mr. O'Couneil to
the following passage in page 383 of the last Quart..lrly
Review :
Speaking of the French Revolution, it is said—" The,:
first and most effective abuse of the forms of law was;
this:—The Convention had decreed that all conspira-
cies and plots, tending to disturb the State by a civil war,
by .arming citizens against each other, or against the
exercise of any lawful authority ' should be punished
with death. Under the vague and comprehensive terms
of conspiracy,' and 'plots,' and tending,' words,
writings, and even thoughts, might be included ; and
the first question, therefore, generally submitted to the
jury was, whether there bad existed a counter-revolu-
tionary conspiracy ?"
In what follows, there are remarks which appear to
me to bear on the late Irish trials, but if any one legally,
employed thinks such remarks of any value, he will, of
course, turn to the ReviewAN itself.
ENGLISH MECHANIC.
Liverpool, April 8, 1844.

COLLISION ON THE RIVER.—Last night, at a late
hour, a collision of a most serious character, and which.
it is much feared involved loss of life, happened on the.
river, between Greenwich and Blackwell, by the Coquette
steamer, the property of the Blackwell Railway
.Com-
pany, running into the schooner Hibernia, belonging to
Guernsey, lying at anchor in Blackwell Reach. The
following particulars are furnished by a reporter, who
was on board the Coquette at the time. The steamer,
which is iron-built, plies between the Greenwidi and
Blackwell piers, under the charge of Captain Batdielor.
She left the former at a quarter before 9 o'clock, with
about 150 passengers, the chief of whom consisted of
women and children. The night being very hazy, to the
surprise of many she proceeded at full speed. The
master, Mr. Batchelor, was on the paddle-box, and part
of the crew were placed forward, to keep a look ol.t.
The first thing that attracted the attention of the pa a- •
sengers was those forward shouting out to the captain,.
" There is something a-head, sir." The vessel's course.
was not, however, altered. The vessel had then arrived
about half-way, and the watch again repeated, "There's
a vessel a head, sir." The master made no reply for
several seconds, but suddenly cried out, " Port, stop
her, turn a-stern.". All eyes were now directed forward,
when they saw a schooner, which proved to be the one'
above named, moored to the southward of mid-chanint„
the tide at the time running down fast. In an instant a%
collision took place, the bow of the Hibernia striking
amidships the Coquette, carrying away part ohf th t a.rn-
board paddle-box and the.platform on which t ecoap tl
was standing, and throwing the steamer almost leer
beam ends. The scene that followed the dreadful n
crash
was one of a most agonising description ; the shrieks of
the women and the loud cries for assistance could ba
heard on each side of the shore. Many of the crew
being seen to rush to the schooner and clambering up
the rigging, apparently for the purpose of saving them;
selves, and the loud hissing of the steam, impressed.spota
the minds of the passengers the idea that the steamer was;
going down, and they simultaneously made a similar
movement. At this trying moment it is asserted by
several of those on board
board,TOT persons, amidst the.
confusion, had fallen over and it is not at all im-
probable that such is the fact. The captain manifested
much presence of mind, and implored the passengers to
remain quiet, but for full ten minutes he was unable to
pacify them. At length the vessels were disentangled,
and it having been ascertained that the hull of the
steamer was not materially injured, she proceeded,
leaving many
of her passengers on board the ,schoone4
to Blackwell, where she arrived about half-past nine.
EASTER MONDAY.—It may with truth be said that
yesterday " London was out; of town." From all its
outlets, north, south, east, and west, colossal London
commenced at an early hour, and continued, the whole
day to pour forth its immense population. Hampstead,
Highgate, and their neighbourhoods, were covered with
holiday folks. Greenwich, its park, and its fair, pre-
sented ono living mass of human beings, devoted for the
day to all those indulgencies which, in their proper
season, and when characterised by moderation, are
rational and wholesome. Everything appeared tCY be
carried on with as much propriety as (considering the
season and circumstances) could be expected. Romford,,
Ilford, Bow, and Stratford on the eastern, and Hammer-
smith, Kew, Richmond, and Mortlake on the western
side, were likewise crowded with visitor.. , Who indulged
in relaxation and amusement. While multitudes thus
enjoyed physical recreation, a large number evinced their
taste for intellectual enjoyments by visiting the British
Museum, the National Gallery, St. Paul's Cathedral, and
Westminster Abbey, and other public structures where
art and science, as well as virtue and valour, are honoured.
THE O'CONNELL DINNER AT CORK.—The artis-
tical arrangements will be completed at the Lancasterian
building early to-morrow. The tables, of which there
are eight, each accommodating about ninety persons, ex-
clusive of the head table, will be laid by twelve o'clock,
when the curious may have an opportunity of inspecting
the arrangements, at a small charge, the receipts to be
handed to the Sisters of Mercy. The galleries are con-
structed so as to accommodate nearly 250.—Cork .Exa-
miner of Friday.
MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE.—The marriage of Wil•
liatn Mordaunt Edward, eldest son of Sir William Mor-
daunt Milner, Bart., of Nunappleton Park, Yorkshire,
and Georgina Anne, youngest daughter of the late
Frederick Lumley, Esq., of Tickhill Castle, niece of the
late and cousin of the present Earl of Scarborough, will
take place on Tuesday, the WtU inst.