The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-09 00:00:00

Piaui t

LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1844.

In the Lords, several petitions were presented by
Lord ELDON, the Duke of RICHMOND, and Lord
ASHBURTON, praying foragricultural protection.
It was arranged that' the discussion on the Bank
Charter Bill should take,place on Friday.
Lord WonEnousE cofriplained of the calumnies
which had been published in • some journals against
the gentry and yeomanry of Suffolk in reference to
the working of the New Poor-law Bill. These
calumnies had been made for party purposes, and
the fact could be easily ascertained that paupers were
now in more comfortable circumstances than they
were under the old poor-law system.
Lord NORMANDY moved for returns relative to the
late incendiary fires in Suffolk, which were ordered.
'The House adjourned at a Quarter to she
At a Quarter-pa.qt Six o'clock, their Lordships,
that is to say, the Law' Lords, met to hear the argu-
ments of Counsel on the Irish State trials. The
• ATTORNEY-GENERAL opened the case for the Crown,
an 'spoke till ten o'clock, when the further hearing
Was postponed till this day.
• A division took place in the Commons,, on the
motion for the further consideration on the report of
the Middle Level Drainage Bill, an amendment
having been moved by Lord GEORGE BENTINCIC
that the Bill be re-committed. There was a majority
of 90 for the motion, and the report was ordered to
brought rip and engrossed.
Mr. SHELL and Sir CHARLES NAPIER put threw
questions each to Sir ROBERT PEEL, relative to the
affairs of Morocco, and the present state of. the
English navy. Sir ROBERT PEEL, in his usual
manner, answered all the questions categorically ;
•:• • the substance of which is, that there never was a
Period when England could make a greater naval
demons than at present, and that the Govern-
ment. Cal4l for protecting British in-
ter ?is ffieldidlierratiean.
C. Wow) was not at all satisfied by the
leers Of 'Skit-PEEL, and after alluding to the
10- nude by the Tories on the late Government

J • .

for neglecting the navy, said the shores of England,
the interests of the country, were never left in such a
helpless state as they were at the present moment.
He then asked if the Government were prepared to
put the naval force of the country in a state that
would command confidence at home and abroad.
Sir R. PEEL would give no answer, as the notice
applied only to the force in the Mediterranean. He
considered that he had not been fairly treated. After
some remarks from Lord PALMERSTON and Lord
Howics, on the small naval force now in commission,
and the bitter taunts made by the Tories on the same
subject in 1838, the conversation dropped.
An interesting discussion then took place on the
Railways Bill, introduced by Mr. GLADSTONE. Mr.
GISBORNE announced, that if the Government did
not withdraw the Bill he should move that it be read
a second time that day six months.
Mr. HAWES and Mr. CoLQuuouN said they would
support the motion of Mr. GISBORNE ; Mr. WALLACE,
Mr. LABOUCHERE, and others supported the Govern-
ment, and trusted the amendment would not be
pressed to a division. Sir ROBERT PEEL said in
bringing forward the Bill, the Government had, and
could have, no other object in view, than to protect the
public. They had offended many of their supporters
by the measure, but still they could not sacrifice their
duties to party purposes. All the Government wished
was a full, fair, and impartial discussion. Mr. Gls-
BORNE withdrew his amendment.

Mr. GLADSTONE then moved the second reading of
the Bill. His speech contains statements of the
highest importance to the community. An abridg-
ment would do it injustice, and we, therefore, recom-
mend it to the careful attention of our readers, for all
are interested in this momentous question. The dis-
cussion occupied the rest of the evening, and the de-
bate was adjourned till Thursday.
Leave was given to bring in the Party Processions
(Ireland) Bill, and The House adjourned at Half-
past One.

An extraordinary case was heard on Saturday at
the Bow-street police-office, on which it may be worth
while to make a few comments. The facts of the
case are these :—On the day just mentioned, a young
man, after wards ascertained to be the brother of
Lord AUDLET, entered the shop of Mr. SMITH, gun-.
maker, of High Holborn, who keeps a shooting-gal-
lery there, and inquired whether he could have a shot
or two with pistols. The reply being in the affirma-
tive, the prisoner took the loaded pistols which were
handed to him, and fired them at the target, observing,
as he did so, that the trigger of the second pulled rather
hard. Upon this Mr. SMITH banded him a third pis-
tol, and while he was preparing to load another, the
young man turned the muzzle of the one which be
held in his hand towards that gentleman, and fired,
wounding him severely, if not fatally, in the back.
Having perpetrated the deed, he evinced not the
slightest anxiety to make his escape, " but stood still
and smiled"—says the report ; and when taken to
Bow-street, and asked by the magistrate why he had
committed such an atrocity, he replied with infinite
sangfroid, " I have no explanation to give, except
that I had no ill-feeling towards the man, but I did
it on purpose, as I wish to be hanged." Throughout
the examination he conducted himself, it appears,
in the most cool and quiet manner possible, ans% er-
ing every question put to him just as if he
were perfectly contented with the predicament
in which he was placed. From an account
in the Post of yesterday, it seems that the
prisoner had for some weeks resided with his brother,
Lord AUDLEY, in Weymouth-street; but that nothing
had occurred to lead his Lordship to believe that his
mind was affected until within the last few days,
when his manner, which was invariably reserved,
became more so, to such an extent indeed, that it was
exceedingly difficult to obtain an answer to any
question put to him. "On Saturday morning," adds
our Contemporary's report, "the prisoner received a
letter, which added to the gloom under which be
previously appeared to labour, and for a considerable
period he became quite abstracted. At eleven
o'clock be left borne to take a walk, having
then rallied a little," and was permitted to
pursue his walk alone ; and it was during this
stroll that he perpetrated the act for which he is now
committed to Clerkenwell gaol. "It is said," ob-
serves the Post, " that letters written by the young
man evince decided proofs of aberration of mind, but
the members of his family had hoped it was but a
temporary affliction, which had long since passed
away." Under these circumstances, we cannot but
think that the prisoner's family, and more especially
Lord AUDLEY, have acted with exceeding indiscretion
—to use the most lenient term—in keeping so negli-
gent a watch on his proceedings, and allowing him such
unrestrained liberty of action, when it must have been
evident to them that he was by no means in a fit
state to be trusted out alone. Entertaining
as they appear to have done, strong doubts of his
sanity, it was their duty to have taken the requisite
precautionary steps without an instant's loss of time,
and not have left him entirely at large, in the hope
that some amendment might shortly take place in the
state of his mind. They owed this duty not less to
themselves and to the prisoner, than to the public ;
and their neglect of this evident duty has led to an
act which may possibly result in the death of an inno-
cent individual, in no way whatsoever connected with
any of the parties. The catastrophe that has befallen
Mr. SMITH might have befallen any other gentleman ;
it might have occurred at the West-end or the East-
end; the victim might, or might not, have been a man
of rank and celebrity ; for who shall say when, or
where, or against whom a lunatic's blow may be
struck, when he is permitted to walk the streets
without the slightest watch being kept on his move-
ments ? Whenever any individual exhibits symptoms
of mental hallucination such as Mr. TOUCHET seems
to have exhibited for some time previously to his
deadly attack on Mr. SMITH, it becomes the obvious
bounden duty of the members of his family, or his
guardians, instantly to keep a wary eye on his every
motion, and, above all, to take care that he is not
allowed to roam the streets, except under their own
personal charge, or the charge of some one whom they
may commission to look after him. A sense of public
duty, to say nothing of other considerations, demands
that this should be the case. From the neglect of
such timely precautions, her MAJESTT'S life was
twice attempted in public, and Mr. DRUMMOND
fell a sacrifice to a maniac's blow aimed at Sir
ROBERT PEEL. By the bye, the LORD CHANCELLOR
mentioned some time ago that he intended to bring
in a Bill on the subject of Monomania or Insanity.
What has become of this Bill ? We hope it is not to
be postponed, like many other Ministerial Bills, ad
Gracas Calendas, for incidents are of frequent oc-
currence which show how much it is wanted.

The vacancy created in the Parliamentary repre-
sentation of Birmingham by the death of the late Mr.
SCHOLEFIELD, has already called three competitors
for this important seat into the field. We have so
recently offered our tribute of respect for the unsul-
lied private character of the deceased Member, and
of high regard for the consistent integrity of his
public life and political opinions, that we are not
called upon on this occasion to preface the few re-
marks we have to offer on the choice of can-
didates by any eulogy, however well deserved,
on the merits of the gentleman whose honourable po-
sition in the House of Commons it is their common
desire to occupy. By the Birmingham Journal of
Saturday last, we perceive that Mr. JOSEPH SWAGE,
President of the Complete Suffrage Association, Mr.
SPPONER, a connection of the eminent banking
house of ATTwoop and Co., and Mr. W. SCHOLZ-
FULD, son of the late Member, are each of them pre-
sented to the constituency of Birmingham by his
respective friends, as peculiarly, if not exclusively,
qualified to solicit the honour of their support.
It is well observed by the Morning Chronicle that
" the Liberals can defeat the Conservatives in no
election contest unless united." To run the pre-
tensions, then, of one Liberal candidate against
those of ,another, would he A, manifest element and
indication. of disunion in the ranks of that party I
with which the town of Birmingham has so signally
and so successfully identified itself. We should be
inclined to hold that even the vindication of some great
abstract principle in the political creed of that party
would be dearly purchased just now, by a pfactic,al
demonstration of divided counsels and conflicting pre-
tensionsamong its members. This demonstration would
be assuredly exhibited by such an internecine election-
eering contest as Birmingham must become the theatre
of, if there is to be war, not only on the part of the
Liberals against the attempts of Mr. Spoons, a Tqry.

candidate, but also by one of their own men against
the other. Whether in such an unseemly contest, the
event of which can return but one competitor, Mr.
JOSEPH STURGE should triumph over Mr. WILLIAM
SCHOLEFIELD, or Mr. WILLIAM SCHOLEFIELD over
Mr. JOSEPH STURGE ; the result would be a Pyrrhus-
like victory, the repetition of which would be
tantamount to a fatal defeat of the great
cause, which both antagonists are solemnly
pledged to uphold. But since the probabilities are
much greater, that for that cause to enter two com-
petitors of its own party in a race against one com-
petitor representing its opponent, would be to make
the latter the favourite and the winner, the policy of
the Liberals withdrawing one of their nominees seems
to us clear and indisputable. This brings us home to
the preliminary question of pretensions. It is an in-
vidious, but an indispensable duty, to look these fully
and fairly in the face.
Mr. WILLIAM SCHOLEFIELD (whose address to
the electors of Birmingham we have perused with
great pleasure, from the manly and succinct sim-
plicity of its expositions) has been called on by a
large and influential body of ,his townsmen to become
a candidate for the responsible trust so ably and
honourably discharged by his respected father. He
is stated to possess great capacity, extensive commer-
cial experience, and to have highly improved his oppor-
tunities of acquiring an accurate knowledge of those
enlightened principles, on which the system of our
general trade should be established ; and of all matters
immediately connected with the local and municipal
interests of his native town. He has responded to
the call made upon him in a manner fully to justify
the favourable views predicated of his qualifications
for a post to which he brings the hereditary prestige
of his late father's tried services and known convic-
tions. We cannot imagine a better title to the confi-
dence of the constituency, or more reasonable grounds
for their extending it to him, than have been submitted
on the part of Mr. WILLIAM SCHOLEFIELD.
Mr. JOSEPH STURGE has been the consistent
advocate, undoubtedly, of very important principles,
in relation to a re-organization of the scheme on
which the elective suffrage is at present limited to
certain classes of the community, the vast majority of
which possess it in right of their contributing indi-
vidually, in some proportion, to the expenses of the
State, *,as inferred from their paying, at least,
a given amount of annual rent, or a rental
to any excess above that amount. This may
be called an organic electoral or franchise
question, on which serious differences of opinion
prevail, both within the town of Birmingham
and in most other parts of the empire. Mr. STURGE'S
claims, if not rested upon, would be mainly referred
to, his advocacy of the " complete suffrage" plan : and
this being a vezata qumstio, even among the town con-
stituency themselves—and still more between the
constituency and those townsmen who are not
on the register at all, it is evident there
would be a most serious division of opinion
in the Liberal camp as to which of the two banners
the voters would range themselves under. The com-
mon standard of Liberal opinions, the advance of
which alone it is at this time all-essential to secure,
would be either deserted or left in jeopardy by the in-
terest attaching to the conflicting colours of two corn-
, petitors, at a time when union only can enable the
Liberal cause to make successful head against
the Conservative forces. Mr. STURGE we are persuaded,
is too disintereited and consistent an advocate of the
liberal views he has always espoused to consent to
put to hazard, in this struggle, in detail as it were,
the general fortunes of a campaign to the ultimate
success of which the aspect of affairs is becoming,
though slowly, yet visibly, more favourable.
On the Conservative side Mr. RICHARD SPOONER
is a formidable opponent. It is of no use for the Li-
berals of Birmingham to shut their eyes to this fact.
His private character and commercial reputation stand
justly high among people of all parties; and for our own
parts, did ,we not feel the paramount necessity of
securing a clear triumph to the. Liberal party on this
momentous occasion—a triumph to which no means
are so calculated to contribute as an united rally
of their forces round Mr. WILLIAM SCHOLEFIELD;—
we might have desired to see Mr. SPOONER returned,
from our respect for his clear and masterly de-
tection of the fallacies, the wickedness, and the
fatal tendencies of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S currency mea-
sures, and monetary blunders, as supplied in the
evidence this gentleman has publicly given on those
subjects. But our conviction is, that it is requisite
for the character and influence of Birmingham, and
the successful march pf that great cause of improved,
liberal, and enlightened institutions with which she
is so nobly identified to all posterity, that she should,
of the present candidates for her reputation, return
with honour the son of her deceased, upright, and
faithful servant.

Intelligence from Lisbon, to the 2d inst., has been
received. It is of the same gloomy character. The
estimates for the year had been published, showing a
deficit of 232 contos ; and, from a financial exposition
which accompanies them, it appears the Government
are compelled to resort to a loan of 4,000 contos to
provide for pressing payments. This loan is to be
redeemed within twenty-three years, and the interest
is to be 5 per cent. A general disposition prevailed
against the payment of taxes, as they could not be
legally collected without a decree of the Cortes.

The Madrid journals, especially those under the in-
fluence of Government, still abound with rumours of
conspiracies, which are said to be in active pre-
paration at' Sarragossa, Barcelona, and the capital.
It is suspected, however, that reports are raised for
political purposes, with a view of terrifyinfi the
timid, and strengthening' the supporters of the Go-
vernment in case of a general election, or some 'fresh
inroad upon the, Constitution.
It was generally believed at Barcelona that the
Ministers had resolved to dissolve the Cortes forth-
with. The Madrid Gazette of the 30th ult.i con-
tains a royal decree, dated Barcelona, June 26; an-
nouncing that, the claims Raising from contracts for
advancing money to the Government shall bei con-
verted into tithes of the consolidated public debts in
Three per Cents., at the rate of 3.5 per cent., in at
1,000 reels of nominal value for every 350 real that
the Treasury shall have received on the said Claim.
The interest granted upon some of the said claims
shall be reckoned to the present month of finne,
and that interest shall be added to their respective
capitals.
With the exception of the speech made by M.
GUIZOT, in the Chamber of Deputies on Friday, re-
lative•to the disputes between France and Morocco,
the intelligence in the Paris papers possesses very
little interest. Previous to the arrival of the Minister
for Foreign Affairs, M. MAUGUIN put some qmistions
to Marshal SOUL; relative to the late occurrences on
the Morocco frontier, the line of policy whigh the
Government intended to pursue, and at thei same
time warned them against trusting to the mediation
of England, which supported the pretensions Both of
ABD-EL-KADER and the Emperor of Moßocco. M.
SouLT replied in very general terms, announcing that
France did not require the mediation of Thiland.
On M. GUIZOT taking his seat, the Marquis DE La-
ROCIIEJACQUELIN referred to the statements 'of Sir
ROBERT PEEL and Lord JOHN RUSSELL rel#ive to
Morocco, and asked for some explanations on 'a sub-
ject so intimately connected with the honour and in-
terests of. France. The answers of M. Guizoi were
very satisfactory; and as they explain the intentions
of the Frerich Government, both towards the Empe-
ror of MOROCCO and ABD•EL-KADER, we subjoin
here the main points of his speech
" There was nothing in the conduct or intentions of the
Government that he was not quite ready to explain. No
national cause of war existed between France and Morocco.
A stranger—Abd-el-Kader—had come and thrown himself
between the two countries, and, when driven from the ter-
ritory of Algeria; had established himself on the frontiers of
Morocco, where he recruited his adherents from the popula-
tion of that country, persuading them by his influence to
take part with him. As soon as this fact was apparent,
France had demanded the expulsion of Abd-el-Kader ; but
the Emperor had been resisted in his endeavours by national
and religious fanaticism, and he found himself unable to give
France satisfaction: A new circumstance presented itself—
Abd- el-Kider raised a question of territory, and it was as-
serted that the French territory ought to extend only to the
TAM. This was evidently an error; for, from time imme-
morial, the territory between the Tafna and the frontier of
Morocco had formed part of Algeria. This was so true, that
all the maps placed there the position of the camps of the
Turkshwhen they came to levy their tribute. In consequence,
then took place=wunder the influence of Abd-el-Kader, an
the Governinent had maintained the right ofFrance. Another
This temerity was energeticallyoftiagartisans and of the Morocco people took place
repressed by the French' Genera::
iinntvoastihoe French te-i:-.1!4.177.
them ap opportunity to give evident proofs •
!nd this rpLesnsriuotdieanloeradnel
moderiitiora_ The lesson was as severe as merited, but u.
aeral Lamoriciere and General Bedeau not wishing, without
the hitervention pith& UoYernment, to =gage France in a ,