The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-31 00:00:00

E SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 313 MIS.

MR. JAMES POLK, THE NE W
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
(From the National Reformer.)
Mr. Polk is the eldest of ten children. He was
born in the county of Mechlenburg, North Carolina,
on the 2d of November, 1795, and is, consequently,
now in his fiftieth year. His ancestors, whose family
name, originally, was Pollock, emigrated from Ire-
land, more than a century since, and settled in Mary-
land ; Colonel Pollock, the great uncle of the new
President, was one of the promoters of, and the first
to affix his signature to, the famous Declaration of
Independence. In 1706, Mr. Polk's father established
himself on the banks of the river Duck, in the State
of Tennessee, where he founded an extensive agricul-
tural establishment. This country, now one of the
most populous and flourishing in the Union, was then
a real wilderness.
Mr. Polk began his academical studies in 1813,
which resulted with the most brilliant success, both
at college and the university, where he won the first
prizes in mathematics and literature.
Returning, in the beginning of 1819, to Tennessee,
Mr. Polk applied himself to the study of the law,
and, towards the end of the year 1819, was admitted
a member of the bar. From this period he followed
his profession of advocate, and, by his talents and the
influence of his relatives, he very soon obtained a
large number of clients.
In 1829, being then in his thirty-fourth year, he
was elected for the county in which he resided a re-
presentative in the local Legislature, where he dis-
tinguished himself by his oratorical powers and his
aptitude fir business. The personal and political
friend-of General Jackson, he was one of those who,
in 1824, drew that distinguished and celebrated man
from his retreat by proposing him as a Member of
the Senate. Mr. Polk prides himself in having con-
tributed to this nomination, which has had, and will
still have, a considerable influence on the future pros-
pects of the Union—an influence which some consider
prejudicial, and others beneficial.
In August, 1825, Mr. Polk was elected a Member
of Congress, and carried with him into the public
debates and deliberations the fundamental principles
to which he remained constantly faithful throughout
the vicissitudes and all the modifications of parties.
From his boyhood he had been a thorough and un-
compromising republican.
His views, approved by the majority of the House,
were converted into a series of resolutions, which re-
produce 4 and put prominently forward the doctrines
of the republican party of 1798.
Since this period, 1825, I\lr. Polk has taken an
active part in all questions of importance. During
General Jackson's administration he was one of his
warmest partisans, and gave him valuable support on
all trying occasions.
In 1832 he was one of the Committee of Ways and
Means, and distinguished himself by the famous re-
port made in the name of the minority against the
United States Bank. This report raised against him
in his district a formidable opposition; whereupon he
determined to appeal to his constituents, and he was
re-elected by an immense majority.
In 1833 he was appointed President of the same
Committee, and to him may be attributed, in a great
measure, the resolutions adopted by Congress which
led to the fall of the United States Bank.
In 1835 and 1837 he was appointed, by large ma-
jorities, President of the Chamber of Representatives.
His adversaries have never hesitated to render homage
to his strict impartiality, to his dignified deportment,
to the great talents which he displayed in this diffi-
cult position. At the end of the session of 1837,
Congress honoured him with an unanimius vote of
thanks. Since then he had been twice elected Go-
vernor of the State of Tennessee.
Such are the political antecedents of the man who
is now called upon to direct the Government of one
of the greatest nations of the world.

LAW TELLIGENCE.
COURT OF QUEENS BENCH, Jan. 30.
(Sittings in Banco.)
THE QUEEN V. CARTER.
The particulars of this case were stated in our paper
of yesterday. The defendant has pleaded guilty to two
indictments, charging him with having, under colour of
Ha office as an Excise officer in Niontgomeryshire and

Merbmethshire, extorted and obtained bylalse.pretenees

divers small sums of money from several humble persons
there, upon the ground that they required licenses in
circumstances where they were not required by law.
The indictment also charged the defendant with having
forged and fabricated licenses, which he gave to the par-
ties in exchange for the money. fle had been brought
up for judgment yesterday, but the case was then ad-
journed until this morning, when
The SOLICITOR-GENZRAL prayed the sentence of the

Court upon him.
Mr. Justice PATTESON then addressed the prisoner,
and dwelt upon the serious nature of the crime which he
had committed, in extorting money from several poor
persons under colour of his office, and proceeding further
to the perpetration of forgery, for which he was liable in
law to the punishment of transportation. The Court,
however, did not think it necessary to inflict this extreme
penalty, and should only sentence the prisoner to 16
months' imprisonment, with hard labour.
As the indictment consisted of nine counts, but only
of four distinct offences—some of the offences being
• charged in different forms in different counts—the judg-
ment of the Court was delivered in respect of each count,
it being in each case expressed that the 18 months to
which the defendant was sentenced upon each count
were all to commence upon the same day.

IN TRH MATTER OF CARUS WILSON.
Mr. KELLY showed cause against the rule obtained
by the Solicitor-General for setting aside the writ of
habeas corpus which had been granted in this case by
Mr. Baron Rolfe. The Learned Counsel observed, that
although various objections had been originally made to
the writ, he should now only argue the que.,tion how far
the Learned Baron had the power to issue the present
writ under the seal of the Court of Queen's Bench, and
make it returnable in this Court. After the argument

which-had taken place upon the other rule, he should
now take for granted as universally conceded that this
and every other court in Westminster-hall had the power
to issue writs of habeas corpus into the island of Jersey;

neither should he enter into any discusston at present
upon the merits of the case which had been brought
forward upon affidavits which the applicant had no op-
portunity to answer. If the Court thought that these
matters should be discussed upon the present occasion,
he (Mr. Kelly) hoped that their Lordships would oblige
the Royal Court of Jersey to state them upon the return,
in order that they might be traversed by Mr. Wilson,
and that an opportunity might be afforded for delibe-
rately examining the state of the facts.
Lord DENmAN here, addressing the Solicitor-General,
inquired whether he was now in a condition to under-
take that Mr. Wilson's prison doors would be thrown
open, and that he would be allowed to walk out ?
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that, in answer to his
Lordship's question, he could only say, as he had said
before, that if his rule were allowed to be made absolute
he firmly believed that no obstacle would be placed in
the way of Mr. Wilson's release.
Lord DENMAN said that he had hoped that since the
case had been last before the Court, the Solicitor-Gene-
ral would have been authorised to give an express un-
dertaking upon the subject. If the Court were informed
that Mr. Wilson was at liberty to depart from his prison
the Court would then consider itself to be at liberty to
depart from the case, and should consider this course
more desirable than entering upon a long discussion,
until the decision of which Mr. Wilson must remain in
gaol, for the purpose of raising the question of the lega-
lity- of his imprisonment.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that the Roy 41 Court
of Jersey had offered to admit Mr. Wilson to bail, but
that he rejected the offer.
Mr. KELLY said that it was plain that the Royal Court
of Jersey were tampering with a subject of such im-
mense importance as the liberty of the übject. If the
Royal Court really intended to restore Mr. Wilson to
his liberty, they ought to have at once thrown open his
prison doors.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that they could not do
so until the writ was quashed.
Mr. KELLY said that he should not give any consent
to such a proceeding, but go on at once to the objections
which were made to the writ.
Lord DENMAN observed that the objection to the writ
was, that it was void upon the face of it.
Mr. KELLY understood such to be the objection, and
he should confine himself altogether to that point. The
Learned Counsel then proceeded to support the validity
of the writ under two general heads : first, that the
Court itself would have the power to issue the writ, and
that as the statute of Victoria had placed each of the
individual judges upon the same footing as any of the
Courts themselves with regard to all matters which might
be done by any of those Courts, and that as Mr. Baron
Rolfe had the power to issue the writ out of this Court,
he could only have done it, as he had done, under the
seal of this Court, and not under that of the Court to
which the Learned Baron himself belonged. The other
general head of argument was of a preliminary charac-
ter ; and under this head the Learned Counsel observed,
that as the writ which had issued was in conformity to
the order of the Learned Baron, the writ itself could not
be quashed as long as the order subsisted. Supposing,
therefore, that the Learned Baron did not possess the
power which he had actually exercised, the only proper
course of proceeding was not to apply to the Court for a
rule to quash the writ quits improvide emanavit, but for
a rule to set aside the order for want of jurisdiction in
the Learned Baron by whom it was made.
Mr. PEACOCK followed upon the same side, and in re-
ference to the position which had been so often asserted,
that the island of Jersey was not bound by English Acts
of Parliament, unless particularly mentioned, lie stated
that the island of Jersey was not named in the present
Regency Act any more than in the preceding Act, which
had constituted the Prince of Wales Regent during the
life of George 111. If the principle contended for were
therefore to be established without qualification, it must
follow that neither the former Regent had, nor could
any future Regent have, under the present Act, any
power by assenting to an Act of Parliament to bind
Jersey, even though named in the particular Act, as it
had not been named in the statute which created the
Regency itself.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL (with whom were Mr.
Wortley and Mr. J. W. Smith) contended, that although
Mr. Baron Rolfe even possessed the power to issue the
habeas corpus itself, yet he had no power to take pos-
session of the seal of this Court and use it at his own
discretion, in a case, moreover, where the Learned
Baron himself could do justice to the party in his own
Court, and where there was therefore no necessity for
stretching the words of the statute of Victoria to give
a power which was not required. The Learned Gentle-
man contended further that the writ of habeas corpus ad
subjiciendum did not issue into Jersey at all. But the ar-
guments upon both sides upon this point, as well as in-
deed upon every other, consisted of a reproduction of
some part of the discussion which took place upon the
former occasion.
After a short consultation between the members of the
Court,
Lord DENMAN said that it was possible that they
should be obliged to dispose of this case upon the ground
of the technical objection to the writ—a ground upon
which a case of such a nature ought hardly to be dis-
posed of. They would, however, mention it again to-
morrow.

THE STORM ON SATURDAY
NIGHT.

On the night of Saturday last we were visited
by a storm of wind which, for violence, though not
for disastrous effects, was not equalled by any hurri-
cane since the destructive tempest of January, 1839.
The gale set in suddenly about eleven o'clock—the
wind from the N.W., but occasionally shifting a
couple of points to E. or N. The storm had reached
its height about four o'clock on Sabbath morning, at
which time it raged with terrific fury, scattering the
debris of dismantled roofs and chimneys in all
directions, and rendering it most unsafe for such
persons as were obliged to be out-of-doors (watch-
men and constables, for instance) to walk the
streets, which at daylight were strewed with bricks,
slates, and tiles. Several houses were unroofed. In
North Queen-street, the stable of Mr. J. Wilson, one
of the contractors for the cleansing of the town, was
blown down, and out of eight horses which it con-
tained, two were killed, and two others seriously in-
jured. None of the remainder were much hurt. In
Stanhope-street, two new and untenanted houses
were almost blown to pieces ; and, in Leadbetter-
place, Old Lodge-road, another unfinished building
was partially destroyed. In Ballymacarrett, also, a
labourer's cottage was blown down, the inmates nar-
rowly escaping. None of the numerous tall chimney-
stalks of the factories were prostrated by the gale.
We learn that in the districts to the north of Belfast
there has been much damage to property. The
coasts of Antrim, and part of Down and Derry,
having been " lee shores" during the storm, it is but
too certain that calamitous accounts from those por-
tions of our sea-board will be received. That fine
iron steam-boat, the Prince of Wales, was the only
one of our Channel packets which braved the gale
and made her passage. She arrived at eight o'clock
on Sabbath morning, having left Fleetwood at ten on
the preceding night. The brig Robert Burns, of and
for Liverpool, timber-laden, dismasted and aban-
doned, was fallen in with in the North Channel on
Sabbath morning by the Isabella Napier steamer,
bound from Sligo to Glasgow, and towed into the
Clyde. The crew had been taken out of the main-
chains by a schooner, and landed at Derry. The
captain was drowned.—Banner of Ulster.

UNITED MEXICAN MINING ASSOCIATION.—Wed-
nesday the half-yearly meeting of this Company was
held at the London Tavern. The chair was taken by
Mr. Majoribanks, M.P., in the absence of Sir John
Easthope, Bart. The Secretary read the report, from
which it appeared that in the mine of Rayas the produce
had been 21,438 caryas, or 24 bars, of silver, of which
13,419 were received by the owners and 7,889 by the
Association. Some other ore amounted to 113,152
dollars, and the amount of expenses was 186,274
dollars ; the excess of the outlay was borne by the
owners and the Association. The mine debt was now
reduced to 757,677 dollars, and a large sum remained
to be received for ore on hand. There was new ore
ground dise•wered, the returns from which it was hoped
would gradually increase. The haciendas were in a
state of profitable employ. The claim on the Mexican
Government for losses sustained at the mine of Zaca-
tecas, amounting to 235,454 dollars, had been sub-
mitted to an eminent jurist, who had reported in favour
of the Company's claim, which opinion had been sub-
mitted to the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, and awaited the decision of her Maj,:sty's Go-
vernment. The prospects in Oaxaca remained the same
as at last meeting. The number of bottlesof quicksilver
sent over was 1,105 which cost 19,8831. The cash ac-
count showed the total receipts for the half-year to have
been 28,6651. 12s. Bd. The available assets in London
wet e 3,2171. 14s. 3d., subject to the monthly shipmeilts
of quicksilver. A remittance of 50,000 dollar.: was ex-
pected. Oa the motion of Mr. T. Moore, seconded by
Mr. Wood, a sum of 250 guineas was voted for a piece
of plate to be presented to Mr. Shoolbred the late
commissioner in Mexico, fur his valuable services to the
Company. Some discussion then took place, more par-
ticularly as to the farther delay in making a dividend,
when the report was adopted, and thanks were voted to
the Chairman and Directors of the Company.
SETTING A PIKE. EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUNI•
STANCE.—The folltoving anecdote is given on the autho-
rity of " An old sportsman," on whose veracity we can
rely :—A gamekeeper to a nobleman in an adjoining
county, being shooting on his employer's estate, on the
2d of September last, flushed a covey of partridges, a
brace of which separated from the others and fl,d in a
direct line for a large fish-pond, by the side of which
was a foot-road leading to the mansion. The keeper
having killed a sufficient supply for the larder, was re-
turning, when one of his dogs made a stand by the side
of the pool, and on the keeper's approaching, the brace
of strayed birds rose, and attempted to cross the pool,
but the keeper shut one of them, which was immediately
taken, while fluttering on the water, by a large pike.
This circumstance did not much surprise him, as he well
knew the voracious propensities of the fish. But on the
morrow, as he was again passing this large sheet of
water, the same dog made what is termed a dead set at
the edge of it, and kept looking steadily at a few rushes
that grew in the water, about two yards from land. Not
seeing anything on the water, the keeper was surprised
at his dog standing, and tried to send him in, but without
effect, when presently he saw a large pike, about four
incites beneath the surface, which he shot, when the dog
dashed in and brought it to land. In returning home
the keeper perceived an unusual fulness in the belly of
the fish, and, taking it into the kitchen, requested the
cook to cut it open, when, to his great surprise, he found
the bird of his yesterday's killing, which sufficiently ac-
counted for his dog standing when he got to leeward of
the fish, as no doubt he was setting the bird, which he
must have scented from the respiraion of the fish.—The
above is one of the many wonderlid circumstances which
frequently occur to the observation of sportsmen.—
It o? cestershire Chronicle.
SUICIDE BY A MEDICAL MAN.—Wednesday Mr.
Carter, coroner for East Surrey, held an Inquest on the
body of Mr. George Youd, aged thirty-six, assistant to
Mr. Taylor, surgeon, 37, Harleyford-place, Kennington-
oval, who on Sunday night last committed suicide, in
bed, by swallowing prussic acid. The evidence esta
blished the fact that deceased was not right in his mind,
and the jury consequently returned a verdict of " Tem-
porary Insanity."
FOOT RACE.—On Friday a foot race came off at
Carville, between Thomas Brown, of Quarrington Hill,
and the Flying Barber, of Shields (Peter Finnigan).
The match was for 15/. aside, and the distance 120 yards.
The betting was 6to 4 on Brown. The race was wor.
by BroTiA loy half a yard.--T, sc Mercury,