The Sun.
London, England, 1826-07-05 00:00:00

VULGAR ERRORS IN THE LAW.

GENERAL ELECTION.

NORTHUMBERLAND, &Norio:, MONDAY.
State of the poll at the close of the 12th day--
Liddell - 1,485 Beaumont
Bell - 1,331 I Howick

W 76

Mr. Beauniont continues to gain upon hix opponent, Mr. Bell.
The Bell party show signs of the greatest weakness, and it is
probable, if Mr. Beaumont can only bring up 130 inure voter's,
that his election will he secure. Lord flowick has found it im-
possible to transfer many of his split votes to Mr. Bell. A hotly
of the Alnwick freeholders, who had promised to split on Liddell
and Ilorvick, voted to-day for Beaumont and Ilowick ; the latter
Was unwilling to absolve them from their promises six regarded
tiiniself, knowing, if he did, they would immediately vote for
Liddell and Beaumont ; Air. Liddell, however, was enabled to dis-
pense with their votes, and on being pekes 1 by him, they voted
for Mr. Beaumont, to the no small chagrin of the Howick and
Bell party. I see no probability whatever of the election being
over before three o'clock on Thursday.
Atrmicic, MoNnar, Fivz o'CLocic.
Lord Ilowick has just announced his intention of retiring from
the contest. This will be in favour of Mr. Beaumont.

scoTLA ND.

(From the .Dundee Advertiser.)
FORFARSIIIRE.

The Hon. Wm. Manic, of Panniure, was on 'Tuesday unani-
mously elected, for the seventh time, representative of the county
of Forfar in Parliament. The lion. Douglas Gordon HaHybl'',
ton being called to the Chair,
Mr. LAING .NIYABON, of Lindertis, said, "As we are now
prepared to enter upon the important business of the day, the
eboice of a representative in Parliament, I rise to propose that
mu. latt worthy Member, the Hon. Win. Malik, of I'anmure, be
again elected."

Mr. A. 1.11. GUTH ftlk younger► of Craigie, heeotaleci the no-
mination.

Mr. 111auf.Esaid, " Gentlemen, it ii no less gratifying to my
feelings than flattering to myself, to be called upon for the se-
venth time to return to you my warmest thanks for the distin-
guished honour you have conferred upon me by placing in my
hands the guardianship of the interests of this great and inde-
pendent county in Parliament,---a trust the duties of which I
shall endeavour to discharge to the best of my humble abilities.
I return my sincere thanks, and hope to meet you all by and by
in the Town-hall."

At three o'clock, about 150 gentlemen sat down to a most
rqumptitous dinner in the Town-hall ; Mr. Maul° in the chair;
supported on the right by Mr. flume, General Hay, and the
Hon. Douglas Gordon Hallyhurton ; and on the left by General
Kerr, and Mr. Walton, of Lindertiv.

" The King:" " The Constitution, as established at the glorious
Revolution ;" " The House of Hanover, and may they never for-
get the principles which placed their family on the throne ;"
" The Duke of Sussex, the tried friend of civil and religious
liberty ;" " The dignity of the Crown, the independence of Par-
liament, and the rights of the People ;" were successively given as
toasts from the Chair. In proposing as a toast " The worthy
and independent freeholder! of the county of Forfar," Mr. Mettle
again, with a bumper full and n heart full, expressed his grateful
acknowledgments for the high honour by them conferred on him
by returning him for the eighth time as their representative in
Pat liament.

An excellent band played appropriate music to each toast.
The meeting broke up about eight o'clock.
Notwithstanding the intense beat of the weather, a hand of
stout young men took the horses from Mr. Maule's coach, and
became substitutes for them in drawing the worthy member, and
his friend Mr. Hume, a goodly way along the road to Brechin.

IRELAND.

COUNTY GALWAY.

Gat.war Toww, JULY 1.-L-The shooting of Jerry Sullivan
en Wednesday evening, by the Lambertite gentlethen, caused a
great ferment-4w it was said he haul given no (Wince whatever,
and that the " gentlemen" fired their pistols wantonly among the
crowd, wounding four or five other innocent persons. The pre-
sence of the military and mounted police, however, together with
the prompt measures taken by the ?rigor for the appreheagion of
the IMAM gentlemen; had a composing effect on the multitude;
and, after a world of talk, the ferment gradually subsided. In
the mean time the following gentlemen, charged with having taken
part in the pistolling affair, were arrested :--The Hon. Dennis A.
Bingham; Mr. Thomas D. Lambert, of Crigclare; Mr. David.
Wilson, of Clare; ftlessre. O'Connor, of Conlee ; Mr. W. Perue,
of Galway; and Mr. J. W Brown, of Dublin : and they-were
forthwith marched into the jail, under a military escort, to await
the issue of the Coroner's inquest.
The poll that evening closed thus :
Daly b 3.54
Lambert - - 3567
Martin - - 2774
—leaving poor Mr. Martin in a woful minority of 793 ; but
nevertheless his agents looked very fierce, cocked their hats aside,
and toad's blood ! we'll fetch it up quite azy to -morrow !"
TIIII/0:11AV Momets.(l.—The town all quiet; and its bare-
legged damsels paddling in the bright brawling waters of Lough-
corrib, as jocund and comfortable as though nothing at all had
happened---seeming quite miconacions that " the eyes of all Eu-
rope were upon the place." But, as the day wore on, and the
eon grew hot, the electioneering gentry began to cock their hats
and swagger about the town, a't though each man was aware that
the destinies of a great and elegant country depended on his
own personal exertions. Meantime sonic over-curious children,
groping amongst the still smoking ruins of the house burned
down by the illartinites, found the half-consumed body of
another forty shilling freeholder ; and every body began abut-
ting up their shops, apprehensive that it would cause ano-
ther battle—for in this tine country a battle answers every
purpose. However there was no battle on this occasion,
and after a littlehowling, the poor roasted freeholder was forgot-
ten in the interest excited by fresh levies of living ones, corning
from the country in dusty droves to vote 1.4 Squat. Morrill, or
Kurrenil 11firtizt—for by both thou titles is Mr. Martin addres-
sed by his own sweet freeholders. They were a fine specimen of
" the finest peasantry on the face of God's blessed earth !" each
roan with his hairy trunk beautifully exposed ; his knees un-
buttoned, to show the red crop beneath them growing; his beard
unshaved ; his line hanging nether lip plastered with the leaf of
some healing herb ; his teeth of a picturesque greenish brown;
his rusty narrow-brimmed hat tied with a bit of packthread;
his eyes looking unutterable things; and his great grand-
sire's most greasy cudgel dangling in his fist. It had been
given out in the early part of the day, that the Coroner
would hold an inquest on the body of Jerry Sullivan in the
whisky store of one Mr. Patrick Costello, by the side of the mar-
ket-green ; but it seems it was afterwards deemed expedient to
hold it in a inure retired place ; for about two o'clock in the
afternoon, the bellows of the town, with a bell nearly as large as
a tea-cup, went about the streets, hold up his shelalegh (to sig-
nify that he we; an Trial; bellman) and crying, " Oyez! Vara
notiee....;.that 411 the witnesses—as was present—at the warm.
stitanes of Jerrumiali Sullywin—yesterday—inust repair in-
stantly—without delay—to the town gaol ; for there the !Caret-
ner is viten to take their dispaaitions." In the course of the af-
ternoon, such was tho state of this fine people, that a requisition
was presented to the Mayor by Mr. Lambert's Committee, beg-
ging him to cull nut the military, to protect their voters front out-
rage ; to which his Worship replied, as I MO informed, that he
could do nothing until after the Inquest on Jerry Sullivan.
At the close of the poll for the day the numbers stood thus:—
Daly - - b 613
lambert 3683
Martin - 3010

IhAT

This morning the town was alarmed by a report that a e larg
army tiMartiniteti were coining in to carry every thing before
them, and the inhabitants immediately shut up their shops, in ex-
pectation of the Pm event; but, luckily fife the craniums of 40111 e
part of the celebrated "six millions," that fine display of tp„.
triotism—or pot-try-ot-iaiti, as the Irish might 5ay.,...41id not
take place. The fact is, the hot-iam of Mr. Lambert's Kommy-
tee men, in pistolling poor Jerry Sullivan, has quite entirely
spoiled hit election for so fearful were his would-be voters of the
mosequerices probably-consequent thereon, that not one of them
dared to come forward, and he did not poll a single vote this day.
Consequently Squar Martin," by dint of great exertion and
much muddy three-days-old-beer, with a little excise whisky,
was enabled to reduce his minority from six hundred and twenty-
three toftur hundred and eighty-two.
The weather in this beautiful " emerald gem" is as hot as the
temper of its inhabitants. Indeed the whole concern, mental as
well gi physical, is at high roasting heat, and every thing good is
literally burnt up—done brown as it were.

SATURDAY MORNINO, UN O'CLOCK.
Ti At town has been quiet all night, and there ill 130 appearance
01 TM this KlDlrgiDg.

The community is a sinatterer in almost every
science that is known to the world, and accepts of
certain opinions on certain points connected with the
arts and sciences as plain undoubted facts,—and hence
it happens that vulgar errors prevail more or lessio all
a them. The law is chiefly subject to these received
opinions, because it is a science that reaches the
humblest cottage in the obscurest quarter of the
country; and because the poorest men are, from their
stations, more exposed to feel its operation, and
render homage to its supremacy. Tina reason may
account for the multitude of vulgar errors that exist
on the subject of the Criminal Law,—indeed, they
may be almost said to he confined to that branch of
Law, although a few may indeed be found in the Civil
side. his a commonly received notion amongst the lower
classes, that if the patient of a quack doctor should hap-
pen to die, the unfortunate quack must pay with his life
14 the want of virtue in his phySic or advice. Now a
case might occur, where an indictment for murder
would lie against a doctor for killing his patient ; but
want of skill alone could hardly be a sufficient reason
for hanging a doctor, inasmuch as malice afore-thought
is a necessary ingredient to constitute the crime of

murder, unless iii this case, as in the case of a person
throwing a stone from the top of a house, which
falls upon a person below and kills him, we pre-
sume malice against all the world, and hang the
man upon this presumption. It is possible, we
say, that such a case might happen, but it is
barely probable, and therefore this opinion may be
ranked amongst the vulgar errors of the law. But for
the benefit of quacks in general, and doctors by birth,
viz. the seventh sons of seventh sons, we will refer

them to the act 3 Hen. 8, c. 11. which visits such pre-
tenders to " the science and cunning of physic and
surgery," with a penalty of 5/. per patient ; one half to
the king, and the other to the informer. An impres-
sion very generally prevails, that a surgeon and a but-
cher are both exempted from serving on juries, by
reason of the barbarity of their callings. So fin' as the
butcher is concerned, there is no ground whatever for
the notion, and as to the surgeon, he is exempted not
" by reason of the barbarity of his calling," but by
the express words of an act of Henry the Eighth, passed
for their encouragement, and the promotion of the study
of physic.
Most people believe, too, that the body of a
debtor may be seized on its way to the grave, a no-,
tion that has received encouragement from the very
absurd story related in a marvellous dolorous manner
by the showmen of Westminster Abbey, that a certain
coffin there displayed contains the body of an am-
bassador, which was arrested on its way to the
grave, and, was then deposited in the Abbey for safe
custody. What could have given rise to an opinion
so indecent as this it is hardly possible to say, for
there is nothing in the law to sanction such a viola-
tion of the rites of burial, or such a disregard of the
feelings of the deceased's relatives, or that decorum
which the public has a right to expect at the
hands of the officers of the law. To arrest a
dead body is an indictable offence, and would
without doubt be visited with the utmost se-
verity upon those who should be so hardy as, to he
guilty of it. Lord Ellenborough, in the case of Jones
v. Ashburnham, Hil. Term, 1804, declared " it was
contrary to every principle of law-and moral feeling—
an act revolting to humanity, andillegal."
-When .a man is about to.-marry a'wonutu, it is • a
general opinion that, uhould lie' be desirous to avoid
incurring any liability to the debts his intended wife
at that moment owes, he may do 'so, by receiving her
at the hand of the priest., clothed only in her shill.
Again, it is a very prevailing error that those who are
born at sea have a legal settlement in the parish of
Stepney. Indeed, so far has this error been insisted
upon, that the parish Of Stepney has been called upon
more than once to resist the imposition of -paupers
upon them, whose only claim was the fact that they
.• •
were born at sea.

Other vulgar errors are, that the old statutes have
prohibited the planting of vineyards, or the Ilse of saW.•
mg mills; and it appears not improbable that this idea
has arisen out of the Acts of Edward VI., Elizabeth,
and Charles IL, and which severally forbid the use of
gig-mills in the woollen manufacture, and the use of
iron-mills within 22 miles of London, to prevent the
increasing the price of fuel, and the plantation of the
tobacco plant in England ; and all which, except those
relating to gig-mills, are still in figee.
It likewise supposed to be penal to open a coal,
mine, or to kill a crow within five miles of London,
and in the eyes of many the carrying a dark !author!) is
also a public offence. Many also believe -that the
King signs the death-warrant of every culprit con-
demned to die, whereas the sign manual is not re-
quired for any person's execution, except those sen-
tenced to death in London, and the necessity for
which arises out of the privileges granted to the citi-
zens of London, and one of which is, that they shall
not be executed save at the express command of the
Sovereign.
These are some of the numerous vulgar errors
connected with the law which have crept into the
public mind, but there are many more behind
them, all equally absurd and groundless. But
one in particular we cannot omit, which is this,
that there is a statute which obliges the owner of
asses to crop their ears, lest the length of them
should frighten the horses which they meet on
the road. Let those, therefore, who are- impressed
with a belief in the genuineness of this law beware how
they walk abroad, lest the public, minding the spirit
of this unknown statute rather than its letter, take the
liberty of cropping their ears, as an example to others,
and to give a practical illustration of the virtue and
effect of the Act of Parliament in question, although
they don't know where to find it.

SP011:17ING INTELLIGENCE.

TATTERSAL
ST. Li

'ES, JULY 3.
EGER.

.... ........_.
4 to I apt BelSoni *2 to I agst Buxton
1g to I apt Bedlarnite 30 to 1 agst Barefoot
II In I agst Pirate (taken) 35 to I isgst Mac Adam
II to I apt Crusader 1000 to 10 apt The General (takeo•
14 to I apt The Dragon 1000 to i'l) apt Lady Cratnfeager
20 to I apt Fanny 1000 to 13 apt each of Forth's.

NEWCASTLE RACES.---MOWDAY, JuLY 3.
The Produce Stakes of 50gs. each, h. ft. Two miles.
Mr. Loftuass b. c. True Blue - . 1
Mr. Gascoigna's b. c. by Magistrate - 2
to 4on Mr. Gaszoignes. A good race, and won by a neck.
The Newcastle fitake of 2b cove. each; with 60 cove. added from
the Town Subscription, for ell ages. Two miles.
Mr. ()onion's eh. C. by Aniroioan - 1
Mr. 'Atlanta,' b. f. Claudine - . 2
2tol on the winner. A good race.
The os:Tr. it
orthtiulw,i
tak%
h.
h. ),b
25,,vreo.neaL"
b, for all age!. Twor 'nil
Sir E. Dodsworth's bl. c. by Mag-istrate
2tol on the beer. A good race.
The Tyro Stakes of 20 toys. each,
11.slirr,i‘Ii..a6nWitbo.to4ittit'oadic,ltyth.,hech.wa.litnenyi.uil*AerbbysjoPja;.finfnoer.
rate.