The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-29 00:00:00

THE LAW OF ARREST IN THE

CITY.

A curious circumstance exemplifying the benefit of
the law of arrest in the City occurred a few days ago.
A mercantile house in Jamaica having determined
upon a speculation of shipping a large quantity of
goods for the markets of Central America, engaged a
German, who was proceeding to those parts on some
business of his own, to undertake the management of
the speculation. The German accordingly proceeded
on his errand, and the house in Jamaica received from
him several letters announcing sales from time to
time made, until it appeared that nearly 5,0001. had
been received, when the correspondence suddenly
ceased, and the house could get no more answers to
their letters. Under these circumstances, the firm
naturally became alarmed, and set on foot inquiries
concerning the German, when they learned that he
had gone to New York, and subsequently that he
had sailed for England. They forthwith dis-
patched one of their clerks to England by a
steamer, which was fortunately on the point of start-
ing in search of the party. The clerk arrived in
London late on the evening of the 11th instant, and
on the following morning proceeded to the house of
the correspondents of his employers. The corre-
spondents without delay accompanied him to their
solicitors, an eminent firm in the City, and on their
way to adopt means of frustrating the palpable object
of the German, they were lucky enough to meet the
identical person coming out of the offices of the Co-
lombian Mining Company. A messenger soon learned
that the German had called at the offices of the Com-
pany in order to obtain an introduction to a bul-
lion broker, and that he had been referred to a well
known City house of that description. At this critical
time the parties ran off to the bullion broker's, who
informed them that the German had left with them to
be assayed, a very large quantity of bullion and
gold dust, and was to call at two o'clock that after-
noon to receive the value. Application was then
made to a judge for the arrest of this wholesale
robber, to effect which a warrant was granted, and an
officer was posted ready to meet him at the place
where the treasure lay. As might be expected, the
German was punctual to his appointment; and, on
making his appearance, was shocked and astonished
at being grabbed for the sum of 5,0001. On being
arrested, he exclaimed " Hang dis England.
Half an hour more, and it would have been all
right." He could not, of course, procure bail,
and the only alternative he had was to make
a full acknowledgment, and to give up the keys
of his luggage, which, upon being searched, was
found to contain bills and other securities, amounting,
together with the bullion and gold dust, to nearly the
full sum for which he had been seized. The not least
curious part of the story is, that the German arrived
in London only a few hours before the arrival of the
clerk of the Jamaica house, and that both put up at
the same hotel, neither of them being aware of the
locus in quo of the other. The business of the clerk,
it will be observed, was completed in the most satis-
factory manner in two hours, and in less than two
days from that of their arrival, they were both pas-
sengers in the same vessel for Jamaica.

THE ARMED GENTRY OF
IRELAND.

A return has been published of those persons in
Ireland who have registered arms, under the new Act,
to the amount of twenty stand and upwards. The
list is amusing. It contains the names of the most
prominent alarmists in the whole country, being com-
posed almost exclusively of that class, fellows armed
to the teeth, like Richard the Third in the Tower,
and

"Intending deep suspicion."

There is Lord Lorton with sixty-three stand ; a
trigger, perhaps, for every cabin razed to the ground
upon his wide patrimonial demesnes. The Marquis
of Westmeath can take the field with his peppering
gamekeeper, in character and equipment like Robin-
son Crusoe and Friday. Lord Bernard is loaded with
barrels like a brewer's horse. The Earl of
Donoughmore has guns enough to fit out
the whole tribe of his " blood relations." The brave
Earl of Glengall is bristling with all manner of mor-
tal engines, not forgetting the long bow ! The Earl
of Rosse has his telescope guarded, in the centre of
ytheindspiveicdinfiaclsenuarmeeration
his own well-garrisoned town, with pieces of the
amus-
ingly characteristic. Edmund Staples, Esq., longestDun-
of wea
proannsge
possessed.
Dun-
more, Queen's county, boasts " three double-bar-
relled guns, six muskets and sword bayonets, six
Some
ofb
carbines, seven bayonets, one duck gun, three blun-
derbusses, five double pistols, and eighteen single pis-
tols;" whilst a neighbour of his, H.Waller, Esq., of Castle
Durrow, rejoices in a still greater variety, namely,
"three double-barrelled guns, five single guns, three
muskets, two carbines, two carbines with spring
bayonets, one air-gun, two double-barrelled pistols,
one single-barrelled pistol, one six-barrelled pistol,
one four-barrelled pistol, four swords, four bayonets,
and one blunderbuss." The famous " Lord of the
brass-hilted sword" was nothing to Mr. Waller, of
Castle Durrow. The best armed man of the whole
lot, as far as numbers go, is James Pearson, of Ardara,
in Donegal, who has 81 guns. As there is nothing
in that country worth shooting except rabbits, Mr.
Pearson has, probably, an extensive interest in
the fur trade : and hence the sameness as well as the
multiplicity, of his argument. But eighty-one guns
in the Black North are nothing, by comparison, to the
forty stand of arms possessed by Benjamin Lefroy,
Esq., of Cardenton, in Kildare.—Abridged from the
Dublin Monitor.

THE OLD BANK.—We are glad to be able to state
that the creditors of the Old Bank, Dudley, received a
dividend of ss. in the pound on Wednesday last. This
is the second dividend, which, with the first, amounting
to 6s. Bd. in the pound, settles better than half the de-
mands upon the estate, which it is now confidently as-
serted will pay ful 20s. in the pound. That there must
be something substantially wrong in our monetary and
commercial matters, when such an establishment as the
Old Bank, possessing ample resources, was compelled to
stop payment, is obvious. It is said, and we believe
truly, that if Mr. Dixon had retired from busi-
nets only a very short time ago, he could
have done so upon 300,000/. ; with that spirit, however,
of continuous enterprise which characterises the nation,
and has raised it to its present commercial superiority, he
continued extending accommodation to all around him
until overtaken by one of those periodical convulsions in
VI/de incident to our defective monetary arrangements,
he was obliged to submit to the ordeal of the bankruptcy
laws, and to which no man possessed of such ample means
of meeting all ordinary demands upon him ought to have
been subjected.—Birmingham Journal.
THE ANCIENT CITY WELLS.—In the course of the
last week, while making some excavations in Friday-street,
Cheapside (where formerly stood the Saracen's Head Inn,
and the house of Sir C. Wren), a deep well, said to be of
Roman construction, was discovered. It was about two feet
below what was supposed to be the ground on which the
Saracen's Head was erected, but upon digging the earth
massive walls were met with, of the Roman and subsequent
periods. The Roman wall was composed of Kentish flags,
flint, and cement. Other walls, which were made of bricks,
were so firmly cemented together that the pickaxes were
blunted, and required wedges to be used in order to separate
the bricks from each other. The well, on being plombed,
was found to be about forty feet in depth, and the water was
pure and pellucid. It was not known to the late occupier of
the inn that such a well was in existence. A short time ago,
in Addle-street, a similar description of well was found, upon
clearing away the earth for a foundation. It is supposed that
after the Fire of London many wells were lost, which were
covered over with the bricks and rubbish of the houses de-
stroyed, as in several other parts of the City wells have been
found upon removing the earth.
THE INSPIRATION OF A FINCH.—On the produc-
tion of La Sonnambula, Malibran and Templeton were '
the original Amina and Elvino in England, and Bellini
came round to the stage, embraced Templeton after the
lish
ohdimthaatpaprototrhi\artariborualdn
ish'iistne favourites witnessed, onwthorekfiorns t
an
stage. tri um p hs
The
eachievedom o composer
performance, at the same time paying him the most flat-
tering compliments, and with tears of exultation
wouldpro-
iirasinmgorhtaimusehehim.,, T
took to inspire Templeton with a knowledge of dramatic
effects was somewhat ingenious; when she wished him
to express rage, which she could not otherwise bring
courseaustampeddi
e n herce
ja withe
ha
actualon jealous swlho paineehr rheeaphnulda:serdea
rage,
ee:.On ont
sinceo
under-
standing nea
dc
etoc-
casioner
d_
wherit me e for
h
him to do, she gave him a hearty pinch on the arm,
whilst appearing to the audience to bestow caresses,
standing her motive; it produced a most electric effect
wuphoihthohfee upon.--Musical Review.

THE POOR-LAW COMMISSION

REPORT.

The Poor-law Commissioners for Scotland have
had their report presented to the House of Commons.
Public attention has long been attracted to the issue
of these appointments. The people at large, looked
to obtaining a more uniform and equitable mode
of assessing for the poor, and more ample provision for
them. A considerable portion of the ratepaying
minority, on the other hand (or those rather who should
pay rates but do not), with the expectation of no change
being permitted, have waited with equal anxiety that
they may continue as they are doing, to absorb for their
own use that portion of the national property, which in
reality belongs to the poor, and which is the first claim
that should be paid from all property whatever.
The object of the Government, by institut-
ing this inquiry, undoubtedly was to meet
the demands of those desiring a change, but
from the report before us, there is no prospect
that any change will be effected, at least on authority
of the Commission. By selecting Scotchmen exclu-
sively, by constituting two-thirds of the Commission
from landed proprietors, who most likely pay no
poor-rates at present, and the other third from clergy-
men, who had taken an active part in the management
of the system as it exists, a Commission was selected
of men unanimously wedded to the continuance of the
abuses that have been complained of, and who, in their
report, shut their eyes to all the suffering and its
causes that had been presented to them, and conclude
by recommending a continuation of the present prac-
tice in all its deformity ; or at least such slight changes
thereon as would not be worth, to the poor, the paper
that an Act with the alterations would cost.
At the time the Commission was appointed, we ex-
pressed our app-obation of Mr. Twisleton having
been made a member of it. We had every reason to
believe that Mr. Twisleton would do his duty faith-
fully and effectively, taking an enlightened and hu-
mane view of the case. In these expectations we are
glad to say we have not been disappointed. Mr.
Twisleton, though a public servant, and standing
alone, has had the firmness to dissent from the report
in all its conclusions, and to publish along with it his
reasons for so doing.
The first part of the report is taken up with a pretty
lengthened statement of the general working of the
Scotch system of relieving the poor; and the first
conclusion come to is, " That the funds raised for the
relief of the poor, and the provision made for them out
of the funds raised for their relief, are in many parishes
throughout Scotland, insufficient."
The next conclusion, after the introduction of some
pages of evidence and reasoning on the subject, is
" That it is not desirable that there should be any
appeal from the decision of the parochial managers
as to the amount of allowances?'
Having thus summarily decided that there should
be no appeal from the parochial managers, the Com-
mission next consider whether they may not also, as
at present, continue to assess themselves or not for
the poor as they ',have a mind. On this subject the
Commission state that,—
" Not only has no case been made oat for so great
a change upon the system now in operation, accord-
ing to which it is left to the parochial authorities to
provide the requisite amount of funds for the poor,
either by an assessment or otherwise, as they may
deem most expedient; but the voluntary method of
providing these funds, to which a preference is still
given by a large portion of the intelligence of the
country, has appeared to us, in a great variety of in-
stances, to work in a satisfactory manner, and to be
productive of beneficial effects. In these circum-
stances, to introduce a measure necessarily subversive
of it, would certainly be inexpedient."
Having thus decided that there shall be nothing
but voluntary assessment, and that there shall be no
appeal from the parochial authorities, the Commission
next recommend "that a board of supervision, all
the members of which should be unpaid, shall be
established for a limited period, to which board re-
ports shall be made, at least twice in the year, from
the parochial boards, stating specially the numbers
and condition of the poor in each parish, and the
amount of relief, in such form as shall be prescribed
by the board of supervision; that complaints may be
made to such board, and that such board shall have
the fullest power of inquiry and remonstrance. That
the board of supervision shall make a report annually
to the Secretary of State on the condition and manage-
ment of the poor throughout Scotland."
The Commission next recommended " that the
heritors and kirk-session, or other managers of the
poor in each parish, shall be bound to appoint a sala-
ried clerk, or other officer, who shall be required to
make the reports to, and conduct the corespondence
with, the general board of supervision, and that the
remuneration which such officer shall receive shall be
fixed by the parochial board of management."
In the rural parishes, it is recommended "that
those persons only are to be considered heritors, and
held entitled to vote as such, who have a valued rent

t the amount 51. Scots, or upwards."
Subject to the limitation which we have above
suggested, (the Commission says) we would further
propose, that in rural parishes in which an assessment
is raised, the body to be entrusted with the power of
imposing such assessments and administering the
funds, shall consist, in addition to the heritors and
kirk-session, of a certain number of persons, to be
chosen by the rate-payers not being heritors as above
defined.

For the town parishes the Commissioners say—
" We are of opinion that it is desirable that all
parishes, which, either in whole or in part, are situate
within the parliamentary boundaries of any burgh,
should be united and held to be one parish, for the
purposes of providing for the poor, and of settlement.
" We would farther recommend that the managers
of the poor in such united parishes, should consist
wholly or chiefly of managers, to be elected by the
rate-payers, and also of the provost or chief magis-
trate, ex officio. The number of votes which each
rate-payer shall have, being regulated by the amount
of the property on which he is assessed.'
The report then goes on to recommend that two
or more parishes may unite to build poor houses.
That medical relief should be supplied more exten-
sively than at present. That where there are no poor
houses there should be dispensaries established, and
after detailing a number of cases given in evidence
regarding the inadequate treatment of poor lunatics,
the report recommends that lunatics should be sent
by their parishes to lunatic asylums. Parish autho-
rities are recommended to relieve all cases found des-
titute in their parishes, the expense to be recoverable
from the parish of the pauper. A relieving officer is
recommended for every parish, and the same facility
for removing English and Irish paupers from Scot-
land, as exists for removing foreign paupers from
England. Further, that "in each parish the board
of managers should be required to defray from the
funds provided for the relief of the poor, the expenses
of educating pauper children."
In addition to the remedies in existence, it is re-
commended that " husbands or fathers neglecting to
maintain their wives or families, be punishable crimi-
nally by a summary process, in the event of the wives
or families becoming chargeable on the parish. And
that, in like manner, fathers of illegitimate children,
where such fathers admit their liability, or have been
found liable by decree of a competent court, shall be
punishable criminally by a summary process, if they
neglect to pay the aliment, and the child become
chargeable."
It is next recommended that the' period for obtain-
ing a parish settlement should be extended from three
to seven years.
After some other unimportant recommendations
regarding settlement, the report proceeds at great
length to consider the important question for which
the Commission was appointed, viz., the relieving of
able bodied persons when thrown destitute for want
of employment. Against the granting of relief the
authority of a great number of witnesses is quoted,
but none of the witnesses favourable to relief are no-
ticed in the report. The situation of the unemployed
at Paisley and Dunfermline during the late distress is
also examined at length.
Against the granting of relief to the able- bodied
when unemployed, some Highland innkeeper, an
underling to the Duke of Richmond or some of the
Highland lairds, we suppose, is quoted, and next the
Duke of Richmond himself, Sheriff Campbell, of Pais-
ley, the Rev. Mr. Chalmers, of Dunfermline (who
last year made himself famous by his hasty desertion
of the Free Church), and lastly, Mr. Hunt, of Pit-
tencrieff, Dunfermline, a manufacturer who, by his
business, has raised himself to possession of a man-
sion-house and country estate—Mr. Hunt's evidence
will give an idea by what means—and as it is about
the longest quotation in the report against relieving
the destitution of the unemployed, we insert it as it
appears. Mr. Hunt—
,, A manufacturer and dealer" his evidence bears,
" in the coarse description of goods above mentioned,
offered a few days ago to employ from 500 to 600
workmen, now idle, at a reduction of 25 per cent. on
their wages. A committee of these workmen waited
upon witness yesterday to ask him to subscribe for
the relief of their distress, and to consult him as to
the propriety of accepting the offer of work at re-
duced wages. Witness told them that he would sub-
scribe fur the relief of their immediate wants, but
that it was necessary that they should employ any
money which they received from subscriptions in
sending their young men to find work in other places,
as it was obvious that there were more people in
Dunfermline than could find employment in it, unless
they chose to work at the reduced rate of wages ; that
with regard to the question of wages, it was quite
plain that the rate must always be regulated by the
proportion which the demand for labour bore to the
number of persons wanting employment, that is by
the supply and demand."
The Commission conclude this part of the subject
as follows :—" In fine, having in view the not inade-
quate relief hitherto afforded in periods of a depressed

state of trade or manufactures, by voluntary contri-
butions, made on the emerging of such periods, and
the improved system of administration, with reference
to the funds thus raised, which, under the teaching of
experience, has been gradually going forward.. . .
We strongly advise, therefore, that the Poor-law of
Scotland, with reference to the important section of it
which has been now under review, shall be continued
unchanged."
Having thus given our readers a brief outline of
the report of the Commission, from which so much was
expected, we shall conclude our notice for the present
by inserting the protest against the report by Mr.
Twisleton, but with the intention of returning to the
subject when the document itself shall have been a shor t
time in the hands of the public. The cool way in
which the Commission and their favourite witnesses
dispose of destitution will not readily be forgotten.
They propose to offer work at a reduction of 25 per
cent.. • they tell the workman his wages must be re-
gulated by the demand—that the wants of himself or
family must not be taken into consideration—and
that when he cannot find work in one place, he must
travel to another, and another, and another, but he is
never to seek assistance. Such a remedy was surely
easily discovered before the appointment of this Com-
mission, whose disposal of those in want to die, or
continue suffering, sets all the calculations for improv-
ing the condition of the population as coolly aside as
if the members had lived during the days that burn-
ing for witchcraft was in fashion, or though those
whose wants they refuse to relieve were some inferior
class of beings living in the moon, and not endowed
with the same sympathies and the same wants as
themselves.

REASONS OF DISSENT FROM THE FOREGOING REPORT.
I. Because the proposed alterations in the Scotch
Poor-law are, lam afraid, insufficient to remedy the
defects which are admitted to exist in their adminis-
tration.

11. Because, while it is admitted that the provision
at present made for the relief of the aged and infirm
poor is in many parishes of Scotland inadequate, the
main reliance for the supply of this deficiency seems
to be placed on a proposed board of supervision, or
standing commission of inquiry, with ample powers of
inspection, but with no administrative control or direct
authority. But it appears to me, that the striking inade-
quacy of the allowances at present made to the aged and
infirm poor in a large proportion of the unassessed
rural parishes of Scotland, arises, not so much from
ignorance of facts as from want of funds, which again
is owing, in no small degree, to theories respecting
the effect of any provision for the poor, even when it
is restricted to the relief of the aged and the infirm.
And any statements made annually in reports, tending
to show that this class of poor ace in a destitute con-
dition, will be met by the usual answer, that -the only
cure for such evils is in the moral and religious edu-
cation of the young; and that a provision for the poor
creates much of the misery which it relieves, but does
not relieve all the misery which it creates.
M. Because no proposal is made for requiring the
managers of the poor in unassessed rural parishes to
assess themselves for the destitute, aged, and infirm
poor; using these terms in the most comprehensive
sense, as including all those who are entitled to relief
under the present law. It appears to me that the
mischiefs which have been attributed to assessments
for this class of poor have been retparkably exagge-
rated, even although they may not be altogether vi-
sionary. On the other hand, this mode of providing
for the aged and the infirm is the most equitable
which can be adopted; its general tendency, as dis- •
tinguished from its invariable result, is to insure an
ampler supply of funds than can be raised by volun-
tary contributions ; and it reaches non-resident her--
tors, and others who may give either nothing, or com-
paratively little, in aid of the church collections.
IV. Because it is not proposed to render it com-
pulsory on the managers of the poor to provide me-
dical attendance for paupers. The arrangements for
medical relief, and the power of fixing the scale of
remuneration to medical practitioners, are to be left
exclusively to the local authorities, who may deem
that they have a direct pecuniary interest in fixing
the scale of remuneration as low as possible, or in
throwing altogether upon medical practitioners, as is
very frequently the case at present, the burden of at-
tending the sick poor gratuitously.
V. Because it is not proposed to authorise, or to
render it compulsory upon the managers of the poor
in large towns to provide houses of refuge, or poor-
houses with wards for able-bodied persons. Bat
establishments of this kind, which are, in fact, iden-
tical with English workhouses, appear to me essen-
tial to the proper management of the poor in large
towns ; and without them I do not see how the beg-
ging, which prevails to such an extent in the chief
towns of Scotland, can be suppressed, consistently
with humanity, or in accordance with public feeling.
VI. Because, while in reference to towns with a
population above 5,000 inhabitants, the advantages of
poorhouses for the reception of certain classes of poor,
entitled to assistance under the present Scotch poor-
law, are clearly pointed out, as subsidiary to out-
door relief; yet the erection of such poor-houses
is prOPosed to be left entirely to the discretion of
the local authorities. But while I admit that the
arrangement of various details may be safely
vested in the managers of the poor in each parti-
cular town, it is my opinion that the principles of
dealing with a subject so difficult as that ofadminister-
ing relief, should be settled by the more enlarged
wisdom of Parliament. And a matter of such im-
portance as the erection of poor-houses ought not to
depend either on the honest judgment, or possible
caprice, partial knowledge, or narrow views, of acci-
dental majorities in particular localities.
VII. Because no proposition is made for dealing
with the case of large towns, when, during seasons
of depression of trade, large bodies of operatives
are thrown out of employment, and become
dependent for subsistence upon public charity.
It seems to me desirable, that in all large towns
which have a poor-house with wards for able-bodied
men, the managers of the poor should have a dis-
cretionaiy power, with consent of a board of super-
vision, to assess the inhabitants, for the purpose of
setting to work destitute unemployed persons, with-
out requiring theni to enter such poor-house. The
aid of a poor-house, with wards for able-bodied
persons, materially facilitates the operations of those
who, in periods of depression of trade, under-
take the duty of giving out-door relief to a certain
number of that class.
VII. Because no alteration is proposed in the
Scotch law of rating, which is peculiarly anoma-
lous and defective. The usual mode of levying the
rate on what is called " means and substance," is
similar in its main features to the income-tax, but is
unaccompanied by those safeguards with which the
levying of the income-tax has been surrounded by
the wisdom of Parliament. Either, therefore, safe-
guards should be introduced, for the purpose of in-
suring secrecy and fairness, or the attempt to assess
supposed means and substance should be abandoned,
and the mode of levying poor-rates in Scotland should
be assimilated with that which is in operation in all
other parts of the United Kingdom.
EDWARD TWISLETON.
—Glasgow Evening Post.