The Sun.
London, England, 1817-10-18 00:00:00

LA*. INMLLIGENCB.

PALACE COURT; WY!-11TF,HALL, Ota. 17.
MATTHEWS V. STOCKDALE.

• This action was brought by the plaintiff,
tiOner inlhorn, against iohn,J.Stockdale, a
bookseller in P,tll-tuail, to recover the price of a.
trantity of dewy. prihting paper, forniihed to
order. In answer to Coe action-, the defendant
alleged, first, that no debt woes due; and, second-
ly, that he had tendered 41.
other money laid, was all the plaiwiti-; uuld

claim. .
• Mr. St oekdale, May last,. %vi..nt into the short
of the plaintilf,"and purchased a gaantitV pipes
marked. with pencil on the outside, " Tweiav-nine
shillings per bundle," which is two reams. 'hire:
paper wa4 sent to his Printer, aml used foypiiblkii...
.ing the Speech's of the Lord Bishop of o.sory,
and Mr. Welibt r, Menther of Parliament for Ar.
magli, on the Catholic Claims. The plaintilt,
when he sent in his hill lot the paper, .Charged
29. the ream, instcad of the bundle. Mr.• Stock
&de, going to, inquire whether It had not been
sold for '2.95. the bundle, was answered no, stud
told that the pencil mark tut lie paper was a
mistake. The paper-maker, Mr. Pt ince, prove,'
that he sold Matthews the paper far 245. a ream,

?Jr. AOAII, for the defendant, contended, that
Mr. Stockdale had made a contract upon the re-
pretentation marked on the paper, which ou_lit
to be observed by the plaintiff. It a Contract like
the present was not binding, there Would be an
end, he said, to all commerci4l dealings in Lon-,
don. He called a witness, named Hannan, who
proved the tender of 41. 18s. which; wit h si. rid
on account, and-ss. discount, was all the plaiNtilf
had a right to claim.
The Judge, B. Moßritee, ,Esq. having stated
the evidence, said, the Law was I :" If there
be a contract bet \rect.) two pet sous, and a man
chuses to sell greatly under the value of the goods,
he must be bound In this case there was
no evidence of any positive contract made. They
could only inter what the contract was. The
question was; whether upon the evidence they
believed a contract had taken place. - In case the
defeadaut was only to pay 29 shillings a bundle,
although that price was 1.)..hw the value of
the paper, the plaintiff would be bound by the
contract so made ; but the Jury had to consider
whether the pencil mark was not a mistake,- be-
cause, if it was, it, was impossible-, itt law or jus-
tice, that' any person could be bound by such a
mistake. If it appeared to the satisfaction of the
Jury to be a mistake, the, Jury would cotrect it.
In matters of account errors were always except-
ed. It it was not a clear contract for 295. a bun-
die, they ought to find for the plaintiff.
The-Jury found a verdict ftir the pkintiff.—
Damages, 141. 18i. •

MURDER.—A
_most dreadful murder and rob-
'bevy were committed on batnrday afternoon about
3 o'clock, near Wells, on tlie holy of Mr. 'R.
Baker, breeches-maker of the above place. Elk
skull was fractured in tkvo places, and his throat
cut: The time of this atrocious deed has bet
fixed about the above hour, by the circumstance
of Mr. B.'s hat being. found before foul o'elo,k.
The IMily was taken from a ditch out Monday
mottling, about one hundred aids from dig place
where the hat %vas discovered. One peisob is iu
custody on suspicion of being concerned in the
above murder.—(A'or2ric/4 Nercury.)
DRRADFUL FIRE —l)el,:k'Vell one and 2
yesterday ilivrio;cg. the paper-i‘oik belonging to
Mes,rs..j. Piatcr alid Son, !O,
liahltvi:Cs-gardros„ Giny's.ion•idi.e, was disco-
vered • to he on fire, which in a leW minutes was
burnt (I,,,,vp,.befwe any of the engines arii‘ed :
tortunate!y o 0 person' shpt on the premises, for
if they had they,inust have lserished, as, from the
rapidity of the thimes,, it would have been impos-
sible for thcin to escape. 1, is supposed the tile
communicated from the iron' flue of a ,tove in the
yi-og-roum to some paper. Tlie rear of Mr.
Clink's small beer brewety was considerably cla-
triaged.

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

(Continued) from our Paper of the 27th ult.)
CURSORY REMARKS UPON TUE TRANSACTIONS OF

THE LAST SESSION.OF PARLIAMENT.

(From Tice (DAMc) Correspindext fl _dug. 25.) ,
The thratet apolitical warfare, during, the last
Session of Parliament, was not confined to Eng-
land. The Reformers tried their influence on
Scotland ; and even in Ireland, where the 'taste
fur theological controversy appears to be para-
mount, this enterprising and desperate party
made a vain and an abortive essay_ The Suspen-
sion of the Hahezk
.Corpus Act-'--the Uulawful As-
setfibly Bill—the Petitions for a Revolution, gene-
rally known by the name of Petitions foeßefOrm—
the Poor's Rates—the stagnation in trade and com-
merce—the French Loans—and all the other earl-
oes matters -which necessarily and unnecessarily
carte before Parliament-, did rest i4nal all the oP-
partuairies that were desired for incommoding the
C-reernment, and obstructing its operations. it
seas very obvious, that every town and 'city had
its proportion of the desperate order, of pOlitical
adventurers, besides malcontents of diffetent de-
scriptions—that there was also a full proportion
of the neutral to. be' found, who were ready to
commit themselves upon the current which ran
with the greatest violence—who were willing to
be the slaves of circumstances, and not disinclined
to be mutes in the train of any party that may he
successful---that there were enough for mischief,
especially when general misfortune was working,
in concert, upon weakness, audignaance, and po-
verty :-but still, there was good reason to doubt,
that any excitement, however' desperately admi-
nistered or obstinately peteisted in, coultledist tub
the t'quipoize of reason and principle; for
which the great body of the_ people of Eeg-
land are distinguished, or could succeed in
throwing any considerable proportion of them
into the scale against -their Government ; and,
therefore, the amateurs and•professors in the rese-
Intionery science sought to procure as -many
'followers, in Ireland and Scotland, as the pres-
sere of the times, the efforts of an intoxicating'
Press, and the force of bad example, could collec-
tively procure. in consequende of all this pal
lentous concert and menacing co-operation, while
Spa-fieids mustered its swarms of desperadOes—
Pot tsea Doviw its rustic Reformers—Nottinghana
its Luddites—and Manchester its mob and its
blankets—Glasgow also produced a formidable
array, and Dublin—but let history tread lightly
on the fact, and let ridicule be deprecated while
the story is telling—Dublin produced its miserable
little platoon eE " The Friends of Reform"—and
all the rest of the city laughed.
Those concurrent events, the produce of mis=
chievoussebeme and depraved ingenuity, were-not
suffered to escape, by the vigilant sagacity of the
'Whigs, and of their allies in Parliament, belong
sing to the new school of Reform. They set to
work, making motions with their charactetistie
inditstry. The distress of Scotland and Ireland
they painted out in the most lugubrious shades,
and then exhibited the sketches, which their inven-
tion bad enriched with misfortunes-, as the demon-
stration of the incapacity of the Government ! !
Ireland did not escape the general severity of time
season. Her agriculture, though extensive in
goantity, was greatly impaired in its quality ; and
was affected, so unfortunately, by a wet and tardy,
'harvest, such as the country never before suffered
sinder, that- a considerable proportion of her da-
anaeed crops was utterly useless as food, and de-
manded some different species of constunp:ion,
not to become altoeether a dead loss to her culti-
vators and farmers. The Irish Government, at'
this junctere, had a most arduous duty to fulfil,
with every obstacle imaginable obtruding itself,
to intercept the complete fulfilment of it. Domes-
tic discontent was fomented upon a system--and
to be embarked in It, was become a regular and
obvious course to professional success, in a variety
of the avocations of life 5 and no matter what •
course the Government may take, no matter how
wise and honest, or how judiciously calculated
tipou the very soundest views of public interest,
there was sure to be a clamour, as loud and as in-
.cessent as prejudice and opposition could swe:i it,
merely because it was that which was preferred
the Government. The rivalry of religion
kept alive a inethodized agitation among the gross
body of the people. The antipathy of conflicting
principles produced a stationary inventive to oppose
pub!ie measures. The effects of these, which are
troublesome enough in themselves, without the
need of any auxiliary provocatives, were, never-
theless, aggravated by a concurrence of circum-
stances, -very obvious, and scarcely requiring par-
ticular specification to be well understood. The
poptilace, by means of vehement orations, to which
they were incited to listen, and by means of ca-
bnony and scurrility, designed for the vet y par-
pose, were accustomed to see the first men in the
country loaded with every manner, of reproach
that the most inventive Malignity could discover.
The very persons upon whose seccessful admini-
'stration of the Government their owl) interests
depended, in a day of trouble' and general suffer-
iag, set re ma!itzned without airy clemency, their
awtives slandered, their prieeiples belied, their t
abilities libelled, their characters cast before the
eelture of envy, as its daily pray ; ainl, while a
hooding, brawling, remorseless ingenuity, spared
am-fling that could detract from station, authority,
and character, on the one hand, it was crafts' and
sedulous to impose its fabrications upon ignet-
ranee, credulity, and prejudice, 00 tote othrr.—
Whatever rancorous zeal, predetermieed hOstili-
ty, and the Most indocile prejudice left incom-
plete, avarice stepped in to finish. :A nnestio.„ of
stilciency, as to the stock of public 'food, grew
out of the actual condition of affairs. Honest
welt started it for time public sake—speculators
started it, and kept it up for their 0 wn—discone
teat ed men for the mischief which the fear of star-
e e He may set in motion against the Government.'
the known condoles of discontent were
eesily discovered by the speculators ; and many of
Ciem were easily gained over, for very contempti-
hleioducienents, to circulate, to the best of their
means, fabricaled statements eenceming the
nUantnin of the public food, and all those matters .
.tien-ahen. upon -the establishment of a prevalent •
it•opie•hion eahlhit tioii head. The little jobbers in
s, :suborned the New seiaPers to sound an
Islam against distillation, ilium the ground of the

insufficiency of ft od,-..the speculators in sugars
were known to bribe some of the Public Journals
to insert their fain icationsalso :—in policy, and
its honour too. if honour may be referred to be-
tween such patties, the corruptors of a very venal
Press (calling itself the popular Press, perhaps
because there is more corruption among the po-
pulacte'than any other), should not have - openly
entered in their books the sums paid to .certain
Joutnals in this city, for inserting their lying and
interested paragraphs:and statements. The
affected, and all those who are disposed to strike
a league with the ivorst prejudices, anti to indis•
pose the people towards their Government, raised
the screaut of alai in, and proclaimed the horrors
of scarcity'as inevitable, if the distillation from
corn were not prohibited.. They hoped to see the
revenue teduced-to a helpless deficiency, by the
loss of the ditty arising out of distilled spirits :
and this species of distress promised their princi-
ples and their hopes, equal consolation. Confu-
sion and diStress
.were earnest -objects of their de-
sires, and they stuggled to promote them by all
the iztlirect means in their power. Toey worked
upon the timid and the' thoughtless with special
perseverance ; and their nefarious industry, united
with various other causes of no inconsiderable
influence, slsreW the country into agitation and
embarrassment, and rendered ;the search after
truth, and the investigatiOn of facts, tasks of the
most difficult execution that can be. imagined.—
Fortunately for this country—for its peace and
its preservation—itS interests were confided to
men, over whose sagacity imposture could ob!shr
no victory ; whose toilsome zeal left nothing on-
explored, which could decide the delicate and im-
poi.tanc question that had been raised, and in
which were involved the prospetity of the revenue,-
and the preservation of a vast proportion of the.
community—whose patience was not to be disor-
dered) by. all the contrivances of avarice and dis-
affectiem united—whose fortitude and calmness
qualified t bent for times of etnergency—abd whose
constancy, prudence, and wisdom, were riot their
only endowinews for conducting the affairs of a
distressed people. The rattle of business did not
sound upon the public ear—there was no ostenta-
tion to attract—none of the trick of authority,
when it stoops to look for temporary applause,-
practised—none of the bustling machinery set in
motion, by which vulgar spirits .hope to carry Off
a reputation for profundity in the mystery of Go-
vernment—nothing of this sort is- imputable to
the AdmiOistration of Lord Whitworth. If there
were'any to be' reclaimed by conciliation, attd
encouraged into reformation, his Government was
calculated to do all that was to be effected by such
means. If disaffection grew audacious, the vi-
goer of the Government at once outgrew it, and
rebuked it.: If party fury burst forth into via-
letice, ri. moderating and persuasive policy as-
serted the Law, and maintained public justice,
without a compromise. That which was most
wise IA most necessary, was exactly that which '
was adopted and put sued 'in all instances) but,
perhaps, in none other more beneficially and more
happily, titan during the period which- has just
passed °vet, and to the occurrences of which al.
Insitire has been just made. Amid the roar of 1
schemes to embarrass, and tie Confusion cif de.
vices to mislead, the Government stood firm, vi-
eilant, 'undismayed, and active. Every statement
was examined—every bitituation sifted out in rail
respects—every representation analysed wiih inde-
fatigable zeal, which was connected with the sub-
ject. Truth Was discovered, itt contempt of all
the' artifices which had, beets practised for its
concealment—facts were developed, in spite
of fraud and imposture, Never did enquiry in-
termit for a single moment—never was research
suspended for an instant, until Government Were
satisfied that there teas but cme'course to take for the
public interest, arid that they embraced definitively.
It was a providential matter that the affairs of this
country were, confided at that particular juncture,
to those very men who administer the Govern-
ni6it. More or less of any quality that they pos-
sessed, might have been sadly prejudicial—less
ability, less zeal, less industry, less knowledge,
less experience in the ditties of governing a peo-
ple, might have led to a train of misfortunes of no
very transient effects. Under their auspices, the
State did not•cast away the supplies for. its mein-
tenanee—nor were the people's. wants, in a single
instance, however minute or obscure, overlooked.
There was no famine—the revenue is preserved
to-the public exigencies—and the reciipera:ire
powers of the commimity are.agein in action, to
requite the patience of the people, and the wisdom
awl fortitude of an anxiously parental Government,
The public. distresses of Irehnd were iatro-
dneed to Parliament—not with a factioes or paltry
view, it is allowed.', There was a tincture of the
Opposition spirit in the motion made by Mr.
Fitzi.;erahl, early in the . month of March, upon
the scarcity of food Ireland—but not, perhaps,
more than was justifiable—at least, not so much
as to be injurious. Oil the contrary, in whatever
disposition of mind this respectable and ingenious
Member may here brought the subject before the
.House,itfwas followed hyexcellent cons.eqoetsces,
in calling up Mr. Peel, who gave, as he always
does, a, sound timid able view of the real state of
ti;e case inipiestion... Ile agreed with the Gentle-
man who made the motion, that, if a stoppage
of the distilleries could increase t!..c supply of
100. d, , every Conisideration, merely of a financial.
kind, ought to -give way. The loss of revenue,
from the encouragement which would be given
to illicit distillation—from the cessation of legal
distillation—was not to be put its competition'
tvitli the subsistence of the. people. Mr. Peel
entered into a variety. of arguments, so power-
ful as to be .incontrovertible, and so satisfactory,,
as to convince Sir John Newport, and other mem-
bers of the,Opposition, of the wisdom with which
the Irish Government had meted—in consequence
of which impression Mr. Fitzgerald withdrew his.:
motion. A refutation, more noble and effective,
could not he given to those savage libels which
were published in this country ; which accused
the Government of a course. of policy that ba-
lanced between human life and revenue, bet,Neen
blood and the produce of public income, nod de-
cided in favour of the latter. The most desperele
notions,'expressed in all the foulness of language;
scandalized a part of the public Press ipots the'
oecasiou alluded
[To be continued.]

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

QUEEN-SQUARE,

CEIARGE OF COlNlNG.—William Lowe, of Mer-
cer-street, Long-acre, die-sinker, and press tool-
maker, with Jos. and Thus. Lowe, his two sons,
were brought to the Office, in custody of 147
vender an:l Pace, two Officers of Qaeen-square,
charged before the Sitting Magistrate (WILLIAM
FIELDING, Esq.) with coining a large quantity of
foreign topper ebb), called 10 cent. pieces.
John Lavender stated, that in consequence of
information received, he went very early this
morning, accompanied by race and two assistants,
to the house of the prisoner, William Lowe. Af-
ter watching about the house for upwards of aim
hour, they, knocked at the door a little after
seven o'clock, and iwabout a quarter of an hour
afterwards, the door was opened by Thos. Lowe,
youngest son, and they all four entered-the house
and proceeded up stairs, where they met the pri-
soar, NVilliam Lowe, the father, 'coining (lilt of
the door of his bed-room, being the back-room on
the first floor. WitnesS asked him if he was the
occupier and owner of the house I. He said he was.
Witness then infoinfed him he was their prisoner,'
at the same time acquainting, him with the busi,
ness they were come upon. Prisoner immediately
snbinitted himself to their authority, and accom-
panied them, as did the two sons also, over the
houSe, while they searched it. They.founil several
workshops, but nobody at work. They then di-
vided their force, and began a regular search,. one
party taking the lower, and the other the 'upper
'part of the' house'; witness took the lower p:&rt,
and in a forge in the back yard he found the
stamping machine, which was fixedin the ground,
to a depth, he believed, of ten feer:or more, from
the ponderous appearance of the jack or hammer
With which the die is'struck. in the same place
lie also fonod- tWo dies, and in. a cupboard in the
back-parlour,, the immense quantity of fore;gn
copper coin in, the several square mahogany boxes
in which they were produced in Court. The
pieces were all copper, and intended for French,
10 cent." being in the centre of each, and
round the edge, " Napoleon, Emperor;" oil the
reverse side, the Roman letter N. and. an Impe-
rial Crown over' it. There were in the whole
moo of them.

Pace deposed, that .in a back. attic which he
searched, he found a dye, and a' fly machine for
striking the pieces from the copper in its plain
state, ot which pieces there 'were in 'one ot the
boxes upwards of 2,000, besides the finished ones;
and in another room he found 20 packing cases,
made of sheet iron, calculated to hold each 1,000
'of the pieties. It seems these cases; when. znade
up, are cased over with pigs. of lead, and are thus
contrived to be sent out of this country through
the very medium of the Cnitom-horseilself.
The prisoners were remanded fOr a further exa-
mination.