The Sun.
London, England, 1819-01-21 00:00:00

MANCHESTER, J. w. 19.

[From The Exchange Herald, Man,dxster.l
it will be seen from a correspondence (Vide
`].ttr SUN of the 13th inst) between a gentleman
of his town ;ind the celrbrat ed Mr.llunt, of Bristol,
Westminster, COventry, anti Spa-fields' memory,
that the trestion of the Corn Bill has been made a
" ,talkit,g horse" (as our Co,respondent Quiz
Las it, in his " Doggrel Translation,") for
other purposes. It appears from tl+e advertise-
ment which has railed a public meeting, that
tttudication been made to the Borough-
reeve and Constables to convene one for
tie PurPode of discussing the question, whether
i• would be proper to petition the House
of
Commons for the immediate repeal of the Corn
Bill ? The municipal authorities, aware that some-
thing more was meant than met their ears, and that
the question of the Corn Laws was solicited to fur-
nish a pretence for the discussion of other sub-
jects, declined the measure. Subsequent circum-
stances have proved that their judgment was cor-
rect ; and whatever may be their private opinion
as to the Corn Bill, they are certain that the re-
quisition was, at least, ill-timed. In proof of
this, we need only mention the circumstance of a
stranger, who can have no possible interest with
the town, having been formally invited to at-
tend the meeting ; a person too who is scouted
by ail parties,—by Ministers and by the Opposi-
tion,—by Whigs and by Tories,—by Reformers
and Anti-Reformers ;—a person, who, in the
midst of his indignation against the House,
which, in his reply to Mr. Whitworth, he libel-
lonsly calls " a corrupt and packed assembly, im-
podently and falsely denominated the House of
Commons," has again and again essayed to be-
cwne one of its body ! and again and again been
plainly told, 11 the paucity of the votes be was
able to obtain, that there was too much good
sense h-ft in the heads of the Electors of Wee-
minster, and Coventry, and Bristol, to stifle; him
to be their Bvpresentative. Yet this man las been
jot ited to make a journey of more then two hin-
d milts, to enlighten the darkness which per-
vades this town, and to officiate in the place of
pinurmond, and Johnston, and Baguio?, who ate
cruelly debarred from the satisfaction of increas-
ing., or, the still greater enjoyment of creating
dissatisfaction. Hence these persons would have
bail a claim to be heard nn a question so inte-
ttresting as the Corn Bill, if that, and that only,
wet e to he discussed, at a meeting called for the
purpose, in a town in which they resided; but
Mr. Hunt can have no legitintatt-, no lawful, no

plausible reason for coining so far from home, to
it place, where, in every thing but in character,
we believe him to be an entire stranger. ‘Ve
must confess we are too fastidious to be pleased
vrith itinerant patriotism. We are so well aware,
and so well sati,fied, that the Commons of Great
Britain are better, and more fully, and more fairly
represented, at the present moment, than they
ever were at any former period (for amelioration
has been gradual and progressive from the first

dawn of our Constitution), that we cannot con-

template, without disgust, the conduct of a man
who takes upon himself, not only to he the
mouth-piece of his own village, or neighbour-
hood, or county, but aspires to become the oracle
of every place where he can find a diversity of
opinion ;—as if lie, and he only, possessed Con-
stitutional knowledge;---as if he, and be only,
was actuated by public virtue. And yet this man,
who was despised and shunned not only by the
persons who composed the majority in the last
Parliament, but by the Opposition—by the late,
the lamented Sir S. Romillv.—by Mr. Brougham,
—by Sir F. Burdett,—by the popular, twice-
elected Lord Mayor,---and, in short, by every
public man, who has any regard for himself ;
for such act upon principles which influenced
the Poet of Liberty (as Thomson has often been
called) when he wrote-
- " Toss'd by serious passions
To this diet nal anchor keep—fliere is,
Can be no without private virtue."
Yet this man is selected from the twelve millions
of inhabitants of this island, to come a stranger
amongst us, to tell us we•are badly governed, and
to convince us of the cupidity of our Rulers !

[Here follows the first extract which we gave yesterday.l
The scaffolding was then taken possession of
by Mr. Hunt, and a number of persons, com-
pared with whom, he himself—though his ap-
pearance has not unaptly been compared to that,
of a cow-jobber—looked something like a gentle-
man,. Amongst them, we understand, were
Alitchel, Saxon, Knight, and Ogden, whose ora-
torical powers had been all heard upon the same
ground previously to the famous Blanket match.
Orator Knight, we understand, opened the busi-
uess of the day, by moving that '' Allister Hunt"
take the Chair, which ►was (we suppose it will be
stated unanimously) agreed to—for many held up
their hands in support of the motion—though ten
times a 5 many stood neater, being spectators from

mere curibsii y.
The great man then took off his hit for a mo-
ment, and bowed, graciously, to the crowd,
which no doubt he thought were ready to fall
down and worship him as the Saviour of his
Country ; and he thanked them for the honour
they had done him, in the ihvitation they had
sent him ; that he said was their first favour ; he
then thanked them for their second favour-that
of elevating him to the high honour of being

- - ,
the Chairwau at such a meeting. He then pro-
ceeded to s►ate, that it was the intention of the
managers of the meeting to submit a petition in
the first place, which he advised them to reject
tvish disdain—and a remonstrance, which he
advi*ed them to adopt and inforce. He inter-
larded his inflammatory harangue with libellous
invectives against the House of Commons, al-
though, with much tautology, he pretended to
decline taking any part in the discussion of the
Question, but to confine himself to the duties of
a Chairman', till all his friends, and all their op-
poneuts, it such would come forward, had
p ok when be said be should come forward
again hiMseli.
Mr. Knight was the next speaker, but if we
were ever so much inclined to report the speeches
deliveted at the meeting, it would be impossible—
`tor none but a voice like allisteil Hunt's could be

'heard at many yards distance, in the open air, on
:so windy a day.—Several other persons afterwards
spoke ; and soon after one o'clock, just as the
Chairman wag about to commence another ha-
rangue, the scaffolding gave way, and planks
and orators all came tumbling down together, af-
fording a lessOn to them, if they had hat under-
standing to take it, to look well at home, before
.they set about reforming the State.
The mishap we have recorded, which, we are
happy to add, did not do much personal injury •to
any one, reduced the Orators to a diletnnia, from
which they were not soon released.—Mister Hunt
however, recollecting his former situation in Spa
Fields, espying the sign of the Windmill near the
ruins of his late elevation—sans cere»zonie, went
io, walked up stairs, threw up a sash, and was
about to addiess his auditors trona the window—
but the landlord, reminding hint that .his house
was licensed for the sale of ale, and not to have
'sedition preached from it, very properly took
him by the arm, and turned him into the street.
There was then no alternative but waiting till
the scaffolding was again erected ; and in a little
more than three quarters of an hour this was ef-
fected ; and the soi-disant Patriots renewed their
taboo's. Mister Hunt, iwwever, suffered his col-
leagues to take the lead on the new erection; about
three o'clock, Mr. Saxton was speaking ; and he
was followed by Ogden, who laboured in vain to
make himself heard.

At four o'clock the different motions which had
been made were all disposed of, and "Mister
Hunt" (Cleary, " we thank thee for teaching us
that word") concluded the " labour of his lungs"
by hoping he should never forget the glories of
the day. What. those glories were, we have yet
to learn, as well as the resolutions which were
passed ; but as they were all public, we expect
they will all in due time he published, as well as
the toasts Which were used at the dinner to which
Mister Ihmt w•rts invited, and to which be wits
drawn by a ftw poor deluded people ; the pro-
cession passing from the scaffold, in the same or-
der in which it came, through Mosley-street and
Maritet-street., arain stopping at the Exchange-
door, where the scene acted in the morning was
repeated ; the man evidently wishing to insult a
class of society for ranking above that by which
he was surroonded, amongst which not one re.
spectable person could be recognized. After
staying a few minutes in this situation, the pro-
cession moved through the Market-place and Old
Milgate to the Spread Eagle in Hanging Ditch,
where tl►e public dinner was provided, at, which
the invited guest was announced as the President I
and where no doubt he would exert himself in
making his luviters " heartily welcome to drink
their own wine."

[Here follows the last extract which we gave yesterday.]

WEST KENT QUARTER SESSIONS.

(From The Maidstone Journal of the lath inst.)

The Quarter Sessions for the Western Division
of this county commenced on Thursday last,
when the
Right Hon. the Earl of ROMNEY an-
nounced his resignation of the important situa-
tion of Chairman; which his Lordship had so
ably filled for nine years. His Lordship's ad-
dress to the Court on this occasion speaks more
fully than any language of ours could possibly ex-
press, and will be read with the most lively inte-
rest and feeling by the county at large.

Charge delivered to the Grand Jury at 4be
Quarter Sessions for the Western Division of the
County of Kent, by the Right Hon. the Earl of
Romney, Chairman, Jan. 14, 1819 :
" Gentlemen of the Grand Jury,
" During the period of nine years that I have
had the honour of presiding in this Court, it has
never- been my custom, in delivering a charge to
the Grand July, to address any observations to
them except on matters which are shortly to come
under their immediate notice ; and I have been
guided in this, by the consideration, that there
Can be no objects which require the,attention of
a Gland Jury at the Quarter Sessions, but such
as immeiiately apply to them in that capacity,
and therefore that the introduction of any other
matter tends only to waste their time and to dis.
tract their attention.

" I should not on the present occasion, which
is probably the last of my addressing a Grand
Jury, have been disposed to depart from my usual
practice, hut I feel that I should not discharge my
duty, if I did not advert to what has happened
at the last Quarter Sessions for the County of
Hants ; and here I trust that you will give me
credit for an unwillingness to notice what passes
in another Court, and that you will believe that
I would not in this place remark on any thing
which passed in that Court, relating to the county
of Hants ; the late proceediog, hoWever, to which
I have alluded, relates so immediately to the
county of Kent, is of such a nature, and has been
so widely circulated, that I feel bound to take this
public notice of it.
r •
" Gentlemen, the paragraph that I am about
to read to you appeared in the County Chronicle,
of November 3, and has probably fallen under
the observation of some of you, my authority rests
only oollie publicity which this statement has
acquired, and on IV fact that no contradiction of
it has, as tar as 1 know, ever yet appeared. It
is entitled ' Prisons,' and proceeds as follows :
" < The new rules and regulations for the Go-
vernment of the County Jail and Bridewell of
Hants, 133 in number, and which provide for the
due inspection of the prisons, and proper classifi-
cation and employment of the inmates, were
agreed to at the late Quarter Sessions.---A drop
for the execution of criminals is to be built over
the jail, and the chapels new built or repaired.—
Sir Thomas Baring, .who was Chairman of the
Committee for these improvements) adverted to.
the structure of some prisons, which, be said, in-
stead of being loathsome dungeons were built like
palaces. He had always understood that it was
generally admitted that vice should be concealed
from public view ; but the exterior of these build-
ings would signify that instead of being ashamed
of vice, they gloried in their shame. In older to
illustrate this, he would instance the prison re-
cently, erected at Maidstone, which had cost the
enormous sum., of 250,0001. ; 7,5001. of which
had been expended on a vortal 1.1 This instance
was sufficient to establish the tact, that it bad

been forgotten that prisons ought to be places of
reform, and not of comfort. This ought to make
us extremely cautious, while health and reform
are the chief objects of our prisons, that we do
not make them the receptacles of parishes and
workhouses.'—On this authority I have seen that
other Newspapers have assumed the accuracy of
these facts, viz. that the New Prison for this
county has cost 250,0001., of which sum, there
has been expended on a Portal the sum of 7,5001.
" Gentlemen, though no man is less an enemy
to fair discussion than myself, and particularly on
this subject, yet, I am happy to say, the time for
argument is now passed ; it is now brought to the
sure test of experience, and I claim no credit or
favour on the part of the Bench and of myself for
our proceedings in this matter, but willingly sub-
-mit our conduct to this only sure criterion.
" Gentlemen, I should not have thought it ne-
cessary to enter much at large into this subject,
if an accusation had been brought forward, rest-
ing only on the opinion of Sir Thomas Bating,
but it appears from the extract which I stave read
to you, that he has laid down the grounds of this
charge by stating what Prisons should, and what
they should not be ;—that they should be places
of health and reform, but not of comfort ; that
they should not be built like palaces ; and as a
case, at variance with this sound view of the
subject, be brings forward our New Prison in the
terms already quoted.
" Gentlemen, the objects which this Court
had in view, in the establishment in question,
were security and health, together with ample
means for the classification of prisoners ; the best
provision Ow could be made, for such a variety
of employment as should ensure a supply of la-
bour to every prisoner on whom it could be by
law enforced, or whose feelings could be excited
to the voluntary performance of it ; and above all,
the strictest attention to the improvement of their
moral habits ; and with all this, such an attention
to their comfort as their health might fairly re-
quire. Whether we have succeeded in these'ob-
jects experience must determine.
" The principal ground of the attack is laid,
by an assumption, that the total cost of the
Prison is 250,0001. of which 7,500/. has been
expended on a Portal ; in answer to which, 1
have directed Mr. Alexander, the Architect of
the Prison, to make the following extracts from
our books :—There has been expended,
• L. r. d.
For the Purchase of Land
For Law Charges

Making a total on that bead of /.10,442 7 2

A large portion of which sum was paid on the
verdict of a Jury, one-of the members of which
I now see among_you. the remainder of the ex-
pences mei), he shortly comprised under the fol-
lowing items :
L. s. d.

Oists of Building in every part, includ-
ing Management, viz. Architect's Com-
- mission, Resident Superintendance,
and Measurer

Making a Total of

To which must be added from 10,000/. to 12,0001.
which will still be necessary to complete the
works, the chief part of which are now finished,
but not paid for.
" Gentlemen, I do not know whether Sir.
Thomas Baring meant, in the latter part of his
sta:ement, to allude to a Portico, of a plan for
which much has been said, but which was never
proposed for the Prison, but for a Court House,
and never adopted by the Court for any situation,
and which consequently does not exist ; or to the
Porch which has been erected in the front of
the centre building that contains the Chapel and
Keeper's House ; if to the latter, the sum which
be mentions is about fourteen times as large as
that which has been expended, viz. 5161. With
regard to his statement of the whole expence in-
crored, it exceeds the amount of what has been
already paid, and of what remains due, by about
57,0001.
" From these facts, Gentlemen, it must be evi-
dent to you, that Sir Thomas Baring has been
greatly misinformed ; if indeed he bad merely
stated his own opinion to be, that the county of
Kent had expended an enormous sum of money
on the erection of a prison, I should not have de-
layed you, while I entered into the above parti-
culars ; hut as this charge appears to rest 'on
what might be presumed' to be an accurate detail
of facts, I should have been wanting in the duty
Which I owe to this Court, with whom the mea-
sure originated, and by whom the execution of
it was long superintended ; to the Court of Gene-
ral Session for the whole of this County, under
whose direction the works have been for some
years catried on ; in that which I am nOsv dis
charging towards you, Gentlemen ; and indeed in
that which I owe to myself, who have the honour
to be the Chairman of both the Courts which I
have named ; if I had not publicly shewn the in-
accuracy of Sir I:homas Baring's charge, by a
full and detailed statement of the real facts of
the case.
s' Gentlemen, the sum which has been expend-
ed is indeed large ; but if, as I confidently affirm,
utility and not ornament has been the object kept
in view, and economy has been consulted through-
out ; the necessity for so large an expenditure, at
the same time that it must be lamented, cannot, I
thAnk, be denied. It will, I fear, resolve itself
into the melancholy fact, of which the prisons of
this county now afford a striking proof, that the
increase of crime, and consequently of prisoners,
is such, as renders it probable that even the pro-
vision here made for their confinement will be
found scarcely adequate to the purpose for which
it is designed.
•
" Such, Gentlemen, being the facts, can it be
said that we have been guilty of a lavish expen-
diture, when the only objects that we have hid
its view are security, health, reform, and the best
means of enforcing industry among the prisoners,
Where we have the power, and of encouraging it
where we can do po more.
" lf, after this statement, any difference of
opinion should exist, let experience determine the
question ; if the resuls should not do justice to
our expectation no man will be more ready than
myself to allow that the correctness of our judg-
ment has not been equal to the goodness of our
intentions; but it must at all events be unjust,

A
that a statement like that in question shnul"'o'llo.
been made, and censure pronounced on the Al
gistrares of this County, in a place where
party censured had not tire means of a rePlY' as.
'-5.,
less its accuracy had first been most carefully.ti
certained.rags
Gentlemen, the present calendar
nothing out of the commou.coprse of, yoor (WWl'
but if any difficulty should occur, the. Co'rt
be ready to give you every assistance
power; it exhibits, however, I ant sorry' t°11,1111;
another proof, if such were wanting, that 'bit
estimate of the number of prisoners likely t°"
confined is rather below than above the truth.'
After his Lordship had concluded his cbargie,„af
the Grand Jury, the Court adjourned to the
Inn, for the purpose of chusing a Chairman i° t„0.
room of his Lordship, when the choice fell
Thomas Law /lodges, E'q. The business.°,l";l#4
Sessions was then resumed at the COlirt "8 of
which has occupied theatteniion of
,the
ever since, and the Sessions are not expectOdo'
terminate till this evening ; he ()mot Cale°
contained 107 prisoners for trial.