The Sun.
London, England, 1817-12-02 00:00:00

manent footing than they hare been.

For-, in

truth, they are, for the greater parr, as a, por-
Oen of the community deprived or all recupera-

Live power—a dead weight upon society, out of
all proportion ponderons ; rtnd the best method
of relieving both those who press as a burden, and

those who bend ►ender the pressure; for such it is,

will he, to enable the former to recover a useful

activity, and to proviAc for themselves. The
present is a most favourable time for such an un-

Ztertnlittig, by the tveolthy, the'eniightened, awl

the patriotic-40r, in the first place: the general
into ests of the Country are rapidly recovering, as

various facts concur in testif),ing: N'otwithstand-
ing a most abundant hnt've3t, the prices of grain
_ _

beep up 'to a stendaid'highly, beneficial tr;•the
farmer, .and, 'consequently, to the landed in-
terest, which must be. caused by exportation—

Thcre is another reason, Which promises aus-
picion.dy to any undertaking which may be at.
tempted, for improving the condition of the poor,
as a chiss of the community.' The Nobleman at
the head of the Government in Irela.til, is well
known. to be a warm and liboral patron of agri,
culture ; to
.be well informed in ,all its scientific
and practical details ; and to have entered upon
his important office in this country, with a reso-
lution, not only to favour its agriculture, but to
foster every principle of nscful industry, and to
animate, by every pos.sible . countenance and fa-,
vont, i:s best efFirts. Such a patron of SO noble
a purpose, ready to employ his best offices for its
interests, presents an encouraging opportunity
for the' pursuit of such Measures as those which
have been in principle apprOved of, and apparent-
ly adopted, in one or two districts already, be-
longing to the Southern connties.—That such as-
sociations, inlormed and directed by a sound and
honest shit it, may multiply, is our most sincere
wish ; that they may not be disheartened by pre-
fatoty difficitkies, or by obstacles at the .outset,
we most anxiously hopeHet them persevere ho-
nestly,soberlyond wisely, and there-is nut a doubt•
but they will soon change that d,plorable poverty,
which deforms and disgraces society in
.Ireland,
into a decent humility of condition, not unworthy:
of human creatures, the natives of a tree t ()unity,
and the members of a. Christian race. ,

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
Aiirsr, IN TilE POLICE.

MANsioN-roust:.—Mr Sheriff Alderson; at-
....
,tendkil by. Mr. Brown, keeper of Newgate, ap-
peared yesterday to state a complaint of a very
serious nature against a city officer.
Toe Sheriff f.,.dt pain: at being
obliged- to prefer a charge against one of the ci:v
pOlice of a most nefarious descriptioo. t fwre
appehred to the Lord Mayor ho ground fur the ac-
cusation, of conrse the character of the officer
could not at all be affected ; at the same time that
the acknowledged frequency of the pra.ctice to
which he alluded would justify the sheriff bringing
fOrward a case which, if proved, would exhibit a
most disgraceful custom. The only authority he
had to go upon in the present charge was the
niece declaration of a convict tunicr sentence of-
transportation in Newgate, who stated, that
the officer Who apprehended, her kid deprived
her of every thing she was worth iu tats world,
in conformity with the custom of stripping
pri,;oners, which had existed a long tit:v.>, and
been abused Melt shamefully. The Sheriff added,
that ever since he had -conic into office his mind
had been directed to this subject, having learned_
from a source, the correctness of which he had nn
reason to question, that there were nearly an
hundred cases of a similar kind, in whiCh
poliee-
ofcers of almost every district were accused. of
being concerned. The _Lout Mayor would see the
nece:tsity of opposing a check la the practice,
which robbed the wretched,prisoners in sonic in-
stances, and the Sheriffs in others; it being esta-
blished by law, that in cases of conviction, such
property as be bad described should be handed
over to the Sheriffs as a fisrleiture, and that to the
acquitted a restoration of their gOods should be
made upon the establishment of their innocence.
.There was ground for supposing that a system of
illegal appropriation existed with. respect to the
property of persons in boil) situations ; and as
the best way to commence an effectual `check.
would be to select a case for investigation, he had
accordingly dune so from the very large list with
which lie had been furnished.

The LORD MAYOR approved highly of the zeal
of ►he Sheriff in circumstances of such deep in-
terest to the public, and ordered that the officer
accused should attend and answer to the charge.
Mr. Brown read front the above-named list the
names of the prisoner and the officer. We
press the name of the officer until a general in-
vestigation shall have taken place. That of the
convict is Sarah Margaret Austen. She is pow
in Newgate, and has returned an account of dn,
plicates of clothes, &c. to a small amount, com-
prising, however, almost the whole of her cover-
ing, and 4s. 6d. in silver, which she declared were
taken from her by the officer, and of which it was
found, upon inquiry, no return had been made at
the Old Bailey.
The officer, on being called upon by the Lord
Mayor, said, the prisoner who had thuS com-
plained of him had robbed a sergeant of M. or
601., and had not so much silver in her pocket,
upon being apprehended, as that suns, there being
actually no more than 2s. 6(1. t% it h the duplicates-.
Ile had redeemed the articles for 175., but not
being able to dispose of them to advantage any
where else, he returned them to the pawnbroker,
vivo gave hint a guinea in exchange.

The Lint) M A Yon asked what he had done with
the money, to which he was not entitled by law,.
He replied (hat he had been at the expellee of
prosecuting the, owner, the poor sergeant .not
having had it in his power to do so, and that he
was authorised, by one who was qualified to issue

_ • .
police-officers. And wbat did the House of Com-
mons say upim the subject ? Why, that the
gltitrat es of the city should look to them. lie had,

when he Was sheriff, seen that the'officerszeceived
s9metimes2os. a man per clay during; the trials,
and he now rejoiced (lint the unworthy 'practices,
from which such payment did not exempt theth,
would soon be at cud.

Mr. Brown said,he had established a hook inNe‘i,-
gfite,iu xehich thqroperty token trum persous lodg-
ed in the prison should he regi;itert il, and anothe'r in

the S6,.ions.-hottse, ‘which should he revised and
corrected daily, so that,t.T!e "Sheriff and acquitted
prisotlt•rs would find no difficAty in obtaining
what they were entitled to. The adoption or
books of t he 'ance"kind at the .Policel.offices,tvould,

he suggested, be e)Zpedient, amt. in thdt opinion
several of the Magistrates had. ordered them.
There are several cases now'under investiga•
tion, in ‘'Vitieir the property of some prisgners'i to
the amount of,several hundreds, is declared to be
wh4,lly n n account et! (or.
Teague, of the Conipi!er,
Stated in the Lora Mayor, that. three or tom* per-.
sons were now in that prg,ou in 4 very btlP.rmin
state of fever. Ile had admitted them to prevent
(keir perishing in thestreets,-but their continuance
where infection would'he-so terrible, was, he
prehended, highly dangerous.

The Lott]) AYon ordered that the aisensed per-
sons should be irnmvd int ely sent to the Fever
Hospital, where a letter of recoMmendation was,

he observed; unnecess'ary, itlthough the finances
Were so scanty. He here took occasion to express'
his surprise at the Very impolitic refusal of the
Court of common Council to subscribe the paltry
stint of 1501. towards the support of an Institu-
tion, Which ,was unfortunately becomiUg more and,

more neerssfiry every day ;. and intimated that he
expected the next applie.Arion upon tbe same sub-
ject wool& be received pith less regard to form,
and more to the conseq'tienees likely to arise from
staying a contagious lever.

DARING ASSAULT, AND ATTEMPT TO STEAL DEAD

BODIES.

UN.ION .1-Lit.t..---Ye;terday Mr. Watmore, the
vestry-clerk of Lambeth, a'nd several of the parish
officers, attended before the Magistrate, Mr.
CnAmßErs, to prefer a charge against two men,
named Thomas Dniin and John Marshall, under
the following circumstances :—lt appeared that
the burial-ground of Lambeth has for a consider-
able time past been the scene of transactions of the
most daring and horrid description. The deposi-.
tories of the dead have been nightly invaded, and
the feelings of surviving relatives exceedingly har-
rowed, by the depredations upon their deeeased,
friends of that canons gang Of wretches known by
the name of Body Snatchers, whose industry in their
disgusting trade has been particularly exercised in
the new burial-ground at Lambeth. The parish-of-
, ficers have been frequently called upon by the Mini;
bitatits 'to adopt some effectual arrangement's for
Ihe discontinnance of • those nefaribus practices.
Tn compliance with the general wish, they ordered
Air. John Stager, the sexton, to procure some
persons to keep a nightly,match ; he accordinly
hired two men for that purpose, and.instructe.l
them to be vigilant in their duty ; still the ground
was robbed ; scarcely a night passed Waithont a
body being stolen, and yet he Olfender'S mete not
discovered. Mr. Seagur at last determined' to
watch in person, attended by Iris son and a young
man -named John Sharp. On Sunday night they
concealed themselves in a convenient put of the
burial-ground, and about ten o'clock: observed
two men passing over the, graves.. - They.first pro-
ceeded to that patt of the groand ss icre there
were two man traps set, whiCIE they let off ;
they then proceeded tO the bone-house; li'rfike it •
open, and. provided Iltemselv'es with spade's, and,
immediately afterwerds connuenced their opera-
tions upon a grave wherein a body had been de-
posited the preceding day. Mr. Seafger Continued
to watch their proceedings ; they • dug till the
.spades struck a coffin. Mr. Seater then carne.,
.frost, his concealment, nod called ont to tlik:se
area to desist and surrender tOetloivly(3 ; he !ben
discovered; to his,Vent. astonishment, thilt they
were the identical- persons 'whom he had hired
'and paid to protect the ground. Marshal sprung
from the grave, and with dreadful imprecations
swore that he would murder Mr. Seeger, end at