The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY: MORNING, FEBRUARY 19, 1844.

REPORT on the FACTORIES BILL.

LITERATURE.
THE SECRET PASSION. 3 Vols.
Colburn, London, 1844.
The best portions of this romance are decidedly
the more serious and imaginative—those more espe-
cially which refer to the gradual development of the
" Secret Passion"—whence the story derives its title
—of the celebrated Countess of Pembroke, the most
deservedly distinguished character of her day. The
author works up this incident with considerable force
and feeling, and excites a deep interest for his sus-
ceptible heroine in the breast of the reader. The
manners of the times, too, are depicted with very
creditable accuracy ; but we must protest against the
author's humour, which—as honest Dogberry would
say—" is most tolerable and not to be endured;"
and also against the frequent quaintness and obsolete-
ness of his language, which wearsethe aspect of sheer
affectation. A novelist, even though treating of
past times, should always, like Sir Walter Scott,
use the vernacular of his 'day, • and not adopt
that of the past. In the opening chapter of the
romance before us, the style seems studiously
quaint and old-fashioned; and the author ex..
hibits a special fancy for the we of words
Which are not, and never were, English. Thus, in-
stead of the term "content," he adopts the odd, affected
phrase " contentation," and so enamoured is he et
this new coinage, which never issued from a Saxon
mint, that he repeats it not less than three times in
one page ! There is another specimen of his style,
whose slightest blemish is, that it has the most dis-
tant acquaintance possible with grammar :—" They
had got so familiar with the strangeness of his fashion-
ing, they had acquired a sort of offectionateness to it."
We should not have noticed these defects, but that
they occur in almost every other page, and form the
sole drawback to a story which might otherwise have
become a favourite with the novel-reading commu-
nity, inasmuch as it is by no means destitute of fancy,
and in places is fall of passionate sensibility.

COURTS OF LAW.

The " Reports of the Inspectors of Factories" tar
the Home Department, for the half-year ending De-
cember 31, 1843, have just been printed. There is no
subject in which we feel a deeper interest, throughout
the whole range of the relations embraced by our do-
mestic or social condition, than the welfare of that
friendless and extensive community, whose toilsome
lives are passed in the monotonous labours of the
loom, or the vitiated atmosphere (moral and physical)
of the mill. The proceedings which Parliament has
adopted, and continues from time to time to take, in
order to throw around the defenceless children and
infants whom the poverty of their parents devotes to
the incessant demand f.a- youthful hands in our ma-
facturing districts, are honourable to the right feel-
ing and the „benevolent policy of the Legislature.
But, whether from the extreme difficulty of
drawing aright. the delicate, yet important line
which shall prevent the righteous energy, of
legal protection from trespassing on the legi-
timate rights of private property and commercial
enterprise—or from some other cause tending to con-
travene the simple, humane, and beneficent views of
Parliament in the very process of carrying them into
effect—.this result appears but too evidently, that,
hitherto, these favourable dispositions on behalf of
factory children have not been accomplished.

We have perused the first draught of a "Bill for
altering and improving the Proceedings in the Su-
perior Courts of Common Law, as to certain actions
for the recovery of debts, or damages, not exceeding
201., and as to other actions in certain cases, pre-
ferred and brought on by Air. JERVIS and Mr.
WATSON, and ordered, by the Commons, to be
printed, on the 6th of February, 1844."
This appears to be, we are sorry to say, the sug-
gestion of an additional chapter in the code of pains
and penalties, which it has been often attempted,
for half a century past, and with various success—to
incorporate into British legislation on that most inex-
plicable of social crimes among us—debt. The pre-
amble declares that it is expedient to render actions
for the recovery of debts, or damages, in certain
cases, of an amount not exceeding 201., more sum-
mary and less expensive, and to alter the
practice and proceedings in the Superior Courts of
Common Law in respect of such actions." Proceed-
ings for the recovery of such debts appear to be sum-
mary enough already, so far as the interests of the
bond fide creditor are concerned; and except where
the party proceeding is disposed vexatiously to en-
force them, it cannot fairly be said that the costs of
ordinary actions for debts under 201. are excessive.
The law and legal process are sufficiently stringent
already, unless it be proposed to leave no margin in
the shape of consideration or indulgence for the simply
unfortunate in increasing their pressure en the frau-
dulent and unprincipled. But we have another grave
objection to the Bill before us. It is one of those
plausible engines forincreasing the already overgrown
patronage of our high legal functionaries to which we
must say gentlemen of the long robe, of all parties,
are too apt to lend themselves, in the House of Com-
mons. They seem to imagine, from the easy and
deliberate way in which they give their sanction to
the various Bills that in every session provide, in
some shape or other, professional gratuities or new
salaried offices for barristers, that they• themselves
hold some patent of exemption from that suspicion
of interested motives which the world attaches to all
other men under similar circumstances. Individuals
who are for ever devising some means of adding to
the appointments and advantages to be opened to the
profession to which they belong, are shrewdly sus-
pected of a lively hope of participating, in time to come,
in the harvest of the seed crop which they have been the
first to sow. Assuredly this remark does not point
to the respected and learned Members whose names
are endorsed upon the " Bill " before us ; but neither
will their names neutralise its general force and ap-
plication. For what is the case here ? Clauses 1 to
25 provide that actions of this class and limit may
be brought by writ of summons—which writ may be
served personally, or by leaving a copy. If defendant
do not plead to writ of summons, " within the time
there specified," judgment may be signed; or, if ser-
vice not personal, judgment may be signed with
leave of the judge. No appearance to be entered by
or for the defendant; " and for the purpose of plead-
ing, the particulars underwritten shall be deemed to
be part of the writ, and may be pleaded to in whole or
in part, as may now be .done, at the usual costs of a
declaration." Judge, in Chambers may make orders for
further particulars ; no plea in abatement to be
allowed; judges of the Superior Courts at West-
minster, or any eight of them, the three chiefs being
of the number, to have power to settle form of plead-
ings ; in case of departure from such forms, a judge
may set aside the pleading, with costs. Certain
pleas, however, may be pleaded together without
leave ; particulars to be delivered with plea of pay-
ment or set off; no demurrer allowable for want
of formal t commencement, and no demurrer for
form deliverable without previous leave of a judge ;
judge may permit the defect to be amended; sig-
natures of counsel not to be required to any
pleadings ; if plaintiff do not proceed for a
month, defendant may sign judgment of non
pros. ; defendant may take out a summons to stay
proceedings, on payment of debt and costs claimed, or
of a sum to be named; and the judge may make
orders for payment, or give time for payment, not
exceeding one month. Judge's summons to be pe-
remptory in the:first:instance, and one shilling only to
be paid for it ; in form as per schedule. Then comes
the "patronage" clause, as we shall term it (26),
touching " assessors to be appointed to the sheriffs
of England and Wales ;" followed by clauses 27 to
30, illustrative of the functions, &c., of these new
officers. Clause 26 enacts that the Lord Chan-
cellor shall appoint as " many persons as he shall
think fit, not exceeding twelve persons in the whole,"
to be " assessors to the sheriffs of counties
and cities in England and Wales,"—such
persons to be barristers-at-law of not less
than seven years' standing, or attorneys of one
of the Superior Courts of not less than ten years'
standing, removable by the Lerd Chancellor for
misconduct or incapacity, his Lordship having power
to increase or diminish the said number as he shall
see fit, until the end of the year 1845 ; after which
no more assessors to be appointed without consent
and approbation of the Lords of the Treasury; as-
sessors may appoint duly qualified deputies (for pe-
riods not exceeding two months in any case) on suffi-
cient cause being satisfactorily shown. Salaries of
assessors (amount in blank) to be payable out of the
Consolidated Fund ; such assessors to act as judges on
writs of trial and writs of inquiry.
There are several other clauses relating to the
duties of these provincial judges in embryo, all calling
for notice and consideration ; but we must pass to
clause 40, which really seems to drop all recollection
of the preamble, and to contemplate a serious irrup-
tion into the jurisdiction-demesne of the " Superior
Courts at 'Westminster," and elsewhere; for it enacts
that in any action which, if the amount claimed did
act exceed 201., would be triable by writ of trial,
it shall be lawful for a judge, on the application of
either plaintiff or defendant, if he shall so think
fit, to order that such action, though for
a debt or damages exceeding 201., shall be
tried by writ of trial, and to name place of trial,
and such writ of trial shall issue accordingly ; and
thereupon further proceedings in the trial shall be such
as if the debt or damages claimed did not exceed 201.
Upon the whole, we think we have assigned tole-
rably strong grounds for the hope, with the expression
of which we conclude—namely, that Parliament will
vigilantly superintend the progress of a measure
which does not appear to us so well calculated to
carry out its professed remedial principles as to prove
a golden egg in the snug nest of Chancery patronage.

WC are sensibly_ impressed with the fact by the
perusal of the first of these nine "Reports," more
especially ; and the remaining eight do but confirm
in detail the general allegations of Mr. LEONARD
HORNER (Chief Inspector), under date, " Manchester,
October 21, 1843." Mr. HORNER and all the other
Inspectors seem to be actuated by a very just sense,
in the first place, of the object, scope, provisions, and
enactments of the Factory Act, and in the second, of
the powers confided to them thereby, and of the
spirit of fairness and discretion in which they
are to be administered, as between masters and
operatives. We are, of course, entitled to as-
sume that in the previous discussions of both
Houses upon the Act in question, and at the
time of finally passing it, all due care was taken to
secure the interests and property of the master-ma-
nufacturers and mill-owners from being unduly tam-
pered or intermeddled with. It is not necessary, there-
fore, here, to revert to the expediency or inexpediency
of such a measure. It is now law ; therefore it is
asserted that it should be strictly observed be_ all
who are concerned in the operation of its clauses.
These " Reports " demonstrate that its spirit,
in an enormous number of instances and
its letter, in not a few—are habitually and
signally violated by the mill-owners, &c., or
their managers and overseers. Mr. HORNER,
in the course of the official tour of inspection to which
his first Report relates, found many instances, on the
part of these persons, of "carelessness as to certificates
of age and school attendance, of neglect in keeping
records, and fixing up the notices required by the rules
of the inspectors." He says he has "reason to fear
that there is a great deal of illegal over-working;
that many under eighteen years of age are worked
more than twelve hours a day." The difficulties in
guarding against such infractions of the statute,
arise, he says, from evasions easily practised,
"by alleging stoppages from accidents to the
machinery, time lost by this cause being allowed
to be made up ; and the dangers which
work-people run of losing their situations if they
giee evidence against their employers." He thinks
that until the law is so altered as to take away this
power of making up time lost by accidents, and the
visiting officers be enabled to obtain evidence without
bringing forward the work-people, it will be impos-
sible to check fraudulent overworking. But, in the
mean time, he produces, a variety ofcases to show how ,
destructive to the parties who suffer by these evasions
of the law are the illegal exactions practised on them.
" In Manchester there is a large mill vs here they are
now employing workers above eighteen years of age,
many of them young women just arrived at that
time of life, from half-past five in the morning until
eight at night, with no cessation from work, except
one quarter of an hour for breakfast, and three
quarters of an hour for dinner ; so that having to be
out of bed at five in the morning, and not getting
home till half-past eight at night, they may be fairly
said to labour fifteen hours and-a-half out of the
twenty-four.

TALFOURD'S TRAGEDIES
Moron, London, 1844.
We are thankful to Mr. Moxon, who has been justly
called the " poet's publisher," for this neat and cheap
edition of the plays of the correctest and loftiest of liv-
ing dramatists. Hitherto they have been published in
so expensive a form as to place them without the reach
of the poorer and humbler class of readers, but now—
despite the income tax—they will be accessible to all; and
greatly, indeed, shall we be mistaken if they be not received
with as much favour by the intelligent, self-educated
operative, as they have already been by the scholar, the
critic, and the " Sir Oracles" of taste about town. We
are the more confident on this point, because the writings
of Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, though exquisitely polished
and refined, yet breathe the truest spirit of humanity ;
so far from being exclusive or conventional in their
tone, they are catholic in the most comprehensive sense
of the term ; eschew all cloudy, metaphysical abstrac-
tions ; and make their appeal direct to those sterling
sympathies which are more or less on the alert in every
mans bosom. What reader, for instance, even though
moving in the humblest walks of life, and picking up his
scanty meal of knowledge as best he may, cannot appre-
ciate the heroic self-denial of lon ; and feel his heart
glow with admiration of the patriotic sentiments that are
constantly dropping, like the fairy pearls in the fable,
from the lips of the Athenian Thoas ? It is not requi-
site that a man should be a scholar, or familiar with
the dramatists of Greece, to appreciate the full force and
beauty of these characters ; nothing more is necessary
than that he should possess a sound head, and a heart
not yet quite frozen by the chilling influences of what is
called the "world." When, some months since, a " Peo-
ple's Edition," as it is termed, of the Waverley Novels was
projected, it was observed by an intelligent critic that
it would scarcely answer, inasmuch as the chivalrous and
aristocratic bent of Sir W. Scott's genius must necessarily
be uninteresting, if not unintelligible, to the humbler
class of readers. The result has proved the fallacy of
this opinion, for the edition in question has been emi-
nently successful; and so, we venture to predict, will be
the cheap little duodecimo before us, and for precisely
the same reasons—namely, that notwithstanding the
splendour of his imagery, the classic beauty of his descrip-
tions, and the high-toned, aristocratic—we do not mean
sr eeqv ue
re
vt
hi oe nr
eoft
ar ak ne kn e
nature h a r a c
ft eo
rr
Yankee-land—the beloved of
rotaefphimuibsplihleyearnboy,s,
rtthhepeisuatedivartlmtlianragmhae
his ground-work. Helm he is a favourite even in rude,
Sidney Smith—which could never have been the case,
had he not throughout his works appealed forcibly to
" that human heart by which we live,' choosing rather
to obey the fervid promptings of sensibility, which rarely
lead an author astray, than the cold, unsatisfactory 'sug-
gestions" of the mere understanding. This it is that makes
all the difference between the true and the false in the
productions of mind, and explains the reason} why, with
all their polished dignity of style, their stately concep-
tions, and the prestige attached to their authors' names,
such dramas as Cato, the Revenge, and Irene—those
frigid imitations of humanity—mere offsprings of the
head, unaided by the heart—have never yet taken the
slightest hold on the public mind, or roused one genuine
emotion either in the closet or on the stage. We look
upon this cheap " People's Edition" of Mr. Sergeant
Talfourd's plays as ono of the most encouraging signs
of the times that could have been exhibited—as a con-
vincing proof, in fact, that a taste for elegant, imaginative
literature is fast spreading in quarters where, twenty
years since, all was ignorance, prejudice, and brutality ;
and were we in want of an argument for the further ex-
tension of the franchise, we know not that we could find
a more cogent one than is furnished us by the publima
tion of this half-a-crown volume. ant Mr. Moxotri
task is as yet but half completed. He must give us
cheap editions of the Learned Sergeant's prose as well
as of his poetry, for some of the soundest criticisms and
most thoughtful moral essays of which modern litera-
ture can boast, may be found in his numerous contri-
butions to the Edinisrgh Review and the New Monthly
Magazine. Of one essay in particular, the Wine-
cellar," we entertain a very vivid recollection. It is
many years since it was published • but the airiness—
the grace—the sunny character of its fancy—and the
spirit g unaffected cordiality that breathes through it—
are among those things which leave a lasting impres-
sion on the mind. Not less excellent, though in a dif-
ferent style is that essay on the " Profession of the Bar,"
which first appeared, if we mistake not, in the New
Monthly Magazine, and which is fully entitled to the
honour of republication, if only for its nicely discrimi-
nated sketches of Brougham, Scarlett, and the late Lord
Erskine. But to return to the volume before us. In
addition to the tragedies, which it would be super-
fluous here to criticise, it contains an eloquent and
affectionate notice of the late Doctor Valpy, every word
of which is founded in truth, as we ourselves can per-
sonally testify. The Doctor was, indeed, one of the
wisest and kindliest of men. As the head of a great
public school, never was man more beloved than he was
by his pupils, not only for the kindness he manifested
to them when under his superintendence, but for the
warm interest which through life he continued to take
in their welfare. Of all his pupils there were none
of whom he was so proud, or spoke so often in terms of
admiration, as the late Baron Bolland and Mr. Sergeant
Talfourd. Besides this eloquent tribute to the memory
or one of the best of scholars and of men, we have
several sonnets, which,
it seems, are now for the first
time published, and which are characterised by all that
Attic polish of diction and nobility of sentiment which
v,ed mountain-likei
a :
and distant, fain once more
form such conspicuous features in the tragedies. Here
is one entitled " The Forbury at Reading, revisited on a
Misty Evening i n Autumn
" Soft uplands, that in boyhood's earliest days
see
Would I behold you ! but the autumn hoar
Hath veil'd your pensive groves in evening haze ;
Yet must I wait till on my searching gaze
Your outline lives—more dear than if ye wore
An April sunset's consecrating rays—
For, even thus the images of yore
Which ye awaken glide from misty Years
Dream-like and solemn, and but half unfold
Their tale of glorious hopes, religious fears,
And visionary schemes of giant mould ;
Whose dimmest trace the world-worn heart reveres,
And, with love's grasping weakness, strives to hold."
"consecrating,"Tithaneeeps,itshteritkesus
asbeing eminently
l whi
h we
benhauvteifuml,arlced
incon-
veying, as it does, ust such a solemn and poetical idea
of sunset as the our would naturally suggest to a
thoughtful, high-toned mind. But- indeed the whole
sonnet is " one entire and perfect chrysolite," and for us
has an ineffable charm, for it brings vividly before us
the recollection of the noble play-ground, with the " soft
uplands " of Caversham in the distance, and the inter-
mediate ranges of tine King's Meadows, from which
duly on summer and autumn evenings a light silvery
vapour would arise, clothing all things in its fleecy
mantle—a trivial circumstance, which the author, how-
ever, has contrived to turn to the moat poetical account.
We close our brief notice with the sonnet on " Eton
College, surveyed after leaving a Son at School there
for the first time," in which our readers will net fail to
admire the earnest and solemn tenderness that charac-
terizes the closing lines
" How often have I fix 'd a stranger's gaze
On von fam'd turrets, clad in light as fair
As this sweet evening lends, and felt the air
Of Learning that from calm of ancient daysßreathes round them ever ! Now to me they wear
Hues drawn from dearer thought ; the radiant haze
That mantles them grows thick with fondest care,
And its slant sunbeams flicker like the praise
youth wins from wisdom ;—for in yon retreats
One little student's heart expectant beats
With blood of mine ;-0 God ! vouchsafe him power,
When I am dust, to stand on this sweet place,
And, through the vista of long years, embrace
With cloudless soul this first Etonian hour."

Mr. SAUNDERS, writing from Leeds, and reporting
on the general external improvement of trade, espe-
cially the woollen and worsted trade, observes :
" One great drawback to the satisfaction arising from
the present active state of trade is, the encourage-
ment it affords to every kind of fraud, both in re-
spect to the ages of the persons employed and to the

hours of worlZ" . . . . "In the worsted trade

I entertain a strong moral conviction that these
frauds prevail to a great extent. I have seen many
females, who have just completed the age of eighteen,
employed for thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen hours a
day. In one mill, several who had been employed
for some weeks, with an interval only of a few days
(when, as one witness said, ' they found the weather
too hot'), from six o'clock in the morning
until twelve o'clock at night, less two hours for
meals, thus giving them, for five nights in the week,
only six hours out of the twenty-four to go to and
from their homes, and to obtain rest in bed. Some of
these were employed in a room at a high tempera-
ture. What constitution can stand against such la-
bour ?" Mr. JAMES STUART bears a most honour-
able testimony to the factory masters in Ireland':—" I
feel myself quite at liberty to report that the provi-
sions of the Factory Regulation Act are in due ob-
servance in all the factories in Ireland, subject to the
law." Nor is this a less honourable or gratifying
eulogy on the parties employed by them. " The per-
sons employed in these factories, most especially all
employed in factories to the northward of Dublin,
adhere strictly to the temperance system. of
Father MATHEW." In his second Report,
dated the 23d of January, 1844, Mr. HORNER
again calls'the attention of the Home Secretary to the
extent and variety of the evasions constantly
occurring, of the provisions of the Factories Act. In
the case of ECCLES and Co., proprietors of a spin-
ning mill at Blackburn, reported to him by Mr.
EWINGS, he shows by the account which his cor-
respondent gives of the result of certain proceedings
before the District Board against the house in ques-
tion, and in allusion to the penalty of 20s. (!) de-
creed against it, " how utterly useless it is for the
inspectors to attempt to carry out the provisions of
the Act with such support from the magistrates."
And we agree with Mr. HoRNER; for, without
entering into the further corroborations to be de-
duced from the perpetual instances of wilful or de-
signed negligence on the part of surgeons, in certi-
fying to the ages of children found in factories at
regular work, of the forgeries of such certificates, in
some instances, by their employers, and occasionally
by their own parents,—we confess that the evils which
the Factories Act was passed to remedy, appear to
lie, for the most part, beyond the reach of legislation,
under existing circumstances. They are very often
the suggestions and the practices of cold, calculating
cupidity on the part of parents ; still oftener
of stern reckless avarice on the part of em-
ployers. The increased activity of trade, it is
but too evident, has had little or no effect in rais-
ing the rate or accumulating the products of
the wages of labour. The unfortunate operatives
have had to part with so much larger a term of their
chances of physicial existence, by giving more time
and labour for wages in no sense proportioned to
such additional sacrifice. Female labour has been,
and daily is, much more largely engaged ; and in-
dependently of the moral abasement produced in them
—neglected homes and exiled comforts (the inevitable
consequences of their removal to the factory)—
have fearfully corrupted the habits of the
male adults of their families, whether as husbands
and fathers, or as brothers and sons. We rise
from the perusal of these Reports more than ever
solicitous to see these poor objects of well-intended
but inefficient legislative protection more perma-
nently settled in employment, not so continuous and
protracted as to be, as at present, absolutely destruc-
tive of human life ; not so underpaid as to be inade-
q to to human subsistence ; not so desolate and hope-
lels 'As to be, as now, incompatible with ordinary
enjoyment, health, or recreation. These desirable
consummations we are more disposed to 116.0' for
froiri; the exretions of such abody as the " Sptiety for
the Emancipation of Industry," to which wehave in
:ioimer papers earnestly directed attention, thi,ii:from
rya' plosophy or binding force of antt of
4t any,
,t
i
' i • 1 :"

SOUTH DEVON.—The weather since Friday last
has assumed a wintry aspect. In several parts the hedge
rows were decked with spring flowers, in full bloom, and
spring, with all its charms, seemed near at hand. A sharp
frost has now set in, which will retard the progress of
vegetation, which was in a very forward state. The
lambing season has been very favourable and grass
and turnips are very plentiful. During the last fortnight
the corn trade has undergone an improvement, and prices
have advanced. Cattle are rather dull at present. In the
manufacturing towns, the woollen trade is going on briskly,
and yolk wool is in good demand at 9d. to 9id. per lb.—
Potatoes are selling from 3s. 6d. to 4s. per bag. Wheat 7s. 3d.
per bushel ; Barley 3s. 10d. to 4s. ; Oats 2s. Bd. to 2s. 10d.—
Plymouth Journal.

WILL FORGERIES.—About eight years ago, an at-
toruey of the name of Hyte lived in the west of England,
Barnstaple we believe, who far exceeded the present forgers in
adroitness and wickedness. On one occasion he was re-
quested by a married man to make a will in favour of his
brother, at which his wife complained to Hyte, who told her
he would make all right for her, and trust to her liberality.
He prepared two wills, one in favour of the brother, and
another bequeathing the property to his wife. The first
was read over to the dying man ; but before it was
signed by the testator and witnesses he rang the changes,
so that the widow became the sole object of his bounty.
The brother suspected foul play and fraud, but could not
prove it. Hyte afterwards obtained large sums from the
widow, whom he kept in constant dread of an exposé,
which, however, did not take place until she, on her death-
bed, confessed the whole, declaring that she had never enjoyed
an hour's peace since the foul transaction; The last, among
many acts of forgery which this villain committed, was that
of the will of a person at Exeter. A gentleman, possessed of
large property, was likely to die, and Hyte inquired of the
wife whether he had made a will in her favour. She replied,
"She was fearful he had made no will." He said he would
prepare one, and trust to her generosity. He called
the next day, and was told it was too late, for the
man had just expired. He said he had brought a
winess with him, and would manage it. They went
to the bed-side and read over the will to the corpse, and
having done so, he caught a live fly, which he put into the
mouth of the dead man, and took his hand and guided it
to sign the document, and the witness declared that he h 0
heard the will read to the deceased, who signed it while
life was in him (alluding to the live fly). The validity of
the will, which was so much at variance with the expressed
sentiments of the testator in the latter period oflife, was dis-
puted, but no positive proof was manifest of the nefarious
transaction, until at length, partly by threats, and more par-
ticularly from the accusation of conscience, the widow and
subscribing or attesting witness made a full confession, and
being admitted as witnesses for the Crown, the scoundrel
Hyte was convicted and executed in, the year 1767.—Shei-
borne .Touritar.

FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday, shortly
before twelve an accident, which was nearly attended with
a lamentable loss of life, occurred in Upper Grosvenor-street,
Grosvenor-square. For some time past a number of men
have been employed in that street in making a sewer, and
yesterday, whilst they were " shutting" the earth at each
side of the trench, a part of the ground was noticed to
crumble, caused no doubt by the sudden breaking up of the
frost. An alarm was immediately raised, and several of the
men succeeded in effecting their escape. Five of the exca-
vators were not so fortunate, for one immense piece of ground,
weighing some tons, fell into the trench, and completely im-
bedded them; three were buried up to their chins. With
assistance two of the men were quickly extricate& and with-
out receiving any hurt. The other three, Thomas Tread-
away, George Gibbs, and William Cooper were not got out
until near half-past two o'clock, when they were instantly
removed in a very exhausted state to St. George's Hospital,
whexe they were attended to by Mr. Barrett, the house stir-
geofi, ailedmi.. Hawkins, assistant surgeon, and at eight
o'clock last night, it Vali the opinion of those gentlemen that
nothing fatal need
be !ipprehended, for providentally no
bone were broken. •
Within the last half century rents have trebled, the
price of wheat has doubled, and agricultural wages remain
about the same. _The landlord is therefore the only party
who has benefited by the corn4aws.--42oniiiouth

THE CURRENCY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN..
SlR,—Sir John Mandeville, who was in the military service
of the Great Khan of Cathay, about the middle of the 14th
century, thus describes the symbolic money in use among- the
Tartars :

" This Emperour may despenden als mocke as hem will
withouten estymacioun ; for he despendeth not, ne maketh,
no money but of lether emprented or of papyre. And of that
money is some of gretter prys, and some of lasse prys, aftre
the dyversitee of his statutes. And whan that money ihathe
ronue so longe that it begynnethe to waste, than melt beren
it to the Emperour's viesarye ; and than thei taken newe
money for the olde. And that money gothe thorgheout alle
the countree, and thorghe out alle his provynces ; for /here
and beyonde hem thei make no money nouther of gold nor of
sylver. And therefore he may despende yruln and out-
rageously."
The above passage shows that the Tartars had much 'Atter
notions of money than our modern statesmen ; that the
leather and paper tokens of receipt issued by the Great ago
in return for the supplies levied by him passed current est
medium of exchange through all the country provinces, per.,
forming, at a small cost, all the offices that gold or silver
could have done. Our modern statesmen extort from the
subject both the supplies and the gold to represent them !
and in this respect they show their inferiority to the Great
Khan in the article of common sense—as, however, they are
no way behind hand with the Tartar Potentate " in despen-
ding ynou and outrageously," thepeople of this country have
a fair claim on them for an abundant and cheap circulating
medium. It will be found, Sir, ere long, that Sir R. Peel
" caught a Tartar " when he brought forward his Currency
Bill of 1819 ; it would have been well for the country had he
deigned to take a lesson from him in the theory of money;
indeed, a few Tartar instructors in that science would be of
great service at the present time ; I could recommend several
pupils, for instance, Mr. Jones Loyd, Mr. Norman, Mr. Horsley
Palmer, and that last light of the age, Mr. John Gellibrand
Hubbard.—l am, your most obedient servant,
London, Feb. 16, 1844. Q. T.

MR. FERRA.ND, M.P., AND MR.
COBDEN, M.P.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIRS I am a Conservative aye, a Tory, and a
Conservative, or Tory, who will yield to no man in
an honest and hearty desire to promote the happiness
and welfare of the poor, the farmers, and I may add,
too, the manufacturers, for I do not know that this
class has not an equal right to justice as the other two.
Aa such I have witnesses with sincere sorrow the
perpetual contests that have been going on between
the two Hon. Gentlemen whose names I have prefixed
to the head of this letter.
Sir, I fear that both Mr. Cobden and Mr. Ferrand
overlook one "great fact," and that that oversight is
the cause of both of them being at "daggers drawn,"
instead of being, as they ought to be, united in one
common assault upon the common wrong that has
been committed, and is sought to be perpetuated and
even increased against the poor, the farmer, and the
manufacturer.

Sir, the fact of maintaining for foreign gold the
fixed monopoly price of 3/. 17s. 104 d. per ounce, has,
since the year 1819, nearly doubled the taxation alike
of the poor, the farmer, and the manufacturer. Pre-
vious to that year the labour of the artisan was at ss.
per day, the corn of the farmer at 10s. 6d. per bushel,
and the calico of the manufacturer at 9d. per yard.
They are now (under gold at a monopoly price) 3s.
per day, 6s. per bushel, and 4d. per yard ; and, con-
sequently, the taxation of these classes has been nearly
doubled. Apply this to the case of this country, with
a fixed taxation of 50,000,000/. per year, and it will
be obvious that almost another 50,000,0001. is now
being extorted from the tax-payers of this country
—a sum amounting to at least 800,000,0001., or
the entire national debt since the year 1819.
Sir, the two productive classes—land and factory—
are losing sight of the common enemy. Let them
I look to the money laws, and Mr. Ferrand and Mr.
Cobden may shake hands, and rally under the same
banner. Lord Brougham, with 5,0001. a-year pen-
sion, is getting, with corn at 6s. Bd. a bushel, 15,000
bushels of corn- per year. Previous to 1819 the pen-
sion was 4,0001. a year, and, with corn at 10s., it was
of the value of 8,000 bushels. The same appalling
increase applies to labour, calico, and almost every
other 'necessary of life. Sir, it extends also to the
other fact of the 50,000,000/. per year; and it is no
wonder that the labourer is poor, that the farmer is
in difficulties, and that the manufacturer cannot, under
such burdens, compete with the foreigner. The pro-
ductive classes must be united--not divided.
One that wishes to see
THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG.
Brighton, Feb. 14, 1844.

THE MACKEREL FISHERY.-It is said that the
Mount's Bay boats, amounting to upwards of 100, have been
very successful on the Plymouth station, the majority of them
having taken from 4,000 to 10,000 fine mackerel per night,
which realised from 10s. to 15s. per 120.—West Briton.
The Hunterian oration was delivered on Wednes-
day last, at the Royal College of Surgeons, by Mr. South, a
member of the council ; but throughout the entire lecture
(says a medical journal) the name of Hunter was accidentally
or studiously omitted.

MYSTERIOUS OCCURRENCE.—An extraordinary and
very mysterious occurrence took place in the neighbourhood
of Ballyduff. A woman named Sheehy, a midwife or nurse,
residing in that neighbourhood, was forcibly taken from her
house by a party of men who blindfolded her, and placed her
on horseback behind one of the party. She was taken across
the Cashion Ferry in the direction of Liselton, and into a
house where she was told that in the bed-room was a female
who wanted her professional assistance ; in a short time the
female was confined, and she took the infant to the kitchen,
where she found a well-dressed woman waiting to receive it,
The woman was then taken as before and hoodwinked and
left at her own door, but did not receive any remuneration
from them. She said she saw some articles which she thought
belonged to a lady in the kitchen ; she was not allowed a bit
of light in the bed-room.—Kerry Examiner.
CORNISH ENGINES.—The number of pumping en-
gines reported this month is thirty-seven. They have con-
sumed 3,090 tons of coal, and lifted thirty minima tons of
water ten fathoms high. The average duty of thO whole is
therefore 54,000,0001b5, lifted one foot high by the consump-
tion of a bushel of coal.—Lean's Engine Reporter.
BEWDLEY.—A days ago some workmen were em-
ployed in removing some gravel from a gravel-pit in Bewdley
Park, adjoining Tickenhill-house, when, about nine inches
below the surface, they discovered a pair of bronze stands
for candles. They appear to be composed of a mixture of
copper with tin - and a little greasy wool was found in one
of the sticks. Tickenhill-house ,was formerly the residence
of Prince Arthur; son of Henry the Seventh, and these in-
teresting specimens were probably manufactured about that
period. They have been kindly presented to the Worcester
Natural History Society's Museum, by Mr. Bryan, bookseller,
of this town.—Ten Towns Messenger.
There is a strong belief, and it is a growing one,
we hear, among well-informed circles in London, that Sir
Robert Peel's declaration in favour of the sliding scale, on
the opening night of Parliament, was only part and parcel of
the trickery and slippery character for which lie is so
famous—neither to be relied upon by the monopolists as a
surety for his faith, nor to be feared by the free traders
as the ultimatum of his hostility. The idea, in
short, is, that—preparing for the worst in the event
of his Irish difficulties breaking up his Administration
—he was merely renewing his promises and vows to
the sliding scale, in order to rally the agriculturists once
more round him, in case of a new election as a consequence
of the accession of a Liberal Ministry to power. He knows
that the change in the corn-laws, which immediately fol-
lowed the hustings pledges of the majority of the present
Parliament to the contrary, has caused him to be looked
upon with marvellous suspicion by his rural sup-
porters, and, therefore, be thinks it necessary to at-
tempt to recover his lost caste with them, by assuming
this blustering tone in their behalf, until he again feels
himself upon his legs without them. At all events, such is
the interpretation put upon his meaning; for, such is the
general doubt of the man's sincerity, that every word he
utters is always tried and sifted, with a view to prove that
its signification is directly opposite to its outward seeming.
But let it be otherwise ; let Sir Robert Peel really have been
in earnest on this occasion ; what then ? The advocates of
Free Trade are not to be intimidated because he again
declares himself its foe :—they never calculated upon him as
its friend. We are but where we were before.—Hull
Advertiser.

GRAND DUCHY OF POSEN, FEB. 4.—Orders have
been received here for all Polish emigrants who took part in
the revolution, and most of whom have come to us from
France, to quit Prussia within a fortnight. In this order it
is positively declared that no petitions for a mitigation of the
measure will be attended to. Only those who find it abso-
lutely impossible to settle their affairs here will be allowed
to remain a fortnight longer. This measure will very se-
verely affect many emigrants who have resided for years
among us. Many have been received into the families of
Prussian subjects; others have acquired landed property,
which they will now be obliged to sell at any price. Though
notice was given to all of them, both on their arrival in
Prussia and when they made purchases of landed property,
that they could riot by that means acquire any right of set-
tlement in Prussia, yet an order to quit so suddenly seems
very hard. This makes it seem the mere certain that our
Government must have some mighty reason for this step.—
lictmburgh Papers, Feb. 13.
AIPITHY ANSWER.—A negro who.was called on
• a witness in a North Carolina court, on being examined as
to the nature of an oath, was asked if he knew what would
be the consequences here and hereafter if he swore to a lie ?
" Yes," said he, " ears off, and no share in de kinidom."
A SINGULAR APPLICATION.—III the Secondaries
omit yesterday, just as the jury were about to retire, Mr.
Thomas, a counsel engaged in another case, hoped the jury,
as they might be some time in considering their verdict,
would just stop and hear a short case in which he appeared,
as he wished to go particularly on other business. The
Learned Secondary, however, informed him that they must
decide one case before they could hear a second. The same
Learned Gentleman subsequently applied to the Secondary
to hear the case in the absence of the jury, which the
Learned Gentleman decided to be as illegal as his first appli-
cation, and that he did not feel disposed to usurp the func-
tions and embody the opinions of thirteen gentlemen at
once."

At the late assizes at Lille, a girl, named Eliza
Depinoy, was brought forward for trial on a charge of infanti-
cide. Scarcely had one or two of the witnesses been heard,
when the prisoner, who was exceedingly large in the family
way, was suddenly taken ill. She was removed into an ad-
joining room, and medical aid being afforded, was in a few
minutes delivered of a boy ! Whilst the child was taken
before the registrar of births, the mother was carefully carried
back to the prison. The trial was of course postponed,
although the case just mentioned is not provided for in the
criminal code.

When Mr. George Colman's affairs, in connection
with the Haymarket Theatre were in great embarrassment,
some one lamented that he (➢ir. C.) could not be relieved
from ultimate responsibility by a bankruptcy, as he was
not a trader. " Yes, lam (replied Colman), I'm a paper-
stainer."

- AMERICAN NEWSPAPER WIT. " Halloo, boy,
ain't You got a daddy living ?" " No, but my brothers have ?"
" What's their names ?" " 'Why, they're both named Bill,
except Sam, and his name's Bob ! My name's Booze, but
they calls me Boozy, for short. Anything more to ax?"—
Literary Gazette.
On Thursday, two fine mushrooms, weighing about
six ounces, were found iu a field near Wheatley.-.-Leeds
.
Mercury. - ,