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

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUIV.

Sin,—The Standard of Monday has an exquisite "leader"
relative to Mr. Sheil's speech.
After (tacitly) almost admitting the innocence of each se-
parate act for which Mr. O'Connell and his " co-seditionists"
(vide Times) have been dragged into Court,-and put to in-
tolerable expense, the editor ingeniously discovers that a
number of acts separately innocent may be conglomerated
into guilt " by the vinculum" (how learned!) " of a common
bad purpose." (Of course the "vinculum" is not to be dis-
covered in the usual vulgar way of inference from the facts,
but by some admirable metaphysical process in the mind of
an Attorney-General!)
Now let us imagine a case :—A. B. on a bright sun-shiny
day, mounts his horse at the door of his residence in Dublin ;
rides ten miles to get an appetite for his dinner • meets on
the road Mr. O'Connell, with whom he has a bowing ac-
quaintance—exchanges a remark on the weather; returns to
the city; puts up his horse; strolls through a street or two;
sees a capital carving knife and fork in a window; recollects
that he was puzzled to get through with his present one
yesterday, it being marvellonsly- blunt and obviously worn
out ; buys the knife and fork ; at dinner admires and com-
ments on the sharpness of the new carver; eats a hearty
dinner of roast beef, "settles" it with a tumbler of "poteen,"
and water, laughs at its potency, and exclaims " Erin go
bragh !" in the evening goes to the theatre—the piece
happens to be John of Procida ; returns to his domicile, and
in a few days is informed that the Government .have pro-
ceeded against him for a conspiracy " against our Sovereign
Lady Victoria, by the grace of God Queen of Great Bri-
tain," &c. The poor man protests that he is guiltless—asks
what guilt there is in riding, eating roast beef, &c.—and is
informed that all these acts may be innocent in themselves,
but " become criminal by the vine/Am of a common bad
purpose." He inquires how this applies, and is informed
that the Attorney-General is convinced of his guilt, and
means to argue that the ride in the morning was taken, in
order to obtain physical vigour to sustain the fatigues of a
campaign against the Saxons, if necessary—the eating roast
beef for the same purpose ; that the meeting O'Connell, a
repealer and " co-seditionist," was "doubtless" concerted to
plan the details of an insurrection ; that the preference of
poteen to Port, and the exclamation " Erin go bragh" were
strong proofs of antipathy to English connexion, and that
his going to the theatre to witness the performance of a piece
grounded on the success of an insurrection (followed by a
massacre), proved to demonstration that he was prepared to
join in one against Saxon rule, and to massacre all the Pro-
testants!

Are not all these "proofs" as cogent as those produced
against " the Traversers ?"—I am, Sir, &c.,

MOWS.

SAVINGS' BANKS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sm—l quite agree with " A Manager" respecting the
cause of the increase in the deposits in the Savings' Banks.
He says " That the increase in the amount of deposits is no
criterion, the description of the depositors can only be fairly
looked at." I shall be sorry if the interest be lowered, as it
is said that it is likely to be, when the Parliament meets, to
" make Acts to amend Acts," &c. &c. lam convinced that
many persons have money in the Savings' Banks, who ought
not to have. Much of the amounts now in the Banks are not
Savings, but Legacies, and as the writer justly states, " the
money is vested in trustees for So-and-so." Por one I hope
that the interest will not be lowered, but that a more strict
investigation should be made by. the Managers of Savings,
and not, as they are now, Legacy Banks.—l remain, respect-
fully. NOT A MANAGER
-i-lwidersOeld, 1844.

EXTRAORDINARY ABDUCTION.—Three men and
two women. were committed to our gaol yesterday, charged
with having broken into the house of Michael Connery,
near the Silver Mines, assaulted the habitation, and the
inmates, and forcibly taken out of it Timothy (iinane, whom
they brought to Father M‘Grath's house, for the purpose
of forcing him to marry Judy Ryan, who was there waiting
for the man of her heart to mary him ; and Sally Ryan was
also in waiting to act as bridesmaid to Judy. The names of
the men engaged in this singular abduction are William Ca-
ples, Michael Kennedy, and Dennis Ryan ; the females are
Judy Ryan and Sally Ryan.—Nenagh Guardian.
DESPERATE REMEDY FOR A DESPERATE DISEASE.

—They tell a good story of Dr. Rand. He was called on
to visit a hypochondriac patient, who fancied she had
swallowed a mouse. On entering the room the lady ex-
claimed, " Dear doctor! lam glad to see you-1 am in
such distress—such pain ! Oh, doctor, I have swallowed
a mouse !" " Swallowed—nonsense," replied the doctor, in
his mild and pleasant manner. "Oh, no, doctor," said the
patient, "it is not nonsense—it is a mouse—a live mouse—
he ran down my throat when I was asleep, with my mouth
open, and I feel him now, creeping about my stomach, and
trying to gnaw out. Oh, doctor, do prescribe something
quick, or I shall die." " Prescribe," said he, " yes, I will
prescribe something that will cure you in a minute." "What
is it doctor, what is it ?—l'll take anything you order."
" Well, then, my dear madam, swallow a cat—if that don't
cure you, nothing will."
SUDDEN DEATH.—An inquest was held on Mon-
day, before J. Barnett, Esq., Coroner, at the Bee Hive Inn,
on the body of Elizabeth Mudden, a woman of colour, born
in Africa. It appeared in evidence that she had been for the
last 87 years a servant in the family of her late mistress, Mrs.
Arbuthnot, of No. 15, Montpellier Villas, having entered the
family when only five years old. Verdict, "Died by the
Aisitation of God. '—Cheltenham Examiner.
DEATH or MAJOR MACKENZIE, FODDERTY......It is
with deep regret that we have to announce the death of
Major Mackenzie. The Major was an eminent agriculturist,
and may be said to have introduced the modern scientific
system of culture into Ross-shire, and the first who applied
lime to the soil. The Major had been ailing some months,
and died in his 75th year. He was universally respected for
his honesty and benevolence, and bis death is greatly de-
plored.—Ross-shire 4svertiser.