The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-13 00:00:00

ADVERTISER.—What say the Standard and Herald
now ? Is the League dead ? Any indications of its
extinction in Covent-garden Theatre last night ? Any
symptoms of decrepitude ? Any premonitions of im-
pending dissolution ? The indications and symptoms
were all the opposite way. The summer and autumn
vacation has done the League infinite service. It comes
before us more robust and more full of spirits than ever.
Never before did it show such signs of vitality and
vigour. It re-appears on the stage—on the stage,
in a double sense—like a giant refreshed. The blows
it t gave monopoly last night will make the mono-
polists feel, if there be no other mode of con-
vincing them, that the League is alive, and in a far
better condition for doing the work it has proposed
to accomplish, than at any previous period of its
history. Often as we have had to record the enthusiasm
with which the meetings in Covent-garden have greeted
the speeches of Messrs. Cobden and Bright, nothing
ever equalled the cordiality of the reception they met
with last night. They must have felt that in that re-
ception they were amply rewarded for all their exertions,
extraordinary and untiring as they have been, in the
cause of corn-law repeal. Mr. Wilson, the Chairman,
in re-introducing the League to the metropolitan public,
adverted at considerable length to the way in which
the League had been employed since they quitted Lon-
don and tech up their location in the provinces. And
I nothing could be more cheering than the statements
which the Chairman made. The League, though they
had been comparatively silent during the interval, had
not been idle, On the contrary, they had never worked
40 hard, nor had they ever laboured with so ranch
effect. Their success has far exceeded their most san-
guine expectations, Several important counties have
been, through the exertions of the League, rescued
from the fell grasp of the landocracy. ; and by the same
means, namely, attention to the registrations, it is con-
fidently expected, that among other counties which
are destined to be won, are the important counties
of Middlesex and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Should the expectations of the League be realised
in reference to Middlesex and the West Riding of
Yorkshire, the moral effect of their victory will be of
infinite importance to the anti-corn-law cause. The
wresting of these two places out of monopolist hands
would overwhelm the oligarchy with despair. Their
other atronghold' would be taken possession of with the
greatest ease. The monopolists would hardly attempt
their defence. The importance of an immediate atten-
tion to the registries, wherever parties are in a condition
to acquire a freehold, was emphatically dwelt on at the
meeting of last, night. It will be impossible to qualify
for the remaining twelve months, after the end of
the ensuing month. Those, therefore, who mean to
enfranchise themselves for counties, in any part of
the country, must purchase their qualifieatioa within
a few weeks. The way to obtain this qualification, as
our readers are aware, is by purchasing a freehold of
the estimated yearly value of forty shillings. The money
requisite to make this purchase need not in any Instance
exceed 70L, while in many instance@ halm 504 to 601.
will suffice. Now, there ofin he 1113 doubt—the thing,
indeed, is an absolute certainty—that in all counties
where there are populous towns, there is a sufficient
number of persons holding free- trade principles, and pos-
sessing the requisite purchase,raoney, to turn the scale
against the monopolists, were they only induced to lay
out their little money in the purchase of a forty-shilling
freehold. Let all such as are in circumstances to ac-
quire a county qualification in this way, remember the lava
portant fact--that in thus entitling themselves to be put
on the franchise, they are not only thereby acquiring a
political status in the community they did not possess
before, but are malting a more profitable investment of
their scanty savings than it would be possible in any
other way to make. The interest would in no case be
less then five per cent., while in some cases it would be
as high as seven per cent., being double the interest
allowed by the savings' banks. We cannot, therefore
entertain a doubt that every free trader and every liberal
in pclitics, who is in the possession of the means, will
forthwith enfranchise himself for the counties, by ac-
quiring a forty-shilling freehold.
CIIIiONICLE.—The Anti-Corn-law League has once
more transferred the scene of its public operations from
the provinces to the metropolis; and the vast assemblage
of auditors which Covent-garden Theatre contained last
night was a curious commentary upon the assurances we
have lately heard, that " the League was dead." There
was apparently nothing in the announced arrangements
for this opening meeting calculated to attract a London
audience, The old subject—the " familiar faces "—the
customary topics—free trade ; Messrs. Wilson, Villiers,
Cobden, and Bright—these were the only inducements.
Yet, long before the appointed hour, every avenue to the
building was all but blocked up by an eagerly impatient
throng, who greeted their old friends with a hearty and
unabated enthusiasm i listened with interested patience to
details ; caught up and cheered as lustily as ever all the
points of each speaker, and displayed an ardour for
the cause which had gathered them together, to gainsay
which would be ludicrous folly, and to despise it infatu-
ation. The great complaint of the League against the
citizens of London, when it first came among them, was
their apathy with regard to a question which so deeply
interested and excited the manufacturing districts. Va-
rious explanations were given to account for this some-
what mortifying circumstance. London, it was said, was a
mere aggregate of separate interests ; it was difficult to
move public opinion in it ; the general distress which
swept like a flood over the manufacturing districts, was
here dissipated, and carried off in different streams ; and
even if the metropolis could be effectually roused, there
was an inertness in its enormous mass, a distraction in
the infinite variety of its occupations and amusements,
which would defeat all efforts to sustain continued inte-
rest. But if last night's meeting is to be taken as a cri-
terion, the citizens of London are far from being charge-
able with fickleness. ()nee convinced of their concern in
the anestion of free trade, their attachment is perma-
needy secured. It has survived Sir Robert Peel's
ingghng with the oorn'law ; it outlasts two good har-
vests, and the impetus which China and guano have given
to manufactures and shipping ; and in the face of
cheaper corn and an accumulating revenue, shows itself
as earnest, and more calm and determined, than when
begging boxes, by virtue of the queen's letters, went
roand the country to relieve the national distress, and
there was daily' danger of insurrections amongst the
starving masses of the provinces. We are wrong, how.,
ever, in supposing that the five thousand people who
flocked to hear Messrs, Wilson, Villiers, Cobden, and
Bright, 44 night, went to Covent-garden Theatre with
the certainty of hearing the same topics dilated upon
by the same speakers. The free-trade debate is now
all but over, The intellectual part of the process is
consummated. There is now no #hllaay to expose,
no fiction to lay hare, no valiant agricultural protec-
tionist to combat. Figures of fact and figures of speech
have alike done their work. The 144114 vIP gict Ai tiou—

of' that body of the people who read, listen, think, and
reason—is thoroughly satisfied that the proteciive sys-
tem, in a commercial country especially, is a fully of the
first magnitude. This is the reason why the election of
M. Polk to the Presidency of the United States has
ere ited less interest in this country than it would hay.
Aisle two or three years ago. - We- seem generally to
have reached the conviction that it cught to be so, and
should excite no surpriie. True, in this country, a
very rural gentleman will occasionally be found ven-
turing to drop a hint or two about the necessity
or the value of protection ; but he receives no encou-
ragement, and is listened to either in silence or with
smiles. A daily organ of " public opinion " still strug-
gles on, hoping against hope ; and another occasionally
exhausts its capacity in elaborating a sneer at the
League ; but, with these exceptions, the advocacy of the
restrictive system is abandoned by everyman who wishes
to escape the imputation of imbecility, either as to the
use of his reasoning powers or his capacity to discern
the progress of public events. The question is not now
what is free trade, but whets and how will it be attained ?
, The Anti Corn-law League propose to answer this
question; and the deep interest which was evinced by
the auditory in the seemingly dry details of the regis-
tration, as narrated by the chairman, show that this is
now the turning point in the movements of the League.
Between it and Sir B. Peel there is now something like
reciprocity. In exchange for " buying in the cheapest
and selling in the dearest market," the League have
adoptedisis famous policy of " Register, register, rt. st er,"
and are likely to work it out with far more edict than he
has done his avowed free-trade principles. We (Her at
present no opinion on Mr. Cobden's bola and ingenious
scheme for invading the counties, by means of his forty-
shilling freeholds ; we merely notice the fact of the
deep interest manifested by the meeting in electoral
operations and plans which have already been taken up
with great zeal and activity in Lancashire and Yorkshire.
The Anti-Corn-law League, almost in shits of itself, is
becoming a great normal school of political agitation,
and interesting thousands in the possession and the use
of the franchise who, otherwise, tniglet has e remained in
a state of entire quiescence. This is ever the fruit of
continued injustice, the fatal consequence of selfish pro-
crastination in the settlement of great national questions.
In 1841 the corn-law controversy might have been closed
for a century by the prompt adoption of a moderate fixed
duty and a free trade tariff ; in 1842 compromise was
not impossible, when Sir Robert Peel was disturbing,
without settling, the whole of our commercial affairs ; in
1844, nothing short of the total repeal of the corn-laws
would extinguish the Anti-Corn-law League ; and when
the corn-laws are repealed, there appears to be now a
strong probability that the balk of those who for years
would have been satisfied with commercial reforms, will
neither be contented nor put down without the ac-
companiment of political changes, affecting the structure
of the electoral body, and consequently the re-distribution
of the balance of political power. The perfect apprecia-
tion by the auditory of the question of free trade was
drawn out by Mr. Cobden in his usual happy way. Al-
luding to the dinner to Sir Henry Pottinger then taking
place in Merchant Tailors' Hall, he asked what was the
crowning service of that distinguished man, in ac-
knowledgment of which merchants subscribed to tes-
timonials, and were swelling by their voices the
acclamations with which he was greeted ? Why,
the imposition of a perfectly free-trade tariff on the
Chinese ; a universal, not a one-sided tariff ; one open
to all the world, and wholly irrespective of conditions of
reciprocity—a tariff which freely admitted the main
articles of human food, repudiated duties for protection,
and laid down moderate ones, soh ly for revenue I
This told upon the audience with great effect, which
was increased when the speaker declared, that if the
landowners would permit China to send over a Chinese
Sir Henry Pottinger, to do as much for England as
Sir Henry had accomplished for the Celestial Empire,
he would willingly subscribe his quota in acknowledg-
ment of the services of so great a benefactor. Striking
contrasts like these sink at once into the mind of an
audience, amid render superfluous a world of argument.
On the whole, the meeting of last night in Qa..
vent-gaaden Theatre, demonstrated that the Anti-
Corn-law League is as strong, if not strongor, than
ever ; and that continued refusals on the part of the
Legislature to deal with and settle this great ques-
tion, may lead to political changes far more perilous
than hesitating statesmen imagine. Let the middle
classes lend effectual aid, in order to rescue the lista-
owners from the effects of their selfishness and obstiaaay,
and though some mischiefs are now all but irreparable,
the next general election, not very far distant, may com-
pensate for the infatuation of the last, and save the
country in time from undergoing, in the next series of
scarce and dear years, evils similar to those which dark-
ened the disastrous cycle of 1837-1842,

ATROCIOUS MURDER AND HIGH-
WAY ROBBERY, NEA4 TRECASTLE, BRE-
CONSHIRE,

This neighbourhood was aroused by the intellige,,aa
the above murder (recorded in The Sun of N.onday),
and on the constables proceeding to the spot tt.-.:v found
the body lying on its back, at the top of a short hill, with
the hat drawn over its face, and two small v4ols of blood,
which had issued from a bullet wound two inches behind. the right ear, the ball being afterwards discovered, on
post mortem examination, to hay, penetrated the brain, and
to have flattened ag_aine• the skull, where it lodged on
the opposite side. Ills waistcoat had been torn open with
snels violence as to break several buttons, and all his cash had been abstracted from the money pocket his watch and.
several artielea in other pockets were nnteueled. Front all
appearaneea it was evident that the fiend-like assassin hail
tired the fatal shot while walking up the ascent of tY.,e road,
at the side of his unsuspecting victim, who must,Lave fallen
forward on his right knee and forehead, and haN,e been turned
over on his back by the murderer, for the purpose of plunder.
Meateengers were immediately forwart2ied to Brecon. On
the intelligence reaching Mr. 1). Hewer, landlord of the
Bridgent Inn, where the deceased (whose name was David
Lewis) had been in the habit of putting up, the suspicion
flashed across his mind that the deed had been done by a, man named Thomas Thomas, of Llansowel, Carmartken,
shire, who had called at his house in a drab mackintoe,,, earl
had inquired for butter carts going to the vicinity of hia
home, about two hours before Lewis and his boy started.
He accordingly caused a letter to be sent per mail to a re.
spectable innkeeper in the neighbourhood of Lianscm-el, wise
immediately forwarded descriptions to the rural police of the
county, several of whom were stationed
In the meantime inquiries had been made by the Brecon
police, which strengthened the suspicion, and Mr. Super-
intendent Stephens, accompanied by the late superin-
tendent, who knew Thomas from having had him in custody
on a previous occasion, started off for Carmarthenshiro,
while printed de°_,Criptions were forwarded to all the adjacent
districts and seaports. Having been detained making in-
gullies on the way, the Brecon police did not reach Llan-
sowel until after one o'clock on Sunday morning, when
they found Thomas in the custody of the rural police.
who had taken him under the following circum-
stances .—Acting on the information they had received,
they had proceeded to his father's house, and found that
he had reached home at half-past eleven o'clock ; they also
ascertained that he had been seen in the village, and,
deeming it likely that he would come home at night, the
superintendent stationed his men on the 100k-out, lying
in wait himself with one of his men in a lane near his
father's house, Soon after eight o'clock they heard bins
owing down the lane, and
_passing one on each side of
him, collared him at once. Being a very powerful young
man, he succeeded in throwing them both down, anti
after a attVOINI struggle on the ground, they were compelled
to draw their cutlasses before be would surrender. During
the struggle the dropped a brace of pocket-pistols, which.
fortunately, were not loaded, and in his pocket were
found twelve bullets, caps, and some powder. Having
Breconbeen surrendered to the police, he was brought
on Sunday to the station-house in that town,
and on Monday was taken to an adjourned in-
quest held before Thomas Batt, Esq., at the Camden
Arms, Trecastle. From the evidence here adduced, it ap-
peared that he had nine days previously bought the pistols
at an Ironmonger's shop in Brecon, and that on Friday night
lie rode in a farmer's waggon a short way out of town until
overtaken by Lewis and his cart, when he made the bargain
for conveyance to Trecastle. The boy who had charge of
the waggon, and Mr. Lewis's little boy, swore most positively
to his identity 1 and such a chain of circumstantial evidence
was made apparent, that the jury without hesitation re-
turned a verdict of " Wilful Murder against Thos. Thomas,"
who was therefore removed to the county goal, to take his
trial at the March assize&
lIIs appearance was more that of the careless, cheerful,
country boy than that of a designing boy; and he kept his
composure to the last, maintaining that the two boys were
mistaken as to his identity.

MORTALITY in the METROPOLIS

The following are the results of " A Table of Mortality
in the Metropolis, showing the Number of Deaths from
all Causes registered in lite Week eruiing Saturday, the
7th of December, 1844." The:Table is issued from the Office
of the Registrar-General

Weekly
Total. Average of
Five Years
Epidemic,Endemic, and Contagious Diseases 191 178
Diseases of variable or uncertain seat B5 111
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves, and Senses 159 157
Diseases of the Lungs, and other Organs of
Respiration
Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 42 21
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other
Organs of Digestion
Diseases of the Kidneys, &c
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, &c.
Diseases of the Joints, Bones, and Muscles 6 6
Diseases of the Skin, &c 0 1
Old Age, or Natural Decay
By Violence Privation, or Intemperance ..• 24 26
Causes specified 983 942
Deaths from all Causes 9BB 946
DEATHS FRCLIf THE FRINCIFAL DISEASES INCLUDED LINDEN

CAUSES or DEATH.

THE ABOVE HEADS.

Total. Weekly Avers"
of Five Years,
Consumption ll2 147
Scarlatina 44 34
Pneumonia ..........
Dropsy ..... .. .. ............

Hociping Cough .. ......... .. .. 26 33
Typhus .
Small Pox 3l 15
Disease of the Heart
Measles ... a9 23
Apoplexy .......... ... ....
Diseases of the Brain ......
9
Diarrhoea..
Sudden Deaths
DISTRICTS.

West l3B 138
North 164 171
Central
East . 216 207
South 283 242
Total .... ..... ..-..

COLOSSAL HORSE.—A very splendid colssal horse,
of l9i hands high, the property of Mr. Thomas Hebbert, of
Hellingdon, bred by Mr. J. Bayes, of Draughton, in North-
amptonshire, is to be seen in the stables adjoining the Prize
Cattle Show. his a beautiful animal, and combines with
its; coh4s4l kttre the pure English breed, with perfect
symmetry. The colour is jet black, paces exceedingly good,
and 4 well worthy the attention 9.i 44 iuterested in stuck.