The Sun.
London, England, 1829-12-15 00:00:00

SIIIPWRECK.

That dangerous rock, the Rundle Stone, has
been again the catiae of a sLipwreck. On Thurs-
day week, about eight P.M., the weather being very
haze,. with a heavy sea rollinz in, the sloop Poly-
belongiug and [rum(' to flotinouth, coal
laden, from Newpo:t, John Stubbs, roaster and sole
owner, struck on it, forged over, and sunk almost
instantaneously ; insomuch so that the crew, owl-
sisting of Captain Stubbs, his two sons, and the
mate, had barely time to jump into their boat and
clear her from the vessel, without the possibility of
saving a single article of clothing beyond what they
had on; and not even an oar or bueket.. In this
precarious state they ripped out two of the boat's
thwarts, and after paddling with them, and baling
with their hats, they were providentially enabled to
get into Lamorna Cove, about five miles further to
the eastward, and effect a lauding, at about four
o'clock next morning : happily no lives were lost, but
all have been much bruised against the rocks in the
cove, particularly the Captain, who is still confined to
his bed with two ribs broken. The vessel and
cargo, both his own, were uninsured : his loss can-
not be less than 700/. or 800/. We understand he
is a man of irreproachable character, and has a large
family. Captain Stubbs has expressed himself most
grateful for the kindness and humanity of the inha-
bitants of Lamorna Cove, who, finding him and his
crew at day-break the following morning, lying on
the rocks, cold, wet, and wounded, carried them to
their own houses, and cheerfully provided them with
food, fire, beds, and raiment ; in fact, in every re-
spect good Samaritans, instead of " Cornish
wreckers." It is now several months since the last
beacon, placed near this fatal spot by the Trinity
hoard, has been broken adrift, so that there is no-

thing but the landmarks to indicate its position.—
Surely that opulent and liberal establishment will
not allow another summer to escape without erecting
a beacon on it, as we are aware that they acknow-
ledge to be in possession of a sufficient plan and
model for that purpose.---Falmouth Packet.

SPIRIT -OF THE- PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A correspondentof
rates,refutes
ourby th
the
allegation statement of
otfl it
particular et
general decrease
instance in which they have increased ;
other instances of the same nature might no
doubt be produced, but we are confident in
the general truth of our position. The causes
of the decrease of our rates are two; the one le-
gitimate and propene—namely, better manage-
ment; the other of a more doubtful character,
—more scanty allowances to the distressed. We
must still urge a return to old rents,—to the rents
which existed before agriculture ran mad; and
numerous are the instances, we find, hi which
tenants-have very properly thrown up their fume,
having the misfortune to be subject to landlords
who are cruelly tenacious on this point. We
would warn Ministers, and the public also,
against all exaggerated representations of agricul-
tural distress. Those political economists who
asserted that the country could never resume
cash payments,—that small notes could never
be called in,—are now of course obliged to as-
sert that those two measures have been attended
with unparalleled sufferings, in order to cloak
their own errors. But even were their preset t
assertions true, their previous blunders would
not be less apparent to those who duly consider
the question; for there is some difference be-
tween a thing's beim-, impossible, and its being
posseitiinipbol and practicable,
s esgreatsevttho
ugh
severities
tvueportrfr
il:mie i:.l
sub-
ject of agricultural distress, and the difficulties
of the landlords. Is there one single pack of
fox-hounds less in the country, in consequence
of those cried-up difficulties and that distress ?
Now, be it observed, we are not speaking against
the amusement of fox-hunting: it is a noble
and manly sport, and we hope it will long he
pursued by the youth of England, provided
only that the places of their meeting be not con-
verted into gambling-houses and hells. But we
boldly answer to the question above proposed,
that in this season of wondrous agricultural cala-
mity, fox-hunting is pursued with more splen-
dour and expense than ever; that there are more
numerous and costly studs at Melton Mowbray,
Pitchley, and throughont the realm, and that
there are upwards of twenty more packs of
harriers in England and Wales than existed
ten years ago, there having beeu an increase in
this respect even during the last two years. Let
the Duke of Wellington then judge, whether
there be the slightest eccasion for any treasure
whatever to relieve the trumpeted distress of the
agricultural interest. Nor is this all : there
never was a time in the memory of main or in
the records of history, in which so mech money
was employed in the preservation of game as at
the present period ! Nay, in this very present
year, now about to expire ! The preservation
of game costs more than the pay of our brave
British tars below the rank of commissioned and
warrant officers. And are the men who have
money thus to waste, in defiance of all the ordi •
nary maxims of prudence and humanity, to be
called distressed ? Are they even to talk of rob-
bing the public creditor ? Let them not die'.
tress others: let them relieve their tenants, and
dismiss their Ksts of keepers; and agricultural
labour will then revert to its usual channels, our
stout English peasantry will receive their proper
wages, be enabled to maintain their families in
conmfort, and prefer their warm beds to prowling
by night on the manors of their hateful tyrants.
Well ! and look at the sums of money thus la-
vished. Do they effect the object intended ?
The object really effected is this—that whilst
there is almost a civil war in the country between
gamekeepers and poachers, any one :may buy
game cheaper in London, than during any pro-
ceding winter for 30 years.—Times,
We this day insert a letter from Dr. Ryan on
the case of Edwin Harris, to which we called the
attention of our readers a few days ago, when
commenting on the letter of Mr. VClmitmores
Dr. Ryan has supplied some other particulars in
this case which afford additional illustration, it'
any were necessary, of the fact that goili oe inno-
cence has very little to do with the result of a
trial in an English Court, We have already
noticed the manner in which Barris, the prisoner,
was deprived of the benefit of Mr. Whitinore's
evidence, But this, it seems, was not the only
disadvantage under which the prisoner laboured
in the way of producing evidence. "By a legal
manoeuvre (observes Dr, Ryan) Mr. \-Vhitmore:
was subpoenaed for the prosecution, but not
called, and of course the Counsel for: the de-
fence could not go to the enemy* camp for
evidence. In order to elueidat© this point
farther, it is important to state that the prisoner
had not the meene, to. employ an attorney ; he
was thereltsso unable to appreciate the evidence
in his favour, and the want of mu agent
orderet:laiti:l
uunvaet etlliyer eI a Court;itle db in
led to his conviction ; for the witnesses
on
some of those for the pie:leaner (who had no
abgoetnht sides
edirect r theme
Court, and when called for the defence, would
that hie
ICvoouulidtsperl
tandedforeusiseisntgetoi;Jirnarcyv,,
not he heeler, So strong was the prisoner's
ove
scaaiENlithaat
existed against the prisoner, which had ever
appeared in 3 Court of Justice.' But the ex-
chisioei of the witnesses proved fatal to his
statement." This reminds us of an admirable
article in the _Edinburgh Review, two or three
Searn ago, from the pen of the Rey, Sydney
mith, on the mockery of calling the proceed-
ings previous to the passing sentence on a poor
prisoner, a trial. In a cespisal ease he admitted
that the reluctance to 44 away life, in the pre-
sent dab ww,Ald lead to exertions to aserst
prisoner with the necessary evidence during the
and to obtain a revision in ease of injus-
tice ; but in transportable caseee where the same
interest was not. felt, the khaSSeSt injustice was
constantly experusneed poor and ignorant
prisoners, Without the means of procuring
evidence from a distance, withosti the means of
purchasing legal assistant:l and placing time cir-
cumstances of their ca;4 before the Court, the
chances were gieetly against innocent men ; and
to rendee itie mockery complete, we were
told 'tiett the Judges were Counsel for prisoners.
In this case, Edwin Harris was poor—a valid rea-
sonthere is the least sympathy wiesta poverty, in Logland, the country in the world where
for his
being made to suffer injustice. lie ought to
have been provided with an Attorney, and that
Attorney would have known what to do with
the witnesses ; and had the witnesses been
properly attended to, they would have been ex-
sunned. The guilteorinnocence of Harris was
the last thing in ihe'ivaild for which the Court
care(l. If he was poor and stupid, and did nos
; for
know as much as an experienced solicitor, that
for
if he did not
l'en:rYtjacone conceive
cLce.dli I.tyolicl'iagitorrecil:::l 'lrlveorofayushole::itt viicese.joetioar'evrt'igierrteeilliga advantagehn technical
: and where a prisoner happens to be poor
and innocent, woe betide him. A felon who has
a well-stotkcd nurse, can obtain both Solicitors

and Counsel in abundance: and in nine cases
out of ten in an English Court, a guilty man
with a purse has a much better chance of escape
than an innocent man without one. The Judge
is oaturally anxious, too, to get through the
business as fast as possible, and it cannot be
expected that when he sees matters proceeding
smoothly on towards conviction, he should
start any difficulties, or institute any inquiries
calculated to produce delay. Besides, a Crimi-
nal Court, except in very peculiar instances, soon
generates in all who are connected with jt a
happy indifference to the fate of prisoners. The
progress in callousness is distinctly perceptible
in the difference between one of the twelve
Judges who only now and then attends at the
Old Bailey, and a Recorder who is inured to
the trade. Dr. Ryan observes, that when the
prisoner was brought up to receive sentence,
the Chairman (Mr. Cons) " publicly admitted
that the evidence offered since the conviction
seemed to nullify the whole proceedings. He
very humanely requested the prisoner's Counsel
to be sent for ; but as that gentleman was en-
gaged in another Court, the law took its course,
the Chairman observing to the prisoner that lie
had a fortunate escape in not being indicted for
the capital charge." What a lucky fellow yeu
are in not being hanged, as it was as easy to
have hanged you as not. You cannot repine at
being only sentenced to half a year's imprison-
ment, especially when you bungled matters as
you did. When you come before us again, you
will be better able to manage your defence, and
will know too well the value of good witnesses
to throw them away as you have now done.—
Morning Chronicle.
We observed yesterday that the best way of
weaning the people from gin is to let them have
good beer, and that they cannot have good beer
as long as the licensing of public-houses is com-
mitted to Magistrates. On this subject there is
an article in the Edinburgh Review for Sep-
tember, 1826, by one of the cleverest writers in
England :
" Come we now (says the Review) to the great
argument used—we are very sure very conscien-
tiously, by many most respectable Magistrates—the
morals of the poor. But why are two portions of
beer good of its kind, drunk at two public-houses,
more productive of immorality than the same quan-
tity, and of worse quality, consumed in one public-
house ? But the competition, it may be urged,
would improve the commodity, and so increase the
temptation. May be so, and particularly at first it
might be so ; but you have no right to treat the
poor like children, and hold them in such a state of
tutelage. First you lay a tax on public-houses to
prevent their rapid increase ; you prevent fiddling,
chuck-farthing, and every collateral temptation ; you
require from the publican the strongest recommen-
dation of character; you take away his license if
tippling is encouraged; you punish every individual
bet of drunkenness; you commit a man to prison
if he neglects to support his wife and family; and
then, as if all this was not enough, you drive a man
into sobriety by encouraging unrivalled landlords to
sell bad beer ! For if the' beer were no better under
A new system, there would be no increase of tempta-
tion ; and if the beer would be better under a new
system, then it is worse under this system ; and
the means taken (in addition to a thousand penal-
ties) to make the poor sober, is by making what
they drink filthy—which appears to us the consum-
;nation of cruelty and injustice.
must it be forgotten that bad beer leads to the gin-
bottle, and that monopoly makes bad beer. If the
people cannot procure good malt liquor, they inva-
riably have recourse to spirituous liquors. It is of
the greatest importance to the health and morals of
the common people that they should be kept from
the gin-bottle ; and there is no other method of doing
it than a perfectlyfree competition in the mant!fac-
Sure and sale y. beer. If I want to keep an ale-
house, you have a fair right to inquire into my cha-
raeter---a fair right to prevent me turning a house
of refreshment into a house of gambling and de-
bauchery—a fair right to prevent me selling at all if
it abuse my privilege. Again, if I am a guest at
ari alehouse, and expose myself by drunkenness, put
me in the stocks. If my wife and children are neg-
lected, put me upon your mill. But if all is quiet—
if there is no complaint against me, it is no concern
of yours how I dispose of the money earned by my
labour. You have no right to make laws which
subjectime, before I have committed any crime, to
all the vexations of an odious monopoly. This is
not parental care, but meddling interference with
freedom of action There is no end
to this mischievous meddling with the natural ar-
rangements of society. It would be just as wise to
set Magiactstres to digest for mankind, as to fix for
them in what proportion any of their wants should
ha supplied. But there are excellent men who
would place the moon under the care of Magis-
trates, in order to improve travelling, and make
Pings safe and comfortable."
We should not be surprised, if at the Meet-
ing this day in the London Coffee-house, some
of the speakers were to lose sight of the great
business of repealing the Malt and Beer Duties,
but, above all, rendering the trade perfectly free,
and to propose what would only add to the evil
—a restriction on gin-shops, to balance the re-
sttrictiOn on the sale of ale. We wish to see a
preference given to ale and beer; but sure we-are
that till ale and beer be of:better quality_which
under the monopoly system is not\to be looked
for—gin will continua to be drunk. The real
gin-drinker will not be drisen from his beverage;
but the poor, to whom spirits Are necessary—as
for instance, the class of persona who attend
snarkets in the morning, and are exposed to wet
anti cold—may be made to pay more than they
now p•iy. Is not this injustice I Is it not
cruelty ? What right has any class of men to
lay down the Law in matters of taste to others?
We would not trust Magistrates with the smallest
siideeretionary power oyes the supply of any wants
of the paople. To give them such a power is
ge,oss tyranny. The poor man is as much en-
; Weil to prescribe what ought to find its way to
the Magistrate's table, as he is entitled to pre-
scribe what aught to be on the poor man's. It
is time we laid aside the besetting cant in this
country, of all labooring at the correction of our
neighbours' vices instead dour
It is certain that neither Mr, O'Connell nor
Mr. Sheil can come pure and stajnie.ss, tts pa-
triots ought to be, out of the affair of the Wa-
terford representation. The latter gentleman
has, indeed, acted a more direct part than his
learned colleague in accepting the Beresford gold
at once, and not " higgling about the price at
which his services were to be purchased, This
was, so far, open and candid, though his ac-
cepting the fee under any circumstances seems
to have disappointed those of his Irish admirers,
who, notwithstanding his share in the delin-
quency of the " wing project" in -1825, had still
believed that his patriotism was above the vulgar
temptation of money. As to Mr. O'Connell,
though lie is greatly offended at its being said
that he ‘, huxtered" for a better fee, it is only
cavilling at a term, for he cannot deny that he
threw out hints sufficiently indicative of his wish
to have a mote liberal offer before he broke off
the negotiation. It would have been mor
manly and respectable in him to have at one
accepted or declined the offer, instead of re
mail:ling for a time, like the puzzled animal o
the schoolmen, in a state of motionless indec.