The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-26 00:00:00

DESTITUTION IN GLASGOW.

On Saturday one of the most heart-rending spectacles
we have ever witnessed was exhibited in the Police-
court of this city. Nearly seventy individuals, of both
sexes, and of all ages, who had during the previous
night voluntarily sought protection under the roof of
the office, were placed at the bar, for the purpose of
having their cases inquired into by the Magistrate.
The party presented an appearance of filth, degrada-
tion, and misery absolutely sickening, and afforded but
too positive proof of the dreadful amount of wretched-
ness now so prevalent. Want, in its most direful form,
was marked upon every visage; the clothing of many of
the poor outcasts was scarcely sufficient to cover their
nakedness ; none of them had a home to go to ; and,
impelled by their necessities, the protection of the
Police-office was the only refuge left them in their dis-
tress. The amount of misery which these poor creatures
exhibited seemed utterly to appal the Magistrate, Bailie
Bogle, whose term of service has not been long enough
to make him acquainted with the degree of wretched-
ness so familiar to those who have been longer in
the Magistracy ; and, like every Magistrate in similar
circumstances, he was evidently puzzled how to act. Af-
ter some consultation, it was resolved to submit the ease
of each to the examination of the parish-officers, with a
view to relief being granted where the parties belonged to
Glasgow, and having the others sent off to their respec-
t tive parishes. This was perhaps all that could be done in
' the circumstances, but we need not say that it is utterly
inadequate to meet the evil. It is proper to state
that, with the exception of two or three indivi•
duals, none of the unfortunate parties referred to
above are known in the Police-office as cri-
minals—poverty alone sent them within its precincts ;
but it requires no prophetic vision to foretel that, sooner
or later, their names will go to swell up the list of delin-
quents who tenant its cells, unless the horrors to which
they are subjected prevent the commission of crime, by
the awful alternative of shortening their lives. While
on this subject, we may take the opportunity of
mentioning the startling fact, that there are
at present in Bridewell no fewer than fifty-two
voluntary prisoners, who have come forward and re-
quested admission to that establishment. Many of these are
persons who have petitioned to be allowed to remain after
the expiry of their sentences ; others, after going out,
but who have been unsuccessful in procuring employ-
ment, have returned begging for admission ; but many of
them have never been convicted of crime, and have peti-
tioned to be admitted, subject to all the rules and regula-
tions of the prison. Perhaps this single fact proves,
more clearly than any other which could be adduced,
the fallen and helpless condition of our suffering poor.
Persons who have never been convicted of crime go
voluntarily forward, and petition to be subjected to all
the rules and regulations of Bridewell, rather than
remain in the possession of their freedom, accompanied
with all the evils of starvation. This fact we can state
on the authority of Mr. Brcbner, the humane and en-
lightened governor of our prisons ; and it is one of such
a startling nature, as must at once attract no small share
of public observation. The distress, now so unhappily
prevalent all over the country, presents many features
of fearful interest, the most striking of which are the
rapidly demoralising effects produced in the lower walks
of society ; and perhaps nothing has occurred to show
more clearly the sinking condition of that class of our
fellow-citizens than the significant fact we have recorded
above.— Glasgow Paper. •

His Majesty the King of Prussia and suite will
take their departure from Windsor for town on Thurs-
day next. The King will not leave England until after
the meeting of Parliament,, at which his Majesty will
be present. _

ARRIVAL OF CONVlCTS.—Yesterday morning
the York snail train arrived at the Euston-square
terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway, at a
quarter-past nine (it ought to have come in four hours
earlier, but its progress was impeded by frost and snow),
bringing up thirty-three convicts, heavily ironed, and in
custody of constables, for the purpose of being conveyed
to Woolwich, preparatory to their leaving the country
for various periods ; and on the previous day several
other convicts arrived by the same railway, from Coven-
try and other places.
THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE ARTI-
CLE "A" AND " THE."—A Merry Andrew being asked
by a young aspirant for fame to inform him by what
means he might discover the difference between the in-
definite article a and the definite article the ? "Why,
sir," said the clown, "you area fool, but I am the fool
—that's the difference."

THE WILD MEN IN THE KIRK..--.The
Town Council have, as we anticipated, by a large ma-
jority, elected the Rev. Mr. M‘Letchie, of Leith, to be
assistant and successor to the Rev. Dr. Lockhart, of the
College Church. This occurrence marks, in a very striking
manner, the disgust which has been excited in the minds of
• the rational portion of the community by the extravagant
doings of the wild clergy. Previously to the last Munici-
pal elections the Non-Intrusionists almost equalled in
numbers their opponents in the Council ; and it we go a
little further back, we find them in a triumphant
majority, returning regularly an elder to the Ge-
neral Assembly in support of the dominant party
in the Kirk. Such, however, was the feeling
engendered by the mad proceedings of the clerical
tyrants, that in November last their power was laid com-
pletely prostrate ; and we have now witnessed a minis-
ter elected from the Moderate side of thesChurch, by a
majority of 18 to 12, in the once priest-ridden but now
emancipated Town Council of Glasgow. We think there
is something like an evidence of re-action here ; and the
Council having now freed themselves from priestly thral-
dom, we trust there is little danger that the constituency
will again permit them to relapse into their former state
of bondage.—Glusgow Argus.

On Sunday, Mr. James Meredith, the hair-
dresser under the cloisters, Temple, who had been en-
gaged in the business upwards of twenty years, was
found drowned in the Thames, opposite Bankside.
The unfortunate man had been missing before
Christmas, and it was supposed that he had left for Ame-
rica. His wife and family could gain no intelligence of
him, and were, as might have been expected, in great
suspense at his continued absence. On the person of the
deceased was found the key of his shop in the Temple,
his card, and fourteen-pence in his pocket. Information'
was brought to the shop, and the body was identified.
Pecuniary distress, it is said, led to the rash act.
ENCROACHMENTS OF THE SEA.—It is well
known that there have been extensive and extraor-
dinary encroachments of the sea, washing away the
Suffolk coast, and if they continue Heaven knows
what will become of this snug little island. In
this month's number of the Philosophical Magazine
there is an account of further inroads of old Nep-
tune in this quarter. A letter was read before the
Geological Society, from Captain Alexander, F.G.S.,
" on the annual destruction of land at Easton, Ha-
vent Cliff, near Southwold, on the Suffolk coast."
From careful observations made during the last
five years, Captain Alexander states it to be his
opinion that the local representations of " 350 yards
in breadth having been destroyed (or washed away by the
action of the sea) at Eastern Cliff in about 35 years, are not
much over-rated, as, during that period, a nearly square
field, containing 12i acres, has been entirely removed by
the sea, and only three acres remaining of another which
consisted of 181-.', This ratio of loss, he adds, has ex-
tended along the whole range of the Cliff'. According to
Captain Alexander's observations, there has been an
annual loss of seven yards in breadth.

AWFUL VISITATION.—On Friday forenoon, at
ten o'clock, a Coroner's inquest was held at the
Crown, Museum-street, Bloomsbury, before Mr. Walt.-
ley, M.P., on the body of George Hopkins, aged 47,
who died under the following awful circumstances :
It appeared from the evidence of the widow, who is
left with four young children, that the deceased had
been above thirty years in the service (as foreman) of Mr.
Spencer, mattrass-manufacturer, Holborn. He had been for
twenty years asthmatical. On Monday night he went
to bed about nine o'clock, not making any particular
complaint. About six o'clock, the following morn-
ing she awoke and found him in convulsions. He was
then insensible. Mr. Hunter, a medical gentleman who
was sent to, arrived, but said he could do nothing for
him. Her unfortunate husband died between nine and ten
o'clock. - Mr. Wakley said that the deceased was the first
witness he examined after he became Coroner. It further
appeared that the inquest was held upon a relative of the
deceased's matter, and that t)'e landlord of the Crown
was the foreman of the Jury on that occasion. Verdict,
" Natural death."

Two mornings ago, about two o'clock, a porter
of a diligence office, in the Rue de Bouloi, was found lying
senseless at the entrance of the Passage Vero-Dodat,
in the Rue Montesquieu. He was taken to a guardhouse,
but before medical assistance could be obtained he ex-
pired. He was an habitual drunkard.