The Sun.
London, England, 1829-11-23 00:00:00

GUILDHALL

Thomas Kccme, a man about 50 years of age,
carman to Mr. Smith, a cornchandler, in% London-
wall, was brought before Mr. Alderman GARRATT,
charged with assaulting, with intent to violate, the
person of Sarah Seharratt, a female about 28, yeas
of age, in the service of his employer.
Heiman, the constable, put in a surgeon's certi-
ficate that the young woman was not in a fit state
to be removed, and he stated that she had been
confined to her bed ever since the attack upon her,
which was committed on Thursday last. He re-
quested that the prisoner might be detained until
she should be able to attend and give her testimony.
She was 'very much bruised. It had been stated to
him that a basin had been borrowed from the ser-
vant, which she repeatedly asked the prisoner to
hying back to her. She was particularly staid and
disrreet in her manner, and refused to go into the
men's loft to fetch it ; hut on Thursday she
thought she would take advantage of the absence
of the men at their dinner hour, and accordingly
went up into the loft. It happened that the pri-
soner was later than the rest of the men in leaving
the premises, and he observing her as she was as-
cending the ladder, reached the loft by another en
trance, seized her, and threw her on some bags,
and treated her in a very gross manner. She snug-
gled violently till she rolled down a trap-door into a
loft below, when she escaped into the dwelling-
house. She went to bed immediately, and appeared
to be seriously ill. The advice of a surgeon was oh-
mined, but she did not disclose what had occurred
till her sister was brought to see her on Friday
evening, and then the prisoner was apprehended.
The prisoner's wife, a neat-looking young woman,
was standing by, listening anxiously to the proceed-
ings, while he remained at the bar.
Mr. Alderman GARRATT -asked the prisoner
whether he wished to say any thing upon the charge.
He replied that he wished to speak with a soli-
citor before he answered the complaint, and the Al-
derman said he would indulge him, and remanded
him till the young woman is sufficiently recovered
to give evidence.
QUEEN-SQUARE.

A BRACE OF VlRAGos.—Susannah Gears and
her mother, a fiery little woman, who set all the
police force at defiance, were brought before Messrs.
MARRIOTT and WHITE, by a posse cf constables,
charged with asssaulting and battering the sconce of
Master William Stoneham, of Blue Boar yard,
King-street, Westminster, something of a Giovanni
in the lower parts of Westminster.—" Only let us
get our breaths," exclaimed both ladies at once,
" and we will tell you all about it ;" and a pretty
long story it appeared to be, for they both rattled
away, spite of the repeated calls of silence, and
would certainly have torn all the clothes off the
complainant's back had not au officer stood between
them.—lt appeared, as far as we could understand,
that the complainant had been ble4ed with a smil-
ing boy by Susannah Gear, and had been adjudged
to
pay 2s. 6d. per week for his maintenance, and
bad unfortunately fallen into arrears, abort 125., for
which he had been cited before the Magistrates by
the parish officers; and it had been settled only a
few minutes before that he was to pay the arrears
by instalments; at which decision the defendants
were greatly dissatisfied, and threatened vengeance
against the complainant when he came out of the
Office. " And Mr. Secretary Peel shall know
about it ; the parish offiurs are bribed to let the
villain off so," exclaimed mother Gears ; "and 1
will write him a letter this blessed night, and I'll
write about the Magistrates." No sooner, however,
had tile complainant go' c .1 the Office than the)

pounced upon him, like two furies, cwearing they
would drag him before Mr. Peel, who would do
them justice. The complainant tried to get away,
but they held on ; and had it not been for the in-
terference of the police, the complainant would have
stood a fair chance of paying his respects to the
Home Secretary."
Under the circumstances the Magistrates put a
nominal fine on the defendants of one shilling,.

"There it is," exclaimed mother Gears, throwing
the shilling down ; " and now I'll be off to Mr. Peel,
he is the man for me ;" and they both set off to the
Home Secretary's residence.

STATE OF TRADE.

(Abridged from the Leeds Mercury.)

" The state of trade continues to be the all-en-
grossing topic of the public journals and of private
conversation. During nearly the whole of this year,
and almost up to this present time, there has been a
continued fall in prices; the value of all stocks has
depreciated, money has been scarce, and wages have
inevitably declined. For some weeks past a good
deal has been doing in the principal branches of the
woollen arid cotton trades, but with scarcely any im-
provement-in prices. Retail tradesmen are still ex-
ceedingly depressed, and bankruptcies and insolven-
cies are fearfully numerous.
" In this state of things, it is our fixed purpose
to communicate to the public the exact truth, as far
as we can ascertain it, concerning the actual condi-

tion of the districts in which we are situated. Our
report of trade this week is somewhat less favour-
able than last week, though not materially so.—
This is mainly to be accounted for by the season of
the year. As soon as the month of November sets
in, the woollen trade invariably becomes dull; the
country trade is then supplied for the winter, and
the manufacturers and merchants do not usually be-
gin to prepare for the spring trade till the com-
mencement of the year. It is common to take stock
at the close of the year, and tradesmen are naturally
desirous that their stock should be low at that pe-
riod. There is also at this season a cessation of the
export trade to Germany and the north of Europe,
owing to the continental communications being
closed by the approach of winter. The woollen
trade of this town is therefore flatter within the last
week, and will probably continue so for a few weeks
to come. We understand also that the worsted
stuff trade of Leeds is now in a depressed state, and
that a considerable number of hands in this line are
out of employ. The demand for low qualities of
stuff goods has for some time been extremely slack,
as is experienced both at Leeds and Bradford; but
for the finer qualities, called Merinos, chiefly made
in the ne;ghbourhood of Bradford, there is a very
large demand.

" From,two communications from correspondents
nt Huddersfield, it appears that the fancy trade, which
employs so many hands in the populous villages
near that place, is still suffering great distress.
" We have stated that in Leeds the woollen trade
has become flatter within the last week or two, and
that some men are out of work ; but there are by
no means so many persons unemployed as has been
known in former periods of distress, and we hope
the number will soon be diminished. It is known

that a large establishment in this town, which has
formerly employed two hundred looms, is now stand-
ing, from causes wholly unconnected with the state
of trade, but it is expected to resume work very
shortly. The manufactories in L?eds are, for the
most part, well employed. The present comparative
dullness in the demand is attributed by our principal
manufacturers to the season of the year, and it there-
fore occasions no apprehensions in their minds.
Many of them are already engaged in preparing for
the spring trade, though the merchants and retail
dealers do not begin to lay in their stocks till after
the commencement of the year. The general im-
pression amongst the manufacturers ia, that we shall
have a brisk spring trade, and they found their ex-
pectations on the well-ascertained fact, that stocks
are now very low in the hands of the manufacturers
as well as those of the retail dealers. The low-
ness of stocks is the most encouraging circum-
stance of the times; and combined with the belief
which the most judicious persons entertain, that the
depreciation in the value of goods has reached its
lowest point, it will no doubt encourage the ma-
nufacturer to employ mote workmen.
" We understand that in the clothing villages,
though wages are low, there is a fair supply of
work. We have before stated the testimony of
Mr. Gervase Walker, the trustee of the Leeds
Cloth-halls, on this point. We also learn that in
the large manufacturing village of Biamley, the
workmen are so well employed, that the overseer
of the poor, during the last two fornightly pay-
days, has not had a single application for relief
from any person in the woollen line, on the ground of
want of employ.
" We are happy to find from the Liverpool, Man-
chester, and Glasgow Papers, that the cotton trade
has decidedly improved, and that both the raw ma-
terial and the manufactured article are advancing in
price. At Glasgow particularly it is stated that
the public works are all brisk, particularly the
power-loom manufactories,' that ' the rents of the
poorer people are better paid, and the local assess-
ments collected with less difficulty now, than for a
considerable time past.' At Liverpool, the great
mart of the raw material, the sales of cotton have
been very large both last week and the present, and
prices have risen for the first time, after a continued
fall of several months.
" Our opinion, then, on the whole, is precisely
that which was expressed the other day by a cau-
tious, prudent, and well-informed banker—' I think,'
said he, we have got to the bottom of a bad trade;
things are now looking better, and I have no doubt
but they will continue to improve.' We think that
the country has seen the worst ; that the course of
depreciation is arrested; that, after a few weeks of
dulness always experienced at this season shall have
passed, we shall again see a briskness of trade ; that
bankers will be more disposed to accommodate, and
that confidence will gradually return to the commer-
cial world." _ _

Besides the above, the Leeds Mercury has a

long article in reply to that copied in our last from
the Leeds Intelligencer, respecting the number of
looms unemployed. We have not room for the
whole of the reply, in which the editor states that
he called several times at the office of the Leeds
Intelligencer, to obtain a list of the names of the
firms said to have looms unemployed, and that be
was at last shown the list, but was not permitted to
take a copy.
The article then proceeds thus :—" We urged
that we wished to investigate the circumstances,
and that without a copy of the names, to show to
what firms the numbers referred, we could not arrive
at what was called in the Intelligencer the matter
of fact.' All we said was :n vain. The decision
was inexorable, and after glancing over the list, we
were abliged to depart without a copy of the names.
That our labour might not be wholly lost, we fixed
our eye upon No. 7, containing the largest number
of looms, which was 250, and which are said in the
Intelligenctr list to be only partially employed.
Opposite this number was placed the name of Ben-
jamin Gott and Sons; and to submit the list to at
least one test, we immediately went to the counting-
house of those gentlemen, and, after explaining our
errand, requested to be informed, if the question
waa not thought an improper one, whether this re-
presentation of the state of their looms was correct
or otherwise. To this inquiry, with their usual
frankness, they replied, that the number of looms
was, they thought, a little understated ;,they thought
they amounted to about 270; that those looms were
all fully employed, and that they were working from
six o'clock in the morning to eight o'clock at night.
This is what the Intelligencer calls only partially
employed; and this we believe is a fair specimen of
the veracity of that famous document, which is to
show the utter hollowness of the Mercury's vaunts
in favour of the falsely called free trade system. In
another -ease we observed—No.4, one of the next
largest lists, indicates Mr. Win. Hirst, m ho is stated

to have 200 looms, all standing, but expected t 0
commence in a few days.' Now, though these 200
looms are included in the 785, men ioned in the Ilia
telligenrer as sunniing, it is a fact of public noto-
riety, that the interruption in the business of that-
house arises from causes wholly unconnected
th state of trade, and thus the 785 are reduced to
53.5. On a more particular examination of the list
wit, of the Intelligencer-ollice (for though they had
refused to allow us, who meant and stated that so
meant, to investigate the circumstances, they had
not been equally reserved towards others), we flu"
that 57 looms of a house that had become bankrupt
were'returned as' all standing,'—that 130 looms were
returned of houses that had declined business, 29
standing;' and one house was said to have' between
200 and 300 looms, when 20 men would do all their
work,' whereas the fact is, that this house never
had more than 26 looms ! The result then is

" Of the looms unemployed, amounting to 585

_ .
there are, from causes not connected with
the present state of trade lB7
" Error in the number of looms belong'ng

to one house

200

367

" Reducing the actual number of unem-
ployed --- •
looms that can be fairly reckoned, to 198
which we believe is as small a number as ever can
be found unemployed in this town. So much for
Intelligencer's ' truth, and whole truth, and no-
thing but the truth.' We beg to be understood,
however, as not wishing to impute to our contem-
porary any deliberate wish to mislea.l. The erro- ,
neoul representations hare been received from per-
sons suffering from want of work, without due In'
vestigation ; and as they favour a bias against the
Popish Ministry,' they have been inconsiderately
taken for panted. We have not room to pursue
this subject further at present, and shall conclude _ ,
with one observation—namely, that within the last
fzuir or five years, that is, since the introduction of
the much decried free trade system' (which, how'
ever, we think, has little to do with the
matter),
the number of woollen looms in Leeds has been ill"
creased from 1,500 to 2,200, making an actual in-
crease of nearly 50 per cent. since the year