The Sun.
London, England, 1829-04-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS.

The people are beginning to . stir themselves
against the oppression of the Corn Laws. A meet-
ing of artisans and mechanics was held a few days
ago at. Leicester, and, as the report says, was nume-
rously and respectably attended: The purpose of
the meeting was to petition the Legislature against
the prolongation of the above grievous laws. it
cannot reasonably be expected that such assemblages
of afflicted and irritated men should distinguish
themselves by much new knowledge upon a subject
the details of which must be diligently and elabo-
rately sought for by those who have time and money
at their disposal ; we look to popular meetings more
for evidence of tile general spirit and bias of men's
minds, than for any just pleasure of their progress
in the scientific lore of Statesmen, or in the prin-
ciples of national economy. There was nothing
learned at Penenden-heath, but the art of organizing
and manoeuvring a Kentish multitude, fraught with
a hatred of Popery from their cradles, and ready to
transfer, at the beck of any titled fanatic, this abhor-
renee of the creed to the persons of thcee who enter-
tained it. So at Leicester, the assembled artisans
produced no facts nor arguments whatever beyond
the single one that they were perishing because
of dear bread. But there is this essential dif-
ference between the nature of the feelings dis-
played by the people of Kent and those of
Leicester,—viz. that the Kentish men were roused
Through abstract fears affecting their imagination
only, and appeased as readily as they had been
excited ; while the men of Leicester's dissatisfac-
tion is that of pinching want, and mush find matter
of aggravation and permanency in the occurrences
of each succeeding hour. The people of England,
too, were divided in sentiment on the subject which
brought the mob of British peasantry to the scene
of Lord Winchilsea's triumph—the first triumph,
and the last, which ever graced his Lordship's
brow. The spirit of toleration, moreover, being that
of the enlightened classes throughout England, and
eminently so of the inhabitants of great towns, as as
naturally a growing spirit among Englishmen : the
cause of No-Popery sunk under it. But the pro-
gress of opinion throughout the country is favour-
able to the wishes of the poor artisans of Leicester,
and most adverse to the grand corn monopoly—that
giant monopoly—the convenient precedent for all
and every other which can, however preposterous
and barbarous towards the nation, be imagined.—
The natural course of things, therefore,—public
meetings public discussions—justice itself—the
great destroyer of intolerance—rcalitg, the great
antagonist of No-Popery, as chimera was its ally—
these things will go to swell the cry of the people of
England for " free bread," and a repeal or important
modification of the corn duties. It is lamentable
to recollect that no breathing time was al
lowed the people of England, and that on the con-
clusion of the general peace of 1814, the first
sample of gratitude afforded by the aristocracy to the
bulk of the nation who had so gloriously fought its
battles was this snatching away of the loaf from the
• hands of the industrious and the hungry. Give the
poor " cheap bread," was the prayer of every gene-
rous heart during 22 years of desperate and sangui-
nary warfare. " Peace Will bring us plenty," was
the eager and comforting anticipation of the poor
Themselves. But, alas ! the peace came to them
widowed of its customary helpmate. Not one mo-
ment was the curse of blood removed, when the
curse of famine was inflicted,—not by the Deity,
but by Act of Parliament. The peace itself gave
birth to a species of enemy from which the naval
war had protected us—namely, that of a manufac-
turing competition on behalf of foreign countries.
To raise prices, then, at such a time, was to ensure
the success of that new rival. It was as if the Eng-
lish landlord had been bribed by the Continental
speculator to betray the interests of the British
loom. To render this scheme less revolting to
the nation', we were told that it %Yea for the sake of
the British former,—to enable the " poor farmer to
pay his rent,"—that foreign corn was to be placed
beyond the grasp of the British v,orkmail,
But why was the British farmer compelled to
pay a rent which could only be maintained
by such rapacious and cruel devices ? and who
was it that so compelled him? Ansmver us
that ! Why, the very landlord who pocketed
the same rent.----the very law-maker who was so
compassionate towards " the poor farmer," would
not let his pity lead him to reduce time farmer's out-
going by abating the rent, so long as :here remained
a single shilling to be squeeZed from him ; but his
compassion prompted the said landlord to rob the
foreign grower of his accustomed market in this
country, the English master-manufacturer of his
profits, and the English weaver and artisan of their
breakfasts, out of pure love for that individual who
held " the poor farmer" to a ruinous contract, and
wrung the fruits of it into the strong box of that
" individual"—viz. the country geotieroan himself.
Now, we hold the act to have been a cruel one, but
not more cruel than the pretence for it was hypocri-
tical and base—affecting to lay it all upon the ne•
cessities of the farmer, when those necessities were
created by the stubborn rapaciousness of others.
The prohibitory corn law was, within these two
years, replaced by a " protecting" statute. The
eomplaint of the manufacturing interest throughout
Great Britain is, that the protection operates too
nearly like prohibition, except in cases approaching
to famine; and in the justice of that complaint we
so far acquiesce, as to believe that justice, and there-
fore policy requires, if not the total abolition of all
corn duties, a very serious diminution of those which
are now in force against the British eaters of bread,
—Times.

A letter from " A Constant Reader," on the sub-
ject .of certain indefensible practices alleged to be
carried on at Gibraltar, which have, We believe, been
productive of various evil consequences to the health
of the garrison, as well as to the public revenue,
ought, we think, to receive attention from men in
office. It has been frequently stated in our hearing,
that the non-military population of Gibraltar has
become by far too numerous. The inhabitants of
late years have exceeded- by many thousands—and
that iv ithin a very small compass—the number of
civil residents there at the dose of the last century,
This density of living creatures would in itself be
favourable to the introduction and to the rapid pro-
. gress of diseases of a febrile character. We have
been informed by intelligent Spaniards, that most
of the dwell:ngs at Gibraltar are of a very slight '
construction, and altogether unsuitable to the climate
of the south of Spain, being pervious to the heat in
every part of them, and exhibiting a marked contrast
to the solidity and wholesome arrangement of spa-
nish houses. An investigation, it seems, is going
• on, or rather (says our correspondent) continues,
but makes no progress, having for its ostensible
object the acquisition of some insight into the
causes of the fever which recently raged throughout
the fortress. The complaint of our correspondent
appears to go to this—namely, that a tax of Doe
real per diem being payable by foreign sojourners at'
Gibraltar, is made the guarantee of ,a sort of licensed
protection to all adventurers, no matter what may
be their demerits, who find it nece,sary to seek a
refuge where, for a tribute like this, an easy asylum
is afforded, and no questions asked. The imputed
gravatnina of the accusation are-Ist, that the police
has fallen into the hands of subaltern agents, void
of all effectual responsibility, and that ,these men
exact from foreigners an amount of bush-money,
proportioned to the emergency antler which each
indisidual finds himself k---251,,that this tax produces
a sum of not-leria'tharr•-90,0001. per annum, part
of which on ,IY-lind that * small portion, equal to
about or 15,000/. annually, finds its way
to the- 'local treasury, . „Gibtaltar,requiros such a
numerous garrison, and,costa: the nation so heavy
an expenditure, that we concur in opinion with our
_ correspondent, as to the wasteful and indefensible
policy of diverting the large sum of money stated to
arise from the above-mentioned poll-tax to any pur-
poses distinct from those of regular revenue.
90,0001. per annum would support two-thirds of
ti:c standing garrison of Gibraltar. It would be

better, indeed, that no such sum were. levied, and
that few or no inhabitants were suffered to enter the
fortress but such as might minister to the wants and
comfort of the troops. But if the tax be raised, it
ought to be accounted for; and to make such an
account effectual, a separate functionary, acting
under the Governor, but removable by the Board
4:A. Treasury at home, might with advantage be ap-
pointed, and rendered responsible for the sums re-
ceived, as the Governor ought to be for the descrip-
tion and numbers of the parties who were permitted
to pay them. The police of Gibraltar, we have
heard, is fallen almost into decrepitude : a super-
fluous, vicious, and overgrown population has mul-
tiplied as the restraints upon licentiousness and mis-
conduct have been weakened. An aggravated ten-
dency to disease has been amongst the fruits of this
double calamity, and the habitual suppression of the
finance accounts gives added opportunity and temp-
tation to interested men to enlarge and perpetuate
the general corruption of the system. We arc afraid
that our foreign military stations afford many in-
stances no less conspicuous than Gibraltar, of vice
or negligence in matters both of finance and of po-
lice ; and we do not know that Sir George Mor-
i ray could turn his mind to a more useful object
than the examination and remedy of such abuses,
wherever a trace of them can be laid hold of

The scope of our observations on the subject of
the new Police Magistrates seems not to have been
understood by some of our Contemporaries. It will
be recollected that the Police Committee of last
year recommended the separation of the Police, pro-
perly so called, from the Magistracy. " Magistrates
(said the Committee) are immediately responsible
to the law for the exercise of the power committed
to them in the ordinary administration of justice,
and must be left to act according to the best of their
judgment, uncontrouled in this respect 'by any ex-
trinsic authority. But the Police Magistrate in a
great city may be considered as an executive as well
as a judicial officer; and one of the chief advantages
of the establishment of a 1-lead of Police would
consist, in the opinion of your Committee, in its
possessing a general superintending authority -in
matters of Police, which would remedy the incon-
venience that at present results from the indepen-
dent and unconnected action of the several Police
Offices." Now, it appears to us, that though the
Heads of the Police, under Mr. Peel's Police Bill, are
called Justices, yet they are the sort of officers in-
dicated in the above extract from the Police Report.
They are to execute the-duties of a Justice of the
Pcace, it is true, at the Police offices to be
established in the city of Westminster, and in all
parts of the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Hert-
ford, Essex, and Kent ; but they are to execnte a
number of other duties specified in the Bill, and to
receive directions- from the Home Secretary. The
name of a Magistrate may at any time, no doubt,
he struck out of the Commission ; but, de facto,
except in times of political agitation, a name is
never struck out, no matter how a Magistrate may
misconduct himself, or prove himself unfit for his
situation. Bur, by this Bill, the Police Justice
may be removed, if his Majesty " shall see occa-
sion so to do." The- Police Magistrate is freed j
from the necessity of having the qualification re-
quired
by law in the case of Justices of the Peace—
it is not necessary for him to take "any oath of j
office or qualification by estate;" and he shall not
act "'s a Justice of the Peace at any Court of Ge-
neral or Quarter Sessions, nor in any matter out of
Sessions, except for the preservation of the peace,
the prevention of crimes, the detection of offenders,
and in carrying into execution the purposes of this
Act." The superintendence and contiol of the
Police force, Watch, &c., will impose so many and
heavy duties on these Police Magistrates, that their
functions must, of necessity, be -confined to Police
matters. They are vested with the powers of
Justices of Peace, merely because it would be
improper to give discretionary power to the
Police-men ; and it would be equally improper, in
cases requiring despatch, to interpose the delay
which would attend the necessity of having recourse
to ordinary Magistrates. But it is obvious that the
great mass of business at present despatched at the
several Police-offices will still be despatched there.
These Acts were, in fact, appointed.chiefly for the
relief of the mass of the people, who used to be
fleeced and harrassed in various ways by the trading
Justices, described by Burke as the very refuse of
society, as men whom no respectable person would
associate with; and in the statements made to Par-
liament at the time, the principal stress was laid on
the advantage which would arise from the public
having free access to the offices, and on the cheek
which such publicity would have on the Magistrates.
Justices of Peace have power, by Statutes out of
number, to determine a variety of matters, and to
enforce fines and penalties. All these matters will
still be determined at the present offices. The line
of distinction between the present Magistrates and
time Police Magistrates under the new Bill may, we
apprehend, be easily drawn. The former are effie
eient in determining cases of quarrel between citizen
and citizen; in interpreting Penal Statutes; and
in deciding whether, when a person is brought
before them charged with a crime, there is
sufficient evidence to warrant commitment. The
prevention of crime is hardly considered a part
of their duty, and in all that relates to the
measures to be applied for the discovery of crime
the officers may be said to act without supe-
rior controul—acting, or not, according as there is
a prospect of reward, and according to the ability
of those who choose to employ, them. Now, the
new Police Magistrates are, we apprehend, to be
made personally responsible, as it were, for the pre-
servation of order in the Metropolitan district; to
have the direction and controul of the Police force; to
have, in short, communicated to them the plan-
ning and securing the execution of the means of
reaching evil doers, and obtaining evidence against
them ; '
the anticipating them, where possible, by
means of ;intelli/ence, and thereby defeating their
schemes. This most important duty is at present en-
' trusted solely to individuals and to Police Officers,
Who have, as is well known, an interest in the en-
couragement of crime. As is matter of necessity the
new Magistrate; most abandon the tedious business
of examining evidence in cases of difficulty to the
old
.Magistrates, and accordingly we intimated it as
in contemplation sleet all such cases will be trans-
ferred to the ezisting Police Magistrates. In our
observations of yeeterchey we stated that military men
were, of all otheis' from their education and habits,
the best calculated for coping with the very de-
praved and very native part of our population who
live by violation of the laws, The habits of a bits,
raster are not favourable to lie development of this
energy and activity. But, as we observed, the list
of half-pay (Akers must contain numbers of clever
men, many of them now forced to live on a pittance
in Frarsce and Italy, to whom the appointment
would be a meet desirable object. On the contrary,
a barrister, except as a pis alter, or in order to lead
an easy indolent life, would not thing of accepting
the situation of a Police Magistrate. There is no
reason why the situation should be confined to either
barristers or military men. The only reason pro-
bably for thinking particularly of military men is,
that except in the case of men of property, all men
must eithee live by a profession, or live by their
wits; and the military profession is best suited to
form the qualities required in a Superintendent of
Police, The Globe of last night remarks, with re-
terence to our observations in the chronicle of yes,
tarday ;7 . s
" if the proposed duties of- the superintendents. were
limited to combining end executing plans of operation
against thieves and swindlers, the appointment of military
men would, uo doubt, be better calculated to accomplish
the objects of the new police establishment than that of
barristers. taut the Bill does not separate the two busi-
nesses of police and magistracy ; on the contrary, the
superintendents are to be Justices, who will have to hear
anti decide, in a civil capacity, on the cases !Nought before
them. Now, for the due exercise of functions partaking
of a judicial character, the habits formed by a military
education afford the worst possible preparation. Barris-
ters, it is said, are too much attached to precedents to deal
effectually with lawless men who despise precedents, and

who may be most atiecesifully attacked with their own
weapons; but it would be a dangerous experiment to at-
tack eveni thieves and swindlers with a vigour beyond the
law. If it were possible to organize a body of faultlesS
-police-men, or if thieves and swindlers Were the only
classes of the community subject to the operations of a
police, there would be no objection to handing theth over
to the summary jurisdiction of three military justices'.
Bnt the misfortune is, that whatever care may be exer-
cised in selecting the new officers, cases must frequently
occur in which their authority will be over-stepped or
abused. Nor are the flagrant cases, to which extraordf-
nary vigour is supposed to be most applicable, those which
are of most frequent occurrence in the business of a pn-
lice-office. The petty offences, which constitute a ma-
jority of the cases brought before the Police Magistrates,
certainly need not be treated with the energy of [untied
law. The rule of the camp is, that no breach of dis-
cipline should pass unpunished ; civil policy suggests
that, in some of the minor Offences against social order,
it may be expedient to tell the offender to go and sin no
more. '"

What we have already stated meets the objec-
tions of our contemporary. If the Bill do not ex-
pressly separate the two businesses of Police and
Magistracy, it is obvious from the spirit of it, and
from the extent of other business committed to the
new Magistrates, namely, the direction of the Police
force in a district containing one.sixth of the popu-
lation of the kingdom, the appointment and super-
intendence of the watch, &c., that they cannot pos-
sibly attend to the decision of those petty offences
which are of most frequent occurrence in the business
of a Police office." Our contemporary's con.titu-
tional apprehensions are, we conceive, needless.
Our contemporary, the Standard, observes—
, " There is, according to our liberal contemporary, no
qualification far a Magistrate in this once free coubtry so
high as a military education, military habits, and a mili-
tary temper—no qualification so great as an acquaintance
with the laws to be administered. We wonder what Lard
ChaViatn or Lord Camden—we mean, as Mr. Moore says,
the clever one," not the present one—would say to this
doctrine: we know not what Lord Holt did say to it.
But let us leave the new Constitutional Magistracy to come
to what Blackstone calls the " Constitutional force of the

country."

We have only to re-state on this, that what we
said respecting military men applied exclusively to
Police. With respect to Magistracy, both in the
country and in the Metropolis, there is a wide field
for discussion, on which we shall not enter now.—
Morning Chronicle.
As far as Parliament is concerned the present Ad-
ministration repose upon a " bed of roses." The
Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel, by wheeling
round from " Toryism" to " Liberalism," and all
that, as suddenly as the wind changes from one
sjuarter of the heavens to the opposite, have won
the " warm hearts" of the Whigs, and the loud
praises of the Whig Press. They have, at the
same time, carried over with them as many of the
Tory forces as " live, move, and have their being"
only in the smile of a Minister. Thus have they
extinguished an opposition in Parliament, and got
the ball of power completely at their feet. For
all this, we suspect, will John Bull have to pay.
Notwiihstanding all the golden promises that have
been made of economy and retrenchment, the day
of reform in that respect seems farther off than
ever. Some little " cheese-parings," indeed, in
the minor departments of office, have been osten-
tatiously pared. But has a single one of the
more luxuriant branches of the tree of venal pa-
tronage been cut away? Has a solitary sine-
cure been lopped off? Not one. On the con-
trary, jobbing, that seeme4 to look rather fearful
and desponding for a time, has renewed its spirit,
awl prepares to march abroad as vigorously as ever.
The Babylonish din and confusion of the " Catholic
Question" was particularly favourable to the finae-
cial speculations of Ministers. What Representa-
tive of the people could be so bigoted to a narrow
and old-fashioned notion of duty to his country as
to refuse to open the purse-strings of the people
" liberally" to so " liberal" a Ministry ? Or, if
such a Representative had been found, who would
listen to his voice ? Need we, then, wonder that
the Irish Miscellaneous Estimates passed without
opposition? Can we be surprised that no trouble-
some calculator was so discourteous as to sift a single
item- in that rich repository of jobbing ? Well
may Parliament rise early, when the money of the
people is so generally voted. John Bull %vas in-
duced to vote 10,0004 a year to support the
Roman Catholic College at Maynooth, because
he was taught to believe the Roman Cathc-
lic religion was nothing- but superstition and
idolatry. Now John is induced to vote 10,0004 a-
year for the same purpose, because he is taught to
believe the Roman Catholic religion is neither su-
perstition nor idolatry. So much for the consist-
ency of the logic which relieves John of his super-
fluous cash. The job of the immense tract of land
in New Holland, which has been allotted to a rela-
tion of Mr.:Peel, along with other connections of the
Mioistiy, affords further assurance of the manner in
which Government intend to redeem their pledge
as to the management and repair of the financial re-
sources of the State. Why should any power but
Parliament have the disposal of lands which have
been brought under subjection to the country at the
expence of the people ? 'Why are not these lands
parcelled out in lieu of half-pay and pensions to
those who would accept of them, on a reasonable
principle of exchange, and thereby diminish that
eternal burden absurdly called the " Dead weight ?"
Or why are they not put up to sale by public corn.
petition, as national property ought to be, and the
proceeds applied towards the reduction of the public
debt ?---illorving Herald.
Amongst the few subjects which appear at present
to occupy public attention, and, at the termination
of the recess, will occupy hat of the Legislature, is
the new Police Bill, introduced by Mr. Peel, and of
which, on a former occasion, we gave a lengthened
account. It is agreed, on all hands, that nothing can
be more truly wretched and defective than the pre-
sent system of guarding the persons and property of
the public; and nothing, on the other hand, can be
more self-evident than that one great cause of this
deficiency is the total want of unity and general con-
trout in the system. This great error, therefore,
Mr. Peel has very properly attacked in his Bill, as
the primal y source of the mischief, by proposing that
instead of the night watch being appo'nted, paid,
and regulated by each. parish, according to its
will arid inclination, the whole of the watch
shall be under the controul of one department—
appointed and regulated by it, and paid by
the State from a tax imposed equally on each
parish, according to its extent, and other circum-
stances. To such a plan no feasible objection either
has, or, indeed, can be made ; but then it is urged,
on the other hand, that although persons and pro-
perty would be much more secure under the
new system than they have been, or can be, under
the old, the Bill would not only throw an im-
mense patronage into the hands of Government, but
also furnish it with a sort of übiqueous knowledge,
which, under an evil-disposed Ministry, might be
converted into an engine for oppressing, and cur-
tailing the liberty of the, public—might, in fact,
become, what the police of France was, in the time
of Napoleon, the means, not of guarding the public,
but of acquainting the Government with circum-
stances and facts which it neither has occasion to
know, nor has any right to be informed of. Such an
evil is certainly not only possible, but would be ex-
tremely probable, in a country which did not enjoy,
like this, the benefit of a representative Leg:slatore,
exercising a regular controul over the acts of the
Government, and which could not boast, like Eng-
land, of the wholesome influence of public op:nion;
but who can imagine that a Ministry, which attempt'
ed to convert an engine of public security into one of
• priVate grievance, would exist in this country even
for a month ? It is not possible to believe that it could
when once the fact became generally known. The
whole country would rise in arms against such a base
usurpation of inquisitorial power; and the Minister
who had dared to assume it, be hurled from his seat,
, and justly consigned to a remembrance in its annals
to which no Minister or his successors would be proud
to refer. \\reale inclined, therefore, on the broad basis

of the 'power of public opinlon, to consider tie -
jections which bave been made to this part of Mr.
Peel's Bill, as wholly groundlesi. At the sane
. _

time we are not prepared to state that a Board,
such as that proposed by Mr. Peel, appointed and
paid by all . the parishes of the Metropolis and its
vicinity, ;and having the power of appointing and
regulating the police, would not be better, and more
satisfactory in every respect, than a police appointed
and paid by the Government. If the opinion of
the public be, in fact, decidedly against the latter
scheme, it could not, on any plausible ground, ex-
press itself against the former ; and Mr. Peel ought,
in consequence, if he be really desirous of increas-
ing the security of the public, of which we have
no dOubt, to frame-his Bill accordingly, rather than
to run the risk of losing it, because in one point, by
no means essential to the proper working of the
measure, his views
.were not altogether adopted.—
Morning Advertiser.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

BOW-STREET.

Yesterday William Walker, a well-dressed man, who,
it appeared, has lately returned from transportation ; John
Bayley, a decent-looking man, apparently upwards of 60 ;
and Robert Wall, driver of the hacknier.:coach No: 130,
were placed at the bar before Mr. MlNsitua, the sitting
magistrate, the former and litter charged with having been
concerned in a burglary which took place at the premises
of Mr. Henry Barnes, drysalter, Long-acre; and Bayley
with having received the property stolen with a guilty
knowledge.
Mr. Barnes- stated, that at twelve o'clock on Good Friday
he received information that his shop in Long-acre had
been broken open on the previous night, and that a quail.-
tity of cochineal, indigo, safflower, gum, &c., had been
stolen from the premises.

Henry Gill, a clerk in the service of. Mr. Barnes, de-
posed to his having locked up hiti emploieSt premites on
Thursday night, about eight o'clock. The shop-door was
fastened with a bar of iron and two padlocks. On going
to the premises the next morning, witness discovered that
the two padlocks had been wrenched off, and that some
persons had obtained forcible entrance to the premise%
The lock of the outer-door leading to the street had been
picked, and was just as it had been left. Upon searching
the shop, witness found it in the greatest confusion. All
the drawers had been opened, and about 231. worth of
goods, consisting of indigo, safflower, gum, &c. were stolen.
In a corner, at the farther end of the shop, witness disco-
vered the watch-dog lying dead, the thieves having cut his
throat in two places. Two or three pieces of prepared
liver were found upon the floor. The dog was a
faithful vigilant animal, and had most likely refused the
liver, upon which the villains stunned him with a blow,
and then cut his throat. The witness then identified the
greater part of the -stolen property, and swore positively to
the bags in which the gum, cochineal, and safflower were
contained.

Mr. MINSIIULL asked if the premises were situated in a
public part of Long-acre. The witness replied that they
were ; adding, that the reflection from the gas-light at
the opposite side of the street shone strongly on the very
door where the thieves had entered.
Mr. MiNsituz.L.--Where was the watchman? Wit-
ness.—l don't know, indeed, Sir.
Mr. MINSIIIILL.7-Nor I neither. Now look at the pri-
soners, and say whether you remember to have seen diem
before. Witness.--I swear that I saw this gentleman (point-
ing to the prison. r Walker) about six weeloi ago in
Mr. Barnes's shop. I cannot sI, upon what occasion it
was I saw him,, but I think it was to ask the price of some
article.

Prisoner.—lf you saw me at all, it must have been at
least seven years ago.

William Loop-late, a boy in the prosecutor's service,
corroborated the evidence of the last witness with respect
to the state in which he found the premises on the morn-
ing of Good Friday. The witness added, that he re-
membered to have seen the prisoner Walker, at his
master's shop two or three months ago. He came to
ask the price of goods, and he remembered his face per-
fectly well.
Ibbertson, one of the Bow-street patrol, deposed to his
having examined the premises in company with the laSt
witness on the morning after the robbery. The Witness
here produced a deadly weapon called " a life-preserver,"
being a thick piece of whalebone, about a foot in length,
having a knob of lead at each end about the size of
pigeon's egg. He found it upon the floor of the shop a few
yards from the spot where the dog lay dead.
Daniel Forrester, one of the city officers, stated that on
Tuesday last Herdsfield, a brother officer, the prosecutor,
and himselF, went to Brick-lane, and he (witness) observed
at the corner of Ayre-street, a costermonger's cart with a
pony in it. Two boys were inside the cart. In a few
moments the prisoner Bayley appeared bringing a big
with him, which he handed to 'one of the boys in a cart,
to whom he also gave some/coppers. The cart then droie
away, and witness followed it as far as Blackfriari-bridge,
the prisoner Bayley walking either before or behind it.
The cart went on to Cornwall-road'and stopped at the
Cornwall. Arms public-house, where Bayley was joined by
the prisoner Walker. Witness followed the cart across
Westminster-bridge until it stopped at another public-
house in Great Peter-street, where witness and the prose-
cutor again saw Bayley and Walker conversing together•.
Bayley soon after got into the cart and drove away. The
next (lay witness and H-rdsfield went to Wheeler-street,
Spitalfields, and saw a coach drive up the street. The
coach drew up, and the prisoner Bayley got out. Wit-
ness and his brother officer immediately went up to him,
and witness said, " What have you gut here ?—where
have you brought these goods from ?" Bayley replied,
" I have brought them from the market." 'Witness asked
" what market," to which Bayley answered, " I shall say no
more at present." The whole of the goods stolen frotn
the. prosecutor were in the coach. The prisoner Bayley,
and Wall, the driver of the coach, were then taken by wit-
ness before the Lord Mayor. They both prevaricated in
accounting for their possession of the property. The
coachman said he took up the goods in the Borough, while
Bayley said he brought them from Westminster. On the
same evening (Wednesday) witness and Herdsfield took
Walter into custody in the parlour of the Black Boy
public house, Nicholas-lane, Lombard-street. Upon
searching his person, witness found a paper with some
figures upon it, which appeared to correspond with the
weights of the different r•rticles stolen from the prosecutOr.
Herdsfield also produced a paper which he found upem
the prisoner Bayley, containing a list of the stolen articles,
and the prices at which they appeared to have been valued
• being considerably below the regular price.
A person named Baxter, who said he was a drysalter, and
lived in Thomas-street, Whitechapel-road, stated that two
persons called upon him soon after the robbery, and showed
him samples of articles,'such as had been stolen from the
prosecutor. Witness, however, declined to purchase them.
The prisoner Bayley was one of the persons, and Walker
was ihe other. He knew Bayley for forty years, and was
quite sure of the person of the other prisoner.
The prisoner Walker here culled upon Forrester, and
asked him if Baxter had not pointed to Herdsfield, and
identified him as the man whom he had seen with Bayley.
Forrester admitted this fact, and Herdsfield gave similar
evidence.'

The witness Baxter, upon his oath, denied that he had
made any mistake with respect to the identity of Walker.
The city officers maintained, on the contrary, that the
Mistake had occurred, and Forrester expressed his deter-
mination to mention the circumstance at the prisoner's trial.
Sir R. BIKNIE said he did not think the circumstance
was at all mater;al.

Mr. Barnes, with some warmth, said that there would
be but little use in prosecuting the prisoners if this was the
sort of evidence upon which the case was to rely.
Mr. Mistsu L observed that he should remand the pri-
soners until next Tuesday.
Walker said he thought it very hard that he should be
sent to prison.
In answer to a question by Sir it. BIRNIE, he admitted
that he had been .c over the water," but that he had
nothing to do with the present charge. The prisoners
were then tetnoved.
MARLBOROUGH-STItEET.

Yesterday a respectable military man, about 60 years of
age, who described himself as Captain John Oliver Arm-
strong, formerly belong;ng to the Royal Irish Artillery,
and since the union of that branch of the service with the
English artillery, deriving a pension from his commission,
was brought before Mr. DYER, the sitting • Alagistrate,
charged with giving a false character to a man named
James Singleton, alias St. Leger, alias Lever; and the
said James Singleton, &c. was charged with having,
by means of the said false character, procured the situa-
tion of under-butler in the establishment of Mr. Trot-
ter, a gentleman of fortune, residing at No. 13, Con-
naught-place.

gr. Trotter stated, that on the 31st of March (last
month) the prisoner Singleton came into his service as I
under-butler, having referred for his character to a gcntic-
man whose name, he said, was Oliver, then staying at
Hatchett's Hotel, in Piccadilly, but who kept hie country-
house,
and had his establishment near Maidenhead, in
Berkshire. He (Mr. Trotter) being at the time rather

inwetti not- being Ale io wide Oil Mr. Oliver at
Hatchett's Hotel, requested, through the prisoner Single-
ton, that Mr. Oliver might call upon him (Mr. Trotter),
and accordingly the prisoner Armstrong, called at his (Mr.
Trotter's) house, represented himself to be Mr. Oliver, a
g ntleman of fortune, residing as before stated near Maiden-
head, but then staying at Hatchett's Hotel; and he stated
that the prisoner Singleton bad lived in his service for
upwi.rds of two years last past, and had only left him in
the last month. lie then described Singleton as a most
excellent servant, and possessing every qualification that
could be required for the situation he was to fill—that of
under butler,—and that his integrity, &c. were undoubted.
Upon this representation lie (Mr. Trotter) took Single-
: ton into his establishment; but it was not long before
several articles of plate and other property were missing,
and the upper butler was robbed of three sovereigns and
other money ;band a strong suspicion falling upon the
prisoner Singleton, he (Mr. Trotter) began to suspect that
lie might possibly haVe been imposed upon by, a false
character : and he dispatched the head-butler down to
Maidenhead, to inquire furthor particulars of or concern-
ing Mr. Oliver; *hen it was discovered that no such Person
as Mr. Oliver resided there, or ever did reside in that
neighbourhood within memory. Being thus satisfied of
the imposition practised, he (Mr. Trotter) immediately
sent for an officer to this office, and gave the prisoner Sin-
gleton into custody.
Maid, the officer, stated, that en going to the house of
Mr. Trotter, he put some close questions to the prisoner
Singleton, who in his answers betrayed much confusion and
some insolence, and at last he took him into custody, and
on searching him found several Pawnbroker's duplicates in
h's pocket. He (Ballard) then set about searching for
Mr. Oliver, .n I after a great deal of difficulty, traced hiM
out to be no less a per Son than Captain Armstrong now at
tlie bar, and he found him residing at No. 11, Stockbridge-
terrace, Eaton-street, Pimlico, where he took him into
cu,tody.
One of the proprietors of Hatchett's Hotel attended, and
stated that there was no person of the name of Oliver
stopping at that house at the time spoken of by Mr. Trottet,
nor indeed at any time lately; but be now recollected that,
some short time since, a person, who said his name was
Oliver, and who the witness believed to be the priioner
Armstrong, called at the hotel and bespoke a private sitting-
room for a short time, to receive a lady in, who called in a
carriage to inquire the character of a servant.
B_l and said, that there was no doubt but that the pri-
soner Armstrong, and it vast many others who lived fashion-
ably about town, gained a subsistence chiefly by supplying
false characters to servants, who pay them for the accom-
modation of their false vouchers.

The coachman of the Hon. Edward Stanley, residing
in Grosvenor• square, attended, and said that the prisoner
Singleton could not possibly have lived with any Mi..
Oliver cr Armstrong for two years up to last month ; be-
cause, in the month of July lust, the prisoner was in the
service of Mr. Stanley, and then discharged from there
for misconduct.

A publican also stated that he knew the prisoner Single-
ton to have been in custody on a charge of felony, in the
month of September last, at Alarylebsne police-office.
The prisoner Armstong admitted the whole of Mr.
Trotter's statement to be correct, and that he did give 'a
false character to Singleton ; but not with any bad design
but to get him into service, as he knew something of him.
Mr. DYER said that no case could be Inure clearly esta-
blished, and the public were much indebted to Mr.
Trotter for following it up as he had done, for the offence
was oae of the most serious and dangerous that could
afflict society.
Both prisoners were then convicted in a penalty of
201. each under the Act of Parliament, and in default of
payment they were c'mmitted for three months to the
Howe of Correction.
Alexander Finlayson, late a footman in the service Of
Sir Wm. Beechey, who has undergone several examinations
upon a charge of robbing Sir William's house of a large
quantity of plate, was again brought before Sir G. FAR-
RA NT, the Magistrate, in the private room, but no farther
evidence whatever, with reference to the immediate robbery,
transpired, and still there is nothing but strong circum-
stances to implicate the prisoner, nor has any trace what-
ever been found .of the stolen property. It came out,
however, in the examination yesterday, that this prisoner,
too gut into 'service by means of a false character given to
him in writing by a person named flirt, a tailor, residing
at No. 6, Charles-street, Blackfriars. Hart attended yeri-
terday, and admitted that be did give the written character
produced with the prisoner to Sir Wm. Beechey, and,the
prisoner himself it was that wrote it out, he (Hart) aftei-
wauds copying and signing it. The prisoner, he ad-
mitted, never did live with him at all as servant, and he
only knew him as a mere acquaintance ; but believing him
to he honest, and seeing that he was in distress, he gaie
him the character at his request.

A respectable man named Gilmour, connected with one
of the charitable asylums, came forward, in consequence of
seeing in the papers that the prisoner was in custody, and
stated that the prisoner was a relation of his, but his
friends had all lost sight of him for some months, and the.),
thought he bad gone into the country. It was quite un-
true, Mr. Gilmour said, that the prisoner had ever lived
as a menial servant with Mr. Hart or any body else, for
the fact was that the young man had been educated and
brought up by an uncle of his in Holborn, a respectable
tradesman, and the prisoner hid frequently since lived as
shopman with various linen-drapers in Oxford-street and
other places ; it was also untrue, he said, that the prisoner
had ever, as he represented, travelled abroad in the capacity
of servant or any other, for he had never been abroad in
his life. Mr. Gilmour however, admitted, that although
the prisoner was rather wild and unsteady, there never was
before any imputation on his integrity, that he, Mr. Gil-
mour, had heard of.
Captain Beechey and a younger son of Sir William at-
tended the examination, which lasted a considerable time,.
and in the end the prisoner was again remanded for
another week.