The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-21 00:00:00

THE WEST INDIA MAIL. 1 world, are taxed on an equal ratio with realised pro-
SOIITIIAMPTON,_ SUNDAY.—The Medway, Royal perty, which, at the decease of its present possessor,
mail steam-ship, llicha4 Rivett, commander, arrived ,is available for the support of his family. This
this afternoon, at half-pist four o'clock, with the usual ; view of the question is demonstrative of the in-
mails, which will be dispatched by the two o'clock ; equitable distribution of the tax. This has been re-
A.M. train. ; peatedly urged. It is, obviously, an argument with
Her dates of departure are from Demerara 21st ; which Sir Robert Peel dught to be pressed.
December, Trinidad 17th, Jamaica, 23d, Barbadoes
21st, Grenada 24th, St. Thomas's 31st, and Fayal
13th of January.
The Medway had a remarkably fine passage, with
the exception of the last two or three days. She is
only nineteen days from St. Thomas's, and has ar-
rived here one day before she was due.
The Medway brings the following passengers :
Major Rowland, R.A., and family; Mr. White;
Lieutenant Sillock, 48th Regiment; Mr. Lambton,
Mr. Steinkoff, Mr. Cruickshank, Mr. Daveson,
Mr. Hutson, Mr. and Mrs. Knox, Mr. Cipriani,
Mr. Robert Lake, Capt. Dring, r. Valdez, Mr.
Belligny, Mr. Le Febre, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Cooper,
Mr. De Vera and servant, Mr. Rodrigues, and M.
Francisco : also three shipwrecked seamen belonging
to the schooner Truelove, from Berbice, with a general
cargo, wrecked off Guadeloupe ; and the captain and
13 others from the brig John Naylor, which was
totally lost off Fayal.
The Medway brings on freight 2,235 ounces of i
gold, 518 oz. of gold dust, and 8001. in British silver.
The Teviot, Captain Allen, arrived at Barbadoes,
from Southampton on the 21st December, Grenada
on the 24th, and proceeded to St. Thomas's with the
Windward Island mails for the Medway. She took
in coals at St. Thomas's, and was to proceed to Porto
Rico. The Tay left Grenada on the 25th for
Jamaica, Havannah, and Mexico.
The Medway does not bring any news of import-
ance. The fever is represented to have been very bad
amongst the civilians at Jamaica, and was still raging
when the Medway left. Mr. Freeman, Collector of
Customs at Kingston, had had a severe attack,
and was not expected to recover. The military,
generally speaking, had escaped, and the whole of
the troops were healthy. The weather had been ex-
tremely hot, and one of the passengers, who had re-
sided nearly twenty years on the island, informed
us he never remembered it so oppressive in the
month of December.
The Swift, of Glasgow, left Fayal, with,a cargo of
fruit, for Southampton, on the 13th inst.
The brig John Naylor, Captain Orr, reported
above as having been totally lost off Fayal,
was from Ichaboe, with a full cargo of guano,
and belonged to the port of Liverpool.
She was 283 tons register, and was in-
sured for 2,0001. In consequence of losing
her rudder, she put into the island of Ascension,
having previously thrown upwards of 100 tons of
her cargo overboard to lighten her. The brig made
Fayal on the 21st of December, and endeavoured to
enter the harbour, but in consequence of her dis-
abled state, the captain could not effect his object.
On the 22d she bore up, the wind blowing a strong
gale, and endeavoured to get to the leeward of
St. George's Island, and on the following
day was running down the land when her
temporary steering machinery gave way, on the lar-
board side, and the vessel immediately canted with
her head on shore. Captain Orr, thinking to save
her, let go anchors, but seeing no chance of doing
so, ordered the boat out, and got eight of the
hands, who were dreadfully ill of the scurvy,
in first, and then made for the shore, a
heavy sea running, with a tremendous surf.
The landing was most difficult, and one poor
fellow, in his anxiety to save himself, jumped into the
water to swim for his life, and was drowned. The
captain, on the boat striking, was violently thrown on
the beach, and was much cut and bruised. Three
others died on the same night from exhaustion and
exposure to the cold. The vessel drove on shore on
the 24th, and became a total wreck. The weather
was so boisterous that it was impossible to get to her,
and consequently everything was lost.
The captain reports that there were upwards of
400 ships at Ichaboe when he left, loading and wait-
ing for their turn. He supposes by this time the
guano iA pretty well exhausted.
We feel a pleasure in publishing the loth-wing
!estimonial from the passengers of the Medway to
Captain Rivett, the more especially this being
the first voyage of that gi.ntlAnan as a
:!ommander in the service of the Royal flail Com-
p mv. It must also be a gratifying cireuntsfanc?
.he Directory to find their officers spoken of in such
terms of praise, and cornpli,oentary to themselves for
:he very excellent and liberal manner in which the
t)assengers are entertained on board these splendid

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF EXCHEQUEI-s, Jan. 20.
Sittings at Nisi rrius.
(Before Mr. Baron ROLFE, and a Middlesex Common
Jury.) •
His LORDSHIP disposed of six undefended causes.

CIIRLEWIS V. PAGE.
This was an action of detinue, to recover from the de-
fendant the entire of certain goods mentioned in the de-
claration.
Mr. Jervietand Mr. E. James were counsel for the
plaintiff; and Mr. Wordsworth for the defendant.
The plaintiff, in this action was a tailor, carrying on
business in Hanovet•itreet, Hanover-square. Some
years ago he had . kept four horses at Mr. Page's, a
training groom at Epsom, and on his death, in 1843, con-
tinued one of them, at his widow's, the present defendant.
The others were sent, to a training groom in Hampshire,
and were supplied by defendants with two sets of cloths.
About this time Mrs. Page opened a boarding-house at
Epsom for which she required some additional furniture.
She then wrote to the plaintiff and requested his assis-
tance for this purpose, a Mr. Codrington having arrived
at her house for whom it was engaged. Plaintiff ac-
cordingly sent several articles to her, among which were
a table, chairs, sofa, pictures, bed, some bedding, &c. It
was in respect of these that the present action was
brought. Defendant pleaded that the goods were not
the property of the plaintiff.
Mr. WoanswonTn addressed the jury on her behalf,
and called several witnesses to prove tha tthe goods sent
by plaintiff from Hanover-street and from Wandsworth,
and which he had valued at 4/. and 10/. respectively, were
of a very, inferior description, and not worth more than
4/, or 51. altogether. There was a lady residing at
defendant's, a Mrs. Carr, whom plaintiff was in the
habit of visiting. She was confined there, and her nurse
bad not been paid in fall. Mrs. Carr told plaintiff when
she came down on one occasion, that she had given the
sofa to the nurse. Plaintiff acquiesced in the propriety
of the step, and the sofa was afterwards sold at one
sovereign. Evidence was also given to show that an
agreement had been made in the month of August, to
which the plaintiff was a party, in virtue of which, the
goods were passed to a Mrs. Bartlett, his cook.
The Learned BARON briefly summed up the case to the
jury, who immediately found a verdict for the defendant.

HARBOUR OF REFUGE IN THE
FORTH.

At the meeting of the Society of Arts on Monday,
Captain Boswell, of Wardie, read a paper on har-
bours of refuge, pointing out the necessity of con-
structing one on the east coast of Scotland, in the
Firth of Forth, or some other eligible situation.
lle referred to the vast number of shipwrecks an-
nually, and stated that, since Ist November last, 500
sail of vessels had been driven up the Firth by
stress of weather. The works of the harbour, he
thinks, should consist of three solid breakwaters
of stone, from 75 to 100 feet in breadth at the
base, rising a little above the high-water level,
and perforated at the bottom with small
arches.. Two of the breakwaters should run out
right seaward to the extent of a mile, and be united
at their extremities by another two-thirds of a mile
in length. They would inclose a apace of 314 acres,
which he proposes to divide into two harbours—the
one next the shore for coasters and steamers, with
12 to 14 feet at low-water, the outer harbour with
28 to 30 feet. Each harbour to have an entrance
200 feet wide, but the two to communicate. A bat-
tery could be erected, if necessary, on the outer
breakwater, for the protection of the shipping in
time of war. The idea of introducing arches was sug-
gested to Capt. Boswell by an examination of ancient
Roman moles in the Mediterranean. They are made
small in order that the breakwater may not be unduly
weakened, and their use is to scour the harbours by
the action of the tide, and prevent the deposit of silt,
which takes place in tranquil recesses of the sea. A
wooden gangway or wharf, like the new pier at Leith,
surmounts the break-water. The expense of the
works is estimated at 600,000/., while the area and depth
are equal to those of the projected harbours of refuge
at Dover, which will cost 2,000,0001. The paper was
illustrated by a large and beautiful model of the
work, which excited general admiration.—Scotsman.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
(YESTERDAY.)
MANSION-HOUSE.
Between the hours of half-past nine on the night of
the 17th, and nine on the morning of the 18th, agreat
deal of property was stolen from the shop of Mr.
Gibbs, who resides at No. 78, King William-street.
Mr. Gibbs appeared yesterday at the justice-room
and stated that he had lost the following articles :-35
yards of superfine wool-dyed black cloth ; 25 ditto,
ditto ; 15 black doe skin ; 20 ditto, ditto; 12 ditto,
ditto, rifle green cloth ; 12 ditto, blue broad cloth ;
12 ditto, black single twilled kerseyneere ; 15 ditto,
black satin ; 10 ditto, ditto, inferior quality ; 12 pieces
fancy bandannas, about ve in each piece ; 50 fancy
satin scarfs ; 20 black ditto ; 20 pieces fancy black
satin neckerchiefs ; 20 trouser pieces of mixed doe-
skins; 16 fancy cashmere scarfs.
Mr. Gibbs yesterday appeared at the Mansion-
houie for the purpose of complaining that the City
police must either have been perfectly acquainted with
the stratagem laid for the plunder of the house, or
most glossly negligent of the ordinary police duty.
The house had, he said, been robbed amidst the whole
business of the police.
Inspector Hamilton, a very active and intelligent
officer, stated that the premises had been quietly en-
tered by means, as far as he could ascertain, of a
skeleton key. The lock of the door was merely a
common spring lock, and was capable of being opened
witli any key.
Mr. Gibbs said the lock was one of the very best
description. It was, in fact, of such a kind, that upon
one c;ecasion when the key was lest, it was necessary
to eipploy a smith to wrench the lock off.
The LORD Mayo& said he shou'.d make particular
inquiry into the case.
Margaret Murphy and her son were brought up,
charged with having robbed Mr. Moses, the cele-
brated tailor of Aldgate, of considerable sums of
money.—They were remanded.
WORSHIP-STREET.
Yesterday, R )wland, the warrant-officer, reported
to the magistrate the result of inquiries he had been
directed to make relative to an appalling case of be-
reavement and distress, which had taken place in the
family of a poor weaver named Ney, living in Ridge's-
fields, Twig Folly, near Old Ford.
Mr. Broughton's attention was first directed to the
:am. on Saturday last by Mr. Harvey, a schoolmaster
:n Bethnal-green. who waited upon the magistrate
and stated that the object of his solicitude, a man of
most industrious habits and excellent character, had
by close and indefatigable labour contrived creditably
to support a wife and numerous family, amounting to
eight children, all of whom lived with him at home
and were in perfect health, until about three weeks
since, when they were attacked by a malignant fever,
whose ravages had swept no less than six of the chil-
dren to the grave. The man was actuated by such
feelings of honest pride aid independence, that he had
steadily refused to accept any- assistance from the
parish to defray the medical and funeral expenses of
his unfortunate family, and his slender finances had
been so thoroughly drained by his sudden misfortune,
that he was now reduced to a state of the greatest
want and wretchedness. The applicant added, that
he had satisfied himself by personal investigation of
the truth of the statement he was making, and felt it
to be a case that urgently demanded the most prompt
and effectual assistance. _ _

"Royal Mail Company's steamer Medway,
Jan. 18, 1b45.
"Dear Sir,—Our voyage from the West Indies being
near its termination we, the undersigned passengers on
board the Medway, under your charge, beg to express
our high sense of the great attention which we in
common have received from you and your officers while
on board.
" The table has been most amply and luxuriously fur-
nished, the attendance good, and every means on your
part adopted that could tend to our comforts ; but
it is not for these alone that we have to tender
you our kindest thanks; your unremitting attention to
the duties of the ship under your charge had given us
such confidence in your skill as a seaman as contributed
greatly to the pleasure and happiness of our voyage.
" It will at all times afford us pleasure to hear of your
welfare and prosperity; and we beg to subscribe our-
selves, dear sir, yours very faithfully, &c."
(Here follow the signatures of the passengers.)

On hearing the above statement, Mr. BROUGHTON
_mmediately directed Rowland to proceed to the
man's house and inquire into the facts of the case,
and, handing the officer a sovereign, ordered him to
appropriate it to the relief of the most pressing wants
of the family.
Rowland yesterday reported to the magistrate that
he had been to the house of the weaver, and had found
the unfortunate creatures in the exact condition that
had been represented by the benevolent person who
had brought the circumstances to light. He had
ascertained that the disease of which the poor children
had died was scarlet fever, terminating in dropsy ;
four of the family were not only dead, but buried al-
ready; and, in addition to two other children who
were now :lying in the house dead in their coffins,
another child, making the seventh victim to the disease,
was in such a dangerous state as to preclude all hope
of its recovery. In consequence of their incessant
attendance upon their children, the father and mother
had been wholly unable to pursue their occupation
ever since the family had been attacked by the fever,
and were reduced to the greatest distress ; and from
the hopeless condition of the other child, and the
mental and physical debility of the parents, there did
not appear much likelihood of their being able to
resume work for some time to come. He had learned
that one of the neighbours, who pitied their con-
dition, had reported the circumstances of the case
to Mr. Christey, the relieving overseer of Bethnal-
green, and that that gentleman, on being ap-
prised of the facts, had given then his prompt
attention, and directed that they should receive
ss. per week till something better could be done for
them ; but so small an amount of assistance was wholly
inadequate to meet their situation, and the father ex-
pressed the strongest repugnance to permit his chil-
dren to be buried like paupers at the expense of the
parish, and was determined to undergo any privation
rather than submit to such an alternative. Rowland
added, that, notwithstanding the distress of the
family and the awful calamity that had befallen them,
their little place exhibited the greatest order and
' cleanlinesi, and.that both the man and his wife were
much esteemed irpthe neighbourhood, and everywhere
described. as a 'sober; industrious, and honest couple.
Mr. BeoucieToNf_said he was pleased to hear that
such was the case; lied 'directed the officer not to lose
sight of the unfortunate family, but to render them
what further assistance he might consider urgently
requisite under the trying circumstances in which
they were placed.
THAMES POLICE.
Yesterday Augustus Joseph Hope, grandson to Dr.
Hope, late surgeon of the Dreadnought, was charged
with robbing the till of Mr. Rowland Alger, grocer,
of Cannon-street-road, in whose service he had been
as an assistant. The prisoner, on coming of age, would
be entitled to the sum of 1,000/., with several other
considerable expectancies.
It appeared, that the lad Hope came into com-
plainant's employment about three weeks ago, and
circumstances occurred which induced a suspicion
that all was not right as to his conduct. On Satur-
day some money was marked and thrown into the
till. On the following day Mr. Alger asked him
what money he had about him, upon which he pro-
duced a shilling, and said that was all. On being
pressed to search his pockets further, the prisoner
produced Is. and 4d. more in silver. Mr. Alger
then said, he suspected him of being a dishonest
lad, and asked if he had any copper money on him ?
He steadily persisted he had not, but on a further
search 4s. 11d. in copper, together with a corkscrew
belonging to complainant, was found in his pocket.
Seven of the penny pieces exhibited the marks put on
them on Saturday. Complainant believed the whole
of the money found on the prisoner to be his, and
he was satisfied 1001. would not cover the losses
which he had sustained in the same way during the
last twelve months.
The prisoner in his defence told the story he had
previously told to the constable when taken into
custody—namely, that the money found on him was
given to him by his friends. Ile accounted for his
possession of the marked copper pieces by admitting
that he took them from the till to pay into a penny
ravings'-bank in the neighbourhood, but he always
put back the amount in silver of any coppers so
taken.
The lad was committed to Newgate for trial at the
n' Central Criminal Court.

THE SHAP WICK MURDERS.
,NQUEST ON THE BODY OF HENRY FREE-

MAN, HUSBAND OF SARAH FREE ',IAN.
SIIAPWICK, FRlDAY.—lmmediately on the termi-
nation of the inquest on the child of Sarah Freeman,
the jury proceeded to investigate the facts relative to
the death of Henry Freeman, who died about Christ-
mas, 1843; the result of which was that the jury
again returned a verdict of " Wilful Murder against
Sarah Freeman."

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—The proposal to inflict an income-tax on
the nation, as a means of meeting the deficiency of the
revenue in 1841, was a bold measure of finance. It
took the country by surprise. The silence which en-
sued was not acquiescence—it was the effect of asto-
nishment. When the public mind had recovered from
the amazement which had been produced by the coup
d'etat of the newly-installed Minister, the dishonesty
and iniquity of the proposed tax were denounced ; and
the insult and injury which the obnoxious impost
would inflict on the classes whose incomes were de-
rived from professions and trades, were loudly
complained of. The question, whether the tax
shall be allowed to expire, or shall be con-
tinued for a longer period, will necessarily be
considered in the next session of Parliament.
The three years certain, for which it was ori-
ginally imposed, will then expire. The Budget of
1845 will be framed either on the continuance of the
tax, in its present shape, for at least two more years
—on a modification of its present scale—or on the
principle of allowing it to expire at the termination of
the three years; viz., in October, 1845. If the country
be not prepared for an extension of the tax for two
more years—with a high probability of being then re-
warded for its patient submission to vexatious inquiries
into private affairs, and injurious abstractions from
contingent profits and salaries, by a further continuance
of the impost—the present is the most appropriate time
for action. The organs of public opinion are especially
hound, at the present time, to employ their powers to
rouse the public mind to a sense of its position with re-
ference to this tax, and to endeavour to bring the
legitimate exercise of that power to bear upon the
Government and the Legislature. An income and
property-tax is too productive to be spontaneously
parted with by any Ministry. Five millions of an-
nual revenue, collected with comparative ease, places
a large sum at the disposal of the Govern-
ment, and thus enables it to carry out many
desirable schemes of its own. There is, there-
fore, little chance of the Minister of the day
coming down to Parliament, and making the grati-
fying communication that, out of their abundant
grace and favour, her Majesty's Ministers had deter-
mined on removing the property and income-tax
from the shoulders of the people. There must be
a " pressure from without"—an " impatience of
taxation ;" which, though it may be designated "ig-
norance" by the Ministry, whom it disturbs and an-
noys, will eventually succeed. With a good grace, or
with indiscreet indications of having yielded to the
very influence it affects to despise, the Government will
give up the obnoxious tax to the demands of the
country, and the " ignorant impatience" of the people
will be rewarded with success. We are not, how-
ever, disposed to advocate the absolute and entire
repeal of the income and property-tax. The finances
of the country will not justify the removal of
the entire tax. If the five millions derived from
this source of revenue were to be abandoned, the
deficiency which would be thus caused must be sup-
plied from other sources. The imposition of other
duties, difficult to be discovered, and the levying of
which would be productive of embarrassment and in •
jury to the trade and commerce of the country, would
be the consequence. This w ill induce the Legislature
to refuse its sanction to an immediate abolition of the
tax, and will prevail with the considerate part of the
community to concur in its decision. A calm and
temperate view of the question will lead to a
property
might that the tax on landed and funded
might be advantageously retained— though on a scale
more equitably adjusted than that on bwhich these
descriptions of property are now assessed. The tax
on income derived from trades or professions, as at
present computed and assessed, should be given up.
It involves an inequitable distribution of the tax. In-
comes, which may cease in a moment, and the family
of the indieidual be cast without resource upon the

A cast of the head of the lamented General Nott
has been taken by Mr. J. D. Francis, preparatory to a.
bust, which is understood to be in course of pr( paration.
It is replet, with character, and has given much satisfac-
tion.— Cambrian.

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUAItY 21, 184 t.