The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT of ti,e PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES:—The public kill be well satisfied
with the finding of the Jury in the Northleach
case. The verdict is a reasonable and judicious
one. Whatever substantial truth there might
have been in a return of " Manslaughter," the
practical effect of such a verdict would have
been below the result which may be expected to
follow from the present finding. A. criminal
trial must have then taken place : the special
pleadings of an advocate would have perplexed
the Jury: the Judge would have thrown his
doubts into the prisoner's scale, and a verdict of
Not Guilty might have dismissed the criminals,
who would thencethrward have been regarded as
persecuted men ; so unsafe is it in England (and
long may it continue to be so) to press an ac-
cused person with the least degree of passion
or personal hostility. The present verdict,
however, avoiding this error, calmly declares
a fact which is apparent to the whole
world (always excepting the Gloucestershire Jus-
tices)—that Charles Beale owes his death to the
treatment received by him in Northleach House
of Correction. This finding, we take for granted,
dismisses all the parties concerned in that
lengthened cruelty. Their punishment is a mild
anti lenient one, and we trust that it will be
quietly submitted to. It is but a few weeks since
a special inquiry was instituted by the Home-
office touching the hair-cropping regulations of
Dover gaol—an inquiry which at once produced
the resignation of the curl-destroying keeper of
that prison. But the matter now in -fend isof a
graver description. It cannot be that one gaoler
shall lose his appointment for meddling with the
love-locks of a strolling player, and another pass
unnoticed who has "lifted" the victims of his
fearful discipline on the tread-wheel, which their
failing strength did not enable them to ascend;
and who has heard, and passed unnoticed, the re-
port of his; surgeon, that "he could do nothing
more fir them—better living was what they
wanted." Enough, however of the minor crimi-
nals: 'the value of this verdict is, that it deals a
heavy blow to the system. The Gloucestershire Sus-
tices, when next they meet, must occupy them-
selves to better purpose than in railing at the
Times, or in arguing that the prison "cannot be
so bad a place as it has been represented, or so
many prisoners would not visit it a second time."
Comthrtable as they seem to have imagined it—
with from 12,000 to 14,000 feet of accent per day,
in the nine or ten hours' labour at the wheel, and
two pennyworth of bread fine the whole subsist-
ence of the prisoner—it will now be their duty to
augment this comfort into positive luxury, by
providing some better resting-place ler the 'M-
iserable creature, reeking with his ten hours'
mill-work, than a cold and damp cell, open
to the wind and rain, with a atone for the
only scat. Nay, more, the labour must be dimi-
nished, or the food augmented, and that in no
trifling degree. One of the witnesses examined
on Monday last deposed, that when sent with
Beale into the potato-store, they both fell upon
the raw potatoes. He adds, " I dare say I ate
halla peck. 1 had a good bellyful that day.
and I don't think I had another all the time I
was there." "Beale was, like me, pretty nearly
famished." Now, we are not aware that there
exists, in the. whole accumulated mass of our
criminal enactments, any such punishment as
that of being " pretty nearly famished,"
whether with or without the accompani-
ment of tea hours' mill-work per diem. We
must, therefore, either have the punishment
legalised, or we must have it discon-
tinued. About this there must be "no mis-
take." The next gaoler that is found inflicting
this sort of torture (except, indeed, our law-
makers shall meantime adopt. " famishing" us
"a good secondary punishment") must not expect
to escape so lightly as will the governor of -.J.North-
leach. From the whole Press of England, con-
ve3 ing, not too strongly, the feelings of the en-
tire people of England, the corporation ofgacicrs
have now received finr warning. The system
will be tolerated no longer; " reform it altoge-
ther." On a minor topic we shall only add one
word. In alluding to the still existing doubt
and uncertainty as to the character of the Co-
roners' Court, we had not forgotten the legal
arguments and judicial decisions which grew
out of the Oldham inquest. We spoke
merely of the confusion and want of sys-
tem visible in the resent case. Here was a
Coroner admitting four reporters, as such, and
then peremptorily excluding, without any reason
assigned, a fifth. Of course he might, with equal
ease, have admitted the one, and excluded the
four. The only rule'laid down was his own so-
vereign pleasure. Now, if this were carried out
into general practice, we might have Mr. Wak-
ley, or Mr. Baker, excluding from all the metro-
politan inquests all reporters but one, or perhaps
two, of their own selection. Of course. these
favoured individuals would be the sole purveyors
for the whole London Press, and the two Core-
ners would thus gain the patronage of two very
valuable appointments. But does any man mean
to say that this is the law ; or that such a prac-
tice would be tolerated by the people of lino-•
land ? Nevertheless, it is essentially contained
in the privilege asserted by the functionary who
presided over the Northleach inquiry.
HERALD.—We are informed, on respectable
authority, that the King of the French has dis-
cuSsed with persons in his confidence the pro-
priety of abdicating the throne in fayour of the
Duke of •Nemours. The advantages of, such a
step are manifest, and .many persons in the
French capital are of opinion that it is the only-
way of consolidating the Orleans dynasty.
Louis Philippe, however, they add, is so foed of
power, that tt is riot likely he will voluntarily
give up the reins; and the report has been spread
more for the purpose of ascertaining
public opinion upon it, than with the
idea of carrying such a resolution into effect.
The Duke of Nemours is not generally. liked,
though he is far from being absolutely unpopu-
lar, and it is more than doubtfUl how far he
could manage a nation so difficult to govern as
France, in case of the sudden death of his father.
Let the first year of his reign be conducted by
the able management of Louis Philippe, and the
others will follow in the same satisfactory man-
ner. Custom is as influential with the French as
with any other people, and they will, without di-
fficulty, submit to an authority under which
they have lived for a certain period. Without
expressing an opinion on the authority of the ru-
mours which have reached us, we give them for
the purpose of preparing the public for an event
which is not improbable to happen in the course
of the ensuing Session of the French Chambers.
CHRONICLE.—The inquest at Northleach
has terminated in a verdict "That Charles Beale
died of disease of the lungs, brought on and ag-
gravated by the punishment and mode of treat-
ment he received whilst a prisoner in Northleach
House of Correction, and the Jury express their
unanimous disapprobation of the conduct of the
Governor Townsend, the Surgeon Bidwell, and
the -under-turnkey Harding." All the Jurors at
the same time signed a memorial to the Secre-
tary of State for the Home Department, praying
for an inquiry into the treatment of prisoners
and discipline of Northleach and the other pri-
sons and houses of correction in the county.
The extension of the inquiry to all the prisons is
quite necessary. In another column our readers
will find a communication from a gentleman, in-
timately acquainted with the prison system of
Gloucestershire, who has communicated to us his
name and address, from a wish to decline no re-
sponsibility. From that communication it will
be seen that Beale is but one of many vic-
tims to the murderous system enforced
at Northleach. Our Correspondent states
cases that came within his own knowledge
when his avocations led him to become ac-
quainted with the subject—and that the other
prisons in Gloucestershire are all more or less
chargeable with the rigours, the exposure of
which, in the case ofNorthleach, has deservedly
excited in the public mind the strongest feelings
of indignation. It is now evident that the public
have but a slender guarantee, in the official
vigilance of a Secretary of State, that only suit-
able regulations will be enforced in our prisons ;
and from what has transpired in the course of the
late inquest, and at the Quarter Sessions atGlou-
cester, it would appear that no great dependence
is to be placed on the Visiting Magistrates. The
prisoners dare not tell the truth when questioned
as to their treatment. The visits of the Magis-
trates have been few and far between, and, see-
ing only through the eyes of the gaolers, they
have found everything as it ought to be. The
death of Beale is laid by the Jury on the system
pursued at Northleach, But, though the Jurors
have only named Townsend and -Bidwell, and
Harding, the public will look higher than
these instruments. Lord Erskine leaped into
professional eminence in one day by dragging,
in the Greenwich Hospital case, the higher cul-.
prits before the Court, in spite of the threats_ of
the Judge. Powerful men are imlicated this
revolting system. Throughout tale length and
breadth of the land, the indignant voice of the
country has been raised against the horrible sys-
tem of' Northleach. After the medical evidence
obtained in the Parliamentarysinquiry, to which
the enormous mortality in the Penitentiary, from
insufficiency of food, led, there is no longer an
excuse for the adoption of a dietary in prisons
on which men cannot be maintained in health.
The law may be over severe or over lenient; but
whatever punishment the law orders should alone
be inflicted. When the law says death, let the

criminal die. But when the law says, punish
this man fur seeking to obtain that work else-
where which he cannot obtain in his own vil-
' lege, with three mouths' imprisonment, he
' ought not to be starved to death, or sent from
the dungeon with a broken constitution from in-
sufficiency of food. The torture of famine is not
a punishment ivhieli the law contemplates. If
Magistrates will tske it upon them to give effect
to a system by which an offence of a venial cha-
racter is punished with more severity than the
law contemplates for the most heinous crimes,
on their heads be the responsibility. We are
far from wishing to contend for any improper
indulgence to prisoners. Nay, we arc doubtful
whether the endeavour to make prisons anything
but places of punishment be not productive of
more evil than good. We wish to see the reform
which keeps men from gaohn and not the retinas'
which would break down the distinction between
poverty and crime. It has always appeared to
us that little dependence is to be placed on the
reform wrought under the constraint of a gaoler.
We wish to see prisons remain really prisons—
places not to be desired but dreaded by offenders.
ADVERTISER.—The Herald was at consi-
derable trouble yesterday morning to cry up the
demeanour of the agricultural interest, in con-
trast with the proceedings of the Anti-Corn-law
League—the manufacturing body, and the mass
of the people generally. The agricultural classes
never, in support of their own interests, did this
naughty thing, or that ; never attempted to
rouse one portion of the community against an-
other; never sent nominees into Parliament to
maintain there time question of privileges against
rights; never struggled to' buy every man's
opinion with gold; never convened meetings, ap-
pointed dinners, speechified at associations, all for
the purpose exclusively of their rents; above all,
they never interposed against manufacturing
protection, no, not they; they were superior
to such proceedings—they only knew that
the laud " was the source of their country's
greatness," and, consequently, were only to be
disturbed from their calm and dignified course of
action, when the claims of the laud were endan-
gered—the Corn-laws too rudely assailed ! Even
at length in the gigantic changes c&cted against
theta through Sir Robert's modified sliding-scale,
only just think how magnanimously they have
conducted themselves ; still high in their majestic
serenity; not giving tongue; carefully refraiiiing
from abuse; so meek, in short, as literally to be
brought to admit, that perhaps, the modified
sliding-scale and the new tariff, are for their own
as well as the country's benefit. Admira-
ble, indeed ! The Conservatives are truly
a prodigiously fine fraternity, and the very
Herald itself dare not gainsay it. But
suppose the Conservatives were in a different
position from what they are ; suppose they were
in the comparatively depressed and oppressed,
hampered, straitened condition of the manufac-
turers; suppose, not that they enjoyed a mono-
poly of all the advantages of the State, but that
they were prevented, by a monopoly of the ma-
nufacturers, from enjoying, nut only not the
luxuries, but were denied the mere means of
gaining a subsistence; suppose that prohibition
met them here, restriction there, monopoly—
an engrossing of all the good things of man's
industry, everywhere;—would the Conserva-
tives remain passive? Would they not fight a
breathless conflict, not for their rights, but for
extravagant privileges—not for independence
dear to all, but for selfish aggrandisement,
for absurd pomp, for just those kinds of patri-
cian splendour which mean the enervation of
the body and the corruption of the soul ? What
part of' the kingdom would be free from Conser-
vative intrigues, from Tory conspiracies, from
even oligarchic swords and bayonets, if time
landed interest were the wronged, oppressed,
suffering victims the manufacturers and the
whole mnanurccturing population are ? But, on
the other hand, when was it that the plunderers
rebelled against the plundered? What neces-
sity would there be for it? Are they to fight
against what is under subjugation ? Will men
in the possession of all play the Quixotic
feat of rushing to contend with shadows—ofcon-
tending where nothing more is to be obtained ?
How silly the Herald is! What have the rent-
holders to agitate about? Have they not more
than any other body in the Stnte—not excepting
even the Church—possess, or, relatively, have
any hope of possessing ? Why, common sense
says, instead of agitating, their policy is to re-
main quiet as mice—not to make a squeak, lest
any one should know they are there. The
wisest of them, of course, know this, and act
upon it; it is the fools among them only that,
like the Herald, make a shout to tell the world
how beneficent they are. But, then, have not
the Conservatives got up agitation, sowed dissen-
sion among classes, perverted the minds of thou-
sands with their gold, all for the sake of their
Monopolies' their Corn-laws, their accursed feu-
dal claims ? How was it at Aylesbury last year ?
They met under the colours of the renowned Chan-
dos, for entering a loud and terrific protest
against the slightest diminution of their protac-
tron. How is it their Stauhopes and Riehmonds,
as well as Buckingluans, raved in the last ses-
sion as they did about starvation--of the masses
being nothing to time consideration of preserving
rents at their fictitious standard ? The Conser-
vatives never stoop to what is undignified or in-
correct. No, never ! the Conservatives are your
cless for keeping permanent the stability of the
nation ! Pretty statesmanship, that of time
the land, to be sure, the basis of Eng-
land's greatness; the culture of the soil, forsooth,
because itleaves her people, so "simple" and
so humble," the foundation of England's glory.
and grandeur! What asinine preaching is this:
How ‘vortimv of the Herald, and in consonance
with its habitual prating! So the Standard
would make us believe that it were happy fbr
Britain if the manufacturing- powers were at the
bottom of the sea, and the Herald would tell us
that agriculture is time principieof her prosperity.
What answer could be given to such self-ex-
posed lunacies—what answer but contempt—or,
it' not, 'let us burn our ships, and work our
ploughs, and see in what predicament we shall
find ourselves in one year after time experiment.

MONEY MARKET awl CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
CITY, THURSDAY EVENING.

CIIRONICLE.—The state of the corn trade forms
a fit and proper companion to that of the cattle trade.
Both markets are panic stricken, and prices greatly
and unnecessarily depressed. The farmers have them-
selves to blame very much for having given way to
fear from the phantom herds of horned cattle from the
Continent, which they supposed were on ship-board
to undersell them on British ground; but the panic
in the corn trade, and the ruinous loss that has been
suffered in Mark-lane and abroad by the recent fluc-
tuations in the price of wheat, are all to be attributed
to the deceitful influence of • the new sliding scale.
The new law was framed to abolish gambling and
speculation, and to establish a steady trade and
equality of prices. What has been the test of experi-
ence ? Gambling has been as extensive, and speculation
as rife as it was before the law of 1828 was modified.
I Upwards of 2,000,000 of quarters of foreign wheat
were entered for home consumption, under an Bs.
duty, in August last; in the weeks ending the 6th
of August and the 13th of August last, when the
average price was 645. 2d. per quarter, that is, ten
weeks back, and now the duty is 18s. per quarter,
and the average price down to about 525. per quarter.
The vaunting sliding scale, which was prescribed as a
specific against the evil of its discarded predecessor,
has thus been attended with a fluctuation of 10s. per
quarter on the duty, and of 12s. per quarter on the
average price in 6e course of a few weeks. The
trade has been subjected to a loss of 1,200,0001.,
and the British farmer has been exposed to the
influence. of a market as fictitiously depressed,
as it formerly had been unduly advanced, in
price; while the consumers have not been benefited
by a proportionate reduction in the price .of bread.
'I he millers and bakers may, perhaps have reaped
some benefit by these changes, but all other. classes
have suffered, and most of all he English farmers—
the home producers—have been losers by this extra-
ordinarily convulsive action in the corn trade. Had
the: season proved unfavourable, the dealers would
have held back their 2,500,000 quarters until the
price had risen to a famine rate, and until the duty
had been reduced to the lowest ratio. The game, in
that case, would have been in their own hands. It is
still on the cards for another day, and will be played
while it is open to be won. In the meantime, such
is the force of panic at present in Mark-lane, owing
to the extent of the recent failures, that the best
Dantzic wheat is now offered, for nioney, at 48s.
per quarter—less, we believe, than its cost free
on board. This, too, at the time when the s
Rini'l h
farmers are' sending their best samples to'l?nar..
ket, which, from their superior quality, support
the averages; otherwise the price would be
considerably lower. The discount houses in
Lombard-street are now the actual holders of foreign
corn, in security for the. money advanced on the dis-
honoured paper of the corn-factors. " Better good
corn than bad bills," was the observation of the head
this of a leading firm to-day ; and is true enough
but better still, we say, for all parties, a steady
Itpad;
and a fixed duty. If the farmers are to have
then
there termed " protection," let it be fixed, and then
there will be an end to all mystification. It is
useless, indeed, to attempt to fix the prices of com-
modities by means of any Act of Parliament, for
;we see by the
Present state of the corn market that
a nominal duty of 18s. per quarter does not keep
the price at more than 48s. per quarter. A fixed 4

The intention was intimated in our Evening Edi-
tion to ascertain the particulars of the Hudson's Bay
imports by the ship just arrived: these are now sub-'
joined. Bear, 524 skins: fisher, 1,131; lynx, 5,167;
beaver, I 0,500; marten, 24,196; musquash, 257,800;
fox, silver, 99; cross, 312 ; red, 643 ; white,
92; mink, 5,474 ; otter, 3,131; wolf', 10; wolverine,
39 ; and swan, 19.

A FAIR DAY'S WAGES FOR A
FAIR DAY'S WORK.
Bread at 4d. for a 41b. loaf.
Ale at 4(1. per quart.
Wages, 9s. per week constant for labour.
HOW TO BEING THIS ABOUT.
Three shillings per quarter permanent duty on corn
for revenue—other food free.
Reduction of duty on Malt.
Tax on Property, and Currency a silver standard.

THE EFFECT.
On Land Improved agriculture and increased
consumption would compensate for
reduction in price.
On Commerce Cheap food would restore the pre-
eminence of Great Britain, and
keep labour in constant demand.
Preserve Peace and seek no Commercial Treaties—
Religion would be guarded from
the agitatating empiricism of dis-
content.
A SUBSCRIBER OF TWENTY YEARS'
Oct. 26, 1842. STANDING.

CAN SUCH THINGS BE ?
have the King of Hanover's commands, to
express to you his Majesty's thanks for the book
transmitted by you and containing your speech at the
Conservative Festival at Maidstone. The King was
greatly pleased ivith the eloquent and brilliant manner
in which you had handled your subject, and has
charged me to communicate to you his approbation,
which his Majesty was only prevented by great press
of business from doing himself—l haVe the honour
to remain, Sir, your most obedient servant,
(Signed) .ADOLPH KIELMANSEGGE,
44, Grosvenor-place, March 8, 1842.
To Sir John Croft, Bart.

est3c-'s mail packet Allied,
Loss or THE F RENCH SCHOONER COUcoNniA
commanded
etl
asinpar'eceeding With
—As her Mai
by Mr. 'William ...,mithett, R.N.,
the mails for Kingstown yesterday morning, after
passing the Rock Lighthouse, a vessel was seen by-
Capt. Smithett on Burbo Bank. The life-boat was im-
mediately got ready, and at ten minutes past 7 o'clock
put in charge of Mr. Dillon, second master, who with
nine men proceeded to the sand bank
with a view of
saving the perishing crew,
vessel must go to pieces on
as it
it
flowingwasevid tide.ent thiattntlasie
blowing very strong from the
nort hwl:th
a heavy sea-
The life-boat, deeply laden, having in all 17 souls,
behaved well, although at times she nearly filled with
water. She returned to the packet at half-past 4.1*
having the crew of the vessel, seven in number, who
were put into the maceazine life-boat, which Captain
Smithett had observecfmaking towards the wreck, and
had run to leeward to tow her in case of further need,
and afterwards safely landed at this pert, the unfortunate
crew not having time to save any of their clothes. The
Medina proceeded to Ireland, and when passing the
spot on her return this morning, Captain Smithett
and his crew saw the schooner a complete wreck,
bottom up, on the sand-bank, and felt highly grati-
fied at having had it in his power to rescue the suf-
ferers from a watery grave. This is the second in-'
stance in which the life-boats belonging to her Ma-
jesty's packets on this station (which have been fur-
, niched within the present year) have been instru-
mental in saving human life.—Liverpool Courier of
Wednesday.
Cows.—The Princess Victoria steamer has been
lying off here, during the week, with the steam up,
on the 100k-out for the Belgian steamer British
Queen, from New York, but as the time of her de-
parture from that port is uncertain, the probable thug
of her arrival here is all conjecture. It has been
blowing very hard here from the south-west.
Six seasons since, nine grains of wheat were
planted
by John Olman, of Box, Wilts; and last year the
produce was 54- bushel:', which were again planted,
and produced this year the enormous
crop
of fourteen
.sucks two bushels, and were sold last week in our mar..
ket to Mr. Scudamore, of Larkliall.—Bath Chronicle