The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-20 00:00:00

PRICE OF BREAD.

the highest price of Rread in the Metropolis Is 7%d for the 41b.
Loaf. GniAl Bread may be had at Mid.

PRICES OF SEEDS.

Per Cwt. 1 Per Quarter
New nglish Rea Clover...6os 75s St. Fein
OM Ditto Ditto —s —s —s Rye Grass..... ........... ..—s c.is 401
New Foreign Ditto —e 56s 75s Pacey Grass .-3 —II R
Old Ditto Ditto —s —s —s Linseed, for feeding ...—s 50s 56s
New White Oover 503 563 60s;Ditto, for sowing .—s 608 66s
Old Ditto Ditto —1 —s —sjDitto, for crushing ....—s flees sfs
New Trefoil —s 17s 255,Hernp..... —s 42s 4113
Old Ditto —s 12s lis;Canary .—s 70s WA
frefoliurn s —s —AI Per Bushel.
English Carraway —s 401 45s1White Mustard.... Os Od to lit Od
Foreign Ditto —s 40e 46sArown Ditto lOs Od to 12s td
Coriander —s 14s 20siTares ......... ...... .. Ils 6d to 5s Od
PRICE JF OIL.
Rape Oil. brown, per ton £4l ill
Ditto, refined
Linseed Oil 32 U
Linseed Oil Cake at the Mill (per 1000) ll 0
Rape' ake. per ton •••••• ...... 00 .... WA 00 6 0
PRICE OF TALLOW, SOAP. kc.. per 112
Town Tallow £2 11 6 Melting Stuff £1 14 C
Yellow Russia
White u U 0 raves
Soap Ditto 0 0 0 Good Dregs 0 8 0

PRICE OF RAW FAT, per stone of albs.
rice of fallow (as stated by the 'fallow Melters) la. 101.

COAL MARKET.
Ships arrived since last marXet.day, 61.
—.. e. d.
Adair's
Charlotte l7 6
Holywal Main l7 6
Ord s Redheugh l5 0
Ravensworth West Hartley 17 0
Tanfiold Moor Bute's l5 0
Wylam
Walls End Clennell l7 3
Walls End tgosforth
Walls End Hedley I9S3
Walls End Hilda ls 0
Walls End Killingworth
Walls End Newmarch lB a
Walls End Northumberland 18 9

Walls End Todd's Bcnsham'l4
Walls End Belmont 2O 0
W. E. Braddyll'sHettoti 21 9
Walls End Haswell. ...... 21 6
Walls End Hetton ....... 21 6
Walls End Lambton 2l 6
Wall's End Morrison ...... 19 6
Wails'End Shincliff l9 0
Walls-End Caradoc 2l 9
Walls.Eud Quarrington 2O 0
Walls End South Durham 19 6
Walls End Tees Hetton
Walls:Eh d Tees
Walls End West 18 9

LLO YD'S SHIPPING—(THIS DAY)
LONDON, DEC. 20.—Wind this day at noon, Wes-
terly, light winds and hazy.
DEAL, DEC. 19.—Wind N.W. moderate.—Arrd.
Caiseir, Demerara ; Glasgow, America. Sid. Neder-
waard, Batavia; Romance, razil ; Stratheden, Syd-
ney ; Sumatra, Ceylon ; ames, Trinidad; Glaphyra,
St. Kitts; Bonne Mere, St. Thomas; David Lyon,
Jamaica • Philadelphia, New York ; Mary, Bordeaux
and Bombay, and the rest of outward bound.
LIVERPOOL, DEC. 19.—Wind N.W., fresh.—Arrd.
Homely, Gibaut, Maceio, left Nov. 17 i • Severn, Wil-
liams, Pernambuco, sailed Nov. 11 ; Thomas Bennett,
Habsay, Charleston ; Lady Milton, Quebec. Sailed,
Governor, Jamaica; Franconia and Don Juan, New
Orleans; Postboy, Azores; Loo Choo, Savannah.
Arrd. off, Indian Chief.
HULL, DEC. 17.—Arrd. Reward, Frost, Quebec.
Orr DOVER, DEC. 18.—Eclipse, Hamburgh, from
Rio Janeiro ; Lucie, Rotterdam, for Batavia.
PORTSMOUTH, DEC. 19.—Wind N.N.W. to W.—
Sld. Pakenharn, Vera Cruz.

BRISTOL, Dec. 19.—Arrd. Catherine, Whiteway,
Monte Video.

DUNBAR, DEC. 18.—The Anna Catherina, Maack,
from Clackmannan to Altona, is ashore four miles to
the eastward, full of water, and expected to become a
wreck.

LINEurooL, DEC. 19.—The Renown, from Sydney
to this port, which put into Rio Janeiro with damage,
had been repaired, and was to leave about Oct. 24.
The Oberon, hence to Callao, was spoken Aug 14 in
hat. 57 S., lon. 70 W., with juryforemast and loss of
bowsprit, and was supplied with provisions and water
by an American vessel arrived at St. Catharine's,
Brazil. The Christian, from Valparaiso to Swansea,
after repairing at Rio Janeiro, sailed thence, but re-
turned dismasted Oct. 19. The Sea, M`Queen, hence
to Messina, has put back with decks swept, loss of
boats, bulwarks, and stanchions.

HONG-KONG.—There are at present five vessels in
the East India, West India, London, and St. Katha-
rine's Docks, loading for the island of llong-Kong
(lately ceded by the Chinese to her Majesty in per-
petuity) and Macao. Two of these had commenced
loading prior to the late glorious intelligence from
India and China. There are now 224 vessels in the
Docks, entered outwards at the Custom-house for
foreign ports. We regret to state, however, that
there is nearly that number in the Docks, either for
sale or unemployed.

A DinEmila:—Last week a lady with two chil-
dren, one an infant, travelling by the Great Western
railway from Bristol to London, having occasion to
get out of the train with a little boy; while it stopped
at Swindon, requested another lady, a fellow-pas-
senger, to hold her infant. In descending from the
carriage the little boy stumbled and fell, and during
the time his mother was occupied in brushing his
clothes the unearthly shriek of the whistle of the en-
gine gave the signal for starting, leaving the lady and
her child behind, to the no small consternation, not
only of herself, but of her fellow-passenger, in whose
care she had placed her infant, and to whom it oc-
curred that it was a trick on the part of the mother
to get rid of the child. On arriving at the Steventon
station she related the circumstance and begged per-
mission to leave the child there, which being refused
she determined on waiting the arrival of the next
tram, in the hope, although as it seemed to her a for-
lorn one, that the mother of her charge might be
amongst the passengers, which to her great joy hap-
pened to be the case, thereby relieving her from a
most unpleasant dilemma.---Berkshire Chronicle.

ABSOLUTION AT A TURKPIKE GATE.—On a Sun-
day evening, last autumn, a lady of the Roman Ca-
tholic religion, visiting Ilarrogate, hired a carriage to
convey her to the priest's house, a few miles distant,
and on her way hail to pass through a toll-gate, at-
tended by a collector well known in the neighbour-
hood as " Joe," and who, in his blunt honesty, boasts
of being a " Leeds joiner." On her arrival at the gate
Joe demanded the toll, on which, supposing herself
exempt, when on her way to a place of worship,
she said, "I'm going absolution," which latter word
sorely puzzled poor Joe, who replied he did not
" know sake a place hereabouts," and believing that
the little demur in paying the toll arose from the lady
having no change, he civilly consented to allow her to
pass, if she would pay on her return. This caused
her to explain that she claimed exemption, and Joe
having been partially enlightened that absolution was
some ceremony at the priest's house which he did not
understand, brought all his knowledge into play to
contest the claim. In vain the lady asserted she was
going for absolution to the nearest place of worship,
for Joe smartly replied, " Absolushun ! Abso-
lushun ! ! it woant do for me,—absolushun
woant pay tibar." She then attempted to rea-
son with Joe on the unreasonableness if not
illegallity, of demanding toll under the circumstances,
but Joe continued inflexible, and showed " absolution
stuck in his gizzard," as he often repeated the word
in a low grumbling tone. The lady, notwithstanding,
persisted in her claim to exemption until poor Joe
waxed warm, and delivered himself as follows :
" Alarm, I've been a bar tenter these foive-and-twenty
years, and I ne'r heerd o' absolushun afore." The
claimant became annoyed at Joe's pertinacity, and
proceeded to lecture him pretty freely, but he an-
swered, " I care nout abowt the noise ye make i'th
hoile—l must havc't toll ; there's 'lout abawt abso-
lushun on my board, and I ne'r see'd it in't Genral
or Loocal Act." Baffled by Joe's law and eloquence,
the lady paid the toll, and threatened to summon him.
—Leeds Intelligencer.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

CHANCERY.-(THIS DAY.)

JUDGMENT.—BEYDON V. WATSON.
The Loan CHANCELLOR gave judgment in this
case. An indenture of lease and release had been
executed by a Mr. Charles Snow, conveying certain
lands and premises to Wm. Watson and others, as
trustees, with power to sell absolutely, by public or
private sale, the lands so conveyed, and with power
also to make them over to the purchasers of such
lands, with or without the consent of the said Charles
Snow. The money arising from these sales was to
be applied to the discharge of the debts of certain
creditors of Charles Snow, the residue, if any, to go
to Mr. Snow himself, his executors, or assigns. The
trustees, it appeared, did not sell these lands, or any
part of them, and Charles Snow died in 1818,
the debts remaining unpaid. The main ques-
tion now arising was, whether the surplus re-
maining after the discharge of the above-named
debts, could be still considered to form part of the
real personal (state of the original holder of the pro-
perty. The trustees having absolute power to sell
the remainder of the property after the payment of
the debts, and not being authorised to raise money
in any other way, this must be considered conveyance
out and out, though the purpose of the conveyance
was only the payment of certain debts. The character
of the property remained unchanged up to the time of
the death of the holder, and though the deeds were
executed in 1815, and the testator did not die till three
years afterwards, this did not affect the question. The
owner might have availed himself of the interval, but
he did nothing. The surplus in question must, there-
fore, be considered part of the testator's property, and
be administered according to the deed of conveyance.
TILE NEW CHANCERY ORDERS.
Mr. RICHARDS applied to his Lordship on the sub-
ject of the new orders in Chancery, referring to th•
fees for copies in the Masters' office. By the last
orders the charge fixed for office copies was Gd. a
folio, and a further charge of 4d. a folio was also made
for entering that copy ; this made a charge of 10d. a
folio; it was considered that the second charge of 4d.
a folio ought not to be made.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said, before the date of the
last orders the copy money was lid. a folio, and then
a charge was made of Gd. a folio for entering the ac-
counts, such entry being considered a copy. The copy
money was now 4d. a folio, and it had therefore been
represented to him that by analogy the two charges
should be 6d. and 4d. That was the point presented
for his consideration.
Mr. RICHARDS said, his Lordship would find, on
referring to the 32d section, that the officers receiv-
ing the fees for the examination of affidavits and other
copies, charged 6d. a folio, but they were directed to
deduct lid. a folio out of it, before it was paid over
to the fee fund. It was submitted, therefore, that by
analogy, the 11d. paid to the Master's clerk for the
entry, should be deducted before it was paid over.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said he would ascertain
the point. Every one knew that the money belonged
to the public, and not to the Master. He would take
care that it should be put on the right footing.

COMMON PLEAS.-(THIS DAY.)
COOK AND OTHERS V. PRITCHARD.-IN HITCHCOCK'S
BANKRUPTCY.

The plaintiffs are the assignees of William Hitch-
cock, formerly carrying on an extensive business in
Regent-street as a linen-draper, whose examination
in the Court of Bankruptcy lately attracted so
much of public attention. The defendant is a gentle-
man of property, retired from business, and the
brother of the bankrupt's solicitor, of the firm of
harden and. Pritchard, at whose instance, it appeared,
he gave the bankrupt at different times consider-
able pecuniary assistance, out of the transactions con-
nected with which the present case arose. The action
was brought to recover, for the general benefit of the
bankrupt's estate, the sum of 2,0001., with interest
thereon, alleged to have been paid to the defendant by
undue and fraudulent preference, and with collusion,
after Hitchcock had committed acts of bankruptcy, to
the knowledge of the defendant.
The case for the plaintiff was conducted by Sir
Thomas Wilde, with whom were Mr. Platt, Q.C.,
IMr. Watson, and Mr. B. Chambers. The Attorney-
General, Mr. Sergeant Channel], and Sir John
Bailey, appeared for the defendant. The main facts
as they were made out in the evidence of the plain-
tiff's witnesses, whose examination occupied the whole
of yesterday to five o'clock, were as follows :—ln the
latter part of the year 1840, the bankrupt requested
his solicitors,'Marden and Pritchard, to raise him a
loan of about 1,0001., which he undertook to secure
upon the lease of the valuable premises in Regent-
street. At their request the defendant advanced the
sum of 1,785/., receiving a bill of exchange for
2,0001., deducting the difference by way of interest,
and taking the lease as a collateral security. In
some months afterwards, Hitchcock applied for an-
other loan, and through the same means it was advanced
to him by the defendant, who, it appeared on the se-
cond occasion, received a guarantee for the whole sum
from Mr. George Hitchcock, the brother of the bank-
rupt. In the meanwhile the affairs of the latter grew
daily more involved, and the bill for 2,000/. beingcon-
siderably over due on the 13th of August, 1841, the
defendant in a peremptory manner on that day in-
sisted that his brother's house should take i:nmediate
steps to enforce the payment ; accordingly they sent
their clerk to Hitchcock, threatening that if he did
not pay they would commence an action and make an
affidavit of debt, whereby he would be compelled to
become a bankrupt. They had at this time in their
possession six notices of action, with affidavits of debt
which had been served upon him by other creditors,
so that it would seem they knew the critical
state of his affairs. A clerk from the house of
Ellis and Everington proved that upon that day he
called on the bankrupt for payment of a bill of exchange
over due for 290/. and upwards, and that upon his
asking Hitchcock whether he could pay even a portion
of it, the latter replied, that there were other houses
who had treated him well, and deserved a preference,
only that he was resolved to give none, though
Everington's had done him a great deal of injury, and
it was through their reports and the badness of trade
he was unable to meet his engagements. A clerk from
Messrs. Wreford and Co., and other witnesses, gave
evidence of applications to the like effect, with similar
answers. The examination of the defendant before the
Commissioners of Bankruptcy was read at great
length, the most material part of which was, that he
had never held any conversations with his brother
or the partner on the subject of the debt, further
than to insist upon the 13th of August, that th
money should be recovered ; that he did not know
and never inquired how the payments were made,
but that the whole was paid into his bankers between
the 18th and the 21st of August. For the plaintiffs
it was shown that in that interval the bankrupt had
made great sacrifices of property to raise a sum about
sufficient to meet the defendant's demand, and that the
property was disposed of in a very unusual manner
for that of a retail dealer. Goods of the value of
2,600/. at the cost price were sold, through the
medium of a commission broker and others for about
1,7.501. It was also shown that the lease of the
house, the acceptances to Pritchard, and George Hitch •
cock's guarantee were given up about the same time.
For the defendant, it was contended by the ATTOR-
PIET-GENERAL, in an eloquent speech of two hours'
duration, that his conduct throughout had been, upon
the plaintiff's own showing, perfectly free from every
thing like fraud or collusion. Being a man of ample
means, he had, at the instance of his brother, who was
in business, given to the bankrupt that pecuniary as-
sistance by which he was enabled to carry on his
business for some months longer than he otherwise
could have done. It was not to be supposed that if
Mr. Pritchard, the solicitor, had been faithfully in-
formed by the bankrupt of the real state of that per-
son's affairs, he would have advised his brother to lend
so large a sum, and in two months afterwards to
make a further loan of an equal amount
As the issue depended upon the motives upon which
the bankrupt acted, it was clearly shown by the plain-
tiffs themselves that he had not acted as free agent in
making the payment. He was not a free agent, nor
did he give a voluntary preference. Although his
affairs seemed to others, and really were desperate at
the time, they did not seem so to him, and, perhaps,
he contemplated a means of extrication through
Pritchard, in payment of this debt. The defendant
had done only what was natural and reasonable, and
if, as he trusted, the jury were satisfied that the bank-
rupt did not willingly give a preference with intention
Ito defraud the other creditors they would find for the
defendant.

The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE having summed up the
evidence Eaid it was for the Jury to say whether,
under all the circumstances, the bankrupt, who, as
well as his solicitor, must have been aware in the in-
terval between the 18th and 20th of August, that his
affairs were irretrievable, contemplated his bankruptcy
at the time he made the payments to defendant. if
so, however hard the case might seem to be to Mr.
Pritchard, their verdict must be for the plaintiffs,
and the defendant must share in the losses of the
other creditors. But, if they believed, on the other
hand, that Hitchcock expected to get over his diffi-
culties, and made the payment by compulsion, and not
voluntarily or by fraudulent collusion, they must find
for the defendant.

The Jury retired to considertheir verdict, and after
an hour's deliberation found for the plaintiffs, damages
2,0001.

INSOLVENT COURT-(TRIS DAY)
A MONEY LENDER.-IN RE THOMAS WILLIAM TOTTING•

HAM PRESCOTT.

The insolvent's petition to be discharged was op-
posed by Mr. Cooke, on behalf of Mr. Cox, a hatter
in Nassau-street, with whom he contracted a small
debt in August, 1839, under false pretences.
In the evidence of the opposing creditor but little
appeared of general interest.
The insolvent having been sworn and examined,