The Sun.
London, England, 1829-09-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Irish Papers express much satisfaction at
the result of a prosecution at Carrick-on-Suir,
which ended in the acquittal of a Capt. ream,
of the Police, charged with the murder of a
youth who had been shot in a recent riot. In
this case the prosecutrix was a poor widow, the
mother of the deceased. Mr. Streit was her
Counsel, and we have seldom, if ever, reed an
address to any jury more judicious, temperate,
or useful, than the reported speech of the
Learned Gentleman on that trying and critical
occasion. The jury, it ought to be observed,
was composed of seven Catholics and five Pro-
testants. The verdict seems to have turned on
the nuestion, whether the strong measure of
diseharging fire-arms was unavoidabk under the
circumstances in which Mr. Pearse had been
placed, and the verdict was given in his faveur.
The issue of this trial may, we should hope, do
good, by tending to discountenance the invi-
dious and irritating practice of challenging per-
sons for no cause but their religious profession.
Nothing can, on the face of it, excite more na-
tural indignation among conscientious members
of any church, than to find their creed made a
ground of objection to their capacity of doing
justice between man and man upon their oaths ;
as if a Catholic, for instance, was not subject to
the fundamental laws of moral and Christian
obligation. Would a Protestant endure in
knee to be told emphatically by a public prose-
cutor, in any Christian country, that he would
not be trusted on his oath, lest he might com-
mit perjury to gratify a political prepossession
Although, therefore, we felt it incumbent on
us, a week ago, to defend the Solicitor-Ge-
neral of Ireland for his mode of arranging
the Borris-o'kane proceedings, in so far as
concerned the admission and examination of
evidence, without
_regard to the probable effect
of such evidence on the interests of the pro-
secution which he conducted, we by no means
extend our praise to the peremptory challenge of
all Catholics who offered themselves as jurors,
and to the consequent limitation of that office to
members of the Protestant faith. The impolicy
of the practice was evinced by the effect of the
.
verdict on public feeling throughout the south of
Ireland, the acquitted policemen being repre-
tented as still guilty of murder, though formally
exempted from its penalties—Mr. Doherty being
condemned as a prosecutor malajide, to screen
the perpetrators of a foul assassination, and the
Jury as a packed body of Orangemen, for the
completion of a fraud on public justice. From
the spirit thus manifested, it is plain to us, that
the rigorous challenges of the Catholic Jurors
rankle even more in the hearts of the people
than the reception by the Crown of evidence
which turned out to be exculpatory ; and if the
Solicitor-General was a party to the exclusion of
all but Protestant Jurymen in that case, we re-
gret that we must confine our applause to the
principles on which he acted subsequently to the
composition of the Jury. It is in Ireland of the
first importance to convince the lower orders of
the people that they arc fairly dealt by ; and
when Government assumes the task of prosecut-
ing its own functionaries, tenfold caution ought
to be used against the possible misconstruction
of its motives. We have no doubt that a Jury
of respectable Catholics would have returned the
same verdict on the Borris-o'kane business as
that which was actually delivered, and that the
Crown Solicitor mistook his game by showing a
distrust which was equally offensive and uncalled
for.— Times.

Some further outrages have taken place at
Barnsley, and the place exhibits, it is said, the
appearance of a besieged town. The Leeds
Mercury observes, with respect to the disputes
between the manufacturers and their weavers—
" In conversing, as we have done, freely, with
both tha masters and the men, we find both of
them expressing great moderation in their views,
and rather differing as to facts than as to their
application. Both of them are convinced that
if, in the town of Barnsley, higher wages are
paid for the same kind of work than are given to
the linen-weavers in the north of Yorkshire, in
Lancashire, and in Scotland, the trade must
inevitably leave that place; but the men contend
that the wages at present paid in Barnsley are
not, on the whole, higher than those paid in the
above places, while the masters say that there
is a very material difference between the prices
paid there and at Darlington, Wigan, and at
Mr. Maberly's works in Scotland, to the disad-
vantage of the Barnsley trade." The same paper
adds, " we must not conceal the fact, that per-
sons the best informed, say that the wages paid
at Barnsley for some sorts of work, are consi-
derably higher than those paid in the north of
Yorkshire, and in Lancashire ; and that the
quantity of yarn sold by the principal Leeds
spinners to the masters in the latter places has
been increasing—while that sold to the Barnley
manufacturers has been diminishing. This
change the spinners, who have no interest in the
question at issue between the Barnsley masters
and their weavers, attribute to the difference in
the prices paid for weaving, and that opinion
they expressed to the deputation of the Wea-
vers Committee, consisting of William Ash-
ton and Patrick Flanigan." The only effort
of any attempt by combination, to keep
prices in one place higher than they are in
another, is to increase the trade in the place
where the wages are lower. The lowest rate at
which men can be found to work, must deter-
mine the prices everywhere. It is. not in the
power of a master manufacturer to prevent wages
from falling. When the labour market is glutted,
a rival manufacturer, by buying labour cheaper
than he does, will certainly undersell him. The
English and Scotch weaver must sink to the
level of the Irish ; for in a business so easily ac-
quired as weaving, there cannot be higher wages
here than Irishmen will consent, to take. Of this
the Editor of the Leeds Mercury is well aware,
for he observes, " As a general principle, we
think there is an undue depreciation in the wages
of labour, and wish most heartily that anything
could be done to arrest the progress of this tre-
mendous evil, which operates most injuriously
on every branch of trade, manufacture, and agri-
culture. But it is by the labouring classes that
this evil is felt in its greatest rigour. We have
Corn Laws to protect the land-owner, and duties
on importation to protect the manufacturer and
merchant, but there is no protection for the in-
terest of the labouring classes, who are sinking
rapidly in this country to a level with the labour-
ing classes in Ireland." So far from suffering
from free trade, the Editor of the Leeds Mer-
cury states that Barnsley has exported more
linen during the last three years than during the
preceding ten; and the wool, cotton, and iron
trades, all suffering, are without rivals abroad.
As far back as the year, 1788, it was shown
by the Rev. Mr. Howlett, in one of his l,
admirable pamphlets, " that the price of labour
has not advanced- in proportion to the price of
provisions," which he mainly attributed to the

increase of their numbers within the preceding
forty years. At the time when Arthur Young's
" Annals of Agriculture" was almost filled with
disquisitions on the state of the poor by Mr.
Howlett) Mr. Ruggles, Mr. Young himself, &c.
in wh'eh the privations under which they were
labouring were universally admitted, there is a
communication from Sir Joseph Bankes (volume
19, published in 1793), dated Revesly Abbey,
October 18, 1792, which, as was truly observed
by Mr. Young in a note, " opened a new field
for political speculation►'' At this time, when
there were such complaints of low wages, Sir
Joseph pays—" At Boston Holland Fen, a
drained district of about 22,000 acres, which
formerly produced nothing but fodder and thatch,
has been, withi❑ these twenty years, drained so
well, that it is now arable chiefly ; and having
passed through the previous exhaustion of vast
crops of cole and oats that yielded ten or twelve
quarters an acre, has, within these few years,
produced excellent wheat. Such quantities of
land, infinitely productive in its nature, being
suddenly brought into cultivation, without
.any
increase of people—for hitherto very few houses
were built upon it—must necessarily require
much foreign assistance ; and in truth
labourers flock in during harvest time
from all quarters ; in both towns they make
the bridges their place of rendezvous, and as-
semble in multitudes at day break ; here the
farmers meet them ; and in catching weather
they never engage themselves for more than one
day ; and then the breaking out of the sun
from a cloud, or its passing under one, will rise
or fall wages 2s. or 3s. in a moment. I have heard
of thirteen shillings a day i❑ money ; and I
spoke the other day to a Magistrate at Boston,
who was under the necessity of compelling
some persons to fulfil a bargain they had made
and afterwards abandoned, to reap 62 acres of
wheat at 9/. 10s. The quantity of liquor de-
manded varies much, according to the temper
of the labourers ; but this year it began to be
considered as no impropriety to demand at the
rate of a pint for every shilling a day's wages.
This is the present state of our affairs; but it
will not be lasting ; wherever high wages are
found there will be people also ; and you may
be assured, that our Lincolnshire labourers are
industriously employed in peopling as fast as
they are able these fertile plains." Steam ves-
sels did not then give the English farmer and
manufacturer the millions of superabundant popu-
lation of Ireland to draw on.—Morning Chron.
All statistical inquiries are of use ; but their
main value must in all cases depend upon their
accuracy. Government, it is said, we know not
with what truth, have set on foot an inquiry into
the number of Dissenters in the United King-
dom. Could such an inquiry be made with ac-
curacy, it might furnish a curious document ;
but its utility we are far from being able to dis-
cover, nor do we believe that any thing like ac-
curacy in the matter is attainable. There is, we
believe, already more than one published ac-
count of the various sects into which the religious
world is divided, and these probably con-
vey as near an estimate of the numbers
of each as any inquiry set on foot even
by Government would be likely to obtain.
But we cannot see what the Government can
have to do with any religion but that of the
State. In reference to this, to be sure, it may
naturally ask itself how many Dissenters there
are ? Though the more important ques-
tion would be " Why there are so many ?" Now
for this many reasons might be given, but the
most material, and those which concern the Go-
vernment most, are these—the want of church
room—the defective mode in which the Clergy
are educated—the unequal division of clerical
reward in proportion to clerical labour—and the
partial, inconsiderate, and impolitic way in which
so much of the Church patronage is bestowed.
In reference to the first of these reasons, the
want of church accommodation, to call men Dis-
senters who attend other places of worship, and
who may, in fact, ultimately become converts to
other creeds, merely because they cannot ob-
tain a footing or a seat in churches of the Esta-
' bliThment is the height of folly and injustice,
and, as far as forming any ground for a statistic
account, would be an egregious fallacy. The
metropolis (to say nothing of other large and
populous places) furnishes proof enough of this.
We certainly live in a church-building age,
which, as far as appearances go, speaks well for
the growth and advancement of religious know-
ledge. But though all men are alike in the
eyes of their Maker, and ought to be so in those
of church-builders—nay, even though churches
are built out of the public taxes, towards which all
men contribute—very few seats are to be ob-
tained in any of these churches but by those who
can afford to pay a heavy annual rent for them ;
and this because there is no way (so, at least,
the lovers of vested interests think) of paying
the Clergy for performing the duty in these
churches but out of pew-rents ; while the in-
cumbents of the parishes wherein these new
churches are erected enjoy not only their own
original revenues undisturbed, but often the
patronage of the new churches, and a propor-
tion of their revenues also. But, confining our
view to the metropolis, what is there we would
ask, to prevent the unemployed Clergy of its
two cathedrals from being made useful ? What,
in fact, do the Canons and Prebendaries of St.
Paul's and Westminster Abbey do for the com-
munity in return for the large revenues which
they draw from it ? And why should the
Church be exposed to the danger arising from
the number of her seceders being increased,
while so many of her Clergy are mere mort-
mainers upon her revenues ? But, then, how
can this be otherwise, while political and mere
personal motives influence the distribution of
one-half the Church preferment ? We will not
invidiously point to names or families ; but who
is there among our readers whe could not readily
run -over in his own mind instances by far too
abundant of the truth of what we say ? The
other reason, the state of the Universities, as to
discipline and education, as they regard the
Clergy, is by far too copious a topic to enter
upon at the present moment. Here then we
pause, and ask of what use is it to inquire what
the number of Dissenters may be, while we pass
by the means of diminishing them ? Besides,
many of those who would be called Dissenters
'in the course of this inquiry would repudiate the
name, and deny that they are Dissenters at all ;
the Calvinists and Wesleyan Methodists, for
instance. Nay, a too scrupulous inquiry might
find, perhaps, that it would term Dissenters in
the vet)/ bosom of the Church itself, which it
might be as difficult to class as to omit in an
official return. All these, then, are reasons for
letting such an inquiry alone. We would say,
on this subject, in the words of the poet—
" Cease to lament for that thou can'st not help,
And seek for help for that which thou lament'st." •
That the number of Dissenters is very great
cannot be doubted. A mere numerical detail
cannot make it more obvious. The remedy,

too, is to be found not merely in a knowledge
of the fact, but in a removal of as much of the
cause as lies within the reach of those who are
the constiuted guardians of religion.—Morning
Herald.

- -
SUMMER. ASSIZES.

CHESTER CIRCUIT-CHESTER, SEPT. 4.

Joseph Woodhouse was charged with a capital
felony on the person of
.Maria Woodhouse, his own
child, not quite eleven years of age. The prisoner
was a blacksmith, residing at Newton, near Stock-
port.
The offence was proved by the evidence of the
little girl, corroborated by the testimony of her
sister and aunt, and that of Mr. W. Tinker, a
surgeon, who examined her person.
We received a circumstantial report of the trial
from our correspondent, but refrain from defiling our
columns with the disgusting details.
The Jury retired, and after an absence of fifteen
minutes, returned a verdict of—Guilty.

Mr. Justice JERVIS (putting on the fatal black
cap) addressed the prisoner as follows :—Joseph
Woodhouse, you have been found guilty on
.the
clearest evidence of . the crime of rape, which is one
of the most aggravated that can be committed in a
state of civilized society. This offence has, in your
case, the revolting aggravation of having been com-
mitted upon your own daughter, a child not eleven
years of age. It is impossible for language to ex-
press a greater degree of horror than must exist in
the minds of all those who have beard your case,
and that horror must be still greater, if possible,
when I state, that it is within my knowledge,
though it was not elicited on the trial, that this is
the third time, you have attempted this abominable
offence.

An involunf ary burst of mingled horror and indig-
nation here burst from the whole Court.

The Learned JUDGE then passed sentence of
Death on the prisoner, in the usual terms.
The prisoner, who maintained the most apathetic
expression of countenance during the whole trial,
heard this affecting address with apparently equal
indifference.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

EXTRAORDINARY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ADUL-
TEROUS INTERCOURSE.—A lady, most fashionably
attired, and possessing charms of no ordinary de-
scription, appeared in the justice-room on Saturday,
to request that the Lord Mayor would be good
enough to swear her to the truth of the contents of
a paper which she held in her hand.
The Loan MAYOR, after perusing the paper, ob-
served to the female, " Why, you accuse yourself of
adultery ? What can be your motive for so extraor-
dinary a charge against yourself ? Have you had any
advice upon this matter ?"—An elderly gentleman,
who accompanied the fair applicant to the justice-
room, stated to the Lord Mayor that he was ac-
quainted with the circumstances, and that the affi-
davit was considered necessary.
The lady begged most earnestly that she might
be allowed to swear—" Do permit me, my Lord,"
said she, " to take my oath of the truth of it."
The LORD' MAYOR—Why, amongst other things,
you swear that you have been guilty of infidelity to
your husband, and you also charge another person
with having counselled you to do so. I cannot
think of doing anything of the kind.
The statement in the paper was, we understand,
to the following effect :—The lady, who is about
23 or 2I years of age, was married a short time ago
to an honest man, a mechanic. She had had a female
friend with whom she had been on terms of the
greatest intimacy, and on whose honour she had
placed the greatest reliance. A gentleman with-
whom this female friend was intimate, however,
thought proper to pay her very close 'attention, and
at last made proposals to her of a description not at
all equivocal. He, in fact, proposed that she should
pass a whole night with him. To this proposition
she felt all the repugnance natural to a woman of
virtue, but in came her false friend, and used all her
arts of persuasion to induce her to accept the invita-
tion. After repeated solicitations from those two
assailants she at last yielded, and her virtue became,
to use the language of the paper, " as sounding brass
or a tinkling cymbal." The remorse she felt at this
abandonment of duty was not alleviated by the con-
duct of her female friend. It was not to deny or to
palliate this error the applicant desired to make affi-
davits of what had taken place with respect to the
vile female alluded to, but to give so great a wretch
a fair share of the odium.

The LORD MAYOR thought the request a most
monstrous one. He could not see how any woman
in her senses could consent to destroy her own cha-
racter for ever for the purpose of proving that ano-
ther person had acted treacherously.
The lady said that she certainly could not deny
the charge of trim. con., but she considered the fabie
friend worse who first encouraged and then betray-
ed her.

The LORD MAYOR—WeII, there shall be no oath
taken before me in this matter. I would have you
to go home to your husband, and act to him in fu-
ture in such a manner as shall lead him to suppose
that there has been no foundation for the report.
The lady reluctantly and discontentedly retired,
having first covered her face with her veil.