The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-05 00:00:00

last completed census of 1831 at 961,000 families.
Now, suppose they were at the present time one million,
and that each earned 10s. a week, which was more than
the sum considered as sufficient for their support by the
Duke of Buckingham, that would amount to 26,000,000/.
a year : so that, in order to give protection to farm
labourers, the nation was taxed fifty millions annually.
It would be infinitely better to build them each a cottage,
and pay each of them 10s. a week to the day of their
death, than to uphold the present system; for if they did
so, they would save by it 24,000,0001. annually.—(Cheers
ar.d laughter.) The Learned Gentleman concluded an
able and lengthened address amidst great applause.
The resolution was put from the chair, and carried
nem. con.
A vote of thanks was then passed to the Chairman,
who briefly returned thanks, and the party broke up.

SPITALFIELDS' WEAVERS.
Last night, tt seven o'clock, a numerous and most
respectable meeting of the influential portion of the
inhabitants of Spitalfields, Bethnal-green. and its
vicinity, was held at the Soup House, in Brick-lane,
for the purpose of taking into consideration the best
means to distribute the funds (for the relief of the
distressed and unemployed Spitalfields' Silkweavers)
now in the hands of the Lord Mayor.
Mr. ROBERT HANBURY, having been unanimously
called upon to preside, said that the meeting was con-
vened at the urgent request of the Lord Mayor, who
was desirous that the fund which was in his hands
should be distributed to mitigate the extreme distress
they were in. In order to ascertain the real condition
of the district means had been taken for that purpose,
and a census of the unemployed looms was considered
necessary. Great pains had been used to obtain that
census, and, after the most careful inquiry, it
was found that there were at least 2,783 looms unem-
ployed at present. Those looms belong to 1,883 fami-
lies, consisting of 3,567 adults, 4,084 children under
twelve years of age, and 1,733 children above twelve
years of age. A small portion of the district still re-
mained unsurveyed. But no time should be lost in
examining it, in order that the extent of the distress
should be fully ascertained. The result of the inquiry
had convinced him that the time had arrived when
something should be done to mitigate the distresses of
the unemployed.
A long discussion then arose as to the best plan to
be adopted, when the Reverend Do L. Lawson
moved the following resolution :—" That in considera-
tion of the increased distress now existing among
the weavers and those connected with the silk manu-
factures, immediate steps should be taken to distribute
the funds now in the hands of the Lord Mayor, with
any other subscriptions that may be received."
The resolution was then unanimously agreed to.
Robert Hanbury, Esq., was then appointed trea-
surer, and other resolutions were passed to forward the
object of the meeting, one of them being to the effect
that the district should be divided into 18 sections.
Arrangements to proceed further with the distribution
of the money being entered into, it is expected that
operations will commence this week.

THE DARING BURGLARY AT
WRAXALL.
(Further particulars, abridged from the Devizes Gazette.)
The thieves went from room to room throughout the
house, attended by Miss Awdry. Upon going into a room
where two servants were in bed together, their money
was demanded at the peril of their lives. The thieves
now requested Miss Awdry to show them where the
plate was kept. She accordingly, conducted them to the
butler's pantry. where she pointed out a chest of plate,
and informed them what was and was not silver as they
took the various articles from the chest ; the articles she
stated to be plated were put back again. After this,
they insisted upon Miss Awdry sitting with them at a
round table in the parlour. whilst they drank a bottle of
wine. They afterwards shook hands with her, observing
that they should not have troubled her, had they not been
driven to it, and then left.
Altogether this is one of the most cool and daring
burglaries ever committed, and few indeed are the in-
stances of a young lady's showing so much nerve and
self-possession as Miss Awdry exhibited on the occasion.
Mr. Awdry is father to Sir John Awdry, who has re-
cently returned to England from Bombay.
The thieves effected an entrance by breaking one of
the windows, and then cutting a hole through the shut-
ters and undoing the fastening. Mr. Awdry, we under-
stand, keeps two or three men-servants, but none of them
sleep in the house.
Soon after the thieves had left, some of the servants
aroused Mr. Burgess, a neighbouring farmer, who imme-
diately gave information of the robbery to Mr. Foley,
the superintendent of police at Trowbridge. Mr. Foley
sent to Ililperton, Bradford, and Melksham, and gave
directions to the different police constables to proceed in
various routes, but being three hours or more behind
they were unable to get any clue to the thieves. Hopes,
however, are entertained that they will be apprehended.
Several persons are in custody for receiving a great part
of the stolen property.
(From the Bath Journal.)
On Saturday morning eleven prisoners concerned in
this robbery were brought up for examination before T.
• Clutterbuck, Esq., Chairman, and other Magistrates, at
the Lion Hotel. The examination was strictly private,
as lathe oriscners had not been apprehended. The pri-
Thomas Wise, Jonas Penny, Samuel Stokes, and
Eliza Watson as accessories ; and John Roberts, Se-
lina Roberts, his wife, and Mary Goff their ser-
vant, as receivers of the stolen property. Miss
Awdry gave her evidence at considerable length, which
showed Burge and Milsom to be most determined and
systematic thieves. They were the negotiators, with life
and death in their hands, while Miss Awdry gave them
money and whatever they esteemed valuable. All the
thieves were armed with bludgeons, some to enter the
different apartments, others to keep watch. After Miss
Awdry had been for some time giving her evidence,
about half-past two o'clock an ill-looking man, who lives
at Twerton, of the name of George Pearce, was brought
in on suspicion of being concerned in the robbery ; he
was taken into custody at his house, where some cloth
and other things were found concealed. After the in-
vestigation had been proceeded with for about four
hours, the prisoners were all remanded till Monday for
further examination. Some of them are well known to
the police as practised thieves. Much of the property
has been found, but some of the plate is cut into parts.

GL A SGOW ROYAL INFIRMA RY.—MUNIFI-
CENT BEQUEST.—We are gratified to learn that the
noblest of all the charitable institutions in Glas-
gow is about to receive a princely addition to its
funds. Alexander Ritchie, Esq., who departed this
life on Thursday, the 30th ultimo, at his residence,
Little Govan, having bequeathed , a large fortune
to trustees, with directions to make over one half to the
Directors of the Infirmary for behoof of that institution.
We have reason to believe that his estate will exceed in
value 30,0001., and the Infirmary, therefore, will not re-
ceive less than 15,0001.—Glasgow Constitutional.
DREADFUL ACCIDENT.—Monday, between
three and four o'clock, a dreadful accident occurred,
which it is feared will be attended with fatal consequences,
to James Reedely, a young man 19 years of age, an ap-
prentice to a shoemaker, residing in Church-street, Beth-
nal-green, who, with two other young men were amusing
themselves flying pigeons from off a pigeon trap on the roof
of a row of workshops at the back of the house. One of the
birds alighted on the edge of the parapet, and on his en-
deavouring to reach it he overbalanced himself and fell
into the back yard. His companions hastened to his as-
sistance, and found him lying insensible on the ground,
having sustained a compound fracture of the skull,
besides other extensive inward injuries. The unfortu-
nate sufferer was immediately removed to the hospital in
an alarming and deplorable condition.
A NOTHER BURGLARY AT SOUTHWRAXALL.
—Early on the Monday morning preceding the late
robbery, the house of Mr. Rose, of Hay Farm, near
Winsley, was broken into by three or four men. It ap-
pears that they came into- the bed-room of Mr. Rose
with a lighted candle, armed with bludgeons ; and one
of them, approaching his bedside, threatened his life if
he made a noise, while the others ransacked the drawers
and stole several silver spoons. Two powerful young
men, sons of Mr. Rose, slept 'in an adjoining room,
but he did not alarm them until long after the thieves
had decamped. A man named Roberts, a clock and
watchmaker of Bath, has been apprehended with part
of the stolen plate in his possession ; and, through
the, vigilance of the police officers of the district,
four men are now in custody upon charges of being con-
cerned in the robbery, and it is expected that others will
shortly be. secured. When the house of IRoberts, in
Abbey- green, was searched, clothes of all sizes and des-
criptions were found therein, well adapted for the pur-
poses for which they were, no doubt, intended—disguises
for thieves. They consisted of grooms', farmers', working
mechanics', and " swell" dresses ; in short, it may be
truly said, that in the collection will be found dresses of
every kind and colour, by which a thief could in a few
moments be so completely metamorphosed, as to render
identification very questionable. The most searching
inquiries are being instituted, and we hope next week
will record the capture of all connected with the robbery.
CHARACTER OF MR. WILLIAM PALMER.
—This intemperate young man is not only a Fellow,
but a Theological Tutor of Magdalen College, Oxford.
He possesses a good memory, and is, in consequence,
what is called a good classical scholar ; but his
judgment is deplorably feeble, his logic highly eva-
sive, and his conceit unbounded. Last year, I think,
he passed over into Russia, upon an immature scheme
for uniting the Greek and English Churches. His
head, I am informed, is teeming with ridiculous
notions for the reform of his own College. His read-
ing is tolerably copious upon certain ecclesiastical
points ; but his collective views are most confused and
imperfect. As one proof of his conceit, I need only
mention that he appears, I am credibly informed, in his
College Chapel, with a black silk stripe on one shoulder,
thrown over his surplice, to distinguish the deacon of the
Church Catholic. Amoncist other portentous opinions,
he upholds most fervently the malignant doctrine of the
persecution of the heretics, and would think himself in
no error to burn any one, if the state of society allowed
it, who dares depart from the opinions of what he supposes
to be the Church Catholic! I have become an aged man
in this University ; and it has been my fate to observe
a number of men stationary here, sedulously employed
for many years in sapping and undermining the Protes-
tant faith of the Church of England, and to behold a ma-
jority of the influential and powerful members of the
place calmly :and quietly looking on, almost without a
movement, unheedful ot consequences productive of in-
ternal weakness to the Establishment, and destructive
of the doctrines of the Protestant Church Qf
Oxford Correspondent,