The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-24 00:00:00

PILOTAGE AND LIGHT DUES.

We copy the following from the Chronicle,
and confidently trust that the attempts made by
the General Steam Navigation Company, and,
indeed, the shipping interest in general, to get
these heavy dues diminished, will be successful :
We have reason to know, that considerable efforts
are likely to be made in the course of the ensuing
session, to obtain for our shipping interest some relief
from the oppressive tax at present levied in the shape
of pilotage and light dues. The question was brought
before the House of Commons in 1840, and at the
present moment, we have been assured, measures are
taking, with a view to urge the Government to bring
forward a measure of practical relief. Opposed as we
are to all unfair advantages enjoyed by one class of
the community at the expense of all other classes, we
are not the less anxious that every branch of indus-
try should be freed from every unnecessary burden ;
and if there is one branch better entitled than any
other to such an exemption,:it certainly is the ship-
ping interest, on
.whose continued prosperity the per-
manency of our national greatness may, in a great
measure, be said to be dependent.
In 1835, a Commission was appointed by his late
Majesty King William IV., to inquire into the then
existing laws for the regulation of pilotage, and to
suggest such improvements and reductions as might
.be consistent with the efficient performance of the
duties, and " with the paramount object of affording
the best security to the shipping of these realms."
The Commissioners were Lord Lowther, the Mar-
quis of Bute, the late Sir Thomas M. Hardy, G. R.
Robinson,: Esq., Chairman of Lloyd's ; Aaron Chap-
man, Esq., one of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity
House ; Captain Beaufort, of the Admiralty ; and O.
Wigram, Esq., an eminent shipowner.
These Commissioners, in due time, made their Re-
port, which was dated the 25th of February, 1836,
and contained a mass of evidence respecting the prac-
tice at British as well as at foreign ports. Among
the alterations recommended by the Commissioners,
was one respecting steam navigation, to which they
had; found the existing regulations a serious discou-
ragement and a heavy burden. They reported, that
" looking to the fact, as stated in evidence before
them, that the masters and mates of steam vessels,
froth the' constant and regular use of the ports between
which they. daily ply, are well acquainted with such
ports ; that it is customary not to permit any pilot to
take charge of their vessels (although they may have
one on board, and are obliged to pay the same as if
he acted), because they consider,
,that; their own etas -
ters are better qualified than the regular pilots); that
the charge also became very oppressive upon vessels
which quit and enter a port so frequently as steam
Vessels by their power and speed are enabled to do ;"
they therefore recommended " that all steam vessels
navigating between one port,of the United Kingdom
and another, and all steam vessels navigating between
a port of the United 'Kingdom and a foreign port,
when the average time employed in such a voyage did
not exceed four-and twenty hours, and having actually
on board a master, mate, or other competent person,
who had passed an examination for the district—should
be exempt from employing a pilot."
A Bill
,founded on the recommendations contained
in this Report 'was shortly afterwards brought into
the Mine of Coin rdons ` by the late Lord Sydenham
(then Mr'. P. Thtims<lo,l'and Mr. Labouchere. The
Bill NN'S.. ''''ki-stlnitili*-Vgecond time, and went
through a Conichiltdell9tit eventually withdrawn,
in con se'qUerfOl th6'flifficulty experienced
at that tithe intearrYliigliftWit'any measure of public
utility, owing to the, yes harassing opposition
against which the GovernnVehtlef that day had conti-
nually to struggle. Since then no step has been
taken to give effect to the recommendations of. the
Commissioners, although, as we have already observed,
the question Was:brought before the House of Com-
mons in 1840, on the presentation of petitions from
the General Association of Proprietors of Steam
. Shipping.
What the' owners of steam-vessels require is, that
when their own officers are fully competent to act as
pilots, they may not be compelled to pay for services
of which they stand in no need, the rapidity with
which they are able to make their voyages rendering
the imposition peculiarly burdensome. The relief
demanded is one that the Legislature ought not to
withhold, nor is there any reason why a similar in •
dulgence should not be extended to sailing ves-
sels, whenever the captain or mate of a sailing vessel
has legally qualified himself to act as pilot on that
particular line of coast along which he is in the habit
of navigating.
The question of light dues is liable to the same re-
marks. In 1834, a Select Committee of the House of
Commons was appointed to investigate the existing
regulations, and many of our readers, no doubt, still
remember some of the amusing discoveries made by
that Committee, amusing to the public at large, but
anything rather than amusing to the shipowners, the
unfortunate victims of the flagrant abuses brought to
light in the course of the inquiry. Among the Mem-
bers on that Committee were—Mr. Hume, Sir James
Graham, Sir Thomas Troubridge, Sir Charles Adam,
Mr. Poulett Thomson, Alderman Thompson, &c.
This Committee recommended various changes,
with a view to 'the relief of the shipping interest in
general, and; like the Pilotage Commission, pointed
out several grievances to which the owners of steam-
ships were particularly liable,- on this point they ex-
pressed themselves in. their Report in the following
words:—

"The light dues are now charged on steam-vessels
as on other vessels; -and the attention of your Commit-
tee has been directed to them. The present rates 'ere
made without reference- to the peculiarities attendant
on the navigation of that class of vessels, which appear
to warrant a reduction .of the dues.

" A vessel under sail is driven by the winds and
tides that lie in her course, and in tacking derives
much benefit from the ; but steamers move tn
straight lines, and perform much of their voyage in
the day-time ; they see few lights, and by the rapi-
dity cf. their movements soon pass them. Besides,
the people who navigate them acquire, from the fre-
quency of their trips, such an intimate acquaintanc
with the' coast, as renders lights of comparatively
little use to them. Again, steamers are obliged ge-
nerally to sail at fixed times, full or not full, and the.
carrying tonnage of a steamer is not so capacious as
that of 'another vessel, the best part of the hold being
occupied by machinery."
A Bill founded on this Report was brought in by
the late Government, and was eventually passed, but
in this Act (5 and 6 Will. W., cap. 79) the recom-
mendations relative to steam-vessels were overlooked.
The consequence has been, not only that steam-ves-
sels have not shared in the relief afforded by that Act
to other descriptions of shipping, but that advantage
has even been taken of some of the clauses contained
in that Act to impose an additional taxation upon
steam navigation. The whole of this question, how
ever, as we have already said, is at present under the
consideration of Government, and will probably be
brought under discussion in the House of Commons
early in the session.

. .
ij pie. following anecdote of the King of Prussia is
mentioned in a- letter from Berlin :—" When the
_Ciligcycaon. London at the christening of the Prince
of Wale, a request was made by the Royal Society
of Lei-Mon:Jo his Majesty to allow his name to be
,ackl4titoOigtiffiasts-of members. To this request the
KinglwaargimproUsly pleased to accede, and on one of
the -days foits444rAoßipty's meetings his Majesty at-
tended. tcaeA74,%/p§44el4 .(the President, the Mar-
quis. of NoTtli.atiTtiw„b4ng "absent from England at
the time), on, the.ajpeiy,§ion.ofhis Majesty as a mem-
ber, made use- of the.cigumary formula, but did not,
as is usual, take him, by, the. hand, which the King, on
the admission of the next member, observing was a
part of the ceremony, immediately rose, and requested
the Chairman to shake him by the hand, that he might
be regulaq admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society
of London." _ _

WESTON-ZOTLAND.—A fire occurred in this vil-
lage on the evening of Wednesday, the 14th instant,
under the following circumstances. An itinerant jug-
gler came into the parish the preceding evening, and
hired a room in a cider shop, without the knowledge
of those who would otherwise have prevented him,
and was making preparations for his exhibition. To
attract attention, he sent up a lighted balloon, which, it
is presumed, from its being ill prepared, descended
sooner than was intended, and alighting on a stack of
corn, ignited it, and the contiguous mows were soon on
fire, and serious danger was apprehended that the farm
houses and other dwellings would be consumed. The
prompt exertions of the villagers, and the plentiful
supply of water with which the thatched roofs
around were drenched, prevented the progress of the
flames, and the mischief was confined to the destruc-
tion of three ricks. .The readiness of assistance
afforded by the labourers, men and women, was
highly commendable. An engine from Bridgwater,
which had been immediately sent for, arrived in
time to be of effectual service in extinguishing the
flames, and after a while the fire was subdued. The
property, belonging to a Mr. Richard Tazewell, was
insured. Much serious loss was occasioned to the
cottagers by the breaking of their furniture in its
removal from their dwellings.—Bath Chronicle.
-PEEL'S OwN.—A hot bigoted Tory, who backed
Sir Robert. through thick and thin, when he pro-
pounded his Incotne-tax scheme, has got blown in not
having made a full return of his income, and thereby
attempted to cheat the Exchequer. This loyal Tory
may truly be called " Peel's own !" We guess that
Sir Robert has many such dutiful children in his
Tory race. It is to be hoped that the members of the
Government themselves have made honest returns,
and that their officials will make full stoppages out of
their salaries and family pensions ; but as Sir Robert
Peel and his 'companions are not in the habit of de-
ceiving, why there is not much doubt but that they
will act honestly towards poor John Bull.—Notting
ham Review.

THE SCOTCH REFORMERS-
OF 1793.
(From the _Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle.)
The recent decision of the Town Council, in favour
of granting a site on the Calton Hill, for a monument
to the political martyrs of 1793 and '94, has put the
old inveterate Tory faction in a state of exasperation
bordering on delirium. A remarkable instance of
this has just been exhibited by one of our Contempo-
raries in the press, known chiefly as the organ of
square-toed gouty old gentlemen of the Pitt and
Castlereagh school of politics. The paper we allude
to is the Edinburgh Weekly Journal, which, on Wed-
nesday last, held forth in the following style :
"v'e do not often feel called upon to comment
upon the debates in the Town Council; but our dis-
gust constrains us to advert, for a few moments, to
the speeches of the majority at the meeting of last
week, when the question of the- proposed monument
to the so-called Martyrs of 1793' was brought under
discussion. It is proposed that there shall be a monu-
ment on the Calton Hill in honour of a set of men
who were condemned by the laws of their country as
felons—that a monument to a renegade who fought
in a Spanish ship against his own countrymen, shall
atand beside the monument of the hero whose dying
signal on the coast of Spain was, England expects
that every man shall do his duty.' Is this atrocity
to be_ permitted ? It is argued that many persons
unhanged, [Councillors Macfarlan, 'Whyte, Stott, and
Wright, for example,] and even held by their friends
in considerable esteem, continue to hold and to avow
at the present day the opinions for which these men
suffered. If therebe persons at the present day bold-
ing the identical opinions of these fraternizers with
the French revolutionists, it may be a Izestion
whether the said persons are not too lucky in escaping
the fate of their admired predecessors. [How grateful
they ought to be !] That, however, is a question which
it would be a waste of time at this moment to discuss;
but there can be no question that a monument raised
to a convicted felon, would be an insult to the laws
under which he was convicted. If it was an unjust
law under which these men were convicted and
punished, let the, Legislature be called upon to declare
it so ; and if it be so declared, then the erection of a
monument to their memory will not be, as it would be
otherwise, an outrage on public decency."
To young Reformers this is instructive, as a speci-
Men of the spirit of that faction which persecuted their
fathers with remorseless cruelty, made victims of the
best men in the country, and would manifest itself
terribly still, were the ruthless monster not chained
and muzzled into comparative harmlessness.
We have great pleasure in being enabled, by the
kindness of a gentleman who was intimately asso-
ciated in efforts and sufferings with the "political
martyrs," and whose services to them and to the cause
of reform, in its dark days, cannot he too highly esti-
mated, to lay before our readers two interesting letters,
referring to the martyrdom of Thomas Muir, which,
though already in print, are too little known to the
public. One of them is written by the illustrious
martyr himself, and, the other by one of the foremost
men of the age in w hich he lived,
,to another' not less;
conspicuon Ref9.r4icA..'-' These letterS, with the tom-
muincationswlucf; accoMpanirs• their, are to elf desert
i .gOrt:alientive perusal. They demonstrate ciincln-
stvelitlie excellence of Muir's personal character, and-
the zondenination, by a man of the highest moral
worth, of the outrage of justice, under the name of
legal punishment, of which he was made the victim.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE EDINBURGH CHRONICLE.
Edinburgh, Dec. 16, 1842.
Sir,—On reading an account of the life of the de-
ceased .celebrated Major Cartwright, published in Lon-
don some years ago, I was struck with a letter frOM
the Major to his quondam associate for reform—the
Duke of Richmond, of the following tenor:—
"London, Dec. 11, 1793.
"My Lord,—lt is long since I offered your Grace
any of my thoughts. Of late, I have some time been
inclined so to do, but have been restrained through an
apprehension that they might not he acceptable. But
a letter from on board the hulks, from Mr. Thomas
Muir to B. Flower, Esq., of Cambridge, dated the
2d.i05f,.., which I have just read, bears down all re-
luctance. Could I peruse that letter without the most
poignant emotions, and without attempting to move
those who have power to wipe out such a stain to hu-
manity and to manhood as that letter affixes on my
country, I should merit detestation. Read that letter,
my Lord, I beseech you ; and read also the trial of
the writer. If he merit the treatment he has re-
ceived, I, also, and your Grace, ought to be cast into
dungeons among felons. But if he be the virtuous
victim of that corrupt and arbitrary system which
your Grace and I have laboured to reform It is
needless to say more.—l am, &c.,

"JOIN COTNVRIGHT."

The letter referred to of Mr. Miiir's is especially
entitled to notice. It is addi.eSsed from the hulks to
a friend at Cambridge, upon the eve of Muir's depar-
ture. from England. It does equal honour to his reli-
gious sensibility and his steady faith : .
" On board the Hulks, 2d Dec., 1793.
"My Dear Friend—l received yours at Edinburgh
with the sincerest pleasure ; your sentiments and
mine are equally accordant—the great lesson we have
to learn in. this world is submission and resignation to
the will of God. This lesson strikes upon the heart,
not by the force of cold and abstracted precept, but
by the example of Him who was the object .0 all auf-
feriags, and the pattern of all perfection. Much need
have I to be taught in his schooL ,Ilurled,'-as it were,
in a moment, from some6ftbe most polished societies
in Edinbuigh and London, into one of the hulks upon
the Thames, where every mouth is opened to blas-
pheme God; and every hand stretched out to injure .a
neighbour, I cannot divest. myself oCthe feelin?s of
nature—l cannot but lament my situatiQn ; and, were
it not for the hope of immortality, founded upon our
common Christianity, alas! I might accuse the. Father
of all Justice and of all Mercy; wi h seyerity:. But,
blessed be God, everything in the great system of.
natnre, everything in the little;..sjt-sferii of individual
man, corresponds with the great-dispauifitionS of the
Gospel, and demonstrates its efficacy.-
" Much consolation does the :reflection. now' afford
me, that in prosperity I always regarded this revela-
tion of Heaven with the most profound :reverence.
4ln solitary exile there is. a dignity, there.is a dm-
scious pride, which, even independent of philosophy,
may support the mind ; but I question much if any
of the illustrious of ancient ages could have supported
an exile similar to mine, surrounded by the veriest
outcasts of society, without the aid of religion and of
the example of Jesus.

" I have. been separated from Mr. Palmer—he is
in 'one hull;.,',:j.am in different one. The separation is
au act of unnecessary cruelty.
." My staterof health is poorly. The seeds of a
consumption, I apprehend, are planted in my breast.
I suffer no acute pain, but.daily experience a gradual
decay.
" Of everything relating to my future destination
I am utterly ignorant.
"Honour me by your correspondence. lam sure
it will ameliorate my heart.
" Farewell! my truly and respectable friend.
" THOMAS MUIR."

This is the man so vilified and branded by the To-
r;es as an infidel and traitor.

IMPROVEMNNT BILL.-O Thursday
morningSOUTHWARK the Commissioners appointed toH carry into
effect an Act of Parliament, which received the'Royal
assent last Seision, entituled " An Act of Parliament
for snaking a seW street from Blackman-street, in the
Borough, to the Blsakfriars-road, and for improving
the district called the Mint, in the parish of St.
George's, Southiark," met at the Literary Institu-
tion, in the Borough-road, for the purpose of the
clerk and the surveyor, appointed by the Commis-
sioners., laving before them the Report as to estimates
and the best means 'to be adopted in carrying out,
forthwith, the objects specified in the Act. The
whole of the Commissioners already appointed were
in attendance. The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, and
John Quinces Harris, Esq., the Member for New-
castle, were present, and mere also qualified to act as
Commissioners. The Lord Mayor said he should
cordially co-operate with his brother Commissioners,
and render every assistance in his power in carrying
out to its full extent the beneficial effects which would
result front the passing of the Bill. The Report,
which was very lengthy, haVing been read and con-
sidered, the Commissioners adjourned till a future day.
THE COURT—WINDSOR, Dec. 22.—Her Majesty
has commanded that a baron of beef, according to " the
old English, custom in baronial halls and royal pa-
laces; shall be the chief dish at the Royal banquet at
the Castle on Christmas-day. A splendid baron,
weighing nearly 250 pounds, has been selected for the
occasion by Mr. Adams, one of the purveyors of meat
to her Majesty at Windsor, which was this day exhi-
bited to the curious in matters of "good and substan-
tial eating." The baron is newly four feet in length,
and upwards of two feet wide ; a dainty dish," in
every way worthy to "set before" the Queen. This
enormous joint will be roasted to-morrow, and placed
upon the banquet table cold. His Grace the Duke of
Wellington left the Castle at an early hour this morn-
ing for Strathfieldsaye, where it. is expected his Grace
will remain during the Christmas holidays, and re-
turn to town a few days before the meeting of Par-
liament.

ANOTHER ATTACK ON THE SHOP IN HOLYVVELL-
STREET AND DESERTION OF THE PREIIIISES,..—On
hursday arespectably-dressed gentleman entered the
shop of Patterson, and tore down several of thZ
bills from the window. A crowd of several hundred
persons soon collected, and there being no one but the
boy on the premises, he shut up the shop and instantly
left,.
ADmisit, SIR JOHN LINDFORD, 1t.C.8 —This
much-respected brave old officer died on the 22(1
instant at his residence, Grove-road, after a few days'
illness, at the age of about 86 years, 65 of which, he
had been a commissioned officer in e navy, and
served as First Lieutenant of the N. ocil of 98 guns,
in the battle of the 12th of A , 1782, that. ship
being Lord Roduey's second astern on that day.

FATAL ACCIDENT.
Shortly after one o'clock on 'Thursday-a young girl
named Mary Ann Ladbury, aged 14 years, daughter
of a 6hipwright living at 8, Mercer's-place, Rategife, El
irytt7
left her home for the purpose of proceeding N • ; Tri
father's dinner to the gun dry dock, Wapp't.,o7:4n I
reaching the swivel-bridge of the dock -• :./. or',
. .., _:...,P,
Gravel-lane, it was found to be open, a i0.0,31,2w--- ,:.;-.
having entered from the eastern-dock. Asiwt•flii ,/i',;,7:-•'
such occasions, pedestrians and others evince kcinskl.ii,,!F;:::-T- r"-2-,,
I able impatience to get across at the earliest bßporiilo-:_ij.......;:,
nits, and run considerable risk in their haste tu4.14 tioc.,ffsivkaN
the other side before the bridge is actually ei•'' "
This was the case with Alary Ann Ladbuiy.
In attempting to crows before the bridge was
I shut she fell into the water. Her clothes kept
her. buoyant a few minutes on the surface ;
but, although the accident was -witnessed by a con- .
siderable -number of persons, none of them leaped
(probably owing to their not being swimmers) into
the water. A boat, however, soon proceeded to her
assistance ; but the zeal of the party in it proved fatal.
While the unfortunate young woman was still
buoyant by means of her apparel, the boat was
rowed past her, end before it could be backed or
turned au es to reach the drowning creature she dis-
appeared. Drags were immediately procured and
put in requisition, and in less than a quarter of an
hour the body was recovered, and without loss of
time conveyed to the police-station in the docks, where
a warm bath in case of similar accidents is alwats kept '
in readiness. Mr. Byrne, surgeon, 47, Oki 6 ravel-
lane, and another medical man; named Young,
living at No. 6, Harris's-terrace, were promptly
in attendance, and applied the usual means to -
restore suspended animation for nearly an ;dour, with-
)l.l :effect. The father (his dinner not iiaving ar-
rived at the gun-dock, Wapping, where he was work-
ing, at the usual time) proceeded towards - his home,
in doing which he had to pass over the swivel-bride--e
Old Gravel-lane. At this time persons were drag.
ging for the body, and, like many others, he in-
quired whether it was a male or female that had been
drowned. He was answered that it was a youn
woman dressed in a black gown. Never for a momen
imagining the young woman to be his own daughter,
he went to his house, and, on being told that Mary
Ann had left with his dinner some time previous, he
instantly ejaculated, " Then she is drowned." The
poor man, in a state of distraction, instantly repaired
to the police-station, and there recognised the body of
his daughter.

HORRIIILE OCCURRENCE.
(From the Nottingham Review of this day.)•
An inquest was held at the Lord Nelson public-
house, Bolton Moor, on the body of Ann Heywood,
female of seventy-three years of age, whet had died on
Wednesday evening!-
. Robert Taylor deposed—l am a pauper in the 1301-
ton workhouse. I never saw deceased until last
n4:ht, when I went to the dead-house with Hiram
11-olden, in consequence of information that a woman
had been dragged down stairs and laid out before she
was dead. When I got into the dead-house
.the de-
ceated was lying upon the dead-stone with a sheet
-atieshift upon her jest as she is now. The dead-
house is usually locked, and was so when we went t
see, but a girl went to the Governor for the key and
a candle. The Governor was present when .the doer
was unlocked, and I am certain that up to that perio
. the Governor was not aware that she was alive i
the dead-house. The Governor held the candle, and
I stood opposite to him just at her head. He said
" Where is your wick (live) woman ?" I replied,
" Well, I think she is dead ;" and just as I spoke, she
drew up her legs as well as she could. • She opened
her eyes and closed them, and I observed a movement
in her throat. I then said to the Governor, " She is
not dead." We stood amazed, and a young man pre-
tent said, " She must have a bed." The Governor
said, " Yes, fetch her a bed ;" and. I p:acked her upon
it, and she was carried into the hospital. Mary
Devonport, the nurse at the workhouse hospital),
came into the dead-house, and the Governor ordered
her out, and censured her for laying out people before
they were dead. Mary Davenport said, " No, she is
not dead," in reply to a question; and I said to her,
" No, you are an old brute ; and if she was my
mother, I would make an • example of you." The
deceased died about nine o'clock. I did_ not notice
the marks and bruises upon her body. I: understood
that she bad been in the dead hcuse three-quarters of
an hour before I went to her. The deceased, I un-
derstand, has been sick about twelve months. I
cannot blame the Governor, except in not sending
for the troctor. -

John Morris deposed to a similar effect.
Martha 21fangnall deposed—l. have know'n, de
ceased about eleven months. A week ago to-night-
she fell from her bed and blackened the right eye.
The scratch was not upon her last Dight, nor was
the mark on her arm then upon it. The deeeaaed-lay
upon the bed-room floor for about an hour and a half.
A pillow was thrown upon deceased's face, and re-
mained there at least a quarter of an hour. Mary
Devonport put the pillow upon deceased's face, and'
blew out the candle.

The Coroner having summed up, the Jury returned
the following verdict :—" That it appears, from the
evidence, that the deceased has died from old age and.
decay ; • and although the evidence does not warrant'
the Jury: in - reurning a verdict of manslaughter
against'ldary Devonport, yet they are of opinion that
she has been guilty of great neglect, and has treated
deceased in a cruel. and brutal manner; and that she.
is highly repreheniible not only on this account, but',
from hen :drunken
.habita, and ought to be discharge
iinmediatiely from the workhouse.- The Jury el
think that the workhouse regulations require to I e
amended."
At a:Meeting pf Guardians held the day after
the inqt*, it wis agreed that Mary Detonport b e
discha reed :forthwitht.!-

FOREIGN GEESE AND TURKEYS.—Large quantities
of these have, for the Christmas season, been intro-
duced thelast few
,days into Leadenhall and Newgate
niarkefs,'.liit which, from the close manner in which
they have'been packed, by which they have become
heated, and the heiit of the weather, have turned out
quite green and unfit for food. Great numbers have
been removed at night and thrown away as. offal, as
the stench has proved quite offensive to both
,salesmen
and purchasers. On Thursday, at noon, as a porter was
removing a case full of these putridgeese from Leadesi,
hall Market, it fell from his head, and, being unloos-
ened, the geese, about twenty in number, fell out into
the road. Considerable merriment was excited by his
hastily catching up the case and running away, leave
ing the geese to the mercy =of
.the bystanders, who
amused themselves by playing at. foot-ball with them.
Geese and turkeys ?I-inferior quality may he obtained
at a very cheap price, whilst those of good quality
are dear. The warm and unseasonable weather of
the last few days has also proved very detrimental to
the meat markets, from the quantity which has turned.
bad, and been thrown away or sold at a low price.
The present weather is particularly unfavourable for
keeping fat meats, which are much more liable to de-
compose than those of more muscular fibre.

~

BOWOOD PALtK.—The French Ambassador, the
Count and Countess d'Harcourt, the Countess de
Sainte Aulaire, Count de Grammont,,Sce., are ex
pected to arrive here at the commencement of the
New Year, on a visit to the Marquis and' Marchioness
of Lansdowne:.

STATE or TRADE AT AS IBURTON.—It is with
pleasure we are enabled to state, that the woollen
trade still presents a scene of activity—the factories
and wool shops are all open, and a busy throng are
working at their different employments from morn till
night.—.Pkneonik •Jottrned.
StonsnrlG EXTRAORDINAay.—Oh Wednesday, the
7th inst, Mr. R. Blakevrood, and Mr. B. Busford,
jun., of Topsham, met with most extraordinary sport.
In the space of six hours Mr. Blakewood killed 38
snipes, 3 jacks, 5 ducks, 8 teal, and a hate; Mr. B.
Busford, jun., 31 snipes, 6 jacks, 3 ducks, and 2 teal
—total, 61 snipes, 9 jacks, 8 ducks, 10 teal, awl 1'
hare. Last year Mr. Blakewood, in too days, , killed
with one double-barrelled gun 64 snipes, 6 ducks,.ani
3 teal.— Western Luminary.

Wonuiu ABBEY.--Frigate theatricals commenced'
here on Wednesday evening. Amongst' the visitors
were—The Earl of Leicester and his brother (t 1
Hon. Mr. Coke), the Earl and Countess of Albemarle,
the Hon. Chas. Compton and Lady Catherine
Caven-
dish, the Misses Cavendish, the Earl and Countess of
Arundel,' the Lady Paget, Mr. and Ml-s. Shelley' the
Baroness de Clifford, Lord A. Fitzelarence, Lords
William, Edward, Cosmo, and Francis Russell ; Mr.
Colborne, Lord and Miss Foley.
CLEMINCY OF THE WEATHEIL.—RIPS Sraiwuar
this season, which is now pretty
far advanced, we have experienced little of the rigours
of winter! but, on the contrary, the weather has been
exceedingly mild, aSKI favourable to vegetation. As
a proof of which we may state that oq Saturday last
we were pres...ated with a few ripe strawberries, which
were grown in she garden of Mr. Robert Stewart,
Altrest, near Donemana, which has rather an exposed.
situation. From different quarters, also, we under-
stand that thrushes r-e singing, and sparrows building
nes ts.—Londonderryjournal.
SVPPOSED MURIDIR AT CLASSON'S BRIDGE.—The
body recently found in the lime-kiln in this neigh-
bourhood has been Wentified by his brother, as that
of a young man, named Lynch, who held some ap.
pointment in the Ordnance Survey Department; and
from the fact of all his private papers and letters
having been destroyed on the Saturday night pre-
viously to the body being discovered, some suspicion
is entertained dab the unfortunate young man de-
stroyed himself.---Dublin Evening Mail.
A few years back, the stalls of a class of men call e
tl shoe-blacks " were seen at the corners of our streets.
It is considered that during dirty weather, such a
at present, that, if revived, would afford a means
psujobsymisteenntese to many 'who are now at loss for . 3

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

GLOBE.—Sir Robert Peel may discover the senti-
ments of the country toward the leading measures of his
Government in the annual elections fbr the Common
Council of the City of London. The Corn-law and
the Income-tax—the former based on the vicious
principle of a " sliding-scale"—fit emblem of the
slippery propensities of its champion !—the latter, his
grand financial remedy for the national maladies—
these have shared between them the decided opposi-
tion of the citizens ; who, in nearly all the ward elec-
tions, have tested the merits of the candidates by their
adhesion to, or determined disapprobation of these in-
jurious and obnoxious measures. The Hera/d, cast-
ing about for some topic of congratulation under cir-
cumstanced so mortifying to Sir Robert Peel, and por-
tentious to his party, finds it in the supposed predomi-
nance of dislike on the part of' the citizens to the In-
come-tax !—" St. Thomas's Day passed away in the
City sv,ithout promoting Anti-Corn-law agitation.
The citizens are practical people, sensitive in
the extreme about the quarters where the breeches
pockets lay, and they grumbled therefore at the
Income-tax much more than at the price of bread."
Miserable comforter! The Income-tax was the
master-stroke of Sir Robert Peel's financial policy—
the measure on which above nil others, he rested his
claims to the confidence of the country. When he
proposed it to the House of Commons his tone and
manner, no less than his language, showed how much
he prided himself on his grand expedient—how un-
shaken was his confidence in the potency of its virtues,
and how sanguine his expectation of universal appro-
bation from the country for its introduction. And
now—on the earliest opportunity, before its exactions
are demanded by its collectors, and it is only known
through the preliminary operations of its in-
quisitorial investigation—to find the citizens
provokingly unanimous in resenting its im-
position, and showing, by their mode of exercis-
ing the civic franchise, how they would use their
electoral rights in voting for Parliamentary represen-
tatives, were the opportunity afforded them. Sir R.
Peel is wise to discern the indications of popular
opinion. He knows well what the resolutions recently
passed by the Common Council in favour of free
trade, and those which have been adopted by the
most populous wardmotes of the City against the
Income-tax, followed by its open denunciation by the
inhabitants, who required from the candidates a
pledged resistance to the Coien-laws and Income-tax,
as the condition of receiving their suffrages for the
office of Common Councilmen—Sir Robert Peel, we
say, understands what these things mean ; he knows
they are the precursors of' a storm against which his
crazy, ill-manned hark will be unable to bear up.
STANDARD.—We have at length extorted, if
not an account of the missing 100,0001. of the League
Fund in 1841, an excuse •for rendering no account.
Our readers will be puzzled to conjecture the na-
ture of this excuse. The books have been burned,
they may imagine—or carried away in the late in-
surrection—or the cashier has bolted—or, possibly,
has received a hint from Lord Abinger, or Sir
Nicholas Tindal, that the effect of his exertions
in the cause of the League last autumn requires a
change- of air to Sydney or Norfolk Island, or the
refugium of Russell Magistrates, Port Phillip?
No—nothing of the kind is alleged. No loss of
hooks is pretended, nor does it appear that any of
the confidential agents of the League has as yet
met with his deserts. The explanation is that
the boasted collection of 100,0001. was all a cheat
—that not more than a fourth of the money
(if so much) was ever brought to book—and that
the remainder must be set down to the scattered
and casual expenses of the Leaguers and their friends.
This is just as if a bankrupt called by the Commis-
sioners to account for the disposal of-his cash credit
should say—" Heaven help your wits, gentlemen ; I
never possessed such a sum, or the fourth of it. What
you see here in the hooks as credit to cash
is merely the sum total of all that I expended—
house bills, tailors' bills, milliners' bills, my
wife's soirees, many good dinners, money paid for
puffing advertisements, or expended at boxing-matches
and horse- races: I have lumped them together, and
put plus my little stock of money, down as my cash
credit." We doubt whether any of the Whig-derided
Commissioners would rest satisfied with an explana-
tion of this kind. The answer would probably be,—
"Sir, you have claimed to possess a certain sum in cash
(say 100,0001.) over and above all these current ex-
penses—account for that or abide the consequences."

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM THE. MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

TII\IES.—Many Correspondents are urging atten-
tion at this time to the practice of giving Christmas-
boxes to the clerks of private bankers, which they de-
signate as one of those abuses winked at and per-
mitted because it is of long standing, but having no
other ground to rest upon. That the principle is a
bad one will he readily assented to, since no other
trade or profession can be named, with the exception,
perhaps, of barristers, the emlloyes of which are re-
gularly paid by their customers ; and there are altered
circumstances at this time with regard to the trade
of banking generally which make it a proper time for
the revision of this custom, and to put it, like all
other matters of the kind, to the test of reason and
good sense. In ordinary cases where new establish-
ments are opened in any trade, they are always found
ready enough to adopt the customs they find in use,
but not one instance has occurred among the joint-
stock banks in which this practice has been adopted ;
on the contrary, it has been expressly forbidden,
though there might be much stronger reasons among
them for availing themselves of that assistance, as
their general profits are much diminished by the pay-
ment of interest upon deposits. We do not mean to
express any approbation of this practice of paying
interest by the joint-stock banks, but looking to the
competition in the trade, and the situation of the cus-
tomers under each system of banking, it is a material
ingredient in the question, which private banks would
do well to consider. In all the railway establish-
ments, and, in fact, in all public undertakings where
the parties have to start anew, unfettered by old
habits and prejudices, a dead set is invariably made at
this practice of gratuities to servants, as alike injurious
to them and to the service they have to perform. It
is not intended for an instant to contend that good
and faithful service should not be well and liberally
remunerated, but only that this is an improper mode
of supplying such remuneration.
The public, probably, have never fully considered
to how large a sum the gratuities to the clerks of pri-
vate bankers amount in the aggregate. Few bankers
of high standing have less than a thousand depositors,
many of them a considerably greater number ; and as
the gratuities, seldom less than two guineas, often
amount to 10 or 15 guineas, the sum total thence de-
rived may be often as much as 4,0001. or 5,0001. We
do not mean to question the rate at which the services
of bankers' clerks are remunerated, nor to state it as
a reproach, under the competition, which exists for
d
such employment, that the principals do not
we payha
e a
any
higher salaries than they can help ; bu
strong persuasion that cases would be met with inv the
cities of London and 'Westminster, where no exten-
sive connection with country banks exists, in which
the 44 Christmas-boxes" would prove more than suffi-
cient to pay the whole of the salaries of the clerks.
Is it too delicate a question to ask what becomes of
the surplus ?
We have, indeed, heard it affirmed, but make the
statement with considerable doubt and hesitation, that
there are banking houses who make these gratuities
a part of the regular profits of the firm, and do not
divide them among their clerks at all. This, if true,
would be a much stronger reason than any yet given
for the discontinuance of the system, and it would he
much better and more honourable for the bankers to
make a distinct charge rateably, for the trouble of
keeping each account, than to take that remuneration
under the cover of that ancient and venerable ruse
torn. If they really do not apportion them among
their clerks, but take them into consideration in
settling their various salaries, it comes, by another
mode, to nearly the same thing. But in any care, it
is not less an abuse, and founded altogether on a. false
principle.
It will be said, of course, which is the only sha-
dow of an excuse for it, that the gift is entirely a
voluntary one, and that it is perfectly optional to all
to bestow it or not ; but every one knows low diffi-
cult it is in all such cases to bear the imputation of
acting meanly compared with others in the same
class of banking depositors, and we have at this mo-
ment the letter of a correspondent, who adverts to
" the hard case of poor tradesmen being called upon
by:he clerks of private banking-houses to pay them
Christmas-boxes, and even importuned in an abrupt
manner if delayed for a few days pait Christmas."
Consols labour under continued depression. Busi-
ness in the market is slack, with an evident disincli-
nation to deal. The speculators are completely at a
stand, being deterred by the sombre prospect of af-
fairs in the Peninsula.

The Jamaica papers by the Tweed give a few facts
relative to the state of that island, but otherwise the
arrival presents little of interest. The Legisbiature at
Kingston was in full clebato upon questions connected
with the future administration of atfairs, and among
them were two of some importance to the parties
locally concerned; one measure providing t!ie levy of
a tax upon sugar mid coffee consumed :n the island;
the other, the passing of the New tamp Act, both
with the ultimateview of increaslng the revenue. The
conduct of the Earl of Elgin 'n his public capacity of
Governor is alluded to in highly complimentary terms
by the journalists. The most prominent movement
the mercantile interest had made was the request ;_:,
the House of Assembly for the appointment o' a com-
mittee
prep= a.aaemorial addressed to the Queen,
to
praying for proZoction to sugar by means of a differ.
the
wholesale
to consider
zi Committee_ wa,; a •
ential duty.
enera. y. ale importers
11 The
the question
of
actures had also applied for an increase
British mum.
of protectife duties, the competition of th- fivei,n
grader, bellies destroying the ProsPe^' - itssi'of

dealers, draining the island of its specie, as, instead of
purchasing their produce in exchange for what they
themselves sell, they always take in their return
cargoes at the slave-labour countries.
POST.—The funds continue to be acted upon by
political considerations, the Spanish question being
still uppermost in the public mind. The fluctuations
are, however, of so little importance as to prove that
the feeling indulged at Paris is, in comparison, but
slightly participated in here. At the Bourse there
has been another decline of one per cent. in the rentes;
but in the London market the change has been re-
sponded to to the extent of no more than about 4 per
cent., nor was even this produced by any want of
confidence, as exhibited beyond the purlieus of Capel-
court, the operations being confined to the more
speculative class of jobbers themselves.
Money, for Stock Exchange purposes, remains low,
and is, in fact, considered unprecedentedly so for the
time of the year. Loans, on the deposit of English
stock and Exchequer bills, are obtained, for long
periods, at from 11 to 2.4 per cent.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF CHANCERY, Dec. 23.

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL V. SOUTIIGATE.-JUDGMENT.

The LORD CHANCELLOR gave judgment in this
case. The testator, by his will, bequeathed all his
freehold, leasehold, and personal property to trustees,
to sell and dispose of the same, and, after paying cer-
tain legacies, his just debts, and other expenses at-
tendant on the %yin, to dc-posit the proceeds with the
Cordwainers' Company, for the use of certain charit-
able trusts. `,,The point in controversy, under the will,
was to find out of what fund the debts and legacies
ought to be paid. It was contended that these
debts and legacies ought to be paid exclusively out of
the personal estate ; on the other side it was urged
that they should be taken out of the mixed fund. He
was of opinion, after reading the whole of the will,
that the intention of the testator was, that the debts
and legacies were to be paid out of the mixed fund.
In fact, he stated on the face of the will that the fund
was formed for that purpose. Considering this to be
the intention of the testator, and referring to the cases
of Robinson v. Walker, of Johnson v. Woods, awl
Fourdrin v. Goodred, a decree must be ordered ac-
cording to what he had stated, and that there must
be a declaration making the debts, legacies, and
funeral expenses payable out of the mixed fund, and
paid rateably- according to the value of the real estate.
Other consequential alterations would be made, par-
ticularly with respect to some provision for the heir
at law taking the residue of the real estate.