The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-18 00:00:00

FERMI) Y PETTY SESSIONS

A valued and respected correspondent has put us into pos-
session of a circumstance which occurred at Fermoy Petty
Sessions, that, in our opinion, deserves public notice, and calls
for explanation. A poor man, named Michael Leary, kiln
labourer, at Ciondillane, was summoned last week to the ses-
sions by Edward K. Carey, Esq., as a trespasser, because in a
moment of exhaustion he entered his field to take a drink of
water at a running stream. This gentleman is, we under-
stand, himself a 'magistrate, and sat on the bench while the
case was being adjudicated. The poor man was fined in the
mitigated penalty of one shilling for his eup of cold water!
and in addition to this he had to pay costs amounting to one
shilling and sixpence.
Now, we can understand that to protect himself from the
injury and annoyance of a general system of trespass, Mr.
Carey may have been obliged to seek the interposition of the
law, though in that view of the case there is reason to regret
he selected a poor man, who, instead of resorting to the beer-
house, went to enjoy the cheap—no—but, as it proved, very
extravagant, luxury of a drink of water. But, whatever
may have been the practice formerly, when the mild and mer-
ciful genius of British law was illustrated by its Irish admi-
nistration, we do not understand how a magistrate could
venture now-a-days to be both complainant and judge in his
own case. This requires explanation, and, doubtless, it will
be demanded by a big-wigged personage, whose demand must
be complied with. Another matter which calls for investi-
gation is the question of costs. One shilling and sixpence
for a complaint summons before a bench of unpaid magis-
trates! Why in the days of our old corporation—when jus-
tice was paid for—the schedule of charges did not reach so
high a figure.
After all, let us have equal justice for rich and poor. It
may be quite right to prevent trespass on the part of the
humble. It is equally so that the poor man's potato garden
and corn field should be protected from the wealthy and the
.powerful. Mr. Carey keeps a sporting pack of hounds well
fed and humanely cared for. Does he, his hounds, his horses,
and his friends ever commit a trespass en the rack-rented
tenant? Are not his ditches broken down, his corn injured,
his potato .beds trampled, and his farm fowl destroyed ? Yet
we read of no trespass case at Petty Sessions. The sports-
man escapes the meshes of the law. The poor man cannot
adjudicate in his own case ; and when it is POVERTY versus
WEALTH, he has but a poor chance in the rich man's court.
He remains away, and silently endures, year after year, a
trespass far more serious than that committed by the poor
water-drinker. This is what gives the people a distaste for the
administration of justice in this country, and brings it into
disrepute. We think the teetotallers of Fermoy ought to
pay poor Leary's fine and costs, and give him a suitable pre-
! sent in the bargain.—Cork Southern Reporter.

THE WEATHER AND SHIP-
WRECKS AT STORNOWAY, &c.

STORNOWAY, Nov. 6.—As the mail packet has been so
irregular in her trips from this island to the mainland of late,
the following news of the late gale on our coast have not
found their way into any of the papers. The gale of the 20th
ultimo was one of the most Fevere ever felt by the inha-
bitants of this place. All the vessels lying in the harbour
were safe, except a small sloop, named the Maria, which
parted from her anchor and received a little damage. At
the Butt of the Lewis, a large brig, hull up, came on shore ;
the cargo, consisting of deals and poles, have been all saved ;
the hull is broken up—crew drowned. A ship named the
Notalas, of Sunderland, three masts cut away, came into
Lochresort, laden with deals from Archangel—crew saved.
The hull of a large vessel, supposed to-be a Prussian, laden
with timber from Memel, came on shore at Ui!,-..,—crew
drowned. A Spanish schooner, named the Annette, of Bilboa,
laden with fish, from North Bergen, came on shore at Barra
--crew partly saved. A large foreign barque, timber laden,
struck on a rock at Valamors, near the mouth of Lochshell,
is bilged, but will be got off. A brig and schooner were lost
near Cape Wrath, and only two individuals of the crew were
saved. The harvest is about finished in this quarter. I am
glad to say the potato crops are entirely free of the disease
said to be so prevalent in other parts of the country.—Scotch
Reformers' Gazette.

WESTERN BANK OF SCOTLAND.—A special general
meeting of this flourishing establishment was held in the
Tontine Hotel, on the 7th inst., T. D. Douglas, Esq., of
Dunlop, Deputy-Governor, in the chair, when resolutions
were unanimously agreed to, empowering the Company to
create 30,000 new shares of 50/. each. This resolution gave
much satisfaction to the numerous shareholders present.—
Scotch Reformers' Gazette.
INSECURITY OF THE SUBURBS.—The inhabitants
of the suburban districts of Hackney and Clapton have been
recently subjected to some uneasiness, in consequence of a
caution on the part of the police, to the effect that a gang of
thieves and burglars are on the alert in that parish.
Hitherto no robbery has been committed, but a gentleman
was assaulted a few nights ago, near the Victoria-park, by
a ruffian, who felled him to the ground by a bludgeon, but
was alarmed by the sound of footsteps before he had rifled
his victim, and got. away.
We understand, on good authority, that an accre-
dited agent of the Government has been making liberal offers
to the shipwrights in the various dockyards of this city, to
induce them t') transfer their services to the Government
arsenals. The terms, we are informed, are ss. per day wages,
free passage to the port where they are to be employed, and
a promise of a pension after a servitude of a certain term.—

Cork Examiner:
FIRST SCOTTISH BIBLE.—The first edition of the
whole Bible ever printed in Scotland was printed by collec-
tions of parishes, ordered by the Church. It was dedicated
to the King in 1579 ; and it was required by Act of Parlia-
ment, under a penalty of 101., that every family should have
a Bible and a Psalm-book, and searchers were appointed to
see that the Act was carried into effect. _ _

FATE OF THE APOSTLES.—St. Matthew, the apostle
and evangelist, is supposed to have suffered martyrdom, or
to have been slain with a mold at a city in Ethiopia. St.
Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, in
Egypt, until he expired. St. Luke was hanged upon an
olive tree in Greece. St. John was put into a cauldron of
boiling oil and escaped death; he afterwards died a natural
death at Ephesus. St. Peter was crucified at Rome, his
head downwards, at his own request, thinking himself un-
worthy to die in the same posture and manner as his blessed
Master. St. James the Great was beheaded at Jerusalem.
St. James the Less was thrown from a pinnacle or tower
wing of the Temple, and then beaten to death with a fuller's
club. St. Philip was hanged up against a pillar at Iliera-
polis, a city of Phrygia. St. Bartholomew was flayed alive
by command of a barbarous king. St. Andrew was bound
to a cross, whence he preached to the people, until he ex-
pired. St. Thomas was run through the body with a lance
at Coromandel, in the East Indies. St. Jude was shot to
death with arrows. St. Simon Zelotes was crucified in
Persia. St. Matthias was first stoned and then beheaded.
St. Barnabas of the Gentiles was stoned to death by the
Jews at Salonica. St. Paul was beheaded at Rome by the
tyrant Nero.
THE LAW OF DEBTOR AND CREDITOR IN PRUSSIA
WITH REGARD TO PUBLIC FUNCTIONARIES AND GOVERN-
MENT EMPLOYES. —We read in a letter from Berlin, Oct. 27,
published by the Gazette des Triliunaux :—" For sometime
past the Prussian Government had adopted the principle that
all public functionaries and persons employed by the State
should be free from debt. The Ministers of Justice, Interior,
Finances, and Public Instruction, informed their subordi-
nates that if they got into debt they must expect to be dis-
missed, and this menace has been more than once carried
into effect. The Minister of Justice even went further, for in
order to prevent for the future the admission into the judi-
cial order of persons not sufficiently well off to render
it unnecessary for them to incur debts, he- issued a
notice that no person should be appointed to a judicial
post, or even to any office connected with it, without
having previously proved that he could command for ten
years an annual revenue of 400 thalers (64!.), ten years
being taken as the possible period during which he will
have to climb up the ladder of promotion until he can
receive a sufficient salary for his support. The Minister of
War, who had taken no step of this kind, has just acted in
a diametrically opposite way from that of his colleagues.
He has reserved all his rigour for the creditor. He pro-
cured a list of the debts of the officers under age (under
twenty-five) of the garrison of Berlin, which at present
consists of 40,000 men, almost all corps delite, or royal
guards, whose officers are necessarily compelled to a more
expensive mode of living and display than those of the army
generally, and brought before the tribunals all the creditors
who had lent money to the minors, or supplied them with
articles of luxury, in order that they might be punished
according to article 1,310 of the penal code, which
says Every individual lending money to a minor, or
giving him illicit credit (for other objects than those of
necessity), shall be punished with a fine equal to the amount
of the debt, which shall, independently of this fine, be re-
garded as null.' In consequence of this denunciation, 730
tradesmen—amongst whom coachmakers, saddlers, hatters,
coffee-house keepers, horse-dealers, wine and spirit merchants,
and tobacco dealers, are in the majority—appeared before the
Criminal Chamber of the Tribunal of First Instance of Berlin,
and were condemned to fines, amounting together to more
than 112,000 thalers (17,920/.). Some of them have ap-
pealed to the Royal Court; others have implored the royal
clemency. It is reported that the King intends to remit one-
third of the fine."
DARING FORGERY.—Merthyr has hitherto been
celebrated for its noisy and fighting scenes; but a daring and
successful forgery, perpetrated during the past week, forms
quite an era in the history of the town. It is, we believe,
the first attempt of the kind; and, as a wag remarked,
" affords an undeniable proof that the march of civilisation
has extended even to these Cyclopian regions." A pale
young man presented at the Brecon Bank a cheque for 2401.,
purporting to have been given by a Mr. Morgan Thomas, a
coal merchant, living about seven miles from Cardiff, at a
place called the Upper Boat. Feeling a little surprised at
this unusual mode of raising the monthly pay of the
Vnysgan colliers, Mr. Evans required the youth to find some
one in the town who knew him. He went away, and shortly
returned in company with Mrs. Harman, of the Gwaelody-
garth Arms. Upon her assurance of the respectability of the
youth, who appeared in the garb of, and professed to be a
preacher, the money was paid. Mrs. Harman was intimately
acquainted with Mr. Thomas, and spared no pains to enter-
tain his professed agent. The young man parted from her
that evening at the railway statior, and took his ticket for
Llandaff; but, instead of going to Llandaff, he alighted at
Treedythiw, three miles from Merthyr, and it is strongly
suspected that the pseudo reverend is a well-known female!
The kept mistress of an insolvent publican has been taken up
on suspicion—she lately deposited 2001. in the West of Eng-
land Bank, whereas a few days before she had applied for
parish relief !—Cambrian.
SINGULAR PHENOMENON ON LAKE ONTARIO.—On

Saturday last a most extraordinary occurrence was noticed
in the lake at this place. Shortly before noon, some gen-
tlemen who were walking on the wharf, happening to cast
their eyes upon the water between the piers, were struck
with the very unusual appearance of a strong current or
tide, as it were, setting directly out to sea. It seemed as
if the whole lake were, going bodily away. In a few mi-
nutes nearly a third part of the inner harbour, with a cor-
responding portion of the shore on either side, was left en-
tirely bare, when suddenly the tide turned and came as
rapidly back again, filling the harbour at least two feet
higher than it was before. This extraordinary action of
the lake was continued at regular intervals of every eight
or ten minutes till after dark—the highest tide noticed being
a little before six in the evening, when the water rose seven
inches higher than it was last spring, and just two feet and
an inch above its present level. We understand the same
occurrence was noticed at other places on the lake, and hear
that at Port Hope the effect was so great that the steam-
boat Princess Royal could not get into the harbour at all,
running hard aground when more than her length outside
the entrance to the piers. The cause of so extraordinary a
phenomenon is at present a matter of various conjecture, but
the general opinion seems to be that it could only have been
produced by a violent earthquake in some part of the conti-
nent, which we shall probably soon hear of.—Coburg Star.
AFRICAN CANDOUR.-" Did you attend church to-
day, as I charged you?" inquired an old Indian planter of
one of his slaves, as he returned to his dwelling. " Sartin,
massa," was Cudjo's reply—" an what two mighty big stories
dat preacher did tell !" " Hush ! Cudjo, you mustn't talk
that way; what stories were they?" "Why, he tell de
people no man can serve two masses ; now dis is de fuss
story, 'case you see ole Cudjo sarves you, my ole massa, and
also young massa John. Den de preacher says, he will lub
de one and hate de other '—while de Lord knows, I hate you
boa. r,