The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-24 00:00:00

" TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

" Sir,—Rumours having been industriously pro-
pagaud which are calculated to sully my character,
by representing my retirement from the representa-
tion of the county of Waterford as the result of an
arrangement entered into with the party by which I
was opposed at the late general election, it may
perhaps be necessary, for the information of those
who do not know me, that 1 should empower you
thus publicly to expose the falsehood of all such in-
sinuatiow, by declaring unequivocally that my resig-
nation is totally unconnected with any communica-
tion, understanding, or negotiation, expressed or im•
plied, with any party or parties whatsoever.
" I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
" Dromatu, June 19. " 11. VILLIERS STUART."

The report of an intended continental tour,
connected with political considerations of high
importance, is repeated in various foreign Jour-
nals, both French and German ; but these Jour-
nals are mistaken in supposing that the Duke of
Wellington is to be the itinerant diplomatist.
We believe it is determined that a person of high
consideration, and fully in the confidence of the
British Cabinet, shall proceed almost immediately
to the Continent, but without being invested with
any ostensible and definite character. The
extent of his projected circuit, as well as the time
that it will occupy, must necessarily depend upon
circumstances. The political objects particularly
contemplated by the mission are, of course, matters
of conjecture ; all we pretend to say is, that the
measure is determined on. We have heard more
than one name mentioned as likely to be selected
for this arduous and delicate duty, but we do not
conceive these nominations to rest on any suffi-
cient authority.— /Um ning Chronicle.
The ferment in Ireland occasioned by the in-
jodiciesus decision on the subject of Mr. O'Con-
nell's claim to sit for the County which returned
him, and will again return him by an overwhelm.
ing majority, is not confined to the district more
immediately concerned. An opposite quarter of
the kingdom (the county of Louth) presents a
scene of scarcely inferior agitation. This was
the less to be expected, as that county, small in
extent, contains a greater number of constantly
resident gentry than any other of similar dimen-
sions ; but in the state of habitual excitement
which has so long existed in Ireland, even the
expectation of any event likely to give opportu-
nity for a display of party or sectarian feeling is
the neverfailing harbinger of tumult ; and the
vacancy contemplated upon the judicial elevation
of Mr. Leslie Foster, combined with the unpre-
cedented spectacle of two Roman Catholic Can-
didates, standing on opposite interests and con-
flicting pretensions, has thrown the county town
and its vicinity into a state of agitation which
our letters from the spot, written by judicious
and cool-headed observers, represent as hourly
increasing. It may be of some use, as having a
tendency to keep down these premature ebulli-
tions, to inform our Irish friends, that what is
technically called a hitch, has occurred, and that
the promotion of the Learned Gentleman is ra-
ther more a matter of uncertainty than it has
heretofore been supposed, and that it will by no
means be immediate, if it takes place at all. We
lately hinted that certain menacing indications
in the Irish horizon would, in all probability,
have the effect of retarding the intended exalta-
tion of various favoured individuals ; and from
what has latterly come to our knowledge on the
subject, we see no reason for changing our
opinion.—lbid.
Mr. John Lawless, it would appear, is to be
prosecuted. Mr. Sheil was proceeded against, •
but the prosecution against him was abandoned ;
we think that there ought to be no such distinc-
tion made. We think the Duke of Wellington
and Mr. Peel had better decide in Mr. Lawless's
case as they did in that of Mr. Shell. The
Catholics, by means principally of Messrs.
O'Connell, Shen, and Lawless, wrung from us
Protestants, concessions that we were. loth to
give. Abundance of seditious speeches were
made before such concessions were wrung, but
only one of the speakers is to be prosecuted ;
another was proceeded against, but the proceed-
vy was abandoned. This is not fair, especially
as, amidst all the seditious speaking, John
Lawless was the most candid, and often spoke in
4opposition to matters entertained by the Aswcia-
lion. The Duke and Mr. Peel can get only
odium by going On with this solitary prosecu-

tion ; and therefore we presume to. recommend.
them to abandon it, and shew the spirit of bury-
ing all things arising from what has been called
Catholic Emancipation in oblivion.—Morning
Herald.

The late election for Weymouth exhibited one
of those instances which are a disgrace to a
country laying claim to political honesty and in-
tegrity, and shows, beyond a doubt, that the
electors are, generally speaking, ten times more
corrupt than the elected. The Solicitor-Gene-
ral, it seems, was assailed with reproaches,
amounting to the savage yells of cannibalism,
for not having paid the expenses of his previous
election—in other words, with not having sub-
mitted to the most gross and unjustifiable extor-
tion under that name ; and, though he had
actually paid 6,000/. for obtaining a seat which
ought not to have cost as many hundreds, the
swillers and bribers of this immaculate place were
anxious to rob him still further—an attempt
which we were happy to see that the Learned
Gentleman resisted in so determined and suc-
cessful a manner. Yet Weymouth is one of those
places where freedom of election is supposed to
take place, and where the number of electors places
them beyond the reach of ordinary sale or cor-
ruption. The fact, however, seems to be just the
reverse of the inference which would be drawn from
their numbers ; and though they may not,
from their numbers, expect to be paid, as at
Thetford, a given sum per head, they take care
to have their reward either in malt or in meal,
and, at any rate, to fleece the Candidate as far
as his means, his credulity, or timidity, may ex-
' tend. We give Mr. Sugden credit for having
the courage to resist this system of electioneering
plunder. No man of common sense will con-
sider his moral honesty in any way compromised
by his refusal to pay demands which he never
either legally or morally incurred, and which are
made, in fact, under much the same kind of
moral code which governs the " stop and deliver"
of the highwayman. The country at large is in-
terested in persons who are exposed to it resisting
this species of plunder. Rotten boroughs, where
a stated price is paid for the seat, are, bad as
they are, infinitely preferable to a species of
mock election, in which the strongest purse is
sure to win, and in which a man must either incur
actual ruin, or indemnify himself out of the public
coffers for the dilapidation of his own.—/bid.
If we except the loss of power and patronage,
with the good things generally attaching to them,
on the one hand, and the mortification arising
from defeat on the other, we do not see that the
Civic Body has lost or the public gained much
by the late compromise between them and the
House of Lords. We thought the object of time
opposition, and in particular the spirited measure
of calling for the Civic accounts, had been to
rid the public of part of a tax upon one of the
first necessaries of life. That object, however,
seems wholly to have failed, and all the London
port clues and taxes upon coals are likely to re-
main, as far as we can perceive, for this genera-
tion at least, and probably for the next, if not
for ever. This affair of London-bridge is an-
other of the many instances of the want of
foresight in those who undertake great public
works. Surely it was the imperative duty of
those who had the direction of the matter to
have ascertained what all the costs and con-
sequences of what they were about would be.—
But no, these wise men are satisfied with ask-
, ing time engineer to tell them what the cost of
the bridge alone will be ; and though they cal-
culate upon placing it on a new site, to which
no approaches can exist, they leave these for
future consideration ; and as a nest-egg to
produce that brood of difficulty which has now
been hatched. Now all this difficulty, we con-
ceive, might have been avoided by a little fore-
sight. In the first place, as the rebuilding of
London. bridge must necessarily create much ob-
struction and inconvenience while going on, it
would have been prudent to have widened the
approaches to the Southwark-bridge—viz.,
Queen-street from Cheapside, and Watling-
street from St. Paul's—which would have taken
off much of the pressure. But, supposing this
unaccomplishable, at any rate it was worth while
to consider whether it was absolutely necessary
to change the site of the bridge itself. Of
course, had the old bridge been pulled down
first, and the new one built in its place, the pre-
sent approaches would have been sufficient, with
some little improvement. But how was this to
be accomplished ? Why, either by dispensing
with a bridge altogether during the progress of
the works—which we admit would have been a
great, though not insurmountable inconvenience
—or by the erection of a temporary bridge on the
west, close alongside the old one, which we ap-
prehend, in the present advanced state of science,
was not impracticable, and would have been
attended with far less expense than is now
likely to be brought upon the country. While
on this subject we would add one word in vin-
dication of a Noble Lord (the Marquis of Lon-
donderry), who seems to have been misunder-
stood by one of our contemporaries, as having
called for an account of the trade or business of
the City Bridge Committee, for the purpose of
upbraiding them with the lowness or incompati-
bility of their respective callings. The first stone,
however, was thrown by these worthies them-
selvar. ; and it was in retaliation, and to show
how little pretence they had for doing so, that
the questions as to their own trades were asked.
The public, it appears, are greatly indebted to a
gentleman of the name of Jeffery, for the light
which he has thrown upon the matter. The
City, it would seem, was not above borrowing
his ideas, but had not the candour to acknow-
ledge the source from which they are- taken :
and when, before the Lords' Committee, the truth
comes out from Mr. Jeffery himself, the Cite
Counsel are instructed to attach this gentleman's
personal character, and twit him with being a
cheesemonger—as if, forsooth, the most wealthy
member of the Corporatiun, at this moment,
were opt a chesemonger too ! This is the most
miserable instance of contemptible folly we ever
saw resorted to by a body of tradesmen, who
say, in effect, to Mr. Jeffery, " It is true we
have borrowed your ideas, and stolen your plan ;
but, then, are you not a cheesemonger ; and
what right can you have to meddle with such
mighty matters as bridges ?" It was to restrain
and to ;._hose, this kind of insolence and disen-
genuousness tat T‘ord Londonderry, in his turn,
asks who these people themselves are ; and if
they turn out, as they do, to coas;st of slop-
sellers, grocers, druggists, tavern-keepers, &c.,
it is not meant that their trades are any disgrace
to them, but merely to slim that tradesmen
themselves are not those who should upbraid
others with being so ; or that they can be, from
their own occupations, one whit fitter for the
subject than the person of whose knowledge
they avail themselves, but whose ability they
impugn,—,/hid.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE

AN UNLUCKY FIRST DRIVE.—A French gentle-
man, who resides at one of the Hotels in Covent-
garden, summoned a hackney-coachman for having
demanded more than his fare for a drive from Char-
ing-cross to the Bank of England.
The compkinant pulled out a book of fares, and
told Alderman Scholey, who sat for the Lord
Mayor, that upon reaching the Bank he offered the
sum of two shillings, according to the directions in
the book, to the coachman, who refused to take less
than three. Witness then permitted him to take
the three shillings, and summoned him for the over-
charge.
The coachman said that the journey was more
than two miles long, and therefore he was warranted
in charging three shillings. Cornhill being in the
hands of the paviours,he was obliged to drive in
rather a round-about way to the Bunk ; the straight
road from Charing-cross to the Bank was exactly
two miles, perhaps not a yard more; so that the
slightest deviation entitled him to his additional fare
according to the Act of Parliament.
The complainant said that he had nothing to do
with the paving of Cornhill. He never caused any
obstruction to be made there. lie was aware of the
tricks played off by hackney-coachmen, and he de-
termined to protect himself as much as possible from
their manoeuvres and impositions, for which purpose
he bought that very morning the book of fares, which
he considered an infallible guide.
Alderman SCIIOLEY said he was very sorry to
find that the coachman had the best of the matter.
As the state of the streets rendered it absolutely ne-
cessary that he should drive round, and by so doing
he had exceeded the two miles, he was authorised to
make the charge.
The complainant said that the coachman never
said a word to him about the cause of the increased
charge.

Coachman—l told you your book was wrong;
that was enough for me to say ; but you was hobsli-
nate, and would have it all your own way, so I let
you for the time, because you was a foreigner.
Complainant—Ah, it was because I was de
foreigner chat you cheated me; had I been English,
you would not do so.
Alderman SCHOLEY assured the complainant that
coachmen were not very particular as to the persons
on whom they played tricks. It was all the same
to them so that they got the money. He had him-
self been obliged to pay, for going a yard or two
beyond two miles. He was sorry to say that the
complainant must pay for the expellees and the time
of the coachman.

Complainant—No, no; you must excuse me; I
shan't pay no more. He has got his tree shillings;
let him take dat; he shan't have no more from de
foreigner.—(A laugh.)
Coachman (pulling a dirty Act of Parliament
from his pocket)—Look at this here heel; I'll have
my money. The had say that I must have for my
loss of time not more than five bob, nor less than
three. You must fork out the brads.—(Laughter.)
The Complainant—to whom this slang vas quite
unintelligible—appealed to the Alderman, upon
having the dirty Act of Parliament levelled at him,
and said he was alone amongst Englishmen, who
ought to consider that he mas a stranger. It was
(said he) de first carriage I ever step into, and I
could not put my foot upon de door till I buy de
book of fares; but I see it is no use to buy books;
de English coachman is able to beat de book with a
piece of dirty paper.—( Loud laughter.)
The ALDERMAN said, that the same justice should
be done to the complainant that would be rendered
to any Englishman : there wus no danger of par-
tiality. Unfortunately in this instance the coach-
man was right, and he was perfectly aware of the
remuneration to which he was entitled by the Act.
Coachman—God bless your Vorship, we're ob-
ligated to know every vord of the hart, or the
public would be always imposing upon us.—
(Laughter.)—Some gentlemen gives us bad money,
others gives us the slip, others keeps us vaiting all
night, and there's not a more robbed set of men
in the vorld nor we ; so we're obligated for to go
by the hact.—(A laugh.)
The complainant was by this unfortunate drive
put to the expence of Bs., which he paid with great
apparent reluctance.
The hackney coachmen are greatly benefitted in
this way by the labours of the paviours and the
gas-light operators.

NEW SORT OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO THIEVES.—
John Parsom, a man who had been formerly in the
employment of a wine-merchant, was brought be-
fore Alderman SCHOLEY, charged with having in
his possession some foreign wine, without being able
to account satisfactorily for it.
There is, it was stated, a system of plunder that
has of late grown very extensive, particularly in
the city of London, and it is promoted by a set of
fellows who go about from house to house under
pretence of buying bottles, and are prepared to re-
ceive any loose property which the servants of
families can pillage. If a servant happens to sell a
bottle or two to any one of those receivers, he is
told that he will get a great deal more if he con.
trive to fill the bottles, and a most ruinous sort of.
trade is carried on upon this plan. Several wine-
merchants in the city have been robbed lately by
their servants, for whom those receivers are con-
stantly in waiting in the neighbourhood. The pro-
perty is conveyed away so suddenly, that there has
been hitherto great difficulty of detection.
Mr. Warren, the landlord of the Windmill public-
house, stated, that on the preceding day, the pri-
soner walked into his house, and after having been
served with porter, and having addressed the witness
with great familiarity, produced two bottles of
sherry wine, and requested that he would take care
of them. 'Witness refused, but shortly after the
prisoner put the bottles within the bar, and offered
to sell them to the witness, who spoke sharply and
reproachfully to him in the negative, and he left the
house and the wine also. Witness had heard of the
plunder of the wine-merchants, and believing that
the prisoner was either a thief, or a receiver, ac-
quainted an officer with what had taken place, and
the prisoner having soon returned to demand the
wine, be was put into custody.
Mr. Hobler said, that the plan of robbery describ-
ed had -been carried on very extensively indeed.
The receiver facilitated plunder amazingly, as many
a man's cellar could testify.
The prisoner said, that he had purchased the wine
along with a number of empty bottles of a man
named Jones, and that the wine happened to be in
the two bottles.

The prisoner received a bad character from a re-
spectable wine-merchant with whom he had for-
merly resided, and
Alderman SCIIOLEY committed him under the
Police Act, for two calendar months to hard 'labour.

The prisoner is, it appears, well acquainted with
several upper servants at the West end of the town.
GUILDHALL.

John Gaiter, a journeyman carpenter, was com-
mitted by Mr. Alderman KEY, for assaulting his
master, Mr. Gray, a builder in Hosier-lane, by strik-
ing him over the head with a hammer on Saturday
evening, for finding fault with his coduct in wasting
his time. There had been a personal struggle be-
tween them a minute or two before, which the pri-
soner recommenced, using his hammer. Mr. Gray's
hat•was cut through, and he narrowly escaped being
killed on the spot.
The young man, who stood remanded, charged by
his own brother with defrauding Messrs. Oldroyd
and Co., of Bread-street, of 1001. was discharged,
no person appearing to give evidence against him.