The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDO`: JOURNAT.S.

On looking over the lately published distribin
tion of our military force, we observed—what,
indeed, we could hardly he unprepared for—that
an enormous proportion of it was dispersed over
Ireland, viz. not less than seven regiments of ca-
valry, and 22 entire battalions of infantry. Be-
sides which, there are an equal or greater number
of depots, consisting of 221 rank and file each,
with a numerous corps of horse and foot artil-
lery. This is a more formidable military power
than the British Government finds it necessary
to maintain in India, where there are almost a
hundred million of natives to he kept in absolute
subjugation. But there is another difference, •
which men who take a sober view of the public
interests cannot be expected to overlook. That
portion of the British army which is stationed
India, receives its pay from the Company, and
costs the empire nothing ; whereas every soldier
employed to garrison Ireland, and to keep down
the inhabitants, adds grievously to the financial
burdens of this country, which alone has to fur-
nish the expellee. It is a melancholy reflection
that while India, with 100,000,000 of Malm-
metans and Hindoos newly conquered, at such
an immense distance from Great Britain, has
been governed with a degree of mildness and
equality which admits of its being retained in al-
legiance to the empire, and in security from fo-
reign attacks, by a corps of 20,000 Eu-
ropean soldiers, we administer the affaira
of Ireland on such opposite principles of
jealousy, partiality, and downright coer-
cion, that a people of fellow-Christians, who
have lived for six centuries within six hours' sail
of England, and under the dominion of the Bri-
tish Crown, cannot be trusted with the guar-
dianship of their own peace, of their So-
vereign's rights, and of the Constitu-
tion of which they have the nominal benefits,
unless in the presence of an army of 30,000
men ! Such is one among the bitter fruits of a
system of legislation refusing to conform itself
to the circumstances of the society upon which
it operates, but tending to provoke, and finally to
arm against itself, the growing bulk of numbers,
property, and intelligence, the rapidly advancing
strength of the Irish people. We are asto-
nished that some few of the great city arithmeti-
cians, the dealers in funds, the scouts of com-
mercial enterprise, the pioneers of prosperity in
all its branches, the jackalls of untried specula-
tion, do not examine this fair field of Ireland,
and prevail upon their Treasury friends to help
a little so promising a job as that of giving re-
pose to Ireland, not from any visionary notions
about justice, liberality, or long-sighted wisdom,
but for the prompt and intelligible purpose of
lowering the army estimates, reducing the taxes
a couple of millions a year, and opening a fresh •
and productive channel for the impatient capital
of several hundreds- of rich citizens panting
for advantageous investments, by proving to
them that Ireland, maintained in tranquillity
by popular and wholesome laws, would
yield them at once labourers at low wages,
proximity to well-situated outports, per-
fect security for the. enjoyment of Mlle
ence, and, altogether, a beneficial transfer- of
money, skill, and industry, from the most fortu-
nate districts of Great Britain. In extending
one's observation to those details of the military
distribution which belong to the Vs'est India Co-
lonies, it is impossible not to feel surprise aria
regret at the amount of military force which has
been assigned to them, and at the enorm-
ous addition of expellee which such an ap-
propriation of the army entails upon the
empire, as %Yell as at the diseases amt
loss of life to which the officers and soldiers
are every year exposed in that most deadly cli-
mate. There are stationed, as it appears by the
return, sixteen battalions in our West India co-
lonies (including two regiments of blacks), and
of the number five battalions me in Jamaica.
This is an immense force for such a quarter, at-
tended by a severe cost, and by a frightful and
deplorable mortality. It seems odd that during
the last war there should have been ten or twelve
battalions of black soldiers in constant pay, be-
having themselves in a manner which entitled
them to the most implicit conf:idence, and Which
relieved the King's Government of all apprehere,
sion for the safety of the islands against any
efforts of foreign hostility, or of domestic trea-
son ; yet that now, since the peace, when
there are no foreign enemies to assail them
from without, or to foment internal dise
turbances, the islands are held to require
the presence of British troops, and to be
insecure under the protection of negro regi-
ments, officered by Englishmen ; or if not, why
were the latter corps disbanded "a I,l'e certainly
shall not be suspected of undervaluing the lives
and properties of our fellow-subjects and come,
trymen in these colonies ; but we feel eati4ed,
that by a moderate increase of the naval force on
the Jamaica and Leeward Island station,—by
trying a more extended experiment than at pre-
sent with black troops, and by encouraging an
active militia throughout the islands,—the seen-
rity of these valuable possessions, both outward
and within, might be provided for with even in-
creased efficiency, while a considerable reduction
might be made in the financial burdens of the
country ; and by the reduced number of Eng-
lish men and officers employed there, a large an-
nual amount both of invalid pensions and mili-
tary deaths might be avoided. The speech of
the Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica to the
House of Assembly, is well drawn up, and in a
wise and conciliatory spirit. His recommenda-
tion of measures for improving the intellectual
and religious character of the slave will, we trust,
be attended to by the island Legislature : for
undoubtedly there is no other basis on which an
improvement of his physical condition can be so
likely to obtain for him that amelioration with
the full consent of the great body of the plan-
ters. The law of 1826, of which the general
provisions were concurred in by his Majesty's
Government, but which was rejected for one or
two objectionable clauses affecting the subiect
of religious instruction, was again proposed' to
the notice of the Assembly, and taken into con-
sideration, by a majority of votes.—Times.
We some time ago offered some observations
on the strange inconsistency in our judicial sys
tem of allowing the verdict of a jury in a civil
case, howevery trumpery, to be set aside again
and again till one is obtained which meets tile
approbation of the Court, and allowing no ap-
peal in criminal cases, even when life is at stake.
We observed at the same time, that the prero-
gative of the Crown to pardon was, in the stlict
sense, a nonentity, as the Crown could not be
supposed to possess any prerogative inconsistent
with the good of the subject ; and the punish-
ment of guilt could not
be dispensed with, with-
out giving encouragement to crime—a result
obviously opposed to the general good, which
must always be supposed to be the aim of the
Sovereign. The prerogative to pardon, we fur,
titer obseived, had in some sort aceennnotkljtA

itself to modern notions ; and the King in Coun-
cil, represented generally by the Home Secre-
tary, was, in fact, a Court of Review. We re- ,
marked at the same time, that it was necessary
to the ends of justice that the proceedings in all
Courts should be open ; and that though iu the
case which immediately led to our observations,
that of Hunton, the decision of Mr. Peel might
be fair, yet the canvassing and intriguing on
the part of friends and enemies, the listening to
accounts of the former life of a criminal, which
might be satisfactorily explained perhaps, were
an opportunity given for that purpose (and this
had been done in that case, it appeared), was
obviously the very worst mode that could be
thought of for reviewing the trials of our
Tribunals. Mr. Peel is, in fact, the Court of
Appeal for the United Kingdom. That he can
execute the duties implied in such a charge sa-
tisfactorily we do not believe. He may occa-
sionally, when the public attention is directed to
a particular case, look a little into it, especially
if solicited by powerful persons ; but in general
the aggrieved can only expect, from an appeal to
him, the mockery of a confirmation of the sen-
tence complained of, pronounced in utter igno-
rance of the merits. Mr. Peel is one of those
men who are anxious to put their best foot fore-
most, as the adage has it, and who would, like
the Pharisees of old, do good, when sure to be
seen of men ; but he is the last man whom we
would trust, where nothing is to be gained but
the-approbation of a good conscience. In the
Chronicle of Monday last, we extracted from
the Windsor Express an account of the result
of an application to the Home Secretary in be-
half of the Hunts, convicted of manslaughter in
the case of Lord Mount Sandford, not " be-
cause (says this paper) any body in their senses
imagined, the Hunts were really guilty of man-
slaughter, but because all persons present at an
affray, in which one of them meets with his
death, are in law equally guilty of the crime.—
Brinklet, who gave the fatal kick which
caused the death of Lord Mount Sand- •
ford, was sentenced to transportation, and the
Hunts (who, with probably a hundred others,
were merely present at the affray in which this
fact took place) to two years' imprisonment and
hard labour, although the prosecutor recom-
mended them to mercy. So strong was the im-
pression of the severity of the sentence (as re-
gards the Hunts), that a petition was sometime
back drawn up, praying for its mitigation, which
received the signatures of the Vicar, Magistrates,
the two Members, and all the must reseectable
inhabitants of this town. This petition was
forwarded to the Home Secretary by our re-
spected Member, John Ramsbottom, Esq. The
answer returned was as follows:

" Whitehal:, Nov. 6, 1528.

Sir—Having taken into c,.msideration the peti-
tion which you presented in favour of Thomas and
George Bunt, who were convicted at the last
Assizes fur the county of Berks of manslaughter,
and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, I regret
to acquaint }on, that the circumstances of the case
are of such a nature that I cannot, consistently with
my public duty, recommend either of the prisoners
to his Majesty for any mitigation of their sentence.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
" Your most obedient humble servant,
" ROBERT PEEL.

" John Ralnshottorn, Esq., N.P. &c.
The Windsor Express insinuates that ikh.
Peel never looked further into the case than to
read the verdict and sentence, and that he could
not possibly have made himself master of " the
circumstances of the case." The mischief of
this sort of mockery is, that men convicted, either
unjustly, or under a harsh construction of law.
have to suffer under the odium of a double convic-
tion—that of the tribunal, and that of Mr. reel's
Mock Court of Review. We alluded yesterday
to the ease of a gentleman most unjustly con-
,,'icted of as indecent assault against a girl, as
having succeeded in establishing his innocence
to the satisfaction of the Home Secretary ;" and
having in consequence been " liberated long
before the lapse of the period of hie sentence."
When we made this statement, we were only
acquainted with the result ; but we have since
been furnished with the particulars of the pro-
ceedings, and a most instructive commentary
they form on our supposed Court of Review,
The party aggrieved, a Mr. Giflan, having
caused the evidence of his case to be laid before
the Home Secretary, in due time an answer
from the Right Hon. Gentleman was received,
conveying the information that he had examined
into the circumstances, and had, besides, con-
sulted with the Recorder, and that he could not,
consistently with his public duty, recommend
the prisoner to his Majesty for any mitigation of
the sentence. The young man and his wife, whom
he had married not long before the distressing
event, were about to resign themselves patiently to
their hard lot, when a shrewd friend observed,

" you have tried what justice can do—try now I
interest. Your wife is a countrywoman of Sir Peter
Laurie—whatever faults the Scotch may have,
that of backwardness to serve each other is not one
of them—let her go to Sir Peter, and satisfy
him of the injustice of the sentence, and, take
my word for it, he will extricate you." The
hint was acted on. Sir Peter Laurie prevailed
on Mr. Sheriff Wylde and Mr. Sheriff Spottis-
. woode to go over the evidence with himself, and
they were thoroughly satisfied that the young
man was completely, innocent. They did not
hesitate to represent the case to the Home Se-
cretary ; and the Right Hon. Gentleman, who
had already considered the evidence, and had,.
besides, consulted with the Recorder, and saw
no reason to recommend any mitigation of the
sentence, instantly, on the very same evidence, saw
ground for liberating the prisoner ; and by way
of showing his strong sense of the injustice he
had suffered, allowed him to leave prison on re-
cognizance forthwith, in order that he might not
have to suffer till the steps could be gone through
in due form. Such is the nature of the Court
of Review, of which Mr. Peel is the efficient
Judge, and such is the agency through which
he can be approached. The plain English of
the matter is this ;—where a man does not pos-
sess interest, he can suffer no wrong. A rich
and powerful man will always find the ear of the
Home Secretary open to redress; and de mini-
tnis lex non curat.—Morning Chronicle.
There are persons, whose opinions are worth
regarding, who do not hesitate to affirm that the
Marquis of Anglesea's too-celebrated letter
amounts to an offence cognisable by law, and
which is liable to undergo judicial investigation,
This -opinion they ground upon two points:—
the one, that the letter itself amounts to a breach
of his duty as the King's Representative, and a
Privy Councillor ; the other, upon that parti-
cular phrase in it, which is supposed to hold out
something like an encouragement to the Catho-
lic body to keep alive and augment that state
of agitation in which the country has 19r1,g been
so unfortunately involved. We do not ourseive,s;
however, perceive that any penal consequences
can attach to the letter, though our first impres-
sion of its manifest imprudence is more and

more increased. That it will undergo much dis-
cussion in Parliament, and be the subject of
much sharp animadversion in both Houses, can-
not be doubted. Its imprudence, not to say utter
unjustifiableness, is much increased, if it be true,
as is now stated, that the Noble Marquis knew
himself to be recalled at the time lie wrote
the letter. Though the nature of the public
service often requires that a man shall hold an
office for some short time after his removal from
it is resolved uFon, every one so situated must
consider himself as virtually removed, and the 1
mere locum tenens of his successor ; and, being
so, he can have no earthly right or pretension to
do more than absolute necessity requires ; and,
above all, can have no right to increase the very
ground on which his own removal has taken
place. Suppose, for instance, in the case of a
Colonial Secretary, his removal were deemed ne-
cessary on account of any particular line of po-
licy towards the Provincial Governments which
had been deemed objectionable, would it be jus-
tifiable, or would it be tolerated, that a person so
situated should employ the interval of holding
the seals till his successor may be appointed in
sending out fresh despatches, reiterating and en-
forcing the very principles which had called for
his dismissal 1,1 Such, or very much like it,
seems to be the case of the Noble Marquis.
According to his own showing, he was ignorant
of the precise sentiments of the head of the
King's Government upon the Catholic Question.
Was not that alone a sufficient reason why
the Marquis, as the local organ of that
Government, should at least have been silent till
he possessed the knowledge which might have
enabled him to speak ? The Duke of Welling-
ton is not a man to be at the head of a Govern-
ment pulling different ways ; nor, from what the
world has seen of the Marquis of Anglesea's
hieh and noble bearing, is the latter a man likely
to hold office at the price of his own honour and
consistency. His obvious course was, first, to
see whether the Duke and himself really held
conflicting opinions upon that curse of Ireland,
and almost of England, the Catholic Question ;
and, if that turned out to be the case to an irre-
concileable extent, to lose no time in resigning
his office, and then to state his grounds for so
doing in Parliament. But Dr. Curtis, however
respectable in himself, was, at any rate, not the
proper channel for the public or the Govern-
ment to learn the Noble Viceroy's sentiments
upon State affsirs. The Noble Marquis might
almost as well have honoured us with his corre-
spondence, and sent his despatches to Govern-
ment through the means of the daily papers. In
every point of view the step appears to us inde-
fensible ; and we regret it the more as the act of
one who has bled so nobly in the cause of his
country, and towards whom its respect and gra-
titude can never be wanting.-11forning Herald.
The removal of the Marquis of Anglesea
from the Lieutenantcy of Ireland does not indi-
cate, it is said, and will not produce any change
in the disposition of the Government with re-
spect to the Catholic Question. This, no doubt,
is true. The determinations of the British Go-
vernment, upon a constitutional question of pa-
ramount and permanent importance, are not likely
to be influenced in any manner or degree by cir-
cumstances comparatively so trivial as the mis-
conduct of this or any other individual, and the
consequent necessity of superseding him. The
person who does more or less than his duty is
removed to make way for one who will be con-
tent to do neither more nor less. This is the
beginning and the end of the affair ; nor will
future consequences, so far as they depend upon
the policy of Government, be inferred from this oc-
currence, unless by those who are desirous, in com-
pliment to the Noble Marquis, or for the pur-
poses of the party to which he now belongs, of
exaggerating its importance. Government has
taken the most direct anti certain course to pre-
vent such mischievous exaggeration, by intimat-
ing to Lord L. Gower, the present Secretary
for Ireland, its wish that he should continue to
fulfil the duties of that office. But if the policy
of Government be above the reach of any influence
of this nature, springing I oni the conduct of an
individual, it is clear nevertheless that ultimate
success to the pretensions of the Papists is ren-
dered less probable by the conduct the Marquis
of Anglesea has pursued ; because the Protestant
subjects of the British Government will and
ought to derive from it a lesson, the effect of
which must be to render them more strongly
and generally adverse to concession. They will
compare the Marquis of Anglesea as he was, with
the Marquis of .Anglesea as he is, and will auk what
has caused the difference? They will anxiously

inquire what has metamorphosed the once sound
Constitutional British Peer into the factious
Agitator that they now behold him ? They will
he eager to ascertain how he has become a vio-
lator of his official duty, whom once it would
have been an outrage to suppose capable of
swerving from it in the slightest degree. They
will examine curiously the process by which this
zealous and uncompromising Protestant Cham-
pion has been transmuted into an advocate of the
Popish cause ; and they will find that these fatal
consequences to the mind and character of his
Lordship have ensued from the circumstance of
his having exposed himself too freely to the con-
tagious atmosphere of Popery and the artifices
of Jesuitical seduction. The Marquis of An-
glesea is a man dear to the country, one who
must always be dear to the country, notwith-
standing all we have upon this occasion been
compelled to say of him, for his name is
associated with the proudest event in our
country's annals—and his fall, for fallen he
is, and the causes which have produced
it, will sink deep into the national mind.—
Catholic Emancipation is but another name for
the free exposure, in all future age 3, of the Bri-
tish Court aad Monarch to the contagious at-
mosphere of Popery and the artifices of Jesuiti-
cal seduction ; and from the effect produced by
these upon the character, opinions, and conduct
of Lord Anglesea, the Protestant people of
England will not fail to perceive and appreciate
the evils of which they are likely to he the
source when admitted to this loftier and more
extensive sphere. Lord Anglesea, when he
spoke so forcibly and correctly as he once did
of the effect which past concessioms had pro-
duced—when. he justly said that they had
served only to call new pretensions into exist-
ence—and when he proclaimed his determined
resolution to take his stand against all fur-
ther encroachment at the point where we '
now stand, was already at a period of life
at which, if a man's opinions are ever to
be fixed, his might have been supposed
to be so. Yet we now bdiohl this zealous
and determined opponent of constitutional
change converted by the blandishments of Je-
suitical seduction into an advocate and pro-
moter, per fas et nefas, of innovation. If
I Popery have done this, what greater or more
• difficult triumph will it achieve, when, in a fu-
ture age, some youthful ,l'qonarch of Great Bri-

tain shall become entangled in its snare, and
willing to sacrifice to the religion what the pre-
sent Viceroy of Ireland has sacrificed to the po—
litics of the Roman Hierarchy—his interest and
his duty ? To say that this effect of Catholic
Emancipation—an effect which is strictly syno-
nymous with a long and sanguinary series of
civil convulsions, with protracted misery, if not
final ruin to this great and glorious and happy
nation, is improbable—is, in other words, to
say that an indefinite succession of hereditary
Princes may he expected, without a single ex-
ception, to consist of men less accessible to se-
duction than the lilarquis of Anglesea.—Morn-
ing. Post.

THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF BALANCING

BOOKS.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir—ln your paper of the Ist instant, I observe a
letter headed " Remington and C 0.," and signed
" E. T. J." wherein the writer asserts that the Eng-
lish system of balancing books is the only perfect
mode of book-keeping.
This system and its prospectus are now before
me. It contains the testimony of seven Bristol
merchants, that it detects all errors in amount. The
author says it has been sanctioned, after a minute
investigation, by the lion. East India Company,
two Bank Directors, six bankers, and 148 of the
first mercantile houses in London, all whose names
are inserted in this prospectus. It had likewise
been introduced, adopted, and strongly recommend-
ed, in a circular from the respectable finn of Dixon,
Morgan, and Co.
The author's pretensions are as follows :—" It
stands on a basis of infallible correctness. No error
in amount can hereby escape detection. One error
cannot counterbalance another. No error in the
ledger of any amount whatever, under any circum-
stances, can escape detection. No error or mis-
statement can possibly remain OR either ►ide, or on
both sides, of equal or unequal amount. The errors
are detected by an unerring process, and the trouble
of calling over the books for that object made un-
necessary," &c.
My sole object is to guard the public against the
serious consequences of adopting a system, and
trusting to its infallibility, merely upon the high
authority of its sanction, or the assertions of its
author. My opinion is, that there is not a single
account in the ledger which it proves to be either
right or wrong—that its principle is false, and its
result delusive.

The author proceeds, " If in any given period en-
tries are made in those books that are posted into
the ledger, amounting collectively to 50,000/. Dr.
and Cr., the accounts in the ledger, for the same
period, if correctly posted, will cast up to the same
amount, neither more nor less." And so they
would if every one of them was incorrectly posted.
What can the agreement of two totals have to do
with the correctness of the items of which those
totals are composed ? If there tire entries in the
journal to the debit of A, B, and C, of 1001. each,
total 300/., and they are posted into the ledger
thus—A 1401., B 1201. and C 401., total 3001., will
any man but the author of the English system of
balancing books say these are not errors ?
I now refer to the work, and will show that not
only errors, but a fraud even may be introduced. The
amount of postings to the ledger, from July to Sept.
to the credit of profit and loss, is 2,674/. 12s. I Id.,
and to the credit of Alex. Martin is 3,919/. 9s. 9d.
(See the two last accounts in the balance-sheet,
folio 5.) Now, if the former had been posted
2,624/. 12s. I id., and the latter 3,969/. 9s. 9d. there
would have been two errors ; and if the ledger-
keeper had been in collusion with Alex. Martin,
there would have been a fraud also.

In order to prove, as he terms it, " the impossi-
bility of errors, even of equal amount, on both sides'
passing unobserved," (see page 6) he gives the
following rule:—" Take the total amount of debits
to creditors' accounts, which in this balance-book 1s
58,987/. 10s. 10d." I have done so, and find the
amount is only 25,2391. Is. 9d. Here is an error on
one side of 33,7481. 9s. Id.

The total amount of their credits he makes
289,4461. 2s. 9d. I find it is only 255,6971. 135.8 d.
Here is an error en the other side of 33,7481.95. id.
Thus has.he himself committed those identical
errors, " of equal amount on both sides," while
he is in the very act of proving they cannot be com•
mitted !—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Pentonville, Jan. 7. .1. S.

Every week produces a fresh petition against
the Catholic claims from one or other of the parishes in
this city ; and it is probable, that after a few others have
appearcd, which are in preparation, that a general meeting
of the inhabitants will take place.—Bath Chronicle.

On Thursday last, two men and a woman,
who form part of a notorious gang of housebreakers who
have for a long time infteted the neighbourhood of Bridge-
water, were taken into custody on suspicion of having
been concerned in a burglary at Chilton-super-Polden, and
prior to their examination, were confined in separate cells
in the Borough gaol. On Saturday morning the gaoler,
hearing a noise in the cell in which one of them, named
Joseph Wilkins, was confined, entered it, and discovered
the latter suspended to the bed-post ; he WWI immediately
cut down, anti medical assistance being procured, anima-
tion was restored. The other man and the woman have
'since been committed to Wilton House of Correction on a
charge of felony.— Taunton Courier.
The sale of wood has for some time been
very dull in this city ; and, consequently, a great number
of sawyers have been but ind:fferently suppled with work
for some time past : this has been more particularly the
ease with those employed in " sa'e•yards." This dullness is
imputed, in a great measure, to the buildings which were
commenced in the early part of last year, being now nearly
all finished. A slight rise, however, lately took place on
the wood ; and it is expected, that early in spring some
considerable purchases will take place. It may also be
I mentioned that at the present time a good number of both
wrights and masons are in want of employment. The
cabinet making business, which for some time previous to
this date was very brisk, is at the present moment in rather
an insipid state ; and several journeymen who have lately
been thrown out of employment, have not been able to
procure " a job" in this city.— Glasgow Chronicle.
PETRIFYING SPRINGS.—At Claremont, in
the south of France, there is a spring which possesses the
power of petrifaction in a very extraordinary degree.—
When Professor Blanqui visited that quarter last year, there
was an ox undergoing the operation ; and although the
animal had begun to sit—or rather stand—for his statue
only a year before, one half of him was already changed
into a stone monument ! Many horses are to be seen,
turned into monuments to themselves, and ornamenting, in
the capacity of statues, the fields where they once pas-
' turgid ; and a collection of other quadrupeds, with flowers,
fruits, and birds, attest the formidable powers of this magic
spring. The Professor, after trying some chemical ana-
lyses, without success, made off in a hurry, thanking his
stars that the power of motion remained.—Dumfries
Courier.

Last Monday night, as the Halesworth stage.
waggon was coining to town, within a short distance of
Thunford, it overtook several hay-carts, when Mr. Henry
Smith (one of the proprietors of the waggon) ordered the
waggoner to pass, as by so doing he would save at least
20 minutes at the Romfoid turnpike. The man obeyed ;
Mr. Smith following the waggon on foot, received a blow
from an unknown hand, which felled him to the ground,
senseless. In a few minutes another stage-waggon came
up, when the dog observing something lying in the road,
begin harking furiously. The waggoner stopped his
horses and went forward, when he discovered Mr. Smith
weltering in his blood. Having aroused his fellow-wag-
goner, who was sleeping in the waggon, they placed Mr.
Smith in the waggon, perfectly unconscious of what was
passing. In this state, after being on the journey between
two and three hours, he arrived hi town. On the arrival
of a surgeon, he discovered Mr. Smith's right arm slattered
in a must shocking manner; his chin cut in three places;
his face and body bruised, and a stab in the arm, ap-
parently done by the prong of a fork. He now lies in a
most fleplm able state; and there can be no doubt, but for
the timely arrival of the second waggon, Mr. Swill would
have been murdered, and the property he had on him
plundered.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

GVILDHALL

A decently-dressed woman, named Mary Hol-
man, was brought before Mr. Alderman ANSLEI'
yesterday, under the following• charge :
Mr. Butcher, the managing agent at Messrs.
Brougham's wholesale carpet warehouse, in Skinner-
street, stated, that the prisoner's husband had been
employed by the firm, as a porter, about four years.
Latterly various articles had been missed from the
premises, and the porter being taxed with having
taken away some of them, confessed he had done
so, and brought them back. Two pair of window-
curtains were missed subsequently, and the porter
was questioned about them as before, but he denied
having taken them. Being exhorted to tell the
truth, he said solemnly, " If I have taken them, I
wish God may cause my tongue to drop out of my
mouth !" Mr. Butcher told him, that, notWithstalid-
log these expressions, he suspected- him, and
would send for an officer; upon which the por-
ter began crying, begged for mercy, and acknow-
ledged he had pledged the curtains, at Mr.
Reeve's, on Snow-hill. He produced a sovereign,
and said, if Mr. Butcher would allow him to step
home for the duplicate, he would redeem the arti-
cles instantly. Mr. Butcher, however, persisted in
sending for a constable : the constable refused to
attend, and the complainant was authorizing an as-
sistant to go home with the porter, and search his
lodging, when a customer entered, complainant's at-
tention was distracted, and the porter slipped out,
and had not been heard of since. His apartment, in
Ironmonger-street, St. Luke's, was searched soon
after, but the porter had been home before the officer
arrived, and nothing remained to criminate him.
Upon inquiry at the pawnbroker's the curtains were
discovered, afid also a piece of carpeting, pledged
for 41. only two or three days previously. It had
been stolen from the warehouse, but had not been
missed. On Wednesday evening the prisoner at-
tempted to redeem the curtains, and was detained.
The prisoner said she was ordered by her hus-
band to redeem the curtains, and restore them to
Mr. Butcher.

As there was no doubt she was the lawful wife of
the porter, the ALDERMAN decided that the law
would assume she acted under the influence of her
husband, and dismissed her ; but directed the money
she was about to pay to the pawnbroker to be given
to the complainant.