The Sun.
London, England, 1829-12-30 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

(Circular.) War.office, Dec. 23, 1829.
am directed by the Secretary at War to annex,
for your information and guidance, a statement of the
daily rates of allowances to General and other Staff Officers,
and to Field and Staff Officers of Infantry Regiments, in
lieu of forage for the horses required to be kept by them
for the public servive, for the half year ending the 24th
instant, agreeably to which the charges for forage will be
allowed.

I am directed to add, that if a charge at a different rate
has been already made in your accounts, the same should
be corrected according to the said statement.
I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) L. SULIVAN.

Pqmaster of the
STATEMENT or THE DAILY RATES or ALLOWANCE IN LIEU

OFFORAGE,FOR THE HALF-YEAR ENDING THE 24TH
OF DECEMBER, 1829:-

IRELAND.

Rate of
COUNTIES•
Allowance.
s. d.
Antrim 1 7
Down
Donegal 1 7
Armagh 1 7
Monaghan
Cavan 1 7
Fermanagh
Londonderry 1 7
Tyrone
Dublin 1 5
Wicklow 1 5
Kildare 1 5
Kilkenny 1 5
Carlow 1 5
Queen's County 1 5
Louth 1 5
Meath 1 5
Wexford 1 5
Galway... 1 6
Sligo 1 6
Leitrim 1 6
Mayo 1 6
Roscommon
Westmeath 1 6
Longford 1 6
King's County
Cork 1 7
Waterford
Kerry 1 7
Clare 1 6
Limerick 1 6
Tipperary 1 6
The counties in
which there are 1 6
no Contracts....

Major-General Lord F. Somerset, K.C.8., as Military
Secretary to General Lord Hill, G.C.B. and G.C.H.,
Commander-in-Chief, went through his list yesterday at
his Office in the Horse Guards.

A few Generals, and about twenty other Officers, trans-
acted military business with his Lordship.

ROYAL MILITARY ASYLUBL—A Committee of the
Commissioners for the management of the Royal Military
Asylum assembled yesterday morning at the Asylum at
Chelsea, for the purpose of auditing the yearly accounts,
and entering into contracts for provisions, &c., for the en-
suing year.

STANDARD roe RECRUITING.—The present standard
for recruiting for Regiments now serving in the East and
West Indies is five feet six inches; the standard for recruits
for Corps and Reserve Companies serving at home, is fixed
at five feet seven inches.

INDIAN COURTS MARTIAL.
Head-quarters, Calcutta, July 17, 1829.
At a European General Court Martial re-as.embled at
Cawnpore, on Wednesday, the 13th of May, 1829, of which
Lieut.-Col. J. A. Biggs. of the Qd Battalion of Artillery,
is President, Gunner Andrew Laird, of the 24 Troop, Ist
Brigade, Horse Artillery, was arraigned on the following
charge :-.-
CHARCZ.---" With having, at Cawnpore, on or about
the 3d of March, 1829, wilfully mutilated himself, by firing
a pistol, loaded with gunpowder and ball, through his right
hand, with intent thereby to incapacitate himself for further
service.

" Such conduct being contrary to the duty, and dis-
graceful to the character of a soldier, and in breach of the
Articles of War."
Upon which charge the Court came to the following
decision :
FINDING.—.." The Court is of opinion, and doe, hereby
pronounce the prisoner to be guilty of all and every part of
the charge preferred against him."
SINTENCE.—." The Court does, therefore, sentence him,
Gunner Andrew Laird, 2d Troop, Ist Brigade, Horse Ar-
tillery," to be placed in solitary, imprisonment for twelve
(12) calendar months, in such place as his Excellency the
Commander-in-Chief may be pleased to direct."
Approved and confirmed,
(Signed) COMBERMERE,
General, Commander-in-Chief.
The solitary imprisonment awarded by the above sentence
is to he carried into effect within the fortress of Allababad,
to which the prisoner will be sent under a proper escort.
By order of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief,
CHRIS FAGAN, Adjt.-Gen. of the Army.

Head-quarters, Calcutta, 20th July, 1829.
At a European General Court Martial, assembled at
Dunn-Dum, on Tuesday, the 16th June, 182 A, of which
Colonel D. Ximenes, of his Majesty's 16th Foot, is Presi-
dent, Gunner Wm. Comerford, of the Ist Company, sth
Battalion of Artillery, was arraigned on the following
charge

CHARGIC..—," Gunner Wm. Comerford, Ist Company,
fith Battalion Artillery, placed in confinement for mutinous
conduct, in declaring in the presence of a Regimental Court
Martial, assembled for his trial, on the 19th day of May,
1829, at Dum.Dum, and in contempt of the said Court,
that he would shoot Captain Broadhurst, the Captain of
his Company, through the head, the first opportunity, or
words to that effect; and for twice repeating threats of a
similar tendency when leaving the Court."
Upon which charge the Court came to the following
decision :

FINDING AND SENTENCE.—" The Court having ma-
turely considered the evidence before them, with the con-
fession of the prisoner, are of opinion that he, Gunner
Wiliam Comerford, of the let Company, sth Battalion of
Artillery, is guilty of every part of the charge exhibited
against him, and do, therefore, sentence him to receive one
thousand lashes on his bare back in the usual manner."
Approved and confirmed,
(Signed) COMBERMERE,

General, Commander-b Chief.

The corporal punishment awarded by the foregoing sen-
tence is to be carried into effect at such time and to such
extent as the Commandant of the Artillery Regiment may
deem proper.
By order of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief,
C. FAGAN, Adjt. -Gen. of the Army.

NATURAL HISTORY.--Last week, Mr.
SwaLzs shot a fine specimen of the Bittern, or bogbumper,
on Skipwith Common, which he sent to Mr. CHArmAx,
animal preserver, of this city, who is preserving it for J.
P. TouLeoar,Esq.— York Courant.

SPIRIT OF TN PUBLIC JOURNALS.

There is an opinion prevalent, that some

legislative regulations are in contemplation for

the Church. We can hardly give these rumours
the sanction, however humble it may be, of our
unconditional belief. Were we to describe what
we think may happen, we should suppose that
considerable bustle may be excited, and, under
the influence of general terror, more purity and
propriety may be for awhile introduced ; and
when, according to the irreversible decree to
which all human affairs are subjected, matters
begin to decline again and ruere in pejus, then
a fresh flame will be kindled, and new rigours
for awhile practised. However, the doubt of
perfect success shall not prevent us from strug-
gling for every possible degree of improvement,
One person, when he comes to be pricked, will
confess what portion of the 1,1001. (and under
what auspices) he is to pay to the Daubeny fa-
mily. This, if it exist, is the worst kind of
simony. But what, do we talk of simony ?
Simon Magus himself would have blushed to
provide for his imps and fiends at the expense of
the Church of Christ, by so many tricks and
shifts as have been disclosed to us. And we
know that the Noble Duke now at the head of
the Administration, without being a Puritan, is
well aware, from his previous habits, of the ad-
vantages resulting even from high professional
honour. The bishops are placed in the church
to provide good men for the sanctuary,—not to
feed relatives and dirty dependents. We know
all the affair of Bexwell, Feltwell, and Tid St.
Giles's, and the changes there. How many times
can a man change his hand at the game of ecartel,,
and lay down and take up fresh cards ? Truly
as long as the pack and the dealer last, unless
the police step in and prevent the gambling !
Parliament will meet soon, and then probably the
subject will be taken up.—Times.
We observe a great disposition throughout the
country to throw all the odium of the present
prosecutions on the Whigs. The Dublin
Evening Post of Saturday last observes—
" It has been said by Tory writers that Whigs in
power are the bitterest enemies of the Press, and
several cases are cited to prove the assertion. We
do not desire at present to enter into the considera-
tion of these cases, but we may be allowed to say
this, that the Whig Law Officers, with the excel).
tion of one splendid and pure example in our own
country (Lord Plunkett) have shown more touchi-
ness upon the subject than becomes the principle
which they are so fond of inculcating. Sir Vicary
Gibbs, we believe, was in early life a Whig, but
he was as %licked a prosecutor as Percival himself.
Now what has the character of the administration of

that Statesman gained by the prosecutions which
distinguished its entire course? We should rather
ask, indeed, how much it has lost? The Whigs
were opposed all along, and most vehemently too,
to that crusade against the Press; and had it been
continued much longer—had nut the good sense
and temperance of the late Lord Liverpool pre-
vailed, we verily believe that the Whigs must hare
succeeded to office." •
* • s 4.

"With respect to the libels for which the Morn-
ing Journal has been tried, there is only one of them
which, in our opinion, ought to be submitted to the
consideration of a Court of Justice—we mean the
charge of personal corruption against the Lord Chan-
cellor of England—and that should be done, not
with a view of vengeance against the individual, but
merely for the purpose of disabusing the public. As
to the libels against the King and the Duke of Wel-
lington, they are so extravagant and silly, that they
could not possibly be productive of harm to any per-
son but the parties publishing. It is one question
—what is libel ? and another—shall we prosecute ?
Any thing is libel that the Attorney-General pleases,
for he has only to fasten upon an inadvertent phrase,
and to deduce evil intention. The information is
framed, the inuendos learnedly charged—and the
thing is done. But the question which Sir James
Scarlett should ask, is not whether ' I may obtain a
verdict ?' but what good will a verdict do the Ad-
ministration ?' We contend for it, that the libels in
the Morning Journal have done no mischief. With
regard to the second question, we are of opinion
that the course chosen by the Learned Gentleman
will be decidedly hurtful to the character of the
Duke of Wellington's Administration, and therefore

injurious to its capacity of doing good. These topics
will revive the memory of the discussion, and em-
barrass the Government—and it will have the effect,
we are sorry to be obliged to say, of making the
public remember the old tirades against the Whigs,
groundless as we know they are in general at the
bottom, enemies to free discussion."

A Morning Contemporary goes a great deal
further :

" Half the materials (it is observed) of modern
history is composed of the pompous never-ending
asservations of this party in favour of the above ob-
ject when out of place; and a tolerable proportion of
the other half in proving their dereliction of that
principle when in. In short, with them a clamour
for popular rights has always been made a step-
ladder to power; and the use which they have
made of that power has been to evince their hatred
of the people, and their eagerness to tyrannise over
arid oppress them. The desire to pass the Catholic
Question first threw the Duke of 'Wellington into
the arms of this party; and the fear of being NOW
in a minority without them still renders his Grace

their humble servant. We are aware that there
are those who attempt to deny this junction. These
parsons tell us that there is but one Member of the
Cabinet (Lord Rosslyn) who ever was a Whig. To
these persons we would reply, by asking what was
the Lord Chancellor ?—and, beyond the Cabinet, what
is, or was, Sir Jas. Scarlett, Mr. Brougham, and Mr.
Calcraft, now all holding gowns or office under the
Duke ?—and what were, or are, his Grace's Par-
liamentary auxiliaries, Earl Grey, Lord Holland,
Mr. Tierney, and a crowd of other patriots, whose
early political life has been pasted, when out of
office, in talking of nothing but public freedom and
popular rights ? If there was any one topic on
which this party expended more breath than on any
other, it was in eulogizing and extolling to the skies
the liberty of the Press. In their to►ets and speeches
it was called our very breath, without which we
die;' and this even at a time vl hen the Press was
so violent and indiscreet in some of its movements
as to call forth the animadversion and disgust of
many of its most reasonable adherents. But the
Whigs, good souls ! then wanted place. They ad-
vanced to storm the citadel, and the Press was the
scaling-ladder which they had placed against the
wall. The assault, it is true, did not succeed, but
they have since gained possession by stratagem;
and what is the return they make to the Press, but
to render it the object of their bitterest vengeance ?
We will not trust ourselves to speak of this politi-
cal turpitude as it deserves. We sicken at the view
which it affords of blighted hopes, and martyred
confidence; but this we will say, that as Hannibal,
in his infancy, swore eternal hatred to Rome, so ought
the betrayed and insulted people of this country to dr-
test the very name of Whig."
The question is not, we think, fairly stated.
There are many Whigs who do not share the
views of Sir James Scarlett, or resemble him in
disposition and character, as there are many
Tories who regret that the Duke of Wellington
should have allowed himself to depart from the
line of moderation of which the example was set
by Lord Londonderry. The difference between
Whigs and Tories for many years back, as we
have more than once stated, is incomprehensible.
Any difference must be confined to the greater
or less. share of knowledge and liberality pro-

fessed by the individuals of whom parties are
cowposed. A Whig may be a Reformer—he
may advocate principles of free trade—he may
be a partizan of economy and retienchment, or
he may he a determined enemy of Reform, an
opponent of commercial freedom, and an advo-
cate for corruption in its ugliest shape. A Tory
may be the same. We know mot what Sir
Francis Burdett calls himself now ; but we re-
mark in his speeches in the House of Comirona,
on moving for Parliamentary Reform, he called
him,elfa Tory. The late Sir Samuel J omilly was
a Whig, find Sir James Scarlctt is a Whig; but
is there one principle, one feeling shared in com-
mon by them? We will not do Earl Grey, Lord
Holland, and Mr. Tierney the injustice to suppose
for a moment, that they approve of the prestnt
prosecutions ; and as to Air. Brougham, his
approbation of them is no more to be inferred
from his dppeating on the side of the Crown,
than his approbation of the conduct of Lord
Charles Somerset, at the Cape, because his
Lordship availed himself of his talents as a
Counsellor. Notwithstanding the nonsense that
has been talked in Ireland about feting Messrs.

O'Connell and Shell, there is no point, we be-
lieve, so well ascertained as that a Barrister, if
not already engaged, must be at the command of
whoever is ready to pay him for his services.—
Mr. Brougham is not responsible for the prose-
cutions; and it would require good evidence to
persuade us, in the teeth of tl.e whole tenor
of his life, that he approves of them. Mr.
Brougham has always sympathised warmly with
i'f
whatever tends to promote the cause of improve-
ment in every shape ; he has laboured from the
commencement of his public car
r to raise the
t•
people, and to add to their means of -,rotecting
• •
themselves against misgovernment; and 1...' is
the very last man who will givehis support to
principles calculated to place thi Press titii!er
trammels, which will dep.ive it of all li,i i!t,ilitYi
But Sir James Searlett has never sympsOlid
with more than one individual; he has nj..4''
manifested any of the diffusive philanthropy'
of Mr. Broughatineter laboured like him

for the advancement of edubitifin; tht dpi
struction of abuses. There is iidditlig iii
his present proceedings which can surprize
one who has attended to his professional anti
Parliamentary progress. With respect to Whig
and Tories, the matter is simply this :—No set
of men under our Constitution of Church and
State, can carry on the Government without
availing themselves largely of the means of cor-
ruption. But one set of individuals may be
snore liberally disposed than another, One set
may obstinately withstand all improtemgnt in
our laws and administration, may patroiliid
tolerance at home, and employ the power and
influence of the Government rin encouraging

tyranny and inisgovernment abroad. Another
set may, while equally obliged to conduct the
Government for the benefit of the privileged
classes yet feel disposed to treat the people, in
other respects, with kindness and forbearance--
to commit no more injustice than is absolutely
necessary. Hence the general anxiety, after fly
retirement of Lord Liverpool, and on the deati
of Mr. Canning, to see in power those indivi-
duals who, it was supposed, would contititt the
Government on liberal and comprehensite prin.
ciples. It was then admitted, that the ditiiticz
tion between Whig and Tory was no longer psi
existence. There is no intelligible distinction ih
the present day, but between advocates and op-
ponents of Constitutional Reform. The
account we have seen of the Constitution a. 7: it
exists, is that given by Jefferson, in a letter fti
Governor Langdon, dated &tit March, 1810, in
the last portion of his Memoirs; &es just pub-
lished. " It may be asked (he says) whit in
the nature of her Government unfits Englinuf
for the observation of moral duties ? In the first
place, her King is a cipher; his only function
being to name the Oligarchy which is to govern
her. The Parliament is, by corruption, the
mere instrument of the will of the Admistrati on.
The real power and property in the Government
is in the great aristocratical families of the na-
tion. The nest of office being too stnall for all
of them to cuddle in at once, the contest is
eternal which shall crowd the other out. For
this purpose they are divided into two parties—
the Ins and the Outs—so equal in weight that
a small matter turns the balance. To keep
themselves in when they are in every stratagem
must be practised, every sacrifice used, which
may flatter the pride, the passions, or power of
the nation. Justice, honour, faith, must yield
to the necessity of keeping themselves in place.
The question whether a measure is moral is
never asked ; but whether it will nourish the
avarice of their merchants, or the piratical spirit
of their navy, or produce any other effect which
may strengthen them in their places. As to
engagements, however positive, entered into by
the predecessors of the Ins—why they were their
enemies ; they did every thing which was wrong;
and to reverse ever v thing they did must, there-
fore, be right. . . . /n an absolute Go-
vernment there can be no such equiponderent
parties. The despot is the Government. His
power, suppressing all opposition, maintains his
Ministers firm in their places." Lord Walde-
grave tells us, in his Memoirs, that George the
Second having been accustomed till manhood to
a Government of this last description was
greatly shocked at the corruption of this country.
" Being past thirty," he says, " when the: Ha-
nover Succession took place, and having since ex-
perienced the violence of party, the injustice of
popular clamour, the corruption of Parliaments,
and the selfish motives of pretended patriots, it
is not surprising that he should have contracted
some prejudices in favour of those Governments
where the Royal authority is under less re-
straint." Corruption and hypocrisy, however,
are better than despotism. But may not a time
arrive when we shall be able to dispense with
them also ?—Morning Chronicle.
We entirely agree with an Evening Contem•
porary (The Sun) ill the judicious remarks
which have recently appeared in it, on the in-
expediency, not to say disgrace and danger, of
physicians being the owners of private lunatic
asylums—a practice almost as preposterous as
it would be for the two Chief Justices to have
an interest in the number of persons committed
to the two prisons of their respective Courts.
It is one of the misfortunes of the present day
that but few members of either of the Learned
professions pursue them only for the honour of
science.. On the contrary, mere profit, whiel
'used with such persons to be a secondary con-
sideration, is now the sole and over-ruling one.
That diseases of the mind are more common
than they used to be cannot be doubted; and,
judging from what we see of the conduct and
evidence of too many medical men, upon occa-
sions when their opinions are made public, it
would seem that it is rather their trade to make
men mad than to cure them of
any early tendencies
towards that melancholy disease. Without al-
luding to any particular instance (for there have,

unfortunately, been too ninny), we cannot for
bear from. Eaying, that there is an tagerness am
predetermination to prole insanity, whenever ii
is as much as surmised, which seems to make
" Their Irish the fither to the thought."

It is curious to observe, too, the eager cots
diality with which the members of the two pro
fessions of law and medicine hunt, as it were ii.
tot:ides, upon these sad occasions, and the
scriptural expression that " where the body if
there will the eagles be gathered together," can•
Ito: be more strikingly illustrated than in tin
way in which a man's miefiartunes are made the
prey of these joint adventurers, who seem to
deal with a vacant mind as persons of another
description do with a vacant or unguarded house.
But, confining ourselves to the point at which
we set out, can any -thing, we would ask, be se
preposterous as that a medical practitioner
should assume the double of:fires of magistrate
and gaoler, and both of these fbr his own profit
We have heard of incompatible offices, but we
never heard of any offices so incompatible as
these. We have a high veneration for medical
skill and science, which has, itt some of its de-
partments et le ist, risen itt our days to an excel-
lence it bad never before attained to ; but
Science is degraded, and knowledge, as far as
utility goes, becomes worse than ignorance, if
mere avarice is allowed to be its polar star, and
to usurp all those higher qualifications and feel-
ings by which real science ought to be, and was
formerly distinguished. But if the honour of a
learned profession will ieet rouse the respectable
part of its membets. to rescue it from this dis-
graceful inroad upon its character and utility,
the general interests and welfare of the commit-
hy comman.a its reform ; and Parliament,while
it h" b'
-ca anxiously legislating for the most
des:''.ute and unhappy of all the children of mis-
ionune, will have left its labours incomplete, if
a trade is allowed to be carried on with im-
punity, which, in its nature, is, and must be so
grossly abused as we see by daily experience.—
Morning Herald.
The proceedings under the Commission of
Enquiry into the state of mind of Mr. Davies,
which continued for eleven days, and were at
last abruptly concluded in consequence of the
spontaneous intervention of the Jury, ought
not, we think, to be passed over without sonic
remark. It appears at the first view absurd that
proceedings so tedious and expensive should be
thought necessary, or should even be permitted,
with a view to determine whether an individual
be lit ro manage his own estate, inasmuch as,
kiiilest the estate be unuenally large, it is pro-
-4,40'v that it will be devoured by the process; and
qds has been said to be the more absurd, be-
elude whenever the question of insanity arises
incidental:Y, in criminal proceedings or other-
tiKes ruurts of Justice find it possible to de-
to their own satisfaction and that of the
i)k.*olic in a very summary manner. in these
'tgainions there is, however, some inaccuracy.
The question of insanity in criminal cases
le, brought forward :Under the general plea of
Slot guilty ; • tie - prosecutor has no no-
tice tit this special plea, and the de-
rision conseqiie:ntly is upon es-parte evi-
dence. All that" the Juries are called upon to
say in such cases is, that there does or does
not appeer prima facie evidence of insanity. IN
the only remaining class of cases in which the
iantation of individual soundness of mind fre-
Patently arises, that of the validity of testamentary
documents, the evidence adduced is much more
vontminous, complicated, and discordant, and
the decision proportionably difficult and tedious.
'But even flare, an elaborate and scientific in-
veatiateefien of the question is not spurned as use-
;eata'ieut dispensed with because it is impossible.
ne death of the party has shut out all other
light than what the evidence of the family doctor
raid connections and domestics may happen to
supply. The case is, as we have seen, alto-
gether different, when a Court is constituted to
inquire fully and cautiously into the state of
mind of a living man. Here a wider scope of
testimony is attainable ; and we may expect of
course, that by its needless or excessive ac-
cumulation on either side, the investigation will
occasionally be incumbered, and its expense be
rendered enormous. But this evil, to whatever sar-
casms it may give rise, appertains to the very
subject of the inquiry, and is one of which the
pu!eic have really no reason to complain. The
very toiain of such a question implies, that both
parties have an interest real or imaginary in the
estate, the sanity of whose immediate possessor
is doubted, and no better guarantee can be ima-
gined, that the inquiry will not wilfully or idly
-
be made more tedious or expensive than it ought.
We rejoice, however, that the case before us has
attracted so large a share of public attention, not
because we sec much probability of an improved
method of conducting the inquiries which take
place from time to tone under Chancery Com-
missions, but because it has afforded the public
an opportunity of judging the judgment of a
class of men, by virtue of the signature of one or
other of whom to a piece of paper, thousthda of
individuals are at this moment, and any indivi-
dual may be to-morrow, incarcerated in a private
madhouse. It is no reproach to men of science
that they differ from each other in opinion, un-
lees when the imperfection of science is displayed
in conjunction with dogmatism, presumption, or
precipitation on the part of its conflicting profes-
sors. But is it possible, we ask, for any man to
have read the medical part of the evidence given
on the late inquiry, without being convinced. of
the dreadful and enormous abuses to which the
private madhouse system is liable, and lamenting
that public asylums, under the government of
public and responsible officers, should not be
provided for all the persons, without exception,
for whom their family and friends deem personal
confinement necessary ? The rate of payment
might vary according to the circumstances of the
parties and the scale of accommodation required,
and be so calculated as to reimburse by its aggre-
gate amount nearly the whole expenses of the
institutions, taking care, however, that the inte-
rests of each institution and of its officers should
be promoted, and not impaired, as in private
madhouses they are and must be, by the fre-
quency and rapidity of cure; and by the exclu-
sion of all other than proper and necessary cases
of confinement. The Legislature may exhaust
its humane ingenuity, may heap contrivance upon
contrivance, and check upon check, other effec-
tive guarantee against cruelty and injustice there
can be none than a general regulation that all
persons confined on account or uncle; The pre-
tence of insanity shall be committed foi • ttwith to
the charge of public and responsible fueetionaries.
—Morning Post.

The Times newspaper is beginning to feel
some alarm for its favourite principles of free
trade—for those principles which fatten the spe-
culator at the expence of the poor, and place
the manufacturer, shipowner, and agriculturist of
afi oppressively-taxetl eouri:rv, ut the mercy of
those foreign rivals wits) tile very differently 4i-
.. __