The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-02 00:00:00

THE WEST-PORT MURDERS.

-•- ,
Tim. LATE TRIAL-=ANATOMICAL DISSECTION.
The facts disclosed by this trial produce 7,
conviction of so startling rind horrifying a na-
ture, that the mind cannot be brought to a state
0/equilibrium till the revolting details have beep;
Maturely considered. Accordingly the certainty
conveyed by the eVidnee adduced at the trial,
that scenes of unparnlleicd atrocity have been
passing anionga ourselves to an exfent yet nn-
known, and proceding from Motives incon4
ceivably base and completely inadequate, has
kept undivided possession of the public mind,
and thrown topics of general news entirely into
the shade. The painfiil curiosity thus excited
is certainly not to be deprecated ; but we do not
know if we would encourage our readerstb lin-
ger on the revolting details of this case, were it
not from a conviction, that after we have become
to a certain degree familiar with the horrid tale,
our minds will naturally glide from the indivi-
dual circumstances of the awful story, and as-
sume the consideration of the general and per-
manent interests of the community connected
with the atrocities of Burke and his associates in

crime.

It must be evident to every one, that the
shocking details now brought to light are but a
consummation (and a dreadful one certainly) of
an evil, which, of late years, has been progres-
sively increasing, viz., the extreme difficulty of
procuring, in Scotland, subjects for anatomical
dissection. It must also be admitted, that the
best interests of society require that such sub-
jects should be procured, and that no substitute
can be suggested. Our readers are perhaps not
aware, that a course of anatomical dissection
forms one of the essential and indispensible re-
quisites of the education of a military surgeon,
as these are enforced by the wholesome laws of
the army. The public must now be fully awake
to the nature of the consequences likely to ensue
f:om any measures which may add to the diffi-
culty of procuring what is indispensible to the
acquisition of a science so valuable to the world
at large, and to which this city is indebted for so
much of its honour and wealth. We may there-
fore naturally anticipate that recent events are
likely to stimulate the attention of the Legisla-
ture in the investigation of the subject, which, we
must admit, is surrounded by great difficulties.
It is too evident that in no case can an indi-
vidual have such ownership of a human body, as
to entitle him to do any thing more than sub-
ject it to the rites of burial ; and though it were
otherwise, the dead are generally surrounded by
those who would view the approach of any in-
decent hand with religious horror. Though we
may view the body of a stranger, when in the
gripe of the King of Terrors, with comparative
indifference, we tend and even cherish the re-
mains of a departed friend with a mysterious
fondness. This feeling must be a part of our
nature ; for it has shown itself in some form or
other in all ages, among the savage as well as the
civilised. The ancients deposited their dead
in splendid sarcophagi, or dissipated the body
with sacred flames, and collected the ashes in
urns for preservation ; and it was part of their
faith that the souls of those to whom circumstances
denied the rites of burial, were subjected to
extended penance ; or (as the Egyptians) they
exhausted their ingenuity and science to give
perpetuity to the human frame. We carry the
bodies of departed friends with pomp and cir-
cumstance to the most sacred places, and erect
monuments over them ; and it is one of the doc-
trines of our faith that our bodies are to rise
again. Thus the law of all civilized nations,
the feelings of our nature, and the doctrines we
trust in, conspire against the application of the
human body to the purposes of science. In
Scitland, too, the people are particularly at-
tached to the decencies of burial; the medical
schools aro large, and there is no city suffi-
ciently overgrown to present a field of depravity
large enough to supply the wants of science with

subjects.
In these circumstances, and feeling as acutely
as others a mysterious veneration for the mortal
remains of our relatives, we cannot help con-
sidcring that the recent disgusting trial has
arisen from a mistaken, a childish, and we b
almost say, a criminal superstition about dead
bodies ; and that almost the only remedy which
can with safety be recommended at present, is
the chastising in ourselves, and deprecating in
others, those feelings which are instinctive, but
which in a civilized country, must lead to such
fatal results. Every sensible man knows that
these feelings are founded upon error, and that
it is folly to care, or pretend to care, about what
becomes of the clay from which the immortal soul
has taken its flight. A regard for the welfare of
the living, has so far already induced most peo-
ple to allow the bodies of their relatives to be
dissected privately for the discovery of the un-
known disease which has proved fatal; and good
men have been found ready, on their death-bed,
to request that after death their bodies might be
dissected, that the lives of others might thus be
saved,—leaving, in many cases, to posterity, a
legacy more valuable than all their accumulated
riches could have purchased. By the late trial
we are taught a deep moral lesson, that a too
sensitive regard for the dead, has led, and may
again lead, to infamy and murder. The public
will now learn to withhold their admiration from
the zealot in the shape of a Custom-house of-
ficer or a coach-guard, and wait with patience,
but anxiety, for the result of the deliberation of
The Legislature upon so important a subject.— '
From a Correspondent of tlw Edinburgh Ob-
server.

THE MARKETS.

COUNTR7 CORN MARKETS DU;,-ING THE WEER

Blancitora
Cpard ..---
1-In*tingdon -
Long
Louth

Newark

Nottingham
Peterborough
Piytnonth
Pont
Steafot,l

U ppi s flzun
Witbec h

' trrat.

g. to P.

'rt 78
79
56 713
66 76
55 '76
70 78
=!,43 '7B
70 48
- PI
56 78
72 82

143 84)
/6 05
64 76

Parley.

s. to s.
33 3.1
•
'l4 9.1

R 6 36
30 40
32 44

44
r 0 40

24 X)

34 45
22 32

LEEDS CCflt MARKET.

Oats.

N. tD 8.
-
2:3

24 30
'4B 29
17 21.
17 25
t 24
17 30

Is 25
23 27
Xti
nap Xt
17 27
IS 24

•I)ec. 30.

Beang.

s. 10 6.
48
:43 42

42 447
33 4 ;
39 4A
33 41
3'3 V
42 47
-
37 4.2',

4rh
50 52'
34 W 2
38 40

to had a large supply of Wheat, Barley, and Berns,
but only madotato of other:Graii;:; it bring the last market
iu the year, there seat very little business done; the feu,
sales effected were in beat New Weeat, at js. to 2s. per
cliarier decline, and for Old and middling samples of New.
there Waa trarceiy any demand. Fine henry Barley sup-
ported last weekle rricea, but all other descriptions were
neglected. In Oats t',l6 Shelling no alterglises,. Beaus
met very dull sale and full quarter lower.
Wheat, Norfolk and Suffolk, 6011)
- York. and Lincoln. 601 b. 7015. to R:so.
Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk 'Ss, to 18s. a
'Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
Grinding lie, to aid. 5.
ricatiF .•- -4-.,
Oats, rotatot
Fottfgn nd. to lil;,(l....English 15d. to 15d. ry
Shelling
lia,K,sced, English, 284 to tlilf.„." Foreign, --I. to --J. per last.

LI VEIU'OOL CORN Ii.2I.CHANGIi —Dec. 30.
This morning's market was very thinly attended by ei-'
Cher town or country millers, and the trade opened very
heavily : a few sales in Wheat were reported towards the
close of the day, at a reduction of 3d. per bushel, but not
to apy extent. The quantity of hue Oats offering was
not large, still they were difficult to quit at the previous,
reduction. Prices of Flout declined is. to 2s. per so 4c„.
and those of Oatmeal Is. per load; the sales of both arti—
cles were very limited. A ferr parcels of Barley were
taken, we believe fur shipment, at last quoted prices.
The value of Beans and Peaty are nnaltetri.
\I iIgAT, English, White, per 701 b. ---, Pr Od.tolN. Ott.
Red
Scotch, Welch, and Manx ......
---- Irish, White JO 9 11 0
-- Red JO ID 10 V
Foreign... JO 0 it 3
OATS, English, Welsh, and Scotch, per 4511, 4 0 4 t
—lrish 8 11 4
Foreign 4• IN 3 JO 4 0
BARLUN, English, Malting, per Imp. quarter 44 0 46 0
Scotch and Irish, per 6011 n.
Feeding h 8 6 9
BEANS, English, per Imperial quarter .... ......
Irish, Etre.
-- Foreign
Musa, English, per Imperial quarter
Foreign
nova, English, per 28011).
Irish
°anti! St, EngEsh and Irish, per 2401 be. S7 0 .?9 C
INDIAN CORK, per 4401 h. 99 0 40 6
RYE., per Imperial quarter l3 0 42 0
MALT, par Imperial quarter
Imroar or GRAIN for the Wroic ending Dee, 29.
Wheat. Oats. Barley. Flour. °strata
Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. iForeign, Beg (Irish, &c. Se/4 loads,
~W 23 1 i ,2rsB 397 3,21-16 1 2,991 4,015
___ _

MANCHEsTER SMITHFIELD.—Dtv.3I.
At per lb. sinking the Oki.
3,041 Sheep 4d. to rid. 25 bd. to Id.
d',3 Cattle 3 6 1492 Pigs --- 41 Si

MANCHESTER POTATOE MARKET.—Dec. 27.
P01..%10ra, ss. 90., 6s. Od., and '71.0d. per load of 1$ sons arid'
; New ditto, Os., Os. :hi., acid es. per ditto; 'l'ni-nips.
ss. Od., 6s. 00. and 6s. 3d. per load of 16 pecks; Onions, 144. Od.,
11.., and 15s. 6d_ per 12 score.

MANCHESTER YAK'
No. d. d.
"lhro,tl e'rwi,t, 20 101 to 11
L'o 13 134
40 151 I:
Mule cop Twist/ 30
for VINI p
40 . 15
50 —17 i
60.,.20 22
70..24 '26
80 27 30

MARK

,Dec. 30.
30.-- 101 to 111
40 111 12
50 z4i 15
00 ISI 1(1
10 ........ 19 20
50....—. 22 2.lii
100 28 30
120 ..--. SA 38
10 -- 7 8
Weft from 14.--- 81 91e
waste 12 9 ot
24 - 10 .10k
1

MulcCop
Weft..

BIRTHS.
On the 31st nlt. Mrs. Daniel Trinder, of Wantnge,•
Berke, of a son •

On the ht inst. at Kensington, the lady of E. Vtr
Blunt, Esq. of a son.

On the 31st ult. the lady of Captain George Baker,
of a son, who survived only twelve hours.
On the 31st ult. at Bernard-street, Rnssell-square, the
lady of Edmund Dawson Legh, Esq. of a danghter.
On the 81st tilt, the lady of Joseph Latour, Esq. of a

CANOVA,THRSCULPFOR.—(From an article
in the New Monthly, entitled Walks in Ramie.).—" Ca-
nova lose to salute my friend as we approached, and in a
few momenta we were familiar acquaintances. Nothing,
indeed, could be more preposseesing than his drat address.
There v.-aa no effort, no condescension. His affability was
nut put on, but a part of himself. When he left his high
contemplations, and mingled with the ordinary clarof our
mortality, he was in all things as the men with whom lie
nixed. Neither did he lie down on society for mere relief.
He contributed quite as much as be reeeived ; and in all
there wax that unobtrusive cheerfulness of manner which
more than words, bespoke the habitual content of a pure
and generous spirit, and the ameliorating and subduing
nature of the noble occupatione in which he bail been en-
gaged. The arts have this especial advantage over litera-
ture and politics,—that they are conversant only with the
ideal, the perfect, the very loftiest portions of our being. A
proud and bold tone of thinking, an abstraction from the
degrading, the little, the virulent—from all the plebeian
passions of existence—give a sort of sanctity to each a vo-
cation. It was visible in every thing he did or said. His
voice, though not good, was pleasing ; and there was
a stir of gentle inspiration, a sort of suppressed
; glow about it, whenever he touched on his favourite
pursuits, which carried the hearer much more than
any words could do, into the full enthusiasm of
the 'subject. His habitual language was Italian ; he
spoke French heavily and clumsily; the few phrases he diil
use were thrown into a broad Italian mould, front whence
they came out no longer intelligible or recognizable. Ita-
lians lavish their gestures even on trifles ; be was calm,
smooth, and impressive. His whole being breathed grace
and gentleness ; there was nothing bold, strong, impe-
thous ;he wanted power and weight. In every thing he Pnwrse and Pommel-3n by MURDO YOUNG, at
11.
was the anti-type of Thorwalteen." Sun Omer., 111, Eintigtirg, .Lenceoi.k.

MARRIED.
At NV/gen-house, Bucks, Miss Susanna Will/ark; to
James Thomas Cookney, Esq. of Bedford-row, solicitor.
On the let inst. at Tottenham Church, by the Rev. T.
Moseley, M.A., Thomas Moseley, Esg. of Bedford-street,
Covent•garden, to Anna, the, younger daughter of Samuel
Luck Kent, Esq. of the former place.
On the Ist inst. at St. Marylebone Church, by the Rev.
John Hume Spry, rector, Mr. Edward George Chnrten,
leet,szChifiwick, to Mica Anderson, of Pen-
cond eon of Wm. Charton, Erg. of
ofSutton
f.ocrod-surz
od
tone die.

DIED.
On the 30th nit. Penrith, John Bnehanan, Esq, in
the 74th year of his age.
On the lit inst. in Great. Surrey-street, aged thirteen
rnonthe, James John Goulding Saunders, yonngest child of
Mr. Thoiras Saundere.
On the 30th ult. Mr. Charles Harris, inn. aged 2P,
member of the College of Surgeons, eon of Charles Harris,
Eeq. of Portman-place, much respected and deeply re-
gretted by all who knew him.
On the 30th ult., at her house at Kelvedon, &sex,
Elizabeth, the widow of Robert Torin, Esq.
On the 2nit ult., at Bleruierhaote,t, of apoplexy, Mr.
Joseph Simpson, late of Lonninghead, Sebergham, Curn-
btrland, in the 52d year of his age.
On Thursday, the let inst., John Blaekall, of limeley
Court, in the county of Oxford, Esq., aged 36.