The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-17 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

BOW-STREET.—On Saturday, Captain Archileald
Smith, of the 59th Regiment, was brought before Tiros.
HALLS, Esy., by Lincoln, one of the conductors, on a
peace-warrant, charged by Gen. Barry with having used
certain expressions, with the intent to provoke the General
to fight a duel.
The General stated, that be and Captain Smith, whom
he had known slightly before, were fellow-passengers a
few days since in one of the steam-packets from Ireland
to this country, and while at dinner the Captain asked
him to take wine with him. This the witness declined to
do, stating that he was but an indifferent sailor, and
when at sea he was compelled to avoid wine and spirits al•
together, as it made him ill. The Captain fancied that
an intentional affront was conveyed by the refusal of the
General to take wine, and he retired from the table, and
took an opportunity of speaking to him upon the subject,
and required an explanation. Gen. Barry said he had not
offered any offence, and therefore had nothing to explain ;
he had at the same time stated that he could not drink
wine, as it was likely to make him unwell. The Captain
was not satisfied, and said, that unless Gen. Barry offered
a more ample explanation, lie must send a friend to him,
and "they must meet." After their arrival in London,
the Captain repeated this declaration, and General Barry
applied at this Office for a warrant.
Captain,Smith, when asked what answer lie had to make
to the charge, said, he conceived that the General intended
to offer him an affront, and he felt himself hound to resent
it. He, however, merely said that they must meet ;he
had sent no challenge to the General.
Mr. HALLS—No, Sir ; but I know psi fectly well what
the words " we must meet" mean, when used by oue gen-
tleman to another. 1 put it to you, as a man of honour—
whether by the expression " we must meet," you did not
mean that the General must fight you ? Captain Smith,
after hesitating for some time, said, that certainly that was
the usual interpretation.
Mr. HALLS said he really thought Captain Smith had
misconceived the General altogether, and it would indeed
be great folly for two gentlemen to risk their lives in an
affair so trivial.

General Barry—l declare, upon my honour, that I had
never any intention to insult Captain Smith; I had had
the honour of diciing at the same mess table with the Cap-
tain, at the time when he was quartered near me in Ireland ;
I have sat next to him at table—have drank wine with him,
and received very gentlemanly attention from him ; and is
it likely that I should, without any provocation, offer an
affront to a man from whom I had experienced so much ci-
vility ?

Mr. fla lAA—Surely, Captain Smith, this is a satis-
factory explanation; what a fidly it is, that the lives of
valuable men should be sported with upon such very
slight grounds ! lam very glad to find that the practice
of duelling has declined greatly of late in the army, as well
as amongst the community at large, and I do hope I shall
live to see the time when it will be abolished altogether.
General Barry—Before I took the present step, I con-
sulted a friend, whose advice exactly accorded with my
own opinion on the subject. We do not live exclusively
for ourselves—we have families and friends, and may be
able to make ourselves useful to society. I have a family
dependent upon me, and I thought it a duty I owed to
them and to society generally, to take the course which I
have adopted. I have spent nearly half a century in his
Majesty's service—in fact, I have been in the army since I
was thirteen years of age, and I am net at all apprehen-
sive that any other motive than that which I have men-
tioned will be ascribed to me.

Mr. HALLS—I am extremely glad to hear such senti-
ments come from the mouth of an old General Officer.
The high spirit of honour and courage for which British
Officers have ever been so much distinguished will, in
my opinion, be always kept alive without resorting to the
silly practice of going out to fight upon every trivial
misunderstanding. The lives of men valuable in every
point of view to their country, should not be put in
jeopardy unless under very serious provocation indeed. I
hope, Captain Smith, you are satisfied with wissa_use bee.,
said ; otherwise I must call upon you to find bail to keep
the peace.
General Barry said lie should be sorry to have Captain
Smith called upon to give sureties, as he knew that his
friends lived at a great distance from London, and he'might
be subjected to the inconvenience of being placed ender tem-
porary confinement.
Mr. HALLS.--That is really very kind of you, General ;
and lam sure Captain Smith must he satisfied, and will
pledge his honour that this matter should go no further.
After some conversation, Captain Smith pledged his
honour that he would take no further notice of the affair;
but there was so much of seeming reluctance in his
manner, that Mr. Halls said that, although he could not
doubt the pledge which Captain Smith had made, he did
not feel himself justified in discharging the warrant alto-
gether. He should suspend it ; and if any thing further
took place, the General could complain, and the warrant
would again be put in execution.
The parties then left the office, the General in the most
good-humoured manner expressing an opinion, that Capt.
Smith would not give occasion for any further proceedings.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET.--An interesting-look-
ing female, fashionably attired, named Heater Murrell, was
brought from St. James's watch-house, charged with pur-
loining sundry articles of wearing apparel, belonging to
a man named Hammond, a groom in the employ of Lord
Fitzroy Somerset.
The watchman deposed to seeing the prisoner between
two and three o'clock in the morning, passing along with
a large bundle. Being unable to give a reasonable ac-
count of the contents, he took her to the watch•-house,
where she offered to give the constable a sovereign to let
her go. It was shortly afterwards ascertained that the
clothes belonged to Hammond.
The prisoner stated that Hammond gave her the things
to pawn. They were not altogether worth 11.
Hammond asserted to the contrary, that the coat alone
cost him 41. 10s.

The prisoner in tears atryerted the clothes had been in-
trusted to her to pledge.
The MAGISTRATE said that a Jury must take that into
their consideration ; and committed her to Newgatc for trial.
The prisoner, who is a very pretty woman, was re-
cently " under the protection," as it is falsely termed, of
a " gentleman," who after living with her a short time,
left her with an annuity of 501. a-year.
This is about the sixth case of similar robberies which
have been investigated at this Office within the last few
weeks. . .

Joshua Cross and George Collins were charged with
stealing a quantity of lead and six bars of solder, weighing
eighty-two pounds, whilst employed at the new Bucking-
ham Palace, which lead and solder were the property of
his Majesty's Commissioners of Woods and Forests.
They were committed to Newgate, and the parties bound
over to prosecute.
etne time since
Captains Royo
andLAl‘GomißEes,TwHh-oS,TiRt EmaE Ty .
be-- O
recollected, Saturdays,
made an application to the Magistrates of this office under
circumstances of peculiar distress, occasioned by the Baron
de Thierry's having obtained from them, under pretence of
settling them as colonists in New Zealand, all the money
they had in the world, waited on M. Wyatt, Esq., and the
Rev. Mr. Mathias, to return their thanks for their humane
interference in their behalf, and the kindness with which
they entertained their application, which, through the
publicity it bad obtained by the medium or the press,
had been the instrument of rescuing them from absolute
starvation, and placing them for the present in a state of
comparative comfort. Not being sufficiently acquainted
with the English language to give an adequate expression
to their feelings, Captain Royo handed in a letter.
Mr. WYATT hoped that the sums they had received were
equivalent to the loss which they had sustained through the
representations of the Baron de Thierry.
Captain Royo replied that they were ; they had received
over 23/., the sum which the Baron bad obtained from
them, and the only thing that they had now to regret was,
that owing to their being duped by him, they had been de-
prived of any permanent relief from the British Govern-
ment. After again expressing their thanks, they left the
office.

UNION-HALL—John Gillim, the driver of one of
the vans which ply at the Elephant and Castle, and against
the drivers of which description of vehicles the public are
so continually complaining, was summoned to this office
and punished in a way which it is expected will operate as
a warning to the rest of his brother whips.
Mr. Joseph Townley stated that a few days ago, while
waiting at the Elephant and Castle with theAntention of re-
turning home to Peckham-rye by the stage, the defendant
came up aryl urged him to proceed in his van there.--
Witness at length made an agreement to give him 2s.
which is half as much aeain as if be went by the coach.

—When the defendant, however, arrived opposite Dr.
Collier's chapel, he suddenly pulled up, swearing he should
not drive another inch unless he was paid 3s. for the
journey.' Witness remonstrated on such a gross attempt
at imposition, but the defendant remained inflexible, de-
claring that he would not stir. Mr. Townly insisted on
being driven home, and at length, after an interruption of
nearly half an hour, the defendant drove on, and upon
setting down the complainant, still demanded 3s. which
were tendered to him, and he took them. The complain-
ant, resolved on punishing such an act of imposition,
looked for the number of the vehicle, but could not find
any. When brought before the Magistrate, to use an ex-
pression very much in vogue amongst the van-drivers, the
defendant was "down upon his luck" (penitent), and, not-
withstanding the ingenuity of a learned counsel in his
behalf, he was fined 51. and costs.

A punster hearing that a new office was
wreated, under the name of the Vice-Chancellor, said,
" What ! have we not already a sufficiency of VICES in the
government ?"—New London Literary Gazette.

DESTRUCTIVE FERE.—On Saturday morn-
ing between one and two o'clock, an alarming
fire broke out in the house of Mr. Jesse Bas-
sage, tea-dealer, High-street, Bow, nearly op-
posite the Church. It continued to rage-with
considerable fury, and ultimately destroyed the
whole of the stock and furniture, and reduced
the house to ruins. The adjoining houses were
greatly damaged, and were only saved from total
destruction by the arrival of the London engines.
The inmates escaped by the windows. The
whole of the property destroyed is insured in the.
Royal Exchange.
CROSSING THE LINE.—The crew of a ship,
whilst they were crossing the Equator, planted
the carpenter's mate (a green-horn) on the jib-
boom end, with a great hatchet in his fist, in
order to cut the line and let the vessel pass.—
The Lieutenant of the watch was let into the
joke, and every now and then he sung out from
the quarter-deck, " Jib-boom there." " Sir,"
from Chips. " Are you ready to cut away ?"
" All ready, Sir." " See you do it cleverly
then, boy." " Aye, aye, Sir." After some
time, " Can you see it yet ?" "In half a
minute, Sir." And thus was the unfortunate
carpenter's mate kept astride the boom for half
the day. On the same solemn occasion, Nep-
tune and his crew being a long time in coining
aft, the Captain inquired what they were about ?
" Shaving the figure-head, Sir, and making the
ship free." And so the fact was ; they lathered
and shaved the old champion's chin in due form
as the vessel had not before crossed the Equator.
THE RULING PASSION:—On Saturday
evening last, Wood, the active constable of
Rugeley, observed three youths in the streets of
that town, of very suspicious manners and ap-
pearance, on their way, it is supposed, to this
city, to do a little business during the races. On
searching them, he found a brace and centre bits,
and other burglarious instruments in their pos-
session ; and on enquiry being made,it was dis-
covered that two of them had, the night before,
broken out of Newcastle prison, to which they
had been committed for a robbery. The other
had also been in prison on suspicion of being
concerned in the robbery at Trentham Inn. One
of them had, besides, been flogged through
Newcastle, a short time since. One of these
juvenile burglars, the eldest of the three being
only 18 years of age, and the youngest 12 or
13, was on Saturday evening put in the crib, a
place of confinement in the town-hall ; but hav-
ing broken out of Newcastle prison the previous
night, it was not likely he would quietly remain
Sao accordingly set to
work to make his escape, which he effected by
forming a hole through a wall that separates the
crib from the staircase leading to the assembly
aoom, which he soon graced with his presence,
and where, luckily for the safety of his neck, the
windows being about 14 or 15 feet from the
ground, he found a ladder, that enabled him to
descend into the street. The other two, being
more securely confined, did not participate in
their companion's good fortune, and remained in
custody till the constable from Newcastle arrived,
and conveyed one of them to his old quarters.—
Lic4ficld Mercury.
A YOUNGER SISTER.—My youthful sister
—Kate—the beauty of our family—the pet—
though at years of womanhood, the plaything of
the whole house—full of youth, and joy, and
brightness—who that has once seen her does
not bless the faculty of memory, were it only for
the power it gives him of recalling the lovely
vision that has flitted before him. That bright
hazel eye, shining in a light of its own, the ema-
nation of a mind full of the wildest imagination,
the keenest perception of the ludicrous ;—that
perfect mouth, constantly breaking into dimples,
or curling with the prettiest scorn ;--that clear,
animated complexion, varying incessantly through
all shades allied to rose-colour, from the faintest
tint of flush-colour, to the deepest carnation ;.
that arching neck, which seems made expressly
to toss gracefully the haughty little head ;—how
appropriate are all these to that anomalous crea-
ture, a coquette by birth !—Yes, I am convinced
Kate brought her coquetry into the world with
her. She has a good stock of affections too;
but then they are lavished on parents and other
natural claimants, and all the warmth of her
heart is expended in this direction. She once
had a three months' preference for a youth, whose
kindred spirit made his , dark eyes actually dance
in the splendour of their own sunshine. Cir-
cumstances separated them ; and a n'ionth after-
wards, Kate was moving through the usual
pirouette of existence as lightly as ever. • She re-
members him occasionally still, with a sigh so
blended with a laugh, you can scarcely under-
stand whether she is melancholy or jesting.
She scorns all thought of loving—that is, of
being in love—with a most Beatrice-like dis-
dain ;—but she means to marry for all that, she
says. A thorough-paced woman of the world,
matrimonially bent, could not sport a happier
latitude of indifference to youth or age than my
lovely or inexperienced sister. The medium
through which she views the attractions of her
various admirers, is their rent roll; not that she
is insensible to a difference in personal appear-
ance, or in pleasing manners, but she has a
keener perception of the distinction between three
ciphers and four, in the annual amount of a
man's receipts, inasmuch as she comprehends
that this must materially affect the modicum ap-
propriated to his wife's expenditure. Doubtless
Kate will marry advantageously, and I am not
sure whether her chance of happiness,
com-
fort, is not greater than if some of her sensibili-
ties were keener. Once united for
l hisife felicitytoaman
of sufficient weight to allow her to respect him,
she has too much sense even to mar
or her own by unbecoming levity, or the indul-
gence of her sarcastic humours. If she is some-
what irascible, she is extremely placable ; if she
is quick at repartee, she is at the same time
abundant in the tact which feels, in a moment,
the point beyond which she must not venture.
Altogether, a man may marry Kate, without ren-
dering his discretion questionable. That is to
say, if he have tolerable temper and kindness.