The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-13 00:00:00

DEPARTURE OF THE BRITISH
QUEEN FOR NEW YORK.

THE LEEDS MECHANICS' INSTI

TUTE.

The following letter • was addressed by Lord
Brougham to the Committee in reply to an invitation
to attend a late meeting of the institute:—
Brougham, August, 29, 1842.
Gentlemen,.—l feel much honoured by your invita-
tion to attend the meeting of the two bodies, now so
happily united, and I assure you that it would have
been a great satisfaction to me if I had been able to
meet my old and esteemed constituents at Leeds upon
such an occasion. Unfortunately this is out of my
power, and I can only, in expressing my regret, add
also the expression of my hearty good wishes for the
continued prosperity of these excellent associations.
Every thing that has passed since we met, and
all that is still going on in various parts of the
country, can only tend to impress more deeply
than ever upon one's mind, the supreme importance
of a sound and judicious system of edtication, as well
to the stability of our institutions, and the
of the wealthy, as to the happiness of the working
classes. The failure of the late attempt to make the
distress so generally prevalent a means of disturbing
the peace, is most creditable to the people.
Even in the few instances of some misguid-
ed persons for a moment forgetting their duty,
they showed a distrust of themselves and of
each other, the result of that habitual respect
for the law and aversion to illegal proceedings, which
so honourably marks the character of Englishmen.
This great merit should never be forgotten by their
rulers. The first duty of a Government, as I have
often told you, is to execute law firmly that it may be
respected, and to amend it judiciously that it may be
beloved. Much has lately been effected in this parti-
cular; and although you and I naturally wish to see
more accomplished, we must on this account the more
anxiously desire a continuance of peace at home and
peace abroad—well assured that they who would in-
terrupt either, are the greatest enemies to every im-
provement of our institutions.--I have the honour to
be, your faithful servant, H. BROUGHAA

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
MOH THE EVENING PAPERS. OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—The custom of locking people up on
frivolous charges has of late been so frequently sanc-
tioned by the Magistrates, that we are happy to find
an instance in which the practice has been denounced
from the bench, as it well deserves to be. The object
of imprisonment before a case has been judicially in-
vestigated is security, not punishment ; and if precau-
tions are taken that an accused party will meet the
charge against him at the proper time, he ought to
have no further restriction placed upon his liberty.
In a case reported this morning, it appears that an
individual had been given into custody for stealing a
candlestick from a house of a certain description,
in which he had been attacked, and where, in order
to defend himself, he laid hold of the article he was
alleged to have stolen, but threw it down into
the street directly he found himself in safety. Not-
withstanding this was explained to the policeman,
he took the party to the .station-house, where the
superintendent received the charge, a fact which eli-
cited the following just remarks from the Magistrate:-.-
"Mr. Cottingham said that it was stretching the law
too far to deprive any of her Majesty's subjects of
his liberty on such a vague charge; that at all events
bail ought to have been accepted for the appearance
of the accused at this Court, instead of locking him
up ; and the superintendent ought to have known
that he was vested with the authority of exer-
cising a discretionary power on such an occasion."
These observations are so obviously true, and the
duty of the superintendent under the circumstances
was so extremely straightforward and clear, that his
ignorance of how to act—which we presume to have
been the cause of his acting wrongly--fully deserved
the censure of the Magistrate. We agree with Mr.
Cottingham, that the superintendent ought to have
known that bail should have been taken," and also
that he "ought to have made the complainant enter
into her recognisance to appear to support the charge."
A precaution that, considering th‘ position of the per-
son who made it—the keeper of the house in which
the dispute arose—was especially requisite. We trust
that the opinions expressed on this occasion by Mr.
Cottingham may serve as a guide to other Magis-
trates, who are in the habit of taking very strange
views of the liberty of the subject, and of the right of
the police to interfere with it.
STANDARD.—Our attention is again summoned
to the Dublin University election, by more than one
Contemporary, and by several correspondents. We
are charged with injustice to the pretensions of Mr.
Hamilton, which some Contemporaries and some cor-
respondents set out at great length, Now this is surely
beside the matter. The grounds of claim to public
confidence are public services ; if Mr. Hamilton can
fairly lay claim to any such services, the public knows
what they are, and it is not in our power to conceal
But what are the services ascribed to
amilton ? They all amount to this, that he
as expended fifty thousand pounds in various efforts,
generally unsuccessful, to procure his own return to
Parliament. W hy, it is understood that Sir John
Hobhouse has expended twice the sum, and we could
name a dozen men, as little suspected by the world of
any political principle as the ex-President of the
Board of Control, who have each expended in the
same ambitious pursuit jnore than Sir John ; and
this, too, in a country where money expended
upon elections is not regarded, as from late contro-
versies it seems to be regarded in Ireland, as an ad-
venture in the lottery of professional advancement.
However, putting all other considerations aside,
we hold thel fact that Mr. Smith has, and Mr. Hamil-
ton has not, received his education in the University of
Dublin, decisive upon the question of the election.
We maintain that any University which does not
choose its representatives from among its own alumni
pronounces upon itself the most cutting censure.
First, the letter of the law commands such a selection;
next, the usage—an usage never departed from by
Oxford or Cambridge, and rarely by Dublin, if ever,
before Mr. Shaw's most inauspicious election__
confirms the legal injunction ; and, let us
add, that both law and usage are based in
the soundest principles of utility, WO have
before often contended for the benefit of the
principle of local preference, In both insuring
honest representatives and honest elections, and thii
with reference to all :constituencies ; bet the ease of
the Universities is infinitely the 44.0figest. The period
of
he era University educationeducationion with
,most cited men,
ttheir tbrmation of charaeter...of the forma-
tion of friendships, and, if we may so speak, of the
formation of the pr;neipies which are to guide them
in after life, Now, who can so fairly or so
use-
fully represent a constituency like the constituen-
cies of our Universities as one from themselves ?
modelled to the same character, bound by the
same friendships, and imbued with the same
principles as all of them? We are not arguing
for the rights of the Dublin electors only ; we are
maintaining the rights common to all University
electors, whether of Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin.
Suppose the venue changed, as a lawyer would say;
suppose that the contest lay for a seat, not for
the University of Dublin, but for the Uni-
versity of Oxford—would any one venture to say
that Mr. Smith, a Dublin man, stood vnii it Rioting
of equality with Mr. Hamilton, an Oxfbrd man
We doubt whether in the University of Oxford any
one would be so impudent as to propose the stranger.
It is humiliating enough for Dublin University that
she has permitted the question to be raised,

them.
Mr.

On Sunday, about dusk, the body of an appa-
rently respectable female was diScele-ridin the Regent's
Canal, opposite the Ben Jonson public house, StePne3:9
whither it was immediately conveyed, but life had evi-
dently been f.
some ho,ilr4 cAititwt. The unfortunate
woman appears tq nqye liven about 40 years of age, of
fair coplPlPliotlt dressed in a green silk bonnet, half-
rqo4plllll gown, dark cashmere shawl, dark boots, and
White stocg kings, L
Bassett,::inen marked in ink, " Barret," or

On Sunday evening, about eight, as the Starlight
iron steamer was leaving Hungerford-pier, she came
athwart a boat•builder's boat, in which .were eight per-
The boat was instantly capsized, and the whole
Party, some of them females, were immersed in the
water. Two ivatermen, named James Stewart and
David Eld, each with a boat, instantly put off to their
assistance, and they were fortunately all picked up with-
out having sustained any material injury,

(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.) •`-.
COWES, SEPT. 11.—The Belgian steamer British
Queen left this port for New York at thirty minutes
past eleven this morning. She took on board nearly
70 passengers here, and brought five with her from
Antwerp. She had only about 60 tons freight. The
wind was light from the N.W. She is likely to have
a fine passage down Channel.
The Earl of Shannon has sold his beautiful castle
and grounds at East Cowes, the favourite residence
of the late John Nash, Esq.