The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-22 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

On Saturday Mary Medealf, a weaveress, ap-
peared upon adjourned summons before Mr.
BRoUGUTON and Mr. TWYFORD, to show cause for

her refusal to pay 4!. 13s. 7d. for damage done to
a piece of gros de Naples silk, which she had con-
tracted
to weave and return in a finished state to
her employers, Messrs. Stephen Wilson and Sons,
of Goldsmith-street, Cheapside.
The silk in question had been destroyed by cut-
ting, and the employers sought to make the defen-
dant pay the amount of damage under the Arbitra-
tion Act, the sth of George IV. c. 96, which, in
cases of dispute between masters and work-people,
authorizes the interference of Magistrates of the
county, riding, division, stewartry, barony, city,
burgh, town, or place, within which tke parties reside.
In this case, however, •Mr. Phillips, on the part
of the defendant, objected that the Magistrates had
no jurisdiction, as Mr. Wilson, the complaining
party, was resident in the city of .London. On the
other hand, the complaint, it appeared, had pre-
viously been heard in the city, but was dismissed by
the worthy Alderman, the defendant being resident
in the county, where he, not being a county Magi-
strate, had not jurisdiction. It was contended that
the wording of the Act being in the plural number,
both the parties must he resident in the same place.
That and other objections started by the Learned
Counsel were reserved by the Magistrates for con-
sideration; but the Act of the Legislature was
found to be so vapid), worded, that the Magistrates,
as the safer course to be pursued where the matter
appeared so doubtful, dismissed the summons.
Mr. Phillips said it would really be a very de-
sirable thing for the gentlemen of the House of Com-
mons to keep a schoolmaster to attend to the language
of their acts, for scarcely one of them could be pro-
duced whose meaning was to be understood from
reading it.
Mr. BROUGHTON—We can only take an Act of
Parliament as we find it, you know, Mr. Phillips.
Mr. Phillips, befcre he left the office, took an op-
portunity of speaking in praise of the forbearance
exercised by the masters towards their men within
the last few days. He felt it due to them to say so
much in their behalf, and he sincerely trusted that a
good understanding would continue between them.
A young man, of fashionable appearance, said to
be related to a gentleman of great respectability and
eminence in the legal profession, was finally examined
on a charge of feloniously obtaining a horse and gig
from Mr. Sells, a livery-stable-keeper in Chiswell-
street.
It appeared that on the IBth of May, the prisoner
hired the horse and gig to proceed to Ware, pro-
mising to return by the following day, and ordered
the ostler to take them to his house, No. 40, Fins-
bury-circus. The man went accordingly, anti de-
liverpeadsstahgeeporfoptheertyhotuosethaeopdrdisroolvieer,owffh. o
Tcahmeeofsrtolemr
the
then knocked at the door, and asked if the gentle-
man lived there, and the servant told him that the
gentleman, whom he had never seen before, merely
called there, and asked fur his master, and finding
that lie was from home waited a few minutes, say-
' ing that he expected his horse and gig to call there
for him. The ostler immediately mounted a
horse, and rode as far as Stamford-hill in
pursuit of the prisoner, but could not
,find him,
and the prisoner was not seen till a fort-

night afterwards, when a friend of Mr. Sells met
him in the gig, and told him that it had been adver-
tised as stolen. The prisoner said he was then go-

ing to Mr. Sells. He was going in a contrary di-
rection, however, and the gentleman entered the
gig to accompany him to the owner. The prisoner,
after some attempts at evasion, at length jumped out
of the gig and ran away, but was pursued and given

into custody.
Herrington, the officer who received him into
custody, produced a number of pawnbrokers' dupli•
cates, letters, and Bs. in silver, found in his pocket.

LAMBETH-STREET.
A rather singular interview, and one possessing no
small portion of dramatic amusement, took place at
this office on Saturday last between the magistrate
for the day and John Joseph Stockdale, the well-
known publisher of Miss Harriette Wilson's (sui
disant Madame Rochfort's) cyprianic adventures.
On Mr. Stockdale being ushered into the justice-
room, he produced a Morning Paper of Friday last,
and said that his object in trespassing on the atten-
tion of the learned magistrate was of a twofold nature
—first, to complain of a report which appeared under
the head of " Lambeth-street," impugning the mora-
lity of his character; and next, to learn whether that
report was correct.
Mr. Stockdale commenced his address, which was

none of the shortest, by passing an animated eulogy
upon his personal respectability, and proceeded to
say, that to preserve it he was anxious to ascertain
whether or not the expression of " his name stinks
in the nostrils of the public," had been made use of,
or was the gratuitous interpolation of the reporter.
In asking for this information, he observed that he
did so in allusion to a communication made to the

tench by his sister with a view of ameliorating the
situation of the foreign ladies, the Mesdames Both,
and to the conversation which was saki to have sprung
out of it. (Mr. Stockdale here read the report, which
he described as so particularly derogatory to his re-
spectability.)
The MAGISTRATE having listened with patience
to Mr. Stockdale, and first protesting against his
being held responsible for any report or paragraph
that the press might in the exercise of its judgment
think proper to lay before the public, replied that he
had seen the account referred to, and though perhaps
each syllable, as it dropped, was not given, yet, as
well as his memory served him, he thought it in sub-
stance correct. Mrs. Stockdale, whom he now un-
derstood to be a near relative of Mr. Stockdale, had
benevolently suggested a measure for the relief and
future provision of the Hanoverian ladies; and on
the name being mentioned, it struck him, as it did
also a reverend fiiend who happened to be on the
bench at the moment, that the suggestion came
from some member of the family of the pub-
lisher of The Ifilson Memoirs. The question was
certainly asked the messenger if such was the fact ?
and he replied that Mrs. Stockdale was his sister;
but that she never countenanced, or had any thing
to do with the sale of a single number of the profli-
gate work.
Mr. Stockdale—l take it, then, that the report is
substantially true ?
The Magistrate—l have told you that such is my
opinion, and though I did not mean that the observa-
tion that " the name stunk in the nostrils of the
public," it being addressed in what I thought a pri-
vate conversation to my brother Magistrate, should
go forward to the world, yet as it has so happened,
I am not disposed to disavow it, nor shall I retract
a word of what I believe I then uttered. In making
►.he observation, I did it not invidiously, and in doing
so it was with the intention of benefiting these hap-

less young women; for if it was supposed that -it
was the publisher of a mercenary prostitute's adven-
tures who came forward to promote their interests,
it would tend rather to injure than improve them.
Mr. Stockdale—Then, Sir, the expression I have
referred to was made use of? The Magistrate—

Such is my conviction ; and I do not hesitate to re-
peat that my impression is now as it was then, and
that the name of the individual who has been the
instrument of publishing those scandalous, nay more,
disgusting memoirs, is in bad odour with the well-
regulated part of society.: this much I think it but
fair and manly to say in justice to the reporter.
Mr. Stockdale said, that he was certainly the
publisher of Miss Harriette Wilson's Memoirs, and
instead of regretting having been so, he was proud
of it; he thought they exposed vice, and led to its
correction ; and he did not see why he, more than
those of a more elevated rank, should be held up as
the object of vituperation.
The MAGISTRATE—Sir, I neither mean to vitu-
perate nor cast any censure on you merely as Mr.
Stockdale; my observations were and are confined
to you as the publisher, which you avow yourself, of
an immoral and scandalous work.
Mr. Stockdale—l may or may not have been
*wrong, that is a matter of opinion ; but why should
I be perpetually traduced?
The MAGISTRATE—I am not traducing you. You
came here to ask two specific questions : first,
whether the report you complain of is correct; and
next, if I made use of the words attributed to me.
I have answered you specifically to the first. I told
you that I believed the report to be correct ; and to
the second, that I am convinced I made use of the
expression or words you allude to.
Mr. Stockdale--If I have been in error to have
the Duclief.s of St. A—, the Duke of W—, the
Marquis C—, the Ladies P—, the Marchioness
—. (Here he was proceeding with a list of the
noblest names in the land of both sexes, when he
was interrupted by the Magistrate, who told him
that though it might suit his purpose to show up
these exalted personages elsewhere in his publica-
tions, he would not permit that office to be made the
place of exhibition.)
Mr. HARDWICK, who during this colloquy was
on the bench, here interposed, and said he could not
see what purpose prolonging this conversation could
answer. Mr. Stockdale had obtained all the infor-
mation he required, by the confirmation of the ac•
curacy of the report ; and neither could tie or his
brother magistrate permit the time of the public to
be exhausted in useless discussion.
Mr. Stockdale—Then, Sirs, if you were not
Magistrates, I should know how to act. lam
known to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and by
them attended to and respected. I remember a
story which I will tell you of Prince William Henry,
the peseta Duke of Clarence, and Mr. Sturt, the
Member of Parliament. They were midshipmen
together, arid served in the same vessel, and the
Prince havir°ir insulted Sturt, he, pointing to the
star on his breast, said, " If it was not for that
bauble which protects you, I should soon punish
your insolence." The Prince manfully pulled off his
coat, gat e him the satisfaction he required, and re-
ceived a sound drubbing.
This amusing anecdote did net induce the Ma-
gistrates to enter into the pugilistic arena with Mr.
Stockdale, and he hurried out of the office in no
very satisfied mood, and amidst the audible merri-
ment of those present.