Star.
London, England, 1831-09-16 00:00:00

MERTING OF MIDDLESEX MAGISTRATES.

A numerous meeting of Magistrates took place yester-
day at Clerkenwell. F. Const, Esq. was appointed
Chairman for the ensuing six months; and Messrs. B.
Hall, Margate, Rotel', and Swabey, were appointed to
fill that situation in case of Mr. Coast's absence. Mr.
Serjeant Pell brought up the Report of the Committee
upon the demand which Mr. II ontner, the Governor
of Newgate, bad made for forwarding convicts to the place of
embarkation-5211. bat. &l. had been charged, and the Com-
mittee did not think it unreasonable. Mr. Wontner had
claimed various fees, such as fourteen shillings on the coo-
•iction of every feion sentenced to transportation ; but the
Committee did not feel justified in interferin as some a:
rangement subsisted between Mr. Wontner and the Court of
Aldermen. A Special Report from the Governor of the
House of Correction was read, from which it appea ed,
that on the evening of the 7th instant he had, aecordi• g
to an order from Mr. Halls, the magistrate of Bow.
street, remitted him a list of prisoners, whom he weed
recommend to be discharged on the occasion of the Corona.
lion. Seven were the next morning discharged. This Re.
port excited great surprise, and Serjeant Pell observed,
that • magistrate had not the power to order the libera-
tion of prisoners who had been once committed, that power
being alone possessed by the King. He hoped that the no.
lice of such assumption of power would have the effect of
preventing a similar occurrence. The usual County busi-
ness wait then gone through, and the Meeting adjourned.

THE 3PA4NISiI H&FuGEES.
Mr. Otway Cave called yesterday at the Justice-room, for
the purpose of paying a subscription to Mr. Hobler foe the
service of the unfortunate Spanish refugees.—He mentioned
to the Lord Mayor that he was a member of the Committee
who superintended the funds raised for the refugees during
the mayoralty of Alderman Thompson, who had by his in.
fluence and exertions accomplished a great deal for the nu-
merous emigrants at that period starving about the town...-.
It occurred to him that it would be possible to revive that
Committee with effect, particularly as the press had taken
up the qnestion in a manner which was quite irresistible.
The Loop Karon said, be apprehended that if a com-
mittee were appointed, and a fund raised for the service of the
emigrants, the city would be inundated with adventurers Non
Spain, and the distress would, when the subscriptions died
away, be more extensive. His experience as a magistrate
had enabled him to form an opinion of the mass of poverty
all over the metropolis, and many persons to whom he had
spoken on the subject of the unfortunate refugees, had always
an answer at their fingers' ends, and pointed at the swarms of
English and Irish poor in all parts of the town, who had, in
their judgment, a much stronger claim upon our sympathies.
Mr. OTWAY Gays said, that in England the distress of
the people was no monopolist. Upon any emergency, when
strangers laid claim to assistance, they were never refused ;
anddi
although many things combined to render the impres-
sion weaker at the present moment, and the public mind was
so completely engrossed by one paramount subject, be bad no
doubt of the success of an experiment upon tee humanity of
that public in favour of the gain' but destitute men who
owed their calamities to so unexceptionable a cause. The
ease of the Spaniard was singular. But very few of them
were qualified to teach, and where an English or Irish beggar
could contrive to live well, a Spanish soldier would he down
and die. Never had be seen human beings more bekless.
They were willing to fight, and had undergone the mu
dreadful privations with amazing resignation ; end as he un-
derstood there were no more than between 30 and 40 of them,
a fund might be raised to support them until an expedition
should give them an opportunity of leaving this country
altogether.
Mr. Hobler said he thought that a public subscription
would have the effect of crowding Loodon with persons who
were now uncomfortable on the continent. On the former
occasion cugoes came over and then there was great diffi-
, culty to discriminating between the various cases. The th
Diable feelings of some kind individuals hal enabled him
to give relief to all the claimants, but if any fresh ones were
to come in, the small stock would be immedisely expended.
Mr. Otway Cave said that a choice of evils was left—
either to see the unfortunate men perish, or to run the ha.
Bard of being annoyed by a fresh importation. He thought
the latter alternative the but objeulonable. It was not
very probable that the subscription of a few hundeedswould
have the effect of inducing foreigners to flock to the metro-
polls; and if what he heard was true, many months would
not elapse before an expedition would sail.
Atter some further conversation, the Lord Mayor and
31r. 0. Cave agreed to consult some of the most active
members of the former conim:ttee, upon tb: mosaic.? of
reviving the committee.

The arrangement made by the new police has
so pleased the authorities, that two gold corona-
tion modals have been sent to the commissioners.

We are rather surprised that any man in London
should u rite a pamphlet, entitled " What will the
Lords do ?"—for the onsw•er is easy. The Lords
will do precisely what the King wishes them to do.
We trust there can be no question " What the
King will do ? If there be, the sooner it is solved
the better; for if his Majesty hesitate to create
as many new peers as will form a majority for the
bill; then is the time for ministers to resign.—
Gla.cgolo
A clerk in the Banking-house f Curtis, Ro-
berts, and Co. having abs:onded v ith cash to the
amount of 40001. which be h -cl collected in the
performance of his ordinary duties, the police were
sent in all directions to look for the thief. Sir
William Curt s li.mself, accomp 'wed b) Forrester,
the officer, depatted fir Calais with great es pedition
and set a most act ye enquiry on foot. he, how-
ever, failed there. He could (.sin no informat;ou
from which he could draw any con. lusion as to the
destination or hiding place of Glew, his clerk.
Letters were sent of to America to stop the notes
of the Bank. his believed that Giese is in London,
sal as he used to be constantly in the society of
females, the movements of some of his female cote-
; a..;ons are watched.

ORCADIAN SKETCHES.

Ti:ere are few regions which exhibit such va-
riety of scenery within a small space as the Orkney
1,-.lands. Scattered over the ocean, they occupy

upon its surface an extent of about seventy miles,
and present a continual alternation of land and
water—isle and islet—hill and valley—moor and
aasture-ground—ilat shores and high healanda.
There the mountains and the main—the gmndestob-
jects, and greatest contrasts in nature, are, from their
immediate vicinity rendered doubly striking—
there the rocks of ages, fixed as the foundations of
the earth, and unmoved by the storms of a thou-
sand years—and the old, and endless sea agitated
by every breeze, and fluctuating as the breath of
Heaven, present the most powerful images of stead-
fastness and mutability. The ocean, elsewhere so
monotonous, loses its character of sameness among
these Islands. In some places stretching far into
the land, winding up among the hills, and form-
ing lake-like bats—in others rushing through the
narrow channels which separate the islands, and
boiling like an everlasting cauldratt.
During the dark days of winter, with a bowling
wind and a roaring sea, and the unmitigated gloom
of their heathy hills, the islands are %ribl and
dreary enough. There is a sublime &light in
musing upon the stupendous rocks of these remote
islands as on the last shores of the world.—
One of these wild precipices in the island
of \Vestrav was once the scene of a most ap-
palling shipwreck, of which the following
description was given by an eye- witness :
t• During a heavy gale blowing on shore, and ac-
companied with fog, a Norwegian ship, laden
with timber, suddenly hove in sight close off the
cliff, towards which (having lost her rudder, and
being quite unmanageable) she was rolling on be-
fore wind and sea• with fatal rapidity. A great
crowd of peopla had assembled on the top of the
cliff provided with ropes, in the vain hope c.f being
able to assist the unfortunate mariners. From the
summit of the rocks, at a fearful depth below, they
beheld the vessel plunging among the wares
which forced her onwards to her doom. Among
the crew was seen a gigantic Norseman, who by
signs and gestures expressed thanks to the people
above, but intimated that all human aid was vain.
The vessel meantime was reeling towards the rocks.
On she came with accelerated rapidity—the fatal
crisis had now arrived—it was a moment of speech-
less agony—the crew stood fixed in the icy spell
of despair—and the crowd on high in breathless
horror—when a mighty and remorseless wave reared
her, keel uppermost, right out of the sea, and her
mast striking upon the rocks, shot un through her
hull, when her whole fabric giving way, the tall
Norwegian trees with which she was laden were
seen spouting through her sides. A wild and heart-
rending shriek arose, at one moment, from the
drowning wretches below and the multitude above;
and the next, all was hushed in the roar of the
raging waters, over which the ill-fated ship was
strewed in a thousand fragments."
In speaking of Orcadian scenes and the perils of
insular life, I must not omit those of bird catching.
The bird-catchers usually fastened a rope round
o:ne rock at the top of the cliff, from which they
intended to descend, by which they let themselves
down along precipices of terrific height over the
ocean. There, when the rocks reddened in the
evening ray, they might be seen, from distant
ships, like • motes in the sunbeam.' As soon as
they obtained a footing among the jutting rocks of
the precipice, they let ga their hold of the rope,
aed commenced their search for eggs and young
birds, with which having filled their baskets, they
aoin ascended, working themselves up bystrength
of arm, and escorted by swarms of sea fowl,
screaming for their young, and by eagles hover-
ing rotted their heads, rendering their situation
perilous. It may well be supposed that
foal accidents were of frequent occurrence among
the bird-catchers : of the many I have heard nar-
rated, I give the two following :

•• sto old man and his son who practised the perilous
calling yroceeded to a high cliff on the mainland or princi-
pal island, where the father, having seated himself on the
ground, and placed his feet firmly against a rock at the top
of the precipice, held the rope by which his son descerded
over the sea. In a few minutes rite old man, by feeling
himself relit.ved hum the weight, was aware that his yin
1 ad got among the rucks; upon which he also quitted his
bold for a moment to take a pinch of snuff. His son,
meanwhile. not finding any e4gs on his landing-place,
again caught bold cf the rope, which being loose, instantly
g:,ve way to his weight, and he was thus precipitated into
lb,. sea."

The other accident. of a still more distressing nature,
occurred in the Shetland Island., and war narrated to me by
afa ienci who resided there for revers] years. It was as fol.
s : A bird-ex:cher and lair two sons descended altogether
on a rope made fast at the tc;t of a cliff; and after having
secured their bocry, began to ascend in the same manner,
th:• father being lowest on the rope. The son who was high-
er, when near the top of the precipice, happening to look
upwards, observed that the rope was almost cut through in
consequence of its friction on the sharp edge of the cliff, and
instantly called out to his brother, who was next to him, to
cut off their father, otherwise they must all perish together,
as the rope was about to break. His brother refused to do
so, whatever might be the consequence. Upon wide' he
exclaimed, Then give your souls to God ! " and baring
managed to get at his knife, cut them both off, and reached
tile top of the cliff just as the rope was giving way."
This is a distressing instance of the power of the
instinct of self-preservation. Although it must be
owned that of all the modes of destruction perhaps
the most appalling is that of falling from an immense
height into the void—of the horrors of which some
idea may be formed from our feelings in dreams—
yet I have seen persons of such nerve that they
would stand with one foot upon the extreme verge
of a precipice six or eight hundred feet high, and
stretch the other over the abyss, while the looker-
on would shudder, and feel his flesh creep—and
such are the different modifications of courage, that
while the simple islander, who would probably
tremble in a battle, swings over the most frightful
rocks without fear—the soldier who has faced
charges of cavalry and storm batteries of cannon,
would shrink from the edge of doom, and feel his
brain reel and his heart sicken in essaying the
trade of the bird-catcher.—Alcreleen Chronicle.

Yesterday, information was given at the various
police-offices of the perpetration of no less than
eight different burglaries in the Bow-road on Friday
night last. It appears that a gang of thieves
visited the above place at a late hour, and carried
off property to a considerable amount. All the
robberie, were, no doubt, committed by the same
gang, and it is a matter of astonishment how so
many depredations could have been committed in
one night without the offenders being detected by
the police.