The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-07-23 00:00:00

DEATH OF THE SULTAN OF TURKEY.

The Paris papers of Tuesday bring us the important intel-
ligence of the death of the Sulon Mahmoud, who expired,
at Constantinople, on the 30th of June, in the 54th year of
his age, and the 31st of his reign.

news reached the French capital on Tuesday last,
being transmitted from Strasburg by the following tele-
graphic despatch :

" Simsbury, July 15, Six P.m.
THE PREFECT OF THE BAS-REIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF

THE COUNCIL.

" The minister of foreign affairs of Bnden has just in-
formed M. de Bacourt of intelligence having been received at
Vienna that Sultan Mahmoud died on the 30th ult. His
eldest son, declared to be of age by the divan, has been pro-
claimed emperor. On the 28th orders had been sent to
Hafiz Pacha to suspend hostilities."
The deceased Sultan has had the mortification of seeing,
during his lifetime, some of the largest and most lucrative of
his possessions wrested from him by violence, or alienated
by the arts of his allies. His death, at the moment when he
had fully determined upon making the endeavour to re-
conquer his Egyptian and Syrian possessions, cannot but be
regarded as an event of signal importance, as well as one of
signal opportuneness to Mehemet Ali. The present Sultan
was born on the 19th of April, 1823.
When the intelligence of the Sultan's death reached Paris,
summonses were immediately issued to the different cabinet
ministers, and a council was held at Neuilly, over which
Louis Philippe presided, in order to determine upon the
course to be pursued at the present juncture. The result of
this consultation did not, of course, transpire, but it was an-
ticipated that oriental matters would now assume an entirely
pacific aspect, and that 'Mehemet Ali's independence, under
the guarantee of France, would be secured.

(From Gallignan's Messenger.)
Sultan Mahmoud-Khan 11. was born on the 14th of
Ramazan, 1199, of the Ottoman era, or the 20th of July,
1785, of the Christian calendar. His father was Sultan
Abdul Hamid, and he succeeded his elder brother, Sultan
Mustapha IV., on the 28th of July, 1808. He has left issue
three princes, the present Sultan, Abdul Medjid, born 19th
April, 1823 ' • Abdul Aziz, born Feb. 9th, 1830 ; and Nizamud-
Din, born 6th December, 1835 ; four princesses, Salyha-
Sultane, born 16th June, 1811, and married in 1834 to Halil
Pacha; Mir-Mah-Sultane, born 9th June, 1812, and married
in 1836 to Muhammed-Saul Pacha ; Khacidje-Sultane, horn
6th September, 1835 ; and Adile-Sultane, born Ist May,
1836. These are his legitimate children hut besides them
his highness has left a numerous progeny by the ladies of his
harem.

The Sultan had seen some of the largest and fairest pro-
vinces of his immense empire wrested from him by conquest,
or partly alienated by treaty and usurpation of his sovereign
rights—Moldavia and Wallachia on the north ; Greece,
Egypt, and Syria on the south and south-east. He was one
of the greatest reformers of his age, had freed the Porte
from the military domination of the' Janissaries, and had
gone far towards effecting a social re-organization of the
Turkish nation. His highness was greatly esteemed and re-
spected by all who had been diplomatically, or otherwise,
introduced to his notice ; 'he was warmly beloved by his
family and his subjects ; and he may be justly styled to have
been a great and good man.
Letters from Constantinople of the 27th ult.—three days
anterior to the death of the Sultan—announce that all the
prisoners for debt were released, and their debts paid by the
Sultan, that they might offer prayers for his recovery. Great
largesses were given to the poor for a like purpose.

The only recent appointments made in the household of
her royal highness the Duchess of Kent, are Lady Fanny
Iloward, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, and Lady Caroline
Dundas, sister to the present Earl of Zetland.

KIRRIEMUIR.—A SINGULAR TROUT.—On Tuesday, a
boy was brought in here from Coltbank, in the neighbourhood
of Kinnordy House, and lodged in jail for the night ; but al-
though his crime was a very provoking one, he was liberated
in the morning. He had abstracted from a well a large trout,
which, 21 years since, was placed there by the farmer of Colt-
bank. At the commencement of its long term of residence,
it was a puny animal of a finger's length ; but, long before it
was thus ruthlessly kidnapped, it had become a giant amongst
the fishes—albeit there were none to share its watery hermit-
age. Its length was 19 inches ; girth, 11 inches ; and weight,
211bs. When a stranger apprdached the well, the trout
leaped to the surface of the water, and snapped furiously ; but
to an acquaintance it was gentle and complacent in the high-
est degree. It would eat worms and even berries from the
hand with great avidity, and did not object to be extracted
for a time from its native element, and shown off as a lion to
strangers. With the owner and family at Kinnordy House
it was an especial favourite, and to them the fish was indebted
for many visits. The celebrated Professor Lyall, the geolgist,
visited its cell invariably on his annual return to his native
place, and last year gave instructions, it is said, to have the
well enclosed with rails—but this was neglected ; and, in an
unlucky hour, the spoilertaroe, and robbed it of its only. at-
tractiOu, gid its woudrpusleriartt ofiife.-3,lqtaroye lietnew.

THE BIRMINGHAM RIOTS.

(From the Morning Herald of Friday.)

BIRMINGHAM, THURSDAY EVENING.—The declaration
made by Lord John Russell in the House of Commons, last
night, that " he should think it proper to institute an inquiry,
in order to ascertain the facts connected' with the transaction,
and especially to obtain proof, if proof could be obtained, of
the alledged information to the magistrates that such a riot
was probable," has induced a pretty general belief that a sa-
tisfactory investigation of the circumstances connected with
the absence of the magistrates on Monday night will take
place. Many persons, however, particularly those who re-
collect the mode in which his lordship went into the inves-
tigation relative to the election riots here in 1837, and the
results of the inquiry, are not so sanguine as to the satisfac-
tory consequence of the promised investigation. The evi-
dence furnished to Lord John' Russell on that occasion was
treated, it is stated, in a very summary, if not very dignified
and impartial manner.

An opinion which prevails that the purposed investigation
may have a similar result is strengthened, in the estimation
of many, by a letter'which was received this morning by a
gentleman of this town. The letter in question is from the
Home-office. It is in repl, to.the memorial which has been
given in the columns of the Morning Herald, and requests
to be furnished with the evidence on which the statements of
the memorialists were founded. It appears to me very ques-
tionable whether or not the information will be furnished, ex-
cept upon the understanding that a full and public investi-
gation be intended by Lord John Russell.
One portion of Lord John Russell's speech has caused
considerable amusement (even amidst the sadness which
reigns) amongst the sober. thinking part ofigie inhabitants.
His lordship is reported to have said—

"He wished the house to recollect that comments were
made on the magistrates of Birmingham, for having with great
violence and excess of zeal interfered with the peaceable
meetings of the inhabitants of Birmingham. He stated this,
because it was impossible that such comments should be
made without tending a great deal to shake the disposition
which the magistrates had to place themselves in a position
in which they might be made the subject of such remarks."
His lordship, it is presumed, refers to the alleged indiscri-
minate attack upon the Bull-ring meeting by the new police,
when under the orders of the mayor. Certainly it would
seem that the " comments" were justly called forth. A pro-
clamation against the Bull-ring meetings was posted ; the
people were allowed to assemble in defiance of the procla-
mation, and they were then (such is the unimpeached state-
ment) attacked without notice, and indiscriminately knocked
on the head as if they had been so many " deaf adders."—
And his lordship thinks that the condemnation of such alleged
conduct tended to prevent the magistrates from being pre-
sent to avert threatened danger; for that a riot was contem-
plated, and that the magistracy were made acquainted with
the contemplation, appears—if concurrent and respectable
testimony is to be credited—to be unquestionable. The lan-
guage of Lord J. Russell, it is thought, will bear no inter-
pretation except that which has just been given to it.
Mr. Scholefield, who followed Lord J. Russell, appears to
seek for a justification of the magistrates in the alleged fact
that they came as soon as they were fetched; and I am in-
clined to believe (from a letter-in my possession, written last
night by the mayor to Mr. R. H. Taylor, the ward leader of
St. Peter's ward,) that the magistrates are of opinion that
the special constables have been guilty of disgraceful supine-
ness, and that information of the riots was not promptly
conveyed to them. The letter is of a " snubbing" character,
and, in my humble opinion, indirectly conveys the censure
mentioned. As the letter was read at a meeting of ward
constables, at which it was not known to the chairman that
a reporter was present, and as the mayor is of opinion the
letter ought not to be published, I refrain from taking upon
myself the responsibility of giving it, sending it up, however,
to you, in order to afford you the opportunity of judging of
the inference I have drawn from it.

Lord John Russell appears to be very anxious to express
" his belief that no part of the occurrence is attributable to
the nomination of the magistracy." Without presuming to
offer anything in disproof of his lordship's opinion, I may,
perhaps, be permitted to give an extract from a petition
signed by a large number of the most respectable inhabitants
of this town, addressed to her Majesty in January last, re-
lative to the appointments, and from which petition it would
appear that certain of them had an inkling of a suspicion of
what has' occurred :

" That your petitioners are informed that the said (town)
council are about to apply forthwith to your Majesty to give
your Majesty's royal commission to certain persons, to be
therein named, to act as justices of the peace for the said
borough of Birmingham, and also for the grant of a separate
quarter sessions of the peace, by which the jurisdiction of the
county magistrates within the limits of the borough will be at
once taken away.

" Your petitioners beg most humbly to represent to your
Majesty that the administration of justice has hitherto been
intrusted to justices of the peace for the county of Warwick,
and is now exercised by 18 gentlemen of various political
opinions (acting for the borough division of the county,) re-
cently selected according to the tenor of your Majesty's origi-
nal Reform Act, and that this body has been found amply
sufficient for the purposes of the said act.
" Your petitioners most humbly represent to your Majesty
the importance of keeping the administration of justice free
from taint of partiality or political bias, more especially in a
large and populous town like Birmingham, where the manifes-
tations of public feeling have been frequently roused to a dan-
gerous extent."

It is a singular coincidence that the riots during which
Priestly's house was burned, commenced on the 14th July,
and that the great complaints then made were of the negli-
gence of the magistracy. Hatton, in his " History of Bir-
mingham," says, " The authorities were not so desirous as
became men in their stations to quell the riots ; it is true that
early on Friday special constables were sworn in, and ordered
to assemble in St. Philip's Churchyard, but no magistrates
appeared to lead and direct them. * * * * It
was really an awful day ; the peaceable inhabitants saw
the authorities either unable or unwilling to protect theni.
* * * * Doubtless there were brave hearts
which swelled with the desire and determination to meet and
revenge themselves on that lawless mob for all its atrocities,
but the ardour was damped, and the determination arrested
by the cold unwillingness or cowardly inability of the autho-
rities. The timid were shrinking with fear, the brave were
burning with shame, the authorities paralysed, &c."
The magistracy appear to be taking what in their judgment
are the best steps to preserve the peace of the town, and they
have recommended that the wards should respectively pro-
vide themselves with a small number of persons of discretion
and coolness, who should patrol their ward on horseback, so
as to be ready to give the earliest informatlon to them (the
magistrates) of any important occurrence.
It is the opinion of those who are intimately acquainted
with the. character of the mob; and the feelings and, intentions
of the chartists, that the greatest possible vigilance is called
for, and that such vigilance should be observed for some time
to come. As the persons who express this opinion number
among them several of those who, it is sated, made kown to
the magistrates their apprehensions that a disturbance would
take place on Monday night, the opinion would seem to be
entitled to considerable weight. It is indeed feared (and I
but give the conviction of those who are certainly competent
to offer a well-founded opinion), that if the vigilance of the
magistrates were relaxed for a single night the town might be
again assailed by the ruffian mob.
In yesterday's communication I noticed the desire on the
part of the whigs to find in chartism the " sufficing reason"
for the riots. From a careful inquiry I have reason to be-
lieve the chartists regret that the riot and the burning took
place ; not that they are averse to riot and burning, pro-
viding both the one and the other took place at the " proper
time.' From all that has transpired my own opinion is that
the chartist party did not commence the riot, but that some
of the chartists mingled with the rioters, and assisted in the
dreadful scene after the attack had been made on the houses
in the Bull-ring. When men have been permitted for months
to declaim upon " ulterior measures," and to express openly
that those ulterior measures include amonc,
'them a re-
sort to the pike, the dagger the musket, and the torch, it
would be expecting too much from the forbearance of such
men to imagine that they would refrain from mingling in in-
cendiarism when once it commenced. They might well ex-
pect that the authority which permitted the threat would be
slow to prevent its execution.
Strong in the encouraginc, Whig precedent of the right to
appeal to physical force, and emboldened by long indulged
impunity to their sedition, the chartists (thanks intst espe-
cially to Lord John Russell and Lord Melbourne) are not
likely to give up their anarchical sacred month, nor are its
anticipated results to be avoided, except by the most watchful
and ceaseless vigilance. The solving of this matter would
appear to be involved in the question, " What political use
can the whigs make of the chartists ?"
The magistrates sat yesterday at the public-office. There
were present on the bench Messrs. Shaw, Walker, Beale,
Van Wait, and Lawrence. _ _

FrederiCk Bird and Thomas Leyland were placed at the
bar, the former charged with having in his possession the
pike mentioned in yesterdays correspondence ; and the latter
with having manufactured it.

Hall, the police-officer, deposed to finding the pike. [lt
was of a battle-axe shape, with a handle five or six feet in
length.]
Bird, when questioned as to the use for which the pike was
kept, said he had it made' for a lodge. The other prisoner
was pointed out by Bird as the man who made the weapon,
anti he was accordingly taken into custody.
Leyland, upon being questioned, said Bird gave him a
piece of paper as a pattern for the pike. The pike had been
ground since it left his hands.
One of the Birmingham police deposed that he accom-
panied Hall to Bird's house. When he entered the house
Bird said, " Oh, my God, we are done," and his wife said
the same.

Leyland's master said that he (Leyland) applied to him
about a fortnight since for liberty to make an axe for a club.
He allowed him to make it on that representation.
The magistrates expressed their surprise at the last witness
allowing Leyland' to manufacture such an instrument at a
time of excitement.

Bird was ordered to find bail, three sureties in £5O each,
and hi►nself in £lOO, to keep the peace for 12 months. In
default thereof to be imprisoned for six months. Leyland
wa,i discharged.
John Jones, Francis Roberts, and Frederick Howell, were
charged with taking part in the riot on Monday night.
• Hall, the constable, deposed to seeing Roberts amidst the
mob on that night, and to his being a leading character among
thempb assemblages.
_ _

Thomas Rose, ;a baker, deposed that he saw the prisoner
Jones on Monday night, at the time of the riot, waving a
handkerchief made fast to a stick, and crying out to the mob
to come on. Jones, who was then amidst about 40 persons
in Moore-street, went into the Bull-ring.
Jones admitted that be was in the crowd, but denied that
he had a handkerchief in his possession at the time.
Several witnesses deposed to their seeing Howell (who has
lost a leg) at the Bull-ring riot, with a bludgeon over his
shoulder. One witness spoke to Howell's being at the head
of the mob, and leading them on to attack the houses in the
Bull-ring.
A serjeant of the dragoons stated that he took Howell into
custody on Tuesday morning. Howell was then in the street
in the midst of several persons, and flourishing a kind of
sword, which witness produced. Howell also had a stick (it
was a perfect bludgeon) in his possession.
The weapon produced was of the most deadly nature. It
is a sabre with an iron socket welded on to it, and into the
socket a heavy mahogany handle, about 121 inches in length,
is nicely fitted. The blade is about 33 inches long.
Howell denied being present in the Bull-ring on Monday
night.
The prisoners were committed for trial.
Since I left the public office \%ilks, a chartist, has been
committed to take his trial at the assizes for having, on Sun-
day last, at Holloway-head, advised the people to break up
the railroads and barricade the streets.