The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-03-25 00:00:00

CITY OP YORK.

John Iril•on, only 17 years of age, but a most no-
torious offender, was charged with picking the pocket
of a couotryin•n in the Market-place, at York, on the
21st day of July last, of his pocket-book, containing
nearly 201.

The prisonrr went up to an assistant police officer
on the Rare Course, at the last August Races, either
attempting to bribe him, or mistaking him for an as.
sociate, and inquired if Jack Omit had given bias his
regules (meaning his share) ? He replied no. he had
not got it ; what did lie tartan ? The assistant o.heer
went and informed his employer what had bees said to
him, who desired him to go hack, sad ascertain what
the prisoner alluded to. He did so, when Wiltso told
him that he got the prosecutor's money, which rime
to •boat two fume (pounds) a piece, and that he (the
lolficee) ought to have go; his regalia. As he had
I not received it, he (the prisoner) would give him it
before he left the Coarse, but lie had no blunt (money)
just then, and gave him a silver knife until II!. got
some. This being told to Pardee, the police officer,'
the prisoner was apprehended instantly. Another
conatryinan recognised the prisoner as one of the per-
suns who were hustling the prosecutor at the. time.be
was robbed. The Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
The Judge immediately sentenced him to be trans-
ported for the term of hi- natural life. On hearing
the een,ence he eaclaiused, " And is that all, you
• • • • • •,?

TO THE RDITOIt OF THR STATES-WA-V.

Ste—Yon have inadvertently inserted in yonr mpret•
able Jubrnal, of the 7th inst., a very calumnieos artsele
(signed " A prudent Man,") directed against the Nee.
rich Union Offices.
This "Prudent Man" commences by some backeird
obseriatiois, which do not require notice, and prom
to lay, that " the National Union has fitaisl•ed its •
in a thorter period, in the • same way' (in hankroptcy)
and it% parent; the Nortek,' Union fur moms! I norance,
after baring blatoned forth its prodigious wealth in
every nook and corner of the empire, is obliged to giro
up the ghost," B:,c. Ste.
w, Sir, so far from the "National Union" being
the child•of the " Norwich Union," it was "a little ad-
venture," set up in direct opposition to the Normicb,
by a discarded officer of the latter. And the "Prudent
Man" is defied to prove (liberal as be is in insinuations)
that the Norwich Society has "blazoned forth" one
shilling which it did not possess. As to giving op
the ghost, I shall speak more on that he of presently.
The most objectionable feature, however, of the letter,
is, the attempt (by loose phraseology) to lead the reader
into a swnnosition that the Norwith Union Office is at
once& Life and Fire Insurance Incitntion, with the

tent of injuring the Union Life Insurance Societe,
•which is perfectly distinct from the Nora ich Union Fire
Office, and has not experienced any eltetation of plea
whatever.
• That such is the object must be evident—otherwise
why introduce the Birmingham Life Office—the Cons-
menial Life Office—the Philanthropic Annuity Society—
r. Price's observations (applying wholly to the Offices
connected with coutingencv of life) and the question of
reduced rates—•(since the Fire Office never reduced its
premiums.)
Ile talks about the " bursting of this bubble (the
Fire Office), forgetting that the " bubble" bas realivol
to the persons insuring a saving of One Hundred Thoo•
sand Pounds (three times as melt as has ever been paid
back by the County), and that this " bubble"- stands
nearly at the bead of all the Fire Offices in the Empire I
He sacs. that the " Managers of the departed Norwich
Union" ire " contending in Chancery with the Members
for the Fragments of the Old Society"!! Bravo !! !
The "contention," Mr. Editor, was (as you will find
verified on oath), between the great hod y of a Society
romhining.sixty thousand persons, and Four obscure in•
dividuals, who were not legally Members at all !—who,
there is reason to believe, were merely the tools of the
Ex-Secretary—and who were put out of Court, saddled
with the Costs.
Ile finishes by speaking of " bankruptcies," and ter-
giversations," and of the necessity of " the public" en-
qniring into the" character and conduct" of those who •
.offer protection." before they" (meaning, I presume. the
public) commit their interests to hands " which have•
proved nofaithful."
Now in reply to dais most libellous paragraph, I call
' on the writer to comeforward endpoint out, if it is in his
power, one single instance, in *ditch the Union Fire Of
has failed io its engagements, or " committed an act
of -baskruptcy"—and as to " unfaithful bands," I dare
him to prove easy thing which can cast a shade on the
Integrity of the Directors of that great Institution.
But I will now advert to the state of the Uuioo Offices •
--The Norwich Union Fire Offiee has a capital of
li3o,oool.—pays this quarter 13,400/. duty (about as
mach as the County pays in half a year)—has increased
in business thrice as 'such as the County—and is con.
ducted by the hands (let the public decide if " unfaith-
ful," of. seven Aldermen of Norwich, four eminent
Bankers &e.,--and the funds are entrusted to the Hon.
Colonel Bankers,
Jacob Amity, Bart., T. W.
Coke, Erg. OLP.. It. H. •Durney, 'Esq. M.P., Charles
Honey, Esq. &P.P., J. C. Curwen, Esq. M.P., &c. &c. Esc.
As to the Life Office (the real object of this attack).
let my opponent- produce (if he can) proofs that the
Provident ()face has been as prosperous as the Union
Institution,—The latter has trebled its business in six
years—is to the receipt bi a hundred thoutaud pounds
per annum—has a capital df half a million—and as to
the 'cite of its mortality, defies comparison with any
Office in the aspire!
a Ar;o: ) . I am, Sir, &c.
.4 .. A atone " PRI'DENT MAN."
• P. §. They. is a difficulty in instituting a comparison
between the Union and Provident Offices. The tormer
publishes its accounts and proceedings; the latter is
remarkably shy of figures, though the community is
often favoured with accounts of complimentary resoln-
tions passed at meetin:ts of persons who seem delighted
with the "management" of the " Managing Director."
The. issuren with the Upion too meet sometimes—hut
then the grounds of the satisfaction which they express
pith the management of those whom the advocate of
the Prnvident insinuates are unfaithful, are before the
world in black and white. Each insurer, for example,
who attended the late meeting in London, came there
with an account in his hoed, exhibiting facts—indispat.
able statetuents of money transactions, nut mere general
declamation or loose estimates; and the result of a ma-
ture consideration of those accounts was, the public ex-
pression of approbation recorded in their advertisement,
which appeared in the newspapers a few days after.
EXCCUTION.—WINCIIESTRR. MARCH 23.—This morn-
ing (Saturday), Charles Smith, aged 29, was executed
in this city for feloniously shooting at It. Snelgrove.
gamekeeper to Lord Palmerston. Great ex44rtions
were made to procure a remission of the sentence, but .
the unfortunate man himself entertained no hope of
mercy after the Judge left the town. Froni tlai, time
his thoughts seemed to be withdrawn from the present
world, and his whole attention directed to the future.
The value of early religious principles was never more
evident than in t'w case of Smith, which, however,
they may hare be ln stifled for a time, seemed to recur
with increased force to render his sorrow deeper. and
his repentance more sincere. Seldom has been wit-
nessed more apparently genuile self-abasement. ac-
companied • with a firm but unpresumpttious con-
fidence in the mercy of God through the merits
of our Redeemer. The silts which lie most
lamented, and to which in a great measure be
attributed • his melancholy end, were diseltedi-
exec to perents and 5a!,1,11.4 breatieg. " Oh ! Sir,".
he Las free:neatly sail, (we understand, to the Rev,.
J. 0. Zillwood, the excellent Chaplain of the Prison)
with streaming eyes, my poor old another always
told me that the end would be; I then thought little
of her advice, but now, when it hilts.) late, I feel the
force of it." Like Turner, who suffered on the this
inst. he acknowledged the jostness of the remarks
made by the Learned Judge, in passin; sentence, and
declared that poaching' led to every species of c.ime.
' It is hoped that the lamentable effects of poaching.
which the inhabitants of this county have lately wit-
nessed in the execution of two men, and trio transporta-
tion of fire others, will prove a salutary check to the
destroAra and petrels:errs ~f game. 'since th y who
encourage others in the commission of crime most
largely participate in its vitt.

AViRII4III WWI 0/I COIEN INOLATID *sB WALES.
Whelt, Oa. I Id.—)l}.. 31,. I W.—Deans. Ilia. VI. —Os%
7(l.—litarle). ISa. Sat.—Peatm, 234.•1d.
The kveragePrice of Brown or num-011'd° %Isar, es..
pared rum, the.. Return. muds .113 the Week endir *Jul '
of March, lb*, is 31s. fd. per vests . ,