The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-02-26 00:00:00

.N.

IitISH STATIONERY.
—•soomo.,—
(FROM TING DVISLIN MORNING Port.)
The Cor rtspondent indulges itself in some observa-
tions upon what is passing at present in Parliament,
relative to the supply of Stationery to public offices,
by Mr. Abraham Bradley King, under his Patent as
his Majesty's Stationer; and speaking of the expected
investigation, as a second ordeal through which this
gentleman is to pass, it takes upon itself to attest,
" that the first ordeal which was instituted to investi-
gate the supplying of the Government Offices with
Stationery, by the present Lord Mayor of Dublin, was
any thing bat a mercifnl process." From what source
the eerrespoodeor derives its information upon this
point .we know not ; but it being manifestly intended by
♦he statement to relleet upon the department which
instituted the inquiry alluded to, it would, we think,
have been full as decent if the Correspondent had pro-
fited by the admonition bestowed upon Lord Darnley by
Lord Sidutouth, and abstained from all such observa-
tions until the whole of the proceedings were before
the public. With respect to onrselves, we know
nothing except front rumour—and rumour says, that
sometime since, curtails frauds were detected in the
'supply of stationery by the King's Stationer to the
Department ; that these frauds were investi-
gated by the Board, and that the Lord Mayor, as Sta-
tioner, has reloaded a considerable sum of money re-
ceived by Mut in consequence of these frauds. No
doubt, the t'urrespoadent may consider this as a very
uneweeijk/ proceeding towards his Lordship, but for our
part, it seems to us to have been no more than justice
to the public.
- -

When application was made at our Adjourned Ses•
siuns fur the liberation of young Rhodes, who is
charged with carrying a figure of Majocciii about this
town, it was answered that he might be removed by a
habeas corpse, to which Mr. Write replied, that, ' he
must be removed In a hearse, for he a as likely to die in
prison for went of bail.' This was hailed at the time
as a good jest, and we scarcely ourselves thought it
otherwise. Our readers will now learn, with feelings
which we shall not characterise, that this poor lad, who,
till the triumph of the Queen and the exacerhatioa of
her enemies, never saw the face of a magistrate, nor
required severer reproof than that of a parent. will, in
all human ptobability, before another sheet shall have
passed our press. have paid with his life the penalty of
his trifling offence. A fatal illness, caused by the
rigour of his confin.oneett in one of the worst gaols in
the kingdom, has brought the boy's life to its latest
sand, and will give his heartless persecutors the oppor-
tunity of covering their own brutality with hypocritical
lamentation over his premature death. We wish these
parties joy of their humane and honourable triumph.
This is the NlN•rn week of the boy's imprisonment.—
(Stomped Neve, Feb. 9.)
On Wednesday the 14th instant, the stage coach'
passing from Norwich to Bury St. Edmonds, was over-
tented within a short distance of Dias, in Norfolk.
Awing to the furious driving of the coachman. At
the time when the accident happened there were eight
nties's upoothe.coarls, all of whom, except one,
Mai Mt: Charles Harrison. of the firm of
Harris** and Co. wood-merchants, of Leeds, and Mr.
Frederick Bntterfield, the commercial representative
of the firm of flird, Dawson, Hardy. and Field, of the
Low Moor Iron Works, near Bradford, both suffered
very serious injury.—Mr. Harrison had hi: shoulder
much bruised, and was terribly shaken, though no
bones were broken ; but Mr. Butterfield was thrown
upon his bark with so violent a concussion as to break
his spine, and he now, if he still survives, lies at a
neighbouring inn, to which be was removed, par.tlyxed
in all his lower extremities, and without the slightest
hope of recovery.
DISCOVERY or A MURDER. AFTER Tilt LAPSE Or
Streets YEARS.—On Tuesday last, a MO named
James Matthews, wit., resides at St. Agues, Cornwall,
WAS apprehen led on the information of a person
named Simon Pryor, who resides at Reilruth, and who
charges Matthews with the Murder of a man named
John James, who was his (Matthews's) brother-in-law,
16 years since. The following circumstances have
been stated by Pryor on oath, before the Rev. Hugh
Rogers, one of the County Magistrates. In 1504,
Pryor was employed as an assistant labourer, by Mat-
thews and James, at a mine called Crown Dale Mille,
near Tavistock, in Devonshire. One night Pryor and
James descended by a windlass into a shaft of the mine
which was about 242 fathoms in depth. Whilst there,
they bored a hole for blacing, and Pryor was drawn
up by Matthews. James then laid the watch to the
train, and called out to his comrades to pull him np, as
it is usual with miners on such occasions. Matthews and
Pryor wound up about 5 fathoms of the rope, when Mat-
thews kt go the windlass and desired Pryor to do the
same. Pryor refused, oa which Matthews threatened to
knock his brains out if he did oat. Pryor again refused,
when Matthews struck him on the right arm with
•
pick hilt, which famed him to quit his hold, and James
was precipitated to the bottom, and had his scull so
dreadfully fractured that he died two days abet.
Pryor told the facts to his b:other, who was a smith
on the mine, and to some other men, but they con-
trived to keep him in a small room behind the smith's
shop until a coroner's jury had returned a verdict of
accidental death. lie was then induced to cone'sl
the affair, on the ground that Matthews had a large
family. Pryor had never seen Matthews front that
time to the present, but he said that he was so dis-
tressed on account of the concealment, that he could
suppress the circumstance no longer. Matthews has
been committed to 114xlinin gaol, in order to he trans
omitted to Exeter fur trial at the ensuing assizes.
On Wednesday se'nnioht an inquisition was taken
at Charwelton, \orthasuptoothire, on view of the body
of John Clarke, a wealthy farmer, who resided at
Cherwell house, in the same parish, and who, on the
preceding Saturday, was shot at, between three and
four o'clock in the afternoon, as he was cutting hay
from a rick near his dwelling-house; the shot shat-
tered his left arm in such a dreadful Ilial4Orf, that
amputation was necessary, but with very little hopes
Id his life, from the great loss of blood he had ens-
tained, the great artery of the arm being entirely
severed by the shut, and he died about four o'clock on
Thursday moraine, After a very long and minute
examination of witnesses, a most respectable Jury re-
turned a verdict of Verdes against Philip
Haynes. whe had before been committed to Northam,-
too pet osier Lord Ellenbarnagles Aet.—We under-
stand She primmer was servant to the deceased about
two years ago.