The Sun. — 1869-05-06 (London, England)

THE ELECTION OP MR. BIRLEY. In the Court of Common Pleas, on Wednesday, an inquiry was held into the legality of Mr. Birley's election for Manchester. It will be remembered that the objection raised to his election was based on the ground that he was a contractor with the Government. Mr. Birley is a member of the firm of Macintosh and Co., of Cannon-street, London, and Cambridge-street, Manchester, patentees of the vulcanized indiarubber. There had been dealings between this firm and the Secretary of State for India and the Broadmoor Asylum for Criminal Lunatics. The question was whether these contracts were within the meaning of the statute, and therefore whether they disqualified Mr. Birley as member. Mr. Manisty, for the petitioners, said that he should take the third contract only, that with the Secretary of State for India, as the strongest case. On the 13th of June, 1868, the respondent's company was invited to tender for the supply of certain goods ; on the 18th of July a tender was sent in, and on the 17th of August the goods were delivered. Mr. Mellish, for the defence, said he should argue that the contract was not within the statute. The money for the payment was paid out of the revenues of India, and was not voted by Parliament. As to the lunatic asylum case, he should contend that the contract was made with the secretary for the asylum, with no notice to the respondent's firm that he was a Government agent, and the contract must be knowingly made with an agent of the Government. Mr. Manisty, in answer to these arguments, submitted that the Indian Secretary was a public officer under the Crown, who had made these contracts with the respondent, and who was liable to be influenced by the Crown through this medium. As for the asylum contract, he argued that the fact of the respondent's not knowing that it was within the provisions of the statute made no difference. Mr. Mellish contended that there was no Secretary of State for India when the statute was framed, and as the Council were independent cf the Crown, the case was distinct from that of other Government mean Government Enaseicd,ostehnsrEot iur. departments. As to the asylum, the statute could never t_alsdc.Ft brsevaht:ivcilLNivuas the et Act. nTthoe beco uwritt with took judgment.pye an apprentice, timSeTßt. hisa and Criminal mistress, by Court a attacking awcikt na themattempting.was charged to murder. comuldth.ideennltgihfyt with a poker. Neither master norynutiusetreesl guilty,se having been him, but there was no trace of an there. The jury found the prisonerbut recommended him to mercy. Sentence was deferred.  Dow WITH lll3t.—And here we must pause to notice one of the amiable privileges which certain palities arrogated in the days of old. It was this:inun' ever their magistrates happened to displease tlemw,ien. h burghers were given to flinging them headlong froth tthee windows of the Itathhaus, or Town I [all. So that th "Down with So-and-so," vague as it is just nowe eN7' tolerably intelligible in the Middle Ages. The cm: tom", of course, had an origin ; but that' is a matter of dispute. Be the origin, however, what it may, he thing itsel( was sufficiently common. In this' way the weavers of Louvain disposed of no less than seventeen of their magistrates in 1382 ; thus, too, the citizens of Breslau dealt with the whole body of their town-councillors in 1420; and thus the good people of Vienna got rid of their obnoxions burgomaster and syndics in 1401. Traces of the same pleasant custom may be met with in the record,: and in the civic architecture of Nuremberg, Angsborg, Dantzie, and half a hundred other places. lints it was at Prague that &fenestration, as they called it, was practised in all its glory. And n3t without sidiicieqA reason. No other medixval was lia!f so well qualified to assert the orivilege, or so a.ltnirably adapted to exercise it. Prague was tenankd by various race 3 - conquering and conquered. Tiwse, of course, hated one another devoutly, and took the utmost pains to preserve intact their several barbarous dialects and conflicting usages. And from the days of Huss and Zisca downwards bitter religious of the ilefi ttstrou sities were superadded to the other choice elements of disof delighted in a riot. cord. Besides, the city was always thronged by thousands gitylerdlYulfleslel;es all —who ot, ies the place was divided into three different municipalities, each with its separate llathbaus. The course of time had taught the magistrates of most other old German towns to neutralise this custom vely t:onsiderably, by providing secret outlets from the councilchamber, specitnens of wliich way be noticed at Ratisbon and otherplaccs to this vary " Wauetwein Ina Sid Mg; if& Ute CorMig