Monmouthshire Merlin

"f. T GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. <[ We hear of much and extended suffering throughout Eng- 0 jand—of falling rents, diminishing profits, masters without i business,labourers without employment. There is a good deal ^exaggeration in these accounts, and a good deal of truth, have no doubt that the present difficulties of the country t "'Ill lead to such an investigation of existing abuses, and u 3uch a reformation of existing laws, as will materially di-, o finish the chances of their recurrence; and that the nation Will have reason in a short time to exclaim, it is good for is that we have been afflicted." i Some of the newspapers have been enlarging during the e "eek upon the duties and prospects of landlords. The Times says that landlords ought to reduce their rents to the level h of the rents of.1793-ought to descend from their present station in society, rather than destroy their tenantry by re- j taining it. The Standard says, in reply to this, that the ] prosperity of the agricultural population is involved in the Prosperity of the landholders, and that they must rise and I' fell together. The Globe states its opinion to be, that the renta, l 'the country, including the rent of houses and t of mines, is as high now as in 1812—for though rents in remote parts of the country have fallen, those of lands near c towns have increased. The progress of population, it says, s has checked the tendency of the war rents to fall. Had it j Hot been so-were the distresses of the landholders really s as great as they pretend-the fixed burdens to which they are subjected must long since have deprived them of their properties. For our own parts, we are unable to calculate the proba- ble efficacy of any newspaper exhortation to reduce rents. The landlords may profit by friendly hints so far as to reduce their expenditure if a change of circumstances may call for retrenchment; but to urge them to reduce their rents, on the score of humanity to tenants, is about as wise as it would be to urge capitalists to consent, from a similar motive, to a reduction in the rate of their profits. Rent and profit obey laws which are not put in motion by the benevolence of in- dividuals. Whether rents, in obedience to these laws, are How about to decline to their rate in 1793, is another in- I Sluiry. The Globe states that there is little probability of such a change, because the increase of population has checked the tendency of rents to fall. We may remark, !oo, that depression in trade-or, in other words, the lower- Ing of mercantile profits-has a tendency to increase the > dumber of farmers, because the returns on capital employed In agriculture are comparatively secure, and the increasing Competition of men to whom such security is an object is | apt in bad times to prevent to a certain extent the rent of land from falling. These are natural causes of high rents. The only artificial cause is the corn-laws and unless the l imes be sure of a speedy repeal of these, we must confess that we see no immediate prospect of a return to the rents °fforty years ago.-Spectator. IMPORTATION OF CATTLE.-In order to shew the extent of the intercourse between Ireland and Liverpool, we have been at the trouble of casting up the weekly returns of the importation of cattle into this port; but as some of the num- bers of our volume are missing, and others do not contain the returns, our estimates will fall considerably short of the actual amount. There is a deficiency of five weeks alto- gether, which, on an average, will make the returns about l-l2th less than they ought to be. With the exception of these five weeks, the following are the numbers of the cattle Sported from Ireland during the present year;—cows, ¥>5414 calve^, 4^358; sheep, 87,240; lambs, 23,454; pigs, 153,000 horses, 491; and mules, 165.-Liverpool ■Mercury. William Dawson, coachman to Viscount Clive, met his death on Christmas-day last, under very melancholy circum- stances. The noble family, in which he had been for some years a servant, were attending divine service at Welshpool church, and Dawson had brought the carriage to the gates leading to the edifice, and was waiting to take up some of the family^ when the horses became suddenly alarmed, and *et off at a furious pace, so as to prevent his resuming the controul of them and in consequence he was thrown from the box and killed. Lord Tenterden will resume the Nisi Prius sittings, at guildhall, on Thursday next. The list contains between °ur hundred and five hundred causes, among which is the action for libel against the Times newspaper, at the suit of Mr. Alaric Watts, which was postponed last October, on the application of the defendants Counsel, in consequence of the absence of a material witness for the defence. The case is appointed for trial on Wednesday, the 13th instant. Mr. Denman is engaged for the plaintiff, and the Attorney- General for the defendants. The sittings at Guildhall will be continued from the 7th instant until the commencement of Hilary Term. There will be no sittings in Middlesex Until February. In the Middlesex list there are upwards of three hundred causes entered for trial, among which is the case of Fair v. the Hon. Mr. Elphinstone," the Governor of Bombay, which arises out of the removal from India, in the year 1824, of Mr. Fair, the Editor of the Bombay Ga- zette, on account of some alleged improper publications in tf'at paper of certain proceedings which took place in the Supreme Court of Judicature at Bombay in July and Au- gust, 1824. The crown prosecution against the Age news- J?*Per ("the King v. Ann Durham and-others"), and the th information against the Morning Journal, stand over tIll the sittings after next term. A meeting took place on Thursday at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, of the members of the cbemist and druggist trade. It was not numerously attended, in consequence, it is said of the want of time to advertise it to the trade. A chair- tnan having been elected, the object of the meeting was an- nounced, which was to form a committee, to adopt measures for the protection of the trade against the prosecutions threatened by the Solicitor of the Excise, for the sale of soda powders and other medicines without stamps, and for the neglecting to take out licences in proper time for which offences against the Apothecaries' Act, it was stated at the meeting, that not less than 1000 writs had been issued against persons engaged in the chymist and druggist trade. I After some conversation it was proposed and carried, that a committee of nine be formed, for the purpose of communi- cating with a committee of the trade, appointed in 1815, to °Ppose the Apothecaries' Bill, and to request that committee to assist in convening a general meeting of the trade, for the purpose of adopting whatever measures might seem advisable or the protection of trade against the Excise prosecutions, ■the meeting then separated. The general distress that pervades almost all classes of the community has extended (says the Observer) to the medical Profession, particularly country practitioners, in a degree of ^hich there is no parallel in former times. The tradesmen, hey say, are without business, and the farmers are subsisting 'on their little remaining capital. Debts from either class are not to be collected, yet the medical practitioner is called '^pon almost hourly to attend patients who reside in some .^stances, eight or ten miles distant, from whom they can nave scarcely any expectation of ever receiving for the exer- c'se of his talents, his attendance, or his medicines. Great lumbers of country practitioners, urged to it by the distress Of the times, have recently embarked for America and the settlement on the Swan River, in the hope of obtaining some SOrt of subsistence for themselves and their families. A prospectus has been issued for the establishment of a "pint Stock Banking Company at York, to be called The ^ork Banking Company"—Capital £ 500,000, in 5000 £ 100 shares. It is stated that 1000 shares have already been taken.. The Sheriffs of London distributed on Christmas-day one pound of meat, one pound of bread, and one pint of porter, to each of 1100 prisoners under their charge in Newgate, Whitecross-street, Giltspur-street, and the Borough Comp- ters. On the evening of Sunday se'nnight, the moon was dis- tinctly seeii at Tynemouth with the naked eye, 37 hours after the change, a very extraordinary circumstance in this country. Some of the oldest sea-faring men declare they Oversaw the phenomenon before. "17 l win We understand that Sarah Carter, of Stapleford, whose extraordinary case of trance excited so much attention about a twelvemonth ago, still continues in the same lethargic state, occasionally receiving a very slight degree of nourish- ment, which is administered to her by her mother, or some other attendant.- Cambridge Chronicle. On Saturday, about two o'clock, a number of boys and men, the latter principally brick-makers, were engaged slid- ing on a pond in the fields between Copenhagen-house and Upper Holloway, near London. A sudden quarrel and fight took place between two of the boys, who were in an instant surrounded by all present, when the ice gave way, and no less than thirteen were in an instant soused into the freezing element. The water not being very deep, the greater part scrambled out, without any other injury than a ducking; but two lads who were apparently undermost, were with great difficulty got out. On Monday se'nnight, Richmond, the pugilist, after hav- ing spent the previous evening, according to custom, at Cribb's, and gone to bed in perfect health, was seized with a violent fit of coughing, which suddenly terminated his mortal career, in the 67th year of his age. Richmond, who, p,is well" known, was a perfect black, was born iti Stentoh Island, near New York, in August, 1763; and when the island was taken by the English, he attracted the notice of the Duke of Northumberland, then a general officer, who took him into his service, and brought him to England, where he bound him apprentice to a cabinet-maker in York, at which business he worked for several years, both in York and London. He commenced his pugilistic career while a journeyman in York, and entered the prize ring in London in the year 1804, from which time he fought many battles, in a great majority of which he was declared conqueror. Since he became too old for the ring he had supported him- self by teaching boxing; but as the number of pupils have greatly diminished, he latterly found it difficult to make out a living.- Observer. Previously to the departure of the Rev. Edward Valpy from Norwich, the young gentlemen, his pupils, at the Free Grammar School, gratefully presented him with an elegant chased silver cup, having the following inscription thereon VIRO REVERENDO EDVARBO VALPY, S. T. B. PR2ECEPTORI, LITERIS TUM SACRIS, TUM PROFANIS IKSTRUCTISSfMO DISCIPULI SUI HOC POCULTTM DESIDERII PIGNUS D. D. REG. SCHOL. NOR. III. CAL. 1829. This mark of their esteem and respect was acknowledged by the following affectionate and pathetic letter Norwich, 28th Sept. 1829. My DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,—I am thinking in which of the three languages, Greek, Latin, English, with which you have already-formed so intimate an acquaintance, I can best address you. But they fail me on this occasion. What is said of cares and sorrows may be applied to my present feel- ings Curm leves loquntur, ingentes silent. One language re- mains, which, with its own natural eloquence, and effusion of sincerity, bursts forth at this mark of your regard towards me, and that is the language of the heart; in the warmest glow of utterrance which that language can furnish, I thank you, I pray for your welfare and happiness; and may your journey through this life lead you to eternal bliss in Heaven I remain your ever affectionate friend, EDWARD VALPY. Last week a c$>iu dealt is was decided in the county court at Preston. It was an ac- tion of trespass and trover, brought by a person of the name of Whittingham, corn-dealer, of Lancaster, against a Mr. Whiteside, an extensive corn-dealer, also of Lancaster: the damages were laid at 39s lid. This case involved the question whether a person has a right to open a sack of grain belonging to another, and inspect it. For the plain- tiff, it was proved that Mr. Whiteside had gone into a car- rier's yard when the grain was landing, opened the sack, and looked at the grain. It was also alleged that he had carried away a sample; but this was positively contradicted by the witnesses for the defence, and several respectable corn-dealers proved that it was an invariable custom with them to inspect any corn that might be on sale. A verdict was returned for the plaintiff, with one farthing damages. Bolton Chronicle. In the year 1827, the Rev. C. Pawlett, rector of White Roothing (since deceased,) owing to some disappointment in his receipts, quitted Great Dunmow, where he resided. At that time necessity obliged him to pay his creditors at the rate of 10s in the pound only, which, from his respect- ability, they readily took, and sympathized with him in his misfortunes. Our readers can better conceive than we can relate, the feelings of gratitude experienced by the trades- men in Dunmow at the early part of the past month, when the Rev. Percy Pawlett, the son, visited the town, and not only paid the remaining 10s, but also interest upon each debt, at the rate of 4 per cent. This is, indeed, one of the best proofs a son can give of the affectionate regard he en- tertains for his father.—-Chelmsford Chronicle. OUTRAGES IN hELAND.( From the Limerick Chronicle of Saturday.)—About twelve o'clock on last Sunday night some miscreants fired a shot through a window in Stanley Lodge, county Tipperary, the seat of Edward Power, Esq.; from Stanley Lodge they proceeded to Mr. Herrick's, about a quarter of a mile farther on, and fired a shot through his bed-room window. The villains effected no other injury than the destruction of the glass of the windows. No cause can be assigned for these attacks. Yesterday an inquest was held at Ballycoshoun, near Bil- boa, in this county, on the body of William Spelman, by Charles Bennet, Esq. coroner, and the Rev. C. P. Coote, who was waylaid and beaten, on the 14th of December, on his return home from the fair of Turagh. It appeared in evidence that the deceased was a very peaceable man, and returning from the fair alone, when he was attacked sud denly by a party of men, who beat him in a most brutal manner and fractured his skull; his cries alarmed some per- sons near, who, on going to see what was the matter, were likewise attacked, and narrowly escaped with life. It is melancholy to say that a brother of the deceased was mur- dered in the same manner a few years since, and that two ho- micides have been perpetrated by the same faction, within a short period only, but a few yards .from the spot where was committed the memorable massacre of the Connell family. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder," against six persons, whose names we don't publish for various reasons. W ednpsday night the cow-house of a farmer named Ra- leigh, at Cooleen, near Fedamore, was consumed to ashes, and two cows, three pigs, some goats, and several geese, were destroyed in the flames. The conflagration commu- nicated to the farm-house, which was totally destroyed, with nearly all the furniture. It is not yet known if the fire was accidental or malicious. On Monday night the woodranger of Mr. Butler, county Tipperary, was fired at twice by a parcel of assassins; nei- ther of the shots took effect. An attempt was made to destroy a farmer's family, last week, in Kerry, by setting fire to the thatch, while the in- mates lay in bed. FEMALE HEROISM.—On Saturday a violent outrage was committed at North Bradley, Wiltshire, by four men who entered the premises of Mr. A. Bissie, an elderly farmer, two of them by the back way, overpowering and threaten- ing an old man and boy there, and the other two by the front door, knocking down the farmer with bludgeons, and seriously bruising and lacerating his head, and would very probably have murdered as well as plundered him, but for the courageous resistance made by his servant girl. This heroine seized a pitchfork, attacked the men, and giving an alarm, calling out loudly the names of some men to bring the gun and shoot the villains who were murdering her master," obliged the ruffians soon to decamp; but they have hitherto escaped detection, although some are suspected. Mr. Bissie and the parish of Bradley have offered 50 guineas reward for their discovery and conviction; but they also should at once bestow some suitable reward on the heroic girl. I FATAL RESULT OF FRIGHTENING A CHILD.—We have often remarked on the impropriety of exciting the fears of children, for the purpose of more easily managing them. But never, since we appeared before the public, have we heard of any thing so truly horrible as the following. The subject being too delicate to allow of the mentioning of names, we shall avoid such an exposure, but at the same time we pledge ourselves for the correctness of the narration. Some time ago, a lady in a considerable town in Yorkshire went out to a neighbour's house to take tea, along with her husband, and left her little family to the care of her servants. In the course of the'evening she felt very uneasy, and being impressed with an idea that all was not right at home, she left her friend's house very early. On arriving at her home, she found that her servants, in the exercise of high life below stairs, had collected a snug and social party. This she passed over .without observation, and proceeding up stairs to the nursery, she was surprised by a terrific figure at the bottom of the bed of thi) youngest child, which was but three years ofage. The fact was, that the nurse-maid, find- ing the child not very rea(l,-t-+o go to rest, and being loth to be disturbed in her evertr. ~i's >moyment, by its crying, had drcasedup and pl.t' to a* the bottom of the infant's bed, with a view of frightening it to sleep. The contrary effect had, however, been produced-the child had been horror-struck, and appeared to its mother with its eyes fixed, in an idiotic stare, upon the image. Astonished and distressed, she rung the bell, and then proceeded to take up her infant-but lo! it was a lifeless corpse; the fright occasioned by the nurse's folly had been too much for the little innocent. In the extreme of fear, the pulse had ceased to beat—the vital spark had fled, aud the mother was left to mourn, in unutterable anguish, the credulity which induced her to trust such aservant, and the perfidy of the unprincipled nurse in whon she had confided.- York Paper. It is reported that an extensive mval promotion will take place on the next anniversary of his Majesty's birth-day; and that also a variety of alterations and improvements, which have been for some time digesting, relative to the service, will then be promulgated.—Plymouth Herald. THE VORACIOUS WHALE.—The huge monster of the deep that recently cut thereby three men met an .1e:i:L oil St. Join* t'omt, on the Done- gal coast, has been since thfowp. or sbiore dead. It is. said to be one of the largest country, ancLour correspondent adds, that, on uekig opened, a young one, measuring 18 feet in length, v ft— inside. Its death is said to have been occasioned by a part ot the boat which it may have swallowed at the time; but this is to be question- ed, as the gullet of the animal is not sufficiently capacious to admit a large portion of timber. We expect to hear fur- ther particulars next week. It is to be hoped the produce of the fish will be applied to the. relief of the families of the unfortunate sufferers.- Enniskillen Chronicle. Mr. John Barron, brother to Mr. Henry Winston Bar- ron, has just published an address to the electors of Water- ford, in which he announces himself as a candidate for the representation of the county. In this address he denies most distinctly and unequivocally that he has ever been, either director indirectly, a party to any coalition or com- pact calculated to compromise the independence of Water- ford. He adds that he is a friend to every measure which has burdens, and thü i t 'r r,0's Or Tit** lav r*t fir" r- •• a large red i — persons oti u or rather between uiai piace auu uicm muuo<- itxaaicu. only a few minutes, and then suddenly disappeared; its altitude was not great, and its light less briUiant, owing to the mistiness of the air, than it would have been on a clear night.—Essex Herald. An accident of the most heart-rending nature occurred on Saturday afternoon last, in Charles-street, Blockhouse. Mrs. Ann Caufield, the wife of an exciseman stationed in this city, a young woman, 25 years of age only, was putting on the pelisse of the eldest of her two children, preparatory to sending it upon an errand, when in stooping down to fasten the dress, her back being to the fire, the draught of the chimney drew her clothes to the bars, and she became in- stantly enveloped in a blaze. In her alarm she hastened down stairs, hoping to find assistance, but unfortunately the person in whose house she lodged had shortly before left home; and in this appalling state she remained some minutes, when a neighbour chanced to call in, by whom the flames were extinguished. The poor creature, however, was most dreadfully burnt in every part of her body, and she was in i.edntrly ccnvey- to tie Inih jiary, where we learnt, on she sHHHes in a "ery precariou., f the unfortuna L jf the accident, fey ad- vanced ir uregnancy, and the f itrht ..nd terror of which bringing on premature del. very, ",he on Monday gave birth to twins, which died soon after. TVorcester Journal. INFORMERS DEFEATED.—Johnson, the well-known in- former, has been actively employed in laying informations against a number of bakers, in London, for selling bread without previously weighing it. The informations were supported by the testimony of Skinner and Brooks. Con- victions have taken place very freely, and yesterday another batch was brought for hearing before Mr. Walker, the sitting magistrate. Skinner, being sworn, said, he went into the defendant's (Mrs. Thompson's) house, and paid two pence for a pound of bread, which she refused to weigh when re- quired. Mr. Walker asked the defendant if she had any thing to advance to the contrary, when Mrs. Thompson totally denied having refused to weigh the bread, and said there was a female present at the time, which Skinner de- nied. Mr. Walker said, that he was decidedly opposed to the principle of entertaining informations from common in- formers, in all cases where an easy and expeditious remedy was placed in the hands of the p«h!ic. The Baker's Act, under which the information was laid, provided that the bread should be weighed when purchased, and this provision was, in his judgment, meant only to protect the public, who had an immediate remedy in case of refusal. This did away with the necessity of common informers; and in all cases where an industrious tradesman was brought by them under the operation of the act, he should look with great suspicion on the witness's evidence, and insist upon having the most satisfactory corroboration. If there existed the least doubt in his mind, or the defendant's story left an im- pression that the informer had coloured his case for the purpose of obtaining a conviction, he should instantly dis- miss the information. With these views, which he had not the slightest doubt would be concurred in bv his brother magistrates, he should not convict on the present evidence. The Solicitor who attended for Johnson, expressed great surprise at this decision, and contended that the magistrate was bound to admit the oath of Skinner against the state- ment of the defendant. Mr. Walker replied be could not shut his eyes to the certainty of the interested motives of every informer's witness; and although he did not impute perjury to the men who had sworn to the offence, yet, taking a general view of their character, and considering that the testimony of the informer's witiie"is-was unsupported, it would be opening a monstrous channel for oppressing tradesmen, if their unsupported testimony should have the preponderance when opposed to conflicting statements of defendants. Six informations were thus dismissed, and Johnson, as he was leaving the office, was recalled by Mr. Walker, who stated that the present strictness of his views respecting the evidence of informers witnesses, was confined to the Bakers' Act. Johnson has above fifty other informa- tions, which will probably share the same fate. Mr. Wm. Holmes, of Spaldington Lanes, near Howden, has in his possession a goose, which has within the last twelve months laid the extraordinary number of seventy eggs; twenty-six at the usual time of laying, from which she produced and brought up seventeen fine goslings. She began laying again about the end of harvest, and has continued to lay an egg every other day since. She appears to be in excellent condition.- fork Herald. ,1 1fT ï The Manufacturers' Relief Committee have held a meet- ing in the City, to consider of various applications made to them from different parts of the country. They have found it necessary to vote a considerable sum, amounting to nearly £3000, in alleviation of the distressed districts whose cases have been submitted to them. The state of suffering in the whole of them is of the most severe kind, but we believe that the impression on the minds of the committee, from going into the details, is that it is owing much more to local causes than to any general inactivity in the manufacturing industry of the country. In some instances, as at Hudders- field, they consider the distress to arise from changes in the fashion, which has checked the sale of fancy articles usually produced there. The suffering in Wiltshire, and in parts of Gloucestershire, is also to be referred to the transfer of the working of fine cloth to Yorkshire and other places, where superior skill and economy is found to exist. Some relief has been voted, too, for the silk manufacturers in Macclesfield and Congleton. From whatever causes the distress may have arisen, the committee have not had for a long time past such powerful claims on the benevelent fund placed at their disposal.-Times. WHITEHALL PREACHERS.-—Wo understand that a arrangement of duty has taken place in the Chapel Royal at Whitehall, in consequence of which the monthly preach- ers from the two Universities, are dispensed with. The preacherships were establised by George 1. for the purpose of bringing into notice resident fellows of his two Univer- sities.