11 SEPTEMBER 1830, Page 6

MUTINY IN THE LOWTHER CASTLE AND THE Isronts.—Those ter. rible

affairs turn out, as most complaints by "blustering captains of the sea" do to be nothing but a couple of rows, one partial and one general, and both excused by the gross and infamous treatment of the men. The mutiny on board the Lowther Castle was this. A man named Hawkins, while the ship was lying at St. Helena, went to the forecastle to hail the Ariadne' then ahead of the Lowther Castle. While hailing the frigate, as he had a legal right to do, he was seized by the collar, by a person named Barton, the fourth officer; forced towards the stern of the ship ; and on his resisting this illegal violence, struck in the face and cut. The first officer came on deck to help the fourth officer; the master at arms was sent for, and this brought up the third officer ; and in the scuffle, Hawkins, who had unclasped his knife to defend himself from the posse of officers, cut the third one's coat. This is what the commanders of the Monopoly gentlefolks chose to term a mutiny. Mr. Ballantyne, the Magistrate of Thames Street Office, determined that Mr. Barton, No. 4, had no case, as lie was in fact the aggressor, having acted illegally in preventing the prisoner from hailing the frigate, and afterwards in striking him ; but he held Hawkins to bail for assaulting No. 3. We never dispute what we don't understand, and therefore we shall not question this decision ; we shall merely state the terms of it. No. 4 assaults prisoner ; he resists ; No. 1 comes to the assistance of No. 4, to compel the prisoner to submit to be ironed as well as assaulted ; No. 3 joins 4 and 1 for the same purpose ; the prisoner strikes 3; it is a misdemeanour, qnoth Mr. Ballantyne. That is, it is a misdemeanour to prevent one man from assisting another to commit an illegal action; we may knock down the principal, but we must not touch the accessory. The row in the Inglis may be best described in the Captain's words. —" On the 7th of June last, off the Cape, Mr. Mowat, the third officer, was-on the quarter-deck, and ordered the men to make a sail. While they were fulfilling his orders, he told them they were doing it wrong, abused them, and made use of some offensive expressions. Immediately afterwards, Lally (one of the alleged mutineers) came up from under the

mining, and said who can standto be called an Irish son of a ', and grumbled. I desired him to hold his tongue, and not to let it run so

fast, or he might get himself into trouble. He answered, ' I shall talk as long as I like.' I then desired Mr. Mowat to tell the steward to stop his grog until further orders. He replied, ' Yon may stop -my grog all the way to Londbn, if you like ;' and went on grumbling. I then or- dered him to be put in irons ; but on their being brought, he refused to

go into them ; on which I said, Don't be a fool, but go in directly,' and desired the boatswain and gunner to put him in. After great scuffling he was put in but not before he had struck them several times. I then went to my cabin, and had not been there ten minutes, when Mr. Mowat came down and said, the ship's company had made a rush aft to rescue the prisoner. I instantly took my drawn sword, and went on the quar- ter-deck, and found a great part of the crew endeavouring to get on the poop, which Mr. Mowat was preventing. I hastened on the poop, and found the majority of the crew trying to get Lally out of irons by vio- lent means. After a great deal of trouble, Igoe the people off the poop, and the prisoner remained. When they were all down on the 'quarter- deck, there was a general cry from the whole, that the prisoner should

be released. I said no, he should not be released until a court of inquiry had been held. The crew immediately sung out, There shall be no more courts of inquiry ; no more cuddy court-martials; they had had their day, and we will now have our day ; no more floggings;' and si- milar exclamations. Jordan then touched .me on the shoulder, and said, 'There are three cheers for you, in defiance of you, on your own quarter- deck ;' and three cheers were given by the men."

This was the whole mutiny ; and what was the conduct that led to it? One of the men declared—and there was no attempt at denying it— that he had on one occasion received six dozen of lashes from this same

Captain Dudman on one morning ;—a number we never heard of being inflicted in a man-of-war for the gravest offences, unless by sentence of a general court-martial. This was what Captain Dudman called keeping up the discipline of the ship ; and Mr. Ballantyne concurred that the discipline of the ship must be kept up. If such a diabolical system of torture be requisite for the discipline of a ship, as must of necessity con- vert men into brutes or demons, it would be better that all the ships that ever floated were burnt for firewood.

Mr. Mowat, the third officer, said that he gave some orders to the Men, which were done in a lubberly manner. He censured the men, and called one of them a son of a —. Soon afterwards he heard Lalley grumbling, that his blood was as red as the officers. He generally made

use of the term son of a [We don't know what the blank is to be filled with ; it may be done ad libitum.] He was much excited at the

time. Mr. Ballantine-." If the witness had made use of a round oath generally, perhaps the men would have taken no notice of it ; but when

he applied the terms Scotch, Irish, and English to the men, it became personal, and the oath in question is considered offensive. The excite- ment of the officer ought to have been that of a gentleman, not that of a blackguard." He ought, in fact, to have damned them genteelly. The men were held to bail for the misdemeauour.

MORE Mum.= es.—Yesterday, seven more mutineers of the Inglis were brought up to the Thames Street Office. They had arrived on the previous night, in the Vansittart and Charles Grant- These men have been in irons for seventy-two days! When they arrived at the office, Mr. Mood, the chief officer, was sent to request the attendance of Captain Daman, their ex-commander ; and received for answer, " Oh ! damn it, do what you like with them." Mr. Lawson, the surgeon of the Inglis, also refused to attend. There being no evidence against the

prisoners, they were discharged ; and went forth leaping and capering with much glee. This same Captain Dudman is said in the voyage home to have inflicted five dozen of lashes on his boatswain's mate, Mr. W. G. Hewitt. Hewitt has commenced an action for the assault.

SINGULAR Case..-There is an old comedy, whose title would have formed a more appropriate heading to the case we are about to mention, than the one we employ ; but the fastidiousness of modern phraseology forbids us to do more than merely allude to it. On Tuesday, an unfor- tunate girl, as the poor wretches that roam the streets so appropriately denominate themselves, was brought before Sir Richard Birnie, charged with rioting in the Strand. She was unknown to the gaoler, and it was admitted by the officer that her general behaviour was peaceful. The girl freely acknowledged her error, and besought the Magistrate for mercy; exclaiming that she did not care so much for herself as for her poor little brother, who would be left without bread if she was sent to a prison. Sir Richard Birnie—" Have you a brother living with you ?" Girl—" Oh! no, Sir; he is not living with me. I would not hare him

a witness of the life which I am obliged to lead. He lives with a poor woman; to whom, in addition to the 2s. 6d. allowed by the parish, I pay 4s. 6d. a-week out of the money I receive." From subsequent in.

quiries it appeared, that the father of the girl, and her infant brother

the was stated to be eight years old), had for many years borne the cha- racter of a respectable tradesman in the vicinity of Cornhill, where he had carried on an extensive business; but shortly before his death, which happened about three years ago, he became embarrassed, and failed. The mother only survived her husband a twelvemonth, and by her death, the miserable girl had no alternative left to provide her brother and her- self with bread but to go upon the streets, as the parish would only allow 2s. 6d. aaveek for the maintenance of her brother. She said she had some hopes of getting the child into an orphan school, and then she would abandon her present way of living, and endeavour to maintain herself honestly. Sir Richard observed, what is, we believe very true, that it was no easy matter to get a child into an orphan school,—unless (he might have added) he have enow of friends to provide for him else- where; in which case his success is tolerably certain. It was ulti- mately arranged that she should make one more application to the parish officers. Singular as the story may appear, there does not seem to be the least doubt of its truth. One of the Police Sergeants told Sir Richard, that he had made itiquiry, and that all the girl's statements were correct. Her name was said to be Sarah Johnstone.

On Thursday, Sir Richard Birnie received a letter from an individual in the City, stating that he would use his influence to procure a place in an orphan school for the little boy, anxiety for whose welfare had led his Sister to her unhappy way of life. The glad announcement was made to the girl through the benevolent Sergeant of Police, who had previously interested hiriku.lf in her behalf, and received with a full heart and over.

flowing eyes.' Her real name, it appears, is 'Alexander : her father wait once a commercial traveller with Messrs. Green and Pellatt, St. Peek Churchyard. She was sent, accompanied by the Sergeant, with a letter from Sir Richard to the person in the City who had promised his influence in behalf of her brother.

A POLISHED PRIG.--It is Sancho Panza we believe, who says fair words never got a man a broken head. We are glad to see the thieve; sensible of this truth, and beginning to act upon it. It is a sign that the breed is improving, as the Herald said of the French murderers whet they took to confession before beheading. On Tuesday, a fellow wall brought before Lord Mayor Crowder, charged with having some stolen cloth in his possession. He had endeavoured to dodge the officer ; but he was too old to be outwitted. The following is the report of the exa- amination. The Lord Mayor—" Prisoner, where did you get this cloth ? Prisoner—" May I most respectfully beg that you will be so condescending as not to insist on my giving an answer to that question ?" The Lord Mayor—" I shall not ask you to say any thing you do not wish to say ; but it is my duty, when you were found carrying cloth that does not seem to belong to you, to ask where you got it.' Prisoner-a. " My Lord, I repeat my request. In a few days, I assure you, I shall be able to account for this concern, but I cannot now. I hope your Lordship will be so good as to excuse me. The communication shall be made in a day or two." The Lord Mayor—" Pray on what day could it be convenient to you to make the communication you speak of?" Prisoner—" Why, my Lord, I shall leave that to you." The Lord Mayor—" Perhaps the latter end of the week would answer your eon. venience ?" Prisoner—" I thank your Lordship exceedingly. That will exactly do." The Lord Mayor—" Pray what day shall we name ?' Prisoner—" Why on Friday, my Lord ; suppose your Lordship will be so good as to say Friday."—This rogue will get off, as Sir Pertinax Mao. sycophant got on, "by booin."

THE CITY POLICE.—No. 4, division G, was severely beaten in Bar- tholomew fair on Monday, in an attempt to carry a fellow to the watch- house whom he had detected cheating with the stale trick of the thimble. While No. 4, division G, was lying on the ground, a gentleman who witnessed the assault requested same of the City officers who were loi- tering on their side of the boundary, to interpose for the protection Of the unfortunate No. 4; but they were too much engaged with No. 1 to attend to his entreaties ; and the breakers of the peace and beaters of the police in consequence escaped, except one, who was afterwards sought out and identified by No. 4 himself.

SIMPLICITY:A boy was charged the other day with dog-stealing. It was at first alleged chat his father had encouraged him, but this did not appear to be the case. The father being called, said the boy did it all out of mere simplicity. Magistrate—" For what purpose does he take all the dogs he can find ?" Father—" I suppose he thinks the dogs are lost, and he merely takes them to purchase victuals for them, his city is so great." The complainer said, it was extremely singular that the father should now state that his son has taken the dog from simple city, when he informed him, in coming along, that he wished to get him into some place of confinement. Father-e' I did so because 1 am afraid that the poor boy's simplicity will bring him to the ;allows." Simplicity, so exerted, is sometimes followed by rather awkward results, we acknow- ledge. The bail of the parent of the simple youth was taken for his good behaviour ; het the Magistrate said if he were caught dog-atealing- again, his opinion of his simplicity would be greatly shaken.

PLEAS IN ABATEMENT.—A tall Irishman was charged on Monday, at Thames Street Office, with kicking up a row and knocking down an officer. The prisoner, when called upon for his defence, said, he was bating his own people, when the polish came up and interfered." Mr. Ballantine--" You are not to knock your own people about, as you call them, and disturb the public peace." An inspector of K division, said the defendant behaved in the most outrageous manner at the station.- house, upset the table and lamp, and attempted to strike him. Prisoner It was all owing to the whisky I drank at Larry Kinchley's wake.' An officer stated that the prisoner had beat a female during the row in a very brutal manner. Prisoner—" Oh, faith, that was only my wife! Sure, now a man may bate his own wife." He was fined forty shillings for all the assaults together.

JUVENILE THIEF.—An urchin about twelve years of age was charged at Guildhall on Monday with stealing from the Swan with Two Necks a parcel containing halves of notes to the amount of 4001.! He told a number of stories about finding it, first in Higgin Lane, next in Gutter Lane, and other places.

ROBBERY.--TWO fellows were arrested on Tuesday, with a bale of silk worth nearly 300/. in their possession, stolen from the Colchester wagon. It had been sent by Messrs Glandolfe, Copthall Court, to Mr. Brown, silk-throwster, Colchester. The men said they found it on the road. They were apprehended by the horse patrol.

BURGLARY.—Yesterday two fellows were attempted to be seized by a sergeant and private of the S division of Police, on suspicion of having robbed the warehouse of a pawnbroker in Albany Street, Regent's Park ; when a third man an accomplice, came up and knocked down both the officers ; a fourth afterwards joined the other three in severely kicking and beating them. They were left in the street in an insensible state; and the thieves got clear off. On subsequent inquiry, it was found that not less than 500/. worth of property had been carried off.