POLICE OF LONDON. ROBBERIES—Boram and Fulcher, two men in the
service of Mr. Stephenson the fugitive hanker, were on Monday examined at Hatton-garden, on the charge of stealing wine from their toaster's cellar in Bartholomew's Hospital. They were remanded fur a week. Benjamin Williams and William Brinkley were on Tuesday examined at Union-ball, on the charge of lowing been concerned in various robberies in
Surrey. The officers, on searching Williams's house, at Vauxhall-road, found
some articles of plate, stamps, and other things which were proved to have been stolen from different individuals. Williams, in his defence' alleged that
he had purchased the principal part of the property of Brinkley ; who, he
said, NVZIS a most desperate character. At one time he laid a plan for robbing the principal church at Rotterdam of the valuable pictures it contains. He
had a vessel in readiness to take out the thieves who were to have committed the robbery; but, owing to some misunderstanding between them, his asso- ciates, fearful of embarking in such a hazardous attempt in a foreign country, refused to accompany him. Brinkley is well known as a receiver of stolen goods, which he has been accustomed to ship to Holland. He has been known to make a hundred trips a year to Rotterdam, and back again. They were both remanded.
William Tibbs, a discharged servant, was examined on Wednesday at Bow- street, on the charge of having stolen a large quantity of silver plate from a
gentleman's house at Andover. He had offered the plate for sale to a pawn- broker; who detained it, and gave information to a magistrate : Tibbs was apprehended, and all the plate was identified by the owner. The prisoner ad- mitted the robbery, and professed the utmost remorse, and his willingness to lose his life for the crime.
Thomas Lloyd, the man who was stopped in the Kensington-road with the the stamps that were stolen from the Bull and Mouth, was on Wednesday again brought before the Magistrates at Queen-square. No fresh evidence was adduced, and the prisoner was committed for trial.
William Nicholson has been committed from Guildhall, for having at- tempted to rob a warehouse in Ilameingsword-alley, Fleet-street. He had concealed himself in tile warehouse afore it was locked up : be was after- wards discovered letting his booty, consisting of cut glass, down from a win- dow and was capture:1 by two watchmen.
SWINDLING.—White, :■0111e of whose sham dealings in horses and cows were mentioned last week, lies under several other charges of swindling. He was filially examined on Wednesday at GuildhalLand committed for trial. Gamirsa-nousgs.—Five persons of fashionable exterior appeared on Tues. day, before the Magistrate at Marlborough-street, and put in bail to an in- dictment found against them at the late Middlesex sessions, for keeping a common gambling-house in King-street, St. James's-square. This indict- ment only forms one of a series about to be preferred against the keepers of such houses in St. James's.
SMUGGLING:A young man, just returned from sea, was brought before the Lord Mayor on Monday, charged with having about one pound and a half of tobacco in his possession which had not paid duty. The punishment is a fine of 1001. or five years' service on board a King's ship ; and the ex- ciseman seemed determined that the Lord Mayor should make this award. The unfortunate man begged with tears that the prosecutors would consider that he had a wife and two children ; that he did not know that he had com- mitted any offence in bringing home a little tobacco for his own use ; and that he had never before been guilty of any similar offence. The complainant said that the Lords of the Treasury could alone remit the sentence. The Lord Mayor observed that it was dreadful to punish with such rigour ; and he remanded the seaman for a few days till it was seen what could be done. This man's case having been subsequently represented to e Commis- sioners, they agreed with the Lord Mayor, that his offence did not demand heavy punishment ; and they consented to his discharge, if it should be found that he had never before been engaged in defrauding the revenue. The Lord Mayor remanded hint for a month, both as a reasonable puni !anent for his onnee, and to allow time tier inquiry into his character.
TfIE GERMAN PROFESSOR AND "THE LITTLE WOODEN-LEGGED PUB.. LISHER."—As Sir Richard Birnie left the office at Bow-street, on Monday, Mr. Wilks, the bookseller, followed him into the passage, and pointing to a report in the Times, said, "My name is Wilks, Sir; I am the individual who prosecuted Ferstandeg ; 1 wish to draw your attention to this statement." Sir R. Birnie—" Well, what of it?" Wilks—" The report says that the conversation between you and Mr. Ferstandeg occurred in private." Sir R. Birnie—" Yes, in the private room, not in the office; what then ?" Wilks- "You are made to say, that if you knew as much of me at the time when Ferstandeg was examined as you did then, you would be cautious how you committed any man upon such testimony." Sir R. Birnie—" I did say so; it is quite true." Wilks—" You were not justified in making use of such an observation." Sir R. Birnie—" Begone, Sir." Wilks—" I say it was unjust and uncalled for." Sir R. Birnie—" Quit the office, I say." Wilks (going) —" I shall seek redress elsewhere." Sir R. Birnie—" Officer, turn this fellow out." Wilks, upon this order, hastily retired; but again met the chief magistrate in the outer passage, as he was about to retire to his own house. Wilks—" I can bring testimonials, Sir Richard Birnie, which will satisfy you that I am a respectable man I" But Sir Richard said he should hear the com- plainant when he produced any bookseller, stationer, printer, or bookbinder, in the metropolis, to testify in his favour. "CARTING."—The Lord Mayor has declared, at the Mansionhonse, that he will be no party to the revival of this odious custom, for which the City Solicitor was lately reported to be a suitor: he would sooner see the City Solicitor himself carted.
EXTORTING MONEY BY TunEsTs.—Williain Forrest was on Thursday com- mitted from Bow-street, on the charge of writing a threatening letter to Mr. Finch, solicitor, Dean-street, Soho-square, with a view to extort money by accusing him of a scandalous offence. Mr. Finch had treated the prisoner with kindness, at a time when he had neither food nor shelter ; and when that gentleman withdrew his bounty, Forrest adopted the plan which has made him amenable to the law.
BODY-SELLING.—JOIIII Huntingdon, and a female who passed for his wife, were yesterday charged at Union-hall, with having obtained the body of a man from a workhouse, under a false pretence of relationship. They sold the body for eleven guineas at Bartholomew's Hospital. The clothes were found in his house. The prisoners were remanded.
THE EDINBURGH MURDERS.—The Scotch papers continue to dwell with minute and amplified precision upon the circumstances connected with the late Justiciary trial. The newest of these is a kind of confession by Burke, in the shape of a conversation held with him in prison. Before he began to develops his manifold atrocities, it sort of oath was exacted from the mur- derer. He. "was most emphatically adjured to speak the truth, without any attempt to palliate his own iniquities, or implicate Hare more deeply than the facts warranted." The name and station of the individual who took this method to insure the truth of the tale to be unfolded, are not communicated; but the facts which we now abridge are said to have come from a "respect- able quarter," and to be as near as possible a " strict report" of what passed. The conversation began with religion. The murderer at one time read his Catechism and Prayer-book ; but an association with abandoned characters, and a life of pladligacy, deadened all serious impressions. He and Hare had been engaged in their bloody trade " from Christmas, 1827, till the murder of the woman Docherty in October last." The number of their assassinations was stated, but is not made public, "for a reason perfectly satisfactory." There were "not so many" as thirty. They had no accomplices ; and they always took care that there should be no witnesses of their bloody deeds. The women might suspect what was going on, but they never saw any of the mur- ders committed. One of them was perpetrated in the house of Broggan, the carter, when he was absent. Burke murdered one person in the country him- self; but all the rest were murdered in conjunction with Hare, and mostly in his house. The mode of operating is thus described :—" We made the persons drunk, and then suffocated them by holding the nostrils and mouth and getting on the body. Sometimes I held the mouth and nose, while Hare went upon the body ; and sometimes Hare held the mouth and nose, while I placed my- self on the body. Flare has perjured himself by what he said at the trial about- the murder of Docherty. He did not sit by while I did it, as he says: he was on the body assisting me with all his might, while I held the nostrils and mouth with one hand, choked her under the throat with the other. We some. times used a pillow, but did not in this case." They were not tutored* to this manner of committing murder : they adopted the plan of themselves, after a good deal of deliberation, as "the best way." It appears that they had the encouragement of a ready and unscrupulous market. " We were," says Burke " frequently told by Paterson that he would take as many bodies as we could get for hint. When we got one, he always told us to get more. There was commonly another person with Minot the name of Falconer. They generally pressed us to get more bodies for them." The bodies were sold * It has been plainly intimated that they received scientific instruction from the persons who employed them to procure the bodies.
"To Dr. We took the bodies to his rooms in —, and then went to his house to receive the money for them. Sometimes he paid us him- self; sometimes we were paid by his assistants. No questions were ever asked as to the mode iu which we had come by the bodies. We had nothing to do but to leave a body at the room, and go get the money." Besides the doctor here alluded to, they never sold a body to any other lecturer. Neither Hare nor Burke ever got a body from a church-yard. All they sold were murdered save the first one, which was that of a woman who died a natural death in Hare's house. They began with that. The victims they selected were generally elderly persons. They could be more easily disposed of than persons in the vigour of health.
Burke is now "perfectly penitent," and resigned to his fate; and he con- siders his sentence in some measure as a blessing,—the certainty of being hanged having "brought back his mind to a sense of religion, from which it had been long estranged." His sentence, it appears, had very speedily that effect ; for we are told, by the Courant, that when he was " removed from the Court-room to the lock-up-house he was considerably agitated, and throwing himself upon his knees, addressed a prayer to God whom he had so grievously offended." The Scotsman says, that " he inquired if he might be permitted to offer up a short prayer ? His request was granted; and "the unhappy man prayed with great fervour for a few minutes." Moreover, though a Ro- manist himself, he is quite liberal, and receives the visits of Protestants and Catholics with equal pleasure. " Ile pays," says the Scotsman, "due atten- tion to their exhortations—reads the Bible, or some religious book, constari'ly, in their absence, and is making every preparation for the great and awful change which he must soon undergo I"
It is mentioned, that two of the Jury on the late trial were of opinion that the prosecutor had not made out his case even against Burke; and conse- quently were for returning a verdict of Not Proven in his case, as well as that of M'Dougal.
Notwithstanding the eager promptings of the newspapers, it would appear that the Lord Advocate has no intention of bringing Hare to trial,—technical forms, or pledges to him before he turned King's evidence, standing in the way. Some of the newspapers contend that there is nothing in the Scottish forms of criminal jurisprudence to prevent his being brought to account for one or both of the untried charges in the indictment against Burke ; but the great ob- jection seems to be the want of the necessary legal evidence to convict. It is probable that means will be taken to get the mother of "daft Jamie," who 'was murdered in Hare's house, to bring the wretch to a capital trial, with the merely formal "concurrence of the Lord Advocate;" a privilege which is open to her by the law of Scotland.
We agree with the Times, that little faith is due to Burke's half-extorted confession; but independent of it, enough has transpired to " prove that there has been an hideous negligence on the part of the medical men who received the bodies of the murdered." To remove, if possible, the slur which these horrid disclosures have cast upon the medical profession in Edinburgh in all its branches, and to further the ends of justice, the teachers of anatomy were examined by the Lord Advocate on Monday, relative to the mode of procuring dead bodies, and the dealings of the anatomists with those who brought them; but nothing of what passed was suffered to transpire. The members of the College of Physicians met next day, and appointed a Committee to con- fider what steps ought to he taken by them under the present circumstances. The Sheriff has also been engaged in examining further into the matter.
CRIMES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE Arseomisgs.—We are strongly disposed to think that Edinburgh is not the only place where the horrid crime of mur- der has been committed for the purpose of selling human bodies for dissec- tion. Newcastle has frequently been the scene where the proceedings of re- surrectionists have been brought to light, but during the past week we fear something worse has been going forward. A hamper arrived at Mr. Loftus's coach-office, in Collingwood-street, which was brought by one of the coaches from York. From the direction upon it, and from its great weight, suspicions were excited. It was opened, and found to contain a child, apparently three or four years old, quite fresh, and almost healthy looking. We believe there is reason to fear that it died not a natural, but a violent death. There were marks upon it, one in the side as if it had been stabbed, and others on the throat, as if it had been strangled. We believe the child belonged to the neighbourhood of Wetberby, in Yorkshire—Tyne Mercury. A very respectable old gentleman some time ago fell down in a fit at Temple-bar. The crowd assembled round him, but no one knew what to do, or perhaps cared, when a young man rushed in exclaiming, "Oh, my uncle ! —my dear uncle! "—took him in his arms, and prayed some one to call a coach. The mob were soon on the alert, rejoiced at the succour, and affected by the anxious conduct of the young man. Both were soon placed in the coach, the worthy old gentleman's pockets were speedily emptied by his soi- disant nephew, and in the course of a short time, while the pious nephew was considering how he should manage to escape, he expired. What was to be done ? The check-string was pulled, and the coachman ordered to drive to — hospital, where he sold the body.—Morning Chronicle. A correspondent at Dudley informs us, that a few nights since a young wo- man, passing through a lane at Woodside, was overtaken by two men, one of whom suddenly forced a pitch plaster upon her mouth, which prevented her making any noise, and in this state they hurried her on until coming near some houses on the road-side, she attempted to disengage herself from their grasp, and at the same time had the presence of mind to fling one of her pat- tens from off her foot through a window of one of the houses, which imam. diately brought out the inmates, when the two ruffians decamped.—Birming- ham Gazette.
The York Courant has published a long story of three vagabonds having on Monday attempted to entrap a boy of ten years of age. The youth was sent by a kind-hearted woman to show them where they would find lodgings ; and, in passing through some obscure lane, they seized him, " and applied a large plaster, seemingly a composition of pitch and tar, to his mouth." The rascals bungled their work,—the greater part of the plaster having stuck on the cheek of the intended victim ; and an alarm having been raised, they tore it off and escaped. The mysterious transaction has excited a " great sensa- tion," and many disagreeable surmises in the city.
HORSE Sreauxo.—It has now become notorious that the trade in stolen horses between this country and France has become as regular and organized a traffic as the most legitimate object of trade.—Morning Paper. AIHRDER.—Two men named Butler and Ostler last week fought a pitched battle at Tipton, which continued thirty rounds. Butler died in three hours after, from the effects of the blows he received.
A man named Cliffe was on Monday taken into custody in Manchester, on the charge of having murdered his wife, on New Year's day. She had gone to a public-house where he was drinking, to fetch him home. On the way he beat her ; and after they got home, he had, it appears, broken three of her ribs, beaten her head to a jelly, and inflicted other wounds, of which she died on the following Sunday. The man was committed to prison on a Coroner's verdict of wilful murder.
In May, a harmless German superintendent of the band at Nagpoor, was murdered in his cut : his head, which seemed to have been severed at one blow from his body, was found placed on a table in the. hall, the body re- maining in the bed.
Assautes.—On Friday evening, a youth was assailed by two French. men in Hyde Park, who forced hint down upon a seat, and attempted to commit an atrocious assault upon his person. One of them endeavoured to stifle his cries of " murder" by holding his throat; and the other was in the act of drawing a knife from his pocket when some persons came in sight. One of the ruffians was taken ; on his way to Tothilltields prison, he stabbed himself in the throat, and afterwards tore off the bandages from the wound. Both he and his companion, who has since been apprehended, now await their trial.
An atrocious outrage, arising out of the system of combination, so frequent among the working classes, was last week committed upon a workman in Cork. The victim was set upon by a party of ruffians armed with saws, and they so mangled the poor man, that his recovery is hopeless. His wife threw herself upon his body in an affectionate endeavour to save him, and was also severely cut.
ROBBERIES.—On Friday night, a gentleman's house at Lambeth-green was robbed of plate and jewellery. One of the rooms ransacked was next to that occupied by the gentleman and his wife, and yet the thieves etlected their purpose without disturbing them.
The premises of Mr. W. H. Adams, ironmonger, Grafton-place, Hathbone- place, were entered on Monday night by thieves, who broke open an iron safe, and obtained a considerable suns in money, besides a large quantity of silver plate, and various articles of jewellery.
Josiah Sneilgrove, late a clerk to the Governors of the London Hospital, has absconded, taking with him near 4001. in cash, the property of the Insti- tution,
Last week, John Sumner, clerk to Messrs. Stratton and Overton, solicitors, High-street, Shoreditch, absconded, taking with him five hundred and fifty sovereign,.
On time arrival of tlm mail-coach in Winchester on Tuesday week, the Alton post-bag was missing ; but whether the coach had been robbed or the bag accidentally dropped, seems uncertain. One of the letters contained a number of provincial hank-notes; and a person has been arrested in the act of attempting to negotiate three of them.
About midnight, on Monday- week, two fellows entered the house of a lady in Sheffield, by time cellar window. They proceeded from the cellar into the upper apartments, and mitered one in which an aged and infirm female was sleeping. In this room they heard the heating of a watch, and for scone time could not discover whence the noise proceeded. While searching for the watch, one of them actually stroked the face of the female, who lay awake all the time, but dared not give any alarm. The thieves at length found the object of their search, and carried it away with them, as well as some silver plate.
The establishment of a street police in Liverpool has been effective in re- ducing the number of beggars amid disorderly characters with which they were infested,—and to whops some robberies in the town are imputed. A very extensive robbery has been committed in the church of St. Louis, at Cork : the thieves carried off the, host, and every valuable ornament in the place.
Last week, in the dusk of the evening, a person having the appearance of a slater obtained access to the roof of a house in Thread-street, on pretence of being employed by the proprietor to examine its state, and make what re- pairs were necessary on it. On time roof he remained for about half an hour, and when he came down the tenant very naturally asked if there was much wrong ? "'Deed, mistress," replied the cool regime, taking a pinch of snuff; " in my opingyon there's muckle and no little needs mending on your riggin ; but I'll hae to come hack the morn and finish the job in a tradesman-like style ' - for the weather's unto weety. and unsettled, and its a real pity that good furniture should ran the chance o' being spoilt for want o' a sklate here and a nail there. There's tmething, ye ken, like taking such things in time." With this they parted, mutually satisfied—the man carrying a bag over his shoulders, and the tenant well pleased in having so sensible a crack with a conscientious and considerate tradesman. Next morning, however, washed away every favourable impression, for the rain coming in torrents through the ceiling, induced the good folks to suspect the nature of the boasted re- pairs in the roof. Their surprise may be guessed at when the sum total of these, on examination, were found to consist in the roof, from end to end, being stripped of its lead.—Paisley Advertiser.
A family of the name of Wilson, consisting of two aged brothers, and two sisters, also advanced in years, reside in a lonely place, in the parish of fluntly. The brothers had 2001. in the hands of the late Duke of Gordon, and were to receive payment at the bygone term. The brothers sleep in an out-house, and the sisters in the dwelling-house. In the dead of the night the door of the out-house was forced open by two men armed with large sticks, who demanded from its inmates their money or their life. The brothers resisted to the ut- most of their power, and a desperate struggle ensued; in which one of the brothers had two of his ribs fractured, and the other was also much wounded. The sisters, in the dwelling-house, heard the noise of the struggle, and rose to go out to their brothers' assistance ; but were unable to get out for some time, owing to the assailants having secured the door by a stick and piece of rope outside. At last they overcame that obstacle ; and one of the sisters having got hold of a barn-fork, made an attack with it on the two men, and drove them front the door of the out-house, and thus allowed her brothers to get out of it. One of the brothers then got possession of a scythe; and the two villains, seeing the sister and brother thus armed, fled without getting hold of the money, which was the object of their attack. The other sister lost one of her legs some years ago, and was unable to render any assistance to her brothers.
StICIDES—At a party on Christmas-day, a young woman in Kilkenny ob- served her lover paying attention to another female ; which she took so sadly to heart that she next day drowned herself. The pot-boy of a public-house in Seymour-street, Euston-square, hanged himself out of remorse for having defrauded his master of a few shillings.,
Ann Anderson, aged seventy, residing in Bermondsey, was found on Friday morning by her husband, suspended by a piece of twine from a nail in the wall of an upper apartment. It appears that both were labouring under poverty and want.
On Thursday evening, Mr. Batson, the library-keeper at Trinity College, was found prostrate on the library floor, beneath the baneful influence of an apoplectic fit. He was removed, and medical assistance promptly applied, but he expired next morning.—Cambridge Independent Press.
On New Year's eve, a journeyman baker, of Abingdon, laid a wager that he would drink two quarts of beer in five minutes. He drank the beer, laid his head on the table, and expired. •
BASE Com—William Johnson was on Saturday apprehended in an obscure lodging in St. Giles's, in the act of colouring counterfeit coin. When the of- ficer seized him, " Good God !" he exclaimed, "what shall I do ? I am com- pletely entrapped."
POACHING.—The keepers on the manor of Motley-Moor, near Hayfield, Derby, encountered a gang of fifteen poachers on Christmas morning. After a short scuffle, the poachers fled : two of them were taken, and sent to prison.
There are at present upwards of forty persons in Bedford gaol and peni- tentiary for offences against the game laws. One of •:hese individuals has been twenty-one times confined for similar crimes.
Is A FELON ENTITLED TO CHRISTIAN BURIAL?—The body of the felon Oades, who was hanged at Maidstone for horse-stealing, was delivered over to his brother. His mother wished that it should be interred with all the rites of Christian burial; but the Rev. Rector would not consent to this nor to its being interred among the more honoured dead. The body was taken to Springfield church-yard in a hearse, but the rector did not attend : and the mother, (who has a small competency,) it is said, intends to try whether the rector's refusal can be legally justified.
Mn. PEEL'S COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL.—We alluded yesterday to the case of a gentleman most unjustly convicted of an indecent assault against a girl, as " having succeeded in establishing his i:mocence to the satisfaction of the Home Secretary ;" and having in consequence been "liberated long be-
fore the lapse of the period of his sentence.' When we made this statement, we were only acquainted with the result ; but we have since been furnished with the particulars of the proceedings, and a most instructive commentary they form on our supposed Court of Review. The party aggrieved, a Mr. Gillen, having caused the evidence of his case to be laid before the Home Se- cretary, in due time, an answer from the right honourable gentleman was re-
ceived, conveying the information that he had examined into the circum- stances, and had besides consulted with the Recorder, and that he could not,
consistently with his public duty, recommend the prisoner to his Majesty for any mitigation of the sentence. The young man and his wife, whom he had married not long before the distressing event, were about to resign them- selves patiently to their hard lot, when a shrewd friend observed—" You have tried what justice can do ; try now interest. Your wife is a countrywoman of Sir Peter Laurie : whatever faults the Scotch may have, that of backwardness
to serve each other is not one of them—let her go to Sir Peter,and satisfy him of
the injustice of the sentence, and, take my word for it, he will extricate you." The hint was acted on. Sir Peter Laurie prevailed on Mr. Sheriff Wylde and Mr. Sheriff Spottiswoode to go over the evidence with himself, and they were
thoroughly satisfied that the young man. was completely innocent. They did not hesitate to represent the case to the Home Secretary; and the right
honourable gentleman, who had already considered the evidence, and had
besides consulted with the Recorder, and saw no reason to recommend any mitigation of the sentence, instantly, on the very same evidence, saw ground
for liberating the prisoner; and by way of showing his strong sense of the in- justice he had suffered, allowed him to leave prison on recognizance forthwith, in order that he might not have to suffer till the steps could be gone through
in due form. Such is the nature of the Court of Review, of which Mr. Peel is the efficient Judge, and such is the agency through which he can be ap- proached.—Morning Chronicle, Jan. 9.
NEWSPAPER RETORT Counreous.—We have been requested by the gentle- man interested to publish the following statement.
" UPWARDS OF 53,0001. ANNUALLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE REVENUE BY ONE INDIVIDUAL.—MT. Clement, the proprietor of the Morning Chronicle, who possesses the largest newspaper establishment in London, paid last year, between January 1, and December 31, 1828, for stamp and excise duties for that journal and his three weekly papers, no less than fifty-
three thousand and five hundred pounds. The number of fourpenny stamps (which is the red mark at the corner of every paper) was two mil- lions seven hundred and thirty-five thousand eight hundred and sixty- five.* The quantity of paper used was 5,471 reams; each ream weighed 401b.; the Excise duty on- which was 10s. the ream. The number of
advertisements inserted in Mr. Clement's papers in the year, was 29,633, the duty upon each advertisement being 3s. 64. Thus the sums paid to the revenue by Mr. Clement's newspaper concern, in the past year of 1828, were-
2,735,868 News Stamps • £45,597 15 0
Duty on 29,633 Advertisements, at 3s. 6d. • 5,185 15 6
Excise on 5,471 Reams of Paper at 10s. 2,735 10 0 Total. £53,519 0 6
"* Mr. Clement's consuraptioribeing more than one-tenth part of the stamps used by all the newspapers printed in England, of which there are printed in London .10, and in the country 151, together of Daily and Weekly Journals 200, consuming, according to the Parliamentary return, about 25,000,000 of fourpenny stamps." We had intended never again to obtrude what may be called our own pri- vate concerns on public attention ; but the insertion of the previous para- graph at the request of Mr. Clement, makes it almost a sort of duty to our- selves to take the opportunity of placing a counter-statement before our readers. Mr. Clement is the proprietor of four newspapers, and the total amount of his contributions on the four is 53,5191. Os. 64. We will shortly oppose to this the contribution to the revenue of The Times alone, and we will adopt the method of calculation used by Mr. Clement.
Amount of Duties paid by the Times alone.
News Stamps, 3,046,500£48,516 13 4 . .
Duty on 92,969 advertisements, at 3s. 61, . 16,269 11 6 Excise on 6,093 Reams of Paper• 3,351 3 0
Total . . £68,137 7 10
leaving an excess in favour of , The Times alone over the four papers pub- lished by Mr. Clement of 14,6184 78. 44 We will not do so invidious a thing as point out the enormous excess of contribution paid by The Times over any one of the four journals alluded to.-•• Timer,
Roamers tN 1828.—During the year which has just closed, the tote number of bankrupts amounted to 1,009, being fewer than in any year since 1824. In the year after the great panic the number of bankrupts exceeded 2,200. In February last the greatest number of persons were gazetted, and in the month of July the least. In January last year there were 60 bank- rupts ; in February 156 ; in March 67 ; in April 103 ; in May 107 ; in June 85; in July 56 • in August 57; in September 81 ; in October 81; in No. vember 146; and December last 110. The number of insolvents has much increased within the last three years.
MRS. COOKE AND CAPTAIN PETTINGALL..-...It turns out that the details which the Captain gave at Bow-street, last week, relative to the alleged inti- macy of this woman with Lord Stafford are wholly untrue, in every respect; and it is equally false that she has had her sentence of transportation for swindling commuted.
NEW HIGHLAND Pasace.—The Duke of Athol is now buildins, a new palace at Dunkeld. It is designed in a style of architecture which may be more properly denominated the abbey than the castellated gothic. The prin- cipal entrance is by a porch sufficiently lofty to admit of a carriage being driven under it. From this porch you enter a vestibule 50 feet in length, which leads into the great baronial hall, 90 feet long; thence to the grand staircase,' which is only separated from the hall by a screen of open arches. The library, dining, and drawing rooms are each 50 feet by 30, and 22 feet in height, and the other apartments are of corresponding proportions.
CASE OF TRANCE.—The following is an account of the extraordinary case of trance which has occurred in the neighbourhood of Cambridge. " Sarah Carter, aged seventeen, the daughter of a farmer at Stapleford, has been af- flicted with enlargement of the viscera of the abdomen for two years, the con- sequence of typhus fever, which attacked her whilst nursing her father, who died of that complaint. The swelling of the body does not give the fluctuating sensation produced by water, but its hardness is that of enlargement of the internal organs. During the whole of her illness she has complained very little, owing perhaps to her constitutional indolence of body and mind ; as even in the earlier period of the disease she seldom spoke, except when questioned s • and she is now without feeling or the power of utterance, lying in estate of insensibility, in which she has remained since the first week in October. During the first fortnight of this insensible state, her head was constantly rolling from side to side upon her pillow, and this action con- tinued night and day without a moment's intermission. In May last she eat the last solid food, which was a piece of cheese, and for the four following months she took nothing but fruit, which she merely sucked, and water, which she swallowed in very minute quantities. Since the first week in October, it appears that nothing whatever has passed her throat, and her mouth is so firmly locked by the spasmodic contraction of the muscles, that all attempts to open it have failed. ft seems that every voluntary muscle of her frame is in the same state of spasmodic action, for when with much force her arms are raised from her chest, on which they are crossed, they can only be elevated a few inches, and recoil instantly to their former position ; and so inflexible is her whole person, that when removed from her bed, she is carried like a statue. Nothing has passed the bowels for thirteen weeks, nor has there been any secretion of urine for the same time, every power of the abdo- minal viscera seeming suspended. The heart, the circulating system, and the organs of breathing, seem unaffected ; the pulse indeed varies in frequency and strength, and she experiences occasionally an increase of fever. The pulse does not get weaker, and the colour of the cheeks changes so often that her mother thinks she is conscious of what is passing in the room. She lies upon her back, a little inclined to the right side. The application of leeches to her temples some time since was followed by a copious discharge of blood, and a few days after her nose bled freely. She had taken no medi- cines whatever for some months; but on the 10th of November two drops of croton oil were put upon her tongue by means of a feather, but with no etlect : the following day four drops, from a different bottle, were applied in the same way ; and in the course of a few hours it occasioned a heaving of the stomach, and an ounce of cheese in a semi-masticated state, and retaining its odour, was thrown up. For several days the salivary glands secreted copiously ; but the mother would not allow a repetition of the oil, the application of gal- vanism, or in fact any medical means whatever. The great peculiarity of this • case is, that during so long a state of inanition, the lady has suffered no waste in appearance nor in weight ; and that, though the nerves of sensation seem torpid, those subservient to muscular motion appear to have their vigour in- creased; for how otherwise can be explained the power with which they re- sist those efforts to which in a natural state they must have yielded ?"—Cum- bridge Chronicle.
MANUFACTORIES IN FRANCE.—In 1822 there were only about four iron- foundries in Paris ; one at Chaillot, conducted by an eminent English engi- neer, Mr. Edwards, and three others in different parts of the city. There are now no fewer than twenty, which employ great numbers of workmen. The number of foundries at Rouen has been doubled since that period ; and at Nantes, Bordeaux, St. Quentin, Lille, Arms, and elsewhere, many consider- able establishments have been formed.—Paris Paper.
LorrERmxs.—The French Government mean to abolish lotteries, and make up the loss to the revenue by a tax on billiard-tables.
Los:Guar.—The death of a woman who was an example of a very rare longevity took place in the commune of Chaucelade on the 27th of Decem- ber. This woman named Frances Descours, was on the eve of attaining her hundred and eleventh year. Her body was nothing more than a dried up skeleton ; but she had not lost, even to her very last day, either her perfect senses or her good spirits. It is to be remarked that she had a fall within the last six months, by which her thigh was broken. She was not bedridden until this period, and it is affirmed that her death is to be attributed to this ac- cident.—Bulletin de In Dordogne.
The widow of Marshal Massena died at Paris on Saturday, of apoplexy. She was in the sixty-third year of her age.
PRIESTCRAFT...—A singular occurrence has taken place at Rennes. Made- moiselle de —,--, of this town, fell sick, with raging fever and delirium; not being in her senses when the rector of the parish attended her, she re- ceived him only with incoherent expressions. Amongst other disjointed phra- ses used by her was the following:—" I don't wish a black robe ; let me have a white one." Who would believe that the priest found in these words an open insult, declaring that the dying person had outraged his habit, and that he abandoned her. She died, and had only a police agent to accompany her to ber last home.—French Paper. THE TEA TRADE.—The East India Company have this morning published their declaration of teas for the next sale, which is to take place on the 29th of May. The whole quantity of teas to be sold is 8,000,0001bs., which is precisely the same as declared last sale. Of the several descriptions there are of Bohea 1,100,000Ibs., of Congou, Campoi, Pekoe, and Souchong, 5,400,0001bs. ; of Twankay and Hyson-Skin, 1,225,0001bs.; and of Hyson, 275,00lbs. These quantities include the private trade as well as Company's teas. In the present declaration there are 100,0001bs. of Bohea more than last sale: 200,0001bs. less of Congou, Campoi, Pekoe, and Souchong ; 175,0001bs, more of Twankay and Hyson-Skin ; and 25,0001bs. more of Hyson than last sale.
THE COFFEE PLANT.—The first coffee tree was planted in Jamaica in 1728: and the berries produced from this tree were sold at six-pence each. In twenty years from that date, so rapid had been the extension of its culture, that the exportation of coffee amounted to 60,0001bs. in 1808, the exports were estimated at 29,528,2731hs.
NEW SUGAR.—It has been discovered in the state of South Carolina, that a very fine quality of sugar may be extracted from the water-melon, which grows in great perfection there. The landlord of a public-house has shown that all the sugar used in his house during the precedine') twelve months, and which had passed as the finest cane, had been obtained from water-melons of his own raising.
FOREIGN Ge m rs—The arrivals of foreign grain this week have been un- usually large, exceeding 118,000 quarters in the port of London alone.
THADE IN CORN.—From the 1 1 th to the 27th December, seventy-four ves- sels passed the sound laden with corn for British ports.
TIMBER TRADE.—it is stated in a letter from Christiana, that an attempt of the Norwegians to obtain a reduction of the duty on their timber imported into England has failed. The "English Government allowed the justice of the ap- plication; but the ship owners decidedly opposed every measure by which their situation might be rendered more unfavourable."
Pities: OF BREAD IN FRANCE.—A letter from Amiens states that the high price of bread there gave rise to a very serious tumult a few days ago. A merchant of that place, who it was known had had large quantities of grain consigned to him, having been drowned, a few days afterwards a number of workmen followed the body, when it was about to be conveyed to the grave, and stopped the funeral procession with vociferations and menaces. The police, however, interfered; but it was with great difficulty that the persons employed were enabled to finish the ceremony of burying him.