Aug. 



THE NEWSPAPER. 



fl844. 



power thus evinced, its possession by this country would be a 

 preventive of war. Brighton, for instance, could be easily re- 

 duced to ashes, but Capt. Warner, with a steamer, could set at 

 defiance any approaching hostile fleet. He moved for the pro- 

 duction of the correspondence between Capt- Warner and the 

 Government.— Sir R. Peel seconded the motion, being deter- 

 mined that the public should be in possession of the whole cor- 

 rsespondence, and be enabled to judge whether or not the 

 Government had not offered every reasonable means and 

 facility for testing the value of the discovery. He acquitted 

 the late Ministry of any blame in this matter, and stated what 

 had passed since the accession of the present. Capt. Warner 

 had professed to possess two destructive powers— the invisible 

 shell and the long range. By the long range, Capt. Warner had 

 said that he could, with a single ship, have demolished Algiers. 

 Sir R. Peel had offered to appoint two or three competent profes- 

 sional j udges, who should not ask for either secret, but should as- 

 certain its operation, and the probability of its remaining a secret. 

 He had proposed, that then the Government should have the 

 power of deciding how much it was worth; but he had cer- 

 tainly refused to pledge the Government that Capt. Warner 

 should receive a sum if the Brighton ship were successfully 

 blown up. The Commissioners appointed on the part of the 

 Government had informed Capt. Warner that he should have 

 every facility as soon as he had supplied an estimate of the 

 expense; the Government being quite willing to defray it 

 within reasonable limits. Capt. Warner, however, wished to 

 avoid any such trial, on the ground that Sir R. Peel himself, 

 and other Ministers, had witnessed one of his experiments at 

 Wanstead, and were satisfied of its success; but the Commis- 

 sioners said they were directed to form a judgment for them- 

 selves, not to rest on the opinions of public functionaries. It 

 was not till after repeated demands of large sums by way of 

 remuneration that Capt. Warner at last expressed a willingness 

 to take whatever Sir R. Peel should award, and then stated to 

 the Commissioners that he had sunk two French privateers 

 with his invisible shell toward the end of the war. No record, 

 however, no trace, could be found of this extraordinary trans- 

 action. With the long range he said he had destroyed rocks in 

 the islands off Vigo Bay, at six miles' distance. This ex- 

 periment the Government desired to see repeated, for which 

 several thousand pounds were asked by Capt. Warner; but the 

 Government were not content to hazard more than 500/. for a 

 beginning. It was said by Capt. Warner to be necessary that 

 in every fleet there should be one man acquainted with the 

 secret ; but if the secret was worth 400,000/. to a foreign Go- 

 vernment, what security was there that some of the men thus 

 intrusted would not betray it? Capt. Warner's only answer to 

 that argument was, that no Englishman would betray his 

 country. No disrespect had been shown to Capt. Warner; every 

 opportunity had been offered to him ; and if there was a 

 failure, with Captain Warner the blame of it must rest. 

 — Mr. W. Cdwpxr, who had been private secretary to Lord 

 Melbourne, justified the conduct of the late Ministry j 

 and remarked that in their time, as now, Capt. Warner always 

 applied rather to the monied than to the scientific departments 

 of the Government— always wanted to have his discoveries 

 bought before they were tested. He had tried the Prussian 

 Government in the same way, and failed on the same 

 ground.— Sir H. Douglas stated the opinion of scientific men 

 to be, that the only valuable discovery was the long range. The 

 invisible shell could not be used, because nobody could ever get 

 near enough to the fleet it was to be used against. It was the 

 old difficulty of getting the salt on the sparrow's tail. The 

 Commissioners, however, had expressed themselves willing that 

 a vessel should be furnished for Capt. Warner to destroy; but 

 they required that she should be a vessel which he had never 

 seen, that she should be placed in a situation selected by the 

 Commissioners, aud that he should not be allowed previously to 

 approach her. That negotiation came to a close in consequence 

 of the refusal of the Government to guarantee a certain definite 

 sum.— Sir C. Napier ridiculed the invention as wild and absurd. 

 Sir T. Hardy and Sir R. Keates, who were represented as 

 approving it, were both dead. There had befen a similar experi- 

 ment in 1805, which had cost 20,000/., and ended in nothing,— 

 Mr. Aguonby said that the failure of that experiment was no 

 reason why this should be a failure also. The subject ought 

 not to be laughed out of the House.— Mr. Brothkrton doubted 

 the policy of encouraging such inventions. Capt. Warner had 

 undertaken to destroy a battery in Portugal; opportunities and 

 materials had been provided to him, but he went on from week 

 to week, and did nothing. When future generations should 

 read the debates of these days about engines of destruction, 

 their opinion would be that ours was not a very sensible age.— 

 Mr. Wakley thought the Government had acted rightly. Let 

 an experiment be tried upon a ship with which Capt. Warner 

 had not been in communication; and if he blew herup.no 

 doubt there would be a universal demand for further inves- 

 tigation.— Sir G. Cockburn had received a report from 

 an artillery officer who had been appointed to watch the 

 Brighton experiment, and was assured that the explo- 

 sion was produced by some force, like nitrate of silver, or 

 others known to chemists, but which required contact and 

 management, and, therefore, useless in active service 

 against an enemy. The Government would reward the in- 

 ventor of a useful and serviceable projectile.— Lord Ivgbstrk 

 reasserted that the Brighton experiment was a bond fide one, 

 and renewed the expression of his confidence in Capt. Warner's 

 destructive powers.— The motion for the production of the cor- 

 respondence was then agreed to. — The Insolvent Debtors Bill 

 was then read a second time. — Mr. M. Gibson moved that the 

 petition of Mr. Heathcote, late sub inspector of factories, com- 

 plaining of having been unjustly dismissed from his office, be 

 taken into consideration. An anonymous letter having been 

 written to Mr. Ferrand, in which the secrets of the factory 

 commissioners were let out, Mr. Heathcote was accused by the 

 Government of having written it, and on this ground had 

 been dismissed.— Sir J. Graham Justified his dismissal on the 

 grounds that the writing of the anonymous letter bore the 

 strongest resemblance to Mr. Heathcote's, that the paper and 

 ink were of the same description, and that other collateral evi- 

 dences of identity amounted to proof positive that Mr. Heath- 

 cote was the writer. Although that gentleman denied his 

 having done so, and though his nephew came forward and pro- 

 fessed himself to be the writer, Sir J. Graham still asserted his 

 belief that the anonymous letter was the letter of Mr. Heath- 

 cote. He opposed the motion.— On a division there were— 

 For the motion, 16; Against it, 23; Majority, 7-— The Art 

 Unions Bill passed through committee. 



Thursday.— The House met at 12 o'clock, and was busily 

 occupied, during a long sitting, in the discussion and advance- 

 ment of routine business. The most important of the measures 

 discussed was the Charitable Donations and Bequest (Ireland) 

 Bill, in which sundry amendments have been admitted by 

 Government, with a view to conciliate those who were opposed 

 to it in its original shape. The principal of these was the in- 

 troduction of the names of Roman Catholic archbishops and 

 bishops. The Bill was advanced as far as the 19th clause.— 

 On the motion of Sir R. Peel, the Penal Acts Repeal Bill was 

 read a first time. 



Friday. — A new writ was ordered for Dudley, in the room of 

 Mr. Hawkes, who has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. The 

 House went into Committee on the Insolvent Debtors' Bill. 

 After a long discussion on the several clauses, all the clauses 

 were agreed to, and the House resumed. The report was 



received, and the Bill ordered to be committed on Monday.— 



(Left sitting.) 



CITY. 



Moyicy Market, Friday. — Consols 

 closed at 99a. Red. Three per Cents. 



for account 

 100 4 Thrce- 



and-kaLf per Cents. 103; New Three-and-kalf 101 J; 

 Bank Stock 1991; Exchequer Bills 76s. to 78s. prem. 



fcGAZETTB OP THE WEEK.— BANK RUPTS_J. Wilms, Spring- 

 street, Portnnn sauarr, jrreerigrocer— C. B-nd, March, Cambridgeshire, 

 leatherselJer— A. Trfgkajl and T. C. Liwif, Ci.taptide, muficsellrr* — E* 

 Walker, Newman street, Oxf*rd-?treet, EUCtioreer— B. Bsiget, M if irrrc- 

 street, Marylebone, victualler— E. HjtR«y, Northumberland, shipowner—- J. 

 Hfrok, Northumberland, shipowner— J. A.* brew, Slar^port, Cuir.berlaad, 

 ba«k«r — W. Wvrill, | Bradford, ironmonger— \V. Way, Liverpool, tpiiit 

 merchant — T. KBM?and R. Dayxks, Aston, builders* 

 8COTCH SEQUES TRATION.— A. Macaktbr, E dinburgh, agent. 



JWrtropoKs an* its Ffcfnftg, 



Representation of Middlesex. — It is understood that 

 in consequence of the disfranchisement of Sudbury, a 

 large number of electors of this county are anxious to 

 obtain two additional members. The metropolitan 

 county at present only returns two members, while 

 Surrey, Kent, Sec, return each four. It is therefore 

 proposed that the parishes of Kensington, Chelsea, 

 Hammersmith, Fulham, and Chiswick, which contain a 

 population of upwards of 140,000 inhabitants, shall be 

 formed into a borough, to return two members. An- 

 other suggestion is, that Middlesex shall, like Surrey, 

 be divided into two divisions — East Middlesex and West 

 Middlesex, each to return two members ; but the latter 

 suggestion does not appear to meet with the support of 

 a large body of the inhabitants of the parishes above- 

 named, who will in that case, by the right of voting 

 being still confined to freeholders only, be disfranchised. 

 Meetings are about to be called at Kensington, Chelsea, 

 Hammersmith, Fulham, and Chiswick, to adopt measures 

 to obtain a charter as a borough without delay. 



River Steamers. — On Saturday, at the weekly meet- 

 ing of the Committee of Aldermen, the members of the 

 Navigation Committee and the Watermen's Company 

 presented, in compliance with a recommendation from 

 the Lord Mayor, a copy of by-laws and rules for the 

 future regulation of the numerous steam-boats on the 

 river. The alterations proposed are, that in future no 

 steam-boat is to carry beyond a certain number of pas- 

 sengers, according to its tonnage, and that proper per- 

 sons are to be appointed to see that the regulation is 

 not violated ; and also that no boat is to be permitted to 

 go beyond a certain rate of speed, and the places of em- 

 barkation are to be upon a secure and uniform footing. 

 It has been stated that on Sunday week one of the Star 

 Company's boats left Gravesend with 1300 passengers, 

 one of the Blackwall Railway boats with 1300, and one 

 of the Diamond boats with upwards of 1550 passengers. 



Westminster Bridge. — The following is the report of 

 the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the pre- 

 sent state of Westminster-bridge, and into the expediency 

 of continuing the present expenditure thereon, or of 

 erecting a new bridge on or near the site thereof, and 

 also into the amount of the bridge estates, and the 

 liabilities thereon ; with power to report their opinion, 

 together with the minutes of evidence taken before them 

 to the House : — " That on a review of the whole of the 

 evidence, no case has been made out to justify the com- 

 mittee in recommending to the House the pulling down 

 the present bridge and the constructing a new one. That 

 it is desirable that the inclination of the roadway over the 

 bridge be improved by lowering its summit and raising 

 its extremities. That the parapets be lowered as much 

 as practicable and consistent with safety." 



City Improvements. — The Commissioners of Sewers 

 for the City have given directions for making a sewer in 

 Moor-lane, Cripplegate, preparatory to a new street 

 being formed, which it is intended to lead to Islington, 

 passing by the Eagle Tavern, across Shepherd-and-Shep- 

 herdess fields. This spacious area is already marked out 

 for the intended buildings. Several houses will be re- 

 moved between Moor-lane and Chiswell-street for the 

 thoroughfare, which, when completed, will open a new 

 line of road from Southwark Bridge and Cheapside to 

 Islington. A new church will also be built on the line 

 in Moor-lane, for which purpose the old workhouse of 

 the parish of Cripplegate will be taken down. In a few 

 days workmen, under the direction of the commissioners, 

 will prepare the foundation in the open space between 

 King William-street, Gracechurch-street, and London 

 Bridge for the erection of Mr. Nixon's statue of William 

 the Fourth, which has been completed at the expense of 

 the Corporation of the City of London and the Commis- 

 sioners of Sewers. The statue will be 18 feet high, and 

 be chiselled out of two blocks of granite, weighing 45 

 tons ; the largest block weighed 30 tons, and required 

 22 horses to bring it to the yard. The pedestal will be 

 22 feet high, of a circular form. 



British Museum. — The King's or Royal Library in 

 the British Museum is undergoing a complete renova- 

 tion, and not before it was wanted. It was dingy in the 

 extreme, nothing having been done to it since it was 

 first built, 16 or 17 years ago. The first portion of the 

 Xanthian marbles which were discovered by Mr. Fellowes, 

 in the survey of the extensive ruins on the banks of the 

 Xanthus, in Asia Minor, have arrived at the Museum. 

 It was brought[to town several days ago in waggons from 

 Portsmouth. The cases, each of which weighed some 

 hundred weight, have been opened under the superin- 

 tendence of Mr. Hawkins, with great care and attention. 

 The marbles will be placed in the new building, the 

 western wing, which is now erecting, but which is not 

 expected to be completed for a twelvemonth. 



Booksellers 1 Provident Retreat.— Mr. John Dicken- 

 son, the paper-maker of the Old Bailey, has with great 

 liberality given a plot of ground, about three acres in 

 extent, situated on his estate, in Hertfordshire, to this 

 institution. The ground lies between King's Langley 

 and Abbott's Langley, and is well situated for the 

 houses which the committee intend to build for decayed 

 booksellers, their widows, and assistants. 



The Duke of Sussex's Library.— On Saturday took 



place, at Evans's, the twenty -fourth and last day's sale 

 of the first, or Theological part of the library of the 

 late Duke of Sussex. The proceeds of the twenty-five, 

 days' sale are 8308/. -is. The whole library, on the 

 valuation of it preparatory to it being offered to the- 

 government, agreeably to the Duke's will, to be 

 purchased for the nation, was under 16,0O0f. The. 

 next portion of the library to be brought to the hammer 

 will be the manuscripts, consisting of early copies of the- 

 Old and New Testament, and portions thereof. That 

 sale consists of 510 lots, and will occupy four days. 



Statue of the Duke of Sussex. — The model from which- 

 the marble statue of the Duke of Sussex, which will be 

 erected in Freemasons' Hall, has been completed by Mr. 

 Baily, R.A., is now in his studio, in Percy-street.. 

 It represents the late Grand Master with the decorations 

 of the Garter and the Bath, and in the robes of a knight ; 

 this gives a dignity to the figure which modern cos- 

 tume alone could not have conferred, and is better than 

 the adoption of Roman or Greek draperies, which would 

 have been inconsistent and incongruous. The figure is 

 of heroic size, standing about seven feet and a half in. 

 height. The great merit is the happy representation of 

 character. The features and attitude, are expressive of 

 the character of the original, and, as far as portraiture 

 is concerned, the likeness is considered perfect. 



The Nelson Dinner.— A general meeting of the sub- 

 scribers to the proposed dinner in Trafalgar-square was 

 held on Thursday, Sir E. Codrington in the chair, when 

 it was resolved that as Lord Lincoln will not allow the 

 festival to take place in the square, the money subscribed* 

 amounting to about 300/., be distributed among the 

 families of those veterans of Greenwich Hospital who 

 were to have attended the dinner, and that the sailors 

 themselves receive each a medal struck for the occasion. 



Sale of Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly.— -The auction room, 

 at Garraway's was much crowded on Friday, in conse-^ 

 quence of the announcement of the sale by auction of 

 the above premises, which were erected about thirty- 

 years since by Mr. Robinson, the architect, for Bullock's 

 Museum, but have since been used for different exhibi- 

 tions. The property is leasehold, having an unexpired 

 term of twenty-eight years from Midsummer last, at a. 

 ground-rent of 300/. per annum, which, with the land- 

 tax and rates, would amount to the annual rent of 413/. 

 From the statement of the auctioneers, it appeared that 

 the premises realised a net rental of 1100/. per annum,, 

 after paying the ground-rent, rates, and taxes, and that, 

 from a moderate calculation of the net rental, the pro- 

 perty would be worth, for the twenty-eight years' pur- 

 chase of the lease at six per cent., 14,850/. The sale 

 commenced bv a bidding of 3000/., but the Hall was 

 eventually bought in for 6250/. It was stated by the 

 auctioneer that the exhibition of General Tom Thumb 

 realised at times as much as 125/. per day, and that 44/. 

 per month was paid for the use of the exhibition room. 



New Infant Orphan Asylum. — On Monday, the first 

 election of children into this charity, established for the 

 support and education of fatherless children, " on liberal 

 and not exclusive principles," took place at the Hall of 

 Commerce. Mr. John Wilson presided, and congratulated* 

 the meeting on thefavoarable state of the society's affairs. 

 Dr. Reid then announced that the poll had commenced. 

 The election was carried on with much spirit until 

 2 o'clock, when five children were chosen from a list of 

 eighteen approved candidates. 



The Surrey Tolls.— On Thursday the Act of Parlia- 

 ment authorising the collection of tolls at the different 

 gates in the Surrey New Roads, comprising the Marsh 

 gate, Circus gate, King's Arms gate, &c, ceased from 

 operation, and the gates, which have been so long a 

 source of discontent, will at once be razed to the ground*. 



Mortality of the Metropolis.— The following is the 

 number of Deaths registered in the week ending July 

 27th.— West Districts, 160; Northern, 210; Central,. 

 189 ; Eastern, 246 ; Southern 261 ; Total, 1066. Weekly 

 average for the l ast five years, 946. 



^robincial Netos. 



The Harvest The reports in the provincial papers 



show that the harvest has commenced very generally in 

 the South of England, and even the spring crops, sucn 

 as Oats and Barley, have turned out better than was 

 expected. Some winter-sown Oats have proved very 

 productive, and the crop has been already housed in some 

 places in excellent condition. Where the harvest is not 

 commenced, the late fine weather has advanced the crops 

 so rapidly, that the utmost exertions.of the.husbandman 

 and the employment of all the hands he can command, 

 will be required to gather it speedily in. 



Ashton.— The towns of Ashton, Hyde, and Glossop, 

 have recently been the scene of several extensive 

 burglaries, as have also several farmhouses and roadside 

 public-houses in the vicinity. This gang of housebreakers 

 have hitherto escaped the police, and, singular enough, 

 they turn out to be four brothers of the name of Swan, 

 all residing with their mother and sister at Staleybridge, 

 both of whom have been kept in a plentiful supply of 

 the comforts of life by the thievery of the sons. Although 

 they were a family of indifferent character, no suspicion 

 was attached to them as being the perpetrators of bo 

 many robberies. The deputy-constable of At won. How- 

 ever, lately received information which led to H w » W™ 

 hension of the whole family, and on f^^^S.Uue. 

 brought before the magistrates at J*f°* characte r 

 There were several cases ot*m°£ *" * olhe „ for 

 proved against them, and there are m» J 

 which the evidence ,w«not complete. ^ ^.^ 



td/t w i^%T££*» «£- *»* W ™* 



