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' PUBLIC
PHILADELPHIA, FRIDAY, MARCI 25, 1836.
TO THE PUBLIC.
In effering to the public another newspaper, we
are fully aware of the objection which may be urged,
that, the community is already overstocked with this
commodity, It is true that throughout the land,
and more especially in our great cities, newspapers
abound; the whole number daily issued almost
amounting to millions. But it is also true that a
large portion of our population, not only desirous
of reading, but impelled to read by the most ele-
vated of motives, the desire of improvement, are
without that fertile source of useful information, a
newspaper. ‘Zhe afffuent are well supplied; for
they are able to affurd, and therefore will have, ac-
cess to these conveniences. But our large cities
contain a numerous and daily inareasing population,
who, with a most laudable thirst for knowledge,
with a natural desire of amusement, and with a
praiseworthy desire of that amusement which puri-
fies and elevates, instead of debasing, cannot afford
the means of seeking euch knowledge and such
amusements in the larger city papers.. The sum of
eight or ten dollars, the ordinary annual price of a
daily paper, though far from being an extravagant
, compensation for the expenditure of money, time,
and mental laborwhich these establishments require,
is yet beyond the means of the poor artizan or la-
borer, who, perhaps, has a family to maintain.
Some substitute is therefore necessary to supply the
wants of a numerous and worthy portion of our citi-
zens, whose ignorance is rarely voluntary, and
whose thirst for knowledge generally outruns its
provisien.
This substitute has been found in the penny press,
Its cheapness places it within reach of tho very
poorest; for every laborer, at even the lowest rate
of wages known in our great cities, can daily obtain,
for the hundredth part of such wages, the mental
luxury of a newspaper; a source of rational amuse-
ment and useful instruction in the intervals of toil,
or when the toil of the day is ended. In Great
Britain, this cheap engine of instruction has already
exercised an extensive and salutary influence; car-
rying light where darkness had long reigned, and
rousing to a just sense of their importance as citi-
zens,their dignityand responsibility as moral beings,
those who, bowed down by oppressive laws and an
unnatural state of society, were sorrowing without
hope, and seeking momentary consolation in degra-
ding habits. Happily for our own country, this de-
scription does not apply to our artizans and laborers.
Our equal laws afford equal protection to all;
whence the diffusion of knowledge among any par-
ticular portion is not necessary to awaken it toa
sense of oppression. But still, none are too well
taught; every one, even the most learned, has some-
thing yet to learn; very few, if any, are without a
desire of learning more; and many can receive
useful instruction, even from a penny newspaper.
But whatever be the importance of the penny press
in Great Britain, its utility in our own country is
fully acknowledged by those who have witnessed its
seperation. In the cities of New York and Brook-
yn, containing together a population of 300,000,
the daily circulation of the penny papers is not less
than SEVENTY THOUSAND. This is nearly
sificient to place a newspaper in the hands of every
man in the two cities, and even of every boy old
enough to read. These papers are to be found
io every street, lane and alley; in every hotel,
tavern, counting house, shop and store. Al-
most every porter and drayman, while not en-
gaged in his occupation, may be seen with a penny
paper in his hand.
To suppose that this extensive circulation pro-
duces no wholesome fruit, would be absurd. Such
instruments, if ably conducted, and those of New
York are conducted with acknowledged ability,
must not only impart knowledge, butinspire a thirst
for knowledge; and this thirst, beyond every other,
“ grows with what it feeds on.” Nor is the utility
confined to the individual who purchases the paper.
Many of the artizans and laborers among whom
these papers circulate, have families, and carry these
papers to their habitations. Their children thus
participate in the benefit; and it is a fact too well
known to be disputed, that among children having
equal access to other means of instruction, those
who have access to # newspaper are the most intel-
ligent, the best informed, the most eager to learn.
In short it is needless, supererogatory, to offer to
the intelligent citizens of Philadelphia, any argu-
ment to prove the utility of a penny press in diffu-
sing useful knowledge among a numerous and de-
serving portion of the public, debarred, by want of
means, from the larger and costlier newspapers.
Encouraged then by the patronage which is be-
stowed upon the penny press in New York, and fully
aware of the intelligence and love of improvement
which pervades the population of Philadelphia, we
bave ventured upon the experiment of publishing a
penny paper, entitled the PUBLIC LEDGER.
It is this day offered to the public, with the assurance
on our part that exertion shall not be wanting to
render it worthy of patronage, and in the hope that
after the manver of our generous and enterprising
sister city, patronage will “reward 0 our exertions.
Our object is to render it a vehicle of general and
useful intelligence, adapted to the wants and inter-
ests of the community generally. While its cheap-
ness places'it within reuch of the poorest artizan or
laborer, we shall endeavor to furnish to the mer-
chant and manufacturer the earliest and most useful
information relating to their respective interests.
We therefure hope to receive aliberal support from
the mercantile snd manufacturing community, Due
attention will be paid to the literary department of
the paper, and it is hoped that our elections, in
both poetry and prose, will generally give sutisfac-
tion. We shall give no pluce to religious discus-
sions; nor to political diseussions involving ques-
tions of merely partizan character. The Lepeer
will worship no mon, and be devoted to no parties.
On all political principles and questions involving
the common good, it will speak freely, yet tempe-
rately, The common good is its object; and in
seeking this object, it will have especial regard to
the moral and intellectual improvement of the la-
boring classes, the great sinew of all civilized com-
munities, While this paper shall worship no men,
it shall vituperate none. It will be fearless and in—
dependent, applauding virtue and reproving vice
wherever found, unawed by station, uninfluenced
by wealth.
The Lepore has secured the services of a police
reporter and a, collector of news, and it is hoped
that their exertions will impart to its columns addi-
tional interest. The publication of this paper will
be continued for one year at least ; and the proprie-
tors, endeavoring to deserve, will not permit them-
selves to doubt of receiving, LIgERAL SUPPORT.
Our Noble River.—Whoever, on Friday and
Saturday last, witnessed the scene on tho river and
at the wharves, and compared it with what the
same have exhibited during the whole of the late
long and gloomy winter, must have been forcibly
struck with the necessity of keeping the navigation
at all times free.. Above ninety sail of vessels
came up in one day, and their_appearance upon the
river, crossing and recrossing each other in beating
against a head wind, was truly beautiful. Our
wharves now exhibit a forest of masts, and the
hum and bustle of a mighty sea port. Why should
not this ever be the case? Why should we not,
like New York, have our regular line of packets
to London, Liverpool and Havre, departing and
coming with mercantile punctuality, in every month
of the year? Why should not Philadelphia, as
well as New York, have a great, increasing an
lucrative foreign trade? The difficulties of her
navigation are the only obstacle, and these can be
surmounted. The ice should never be allowed to
accumulate; the river should never be closed.-—
Steam boats are adequate to keeping it clear of ice,
and can tow up vessels when the wind is unfavora-
ble. The obstacles can be surmounted; there-
fore they ought to be surmounted, Enterprise
only is wanted; and if this cannot be found, our
merchants must be greatly wanting in duty to them-
selves and the community. But they will doubtless
soon show that they deserve not this reproach.
TGA catalogue of losses at sea would make
a gloomy. dead letter list.
“Tow many a gem of purest ray serene
* The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear.”
And how many a brave and gallant spirit—how
many a sweet and lovely form, bath sunk into the
abyss of foaming waters?
There is no seaport town on the globe in which
resides not the mother, the wife, the daughter, and
alas! how oft the betrothed of the sailor. Ilis in-
decd is a stormy fitful life—one pregnant with dan-
ger—with two-fold danger—from the angry ele-
ments he encounters on the trackless deep, and from
the unsuspecting generosity of his own noble na-
ture, when on shore.
Lloyd's books give a brief account of the wreck
of the ship Inrrixsic, of and from Liverpool,
which was driven by stress of weather into Bishop's
Island, near Kinkeed, on the 5th ult.—became to-
tally unmanageable, and was dashed to pieces in
tbe tremendous surf which breaks upon the cliff,
surrounding that iron bound shore!. The master
and crew, fourteen in number, were reported to
have perished within the hearing of those on shore,
who were utterly unable to render to the fated men
the slightest assist
ce.
[>The Congressional news up to this date pos-
sesses not the slightest interest—Congress seems
determined to fritter away its time, instead of ren-
dering it profitable to the nation—shame on such
tardy legislation. .
7 A colored man named Wm, Connor, con-
victed of stealing money from two passengers, on
board of a vessel of which he was cook and stew-
art, was on Tuesday sentenced by Judge Betts, of
U.S. Cireujt Court of New York, to pay a fine of
one hundred dollars; also, in pursuance of the law
which, for an offence of this discription, orders cor-
poreal punishment, to receive thirty-nine lashes,
publicly ! One half of the fine, by law, goes to”
the informer and the prosecutor.
Accident,—A lady who arrived from New York
on Tuesday‘afternoon, was knocked down by adray,
at the corner of South Water and Chesnut streets,
ani slightly injured.
[Reported for tae Public Ledger.}
“Mayor's Office—raioay, March 13.
“ Two sons of the Emerald Iste were arraigned
Yefore his Honor the Mayor, as vagrants, and after
receiving some salutary advice, were discharged
from eustody.
« Levi Holmes, abso a vagrant. Levi is » Yankee,
ye with the unusual improvidence of his country-
ren, does not seem to have improved his fortunes
ring his sojourn in the Key Stone State... He
stated that he had been employed cutting nails in
Essex county, and was making: an effort to reach
his home in Massachusetts, but was without the
means of so doing. The worthy Mayor adverted
to his pedal proportions, hinted their capacity to
bear him home, and discharged him, with-an ad-
monition not again to appear before him.
A youth (whose name we suppress, in the hope
that he may yet reform,) of some twenty years of
‘tee, yet exhibiting not to be mistaken indications of
familiarity with vice, was convicted of drunken-
ness, fined and discharged. .
John Smith, a genteel looking young man, was
charged with stealing some forty or fifty yards of
blue striped drilling. The goods were found upon
him under very suspicious circumstances, and be
Was consequently fully committe
Sarorpay, March 19.
John Ramsay, charged with drunkenness and abu-
sing the watchman; he stated in his defence, that
he was not the worse for liquor, and was entirely
guiltless of having said aught offensive to the guard-
ign of the night—that he was moreover subject to
epileptic fits, and had only recently been discbarg-
ed from the almshouse, and was on his way to Leba-
non. John Ramsey seemed to have but confused
Gove of geography, at least so far as the location
the said place was concerned. The mayor very
correctly attributed his epilepsy to a habit of fre-
quent inebriety. John, however, entered a demur-
rer to his honor’s opinion. Judgment suspended.
~ Solomon White, a colored man, was the next can-
didate presented for the honors of rebuke or com-
mitment. The watchman deposed that on the night
previous he found this sable namesake of him
whose renown was spread over the far east, gravatus
vino, ot, in plain English, gloriously drunk; quite
above the dull cares of earth, and exhibiting to him,
the said watchman, a most lordly apfrit of indepen-
dence, which was then most probably not the only
spirit in his possession, which, by the bye, he mani-
fested in ordering the watchman to a certain place,
not to be named to ears polite. The Mayor, after
giving Solomon a severe and admonitory caution,
ordered him to be discharged. ‘
‘Watson Blake, drunkenness. This individual
exhibited a vivid but most disgusting picture of the
@Pubitual and inveterate drunkard—he is one more
melancholy addition to the thousands who have, by
their inordinate thirst for ardent poison, lost repu-
tation, prosperity and health, and entailed upon
themselves the scorn of some, and the no Jess hu-
miliating pity of others. . Any beholder would see
at a glance, in the bloodshot eye, the tottering gait,
and in the bloated countenance, a man who had
long been a bestial worshipper at the foul and pol-
luted altar of intemperance. Failing to give the
required surety, he was fully committed. In bis
prison hours, Blake will have abundant leisure for
reflection and repentance, and when freed from in-
carceration, he may become a useful member of so-
ciety—but how few, after having drunk so deeply
at the fount of evil, possess the fortitude to shun its
baleful attraction.
Moypar, March 21.
: Robert Hare, found drunk by the watchman be-
tween the hours of 11 and 12—-and destitute of
house or home; he seemed well known to the May-
or, who sentenced him to thirty days hard labor and
solitary confinement.
Elizabeth Reveil, arraigned for drunkenness and
riotous conduct. She appeared at the stand accom-
panied by her husband, who was even at that early
hour sufficiently boozy. Elizabeth succeeded. in
obtaining a pardon from his honor, for this first of-
fence, and was discharged.
Geo. Watson—drunkenness—fined and dischar-
a.
John Poulson and John Williams—petit larceny.
Caught by the watchman in Lombard, between
Seventh and Eighth streets, with a stove, which they
had stolen from South street, near Seventh. The
owner deposed that he left the stove out, at a dis-
tance of seven or eight feet from the wall, and that
it was stolen on Saturday night—that it was an old
cooking stove, for which he paid $10. Poulson
and Williams were fully committed for trial.
H. Bigelow. \This man met the watchman
at the corner of Third and Union street, to whom
he represented his destitute condition—the watch-
man took him to the watchhouse, and h4 this morn
ing told the Mayor, that ho had only ieft the peni-
tentiary on Friday, and that for the space of seven
years he “had not had his liberty,”"—that on lea-
ving his prison, he had not been furnished with one
cent, even to obtain a meal of victuals, and had not
Yet been able to obtain work. His honor, with his
charactgristic humanity, ordered a trifle to be gi-
ven him for his immediate relief. ~
John Ramsay, yesterday morning went up toa
watchman, about the third corner of Chesnut and
93
3
nearly peris
same individual noted in our police report of Sat
urday. The’ Mayor gave him a small amount te
get something to stay the cravings of hunger, and
to pay bis fare over Schuylkill bridge, as he stated
that he was going to Chester for_his clothes. Dis-
charged.
John Roffe, and his wife Mary, were this morn-”
ing arraigned before the Mayor, charged with be-7:"!
ing accessaries to a robbery of the “ better half” of
another German, named Hallenstein, and what Hal-
lenstein, if we might judge by the euger gaze hé
directed toward a long and bloated purse, which lay
on the Mayor’s desk, seemed to consider of far
more importance. It seems the parties resided in
Reading, and that the young and buxom “vrow” of
Haltenstein became enamoured of the son of the old
couple, John and Mary Roffe. It appears that old
Roffe, his wife and their hopeful son Henry, left
Reading for this city, conveying, however, a letter
to Mrs, H. with directions where to meet them.—
Mrs. H. abseonded, taking her youngest child with
her, (she has two,) and near $300 in cash, the pro-
perty of her husband, A baker named Farney, be-
ing sworn, deposed that Roffe, his wife and their
son, came to his house about 11 A. M. and that the
same night Mrs. H. made her appearance, that the
parties all slept together in the same room, and he
presumed that Mrs. Hallenstein was the lawsul
wife of Henry Roffe, who was not in court, inas-
much as the officers had not succeeded in arresting |
him; but little credit was due this witness,as there
was considerable discrepancy in his testimony. A
trunk containing -$149 50 was exhibited in court;
there was slso in it wearing apparel, &e. This
Farney recognized as having been in his house, but
pretended not to know who brought it there. The.
trunk and its contents were found in the possession ,,
of old Roffe, who made considerable resistance be-
fore it could be secured. The old man and his.
wife were clearly implicated in sanctioning the
adulterous connexion which existed between Mrs.
Hallenstein and their son Henry; there was no emo-
tion to be traced in the stolid expression of the old
woman’s countenance, but there was about the bard
and iron features of her husband more than met the
eye of the casual obscrver.. Their son, it is said,
is a coarse, ill-favored fellow, whereas, Hallenstein
ig a fine, hearty looking man—and, we of course
cannot account for the penchant Mrs, H. entertain-
ed for Henry Roffe—de gustibus non disputandum.
Mrs. HL. is a very fine looking woman, with rather
a roguish leer about her fine black eyes. She
seemed to us just the sort of woman to play the de-
vil with both husband and lover. After a private
examination held by his honor the Mayor, we, on
leaving the office, understood that the affair had
been settled—the fair, frail one consenting to re-
turn home with-her husband, who was willing to.
forgive and forget—so the willing husband and his
“vrow” left the office. Roffe and his wife were
discharged from custody. .
. Toespay, March 22.
Miles Carver, found lying asleep in an alley, by
the watchman, between 11 and 12 o’clock—upon
being roused, he made use of threats, and was
about to accompany them with illustrations thereof,
when the spring of the rattle brought up other
guardians of the night, and he was domiciled in
the watch-house. After a cautionary lecture from
his honor, he was discharged.
Richard Rush and Thomas Rush.—This name-
sake of The ex-secretary, and his hopeful brother,
were charged by Mr. Patrick M‘Davitt, with com-
ing into his house and there deporting themselves
in avery rude and uncivil fashion—breaking his
window glass, &e.—Fined.
Thomas Haines—taken to the watch-house after
stating to the watebman, that be was without any
shelter for the night, or the means to obtain it—
had lived with a man in Ann street named John
Quinn—had a notion of going home last night,—
therefore did not go to Quinn’: s-—Reprimanded and
discharged.
. Wepyesnay, March 23,
John Morgan,.a genteel looking man, but who
last night did not act very genteely, was brought up
for drunkenness. The watchman found him in Vine
street, between 12 and 1 o’clock this morning, and
ordering him home, proceeded on his route—pass-
ing along again the same street he saw Morgan on
the opposite side, and he then forthwith escorted
him to the watch-house. John Morgan was a
Tucrspay, March 24. °
Six sons of Hibernia, named Thomas Manly,
Thomas Mall, John Farrel, Darby Manly, Patrick
Maban, and William McCann, charged with a riot
last night, were placed at the stand. The watchman
being sworn deposed, that last night, between 11
and 12 o’clock, he heard a cry of murder, which
proceeded from a house between Walnut and Beach
streets, kept by Thomas Kennedy ; that he sprung
his rattle, and after some time lost in obtaining as-
sistance, proceeded to the house, and arrested the
above named men, and conveyed tem to the watch-
house. From the evidence, it seems they had all
been carousing in this housc—dancing, and no doubt
drinking. » The gang broke into the room of a Mr.
Durcan, who lodged above, and fell on John Car-
ney, who had been previously in their company,
Front “streets, and stated to him that he was
and astranger in the city, and beat him, ashe saya,