Papurau Newydd Cymru
Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru
14 erthygl ar y dudalen hon
- OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. -+- THE SIMLA COURT-MARTIAL. We perceive from a short conversation that took place in the House of Commons on Thursday evening last, that Captain Jervis has at length, and notwithstanding the adverse decision of the House of Commons, some Chance of obtaining justice. Mr. Griffith, one of the few independent members of the House of Commons, who do right and fear not," had placed a notice on the paper for Monday next, of a question which we imagine would rather have puzzled the Minister for War, notwith- standing the tremendous courage with which he flung him- self into the breach on Tuesday last to answer it. Time was, however, begged by Mr. Brett, who announced that he had placed the matter in the hands of the Duke of Cambridge, and that he hoped everything from his Royal Highness's justice and generosity. We have not the slightest doubt but that Mr. Brett's hopes will be fully justified by the event, but in the meantime what is to be- come of the Minister for War who dealt such hard blows to Captain Jervis, and who valiantly accepted the "whole responsibility" of that officer's dismissal from the service < Verily, in these latter days people in high places have large swallows and excellent digestion-for leeks and other vegetables of a similar description. The service is much indebted to Mr. Griffith for his sympa- thetic and independent conduct in this and other similar matters. It would be well for poor John Sentry-Box if a few more of the "military members" of the House Of Commons were as little office seekers and as fearless public men as Mr. Griffith.—United Service Gazette. THE LORDS' AMENDMENTS. If Mr. Disraeli is a contributor to what is known as The Speaker's Commentary on the Bible," it is to be hoped that he has been entrusted with the Book of Jonah. In that case he will probably put the conduct of the sailors who threw the prophet into the sea in a new light, and describe it as a course consistent with the true dignity of the crew." The 215 lodger quali- fication has been the Jonah of the House of Lords. They threw it overboard as the best chance of lightening the ship. They looked at their amendments as a whole, and decided, wisely enough, that it was impossible to keep them all. Something had to be sacrificed if the ship was to live in the heavy seas of the House of Com- mons and, as the lodger franchise only applied to large towns, it was the easiest thing to dispense with. In one respect, perhaps, their conduct was even more consist- ent with true dignity than that of their prototypes. The sailors knew nothing about Jonah when they took him on board. The Lords knew perfectly what they were doing when they adopted the jCI5 figure, though they found it convenient afterwards to say they had not understood the nature of the arrangement which had been come to in the other House. Having to make on humiliating concession, they chose to wrap it up in a perfectly transparent veil, in the hope that no one would confess that he could see what was inside. Mr. Disraeli is so good a hand at the external forms of making believe that he is naturally fond of exhibiting his alents. At least, this is the only reason that suggests itself for his taking the line he did on Thursday. There was no need for him to refer to the change in the lodger franchise at all, and if he did so with a view of securing a display of vacillation on the part of the House of Commons, similar to that exhibited by the House of Lords, he failed to attain his object. The fate which the Lords' amendments have encountered is pretty much what they deservpd. The principle of minority repre- sentation is so differently regarded by competent politi- cians on both sides of the House, that there is perhaps no great harm in their respective vaticinations being submitted to the test of experiment. The change in the copyhold and leasehold qualifications and the introduc- tion of voting papers were obviously inadmissible. Indeed, if the latter especially had not been got rid of, even an extension of the franchise so accompanied would have amounted to a positive evil.-Tl,.e Chronicle. THE END OF THE STRUGGLE. The division of Thursday night, which established the principle that minorities have a right to local as well as to Imperial representation, may yet prove a turning point in the history of Great Britain. For the first time since 1832 the "speculative politicians, the men, that is, who can think as well as vote, reason as well as feel, who want to build like architects, and not merely pile up excreta like coral insects, who believe that a representative chamber should be an organism, and not a powdery precipitate from electoral chemicals, have fairly defeated the practical" politicians, fairly driven a new idea into the thickest-headed Philistine among mankind, the bourgeois democracy. It has been a hard fight and a long one, and it has often seemed so hopeless that the reasoners despaired. The aristocrats would not listen, the bourgeoisie could not understand if they did listen, the people would not care, wire-pullers like Mr. Disraeli perceived that the innovation threatened their trade, and orators like Mr. Bright, in the true spirit Of political insolence, called the only proposal ever made for scientific representation the spawn of feeble and prejudiced minds. Still the "reasoners" and the "dreamers," and the "enthusiasts," and the "politicians of the writing-table fought on, opposing argument to assertion, sarcasm to horse laughter, intellectual enthu- siasm to brute anger, till they converted the peers, con- vinced the representatives of the workmen, won over the great newspaper-The Times actually became earnest, for the first time since the Crimean war-and, finally, being aided by a casual concurrence of circumstances, compelled the mass of members to consent to justice as a temporary experiment. Of course, the experiment is a small one, as English experiments, and indeed all fruitful experiments, usually are but is sufficient for a trial, which, if it works as we believe it will work, will change the House of Commons from a chamber representing a numerical majority into one presenting the whole nation-its brains as well as its stomach-and finally save us from the greatest of all our immediate dangers the rule of a bourgeois democracy, irresistible as any democracy must be, and vulgar in thought, aspirations, and action as an Anglo-Saxon democracy tends always to become. With ten-pounders for arbiters, Mr. Mill has beaten Mr. Bright, the architect the leveller, and the result of the long contest ought to en- courage the fanatics, dreamers, enthusiasts, and other believers in the moral right of the brain to guide the hands, to persevere in their efforts to make the sovereign assembly a real microcosm of the nation, com- petent to reflect people who can abolish pauperism, as well as those who pay rates to keep paupers alive. After the vote of Thursday we do not despair when redistri- bution is fairly on, and London obtains its fair share of members, of trying there Mr. Hare's plan, and so enabling the metropolis to supplement the rank and file of the House by seating every celebrity whom less organised constituencies leave out. We have a lever in that project which we have not in this one-namely, the possibility of convincing the workmen that it is their direct interest that the experiment should be tried. Meanwhile, the work to be done is to show the minority in every borough and county how completely the new experiment protects them from disfranchisement, how vivid it may again make their political life, how direct it makes their connexion with the Assembly which is supposed to represent all opinions, but which, on the bourgeois theory, ought to represent only those which have found place in the majority of heads. If the minority can only be thoroughly con- vinced at once of their power and their responsibility for its exercise, the first householder Parliament may accept a really broad plan of redistribution, abolish all the little nests of corruption and petty prejudice, transfer nominal power to the places where actual power resides, without running the risk of producing a House filled with men as alike, as useless, and as powerful as ciphers after an arithmetical unit. Even if the minorities cannot accom- plish this they may, if instructed, force on a most bene- ficial compromise, and by insisting on single seats and single votes, a plan to which even Mr. Bright seems dis- posed to yield-treble their own chance of representation. -Spectator.
[No title]
CRUELTY IN DESTROYING DOGs. Major Greig, chief constable of Liverpool, has been summoned before the magistrates on a charge of cruelty in destroy- ing dogs. Under the order of the mayor 0/the boroug]l all dogs are required to be confined, and such as are found at large are taken by the police to the bridewells Of the borough, and there destroyed, if orcSed Within 24 hours. On behalf of the Society for Prevent ing Cruelty to Animals, the chief constable was charged" with destroying the dogs by cruel torture. At one bridewell the dog to be destroyed is put into a tub of water with a noose round his neck, and the rope passing through a snatch block, he is held under water till he is dead. In the other case the dog is put into a sack—if a dangerous dog he is dragged into a sack by a pair of .9 nippers that grasp him round the neck-then the sack is closed and plunged into a tub of water with a bucket over it. A veterinary surgeon called for the prosecution described this as the most gross cruelty he had ever heard of. He would have poisoned the dogs with prussic acid. The Bench dismissed the case, holding there had been no cruel torturing, which was the offence charged. They, however, granted a case for the Court of Queen's Bench on the question of law.
A RIOH WIDOW'S WILL: SINGULAR…
A RIOH WIDOW'S WILL: SINGULAR HALLUOINATIONS. In the Court of Probate, on Tuesday, the case of Smith and others ix Tebbitt and others was concluded. This remarkable cause was heard last April, and the judgment was reserved. It will be remembered that the object of the suit was to establish the validity of the will of Mrs. Ann Thwaytes, late of Charmandean, Worthing, and 17, Hyde-park-gardens, and that the question involved was whether certain religious delu- sions under which she laboured were such as to deprive her of testamentary capacity. The facts of the case were briefly these :—The testator was the widow of a grocer in Fenchurch street, who died in 1834, leaving her half a million of money. She lived for a short time with her only sister, Mrs. Teb- bitt, the defendant, whose husband had been clerk to Mr. Thwaytes, but an estrangement took place between them, and they never met after 1839. From 1834 until the period of her death, Dr. Simon Smith, who had been her husband's medical attendant, managed her affairs, and received for his services the sum of £ 2,000 a-year, besides various presents to the amount of between X40,000 and £ 50,000. Mr. Samuel Smith, his brother, a retired stoekbroker, regulated her household and received X400 a year. His daughters, who also lived in the house, were likewise the objects of the bounty of the testatrix during her lifetime. In 1835 she settled X30,000 on Mrs. Tebbitt and her family. They were also remembered in her will, which was executed on the 2nd March, 1866. shortly before her death; but the bulk of her property was bequeathed to Dr. Smith and his brother, who were appointed residuary legatees. THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT. Sir J. P. Wilde delivered judgment. There was no country in the world, he said, in which the law per- mitted a larger exercise of volition in the disposal of property after death than in England but it required as a condition that this volition should be that of a mind of natural capacity, not unduly impaired by old age, enfeebled by illness, or tainted by morbid in- fluences. The inquiry before the court had relation only to the last of those conditions. His lord- ship then proceeded to consider the delusions under which it was alleged the testatrix had for years laboured. She believed that she was on terms of the closest intimacy with the Almighty; that she was the third person in the Trinity that Dr. Smith was God the Father, and was mystically asso- ciated with her in a great work which they had both to perform; that she disseminated and controlled epi- demics that the judgment of the world was to take place in her drawing-room at Hyde-park-gardens, where she was also to give birth to the Saviour, and that she could never die. These delusions were all deposed to by various witnesses who had no interest whatever in the suit; and it was impossible to doubt their credi- bility. That being so, was it to be believed that any sane person could foster or conceive such ideas ? Religious fanaticism would account for much, but did it ever stretch so far or stoop so low ? Another, and if possible, more important aspect of her general conduct, remained to be stated-her relation with the two Smiths. Was it natural or rational ? While her husband was living, and before his burial she made a draft will, by which, with the exception of about 450,000, she bequeathed all the vast property she had acquired to Dr. Smith; then followed an annuity of X2,000 a year, and in years after donation3 to the amount of £ ;<0,000, although he was a stranger in blood. It was difficult upon a just review of her life and conduct as revealed in the evidence, to assert that, apart from religious matters, she exhibited no weakness of mind, no falling off from the standard of ordinary prudence and wisdom. To her relatives her conduct was fitful and unreasonable. She was either inordinately vindictive on trivial provocation, or she fancied wrongs which did not exist. She supposed her- self to be the object of attempts to administer poison, and believed herself to have been at one time roally blind. In regard to her property, giving her credit for charity not always wisely bestowed, her sole merit seemed to have been that if she did nothing to improve or aug- ment it by the accumulation of that which she could not spend, she at least managed to retain the greater part of it. But had the court a full picture of her life ? He feared not. The will gave large legacies, varying from X5,000 to zCI5,000, to almost every one, man or woman, in whose society she moved, or could have been said to know anything about her. The tendency of such a disposition of her property to close the channels of evidence, and to narrow the memories of witnesses, could hardly be doubted. A recollection to be exerted in the destruction of their interests should be vigorous indeed if it went the full length of truth. The conclu- sion of the court (continued his lordship) as to the validity of the will must have been made already ap- parent. I think it cannot stand. I cannot reconcile the proved hallucinations of the testatrix in the matter of religion with the action of a sound and healthy mind on the one hand, and on the other, I find them to be just such as a diseased mind is known to engender. I find clear traces of insane suspicion at one time, and insane aversion at another a large fortune, ill-husbanded relatives estranged; extravagant benefits conferred on those about her, though strangers in blood a secluded life, and submission to the will of another, apparently founded on the special subject of her hallucinations, for which the external and visible relatiens of the parties can hardly account. Even if Mrs. Thwaytes had been esteemed capable of making a will, a grave question would have arisen whether that capacity would have supported a will so made, and with such dispositions, as the will before me. The law has ever been watchful and jealous of wills made under religious influences, and especially so where those influences connect themselves with any one who is the object of the testator's bounty. Before this will, therefore, could have been established, the relations of Dr. Smith with the testatrix must have been further scrutinised and explained, and the Court satisfied that, in making him and his brother her'residuary legatees to the amount, as it is computed, of XISO,000, the testatrix was acting freely and under the pressure of no imaginary duty or paramount obligation, of no delusion as to Dr. Smith's spiritual being, and the guidance of no baseless religious dream. THE WIDOW'S ECCENTRICITIES. His lordship then went into details of Mrs. Thwaytes's life and conduct, and her relations with the two Smiths. He asked, was it natural and rational ? While her husband was lying de%d, and before his burial, she made the draught will of the 19th of December, 1834, by which, with the exception of about £ 50,000, she bequeathed all the vast property she had just acquired to Dr. Smith. Then followed an annuity of £ 2,000, and in after years donations to the extent of nearly £ 50,000. He was a stranger in blood to her, he first attended her professionally in 1832, and is not shown up to the time of the above will to have rendered her any ser- vice beyond ordinary medical advice, or to have filled any other relation to her than that of medical adviser. In after years he added to his medical advice the trouble of receiving the dividends and paying them into her bankers'. Whatwere her sentiments regarding a person thus circumstanced, and what was the character and extent of the influence he exercised over her ? She said that Mr. Samuel Smith being the doctor's brother, she was obliged to admit him, and that if he had not been, she would have shut the door against him. Dr. Smith visited her once a fortnight, and she said they always managed all their affairs when he came down, that was the express time the work was carried on." What was the work then carried on. jf Mrs. Cooke may be believed, its nature may be surmised. She often told me that at one stage of the work the doctor re- quired large sums of money to carry it on." When she dismissed Mrs. Tebbitt she said, "I am persuaded by my friends to shut the door against you." Who were those friends ? It is difficult to suppose that Dr. Smith was not one of them. I think it therefore probable that in the selection of Mr. Samuel Smith to live with her, and in the rupture with her relations and in the expenditure of her money, Dr. Smith had considerable influence over her. On what was this influence founded ? He first at- tended her in what he describes as a low fever, with much nervous excitement, two years before Mr. Thwaytes's death. It was this illness to which she so often referred as the period when she was born anew and was blind. And to this no doubt she also referred in the following statement repeated by a very trustworthy witness named Gardener: — H She said that God was her Father; that she was brought into the work in connection with Dr. Smith, and that they were to carry out the purposes of God; that they together formed the. Trinity, and that from the time that God had communicated this to her she had been in direct communication with Him." It is needless to refer to the uniformity with which all the witnesses for the defendants depose to Mrs. Thwaytes's constant reference to the mystical association with Dr. Smith thus inaugurated, but it is most instructive to remark that Dr. Smith himself wholly repudiates it. He denies that she ever spoke to him about any particular spiritual work in which he was engaged with her. I am quite sure of that, he said. This answer of Dr. Smith appears to refute the suggestion made in argument that the" great work," so often spoken of, was nothing but a holy mission to make good and charitable use of her wealth. It is fair, then, to infer on this testimony that Mrs. Thwaytes, when debilitated by her fever, and in a highly nervous condition, conceived that she had a communication from Heaven announcing a mystic and spiritual connection between herself and Dr. Smith, which had no existence and was never the subject of conversation between them, and that this idea once conceived took paramount pos- session of her mind. What wonder, then, that she should believe that he knew her thoughts, be guided by him in her conduct to others, and load him with bene- fits during her life, and bequeath a vast sum of money to him after her death ? But with what truth can it be affirmed of a person thus influenced and thus acting that she was independent, rational, and sensible in the conduct of ordinary life, and showed no weakness of mind but in abstract religious speculations ? Lastly, it was argued for the plaintiffs that, assuming Mrs. Thwaytes to have been of unsound mind, the evidence of the defendant only extended to the month of Novem- ber, 1864, whereas the will in question is dated March, 1866. If unsoundness extending over years be once proved by those who oppose a will, there is no doubt, as a proposition of law, that they are not bound to carry the evidence of insane actions or delusions up to the very moment of the testament. A diseased state of mind once proved to have established itself would be presumed to continue, and the burden of showing that health had been restored falls upon those who assert it. The sole proof, so far as I am aware, offered by the plaintiffs in discharge of this obligation is the fact that Mrs. Thwaytes, about the month of Sept., 1864, purchased a vault for her own burial and that of Dr. Smith. And the inference drawn is, that if ever she thought herself the Holy Ghost or immortal in former years she had then ceased to do so. But this in- ference, I think, assumes the fact in dispute, viz. was Mrs. Thwaytes a rational or irrational person on these subjects? If rational, the purchase of the vault would be strong to show that she had abandoned the notion of immortality. But irrational or insane she might, I conceive, be quite capable of speaking of the place of her burial in one half hour and talking of her immortality or spiritual nature in the next. It is of the essence of an insane delusion that as it has no basis in reason, so it cannot by reason be dis- persed, and is thus capable of being cherished side by side with other ideas with which it is rationally incon- sistent. It would, I think, have been more to the pur- pose on this head if the plaintiffs had offered to the Court the testimony of Mrs. Simmonds and the other maidservant of whom the witness Lester spoke as having been with Mrs. Thwaytes up to her death, and one of whom, Mrs. Simmonds, was proved to be present in court. The plaintiffs were challenged to produce her by the other side, and she was shown to. have received XI,000 not long before Mrs. Thwaytes's death. These witnesses were said by Lester to be still living in the house, all have legacies under the will, and, therefore, they are neither beyond the plaintiff's control nor hostile to their interests. Their evidence could not have failed to have shed light on the state of Mrs. Thwaytes's mind in the last two years of her life. His lordship concluded thus It is difficult, then, upon a just review of Mrs. Thwaytes's life and conduct, as revealed in the evidence, to assert that, apart from religious matters, she exhibited no weakness of mind, no falling off from the standard of ordinary prudence and wisdom. To her relations her conduct must be con- sidered as fitful and unreasonable. She was either inordinately vindictive on trivial provocation, or she fancied wrongs which did not exist. She suspected her- self to be the object of attempts to administer poison, and believed herself to be really blind. In regard to her property, giving her credit for charity not always wisely bestowed, her sole merit seems to have been that if she did nothing to improve it or augment it by the cumula- tion of that which she could not spend, she at least managed to retain the greater part of it. But she purchased the aid of the two gentlemen who assisted her at an extravagant sum. Indeed, her positien in relation to Dr. Smith, if it rested on no mystical reli- gious association, betrayed great weakness and lavish indifference to money. Snch nrp, the conclusions which the evidence as it stands makes manifest. But has the Court a full picture of Mrs. Thwaytes's life ? And is it certain that if her entire demeanour and conduct as it showed itself to those among whom she lived (and they were not many), were freely and fully placed before the Court, the list of her extravagances would not be augmented? This is a most momentous question. It lies at the root of the defen- dant's contention that in ordinary life she was prudent and conducted herself like other people, and yet unfortu- nately the provisions of the will in controversy are such as to make this question a hard one to answer. For the will gives large legacies, ranging from X5,000 to £ 15,000, to almost every individual, man or woman, in whose society the testatrix moved, or who could be said socially to know anything about her. The tendency of these dispositions to close the channels of evidence and narrow the memories of witnesses can hardly be doubted. A recollection to be exerted in destruction of its own inte- rests must be vigorous, indeed, if it go the full length of the truth. It is fit to bring these remarks to a close. The conclusions of the Court as to the validity of this will must have been made already apparent. I think it cannot stand. I cannot reconcile the proved hallucina- tions of the testatrix in the matter of religion with the action of a sound and healthy mind on the one hand, and on the other I find them to be just such as a diseased mind is known to engender. I can find no excuse or explanation in her temperament or general character for her absurdities on this special subject. When I turn from this subject to her general character and de- meanour, I find the sources of information narrowed and diverted by the dispositions of the will But with such light as I have, I find clear traces of insane suspicions at one time, and insane aversions at another. A large fortune ill husbanded; relations es- tranged extravagant benefits conferred on those about her, though strangers in blood; a secluded life, and a submission to the will of another, apparently founded on the special subject of her hallucination, for which the external and visible relations 9f the parties can hardly account; a life with such features is not calculated to rebut the conclusions to be drawn from her proved delu- sions on the subject of religion. It was decided in the case of Sutton v. Sadler" (3 Com. Bench, N.S., 87) that before a will could be pronounced valid the Court or jury must be able on a review of the whole evidence to declare itself satisfied that the testator was of sound mind, memory, and understanding at the time of its execution. The Court is not so satisfied in this case, and must pronounce against this will. It remains to be pointed out that the conclusion at which the Court has thus arrived of Mrs. Thwaytes's general incapacity throws many considerations into the shade which would otherwise have occupied a prominent place in its deli- berations. If Mrs. Thwaytes had been esteemed capable of making a will at all, a grave question would have arisen whether that capacity would have supported a will so made, and with such dispositions as the will here in question. The law has ever been watchful and jealous of wills made under religious influences, and especially so when those influences connect them- selves with any individual who is the object of the testator's bounty. Before this will, therefore, could have been established, the relations of Dr. Smith with the testatrix must have been further scrutinised and ex- plained, and the Court satisfied that in making him and his brother residuary legatees to the amount, as it is computed, of X180,000, the testatrix was acting freely, under the pressure of no imaginary duty or paramount obligation, the influence of no delusion as to Dr. Smith's spiritual being, and the guidance of no baseless reli- gious dream. The result is that the Court pronounces against the will. I make no order as to costs. To decree them out of the estate would be to make the de. fendant pay them.
FRIGHTFUL DEATH OF A RAILWAY…
FRIGHTFUL DEATH OF A RAILWAY GUARD. On Saturday night a shocking accident occurred on the Metropolitan Extension line of the London, Chat- ham, and Dover Railway. When the 11.45 p.m. train from Victoria to Ludgate-hill reached the Brixton Station, a passenger was about to enter it, and he noticed a quantity of blood streaming down the sides of one of tiie second-class carriages. The officials at the station then discovered the dead body of the guard of the tram lying on the top of the carriage. His head had been literally smashed to atoms, and the blood was pouring from his body. Upon the carriages being ex- amined it was discovered that the linings of a first class rith a knife' and il is surmised that the deceased had crawled along the top of the carriages while the train was in motion, and had held his head over the side in order to look through the carriage> window and see the persons at their work of destruction and it was ascertained that there were signs of blood on the Fledin-bridge that crosses the railway near Stewart sJane Station. As the bridge is K 13tlle unfortunate man was mstantly killed by his head being dashed against it. He leaves a wife and two children. A reward of X10 had been offered by the company for the discovery of any perSon found destroying the carriage linings.
EXPLOSION OF PETROLEUM OIL.…
EXPLOSION OF PETROLEUM OIL. EIGHTY PERSONS INJURED. A fire broke out on Friday evening in an oil and lamp warehouse at Bordeaux, situated at the corner of the Rue Saint-Eulalie and Cours-Napoleon, in the occupation of M. Huart. It appears that one of the men belong- ing to the establishment happened to spill in the cellar some petroleum, and another in endeavouring to wipe up the oil set fire to some of the inflam mable materials about, and the flames spread instan- taneously. Assistance was immedietely forthcoming, and after an hour's labour the conflagration was got under where the danger seemed greatest; but at that moment a frightful explosion of petroleum and gas took place, blowing up the cellar and injuring a great num- ber of persons in the street above. Not fewer than 80 were more or less wounded, and some of them seriously; 13 of the firemen had to be taken to the hospital, badly burnt, as well as 10 soldiers of the 81st regiment. M. Chambret, son of the officer of firemen who died from the effects of the injuries received when the Magazins Generaux were burnt down last year, has been grievously wounded by the explosion. Lieutenant Bouillet, of the same corps, had an arm broken and his face burnt. There are upwards of 30 cases sufficiently grave under treatment in the Hospital of Saint-Andre, besides a great number of persons less seriously injured who are attended at their own homes. No death, however, is up to the present time reported. A subscription has been opened in favour of the sufferers, the Municipality giving 1,000f.
GRIM. CON.—ELOPEMENT AND DESERTION.
GRIM. CON.—ELOPEMENT AND DESERTION. John Clements, a scene-fitter, employed at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle on Tyne, was brought before the police magistrate on Tuesday, charged with neglecting to support his wife and four children, leaving them chargeable to the parish of St. George-the-Martyr, Southwark. William Fensum, 59 M, one of the officers attached to the court, said he received a warrant two years ago to apprehend the prisoner for deserting his wife and family. Prior to that he was employed at the Surrey Theatre, and seduced the affections of the landlady of the Flower of the Forest Tavern, adjoining the theatre, from her husband, and eloped with her. Her conduct had such an effect on her husband that he was taken ill, and died shortly afterwards. Witness had not been able to find the whereabouts of the prisoner till last week, when he heard he was at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He therefore proceeded to the latter place, and found him living with the guilty woman, and took him into custody. He was employed as a scene-fitter at the theatre, and was earning from 24s. to 30s. a-week. Mr. Charles Kimber, one of the relieving officers of St. George's, said that the prisoner's wife and four children became chargeable to the parish two years ago. A warrant was applied for for his apprehension at the time, but he could not be found. The defendant said that he had never deserted his wife and family, as he had forwarded her 7s. 6d. a week as long as he was able. He was at present only an extra hand at the theatre, earning only 4s. a-day when at work. The Magistrate told him that it appeared he was able to support another woman, whom he had inveigled from her home. The prisoner said she left of her own accord, and he went in search of employment. The magistrate told him he was a heartless fellow leaving his wife and four young children unprovided for to live with another woman. He regretted very much that he could not punish him for deserting them, but there seemed to be some legal difficulty in that. In that case he should have been enabled to sentence him to three months' hard labour, a most inadequate punish- ment for such a heartless crime. In the present instance he was only able to inflict a month's hard labour, a still less adequate punishment. He only wished he had the pnwor to sentence him to six months instead of one, which he now passed upon him.
ATTEMPTED MURDER THROUGH JEALOUSY.
ATTEMPTED MURDER THROUGH JEALOUSY. At the special petty sessions held at High Wycombe, on Friday, before the Rev. G. Phillimore, one of the Bucks county magistrates, a married woman named Cousins was charged with attempting to murder Emma Vickers, a girl of eighteen. From the evidence adduced it appeared that Mrs. Cousins and her husband had lived unhappily together for some months, the wife alleging that her husband was too intimate with the girl Vickers, and a few weeks since Cousins was fined by the Wycombe magistrates for assaulting his wife. On the evening of the 3rd instant Emma Vickers passed Cousins's house, and as she did so made a signal, which was answered by Cousins, who immediately left his wife and followed her. This proceeding greatly enraged Mrs. Cousins, and she went in pursuit of the couple, and found them at the Squirrel public-house. Cousins, who saw his wife approach, left the room and concealed himself in a closet. The two women began quarrelling, and Vickers struck Mrs. Cousins a severe blow on the breast, upon which the latter stabbed her with a knife in the back. Vickers ran upstairs with the knife sticking in her back but shortly afterwards came down again and begged Mrs. Cousins to remove it, which she did, at the same time remarking that she would then go and do for the other" (meaning her husband) but as he had locked himself in his retreat she was unable to get at him. Mrs. Cousins then left the house, and nothing more was heard of her until Tuesday, when she was apprehended by the police at Marlow. Serious doubts were entertained whether the injured girl could survive. The prisoner, who was in a fainting state during nearly the whole of the pro- ceedings, was committed to take her trial at the next assizes on a charge of wilfully and maliciously stabbing Emma Vickers with intent to murder her.
SERVANTS AND THEIR SWEET-HEARTS,
SERVANTS AND THEIR SWEET- HEARTS, Robert Spencer, of 32, Compton-street, Soho, who works for his brother, a watchmaker, of Percy-street, was charged before Mr. Flowers, at the Bow-street Police- court on Tuesday, with being found in the house of Mr. James Johnstone, 13, Montague-place, Russell-square, supposed for an unlawful purpose. Mr. Abrams appeared for the prisoner. A young man in the service of Mr. Johnstone proved that the man was found in the house at about 10 minutes past one o'clock this morning. Mr. J. Johnstone said Between twelve and one o'clock this morning my wife had occasion to go upstairs to the housemaid's bedroom. She knocked at the door, which was locked, for a long time, but was unable to gain admittance. Ultimately she insisted upon being admitted, and on the door being opened she saw some man's clothes. Upon searching the room she discovered the prisoner under the bed. Mr. Flowers The real truth is that he went there after the servant maid. Mr. Johnstone: My wife was much startled as ifwas-; and if I had been away the result might have been serious. Mr. Burnaby (the clerk) There is a peculiar feature in this case. The woman said that she had known him for many years, whilst the prisoner on being taken into custody said that she had picked him up in the street. Mr. Abrams said there could of course be no doubt about the prisoner being in the house, but he went there to visit the servant. She had told him that she did not expect the family home that night, and had asked him to remain. He did so, and was 'found by Mrs. Johnstone, as was already shown. He would satisfy his worship that he had no felonious intent. Mr. Flowers said that if the prisoner went to the house with no felonious intent there could be no dif- erence of opinion as regards the immorality of his con- duct. That was precisely the way in which men entered houses for the purpose of committing a robbery. They get women to let men in in that way, and they are then able to rob the house with impunity. There was not a single young woman who might not be well off if she did not, when she was in a good place, lose it in this way. The case was then adjourned for the purpose of allow- ing the prisoner to obtain witnesses as to his character. Subsequently the prisoner's brother was called, and spoke to his respectability. Mr. Flowers then addressed the prisoner, telling him that what he had done was a wrong thing, because it was the way in which nine robberies out of ten were committed. The prisoner said he had no intention of committing a robbery. Mr. Flowers said that he did not mean to say that he had, but still it was the way they were committed. Another thing he had to consider was, the mischief he had done to the girl's character, who would, no doubt, I be turned out of her place, and very properly too. The prisoner was then discharged upon entering into his own recognisance in X40, and his brother in P.20, for his future good behaviour.
EXTRACTS FROM OUR COMIC PAPERS.
EXTRACTS FROM OUR COMIC PAPERS. ♦ (From Punch.) TO THE RITUALISTS. O rectors too ritualistic, With albs and with chasubles fair, With monograms monkish and mystic, And incense that hangs on the air What means this maniacal passion, As strange as the miracle plays, Say, is it a tribute to fashion, Supreme in these frivolous days ? We've sown the strong storm democratic, To reap the fierce whirlwind, perchance, You come with your stole and dalmatic To lead us another long dance. The Church, in a cranky condition, Is trembling at thoughts of a fight; And now we've a Royal Commission, r To tell us who's wrong and who's right. Say, how shall we choose 'mid the number- There's Low Church, and Broad Church, and High ? Serenely at sermons we slumber- Your modern discourses are dry. Supposing, instead of the quarrel, To settle what doctrines to teach, You gave up this gorgeous apparel, And found us some men who could preach I There's virtue, no doubt, in a vestment, In changing the colour of stoles But robes, as you know, were at best meant, To aid in the saving of souls. Go, speak to the dark populations, That linger in sadness and sin, Let England be first among nations, The noblest of battles to win! The people may stare and may wonder, Susceptible maids you enthrall, While fierce is the Record's small thunder, And cackle of Exeter-hall. Embroider the faldstool and hassock, And don't leave us thus in the lurch, But stick to plain surplice and cassock- And keep to the Protestant Church. THE BENCH AND THE BAR. Says James to Judge Bovill, Your practice is novel. Judge Bovill exclaims, Shut up, Mr. James. KNIGHT THOUGHTS. When Alderman Waterlow aeard of his new dignity, he instantly began to quote- There is a tide in the affairs of men," &c. With regard to the other sheriff, if Lord Derby had in accordance with precedent paid lIfr. Punch the compliment of con- sulting him, he would with pleasure have answered —" Licet." The well-merited prize has followed the great Rose Show too tardily. NOTICE OF QUESTION.—Mr. Whalley will interrupt the last act of the Reform Drama to ask the Home Secretary whether he is aware that large coloured bills were posted all over London, announcing that a Mass Meeting" would be held in Hyde-park on the 5th inst. AWFUL SWELLISM.-lSt Swell: Haw-what d'ya think a' th' division on th' Simla court-martial—2nd Swell: Neva knew a sim'la disgrace. (From Fun.) TURF CONTRADICTIONS. Don't put your faith in thoroughbreds- In luck they turn out crosses For tips, tip up for tails or heads- Turf prophets all are losses. If you'd shun frosts just note my rhyme- Its warning don't forget: Don't gamble, or you'll learn in time Miss-Fortune's name is BET. HERE WE GO UP—UP—UP "-It is reported that the present rage among our American cousins is for spending honeymoons in balloons. Whether husbands take their wives into the upper atmosphere in the hope of their becoming Rarey-fied like the air, we cannot say, but we should think it probable that the only safe time for a married couple to go ballooning together must be the honeymoon. Later in wedded life such a trip might be dangerous, for tkere is always a chance of man and wife falling out. STRANGE! A provincial paper the other day informed its readers that during the recent storm- Three fine horses which had been turned out to graze upon the land of Mr. John Hart, of Newington, were struck by the electric fluid and killed. On discovering them soon after, one of them was found to have been very severely injured. This extraordinary animal, we believe, came into the hands of its present owner after the melancholy end of its original proprietor, who met with an accident by which he was killed on the spot, and died shortly after- wards HORRIBLE, IF TRUE !-A friend implores us to me- morialise the Cattle Plague Commissioners on the fol- lowing grounds. The well-known Spotted Dog" in the Strand has been recently undergoing repairs, and our in. formant assures us that the animal has been painted in distemper. NOTE BY OUR NATURALIST.—It is a fallacy to sup- pose that a fox is jubilant when carrying home a fat goose to his larder; on the contrary, he never feels more down in the mouth." INTERESTING TO AGRICULTURISTS.—The cattle disease has not yet affected the Alpen-stock. (From Judy.) FROM THE LAND'S END.—If a chiropodist is desirous of doing a good stroke of business, we should advise him to come down and live among the Cornish people.— [Qy. Would it not do for him to take a corn-er house, and stay in town ?—Judy] A CORRESPONDENT writes to ask if the brow of a hill ever becomes wrinkled ? The only information we can give him on that point is that we have often seen it furrowed. WHAT'S THE HODS 1-Bricklayers and their labourers must be very great gamblers, for the former are always laying," the latter taking the hods." THE HEIGHT OF IMPUDENCE.—Asking a bishop if he ever played at croquet on his own "lawn." AN Irishman asked, if Rome was called the Papal States, what was the state of the paple ? WHY do children just beginning to prattle always keep secrets ?—Because "mum" 's the word with them. WHEN does an itinerant barber resemble a flash of lightning ?—When he flits from pole to pole ? THE BOOTMAKER'S (LAST) MOTTO.-Awl's for the best. THE NATION'S TunNsTYLE.-Fashion. "SWELLS OF THE OCEAN."—Midshipmen. THE PLACE FOR LAUNDRESSES.—Starch-green. THE WORST GRANTS ALLOWED BY GOVERNMENT.— Va-grants. HOP GARDENs.-Cremome. (From the Echoes of the Clubs.) LIBERTY BECOME LICENCE. Week after week our better taste has been outraged by a series of cartoons intended to heap ignominy on members of the Royal Family. These miserable prosti- tutions of art are almost beneath our notice, and we do not envy their perpetrator the reputation they are cal- culated to procure for him. They may perhaps find ad- mirers among the more vitiated classes of the people, and possibly a feeling of morbid curiosity may tend to a temporary increase in the sale of the journal in which they appear. We cannot sufficiently condemn the cowardly feeling which conceived and caused to be executed the last design. In the first place, one would have imagined that the sex and virtues of the high personage assailed would have protected her from such dastardly attacks; but not so, apparently. It is, indeed, valiant and honourable to couch pen and pencil against those who, from their very position, cannot notice the assaults of individuals so utterly their inferiors. In making these remark ;we are but echoing the sentiments of the majority of the British people.
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SHOCKING CRUELTY.—A mare, value £50, be- longing to Mr. John Downes, of the Red Lion Inn, Handsworth, was placed in a field, near Deadmore-lane, on the 9th of August. Next morning it was found that some cruel-hearted scouni-rel had cut out the greater part of the animal's tongue. A reward has been offered for the detection of the guilty party, and we do hope he may be discovered. JFRIZE MONEY.-By a Parliamentary return just issued it appears that on the 1st April last year there remained JE7,603 5s. in the hands of the Ad- miralty on account of naval prize. During the year 1866-67 the sum of £ 4,383 10s. lOd. was paid into the same account, ancl.233 8s. lOd. being added for repay- ments and forfeiture by desertion removed, a total amount of zCl2,020 4s. 8d. was available. Of this £ 6,781 15s. 7d. were distributed or paid during the 12 months, and on the 1st April last there remained a balance of £ 5,238 9s. Id. •
THE FIRE BRIGADE ACT AND THB…
THE FIRE BRIGADE ACT AND THB RESCUE REWARD FUND. The Fire Brigade Act was the death of the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire, over which the Lord Mayor, to use his own expression, preached the funeral sermon on Friday, in the Council Chamber, Guildhall. The society was 24 years old at the time of its death, and during that period it had, chiefly through the energetic labours of the secretary, Mr. Sampson Low, jun., grown prodigiously in members, fire-escapes, conductors, inspectors, funds, and usefulness. It had saved some 2,000 lives during its existence. If the attendance at the obsequies of the society was not very numerous, it appeared to be enthusiastic. The proposal, that as the society owed the prosperous state of its funds principally to the secretary he should receive some recognition of his services, was cordially received. Several servants of the late society and many police- constables were called up to 'receive rewards from the Lord Mayor for saving human life. The functions of the late lamented society will be henceforth discharged by the Fire Brigade, which gallant body will be reinforced by many of the society's faithful servants. A memorial of the society has been established in the shape of X2,000 for investment as a Life Rescue Reward Fund, and j6300 to provide for any attendant expenses to secure in per- petuity the means of rewarding brave efforts to save human life from fire.—"Pall-mall Gazette.
HOW THE MONEY GOES.
HOW THE MONEY GOES. In the Court of Bankruptcy, on Tuesday, before Mr. Commissioner Goulborn, the case of Mr. T. H. Bent was introduced. The bankrupt, described as a gentleman, of 22, Graf- ton-street East, pieviously of Margate, Bristol, Rams- gate, Northampton, Paris, Eastbourne, and while at the latter residence accompanying an equestrian circus through several towns in Yorkshire, Cumberland, Dur- ham, and Lincolnshire, came up for examination and discharge. Alleged causes of failure Want of in. come, losses, and disappointment in the receipt of money under his marriage settlement." The debts and liabili. ties are stated at £ 2,133, and practically there are no assets, although it is estimated that a sum of .£35 will be received in respect of debts due to the estate. Mr. Aldridge appeared for the official assignee, and informed the Court that the bankrupt had not complied with an order made by Mr. Commissioner Holioyd, directing him to file a cash account for 12 months prior to his bankruptcy. Mr. Brough opposed for creditors. Mr. Reed, who supported, said that the bankrupt had been placed in a peculiar position. A fortune had been left to him on attaining his majority, and when he became entitled to the property there was no one to advise him, and he then became acquainted with a number of gentlemen who found no difficulty in relieving him of his money. His Honour: You are, doubtless, well acquainted, Mr. Reed, with the habits of these itinerant gentlemen (a laugh). Can you state how the bankrupt contrived to incur his present large amount of debts ? Mr. Reed The bankrupt was very much attached to horses, and, unfortunately for him, he became connected whilst residing at Eastbourne, with an equestrian circus which was passing through the town. The bankrupt did not receive any of the money earned by the circus, but he became liable for the debts. His Honour said that however that might be, the bankrupt had not filed the accounts which had been ordered, and the sitting would be adjourned, in order that Mr. Commissioner Holroyd might deal with the case on his return. Renewed pivmction was granted. (
SUMMER METEORS.
SUMMER METEORS. All the astronomers in the United Kingdom had one particular subject of observation on Saturday night last, in the return of the 10th of August meteors, or the "Perseids." The sublime visitors were expected to return at 10 o'clock, at which time many careful watchers kept a sharp look-out upon the heavens from the different observatories round London, including amongst others those of Mr. Hind, F.R.A.S., at Twickenham, Mr. Huggins, F.R.S., at Tulse-hill, Mr. Arthur Finch, F.R.A.S., at Tulse-hill, Mr. Birt, F.R.A-S., Sewardstone-road, and the observatory at Greenwich. The star-shower was, as usual, not expected to be a very large one, and the anticipation was justified by the result. At 10 o'clock a cloudless sky greatly favoured the observers, whilst, on the other hand, the great brilliancy of the moonlight was a disadvantage. A light and scarcely perceptible south and south-west wind blew the smoke and haze of the London atmosphere before it, so that the observatories on the Surrey side of the Thames were more favourably situated for viewing the phenomenon than those on the other side of th( metropolis. About 10 o'clock all eyes were turned to a point to the right of the pole star, whence the meteors were principally expected to make their appearance in Per. seus, and a little below the constellation Cassiopeia, in which five bright stars, arranged somewhat in the form of the letter W, are conspicuous. At two minutel past 10 a brilliant meteor shot across this constellation of lance-like form, thickest at the head and thinnest at the tail, and vanished instantly. At a quarter past 10 two or three faint ones were seen rapidly following each other, and at 20 minutes past a singular one of greater brilliancy was visible. Altogether at Tulse-hill observa- tories 10 or 11 meteors were counted between 10 and 11 o'clock, none of them of specially large size or of more than an instant's duration, whilst later in the night a few solitary shooting stars were seen, usually with long in- tervals between the appearance of each. A large display might have enabled the astronomers on the watch to de- termine the radiant point of these periodical meteors, but the small number seen on Saturday night gave in. sufficient data to do so with accuracy. They also afforded no opportunity for spectroscopic observations.
I THE LATE WEST GLOUCESTERSHIRE…
THE LATE WEST GLOUCESTERSHIRE ELECTION. On Saturday, at Dursley, the magistrates were occu- pied for nearly eight hours in hearing cases which arose out of the disturbances there after the declaration of the poll at the West Gloucestershire election, on the 31st of July. Henry Woodward, Andrew Kilminster, William Dean, Richard Lacy, and Rowland Bjll were first charged with riotously assembling on the day in ques- tion and making an assault on Sir George Jenkinson, the Hon. Grantley F. Berkeley, and others. Mr. Tayn- ton, of Gloucester, prosecuted, and Mr. W. Gaisford, of Berkeley, defended the accused. The evidence of the police-constables and others on behalf of the com- plainants was to the effect that soon after noon, on the 31st of July, a crowd of between 400 and 500 persons assembled near the Bell and Castle Inn, Dursley, and yelled and hooted. The carriage of Sir George Jenkin- son was being brought out of a yard adjoining the inn, and while the horses were being put in several persons threw eggs at the vehicle, and Sir George's party, as they made their way through the crowd to get at their carriage. Captain Kennedy, C.B., formerly Governor of Vancouver's Island, who was with Sir George, said that he saw stones, eggs, bones, and sticks thrown simul- taneously, together with offal of various kinds. He was the last person of the party, and was walking with an aged gentleman, a relative, and they were left a little behind the rest of the party so that he could see what went on in front. The ladies who were there were thrown at before they could get to the carriage, and Lady Jenkin- son's face was smeared with blood, and Miss Jenkinson had a patch of blood on the side of her head. His own wife, who was in the carriage, was struck by two apples, and he expected that he would have received violence at the hands of the mob but for a policeman. Superin- tendent Monk stated that several of the mob wanted to cut the traces of Sir George Jenkinson's carriage, and they, cried to others to pitch Grantley Berkeley out of tHe vehicle. Police-constable Gough, of Cheltenham, proved that one of the defendants, Hill, picked up a sheep's head and threw it into the carriage after it had been thrown backwards and forwards at Sir George Jenkinson several times. All the accused, except Dean, were connected with the disorderly proceedings of the day, and the Bench said they were of opinion that a most disgraceful and violent riot had taken place, and it would be their duty to commit all the prisoners, except Dean, for trial at the Gloucester Assizes. Bail was applied for and accepted. Sir George Jenkinson was next charged with having assaulted a labourer named Thomas Ward, on the 31st of July. The case for the complainant was that he went to the Kingshill-gate to see Mr. Charles Berkeley and his friends enter Dursley, and Sir George J enkinson, while driving his four-in-hand, cut him across the head with the whip, the complainant having offered him no provocation. Mr. William Norton Barry, magis- trate of Cork, who was on the box with Sir George, said that a boy tried to frighten the leaders by thrusting a butcher's basket at their heads, and Sir George had slashed at him, but did not really strike anybody. The Bench considered the assault proved ind fined Sit George Jenkinson 40s. and costs. Th. dedtolS received with applause by a crowded justice-room.