The Express. — London, England, 1867-12-28 00:00:00

PARIS EXHIBITION FIRST-CLASS SILVER MEDAL, 1957. JOHN BROODKN. ORIGINAL GOLD CHAIN MANUFACTORY, le, lIENZIETTA4MIII7, 00VIVIT4LIDIN. II JOlng BROGDNITS 18-earat GOLD CHAINS. JOHN BROGDIN'S GOLD GUARD;OHAINB. JOHN BROGDENII GOLD ALBERT CHAIM. JOHN BROGDEN'S GOLD BROOCH CHAINS. (PRIZE MEDAL AWARDED,. ALLEN'S PATENT PORTMANTEAUS and TR.AV ELLIN° BAGS, with square LADIES WARDROBE TRUNKS, DREZirtiGS, with Inver Wings. DESPATCH BOXES, WRITING and DRESSING CASK and 600 other articles for home or continental travelling. Illustrated catalogues post tree . Also Allen's Barrack Furniture Catalogue of Portable Bed meads, Drawers, Easy Chairs. Waahhand-Maude, Canteens, post free. J. W. ALLEN, Manufacturer and Patentee, 37, West Strand, Leedom W.O BREAKFAST.-EPPS'S COCOA. DAVIES'S beautiful HARD WAX and SPERM CANDLES, le, per lb.; palace paraffin candles, ls. &L: ralc ad. and la likt ; cotanic wax, la ; composite, Bed., ad 1004. ; 'moulds, ad. ; dipe, 610. ; yellow aosp, 36a, 40a., , nd eds. per 11510.: mottled, Mc ; 'met Cola oil, 4s. per ; for cask at M. P. DAM.% and 401413 wax chandlers and Malin Oilmen, IS, 8t MarUn'mlane, W.C.—Liate post free. THEATRE ROYAL, DRITRY-LANE. Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. F. B. CHATFRILTON. TO-NIGHT, and every Evening until further notice, will he performed a new and original Farce, entitled lIONEIMOYES TROUBLES. After which will be performed the Drury-lane ANNUAL GRAND CHRISTMAS PA-STOMIME, entitled YAW YEE FO FUNS. or HARLEQUIN JACK the GIANT KILLER. the erilrefSo. TO CORRB9PONDIL2CI3. diverttecenesta Intended for " The Express," London Evening =, sawn be at the Mice, 10, lmverie-street, by Two IL on the dav of publication. 9AYYASBrT_ TIII3 EVENINO, OUR AiIIRICAN MYLTSIN. Mews. Sothern, Raymond, Gordon, Rogers, le.: Mistimes tittypendale. Berke, Wright, Rohertaou, de.—AN OMR PER-VERSION OF TILE BRlGAND.—Coneluding with A KISS VII TUE DARK. pRiNcEsTs. THIS Eranrso, THE BAWN. Mr. and Mrs. Dion Boeckault.—At ter which THE STREk.TS 01 LONDON. Mr. Vining, Messrs. Murray, Shore, Neville. Forrester, Mellon, fie. Mimes Elsworthy, Barnett, Rachel Sanger, and Mrs. Addle. irwm. This Elm!Iwo, KIND TO A FAULT.—A Her which will be pro duced a Grand Christmas Operatic (Mental Extravaganza, THE CALIPH OF BAGDAD.—And NOTHING TO NUMB. HOLBORN. TEb EVENING, THE TWO DOLTS. Ifemrs. Price and WM dleomh.—And VALENTINE AND ORSON : OR. HARLEQUIN THE HID HEAR AND THE LITTLE FAIRY. Maws. Lupino, Omen, and Rowell' ; Mesdames Saunders, Goodall, Montero, Qt. DilT~lflR~. Tau IteWirt°, DON Ql4loTiThit, SANCHO FANZA AND lIIS WIFE TUtEZA. llama Bigwood, Leslie. dre.; Messrs Deane, Louis, Newham, and Vletorelll Lane, 31.111 e. C. Stephan,* 3,lhaes Edwin, Booth, & Nathan.—And V/110 DID IT NIGI! WILT= AT LONDON RRIDOS. IWO Dtt —Morning 3b. 44ra. TO-110azow—MornIng, 4b. 121..--Attaruoon. 4h. Dm. LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28. IN Dublin, during the past fortnight, attention has been diverted from the public disgrace and danger of Fenianism to a private scandal of the most attractive character, involving almost every element of interest. The reputation of a Queen's Counsel of high eminence and until lately popular in his profession, and of country gentlemen of HD stained name, were directly concerned. Secret transactions and conspiracies, private consultations and chambering; key-hole listenings and reports, Jew money-lending and Christian forgery, a sudden and mysterious flight and an audacious return, confessions of guilt and retractations of the confession, hard swearing on both sides, and wholesale perjury on one aide or the other, are but a few of the morsels which for days have whetted and fed the appetite for scandal in one of tho oldest and moat gossiping cities of the empire. Add to all these tit-bits a family quarrel of the most comprehensive charac ter; and only malicious cynics can blame the people of Dublin if of late they have crowded the Court of Common Pleas, have forgotten Fenianism for for gery, and have been more eager as to the fate of Mr. WILLIAM SIDNEY than for that of Mr. JOHN MARTIN. A trial in which mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, friends and near kinsmen of various degrees swore dead against each other ; which exhibited the spectacle of great abilities pitiably prostituted, of bright prospects hopelessly overate; and of a natural ambition thwarted, might be a theme for nine days' wonder, and for a longer period of compassionate or indignant moralizing, among a busier and less excitable population than that of Dublin. Since thatamusing profligate and memoir writer, Si RJONAH BARRINGTON, was dismissed from the Irish Bench of Justice for embezzlement, more scandalous reve lations affecting any member of the legal profes sion have not been made than those which the SIDNEY case has brought out. The character of the Dublin bar, it is superfluous to add, is in no way involved in that of Mr. SIDNEY, any more than that, of the London bar in the conduct of Mr. EDWIN JAMES. M. LEONCE LAVERGNE has recently expressed an opinion that the Irish bar is superior to that of England. It is certainly not inferior in professional or moral qualities. In the course of last year, Mr. WILLIAM JAMES SIDNEY, a Queen's counsel in large and lucrative practice in Dublin, who had risen, and was still rising rapidly at the bar, and who enjoyed un usual popularity in his profession and in society, suddenly and secretly fled from both, and from a future which appeared as brilliant as ambition could desire. A professional income of between two and three thousands a year measured by English standards is not perhaps an ex traordinary prize, but it implies a large share of the business of the half occupied courts of Dublin. Rumours of a delicate character had preceded Mr. SIDNEY'S flight ; and naturally they did not lose strength when it became known that he had decamped. It was whispered that he had raised money by forging the names of near relatives to bills of various kinds. The action which has just been concluded brought out the real facts of the case. A more extraordinary tale has seldom been disclosed in a court of justice. The conflict and contradiction of evidence were such that the jury have been unable to agree upon a verdict. We shall not attempt to draw the positive conclusion which they have shrunk from establishing. The chief physical facts in the case were, however, admitted by both parties. The dispute turned upon the interpreta tion to be given to them by considerations of the authority and motives diversely alleged on one side and the other. The allegations on which the action was brought, and the counter allega tions advanced in defence, admit of short state ment. The jury were shut up between two hypo theses, the character of which, as well as the undisputed facts on which both rest, will appear from what follows. In the action, which has just been closed, SIDNEY, although the interest of the strange drama centered about him, appeared only as a witness. The plaintiff was Mr. LEWIS HARED; a money-lender of Dublin, who sued Mr. JOHN LOYD BAGOT, a country gentle man and justice of the peace, residing in the county of Galway, upon two bills of exchange, one for 2001., the other 3001. Mr. Ilium. pleaded V THE EXPRESS, SATuRDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 28, 1867. in defence that the bills were forged by SIDNEY, who came forth from his hiding-place to rebut the imputation. He did not deny that he affixed BACOT'S name to the bills, but asserted that he had BACOT'S authority for doing so. SIDNEY, it appears, had become deeply involved in debt. He had money help from Mr. JOHN LOYD BACOT, who was his cousin, and the latter had authorised him, as SIDNEY deposed, for the saving of time, to put his name to bills, without consulting him, whenever a pressing emergency arose. This permission SIDNEY employed until his kinsman's credit, before largely used, was pledged by this means alone to the addi tional extent of 3,300/. Mr. BAooT's good offices did not stop here. He offered to get SIDNEY into Parliament for the borough of Athlone, to lend him money which he hoped to obtain on mortgage on his own estate from a dying sister, and to help in securing a loan from an insurance company. All these projects failed. SIDNEY, besides out aide debts, had incurred liabilities re famille to his cousin, CHARLES BACOT, the brother of JOHN LOYD BACOT; and to Mr. HINDS, who had married his wife's sister. In the autumn of 1866 his embarrassments became over whelming. Ho owed between 20,000/. and 30,0001., and the interest exacted from him was at the rate of 16 or 17 per cent. JOHN LOYD BACOT complained that the money transactions between himself and his friend were getting wind, and that the rumour of them was doing him serious injury. On August 14th, 1866, the two BAGOTS who have been named, with a third brother (BERNARD), Mr. HINDS, and Messrs. BLOOM FIELD and FINDLATER, solicitors, dined, by appointment, at SIDNEY'S, for the purpose of looking into and arranging his affairs. SIDNEY alleges that he then stated that JOEIN LOYD BAoor had become responsible for 4,0001., and HINDS for 2,0001., Mr. BLOOMFIELD, the solicitor, for 2,0001., and that none of them repudiated the obligation. On hearing his debts, which were mostly in bills estimated at between 20,0001. and 30,0001., Mr. FINDLATER, the solicitor, "gave a " whistle," threw down his pen, and exclaimed that "it was awful." SIDNEY proposed to assign 1,500/. a year to his creditors out of his profes sional income, and to give up to them the con tents of his house, which would realise about two shillings in the pound. The meeting was ad journed to the following day at Mr. FINDLATER'S office. Early in the morning, however, SIDNEY, listening, as he confesses, at a key-hole overheard a conversation between his mother-in-law, Mrs. HINDS, senior, and her son, HENRY, both of whom were staying in his house, of which con versation he took notes. Mrs. HINDS asked her son whether he had signed any bills for SIDNEY, and on hie denying this she urged him to let the creditors "sell SIDNEY out," and not to allow her money to be wasted in paying his debts. Later in the day, J. L. BACOT called On SIDNEY, and informed him that HINDS bad taken " a step too dread " ful to be mentioned," which appears to have been the issue of a warrant for SIDNEY'S arrest. Repeated visits took place on this day, the upshot of which was that SIDNEY, acting ae he de clares under terror, agreed to burn, and did burn, '1 in the presence of JOHN and CHARLES BAGOT, all the correspondence and documents in his posse.- aion relating to his money affairs, and signed and sealed, under the influence of threats and wine, a letter declaring, falsely, that he had put J. L. BACOT'S name to various bills without that gentle man's authority. A bill of sale giving up all his effects was executed, for which he re ceived between five and six hundred pounds. He was then, under the stimulus of the sight of a policeman in coloured clothes lurking about the house and said to be armed with a warrant for his arrest, got upon a car, and put upon board the steamer for Holyhead, having posted, according to his statement, the letter of confession to J. L. BACOT as ho passed through the streets. This is the case directly for the validity of the bills on which the money lender }lmam sues Mr. J. L. BAoor, and indi rectly for the re-establishment of Mr. SIDNEY'S character. It rests upon the testimony of SIDNEY himself, supported by that of his wife and son, witnesses who can scarcely be considered inde pendent, and of a solicitor of the name of BERLIN, who charges BERNARD BACOT with having ad mitted the genuineness of the notes, and suggested their repudiation in order to induce SIDNEY'S cre ditors to settle. OUR CONTEMPORARIES. (THIS DAY.) The Pope's allocution, Mr. Gladstone's pro gramme at Oldham, and the fresh capital required by the Midland Railway are the chief topics discussed by the Tines. On the subject of the railw►y the proposition of the directors is represented to be, in plain terms, a pro posal to mortgage the receipts of the company to the ex tent of 500,000/. • year.l.What are the expectations of fresh income to be set against this fresh capital? Will the investment pay its own cost, and leave the shareholders neither better nor worse off than they are now' Will it fall short of this, and leave them with something to make good ; or will it actually pay more than its oat, and yield • balance of additional profit for their use and benefit' To speak more exactly, will the receipts of the Midland after this outlay be increased by the sum of 10,0001. • week, or by less, or by more? The Daily News sees in the attack on the Martello Tower, near Queenstown, a part of that system of irrita tion which the directors of the Fenian movement desire to keep up by striking a blow, now here, now there, and always where it is least expected. It may also be that • semi-military aspect was advisedly given to this last out rage in order to impart • quasi-belligerent character to the operations of Feniani•m. Every such warning as this tend, to make the precautions of the government more complete, and to such a contest there can be but one ending. Respecting the Clerkenwell sufferers, the Daily News trusts the Relief Committee will take the good advice of Mr. Disraeli, and call a meeting, either in the City or in Westminster, if not in both. The Standard treats lightly of a letter which it has re ceived from Ireland insisting on various reforms if the uni versal disaffection of the country is to be removed. The objections to the church establishment appear to it as rhetoric instead of facts ; the education grievance is not one felt by the mass of the people ; and the landlords, in our contemporary's opinion, do not appear to be unjust. The Telegraph looks to see the Abyssinian question brought to an early and decisive issue. Magdala could not hold out a day after we had got a battery upon the hills near Tanta, which completely command the works and the interior. It is satisfactory to know that, as late as the 11th of November, the captives were well ; and that they had heard of the landing in Annesley Bay. We can easily imagine how eagerly they have watched the mountain gaps since then for the signs of their coming friends. Treating of the approaching abolition of the monopolies of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Star remarks that Canada will assume the jurisdiction and control which now belong to the imperial government, the rights of com panies or individuals being reserved ; but any settlement that may be arrived at with the Hudson's Bay Company will be subject to the approval or otherwise of the perils• went of Canada. The company has now the best prospect it will ever have of getting reasonable terms for the extinc tion of its privileges. The country mud be colonised, and if Canada does not step in the United States will. On the other side, is the testimony of Mr. BERNARD BAOOT, who declares that SIDNEY ac knowledged his forgeries, that the letter confess ing them was suggested by SIDNEY himself, that on a sketch of such a letter being shown him, SIDNEY tore it up, saying, " do it far better " myself," then sat down and wrote the letter which he now declares to have been extorted from him, and that it was posted, not as SIDNEY declares under force, in Dublin, but after he had reached London, when he was free from direct com pulsion. The postmarks on the letter confirm this statement ; and show that SIDNEY was acting voluntarily in placing the writing in J. L. BACOT'S hands. Mrs. CHARLES BAGOT, whose husband became mad and was removed to a lunatic asylum a few days before receiving notice of the trial, confirmed the testimony of BERNARD ; and Mrs. BOBBYN, the sister, and Mrs. HINDS, the mother of Mrs. SIDNEY, depose to SIDNEY'S oral acknowledgment of his forgeries, and flatly contradict the testimony of his wife. Between these opposite affirmations the jury were not able to determine. They do not appear .o have regarded the intrinsic moral probabilities on either side as turning the balance of credi bility. That JOHN LOYD BAtoOT should have allowed a needy and desperate man authority to sign his name ad libitum to bills of ex change, that SIDNEY, having first burned the papers which might have proved his innocence, should have made a written confession of for geries which he had never committed, and that if the confession were made in a moment of dis traction, the persona who extorted it should have allowed him to carry the document embodying it with him to London, where he was his own master, that being there he should have delibe rately posted it to the address of the person who was interested in using it against him—that men who had been his generous friends and helpers up to the last moment should suddenly be come dark and deadly conspirators against him, and should engage in the plot almost all those connected with him by near ties ; or that on the other hand these men, betrayed by one whom they had served, should have deemed his confession and flight the only means of pro tecting them from pecuniary loss, and him from the penal consequences of his acts—these things are alternatives of more or leas likelihood between which the Dublin jury were unable to decide, and we will not usurp their office. Whatever the truth as to the facts which are in dispute, the facts which are not denied add another example to many of the follyandguiltinto which thelavishspirit of the age, unscrupulous in the acquisition and vulgarly ostentatious in the display of wealth, precipitates its victims. LAW INTELLIGENCE. (THIS DAY.) COURT OF BANKRUPTCY. ATTACK AND PLUNDER OF A MARTELLO TOWER IN IRELAND. DUBLIN, FRIDAY NIGHT. A telegram from Cork says that a martello tower (Before Mr. Oommiesioner Winslow.) near Queenstown was attacked by an armed party, who overpowered three gunners in charge, and APPLICATION CHUBB A USED. In an application which came before the court for leave to make execution available, notwithstanding the regis- seized the arms and ammunition. It is supposed tration of a deed under the 192nd section, his Honour t h at the assailants, who were disguised, landed held that under the 17th rule copies of examination taken in support of the application, ss well as of affidavits, from boats on the strand near the tower. ought to be supplied to the debtor. The proprietor of the Nation newspaper, Alez -124 RI ABRAHAM DAWSON. ander M. Sullivan, and several other persons, The bankrupt was a corn merchant and contractor, of Essex-read, Islington. He ascribes his failure to severe tradesmen in Dublin and Kingstown, are to be losses in business and pressure by creditor& The unse- Drosecut.ed for the part they took in the procession cured debts are 1,2671. ; assets returned at about 4001. A - resolution had been passed under the 185th sea for taking on the Bth inst. in this city. The case will be the case out of court, and this was a sitting to confirm the heard on the 30th December. resolution. Mr. Denny opposed the application on the ground that the proposed composition of es. in the pound was insuf ficient. Mr. Doris also opposed for creditors amounting to 2501. The resolution had only been assented to by creditors for 3081. It was believed that the estate was capable of yielding more than 10e. in the pound. Mr. Lucas appeared for the bankrupt. His Honour maid it was for the interest of all the creditors that the most should be made of the estate, and he would give them an opportunity of looking into the accounts with a view to that object being attained. THE SIDNEY CASE. IN as aoatai The bankrupt, who came up in custody to apply for Lis release, had kept the Duke of Clarence public-house, Hope-terrace,Notting-hill. Debts, 8 . 257. He ascribes hie failure to depression of trade in the district, and his wife's debts previous to marriage, which he did not know of. On behalf of an opposing creditor, it was asked that the bankrupt should tile accounts before being released • but it appearing that he had been in prison two month s, had made repeated applications, and that the amounts might have been asked for before his Honour granted the release, and directed that the bank rupt should the cash, goods, and deficiency acoounta before passing his last examination. IN RE W. C. SINGLETON. This was the case of a lunatic bankrupt, whose petition had been presented by Mr. Aldridge, the solicitor to the official assignee, in accordance with a provision to that effect. The bankrupt, formerly a merchant's clerk and traveller, of Colchester-terrace, Pimlico, is now confined in the tiurrey County Lunatic Asylum at Brookwood, having previously been a prisoner for debt at the suit of his wife, who had taken proceedings against him in the Divorce-court. Mr. Kent (from the office of Mr. Aldridge) said that the object of the present application was to prevent the bankrupt being sent back to Horsemonger-lane gaol after he left the asylum, which it was feared might ease a re turn of the malady. His Honour (after referring to the 106th section under which the proceedings ware taken) asked if the bankrupt was approaching recovery, and was answered in the affirm ative. _ _ _ The case of " Harris v. Begot," which has been for many days pending, and which involved the question whether Mr. Sidney, Q.C., had committed forgery, concluded to-day ; and the jury after deli. berating for two hours and a half were discharged without a verdict. Another correspondent telegraphs as follows : CORK, FRIDAT, A gentleman from the asylum stated that the medical officer of the establishment had expressed an opinion that if the bankrupt was sent back to gaol it would undo all that had beau done. Mr. Bischoff, for the detaining creditor, did not oppose, but said that the bankrupt's wife thought that the longer he was in custody the better, as she was apptehenaive of violence from him. Re had been once imprisoned on that account. His Honour said he should not interfere in the case until after the return of Mr. Commissioner Holroyd, in order that he might have an opportunity of consulting him. THE POLICE COURTS. (THIS DAY.) MARLI3OROIIOII.STRECT. THE INHABITANTS OF OINBARD-STREET, ISOHO, AND THE FOREIGN PEOSTFITTES. Three foreign women, named Pauline BonnetUbe, Laura Mutual, and Veruinie Liverbonne, were charged before Mr. Knox with loitering in Gerrard-street, Soho, for the purposes of prostitution, to the annoyance of the inhabitants. Mr. Charles Wakeling, upholsterer, of No. 36, Gerrard street, Soho, said that between 4 and 5 o'clock the previous afternoon he saw the prisoners loitering in Gerrard-street for the purposes of prostitution, and he as well as the in habitants of the street were much annoyed by the practice. In answer to Mr. Froggatt, who appeared for Bonne chose, the witness stated that he did not see Bonnechose speak to any gentlemen yesterday, though he had on other occasions. Mr. Turner, of No. 33, Gerrard-street, moderator lamp manufacturer, said that he saw Liverbonne loitering about the street yesterday afternoon, between half-past 2 and half-past 4, and saw her speak to and follow five or six gentlemen. He also saw Plimnel loitering about the street. He had known two of the prisoners for eighteen months pest to be constantly in the habit of accosting gentlemen. Women of the prisoner's class were in the habit of congregating opposite his house—five or six of them together, and his customers frequently made remarks about it, and gentlemen who had called upon him h►d told him that they had been annoyed by them. Mr. Miller, of No. 24, Gerrard-street, also spoke of the annoyance he had received, and said that he had been obliged to send his &tighten away from his residence into the country, owing to the scenes that took place in the street. His business was that of an engraver, and the young men in hie employ, in going to and fro, were caught hold of and annoyed. Mr. Knox said he would not trouble any more of the gentlemen he saw in court to give evidence. Sergeant Appleton, 26 C, proved seeing the prisoners speakang to gentlemen yesterday afternoon, and to know ing them all as prostitutes. In answer to Mr. Froggatt, the sergeant said that Bonne ' chose was a very quiet female, and that he had never had Ito caution her. _ - This city has been thrown into a state of intense excite. ment by the report of a very daring but happily blood. lees Fenian outrage. At Foaty, on the left bank of the river Lee, there is a " marten° tower," one of the buildings erected during the French war for the purpose of giving warning to the interior in case of invasion. The garrison of the tower consisted of only two artillerymen, and late on Thursday night a body of men crossed from Passage West, a village on the other side of the river, took the garrison by surprise, and carried off a number of muskets and a quantity of other military stores deposited in the tower. After performing this daring exploit the party recrossed the river, carrying off their booty in safety. The tower is about six miles from Cork and three from Queenstown, is situated within • few hundred yards of the Cork and Queenstown Railway, and adjoins the demesne of Mr. Smith Barry, the member for the county. DEPLORABLE DEATH IN THE STREET. INQUEST.-(THIS DAY.) • This forenoon Mr. John Humphreys, Middlesex coroner, held an inquiry at the Crown Tavern, Whitecroes. street, St. Luke's, relative to the death of ;Charlotte- Hannah Dibley, aged 5 months. Ruth Dibley, 7, Eliaabeth.place, Whitecross-street, said that she was the wife of a hat presser. On Christmas Eve, at 10 o'clock is the morning, witness went out to sell artificial flowers in the street. She had the child on one arm and the basket of dowers on the other. When she got to St. John's. square she felt the child grow stiff ; she raised the shawl and found that it was dead. A gentleman pawing by led her, for she could hardly stand, to Dr. Franklin's gein St. John's-street. Witness's husband had been l o n u r to r i employ three months before he got a situation of 15a. a week three weeks ago. During that three mouths she and her husband and the deceased had to live upon what she could make by selling sealing wax in the streets. Some days she made ls. Cal., and other days nothing. The average was • 'billing a day, and out of that she paid 26. 3d. a week rent. At the end of two months, when everything had been sold for food, they applied to the parish, and got Is. a week and one loaf of bread, and an order to break stones. Her husband was too ill to break the stones, however. Witness also was ill, SO was the deceased. When the parish surgeon's assistant came he said that the child was slowly dying from want of nourishment, and that it did not want physic. Wit nail asked bins would he give an order for some nourish ment, and he said " No, for if he did it in one nee he would have to do it in all." The Coroner said that it would be better to give nourishment in all cane rather than have people die of starvation. Jane Slatley, who lived in the same house, said that the Dibleys were very sober, well-conducted people, but they were so badly off that they used to live all three on a shilling for three days. Dr. Henry Franklin, St. John-street, Clerkenwell, said that the child was brought into his surgery quite dead. The body was dreadfully emaciated. There was not a particle of fat In any of the organs. Death arose from mesenteric disease from want of proper food. The stomach and intestines were empty sad transparent from long con tinued privations. The jury returned a verdict that the deoe ased child was found dead from mesenteric disease resulting from the privations of the mother, and want of proper food." FATAL OMNIBUS ACCIDENT IN VICTORIA- STIOEET. Last night at a quarter to 12 o'clock a sad acci dent, by which a man, whose name is unknown, lost his life, occurred in Vic toria-street. It would appear that the deceased was creasing the road opposite the Westminster Palace Hotel, when he suddenly found him- self in front of the horses of a Camden-town omnibus that was being rapidly driven to the Victoria station. In front of the man there was a little boy walk ing, and behind him there was another boy. A spectator informs us that it would have been impossible for the deceased when he saw his danger to have got out of the way of the omnibus without knocking down either of the boys who would have, of course, been instantly killed, and strange as it may appear, he did not rush out of the way, but allowed the horses to knock him down. The wheels passed over his chest, and his body was dreadfully crushed. Some policemen then ran to the spot, and the omnibus was stopped. The unfortunate man was carried to the Westminster Hospital, where he died in twenty minutes. The body was searched, and some groceries and a card about single men at lodging , houses was found in the deceased's pockets. He was a respectably-deemed man, and looked like • mechanic, of about 50 years of age. Upon the deceased's death taking place the police at once arrested the driver of the omnibus upon the charge of causing it, and the prisoner will be taken before a magistrate. We may Oats that the police have orders to arrest the drivers of all vehicles that run over and kill persons in the streets. They never inquire as to whether blame attaches to the party arrested or not, but they leave that part of the affair to the magistrate. Mr. Froggatt raid that as all the inhabitants wanted was that Bonnechose should cease her calling, at all events in that locality, and as she would promise to do so, he had to ask that only a small tine might be imposed as a caution. Mr. Knox said he wished the inhabitants to know that mime they came to the court he was powerless ; at the same time he considered it a monatrens nuisance for • number of gentlemen to be taken from their businesses and homes to attend the court. The inhabitants it was quite clear were injured in every way, end they had a right to look to the authorities to protect them, and he should fine the prisoners 40s. each or a mouth. MARYLEBONZ; IMPORTANT TO THE PUBLIC AND TO eamemr. A cabman and a gentleman attended before Mr. Mans field to have a dispute about a cab fare settled. The gentleman said he hired the cab at the standing at the Marlborough Arms public-house, St. John's wood, and was taken to the Metropolitan Railway station, at Baker-street. The cabman claimed is. 6d. as his fare. The distance was admitted by both I DEATH OF MARIA COUNTESS OF HARRINOTON.— parties to be lees than two miles. The cabman produced " have to record the death of Maria Countess of Her .i. g• his book of fares for 1867, published by the Commissioners I of Police in which it is made to appear that the / toe, which took place yesterday site:noon between 4 and cabman has a right to charge under ' the Metro. ; 5 o'clock at her residence on Richmond-terrace, Whitehall, politan Streets Act, 1867, cap. 26, the sum after a short illness from bronchitis. The countess, Fe. of one shilling for the first mile when the cabman is vious to her marriage with Charles , 4th Earl of Harrington, taken o ff • standing, and sixpence for every additional - in April, mile." The cabmen, therefore, demanded ls. 64. from the ! 1831, was one of the most popular eateries on the gentleman, and wished to have the magistrate to settle stags. SLe was the daughter of Mr. Samuel T. Foote, the dispute according to his book. • descendant of the celebrated Samuel Foote, the Mr. Mansfield, after referring to the act, and looking at dramatist, and was born at Plymouth in June, the book of fares, said the distance driven was admitted 1798, consequently the countess was in her 70th to be two miles, and the fare demanded was eighteenpence. year. Her father was in the army, but after On the other side it is maintained that the legal fare selling out he became manager of the Plymouth does not exceed one shilling. The cabman had produced Theatre. He married a lady of • family of fortune and his book of fares which certainly had borne out his charge, high respectability, who incurred the displeasure and dip that was a shilling for the first mile and sixpence for each approbation of her friends by her marriage, and the subsequent mile. On referring, however, to claw* estrangement was complete by Mrs. Foote appearing on twenty-six in the act for the regulating of traffic, be (Mr. , the boards of the theatre. At the early age of 12 (namely Mansfield) found that the fare for a cab taken in July, 1810) Maria Foote made her debut on the stage at from a cab stand, which hitherto would have been her father's theatre at Plymouth, in the character of only Gd., shall hereafter be le. It was quite clear to his Juliet. In 1814 Miss Foote made her first appearance on worship that this did not apply to fares which heretofore the London stage at Covent-garden Theatre, as Amanthis, would have been le., but that it is solely intended to raise in The Child of Nature. Her success was great. In sub. the fare for short distances in the case of calm taken from Sequent years she appeared as Maria Darlington, Rebecca a stand to one shilling instead of sixpence. The gen. (Ivanhoe), Virginia, and Miranda. By her marriage with tlemau would therefore have to pay the shilling as the Earl of Harrin gton, who died in March, 1831, she had he proposed, but Mr. Mansfield did not impute issue, an only son, Charles, Viscount Petersham, who died blame to the driver, as probably be was misled by iu 1836, in his :,th y ear ; and Lady Jane St. Maur Blanche, an oversight in the book issued by authority of the police married to the Earl of Mount-Charles. commissioners. The magistrate hoped the press would MELANCHOLY AND SUDDEN DEATH. —A gloom notice this, as it would benefit both cabmen and the public. has been cast over the Christmas festivities at the mansim The gentleman and the cabman thanked his worship and in the village of Aston Clinton, by the sudden death and left the court. ,of the lion. Victor Alexander Yorke, third son of the Earl of Hardwicke. The hon. gentleman had bees staying at Sir A. de Rothschild's, and had engage d to take part in an entertainment given to the vi *gm in lady Rothschild's Girls' School-room, on Monday even . ing. After an overture played by the Mimeos Rothschild, Mr. Yorke sang with touching etrect • song, "The Children's Kingdom," and the school children then sang Mendelssohn's " Departure." Mr. Yorke then war messed reading Tennyson's " Grandmother,- which be prefaced by a few remarks, but on coming to the pw d la e o n rdt t f l os y rm cn l a lin fi eear t s r a m tli w kteh h e ich a feeme he tk moved to the schoolmistress's room, where every at tention was paid to him by Lady de Rothschild and the Misses de Itothechild. Mr. Ccely, of Aylesbury. ad Mr. Pope, of Trigg, were summoned, but their rag"' &nee was of no avail, and be expired about • q uartet past 11. On the following day the Rev. E. Bones Po; needed to Wimpole-ball, Cambridgeshire, the seat a to the Earl Hardwicke, to break the melancholy Dews , family, who were all assembled with the exceptko the deceased gentleman, who was expected to compiris i f a lto crward th n sch e f i:ldi n s e t re. st. the party, and join in the Christmas festivities. ML Yorke wax under medical treatment, having had • tit abeei two months ago, and it was therefore not necessal ts bold an inquest. He was 25 years of age, and was a Lie! tenant in the Royal Horse Artillery. He was nniven beloved, and his loss will be deeply felt by • large Circlet His remains were conveyed on Thursday to Trigg, " to Wimpole Hall, where the funeral will take plan Monday.—Bucks Advertiser. eihveeirAdfravyl I Mr. Gladstone has contributed to the January number of Good Words the first part of an essay on the method pursued in " Ecce Homo." ANOTHER DISCOVERY OF NITRO-GLYCERINE NEAR GATEMEAD.—Yesterday (Friday) the quiet little village of Chestermoor was thrown into a state of anxious excitement by a discovery of that dangerous explosive material nitro gip:wine, having been miWe. From information we have been able to obtain it appears that the owners of Chea termoor Colliery were sinking • new furnace ahaft, end the contract was being carried out by a Mr. Hutton, and another sinker whose name we have not been able to &wedeln. The contractors have been in the habit of using nitro-glycerine in sinking the shaft, and have kept it in the house of Mr. Hutton, who resides in the village of Chestermoor. Yesterday about nb.. of this deadly liquid was discovered in the pantry in Hatton's house, there being a large family in the building. Shortly before the discovery, Hutton had been reading the papers about the lamentable explosion at Newcastle, and must have remarked that he had some nitro-glycerine in the house, for the police sot to know, and instantly took possession of it. It is evi dent that Mr. Hutton was not aware, before he read about the explosion, of the dangerous nature of the mate rial he had in his house, or he would have communicated with the police. The nitro-glycerine is now in possession of the authorities ; and Mr. Squires, superintendent of the r county police, informs us that it will be destroyed this Saturday) morning.—tiaterkeati Martyr. THE WEEKLY PRESS. Tho Examiner, disowning Mr. Gladstone's re marks on the ballot, says it cermet believe that intimida tion is gone to sleep, nor that it will die with the present electoral system ; nor can it believe that, regardless of all constitutional theory and practice in other countries, Mr. Gladstone will refuse to lend his powerful aid in putting an effectual curb on the malversation remedied in every other country, and which can only be eradicated from ours by the ballot. The Spectator terms the scheme of the committees of the recent episcopal conference an elaborate plan for in troducing schism into our church in the colonies, and a new source of division into the church at home. Once make it a slur on a clergyman's character that he claims the liberty conceded him by our ecclesiastical courts, and sets at naught the decisions of the new spiritual bodies pro posed in these ambitious sketches, and you will have such a series of conflicts in the church, such a mass of heart burning., such tests proposed by rectors to curates, and by the proprietors of advowsons to the incumbents of their choice, as it will be utterly impossible for our church to bear. A powerful schismatic church in the colonies will stimulate the high church and evangelical parties at home to compete with it in boastful independence of the secular tribunals. And this is indeed exactly the end for which the leaders of the repent congress at Lambeth are scheming. The Saturday Review continues to argue that the art of governing has been lost to us, and that the duty of govern ing has fallen into contempt. A twelvemonth's hints and warnings have been absolutely waited, and the melancholy experience of the last fortnight has only shown in too many quarters the incapacity of the executive. It is an ungracious task to expose the defects of our police syitem, but it has thoroughly broken down. There can be no question bat that the terrible Clerkenwell catas trophe might have been averted. But official jealousies and suspicions were too strong for common sena.. What has been will be. The regular police will not work with the special constables ; the City police is one thing, the Metropolitan another. The volunteers are and are not both private citizens and trained soldiers. They happen to have arms, discipline, and some habit of working to gether. But popular habits and constitutional principles which have grown up under quite opposite circumstances are supposed to be inconsistent with using, in the only way it can be used, a very creditably useful instrument. The Chronicle observes that the remarkable change which the Emperor Napoleon's attitude on the Homan question has undergone during the last few weeks has nut had to encounter any domestic opposition. The Empress, who in October joined with M. de Lavalette in urging a joint occupation of Rome, has now cast off her dread of Prtisia, and consequently again throws the whole weight of her influence into the anti-Italian scale. It is under her protection that an active Bourbonist propa ganda has established itself at Paris, which has already begun to issue proclamations addressed to the Neapolitan people. It is far from certain, however, that the deter mination of Prussia to keep clear of Italian affairs has not been exaggerated. Prussia would not remain indifferent in the event of Italy being attacked by France ; and there is reason to believe that the French government has already been reminded that in such a contest Italy might not be left to fight unassisted. Witt Court. OSBORNE, Dec. 27. The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon, accompanied by Princess Christian and Princess Henriette of Schleswig-Holstein, and attended by the Equerries in Waiting on horseback ; and her Majesty, accompanied by Princess Christian and Princes, Henrietta, and attended by the Dowager Countess of Gainaborough, drove out this morning. The Equerries in Waiting were in attendance. Princess Louise and Princess Beatrice went out in the grounds, attended by the Hon. Emily Cathcart. Prince Leopold also went out, attended by Mr. Duck worth. Prince Arthur and Prince Christian went out shooting this morning, attended by Sir John Cowell and Major Elphinstone. The Hon. Lucy Kerr has left Osborne. The Duchess of Somerset has left Brown's Hotel for Stover Park. The Earl and Countess of Dudley are entertain iug company at Witley Court, Worcestershire. The Right Hon. Sir John Pakington, Bart., M.P., and Lady Pakington entertained at dinner last evening, at their residence in Groevenorplace, the Earl and Countess of Longford, Viscount Strathallan and Hon. M 1 Drummond, Lord H. Lennox, Major-General the Hon. James and Lady Sarah Lindsay, General the Right Hon. Sir H. Storks, Admiral. Sir Alexander and Lady Milne, General Sir Edward Logard, Sir Bartle and Lady Frere, General Balfour, Major Palliser, Mrs. (herald), &c. The death took place on the 15th November, at Jubbnlpoor, East Indies, from a fall from his horse, in his 27th year, of Captain H. R. Stanley, Royal Welsh Fusi liers, third son of the Hon. H. T. and Anne Stanley, and nephew of the Earl of Derby. It may be interesting to many of Mr. Tennyson's friends and others to know that the reports about his leaving the Isle of Wight as • permanent residence are et , mamma He would do so on no coconut, but intends to spend winter and other times at Farringfor d , and to seek his newly-erected house " for • change , " uwe say.— dtkenatiss. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. THE EASTERN QUESTION. THE MUTING OF RUSSIAN DIPLOMATISTS. There is (says the Siecle) at the present moment a regular congress of Russian diplomatists at St. Petersburg. The Russian Ambassadors at Con stantinople, Paris, and Vienna—General Ignatieff, Count von Budberg, Count Stackelberg, and Count von Berg, are assembled under the presidency of Prince (ortchakoff. Baron Brunnow, the Russian Ambassador, has been excused from attending on account of his age and the in clemency of the season. The assembling of these eminent persons is generally attributed to the necessity which is felt of having a precise line of policy in the event of the complications which are expected to occur in the East. What seems to confirm this view, is that the extraordinary me st ing corresponds with the official publication by the Russian Government of the documents which bear upon all the questions which are agitated in that quarter of Europe. The Avenir National says : The most disquieting news arrives from the East. The Candiote movement has assumed such 'proportions that Hussein Pacha has been obliged to ask for reinforcements from Constantinople. The Cabinets of St. Petersburg and of Athens support the insurgents by money and sympathy, and are only waiting to give the more effective aid. Moreover the Semis= support the menacing demands of the Montenegrins. We were informed by a despatch yesterday that Russianagents are travelling through Bulgaria and stirring up the inha bitants to revolt. To-day we learn from Bosnia and Herze govina that Russian propagandism is equally active in these provinces, and that it is promoted by the aid of the clergy of the Greek rite. (REUTER'S TELEGRAM.) FRANCE. PARIS, Dze. 28. The Cuttatitutiontiel of this morning severely cen sures Italy for having suspended payment of her share of the Pontifical debt. "This payment," says the Cumtitutionnel, "is an obligation freely contracted by a treaty consented to and voted by the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies, signed in the face of Europe, and carried into execution." EXPRESS FROM PARIS. (FROM OUR OWN CORIMPONDIENT.) PARIS, FRIDAY RUINING. M. Carnot's amendment to the Army Bill, sup ported by him in a veryinteresting speech, deserves a passing notice. He proposed, MM. Jules Simon and Hinon seconding his motion, that the duration of service in the active army should be limited toone year for those who could produce certificates of thorough primary instruction, and alma that they could handle arms and go through the elements of drill. This system, he contended, would ensure sufficient military capability in case of emergency, and, at the same time, avoid the great ipischief of diverting citizens during the beat part of their lives from civil occupations. The stimulus it would give to the great cause of educa tion would be greater than any other that could be devised ; every father and mother would do their utmost to have their sons taught reading and %Ming when they knew that proficiency would obtain ezemotion from all but a year's military service. It would be easy to have drill sergeants in every school, and their instruction would be eagerly sought for on account of the immunities it would bring. M. Carnot concluded his speech with the following clever protest against standing armies : The mere fact of the existence of a large standing army tends to enervate a nation by giving it the habit of not relying upon itself to protect its honour and interests. It tends to pervert the heads of states by giving the fullest scope to their ambition and rashness. Its often an arm in the hands of a child or a madman. But for armies always ready for action, it would be impossible to account for certain enterprises about which the people whom they ruin are, to say the least, indifferent ; the great wars of dynastic successions of the 18th century ; and in the 19th those monstrous anachronisms of a war under the pretext of rivalry of races in Mexico, and a war under the pretext of religion in Italy. (Interniption and great cheering on the left.) Let us then, if you will have it so, say no moreAof contemporary examples. I will cite one from the past, and with that I will conclude. Frederick 11. when he was about to undertake a war which was to shake Europe to its foundations, said in a jaunty off-hand way to him officers, that he should be very glad to see his name in the Gazette at once and in history afterwards. In those times sovereigns did not give themselves the trouble of coining phrases to disguise their follies. A royal fancy was its own justification. Accordingly, when later in life Frederick 11. wrote his memoirs it never occurred to him to excuse or expl►in away what he had said in his youth. On the contrary, after having enumerated the motives which led him to covet Silesia, he said with • frankness, I would say a aafrefi, if I Were not speaking of such a great personage, which is truly astonishing : "Troops always (ready for action, a well filled trea sury, and the vivacity of my character were the rea sons why I made war upon Maria Theres►." There you have the whole moral of standing armies and a per sonal government—troops always ready, and the caprice of the master. When M. Carnot's amendment, and another moved by M. Glais Bizoin, were negatived without a division, 6 a third, which gives the government far more anxiety, was moved by M. Louvet on be half of several members of the majority, proposing that the extreme term of service shall be reduced from nine years to eight. It is rumoured this evening that the Emperor, already vexed at the cutting down which his army measure has met with in committee, will dissolve the chamber. An exciting debate is now going on. The Bourse was very heavy, and Rente sustained the further fall of bc. for cash and 71c. for account. It is reported that the Prussian government contemplates establishing a penal colony somewhere on the west coast of Africa, and that • certain Herr Caller.- berg will make an expedition to that country in the course of next spring, for the purpose of selecting the most con venient spot for the new settlement. The idea of erecting a statue to Voltaire, started by the Silde, has proved a moms. The list of subscribers already amounts to 202,500. The committee, consisting of MM. Michele', Corbon, Barye, Pelletan, Legouve, Daubigny, and Karin, held its first meeting on Sunday. The majority voted for • re-production of Houdon's chef d'reuvre on • larger scale than the original statue. The sub-committee have undertaken to direct the execution of the work, and to demand from government • suitable site where it may be erected. M. Dolfus Assuet has determined to erect a chalet on the summit of Mont Blanc and establish therein a meteorological observatory, which will therefore be placed at an altitude of 4,800 metres above the ordinary level of the earth. Two guides, paid and supported by H. Assuet, will spend the summer in this glacial habitation for the purpose of making meteorological observations. During a period of twelve months three guides were kept at the expense of this Errant in • chalet on the Col de St. Theoduie at an altitude of 3,200 metres—that is, at 2,000 or 3,000 feet above the shaven crowns of the monks of St. Bernard. CALCUTTA AND CHINA (HZAVY) MAILS.— GDIRALT A R, Dsc. 21.—The Poem& leaves at 11 a.m. for Southampton, where she may be expected on the let prom. OUTWARD CALCUTTA AND AIIIITRALIAN GIBRALTAR, Due. 27.—The Ripon, from Southampton on the 20th MM., arrived at 9 p.m. yesterday, and left at 1 a.m. today, for Alexandria. Rxperienoed sirens heed. winds. R r