The Press. — London, England, 1854-08-19 00:00:00

PPE 7 8 4 .. . - . mind that he will best show his adhe sion to the system above referred to by choosing men who, if unknown, are unfit for office, or if known, insult a colony by accepting it. The power of elaborately and pa thetically defending such appointments Is a gift, which may, however, be improved by the practice likely, under existing circumstances, to be afforded. TERMS OF :ON FOR Zbe Pros's: Per Annum .. Half-Yearly .. Quarterly .. 0 0 0 13 0 0 6 6 Payable in advance. Subscribers are requested to send their Orders through their News Agent; if direct to the Office, accompanied by a Remit tance. Money Orders to be made payable to Mr. ALFRED 110, Strand. London. LAW OFFICERS. The House does not love lawyers, and therefore lawyers should intrude themselves but seldom. The officers of the Crown are not called upon to make themselves unpopular by departure from this rule. But when they have to defend their colleagues it is customary to evince as much contempt f or them, and for lay intellect in general,i as possible, and to make it clear to the House that if the Crown officer had given his leisure and his great mind to the measure at issue, it would have been another kind of thing altogether ; indeed, it is not unusual to state this in terms. TREASURY SECRETARIES. These useful officials should attach themselves to separate cliques in a Cabinet, and be as impertinent to its other members as is safe. MMI•••••..^-- - SATURDAY; Their special patrons must see to their interests NOwri/everannent takes place. There is no particular objection to their talking sheer nonsense in the House, or to their being publicly apprised by a col league that they do so. Vritgg+ LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 1854. POSTSCRIPT. SPAIN. The question of the convocation of the Cortes was finally decided on at a Council of Ministers, held on the 11th, and the Gazette of the following day con tains the requisite exposition and decree. The Vienna Prase has advices from Constan• tinople of the 10th, stating that the marriage of Princess Fatima and Redschid Pacha's son was celebrated with great pomp on that day. The armaments for Asia are continued with great energy. Several arrests have been made in Paris and Brussels of persons suspected of being concerned in a politi.al plot. Those taken into custody at Brussels are mostly French refugees. The camp of the South is being actively installed. The engineers have cleared the ground and marked the sites where the tents are to be pitched. A por tion of the latter have been already erected. The sanitary condition of the troops is excellent, although cholera prevails with some intensity at Aix and in its vicinity. The eight million francs which are to be employed in carrying out the testamentary dispositions of the Emperor Napoleon I. will be thus applied: — To the officers and soldiers of the batta lion of the Isle of Elba, or to their widows and children To the wounded at Ligny or Waterloo To the officers and soldiers who fought from 1792 to 1815 fcr the glory and in dependence of the nation 1,500,000 To the town of Bnenne To the town of Thiery To the provinces which suffered most un der the two invasions To the special legatees of the Emperor, dr to their widows and direct heirs 4,000,000 Fr. 300,000 200,000 Total The Corps Legislatif will be asked to " regu larise " this credit. The money will be distributed by a commission, and all the appropriations must be ratified by the Emperor. Letters from Constantinople report the death, by cholera, on :he Ist inst., of Lieut.-Col. the Honour able Lauderdale Maule, M.P. for Forfarshire, and Surveyor-General of the Ordnance. The deceased officer, who had retired upon half.pay from the com mand of the 79th Highlanders some two years ago, was appointed one of the Assistant-Adjutants General on the formation of the staff of the expeditionary THE PRESS. army to the East. He was in his 48th year, and had served a considerable time in the 79 th. By his death the seat for Forfarshire, the Surveyor-Generalship of the Ordnance, and an appointment on the Adjutant - General's st aff are rendered vacant. Col. Maule was next brother to Lord Panmure, and heir pre sumptive to that nobleman. Asiatic cholera has shown itself in Horsemonger lane Goal. Two female prisoners confined therein to await their trial at the next Surrey Sessions have fallen victims to the disease. THE WINDSOR COURT-MARTIAL. AFTER fourteen days' sitting, entirely occupied with listening to, or deciding upon, the voluminous evidence offered on both sides, the court met for the fifteenth time on Thursda), when Lieut. Perry pro. ceeded to read his defence. The document was long , and eloquently written. The prisoner set out by declaring that he had been attacked by conspiracy 4 combination, calumny, and perjury, and he should ask for a speedy and honourable acquittal " Complaining of the injury done to hie cause by the stoppage of his cross-examination of hostile witnesses when he was eliciting important matter, but in other respects admitting the kindness and consideration of the court, and especially the upright and dignified conduct of the President, Lieutenant Perry passed on to the con sideration of the evidence adduced by the prosecution in support of the first charge—' falsely accusing Colonel Garrett of calling him (Lieutenant Perry) a fool,' &c., which he subjected to a severe analysis and criticism. The sum of all the testimony on this charge, he observed, was, that Colonel Garrett did not recollect' calling him ( prisoner) a fool for his pains. Colonel Garrett could testify to nothing positive, but could not charge his memory' whether he used the words in question. And all the evidence called by him on this point amounted at best to the negative fact that the witnesses summoned either had not heard the words, or could not remember anything about it. The first charge, therefore, was a positive failure. His (prisoner's) statement respecting Colonel Garrett had been a positive statement, true both in fact and in legal presumption, until its falsehood was shown. But no accumulation of nothings could produce an unit, no quantity of non-rni-recordas could amount to demonstration. He was perfectly consistent with his statement, that all the eight witnesses might either not have recollected' or have heard' Colonel Garrett call him a fool, and still the colonel may have called him so, and did so call him. " On the second charge—that he (Lieut. Perry) falsely stated that he had threatened to Colonel Garrett to appeal to the general of the district, there were the same incapacity of recollection and want of knowledge on the part of all the witnesses examined as on the first charge, except in the case of Colonel Garrett himself, who said he never received any letter threatening the report alluded to. On his previous examination, however, Colonel Garrett had sworn that he had' no recollection' of the circumstance. " On the third and fourth charges—falsely stating that Captain Nicholas had ill-treated officers on joining, and aided and abetted others in so doing—sixteen witnesses had been called, with the endeavour to prove a negative in support. Seven of these could be convicted of pre varication. Ensign Hutton did not " recollect" Captain Nicholas using opprobrious language; Lieutenant Waldey who denied that Captain Nicholas called Ensign Coote, A d—d son of a bitch of an Ensign," was convicted by his own letter, which stated that Captain Nicholas used them at the mess-table ; Lieutenant Dunscombe's answers were all in the non-mi-ricordo fashion. Lieutenant• Ford had stated that only one officer of the 46th was present when he l(Ford) was pulled out of bed, but Lieutenant Curtis had sworn directly the opposite to this and other statements. This latter officer had stated that he had' ' totally forgotten' the meeting of the officers assembled by Col. Garrett to canvass his (prisoner's) letter. How could such testimony possibly receive credit ? Lieutenant Lewellyn, who only recollected being himself engaged in throwing out Lieutenant Waldey's bed-clothes, had been contradicted by Captain Chambers ; Lieutenant Greer had found himself unable to recollect' suffi ciently to answer any important question. Adiu tant M'Alister was ' not aware' Captain Campbell did not deny Captain Nicholas's participation in practical NNW INDIAN MINISTERS. The office of Indian Minister has grown into importance of late, on account of an absurd popular prejudice that our enormous empire in the East is worth intelligent superintendence. To counteract an absurdity which cannot be ignored, wise statesmen will take care to confide India to ,an official manifestly inadequate to the successful stewardship of a manor. The Indian Minister who addresses the House will also recollect that he is speaking of those who talk Hindos tanee, and will endeavour to render himself as intelligible as if ho were using that tongue, though, of course, he does not know a wukoof from a poonyum patam. CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER. If a member of our House, his business is to go to sleep until his superiors wake him, and tell him to get out and make room for a member of the other. jokes. Could such evidence as this be relied upon as a logical and legal proof of Captain Nicholas never having ill-treated young officers? The best refutation of the charge, if false, could have been given by Captain Nicholas himself. Why had not the prosecutor called that officer? Because it would have resulted in the vindication of him self (Lieutenant Perry). He had gone thaough the whole evidence, and he bad the assurance of the highest legal authority that on such evidence no civil judge or jury in the country would hesitate a moment to pronounce his entire innocence on all the charges. Lieutenant Perry then passed in review the indignities offered to him after he joined the regiment, and detailed hie own mode of life as an officer. He then touched on the affair with Lieu tenant Greer and the court-martial which followed. The statements in the letter to Colonel Pipon, though not written by him (Lieutenant Perry) were signed by him, and were substantially true. It was, however, a privileged communication, and unfairly used against him. Passing underreview the strange and irregular mode in which certain companies had been selected for foreign service, whereby he had been deprived of his most important witnesses — Captain Hardy and Lieutenant Shervinton—the prisoner commented on the convincing and unprejudiced testimony of Paymaster Corcoran, Captain Chambers, Major Stuart, &c.—men placed by position, or fortune, above the reach of corrupt influences, and whose evidence was above sus picion, and showed that the truth had been suppressed by the witnesses for the prosecution." At the conclusion of the defence the court was once more adjourned. FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE: Tuesday, August 10. BANKRUPTCIES ANNULLED. GEORGE Criminate Lonestoff, saddler—lSAAC Coox, Sunderland, painter. BANKRUPTS.—ALFRED HENRY EDOLEY, Botesdale, Suf folk, innkeeper —PHILIP RIMER, Gravesend, cigar merchant — Francis WILDBORM, Wisbeach, hotelkeeper—WlLLlAM Ivoar, Norwich, wholesale grocer—Jon x THOMAS JENKINS, Deptford, builder—HENßY JoaN ASHLEY, Newbury, artificial manure merchant—BEßßY DAVY, Crediton, Devonshire. linen manu facturer—Wm-lAm MUDGE, Paignton, Devonshire, fly pro prietor—V IMAM and BEN RY SHAW, M old-green, near Rudders. dyers—THOMAS Ramon and SAMUEL EASON, Liverpool, merchants—WlLLlAM COVENZY, Manchester, silk manufacturer —Samos STANSTIELD, Little Million, Lancashire, cotton spinner. SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.—R. M'DoNALD, Portobello, spirit merebant—T. SCOTT, Edinburgh, grocer. Friday, August 18. BANKRUPTCY ANNULLED. CHARLES MEE, Bristol, Berlin wool and fancy needlework manufacturer. BANKRUPTS.—HENRY KNAPP, New-road. builder —Ungar ScARLETT. Huddersfield, brewer—THOMAS DEANS, Blackburn, draper—ROßEßT TRIPS ,SL Michael'e•alley, Cornhill, sharebrOker GEORGE THOMAS CHANTRY, Birmingham, paper box manufac turer—HENßY BREWER, Ross, Herefordshire, innkeeper — SAMUEL BOUTLEGE, Huddersfield, dyer—THOMAS MASSON, Finsbury, dealer in horses—SIDNEY HILNES HAWKES, Chelsea, brewer—SAMUEL HERBERT ELLIS, the younger, Stock Exchange, ShSrebrOkeP—HENßY ALFRED MATTIEws, Camberwell, Surrey, victualler. THE ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON REGATTA commenced at Cowes on Tuesday morning under very favour able circumstances, and, although there was this year no unusual source of excitement, the regatta was by no means devoid of interest. The town enjoyed an unusual gathering of visitors in addition to the owners of yachts and other patrons of the sport. Prince Albert's cup was sailed for on Monday by ,cutters and yawls belonging to the Royal Yacht Squadron, and won by the Arrow—owner, Mr. T. Chamberlayne. Her Majesty's cup was contested on Thursday by yachts of 140 tons and upward, but from the almost perfectly calm state of the weather the match was not concluded within the time allotted 'by the club rules. The great and concluding race of the regatta, the Royal Yacht Squadron Cup, open to all yachts of the squadron, is to be competed for to day ( Saturdaj ). The course is the same as last year, from the club-house to a mark twenty miles out to sea, and back to the Nab Light vessel. JOHN HICKEY STABLE, late solicitor of the Man chester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway Company, has been convicted of forgery at the Liverpool As 'sizes. Sentence, fifteen years' transportation.