The Press. — London, England, 1853-08-20 00:00:00

THE LONO-STAISING CLAM of Bonacich, is respect el the aii4 Nat" has decided in die negative by • ed eammeittee, whose report is Now before Parliament. The claim took the shape of compensation demanded for the seizure of the vessel as far back as the year IHOB : The ship was seized tinder rather curious; circumstances. She belonged to Vendee, but which state, daring her voyage, 111111 transferred by the treaty of Prealmarg to France, and, dilhoegh the Nerelin went to sea as theptuperty of Austrian =, she was liable, on arrival in - England, to be con es the of Frank eabheets. The usual maims won gives s to easilemaindoe, but Captain Ilemsiek. who sisiesed to he half owner, did not appear. Ake geese negatistion. the Addy, on a report front ' 1r Jahn Nichol! ordered the vessel to be restored as a OM to which liberality and forbearance might be shown. Oakes, however, were put in spinet the vessel for repairs And es, and bell was net pet in ; so that, atter some between the claimants and the marshal of the Admiralty Court, the ship was finally sold in July, 1811, by the Commereiel Dock Company, for WOOL Captain reedier thew elehned MO,UtJIN. as the value of the cargo, 100,0001. es the less of a voyage, 11,000 i. as compensation for his imsriresasst . and WNW. for the vessel itself ; in all, 21 The segsmittee report, with respect to the first claim, that the imp was removed previous to the -seizure of the vend GM dtieJeriediction of the Admiralty ; -with respect to the mend claim, that the delay was owing to the owners, to whom the ship would have been sooner • restaged if they had l in court at once ; as to the third claim, that the risossasst was the result of a !prints snit ; and with regard to the fourth, that it is not • preyed that Captain Based& was the owner of the vessel. • the edam of whisk was neither Mewl nor improper, and • the restitution having been made solely on the grounds of liberality and forbearance. - - THE BARNSTAPLE Baum COMMISSION has been m i = aeon weeks, in consequence of the coin _ Mr. M. Prendergast, Q.C., Sir John Eardley Wilmot., Bart., and Mr. Leofrio Temple, :having been unable to attend until after the assizes : had closed. The day for opening the inquiry is fixed . for the 30th instant. It is expected that some curious revelations will take place. Six or THE RIVAL. REAPING MACHINES exhibited at • the late meeting at Gloucester were selected by the • council of the Agricultural Society, and a time fixed ! for a grand trial and judgment upon their respective : merits. This trial came off on Tuesday and Wednes • day last, at Mr. l'usey's farm. The wet weather had unfortunately left the corn and other crops in melt t a state as hardly to afford a fitting test of tho per :formances of the several machines. The judges, nevertheless, persevered, and, after a careful and - varied trial, adjudged the society's prize of 21/l. to Messrs. Crosakill's " Bell's Reaper." They also 44 higbj commend" Messrs. Burgess and Key's xeaperNpon McCormick's principle; and they "com ment; " Messrs. Dray and Co.'s reaper, upon Hussey's principle. The judges report with much satisfaction that a decided improvement has taken place in the working of the reaping-machines brought under their notice; but they are, nevertheless, of opinion that, by a combination of certain elements which exist in the various machines exhibited, there might be pro duced one surpassing anything hitherto brought be fore the public. Such an implement might be made to unite the advantages of simplicity in construction, greater durability, lightness of draught, and reduction in price, with the thorough capability of being more easily managed by the agricultural labourer. Pit/ an Voila. WREN the late memorable SMYTH FORGERY CASE so suddenly broke down, and the counsel retained for the plaintiff threw up their briefs, there remained upwards of fifty witnesses to be examined for the plaintiff, and eighty for the defendants. The defence, it is understood, would have been of the most coin plate kind. For example, Mr. Herapath, the ana • lytical chemist of Bristol, would have proved that the deeds were forgeries, the ink and the sealing-wa:c 'being of modern date, and other peculiarities woub have been established in the seal. The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol had also ascertained that Dr. 'Verney Lovett, who was alleged to have married Si r Hugh in Ireland, did not take his degree of D.D. until 1800, which was thirteen years after the alleged nuptials. It had further been proved that, on the day of the alleged interview with Sir John Smyth, Mrs. Way was not at Heath-house, nor did the ba ronet go out at all. The prisoner, however, was seen near the lodge-gate. The plaintiff, it would have been shown, left his home while young, and took a service ; that while in such service he stole the horse referred to on the trial; that subsequently, in 1814, lie was in Bath keeping a school in Ladymead, that he was accused while there of an abominable offenco, and was admitted to bail, which bail he ran from and forfeited. A consequence of this event was his reparation from his then wife, Mary Ann Whittick, who had, it is said, before her marriage, lived in ser vice at Ashton -court, and who subsequently beyond all doubt served as housekeeper there in her proper Dam as Prods. Several of the members of the THE PRESS. Bath family were present in Gloucester to show that they had never heard of such a person at Longleat, or in connection with their house, as the plaintiff; and the governor of Uchester gaol was prepared to iden tify him as the man who had so narrowly escaped the gallows for horsestealing. The untoward result of the trial will be a source of great mortification to numerous persons at Clifton and Bristol, who had been freely trusting the self-styled baronet with a handsomely-furnished house and abundant supplies of creature comforts. It is reported that four keen Israelitish gentlemen in London have advanced I,OOW. each upon the claimant undertaking, when his estates came into hand, to pay them severally that amount per annum. EDOUARD R&YNAVD, the French tailor, charged with conspiring to assassinate Louis Napoleon, and with unlawfully soliciting the Prince de Joinville to concur in that conspiracy, was tried at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday. The charge was confessed by the counsel for the prosecution to be singular in nature and not very easy to bring within the range of the English law. It was founded on two letters received by the Prince some time since, and of which there was sufficient proof that the pri soner was the writer. Their contents were published at length in the reports of proceedings before the magistrates. In them the prisoner professed much devotion to the Orleans family, and a deep hatred against the present Emperor, founded both on their wrongs and his own. He declared himself on the point of starting for France, where he darkly hinted his intention of "doing something to change the tiovernment," but asked for pecuniary assistance towards his journey. The tenor of these letters, it was contended, amounted to a misdemeanour in the eye of the law, as being designed to " compass the death of a foreign sovereign at amity with this country." The prisoner's counsel pooh-poohed the charge. The letters, he said, were but a silly artifice to extort a little money from the Prince de Joinville ; and it was ridiculous to suppose that such a wretched creature could entertain serious intentions of assas sinating the Emperor of France and revolutionising Europe. The jury coincided in this view of the case, and pronounced a verdict of acquittal. MANY PUBLICANS have been 'victimised by a gang of fellows who walk into their houses and commence a series of talk and dodging which they close by de manding change for money which they never laid down. Two members of this gang, Cooper and Hewett, were committed for trial at the Mansion house, on Tuesday, after a display of cool impudence which even the metropolitan police courts rarely witness : The barmaid of one of the complainants said, in answer to a question from Cooper, " I am sure you are the luau." Cooper: Why, you would swear I was the man if you saw my head upon another man's body. My lord, we know the value of the evidence of people of this kind. sow, I never was in the fellow's house in any life, and I never see this here gentleman (Hewett) iu all any life before I see him in this here dock. (Laughter.) The Lonn MAYOR: Oh, you did not! Let some of the officers who apprehended the prisoners stand up. The policeman who took the prisoner Cooper into custody: My lord, Hewett walked along with Cooper as Cooper and I were coining to the Mansion-house &mu the station-house, and they were talking together all the time s Cooper: You don't say so! Policeman: I do; and Hewett lent you his short pipe as we walked along, and I took it out of youa mouth. Hewett: There's nothing too hot or too heavy for these here officers to swallow. Why, you know I never seed you before (to Cooper). Cooper: At any rate, I never seed you, and no mistake. (Laughter.) The Barmaid: That prisoner (pointing to Hewett) had a smock frock on when he came into the house, and he pretended to be drunk. _ _ Hewett: There's more of it. I never had a smock-frock over my carcass ; and I declare 1 never was the least in Wilier. 'Me LOUD MAYOR: Several witnesses havo sworn that you had a smock-hock on. liewett: To be mire they have. You could get plenty to swear that I was born with a smock-frock on. (Laughter.) Swear the next officer, and I'm blowed if he won't tell you I bad two on, if you wish him. The Loup Mayon: It is my intention to commit you both. Do you wish to say anything? Cooper: No; I should think not. Show me the use of it. You'd believe these people as has been swearing black was white. I don't know what this gentleman (Hewett) may have to say, 'cause I never seed him afore with my blessed eyes. Hewett: No; I have just as bad an opinion of the lot as you have. I an't got nothing to say till I gets afore a real justice. The Loan MAYOR: Well, i hope you will meet with real justice. Cooper: Ay ; I hope so, for 1 am blessed if we can get the thing here. DAMAGES !OR SLANDER were demanded by a mil liner of Manchester named Wild from one Hobson, a shopman and traveller for Mr. Dunn, draper, of New castle-on-Tyne. When about to visit Manchester last Christmas, defendant was told by his master to col lect an account of 50/. due from a Miss Wild, adding for his information that tie debtor was a slippery cha racter, who would deny her identity, and had been in gaol for forgery. Defendant went unfortunately to the wrong party, calling upon the plaintiff, because her name was Wild, for an account of which she knew nothing. Upon her repudiating the debt, however, he proceeded to use the information given him by his employer, and shaped it into expressions which the plaintiff contended were slanderous and likely to damage her seriously in credit and character. SATURDAY, An apology had, it appeared, been offered both by the defendant and Mr. Dunn when the mistake was discovered. At Liverpool, on the Northern Circuit, the case was tried on Monday, and a jury gave 1001. damages for the slander. THE SALFORD UNION has been robbed to a con siderable extent by Barlow, a relieving officer. His duty was to disburse the union relief-money to the several paupers, duly entering every payment in a book which was periodically checked by the board of guardians. In this book he seems to have entered names of parties who never claimed relief, or who were actually dead, and, a discovery being made, he was tried at the Liverpool Assizes for embezzling certain moneys, the property of his masters the guardians. His salary had been 100!. a year. He was found Guilty, but sentence deferred in order to dispose of a technical plea raised in his favour, on the point that the money, which came into his hands in slump and by a cheque, could not be " embezzled" in a criminal sense by the misappropriation of certain portions of it. THE ALLEGED BRIBERY CASES AT DERBY have been made the subject of au indictment which was pre sented at the Central Criminal Court, and a true bill found on Wednesday against Major Wm. Beresford, M.P., George Henry Richardson Cox, Wm. Thomas Cox, John Huish, Alfred Ackerman, John Clark, Christopher Hibburt, John Calow, John Savage, Thomas Morgan, and Thomas Lund. The indict. ment is very lcng and special, and charges the de fendants with having conspired to bribe the electors of Derby, and to carry the election by illegal and un constitutional means. On Thursday the defendants entered into the usual recognisances to answer the charge at the next sessions of that court. Mr. E. James, Q.C., Mr. Ballantine, and Mr. Hawkins are already retained for the prosecution ; Sir F. Thesiger, Mr. Bodkin, and several other learned counsel, will appear for the defendants. A PRISONER FOR DEBT, who had been thirty-six years in custody, applied at Judges' Chambers for release, pleading that his detention was illegal, and that he had been wrongfully kept in prison for the last twenty years. His original place of incarcera tion was Montgomery Gaol, where he was confined in 1817, and had since resided in the Fleet and Queen's Bench. He now urged Various technical pleas to show that he had become entitled to his discharge when the prison in Wales was closed, nearly twenty years ago. The officer of the Queen's Prison produced a long roll of parchment, containing the various writs and commitments that had been issued against the prisoner from the beginning. After examining them, Mr. Justice Williams decided that the detention was perfectly regular, and the prisoner must apply to the Insolvent Court for release. AN INNOCENT "STRIKE'S" MAN, named Reynolds, applied at Marlborough-street Police Office for relief ►:nd advice on Monday. He had been em•• ployed at the West India Docks, but was now deprived of employment, and yet refused relief by the parish overseer, on the ground that he had joined in the strike Mr. HARDWICK : And why did you strike ? Reynolds: 1 was obliged to do so. 1 did not want to strike. I got pretty good wages for my work, and would have kept at work if it had not been for the Irish labourers. The Irish labourers came round in a body and half murdered any one that would not join the strike. I did not want to have my bead smashed or to be half-kicked to death, by refusing to join, as I knew the law gave me no protection, or what was the same as no protection, for what satisfaction would it have been to ine, if crippled, to learn that somebody had been tined • few shillings for injuring me ? When the strike was over 1 went back to the docks to get work again, but everything was slack, and there was no work for at least half of us. The dock people had got all the hands they could to do our work while on the strike, and when we got back there was nothing to do. I stood at the chain wait ing ever since Thursday for a turn. I could not get on, and as my wife is sick and starving, and so ant 1, we tried the parish. but could get nothing. Mr. fannwicx, believing there was some truth in the appli eant's statement, ordered him 2s. from the poor•bor. THE ROBBERY Or Gow Dun. ' amounting to more than 2,0001. value, from the ship Lady Flora, has al • ready resulted in the conviction of one culprit, who is sentenced to transportation, and on Monday formed a charge against two alleged accomplices, men named Blanchett and Simpson, at the Clerkenwell Court. John Gore, the convicted man, was brought in cus tody from Liverpool to give evidence, and recited curious history of the life on board an emigrant-ship returning from Australia Witness was second mate of the fatty Flora. from Melbourne to Rio. The prisoners were passengers on board. Gambling was carried on among the passengers and crew to a great extent, and a good deal of money was lost and won. Simpson lost his money. Ho (Simpson) had a conversation with witness, when the gambling was at its height, and while he (witness) was on deck on the night watch. On that night he bad lost 201. with Simpson at gambling. Simpson said he had been an old smug gler, and to make up the loss they had sustained there was plenty of gold below, and they could easily get all the gold-dust, and there would be little difficulty in taking possession of the ship. He then suggested that they should have a third party, and that a passenger named Aaron Crakuw should be in it, as he (Crakow) was a " tly kid," aman of the world, and they could not do well without him in the matter. Witness was introduced by Simpson to Cralow, who said, " You know where the gold-dust is Mowed." and proposed to have a look at it; and Simpson, cra kow, and witness went down to Crakow's cabin, and the next day they were to examine the gold-room before they got to Rio. Cra kow and Blauchett slept Just alma the gold-dust roust, from