The Press. — London, England, 1854-02-04 00:00:00

..., FEBRUARY 4, 1854. earliest date is 20th May, 1850 ; the latest 21th Ja nuary, 1854. The first despatch relates to squabbles between the Greek and Latin monks at Jerusalem ; the last is a brief letter of approval from Lord Cla rendon to Sir G. H. Seymour. The papers are num bered up to 417. THE SEWER RATE IN THE CITY OF LONDON, just authorised by the commissioners, for the ensuing year, will be ld. in the pound only. Last year it was 2d. ; the year before, 3d. THE COMMISSIONERS OF WOODS AND FORESTS are taking tenders for the construction of the new bridge at Westminster, and the offers, as might be expected, are very numerous. THREE LARGE CASES have been brought by a ves sel from Dunkirk, containing presents to the House of Lords by the President of the French Senate, and intended for the library of the house. THE Sot:Ili-WESTERN RAILWAY DIVIDEND for the half year ending 31st December, 1853, as recom mended by the directors at the general meeting on the 16th ult., will be at the rate of five per cent. per annum on the capital. THE ARMY ESTIMATES for the current year will provide for an increase to the forces of 10,000 men. The navy will be augmented by 10,000 seamen and 3,000 marines. A MEETING OF THE CONSERVATIVE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS took place at noon on Tuesday, at the Earl of Derby's house in St. James's square. The attendance was very numerous, and the noble earl addressed the assembly in a speech of considerable length, which was received with great anlause. His lordship dwelt on the necessity for a cordial union amongst the members of the party—a sentiment which was warmly greeted. For many years a more positively unanimous meeting of Con servatives has not taken place. A PLAN is said to be in contemplation for establish ing a Minister of War in this country, who should be charged with the affairs of army, navy, and ordnance. ALEXANDER DE BODISCO, who for the past fifteen years has filled the post of Russian Envoy at Wash ington, has died, after a painful illness of some weeks. He was a Wallachian noble by birth, and first entered the public service in Russia about fifty years ago, without fortune, but endowed with some knowledge of the French language and a clear hand writing. He began in the bureau of the Minister of Foreign Affairs at St. Petersburg, in the lowest of twelfth class of the tschin, or official hierarchy, and died of the third class, as a Privy Councillor, or in military valuation as a lieutenant-general. M. Bodisco owed his good fortune principally to having been attached in the quality of secretary to Count Suchtelen, who, after the secret interview at Abo, in 1812, between the Emperor Alexander and Berna dotte, the elected hereditary Prince of Sweden, resided in the quality of an imperial commissioner at the bead-quarters of the Prince during the cam paign of 1812 13. With Count Suchtelen M. Bodisco went to Paris, and thence to Vienna during the famous Congress which settled the affairs of the Continent. The count was appointed Russian Envoy at the Court of Stockholm, and M. Bodisco first Secretary of Legation. Count Suchtelen enjoyed great favour with the Emperors Alexander and Nicholas ; and on his death-bed, some eighteen years ago, recommended his secretary to the Sove reign. After the decease of his patron, M. Bodisco was for some time chargé d'affaires at Stockholm, whence he was sent in the capacity of minister to Washington. A few years after his arrival there he married Miss Williams, of Georgetown, a young American lady of remarkable beauty. By her he leaves seven children. The deceased was distin guished by remarkable financial abilities. Through the liberality of Count Suchtelen and of the Russian Government he accumulated a considerable capital during his long service in Europe, which, joined to an intelligent economy on his large salary at Washington —more than twenty thousand dollars yearly—enabled him to carry on speculations on a large scale in lands and stocks, and especially in the loans for the Mexican war. The property left by him is said to exceed half a million of dollars. TILE COLONIAL EXPENDITURE for the year 1851-2 was 3,555,579/. The items were--military, 3,009,2821.; civil, 499,3501.; naval, 55,7171. A deduction of 2,7761. is made under the head of post-office. A NEW SCREW TWO-DECKER, the Hannibal, of 91 guns, has been launched at Deptford this week. She will be taken to Sheerness and fitted with her machinery, and for commission, with all possible despatch. THE STRIKES FUND AT PRESTON amounted last week to 2,2501. Mr. Charles Dickens and Mr. Wills, editor of the Household Wards, arrived in the town on Saturday, and attended the delegates' and open air meetings of the operatives. THE FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BERLIN WATER-WORKS COMPANY was held on Monday, when a highly favourable report was read and adopted. It appears that the entire works can be constructed for 307,0001., and the first stone was laid on the 21st of October last by the Crown Prince of Prussia. The THE PRESS. portion of capital raised by the deposit-money amounted to 86,102/. 10s., of which nearly 60,0001. remains in hand, including 15,864/. 13s. Bd. deposited as caution-money, bearing interest at 4 per cent., in the hands of the Prussian Government. About 250,0001. are expected to be required for the works in the course of the next twelve months. gab) and KlhBY, a tailor in Great Russell-street, received a bill of exchange for 1001. from a person named Wallis. No money seems to have passed on the oc casion, but Wallis owed Kirby some 501. for goods. When the bill came to maturity, payment was re fused by the drawer, Mr. de Lara, who pleaded, in answer to the action afterwards brought iu the Court of Exchequer, that the document bad been stolen from him. He had entrusted it to one Wood to get discounted, but never received a farthing for it, or heard anything about it until called upon for pay ment. Between Wood and the present plaintiff the bill seemed to have passed through several hands, or at all events it bore the names of several en dorsers, and it was sought to establish Kirby's right to recover its amount in the character of an innocent holuer. The Chief Baron, however, in leaving the case to the jury, observed, that if a man receiving stolen goods at one half their value was to be taken as evidence that he knew they were stolen, surely the analogy should apply to a case like the present, where the plain. tiff had not given one half the value for the bill in question. Verdict for the defendant. THE RULE Nisi obtained lately by the Hon. F. Scott and other directors of the South-Western Rail way Company against the Times was, after argument on Monday last, made absolute by the Court of Queen's Bench. This rule calls on the publisher to show cause why a criminal information should not be filed against him for an article which appeared in that journal in November last, reflecting seriously on the characters of the plaintiffs. Lord Campbell in giving judgment said : At this stage I shall studiously abstain from saying anything which may prejudice the case; but I think it right to observe so far, that( this article had confined itself to describing the con duct of the railway directors, and censuring their measures and the policy they had pursued, this court never would have inter fered. Put there are in this article various expressions which bear the meaning of attacking the percale' honour of the direc tors, imputing to them that a pledge had been given in bad faith —that votes bad !Jelin tampered with—that a meeting had been acked—and that fictitious votes had been c reated. It is for a jury to say in what sense that language was used. EMBEZZLEMENT in a somewhat unusual form was submitted to the investigation of the Thames police magistrate on Tuesday. Two sawyers in the employ of Mr. Mare, the engineer, were charged with that offence, which they were said to have perpetrated in the following manner. Some novel machinery had been introduced whereby much time and labour were saved. The defendants, being evidently " tup sawyers," were employed to watch this machinery and register its performances, their pay depending upon the quantity of work it turned out. The com plainants alleged that they had fraudulently ex aggerated this amount, reckoning into the account various work performed in other departments with out any aid of the machine' entrusted to their keep ing, and had thus swollen their own earnings. For the defendants it was stated that the system of account-keeping in the establishment was so loose that it was impossible to avoid errors or trace their origin. The magistrate appeared to thine that the charge was of a very circuitous character and hardly susceptible of proof, but, nevertheless, thought proper to send it before a jury. The case was ac cording referred to the Central Criminal Court, and the defendants formally committed, but allowed to give bail for their appearance at the next sessions. AT THE COURT OF BANKRUPTCY OR Monday Mr. Commissioner Fane awarded certificates of the first class to Mr. G. Hennet and Mr. T. Hutchings, lately extensively engaged in business as railway contractors. ANOTHER CABMAN'S HARDSHIP has turned up during the week. Mr. Stephen Corbel, a gentleman re siding at Holton, took a cab from Cremorne Gardens to the Eastern Counties Railway. On arriving there the cabman asked 35., the distance being a clear six miles, while the " gentleman " offered 25., such being the sum stated, erroneously as it appears, in the police-book of fares. The driver behaved irre proachably, and the question by consent was brought for decision before the district police court. There it was shown that the cabman was right as to dis tance, and in fact an erratum-sheet had been actually issued, by which the clerical error in the official fare-book had been corrected, and the route in ques tion set down at over six miles, showing that the driver had undercharged his fare. The "gentleman," or his solicitor (Mr. Heritage), then resorted to a legal quibble. By the act it appeared that every table of fares signed by the Commissioner of Police was ac counted valid for all purposes. The blundering table of fares was so signed, while the erratum-sheet was not thus authenticated. Mr. Heritage argued, 105 ' therefore, that the distance in dispute was legally, if not geometrically, proved to be under the four miles. Against this plea the act left Mr. D'Eyncourt no dis cretion. The cabdriver was accordingly mulcted through the negligence of the Police Commissioner, and "Gentleman " Corbet walked off with his shilling in his pocket, leaving it upon the records of Worship street Police Court that his sense of rectitude had yielded to the temptation of twelve pence. A BRUTAL ASSAULT UPON A WOMAN was charged against an " excavator " named Charles Manners at Lambeth Police Court on Monday. Similar cases are so frequent at the different courts that their reiteration has become monotonous. The present instance, however, presents some novelty, in the cir cumstance that the sufferer was neither wife nor paramour to the assailant. She was, on the con trary, a resNctable married woman, and only by unlucky casualty came into his neighbourhood. Her account was as follows : Complainant, one of whose arms was in a sling, went ou the previous evening to a public-house, accompanied by her husband and a female friend. The prisoner and other men were there. Oue of them asked her friend to drink, but prisoner objected, using some violent expressions iu so doing. Complainant re monstrated with him, upon which he called her offensive names. A man present interfered, and the prisoner, who was very drunk and quite ftirious, rushed upon complainant, at whose head he struck re‘erel blows. On putting up her hand to defend herself, the prisoner seized her with his teeth and bit a piece of flesh from her arm. She bled profusely, and the piece of flesh which had been torn from her was spit out from the mouth of the pri soner into the taproom. The magistrate sent the prisoner, who expressed some contrition for his offence, to four months' hard labour in the House of Correction. A YOUNG Lew STUDENT, James Addison Selby, applied to the Insolvent Court for discharge from► the Queen's Bench Prison. He possessed some con siderable property and expectations, but owed more than 7,t 001. The first cause of his embarrassments he ascribed to the fact of his having unluckily won 351. at a gambling-house. In the flush of his success he was induced to go to a notorious coffee-house in Jer• myn-street, where he played again and lost all his winnings ; but the landlord, one Uenese, made him self so agreeable to a customer whose acquaintance seemed worth cultivating that he afterwards fre quented the house considerably, and commenced a course of gambling and dissipation. Genese had been forced to shut up the Jermyn-street concern but afterwards opened a public-house near Drury, lane. Here the insolvent also resorted, and was introduced by his landlord friend behind the scenes of the theatre, supplied with furniture for the benefit of a lady at Chelsea, and otherwise encouraged in extravagance, until at length be was wrested. Ge ese figured as a creditor in the schedule, and appeared iu court as the only opponent to the insol vent's release:— Mr. Commissioner thought it would be a gross per version of the law to remand the insolvent at the instance of the man who had witnessed and encouraged his misconduct In this den of iniquity the insolvent had been supplied with viands of all kinds at double, and sometimes wore than double, their ordinary cost. Drinking had been encouraged, prostitutes had been encouraged, gambling had been encouraged, all by the com plaining creditor, in a young man at the very outset of life, with warm and youthful passions, and those passions excited and inflamed by a wan of mature years, who now complained against the fearful consequences of his own conduct. That the insolvent had been blameless no one could say, but it did not lie In this mouth of the man who initiated him into sin to complain of hint. The creditor must have known that he was running the young man into a course which led to destruction, and, havhig encou raged and motioned Imo in that career, he could not now complain. The insolvent must understand that he did not leave the court blameless, fur, although young in life, he was old enough to have known better. If any honest creditor had complained, the in solvent's course of life would not have excused him. The counsel for the insolvent said the penalty of his imprudence would fall upon himself. There was a reversion of 4,5001., which would pay the debts in full, and its realisation was only a question of time. The insolvent was ordered to be discharged. Pihnts anV Oftlarts. THE FORGERY OF A CHEQUE for 5001. was corn mitted by a clerk of Messrs. Glyn's bank, who presented the document purporting to bear the sig nature of the London firm at the branch establish ment in Liverpool. Fortunately the managers there had received information that an employe of the London house had absconded, therefore they retained the document ; and the prisoner, who afterwards confessed his guilt at the Liverpool Police Office, was committed for trial at the assizes. His name is John Timson. AN EXTENSIVE FIRE, resulting in the destruction of buildings and property worth several thousand pounds, broke out on the premises of Messrs. Jones, coal-merchants, at Bankside, on Saturday last. The house in which it commenced, No. 54, was entirely burnt down, and several adjoining tenements much injured. The conflagration began about four in the morning, and extended so fast that Mr. Jones and his family were obliged to rush into the street in their night-gear in terror for their lives. Hours past before the utmost efforts of the firemen could con quer the flames ; and much complaint was made of I i I