The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-22 00:00:00

JULY 22, 1854. tails relative to certain disputes which seem to have prevailed among the members of the surgical staff now or lately attached to the hospital in question. It was stated on different aides that the operation had been performed with culpable carelessness, that the surgeons who operated had endeavoured to hush up the matter, and that money was given to the parents to induce them to keep silence respecting the death of their child. Ultimately the jury re turned the following verdict : " We find that the deceased, Alfred Richardson, died of inflam mation, caused by en operation unskilfully performed by Mr. Thomas Weedon Cooke and Mr. Thomas Wakley, jun. " The jury finding great difficulty in coming to a satisfactory conclusion respecting the other matters deposed to before them, they have resolved to exercise the discretion permitted to them by declining to give any opiuiou on them." The Coroner inquired if the jury wished to prefer a criminal charge against any one, which was replied t) in the negative by the foreman. COMMISSION OF LUNACY ON CAPT. CHILD. AN extraordinary inquiry de lunatioo has occupied the at tintion of F. Barlow, Esq., one of the Masters in Lunacy, a id a special jury, for several days during the week, the defendant being Mr. J. Child, formerly a captain in the 12th Lancers. Several counsel appeared on different sides —the commission being supported by Sir F. Thesiger and two juniors, Mr. M. Chambers and another appearing for Captain Child, and Mr. Locke on behalf of the Lunatics' Friend Society. The case was stated, in a six hours' speech, by Sir F. Thesiger : Captain Child was the second son of Mr. Child, of Kinlet-hall, in Shropshire, and was entitled to the reversion of 4,0001. a year on his father's decease. He was now in his forty-third year. At the age of eighteen he entered the 12th Lancers as cornet, and, at a particular petiod after his joining the army, his disposition, which previously had been pec uliarl y affectionate and engaging, was marked by a decided change. lie became impatient of con trol, hot-tempered, and inordinately vain, besides being averse to his mother, to whom he had previously been fondly attached. He also indulged in suoh lavish extravagance that his father bad to interpose, and raise money on the estates. About the year 1438 he became possessed with the extraordinary infatuation that the Queen had a marked attachment to him, and that she evinced her affection in an evident manner e eery time they met. The learned counsel detailed at great length the extraordinary line of conduct into which this idea of Captain Child had for years continuously impelled him; showing that he had at last even written to her Majesty, inviting her to open a correspon dence, and thathe quarrelled with his brother and other members of his family, who had endeavoured to disabuse him of his unfor tunate notions. These lettere to the Queen, though not signed by Captain Child, were traced to him, and the result was a con ference between his father and Lord Hill, Commander-in-Chief, and the Marquis of Normanby, the then Home Secretary. It was arranged that the captain should submit to a medical exa mination as to the state of his mind, and accordingly, in June, 1840, he was examined by several eminent physicians, who re ported that he was subject to delusions, which had upset his mental balance. Subsequently, on account of the continuation of his extraordinary conduct, it was intimated by the authorities to his father that if he did not take the necessary steps they must proceed to do so themselves; and, after further communi cations with Lord Hill, Mr. Child at length had his son placed in the care of Dr. Mourn, of St. John's-wood, whence (his delusions having passed into the chronic stage) he was removed, in 1851, to Hayes-park, near Uxbridge, where he came under the control of the Commissioners in Lunacy. The interference of the Lunatics' Friend Society had, it seems, led to the defendant's removal from that establish ment, and, as doubts of his continued lunacy were raised, the present inquiry became indispensable. PUBLIC -HOUSE LICENCES. THE report of the parliamentary committee on public houses, which has just been presented, contains the following resolutions relative to the licensing system : - - No intoxicating drinks to be sold without licence. Licences to be issued by magistrates at sessions held for that purpose. There shall be one uniform licence for the sale of in toxicating drinks, that shall be open to all. Persons obtaining licences shall be bound, and the sureties shall be bound, for their due observance of the law. The lowest amount to be paid for a licence in rural parishes and small towns shall be 61. in towns of 5,000 inhabitants; and not exceeding 10,000 the licence to be 8/., and so on, but in no case to exceed 301. Inspectors of public-houses to be appointed, to report upon the condition and conduct of such houses. Coffee-shops, temperance-hotels, and shell-fish-shops, to be required to be licensed, and visited and reported upon in the same manner. The licence to be issued for 21. That, with the exception of from 1 to 2 in the day, and from 6 to 9 in the evening, public-houses be closed on Sundays ; and on week-days from 11 to 4 a.m. That it is expedient that places of rational recreation and instruction, now closed, should be opened to the public on Sunday afternoons, at the hour of 2 o'clock, and that, so far as any such places are now closed by the opera tion of the law, such laws should be so far amended as to enable the Lord Chamberlain, or other competent autho rity, to determine what places should be permitted to be so opened, and for what length of time. That the several laws relating to the regulation of licensing of beer-shops and public-houses, and places of entertainment, and the several provisions of the Police and Excise Acts applying thereto, should be consolidated and made in accordance with these resolutions. report the committee offer suggestions ale to the opening of the Crystal Palace and itablishments de s igned to promote science and Sundays. They notice the great advantage tad been derived by the public of Dublin from Ong on Sundays of the grounds of the In their ix favourable other establi art on Sun which had th e oPeninl THE PRESS. Zoological Society in the Phcenix park, at a charge of one penny for admission. The report proceeds " A working man living in the neighbourhood of the Crystal Palace states that there is great drunkenness on Sunday night in the public-houses at Norwood: a great number of people come down to see the building during the Sunday and stop at the public-houses, where they get intoxicated and make a great disturbance during the even ing. This is precisely what in the neighbourhrod of Chats worth used to happen daring the period the grounds re• mained closed, and from hie experience on that occasion Sir Joseph Paxton apprehends persons going to see the Crystal Palace would in the first place be too tired by their exertions in going round it to have any inducement to go to the public•houses to drink. Their wish would be to take recreation and see the beautiful objects which the place contains ; and when they had been there several hours he does not think there would be a tendency to stop and drink." Obitutrl. CASIMIR COUNT BATTHYANY, one of the most dis tinguished of the Hungarian patriots, died in Paris on the 12th instant, suddenly and unexpectedly, in the forty-sixth year of his age. The deceased was a scion of a house which, for several centuries, had furnished illustrious members to the Senate, the Church, and the army of Hungary. He took an ac tive part in the Hungarian war of independence, and suffered the usual penalty of failure in a subsequent life of exile. His estates in Austria, valued at twenty million francs, were all confiscated ; and, although burn to these large properties, and heir presumptive to the still more princely estates of the head of his house, Count Batthyany lived for many years past in comparative indigence, and has died poor. CAPTAIN JAMES Aithuu BUTLER died fighting at the siege of Silistria, at the age of twenty-seven. He was the youngest son of Lieut.-General the Hon. H. E. Butler, an officer who bears a gold medal re ceived for services rendered to the father of the pre• sent Sultan during the memorable campaign in Egypt. in 1801. The deceased was nephew to the Earl of Carrick, and closely connected with several members of the Irish peerage. Captain Butler served with the 90th Foot during the war against the Kaffirs in 1846-7. He had been until very re cently a captain in the Ceylon Rifles. The two elder brothers of the deceased had also been in the army. THE PROCEEDINGS OF CONVOCATION. ON Thursday the Houses of Convocation assembled to receive reports from committees appointed in the last session. The Upper House was presided over by the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, only four other prelates being present, the Bishops of LONDON, OXFORD, LINCOLN, and SALISBURY. Proceedings com menced by the Bishop of OXFORD reading a volu minous report ou the constitution of Convocation, in which the committee expressed its opinion that the President of Convocation has the power of giving a casting vote, and of also putting a final negative upon bills which have passed both Houses. On the other hand, the committee held that the precedents were not decisive on the two points, whether the Presi dent had the power to refuse to submit to the Upper House propositions made by one or more of its mem bers, and whether he bad the power of proro gation, and therefore " deemed it expedient " that while the Archbishop should possess, as " now by royal writ, the absolute power of proroga " tion, he should in ordinary cases act with the con " sent of his brethren." The committee stated at some length its opinion on a variety of subordinate matters, relating to the conduct of business before the two Houses of Convocation. A short discussion, not without interest, took place on the report. The Bishop of OXFORD, in seconding its adoption, said that the committee were very anx ious " that it should be thoroughly understood" that their not having entered upon the question, as to whether the laity should be consulted upon the affairs of the Church, was, " not because their claim ap " peered to be trifling," but because the committee were limited to the consideration of improvements in Convocation, " and not to the formation of any other " body." The Bishop of OXFORD also congratulated the Upper House on the spirit of cordiality and una nimity which at that time pervaded the different orders of the Church." His Lordship was followed by the Bishop of LINCOLN, who hoped that it would be generally understood that the question of the right of the laity to take part in the deliberations of the Church " wsit not dropped, but only postponed." The substance of the next report was of more im mediate interest, as it related to church services. This report addressed itself also to the ministerial agency now employed by the Church. Upon the question of services it. held that the service in the Book of Common Prayer should be preserved entire and unaltered, but it suggested that the length of the ...~•• 683 morning services should in certain cases be dimi nished. The report said : " First, we would suggest that a shorter order for daily prayer might be compiled from the book of Common Prayer, with a prescribed lesson or lessons of Holy Scripture, which might be used instead of the present order fur daily morning and evening prayer, on other days than Sundays and holidays in parishes where the incumbent shall have satisfied the bishop of the diocese that it might be advantageously adopted. Secondly, we would suggest that various occasional services might be funned from the Book of Common Prayer, for use in the church, with the permission of the bishop, on week days, and in addition to the prescribed services on Sundays." It proceeded then to consider the question of augmented ministerial agency for the Church, upon which we extract the most interesting passages : " 11. That some of the present needs of the Church might be supplied by more general and systematic co-ope ration of the laity in works of Christian charity ; in visiting and instructing the sick, poor, and ignorant ; in exhorting the careless; in teaching children and adults in schools ; iu collecting funds for the extension of the Church at home and abroad; and in all other labours of Christian love which can, consistently with the rules of the Church, be performed by laymen ' • that such works must be undertaken and conducted under the superintendence of the parochial clergy, and should bear in marked features the character of being lay assistance rendered to the ministers of Christ in their proper work, and should be conducted with the especial aim of bringing souls under the direct action of that ministry. • • • • " It is deeply to be deplored that there are at present large numbers of the poorer population, especially in oar great towns, who are habitually absent frem the worship of God, and live with little or no sense of true religion, and new and increased efforts are urgently required to give them a saving knowledge of the Gospel, and shelter them within the fold of the Church. For this work there is need of men specially fitted for and devoted to direct missionary operations at home. We would therefore suggest the placing in the midst of such a population clergymen who might, with a view to economy, Christian fellowship, and united prayers and action, live together, minister in one central church, and, with due regard to ecclesiastical rule and authority, might labour around it in preaching, exhorting, visiting the sick and poor in their own homes, and superintending schools. W e think it would be desir- ' able that men possessed of needful gifts for this work should be especially encouraged to undertake it for a time, and be recognised as having a special claim for preferment out of public patronage in less laborious spheres after a term of service." The report concluded by the suggestion for a missionary clergy, organised for the special work of preaching and exhorting " under the bishop's " sanction ;" and it intimated that an increase in the episcopate, especially in the great centres of popu lation, was necessary, laying stress on the fact that the population had increased nearly fivefold since the Reformation, while the number of sees remained the same. The Lower House was numerously attended. The report of its committee was also in favour of shortening the public services of the Church in certain cases, suggesting that, for the religious awakening of the many, special preachers should be appointed to visit the large towns in destitute districts, and that " the exclusive allotment of church "sittings should be limited as much as possible, such " sittings to be made free for at least one service in " the day." But the report was emphatic in its assertion that all such subsidiary agency should be lemployed in complete harmony with the d iocesan and parochial system. OMER PACHA. THE following description of the Turkish Coln mander-in-Chief, as he appeared at a review of the English troops on the Oth inst., is given in a letter from Varna:— " Omer Pacha was dressed with neatness and simplicity —no order glittered on his breast, and his close-fitting blue frock-coat displayed no ornament beyond a plain gold shoulder-strap and gilt buttons. He wore the fez cap, which showed, to advantage the clear well-marked lines of his calm and resolute face, embrowned by exposure to wind and weather for many a year of a soldier's life, and the hue of which was well contrasted with his snow white whiskers. In the rude and rather sensual mouth, with compressed thick lips, was traceable, if physiog nomy have truth, enormous firmness and resolution. The chin, full and square, evinced the same qualities, which might also t he discerned in the general form of the head. All the rougher features, the come nose, and the slight prominence of the cheek bones, ate more than redeemed by the quick, penetrating, and expressive eye, full of quiet courage and genius, and by the calm though rather stubborn brow, marled by lines of thought, rising above the thick shaggy eye brow. In person he appeared to he rather below than abov e the ordinary height. His figure is light, spare, and active, and his seat on horseback, though too Turkish for our notions of equestrian propriety, was firm and easy. Ho wore white gloves and neat boots, and altogether would have passed muster very well in the ring at Hyde-park as a weal appointed, quiet gentleman. As he rode by, the troll a presented arms, and when he reached the end of the line they broke into column, advanced, and performed some simple field-day manoeuvres, to the great delight of the Pacha." 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