The Press. — London, England, 1857-03-28 00:00:00

Mom 28, 1857. The conduct of Lord Palmerston during the pre sent crisis has been such as his antecedents might lead us to expect. He has shown considerable tact in making as much capital out of this unfortunate Chinese affair as the nature of the circumstances would admit. He keeps co istantly harping over and over again the same thing in the same strain, and his language is something to this effect : Our country has been grossly and outrageously insulted by a barbarous mandolin, a savage, bloodthirsty, murderous ruffian, who, without pretext or provocation, has sought to tarnish the flag of England, and when 1, in the en deavour to vindicate the honour and protect the interests of our country, seek to chastise this miscreant. I am met in the House of Commons by a coalition, com posed of the most heterogenous materials, of men who are no only content to sacrifice their principles in order to coalesce, bat who would sacrifice also the honour of their country for the sake of driving me out of office. With suoh contemptible balderdash as this does the Prime Minister of England seek to hoodwink the country. Lord Palmerston has been particu larly unfortunate of late in his public appearances, and where he is not permitted to play the part of the "Comic Old Gentleman," every other character he assumes is more or less a failure. His speeches in the House of Commons on the Chinese debate, and at the Mansion-house, are both instances of this; they are coarse in their language, offensive in their tone, and the statements contained in them are utterly reckless and exaggerated. The cry raised by Lord Palmerston that he was defeated by a coaliti rn has been so completely refuted by the statements of the leading men of every party in the house, that it is needless to refer to it; and his anti reforming ten dencies have been so unmercifully exposed and ridiculed by Sir James Graham and Lord John Russell, that it is a wonder to find he has the sup port left him of a single conscientious Liberal. In conclusion, I will state in plain terms my be lief, that of all the Prime Ministers England has had for the last half-century, Lord Palmerston is the most unprincipled and least capable.—l remain, . . . yours, &c. A LIBERAL CONSERVATIVE. Liverpool, March 25,1857. Court ono lasOlon. Her Majesty the Queen continues at 13nckingham Palace. Her Majesty enjoys excellent health. Her Majesty has b en visited during the week by the Princess Hohenlohe Langenburg, the Princess Amalie of Hohenlohe Schillingfurst, and the different members of the Royal Family. His Royal Highness the Prince Consort visited the Camp at Aldershott on Monday, and inspected the troops. Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston left town on Thursday for Tiverton. His Excellency the Russian Minister, and the Countess Creptowitch, on Thursday evening threw open their salons to a brilliant assembly. The Earl and Countess of Clarendon will give a grand enterta►nment to his Excellency Ferouk Khan, the Special Envoy from the Court of the Shah of Persia, on Tuesday next, in Grosvenor-crescent. We regret to say that Lady Ashburton remains in a precarious state of health at Paris. Volittral. MR. SHAW LEFEVRE Will be called to the House of Lords by the style and title of Viscount Eversley, of Hecktield, in the county of Southampton. THE GREEN RIBBON, vacant by the death of the Earl of Fife, will, we have reason to believe, be con ferred upon Lord Kinnaird. CoNvoceTios was formally dissolved on Thursday by his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. The writs for the ensuing Convocation are returnable on the Ist of May. 111, ttrapplitan. All ELDERLY GENTLEMAN was knocked down by an omnibus at Charing cross, run over, and killed on the spot. The body was at once removed to Charing-cross Hospital for identification. SEVERAL FIRES have occurred in the metropolis this week. At Temple bar a most severe conflagra tion occurred on Monday night at an upholsterer's, Messrs. Watkinson. Eight or nine contiguous houses, in Ihanet and Palsgrave Places, were more or less burned out, and a vast amount of pi operty destroyed. THE CLARENDON HOTEL carght fire in the roof on Wednesday, and had a narrow escape of being burned down. The accident is supposed to have been caused by sparks from a burning chimney. The fire brigade were soon on the spot, and the fire put out, though not before great damage was done to the roof, and much inconvenience suffered by the resi dents in the hotel. THE PRESS. THE REGISTRAR. GENERAL'S RETURNS continue to exhibit a favourable state of the public health. 1,195 deaths only were registered last week against 1,t555 births. THE DIRECT, DAILY, TIDAL SERVICE TO PARIS, Vi& Folkestone and Boulogne, with through registration of baggage, will be resumed by the South Eastern Railway on the Ist of April. Yab3 anti Voila. THE GREAT PIMLICO CHURCH DISPETE Was settled on Saturday by the judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The committee decided that the use of crosses, as distinguished from crucifixes, was justified by custom, and decreed that the cross erected on the chancel screen of St. Barndbas might remain, thereby reversing the judg ment of the preceding court. With respect to the marble altar-table with a cross attached, the preceding judgment is affirmed. As to credence tah'es and em broidered cloths judgment is reversed, while on the point of the communion table linen judgment is affirmed. The Privy Council further decided that in all proceedings, as well as in the present appeals, each pi r y bears his own costs. A TRIAL, involving charges of singular barbarity took place at Exeter last week. Hugh Orr, the master of the Hannah Jane, a small merch an t brig, was indicted fcr the murder at sea of the cook of the vessel. The evidence of the different seamen belong ing to the ship gave us some insight into the "inner life " of a merchant brig in the nineteenth century The deceased, Edward Devue, was a man of colour. In February, Iz35R, the vessel sailed for Senegal, Cape de Verd Islands, Rio Grande, and home. While lying off the Cape de Verds the captain commenced to ill-treat the cook. He used to knock him down, kick, and beat him till he cried for mercy ; then, assisted by the mate, he would drag him into the cabin, tie him by the thumbs to a locker, and flog him with a cat o' nine tails : I was at the wheel (said one man) for three weeks, and saw him flogged every night. His back was s,re, the skin knocked up, broken, and raw. The night before he died he was lashed down to a chest by the thumbs, so that his hack was rounded. I counted 3t2 lashes. With a back bruised, bleeding, and raw, the poor wretch, by order of the captain, was scrubbed with a scrubbing brush and salt water. He was then triced up in the rigging, heels above head, and II 'gged by the mate. After this he was" beaten with a broom stick," beaten with " the stave of a cask," beaten with " a pin -rail," and " knocked about the head with a handspike " : Upon one occasion (said one witness) I saw the captain and mate flog him, and I counted the lashes. The captain gave him 48 and the mate 306. The captain beat him with the cat and the mate with a plaited rope with knots in it. When he was dead the body was cut everywhere. The mate saw him lying on the deck the night before he died, and kicked him on the breast with la's heavy sea hoots, and he struck him with a large heavy block. I heard him moaning after this, but I never heat d him speak after that. This treatment lasted for about two months, when on the 3rd of July the poor wretch died. The cap tain entered the fact in his log as follows : July 3rd.—Cook died. I don't 'mow the cause, if not the sulks. The night before the poor creature died the mate ( who deserted at Rio Grande) was seen to kick the deceased and strike him with the block. The coun sel for th• defence attempted to prove that this was the immediate cause of Devue's death. The jury happily thought otherwise, and considering the evidence against the prisoner as conclusive, found a verdict, "Guilty of manslaughter," and Mr. Justice Williams sentenced him to he transported for life. A BEWITCHED FAMILY in this nineteenth century of progress and civilisation, and a real trial for witchcraft, comprise a fact and an incident worthy of note. One Charlesworth, a small farmer at Bromley Hurst, Stafford, last year married against the wish of his mother. She predicted that he would never prosper, and that his cheeses would all fall to pieces. In April last year he suddenly found that things went wrong in the dairy, that the cheese wouldn't curd, and that the dairymaid engaged from his mother f.ll ill. One of the farm labourers sun( sted witchcraft ; and a witch doctor, one Tunnicliff, was sent for. Tunnicliff came, and announced directly that 27 cows, 2 horses, the farmer, his wife, his dairy maid, and his cheese-kettle were all bewitched. Now, he would cure them all at 33. 61. a bead for the cattle, and ss. each for the human beings and the cheese-kettle. The terms were agreed to, and shortly afterwards he took up his residence with the family, and then the symptoms of bewitchery became strong. Successive fits of illness attacked husband, wife, baby, and dairymaid. Mr. Tunnicliff frequently attended to the preparation of the different meals. At the same time marvellous sights and sounds were seen and heard. " Fire dogs " would enter through closed doors; lona knocks would occur ; the cows would " lament," the horses prance, the house-dogs howl, and strange noises still louder were tremblingly listened to. Then the prisoner would enter into stubborn contests with the weird spirits; while the wretched family were seized with terrible "shakings," which rendered the application of brandy necessary : One night (said the wife in her evidence) the prisoner took a knife and plate, and asked me and my husband to go into a room with him and he would show us all our enemies ; but we were too ill to go. When he came out of the room there was a blueness over him. When Ile went in he said it would be either death or glory to him, and wlieu he came nut he said he had succeeded. . • - My shakings lasted for two hours. There were like cats fighting in the room. I can't tell what shook me, whether it was a spirit or not. No man could shake me as I was Nhaken. (Laughter.) I went better after the prisoner lighted the candle. A little spirits (brandy) soothed me, and I went better. (Laughter.) The yells sere like mite a dog, but louder. The yell went away when my man (t 1 carman) bid it go. He is not here to-day. We believed that we were bewitched from April, IMO, till February 11, 1e57. I never take spirits, except when I have spasms. I did not see the fiery dog come into the house, hut I saw the blaze. I saw our dog, and then a d-ig after it on fire. ( Laughter.) I saw the blaze, but not the dog. Our Cog then sat down on his hind legs, with his tongue out, and his paws hanging down. (Laughter.) It seemed thing. The girl, Ann Richardson, who saw the fire dog, is here; She said if I did not send the prisoner away, she would go: Ann Richardson described the " fire dog " as fol lows : The dog was very bad. The same night the master was very ill, and we heard something come into the yard like a carriage. Something came in the passage like the wind. There was our dog and the shape of another cl. , g after it all on fire. Our dog went behind the door in the yard with his tongue out. I did not see w h at b ecame of the fiery dog. (Laughter.) Both the dogs came in together. don't know what became of the " shape of the dog." I had never seen a fire dog " before I saw it quite plainly. Only me and master's brother saw it. It came in at the door. I followed it. It went behind the door that was shut. I could not think how the dog got through. ( Laughter.) I did not smell any brimstone. (Laughter.) Our dog sat behind the door with his tongue out. It seemed to me a quarter of a yard long. (Loud laughter.) These things went on till February in the present year, when the farmer, becoming very ill, sent for a doctor, and—to make a long story short—was soon disabused of his delusions, and finally discharged Mr. Tunnicliff, after paying him some 301. He now charged him with obtaining money under false pre. tences. The jury found the prisoner guilty, and Mr. Justice Willes sentenced him to be imprisoned for twelve months with hard labour. MR. ESDAILE, the late Governor of the Royal British Bank, was further examined on Wednesday last. Mr. Esdaile read a statement in defence of the management of the bank, in which he declared that though the directors might have acted injudiciously, they bad done everything for the best. He had joined the bank early, and continued with it, and he thanked his God be had left it with clean hands (laughter). In the course of the examination, it transpired that a Mr. Menzies in Whitecross-street prison first conceived the project of the bank. Menzies was afterwards appointed secretary, and a letter was read from Menzies to Mullen% the then solicitor of the bank, dated Burden's Hotel, White cross•street, June 21, 1849, requesting Muliens to obtain his release, that he might be enabled to attend the next board meeting, and put all things right. The history of the opening of the bank was characteristic. The morning of the day on which the bank commenced operations was solemnised by prayer. A dinner was given in the evening, and a medal struck to commemorate the happy event. The prospectus put forth assured the public that the contributions of innumerable small rills gradually swelling into a mighty head might be diffused so as to irri gate and fructify the surrctuiding space, and be a blessing to givers and receivers. Monied men of a serious turn were informed that the benefits of the institution to the commonwealth would as much exceed those of even savings banks, as did the gains of the good and faithful servant those of him who kept his pound laid up in a napkin. While people of business, looking more to the main chance than to the beauties of sentiment or to the teachings of theology, were edified by the statement that the Royal British Bank, being incorporated by royal char ter, is possessed of a privilege of doing local busineva equal to any bank, except the Bank of Elieland The Lords of Her Majesty's Privy Council of Trade have already approved of the deed of constitution, b‘ increasing the capital as the nature of the business might require. At the last moment, Mr. Cameron took up all the shares on hand, and enabled the bank to open. Mr. Ellis stated that the late Mr. Walton's transactions with the bank were covered by ample securities, and that Mr. Walton had died solvent. Mr. EMdaile admitted that Mr. M'Gregor was indebted 7,0001. to the bank. The further bearing of the cage was then adjourned till Wednesday next, when Mr. Apoley Pellatt will be examined. .'~~