The Press. — London, England, 1858-02-06 00:00:00

rous felicitations. Nothing, in fact, could be more I general than the feeling of satisfaction exhibited, nothing more sincere than the wishes universally expressed that the career, at last so auspiciously i naug urated, might be a long and prosperous one. The vessel moved at a quarter to two o'clock, was fairly afloat at half-past two, and at three o'clock s wam tranquilly and majestically at her appointed moorings on the Surrey side of the river off Deptford Dockyard. Her draught of water when moored was 164 feet aft and 14 forwards, and at the present moorings she will, at the lowest tide, have nineteen feet water under her keel. THE Law AMENDMENT SOCIETY held a meeting on Tuesday evening, when Mr. Hastings read a report on a proposed bill for providing an index to the Parochial Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials in England. The committee strotgly recom mended the plan, and saw no reason why the work, if gradually and economically effected, should draw on the revenue of the country to any burdensome extent. The registers would pass free through the Post•office, in pursuance of the Registration Act. The report was accepted, and ordered to be printed and circulated. DE. WILLIAMS, R.N., F.R.S., Medical Inspector of ber Majesty's Customs, was presented with a magni ficent service of plate on the 30th ult. by the medical officers of the Royal Navy, in token of their respect for his services. - THE READING-ROOM OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM was Visited for the first time on Thursday afternoon by her Majesty and the Prince Consort, who were accompanied by the Prince of Wales and the Princess Alice. The Royal party entered the room so unos tentatiously that their presence was not noticed. A DEPUTATION FROM THE HAVELOCK MEMORIAL FUND waited on Lord Palmerston on Monday to request permission to have a site in Trafalgar square for the erection of a monument to that distinguished general. Lord Palmerston gave no definite reply to the request. A PROPOSITION that the freedom of the City of London be conferred upon Sir John Laird Muir Lawrence, G.C.8., Chief Commissioner of the Pun• jaub, and brother of the celebrated Major-General Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence, K.CB., will be moved shortly at a Court of Common Council. THE WESTMINSTER ABBEY SERVICES were repeated last Sunday. Halt an boor before the service com menced the nave was filled, and hundreds were unable to obtain admittance. An additional barrier having been placed at the door, all crowding and inconvenience were prevented. Very few of the " working classes" were present—a fact which was quite apparent from the attire of the overwhelming bulk of the congregation. THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 6, 1858. Campbell, and a petition to Parliament ultimately framed in support of the views put foi th. AN IRON GIRDER used in the construction of ft new bridge across the North-Western Railway at King's Langley, and weighing some fifty-three tong, sud denly broke on Weanesday morning, and fell in two pieces across the line. All traffic was stopped for upwards of five hours, from half-past nine a.m. till three p.m., and the ine for miles blocked up with passenger trains. HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT will cease to hunt his own hounds at the close of this season. The new chief of the Badminton kennel will bo Clarke, of the Old Berkshire (Mr. James Murrell's) hounds—a huntsman second to none, not even the renowned Jim Hill, his near neighbour. After this )ear his grace will give hack to Sir Maurice Berkeley what used to be the Berkeley Hunt country—Thornbury, Almondsbury, &c. A COLLIERY EXPLOSION occurred at Bardsley, near Aston, last Tuesday evening, by which upwards of forty lives are supposed to have been lost. Up to the present time no definite explanation of the cause of the explosion has been arrived at. MR. H. BROWN, Surveyor-General from the Board of Customs in London, has been engaged for some days in holding an investigation at Southampton into all the circumstances connected with the recent case of embezzlement of the light dues by one of the junior &mks in the Customhouse at that port. The investigation has exposed a very loose system of bookkeeping and accounts. rtlanL THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE has fixed Tuesday, the 16th of February, for the trial of the Rev. Mr. Con way. The Crown solicitor and the attorney for the defendant were furnished on Wednesday with the list of forty-eight names of jurors drawn by ballot, and yesterday the parties met in the Crown office with a view of reducing the list to twenty.four. The first twelve answering to their names will form the jury to try the case. A defence fund for the priest is warmly recommended by the Roman Catholic journals. His expenses, however, will, after all, be limited to the payment of fees to counsel, as the heaviest item in the bill, the coat of fifty or sixty witnesses from Mayo to Dublin, has been under taken by the Crown as a recompense for the change of venue. sate anb Volta. A NEw GOVERNOR of Whitecross-street Prison will be appointed in a few days, when some new regula tions as to persons practising for insolvents will be adopted, with the view of confining the business to bonit-fide attorneys and their clerks. THE FEBRUARY SESSION OF THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT was opened on Monday last by the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. The first edition of the calendar contains the names of seventy prisoners, and about fifteen more will probably be committed to take their trial before the grand jury are discharged. A number of gentlemen, sum moned to serve on the grand jury, were fined 101. far non-attendance. THWAITES, a millowner at Euxton, near Chorley, has been arrested on a charge of having wilfully caused his mill to be burned down in Nu vember last. There were suspicious circumstances attending the fire, which caused inquiries to he in stituted at the time as to its cause, though without any definite result. The mill was insured in the Manchester office for the sum of 2,6701. It now appears that a person nam .d James Holden, a carder, in the employ of Mr. Thwaites. has made a statement to the effect that his master instigated him to set fire to the mill, and that he was to receive 100/. for the deed. Both prisoners haze been ex amined before the local magistrates and committed for trial. THE inquiry into the conduct of the Rev. Mr. Gent, curate of Dr. M‘Neile, has concluded in the acquittal of the rev. gentleman. ALDERMAN HUMPHERY WaS fined 55., and 2s. costs, last Wednesday, by Mr. Burcham, at Southwark Police-court, for permitting sixty-eight oil-casks to remain for some hours on the public way, thereby compelling foot-passenwers to pass out into the road. THE TRIAL OF THE BRITISH BANK DIRECTORS will take place on Saturday next, the 13th instant, before Lord Campbell, at the Guildhall. DAMAGES to the extent of 7801. were obtained on Wednesday by a boot-closer, named Collins, against the South Eastern Railway Company, tor injuries sustained in the accident at the Lewisham station on the 28th June last. THE CONVICT, CHRISTIAN SATTLER, whose appeal was rejected by the judges, is left for death. Sir G. Grey refused to entertain any appeal for recommend ing a reprieve, and the wretched man will be banged on Monday next. THE BANKRUPTCY CASE OF HENRY AND CHESLYN 14.4,L0ame on again on Wedneede,y, before blr.Com- 131 missioner Fane, when the case of Mrs. Dalgleish was examined into. It appeared from the affidavit of that ]qtly, that the bankrupt, Cheslyn Hall, had induced her, under false pretences, in January, 1856, to trust him for mortgage investment with 1,0001. of her 2,0001. Three per Cents. These moneys it appeared had never been invested, and Mrs. Dal gleish had never received a farthing, either of interest or of capital. Mrs. Dalgleish, examined, deposed that all the statements contained in her aftdavit were true. The facts of the case were, indeed, stronger against the bankrupts than therein set forth. They were not made stronger in the affidavit, as to do so must render the case one for a criminal court. Her husband still remained in the unhappy position of unsound mind. She had never recog nised the bankrupts as her debtors, and would never have parted with the stock but for what she believed to be Cheslyn Hall's kind offer to arrange the matter, as she had stated, for nothing, and his ex pressing towards her the greatest sympathy. Re ferring to the unhappy position of her husband, he (Cheslyn Hall) had said—" Poor Alex., I will do anything for his poor wife." She was led to employ the bankrupts, and to take the course she had, on being informed that the bankrupts were persons in good position, riding in their carriage. THE HAMMERSMITH POLICE-COURT will remove from Brook-green, Hammersmith, to Vernon-street, Fulham, on the 15th inst., in pursuance of an order in Council published in Thursday's supplement to the Gazette. The division assigned to its jilriadieti9n will remain as at present circumscribed. Vrolinrial. ABOUT THREE HUNDRED OF THE WORKMEN at the lloyland and Elsecar ironworks, near Barnsley, are on strike, owing to Messrs. Dawes, the proprietors, having notified to the men that, in consequence of the depressed state of the iron trade, a reduction of wages to the extent of ten per cent. had become im perative. A NEW REFORMATORY SCHOOL, to be used es a female reformatory and refuge for discharged prisoners, has been erected at Exeter, and will be opened shortly for the reception of inmates. Five hundred pounds only remain to be collected to pay the whole cost of the institution. A MEETING OF SCOTCH GRADUATES was held at Edinburgh on Saturday last, to consider " the asser tion of the rights of graduates, and the representa tion of the Universities in Parliament." Sir John M'Neill, G.C.8., presided, and among those on the platform were Mr. Adam Black, M.P., Mr. Charles Cowan, M.P., Mr. Buchanan, M.P. (Glasgow), Col. Mure, of Caldwell ; Professors Aytoun, Blackie, Fraser, M'Dougall, George Wilson, and Campbell Swinton, of Edinburgh, dm, and deputations from the Graduates' Associations of Glasgow, St. Andrew's, and Aberdeen. The following resolutions wire pro posed and carried unanimously :- 1. That it is desirable that the graduates of our Scottish Universities shall have part in their government, and have such other privileges conferred on them as may enhance the value of degrees, and promote a higher education throughout the country. 2. That the Universities of Scotland labour under serious disadvantages from the want of parliamentary representation, and that due representa tion ought to be secured to them in any future Reform Bill. That the franchise should be conferred on graduates, they being presently so numerous as to form an ample constituency for the election of representatives. 4. That it is desirable that there should be a formal recognition of graduation by the learned professions of the country. 5. That the resolutions of this meeting be printed and for- warded to all members of her Majesty's Government, and t i all members of the House of Commons. A meeting was also held at Jedburgh last week, whoa the parliamentary representation of the Scottish I . 7 atTersitife vito forcibly weed by Ugs lion. W. F. (01}ituarg. THE LATE RIGHT REV. DR. DANIEL WILSON, LORD Btu Hoe OF CALCUTTA, whose death has been an nounced by a recent telegram from India, was the friend of Wilberforce and Simeon, and a person of note in his day. His lather, we believe, was a respectable silk manufacturer of , the City of Lopdon, and it was in Church-street, Spitalfields, that the future bishop first saw the light. He was born in 1778, and consequjntly at the time of his decease had entered on file eightieth year. He received his early educatiop i e#,*Mesuild's-ball, Oxford, which he entered in I , lakefr his Bachelor's degree. He was a"kti6CeWtil competitor for the Chancellor's prize for an English essay in 1803; the subject of his year was " Common Sense." He was ordained in the year 1801, when he became curate of Chobham and Bisley, Surrey. From 1803 to 1812 he held the post of vice-principal or tutor of his hall, at the same time undertaking the ministerial charge of the small parish of Worton, Oxfordshire. In 1808 a wider sphere of duty opened it elf I,e 4im ; for in that year he VMS licensed as oriaiiktia. tote of St. John's Chapel, Bedford-row, Blool4e t,l l .In 1812 he resigned his college offices on sole minister of that chapel, which, during the twelve years of his incumbency, was well known as the head qnarters of the Evangelical party in London. In 1824 he became vicar of St. Mary's, Islington, which parish was then, and stills remains, in the patrunage of his family. In 1832, mainly through the influence of Lord Glenelg and his brother, the late Sir IL Grant, M.P., Mr. Wilson was nominated to the im portant episcopal see of Calcutta, with a diocese extending over the entire Presidency of Bengal, and exercising a quasi-metropolitan jurisdiction over the other sees of Bombay and Madras. This post he held for just a quarter of a century, discharging its duties with much energy and firmness as a devoted minister of the gospel. His lordship was visitor of Bishop's College, Calcutta, and enjoyed an annual allowance of five thousand a year. Bishop Wil son VMS the author of several volumes of " Dis courses " and " Sermons," and of a very popular "Tract on Confirmation." In 1803 he married a daughter of William Wilson, Esq., of Worton-house, Oxfordshire, and was left a widower in 1827. His son, the Rev. Daniel Wilson, M.A., of Wadham Col lege, Oxford, still holds the valuable living of Isling ton, to which he succeeded at the elevation of his father to the episcopate. THE OLDEST KNIGHT BACHELOR, the venerable Sir John Hamilton, died at Dover on the Ist instant, at the residence of his shn-iv-law, Captain Luke Stykhett, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. Sir John Hamilton was a native of Dover, and was born in 1705. He married just seventy years ago, namely, in 1788, a daughter of the late Michael Hedgcock, Esq., and the worthy couple lived together as man and wife for no less than sixty-four years, Lady Hamilton having deceased so recently as 1852. Sir John Hamilton was a captain in her Majesty's Packet Service, and a chevalier of the Belgian Order of Leopold. He was knighted by her Majesty lR 1845, when he had just completed his eightieth year, It may be interesting to our readers to learn that it was the late Sir John Hamilton who communicated to Admiral Lord Duncan the intelligence of the Dutch fleet being under Admiral De Winter at sea, which led to the glorious *tory of Olgurord(11 1 4 Oct. 11, 1797.