The Press. — London, England, 1854-05-13 00:00:00

MAY 13, 1854. THE commissioners now sitting on the subject of military promotion are said to have recommended that military officers of all ranks shall retire from active service when they have passed their 60th year ; and that the grade of major in the army shall be altogether abolished. HONOUR would seem to have been thrust upon the Mayor of Norwich, Sir Samuel Bignold. According to his statement, at a late;meeting of the town council of that place, it appears that he attended the royal levee last week, to present to the Queen an address from the corporation of Norwich on the subject of the Eastern war. This address gave utterance to very loyal views, and expressed the fullest confidence in the measures of the Government. Mr. Bignold was introduced by Mr. Peto, M.P. for the borough, his card bearing only the words " The Mayor of Norwich." After receiving the address her Majesty inquired the mayor's name, and, commanding him to kneel, saluted him as " Sir Samuel Bignold." He rose, as he says, thunderstruck at the honour thus unexpectedly conferred. The Norwich citizens are much gratified, it is said, interpreting the event into a compliment to their ancient and loyal city. LORD ELLESMERE has purchased for 1,200 guineas the picture by Ary-Scheffer of Francesca da Rimini, exhibiting at the Exposition do l'Ecole Francaise des Beaux Arts, in Pall-mall. Loan LEIGH, of Stoneleigh, has sent a donation of fifty guineas in aid of the funds of the reformatory institution which Mr. Adderley, M.P., and other gen ' tlemen have recently established at Birmingham. REAR-ADMIRAL HOPE JOHNSTONE is appointed Com mander-in-chief at Rio Janeiro. CAPTAIN GEORGE Ross, R.E., is appointed A.D.O to the Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance, Sir Hew Dalrymple Ross. PROFESSOR E. FORBES is appointed to the chair of natural history in the University of Edinburgh, va• cant by the decease of Professor Jameson. THE first quarterly return for 1854 of marriages, births, and deaths throughout England has now ap peared. The general aspect of the return is favour able. The marriages in the last quarter of 1853 not only greatly exceeded the mean proportion, but the maximum, of the previous years. In the quarter that ended on March 31st, 1854, the births exceeded the average; and the public health of the country was such that the mortality was considerably below the average of the last ten years. The improvement is chiefly in the country districts, as in the towns the deaths rather increased in proportion to the popula tion, and are sall, out of the same population, one third part more numerous than the deaths in the surrounding country. THE TRADE TABLES.—The official returns relating to the trade and navigation of the United Kingdom for the month of March last (ended April 5) show very satisfactory results,notwithstanding the depress ing influence which the extremely unsettled appear ance of the Eastern question presented daring the month. The value of the exports of domestic pro duce and manufactures amounted to the sum of no less than 8,880,8051. against 7,502,9121. in the month of February last, and 6,602,5421. in January. In cluding the " unenumerated articles " (recently, by an improved arrangement, included in the official return), the month's exports this year are raised to 10,042,7541., and those of the three months to 24,238,2081. Upon an analysis of the return, the ac • count shows an increase in the quantities of ship ments in the articles of beer, butter, candles, coal, cordage, cotton manufactures, earthenware, glass manufactures, linen yarn, metals, salt, soap, refined sugar, wool, and woollen manufactures; but a de creasein cheese, cotton yarn, leather, oils, silk ma nufactures, and silk twist. On the side of imports we find an increase in the articles of cocoa, coffee, wheat, barley, and oats, cotton manufactures, flax, fruits, glass manufactures, guano, leather and linen manufactures, mahogany, oils, bacon, butter, eggs, lard, rice, saltpetre, raw silk and silk manufactures of Europe and India, spices, rum, raw and refined sugar, molasses, tallow, tea, timber and wood, wine, sheep's wool, and woollen manufactures; but a de crease in animals, Indian corn, flour, cotton yarn, dyes, hemp, hides, metals, potatoes, salted beef and pork, seeds, silk manufactures of India, brandy and geneva, and cotton wool. With regard to navigation, there is shown an increase in the amount of tonnage entered inwards and cleared outwards employed in the foreign trade, an increase in the amount of ton nage entered inwards employed in the coasting trade, but a decrease in the tonnage of the vessels cleared outwards. Tm statement in the PRESS of April 29, given on the authority of a Paris journal, that Colonel Rose bad gone from Constantinople to Candia to organise hospitals there, is incorrect. The services of the gal lant officer have been recognised by his promotion to the rank of brigadier- general, and he is now on his road to join the head-quarters of Marshal de St. Arnaud, where he will remain as her Majesty's com missioner with the French forces in the East. THE PRESS. gltrtion Initiligtut. THE HASTINGS ELECTION began and ended on Wednesday. Three candidates, all of them inhabit ants of the district—Mr. F. North, Mr. J. Lock, and Mr. W. Crake—had started as soon as Mr. Brisco's intention to resign the seat obtained publicity. The two latter gentlemen, however, declined a contest, and Mr. North was returned without opposition. There was little excitement during the election, even the customary celebration of an unopposed return being omitted, in respect for the memory of the late member, Mr. Brisco, who died suddenly on Tuesday from disease of the heart. THE NOMINATION AT DEVONPORT, where a vacancy had been caused by the retirement of the Right Hon. H. Tufnell, took place on Wednesday, the candidates being Sir J. Heron Maxwell, Bart., and Sir E. Perry, Knt. The show of hands was in favour of the latter, who was returned next day by a majority at the close of the poll of 402. The numbers were—Perry, 1,091; Maxwell, 889. AT LICHFIELD the vacant seat, lately occupied by Lord Anson, was filled on Tuesday by the unopposed return of Lord Waterpark, the only candidate. THE HERTFORDSHIRE LIBERALS will bring forward Mr. Puller as their candidate to supply the vacancy in the representation caused by the lamented death of Mr. Halsey. The new writ was moved for on Tuesday in the House of Commons. L %.• Xnit3 and Volpe. THE DEFINITION OF AN "ALIEN," in 80 far as the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery is concerned, constituted the point which the Master of the Rolls was called upon to decide on Monday last. The ob ject of the suit in which the point occurred wits to obtain an order for the removal of two sons of Mr. Adrian John Hope from the custody of their mother to that of their father. The latter is the second son of Mr. Hope, the banker of Amsterdam, Mrs. Hope being a French lady, and the daughter of a distin guished French general. The two sons are respec tively named Adrian Elias Hope and Jean Henry Hope, who are at present presumptive heirs to the immense fortunes of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Hope had lived much in Paris for some years after their marriage, but, differences arising between them, they separated, and Mrs. Hope had brought a suit for divorce against her husband in the French courts, from which also she had obtained several orders regarding the custody and maintenance of the children. In August last Mrs. Hope also commenced a suit in the English ecclesiastical court, and in September applied to the Cour Imperiale at Paris that the two boys should remain with her during the progress of the suit in the ecclesiastical court in England, and obtained an order that they might do so for four months, which was the period that the French court, somewhat absurdly, supposed the English court would take to give an opinion. The application now made by Mr. Hope to have the custody of the boys ; to be put in the way of taking all proper proceedings in France in order to get pos session of them ; and for an injunction restraining Mrs. Hope from interfering with them in any way, was resisted first on the preliminary plea that the court had no jurisdiction. The plea was argued at much length and with great ability on both sides, the principal point being whether the English Court of Chancery could interfere as to the custody of infants situated like the two sons of Mr. Hope, these sons having an English father, but being born in France, and of a French mother ; and, at present, being in the custody of such mother, under and by virtue of an order of the Cour Imperiale in France. By the common law, on the one hand, it was contended they were, to all intents and purposes, aliens ; and by the municipal law, on the other hand, that they were naturalised subjects:— The Massa of the Roue, in giving judgment as to the question of jurisdiction, said, that, without going into the facts of the case, the real question was as to whether the two sons of Mr. and Mrs. Hope were English subjects or not? lie had always understood that the children of an Englishman born abroad were English subjects although their mother might be French, and that such children were to be treated, as far as the operation of the English law went, as English subjects going abroad; and therefore he had no doubt as to the Court having jurisdiction to deal with their rights and protect their interests, when called upon to do so. These children of Mr. and Mrs. Hope, according to this theory, must be looked upon as English subjects, and be treated as such. lie had no doubt that the Court had jurisdiction in such a case as the present, and the only question was how it could best enforce its power so as to benefit the children. To state the ease generally, If the Court were informed that there were English children residing abroad, whose property was not properly administered, whose education was neglected, and who were otherwise improperly brought up, could it be doubted for one moment that this Court had jurisdic tion to protect such children, and that it was nut only within the power but that it was also the duty of this Court to do so? This Court was bound to exercise all functions and exert all in fluence which the Crown itself could do, as ',amt., patria, for the protection of neat children, and the only difficulty, if any, in the present case was as to how the Court could enforce its authority. There were two questions before the Frisch rourte—dretly, as to alimony, and, secondly, as to the custody of the infanta, 443 both of which points the] bad Ybtually, but, U to the second (subject to the decision of the English court), deckled in favour of the mother of the children. He would express no opinion at present as to the propriety of the decision of the t ranch Court, but as to the jurisdiction of this Court to deal with the custody of these children, and its power to carry out and enforce such jurisdiction, he entertained no doubt. The further arguments of the case upon its merits, which, it was said, would involve disclosures of a painful character, were, at the suggestion of the Master, postponed, with the view of the parties coming to some private arrangement. MOSES MOSES, whose extensive dealings as a re ceiver of stolen goods were lately made the subjectof curiosity at the police court, was brought up at the Old Bailey on Tuesday for trial. There were thir teen separate charges cf " feloniously receiving" laid in the indictment, but the prisoner prudently fore stalled the evidence that was in readiness to support them by at once pleading guilty to the whole series. His counsel (Mr. Ballantine) then appealed to the Court in mitigation of punishment : Ills client had only been engaged In these transactions for a very few mondial, and up to that time carried on an honest busi ness, but, having unfortunately taken some premises which brought him into contact with a notorious receiver of stolen pro perty, he in an evil hour was induced to become a party to the proceedings of this person, and there was no doubt that for some time he had lent himself to receiving property that had been stolen from all quarters. The other mart however, was the ori ginator of the proceeding, and he had absconued and left the prisoner to bear the whole of the consequences of the illegal transactions that had been jointly carried on between them. Since the prisoner had been in custody, he had given informa tion to the police which was likely to be of importance to the interesur of justice ; and in additior, to those facts he begged to assure the Court that there was no foundation fur the statement that had gone forth that the prisoner was possessed of consider able wealth, but on the contrary he and his family were actually reduced to a state of destitntion. Witnesses were afterwards called to give the prisoner a character, but all they could state was that they had never heard anything wrong of him. Sentence of fourteen years' transportation was pronounced, and an order given by the Court that all property found on the prisoner's premises, that could be identified, should be restored to the owners. A CARMAN named Hester, who had been allowed to stable his horses on the premises of Mr. Rawlings, a cheeaemonger, of New street, Covent-garden, was charged at Bow-street with having stolen upwards of 3001. from an iron safe in the shop. The whole place, it seems, was left uninhabited at night, but protected by strong locks, some of which on the morning of the 17th March showed signs of violence. Nevertheless the iron safe was found open, and its contents gone. In this safe a good deal of cash was usually placed as it was received from customers. On the night of the robbery there was 3081. in it, of which 1501. was in silver, including about 201. worth of sixpences. Much mystery attended the robbery, and for some time no clue could be found to the perpetrator. At length suspicion was attracted to the prisoner by his being discovered to have bought a a cart. and paid 01. for it all in sixpences, as well as paying away a good deal of silver money in other purchases. When first questioned he stated that thu silver was given him by an aunt, but the story was proved to be false. Before the court he gave another version, saying that he had been saving sixpences for eleven years, and had moreover lately sold some pigs. He was remanded. THE SHARPER who victimised some tradesmen by giving himself out as the Earl of Dalkeith, but who was detected and apprehended in an attempt upon the credulity of Mr. Dent, the watchmaker, was brought up for trial on Tuesday at the Central Cri minal Court. The prisoner's name is John Woo/if, and he is only twenty-one years of age. He pleaded guilty, and instructed his counsel to urge in his behalf the fact of his youth, the respectability of his family, and that he had yielded to sudden temptation. He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour. WHILE stealing lead from the roof of the Wa station of the South-Western Railway, a man detected and pursued by a police officer. In attempt; ing to escape over the ridges he feU through a sly. light upon the rails below, and was so frightfully injured that he died a few hours afterwards at the hospital. AN EirrENsrvE Itoneeny has been perpetrated on the premises of Messrs. Charles Brook and Son, of Meltham Mills, near Huddersfield, which were broken into and a large iron fixture see blown open with gunpowder, when Bank of England notes, Brad ford and Co. st. notes, with gold, silver, and sundry bills of exchange, amounting to 8,0001., were stolen. Everything connected with the affair shows that the robbers were no novices, and that they were pretty well acquainted with the premises. ON Sunday morning the authorities at Aberdeen were informed of a murder committed upon lel Harvey, at Cults, near that city. Her body found east into a ditch, with the throat Nit, and other wise mangled. A person named Forbes has apprehended, accused of being the perpetrator att horrid deed. - ;.. +r +i