The Press. — London, England, 1857-01-03 00:00:00

10 Reviewing at length the conduct of the British Go vernment in the Neapolitan and Persian affairs, and professing his inability to discover the moral right\ of England to interfere with Persia at all, lie concludes : T trust that I have said enough to convince not only the Irish, but the British reader, that a common effort ought to be made to check the tendencies which are encouraged by that deplorable facility with which na• tions open their purses at the suggestion or for the behoof of those who excite the passions of ambition, revenge, or cupidity. Ma. DAVID LYNCH, Q.C., of the Leinster circuit, has been apcointed assistant-barrister for the county of Louth, in the room of Mr. John Perrin (son of Judge I'errin), who retires in consequence of con tinued indisposition. Mr. Lynch is a Roman Catholic. THE agitation against the income tax is gaining ground in Dublin. A requisition addressed to the Mayor for a public meeting, to pronounce against the war ninepenee, has received the signatures of all the leading commercial men in the city, without distinction of creed, political or religious. Similar demonstrations are in preparation throughout the provinces. IN THE ELECTION FOR A DIRECTOR of the Hiber nian Bank, in place of the late Francis Pilsworth, Esq., Mr. Rafferty was declated elected, over Mr. Ford, Town Clerk of the Dublin corporation, and an active and influential member of the Liberal party, by a large majority of 186. The number was 283 to 147. THE SALES IN THE ENCVMDERED ESTATES COURT last week amounted to 167,638/. The estate of the children of the late Eliot Warburton, author of " The Crescent and the Cross," whose melancholy fate is so well known, was amongst those which were disposed of. THE LORD LIEUTENANT returned to the Viceregal Lodge on Tuesday, the 30th ult. stollanb. ELECTORAL REFORM Was discussed at a public meeting held last week in the Queen-street Hall, Edinburgh. The object proposed was to extend to Scotland the forty-shilling freehold held as a qualifi cation in England. Three resolutions were proposed and passed. The first, moved by Baillie Black adder, and seconded by Councillor Gorrie, declared it to be the opinion of this meeting that at the earliest possible period the principles of the " Registration of Voters' Act for the Burghs of Scot land," passed last session, should be extended to all the counties of Scotland, in the same manner in which they now exist in the counties of England. The second resolution was moved by the Rev. Dr. Begg, and seconded by Mr. Mitchell, of Dalkeith ; it declared for the extension of the English forty shilling freehold qualification to Scotch counties. The purport of the third was that the rights of pro prietors in English cities and burghs to vote for county members, or " knights of the shire," upon property other than that occupied by themselves, or on which they are qualified to vote for city or burgh members, constituted an important electoral privilege of England, the extension of which to Scotland was justly demanded. Mr. Adam Black, M.P., then addressed the meeting, briefly stating the course which was adopted with the bill passed last session, and adding : After what has been stated to-night, T am decidedly of opinion that we have the same right to the privilege of the forty-shilling freehold vote that the people of England have. But T would not rest my claim upon that. l am convinced that we could not find better voters than the sturdy forty-shilling freeholders. These men I hold to be the most intelligent and independent in the counties, and therefore best able to exercise the franchise. I place great value upon the moral effect of the measure upon the people. I think it would be desirable that our cities should have the same privileges as in England. In the first ses sion I think we may be able to carry the Registration Bill. That is one thing the Lord Advocate is determined to carry. If we succeed in that, we may see how much more we can contrive to carry. AT THE POST-MORTEM INQUIRY into the causes of the death of Mr. Hugh Miller, all doubt upon the subject was removed, and it became clear that the de ceased had destroyed himself while in a fit of insanity. The following conclusion was come to by the medical gentlemen : The cause of death we found to be a pistol•shnt through the left side of the chest, and this we are satisfied was inflicted by his own hand. From the diseased appearances found in the brain, taken in connection with the history of the case, we have no doubt that the act was suicidal, under the impulse of insanity. A few lines to Mrs. Miller, found written on a folio sheet. lying on the table beside his corpse, corrobo• rate this view : Dearest Lydia,—My brain burns. T must have walked; and a fearful dream arises upon me. I cannot bear the horrible thought. God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me. Dearest Lydia, dear children, THE PRESS. farewell. My brain burns as the recollection grows.—My dear dear wife, farewell, Iluott MILLER. It appears that for some weeks past Mr. Miller had been subject to horrible visions, and used to have paroxysms of agony when they came over him. He had been hard at work of late every night upon bis new treatise on "The Testimony of Rocks," and had overtaxed his brain. On the Monday before his death he sent for Dr. Balfour and said:— My brain is giving way. I cannot put two thoughts together to-day. I have had a dreadful night of it. I cannot face another such. I was impressed with the idea that my museum was attacked by robbers, and that I had got up, put on my clothes, and gone out with a loaded pistol to shoot them. Immediately after that I became unconscious. How long that continued I cannot say; but when I awoke in the morning I was trembling all over, and quite confused in my brain. So thoroughly convinced was I that I must have been out through the night, that examined my trousers, to see if they were wet or covered with mud, but could find none. On Tuesday Dr. Balfour an d Professor Miller con sulted, and ordered immediate and absolute disconti nuance from all work. On the same night Mr. Hugh Miller's unfortunate death occurred. He had retired into his sleeping-room—a small apartment opening out of his study. The horrible trance must have returned, and all that can now be known of what followed is to be gathered from the facts that next morning his body, half dressed, was found lying lifeless on the floor ' the feet upon the study-rug, the chest pierced with the ball of the revolver pistol, which was found lying in the bath close by. The bullet had perforated the left lung, grazed the heart, cut through the pulmonary artery at its root, and lodged in the rib in the right side. Death must have been instantaneous. After the judicial and medical inquiry on Friday Professor Miller took the pistol to the gunsmith from whom it had been purchased by Mr. Miller in July, 1855, in order to ascertain how many shots bad been fired, and how many were still in the chamber. In the master's absence, the foreman, Thomas Leslie, an old and experienced workman, received the pistol from Professor Miller, and unfortunately, in stead of taking off the chamber, he looked into the muzzle, holding the hammer with his fingers while he turned the chamber round to count the charges. The hammer slipped from his fingers, struck the cap, and the charge in the barrel exploded. Pro fessor Miller, still standing outside the counter, ex claimed, "That's a narrow escape! " but unhappily it was nct so, for as the smoke cleared away he saw the poor man's head gradually droop and his body then fall lifeless on the boor. The charge had entered his right eye and penetrated the brain. Leslie was a steady, trustworthy man, and had been twenty-five years in his present employment. He has left a widow and a family of eight children. SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON, we believe, has been invited to a public dinner at Glasgow on the 10th instant, being the day following his installation as Lord Rector of Glasgow University. Naln nub Voila. AN INGENIOUS FORGER, one Edward Horace Mon tefiore, was brought up on remand before the Lord Mayor on Monday charged with having forged bills to the amount of 5,3001. Mr. Horatio Joseph Mon • tefiore, of the Stock Exchange, said he did not know that there was any other Joseph Montefiore on the Stock Exchange than himself, and he had no know ledge of the prisoner. " To the best of my knowledge," said he, " I never saw the prisoner before. He is not to my knowledge a nephew of mine. He had no authority to draw bills upon me." The fraud had been devised by the prisoner upon a most ex tensive scale, and with a degree of ingenuity seldom displayed even in cases success in which had been of late frequently so profitable. On the fith of June, 1855, an application was made to the London and Westminster Bank by a person who called himself James Silvery for a letter of credit for 10/., payable at the Cape of Good Hope Bank, Cape Town, to the credit of Richard Rowe, and the letter was granted. No application for payment, however, had been made either at the Cape or in London, and the letter of credit had no doubt been obtained by the prisoner, or a confederate of his, for the purpose of enabling them to obtain the signatures of the managers and directors of the bank, with a view to imitate the sig natures to the documents which were subsequently presented at the Cape of Good Hope. On the 7th of July the prisoner left for the Cape, and arrived there on the 2-Ith of August in the ship Lightning, and on the next day he called at the Cape of Good Hope Bank and left there the follow ing letters for the directors: — (Special.) London and Westminster Bank, London, June R, 1855. Gentlemen,—T am desired by the managing directors of this bank to introduce to you the bearer, Mr. Edward H. Montefiore, who purposes spending a year's leave of absence from the East in travelling. SATURDAY, Mr. Montefiore has with him draughts of his own friends, with the endorsement of this establishment, and it is par ticularly requested that you will grant him any assistance, pecuniary or otherwise, that he may require. I am, &c., J. W. WELDON, pro General Manager. To the Directors of Cape of Good Hope Bank, Cape Town. One of the directors of the Cape of Good Hope Bank called at the hotel where the prisoner had taken up his quarters, after the perusal of the above letter, but nothing further then took place. However, by the very next post the bank received the following letter : (Special.) London and Westminster Bank, London, 9th June, 18b5. Gentlemen, —Confirming my despatches per steamship Fiery Cross, by order of the directors I have now to inform you that a letter of credit, No. 998, dated the 6th inst., has been mislaid by or stolen from the party (Richard Rowe, Esq.) in whose favour it was drawn. You will therefore, in case of presentation to you, withhold payment thereof until the presenter thereof shall he fully identified. I am also directed to inclose the duplicate of a special letter given yesterday to Mr. Edward H. Montefiore, who carries drar.ghts of his own friends on China to the sum of 5,300/. sterling—viz., 5,300/., endorsed by this bank; for these, as well as for Mr. Montefiore personally, I have to claim particular attention. I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, J. W. WELDON, pro General Manager. To the Directors of the Cape of Good Hope Bank Cape Town. No. 924. - - - - - - These letters show the ingenious mode in which tho forgery bad been conducted, and display capacity for depredation similar to that by which the present year has been distinguished by the adventurers in fraud and robbery. In consequence of the receipt of the last letter, the directors of the Cape of Good Hope Bank could entertain no idea of a fraud, and in the usual way drew out of the bank up to the sth of September several sums of money, amounting in all to 8001., when, in consequence of communi• cations from London, a discovery took place. The prisoner at once left the Cape and sailed for England, where he was apprehended on his ar rival before he had an opportunity of disposing of himself to his own satisfaction. The prisoner was remanded. MR. SURR EDWARD PACK BARBER, of the Samaritan Institution, appeared at the Guildhall on Tuesday, in discharges of his recognisance, to answer the several charges preferred against him at the instance of Mr. Potter, of 62, Farriugdon-street, one of the guardians of the %Vest London Union, of unlawfully obtaining under false pretences two barrels of porter, one sack of flour, and one barrel of biscuits, with intent to defraud Messrs. Hoare and Co., the brewers of Lower East Smithfield ; Messrs. Manners and Wells, brewers of Whitechapel ; Messrs. Ponsford and Co., of the City Flour Mills; and Messrs. Hunt ley and Palmer, of Reading. After a very long examination of the witnesses, in which the evidence was rather conflicting as to the relief afforded by the institution, Sir R. W. CARMIN said : I consider there is a very strong case to send for trial, and if you took my advice yon would reserve your defence. I think the best thanks of the public are due to Mr. Potter for the part he has taken in this affair. Mr. SLEIGH : This is a prosecution of great importance, upon charges of a very grave character, and, having made out a strong case, I will now ask you, sir, to hold this man to bail to meet these charges. I think he should be called upon to put in substantial bail. Mr. HORSELEY : Mr. Barber's whole interests lie in meeting these charges, and there is no fear but that he will attend. Sir H. W. CARDEN : If he enters into his own recogni. sance in 501. it will sufficient. The case was then adjourned. CHRISTOPHER STANNARD—the cabman charged with causing the death of a young woman, Sarah Tidyman, on Sunday night, the 21st ult., through being drunk and falling from his seat, thus permit ting his horse to run away and come into collision with an omnibus, the pole of which was dashed through the cab and crushed the deceased to death— was on Monday committed for trial for manslaughter. THE BULLION ROBBERY AND THE GREAT NOR THERN RAILWAY FRAUD CASES will be heard on the 13th instant at the Central Criminal Court. Arrange ments similar to those made in the Palmer case are to be adopted with respect to these proceedings. By this arrangement the numerous witnesses will have the comfort of being accommodated in one of the courts, and thus be exempted from the inconvenience of being kept waiting in the different lobbies. THOMAS MANSELL, convicted at the last Maidstone Assizes of the murder of a comrade belonging to the 49th Regiment, has been respited until the sth of February, in order to afford time for the decision of certain points of law raised by his counsel, relating to the mode of swearing the jury on his trial, the Attorney-General having intimated his intention to grant his fiat for the suing out of a writ of error. JOHN PAUL, tho assistant clerk to the City of London Union, and charged with Manini, the late