The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-04 00:00:00

OCTOBER 4, 1856: soldier Field-Marshal Viscount Hardinge. A few weeks only have elapsed since, yielding to the request of the Field-Marshal, whose health had given way under the arduous duties of his office, the Queen reluctantly accepted his resignation of the chief command of her army. The assiduous labour of a long public and eventful career, during which Viscount Hardinge held some of the highest offices of the State, terminated too soon a life fertile in re• sources, and of unwearied perseverance and devo tion to duty. The Queen has a high and grateful sense of Lord Hardinge's valuable and unremitting services, end in his death deplores the loss of a true and devoted friend. No sovereign ever possessed a more honest and faithful counsellor, or a more loyal, fearless, and devoted servant. His Royal Highness Commanding-in-Chief has a gratification in publish ing ber Majesty's feelings and sentiments (in which lie sincerely participates) on this melancholy occa sion, and is confident that the army will equally lament the loss of one whose whole mind was applied to the promotion of their efficiency and welfare. By command of his Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief. G. A. WETHERALL, Adjutant-General. FINAL REVIEW OF THE GERMAN LEGION. Tus British German Legion, previously to being disbanded, were finally reviewed on Tuesday by Baron Stutterheim, at Wyvenoe-park, near Col chester. There were about 6,000 men upon the ground, under the command of Lieutenant• Colonel Von Hake, of the secand brigade. Very few civilians were present as spectators. The proceedings com menced with a sham fight, in which a jager force, under the command of Lieutenant• Colonel Schloer, was supposed to endeavour to dislodge the corps of Lieutenant-Colonel Von A. Leer from its position in the park. The manceuvring of both bodies of men in this mimic encounter was distinguished by pre cision and regularity, and both officers and men were highly praised by General Baron Von Stutterheim and the officers of his staff, and the approval was endorsed by General Gascoigne, the commander of the district. _ _ The principal feature in the transactions of the day was Baron Von Stutterheim's leave-taking of the legion. Baron Von Stntterheim, standing in a hollow square formed by the soldiers, addressed the men in German, thanking them for their services and general good conduct, and expressing his regret at having to part from them However (the general added), I think I may be united with a good many of you for a longer period, as it is my intention to go out to the Cape of Good Hope, because I consider it a sacred duty to stick to you so long as I see I can do any good for you. He then alluded to the offer of the British Govern ment : The conditions under which you will be allowed to go to the Cape have been already made known to you. You may accept them or you may not, just as you freely choose. No man will be forced to go. No man will be persuaded to go. I, for my own part, consider the conditions very favorable, as they give every man an opportunity to gain a free and independent existence. They are, I think, fair in every respect. You can only be obliged to do your own will. Those of you who will agree to go to the Cape will be guaranteed 51. each, as mentioned in Article 12 of the conditions, and you will receive an advance of 21. while you remain in England, for the purpose of buying some trifling things for your comfort on the voyage, and I warn you not to spend that money in waste. At the camp a similar address was delivered to the dismounted cavalry. The redaction of the army is proceeding. The soldiers belonging to the depots of regiments at Chatham, enlisted for two years, have this week been discharged. Major-General Horn, C. 8., has been appointed to command the 3rd Brigade at Malta. Captain Mor gan, 55th Regiment, will be Major of Brigade to the 2nd Brigade (General Warner's) ; and Major Pear son, of the Grenadier Guards, to the 3rd Brigade at that station. Major Tryon, 7th Fusiliers, has been appointed A.D.C. to Major-General Trollope, commanding a brigade in Canada; and Captain the Hon. Lucius Cary, Bth Regiment, A.D.C. to Sir George Buller, commanding the troops in the lonian Islands. The conditions under which military settlers w i l he conveyed to Southern Africa have been officially published this week. They do not vary in any im portant particulars from the general notion of the terms already received. The settlers are liable for seven years after lauding to military service when called upon by the civil power. The Polish Legion was disbanded at Scutari on the 10th August. General Zamoyski paid a farewell visit to Lord Stratford and Lord Lyons, and was received with much ceremony. The officers of the brigade of Guards propose to raise a monument to the officers and men of the brigade who have fallen in the late struggle. Aa. THE PRESS. cording Ito the terms of the meeting at which the project was discussed, the monument is likely to be on a grand scale. The officers have already appointed a committee to see it carried out, with Sir Alexander Woodford at its head. Sir William Napier has given an explanation of his statement of the battle of Albuera. All the in formation he received, came from Lord Hardinge himself, and he observes, Lord Hardinge's great merit was not so much the conception of pushing the fourth division and Abercrombie's brigade into re newed action as in the resolution not to let Marshal Beresford's desponding view of the crisis prevail. He saw the battle might still be won, if all the spare troops were pushed on, and decided for Beresford that it should be so ; but it was ' neck or naught.' And had it been naught, Beresford's better judgment would have been justly extolled." Sir L. Cole's movement in support, Sir William Napier says, " was a great action ! And so was Hardinge's—a stroke of genius for which he has been long and j tuttly eulogised." Ps an Volta. A Cuaxous CASE was brought before Mr. Jardine on Tuesday at Bow-street. A Mr. Welch, barrister, of Stone-buildings, Lincoln's-inn, was summoned on a charge of libel against a Miss Colquhoun. An attempt to settle the affair privately having failed, Mr. Bodkin proceeded to state the case. He said : I have never, in the course of a very long experience, risen to make a statement with greater pain—with a greater sense of shame, and, I may add, with greater in• dignation, than fills my mind at this moment, in calling your attention, sir, to the circumstances of this case. The defendant before you, I blush to say it, is a member of our profession—a barrister practising at the bar, of some station and position—a man of education, and one who, by his rank in life, ought to know the feelings and obliga tions of a gentleman. I appear before you, sir, as in structed by the heartbroken family now surrounding me— a family probably not unknown to your worship as persons of considerable station and respectability, of undoubted honour, and . The 'defendant, interrupting the learned counsel, was about to address some observation to the court. Mr. BODKIN : You appear here by counsel, and I must beg you to be silent. In any concession I have felt dis posed to make with a view to the private adjustment of this matter, I have been influenced solely by my friend ( Mr. Sleigh), whose honourable feeling I know has dictated the right course to be pursued, and the only one that can be permitted to interrupt this inquiry. Sir, I was about to state that I attended on behalf of the family of Miss Col quhoun. It appears that the late Mr. Colquhoun, the father of the lady, admitted the defendant to his house, re garded him as a friend, and became so attached to him that when he died he made Mr. Welch one of the executors of his will in conjunction with his eldest son. There was at that time an understood or anticipated engagement between the defendant and the eldest daughter of Mr. Colquhoun. Shortly after the father's death, however, some circum stances occurred which made it desirable, in the estima tion of the family, to break off the connection. I will not refer to those circumstances, as they have nothing to do with the present inquiry. It is sufficient to say that the connection, with the entire consent of the lady, was termi nated, and Mr. Welch was forbidden the house. In a spirit of revenge the defendant immediately threw the affairs of this family into Chancery. Finding that even this course of conduct failed to produce the effect antici pated, he commenced a system of annoying the family by every means in his power. He addressed letters to them ; he waylaid them ; indeed he used every effort to interrupt their peace and happiness. Letters known to be in his handwriting were returned to him unopened ; other letters, written in a feigned hand, were opened and also returned on their authorship being ascertained. At last, on the 14th of July, there came a letter which forms the subject of these proceedings. To that infamous letter I will now direct you attention. The defendant, rising up, said: For God's sake, Mr. Bodkin, don't read that letter. Mr. Jardine, I do entreat you, for the sake of the lady, do not allow that letter to be Pad. Mr. BODKIN : For tha sake of the lady, sir ! For shame. Do not pollute her name by such a false appeal when you know the dishonour is all your own. Defendant: The case must be stopped; that letter mast not be read. Mr. SLEIGH (to his client) : Do you consent to the terms I have suggested? Defendant: I will consent to any terms rather than this matter should go further. Mr. Simon: Then you consent to deliver up all the letters ? _ _ --- • Defendant : Yes, if I may see them destroyed. Here another conference took place, after which— Mr. SLEIGH said: They will not bind themselves to destroy the letters. Yon must now take your own course. If you resolve to go on I am prepared, but I must not be interrupted . - The defendant having apparently refused the terms suggested, Mr. Bodkin proceeded with his address, and was about to read the letter in question, when the defendant again requested another consultation. At length Mr. Sleigh drew up a statement which was submitted to the friends of the complainant and Mr. Bodkin and approved, and this agreement the de. fondant undertook to sign in the presence of the 947 magistrate. The learned counsel and the solicitor for the prosecution accordingly retired for a few minutes to a private room to make a formal copy of the document. On their return to the court to have it signed and attested, it was found that the defen dant was missing. He was called outside the court, and two officers were sent to look after him, but he was nowhere to be found. Mr. Bodkin, after waiting some time, observed that he would merely apply to have the summons adjourned for a week to admit of the proposed arrangement being carried out. ONE OF THE MOST INGENIOUS FORGERIES ever effected was committed last June upon Messrs. Gosling, the bankers. Not a word was made publics at the time, and the result of this silent system was the capture, last week, of the two forgers, Hardwick° alias Ralph, and Atwell alias Attwood. The details of the case are these. Mr. Turner, solicitor, of Red Lion-square, banks with Messrs. Gosling. In April last Atwell called at Mr. Turner's, and employed him to obtain from a certain debtor the sum of 381.168.6 d. due on an I 0 U. A letter was written, and the money was ultimately paid. In June the prisoner called again and employed Mr. Turner upon a similar affair. The amount this time was 103/. 15s. 6(1. A letter was written to this second debtor, and the money was paid. Mr. Turner paid the money into Goslings', and on the prisoner calling on the 24th June gave him a cheque for the amount. That same afternoon the prisoner changed the cheque, and, having now made an acquaintance with the clerk at the bank and with Mr. Turner's handwriting at the same time, a few days afterwards he presented another cheque for 4101. 7s. 4d. While the clerk was reading the cheque and counting out the notes, the prisoner Hardwick° entered the bank, and interrupted him with a question concern ing the address of a gentleman who had formerly kept au account there. The clerk paid the cheque with eight 501. notes, and 101. 7s. 4d. in cash. This cheque was a forgery. The first thing to do was to get rid of the 501. notes Accordingly, on the 2nd July, a woman called in at the Union Bank, Temple-bar, and said she wanted to send 201. to Hamburg to a Mr. Gurney. A 501. note was changed for her, and the credit opened. On the sth July the two prisoners called at the Hamburg house of Messrs . Gossler, obtained the 201., and at the same time changed four 50/. notes for Prussian money, as they were going to Berlin. From that time they appeared to have travelled over the Continent enjoying them selves, to have got rid of their money, and ultimately, seeing no mention made of the forgery in the Eng lish papers, to have ventured back to England. They took up their quarters at Yarmouth, but had scarcely arrived last week ere they were pounced upon by the detectives, brought to town, recognised by the banking clerks and others, and are now remanded fcr further evidence. A MRS ELIZABETH Horiassox, the wife of a drug gist, in Broad-street, Ratcliffe Highway, was charged on Wednesday before Mr. Yardley, at the Thames Police Court, with attempting/self destruction. From the evidence adduced it appeared that Mr. Hopkin son was a drunkard, and that he left Mrs. Hopkin son (a young woman of 20) to order and dispense the medicines. Influenced by the example of her husband she had taken to drinking, and in a fit of consequent depression of mind had sent to a whole sale druggist for a supply of opium, as she said, " for her customers." One ounce and six drachms of tincture of opium were immediately supplied upon her order, which she immediately swallowed on re ceiving. Fortunately assistance was at hand, the stomach-pump was applied, and her life was just saved. When questioned by Mr. Yardley, she said she was very sorry, and would not do such a thing again. Some further cross-questioning elicited the fact that she made up the prescriptions and sold the medicines for her husband, who was continually drunk. Mr. Yardley protested strongly against so dangerous a system, but ultimately liberated the prisoner and sent her home to her friends. ANOTHER CASE OF POISONING by mistake occurred at Wadworth, near Doncaster, last Friday.—A child named Pashley was sent by his mother to a small shop in the village, kept by a person named Gregory, and inquired for a pennyworth of paregoric, instead of which she was supplied with laudanum, and this being administered to the child caused its death. A verdict in accordance with these facts was returned, the jury at the same time expressing their dissatis faction at the loose and incautious manner in which the laudanum was dispensed. Manor WORDSWORTH, of St. Andrew's, Dunkeld, has written to the Times, protesting against a state ment by a correspondent, " that in a charge delivered a few days since he lamented the latitudinarianism of the British Government, in 1690, in recognising Presbyterianism as the established religion, and ex pressed a strong hope that the people would return into the bosom of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.” Bishop Wordsworth extracts certain passages from the charge which disprove such an accusation.