The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-18 00:00:00

Ac onEn 18, 1856. Mr. Eta.torx : I should be glad to know on what grounds you could expect a commutation of punishment ; for, as far as I recollect, when the case was before me, the charge against the pritioner was perfectly clear; and, be. sides that, there was a former conviction. Mr. NEALE : Well, sir, I understood there were strong grounds for a reduction of punishment ; and one, for in stance, was that the officer gave his evidence as if the prisoner had been sentenced to transportation. The Applicant : The officer did no such thing ; he only sa'd he was summarily convicted, and got three months ; and this shows that you did not give yourself any trouble about him. _ _ Mr. ELLIOTT : I do not see that there was the slightest use in memorialising the Secretary of State, and you have not shown any grounds for doing so ; and I think that taking money from poor people under such circumstances is not only most improper, but amounts to positive dis honesty. I think you should return the 21. Mr. Neale upon this offered to return a portion of the money paid. The applicant., however, after borne hours delay, got nothing; and, by Mr. Elliott's ad vice, proceeded to take out a summons for the county court. A HORRIBLE CASE OF CHILD POISONING has oc curred at Runcorn, near Liverpool. A pedlar and his wife, Thomas and Elizabeth Brennan, have been fully committed on a charge of " Wilful murder " for poisoning their daughter with sulphuric acid. The evidence was to the effec►. that the mother had deliberately held the child (a girl of nine years of age) across her knee and administered about 40 drops of sulphuric acid. A TRAVELLING HAWKER, one Jeremiah Milnes, was found murdered on the road on Tuesday night, within two miles of Bradford, Leeds. The police are on the track of the murderer. A JOURNEYMAN CARPENTER, one Gaylor of Hack ney, gave his wife, by her own request, on Tuesday night, 2oz. of sulphate of potash to procure abortion. In twenty four hours the woman died. A post mortem examination has been ordered by the coroner, and the husband arrested on a charge of murder. PICKPOCKETS AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH do not harmonise well together. A good story is told this week of a couple of the fraternity who started from Birmingham to operate in the West of Eng land. Before they arrived at Bristol, a telegraphic message, stating that they were in the train, was received by the Bristol police authorities ; and on their arrival at the station they were watched, and were seen to take tickets for Exeter. They were pointed out to the guard, and on taking their places, he warned the passengers in the same train against them, whereupon the whole of the persons in the carriage took up their carpet bags and went into another, leaving the two thieves by themselves. On the arrival of the train at every station, the guard significantly said to the passengers about to enter, "You can go in if you please, but these two men are notorious thieves," upon which, of course, they de clined to ride in their company. On arriving at Exeter, the guard informed the superintendent, who put a railway policeman to watch them, be himself communicating the fact to the Exeter police-station. The men were soon found in bed at a respectable inn in Exeter. They were then in company with a third person, and on their arrival at the inn they bad tea, and ordered breakfast in the morning, as they were going on by an early train to Barnstaple fair. The officers took the liberty to visit them in their bedroom, whereat they expressed themselves highly indignant, and threatened legal proceedings. All three were taken to the station house, where they said, on being searched, "You won't find any thing to make a case against us, and, if you take us before a magistrate, be can't give us more than three months." Finding nothing, they were allowed to depart, after all the police officers on duty had examined them, with a view of keeping an eye upon them, which they were told would be the case. They said they should go on to Barnstaple. The inspec tor said, " I will go with you, and put the police upon you." "Then we'll go on to Plymouth," they rejoined. "If you do," said the officer, " we'll tele graph to say you are coming." Then they said, " It's no use ; we'll go right hack to London," which they accordingly did, the officer seeing them safely in the train. (0b ituarg. Mn. JOHN Woon, Chairman of the Inland Revenue Board, died yesterday week at Bath, after a long illness. Mr. Wood was an old and valuable public servant. He represented Preston in the Parliaments of '26, '3O, and '3l, when he retired and accepted the post of chairman of the Board of Stamps and Taxes. Upon the consolidation of that board with the Com missioners of Excise Mr. Wood was appointed chair man of the united board, which post he filled to the complete satisfaction of every successive Adminis tration, until his death last week. Ma. DAVID GIBSON. a young artist of great promise, a frequent exhibitor in the Royal Scottish Academy's Exhibition, and whose name is familiar to all who THE PRESS. take an interest in the fine arts, died last week. Mr. Gibson was educated in Edinburgh, and his first decided success was in the Royal Academy's Exhibi tion in 1855, when he exhibited two pictures of very considerable merit—the largest of which was called "The Little Stranger." Both of these works found purchasers. About this time the state of Mr. Gibson's health compelled him to proceed to Spain, where be prosecuted his art with great enthusiasm. He sent several pictures of great merit to the Royal Academy Exhibition this season. Commissions flowed in upon him from all quarters, but he died just as he had entered upon a career of fame and fortune. THE HON. CHARLES GRI3ISTOS, brother of the Countess of Clarendon, died on Wednesday last. The deceased gentleman had been out to the East just before the conclusion of peace, and on his arrival at Constantinople was assailed by fever, from the effects of which he never entirely recovered. The Hon. Charles Grimston was third son of the late Earl of Verulam, and brother of the present peer, the Countess of Clarendon, the Countess Craven, the Countess of Caledon, and Viscountess Folkestone. He was born 3rd October, 1818, and was formerly in the Coldstream Guards. glisallantous. Mr. Jon.,; ➢PGREooR, M.P., has forwarded the fol lowing letter to the editor of the Glasgow Daily News:— Sir,—With respect to the calumnies which have been charged against me, I need only advert to a simple narra tive of facts. First, I was neither the projector nor founder of the British Bank; Mr. Menzies was the projector. Messrs. Mullens and Paddison, and Mr. Mozhay, then proprietor of the Commercial Hall, were those who first proposed to me to become a director, while I was residing at Brighton, to which place Mr. Mullen., Mr. Menzies, and others came to persuade ire to assist them to get a charter. I refused. Afterwards, on the ground that indus trious traders, artisans, and shopkeepers had no banking facilities in London, as in Scotland, I very imprudently consented to become a director. Mr. Mozhay died soon after, and the Commercial Hall, which he proposed should become the property of the bank, he taking the value in shares, was abandoned. Then the premises, occupied previously by the once great firm of Reid, Irving, and Co., were taken and fitted up as a banking house. The board room was up stairs; the manager's room and the whole business transacted on the ground floor. I relied implicitly on the manager and Mr. Mullen.. They on the weekly board day placed before the board a statement of the affairs of the bank ; and np to the time I left the direction I believed everything correct. Neither I, nor any other di rector as far as I am aware, knew anything of any private book kept by the manager, nor could I know the persons in the City whose paper was worthy of being discounted. I)anneller and Scales were represented by the manager, on the authority of an eminent gentleman in the Bank of England, as fully tristworthy. This led to the disas trous advances on their coal and iron works in Wales, and which so long as I was a director, I urged should be realised, instead of attempting to work them ;—a similar attempt on the part of the Bank of England having utterly failed ; a second blunder was, advancing on the security of Westminster Improvement Bonds—a third was, on the shares of the Islington Cattle Market—a fourth was, to a shipowning firm, Oliver of Liverpool. Of the value of such securities I could know nothing ; therefore i became con vinced, but too late, that in the city of London, as is, I be lieve, the true and practicable custom in Glasgow, no one should be a director of a bank but a city man of business; for it was, and is, impossible for a purely West-end man to know who ought, or ought not, to be trusted. It was under these convictions that I separated myself from all joint-stock connections. As regards liabilities to the Royal British Bank, I deny the amount of debit, either legally or equit ably ; and for any legal debit, of which when I can ascer tain the details—which I cannot for some days—there are numerous offsets, as transferred New Three per Cents in the Bank of England, 1,0001., then at 95i ; 5001. stock at par; other securities, valued each at from SOU to 4001. ; two valuable life policies, that especially of a very old one, in the Law, for 1,0001., to which several large bonuses have been added. As I have concluded in haste, I will only add that I will not shrink before calumny, nor shirk from paying any just claim that may be proved against me. I will not yield to clamour nor injustice. I am, sir, yours most respectfully, Athenaeum Club, Oct. U. J. M`Gitznoa. THE BISHOP OF CHESTER delivered his opinion on the revision of the Bible at the annual meeting of the Liverpool Bible Society, last week. The Bishop, who presided, protested against the attempt to obtain an alteration of the Protestant version of the Scriptures, asserting that, as it now stands, it does not misrepresent any essential point of faith : The present text (he said) has a simplicity, vigour, and majesty, that no attempt at modernised version has yet been able to equal or approach. But more than this, my friends, it has now been hallowed and consecrated by time. It is associated with every tender sentiment in our hearts, with every serious incident in oar lives, with every cherished remembrance of our parental home, with every sacred en joyment of our own home, with all the happy recollections of an early youth, with all the solemn feelings of advanced age. It is a word that lives in all the echoes of the past, in all the realities of the present, and in all the hopes of the future. They are teard every day around our firesides, engraved on the gravestones pi our fathers, written on the 995 living tablets of our own hearts. My friends, these aria associations which it is indeed unwise needlessly or tud,ly to disturb. Earl Fitz william, at a recent meeting of the Auxiliary Bible Society, expressed a similar opinion. A DISGRACEFUL SCENE in the Revision Court at Rochester occurred last Monday. The mayor of the city (Mr. F. Furrell), and Messrs. French and Gorier, assessors, held a court in Guildhall for the purpose of revising the list of burgesses, according to the provisions of the Municipal Act, and the greatest excitement was observable in consequence of objections made by the Conservative party. On the court being opened, the mayor signified his intention of disallowing the list of burgesses for two out of the three wards into which the city is divided. This determination greatly excited the Liberals, and on the mayor proceeding to revise the lists he was assailed with a perfect torrent of groans and hisses, until at length a rush was made towards his seat by the crowd in the Guildhall, the purpose apparently being to drag him from his seat and eject him. A most disgraceful scene then occurred, the crowd jumping on to the tables, breaking down the gasfittings, and, seizing the books and papers, they tore them up and hurled them into the street. The mayor and assessors managed to get safely out of the ball. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DEATH OF MR. CHAS. ROWCROFT, Ex Consul at Cincinnati, while on his passage home in August last, has excited some remark. Previously in good health, he died seven days after he came on board the New York liner Cherubim, and with every appearance of having been poisoned. There appears to have been no burgeon on board the ship, the master acting if °cession required. On this occasion the master dosed hls patient with blue pits, laudanum, and quinine, and, after detailing his death, concludes . During the whole illness his pulse was not above 70, nor, upon frequent inquiries, did he express the slightest pain. Twenty-four hours previous to his death the skin and eyes were extremely yellow, and a few hours before the tongue became black and a black mucous substance issued from the mouth. Having no means at hand of pre serving the body, which was becoming exceedingly putrid and offensive, he was this day, August 25, in latitude 42 deg. N. and longitude 54 deg. W., buried with the usual ceremonies. His death was certainly mysterious and sudden, and I cannot easily persuade myself that it was natural. Ausincix NAxs, says an American paper, offer some queer specimens of nomenclature : We heard of a family in Detroit whose sons were named One Stickuey, Two Stickney, Three Stiekney, and whose daughters were named First Stickney, Second Stick ney, &c. The three elder children of a family near home were named Joseph, And, Another; and it has been sup posed that, should they have any more, they might have named them Also, Moreover, Nevertheless, and Notwith standing. Another family actually named their child Finis, supposing it was their last; but they happened after wards to have a daughter and two sons, whom they called Addenda, Appendix, and Supplement. FELICE ORSINI has this week been delivering lec tures upon " The Austrian and Papal Tyranny in Italy " to crowded audiences in Brighton. A NEW SERIES OF REPORTS on the trade of various places from English Ministers, Cunsuls, and others, has just been issued by the Board of Trade. Those which relate to Turkey are from Aleppo and Broussa, and, as the projected Euphrates Railway is to pass the former city in its route of eighty miles from the Mediterranean to the river, the facts in connection with the commerce of that district are likely to attract much attention. The progress of the place during the past five years and the magni tude of its capacities appear to be extraordinary. As far back as 1851, according to statements from Mr. Acting-Consul Barker, there were signs of a con siderable development of trade, and the tendency was rapidly stimulated by the war. In imports, British manufactured goods amount in quantity to about two-thirds of the whole trade of Aleppo. In value they are about one-third. Five years back this value was 146,4051. Last year it was estimated at 471,2531., exclusive of specie, which has been largely absorbed in the interior of Mesopotamia. As re gards exports, the return for 1854 shows a total of 993,6301., which had risen in 1835 to 1,251,1801., of which about 450,0001. consisted of wheat flour and grain, while cotton and wool were also important items. Mr. Haag, the pantomimist and ballet-master, jumped overboard from a Hamburg steamer last Sunday, on her voyage to Hull. A threat of some person at Hamburg, who bad sworn to revenge him self on Mr. Harvey for having taken him before the police, appetite from various letters left by the un fortunate suicide to have been the singular CARIPAI of his death. MR. GRANTLEY BERKELEY is at present eti4oying the field sports of Fiance. He has stated his inten tion of writing a work in French upon the present French system of field sports, with tne view of in ducing certain reforms in the care of horses and hounds by French huntsmen. .f