The Press. — London, England, 1856-12-27 00:00:00

DECEMBER 27, 1856. deceased was :much terrified, and arrived home al most exhausted with nervous excitement. He lost his appetite, and although he went to work the next day, was obliged to be conveyed home and put to bed, where he was seized with vomiting, and raved wildly until his death, on Fri4.ay evening. An in quest was held, and the medical attendant being o f opinion that death had resulted from the shock caused to the nervous system on the previous Monday even • ing, the jury returned a verdict of " Manslaughter " against Percival, who was accordingly committed to gaol. A FATAL ACCIDENT occurred last Satnrday after nom on board the Persia, while coming to her moorings in the Mersey. The capstan suddenly spun round, and one of the bars struck the second officer, Mr. George Downing Stanley, in the abdo men, producing injuries of which he died on Monday night. The deceased was one of the picked meu of the service. rtiant. THE rnn upon the National Bank and its branches in tho south has at last ceased. Ms. HARRINGTON, arrested on the charge of the murder of Mr. Little, has been dismissed, on exami nation, there being no case against him. AN ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION had occurred fit Clare. Mr. Galbrai►h Joynt, last Saturday evening, while driving home on the Clonlara road, was fired at and badly wounded by some villains from behind a hedge. The reason assigned is that Mr. Joynt had served notices o: eject►nent upon tenants who are to be dispossessed in March. The police of Clonlara have arrested four young men whose families are amongst those noticed to quit. THE INCOME-TAX QUESTION was discussed at special meeting of the corporation, held in Dublin ou the 24th instant. A resolution, proposed by Alder man Reynolds, to the effect that the continuance of the tax at its present high rate was impolitic and unjustifiable, and that a petition presented to Parliament praying for its total abolition after the sth April next, was passed men. dig. srotlanb. THE HON. A. KINNAIRD AT PERTH. MR. KINNAIRD was this week entertained by his con stituents at a public dinner at Perth. Aeter the usual loyal toasts had been drunk, Mr. Kinnaird's health was proposed. In reply, he said : I have watched—and I confess it with satisfaction—the disappearance of those party landmarks which I have often thought have been an impediment to the public good. Liberal as I am—And I have never concealed my opinions— I do look with satisfaction to the fact that the Government of this country can no longer be confined to a few families of one party or another. There is nothing now to prevent any man from aspiring to the first offices of the State, even although his only recommendation is his capacity and his ability for the work. And this it is which gives the indepen dent party in the House of Commons increasing power ; because we can both stimulate and clog the Government. We can stimulate the Government when they propose good and sound measures, by bringing to their support men who, under the old and ordinaty system of party-government, would have been ranged against them; and, on the other hand, when the Government propounds measures which we consider unsound or bad ;hen those who are in the habit of acting with the Government can, by expressing their opinions, give all the benefit to the Government of a vigorous oppo sition without that which I conceive to be a great evil—the constant change of governments. Mr. Kinnaird hoped that the Lord Advocate would not tell these opinions to Mr. Hayter : Because I believe that a Secretary of the Treasury looks upon one of these independent creatures as one of the worst kinds of animals which they have to deal with. It is natural that they should like to have a perfect certainty of a man voting either the one way or the other—that black is white—but unfortunately the independent members don't take the same view. Mr. Kinnaird saw with great satisfaction the growing determination of the country to have the right man in the right place evinced in the support accorded to Lord Palmerston : It is on that account that I give her Majesty's Govern ment my cordial eupport ; for I believe that the noble lord at th. 2 head of the Government is where he is because the country thought him to be the right man in the right place. And I have no hesitation in saying that Ido not believe there is any man at this time who more tho roughly represents the general feeling of the country than does the noble lord who is at the head of affairs. I have watched his political career for a long while, and I do not believe that there is a more able or patriotic statesman than Lord Palmerston. He not only wishes to do well, hut he has that courage which so many lack, to incur per sonal responsibility ; firm but not obstinate, bold but not presumptuous, self relying vet open to conviction, he does hot so muoh ask what it is safe as what it is right for him tfdo 11 the Interest of England. Why, sir, to any who have trayelle4 abroad, oven mous the remote °outdo! .1111MobA.— THE PRESS. o' the earth, his name is a very tower of strength, as the embodiment of the English nation. I firmly believe, end I stated it three yearn ago, that had he been at the head of affairs we should aot have heard of Russian aggres sion. Had he been at the heal of affairs, I believe that when the Russian fleet under Menschikoff appeared in the Bosphorus, the summons of Colonel Rose, our represen tative, would have been answered, and our fleet would have appeared as a counter•dernorstration at that time ; and I for one am convinced that Nicholas never would have put a foot on Turkish territory. So it has been with America. That Government knows as well as we do that Lord Pal. merston will maintain the rights of England, while he knows how to respect the rights of other nations. The noble lord is not afraid to let it be known that his spivs. titles and the sympathies of England are with the oppressed nations abroad. There was a time in the his tory of this country, and it was a glorious time, when the head of this State powerfully and successfully interposed on behalf of the persecuted Protestants abroad, and I am not afraid to own that I do cordially sympathise with such a policy. States have their duties as well as individuals, and I hope that the voice of England will be more loudly thonEth temperately urged on behalf of the persecuted and oppressed abroad. THE Towft COUNCIL OF EDINBURGH have lately obtained for themselves an unenviable notoriety. They have decided by a large majority against re storing the old church of Trinity College, which in 1848 fell a sacrifice to railway innovation. In doing se, the town council have not only refused the appeals of the Church of Scotland, but resisted the combined influence of almost every representative of law, learning, arts, and antiquities in the city. The majority gave notice last week that they would build a "suitable" parish church, but that they would not restore the old church. In consequence of this, a strong agitation has been got up against the reso lution of the town council, and influential meetings have been held, but the council held firm, and the question of " obligation " will probably be referred to the law if not to Parliament. LORD ELCHO'S bill for the abolition of tolls in Scotland has been published. Proceeding upon the model of the Parochial and Prison Board Acts, it proposes to constitute county boards with a superin tending general board. These county boards are to consist of all persons qualified to act as commis. sinners of supply as at present, and, in addition, re presentatives from the different burghs and parochial boards within each county. The general board will consist of a chairman, nominated by the Crown, six members elected by the counties, and two by the convention of Royal burghs. The county boards are to be vested with the control and management of all public highways and roads, with power to classify them ; all tolls and statute labour assessments are to be abolished, and in lieu thereof assessments are proposed to be levied of 20s. on horses above four years, and 103. on other horses and on mules ; and also on all lands and heritages within the county, at such rates as the local boards shall determine. The county boards are required annually to report to the general board, and special arrangements are proposed as to debts and other obligations. Obituarg. THE MARQUIS OF QUEENSBERRY died at Edin burgh on Friday week. The deceased, John Don clas, Marquis and Earl of Queensberry, Viscount of Drumlanrig, and Baron Douglas of Hawick and 'libbers, in the peerage of Scotland, and a baronet of Nova Scotia, was third son of Sir William Douglas, Bart., of Kellhead, descended from the Hun. Sir William, second son of the first Earl of Queensberry. Ho was born in 1780, and married, 16th July, 1817, his cousin Sarah, third daughter of Ala:or James Sholto Douglas, who survives him, and by whom he has left issue a son and daughter, namely, Viscount Drumlanrig, ALP., and Lady Georgians Douglas. The late peer succeeded to tho family honours on the death of his elder brother Charles, fifth marquis, the 3rd Dec., 1837. The deceased marquis is now succeeded in the marquisate by his only son, Archi bald William Viscount Drumlanrig. GENERAL THE HON. WILLIAM HENRY GARDNER, colonel commandant of the 10th Battalion of the Royal Artillery, died on the 15th instant at his seat in Devonshire. The venerable general was eldest surviving son of Alan, first Baron Gardner, and Ras born 6th October, 1774, so that he had entered I is eighty-third year, and married, in February, 1803, Eliza Lydia, third daughter of Lieut.-General Wil liam Fyers, by whom he leaves numerous issue. The military services of the deceased general commenced in September, 179:1. He took part in the Wal cheren expedition, and was present during the sit go and capture of Flushing. REAR-ADMIRAL SIR HENRY HART, one of the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, died on Mon. day morning, shorly attar seven o'clock, at his resi dence at the hospital. The gallant deceased was in hid 7OU year, He entered the navy in March, 174 1233 on board the Indefatigable.4B, Capt. Sir E. Pellew, and served throughout the old French war with nisiin guished gallantry. In 1818 he was engaged in protecting she British interests at Porto Bello, at the time when that place was attacked by a force under Sir Grew s WGregor, in unison with the Mexican patriots; and was next intrusted with • mission to the Governor- General of South America, who had been driven from Mexico to Carthagena. In September, 1831, he was appointed flag captain to the Melville, 74, to Sir J. Gore, then just appointed Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies. Captain Hart, while on that station s was appointed to the temporary command of the Imogene, 28, and specially deputed to conduct an important negotiation with the Imaum of Muscat. At the termination of this successful mission he went to Bombay with a ship of 74 guns, intended as a present from the Itnaum to the late King William IV., who added her to tl • British navy, under the name of the "Imaum." He returned in the Melville, with the Earl of Clare, in 1835. Shortly after his return to England—viz., in January, 1836—he was nominated a K.C.H., and in the February following he received the honour of knighthood, in acknow ledgment of his naval services. In April, 1842, he received the captain's good-service pension; and in 1845 was appointed a commissioner of Greenwich Hospital. In October, 1846, he was made a real admiral on the retired list. The gallant admiral was descended from the ancient Harts of Lullingston, Kent. MR. HENRY GEORGE KUPER, the British consul at Baltimore, died from suffocation during a large fire in that city. The unfortunate gentleman was attached to the consular department of the Foreign office in 1826, and in a few mouths was appointed • attache to the British Legation at Frankfort, and wt subsequently selected as Charge d'Affaires to the Germanic Diet. In March, 1844, he was appointed consul at Elsinore, and removed to Baltimore in August, 1852. MR. CHARLE3 JAMES H. HAMILTON, another diplomatic servant of the Crown, died a few days since at Brighton. The deceased gentleman had seen much service during his hom-urable official career. He was attached to the mission at Lisbon in January, 1810, and in December, 1815, was ap pointed Secretary of Legation at Stuttgardt, and in December, 1825, was appointed Secretary to the Embassy at Paris. In 1833 he was for a few months accredited Minister Plenipotentiary to the French Court, and in July the following year he was selected as Minister Plenipotentiary to Buenos Ayres. While there, he was sent twice on special missions to Monte Video. He was appointed in October, 1835, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Rio Janeiro, which post he held till February, 1847, when he quitted the Brazils, and retired on a pension. THE REV. DR. HARRIS, Principal of the New College, St. John's-wood, shied on Sunday last, in the fifty-third year of his age. Dr. Harris was a gentle man of great eminence and influence among the Nonconformists. He was a native of Ugborough, in Devonshire, and was educated in tho Independent College, then existing at Hoxton, but afterwards re moved to Highbury, and finally merged in the New College, of which he was principal at the time of his death. He was brought to public notice by being the successful competitor for a prize of a hundred guineas, offered by Dr. Conquest, for the best essay against covetousness. This production, under the title of " Mammon," gained extraordinary popularity, and drew the attention of the religious world strongly towards the author. His services as a preacher were in great request. In 1837 he became professor of theology in Cheshunt College ; and when, in 1850 the various Independent colleges in and about the metropolis were consolidated into one, under the designation of New College, he was invited to pre side over the institution. Besides the prize essay to which we have referred above, Dr. Harris was the author of several other works, displaying far greater compass and maturity of thought than " Mammon." One of these was the " Great Commission," also the result of a literary competition, in which he boss away the first prize. But, besides these, he pub lished the " Great Teacher" (his earliest work), " Man Primeval," " The Preadamite Earth," " Pate orchy," tc. Some of these works display a lari.e amount of profound and patient thought, in the department of metaphysical theology, conveyed in a style of singular clearness. Ma. Hucat M taxa, the well-known writer on geolcgy and eili,or of the Witness newspaper. was found on Wcdre=dly morning lying dead on the floor of his bedroom, in Edinburgh, shot through the heart with a pistol bullet. That he died by his own hand there seems to be no doubt, but the circumstances under which the melancholy event happened do not lead to the supposition that his death was an act of inten tional suicide. For some time past Mr. Miller had been in a somewhat indifferent state of health, brought on, we believe, by over-study in the prepara tion of a new work on geology. He auftWel eon. siderably from nervous excitement, and, though at all times a man of ecceuttio ;limners, 413 %MOW;