The Press. — London, England, 1856-09-27 00:00:00

SEPT. 27, 1856. of Lord Nelson on board, and conducted ber to the in,uth of the Straits of Gibraltar. ALDERMAN HUNTER, alderman and magistrate of the city of London, and member of the corporation f .r the long term of thirty•two years, died at four o'clock in the afternoon of Monday last, at his residence, Westbourne-terrace, Hyde-park, at the lvanoed age of seventy-five years. He was born at Bury St. Edmunds, where he was educated in com pany with the late Bishop of London, Dr. Blomfield, which right rev, prelate was, at the time of the mayoralty of his early companion, afrequently-invited guest at the Mansion-house. The deceased alder man was celebrated for his humanity to the poor, his upright and straightforward conduct as a magis trate, and as a kindhearted, liberal, devoted, and loyal citizen. Alderman Hunter was elected a member of the ward of Coleman street in 1823; in 1843 he was elected alderman of the said ward; he was made sheriff in 1844; Lord Mayor in 1851; aid his death has consequently left a vacancy in t ie ward. ruE VENERABLE COUNTESS LAUDERDALE died last IY , ek in her ninety-fifth year. Her ladyship was the widow of James, eighth Earl of Lauderdale, whu died S iptember 13, 1839, by whom she had surviving is tie the present earl, the Hon. Sir Anthony Mait- land, Lady Eleanor Balfour, and Lady Mary Stanley. Numerous families of rack are placed in mourning by the event. gate anb volitt. FORTUNE proverbially plays a man a great many freaks, but not more than some men play with for tune. Among the night charges at Lambeth on Monday was one against a burly gentleman, en veloped in the ample folds of a huge skyblne dressing-gown, for being drunk and disorderly on the preceding night. From the statements of Inspector Silver and of the constables of the district, it appeared that for some time past the inhabitants of Hilt-street, Peckham, bad been subjected to considerable an noyance by the eccentric and extraordinary conduct of the prisoner, who had a short time since come unexpectedly into great wealth. He had been in the habit of inviting women to his house, and, after drinking to excess, quarrelling with them, turning them into the street, and making a disgraceful riot. At other times, after indulging freely, he would give vent to his passion by coming out into the street and smashing his own windows, so that his residence bare a most dilapidated appearance. On the evening before he behaved himself in so violent and disor derly a manner that it was found absolutely neces siry to take him into custody. In reply to Mr. Norton, the prisoner said his name was Darnell, of Harlweston, and that he had let his house, and should start at once for Huntingdon. The prisoner was fined five shillings fur being drunk and disor derly, and discharged. Mies. GRILLS, a Tavistock farmer's wife, was last week charged before the Tavistock Bench with cruelty to her servant girl, a child of fourteen. From the evidence of the child, it appeared that her mis tress was continually ill-treating her. She had several contused wounds on her head, caused by blows from a heavy stick : one of her arms was per manently injured from the same cause ; she had several cuts on her arms and fingers inflicted by her mistress with a penknife, and a short time since her mistress forced her to sit bare on a hot " brandiz," a tbree-legged iron stand used to place milkpans on. Mr. Cornish, surgeon, corroborated the girl's .evi dence in every particular, and described the serious nst.ire of the wounds inflicted. The magistrates at t ice fully committed Mrs. Grills for trial. HUSBAND•BEATING iS not common, but a case &lairs now add then. Jane Smith, a dissipated 1, 'Lint! woman, was brought before Mr. Yardley at Taames-street, on Monday,charged with beating her husband, Henry Smith, an industrious and sober man. It appeared that the prisoner was in the habit Of spending her husband's earnings and pawning his Flumes for gin, ot' getting frequently drunk, of beat ing her children, and lastly of heating her lawful 1 iril. Previously, it must be mentioned, he had b 'aten her, and had been sentenced to three months' imprisonment and bard labour. However, since he had left prison the wife avait changie tout cela. On Saturday night, instead of laying out her hus band's earnings in food for the family, sbe spent the greater part of them at a public-house, came home drunk, and beat her children. He interfered, and she took up a knife and threatened to stab him. He took the knife from her, and she then fell upon him with the fury of a tigress, tore his hair from his head, scratched his face, and beat him severely. Fined 405., or fourteen days' imprisonment. Mr. Yardley recommended the husband not to pay the fine ; and hoped the wife would come out of prison • sober and a better woman. FORGERY UPON THE CRYSTAL PALACE COMPANY NM discovered last week. A Mr. Robson, a clerk in the transfer-office, in the absence of the accountant THE PRESS. from illness, fraudulently issued and forged some four thousand shares of the company. Upon the accountant's return to business laNt week, he dis covered that the certificates of transfer for certain shares were missing. Mr. Robson was sent for, and explained that he had the certificates at home. The accountant immediately went with him to his house to obtain the certificates. Robson showed him into the parlour, and ordered luncheon. He then kft the room for an instant and returned again. This going out and re-entering, occurred several times without occasioning suspicion on the part of the accountant, until a longer absence than before led to suspicion. On inquiry it was found that Mr. Robson had gone out, and a man arrived at that moment with a note stating that he (Robson) had sent a man and an ac count back to the Crystal Palace, as he himself was compelled by urgent business to go to London. The accountant returned to the palace, and commenced an immediate investigation of the accounts and shares, which speedily led to the discovery that Mr. Robson bad defrauded the company to a consider• able amount. A reward of 2501. has been offered for his apprehension. Robson has since written letters to the directors explaning the circumstances of his f oestions. He is supposed to be hidden in London. A CASE OF ACCIDENTAL POISONING, through the administration of opium instead of black draught, occurred at the Lancaser Lunatic Asylum last week. One of the patients, Martha Lanton, aged thirty-seven, was given two table-spoonfuls of mixture cut of the " house medicine " bottle, supposed to contain salts and senna. The bottle had been filled in error by the porter from the " laudanum jar." The woman shortly after taking the draught became comatose, and, in spite of every effort to save her, died in a few hours. A verdict of " Accidental death " was returned, but the coroner commented upon the negligence displayed in the dispensing, and forwarded a recommendation on the subject to the visiting magistrates. JOHN PRATT, a boy of seventeen, and late clerk in the Bank of Australasia, has been committed for trial for stealing from the bank a sum of 981. 104. MR. Asrr.E, a practising surgeon at Bamford, Lan cashire, has been committed to Kirkdale prison on a charge of manslaughter, for having, through igno rance, caused the death of a woman, Hannah New ton, in her confinement. The prisoner was an un qualified practitioner. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTT POUNDS, in notes and gold, were stolen last Saturday from the pay-office in Plymouth Citadel. After a close search, 901. worth of notes were discovered hidden in a coal-hutch, and the gold under some flooring-stones. Two officers' servants have been arrested. A DARING ROBBERY was effected on Tuesday night at a public house between Sheffield and Barnsley, kept by a Miss Hobson. Five men, with painted faces, entered the house by the kitchen, broke open Miss Hobson's bedroom door, threatened to cut her throat if she stirred, and cleared the house out of everything valuable, and some 141. in gold and silver. ttoneenrEs OF GROUSE BOXES have long been no torious. This season a regular sy,tem appears to be adonted. A correspondent to a contemporary this week writes : lam in the habit of sending boxes of grouse from the north of Scotland to my friends in various parts of Eng land. I see that the boxes are made strong and well nailed down, and yet, I am sorry to say, scarcely a box reaches its destination which has not been robbed on the road. If it contains ten brace these bold robbers generally take two; if it contains twenty they take four. Surely this scrt of thing ought not to go on in a country which boasts of having such good regulations. A FARMER—one Hale—in North Devon was last week sentenced to six years' penal servitude for poisoning a neighbour's donkey with corrosive sub limate. MR. CLARKSON, THE BARRISTER, still continues in a very precarious state of health at Brighton. THE NEW AMERICAN STEAM FRIGATES, rumour hes asserted, are a match for any liner built. One of these monster modern Yankees is lying just now at Southampton—the screw steam frigate Merrimac, Captain Prendergast; she is anchored off Netley Abbey. The Merrimac is described as one of six screw-frigates recently built, and in which every im provement in ship-building machinery and - marine armament has been introduced. The Merrimac is 3,5(X) tons burden and 500 horse-power, with a crew of 600 men, and is armed with 40 s h e ll- guns o f t h e heaviest calibre (110 cwt. guns we presume). She was built at Boston of live oak, and launched a twelvemonth since. Her pivot-guns are Dahlgren's improvement on Paixhan. Her screw is Griffith's patent, and her compasses are adjusted by a secret process, which entirely prevents local variation. She will remain about three weeks at Southampton, and will most probably winter at Brest. The frigate is ofi mmense length, and sits well upon the water. 923 THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AND OUDE. TIIE East India Company's Quarterly Court of Pro. prietors was held on Wednesday. After a motion by Mr. JONES for a return of the sums annually ex pended by the Company in dinners and other refec: tory expenses, Mr. LEWIN rose and proposed the fol lowing resolution : That the seizure of the tenitories of Oude is one of the worst examples of Indian spoliation, and an act of the basest ingratitude towards the family of a native print e who in a season of extremity (1815 ), when the rule of the East India Company was waning, its treasuries exhaust( d, and the Government of India unable to borrow money to oppose the Mahratta confederacy, opened his coffers wish a loan of 2,500,0001. sterling on the bare receipt of 11 e Governor• General Lord Heating; and subsequently, in 1825, under a similar exigency, assisted the East India Company with a further loan of 1,500,000 L; and again, in 1842, when the East India Company was in want of funds to enable it to carry on the Affghan war, assisted the Go. vernment of India with a further loan, to relieve the pres. sure on the Indian treasuries. • The honourable proprietor then entered at length into the political condition of Oude previous to annexation, with the view to show that the king dom was so entirely in the hands of the British—the King being secondary to the British Resident, who bad power to correct every administrative abuse— that the British authorities in India were the real responsible parties for the condition of the country. If the courts of justice were corrupt, the revenue system pernicious, the army unpaid, it was the fault of our interference or the result of our intrigues It was argued that Oade was in such a condition of oppression and distress that the Company were justified is taking possession of the territory on the principle of morality and of piety. It was extraordinary that this principle of piety never came forth unless there was something to gain by it. Then, as to the character of the King , there was ample testimony of his fidelity to England : Colonel Sleeman, in his report, dated December 10, 18.51, said : I believe no native sovereigns in India have been better dis posed towards the British Government tan they have been, or have in time of difficulty rendered aid to the extent of their ability with more cordiality or cheeriulneQs. Thou g h i t i s i n vain to hope for a just and efficient administration, such as a British Government has a right to expect from the hereditary sovereigns of this family, no reigning family in India has, I be. neve, a juster claim to the protection and consideration of the paramount power. That was Colonel Sleeman's manner of speaking of the King of Oude. And what did Lord Dalhousie say of him? He said that the subsidies were paid with regularity; and he wrote that however gross might have been the neglect of his Government, and however grievous its misconduct, as yet the King of Oude had been faithful and true in his adherence to the British Power. And yet this was the man the East India Company bad turned off his throne on the ground that his country was in a state of confusion. Mr. JONES, in a speech of considerable length, which embraced every detail of the history of Oude, from the dark ages downwards, supported the motion. He had carefully studied the case, and came to the conclusion that the annexation of Oude was a gross act of spoliation urged on by motives of cupidity. The CH kIRNAN, who, in the course of Mr. Jones's speech denied that the treaty of 1R37 hsd any exis ence at all, rose and said:— The Court of Directors has given every possible facility to the mover and seconder of this motion for the exprt s alon of their opinions. The Directors have shown great forbearance in nut bringing into operation the law which renders it necessary that a quortrn of twenty proprietors shoall be present at any discussion; but the Directors are superior to auy consideration of that nature, and ate quite willing that the opinions of the hon. proprietors should go forth to the pnblic in their own modes of ex pressing them. The hon. proprietors have entered very minutely into details, but it would be most improper on my part to endeavour to follow them They have read carefully the blue-book upon these affairs, and it is clear they are thoroughly conversant with the contents of that volume. They have formed their opinions, and equally so have the Court of Directors. They have studied that book, and are capable of forming a judgment upon it equally with the mover and seconder. After a careul consideration of the whole details contained in that volume, they have determined to approve and support the policy of Lord Dalhousie. Her Majesty's Government also say that they have equally studied the details of that book, and equally approve and support the policy of Lord D.alhonsie. The consequence of this has been the mea sures adopted by the Government of India. That being the case, it is quite unnecessary to follow either of tl.e hon. gentlemen in their arguments. I shall, therefore, simply confine myself to giving a direct negative to the motion. The motion was then put and negatived, and the eourt adjourned. 31. BENEDETTI has been presented by her Majesty's Government, through the Earl of Claren don, with a very elegant objet d'art, form n an ink stand. M. Benedetti was formerly French Mnister at Constantinople, and, from his knowledge of the Eastern question, was selected as secretary to the Plenipotentiaries at the recent Conferencelat Paris.