The Press. — London, England, 1856-03-15 00:00:00

MARCH 15, 1856• Hall, M.P., Colonel Howard Vyse, M.P., and many of the magistrates and clergy. the usual loyal toasts— the Army and Navy, and the Bishop and Clergy of the diocese—having been drunk, Mr. Du PRE proposed the health of the noble founder and president of the association, the Duke of Buckingham. No one bad more interested him self in the welfare of this county, whose interests he had at heart, than the Duke of Buckingham ; and he was sure that the warm greeting which his grace had received that day would be an omen of his future reception amongst them. The toast having been most enthusiastically re spniled to, The NOBLE DUKE said:— Mr. Du Pre and Gentlemen,—Often as I have risen on previous occasions to return my grateful acknow ledgments to this association for their invariable kind ness, never have I risen with feelings of deeper emotion t inn I do at this moment to thank you fur this kind, t •is honest expression of your feelings. (Applause.) It has been my good lot and fortune to live in this county tor many years. 1 have been associated with you from my earliest days—l have seen this association spring up amongst you—l have witnessed its early prosperity, and I sin here to-day to lend my hum ble aid towards its ultimate triumph. I have been the humble but honest instrument in carrying into effect those great principles which are dear to all our hearts, and in my place in Parliament, when I bad the honour to be your representative, I strove—ineffec tually, it may be, but still with unswerving purpose—to aid that cause on which your best wishes were set. ( Loud cheers.) But proud as I am, gentlemen, of my former days, what must I feel when I see in this room those old friends, those kind associates, those familiar faces cheering me on as 1 appear again amongst yon. I cannot express all I feel. You must take the word for the deed. You must take the word of the man who never yet deceived you as your representative. (Applause.) When I look hick on the happy days passed in the society of many now assembled here, when I revert to the cheerful hours spent in their society, when I think of the kindness I have received from you, even to the warm reception of the honest labourer—(cheers)—when 1 think of all these things as memory hears me to the past, then do I feel proud, indeed, that I then obtained your good opinion, and that, in spite of circumstances, I still retain it. If 1 have in bygone days rendered service to the county, I have only followed the principles of my family, and I am proud to say that in advocating and maintaining those principles I have never been defeated. (Cheers.) When I see around this board many old and familiar faces, , Then I see one nearest connected with me by blood and affection cheering me on by a kind and warm approval, how can I express my grateful thanks? I wished to retire into private life ; by your desire have I come amongst you, grateful, imleed, for the reception you have this day accorded me. What can I say more? What more can I add when no words can give expression to all I feel? You will believe me when I say I fully appreciate the reception you have this day given me—a reception which I may say surpasses everything I have ever before known. If I am permitted to remain a few years longer in this world there is no trouble which I will shun—there is no efforts in which I shall be found wanting—to carry into effect your wishes, and to render this association one worthy of the support of this great country. Your president will never be found backward in coming forward. (Cheers and laughter.) The noble duke having passed a high eulugium on Mr. Du Pre as one of the representatives of the county, concluded by saying : Whatever may happen to the man who addresses you— and, perhaps, be has suffered more than many—his heart, his energies, and his soul will ever be given to the service of his country, and to those kind and enduring friends who have never forsakes: him. SIXTEEN SACKS OF ADULTERATED FLOUR were seized at Goole, last Saturday, on the premises of Rhodes and Rockett, the millers. Three-quarters per cent. of alumina was found in nearly every sample. The magistrates convicted the defendants In 101. fines and costs, and ordered the flour to be sold for pig feeding—the money to go to the poor. A SAD ACCIDENT occurred at the launching of ten gunboats at Pembroke, on Saturday last. The stage erected for the visitors gave way, and the whole were thrown with great violence down the slip. Several children and persons were severely cut and bruised, and a Miss Matthi as , w h o h a d j us t c h ris tened one of the vessels, received so severe a concussion of the brain that her life is despaired of. aims 3rtlanb. AT THE INTERVIEW between the Irish members and Lord Palmerston on Saturday last, when a memorial for permission to Mr. W. Smith O'Brien to return to his country, was presented to the noble lord, Lord Palmerston, it is stated, assured the deputatio n " t h at the subject should have his most anxious consideration. The subject was one to be considered, not by a single member of the Govern ment, but by the Government at large ; and he would submit it to his colleagues as soon as possible, and announce their decision without delay." THE CONTEST FOR NEW Ross, by the retirement of ,Ir. Welch ftocl Mr. Fitzpatfick, is conflood to Sir THE PRESS. Thomas Redington and Mr. Tottenham. Father Doyle has made his appearance in the town, and was working up the Roman Catholics to a tolerable pitch of excitement. Mr. VINCENT SCULLY, it is expected, will retire very shortly from the representation of Cork. THE liabilities of the Tipperary Bank ara stated at 430,0001. already discovered. SIR EDWARD BLAXENEY has been presented with a silver shield by the inhabitants of Dublin. fabal anb• pilitarg Colonel Shirley, C. 8., 88th Regiment, has suc ceeded to the command.of the South Wales district. Colonel Shirley commanded the second brigade of the light division, and was commander-in-chief at the successful attack on the Quarries, June 7, 1855. Mr. Henry Bedwell, Assistant-Surgeon at the Garrison Hospital at Chatham, has been dismissed the service by Dr. Andrew Smith. Mr. Bedwell is the assistant-surgeon charged with manslaughter by lately causing the death of a soldier by giving a dose of opium in mistake. General George Wright, Colonel-Commandant of the Engineers, died last week. A Royal Warrant has been issued, cancelling the warrant of the 23rd Oct., 1855, with reference to the allowance to the widows and families of officers killed in the present war. The warraht of the 15th June, 1855, is to remain in full force. A court-martial was held on Monday, at Ports mouth, on Commander Warren and the other officers and crew of H.M.S. Polyphemus, for the loss of that vessel on the 29th of Jan. last, off the north west coast of Jutland. Admiral Sir R. S. Dundas com mander-in•chief of the Baltic fleet, presided over a full court of twelve captains from the fleet at Spithead. The evidence was conclusive as to every effort having been made to save the ship when once on the shore, but the court was of opinion that while running down the coast of Jutland in thick weather it was imprudent not to slacken speed and take fre quent soundings, and adjudged Commander Warren to be reprimanded for such neglect. Workmen are engaged at Portsmouth upon about thirty gun-boats, which are daily being completed. 'kW ant( Volta. THE INQUEST UPON THE LATE MR. SADLEIR, M.P. THE adjourned inquiry into the circumstances con nected with the death of Mr. Sadleir was concluded on Tuesday. Mr. Manning, who appeared on behalf of the family, addressed the jury at some length, and attempted to clear the memory of the deceased from many crimes laid to his charge. Mr. Manning also pointed out that, from the depression of mind the deceased was suffering under ust previous to his death, he coull not be considered responsible for his acts. The coroner then proceeded to sum up with great care. Reviewing the case at length, Mr. Wakley pointed out the immediate cause of death—viz., the self- administration of a large quantity of essential oil of Llmonds—as a concluded pcint, and called the atten tion of the jury more particularly to the circum stances immediately preceding that event. With reference to the letters written by Mr. Sadleir a few hours before his death, Mr. Wakley observed:— Mr. Manning had suggested that the jury should attach little importance to the statements in those letters, but the jury must remember that they were presented to them in the character of dying declarations. He urged that Mr. Sadleir was in a state of mental depression, and that might havti accounted for his exaggerated statements and ulti matMy for his violent death. It was his (the coroner's) duty to tell the jury that insanity was not depression or agony of mind, neither was it remorse. He was sorry to say that there was not a single sentence recorded that gave a correct idea of what insanity was in law, and he was afraid it never would be done. What the jury in the pre sent case had to decide upon was, whether they believed that when Mr. Sadleir committed suicide he was a respon sible agent,—whether lie was in such a condition of mind as made him morally and legally responsible for his actions. The jury had it in evidence that Mr. Sa3leir had had great losses, and in his own letters he stated that he had com mitted great crimes. Now, could they judge of the state of his mind, except by looking at the facts which had been stated in evidence, and by the letters he had written just previous to his death ? The coroner here read the various letters which have been published, and proceeded : There was no confusion of ideas,--apparently no dis turbance of mind. Those letters were not in any way inconsistent with a perfect retention of his reasoning and reflective powers, or with the maintenance of an accurate memory. At the same time it was impossible not to know and feel, from the manner in which the letters were ex pressed, that the writer must have been suffering from intense mental agony ; indeed the circumstances of the suicide itself must prove the mental suffering which drove him to such an act of desperation. But then again rose the question—was he in such a state of mind that made him irresponsible—was he driven to the act by an unoon troliable impulse that weighed down his reasoning sad 251 reflective powers, or was he aware of what he was doing, and had he the power of controlling his actions to such an extent as to make him responsible? If the jury bad any doubt upon the miner, he recommended them to give Mr. Sadleir's memory the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time it was his duty to tell them that they must not Mr a moment take into consideration the consequences of their The jury then retired, and after an absence of twenty-five minutes returned into court. The FOREMAN said : The opinion of the jury is, that John Sadleir died by his own hand when in a perfectly sane state of mind. That is the unanimous opinion of the jury. The CORONER : That amounts to a verdict of self- murder. The FOREMAN : Yes, it does. The CORONER: My own conviction is, that, after de most mature deliberation, and the most patient investiga tion, you could not have come to any other conclusion. The proceedings then terminated. It may be mentioned with respect to the legal re marks made by Mr. Manning,that they had reference to the consequences that must ensue from a verdict such as the jury eventually returned. He urged that the result of such a verdict would entitle the lord of the manor on which the self-murder was committed to the whole of the property of the deceased ; whereas a verdict of insanity would give it to the creditors. He produced the charter under which this arrangement was provided for, but in reply to the coroner said he was not aware that it had ever been acted upon. A MEMBER OF THE PADDINGTON GAROTTE GANG, a ruffian, one Henry Thomas, was captured last Saturday night in the very act of garotting a solici tor's clerk, Mr. William Partridge, while a com panion robbed him. The affair happened in Portsea place, a by•street near Connaught-square, Edgware road. A neighbour happening to hear a scuffle in the street opened his street door, and there saw Mr. Partridge lying in the road with two men over him, one grasping his throat, and the other kneeling on his stomach and emptying his pockets. Mr. Cham bers gallantly attacked the ruffians and put them to flight. Following them down a neighbouring mews, one was captured by a policeman, while the other escaped. The prisoner was remanded for a week. THE BOA DISPUTE CASE, in which Mrs. Cammack, of Islington, charged Mrs. and Miss Butt, wife and daughter of a stockbroker, with stealing a boa at the Princess's Theatre, was decided in favour of the complainant by Mr. Bingham on Monday. Mr: Butt proved the identity of the boa to his own satis faction by showing an account of 14s. paid in Decem ber, 1854, whereupon Mr. Bingham immediately ob tained a furrier's opinion upon the value of the boa, which was declared to be worth 30s. or 40s. Mr. Bingham then decided against Mrs. Butt's claim. WILLIAM WEST, a follower in the steps of Joseph Ady, has this week been apprehended at Shoreditch. West is described as a man of venerable aspect, above sixty years of age, and of a respectable appearance; His peculiar role seems to have been represent=! ing himself as an officer of the Coutt of Chancery, and beguiling humble tradesmen's wives to part with petty sums of five shillings at a time, with a view of enabling him to restore them to property, now in Chancery, but to which they were entitled. Several cases were proved against him, and the prisoner was remanded for a week. THE INQUIRY INTO THE PERJURY CASE OF BROOKE AND NOLDWRITT has this week been continued before Mr. Norton at Lambeth. The charge is preferred by Mr. Brooke, a wholesale poulterer, against Mr. Noldwritt, a Custom-house agent, both persons of high respectability, and arises simply from the denial by Mr. Noldwritt, in an action brought against him in August last by the London and County Bank on a bill of exchange for 5001., that the endorsement on the said bill was in his handwriting. On the same trial Mr. George Brooke swore that Mr. Noldwritt, in his presence, wrote that endorsement to the bill which be now repudiates. The swearing was equally hard on both sides, and after the ex amination of some witnesses, the case was adjourned till a future day. A PRISONER IN THE HASTINGS GAOL, One Murdoch, on Monday morning, strangled his gaoler as he was leaving the prisoner's cell. Murdoch then made his escape, but was hunted down in the neighbourhood before night. An inquest was held on the body of the gaoler, and a verdict of Wilful Murder returned against Murdoch. MESSRS. STRAHAN, PAUL, AND BATES passed their last examination at the Bankruptcy Court on Tues day. The prisoners' appearance is said to have been extremely careworn. CAPTAIN BOUCHIER, commanding the Mangertots steamer at the time of the collision with the Jose phine Willis, was tried this week, at Maidstone, on the charge of manslaughter in reference to that acci dent. In the course of the trial Mr. Justice Coleridge interposed, as the facts obviously acquitted the prisoner. The jury immediately returned a vordiej of Not Guilty,