The Sun. — London, England, 1859-07-11 00:00:00

THE ALLIED ARMIES IN ITALY. (From the Correspondent of the Times) MONZAMBANO, ON THE MINCIO, JULY 3. Austrian tactics are becoming again as enigmatic as during the best times of General Gyulai. That they would not defend the Mincio after the battle of Solferino is not very astonishing, nor that they retreated and took up a position between Peschiera and "Verona, with the plateau of Rivoli to fall back upoa and a double line of retreat either to the Tyrol or else simply to the left bank of the Adige. But that they should give us again this place, leave Peschiera to itself, allow us to take Castelnuovo,— the great centre of communication, wherethe roads from Mantua, Verona, Peschiera, and the Tyrol meet—and retire around Verona, leaving only a small corps for the defence of the passage of the Adige above Bussolengo, seems rather strange, and we have nothing but conjectures to explain it. Although this change implies for them only a movement of a few miles to their left, it is as com plete as anything can be. It is leaving an offensive position, and taking up a defensive one. If there is not again a change in the command, this movement is tantamount to acknowledging their inability to keep the open field, and recogmsing the necessity whichexists for them of retiring behind their forti fied lines, probably in order to await reinforcements and to reorganise their army, which, after a series of defeats and a long retreat, cannot be in the most flourishing state. If one can trust the accounts of the people in the villages en the Mincio, the morale of the Austrian troops must have a good deal suffered by the battle of the 24th ult. This is a natural reac tion from the exaggerated hopes entertained before the battle. The expression used by the country people , in describing the retreat is " Erana molto avviliti." They crossed over, some on the very day of, the battle, others the day after, and theyre mahted till Monday, the 27th ult. In a battle like that of Solferino, where the Austrians were wise enough to think of a retreat early in the day it was possible to retire on most points in tolerable order from the field of battle, and only on one side —namely, in the plain between the hills of Cavriana and the village of Guidizzolo—did it come to down right running, when some horse artillery was brought up on the slopes of the hills. But the ef fide of such a defeat are almost always sure to show themselves some time after, when the reac tion sets in after unwonted and unstteeessful exer tion. Nothing is, therefore, more probable than that the Austrians feel they need rest and fresh troops before they can attempt another battle, and for such a purpose the position taken up by them in the camp before Verona and behind the line of the Upper Adige is not without great advantages. First, it removes them, at any rate, as far as it is possible from the danger of an immediate battle, and thus leaves them to wait for fresh reinforce ments and prepare for the offensive. Then their position admits of advantageous tactical combina tions in case of an advance of the Allies either to wards Verona or towards the plateau of Rivoli. Finally, should they be ready to take the offensive, they have not less than three lines of operations to choose from—from Verona in the plain, from that place towards Peschiera, or from the Upper Adige southward. At any rate, there can be now no more move ments of retreat ; the Austrians must stand at bay, unless they choose to abandon the quadrilatere, which, of course, no one in his senses will sup pose. The game is becoming even more interesting than during the debut of the campaign. Then all the world was in expectation of the first meeting of the two great continental military Powers after an armistice of 44 years, and of the premieres armes of the Emperor Napoleon ; now it is the de cision of the campaign which may take place at any moment. If we look at the relative position of the two parties, in spite of the constant defeats of the Austrians, the chances are not so unequal as one might suppose at the first moment. The failure of the first part of the campaign, and the consequent retreat on the Mincio, were attributed to the inca pacity of the commander ; they did not therefore produce a sentiment of inferiority in the Austrian army—above all, in its officers, who play there a more important part than in any other army. One Could see that from the confidence they had in the success of their offensive movement in the Mincio hills. At Solferino they could not complain that they were taken at a disadvantage ; they were led by their best Generals, were fighting under the eye of their Emperor, had chosen their own position and fortified it, they were more than equal to their ad versaries in numbers, and yet they were beaten in these conditions. They must begin to feel that they are no match for their adversaries in the open field. This is certainly a disadvantage in an army, but a similar one did not prevent the Turks from holding Silistria with a handful of men against the Russian army, or the Russians from defending Se bastopol for ten months after the battle of Inker mann. The Austrians have now retired within their Se bastopol, and this not a Sebastopol fortified at the last moment, but prepared ever since the Austrians have acquired possession of Lombardy. It is not, as the Crimean Sebastopol, separated by hundreds of Miles of steppes from the resources of the empire, but connected with the furthest extremities of it by railways and excellent roads. These communi cations are so numerous, and their position so ex tended, that it will be almost impossible to invest completely the latter and to cut off the former, They have stored up for years all kinds of warlike provisions in their stronghold between the Mincio and the Adige, their Etat-Major and their Engi neers have made the ground the subject of a special study, and must be aware of its strong as well as of its weak points. As for the Allies, the more they advance the longer becomes their line of operations, and, conse quently, the greater the difficulty of bringing up war like supplies and reinforcements. They have no ar senal ready prepared for them, but must first form it ; they find no magazines, but must create them ; they have no hospitals, but must first establish them. It is on account of this that such attention has been paid to the railway which now, with only the inter ruption over Mount Cenis, connects France with the Lake of Garda. All the bridges have been repaired, and even the break which existed before between San Martino and Magenta has been bridged over. A considerable portion of this line of operations must be protected against some possible move ment of the Austrians from the Tyrol. The Allies are hampered in their operations by political consi derations, which prevent them from crossing the boundaries of a territory forming part of the Ger manic Confederation. We are in the beginning of July, consequently approaching the hottest season of the year, so dangerous to the health of the soldier. To all this must be added the strength of the position itself—four fortresses, two of them first and the two others second class fortresses, enclosing a parallelogram far too large to be invested ; of the two main lines of communication with the interior of the empire, the one through the Tyrol protected by a mountainous district of great strength, the river line of the Adige, and the vicinity of Verona, while the second and even more important one falls to the rear of the strongest of the four fortresses, and is therefore even more difficult to approach. Here, the n , are both sides of the question ; weigh them, and you will see that the chances are toler ably balanced. The Austrians have all the advan tages of position, and very likely of numbers ; the Allies, on the contrary, are unquestionably superior in the direction and organization of their army, as well as in the discipline of the soldier. If we ques tion history the answer will not be doubtful as to which must in the end triumph, strength of position or superiority of the soldier, provided that this superiority is not temporarily acquired by favour able circumstances. This is not the case in the Present instance. No one who knew the armies of the belligerents, and thought abo u t th em , would have any dou b t of this superiority, even before it was provedby results ; not that you can .'tecognize any innate superiority of the French and Piedmontese soldiers over th e Aus trians. The races of which the Austrian army i s composed have as much sinew and bone, and h ave shown more than once that they are not inferior in spirit either, but the difference is that the armies of France and Piedmont are national armies ; while that of Austria is merely the result of an elaborate military organization. The former are like solid blocks cut out of the heart of the mountain ; the latter like a concrete badly cemented. There is one idea which animates the French and Sardi nian armies. They are fighting for their country. They are proud of their name, and anxious to follow in the wake of glorious traditions. What is there to animate. the Austrian soldier ? Ask him what .he is, and he will tell you Hungarian, Ita lian, Pole., Croat, or German, and will speak of the Austrian as of some being entirely foreign to him; he would think it an insult to be called by that name. Go to see the prisoners, and you will see each of the different nationalities trying to keep as much as possible from the contact of the other, as if it were, afraid of some sort of moral contagion. It spec lks greatly for the talent of organization of the Ai istrian Government to have been able to cement a t all such elements and to form one mass of thorn. It owes it to its officers, who certainly are wond erfnl in their esprit de corps. An Austrian officer, of whatever race he be, is above and before cvdrythin g else. In an Austrian officer, the black and ye,llo• sz sash seems a magic circle which effaces all othe. r 4 distinction, and dries up all other feelings except duty to the Emperor. No attachment of a vassal to this t feudal chief has ever surpassed the de- votion of the Austrian officer to his Sovereign—it is unlimited and ready for any sacrifice. The explanation of this rather strange spectacle in the 19th century is that the Austrian officer, from whatever class he issues, becomes a privileged being the moment he puts on the sash. He forms part of a distinct corporation, like the priest, he ceases to be a citizen, and belongs to a powerful body in the State. He becomes socially equal to the noble, which, in a country of exclusively aris tocratic tendencies, is, perhaps, the most powerful link which can exist. Facilities are given to the sons of officers to follow the example of their fathers, and the consequence is that in no other country is there such a number of military fami lies as in Austria, who consider it almost a right to belong to the army. They acquire, as it were, a distinct physiognomy, and are easily recognised among the rest. With this devoted class of officers the Austrian Government cements together those heterogeneous elements of which its army is composed. In order to keep the soldier as separate as possible from the officer, and not to let in the latter the idea to generate that he is anything besides an Austrian officer, care is taken to put, only very rarely, an officer into a regiment of the same nationality as he is of himself. The soldier is thus doubly separated from his officer, first, by the exceptional position of the latter, and, secondly, by race and language. Herein lies the greatest weakness of the whole sys tem. It all goes on wonderfully well in the barracks and on the manoeuvring ground, where the soldier learns mechanically to execute some movement at the sound of certain words, to him utterly unintel ligible, but, when ever it comes to the battlefield, no example of devotion on the part of the officer, and no driving will ever produce the class which one spirited word in the mother tongue could easily obtain. The soldier feels alone and deserted, think ing, perhaps, of his own dear home. In this critical moment he hears words, the meaning of which he knows not, and sees a man with whom he has no connection but that of drill and punishment. It is in vain that the officer exerts himself; he cannot animate the inert mass. " This is the key to the superiority of the allied armies, and it must always be so as long as the pre sent military organisation lasts in Austria. It is useless to swell the masses, you cannot vivify them ; they will remain dead until you can invent a system by which the Hungarian can fight as an Hungarian, the Croat as a Croat, the Pole as a Pole. As it is now, they may resist by dint of discipline behind entrenchments, but, unless under very rare circum stances, will never be a match for the allies in the field. "In consequence of the change in the Austrian position, ours has likewise been modified to suit it. How this has been done will appear by and bye. " Peschiera has been unusually noisy the whole of yesterday, firing in every direction ; but doing little damage. They evidently don't know in that fortress from which side the danger threatens, for there is great vagueness in the direction of the firing. So much the better; they will find it out in time.' " DESENZANO, JULY 4. The cries of Peschiera, the invested, attracted me yesterday evening, and, as is often the case in such circumstances, the fortress is obstinately silent to-day. As I don't know what is going on inside I can only suppose that they fire by the thermometer, and stop when it becomes " very warm," and warm it is to-day, undoubtedly. Bright sunshine, and yet sultry as before a storm, without a single merciful cloud to protect your head, or a breath of wind to refresh your brow. The Lake is almost hid behind a veil of haze, and the mountains of Tyrol only faintly visible. The peninsula of Sermione stretches out its long back into the grayish-blue waters, and looks like some gigantic antediluvian animal, or ancestor of sea-serpents, cooling itself in the lake, while the white crenelated towers repre sent admirably its head erect. Behind it, and hid den by it, lies Peschiera, the only sign of its exist ence being clouds of smoke arising from the firing of the buildings in the neighbourhood of the for tress which might afford shelter to the besieging armies of the allies. The trenches of the latterci were opened the night before last, and in two or three days we hope to hear again that familiar and more or less regular booming, which will probably form a prominent feature during the rest of the campaign. The Austrians have evidently considered Pes chiera more important than in 1848, or rather they have had more time for preparation than they had then, at any rate ; Peschiera has been considerably strengthened since that time. All the positions which were then occupied by the blockading Sar dinian army are now held by the Austrians, so that the enceinte of the fortress has swelled out to at least twice its original size. Peschiera is built on the point where the river Mincio leaves the Lake. The issuing of the river has been regulatedby sluices and floodgates. It comes out now in three branches, which divide the ground lying between them into two islands of unequal size, both having, as well as the river itself, a direction from north-west to south-east. Both islands together do not occupy more than a surface of half a square mile. The town proper, or rather hamlet, for it is little more, is built on the more southerly of these two islands, and the islands themselves are sur rounded by an irregular pentagon of stone and earthworks, the two outer branches of the river forming the ditch to them. The main branch, which runs between the two islands, as well as the two outer ones, is bridged over in several places, thus connecting the banks of the river with the islands, and these islands between them. Close to the banks are two hills, the one on the left bank skirt ing the river, which takes a southerly direction soon after leaving the town. The others lie to the south-west of the town. They form thus as it were natural outworks for the fortress, and have been both fortified with a double line of works. These two hills formed the boundary of the fortress when the Sardinians blockaded it in 1848. Not more than 1,000 yards from these detached hills begins the range which, more or less, runs along the whole extent of the southern shores of the lake. To the west of the fortress it begins almost close to the lake, and by a gentle ascent rises in a semicircle towards the Mincio, crossing the road to Ponti. It is broken by the course of the Mincio, but rises again rather abruptly on the other bank of the river at La Ca, and striking off in a north-easterly direction goes off towards Cavalcasele, having some low ground between it and the lake. On the first semicircular range were the Sardinian lines in 1848. Since then, the Austrians have constructed all round from sea shore to sea shore 13 detached forts, all lunettes—namely, seven to the west, mid the six others to the east and north of the Mincio. This additions looks more formidable than it is in reality, for everywhere, except close to the shores of the lake, these detached works are commanded from the hills close to them, and the irregularity of these hills gives great facilities for enfilading them. It was just with a view to guard against this that the Austrians constructed these detached works so close to each other, especially those to the west of the Mincio. The garrison, according to our accounts, con sists of from 3,000 to 4,000 men. The work, therefore, ought not to be very long. Of course, it is improbable that the Austrians will, as in 1848, let Peschiera fall without making some effort to relieve it by making an offensive movement, un less they are mu_h more overmatched than we have a right to suppose. VALEGGIO, JULY 5. There is no perceptible alteration in the situation, 'except that Villafranca, which had been occupied by the allied troops, has again been abandoned by them, Ott entering the place six days ago some earthworks were found which the Austrians had thrown up for the defence of this open town, situ ated in the midst of the plain. They faced the great road. to ,Goito, and were turned now in the direction of Verona. If you should ask why the place was again abandoned, I can only say that you must recollect that what is necessary one day may be useless the next. The Allies quitted Villafranca the evening of the day before yesterday, and yesterday the Austrians came back again to it. The day before yesterday the son of Gen. Urban came as parlenzentaire to the head-quarters of the French army here, bringing with him an autograph letter from the Emperor of Austria to the Emperor of the French. He was allowed to pass through without any bandaging of the eyes or other mea sures of precaution which were formerly used on such oc cas i ons . He found the Emperor in the gar den, and delivered his missive. You may imagine the field which this missive has opened to conjec-' ture. Some say it is a letter of t hanks for t he manner in whi c h the Austrian wounded have been treated; others think it has reference to the ex change of prisoners ; others are of opinion that it is a demand for an armistice ; while some go so far as to dream of peace. This step, it cannot be denied, has something rather strange in it, if, as it was re ported, the Emperor o f A ustr i a h as re t u rned, or is to return to Vienna, oth erw i se i t mus t be recol lected that both Emperors are likewise the Com manders-in-Chief of their respective armies, and can therefore have communication as such without there being any grounds for attributing greater importance to this step than it really deserves. Last night we had an alarm. In the middle of the night the call, Aux urines, resounded, the , troops turned out and formed in order of battle, in which they remained for about an hour, when it appeared that it had been a false alarm, and the soldiers returned to their tents in not the most amiable of humours. The impression among them was that it was got up, like the panic after the tattle of Solferino; fortunately there was no one on whom the suspicion could be fixed. I should not advise the Austrians to attempt one of these night at! tacks, for they would have to deal with demons; not men. The heat for the last two days has been terrific. It was doubly felt in this village, shut out from thsi Mincio by the high hill on which the castle is built; and exposed to the reflection of the parched plain towards Verona. In the afternoon the heat reached 29 Reaumur of 97 Fahrenheit in the shade. The slightest exertion became an intolerable burden, and even in the coolest room you did not know how to guard yourself against heat and flies. And what flies ! The Egyptian fly is a modest being, and the Wallachian fly a bashful creature in comparison with the Lombard fly in the month of July; while all the rest of the animated creation was over powered by the heat, and even the noisy cricket, the indefatigable chanticleer of Lombard fields, was dumb, the flies seemed to derive front it but in creased liveliness and petulance. As for chastising it by well-meant wavings of your handkerchief, or with a fly-flapper if you had such a thing, it was out of the question, it seemed only to excite their passion for sport. As for punishing them they buzzed at your efforts. Even coaxing, that most desperate of expedients, would not answer; in vain did you expose pieces of sugar and other dainties to satisfy their greediness. They left them to assault your face and hands. Their tenacity was such that I verily believe they have followed us here from the battle field of Solferino, where they have acquired a taste for our species. But if you had all this misery to support when in your room, where you were at least in the shade, and could think how to mitigate the evil, you may imagine what it was if you had to go out exposing yourself to the full power of the sun, to the glare of the road, covered with several inches of fine white dust, and to the unmitigated fury of your tormentors the flies. It required almost heroism to face these combinations of evils, and tolerably good strength to bear them. Nor did night afford relief, not a breath of air, scarcely any difference in the temperature, and mosquitos and other vermin in stead of flies. Well, all I can say is, let every one who wishes to keep up his illusions about the land "where the lemon tree blooms" keep away from the Mincio and the country about it. At any rate now it bears a most uninviting aspect. It is all very well in autumn and in fine times of peace, with here and there an adventurous tourist who goes so far out of his way as to see these hills, but it is quite a different thing in the dog days, a short time after a sanguinary battle with an army of more than 200,000 men with its camp followers, and following on the heels of another army of at least the same number as that which occupied the country before it. I must confess that I was weak enough to despise the rich plains of Lombardy, overflowing with milk, and honey, too, no doubt ; but of this I can not judge, detesting the very sight of it. Well, they seemed dull and monotonous, and my soul brightened when I got among the hills about the Mincio and the Lake of Garda. The first impres sion of the blue lake and the Alps beyond ; the fine extensive views, instead of the roads and lanes shut in by rows of trees ; the first peep at Peschiera, one of the angles of the quadrilatere ; the sight of so many places renowned in the history of war ; those mediaeval castles with which the hills bristle—all this made such an impression upon me that I turned my back, scoffing at the plain which we left be hind. I have th consolation to think I was not alone in my delight at the hills ; it was general in the allied armies, except, perhaps, with here and there a fine-scented cautious Intendant or an old Zouave, well versed in the art of foraging, who turned their eyes longingly back towards the plain, as the more practical children of Israel may have done after crossing over from Egypt into the mag nificent mountain of Sinai. I think by this time every one has come back to the practical views of Zouaves and Intendants, and these views are expressed loudly and in energetic language by no means complimentary to the Mincio country. I don't: know how the Austrians fared when they came through, but I can say from experience that they left very little behind them. One cannot grudge them this ; they were the first to arrive, and had made a quick march from the Po and the Sesia. No wonder they fell to at the first halt, which, as you know, was in the country between the Chiese and the Mincio. All the hay of last year, oats, barley, poultry, bread, wine, &c., were gone before the Allies arrived, while the new supplies are brought up as fast as they arrive. As soon as a division or corps comes to a place every one rushes off to make purchases, and all that is found disappears. Head-quarters, which arrive last, fare the worst. So much has passed through that the country is bare of everything. If you ex press your astonishment, the answer is, " The Tedeschi have taken it all." Now and then vou are told to wait ; that the thing does exist, .but was hidden for fear it would be carried off by the same Tedeschi. Thus my landlady, when I in stalled myself in one of the villages, begged my pardon that the bed was not made, because she had hidden her chest with linen in the garden, and was going to fetch it. In the same manner as bed linen, there are now and then other things forthcoming after a cautious scrutiny as to your solvency. Ofcourse it has all been hidden from fear of the Austrians, which may be true enough, only it is not brought out until you have established your name as good and safe customers, and then you are made to pay sure enough. I suppose we have to pay for the unreceipted bills left behind by our predecessors. The idea hitherto connected with war was, that the army plundered the country people and lived at their expense. The present war has certainly re versed a good deal this view of affairs. The means of transport are, above all, at a fabulous price, which is owing to the scarcity of the articles. The people possessing horses are loudest in their com plaints about the requisitions of the Austrians. One man had to take guns to Piacenza, and got for his four horses and himself one florin, or about two shil lings, per diem. At the end of the journey one of his horses had broken knees, and another had been taken without payment for a battery. Another man had to transport stores beyond the Mincio, remained a fortnight, and, seeing no chance of being let go, left cart and horse and ran home on foot. Almost every coachman and cart-driver has his story, if you will but listen to it. But even if most of the stories which you hear about the requisitions of the Austrians were exag gerated, the fact of this district having had the pleasure of dispensing a forced hospitality to two large armies in succession would be sufficient to ac count for the scarcity or absolute want of many things, for the country is just as poor as it is pie turesque. The source of the richness of Lombardy is the elaborate system of irrigation ; the more per fect this is in a district, the greater are the resources of it. Now, the country from the plain before Montechiaro, through the hilly district to the south of the lake up to Verona, is on too high a level to be accessible to the beneficial effects of this great fructifying agent. It is entirely dependent on the bounty of the skies, which is not over generous in spite of the vicinity of the Alps, as you see from the poor crops of corn and maize which you meet with. In breadstuffs all this district scarcely pro duces what it wants for its population. The two great articles of its production are wine and silk, which you can easily recognise from the quantity of vineyards and mulberry-tress. What the wine is you conclude from the number of manufactories of vinegar you see and the virulent acid smell which strikes your nostrils in passing through a place. The silk has been, until lately, a source of comparative well-being, but the malady of the silk worm for the last few years has brought down this prosperity considerably. As for the Austrian Government, it is but just to say the peasantry has nothing to complain of, for you will be surprised to hear tnat, with the excep tion of the indirect taxation by the monopolies of salt, tobacco, stamped-paper, and the Custom-house, the peasant pays not a farthing of direct taxes. Formerly there was a kind of a poll tax, but this has been done away with. All the taxes are on the shoulders of the landlord. The greater part of this district consists of great properties, the owners of which reside for the most part in the towns, coming only during the autumn to spend a few weeks on ' their properties. Only very few small properties are found which are cultivated by the labour of the owners ; all the rest of the country people are merely farmers and labourers. Those who have four or more oxen belong to the former class ; they are given, according to their means of work, a certain amount of ground, with a house on it, which is sup plied by the proprietor of the soil. They have to get the seed and provide the necessary labour, and of the produce twa-thirds belong to them and one third to the landlord, who, as proprietor, has to pay out of thin third the heavy land-tax, or, as it is called, the "prsdiele." Those who have no cattle or the means of procurin them are hired as yearly labourers, They get a house supplied, a certain number of oxen according to the extent of the land they are to cultivate and the manual labour the family can supply. The whole produce goes to the landlord, who gives out of it a certain pay in money, corn, maize, hay, i'ine, wood, &c , to his peasants, who are called " bovara," It is scarcely necessary to say that it is again the landlord who has to pay the land-tax, The cultivation of silk is an affair apart. The landlord forms what is Galled a Societe, or society. He gives a certain quantity of the eggs of the silk worm to mil family, and assigns to it a correspond ing number of mulberry-trees for the maintenance of them. He supplies a house if the family has not already csa.^ with its farm or as labourers. The pro duce is divided :Dually between the landlord and his pa,rtuer. The ramiioid owner of the mulberry trees is again the man who is taxed by the Govern ment. But tis is not all ; the landlord has to bear, besides, all the risk, and this has been great during the last few years. For what happens? says my in formant, a simple-minded but intelligent parochial priest, The partner comes to the landlord and says Padrone (or, as he pronounces it, parron') I want some polenta to feed my family.' There,' says the landlord, is your polenta.' Another comes, and says, Parron, I want some wood, for it is cold, and the worms will die unless I keep them warm.' There is the wood,' says the landlord. Again another wants money to pay those who strip the leaves from the trees and bring them, and gets a copper or two from the landlord. And so it goes on, the landlord having to supply all preliminary expenses. Then comes the time of the galette,' or cocoons, and, lo ! it is a failure ; not only does the landlord get no silk, but he has to pay the taxes and loses into the bargain polenta, wood, and money, " This expose will throw some light on the dispo sition of the Lombard peasantry, and show why it has hitherto remained tolerably indifferent in the plains. It pays nothing except for salt and tobacco, and has to give recruits. Like most peasantries in the world, it has not raised itself to any other ideas except to eat, drink, worship its favourite saint, propagate the species and die. It would be ridiculous to expect enthusiasm unless some mate rial advantage is offered. It is with this view that the new Government has decided on a great reduc tion in the price of salt, with which it hopes, and perhaps not without reason, to catch the peasantry in the plains. In the mountains, there are more small properties, and where consequently the poc ket is emptied by the heavy land-tax imposed by the Austrian Government, the peasant is just as much for the overthrow of the Austrian rule as the upper classes and towns are everywhere in Lom bardy." LA JV INTELLIGENCE-July 9. COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH. 'Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Guildhall, before Lord Chief Justice Cockburn and a Special Jury.) JONES V. REYNOLDS-LIBEL. Mr. Edwin James and Mr. Karslake conducted the case for the plaintiff; and Mr. Sergeant Shee, Mr. Hawkins, the Hon. George Denman and Mr. Prentice that of the defendant. This was an action for a libel, brought by Ernest Jones, of Chartist celebrity, against the defendant as the publisher of Reynolds' Newspaper, to re cover compensation in damages for a series of al leged libels, which the plaintiff contended reflected on his character. The defendant to this action pleaded not guilty, and he further pleaded a justi fication. The learned counsel for the plaintiff, in opening the case, observed that Mr. Ernest Jones was a gentleman who was extensively known to the public by reason of his having taken an active part in political discussions. The defendant was the pub lisher arid proprietor of a weekly publication which was called Reynolds' Weekly Newspaper, and also of another publication, called Reynolds' Miscellany. It was alleged by the defendant that his first named newspaper had a weekly circulation of 150,000, and as to the second, it circulated half a mil lion copies, so that the jury would see that any libels published in either of those papers must go from one end of the world to the other, and therefore the injury inflicted must be proportionably great. He would now state to the jury who and what Mr. Jones, the plaintiff, was. He was a gentleman by birth and education, and was the only son of a gentleman who was a colonel in the 15th Hussars, and had been equerry to the Duke of Cumberland when King of Hanover. In 1844 the plaintiff was called to the bar. Mr. Jones, in early life, had ex pressed what in those days were considered to be very strong opinions ; but he had every right to express those opinions in a country like England, where free discussions upon. all subjects were per mitted, provided the law was not infringed. Those opinions were called Chartist ideas ; they insisted on six points being granted—the ballot, registered manhood suffrage, annual Parliaments, paid mem bers, no property qualification, and electoral dis tricts. At this moment one of those points, the qualification, had been ceded. This question of the charter had led Mr. Jones to use very strong lan guage. The defendant also was a strong advocate for the charter. In 1848 Mr. Jones was prose cuted for his strong language upon this subject of the charter used by him at a meeting in Bonner's Fields, and, being convicted, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment ; he underwent that imprison ment, accompanied by the silent system. Upon his discharge, it struck Mr. Jones that the better way to obtain the charter was to enlist the support of the working classes. This gave umbrage to the defendant, and in September, 1858, he com menced attacking Mr. Jones ; he continued his at tacks as far as January, 1859. In September, 1858, Mr. Jones had offered himself to the electors of Greenwich as a candidate for •their suffrages, and in his addresses he advocated the union of the middle classes with those who were called Chartists. The defendant upon this charged the plaintiff with having sold the People's Paper, and defrauded those to whom it belonged; with having sold himself to the Manchester Liberal party ; with having obtained money from his dupes, and existing upon the gullibility of those whom he had got into his power. The language in which these libels were couched was exceedingly strong, alleging that the plaintiff was obliged t o h ave re co ur s e to the begging box, with being a mendicant clap-trap speaker, having recourse to the meanest shifts, and the most mendacious means to keep the People's Paper going, That the plaintiff was never at a loss for an excuse for sending round the begging box, and it was alleged that. his profession of a barrister had never produced him a crust of bread. That he was not only a contemptible but dangerous person, determined to live on those who earned their bread by the sweat of their brow. It said that he was the most shameless of mendicants and illiterate of beggars. That the People's Paper belonged to them, and that the profits arising from it ought to go to the advancement of their cause. The libels alleged that the plaintiff had sold it without their knowledge and had pocketed the money. Th e y spoke of the plaintiff's frothy vanity of having been an honourable guest at the Queen's table, and of being a relative of the Plantagenets. The plaintiff could not submit to those continual atta c k s , and was therefore obliged to bring this action, and ask a jury of his country to give him such damages as would reinstate him in society and place his charac ter in its proper light. Mr. Ernest Jones—l am the plaintiff. I was educated abroad. I came to England when I was nineteen years of age. I entered myself for the bar, and was called in April 1844. In 1845 I espoused the Chartist cause. I became acquainted with the leaders of that party. I becamejoint editor with Mr. Feargus O'Connor of the Northern Star and The Labourer. In 1848 I resigned my situation, worth £250 or £3OO a year, and became an unpaid dele gate of the Chartist Assembly. I made a speech in Bonner's-fields in that year,for which I was arrested and imprisoned for two years under the silent sys tem. I took an interest in the Chartist cause after my release. The Northern Star then ceased to be published. I published in 1850 a new paper, called the Notes of the People. It was issued weekly at 2d. It became the Chartist official organ. I wished to establish a paper for the exclusive advocacy of the Chartist movement. In every large town com mittees are elected to represent the Chartists. They are to communicate with similar committees in London. I suggested that the body should sup ply me with funds to support an organ in their be half ; half the profits to be paid to the treasurer of the National Conservative Association, the other half to myself. All loans, where demanded, had been repaid. I had an audit committee appointed. The details were published by Inc in the paper. I purchased type in July, 1852. Then I went to Halifax to contest that borough, when there was a systematic attempt made to get the paper from me ; but a vote of confidence was passed in my favour. I brought the paper out, and it lived till the 26th June, 1858. Subscriptions were paid in from time to time, but the paper never paid. I appealed in my own name several times for subscriptions at there quest of the committee. Every shilling that was received was acknowledged as received, and applied to the People's Paper. Its success was variable. I had the London News, and contributed to other publications. All the proceeds went into Mr. M‘Go wan's hands. The printer and committee had cognisance of all that was going on. There was a weekly debt, and I was the responsible party, and found money for bringing it out in addition to sub scriptions, receipts, and donations. I was from £1,200 to £1,300 out of pocket. I had taken no thing fer my services; part was for cash advanced, and part for debts for which I was responsible. When I sold that paper there were three executions in the office on account of the paper. The difficul ties were referred to in the People's Paper of the 13th of March, 1838. I stated that helps to the amount of £BO must be given at once. Nearly £9O was sent, but that did not prove to be sufficient to save the paper. I was unable to go on with it, and ' received £2OO and £3O ; the latter sum was for the People's Paper, but I was to retain two columns as my copyright fur Cha r ti s t purposes , a nd I bound myself not to w r it e f or any other paper for five years. Mr. Baxter Lan g l ey ' wa s associated with me. He got the paper, and then commenced at tacks upon the Chartist party, and I replied to them in my two columns. A juror here begged to ask if they were to try Mr, Jones's political consistency ? The Lord Chief Justice said it was assailed, and for corrupt motives. Examination continued—l issued a circular, and the committee of the Tower Hamlets offered to ' repay Mr. Langley, and get the paper back. I never received one farthing for serving the Char tist cause. I always regretted it. I have always advocated the views of the working classss on the fair and just basis set forth in the St. Martin's Hall Conference. I had opposed several attempts at union considering them to be mere traps, and they turned out to he so. I joined Mr. Herbert Ingram 's move ment on the suggestion of the Chartist body. I saw my uncle when I came out of prison ; he is now dead. He was possessed of large estates. He told me if I persisted in disgracing myself he would have nothing to do with me. I, however, declined ' to accede to his request, and he has left his property to an old gardener. I have no recollection of stating that I was a guest of the Queen. I have been pre sented at the levees by the Duke of Beaufort (as was understood). I have replied to questions of corres pondents that my wife was the last lineal descendant of the Plantagenets, and I can prove such to be the fact. The London News ceased, and I started the Cabinet ; that circulates about 1,750. The London News had a circulation of about 17,000. There is a prejudice against my paper on account of the de fendant's articles. lam still the head of the Char tist movement, and the Cabinet is the organ of the body. The defendant is an ultra-Chartist, and is more violent and abusive than I am. I suffered from defendant's attacks at the last Nottingham election. I never wrote against Mr. Feargus O'Connor, but have always deended his character. I asked for an apology, but it was declined. Cross-examined—l have never practised as a bar rister. I went circuit once with Mr. Tindal Atkin son. I was offered £2OO a-year if I would take the sessions practice at Manchester, but I preferred politics to law. In consequence of having put my name to bills I petitioned the Court of Bankruptcy in 1846. I had been swindled. I don't think my debts were stated to be £6,000. The jury said it was immaterial whether the plaintiff was senior wrangler or a bankrupt. The Chief Justice did not see that it was. Cross-examination continued—l paid some small debts in 1844 and 1846. I did not pass the Court in 1852, but I petitioned. I had from five guineas to twenty guineas a-week from my literary labours. I sacrificed all for the People's Paper. I had paid. £1,300 on its account. I was not in extreme po verty when I first started that paper. I have had to struggle against difficulties since I came out of prison. I was then a poor man. All the means I possessed I devoted to the paper. Re-examined—My imprisonment ruined me. In 1841, I married. My wife has a settlement of an estate in Cumberland and £5,000, in which I have a life interest, but I gave it up to my creditors on my insolvency. By the Chief Justice—One year the subscription amounted to £29, but in another it was only a few shillings. The contributions amounted in six years to about £4OO. Several witnesses were examined, who stated that the People's Paper was a losing concern. The Peacock Committee had purloined the books, and wished to get the paper from plaintiff. There had been a meeting, but which had been put an end to by one putting out the candle and another turning off the gas. The fury said it was unnecessary to give further evidence Upon the audit. The Chief Justice asked the learned sergeant if he heard this. Mr. Sergeant Shee did not dispute it. The Chief Justice thought it went far to show there had been no misapplication of the funds. Mr. Sergeant Shee Ilia not charge the plaintiff with personal pecuniary corruption. The Chief Jiistice said it was for the jury. ?gr. Sergeant Shee said his client would be happy to withdraw all imputation of personal corrup tion. Although the defendant had used strong language, he did not intend to give pain to the plaintiff, and he wished it to be distinctly under stood that he did not believe, nor ever wished it to be believed, that the plaintiff had been guilty of personal pecuniary corruption• The Chief Justice said the libels had conveyed that impression to his mind. The jurors said base imputations had been made against the plaintiff, and without there being any pretence for their being made. The Chief Justice—However they might dis agree with the political opinions of these gentlemen, and think them mistaken, yet there was not a sha dow of pretence for the imputations that had been thrown out against the plaintiff's character. The jury said they fully concurred in that opinion. Mr. James said the only condition he should ask was that the defendant should publish these remarks in his paper. The plaintiff only wanted to vindi cate his character. The Chief Justice—l think that will be fair. I have no doubt the defendant will see the propriety of it. Mr. James observed that the plaintiff had not sought a money consideration, but a vindication of character. He should only ask for a verdict for 40s. with costs. The jurors said it was a verdict for 40s. by con sent, and the costs ought to be on the higher scale. The Chief Justice—Certainly. The verdict was then entered for the plaintiff. Damages 405., with the higher rate of costs by consent. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS. SIMMONS V. HALE AND ANOTIIER.-AN EXECUTION AT THE LYCEUM. The plaintiff in this case had obtained a judg ment against Mr. Faulkner, and during that gen tleman's connection with the Lyceum the plaintiff issued an execution against him for £55 4s. The writ was placed in the hands of a sheriff's officer named Willis, who did not levy, but returned the writ with the endorsement that there was no goods or chattels of the defendant within the bailiwick on which he could levy. The plaintiff now claimed damages, on the ground that this was a false re turn. Mr. Huddleston, Q.C., and Mr. Laxton appeared for the plaintiff; Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., and Mr. Quain for the defendants. The facts were that, on the 4th of April, the plaintiff directed the officer to go the Lyceum with the writ, and on the same evening he went, accom panied by Strong, his assistant, and by a gentle man, who represented the plaintiff. It was Mr. Kingsbury's benefit. The officer declined to seize the money which was taken at the doors ; and he was then told that there were on the premises some orchestra stools, seats, and music, which belonged to Mr. Faulkner ; but he also declined to seize them. He was told that Mr. Faulkner lodged in Upper Wellingthn-street, and on the sth he went 'there, but did not levy, though, according to the plaintiff's case, there were there tables, chairs, car pets, bedding, &c., and, in addition, some clothes, all belonging to Mr. Faulkner. The clothes were subsequently valued, under process from the Insol vent. Court, at £l9 17s. Of the clothes, however, £3 worth were in wear at the time. The case for the sheriffs was, that there was nothing upon which they could have levied. The money taken at the theatre on the 4th did not belong to Mr. Faulkner but to Mr. Kingsbury, who would have had a right of action if the officer had touched it. Mr. Kingsbury's evi dence was, that the whole amount taken that night was £26, and it all went to him. Further, it was said that there was no duty imposed upon the offider to stand at the door and take the money, and he had not power to take the money away from the people as they came to pay, nor had he power to take it from the money-taker when it had got into his hands. To take it from either party would haYe been a trespass. Even if the £26 had belonged to Mr. Faulkner, still there was £6l due for rent, which would have absorbed it all. It was sworn thiti Mr. Faulkner had no property at the theatre at all. On the sth it was said that the money taken at the theatre belonged to Mr. Arnold. As to - the lodgings in Upper Wellington-street; the furniture belonged to the landlady. As to the clothes, they were only worth £9, and the fee for seizing would have been 95., leaving the balance, £8 1 ls. Three pounds' worth of the clothes, how ever, were in wear, leaving only the value of £1 lls. that could be seized. It was provided by statute that the sheriff might leave wearing apparel not exceeding in value £5. Before the Sheriff could remove the clothes he must have paid the rent 17 165., or at all events four weeks of it, which amounted to £6. Under these circumstances it was contended that there was no source from which the plaintiff could have derived any benefit under the execution. The jury found a verdict for the defendant. YATEMAN V. DEMPSEY.-AN UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE. This was an action to recover damages, upon the ground that the defendant had not performed his promise to attend in the Divorce Court. as a wit ness"for the plaintiff, in a suit which he had insti• tilted for the purpose of getting his marriage an nulled. Mr. Macaulay, Q.C., and Mr. Fear appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant Pigott for the de fendant. It was stated by counsel that the plaintiff, who was 29 . years of age, was a barrister, and seven years ago he and his brother, who was his junior by one year, went to lodge in Berners-street, where they intended to pursue their studies. ON the opposite side 'of the way there lived a foreign family, 'consisting of two elderly and two very young ladies. There was something very fasoi nating in these young ladies, and ultimately the plaintiff and his brother each married one of them. The intercourse which the plaintiff had with the lady whom he married was very slight, for they „ „ were seldom permitted to be alone, but she con trived to impress him with the notion that she was a sort of imprisoned heroine, that there was a con spiracy to make her marry some one against her will, and in one way and another she inspired him with the earnest desire to rescue her. They eloped and were married at Gretna-green. They had not been married 24 hours, when she revealed to the plaintiff, with cries and tears, that she had been subjected to outrages of the most extraordinary . description. The consequence was that the plain tiff packed up his things at once, it having beea agreed that they should not live together, and at five a.m. he left the apartment, and was going down stairs, when he heard shrieks and shrill laughter and he saw his wife dancing about in her night clothes, and calling him to come back, for all she had said was pire imagination. He went back, and lived with her on and off for four or five years a life of extreme wretchedness. Her conduct from time to-time was monstrous and extraordinary. A determination to live in idleness and filth was one of her main characteristics. She would lie in bed for weeks, and her linen got into such a state that it had to be burned. The defendant was a medical man, who in August, 1857, was living at Long Eaton, in Nottinghamshire, and on the 10th of that month he advertised that he should be glad to take care of a lady of unsound mind. The plaintiff answered the advertisement, and afterwards sent his wife to the defendant, who, on the 17th September, reported his opinion that she had a morbid perversion of na tural feelings, and a disposition to vice—that she was incapable of thinking correctly, and that she had absurd prejudices. The plaintiff had the greatest difficulty in acquiring any information as to his wife's habits, &e., before his acquaintance with her commenced. He employed the defendant to make inquiries, and to study her symptoms, principally with the view of ascertaining her state of mind at the time of marriage. Dr. Winslow was also con sulted about the case. Afterwards the plaintiff com menced a suit to annul the marriage, upon the ground that his wife was not of sound mind, and capable of making a contract at the time of marriage. In December last the suit was ripe for trial, and on the Bth the defendant promised the plaintiff that he would attend the Divorce Court next day to give evidence. The defendant, however, was not sub poenaed. On the day of trial the plaintiff was ex amined, but the defendant lid not make his appear ance then, nor on the following day. The conse quence of the defendant's non-attendance was that the plaintiff's counsel had to withdraw from the cause, and £6OO or £7OO was thrown away in law costs. The plaintiff was examined in support of the statement, and in his cross-examination he said he did not think it was his own evidence which had destroyed his case. He had separated from his wife several times. He had two children by her. He did not think he cohabited with her as late as 1856. She was now with her friends in Germany. Some of his own friends believed that she was not mad. He had heard his father express opinions both ways, and his brother Henry had also done so. Mr. Venning, the plaintiff's solicitor, was called, and he produced a statement of the evidence which the defendant was to give in the Divorce Court. The defendant stated, among other things, that the plaintiff's wife was with him from August, 1857, until March 17, 1858, and the first thing that struck him was her his eyes because he was rather awkward in assisting her on to her horse. He told her that he had family prayer night and morning, and she said it was all nonsense, and that she had been brought up to believe that there was no God. He sent the parson to talk to her and soon afterwards found her chasing him round the room with a pillow, and holding up her clothes to enable her to follow him quickly. He (Mr. Demp sey) went in, and she hit him on the head with the pillow for interfering. She afterwards played at bagatelle, and asked the clergyman to place the balls for her, but when he did so she hit him with the cue. She was very filthy in her habits. She spurted water down his (Mr. Dempsey's) back, threw bread at him, and threatened to use a knife to him. On one occasion he asked her to have a shock from a galvanic battery, but she declined, and on his placing it against her neck, but without com municating any shock, she stabbed him in the arm with her scissors, and laughed at what she had done. She on another occasion said the sides of her head and her body were growing out, and would not be convinced to the contrary, although her sense of touch was appealed to. Mr. Seijeant Pigott submitted that there was no case to go to the jury-to prove that the defendant had contracted to dispense with a subpoena. His Lordship doubted whether the plaintiff had made out any case, but he thought it best to leave the matter to the jury, giving the defen dant leave to move. He apprehended that under ordinary circumstances an action would not lie on a promise to attend as a witness, because there would be no good consideration. The ques tion here, however, was whether the attendance as a witness was incorporated into the original em ployment. Mr. Sergeant Pigott—And upon the question of damages there was no evidence thL.t the result would have been different if the defendant had at tended as a witness. It was absurd to think of annulling the marriage under the circumstances. The defendant was called, and he said there was a balance of £77 due to him, and that the day be fore the trial he called on the plaintiff, and said h..; must have £lO. or he would throw the matter up. The plaintiff said he would not pay him then, but would d , ) so after the trial. Witness said he must have it then, but he did not get it. Mr. Justice Byles, in summing up, said that in all his experience he had never known an action of this kind before, but his opinion was that an action would lie on a promise to attend as a witness if that promise was made for good consideration. The Jury, after a short absence from court, found a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages £5O. COURT OF EXCHEQUER. (Sittings at Guildhall, before Mr. Baron Martin and a Common Jury.) NEWCOME V. DAVIES. This case arose out of Some betting transactions in Bride-lane, Fleet-street. It was an action to re cover compensation in damages for an assault. The plaintiff is a professional betting man fre quenting that locality, and described himself as a gentleman residing at Twickenham. On the 4th of May last he was in Bride-lane, when the de fendant asked him Defender's price for the Chester Cup, plaintiff replied 20 to 1, and the defendant handed him seven sovereigns as a bet at that price. Defender was scratched, and it was not the practice to return the money when a horse was scratched. After the circumstance was known the defendant asked the plaintiff for his money, when 'the latter said it was not the practice to return money under such circumstances; but he said he would do what others did. The defendant followed him about, and at last gave him a violent blow that stunned him, and when he recovered he found himself in the Punch Tavern with the landlady washing his face. His eye was blackened, one of his teeth was broken short off, and his jaw was fractured. He was obliged to have a medical gen tleman, who attended him for some weeks. He had paid his surgeon £6, and about £2O altogether, in cluding a new tooth. In his cross-examination the plaintiff said he was at one time head clerk in the Indian firm of Messrs. Mangles- He had been a merchant himself and a member of Tattersall's. He was not turned out of the latter place, but with drew in consequence of his losses. The defendant admitted the assault under a mo ment of irritation at not getting his money back from the plaintiff, and it was urged on his behalf that it was not a case for heavy damages. The jury ultimately returned a verdict for the plaintiff—damages , £3O. DIVORCE COURT. (Before Mr. Justice Williams, Mr. Baron Martin, and the. Judge-Ordinary.) TOLLEMACHE V. TOLLEMACHE. The Queen's Advocate and Mr. Mundell appeared for the petitioner; Dr. Deane, Q.C., Mr. J. A. Rus sell, and Mr. Kinnear (with them Mr. E. James, Q.C.), for the respondent. Mr. Henry Bertie Tollemache prayed for a disso lution of his marriage on the ground of his wife's adultery. He was married at Gretna-green in August, 1837, to the respondent, then Miss Amelia Sinclair, the daughter of Sir George and Lady Sin clair. He had at that time an allowance of £2OO a year from his family, and was a lieutenalct in the Fusilier Guards. He sold his 'commission, and cohabited with his wife at various places, princi pally 'in Scotland, where her family lived, until 1841. In 1838 a son was born at Rothesay. Mrs. Tollemache formed an acquaintance with a Major Power, and in April, 1841, committed adultery with him at the Black Bull Inn, Glasgow. Mr. Tollemache instituted proceedings in the Court of Session in Scotland, and in July, 1841, that Court pronounced a sentence of divorce. In the , following August Mrs. Tollemache married Major Power, and lived with him until his death in 1855. She has had three children by him. The respenden t, in her answer, pleaded the Scotch divorce, and alleged that the petitioner in 1837 ac• quired a Scotch domicile, and retained it until 1841. This fact was traversed, and issue was joined yes terday before a special jury. Several witnesses were called, including Miss Sinclair, a sister Of the-re spondent, and Mr. Tollemache, M.P., an uncle cf the petitioner, to prove the various plales at which the petitioner -had resided between 1837 and 1841. It appeared he was accustomed to lead a very wan din life, but.the jury ultimately fou n d th at t h ere was no proof that he intended to relinquish ttia English domicile, and therefore that he had not ac quired a Scotch domicile. Witnesses were this morning called, who proved that in 1841, previous to the Scotch divorce, the respondent had committed adultery with Major Power, at inns in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Their lordships refused to allow Dr. Deane to cross-examine the witnesses or to address the Court upon the facts, which the respondent did not deny in her answer. It appeared that shortly after the Scotch divorce Mr. Tollemache came into possession of £B,OOO, in consequence of the death of a relative. In 1855 he obtained the opinion of the Queen's Advocate, of Dr. Addams, and of Mr. Rolt, upon his case ; and in the follwing year he presented a petition to the House of Lords, praying that an act might be passed declaring that the Scotch divorce was valid. The petition was opposed by Lord Redesdale, and sup ported by Lord Brougham, but in consequence of Lord Brougham's absence from town, it was not then presented. In the following year it was again presented and referred to a select committee, which reported that they had searched the journals and found no precedent for the prayer with which it concluded, and that in their opinion it ought not to be complied with. The matter then dropped, and no further step was taken until this court was esta blished. Dr. Deane submittedthat the petitioner had been guilty of unreasonable delay in allowing 14 years, between 1841 and 1855, to elapse without making any effort to obtain an English divorce. He was proceeding to address their lordships on the ques tion of the validity of the Scotch divorce, when The Judge Ordinsry said the Court was not called upon to reverse the judgment of the Scotch Court. He had had great difficulty in discovering in what way this Court would alter the position of any of the parties by granting a divorce. If the Scotch divorce was valid, and the children of Major Power and of the respondent were legitimate, the sentence of this Court could not make them illegi timate. The Queen's Advocate replied. Mr. Justice Williams said that, without going into the question whether the Scotch divorce was valid as a divorce in reference to any subsequent marriage in Scotland, and without giving any opi nion as to the status of the children of the respon dent by Maior Power, the Court thought that they could not look upon the Scotch sentence as amount ing to a dissolution of the bond of marriage. Then the petitioner having made out the allegations of adultery, the question arose whether he had been guilty of unreasonable delay. The unreasonable delay mentioned in the Act was something in the nature of connivance or acquiescence in the adul- tern. There was no reason for imputing delay in that sense to the petitioner, and the Court would therefore dissolve the marriage. (Before a Common Jury.) CROKER V. CROKER AND MAVINS. Dr. Deane, Q.C., and Dr. Swabey appeared for the petitioner ; Dr. Phillimore, Q.C., and Mr. Mundell for the respondent. _. . This was a petition by the Rev. Richard Croker for a dissolution of marriage, on the ground of his wife's adultery. She was a Miss Longmore, and had a fortune £14,000 or £15,000. They were mar ried in July, 1841, at Tewkesbury ; they cohabited at St. Helier's, Jersey, and other places until 1852, and had five children. At the beginning of 1852 Mr. Croker was appointed chaplain on board her Majesty's ship Winchester, and in May went in that vessel to the China Seas. He remained abroad until March, 1855. He left his wife at St. Helier's, and during his absence she formed an adulterous connexion with Mr. C. G. F. Mavins, a dentist in Jersey. The evidence of witnesses who had been examined by commission in Jersey was read to prove that Mrs. Croker and Mr. Mavins lived on terms of great familiarity there, that they had gone together to St. Malo, Rennes, and other places, and that in 1855 she was delivered of a male child. Mr. Baron Martin summed up. The jury found that the fact of adultery had been established, and The Court dissolved the marriage with costs against the co-respondent. COUNTRY MARKETS. CAMBRIDGE-'JULY 9. There was a moderate supply of wheat, and with a rather languid demand, white samples realised 46s to 48s ; red, 44s to 46s per qr. There was nothing doing in barley. Oat* were a small show, and last week's quotations were main tained, namely, 24s to 30s per 24 stone. Beans scarce, 0414 at extreme rates-46s to 48s per 38 stone. GLOUCESTER—JULY 9. There was rather a less supply on offer, and last week's prices were not improved upon. The wheat and other crops in this district are in a very forward and promising state, and farmers talk of commencing the corn harvest in a fort night, which will make this year's one of the earliest har vests for many years. LEICESTER-JuLY 9. There was a tolerable show of wheat, which met with a slow demand, at is per qr. decline. White sold at 50s to 518; red, 42s to 48s per qr. Barley, 33s to 40s. Oats were a meagre show, from 33s to 378 per 24 stone. Beans, 520 to 57s per 38 atone. ~Flour, 33s to 37s per 20 stone. YORK—JULY 9. There was a small supply of wheat to-day, with a mode rate show of other grain. Sellers asked more money. Sales slow at the following prices—Wheat, 44s to 46s per 36 stone; grinding barley 30s per 30 stone ; the oat trade was slow, at quotations ranging from 24s to 26s per 24 stone. Beano were 46s to 48s per 38 stone. ROCHESTER —JULY 9. There was a limited supply of wheat to-day, and a small business at the annexed prices :--White wheat, from 46 0 Od to 52s Od ; red, 42 s Od t o 48 s per 36 qr ; beans, 44s Oa to 46s Od per 38 st. ; barley, 28s to 42s Od per qr. ; oats, 23 0 to 27s per 24 stone. :AM-JULY 9. heat from the farmers, with per qr. lower. The trade is Barley, grinding 28s to 311 Oats,"old, .. 3os to 34 1 New do 27s to 3 36 Beans. 50s to 54 4 Beans, new . 48s to 521 NOTTINGH. There was a fair show of w] an tractive trade, at is to 2s grain of all kinds was dull. White wheat, new, 46s to 51s Red do. 448 to 47s Old white Ms to 548 Red do. 48s to 50s Barley, malting.— 38s to 43s DUBLIN. JULY 8. There was an alteration of 6d decline in the prices of wheat at our corn market to-day. Trade generally dun, occasioned in .a .great degree by hopes of an immediate peace. Oats in good .demand, at rather more money for best feeding qualities...A good inquiry for Indian corn, at a small advance on the beat samples. .s.d. s. d. s. d. s. 41 . Wheat, white... 27 .0 to 0 29 0 Do., new ..... 11 6t 0 13 „ Do., red .. .26 6 t 0.28 .0 .Bere . lO o to l2 6 Do., new .... 23 0t026 0 Rapeseed .... 26 oto 29 0 Barley Oats Do., black .13 6to 15 0 Indian corn .. 28 oto3o 6 STRATFORD-ON-AVON. RAILWAY. This line, which runs out of the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolver hampton line of railway from Honeyhourne,near Evesham, wthi ` th Warwick, c public k a distance eebrat • of ouon• about m m o n n e da m y ile n s eTt, di a b n e d o n p o e t n o ed n Saturday, as announced in last Monday's Snu. [ADVERTISEMENT.] -- Hollo wa y's Ointment and Pills. Fistula, piles, excoriations, and • strictures, are speedily re lieved and ultimately removed by applying this ointment after fomentation with warm water. Persons suffering from these scourges of the human frame should arrest their pre; gress at once, for it is both insidi ous an d rapid. Fistulas, if long allowed to go unchecked, not only weaken the nervous system, but destroy life. The sooner these inestimable re medies are used the more certain is success • yet none need despair;; hopeless caseslave likewise yielded, and the suf ferer saved a painful death, In excoriations a few applica tions of this healing ointment effect a cure, while the pillS conjointly with it are equally beneficial in relaxing and re moving stricture, whatever their situation or duration. BIRTHS. COHEN.—On the Bth inst., at Albert Lodge, Briiton -road, the wife of Henry , J. Cohen, of a daughter. HoopEh..—On the 7th inst., the wife of Geo. N. Hooper, of a son. Newingt on - causew al t KENT.—Onrk,ththee9wthifeinofst.F, 67, redaterick Kent, Esq., solicitor, of a son. MACNAMARA. — On the Bth inst., the wife of G. H. Mac namara, Esq., of Uxbridge, of a 8011. STONE. — On the Bth inst. at Blackheath, Mrs. Thomas Stone, of a son. VERSCHOYLE.—On the 7th inst., at 27, Lowndes-street, the wife of Captain Versehoyle, Grenadier Guards, of s son. MARRIAGES. CHILD—ROBINS.—On the 7th inst., at St. Mark's, Albert road, John Wright Child, Esq. of Copley-wood, Halifax, to Isabel, elder daughter of Edmund Robins, Esq., of Albert-road, Regent's -park. PRICE—COZINS.—On the sth inst., at Marylebone Church, Captain Price, late of the 19th Regt., to Mrs. Cozinot of Cheltenham. DEATHS. ALLEN.—On the 20th May, at Benares, Bengal, Edward Cockburn Allen, Lieut. H.M . ' s 60th Regt. Royal Rifles, aged 25. BERNCASTLE.—On the 3d inst., drowned, by the capsising of his yacht, the Albatross, off Gravesend -reach, Andrew' Berncastle, Esq., aged 36. CRAMEN.—On the Bth inst., Mary, the wife of Mr. R. T. Chamen, of 54, Brorapten-row, and Charlotte-street, Fitzroy-square, aged 44. COTTLE.—On the Bth inst; Robert Cottle, Esq., of Basing' stoke, aged 72. LITTLEDALE.—On the 6th inst., at Bolton by Bowland, Henry Anthony Littledale, Esq., of Bolton Hall, York shire, aged 49. PITT.--On the Bth inst., at 13, Hereford-street, the Hon. William Frederick Pitt, aged 14. SIMMONS.—On the 7th inst., at Lewisham, Mary, eldest daughter of the l a t e W. Simmons, Esq., of Clare Lodge, Sydenham, aged 72. LONDON: Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sur; Office, No. 112, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the county 01 igiddleses i Monday, Jilly 11, 059. - p