The Sun. — London, England, 1865-01-10 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence. Col. G. Gambier, C. 8., Deputy-Adjt.-Gen. of the Royal Artillery, yesterday attended at Wool wich garrison and transacted business with Gen. Warde, C. 8., and the officers commanding divi sions, with a view of forwarding the arrangements ordered by the Horse Guards for the reduction and re-organisation of the corps to take place in April next. A Government committee of officers, appointed for the purpose of inspecting the powder magazines afloat and ashore, assembled yesterday in the office of Capt. Go r d on , C. 8., Superintenden t of Military Stores at Woolwich, and commenced their prproceed ingsby visiting the floating a nd shore magazines on the banks of the Thames near the Royal Arsenal. The committee consisted of Gen. Sir John Bur goyne, G.C.8., i n spector-Gen. of Engineers and Director of Works (president), and Capt. Hon. G. Wrottesley, R.E., Aide-de-Camp and secretary, Capt. Caffin, C. 8., Director of Stores; Lieut.- Col. Boxer, Superintendent of Laboratories; Major- Gen. St. George, - „C.8., R.A., Director of Ord nance, and others, and were accompanied by Capt. Gordon. They are acting under instructions from the War Department, with a view of promoting any su ggestions which may occur during their inspection, ten ding to the further security of magazines, so as t o guard against the occurrence of a catastrophe similar to that in Erith-marshes. During the last few days a large number of sea men paid off from various ships, and whose term of leave have expired, have reported themselves at the Fisgard's office at Woolwich. About 300 conti nuous-service men are now berthed on board the Fisgard and will be draughted to other ships ready for sea. Their berths will be again filled by an equal number shortly expected home. On account of the unsuitable construction of the Fisgard as a harbour vessel the men, whose mess quarters are below, are totally deprived of daylight during their meals. They find it necessary to use candles at breakfast, dinner, and supper. This could easily be remedied by the substitution of windows and sashes instead of portholes and scuttles, which would ren der the ship at the same time far healthier for the men during their stay in harbour. It is hoped that the Admiralty will keep this in view in the Vernon, now under fitment at Chatham, to replace the Fis gard at the commencement of the financial year. Many other improvements are likewise suggested as necessary to the comfort of the new flagship. The following departure of storeships from Wool wich Arsenal took place yesterday :—The Indus, from Woolwich, with powder and other stores, for Hobart Town ; the Frederick Basil, with powder, for the Cape of Good Hope ; the Fy-Chow, with a similar cargo and other stores, for Hong-kong ; the Annie, with combustible and other stores, for Fort Beaufort, Cape ; the John Pitcairne, with powder ammunition, &c., for Malta ; the Alma and Raglan, with guns and other army stores, for Ports mouth and Dublin. The Lord Panmure has arrived with a general cargo from Portsmouth. The Great Eastern Steamship. Every exertion is being used by the Atlantic Tele graph Construction Company, into whose hands the Great Eastern steamer has provisionally passed, to equip and prepare her for the sbrvice for which she is intended—that of laying the new Atlantic Tele graph cable between this country and America. The great ship still remains at her moorings in the Med way, near Saltpan-reach, a short distance below Chatham, which she has occupied since her arrival from Liverpool, the experience of the late autumn and winter having proved that these were the best possible moorings which could have been selected for her on any part of the coast, as in addition to an excellent anchorage ground she is well protected from the westerly and southerly gales, while her proximity to the Thames allows the shipment of the Atlantic cable to be carried on with the least possi ble delay. During the autumnal gales not the least anxiety was experienced for her safety, and the large ship, in short, would appear to be as safe in the ex cellent anchorage of the Medway as if she were in dock in the Thames. For several months after her arrival in the river a considerable sum was realised from the large numbers who visited her, but for the last few weeks all visitors have been rigidly ex cluded in order that the work of fitting the ship for the important service on which she is to be employed may be carried on with the least possible interrup tion. The principal work now being urged forward on board is the preparation of the enormous tanks in which the different lengths of the Atlantic cable will be coiled in readiness for its paying out. To provide the necessary space which these tanks will occupy a considerable portion of the interior of the Great Eastern, to the wing pamages of the ship, has been removed, together with two of the decks, for nearly their entire length, both fore and aft, the machinery, of course, not being interfered with. The entire length of cable will be deposited in three monster tanks, and it is in the construc tion of these that every expedition is being used by Messrs. Westwood, Baillie, and Co., who have taken the contract. The largest of the three tanks is piaced in the after part of the ship, occupying the space formerly devoted to the second-class saloon, and necessitating the entire removal of two of the decks. This tank is 58ft. in diameter and 20ft. 6in. in height. It is constructed entirely of iron, and will be perfectly watertight, the cable being placed in water from the time it is received on board until it is finally deposited in its bed in the Atlantic. The plates of which the tanks are formed are all five eighths of an inch in thickness for three courses from the bottom, and half an inch to the top. They are formed with butt-strip joints, and single-rivetted throughout, with double rivetted in alternate butts. This, the largest of the tanks, is calculated to hold between 800 and 900 miles of the cable. The mid ship tank is 58ft. 6in. in diameter and 20ft. 6in. in depth, allowing for about the same quantity of stow age as the after tank. The forward tank is 51ft. in diameter and of the same depth as the other two, the quantity of cable it will hold being calculated at between 600 and 700 miles. This tank is entirely finished, and will be filled with water to-day, in readiness for the reception of the first portion of the cable. The after tank is about three parts complete, but no commencement has yet been made with that which will occupy the midship portion of the vessel further than the removal of the cabins, decks, and, indeed, the entire interior portion of the ship. In order to sustain the enormous additional weight which will be placed on the decks when the whole of the nearly 3,000 miles of cable is on board, the deck on which the tanks are erected is being strengthened by a system of knees and deck-beamS, while the lateral pressure of the cable against the s ides of the tanks will be overcome by an arran gemen t o f beams and supports, having for the ir object the confining the dead weight of the cable to the centre of the ship, and preventing or rather overcoming the outward pressure of the e normous mass when the vessel is rolling —a s the Great E a , t rn This, not th e l east does roll—at sea. is being carried out --e t portion of the work , engineer, towhom is also Canning, the company's intendence of th e ecluipm e r t ded the generalsuper perience that gentleman gainer vessel, the ex the former Atla n ti c telegraph ea bbl assisting to lay advantage in maki ng the necess l e being of great the present undertakin g . The threPreparati ons f or respectively 817, 803, an d 633 mileseof ks will hold a total length of 2,253 m il es ; but it gi ed viu t g n place a length of cabl e o f 2 , 4 00 miles On ite b lid ard t ; allow for slack. About 800 m il es, or one-third - the cable, has been completed at the works of Mess of Glass, Elliot, and C o ., M or d en - w h arf, Greenwich, the rate at which it is turned out being about 100 miles per week. The first portion of the cable is expected to be shipped on board in about a fort night from the present time, and one of the sailing vessels of war belonging to the Chatham ordinary has already been despatched to assist in conveying the cable from the works to the Great Eastern. The new cable encloses a conductor of copper strand, consisting of seven wires—six laid round one—and we i g hing 3001 b. per nautical mile, imbedd e d for solidity in Chatterton's compound. The gauge of the single wire is .048, or equal to the ordinary 18 gauge, and the gauge of strand .144, or the ordinary No. 10 gauge. In the old Atlantic cable, sub merged in 1858, a copper strand conductor was em ployed, consisting of seven wires, and weighing only 1071 b. per nautical mile. In the new cabl3tl e insu lator is gutta percha, the same as in the former cable, but with four layers, which are laid alternately with four thin layers of Chatterton's c3mpcund. The weight of the entire insulation is 4001 b. per nautical mile against 2611 b. of the old cable. The diameter of the core is .464, and the circumference 1.392 in. The external protection consists of ten solid wires of No. 13 gauge, drawn from Webster and Horsfall's homogeneous iron, each wire surrounded separately with five strands of Manilla yarn, saturated with a preservative compound, and the whole laid spirally round the core, which latter is padded with ordinary hemp saturated with a preservative mixture. The weight of the cable, in air, is 35cwt. 3qrs. per nau tical mile, and in water 14ewt. per knot, or equal to 11 times its weight in water ; that is to say, it will bear its own weight in 11 miles' depth of water. The old Atlantic cable weighed exactly 20cwt. per nau tical mile, and 13.4 cwt. per mile in water, which would be equal to 4.85 times its weight in water per knot ; or, in other words, it would bear its own weight in a little less than five miles depth of water. The breaking strength of the former cable was 3 tons scwt., and that of the cable now in course of manu facture 7 tons 15cwt., while the contract strain is equal to 11 times its weight per mile in water against 4.85, the weight of the last cable ; and as the deepest water to be encountered in the Atlantic has been found to be 2,400 fathoms, or less than 21 nautical miles, one knot in the new cable will consequently be 4.64 times the strength requisite for the deepest water, against 2.05 the same strength in the cable originally submerged. It will thus be seen that the new cable will be more than double the strength of the first-laid cable between this country and America, while the speed at which messages will be transmitted through its length by means of the present improved instruments will be from 8 to 12 words per minute. It is expected that the work of shipping the cable and preparing the Great Easternfor sea will occupyabout five months from the present time, and under pre sent arrangements she will not take her departure from the Medway until June next, so as to have the best period of the year before her for her important undertaking. The statement that the great ship had been disposed of to the French Government is without foundation, and there is little doubt, should she be successful in the work on which she will be employed, precautions will at once be made for lay ing down a second cable between this country and America. The Grand Jury System. BIRMINGHAM, Monday Evening. At the quarter sessions here to-day, Mr. M. D. Hill, Q.C., recorder, the following charge was delivered : " Gentlemen of the Grand Jury,—At the April sessions of the year 1855, I laid before your predecessor and the public, in a charge which has since been printed in a per manent form, facts and reasons which appeared to me con clusively to prove that to call grand jurymen from their avocations for the purpose of reviewing the decisions of magistrates as to the propriety of subjecting the prisoners in the calendar to trial for the offences charged against them is, except in certain rare cases, a glaring misuse of your valuable time—that such a course is not merely nuga tory but most injurious, a serious hardship to you and to prosecutors, and witnesses who often long remain in weari some attendance waiting to be called before you, a heavy burden upon the fund out of which the cost of prosecution is paid—productive not seldom of immunity to criminals, because (among other reasons) of the reluctance it gene rates in parties injured to appeal to the vindication prof fered by the law ; and finally, useless, and worse than use less, to the prisoner, who has been irrongfully charged, even where the finding is in his favour. For, as the grand jury does not and cannot assemble until just on the eve of his trial, he is not relieved from the imprisonment which has followed upon his committal ; while on the other hand, as neither audience nor reporters are admitted into your chamber, the grounds on which the bill of indictment against him is ignored, whereby he is restored to liberty, are utterly unknown to the world. Such a deliverance, therefore, will scarcely reinstate him in the good opinion of his neighbours, who can but surmise as to whether his escape is due to his :innocence or to some failing link in the proof, which, while it renders his conviction impos sible, leaves him open to reasonable suspicion. Or whether again this grand inquest may not, from defect in legal knowledge, for which it would be monstrous to hold its members obnoxious to censure, have misap prehended the bearing of the facts against him upon_the particular law which he is accused of violating. lam sure each one of you must feel that for a guiltless man to be ap prehended by the police, to have the accusation against him blazoned in the newspapers, to be sent to prison until the day of trial, and then to be dismissed without that thorough investigation of the case in open court which may enable him to clear up all doubts and difficulties, and to again stand erect before his neighbours and friends, is the very reverse of a benefit, and must often excite feelings which may rankle in his heart through life. Nor was I the first to point attention to this mischievous absurdity in our procedure. Complaints from grand juries of the Old Bailey —our chief seat of criminal jurisprudence—had more than once been heard and had been diffused by the press through the whole kingdom ; these complaints have lately been revived, and reiterated with great emphasis.. More than once, too, were bills brought into the House of Commons for the redress of this grievance. But the public mind Was apathetic. Few or none, either in or out of Parliament, defended the present system; and few or none denied its ill-consequences. Yet nothing was accomplished, and the matter fell into abey ance. This failure, perhaps, may be in part explained by difference of opinion as to the remedy. To some the griev ance appeared to be merely topical ; and that, while relief was required for the metropolis, the action of grand juries in the country was not only harmless, but salutary. Others would fain have abolished the institution altogether, but the former proposal was not calculated to attract much attention out of London, and London itself is hard to move. The latter proposal shocked the national sentiment to which the very thought of utterly destroying an in stitution so ancient, formerly so deeply revered, and which at momentous crises of our history had proved a bulwark of our liberties, was revolting in the highest degree. Reasoning fares ill when opposed to sentiment. Nor indeed are the arguments all on one side ; for while improvements in other parts of our procedure, together with the general advance of civilisation, have made the attacks on liberty against which our forefathers had relied for defence upon grand juries innocuous at the present day, yet important duties would remain to be performed if their jurisdiction over bills of indictment were altogether abo lished; although, unhappily, their labours in this latter de partment have so occupied their time and so absorbed their attention as to leave no leisure for other and higher ser vices. In what these higher services consist I explained at length in my charge of 1855. On this occasion, therefore, I will only say that the late presentment as a nuisance, by the Berkshire grand jury, of the Great Western Railway station at Reading, is a fair example of such duties. Let me now, gentlemen, attempt to illustrate more fully than I have hitherto done the absurdities caused by the interven tion of the grand jury between the committal of the pri soner and his trial. The dealing of the law with an accused party divides itself into several stages. There is first, his detection and arrest ; second, his hearing before the magis trates, in whose court he has, by virtue of recent improve ments, every advantage enjoyed on his trial—save only that the decision is not made by a jury, but by the magis trate himself. Still, th at dec i sion, while it may at once set him at liberty, can, when adverse to him, only send him for the ultimate determination of his fate to a higher tribunal, where 12 of his peers will stand between him and all dan ger of oppression. What good purpose, then, can be an swered by imposing the tasks upon you to which, at the close of my address, your are—l could almost say —con demned to perform ? You can only hear one aide.aYou are not apprised by any speech of an advocate of the facts which are to be brought under your consideration. You are not aided by a legal assessor, who will apply the evidence to the law, and offer you his opinion as to whether such a case is made out in proof as will justify the petit jury in finding a verdict of guilty, unless wit nesses for the prisoner should adduce counter evidence prevailing over that of the prosecution, or unless the criminating facts can be explained away. The appeal from the justice of the peace to the grand jury is in striking con trast every other appeal known to our law, In all in stances except this the appellate court is chosen as being better entitled to confidence in its judgments than th the court below ; and the powers conf erred u p on it for fulfilling its duties always equal, and sometim es exceed, those of t h e Primary tribunal. Yet in the kind of appeal under considera tion these advantages are reversed. Justice of the peace, the their daily experience, acquire facilities in searching out the truth which grand juries would doubtless possess in an equal i mi de g re e if their training to their duties were of corre some._ g length s of them never and the others frequently called the But the grand jury of one session will °T ,l 3' after a long • terval • and, in although probably be called upon to sit again, grand j u ries at a ss - ' much similar asserabliZor comp ose d of magist mes in the country are very which render their in r ates, and the same individuals are more the truth than the investigation aided by his clerk, 1:h°1 g t far . less efficient in arriving at towns, repeat their services than in the yet disabilities still remain befor e the justice of the peace, quires performance in duplicate 7 semen, if the duty of examin o at 7 a man of the law. Gen referred b vi e hy should not the other stages to which I have preliminary was Gold not &faculties be to trial re and why, on the second occaaion instance, when i w th he w n hi an ch the first w; sh ould over twice ? police . cum , con be versan red ? with f in or te the haunts of the criminal clatis, personally Acelliahit with THE LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 10, 1865.. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS many of them, and enjoying all the facilities for tracking them down which they possess, have detected and appre hended the party accused and lodged him in a place of de tention, should not the doors be opened and the prisoner be permitted to depart, remaining at large until some such body as our old constables, who were changed year by year, should be able to retake him ? And why, when he has had his trial, and when his guilt has been proved to the satisfac- tion of every auditor, is he not transferred to another judge and another jury, that the ceremony may be repeated ? Gentlemen, I cannot place the question in any light which would relieve the appeal to a grand jury, in all ordinary cases, of an absurdity bordering on the ludicrous. Yet bearing in mind the repugnance which will be felt by large numbers of our fellow countrymen to any sweeping change in the venerable 'institution under review I could for my part be well content to adopt, by way of experiment, a suggestion lately published by Mr. Sergeant Pulling, a gentleman of long experience in our courts, and who has in his writings ably treated on various projects for the amendment of our laws, although on the present occasion Ido not, at all points, concur in his views. " The grand jury," says the learned sergeant, " has always formed an important part of the whole system of trial by jury. To abolish grand juries would be to introduce a very serious, if not a very dangerous innovation. It may be that in nine cases out of ten, the exercise of the functions of the grand jury in criminal trials may be productive of nothing but delay, that in some cases the ends of justice may be de feated by the grand jury neutralising in secret conclave, and for reasons altogether suppressed, proceedings legally taken in open court ; and it has been urged that in all cases where a full preliminary investigation has already taken place before a competent magistrate, the re-opening the case in the grand jury room should be prohibited. But even to this proposition there are objections. In England we shall ever be reluctant to deprive a person accused of crime of any just protection which the law can afford him, and to drive him to stand at the bar of a criminal court on the commitment of a single magistrate, when, by a more careful investigation by the grand jury, the judgment of the committing magistrate may be found altogether erro-, neous. Can no middle course be adopted ? If the option were given to every person committed for trial by a magistrate to have the accusation against him re opened by the grand jury, or be tried on the case as presented by the committing magistrate, the result would probably be that very few would demand such an intermediate investigation. I would propose that when the accused did not, on being committed for trial, expressly demand that his case should be presented to the grand jury, the case should proceed as if a trae bill had been found, but otherwise the proceedings to be as at present. Where, however, in consequence of the demand of the accused, the intervention of the grand jury should be required, the pro secutor and prisoner should be entitled to the assistance of, counsel and attorney in that as in every other stage of the case." The learned serjeant, I presume, contemplates that the investigation shall be public, and that the accused shall be allowed to call witnesses in his defence, and herein I should heartily agree with him. We know by experienee that the very large majority of prisoners committed for trial are guilty. The course of proceeding before magistrates would be open to reproach instead of commendation, were it otherwise. I agree, too, in believing that few of the ac cused would avail themselves of the privilege which the serjeant would reserve to them. Because, as guilty persons well know, repetitions of an open inquiry into the charges against them produce fresh evidence. Slips are oftentimes made in the conduct of the prosecution which, while they might not be sufficient to induce a grand jury to throw out the bill, and thereby put an end to investigation, would, if the examinations were in public, remind the prosecutor or his legal adviser that some loophole which had by inadvertence been left open must be closed prior to the conclusive trial before the petit jury. Probably, therefore, the demand for the intervention of the grand jury would, in the course of time, be preferred only by the innocent, and again only by such of that class as felt the necessity of reiterated scrutiny into the evidence against them. For as repeated investigation is dangerous to the guilty, so by its tendency to elicit the truth is it a safeguard to the innocent. Should, however, experience teach us that a large proportion of guilty prisoners will still claim the intervention of the grand jury, it will be necessary to resort to ulterior measures, for which, when the chamber of the grand jury is thrown open to auditors, the public mind will gradually become prepared by observing what a useless expenditure of time and labour these investigations prove to be, except in a few extraordinary cases. But, as I have said, the usual operations of the grand jury, as now conducted, are not merely useless, but too often mischiev ous. To obtain more particular information on this topic, I have examined the depositions in every case occurring at the three last sessions in which the bills were ignored by the grand inquest. The aggregate number of prisoners committed for trial was 298, and the number in favour of whom the grand jury threw out the bills of indictment was 23. This latter number, gentlemen, may appear to you to be a large proportion, considering that every case followed by a commitment had been subjected to rigid scrutiny; but I must confess my surprise to be that the proportion was not much larger, impressed as I am with the many difficul ties under which grand juries labour. Of these 23 the de positions of the witnesses for the prosecution make out a case of guilt as respects all but two, and of these two, one, perhaps both, so strengthened the case for the crown that if the evidence against these two prisoners had been laid be fore the grand jury exactly as it came out before the com mitting magistrate, and if the grand jury had been apprised of what the prisoners had chosen to urge in their defence, which could not be done according to law, true bills might lustifiably have been sent in against the whole 23. But the probabilities are that the cases were seriously mutilated when the witnesses spoke under the protection of secrecy. In the interval between the commitment and the assembling of the grand jury, there is time for tampering with witnesses ; sometimes by very base expedients, even to open bribery ; oftener, I am inclined to believe, by working on their sympathies. Then again many witnesses cannot present the jury with a complete and connected narrative of their evidence, while the foreman, not being instructed in the facts of the case, is unable to examine them so effectually as the counsel does who has the aid of his brief. Another source of error lies in the number of legal points arising in the course of their labours. These would, for the most part, present little difficulty to persons conversant with the criminal law, but they may readily mislead the most intelligent, if their pursuits have not been such as to furnish them with a legal training. lam sure you will not for one moment suppose that I am reflecting on grand jurymen, but I do not wonder that they them selves feel very keenly their false position ; and that, with no reluctance to fulfil their share of public duty, they much desire to be relieved from the unenviable task now thrust upon them. In certain of the 23 cases which came under my review, I found that hardened offenders had been let loose upon society. One prisoner, a woman, not appearing in court for the first time, had, with malice prepense, stabbed another woman in the forehead, severing an im portant artery.. Another prisoner, when before the magi strates, had volunteered an admission of his guilt. Gen tlemen, although I would not place the two considerations which I am about to lay before you in the first rank of im portance, yet you will not deem it unworthy of notice that the pecuniary cost to the public, attendant upon these mis carriages, is no trifle ; nor again, that while we are con stantly stimulating the zeal and watchfulness of our police, and reproaching the force, perhaps a little too often, on the frequent impunity with which offences are committed, it must tend very much to relax their exertions when they find that all their toil is thrown away. Let me detain you a few moments longer, while I advert to the relief which, in addition to their exemption from at tendance on grand juries, would be afforded to prosecutors and witnesses should the legislature grant the emancipation which I have contem plated. In that event there would be no difficulty in so arranging the business of the sessions that no witness would need to be detained very long prior to his being called upon for his testimony. The clerk of the peace would draw out lists of prisoners for each court, and for each day ; and the order in which the accused would be taken would be rarely dfsturbed. The prisoners, too, would partake of the general benefit. They would be brought here from the prison in smaller numbers than according to present arrangements. Consequently there would be less danger of interfering with the wholesome discipline of the prison by crowding them together in the places of deten tion behind the court, which must undo to some extent any good which may be accomplished by the separation observed in the gaol. But what prisoners would deem a much greater advantage remains to be mentioned. Our English criminal procedure is still under the disgrace, in which it lies almost alone, of making no pecuniary provi sion for enabling the accused to bring his witnesses into court, and for paying their necessary expenses while there. Consequently, it but too oft en h a p pens th a t , una bl e t o re main in unproductive idleness for any lengthened period, enter se e t d h w e b o o u x l d . gr T ea h t e ly arra all n evi ge a m te en th ts e i w n h eo ic n h ve l nie h n a c v e e n j o u w st s d u e s - - they depart, and are f oun d a b sent when called upon to tamed by this class of witnesses, and their absence, I trust, would seldom occur. Mu c h more might be urged in favour of the change which it has been the object of this charge to advocate ; but I will intrude no longer on your valuable time." THE MIDLAND COUNT.IES STRIKE.--The Observer eves the following as the present position of the strike in the , Midland Counties against the discharge not e w hi c h th e master builders have introduced :—ln Birmingham about 800 carpenters are on strike, in Coventry about 400 men comprising all branches, in Walsall about 40 ditto, in Not tingham about 700 ditto, in Malvern about 100 ditto, and about 1,000 in the other towns. '''[ADVERTISEITENT.]—HoIIoway's Ointment.—Wounds, Scalds, Burns, and Irritating Sores.—The peculiarly mild, soothing, anti-inflammatory power exerted by this oint ment strongly recommends its use to all persons who futile charge of children. Accidents will occur in the in spite of the greatest caution and utmost vigi narserY l arrA ce. The scratch, the burn, or the scald, :treated early with this ointment, assumes no angry aspect, and never long tortures the little sufferer, whose very cry excites f.tch by-stander's compassion and pierces each parent's heart. Every nurse should consider this invaluable oint ment essential to a well appointed nursery. This oint ment is applicable to ass sore, whatever its character. conducts thelealth ely as the compass points to the north. THE "SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE 81-CENTENARY OF REVIEWING.—Just two hundred years ago, ac cording to Mr. Hallam, appeared the first number of the first review ever published. Monday, the sth of January, .1665, was the birthday of the Journal des Scavans, destined through two centuries to wit ness the rise and fall of innumerable rivals. The books reviewed in the firstnumber, as we learn from the same authority, were a new edition of the "Works of Victor Vitensis and Victor Tapsensis, two African bishops of the fifth century," and Spelman's Glos sary. Besides criticisms of new authors, the journal contained necrologies of distinguished men, and ac counts of scientific discoveries ; it reported the births of double-headed children, the trial of new models of ships, and disputations as to the nature of comets. Before long it encountered the ills to which criticism is heir. Various authors—amongst others, Menage—were so much irritated by this new-fangled instrument of torture that the privilege of publication was withdrawn from its original pro jector, and it passed into other hands. The first attempt at an English imitation was some seventeen years later, when a publication called Weekly Me morials for the Ingenious led a short existence, and then perished from off the earth. Such was the first appearance on the surface of one of the most characteristic modern forms of literature. Its in ventor, Dennis de Salo, showed a high degree of the talent which enables men to find appropriate satis faction for a want existing, but not yet con sciously felt. Like the first introducer of tea into Europe, or the legendary hero who, according to Charles Lamb, blessed the Chinese by the discovery of the sucking-pig, he " inaugurated" a new era. It now requires a painful effort of the imagination to picture the condition of a reviewless people. We can conceive a man of powerful digestion substituting beer for tea at breakfast. Most people can consent to live in ignorance of the charms of sucking pig. But the wretch condemned to read no re views loses one of the chief means of communica tion with his kind. He falls by perceptible grada tion of the scale, towards the savage. He is in contact with no conductors to convey to him the in tellectual currents of his time. If the deprivation is not painful, it is only because of the absence of a healthy appetite. In fact, the existence of a vigor ous periodical criticism is as necessary a sanitary condition of modern literature as the existence of good ventilation is of a house. The incidental in conveniences that result may be compared to the draughts which sometimes kill off invalids in over ventilated houses. But in literature invalids ought to be killed off. They are, indeed, in the habit of complaining during the process, and weak-minded persons sometimes take up their complaints, and rail somewhat vaguely against the evil spirit of periodi cal criticism generally. To answer such complaints is not very easy, except indeed, if that be easy, by stating them clearly. They are like the grumblings against steam-engines because their smoke some times blackens gentlemen's houses, or against free trade because it has introduced the foot-rot in sheep. The existence of the evil shows a power to be ac tively at work whose generally beneficial tendency may be proved by a mere statement of its purposes. When once those purposes are appreciated, the re lation of the incidental evils to the substantial bene fits becomes obvious. The enormous development which the system of reviewing has received since the foundation of the Journal des Scavans is sufficient proof of its utility. It is, in fact, an essential part of the machinery of modern society. It may be re garded as an illustration of the advantages of divi sion of labour in its application to literature. Every one has been bored by the everlasting story of the pins—of the number of different workmen who com bine to make pins' heads, and to sharpen pins' points, and to put the, pieces together. If every workman made the whole pin by his unaided exertions, the world would have to do without pins, and Adam Smith without his happiest illustration. But the con sequences of each author depending upon his own powers to provide all his raw material would be more disastrous. In the multitude of books, which it seems as if the world itself would not be able long to contain, the miserable historian or philosopher would be overwhelmed. We have often thought that, as it is, a commission for the destruction of useless documents will soon be as requisite as one for the preservation of records. The Macaulay of a future generation may spend volumes upon the history of a single month, if the pile of ma terials accumulated does not drive him mad before he gets through it. It might be best to commit boldly to the flames all novels, newspapers, Parlia mentary blue-books and statistical documents which could not establish a special claim to pro longed life. Meanwhile, it is necessary to de tach a certain corps of literary pioneers to econo mize the time and trouble of their brethren by making the investigation once for all. An unfor tunate author of 1663 had no means of discovering the value of any book but by reading it himself, or finding one who had. To go through such a pro cess now would be as hopeless a task as for a com manding officer to examine personally every soldier in his army. A little organization makes the work easy. It introduces a certain amount of concert into the labours of all writers on given subjects, without which progress would be next to impossible. These palpable and undeniable advantages were ap parently all that were aimed at, in the first instance, by the Journal des Swans. Its innumerable progeny of weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews have come to discharge more important functions. The mere diffusion of new intelligence is their least prominent characteristic ; from being reporters they soon grew up by a natural process into judges, and from judges they become legislators. They succeeded in laying down canons of criticism which affected the development of the public taste ; and it is in this capacity that they have been accused by the sentimental school of every variety of harsh ness and meanness. The ignorance of the Edinburgh reviewers who said that :Wordsworth was dull and childish, and the brutality of the assault upon Keats in the Quarterly, are the• staple examples of late years. They are neither of them good for much. Keats was not really snuffed out by the article ; and Wordsworth would have been none the worse for attending to some of Jeffrey's criticism. If he had known how to take advice, he would not have mixed with some noble poetry so much that no human being ever reads except from a sense of duty. In fact, Wordsworth, whilst hidden in a region shel tered from critics, produced stuff which, as coming from a true poet, is the best proof of the necessity of the critical spur to keep poets up to the mark. If he had lived in London instead of on the shores of Rydal, the " Solitary" and the " Wanderer" could never have been so pitilessly prosy. But, without examining particular cases, the general accusation seems to us to be childish. To say that periodical criticism is, as a rule, unduly harsh, is, if anything, the reverse of the fact. Boys at a public school ge nerally think their head master too much given to flogging. They attribute this peculiarity to a cer tain bloodthirsty ferocity of disposition inherent in schoolmasters. This is doubtless a natural inference though we never thought it philosophical one. If we saw that the boys treated their master's orders with habitual disrespect, we should doubt, in spite of the assertions, whether he flogged them enough. On the same principle, when eccentric authors complain of the bitter tone of criticism prevalent, we doubt, from our observation of results, whether it has been bitter enough. Some sensitive spirits may have suffered ; we will trust their words if they tell us so, and hope that their suffering has done them good. But, meanwhile, we can point to a flourishing crop of fools who do not appear to have suffered at all. If the critical acid had been so powerful as is represented, it surely should have checked some of the exuberant harvest of nonsense. So long as there is an unfailing supply of absurdity, its very existence seems a tolerable proof that it has not been laughed at sufficiently. Though you bray a fool in a mortar, we are told, yet will not his folly depart from him ; and we may add, what is still more annoying, the braying will not seem to hurt him. He will be just as happy after the operation as he was before. The person against whom the attack is directed is therefore the last to be pitied. He will continue to write things in lines with capital letters at the beginning, and to call them poetry, or to spin out elaborate prophetical twaddle by tortur ing the language of the Apocalypse, and will only smile with benevolent contempt at our feeble assaults. THE LONDON REVIEW ON THE ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT.—Gossip, which in this case is at least not scandal, has of late made often mention of the names of an " illustrious lady of the Royal House," and of a " gallant nobleman." As the names of both have been for months in everybody's mouth, and have, indeed, already appeared in print, we shall take the liberty of discarding the penny-a-liner paraphrasis, and speak of the Princess Mary and Viscount Hood. We do not, indeed, profess to give to our readers any fresh information on this interesting topic. Taking the Times' deni a l o f a marr i age as aut h ent i c, there still remains a tho usan d poss ibl e s i tuat i ons i n s ß um at e it to is s a p t ec le ul as a t te ee a certain ta to which that which the affair may st an d, an d we shall not pre thoef m th a e rri mis ag r e ea h ll as y b tru ee e n . desired and intended by the parties principally con cerned, and though, as a general rule, it would be impertinent to discuss the nature of the impediments which prevent the course of true love from running smooth, there is in this instance not merely a reason but an obligation imposed on the public to enter into the delicate question. For the impediment is one made by the public, and maintained, it is said, for the public benefit. It is neither the prohibition of a cruel parent nor of a tyrannical brother. It is the opera tion of an Act of Parliament which Parliament might repeal, but which ; while it remains in force ; is only administered by the Head of the Royal House. The Queen no doubt is empowered by the act to give her sanction to such a marriage as is proposed ; but that sanction is plainly intended to be the exception and not the rule, and so the act has been interpreted ever since it was passed. And as another method is at the same time provided for taking the sense of the nation on the subject, there is some reason in the Queen's refusal to exercise by herself a dispensing power which has never been exercised before. So the question, in one shape or other, still comes back to the public, and if the match of the Princess and the Peer is finally broken off, it will be because the public voice insists, or is supposed to insist, on that result. The public ought therefore to look at the matter thoroughly, and decided deliberately on what it thinks fit to be done. The Royal Marriages Act, the 12 Geo. 111., c. 11, upon which this question turns, is very broad and very simple. It enacts that no descendant of George 11., male or female (other than the issue of princesses marrying into foreign families), shall be capable of contracting marriage without the previous consent of the Sovereign, sig nified under the Great Seal and declared in council, and that every marriage without such consent shall be null and void to all intents and purposes what soever. But there follows a proviso that in case any such descendant of George 11., being above the age of 25 years, shall persist in his or her resolution to contract a marriage dissented from or disapproved of by the Sovereign, then he or she may, on giving notice of such intention to the Privy Council, con tract such marriage on the expiry of 12 months after notice given, and the marriage in that case shall stand good, unless before theexpiry of the 12 months both Houses of Parliament shall expressly declare their disapprobatiou of such intended marriage. It may be observed in passing that these rules may have some curious effects on the status in English law of not a few foreign princes. The exception in favour of the legality of marriages without consent under the first clause applies only to the issue of princesseslmarried to foreigners, and it does not extend to princes who may reside abroad, even though theybecome sovereigns in their own right. It was decided in the Duke of Sussex's case, in 1844, that the fact of the marriage being abroad does not render it valid, if without consent. So all the descendants of male members of the House of Hanover will be, to the last generation, bastards in the eyes of the English law-makers ; they are the issue of marriages to which the assent of the Crown of England has not been duly given under the Great Seal. So also Prince Alfred, when he comes to the ducal throne of Saxe-Coburg, must still take care that he has his marriage duly approved of in Eng land, or his sons and daughters will certainly in herit nothing over which English courts have con trol. These instances are, however, not merely curious, they are_ instructive. They show the re markable results to which family pride will lead when it blindly pursues its object. George 111. did not contemplate the severance of Hanover from the British Crown, nor the establishment of principali ties in the person of his great grandchildren. But if these are instances that would have been ex cepted, if foreseen, because of their importance, may it not be very fairly pleaded by the Princess ary that her case is one that would have been excepted because of its unimportance ? For it was not for his cousins that George HI. so urgently desired to legis late. The occasion of the act was the marriage of two of his brothers to private ladies—the Duke of Cumberland to Mrs. Horton and the Duke of Glou-• cester to the Dowager Lady Waldegrave. Mere family pride was the avowed reason thatmoved the King. , There is a letter to Lord North, in which he says, " I expect every nerve to be strained to carry this bill. It is not a question relating to adminis tration, but personally to myself ; therefore I have a right to expect a hearty support from every one in my service, and I shall remember defaulters." When the bill was in committee, he desired the Minister to furnish, him with a list of those who voted for its amendment, or stayed away, " which will be a rule for my conduct in the drawing-room to-morrow." But undoubtedly it was not the gratification of this personal feeling that was the reason assigned by the supporters of the measure in Parliament. Their argument was that it con cerned the nation that no hasty or improper match should sully the stock whence its rulers might spring. And therefore, whether we take the Royal object of preventing the introduction to Court in the position of near relatives of persons of too humble birth for that honour, or the public object, of preventing the degradation of the throne by the misalliance of one who might come to it, the Princess might reasonably urge that her case is beyond the intention of the act and the purpose of its promoters. She stands but in the relationship of cousin to the Crown, and she has no human chance of being the mother of sovereigns. This she might plead even if her lover were of family less distinguished that that of the gallant admiral who won his peerage in the service of his country. But we will not suppose that she will acknowledge there would be question of any misalliance in her case, and it is far from our intention to suggest that there is. After all, indeed, the question is not his torical, but personal and present. What George 111. meant or wished, or what induced the Parlia ment of 1772 to pass the bill, does not in the least absolve us from considering it as if it were fresh and new. There is no prescription that runs in favour either of expediency or wrong, and we must account the Royal Marriages Act to be both right in itself and expedient at this day before we can be justified in either enforcing or maintaining it. THE " EXAMINER" ON FUGITIVE FACTS.—There was some time ago a very amusing account of a journey , in quest of Hicks's Hall, the standard from which miles were measured on the north-east road. A hundred miles off every one knew all about Hicks's Hall, what sort of a place it was, what its style of architecture, and where it stood, but exactly in proportion as the inquirer made his approaches he found less and less known about Hicks's Hall, the knowledge diminishing with the distance, and when he got within ten or twelve miles of the place he found the most complete ignorance of Hicks's Hall, and on the spot itself, where it should have stood, not a trace of its existence. The search for Hicks's Hall illustrates the evasiveness of facts com monly called stubborn, but which better deserve the name of slippery things. We know all about a thousand things while we are all a long way from them, and credit distant report • but as we get nearer the certainties disappear,' and at last, as with Macbeth and the air-drawn dagger he attempts to grasp, we have often to come to the conclu sion " there's no such thing." How well we all once knew our Roman History, when there was no question about dates and no close and narrow investigation of alleged facts resting on tradition. But what is our knowledge now ?—how reduced, and how much uncertainty about the little left. The inquirers are exhausting everything. How pleasant was the story of William Tell, the tyran nical Gesler, the apple on the boy's head, and all. Well, Tell is dismounted from his historical pedes tal, where he stood so long and so honourably, and served to point so many a moral, and he is remitted to the realm of fable. And events the most recent, and which would be thought the most. susceptible of easy and positive proof, are matters of dispute. For instance, where did the Duke of Wellington and Blucher meet after the battle of Waterloo ? What fact can be simpler and more strongly marked for remembrance ? There are three or four different accounts of the place of meet ing, and the Duke's own account does not settle the question. With the wonders of nature - a similar process of destruction is going on. Where are Scylla and Charybdis with their poetic dangers so agreeable to the imagina tion ? Where are the sterner and mightier horrors of the Maelstrom whose roar could be heard twenty miles off, and from whose whirlpool no ship ever escaped which had once been drawn into the vortex? The Maelstrom is a humbug, and not half so for midable as Portland or Alderney race. It is simply a quick tide at certain hours, with a ground swell. While long established facts of good repute are vanishing, or changing into fiction, the world is getting smaller and smaller, so that before long the range of belief will be most limited and meagrely furnished. For there are no new crops to supply the place of the destroyed. We are making dis coveries of our ignorance which threaten to leave us little or nothing else. The credulity of people is, indeed,. in such want of food that it snatches at spiritualism faute de mieux. We want a Columbus to find a new world for us, but . apropos of that great man the most extraordinary part of his discovery was that he did not discover his own discovery. He believed he had got to India in some strange way without passing China, and he always mistook the main land of America for an island, and the islands for the main land. And from the error of Columbus the primitive natives of America bear the name of Indians. How difficult, indeed, it is to grasp a fact even when it is as big as the American continent. The much respected and lamented Sir George Lewis was a great searcher and destroyer of received be liefs. He sifted and winnowed history with such success as to reduce to a mountain of chaff what had passed for precious grain. And he was always after some Hicks's Hall. He went in search of advanced ages, and found them not, or found them dark ages. ad he lived he would have explored young ages with the same result. Young or old, there is no truth in ages. The Dowager Lady Cook, who remembered Johnson, and was, as a woman of wit, justly proud of recording his speech to her, "Molly, dear, you are a fool,"—this lady, who died of dissipation at nifiety-five, used to complain of the world's injustice to her age, for " when I was young,". said she, " they would not believe how young I was • and now that I am old, they will not believe how old I am." And we have not a doubt that Six George LeWif3 would have ohakeu her bat pretension, and left her not a leg of longevity to stand upon. There are many stages of untruths about age. Boys and girls try to make themselves out older than they are. Young men and young women, and the middle-aged of both sexes, fib in the opposite direction. The aged do the same till they come to a certain pass, when they begin to bounce about their long recollections, and to clap some ten or twenty years on their grey heads. There seems to be no exactly truthful period about ages. It is curious that people are vainer of their age than of their looks. In understating their years they make themselves appear to wear ill, or to be old in looks before their time. It matters not up to thirty or thereabouts, but after that the looks are tell-tale, and "faeies tua computat annos." A battered beau used to wear a wig excellently imitating the head of hair of a youth of twenty. The effect was hideous. The wig and the haggard face were perpetually giving the lie direct to each other. Some good genius suggested to the old fellow that nature even at three score and ten could 'not be mended by art, and he left off his wig. There was then a consist ency, a harmony between his worn features and his grey hair, and he appeared a really good-looking old man. A learned German has written a book to prove that the natural age of a healthy well-con ducted man is five score, and Brodie maintained that we were all made like clocks and watches, to live a certain time, long or short, of course barring accidents and disease. He attributed his own lon gevity to having always had a very small appetite, but one of the most extraordinary old men of the present time is remarkable for a very great appe tite. Brodie, however, was small and slight, and the gifted eater to whom we allude is large and stout. But the German theory of five score, which it would be so pleasant to accept, encounters the usual scepticism, and examples are demanded. And here we have Hicks's Hall over again. Every one is ready to vouch for some one or more of a hundred. Few villages are without some old man or woman boasting five score. But when it comes to proof, the evidences always break down. We do not mean to deny that there are ages of a hundred, some there must be and sus ceptible of proof, but most of them rest on evidences which would not be admitted in, a court of law; and for one true instance, to be made out or not, there are a hundred feigned. THE " SPECTATOR" ON THE LAUENBURG "PRO TOCOL."—The very curious document called the " Protocol of the twenty-second sitting of the Estates of the Duchy of Lauenburg," just published in the Gazette of Ratzeburg, tells the world a good deal. The " protocol" is really a formal report of the results of certain interviews between the repre sentatives of Lauenburg, Herr von Bismark, and the King of Prussia, to decide finally upon the dis posal of the Duchy, and is oddly frank in tone. The Duchy, it appears, is willing enough to accept the King of Prussia as Duke, but it had rather not be absorbed in the general Prussian system, wishes a guarantee for some of its privileges, and is exceed ingly averse to paying any taxes whatever for its own " liberation" from the sway of the Danish House. Of course the rulers of Prussia being be yond all things dynastic, and anxious for the ' aggrandisement of the House of Hohenzollern, do not object to the first of these requests. The King, said the Prussian Premier, was not at all averse to reign in Lauenburg, as he once reigned in Neufchatel, by a separate title, the arrangement having the ob vious convenience that it places Lauenburg out of the reach of people like Herr von Sybel. True, the Cham ber, which would have to find the money for the war, might object to this disposal of the spoil, this stulti fication of the dream of Prussian aggrandisement, or, as the draftsman mildly puts it, the " subject might be brought forward in the Prussian Parlia ment," but Herr von Bismark sees "no reason to fear opposition in that quarter," which must be satisfactory to Prussian Liberals. This statemeht was made on the 7th of November, and three days after was confirmed by the Royal mouth itself. The King told the Estates, though he was greatly sur prised at their confidence in himself, he was willing to accept their allegiance, and thought that any slight " difficulties, such as hereditary claims, or protests from German or European States, would be easily overcome." There was in fact only one real obstacle, and that was the necessity " for comi ng to an understanding with the Emperor of Austria." Everything else, including the opinion of Parlia ment, of the Diet, and of Louis Napoleon, was un important, but annexation must wait till " Austria's consent has been obtained." As to the expenses, the King said nothing about a matter so insignifi cant, but Herr von Bismark had previously informed the Estates that they were at liberty to protest on that head without being punished, which they ac cordingly have done, with great relief, let us hope, to their minds, but we fear with no more substantial result. For, gracious as King and Pre m i er were , they showed pretty clearly that they intended to govern Lauenburg, and not simply to administer the constitution of the Duchy. The Estates, some what timidly, as we guess from the way they have worded the report, ventured to hint to Herr von Bismark that they should like some kind of a guarantee for their constitution and privileges, not apparently attaching implicit faith to promises which when made to Prussia itself had been so shamelessly broken. Suppose, they hinted, the " new relations of the Duchy" were placed under the guarantee of the German Diet. One can almost see Herr von Bismark's face suddenly clouding over as he listened to the unacceptable proposition. • Money is one thing, though Berlin is thrifty and the Treasury by no means too full, but the Royal power is quite another, —something which Estates must not even " protest" against. The suggestion must be " defi nitively rejected, as his Majesty the King would never submit to any such control." It might, who knows? be necessary for the King-Duke to enforce in Lauenburg, as in Prussia, his pet dogma that the " throne is the legal pivot of power," and to give the Diet the power of interfering with absolutism, of interpreting popular rights, of Sitting in judgment on coups d'etat effected by Kings and Junkers, was clearly impossible, and we only wonder it was not pronounced sacrilegious. The deputies retired, satisfied that the King of Prussia would graciously accept their country, but doubtful about the constitution, and so uneasy about the taxes that they protested formally ajainst any future demand. This conversation establishes very clearly the fact that the House of Hohenzollern, or at all events its present head, is a great deal more anxious for its own power, and dignity, and extent of dominion than for the contentment of Prussia or the unity even of Northern Germany under one sceptre. There never was an arrangement made more grossly unfair to a great people than this transfer of Lauenburg to the King of Prussia. His people fought the battle, surrendering their liberties to do it, in order first of all to liberate a German race from what they believed to be thraldom_; secondly, to increase the power and territory of Prussia ; and thirdly, to help forward as far as they might the ultimate unity they desire. Those may be bad objects or good objects, wise or foolish, but they are those for which the people shed their blood and spent their money. Yet the moment they are apparently attained the King refuses to carry out the popular will, and takes Lauenburg, not for Prussia, not for that empire in which Prussia is one day to merge, but for a personal appanage, giving his people in return for their sacrifices nothing but the reflection that their King is a little more indei pendent of them than he was before. THE " UNION" UPON THE ENCYLICAL.—.We can not help feeling distressed in our inmost heart at the position in which this circular places the episcopacy, and indeed the whole clergy of France. So far as we know, nothing of the kind has occurred for 50 years.. Several encyclical letters have been published by the sovereign pontiffs ; some of them were of a character identical, or nearly so, with that of the Bth December—it will suffice, independently of the apostolical letters and the allocutions of Pius IX., to remember the encyclical Mirari nos of Gre gory XVI., in 1832. None have been the object of such measures. Hitherto, it appears to us alto gether without precedent that the publication of part of an encyclical letter should be prohibited, th e in terdiction of printing it should be notified to bishops, and that precautions should be indicated against observations alluding to it. As Catholics and citi zens we are unable to understand how the circular of the hon. Minister can be conciliated with the liberty of the Church and the free exercise of the liberty of teaching guaranteed to the Catholic clergy by the concordat of 1801, and by the constitution of Jan. 15, 1852. Lastly, in a legal point of view, as determined by the organic articles of the Year X., we will - merely observe, without forgetting the protests of the Holy See, and the objections of the bishops and juris-consults to that legislation, that the only sanction of the provisions of Art. 1 of the law of April 8, 1802 (18th Germinal, Year X.), to which M. Baroche's circular refers, is the recourse to the Council of State in the form of an appeal against abuse of power. We will say no more. The painful feeling which affects us need not be ex pressed. It will be more than justified by the ception given to the circular by the journaDy w i l i c h we are accustomed t o oppose, and from th e present moment it is already shared by Christian con sciences. THE TURN OUT OF FACTORY OPERATIVES AT BLACKBURN.—The strike of the weavers at Messrs. Spar row and Crankahaw's mill, on Thursday, which threw out of work no fewer than 990 operatives, the spinners and minders having been stopped by the firm, still continues, though we are happy to state that there seems a disposi tion on the part of some of the men to resume work. Many of the operatives deeply regret the step which has been taken, and are anxious to commence work even on the old terms and with inferior weft. If a majority of the weavers resume work the works will he kept iu full operation, and if not they will ln clteed. The Recent Murder at Aldershot, " -.-. 40 - 7 . - - - Yesterday (Monday) ifternocin, Thomas Dumphy, a gun ner in the 9th brigade Royal Artillery, appeared before Capt. Newcome(chainnan), F. R. Thresher, Esq., and Capt. Birch, at the Aldershot Petty Sessions, charged with having feloniously assaulted and murdered Daniel Burns, also a gunner, belonging to F battery, 9th brigade Royal Artil lery, on the 31st December: The first witness called was Frederick Gay, a gunner in the same battery with the deceased, who deposed—About half-past six on the morning of Dec. 30 I was engaged, along with the deceased, Daniel Burns, in watching the prisoner, who was not exactly right in his mind. The pri soner got out of bed and took up the poker, with which ho began beating the floor. Burns got out of bed, and went over to Dumphy to take the poker from him, when Dumphy raised it and struck Burns a blow on the side of the head with it. He reeled, and Dumphy struck him again and knocked him down, and before he could getup again struck him with the poker. I was behind Burns, going over to assist him, when Dumphy, seeing me, ran to meet me, grinding his teeth at me. I then ran and made my escape through the window. I alarmed the guard, and we went and broke open the door, which had been locked so as to prevent Dumphy from getting out, and we then found the prisoner lying in Burns' bed, quiet. The deceased was lying on the floor. On being asked if he had any question to put, Pri4oner, in a loud voice replied, " No, sir, I do not. I don't know what brought me here at all." Mr. J. T. M. Symons, M.D., assistant-surgeon, D Battery, R.H.A., deposed that he was called to No. 7 hut, Z lines, South Camp, shortly before seven on the morning of Dec. 30. He found Burns on the floor with a pool of blood round his head and shoulders. He was severely cut about the head, his upper and lower jawbones were broken, and some of his brains were scattered about the floor, and blood was on the bed. He next saw the prisoner sit ting quietly in bed, and there being no straitwaistcoat near, he had the prisoner, who looked deranged and rather wild, handcuffed. Burns was insensible, and witness ad ministered stimulants, but he died in five minutes after witness first saw him. Mr. J. T. Faught, assistant-surgeon, E Battery, 9th Bri gade Royal Artillery, deposed that on the 28th December he was called to see the prisoner Dumphy, who was in one of the guard-room cells, the men thhaking he was intoxicated. Witness found him kneeling on the floor, with his eyes turned towards Heaven in a devotional manner. He had to be spoken to several times before he would answer. Witness, finding him insane, ordered him to be taken to the hospital. Next day he was reported to witness by another medical gentleman as doing favourably. On Friday morning, the 31st, witness was called to see Dumphy soon after the assault on Burns. He found him handcuffed as described by the last witness. A mark which was found on the breast of deceased was probably caused by Dumphy punching at him with the point of the poker as he lay on the ground, and his jawbones were probably broken in the same way. He believed that Dumphy was insane at the time of killing Burns. The prisoner, on being asked if he had any question to ask the witness, again said, " I don't know what brought me here at all." The evidence having been finished, the usual caution was read over to the prisoner, to which he made no reply, and was committed for trial at Winchester, to the gaol of which city he *as removed the same day. The poker with which Dumphy struck the deceased was exhibited in court, and looked a formidable weapon, being immensely thick, and about 6lbs in weight. It was some what bent, the curvature arising, as it was alleged, from' the force with which Dumphy struck Burns. The wounds on the head were such, as stated by both the I: medical witnesses, as might have been caused by such an : instrument. COUNTRY MARKETS GLOUCESTER-JAN. 7. Thero was an average supply of wheat, which sold slowly at last week's prices. Foreign was in limited delnand, without change in value. Barley, beans, and oats wero unaltered. CHELMSFI ap—JAN. 6. A fair supply of all corn to-day, ftnd prices again have an upward tendency. Good wheats were is per qr, dearer than last week. Spring corn without alteration. Wheat, old white....4os 45s ( Peas; Partridge 36e 385 new 400 44s White .. 3, a 345 old red 39s 408 Boiling ........38s 420 new. 37s 40s Dun.. ....... ...318 350 8ar1ey..,.. 259 328 ditto, new....---8 — 0 Chevalier 268 :33s Beans, Tick, 01d......3 is —8 Grind ng Ws :8s new. ...--8 - 8 Malt Chevalier 64s 685 Oats ••• 2os 26s COLCHEST new —s Mazagan 33a 356 'ER-.TAx. 7. A moderate supply of wheat, for which the trade was slow at barely last week's prices ; other sorts are not cheaper. Beans and peas without any'material alteration. Wheat, white 408 40s Beans ; Mat ....33s 31 0 red 3€a 42s Middle and sinan..3sB 4O Barley 28s 35s Peas, white. 35s 3 130 0ati.......... ..... 208 25s grey ...355 360 KIRKCALDY-JAN. 7. Moderate supplies of all kinds of grain, which sold freely. Wheat and oats brought the prices of this day week. Bar" Icy 6d per qr. dearer. Wheat. Barley. Oats. First...... 30s Cd I 21s 6d 1 16s Cd becond.... 33s Od • 23s Gd 17s Od Third . 37s Od 25s Od 18s Cd COAL MAR: Byass's Bebside West d. Hartley l7 9 Holywell Main l7 6 Lambert's W. Hartley 17 6 Walker Primrose l5 9 Cowpen Hartley Hastings Hartley l7 9. Tanfield Moor l5 0. Tanfield Moor Butes 15 0 Ships at markel IT, JAN. 9. S. ( 1 :, Walls End Haswell 22 y East Hartl e p 00 l Walls End Hetton 22 South Keno° Heugh Hall 2l 0 Tunstall Carway and Duffryn „ Malting 22 u North Felton Ga 5....„ 16 0 117 ; sold, 55. . Foreign Mail Packet List. • Australia and New Zealand, via Southampton. Jan. 18. Ditto, via Marseilles Jan. 12. Brazil and Cape Verds, by British packet Feb. 3. Ditto, by British packet Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena Feb. 19. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton Jan 18. Ditto, via Marseilles Falkland Islands Jan. Gibraltar, via Southampton ............Jan. 11. India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton.... Jan. 18. Ditto, via Mar.eillea -• 12. India (Bombay), via Southampton. ....Jan. 11. Ditto, via larseitles ....Jan: 20. Mauritius, via Southampton Ditto, via Marseil e 4 s' Newfoundland Jan. O. Portug .1 3 . Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon... . United States and British North America, by Bri tish packet America, by British packet Ditto. by United States packet, via Southamp ton • Ditto, via Cork • ON • • Ditto, by Canadian packet, via Londonderry.. Jan. 13. West Coast of Africa, Madeira, and Teneritle......Jan. 10. West Indies and Pacific (except Bahamas, Cuba, and Mexico.... • Jan 13. '•• Bahamas, via New York. Bermuda, ditto. ....... 18. Cuba and Mexico • THE NEW Towisr HALL, BOLTON.—The Boßoo Town Hall Committee 'advertised for plans for a building to cover a specified acre, the cost not to exceed 40,000/, The drawings selected lazi Professor Donaldson, howeve r, have not been made with any regard to the cost specifiea, and the committee aro told in the report presented to theol that from the average =limber of cubic feet, as shown ill the designs, the total outlay foithe structure, including the tower, would not be less than 70,0001. or 80,0001., inde pendently of the cost for the site. " The plans drawn nle4 in conformity with the instructions, and likely to be com pleted for 40,0001., have been. rejected, as not showing sill ficient skill and taste worthy . of the occasion. Bi'crths. HAMILTON.—On the.9th in st., at 30, Westbourne-terrace the wife of J. W. Hamiltc In, Esq., of a daughter. POLTIMORE.—On the 6th 5 inst., at Cattistock Lodge, DoT' chester, the Lady Poltim. ore, of a son, stillborn. PALGRAVE.—On the 7th i) Ist., at 5, York Gate, Mrs. r3 l ' grave, of a son. TIPPINGE.—On the 6th in st., at Davenport Hall, Cheshir e ' of a daughter. the wife of Lieut.-Col. ' pippins°, • farria ges. BLUNDELL--KIRWAN .—On th e sth i ns t., a t St. Stephen ' ' Dublin, Richard F..l3.Blunde 11, Captain 3d (King's Own/ Hussars, ,-, to He.nrietta Pram ices, youngest daughter , Richard A. H. "fri ArCtn, Esq., of Baunmore, county 06 ' way. $ Dimmocx — Bßoucw, TON .—O n th e sth i ns t., at Ruytol' Eleven-T own daughter of ton-under-liar iey, Staffordshire, to Mary Jane, second Salop, Thomas Dimmock, Esq., of SiSlie Towns. T i.tobert Brougham; Esq., of Buyton- : Eleve n D€ aths. DTP:a.—On the 7th i ns t., a t W ey House, Alton, 1 1613 George Dyer, aged 75. EAMES.—On the 9th inst., at 26, St. Mark's-crescent, l3°' gent's-park, Mr. Eames „ aped 60. PLEMING,—On the 7th inst. at Castlegate, Berwick-ur Tweed, Joseph Fleming:Esq., J.P., aged 70. do 43 o GRAY.—On the 6th inst., L i eu t . -C o l one l Cha r les Gor Gray, Commanding tb GREGORY.—On the Bt. e Royal Engineers at Cork , t i g` inst., William Gregory, Escl: of Worksop, aged 91. c Mk:Rms.—On the 7ttx inst., suddenly, at 3 , Adelaid e- P ie, o . o cl London - bridge, Vapi Lain L. S. Magnus, of Chatham/ " 39. London : Prirqed and P abliehed by WILLIAM ANDO 11 %. of No. 112, Strand P rinter, at THE SUN Office, 14° t „, Strand, ht, the Preell, of of the Savoy, in the cowl 0 Middlesex , -7Teeeday, 'Alma tot 1865.