The Sun. — London, England, 1828-04-10 00:00:00

are so thickly sown, and where self-interest and love of power, the universal passion, are ever evolving them. We would, however, modify what we cannot change—palliate what we can not cure. There are certain offices, which in a parish are so onerous, that no election can sanction their imposition. The office of constable, for instance, ought to be taken in regular and !ettled rotation. There are others to which, though not so burdensome, the principle of annual election may very properly apply . ; but to offices of difficulty and oftrust, which require men of talent and integrity to fill them satisfactorily, that principle quite inapplicable. What stimulus has the man who holds the patent for his honours, as well as his fortune, at the breath of the pari ;thioners—who may be ousted at the end of a twelvemonth, because he has advocated a cause, which, un d er ot h er circum or pursued a course, stan ces, would have received their approbation ? What stimulus has such a one to study their in terests ? We wish to be understood—we know none of the candidates in any of the present pa rochial disputes further than their nam2s in our columns. We put the case on general principles, and on such principles, the man who studies any interest but his own, is one of amillion, and those who expect to find such a person in every parish, are very simple-witted gentlemen. To make men honest, we must make it their interest to be so; t 9 make them zealous for the good of the parish, we must give them a somewhat stronger claim on office than the precarious lease of a twelvemonth. We should like, therefore, to see some tacit agreement, if not law, made, that un- less on a charge satisfactorily brought home of improper conduct, the officers of a parish, whose bread is dependent on their office, and who must be content to quit or neglect their accus tomed business to discharge its duties, should not be removed but once in five or seven years. We should wish this for two rea - os—in the first place, it would tend to mak the officer more attentive ; in the second place, if it failed of that effect, it would e.ake his dis missal more, easily effected ; for. is notorious that no men retain office more fixedly than those who are elected every year—a fact, however, which by no means invalidates our argument. Much is said of dinners and petty entertainments, :ind their extravagance will always afford a favou cite topic for declamation ; but to what do all those petty items amount compared with the ex penditure of an ordinary parish ? And from what do they arise but from that absurd practice of attempting to save money by making men work for nothing, without reflecting that the neglect of an officiary, which no law can reach, will ever cost his employers ten times more than his salary would. Let the parishioners but look to the complaints every where made of the slo venly mode in which the important duty of au diting the accounts of parishes is gone about.— Do they not see that by that slovenliness more nay be lost in an hour than half-a-dozen of din ners would cost ? And do they imagine that that laborious duty will ever be correctly done, finless by one who is properly remunerated for doing it ? The plain rule in all departments, itom the highest in the kingdom to the lowest M a parish is—pay every man adequately for • his labour, and then the chances are al in favour of its being adequately per formed ; pay him inadequately, or not at all, and the chances are, that he pays himself more than adequately, or, failing in that, he leaves his task undone. If in private life we should have our till undisturbed by our clerk, we must so reward his honesty as -to make it worth keeping; and in pubilf: life, if we would keep the fingers of our functionaries' out of the treasure-chest, we must so remunerate them as to make their honesty worth keeping. Art attempt to get service with out paying for it is seldom successful, and when it is, the service is still more seldom worth having.—New Times. We stated yesterday, on information which admits of no doubt, that it had been seriously debated for the last week in the Bank parlour, whether the Directors should not mai'e an immediate representation to Government of the necessity of repealing the . Small Notes Bill." Whether this important question be yet ;cttled amongst those high authorities we do know, but that it is decided in the affirma tive by the general feeling of the country, we have no hesitation in asserting. In every ,:luarter where industry exerts, end not only maintains but advances itself, the • approach ing termination of the circulation of One Pound Notes creates the most serious alarm. In every district where manufactures re vive—in every town where trade flourishes— the same apprehensions are entertained, and the completion of the measure is justly con sidered as calculated to arrest every improvement n progress, if not to destroy every existing prc perity. Under these circumstanced what is to he expected, but a call from all the interests put in jeopardy—a call upon the good sense as well , as the justice of the Government, and one too well founded, and if once begun, too general, not to be heard and obeyed? That such a call will take 'Alice, in sufficient time to prevent the apprehended evil, is a matter of certainty. We therefore put it to the author of the Bill, whe ther it would not be wise and politic to antici pate the public wish, and to repeal at once a measure which fills the whole country with a iorro, and which, if persisted in, can never re dent) the serious injury which it may do by any real a dvantage.—/bid. In L ot ,-1 Grenville's Remarks on the Sinki ng Fund, his Lordship, in his usual impressive man ner, observes, c , Much has been auspiciously begun, much is at; this hour in progress, and much more yet remains to be accomplished fo r the cultivation and improvement of those na tional interests which now lie before us in actual operation, or in immediate prospect ; for the civil and religious freedom of all the members ,ef the community ; for their "Union, and firm faith, and firm accord," for .securing to them justice, not impartial only, but cheap, and fapeedy and effective—a blessing above all estimate ; a d for carrying to its utmost possible extent, the unustricted liberty of their in dustry and commerce. it is by the undevia ting pursuit of this liberaland enlightened policy, advancing m a l wa y s with th e a d vancing sciee of our country, that the surest of all foundations will ' be laid, not only for h er p resent ba ppLless, but also for her future prosperity and g l ory. ” When shall we have this " blessing above a ll est i mate, justice, not impartial only, but, cheap, an d speedy, an d effective ?" We rejoice to hear this language from a Statesman of Lord Grenville's high character ; we are delighted to hear it stated that justice cheap, speedy and effectual, is so g reat a blessing, because what is wanted in this coptry, is a conviction on the part of those who !lave the power, that no object ought to be put in competition with the securing this blessing to the people. But a generation of legislators ;nu-:t he educated to a knowledge of what is ! meant by impartial, speedy, cheap, and effective ( justice ; for of the present race, with one or two i exceptions, it may with truth be said, that l it would be easier to give a savage of the interior of Africa an idea of the interior of a cotton-mill, than to give to them rational ideas of jurisprudence. We have before us a Bill which has just been delivered, for consoli dating and amending the Laws in Ireland relative to malicious injuries to property," which we dare to say will be found of advantage —as, however defective the law on any subject may be, it is of importance that the various provisions should be brought together. But is it net melancholy to see the Legislature of England, in the nine teenth century, losing itself in endless details, without the possibility of possessing the least assurance, that a number of particulars are not omitted, with regard to all which the Jaw is a dead letter. "Be it enacted, that if any person shall unlawfully and maliciously set fire to any church, chapel, or place for religious worship, or shall unlawfully and maliciously set fire to any house, stable, coach-house, out-house, warehouse, 1 office, ship, mill, malt-house, hop -oast, barn, hay yard, or gran a ry, or t o a ny buildi ng or erection used in carrying on any trade or manufacture, or any branch thereof, whether the same or any of them respectively shall then be in pos session of the offender, or in the possession of any other person, every such offender," &c. The next clause contains a long specification of ar ticles, the breaking or destroying of which sub jects to transportation. Now these specifica tions are not and cannot be by possibility com plete, and we have no doubt that the exercise of very little ingenuity is requisite to enable any man to drive through the provisions with a coach and horses, as the phrase is among lawyers. How easy it woultl be to legislate by p r in ci pl e , and not by detail in this childish and silly man ner ! One can easily pardon the Visigoths, the Alemannians, or Repuarians, for having one penalty for cutting off a hand, another for a foot, another for a finger, so much for the great toe, so much for any of the other toes ; but that an Englishman, at this time of day, should be obliged to have a separate provision for every object in nature or art—one for breaking a pot, another for injuring a tea-kettle, another for steal ing a turnip, another for stealing a potatoe, is wonderful enough.—Morning Chronicle. LENT ASSIZES. OXFORD CIRCUIT—GLOUCESTER, Arnu. 8. Lewis Jones was indicted for having, on the 11th of February last, assaulted Judith Carpel Teed. Judith Camel Teed, a very modest interesting girl, said-1 am 14 years of age, and am in the ser vice of Mr. Barry, who resides at Westbury, near Bristol. My father resides on the Stapleton-road. By consent of my master and mistress, on the 11th of February last, I went to see my father. The road from Westbury, to where he resides, is througl Bristol. I left my father's house to return at a quarter before four o'clock, and purchased in Bristol some things for my mistress, which I put in a hand basket. When I came to Rudland-green, I saw the prisoner, with a shovel on his shoulder, and a little black dog following him. I passed him on my way to my master's house at Westbury. Shortly after he came behind me, and asked if he should carry my basket. I thanked him, and told him I could carry it myself. I did not speak to him again till he snatched the basket out of my hand, and ran up a bank and over into the fields with it. I called out " Stop thief," and followed him through four fields; he then jumped over a stile, and put the basket down on the ground. The place where I came up with him was about three-quarters of a mile from the road. He caught hold of me by the shoulders, and threw me over the stile, and knocked my bonnet off with the handle of his shovel. He then pulled me into a ditch, and taking a pocket-handkerchief from his hat, tied it over my mouth, and with his neckcloth tied my hands behind me. I cried out and made all the noise I could, and he swore he would murder me. He struck me with the shovel several times, because I made a noise, and once put the edge of it across my throat, swearing he would murder me if I did not stop making a noise. --(The witness here went on to describe the conduct of the prisoner, which left no doubt of his intentions.)—Just at that moment the prisoner was alarmed, and ran up the bank to see if any one was coming. I had torn the corner of the handkerchief struggling, and the prisoner then pulled it off my mouth, and got over the stile and saw a man about forty yards off in the next field. I took up my basket and ran as fast as I could towards Westbury. When I got home, I told my master and mistress of what had happened, and the constable, and the prisoner was taken up. The witness then underwent a long and severe cross-examination by Mr. Sergeant LUDLOW, which failed to elicit any thing tending to shake the credi bility of her testimony. The Jury returned a verdict of " Guilty ; " and Mr. Baren VAUGHAN, after commenting on the enor mity of the offence of which the prisoner had been convicted, sentenced him to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour in the penitentiary of this place for two years. Isaac Powell was indicted for having feloniously assaulted and ravished Mary Hewlings on the night of the 29th of February last; Thomas Sinigar was indicted for assaulting the said Mary Hewlings, with intent to commit a rape : and Thomas Bendall and David Ricketts, for assaulting the said Mary Hewlings, and aiding and abetting the said Isaac Powell and Thomas Sinigar. The prisoners were none of them more than 18 years of age, Mr. JUSTICE, with whom was Mr. CHICItESTER, after stating the case to the Jury, concluded by cautioning them in this Case to examine with the greatest caution the evidence of the prosecutrix, as she did not come before them untainted, and as her intellects were not quite perfect. Mary Hewlings said s,lte lived at Cam, in this county. She does not know her - own age, nor the distance of the fitctory in which she worked from her mother's house, nor the day of the month or week on which the offence of which she cots , plained was committed. She then proceeded to detail her meeting with the prisoners, who she said forced her into an orchard. She made all the noise she could,, crying out for God's sake to come and help her. She then stated that Powell effected his purpose, and that Sinigar was only prevented by her mother and a' woman named Mary Workman coming to her assistance. On cross-examinatio n by Mr. CARRINGTON, she said she was not married, but she had had a child some yearrago. Sarah Tallboys, the mother of the last witness, described the state in which she found her daughter, surrounded bytlie daughter prisoner w s, as who2l )ri,:anisawofayageo.nshheer approach. Her went to work the next day as usual, and was only ill from the fright. Her apron was much torn. Cress-examined by Mr. MACLEAN.--Sh e do es not know Inty thing against her daughter's charac ter, except her connexion with the father of her child and another man. Ann Workman, who accompanied the last wit ness in search of her daughter on the night in queer tion, stated, that in passing through the fields, she saw the prosecutrix and prisoners standing together in albunch. She did not make any complaint to her of them, and her apron was not torn, but quite whole and straight, as if just put on; there was no appear ance in her dress of her having been ill used. bor C e a veryneross-examination, she said the prosccutrix light character for drawing young boys The Jury found the prisoner " Not Guilty. inn lirrnimerton was indicted for stealing a 10/. Bank of England note, and divers articles of wearing apparel, the property of Mary Davis. The prisoner, a very genteel-looking young woman, of - engaging a pp ea r a nce, an d we ll-d resse d, surrendered to take her trial, and took her place at the bar, apparently confident that the result would be in her favour. Mr. CURWOOD, for the prosecution, said the pri soner was a milliner residing in Cheltenham, and the prosecutrix an old maiden lady, of small income, who had gone to reside with her. They slept in the same room and ate at the same table, and were on such terms of intimacy, that it was impossible for the prisoner to be ignorant of Miss Davies affairs. Part of Miss Davis's property consisted of an an nuity of 201. per annum, allowed her by a nephew, who resided at Merthyr Tidvill; and on the 15th of October last, she received a letter containing a 101. note, in payment of the half year's annuity. I n the evening of the next day, the 16th of October, an alarm was given that the house had been robbed, and on examination, a pillow was found in the gar den, as if it had been thrown out of the window; another was found suspended from the window, and the trunk of the prosecutrix, containing her 101. note, and the various articles of lothing described in the indictment, was gone from the room in which they slept. Some of the prisoner's propertywas also missing. So little did Miss Davis suspect the prisoner, that at her instigation she was very near searching seve ral other houses for the property she had lost; but by chalice she discovered a petticoat of her's, which had been in the trunk she had lost, concealed be tween the bed and bed-sacking of a bed M the pri soner's house. She also found, on looking into the prisoner's reticule, a steel purse which she knew to be her's, and which had been in the lost trunk. In consequence of this discovery, she left the prisoner's house, and shortly after procured a search-warrant, when several more small articles were discovered, the prisoner was taken before the Magistrates, and after some examination discharged. Some time after this, Miss Davis received two notes written in a disguised hand-writing, advising her to search cer tain places for her property : the notes were accom panied by some trifling articles she had lost, that were thus returned to her; and soon after Miss Davis was, at the instance of the priso ner , ta k en up charged with the robbery, and the evidence in support of that charge was a letter addressed to Miss Davis, which the prisoner had opened, and thus, as she alleged, arrived at a clue to the real offender. On that charge Miss Davis was committed to prison, and after being detained for three weeks, liberated. At the time of the robbery Miss Davis wrote to her nephew for the number of the note in order that it might be stopped. He (the Learned Counsel) should be able to prove that on receipt of his answer, the prisoner undertook to go to the banks at Chelten ham to give the requisite notice ;—that she told the prosecutrix that she had been, when in fact she never had. He should prove that she virote a letter to the nephew of Miss Davis to persuade him to say her aunt was not right in her mind, and that the seal affixed to that letter was stamped from a seal which had been taken out of Miss Davis's trunk. Mary Davis was then called, and detailed the facts of the robbery as described by the learned counsel. She also stated that the letter written by prisoner to her nephew was stamped from a seal lost out of her box. Some mirth was excited by the impression, which was said to represent his Sa tanic Majesty shaving a hog. William Pitt, Esq., banker at Cheltenham, said the prisoner had never seen him, as she had stated, respecting the note that had been lost. _ _ William Shortall described the premises immedi ately after the robbery, and gave it as his opinion that the robbers had not escaped by the garden. Mr. WATSON,for the defence, called _ _ Mr. and' Mrs. Tovey, of Cheltenham, to prove that some of the witnesses were actuated by mali cious motives against the prisoner. Mrs. Tovey stated she was the ",most brightest character of woman." The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty. The Learmed JUDGE then sentenced the prisoner to be transported for seven years. MIDLAND CIRCUIT.-WARWICK, APRIL. 8. Stephen Bennett, aged 25, was indicted for hav ing' on the 16th of March last, at th e h am l e t o f Lit tle Wolford, in the parish of Great Wolford, wil fully, maliciously, and unlawfully administered teSarah Bennett, his wife, a certain deadly poison, consisting of white arsenic, white lead, and sugar of lead, with intent to murder her. In the second count, the pri soner was charged with having adMinistered the poison with intent to cause and procure her mis carriage. Sarah Bennett, the prisoner's wife, was the chief witness against him—but as her evidence, though positive, was in some parts vague and unsatisfactory, The Jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty. The trial lasted from nine o'clock until near six, and with it terminated these assizes. WESTERN CIRCUIT.—TAUNTON, APRIL 8. (From" the Taunton Journal.) TRIAL or RICHARD GILHAM, THE MURDERER. (Concluded from our Paper of yesterday.) - - Rev. Mr. Marshall examined.—Had been a chap lain and curate 25 years; resided at Bath. At the request of the last witness, went to see the prisoner, who wished Mr. M. to pray with him and read to him, for he was not in a state to do so himself. On Mr. M. expressing his sorrow at finding him in such a situation, he said—" He knew he was a sinner, and should soon die." Mr. M. asked him how he knew this. Prisoner made answer—" He had been told so at the hall, for taking the goods from his mistress." Prisoner sat down, and began relating that himself and wife were about to settle, and had purloined a few things from their mistress. Mr. M. conjectured, from the perturbed and distressed state of the prisoner's mind, that there was something still more heavy on his conscience. Prisoner said he was " a sinner as other men, and was aware sus picion fell upon him as the murderer." Mr. Mar shall replied, if he was innocent, to maintain his innocence, but if not, warned him not to add sin to sin by dissembling before God. During the conversation the prisoner was walking hurriedly about the room, at one moment playing with his finger, and at another picking up hits of cinder from under the grate. Mr. M. read a por tion of the Commination Service, after which he thought the prisoner had something to communicate, and was asked if the gtoler should be sent for ; pri soner told Mr. Marshall he wished now he had never sent for him; Mr. M. then took his leave with a re quest from prisoner that he would return. (A chair was here ordered for the prisoner, who appeared somewhat fatigued with standing.) At the second interview, Mr. M. states, the prisoner did not at tend so well as at first, and told him that unless he had confessed himself before God he could not, pray with him, or afford him any consolation, which it was his earnest wish to do. After a long conver sation relative to the confession of his sins, it was evident some impression had been made on him. Mr. Bourne, the gaoler was called, and gave evi dence of what had passed—after the Rev. Mr. had had some interviews with the prisoner. Witness said ' I have Seen your wife, and what I said to you in the morning is correct. I find by your wife that you did go down stairs a second time after meeting Maria Bagnall, and that you re mained below a considerable while, and that when you returned you were very cold and much alarmed. On getting into bed you told your wife to lay farther from you, for you were not very well. This, pri soner's wife told witness, was the first time he omitted kissing her on getting into bed since they were married. Mr. Sergeant BOUPAS and Mr. MooDy now ad dressed the Court,and put it to his Lordship whether it was an act of justice, that the confession of the prisoner, extorted from him by religious hopes and fears, and instilled into his mind by the Rev. Mr. Marshall, could legally be brought as evi dence against him. Mr. Justice Gilbert, Judge Best, and Lord Eldon, were cited as precedents in not allowing such evidence;-and the wisest Judge which England had ever produced (Sir Michael Foster), had declared that confession by such means was more liable to contain falsehood than truth, and was of all evidence the very worst. Mr. Bourne re-examined—Prisoner said, " I'll tell you all about it." Witness cautioned him as to a confession. Prisoner said it was true; he did go down stairs again, and that he found Bagnall in bis pantry; that she began quarrelling with him; that he took up a stick and struck her repeated blows till she fell; she kept screaming, and said she would have him hanged. He by some means or other found himself upon Bagnall; he knelt upon her, and took a knife from his waistcoat pocket and cut her throat ; he took away her purse, with some half pence; he put the halfpence in his waistcoat pocket, and put the purse where it was found on the follow ing morning. He then washed his hands And knife and went up stairs, took out the wine and spirits from the cellaret, and drunk some, and threw some of it away ; left the bottles as they were found. Every thing that was packed up, the tea-urn and bread, he also placed where they were found ; he then went to bed. Tugwell, Esq., Mayor of Bath, examined-- Was Mayor in January last; recollects going to the gaol on the 2d Feb., accompanied by Mr. George, the town clerk; he saw Gilham in Beurne's room; prisoner said he did the deed; did nottake this down in writing.—(The confession of the prisoner before the Magistrates was then read in Court.)---The confession was read over to the prisoner by Mr. George, who asked him if he had any objection to sign it ; he said his hand shook so, he could not write his name, but it was all true. George Wilcox took the prisoner to the county gaol, on the 3d February; on the road the prisoner said it was a horrible thing, but he could not help it; he said he heard the deceased running out against himself and wife, and that his blood was boiling.— Prisoner said he did the deed at eleven► at night, and was not more than three minutes about it. After he had committed the deed he found his mind quite relieved. The state of the premises (it will be re collected, they were found as if they had been broken open externally) was occasioned by himself. He broke open the door with a bill-hook; and he brought down the urn from a plate chest, and scraped the walls with a spade, to make it appear that some body had got over the wall. The evidence for the prosecution closed at a quar ter past seven. The prisoner, on being called on for his defence, merely said he was innocent. About a quarter to ten, the Jury, after ten minutes' consi deration, returned a verdict of Guilty. His Lord ship immediately proceeded to pass the awful sen tence of death, without holding out the slightest prospect of mercy. He was ordered to be executed on Thursday next, and his body to be given over to a surgeon for dissection. The prisoner's countenance, during the trial, un derwent very little variation,; but on receiving sen tence he held down his head, a death-like paleness came upon him, and he appeared to be at once la bouriag under the workings of an overburdened con science, and a sense of his dreadful situation. (FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.) A respite was this morning sent to the prisoner at the gaol, and lie will not be executed until the opinion of the Judges is taken on the point reserved by Mr. Justice Littledale, which was as to the le gality of admitting in evidence the prisoner's con fession. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. GUILDHALL.—Chas. Potter, a journeyman butcher, was brought before Sir C. S. HUNTER, Bart. yesterday, charged with embezzling 201. the property of his employer, Mrs. Mitchell, a butcher in St. George's-crescent, Lon don-road, in whoee service he had been only a fortnight. Mrs. Mitchell stated, that on the 22th of March she directed the prisoner to wait upon Mr. Mitchell, the pro prietor of a Tottenham stage, when he arrived at two o'clock at the Swan, Snowhill, telling him that if he was paid 20/. in bankers' cheques, as she expected, he was to change them on his return home.' Mr. Mitchell gave the prisoner a cheque on Fry's for st. another on Curtis's for . 14/. and a sovereign ; and allowed him to ride on the top of the stage, as far as the Poultry, where he was set down soon after two o'clock. He did not reach the London road till nearly four o'clock, and then represented that he had been detained an hour at Messrs. Curtis's ; that he had wrapped the sovereigns in a piece of brown paper, and that he had lost the money in his way home; that he supposed the parcel jumped out of his pocket, when he scrambled up behind a coach in the Borough ; and that be had not seen any acquaintances since he had been out.— Mrs. Mitchell expressed her doubt of the truth of this story, and remarked that the breast-pocket, where he said he had placed the parcel, was so deep, and the parcel must have been so heavy, that it was impossible it could work out in the way he represented. The prisoner was perfectly at ease upon the subject, and said, " Take me before a Magistrate ; I must be acquitted ; you will dis charge me from my place, and that is the most that can be done with me." Mrs. Mitchell gave him into the custody of Read, a Union-hall officer, who questioned him, and detected him in several falsehoods ; but could not trace him in the possession of the money after he quitted Loin bard-street. William West, who lives at a soda-water shop, No. 27, Lombard-street, remembered two persons coming into his shop one day, and examined some gold, but could not swear to the prisoner. Mr. Blaxland, a clerk at Messrs. Curtis's, remembered changing the cheque, and giving the person a little blue paper bag, and also a piece of brown paper to wrap the sovereigns in. The man was not detained at the counter five minutes. Mr. H. Mitchell proved the payment of the cheques to the prisoner. _ 11Ir. Hobler, jun., for the prosecution, proved that there was a sufficient case for inquiry in another place, while the prisoner's solicitor insisted that there was nothing to raise a presumption of a conversion by the prisoner, or that his tale of losing the money was untrue. Sir C. S. IfuNTER said that the presumption of the pri soner's guilt was sufficiently raised by his telling a gross falsehood as to being detained an hour at Curtis's banking house, and therefore committed him for trial. BOW-STREET.—Yesterday morning Sir RICHARD 131aNIE took occasion to refer to an assertion made by Mr. Corder, the successful candidate for the office of Vestry Clerk to the parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden, that " he (Sir Richard Birnie) had been sent for by Mr. Peel, and severely rebuked for having interfered in the proceedings of that parish." This assertion Sir Richard Birnie authorised us to state is utterly unfounded. No communication had passed between Mr. Peel and himself upon the subject ; nor had he been to Whitehall to account to the Right Hon. Se cretary for the part which he had taken, as stated by Mr. Corder. James Smith and Jeremiah Latchford were finally exa mined—the former upon a charge of having stolen a horse and gig, the property of Mr. Jennings, of Staines, in Middlesex ; and the latter with havipg received the horse, knowing it to have been stolen. The - case, as developed by the evidence, presents some curious features. The facts,are briefly these :—The prin cipal witness is a man named Halls, an accomplice, who has turned approver. Accordiwz. to his testimony, he was pr ivy to a plan, formed by the prisoner Smith and a man " w ed Odes, who has not as yet been taken, to steal the bell from the parish church at Staines, and also to rob Mr. Jennings of his horse and gig. Smith and Odes, accord ing to the witness's statement, made hint acquainted with their intention for sonic weeks previous to the commission of the act. He was asked to join in the undertaking, but declined to do so, and gave information of what he had heard to Colonel Carmichael, a magistrate residing in the neighbourhood. The witness proceeded to state, that as he was passing the premises of Mr. Jennings on the night of the robbery, he saw Smith and Odes in the act of driv ing the horse and chaise from the stable yard of the prose cutor. Smith said to him, " is that you Bill ? You must not say you have seen Odes and me ;" and then, he said, t h e y drove away in the direction of London. Circum stantial, however, as the story of the approver appeared to b e , the Magistrate, Mr. Halls, seemed to be little inclined to give it credit, as it appeared that the approver had only come forward to disclose where the gig and horse were, after a reward had been offered for their recovery, when he first stated that the property would be found at the resi dence of the prisoner Latchford, at Woodford, in Essex, when an officer was despatched, who discovered the horse, but could not ascertain any clue to the gig. In addition to this objection to the approver's evidence, Taunton, the officer who had been employed in •he recovery of the pro perty, stated yesterday that he had ascertained that the ap prove! bad seduced the wife of the prisoner s;mi,th . , un-] was actually living with her at present in a state of adultery, which might probably be a motive for the anxiety which he manifested in accusing the prisoners. Mr. HALLS, upon hearing this fact, said, he could very well comprehend the state of the case, and he thought it not at all unlikely that the whole matter had been planned by the approver, to suit his private purposes. Colonel Carmichael said, that on the first examination his evidence was misconceived by some of the gentlemen who attended for the public press. The approver bad in the first instance made him acquainted with the design to steal the bell of the parish church, to frustrate which ob.- ject he (the Colonel) and a constable were watching in the church-yard, at the time named by the approver for the robbery. The approver, however, came to him there, and said that the prisoners had altered their plan, and proposed to rob Mr. Jennings on a future night. Mr. HALLS said, that as the prosecutor seemed to desire it, he should commit the prisoners, although, in his opinion, no jury would find them guilty upon such evidence as that of the approver Hall. The prisoners were committed accordingly. MARLBOROUGH-STREET.—Yesterday another in stance among the many lately detected, of extensive depre dations committed by shopmen on the property of their employers, came on for investigation at this office, before Mr. DYRR, the sitting Magistrate. There were first placed at the her, a middle aged woman, named Elizabeth Brown; a' laundress, and William Brown, her son. Mr. Fenwick, an extensive silk-mercer in the Regent Circus, stated, that the male prisoner had bee* for some time in his service as a light porter, and his mother was in the habit of frequently coming backward and forward to the house, as she washed for her son, and for some of the shopmen. He (Mr. Fenwick) had recently received infor mation that the woman at the bar had for a long tine been in the frequent practice of pledging quantities of silk at the shops of different pawnbrokers, and feeling satisfied that she must have been supplied with this silk from his shop, and most probably by her son, he obtained a search warrant to search the residence of the woman, and there found convincing proofs that she had been disposing of great quantities of his property, and he then had the two prisoners taken into custody. Clements and Goddard, the officers who apprehended the prisoners, said, that on seat ching the residence of the woman, Brown, at No. 31, Harrow-street, Edge-- ware-road, they found a vast number of pawnbrokers' duplicates (between 100 and 200) for silks of various kinds that had been pledged by her. Mr. Ross, of Paddington-street, the only pawnbroker who had as yet received notice to attend, produced a large gown-piece of beautiful silk, which he said the female pri soner had pledged at his shop. Mr. Renwick, and one of his shopmen, identified this silk as his property, and as having been stolen from his shop. the female prisoner now said that it was useless for her to deny her guilt, and she acknowledged that she had pledged all the property named on the duplicates, but she solemnly declared that her son, who stood by her side, was altogether innocent of any participation in the transaction. She confessed that all the pledged property belonged to Mr. Fenwick, that it was all stolen from his shop by one of his shoprnen, named Mussered, for whom she wash ed, and who gave the silks to her at different times to pledge for him. A warrant was immediately issued for the apprehension of this shopinan, and in a few minutes he was brought to the office, and placed at the bar by the side. of the other prisoners. He is a genteel looking young man, and gave his name John Charles Mussered. He seemed consider ably embarrassed, although he denied all connexion with the dishonest practices attributed to him._ The woman Brown, however, repeated her former statement-in his pre sence, and declared that the silk produced, as well as all the others pledged by her, were given to her for that pur pose by him while living at Mr. Fenwick's; and in this state of the case the three prisoners were remanded for a future examination. • Mr. Fenwicl said that the prisoner Mussered came into his service about 12 months ago from the house of Messrs. Williams and Price, also silk-mercers, within a few doors of him in the Regent-circus, but he has lately learned, that just before the prisoner entered the service of Messrs. Wil liams and Price he had only been a few days discharged from 'the Marshalsea prison. William Snow, the driver of the cabriolet No. 58, ap peared to answer the complaint of a gentleman named Con. nington, residing at Hampstead. Mr. Connington, about seven o'clock on Tuesday even ing last, was with a friend in a one-horse chaise, on his re turn home, when, in driving through High-street, close to St. Giles's church, the defendantearne along in his cabrio let at a most furious rate, evidently in a state of intoxica tion, and having no control whatever over his horse. . He was repeatedly called to, but he paid, not the slightest atten tion, and he drove so close to the curb-stone, that it was im possible for him (Mr. Connington) to avoid him, or get out of his way ; an). the consequence was, that he came with such violence against kis (Mr. Connington's) chaise as to smash it to pieces, and fling himself and his friend to a considerable distance on the pavement, so that it was a miracle almost they were not killed on the spot ; but as it was, they were both severely bruised. The prisoner had nothing to say in his defence ; and Mr. Dyer said, that he was extremely sorry that he had no power to inflict a greater punishment upon such a fel low as this, than a fine of 10s., under the Highway Act ; but Mr. Connington, the magistrate said, could have his remedy by civil action against the prisoner's employer for the damage done to his chaise, &c. The prisoner was locked up in default of paying the penalty. DIARY I.EB ONE- 0 FFICE. —Robert Timms, a builder, at No. 15, Edward-street, Regent's-park, was charged be- fore Mr. RAWLINSON with having seduced a young mar ried lady, and with threatening, afterwards, to shoot her husband. Mr. William Henry Ward, the injured party, came for ward to support the charge, accompanied by the lady. Mr. Ward told tke Magistrate they were married on the 28th November, 1825, and until Monday week occupied apartments in the defendant's house. A short time back he met with an accident, which detained him from home ; the defendant took advantage of the circumstance, and, in his absence seduced his wife, and accomplished his ruin. He returned home on Sunday week, the 30th March, and having heard of the defendant's misconduct, began to upbraid him. The defendant took a pistol from a shelf, presented it at his head, and swore if he said another word he should have the contents. " I deny this," said Mr. Timms, interrupting the complainant ; " I have no pistol," What I say, your Worship," replied Mr. Ward, "is upon oath—he had a pistol, and I understand he has gone into my wife with a drawn sword. Mr. RAW LINSON—With what?—Mr. Ward : When he has taken advantage of my wife, he has even brought a naked sword. Mr. Timms—l never knew she was your wife. Mr. RAWLINSON-Why! were they not living as man and wife in your house ?—Mr. Ward : Certainly, your Worship, and he has seen the certificate of our marriage. Mr. RAW LuisoN—This is a very disgraceful business; you commit adultery with a man's wife, and then you threaten to blow out his brains. Mr. Timms--Your Worship, I have letters in my pos session, received from this young woman, stating she was not married ; here they are (handing five or six to the Ma gistrate); I- wish you would read them aloud. Mr. RAwr.tsrso ., . (having opened one of the letters) — She calls you her " Dear Robert." —Mr. Timms : And signed it with her maiden name. At this moment Mrs. Ward exclaimed, under great agi tation, "He obliged me, your Worship; he stood over use w ith a drawn sword, while I wrote that letter." Mr. & IlawuNsort—Stood over you with a drawn'sword while you wrote a letter to himself ! I never heard of such a thing.—Mrs. Ward : He is a base wicked man, your Worship; he has even asked me to poison my husband, and threatened to kill me if I did not go away with him. After Mr. Ward recovered from the alarm which on Sunday week Mr. Timms's threat occasioned, he told him he would immediately take his wife and his goods out of the house. " You may go out, and you may take your goods out," replied Mr. Timms, " but I'm if you sall take your wife." He, however, removed the whole the next day, into apartments at No. 16. Mrs. Hazlewood, who keeps the house where Mr. and Mrs. Ward now lodge, stated, that on Sunday, the 30th of March, Mrs. Ward ran into her house, and slid she was afraid she should be murdered between her husband and Mr. Timms. She then disappeared, and the witness thought she was gone to drown h erse lf, but she afterw ards _,, __ found her at the next house again, in the companY her husband and Mr. Timms, the latter of whom, of gin in his hand, was persuading her to drink, to mind her husband. ss a and b notttloe - . - 111 r, RAWLINSON told the defendant he did not know when he hail seen a man stand in a more disgraceful situa tion. The charge of adultery must be preferred elsewhere, but it was his duty to protect the complainant from his viol e nce and malice, and therefore he bound hint over in 501., and two sureties in 251. each, t) keep the peace to warde him for 12 months. The defendant immediately gave the securities which were required, ;:nd the pal tiet. left the office, LONDON SESSIONS, APRIL 9. il , Mr. CLARKSON appealed upon ' t he part of IVis• Burgess, who keeps Wine Rooms in Fleet-street, against a conviction for having, Without /license, suffered to be drunk upon his premises sortie Sherri. The Learned Counsel contended, that the .convic" tion must be quashed, on account of an error in the conviction, it having been stated that the defendant was only guilty of one offence, whereas he was guilty of two offences—one of having retailed, and the other of having suffered wine to be drunk on his premises without a license. Mr. ALLEY contended, that by the terms of the Act, the conviction could not be set aside for want of any form of words. The RECORDER, having heard the arguMents of Counsel upon the point, said, that the conviction was not sustainable, as it comprehended two 'separate offences, and it could not be ascertained on which the appellant was guilty. Aldermen Perring, Thorpe, and Fairbrother, at once declared that the conviction aught not to be quashed. The Court then consulted, and the RECORDER stated, that he altered his previous opinion, upon finding that the con v i c ti on h a d b een grounded upon more Statutes than one. He then pronounced that the conviction was confirmed. ROBBERY OF DR. MARSH'S LIBRARY, BY A DIVINITY STUDENT. HEAD-OFFICE, Dunut.i.—The Provost of Trinity College and several other members of the Univer sity, attended at this office, to witness the proceed ings at an extraordinary investigation appointed for hearing this day. At the instance of the Rev. Mr. Craddock, librarian of Dr. Marsh's, in Bride-street, summonses had been issued on Friday eveni ng to Mr. —, of Bishop-street,. and two booksellers, who had purchased from Mr. —an ancient and valuable manuscript, and several volumes, which had been stolen from the University library. At the appointed hour, the booksellers were is+ attendance, but the delinquent was not forthcoming. It appeared that he was a student of the University, and a candidate for Holy Orders. The anxiety he had manifested for the propagation of saintly doc trines and the promotion of the new Reformation, gained for him the especial favour of a certain high dignitary of the Established Church, who introdu ced him to Marsh's library. In consequence of such distinguished patronage, Mr. had access to the library during the hours when less favoured students were excluded. The slightest suspicion could not be entertained against a gentleman who had been brought forward under such auspices, and . Mr. frequently visited the library when there was no intruder to disturb his saintly meditations. In proportion to the number of his visits, was there a deficiency of volumes in the library. The literary havoc still continued, and the pious and zealous librarian was unable to discover the cause : but at length a rare and valuable manuscript of St. Chry sostome was purloined, and a most particular inquiry instituted, when it was ascertained that Mr. -- was the author of all the depredations. He w a s in the habit of coming to the library, attired in a large travelling cloak, under which he concealed the books as he departed. He sold the relic of St. Chrysos tome for five shillings, although its value, as stated by the librarian, was 500/. ; he had sold 26 volumes to ene bookseller for .2/. The stolen property was produced, and identified by the Rev. Mr. Craddock, who preferred informations against - Mr. —. We understand that he has absconded.—Dublin Morn ing Register. GENERAL STUBBS.---.TO those who took any interest in the gallant defence of Oporto about 1 4 or lb months ago, it may be interesting to learn, that. General Sir T. Swan is an Englishman,--that he entered the Bi-itisb service as an ensign in 1793 Oa the 50th Regiment),-- that he continued in our service till 1799, when thiregi ment in which he served quitted Portugal, in which b e had been stationed,—that having married a Portuggele lady, he then entered the Portuguese nerviee.--thet he dis tinguished himself during the Peninsular war, and shatfar his services he has obtained not only an English cross, but Portuguese and Spanish orders of distinction. EXTRAORDINARY FECUNDITY.--The -fol lowing extraordinary increase of stock took place on the farm of Mr. Mowa, of Gembling, near Driffield, on the night of Friday last, the 4th instant : a cow producedthree calves, and, on the same night, four ewes dropped three lambs each ! being an offspring of fifteen individuals, from fiye females in one night. This fact is probably without a precedent in the annals of breeding.—Hull Packet. TLALPUXAHUA MINING COMPANY,-...A9 adjourned Meeting of the Proprietors of Shares in the above adventure was held at the Company's Office, in Old Broad street, to take into further consideration the propriety of continuing or discontinuing the works at Tlalpuxahui. JoHN SMITH, Esq. took the Chair, and, after some re marks, put the following Resolution :—" That the Direc tors be requested to carry on the affairs of the Company with as much economy as Passible ;" which, after some ob servations, was carried. A discussion arose on a proposal that the Company's shares--1,600 in number—be subdi vided into 4,000, in order to render the calls more easy to those who hold a great number of shares; a Resolution to the effect passed. Another, for forfeiting shares not paid np, was negative/. The meeting then adjourned. BIRTIIii. At Eitham, on the Bth instant, the lady of J. H. Latham, Esq., of a daughter. On tho 6th net., at Royle, in Lancashire, the lady of the Rev. Robert Mosley Master, of a son. On the 9th inst., in Devonshire-plave, the lady of Money Wigram, Esq., of a son. On the sth inst., at Brighton, the lady of T. James, Esq., of a daughter. O■ the 3d inst., at Brussels, the lady of Joseph Green Wilkinson, Esq., of a son. MARRIED. On the 9th instant, at Burton-upon-Trent, by the Rev. Joseph Clay, A.M., the Rev. Hastings Robinson, Rector of Great Warley, in the county of Essex, and eldest son of the late Rev. R. G. Robinson, Vicar of Harborne, in the county of Warwick, to Margaret Ann, eldes► daughter of the late Joseph Clay, Esq., of Burton. On the Ott► inst., Mr. Henry Chapman, of Greenfield street, Commercial-road, to Miss Esther Locke Harris, of Nailsworth. On the 7th inst., at Knaresborough, Wm. Wainman, Esq., of Wood Hayes, Cheshire, second son of the late William Wainman, Esq., of Carhead, Yorkshire, to Jane, daughter of Thomas Atkinson, Esq., Upper Montagu street, Montagu-square, London. DIED. aged O ns s . O l en ahh the On Wednesday, the 9th inst., at Gr e en w i c h, aged 171 i, Charlotte, relict of Henry Seward, Esq.. On the 7th inst., in Upper Grosvenor -st ree t, th e Ri g h t Hon. John Joshua Earl of Carysfort, R.P., i u t h e 78 t h year of his age. On the Sth inst. at her house in Guilf or d- s t ree t, Mrs. Getty, widow of the late Willi am Gatty, Esq., of the l o :th of Jan uary, at sea, on h i s passage from Remembrancer's office, ill the 73d year of h e r age . On the Bth inst. , Anti East, th e wife James List, proprietor t i h n e st., G a o t ld le:xeter, aged .58, Miss Sarah Tod.'nfe hunter, ta l Eagl e T avern , Mil e - en d- roa d, e ate " :f Walthainstow, Essex. Alexandri a , C aptain George W. Jones, of the 1 ; Henry Wi lliam. On the Bth inst., Eli za, the wife of Abraham Lancaster, of Stratford, Essex, i n h er 40th year. ii‘ra t tiol t _ a II i p . On the 4th inst., aged 21, of pulmonary consumption, Mr. John James Savage, late of Trinity -college, Cambridge, eldest ton of Mr. Savage, of Essex -street, Strand,arehiteet. Oa the 7th inst., at Tunbridge Wells, Daniel Webb, Esq., aged 63 years. On the 6th inst. in Piccadilly, after a long illness, the Lady Cope. On the 9th init. in Chadwell-street, George Wingfield . i Sparrow, Esq. _ . , . At Kilkenny, Ensign J. W. F. Prettejohn, eldest son of John Prettejohn, Esq. of flare Hatch, Berks. On the sth inst., at Bayswater, in his l9th year, Henry: youngest son of Mrs. Gray, of Great Portland-street. On the sth inst., at Clapham, Robert Simpson, Esq. On the 6th inst., Jonas Brown, Esq., Assembly-ro*, Mile-end, aged 62. • PRINTED and P.JILLISHEID by 111. YOUNG., at the $u OFFICE, No. 112, Sttanti. ,'i A it} 'a ploying : J Affidavit of the" th 30th, Se/ may deli Ulla of transmit to the Ti Navy To the LA w on us by Trust of the o Nobt M ( *Vital of th e nobl e etablin infi n i t] an ai g Pari and ku Capita al til t re , nti t h el ca se; dr eal i i ext et , 4 horAe, fil a Ap p i, 014 4 ~....4. ~'~l ;~ t