The Sun. — London, England, 1863-12-07 00:00:00

THE BOMBAY MAIL• By the arrival of the Bombay mail we have re ceived files of papers from Bombay to Nov. 14. W e take the following summary of news from the fowl bay Gazette of Nov. 14 : ‘` His Excellency the Viceroy and Governor- Gen eral Lord Elgin, has had a dangerous attack of Mill ass, caused it is said by the fatiguing character of the route he has taken in his journey towards the Nor th-West Frontier. A telegram from Lahore, dated the 10th inst., reports the state of his lord ship's health to be alarming, and holds out but slight hope of his recovery. ,‘ His Excellency the Commander-in -Chief, Sir Hugh Rose, was at Hotta on the 26th, when he visited the tea plantations there, en route for Lan. gra, and was expected to reach Lahore a few days ago. " His Excellency Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Bombay, is at present staying at Matheran. " His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, Sir W. Mansfifild is at Poorundhnr. " Mr• David Sassoon, the well-known Jew mer chant in Bombay, has offered to Government the sum of 60,0Q0r. (X 6,000), on condition of Govern ment giving an equal sum and a site on the Espla nade for the erection of a suitable building for the MerAianics' Institution and for public meetings. '" The Bishop of Calcutta, as Metropolitan in in India, will hold his primary visitation in the Ciithedral Church at Bombay on Tuesday, the Bth of December next. " The Chief Commissioner of Oudh, accompanied by his secretary, has left for Roy Bareilly, for the purpose of holding a conference with the principal settlement officers of the Oudh Commission. Thence, we believe it is the intention of the Chief Commissioner to make a tour through the northern division of the province. " Sir Robert Montgomery, Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, returned to the capital of the pro vince on the VA ult. _ _ " A commiF,sion for the investigation cf• claims preferred against the late Government of Oudh will sit in Calcutta as soon as possible after Dec. 1. "It is reported that Oticlh will be ann exe d to the North-Weatern Provinces, in place of Ban gor Ter ritories separated last year. The expedition against the Sittanee fanatics, under General Chamberlain, forced the pass; and on the 27th ult, the picket c ommanded by Colonel Vaughan was attacked by the Benair people ; in the action the hill men suffered eery severely, their killed being estimated at 170 and many wounded. Our loss was 22 killed and 56 wounded ; two officers, lieutenants Richmond and Clifford, were killed, and two others Wounded. Ma subseque nt encoun ter Colonel Harding and two officers were killed. The health of thetown o f Bombay has shown a decided improvement during the fortnight. THE VOLUNTEERS. The distribution of prizes which have been com peted for during the year by the members of the 37 th. Middlesex (Bloomsbury) Volunteers took place na Saturday evening at the Music-hall, Store street. Calonel M'Murdo, the Inspector-General of Volunteers, who presided, opened the proceedings by a brief address. After expressing the pleasure which he felt in attending upon such omissions as the present, the gallant colonel observed that the past year had been marked by several events of much importance to the Volunteer cause. A Royal Commission had been appointed to inquire into the conditism of the Volunteer force, Parliament had de liberated upon the report of that Commission, and had come to the determination of voting a certain sum of money in aid of the Volunteer force. Those Were in error who supposed that the acceptance of a Parliamentary grant would deprive the force of its volunteer character, for the unpaid services and time of officers and men would still be given for the public benefit. It was not to be expected that the large expenses for drill grounds, ranges, and other necessary arrangements, could continue to be borne exclusively by the Volunteers and their private friends. The Government, acting upon the report of the Commission, obtained power to make cer tain grants in aid, and the creatian of that power was followed by the passing of a new Act of Par liament, under which all Volunteers werenow serv ing. There were also new Orders in Council de fining the degree of efficiency to be required to entitle the various corps to receive the public grants, and then, came certain regulations by means of which the Government had reason to expect that the public money would be well and profitably expended. (newt, hear.) Speaking of the :force itself, he could say that although . he , had not yet recaia.ed the rinnual returns he believed it was znsiataining i is strength, and it certainly was pro gressing in efficiency. (Cheers.) During the year he had, as Inspector-General, attended county musters of the Volunteers of Essex, Suf folk, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Lancashire, Durham, Woicestershire, and many other counties at which the - various corps in each respective county had been brigad,d and he was gratified to find that in bat tal ion, in brigade, and in divisions of brigade, the V oluntee rs wor k e d t oge th er e ffi c i ent l y as arme d an d u t iatiplined men should d o . (Ch eers .) With res p ec t a t he 37th Middlesex, ho h a d h a d t h e p l easure o f nrr'ting from the comman di ng of fi cer that their ,tubers were increasing, and he could himself toca4 of th e i r state of e ffi ciency as highly satisfac y. (R ea .hea r .) Upon the subject of shooting, for which th e given, he pri zes about to b e distributed had been for skill in the u s e to sa y a few words. Prizes e of weapons had been given in times before the Christian era. The Greeks had their Olyr alm • e games, iu which the vic tors were crowned w i th a laurel wreath ; but the suc cessful marksm en _ s the present day would, aloabtless, prefer a silve r cu p to the wreath of laurel. (Laughter.) Volunteers should remember that the weapons with "...a: beautiful be used if"t"h V I they were armed were intended to occasion should ever ennlyhrrading our island arise against an when men practised s hoo ting target they should bear in mind that t h eymlght be called upon to in th e_ shap e shoot at living targets, He had se meti of men equally well armed as themselves go . ne Oa hooting to see the firing of the crack shot of a _ na n es fly happened that the f corps ; but it frequently present ca used such of the Inspector-General being used rach nervousness that no hits at a ll were ma d e. (Laugh ter.) Bat Volunteers should recollect in their them to ha ve to practice that it might happen to shoot not only in th e p rese nce of the Inspector- General, but of an armed enemy, and if they were nervous at a friendly visit, it would not do to be Hear, so with well-armed foes a i m i ng at them. ( Hear, hear.) As an old soldi er , h e wou ld advise them when practising to consider that the target wa s an enemy armed like themselves and advancing upon them ; and if ever it sh ou ld h a pp e n that they were actually in the presence of armed and advancing enemies he would recommend Volun teers to regard them as so many targets at which to take good aim. (Cheers, and laughter.) In the present day the use of marksmen was to keep down the fire of long-range cannon and to resist cavalry. They were aware that to meet a charge of cavalry infantry was usually formed in square, but by that f ormation a very large proportion of the fire of a regiment was lost. Troops formed in line to resist cavalry attacks could deal far more destruction to the enemy; but such a formation required very steady soldiers. At Bstaktava the late Lord Clyde, with a Highland regim ent in line, met and repelled the Russian cavalry ; but that gallant general knew that he could rely upon h is men. Volunteers must bear in mind that hood s hoot ing was not the only t hi n g requir ed from a good soldier. Discipline and d r ill were very important to give the commander cenfidence to use his men to the utmost advantage. (Hoar, hear.) The gallant colonel then proceeded to distribute the prizes, which were of a most varied • including, besides hard • description, cash, a rifle, a tankards, engraving s , tea Bible, cups, services, cruet h r articles. The utmost stands, and ot her e good feeling amo ng the corps, th e nen _ seemed to preva il winner s cheering the recipie nts of the prizes as h eart i ly as hough the awards ha d been in their own fav our. t Lieut.-Col. Conic then pr oposed votes of thank s to thanks to the donors of prizes, a nd to Col. M'Mu r d o fur presiding, which were a do t i !cd by acclamation, eye cup presented to The shooting for the challen g e ~ .........d. the Cambridge University Volunteers by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, honorary colonel of the corps, took place on Friday. A pre,iminary match to select the six best shots in tilt. battalion was held on Wednesday and Thursday, in which the following members made the u „hest scores, viz. :—Lieut.-Col. Baker, Capt. E. Ross, Corporal Doe, Private Powlett, Private Thornton, Private Stowe. The shooting on this occasion was not very good, owing to the unfavourable state of the wea ther, which was boisterous and wet, but in the final match it was remarkably good. The match took place on the rifle ground of the corps, which is, perhaps, one of the finest in England, having a range of upwards of 1,000 yards. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE, HOME CIRCIIIT.—HEREFORD, Dec. 5. CROWN COURT. (Before Mr. Justice Williams.) The learned Judge this morning passed sentence in the cases which had stood over for consideration from yester day. The two men named Hankie and Garrett, who were yes terday convicted of night poaching on land belonging to Mr. Pullen, M.P. far the county, were each sentenced to one year's imprisonment with hard labour. convicted on their ThethreemennameClwn iPeeiCooper, and T uner, who were confession of setting fire mali ciously to farm buildings, including dwelling houses, and against whom previous convictions were proved, were san- Penal servitud e . ten T c h ed ree res m p e e n c , ti o v n e e ly a to tai l l 2 or ye o a f r ß e arton, Yorkshire, one a tailor of Paddington, and one a labour of Suffolk, convicted of setting fire to two stacks of clover hay at Ware, were sen tenced to 10 years' penal servitude. Two young men, one named Wright, described as a la bourer of Nottingham, but who appeared to belong to a much better position in life, and looked rather like a clerk or shopman, and the other named Rhodes, a labourer of Rickmansworth, who had been convicted of setting fire to stacks or crops of wheat in this county, were each sentenced to Rix years' penal servitude. The learned Judge was occupied the greater part of the morning in trying a most curious case of fowl stealing, in which not less than six men were charged with stealing 30 fowls and a pair of gloves at 011iey. Mr. G. Taylor conducted the case for the prosecution. 1 The prisoners were not defended by counsel, but defended themselves with cons id era bl e acuteness , an d as th ere were six of them, and each of them cross-eaßmuled every witness the trial was necessarily protracted. The prisoners being so numerous, and not having be6n seiz id in the act or on the spot, and the fowls taken being so common, the case in volved some difficulty in proof, and was very complicated. In substance the ease was this:—The fowls were all stolen from a farm at Offiey, a place about six miles from Luton, on Friday night, the 14th Nov. last. On the same night the prisoners, all of whom lived at Luton, were seen four miles away from that place in the direction of Offiey. On Saturday they were found selling a large quantity of fowls, six of which were identified, and several were produced in court. On Sunday some of them were at Welwyn, a con siderable distance from Luton, and when two of them were apprehended the rest fled and were taken 10 miles off. In the course of the case the learned Judge took occasion to observe on the improper and inconvenient manner in which the depositions of the witnesses before the magis trates were written. Not only were they written in an ex tremely illegible hand, but on both sides of the paper, and the result was that they were very difficult to read. In con sequence of this, as it was very essential in a criminal trial that the judge should follow the evidence of the witnesses on the depositions, the time occupied in the trial was a good deal prolonged, and the labour of trying the cases very much increased. He hoped that the magistrates' clerks would really take a little more care in preparing the deposi tions, and if they could not themselves write them legibly, at least get them so written by others. The complaint thus made by the learned judge is one which is constantly made by the judges at the assizes all over the country, and has been made from time to time for years past. - It may appear a trivial matter, but those who have been at all in the habit of observing the ad ministration of criminal justice are aware that, practically, it id one of great importance. The depositions of the wit nesses as taken before the magistrates on the committal of the prisoners for trial are returned to the assizes for the express purpose of being read by the judge and referred to at the trial, in order, on the one hand, to guide the judge in charging the grand jury, and, on the other hand, to be compared with the oral evidence of the witnesses, in order to detect any discrepancies, contradictions, or inconsistencies. Any one who has ever had to read much of other persons' handwriting is aware that it is even at the best a tiresome operation--and when the handwriting is not only strange, but bad S and indistinct, especially if the lines are close together and confik ed or straggling the difficulty of course is much enhanced. But if to all this be added the difficulty arising from the writing being on both sides, the writing on one side being partly seen through tending to darken and obscure the writing on the other, the task of reading be comes more arduous, and extremely trying to the temper. And this trying task is imposed upon judges in criminal trials—often in cases of life and death, when the very essence of the utility of the depositions is that they should be capable of being referred to and read in an instant, in order to observe how far the oral evidence either tallies or varies. The difficulty is still greater in a case like the present, when there aro several prisoners, and it is necessary to note very carefully how the evidence affects each one in particular. Our reporter has often had occa sion to refer to the depositions, and has found them almost always extremely difficult to read with facility, so as to follow the evidence with the mind. This is the less excusable because the self-ssme depositions when copied into briefs by attorneys' clerks are found written in a large legible hand (always on one side only of the paper) ; and it is hard to see why magistrates' clerks should write so badly while attorneys' clerks write so well. This is the more important because in most criminal cases the evidence—as in this case—is circumstantial, and depends on minute facts and details, the due appreciation of which is inter fered with by the constant difficulty of reading. After a laborious trial and a careful summing up the jury found all the prisoners guilty of the stealing except one, whom they found guilty of receiving. One of them was proved to have been convicted before of felony in October last year, another was proved to have been convicted of felony in December last year, and another was proved to have been convicted of felony in 1861. The learned Judge in passing sentence said it wa s an ag gravated case, and sentenced the worst prisoner to 3 years' penal servitude; the others to one and a half year's and one year's imprisonment with hard labour, and the receiver to 6 mouths' imprisonment with hard labour. The learned Judge then took the case of the burglary at the house of the Hon. and:Rev. Chetwynd Talbot, rector of Hatfield, in which the butler was charged as the robber. The property stolen was plate to the value of about £650. The case was rather remarkable as a curious instance of circumstantial evidence. The prisoner, whose name is Soggee, and who appeared above 40 years of age, was placed at the bar indicted for burglary. The crime of burglary, it should be mentioned, may be committed by breaking out of a house as well as by breaking into it, the purpose being robbery ; and the indictment charged that the prisoner, having committed the robbery, " burglariously broke out" of the house. He pleaded not guilty. Mr. Clark and Mr. Bushby were for the prosecution; Mr. Woollett and Mr. Ludlow for the defence. The Hon. and Rev. Chetwynd Talbot is rector of Hatfield, and the prisoner was his butler,and had charge of the plate, and slept, either in the pantry, where it was kept, or a room which adjoined, called the housekeeper's room. For some months past he had slept in the latter room, and he did so oa the night of the robbery, and from the head of the pri soner's bed to the pantry-door was only two or three feet. Some week or so before the robbery the prisoner asked for !_ild obt a i ne d f rom M rs. T a lb ot some green baize to make ° Ns 4 to keep the plate in, and one of these, it will be seen, w. oli afterwards found, not with plate, but with burglarious and som e 0 4 / 4 " im P le toeut in • at dinner it. On 9th Nov. last, Mr. Talbot was at home, and used the breadbasket, which was of silver, go i ng to bcd tn v o plate which was afterwards stolen. Before with a pie ce o r night he and his wife lighted their candles hall, and whi t : l 7'2r, the remains of whi c h th ey l e ft i n th e c hain of dre w:est :Zed out to be one of th e li n k s i n th e 11 1 0 evidence, for it was found next maid, Harrieteovnae' morning outsid e th lady's About 20 minutes past 9 the shalt-past over the kitchen, heard heard eain and wished hi: t :a , saw the prisoner in the pantry cook, bad been out th at b r d ,,night. Elias Milward, the _nalt-past 10 the household Brown, the gardener. At ° 0 " 11 1 and . came home at 10, with about that time Harriet, havemaid , retired w h whose e t b o e rz ot en, the sound being t a h p e pe la a d r y t- ' o s the cook, At a little past 11 o'clock, Eliza, heard % n o i s B. f a noise as of a chair being draw n m eet brick side as of some one walking in the Sat t d h cl, e ls otuhte rota to of footsteps very near her bedroom ga w l odcw the house ; and she heard a rumblin g noise towards _ack of an d gave her the irnpressio about 20 minutes, pantry, as if some one were up. This noise, S h e 11, tha s t st_ d e butler was up and in the pantry, but she gave no (e_rtbru. About 7 o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 44 10, the gardener, Brown (who lived over the stable), went to th e pantry window to ask the butler if he was going to ligh t a fire in the sitting-room, and found the window open and no one in the pantry. He looked in, and the bread basket was not there, and he must have seen it if it had been there. He went round the front of the house and in front of the conservatory, and observed footmarks. Turning back he met the prisoner coining round suddenly from the direc tion of the pantry, apparently in a very excited state, holding up his hands and saying it G oo d God 1 the house is robbed I The plate is gone 1" The gardener pointing out to the prisoners some of the footmarks, be put his feet on some of them until told-by the gardener not to do so, as it would erase them. Going round to the pantry, the prisoner said " they had left the plate-basket behind," and which was afterwards found by him, as he said, under the Pantryvvindow, though, as a l rea d y sta t e d , t h e gar d ener was not th ere . Th o police were sent for, and the footmark s from the conservator y down to the lawn within 12 yards of the pantry - window corresponded according to the evidence, with the shoes of the prisoner. There were no marks of violence indicating in any way or at any part of n a d nd to a ha s v o e rew be d e r n iv f o r r es w h a ly s forced found the house an entrance from the outside, but the " h asp " of aa r tdh e o f ew t hpwaenatsrpantry. The prisoner th en went and screwdriver,u robbery, admitti ng t h at he had left u i t t n h o p l e da as dh risaf pantry w w me i ar t h s w in t the pantry shutters unfastened, and that he had found the plate-basket outside the pantry. According to the evidence of the gardener this could not have been the case, and the basket when produced by the prisoner was found quite dry. One or two articles suggested to be the prisoner's were found outside the house; and sometime afterwards one of the green baize plate bags was found with burglars' imple ments inside. No part of the plate, however, had been re covered, and the value was estimated at about £5O. The case appeared to excite some interest. The court was crowded, and the bench was full of country gentlemen. Mr. Clark, in opening the case for the prosecution, which he did with mach ability, said the case was one of great importance, not only from the magnitude of the rob bery, but from its circumstances, and especially from the positi3n of confidence in which the prisoner had been placed. He did not believe it would be disputed that there had been a robbery. Mr. Woollett, fcr the prisoner, said he should not dis pute it. The learned Judge remarked that in a criminal case, and one so serious, he could not take any admissions. Mr, Clark said it was manifest, and it could not be dis puted, that there had been a robbery, and he believed the evidence, though entirely circumstantial, would, by a chain of numerous and curious links, bring home the guilt clearly to the prisoner. It was apparent that the robbery had not been committed from without, and must have been com mitted from within. The prisoner slept in the next room to the pantry, and was the only person who slept down stairs. Moreover, he had isolated himself from the rest of the house by keeping a door of internal communication with the pantry. The noise heard by the servants upstairs he could hardly have failed to Lear downstairs; and there could be little doubt that it must have been at that time the robbery, 'by whomsoever it was committed, was in course of com mittal. It would be for the jury to consider whether the prisoner could possibly have been ignorant of it. Of course, the prisoner being known to be there, no alarm was felt about the noise, and that was the very circumstance which gave such cogency to the case. The statement as to the finding of the plate-basket would be proved to be false, and the only conceivable reason for the falsehood was guilt, and the only reason for the retention and production of the plate-basket by the prisoner was that it was part of the con trivance, in order to divert suspicion from himself. The case for the prosecution was that the plate-basket was not found, as the prisoner pretended, outside the house, but that it had never been there at all. For if it had, as the prisoner suggested, been left behind by the robbers, it would have been outside all night, and, if so, it must have been covered by the hoar frost, and when brought in would have been wet, whereas it was quite dry. Another important part of the case was that which related to the footmarks, which were all the more observable because of the hoar frost upon the ground. And the footmarks to and from the pantry were alike, and were the prisoner's. The suggestion, therefore, in the case for the prosecution was that the prisoner had got out of the house with the plate and then, of course, returned. He was seen in bed by one of the servants only a few momenta before; just after the gardener came to the pantry, he was nset coming from the pantry declaring that " the plate was gone." The gardener had already observed the footmarks before the prisoner was out, and when the prisoner's attention was called to them he put his foot on them and was treading them out. No one could doubt that if the prisoner was not the actual robber he must have "put up" the robbery, to use the expression which the police applied to such cases—that is to say, that others had been put up to it by some one inside the house, and who could it have been but the prisoner? The robbery had been planned, and skilfully planned, and who could have planned and carried it out at that early time of night but the prisoner ? He must have been awake between half past 10 and 11 o'clock at night, for he had not long retired to rest, and no one but he would have ventured so early to perpetrate such a robbery. Whether he was the actual rob ber or not was not material, for if he were privy to it, and planned it, and took part in it, he would be guilty. Had any one heard the noise and came down to inquire, he would have replied from behind his locked door that he was up, and that it was all right, and thus further inquiry would be stopped. That was the very reason why he had managed it at so early an hour, which no one else would have done. The whole affair was skilfully planned, and could not have been carried out without his aid. No doubt there were others engaged in it. Seven hundred pounds worth of plate could not be carried off without assistance, And very likely the burglary would be performed by accomplished burglars. The bag which had been found contained implements of burglary. No doubt burglars would never go on any such work without their implements, although it had so happened on this occasion that by the aid of the prisoner they were enabled to dispense with them, Having perpetrated the robbery with his aid they would naturally throw the useless tools aside ; and had they used them traces of violence would have been found on the outside. There were no circum stances to cast suspicion on any one else in the house, and no one else could have ventured to attempt it at such a time, or could possibly have succeeded in it without the aid of the prisoner. Mr, Woollett addressed the jury, and urged upon them that the case was one of suspicion only, even if all the facts relied upon were proved, but that when carefully examined they one after another melted like shadows away. The learned Judge carefully summed up, and the jury, after some deliberation found a verdict of not guilty. OXFORD CIRCUIT —WoncEsTER, Dec. 4. CROWN COURT. (Before Mr. Justice Crompton.) John Green was indicted for the manslaughter of William Boughton. Mr. Best was for the prosecution, and Mr. Richards for the prisoner. The prisoner was a clerk in the office of Messrs. Clifton and Hooper, proctors, of Worcester, and had been a clerk in the District Registry of the Ceurt of Probate, and Wm. Boughton, the deceased, was a horsedealer, of Glocester. On the night of the 2d September last the prisoner and the deceased and some others formed a drinking party at the Albion Hotel, in Worcester, andabout midnight some earlier bickering led to a quarrel between the prisoner and deceased, which resulted in a scuffle. The subject of the quarrel was as to whose turn it was to pay for the last beer had. The landlady interfered, but on her leaving the room the quarrel was renewed, and the deceased, who was a fine, powerful, tall man, began to follow up the prisoner, who is slight and short of stature, as he retreated into the passage, They got into the passage together, but in a minute or so the deceased returned into the room where the party had previously been, and it was discovered that he had been stabbed in the abdomen. The prisoner had earlier in the evening been comparing a spring clasp-knife of his with that of a man named Corbett, and afterwards stated to the superintendent of the police that he had had the knife open up his sleeve, and that he supposed he had stabbed the deceased in the scuffle. A doctor was sent for, as soon as the wound was discovered, and the deceased was put to bed, but he never rallied, and died on the 6th of Sep tember. The prisoner got a good character for peaceable ness from one of his employers; and, after the summing up of the learned judge, the jury found him guilty. His Lordship sentenced him to 15 years' penal servitude. NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—DunizAm, Dec. 4, (Before Mr. Justice Wightman.) Daniel Downey and Sarah Downey, brother and sister, aged respectively 29 and 27, were indicted for the man slaughter of William Thomas, at Felling, on the night of the 30th of August last. Mr. Campbell Foster and Mr. Laycock appeared for the prosecution; and Mr. Blackwell defended the prisoners. It appeared from the opening statement of the counsel for the prosecution, and from the evidence, that a large num• ber of Irish resided at Felling, and between those of them who were Protestants and those of them who were Catholies a bad feeling existed. On the night of the 30th of August the deceased man Wm. Thomas and a friend of his named Fox were talking on some religious question in a loud tone in the streets of Felling, and Fox said " Well, I'm as good a Protestant as anybody. This observation seemed to have attracted notice. They went to the house of a man named M'Voy, and had not been long there before several persons came and knocked at the window shutters ; on Fox going out soon after stones were thrown at him, a rush of a num ber of men was made upon him, and he was knocked down, his head being cut and himself rendered insensible. Among the crowd were the two prisoners, the female prisoner having a poker or coal rake in her hand. The deceased man Thomas then came out of M'Voy's, and shouted to them to "stop that work," and on going up to where Fox was lying bleeding on the ground, said " You unmanly scoundrels, would you murder the man ?" A man named Hagan cried out "By Jesus, we will murder you," and immediately a man named Kelly threw a half brick at him, which appeared to have struck him on the head and knocked him down. Began, Kelly, and the two prisoners and others then all rushed at the deceased while he was down and commenced kicking him. Mrs. M'Voy having raised a cry of " Police 1" " Murder 1" assistance came, and the two men Fox and Thomas were removed, Thomas to his lodgings. He became sick soon after he was carried home and never spoke after, and died at two o'clock the following day. A post mortem examination of his head Showede that there was a severe bruise on the left side of his h wth a i : uh : at O ttlf a bb e r pe n i ng the skull under this bruise a clot of blood Was un_lu e cl, about three ounces in weight, which, pressing r ic a k in tte , hi h ro ad n cau b s y ed K h e i l s ly d . eat E h o . p ro of how he Caine by this blow, but probably it was from tended that if had escap e d 'Thereell K elly was and n oHdai direct all the into custody. But it was con. which their acts were evidence earl had common. l i p t ur e persons who were kicking Thomas and design of ill using him, of WhTeviiid reallyenee it was immaterial whose 'deceased, for all were alike lia hand gave the blow caused the death of the For the defence it was contend. e h d ad that the evidence was attr4lutable to the not conclusive that the prisoners done anything to the decqised, and that his death was el blow from the half brick flung at him by Kelly. His LoyAship, having carefully summed np the evidence, left it to the jnry whether, in their judgment, the death of VIM SUN, LONDON; MONDAV EVENING, DECEMBER 1863. the deceased was not caused by the half brick thrown by Kelly ; and, secondly, if so, did they think that the two pri soners had a common design with Kay to kill the de ceased, seeing that they had done nothing till after the halt brick was thrown, which probably really caused his death, The jury retired, and, after a short absence, found the prisoners not guilty. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. SATURDAY REVlEW.—England is so invariably worsted, whenever she attempts a diplomatic con test, that few of us will be inclined to regret that the Government have declined to fight with wea pons which, as a nation, we little understand. If, indeed, upon our diplomatic list it had been possible to find a representative capable of finessing against the trained intriguers of Russia or France, the en terprise might not have been so hazardous. But with no one to send except the amiable statesman who was talked ever into signing away an impor tant maritime right at the Conferences of Paris, or the less amiable Foreign Secretary who contrived to juggle so awkwardly at the Confereoces of Vienna that he drew down upon himself a direct disavowal from the Austrian Minister, and was compelled to resign in disgrace, our position at a tournament of the sharpest wits in Europe would have been very forlorn indeed. If our plenipotentiary had escaped from the arena with any portion of our maritime rights or any fragment of our foreign dependencies unconceded, the nation would have had greatecause to congratulate itself on the result. Some such possession as that of Malta, transferred possibly to Italy as compensation for the cession of Sardinia to France, would have been the very smallest penalty that our Government would have paid for venturing within the magic circle of the arch conjuror of Paris. But though England individually has nothing to lose by the failure of the Emperor's scheme, if it should fail, the world will have to la men t the depri vation of an edifying spectacle. It wou ld b e plea sent to witness the gambols of the happy family of European nations, once fairly gathered within four walls. There have been men, of great social emi nence, who have made their reputation in that line by the practice of gathering all the most antago nistic elements of which a dinner party could be possibly composep. No small zest would be lent to such entertainments by the distrustful courtesy and transparent irritation of the Tractarian and Re cordite, the Orthodox and Heretic, the Negro and the American, who were suddenly brought i nto un wonted and unexpected neighbourhood. Th e C on e gress, if it takes place, will present so met hi ng o f the same sort of scene. The only difference will be that the guests will come to the reunion each well prepared with a hoard of acccumulated grudges against his neighbours. It will be a kind of Loan of-Grievance Exhibition, to which every contribu ting Power will bring all the specimens, ancient and modern, bran-new or half worn-oat, that can be hunted out of the archives of its Chancellerie. Every Plenipotentiary will come fully armed with all the points which will be most unpleasant to his neigh bour, but also, in his secret heart, knowidg that his neighbour is fully prepared to expatiate upon some matter that is at least equally unpleasant to himself. Each will app ear at t h e C ong ress with th e f ullest intention of treadi ng upon his neighbour's toes, and e th or e ns. ftilleisltecohnasbciitos of nsnesdsiptlhoamtacy are prove r bi a ll y own are full o f powerful in overcoming human infirmities of tem per; but the office of President over such an assem blage of diplomatists, gathered together for no other purpose than to bait each other, will he anything but en enviable situation. It is a matter of carious specu lation what the order of proceedings at this unprecedented gathering will be. The object of the meeting is to reconstruct the map of Europe according to the exigencies of the epoch, and re-write the treaties of 1815 accord ingly. Perhaps the most effective way of commenc ing business would be for every Plenipotentiary to put in a map of Europe constructed according to his own ideas of justice and expediency; and then, having compared the various documents, to ascer tain if there was any one singe point upon which all, or even a majority of the Congress, were agreed. There would be some cases, of course, of limited agreement between two or three separate Powers. Russia and Italy would be well content that France should have the frontier of the Rhine. Germany would be delighted that France should acquire Genoa and Sardinia. Sweden might suggest Syria as a vary eligible field for French aggrandizement, and Belgium would point out that the true field for French ambition lay upon the other side of the Pyrenees. Russia, as the most powerful, would probably combine the greatest number of enemies ; but, even in her case, there would be a strong dif ference of opinion amongst her neighbours as to the provinces she ought first to he compelled to dis gorge. Each would be moved by an irrepressible impulse of compassion to vindicate the wrongs of some victim of Russian oppression. Sweden would feel that there were no wrongs like toe wrongs of Finland ; Austria would mourn over the guilty par tition of Poland ; Turkey would compose diploma tic eclogues upon the. simple virt ues o f t h e i n h a bi- ' tants of Crim-Tartary. But if any Dane talked of Nor we gianindependence,theSwedishplenipotentiary would shrug his shoulders with contempt ; Austria would fire up at the bare mention of Venetia; and the Turk would begin to say his prayers if any In fidel dog were to allude to the present sufferings or the ola independence of Tnessely and Epirus. France would join vehemently with the Spaniards in the suggestion that Gibraltar ought to return to Spain ; and she would quite understand that a legitimate sentiment of nationality prompted the Italians to join themselves to the Maltese. For, she would justly observe, the inhabitants of Gibraltar were once Spaniards, and the inhabitants of Malta are in the main Italians. But if any im pertinent ally were to suggest that Strasburg was once, and is still, German, that Dunkirk is unmis takeably Fleming, and that Algeria is obstinately Arab, sne would only remark that he did not com prehend the demands of his epoch. Perhaps the most amusing arrangement would be to require each Power to vote for some principle upon which the map of Europe should be reconstructed. For we live in an age of principle©; and everybody who desires to help himself at his neighbour's expense has always some eternal truth or inalienable right to cite in his own justification. It would be in structive to observe how many Powers could vote for any one principle consistently in respect of all their claims. Nationality, as the most modern fancy of the kind, would first be put to the vote. Russia would vote aye in respect to the Sclaves of Servia and Bosnia; no, in respect of Poland. Sweden would vote aye for Finland; no, as regards Norway. Denmark would vote aye for Norway; no as respects Schleswig-Helstein ; Germany would vote aye for Schlee-wig-Hol stein and Alsace:; no, for Posen, Hungary, and Venetia. France would vote aye as respects Geneva; no, as regards Alsace and Algeria. And so it would go on through the States of Europe. We will not be unpatriotic enough to inquire how England might vote, if he r pl en i po t ent i ar y were present at: such a division. A s i m il ar doubleness of sentiment would be eli c it e d if the older, and almost antiquated, doctrineof a respect for treaties were brought up for jndgment. With Cracow in her tined, Austria would vote that treaties were not worth much ; but the mention of the word " Venetia" would revive her reverence for them in all its force. Spain might be inclined to pooh-pooh them when Oliveuca or the Slave-trade were under discussion; but the introduction of the topic of Mexico would lead her back to more orthodox views. Germany would idolise the sanctity of treaties on her Polish frontier. Italy would manifest that semi-developed reverence for them whi c h wou l d i nd i cate th a t she rememb ere d her origin, which would hardly consist with them, and her fut ure, w hi c h wou ld scarcely be secure without them. France would be almost the only power that could afford to set treaties at defiance ; for they have done their worst upon her, and she has flourished in spite of them. Whether Napo leon 111, has sufficient sense of fun to have con ceived this p ro j ect mere l y f o r the sake of th e amuse ment it would cause , i s a question which future historians must decide. Undoubtedly a great por tion of the joke would be at the expense of the country over which he rules. But if he could get over his aversion to that result, there is no doubt that considerable diversion might be taken out of the awkward contortions of the various Euro pean Governments as their various weak points were touched on. Their policy upon any ethical ground is so completely purposeless and inconsis tent, the principles which they sometimes profess to revere are so absolutely hollow, that any meeting at which they were compelled to justify their re spective policies by an appeal to any abstract doc trine could not fail to be rich in matter for amuse ment. Such disclosures, however, are not for the benefit of mankind. It is not good men should see through the fictions by which they are ha bitually led. It is illegal to go physically naked; bat the moral nudity which throws off those de corous clothes of p r i nc iple and v i r t u e underwhich politicians and States habitually conceal the natural shape and hue of th e i r policy, i s more injurious_still to the mental well-b e i ng of th e community. It is good that mankind should believe in the principles which are preached to them by those whom they d n respect ; and therefore any trial which should dis play too palpably the hollowness impractica bilitya of such doctrines as that of nationality i s much to be deprecated. THE SPECTATOR.—In selecting Sir John Law rence as Lord Elgin's successor the Government has broken, and wisely broken, the soundest rule of Indian administration. It is from no caprice and no jealousy of the Company's eervants, that the highest Indian offices, political, military, legal, and eocletnastical,lhave for fifty years been reserved to men freshly imported from England. The Duke of Wellington may have been moved by the second feeling when, after the half-battu mutiny, he ad vised that no Company's servant should ever be Commander-in-Chief ; but her Majesty's Govern ment were not. They were perfectly willing when they found men like Lord Metcalfe, to entrust to them the most valuable British dependencies; but they abstained from giving them what might seem the natural prize of their lives. No Indian was appointed Governor-General, or Commander.in• Chief, or Metropolitan, or, with an exception more apparent than real, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Indian officer, however -able or dike , tinguisbed, or well informed, laboured, it was justly felt, under two fatal disqualifications. He had been bred up among the class whom he was called to govern, probably married among them, certainly formed friendships and intimacies which, in that great family party the Indian administration, were fatal to strict control._ If he were a nepo tist the machine would probably come to a stand : if he were not a nepotist, everybody would believe that he was. Sir Chorles Metcalfe was pure in patronage, but men who heard aide-de-camps call the ad interim Governor-General "Charley" across the table, were not predisposed to believe so. So urgent was the necessity of avoiding this danger that a rule was introduced, and is still observed, prohibiting the employment of kinsmen in office in the same country ; no native, it was known, would appeal, say from the magistrate to his father-in-law the judge, nor would any native Prince resist a Resident whose kinsman sat on the throne. More over, and the second difficulty was far more impor tant than the first, no Indian coull ever be made to feel the true relation of India towards the British Empire. Imported young, and with their minds still immature, the Indian civilians regarded India almost as their own land. That terrible vastness of scale which is the special feature of everything on the Indian continent, a vastness no man accustomed to Europe can ever fully realise, possessed their imaginations, till England seemed to them a neces sary but annoying appendage to - their magnificent empire. To this day, greatly as this tone has altered, hundreds of Anglo-Indians cannot conceal their contempt for the "parochial interests of Great Britain" as compared with the "Imperial interests of a fifth of the human race." The notion that the smallest English innovation affects the character of a race whose daily action will influence the whole future of man never enters their heads, and they persistently postpone Imperial interests to those of the Presidency in which they live. They have many of them a positive pleasure in tariffs which, as they think, protect native muslins against the English invaders, and resent expenditure for the Empire, as if England did not relieve India of the cost of a foreign policy and maritime de fence. The feeling is immaterial, or even healthy, in subordinates, but England must have some link between the Empire as a whole and her vast dependency, and that link has been sought in Governors-General not bred up in India. The habit of English statesmanship, moreover, the con stant collision amidst which English rulers work, lit it does not increase mental power, does develop intellectual moderation, and intellectual moderation is the one quality Indian statesmen lack. They are always for beginning afresh, in preference to im proving the old machine, are capable, for example, of octroying a new code of procedure, because the old one gives to creditors a little too much power. In practice the remedy for these detects has worked exceedingly well. The principles of government are everywhere much the same, and a succession of " ignorant" servants of the Queen have since the days of Hastings built up, consolidated, and re fdrmed the Empire, for vet ich the Company had the credit. It was Lord Wellesley, Sir H. Hardinge, the Marquis of Hastings, and Lord Dalhousie, who conquered the martial races of India, not the Com pany; the interlopers who built the trade, not the old officials; Lord Dalhousie who founded the rail way scheme, not an Indian engineer; Sir Charles Wood not the Council, who carried out the recent reorganisation. The rule was and is a wise one, but the use of such rules is simply to secure the man best fitted to do the work required, and there can he little doubt that in the present conjuncture Str John Lawrence is that mar. We do not mean simply that he is qualified only by his services, though these have been beyond compare. Indian stories are always so crowded with details that their drift too often escapes the public ; but the popular theory about Sir John Lawrence is, as a whole, quite true. He did most unquestionably save us from the necessity of having to conquer India. From the moment the Sepoys seized Demi, to the moment when its fall made civil government once more pos sible, India was cloven in twain, with Lord Can ning ruling on one side and Sir John Lawrence upon the other s but with scarcely the faintest means of communication between the two. For three months, we believe, not an order from Calcutta ever reached the Punjaub. There, however, was Sir John Lawrence, with less than 10,000 effective Europeans, with 50,000 drilled veterans in revolt between him and his only source of reinforcements, with the Afghans threatening him on the West, all lost away to the South, the Khalsa or fighting Sikhs held in order only by their personal awe of him, one great Sikh Prince with an army and treasury at disposal, and hosts of small chiefs as hostile as mediatized chieftains always are. For five months Sir John Lawrence, without help save from within, main tained his position, inspired his own Cromwellian energy into his chief subordinates, induced demi hostile princes to guard his communications, hurled two armies successively upon Delhi, for whose fall all Sikhs were watching, bribed the Afghans, raised loans on his own bare word, enlisted the doubtful warrior clan, the Khalsa, whom we had but just settled down to the plough, actually ventured to sanction the Khalsa national rite, " the baptism of the sword," and when, in September, all seemed un availing, sent forward to Delhi his last hundred of reliable troops, and stood amidst thirty milli ons o f nearly certain foes, confident only that his duty had been done. There never was in the whole history of British India such an interval as the fortnight which preceded the fall of Delhi —Northern India was utterly exhausted, the Mahrattas were gather. ing round Lord Elphinstone, and the Sikhs even before Delhi were muttering that the hour for them had arrived. It Delhi did not tall, the Empire would, and it was then that the application was made to Sir John to choose between en assault which, had it failed, would have been followed by the massacre of every white face north of the Nerbudda, and a suspension of the siege. Lord Lyveden is right when he says that Lord Canning had no intention of retreating from before Delhi, wrong when he implies that retreat was out of the question. Lord Canning could send no orders, and did send none ; but every purely mili tary reason was against the assault. The responsi bility was thrown on Sir John, and to his prompt reply it is owing that we had not to reconquer India against, instead of with, the Sikhs. He authorised, without legal power, an act of military madness — the storm of a fortified city supposed to be defended by twice the besieging force and by a hostile popu lation tenfold the assailanta' number, with an army which ten minutes' check would instantly have dis solved. Three days later the tidings, Delhi has fallen," were flying along that rapid telegraph of successive human voices which so often puzzles ob servers in Asia, Bombay was subsiding into its usual discontented calm, the Sepoy army was flying to Rohilstund, the Sikhs as a nation were rallying to the British standard, and Lord Canning was able to write that the neck of the rebellion was broken before a man had landed to his aid. That Sir John had marvellous assistance—Edwardes, who held the. dangerous valley of Peshawur with a garrison his foes could have eaten ; Nicholson, in whom England lost that boundless source of power, an original General; Montgomery, who en abled his chief to double himself, is true; but then, who saw and selected these men ? Th e first attri bute of a born ruler is his ability to pick his own tools, and that ability is possessed by Sir John Law rence in the highest degree. There was one point, moreover, on which even these men could lend him no assistance, for it required a quality always in communicable. Major Edwardes could have crushed the Sepoys with just as heavy a hand, Nicholson might have planned an even more perfect campaign, Mr. Montgomery could infuse into all classes equal zeal and equal hardihood, but the Sikhs were the true masters of the situation, and they looked to " Jan Sahib" alone, feared him only among men, quailed only before the thought of his unchangeable fortune, and had cholera or over-exertion carried him off—as seemed once only too probable— energy, and generalship, and skill in the guidance of men would alike have been unavailing. The Sikhs would have conquered India for another race than us. It is not, however, on account of his services that we believe this appointment wise. Better pay men for services in any coin than governments for which they are unfitted. But we believe Sir John Law rence is, at this juncture, the very man to fill his splendid position. Thu two Indian difficulties are at this moment the disturbances on the frontier and the necessity of maintaining severer discipline within the new Sikh force, and the mere arrival of the Viceroy will probably terminate both. The frontier tribes will not face the man who for five t years kept the bit so s t rong ly w ithin their gained that every raid cost them more than they gne in money as w e ll as li ves , and Sikhs will Ydistrust the dangerous prophecies which requir® h e ro should urire for their fulfilment that the " forehead" ° pass under a cloud. They will face English bayo nets sooner than Lis fortune , and while heyare faithful the disaffected throughoht North . India must perforce remain inactive. That is it self equa l i n va l ue to a greet victory; but bit John Lawrence meets also the requirements of internal administration. The new organisation must be completed by a man on the spot, who shall possess the confidence of the advocates both of the new and the ancient syetems. Sir John Lawrence is himself their very point of agreement. A civilian of civi lians, he was the one man on whom the " settlers" relied for a comprehension of their claims, and though ho never bore a commission, and maintained haughtily the supremacy of civil rule, he was obeyed by generals older than himself. A strong governor in the old sense of the word, with a full sense of the necessity of maintaining the absolute power of the Government, and fully persuaded that India can as yet be held only by the sword, he is, nevertheless, a man who believes in justice and progress, in railways, and canals, and free trade, in better education and swifter justice, in fresh careers for natives and more ample means of acquiring wealth. Familiar with the old ideas, he has, roaring his resi dence at home, comprehended those upon which the Government must now be based, and though he re sisted the new organisation, he will now that it is accomplished devote himself to the task of making it work more perfectly than the old. The natives know him of old as one who right or wrong is, at all events, irresistible; the Europeans will accept at his hands the compromise in which their claims must end; the civilians will feel his appoint ment an omen of a new future for themselves ; and the army has for years studied his opinion as that of a general made by commission higher than the Queen's. The administrationapainfully working its way through heaps of the debris of rotten systems, needs an accession of force, and Sir John Lawrence is to all other rulers what a locomotive is to a cart. His single temptation wil lbe to crowd the work of a life into his term of rule, but the obstacles are so many that the only result of this foible will be a slightly swifter advance. The locomotive will be steadied by the weight of the train behind. LONDON REVIEW.—A meeting of the English bar to consider a question of law reform is so unprece dented an event that the grievance which brought it to pass must be considered as beyond measure serious. Indeed, we may measure the burden in some sense by a pecuniary test. The hours of a well employed barrister are golden, his very minutes are silver; and so when some 500 members of the pro fession, including a large proportion of its leaders, spend, as they did on Wednesday, a couple of hours in affirming a statement of the need of reform, and in taking the preliminary steps for securing it, we may consider they have testified their sincerity by a subscription of 1,000 guineas to the cause. Nor, certainly, is the cause undeserving of the sacrifice. It is not an amendment in any one special branch of law that is sought, it is an amendment of the system by which the whole law is established and promul gated. For a great deal more of our law is made by our judges than by the Legislature; and whet the Legislature does is, in fact, only supplementary or corrective to what the judges have already done, But between the huge mass of judge-made law and the far smaller bulk of statutory law there is this important distinction, that while the latter, what ever its faults, is at least immediately printed and published by authority, the former, whatever its perfections, is only printed at uncertain intervals, as a mere commercial speculation, and without receiv ing the sanction of authority at all. So the result is that there are above half-a-dozen different re cords of every point, all possibly, and frequently, at variance in some essential particular. No lawyer, therefore, can be sure of the law as adjudged at any time unless he peruses all the different reports, and their actual cost is not less than .£45. But even when he has perused them all he cannot be certain, when they disagree, which will be adopted by the judge before whom they are cited. The consequence, then, is a very heavy personal outlay and enormous additional labour, with the result of uncertainty and confusion. And as whatever thus affects the bar rister recoils upon the public, it is very evident that the subject of which the profession now stands pledged to attempt the reform is one in which the public is greatly interested, and is bound to lend the aid of its intelligent consideration. The ques tion is very slightly technical, it depends ohiefly upon maxims of common sense, and we may there fore fairly invite our readers to review with us the several schemes proposed. There are in the first place some inveterate Free Traders, who maintain the superiority of the present sy stem to any that can be, or at least has yet been, devised. They urge that in competition is to be ound the only security for obtaining the best articles, that the attendance of skilled legal reporters is the only practicable check upon the judges, at once deterring them from pro nouncing bad law, and preventing them from doc toring for publication the bad law they may have uttered, and that these advantages more than counterbalance the gain which would ensue from possessing only a single authoritative report,whether prepared or not under the judge's eye Then there are those, headed by Mr. Daniel, the leader in the 'present movement, who maintain that the business of reporting is properly the business of the State, inasmuch as the law which is thus made public binds all her Majesty's subjects, and who consequently call on the State to appoint officers to perform the duty. They would make the duty a monopoly, by forbidding the courts to admit any rival report, and they would make the proper performance of the duty im perative by placing the actual reporters under the immediate supervision of a committee of the bar or the judges. Next there are some, whom Mr. Pulling may be taken as representing, who would have the duty in some respects subdivided, by appointing an officer in each court whose busi ness should be to preserve a sufficient record of every case, while an official reporter should extract from the record such cases as were proper for publication, and edit them with that view. There are others again who would have the work taken in hand by an incorporated body of barristers, who should come in the place of the bookseller as bearing the profit and loss of the work, and by these means be urged to expedition and accuracy, enjoying some degree of favour, but not excluding competition. The first objection which occurs to every one of these pro posals is, that they contain no element which would effectually and permanently cure the existing evils. The official reports would still be liable to imperfec tion, and imperfection would invite competition. It is idle to say that competition could be excluded by a formal rule that none save the official reports should be of authority or be allowed to be cited. s u pposing the official report to be unintelligible, or to contain evidently bad lave, it would be impossible to prevent a judge from referring to a rival series which might explain or correct it. To do so would be indeed to enthrone injustice and error. The rule would be at first indirectly infringed, the judge would surreptitiously look at the unauthorised re port, but soon what was done in darkness would come to the light, and the rule would be a dead letter. Here, then, in a few months or years, we should find ourselves brought back to our present position, with merely the addition of one new series to the present supply. Or if, again, we were to try to obviate the danger of any official reporter thus misunderstanding or misstating the import of a case, by requiring the judge who has decided it to revise and certify the report, we come into the danger to which the bar showed itself at the meeting very sensitive, that the judge may on reconsideration alter the statement and the argument so as better to support his own opinion. Human nature seems to be supposed by the bar not to become impeccable even when clothed with ermine. Finally, all these schemes are cer tainly open to the objection that they contain no security for making official persons punctual in the despatch of their business, and consequently might leave the profession and the public in arrear of months or years in regard to the decisions of the courts, save in so far as the void might be supplied by the competition of private enterprise. Another proposi tion, however, was made the other day in the columns of a contemporary by Mr. Boyd Kinnear, a member both of the English and Scottish bar, which, as distinct in principle both from the exist ing and any proposed plan, deserves to be noticed. This gentleman argues that the real cause of the existing evil is the want of authoritativeness in any of the reports; that the reporters, being unable to seq , which of the facts were considered material by the judge, are obliged to state them all; that the desire to omit nothing which may have in fluenced him leads to a rivalry in prolixity, while the wish to give every word which drops from his lips leads to a verbatim record of his speech, con taining all its incidental, as well as its pertinent observations. He would call in, for remedy o this de state of things, the principle of requiring teojfu the himself to make, in every case, a short authorities which were cited before him, facts which in his opinion are material,n.andsonfdthteo append to this note his judgment in . writing; the whole being issued at the .t , pinion. 'These notes and to the printer, a era that there would be no opportunity for afterwards scheme, are at once to adapting udgra estl,iefacts accordingto histthoee be transmitted by the registrar e proof is to be sent next da y to all the judges, wh o w ould decide, not wheth er b y a majority the judg ment is good or bad law, but merely whether the case i s worth being published, and on this being settled it would at once be published, so that in no case would there be occasion for more than a week's delay. Mr. Boyd Kinnear anticipates in th e carrying out of this system no great delay or difficult • as he urges that the judge's note-book at present contains, or ought to contain, s uc h a note of the relevant facts as is all that would be required for a report; while the practice of writing the judgments would conduce. ahnedtgreatereompe; i b t r in e n vit w y nn a l n d d b a n cc e tkr e a c c t y n thinks, observes ks't theirtie. t ally excluded, for no other reporter could expect to el-Plain the judge's meaning better than himself, or would find any advantage in stating facts which the judgment was not based upon. There is certainly reason in these arguments; but the change pro posed is so large that it is not easy at once to see its Tull effect, and we must be content to suspend our judgment on it till it shall have been more fully discussed. Discussion enough we are sure to have, now that the lips of the Bar have been unsealed. COUNTRY MARKETS. NORWICH-SATURDAY. There was a good supply of wheat to-day, and the sales made were at late prices. A fair show of barley, and prices were fully maintained. White wheat. 45s to 478 I Red wheat 41e to 43e Malting barley ...36s to 378 1 Chevalier barley 34s to 3 55 Distilling do 30s to 32s I Oats.. 249 to 265 Flour, 29s 6d to —s I'd per sack from the miller. NOTTINGHAM-SATURDAY. White wheat, from •418 to 453 ; red wheat, 38s to 425. Barley—malting, 32s to 40s ; grinding, 28s to 31s. Oats old, at 24s to 31s Od ; new, 208 to 255. Beans sold at 388 to 43s per qr. ; new, 37s to 38s. LEICESTER,--SATURDAY. There was a good show of wheat to-day, with a fair sale. ---New white wheat, 40s to 44s ; red, 36s to 41s per 36 stone. Old red, 39s to 41s per 36 stone. Barley, malting, new, 33s to 38s per qr.; grinding, 29s to 325; old oats, 25s to 30s; new oats, 22s to 25s per 24 stone. Beane, old, 33s to 42s per 33 stone ; flour, 30s to 35s per 20 atone. GRANTHAM-SATURDAY. Old white wheat, 43s to 46s ; red, 39s to 425 - per 365 t.; new white, 428 to 478; red, 37m to 40s. Malting barley, 33s to 36s per qr ; grinding, 27s to 308; oats, old, 24s t, 28s; new, 20s to24s ; beans, 40s to 425; peas, 34s to 40s. NORTHAMPTON-SATURDAY. There was a fair average show of wheat to-day, but advance upon last week's prices. Other articles as before. , —White wheat, 40s to 44s ; red, 35s to 42s ; fine, — 5 to —s per qr. Barley, 35s to 39s—grinding. 28s to 30s . Oats, 28s to 32s per 24 stone. Beans, 38s to 425. Peas; 34s to 40s per qr. YORK-a ;ATURDAY. We were supplied with a fair quantity of wheat to-day, and prices were in favour of the seller. Wheat, red 37s to 40s Oats.... lBs to 203 White do .40s to 45s Beans 38s to 403 Barley .298 to 32s Peas .....---8 to —8 Malt, 62s to 64s per qr.; rye, 30s per qr ; flour, 30s to 32s per sack. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton ..Dec. 19. via Marseilles Dec. 13. brazil and Cape Yards, by British packet. Jan. 4. Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena Dec. '2.9. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton Dec. 19. via Marseilles Dec. 13. Falkland Islands Gibraltar, via Southampton Dec. 12. India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, viii Southampton Dec. 19. _ _ _ . via Alareeillea Dec. 13. India (Bombay), via Southampton Dec. 12. via Mareeilles Dec. 6. Portugal.... Jan. 4. Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Dec. 12. via Marseilles . Dec. 6. Newfoundland Oporto and Vigo U. 6. and British N. Amarica, by Brit. packet.... Dec. 9 • . by U.S. packet by Canadian packet Dec. 12. W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneritie Dec. 19. Bahamas, via New York Dec. 17. Mexico ....Dec. 29. All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, 1 Dec. 14. California. and British Columbia. THE AFRICA.—At the end of last month the Council of the Mercantile Marine Service Associa tion, Liverpool, submitted to the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade a series of remarks in reference to the re cent sentence for the suspension of the certificate of Captain Stone, of the Africa, in the hope that, upon consideration, their lordships might see proper to reverse the sentence of Court of inquiry. The observations were as follows :—" 1 - The verbatim copy of the evidence given upon the occasion does not, the council believe, upon a fair construction of it, bear out even the opinion of th nautical assessors, upon which the sentence was given. 2. It was impossible to weigh the evidence in favour of Capt. Stone against the opinion of the; nautical assessors, who were not exposed to strict cross examination upon the reasons which led them to the con clusion on which the sentence was pronounced, while Capt. Stone, the accused, was subjected to the strictest cross examination, and, practically, their lordships will see that he is condemned upon the assessors' interpretation cf ars admission extorted from him. 3d. An unprecedented alte ration appears upon reliable evidence to have taken place in the currents of the Gulf Stream, with the extent of which the assessors were and are not acquainted, and the extent of which is still even imperfectly known to any one. 4. The soundings in the neighbourhood could not have told with. certainty the position of the Africa, had soundings been taken. 5. The course pursued by Capt. Harris in his cross examination of Capt. Stone, the question put, and the opi nions expressed by him in court, appear to the council to show that he considered himself somewhat in the position of a prosecutor as well as an assessor. , 6. The sentence states Captain Stone to have been guilty of a culpable want of caution, The council is anxious to point out to their lord ships that a culpable fault is such as would expose Captain Stone to a prosecution and conviction, had a passenger been injured, and the owners to a verdict against them by ship pers of goods. There appears no reason to suppose that this is or would be the case. 7. It does not appear to the council just to single out Captain Stone for inquiry, while the great majority of cases are not inquired into at all. 8. The coun cil cannot suppose that it was the intention of the Legis lature that in these inquiries the person whose character and certificate depended upon the result should bo exa mined on oath against himself, as that is a procedure 'I C variance with all the principles of jurisprudence; and with to the anomalous mode in which the charge WO made, or rather decided, during the inquiry, and the pro ceedings were conducted, the council refer their lordships to the circumstances that in inquiries before the local marine Boards, involving the suspension or cancelling of a certifi cate, a distinct charge must be made, and a copy of it handed to the accused at least 48 hours before the court sits. The Board of Trade, in their reply, dated December 3, state that they have received a memorial from Captain Stone appealing against the decision of the court, and that they have in their reply (in which they have entered fully into the circumstances of the case) informed Captain Stone that they do not feel themselves justified in interfering with the decision of the magistrate and his assessors. [ADVERTISEMENT.I — HoIIoway's Pills—lnd igestion. --- In all cases of indig.'stion, producing weariness, low' spirits, palpitation, and feverishness, these fatuous Pills' should be resorted to as the gentlest and surest corrective of the stomach, and the best antidote to its ailments; afflicted with it may rejoice at the safe These pills dispel the curse of dyspep sia, oval ? ' t o o n ry as the results which can be secured at so small a charge urifv purchase of a box of Holloway's Pills. They strengthen, and remedy imperfect developrae sufferers, who and health in young persons. Thousands of —• l P have casually commenced a course of Holloway 11 8 ' and atter admired their restorative wers over themselves, d co confi en wards recommended them with a becom in g which has never been betrayed. and saticise [ADVERTISEMENT.]—Consumption, all nervous, bilious liver, and stomach complaints, in every stage, are only ag gravated and accelerated by drugs of every description, but perfectly curable by Du Barry's health restoring Revalen d. Arabica Food, as proved by thousands of cases which nal been considered hopeless. We quote a few.—Cure O. 62,91 • Miss Lange, 18 years of age, cured after the medical men hal abandoned all hopes of her recovery from the last stage of pulmonary consumption, with f /lieu' cough, e xpectoration , exhaustion, spitting of blood, perspirations, hollow cheeks. emaciated to a skeleton. She is now, thank God , a p erfect :. healthy, blooming, fleshy girl,—N. Lange, Commissaire e Police. Cure, No. 48,270. Mr. James Roberts , of Fernley Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting o f blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness.—Cure , No . 47,121. Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion , gatherings, low spirits, and nervous fanc ies.—Cure, 54,816. the Rev. James T. Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk,of indigestion and torpidity of the liver , which had resisted As 6d- 511, all medical treatment. In tins, 1 1 b, 2 s 8d ; 21b, - , 11s; 121 b, 228; 241 b, 408. Barry du Barry and Co., No. 77, the United Kingdom and chemists in every tow n of Regent-street, London ; also Fortnu m and Mason; and all Births. CRADOCK.—On the 3d inst., at Hartforth, the wife of C' Cradock, Esq., of a daughter. DURHAM —On the 4th inst., at Lambton Castle, tlio Countess of Durham, of a son. PHILLIPS.—On the 2d inst., at Royston, Herts, the Wife of John Phillips, jun., Esq., of a son. WALsu.—On the 3d inst., at 35, Hill-street, Lady Emily Walsh, of a son. , s e h l eldest i s t ti c h r v , Marriages. CORSS—HARRISON.—On the 3d inst., at St Luke's, cher"' s c e o a r , s C s, ha E rl s e q s ., W o i f ili 6 a 3 m , youngest daughter of William Henry Harrison, Esq '' 9, Beaufort St re et, Cheisea. PA L i t v o ns Julia on Elizabeth ,o f t he late tb: i u ET—STANDISH.—On. the 3d inst., at St. Georgette Hanover-square, Charles William C aptain It , l at e , eo Hussars, eldest son of the Ho and Rev. Lord Chart Paulet, to Susan Amelia Geo n, ' dish, the Tina Carr Stan second surviving daughter of the late William Standish Standish, Esq., of Duxbury-park. Deaths. b. BLAND.—On the 2d inst ,at his residence, 1, Bessboroug street, Georges-square, William Michael Bland, 88,14 aged 75, 1, gar' BEVINGTON.—On the 4th inst., at 4 8 , Bessborou.g"-P dens, —sq Pimlico, Henry PP. Bevington, 0, of BOUGHTON.—On the 2d inst., Mr. PeLer B ou g ht° Hounslow, aged 70. 4 . ri perl9 COOFER.—On the 3d inst., Mrs. Frances Cooper, 'l° of Brentwood, aged 98. HARDING.—On the 4th inst., at 15, Lonsdale-terrace' Barnes, Surrey, Mr. J. D. Harding, artist. Soraerse4 HOSKINS.—On the 3d inst., at N orth Perrott, Wm. Hoskins, Esq., aged 77. as g' SUTTON.—On the 3d inst., at B ideford, Devon, Thorn Sutton, Esq. ........0_". -............ _ ___ _---- - - - -- - - -- ----- , 1 ,$ London: Primed and rablislied by WILLIAM ANDI:b ' 1i of No. 112, Strand, Print er, at THE SUN Office' -4 1, 1 ; Strand, :n the Precinct of the 3avoy..n the (.30113t)r -bliddacoel4 _Monday, December 7, 1863. A - - u c' . . _ It° Me The so beee4 Lone D ock (' l looka 34th the 2,1 lasi It The ' ll, llB btt ert • t hart4 wi at No, paid c - -4, 'Vc Grail fo r a artist and I Al Celeb An , VIA? Co/ IV. R ious ( Thi kost Op, andb ag Deci that M la A 'TRH (the eAi liar .—......