The Sun. — London, England, 1864-02-09 00:00:00

EAPERIAL PARLIAMENT HOUSE OF LORDS— Last Evening, Ths LORD CZANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack at fry a o'clock. The house sat for a warier of an hour, but no business v.as transacted, and their lordships then adjourned. 1.1075 E OF COMMONS—Last Evening, The SPEA....tali, took the chair at four o'clock. PETITIONS. Petitions. were presented by Sir J. SHELLEY, signed by 1,000 persons, in favour of the reduction of the duty on fire insurances, and several other petitions to the same effect were also presented from different parts of the country. SOOCHOW. Col. SYKES gave notice that on the 16th he would call I the attention of the house to the proceedings at Shanghai, when all the consuls resident expressed their abhorrence of the conduct of the Fatai at Soochow, and to ask the First Lord of the Treasury as to what course would be pur- I in order to prevent a recurrence of the events which were so much to be deplored. PARISH VESTRIES (IRELAND). Sir R. PEEL gave notice that he would move for leave to introduce a bill to ;Amend the law relating to parishes and vestries in Lrelan , l, WAREHOUSING SPIRITS. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave notice that he would postpone bringing forward this subject rom Thursday until Monday, the 15th. LAW OF SETTLEMENT. Mr; WARNER gave notice that on Friday next he wou'id call the attention of the house to the Law of_Settle we at as it affected the poor. NEW WRIT. On the motion of Mr, BRAND, a new writ was ordered to issue for the election of a member for Brighton, in the room of Mr. Coningham, who has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. COLLECTION OF INCOME TAX. Mr. WARSER asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he was aware that it had been found necessary in some cases to resort to a voluntary rate in order to provide for the collection of the income tax by parochial officers ; and whether he would consider the propriety of adopting a v•Tular system ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that he was aware there was a necessity for amendment in the c n",action of the income tax, and the subject was under the cJasideration of Government. CHINA. Mr. W, E. FOSTER asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it was true that the town of Soochow in China had been taken from the Taepings by help of her Majesty's officers employed by the Imperialists with the sanction of her Majesty's Government; whether also the Imperialists were aided by supplies from her Ma jesty's arsenals, and whether the town thus taken was de livered over to pillage and massacre by the Imperialist troops notwithstanding the protest, and contrary to the pledge of the British officer in command ; and if so, whether any and what steps had been taken by her Majesty's Go velnmcmt to 'withdraw their assistalice to the Pekin Go ernment. Mr. LAYARD said tb:At the Government was not at present in possession of, the necessary information on the subject, but he was informed from Shanghai that colonel Brow n was about to investigate the subject, SOOCHOW, Lord NAAS asked the tinder-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether any despatches had been received during the recess from Sir Frederick Bruce relative to the state of affairs in China ; and whether the Government have received any official accounts of the proceedings of the Chinese force under the command of Major Gordon of the Royal Engineers; and, if so, whether he would lay them upon the table of the house ; also, whether he would lay upon tha table all the documents in possession of the Government relative to the dis- raissal of Mr. Lay from the service of the Emperor of China and the withdrawal from the Chinese waters of the fleet under the command of Captain Sherarti Osborne, of tin Royal Navy. Mr. LAYARD said the papers in question would be laid on the taVe, and at present he was unable to gave the in, formatfrm required respecting Mr. Lay. SCHLE S WIG-HOLSTEIN. In reply to Lord R. CECIL, Lord PALMERSTON said the Government had re monstrated with the Governments of Prussia and Austria with respect to the pt oceedings adopted relative to Prince Augus tenburg, on the ground that those proceedings were totally inconsistent with the treaty of 18.52, to which both these - .?owers wen parties. The Prussian Government had stated their intention to abide by that treaty and maintain the integrity of the Danish Moaarchy. It was announced also that tha Prussian and Austrian Govern rumts were ready to discuss, any questions that might arise with the other powers that were pat ti , ato the treaty. It was asserted that the resistance apt Schleswig and the, hostilities that ensued terminated the obligations of thP'.. treaty. He utterly denied that doctrine. (;sear, hear.) If it were adopted, a strong power would have nothing to do but to make an unprovoked assault on a Power and eay that their own act had put an end to any treaty, He repeated what he had already said, that the Prussia.n Government avowed their intention to maintain the integrity of the Danish kingdom. (Hear, hear.) THE LORDS COIAMISSIONERS' SPEECH. On the motion for the adoption of that portion of the ;Speech which relates to the estimates, Mr. BE,NIINCK expressed a hope that the military for:xs of this country, and more particularly the cavalry, 'would be maintained in a state of efficiency. He expressed hope also that the Government would give the house an assurance that this country would not be drawn into war. Lord PALMEB,SION said he thought the subject of rho efficiency of our troops should have been postponed until the army estimates were brought forward. He had too much confidence in the spirit and resources of the country that it would not be prepared for any emergency that might arise. With regard to the other portion of the honourable member's observations, he must decline giving any information as to what course Government would pursue under some future state of circumstances, and he declined to play the part of prophet. (Laughter.) If it were neces sary to make an armed demonstration the country poe. uessed strength and energy sufficient for, the occasion. (Hear, hear.). The motion was then agree_,'' to. SIR J. LA-7/tENCE'S ANNUITY. Oa the tootior ... of Sir C. Wool), the resolution of com mittee that the pension to Sir J. Lawrence should be con tinue, which was seconded by Lord STANLEY, and sup rated by Colonel SYKES, was agreed to. MALT DUTY. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER obtained icave to bring in a bill to allow the making of malt duty free to be used in the feeding of cattle, and explained that he only asked for a permissive measure for two years. TREATMENT OF CRIMINAL LUNATICS. Sir G. GREY, In rising to bring in a bill to amend th 7.aw relating ` - „o the cars and treatment of criminal lunatics, said—Sir, I think I ought at the outset to state to you what is the existing form of the law on that subject which I pro pose to amend. The present law is contained in the 3d and 4th of her Majesty's present reign, chap. 24, sec. 1. That Act was an amendment to the Act which was previously in force-9th and 10th Geo. IV., chap. 40, sec. 55. That was a general Act to amend the laws for the regulation of county lunatic asylums; and the object was more effectu• ally to provide for the maintenance of criminal lunatics in England and Wales. Explaining the condition of the law before the present Act was passed, the right hon. gentle 'Dian said it might be considered as applicable to two classes of. Prisoners only, who on,being certified to be insane, might be removed to a lunatic asylum. The two classes of priso ners were those undergoing a sentence of imprisonment in borough or county gaols, and those under sentence of trans portation ; and the Act provided that they might be certi fied to be insane by two physicians or surgeons, and on the certificate being received by the Secretary of State, it should be lawful for him to direct, by a warrant of removal, that the person CO certifi e d to be insane should be remove d to acm e lunatic asylum, there to be detained until he was cer tified to have become sane by two physicians or surgeons ; in. which case, upon • the r ece i pt of such certificate, the if Se cretary of State, the term of imprisonment were expired h o uld be empower ed to discharge him, and if not expired, to send him ba ck to prison, with a view to his under going the remainder of his punishment. In 1810 that provision was revived, and the pr esent law was passed making material alterations. The first alteration related to the class of prisoners who were included in the operation of the law. The object of the Act seems to have been to remove insane persons of all descriptions charged with any crime from the prisons in which th e y were confined, and to subject the m to p roper medical care a n d treatment in some lunatic asylum. The first alteration i n the law passed in 1840 was that all classes of criminal luna tics were i nc l u d ed i n the prov i s i on s of that Act. The right hen. gentleman quoted the Act, which specified that the inquiry into the state of mind of the suspected lunatic pri soner was to be conducted by two justices of the county, borough, or place where he was confined, assisted by two medical men. The Act, therefore, he said, threw the re sponsibility upon the justices. II; is under this Act that taie case of Townley had occurred—a ease which has pre excited a good deal of public interest, and with regard to whicb. I feel it my duty to give the fullest explamution of the whole of the circumstances which occurred. (Hear.) It is well known that Townley was convicted of murder. 1 need not enter into the circumstances of the crime. It is sufficient to say that he was tried for wilful murder, con victed, and sentenced by the judge. I may add that a plea of insanity was set up on the trial; but that defence failed and he was convicted and found guilty of wilful murder The day after the trial the judge, Mr. Baron Martin, ad. dressed this letter to me • Nottingham, Dec. 13, 1563, Sir,—George Victor Townley was convicted yesterday before me, at Derby, of wilful murder, and sentenced to be executed. I have directed a copy of my notes to be made for you, if you should desire to have them ; but there is a foil report of the trial in the newspapers. The conviction was, in my opinion, right; but Dr. Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne, who was surgeon of the gaol, in whose care the prisoner had been since his committal, were examined at the trial, and both deposed in the strongest m ner that the prisoner was of diseased mind, and absolu insane. I think it right to call your attention atone to t. subject, with a view to a correct opinion being form '0 as to the propriety of his execution. On receiving that letter, 1, after reading wit i attention the evidence on the trial—including of course e evidence of the two medical men to which the judge had thus pointedly called my attention—l confess the evidence did not impress me to the extent to which it had appeared to impress the learned judge. But I felt that a judge who presides over a trial of this kind, whose whole attention is fixed on the evidence, and who sees the witnesses give their e7idence, must be much more competent to form an 'opinion of the weight which is due to such evidence than any other person who merely reads a report of it. (Hear.) I wrote to him, therefore, to say that it appeared to me that the evidence was by no means conclusive as to the insanity of the pri soner, and that I wished to know from him whether he had formed from the evidence he had heard given during the trial, as well as from the demeanour of the prisoner—which might b 3 an essential element of consideration—an cpinion of his own as to the matter; whether he thotlght, in fact, that the prisoner was insane, and whether he did not think that inquiry should take place. I received from him, in answer to that letter, a second letter, which I will read to the house, It was directed to the Under-F.eoretary Norwich, Dec. 13, 1863. Sir,—l have received a letter, dated the 17th, requesting me to inform Sir George Grey whether the impression pro duced on my mind by the evidence of the two medical wit nesses on the trial of Townley, coupled with the demeanour of the prisoner, were such as to induce me to believe that the prisoner is now insane ; if so, whether I think it neces sary to have any further inquiry. I cannot say that I have formed any decided opinion on the point. The demeanour of the prisoner afforded me no means of arriving at a con clusion. In fact, he sat on the trial with his head depressed, so that I scarcely once saw his countenance, and he never spoke. I should not be justified in saying that the evidence of Dr. Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne is not correct, for I certainly think, and I have thought ever since the trial, that there ought to be further inquiry. I enclose a copy of my notes. This is by no means the first case of a similar recommenda tion from a judge, after a trial has taken place in which a prisoner has been convicted of murder. In some of these cases the defence of insanity has been set up on the trial and failed. In some it was not even made on the trial. For a series of years cases have come under the notice of myself and other Secretaries of State, by recommendations of the judge or from other persons, who, if of sufficient credit, have induced the Secretary of State to inquire into the state of mind of the prisoner. In some cases the in- quiry has gone back to the time of the commission of the offence. I believe in most of these cases .the result was a commutation of the capital sentence, and the temporary re moval of the prisoner to a lunatic asylum. The right hon. gentleman quoted the case of Dallmore, who, under some what similar circumstances, had after being sentenced to execution, been removed to Bethlehem, and after being there found sane had been remitted to prison, and had the capital sentence commuted to transportation for life, which he is now undergoing. Ido not find the slightest fault with Baron Martin for making his recommendation. Com ments made in some of the newspapers on the case seemed to imply in some persons a total ignorance of what the law of England really was as regarded the treatmeat of criminals who became insane. Quoting Black stone and Sir John Hall (Solicitor-General in the reign of William III.), to show what was the law in this respect, the right lion, gentleman showed that it was clearly and explicitly to the effect that if a prisoner was found to be insane before trial he should not be put upon his trial ; and that if found insane after trial, and before execu- tion, that execution should be stayed. Such being our humane and Christian law, Baron Martin had clearly no other alternative than to make known to me the doubts which he entertained of the sanity of the prisoner, and it would have been, in fact, a gross violation of his bounden duty if he had not done so. This being done, I could not justify myself to Parliament and to my own consci,nce, and to God, if, after the communication which - 1 had abstained from - nad been ad dressed to me by Mr. Baron Martiri, ordering this inquiry. (13- eax, hear.) I felt that I h a d no choice in the matter, and I determined to irstitute that in quiry. in co - , t rau a teatitig With the Under-Secretary on the subie::‘, it occurred to me that the best persons to conduct '.gat inquiry would be the Lunacy Commissioners, who are entrneted with large powers by law to conduct such in quiries, and whose experience, therefore, is great, I re quested them, by a letter ) to conduct that inquiry into the actual state of mind of the prisoner, without any reference to the opinions which had been expressed on the trial, or to the proceedings since, and to inform me of the present state of mind of the prisoner. I received their report on the 29th of December, jest forty-eight hours before the time fixed for the execution. That report was not as clear and explicit as I hoped. It was a report which did not distinctly answer the question which was addressed to the Lunacy Commissioners. It stated that, in their opinion, as far as they could collect from the evi dence they had obtained, no change had taken place in the state of mind of the prisoner since the trial, or since the commission of the offence. They stated further that in their opinion they could not consider the prisoner to be of sound mind ; but that, according to the law laid down by Baron Martin, which is in accordance with the law col lectively laid down by the judges in the case of M'Naughton, the prisoner was in a state responsible for his actions, and was rightly convicted. Now I believe that the law as laid down by the judges ought to prevail in criminal cases, and if I had followed that report alone, I should not have felt justified in stopping the due course of law, though it placed me in the painful position of doing so after their statement that they did not think him of sound mind ; yet according to the law of the land, as laid down by the judges, he was responsible for his acts. But at the same time I received this report, I received by the same conveyance a certificate purporting to be signed by three magistrates, and by two medical men, a surgeon and a physician, certifying the in sanity of Townley. Under these circumstances it was necessary to come to an immediate decision. It has been said since that the certificate was invalid, two reasons being given —the first, I am ashamed to say, that it was signed on a Sunday ; and the other that the Act required that the signing justices should be for the county where the case was in the county part of the gaol. I feel bound to say that if my attention had been called to these facts at the time my decision would have been just the same. (Hear, hear.) The hon. gentleman defended the course he had taken in granting a respite, showing that he had not time to refer the matter to the law officers of the Crown; for if he had not signed the respite on that night it could not have ar rived in Derby until the night of the 30th, the execution being fixed for the morning of the 31st ; and if an accident had happened to a train or anything of that kind, it might not have arrived until after the execution had taken place. What I did was not to commute the sentence, but to respite the execution. The next day a letter was forwarded to me from the governor of the gaol, saying that he had been requested to forward a certificate to me. It was accompanied by no information that any irregularity had been committed. Oa Dee. 30 I received a second cer tificate without any explanation ; and then, for the firs time, doubts suggested themselves to my mind, because of its being signed by county magistrates, the names of the borough magistrates being omitted. Therefore, no sugges tion was made that that certificate was not perfectly formal; and upon that certificate, and that a:one, the warrant of re moval was granted. If the warrant were founded upon the first certificate, I could have understood that these doubts with regard to that certificate might arise, although I believe they had but little foundation. It might have been a ques tion before a court of law, whether the warrant was founded upon a certificate which was not tecknically correct. But, with regard to the respite no such question could arise, as that was in the discretion of the Secretary of State. As to the second certificate, the fast of its having bean signed by four justices and two medical men, certifying in the terms of the Act the insanity of Townley, evidently showed that they had the Act before them ; and upon that secon certifi cate I issued the warrant for the removal of the prisoner from Derby Gaol to Bethlehem Hospital. It was said I was not bound to regard the second certificate, but to suffer the man to be executed, But such a construction of the Act is contrary to the uniform interpretation put upon it by every Secretary of State who has held office, and I have not been able to find a single exception since the time of George IV. Let any man read the Act itself, and he will see that it makes the certificate of two justices and two medical men final and conclusive up to the point at which the person so certified is removed to a lunatic asylum, and until after such removal no new process can be instituted for ascertaining whether such person is sane or not. I felt bound, therefore, under these circumstances, to issue a warrant for the removal of the prisoner, and con sequently, on the 11th of January, ho was received into a lunatic asylum. I will not refer to the correspondence be tween myself and the magistrates of fierbyshire, because the hon. member for the county (Mr. Mundy)—who, I regret to say, is confined to his room in consequence of an accident—has requested me to abstain from doing so until he was present. I will only make this remark, that I felt it my duty to call upon the magistrates who signed the certificates, both borough and county, to ask for an expla• nation of the course which they have taken. I have since been asked w h y I di d not call on the medical for men similar eapianation. My answer is th a t I did no t d o so b ecause , as Secretary of State, I had no right to apply to the medical men for expl anat i on; where as Secretary of State,l had an authority to ask the magistrates for an explanation of acts done in their magisterial capacity, me on two poi n t s —fi rst, that the. The magistrates certificates ue robona on a satisfied fide, a nd only signed a tt er d ue inquiry and when theyas insane,became con vinced in thei r own minds that ' Townley w however mistaken th a t conviction mighthave been; secondly, that the machinery of the law put in motion by the attorney for the prisoner, who had called on the magistrates to act under this law and examine the ri sonr, a nd he also called in th e medical men who wore to t a ke part in the inquiry, Ido not impute blame to the attorney for tek:ng that course; as long as the law allowed it, he had a right to do so. But, at the same time, I think it is a serious defect in the law which enables a prisoner, by his attorney or agent, to select the magistrates or medical men who are to conduct an in quiry of that nature. (Hear.) At the same time I must say that no blame is to be imputed to the magistrates for the course they have taken under the existing law, one of them having appeared not to be prepossessed in favour of THE StIN," LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING: FEBRUARY 9, 1864. the prisoner, but he was sane, and the law ought to take its course. Judging from the report of four medical men, which I have since t-3ceived, I am led to believe that there had been a miscarriage of justice in this matter—(hear, hear) --und that there ought to be an amendment of the law ; and that the amendment ought to be directed to correct that defect of the law whirh allows this machinery to be put in motion, not by any responsible person, but by the agent of the prisoner. I propose, therefore, to repeal altogether the _ . first clause of the 3d and 4th Vic., ch..p. 54, and to Ettbsti- tute for it an amendment having the same object, namely, the care and disposal of criminal lunatics who should not be detained in prison, but with some material alterations; at the same time, the provisions of the law will not be con fined to any class of prisoners. I propose also not to limit its administration to any two justices, but to test its opera- tion exclusively in the visiting jutites of the gaol—(hear, hear)—and, instead of any two medical men, as under the existing law, being tailed in, the duty shall devolve Upon the visiting justices, who are to be responsitle for the selec tion. of the medical men. I think this duty might be safely entrusted to the visiting justices, who are selected from the great body of nattgistrates, and who are acquainted with all the details of the gaol, and who art in constant intercourse with every officoAN and are acquainted with the mental and bodily condition of every prisoner lodge 4 there. I further propose that the physi- cians and surgeons who are called in shall be registered under the Medical Registration Act. Another important provision in the bill wilt be that the certificate of insanity by :he magistrates wad medical men shall be no longer final end conclusive, but that it shall be competent for the Secre- tary of State, in case he elite taiu doubts, to order further inquiry. After the renaoYal of Townley on the 11th Jan., I directed, with the full concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, four medical men to make a further examination into the mental condition of the prisoner ; and they certified that he was sane, It then became necessary to consider what course should be determined upon with regard to the future cus tody of the prisoner, and the Government came to the deci sion that, after the certificates and the removal to a lunatic asylum, and after the doubts that were raised, it would not be right to send the prisoner back to Derby and order the sheriff to fix another day for the execution. (Hear, hear.) lie was then removed to Pentonville Prison by warrant under my hand. I believe that we took the course most con• sistent with public feeling, under the circumstances, which I much regret, in sentencing Townley to penal servitude for life. I have found no fault with the visiting justices or with any person connected with these transactions, which seem to me to have arisen out of a defect in the law. I feel, however, that I took the only course I could do consistently with my duty and with what the act required, obliged es- pecially as I was to act at once on my own responsibility, since any delay on my part would have necessarily involved the execution of the criminal. (Hear, hear.) Mr, MACDONOUGH thought that, before the house pteceetled to legislate on this subject, it should clearly understand what was the state of the law at present The course taken by the Government on this occasion was a novel, but, he admitted, a necessary one. On the first day of the session, the right hon. gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department had given notice of his intention to introduce this bill, and he had now, on bring ing it in, favoured the house with a laboured defence of his conduct. His first proposition might be admitted with no difficulty. The conduct of the judge who tried Townley had been admirable, both at and after the trial. Having received the suggestion of Baron Martin, that further inquiry should be made into the prisoner's sanity, the right hon. gentleman had, in the first instance, desired the Lunacy Commis sioners to undertake the inquiry. They did so; and re ported that, according to the law as laid down by Baron Martin, the prisoner was sane and criminally responsible fer his actions. Passing o'er the two eubsequent certificates, he came to the last stage of the proceedings. The right hon. gentleman had eventually ordered four other gentlemen of the highest character to examine Townley, and they also laid reported him sate. But in the meantime there had been what the Home Secretary called a miscarriage of justice. Two certificates had been sent to the Home Office drawn up in so much haste that both were irregular. The hon. gen tleman contended that the words in the statute of Victoria, " it shall be lawful," were mandatory, and that when he re• ceived those certificates he was compelled to act upon them. But this he (Mr. Macdonough) denied. These words, "it shall be lawful," were generally permissive; they were only mandatory where public duty required a thing to be done. That was not the case in this instance, and, therefore, all that this Act did was to enable the Secretary of State to remove the prisoner to Bethlehem Hospital if he thought fit. The Home Secretary was not a mere automa ton, but had full discretion. The Act was clearly intended to apply to a man who became lunatic after judgment and before execution. On the receipt of these certificates a temporary respite should have been granted, and thereupon an inquiry should have been made as to how the borough justices came to go to the county gaol, and as to the nature of the evidence of insanity adduced on behalf of the prisoner by his attorney. It was the Home Secre tary's duty to have instituted such an inquiry, and not to have allowed a convicted criminal to escape by a trick. But he would, for the sake of argument, assume that the words in the statute were mandatory, and tied up the prerogative of the Crown. What, then, followed ? Why, that the respite thus brought about was only to provide for the postponement of the execution of the criminal's sentence until sanity returned. A woman quick with child, was, if convicted of murder, respited, but only until she had been delivered ; she was then executed. Sir G. GREY—Never; not for the last 30 years. Mr. MACDONOUGH—Which did the right hon. gen tleman mean-30 years or never ? The books were full of cases in which women quick with child at the time of sen tence had been executed after delivery. If, then, the loose Secretary was a mere puppet ; if the words of the first part of the statute were mandatory, the words of the latter part were also mandatory ; and on two physicians certifying the prisoner to be sane, he was bound to have ordered him to be recommitted back to gaol in order to undergo his sentence. Take it therefore either way—either that the words of the statute were mandatory or obligatory—and the conduct of the Home Secretary had been illegal, and there had been a miscarriage of justice. It lead been announced that night that after four most eminent medical men had pronounced Townley sane he was not to be executed. In former times pardons in case of treason and murder were obtained by the due influence of the high officers of State. To prevent this state of things acts of Parliament had been passed, direct. ing that the mode in which a murder had been committed should be setforth in a charter of pardon, in the belief that no being would - put his hand to a charter of pardon of a heinous clime. By the common law, also, a charter of par don obtained by a false statement became null and void. The Home Secretary should have acted by analogy with the statute and common law, and then this marriage ofjus tice arising out of a false suggestion made by the prisoner's attorney would not have taken place. For it certainly was a violation of the analogy of the law if a man was pardoned through the aid rendered to him by others who had used their influence unscrupulously. In conclusion, the hon. gentleman remarked that it was a melancholy thing to consider that a man had recently left this world with the words ringing in his ears, " Where is Townley ? Where is Townley ?" (Cheers.) Mr. NEA.TE thought the bill did not propose an ade quate remedy for the evil 'which had been pointed cut, As the law stood at present, it was possible for a hopeless lunatic to be executed if he murdered his keeper during a lucid interval. Great difficulty lay in the erroneous nature of the law, which dated back to a period when there was little knowledge of mental disease. There was, consequently, at the present time considerable difference between the legal and medical notions of insanity, and this led to hopeless conflict and perplexity. He would suggest that a Royal commission, or a committee of the house, should be appointed to inquire into the whole subject, and that eminent lawyers should be thereby afforded an oppor tunity of expressing their several opinions on the matter. On the Townley case he had few remarks to make, but he certainly could not understand on what grounds gentlemen arrived at so satisfactory convictions as to the sanity of Townley. Mr. LOCKE regretted that it should be considered by many that the introduction of the bill had been made neces• sary because it had been thought by a large proportion of the population of the country that there had been one law for the rich and another for the poor, No doubt, in conse quence of the provision of the Act of Parliament which it was now sought in some way to modify persons of wealth had had an opportunity of putting the law into operation, whereas poor men had been entirely debarred from so doing. He would ask the right hon. baronet whether he thought the present measure would get rid of all the objections which had been brought into prominence, on a late occa sion, in the case of Townley ? It was proposed that the certificate should be signed by the visiting justices ; but would their certificate compel the Secretary of State to grant a respite ? Sir U. GREY—No. Mr. LOCKE—Then where would be the alteration P The only alteration would merely be the substitution of " the visiting justices" for the " any two justices" of the present Act; and visiting justices wore not invariably men in whom implicit confidence could be placed. Punishment ought to be certain ; and as capital punishment had not been abolished altogether, he thought that there never was a case which more called for the punishment of death than the case of Townley. (Hear, hear.) There were no mitigating circumstances in it—(hear, hear) — and it was now clearly proved that at the time of the commission of the offence Townley was perfectly sane. He must say he was at a loss to discover why Townley was not to bo executed, unless, indeed, the punishment of death was to be abolished altogether. Looking at the question logically, and bringing one's common sense to bear upon it, ho could not see why the sentence was to be commuted. (Hear, hear.) Tho very circumstance of being placed on his trial might have affected his mind ; but he was sane at the period of his trial, and he was sane now. He begged to ask if, when representations were made by visiting justices and by the doctors as to the insanity of any,prisoner under sentence of death, the same course would be invariably fob lowed as in the case of Townley. He sincerely hoped that, when the bill was brought in, it would be most carefully considered by members, and that they would endeavour to avoid the opprobrium which had been cast upon the law by a recent execution. It certainly was thought that if the man Wright had had rich friends be might have put the law in motion with much more reason than in the case of Townley, as it was exceedingly doubtful whether he was in a fit state of mind to be placed on his trial. (Hear, hear.) Sir G. BOWYER believed it would have been quite ina possible for the Home Secretary to have acted otherwise than he did in the case of Townley, (Hear, hear.) The very existence of a doubt upon the occasion rendered it incumbent upon him to have acted as he did. He did not think, how ever, that the right hon. gentleman acted with equal judg ment in the case of the prisoner Wright. His execution, coming immediately after the respite of Townley, had every bad effect upon the poorer classes. It had produced amongst them a strong impression that there was one law for the rich and another for the poor. And indeed they all knew there was, although to some extent that was unavoidable; still it was very dangerous that such an impression should go forth. He had taken some pains to ascertain what the feeling abroad wee, and to that end he had visited the neighbourhood of the prison the night before the execution. No doubt he heard some nonsense spoken; but he had also heard speeches deliVeted which were marked by as much sound resents as any delivered in that house. Nor could he say that the feeling among those people was groundless, nor could he help feeling with them much indignation at what had occurred. As to the bill of the right hon. gentleman, he trusted that it would receive the fullest consideration; but he could not help feeling that the responsibility which it cast upon the visiting justices was too great. Sir B. LEIGHTON agreed that the visiting justices were the persons who ought to sign the certificates ; and conjointly with them the two medical officers attached to every gaol, and not medical men picked up anywhere and anyhow. He would suggest to the Home Secretary to in trodttco a new bill altogether, first repealing the 3d and 4th Victoria, instead of a simply amending bill. That would be much more convenient for justices, He himself was never likely to be called upon to determine as to the life or death of a man ; but he must say, if it was his fate, under the circumstances in which the right hon. gentleman was placed, he should have done precisely as he did. (Hear, hear,) Moreover, he believed that every man in that house at all acquainted with the course of criminal procedure would have done so. (Hear, hear.) Mr. BRIGHT—I wish to say that I have felt a great deal of pain at the speech of the hen, and learned mem ber for Sligo (Mr. Macdonough). (Hear, hear.) He has repeated in this house a great deal of what we have heard, or rather seen, in certain newspapers out of it. He and the writers to whom I refer—and probably they repre sent some portion of the public—seem to be extremely un happy because a criminal has escaped not punishment, but a certain punishment, and that considered generally the most dreadful of all punishments. Now, I confess the ca lamity to me is much less than if an innocent man had hap pened to be hanged. (Hear, hear.) And therefore I would feel a great deal of consolation if I was in favour of capital punishment, which I am not—(hear, hear)—not that an innocent man was not hanged, but that a guilty man had escaped a certain punishment which the law allots to his crime. The right hon. gentleman has made a statement which, I think, to every one who heard it—except the hon. and learned member for Sligo—must have been a complete justification of the right hon. gentleman's whole conduct in this matter. (Hear, hear.) The hon. baronet who has just sat down has told us that was the effect on his mind. But I am rather sorry that an hon. baronet opposite (Sir George Bowyer) has mixed up this question with the case of another unhappy man who was executed. That is not the case be fore us,and the two questions should not be mixed into one. It was a perfectly distinct matter on which they were in vited to express an opinion. I say there is no man in this house—unless it be the hon. and learned member for Sligo —and I will not here except him—who, if he had been in the position of the Home Secretary, would have acted diffe rently from the course which the right hon gentleman took. Why, it is a saying of an ancient writer, and not even a Christian — When the life of a man is in debate, No time can be too long, no pains too great, (Hear,hear.) And when the right hon.gentleman had these facts before him—of the notorious insanity of members of the prisoner's family—the evidence given at the trial—l will not say the opinion of the judge—but,at least the doubt of the judge—when all this and other evidence, not of me dical men, was brought before him, I say it was impossible for him to have taken any other course than what he did. (Hear, hear.) The right hon. gentleman did not allude to a case which occurred two years ago inNewcaetle-on•Tyne. It was my fortune at that time to be applied to by a medical man in Newcastle, who is since dead, on behalf of a per son then under sentence of death, who, being a man of morose and perverse nature, had quarrelled with a rate collector, followed him through the streets, and stabbed him in the back and killed him. He was tried, and if I am not mistaken, the plea of insanity was set up, and the jury, exactly as in the case of Townley, decided that it was not a case of the sort of insanity of which the law takes cognisance, and lee was convicted. The judge wrote to the Home Secretary expressing his doubts as to the sanity of the man, and I think also he expressed an opinion stronger and firmer of his being insane than in the case of Townley. An investigation took place, and the same thing was done as in the case of Townley. He was respited , and transferred from Newcastle to some hospital for criminal lunatics. where, if ho still lives, ho now remains, and has been for some time hopelessly insane. The medical man who attends my family said that he had opportunities of seeing this per son in gaol in Newcastle, where the prisoner could not pos sibly see him, and there was no manner of doubt as to his insanity. The jury decided that he was sane, and if it had not been for the interference of somebody, and if it had not been for the proper views the right hen. gentleman took of the case, that marl, though a confirmed lunatic, would have bean put to death in the presence of some 10,000 people of Newcastle. That might have been so in the preseest case ; and, for anything anybody knew, Townley at this momen`, or when the first investigation took place, might be as complete a lunatic as the criminal at Newcastle. Then, I say, the right hon. gentleman could have taken no other course than he has don e—(hear, hear)—and if there is any additional feeling of regret, and if that feeling has arisen in consequence of another execution having taken place so near, it is very unfortunate for the right hon. gentleman, and unfortunate for a fair view of the whole case. But I shut that entirely out. It is most unjust, in my opinion, to associate the last case with this. (Hear.) I have been in Parliament for 20 years, and have been very frequently in communication with the right hon. gentleman (the Home Secretary), and others who had filled that effice—l mean in cases of capital conviction andexpected executions, and I must say that I found every man whom I had occasion to see holding the office, and in no case more so than in that of the right hon. gentleman, the most intense anxiety, I believe, to do what was just, to do what the law and public opinion would sanction in each particular ease. I have not • agreed with the Home Secretary in several cases en the de cision that was come to, but it was not my duty to decide. My office merely was to set bsfire the Minister all the facts I could, in favour of a merciful consideration. I believe he has decided most fairly on the merits of each particular case, with a view as to what was right and proper, and without reference to rich or poor. (Cheers.) There must be a difference between rich and poor, if you have a law and execution of that law. It is clear that the poor man is so at present, in almost every transaction of life, placed at a dis advantage. Ho could not bring down from London an ex perienced lawyer at a fee of three hundred guineas ; he could not employ three keen-scented solicitors to discover every particle of evidence that could be got up. Therefore the poor man stands in a position which challenges the sympathy of levery man who is concerned in the administra tion of justice ; and especially when you come to consider the punishment of death, and to look upon it as a punish ment, such as no other punishment is, almost irrevocable. (Hear,) In these cases the position of the convict used to be far worse when the execution took place within three days of conviction. Now, when execution takes place in a fortnight, three weeks, or a month after sentence, a man lies in gaol, and unless somebody, stirred by a higher or better spirit, strives against his doom, a few paragraphs in a newspaper are all that appear to tell of the miserable and tragic story. It is in the nature of the punishment of death. and is inseparable from, that this great and terrible wrong is committed, I believe there can be no remedy so long as this punishment remains. The right hon. gentlemen said, what you wanted was the certainty of punishment ; but you can have no certainty of punishment with the punishment of death. Your punishment of death is the remains of the savagery and barbarism of old times. (Cheers.) It has already perished before the indignation and the enlightenment of the public, except for the crime of murder. Your punish ment is at war with the best and noblest fa ntiments of the best and noblest portion of the people, and every year, if you allow this to go on, there will be a great war between the duty of the Secretary for the Homo Department and the consciences and sense of the best portion of your population. I must say I am astonished that there is a man to be found —and I am only stating now in public what I have fre quently stated to the Secretary of State in private—that a man is to be found to hold that office, and to undergo the agony—and I have seen the agony—of having to decide upon these cases; and if he has not daring that time exa mined the whole question philosophically and religiously, and come to the conclusion that capital punishments are not necessary, and that he had been able to submit a pro posal to Parliament for the abolition of this punishment. There is not a country in which capital punishment is abo lished in which there has been au increase of crime, in which crime on the whole has not diminished, and in which the public has not gained immensely. And I believe as firmly as I do anything I know, anything which is a fact, that anything which has passed for the abolition of capital punishments will net be accompanied by an increase of the crime of murder, but will tend to make life more sacred among our people, and will cease to subject in the course of a year scores of thousands of your population to the most demoralising spectacle which it is Lossible to bald forth to civilised men. (Cheers.) Sir J. FAKINGTON—The case of Townley has at tracted so much public attention that I am anxious to state the impression made on my mind. It will be very satisfac tory to the public that this case has been brought before the house and fairly and impartially discussed, and I must say that I do not think it could have been brought forward in a manner more satisfactory than it has been by the introduc tion of the bill moved for this evening. I think. the right hon. gentleman has taken a course becoming . his position, and has done no more than his du t y in proposing the bill, and he would have felled in his duty if be had not dealt with that state of the law under which Townley escaped the doom due to his crime. The right hon. gentleman had the alternative of repealing or amending T I-2.t law, and I think there are obvious reasons why it would have beei.!lnwi se to propose altogether to repeal the law ; and concurring as I do in the determination come to by the right hon. gentleman to amend the enactments of that objectionable, and I might almost say absurd law, I am bound to add that I do not think he could have laid the ground for the amendment of the law more judiciously than he has explained to-night. The hon, member for Southwark made some remarks on the subject of visiting justices, observing that they are liable to the same infirmities as other justices. That, perhaps, _ _ may be true ; but if the right hon. gentleman is right in maintaining the principal enactments of the law, you must give the power to some justices. The law enacts that jus tices, in conjunction with medical men, are to have the power; and would you have them selected, as in the case of Townley, by the agent of the prisoner ? That is not, I should say, a course which the hon. and learned gentleman would approve. It seems to me, then, that no better plan could be adopted than to commit the duty to the ma gistrates who are intrusted with the care of the district gaol. Then as to the choice of the medical men. I am also of opinion that the right hon. gentleman is right in leaving it to the visiting justices on their own responsibi lity. I must now allut,? to the obloquy to which the right hon. gentleman has been subjected f o r the part he has taken in the case. It is no part of my d u t y to compliments to him. I frankly own Ido not think he would ha: 6 been exposed to all these attacks if it had not been for the serious mistake which he committed in the case of Jessie Maclachlan at Glasgow, and the distrust thereby occasioned in the public mind, (Hear.) With regard to the Townley case it would be an injustice to the right hon. gentleman, of which I cannot consent to be guilty, if I did not express in the most explicit terms my opinion that he does not deserve the blame which has been cast upon him. (Hear, hear.) The chief complaint against the right hon. gentleman has been for having acted on the certificate sent from Derby. It has been said that that document was open to technical objec tions. The right hon. gentleman treated with very proper ridicule the difficulty suggested on account of its having been signed on a Sunday. The other objection is of more weight, and turns on the formal question whether the bo rough magistrates have any authority in regard to the county gaol. That is not a fair way of looking at the matter, Here is the Act of Parliament ; here is the certificate mainly and essentially complying with that Act. Would any sensible man in the position of the right hon. gentle man have ventured to send Townley to execution in the face of that certificate P (Hear, hear.) I say the right hon. gentleman if he had done so would have assumed a more grave and solemn responsibility than any other man in his place would have dared to incur. (Hear, hear.) He took the only course he could. (Hear, hear.) The Act of Parlia ment was, no doubt, a bad one ; and here I agree with the hon. gentleman that we cannot blame the attorney for the prisoner for availing himself of any legitimate means at his command in order to extricate his client from the position in which he was placed. At the same time, everybody must feel, as a matter of common sense, that Townley escaped the gallows only by what we must call a juggle and a trick. (Hear.) As to the man's insanity, there are not fifty persons in England who do not believe that he was sane at the time he committed the murder, and that he has been so 'ever since—as sane as any man can be deemed who is in such a frame of mind as to be capable of perpetrating so atrocious a crime. (Hear, hear.) Up, then, to the time of the report from the four medical men who visisted Townley in Bedlam, I think the right hon. gentleman has been most unfairly blamed, and that, under the very difficult and pain ful circumstances of the case, he took the only course open to one in his situation. In what lam about to add I am glad to have the sanction of the hon. and learned member for Southwark ; but I fear I shall express an opinion which is not shared by the public generally. I feel bound to say that I think the Government committed a mis take in the ultimate reprieve of Townley. I cannot un derstand on what principle of justice he was at last saved from execution. We have heard a great deal just now from the hon. member for Birmingham in opposition to death. punishments altogether. That, however, is not the ques tion before us. We must take the law as we find it. Here is the case of one of the most atrocious crimes on record, without a single palliating circumstance, so that if ever a murderer deserved execution this Townley was that one. He was not, and is not, insane. He was saved by a trick. When the right hon. gentleman wrote to the Derby magis trates he reminded them distinctly that rownley's sentence was merely respited, and not commuted. No sooner, hcw ever, was the right hon. gentleman fully and legally at liberty to order,the execution of Townley than the sentence of death was commuted to one of penal servitude for life. The right hon. gentleman has referred to another case which happened some years ago, of a somewhat similar character. That is not a fair way of judging the present case. It ought to be decided on its own merits, and incon flexion with all its circumstances. The shortness of time which has elapsed in the course of the proceedings ought to be borne in mind. Had there not been a special winter asaize Townley would not have been tried till March. More over, it is to the credit of the right. hon. gentleman that no time was lost in the subsequent inquiries. Then, again, the very deficient Act, which it is proposed to amend, ex pressly states that when the sanity of a prisoner is again established the punishment is to revive. The right hon. gentleman quoted a passage from Black stone in which it is laid down that in a case of in sanity execution is to be stayed. No one can doubt the propriety of that rule ; and it must necessarily be left a matter of discretion, under such circumstances, how far the punishment is to be revived. Seeing, however, that in this case the sanity of the prisoner was placed beyond a doubt, considering the shortness of the time whieh had elapsed and the atrocity of the crime, I cannot but think that justice shiAild have been allowed to take its course. (Hear; hear.) As to the Case of Wright, the right hon. gentleman was exposed to a degrCe of pressure such as few Ministers, per haps, could have withstOdy and acted, in my opinion, with a firmness which did him greii , credit. (Hear, hear.) Leave was then given to bring in the bill. CONVEYANCING, &c., (IRELANt?; BILL. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL for Ireland a.s.btained leave to bring in a bill to amend the law relating to con veyancing, special pleaders, and draughtsmen in equity purchasing in Ireland. METROPOLITAN RAILWAY SCHEMES. Mr. MILNER GIBSON, in moving for a committee to considering the best method of dealing with the railway schemes proposed to be sanctioned within the metropolis by bills to be introduced in the present session, and to re port whether any, and, if any, what schemes should not be proceeded with during the present session, named Mr. Milner Gibson, Lord Stanley, Mr. Massey. Colonel Wilson Patten, and Mr. Herbert. He proposed that a message be sent to the Lords to acquaint them that this House has appointed a committee consisting of five members to join with a committee of the Lords "to crnsider the best means, tc, and to request that their Lordships will be pleased to appoint an equal number of Lords to be joined with the members of this house? He would state the general grounds on which it appeared to the Government desirable to adopt that course. It would be remembered that during the last session the committeee of the other House had been appointed to con sider the railwaylbills which had been introduced during the past session, and that they had made their inquiry a 'Tell • minary step to any bill being proceeded with in the other house, and had recommended that some of the schemes then proposed should be stopped. It had appeared to the Go vernment that, if an exceptional course of that kind were desirable with reference to that class of private bills, at any rate it should be concurred in by both Houses of Parlia ment; that a committee of one house, or a committee cf either separately, was not so desirable for a preliminary in quiry of thst kind as would be a committee composed of members of both Houses of Parliament, thus giving the whole weight of the Legislature to a recommendation with reference to these railway bills. The House of Lords' Com mittee of last session had recommended that there should be a committee for the purpose of subjecting the metropoli tan railway schemes of the session, previous to a second reading, to a critical inquiry. In all probability the other house would adopt that course, whatever course were adopted by the House of Commons. It appeared, therefore, to the Government to be a proper course, considering the vast number of important railway bills affecting the metro polis which were proposed to be introduced during the pre sent session, considering the magnitude of the interests with which they interfered, considering the great powers they asked for taking land and houses, and considering the great interference which were proposed with the public thoroughfares and drainage which would take place during the time these railways were under construction, that there should be a committee for the purpose of considering those railway schemes as a whole—for the purpose of endeavour ing to give Parliament that advice which, on the whole appeared the most desirable to be followed, in order, if addi tional metropolitan railway communicat ion were a necessity of the day, that communication might, at any rate l be after full and careful consideration, an d with the minimum of interference with local interests and the maximum of public convenience. Though the proposal he now made on the part of the Government was novel, it was net altogether without precedent. lie need hardly say that . the subject of metropolitan communication was of vast importance. (Hear, hear.) The bills concerned both Houses of Par liament and it was des irable that the recommendation of a committee should have the authority of both 'douses. (Hear, hear.) He thought a joint committee like that proposed was much m ore likel y to give a united authorita tiveopinion than if they were to consist of separate com mittees. He bad reason to believe that the proposition would be favourably received by the other house. If, how ever, the other house should, on consideration, decline, the proposal he now made for the appointment of the committee of the House of Commons would be complete as far as it went. The right hon. gentleman pointed out the necessity of grouping the schemes now proposed, which, he said, as far as concerned the limited area of the metropolis, fur the present session involved an expenditure of £31,000,000 or £35,000,000 sterling, and scheduled out for railway pur poses one-tough of the area of the City proper. (Laughter.) Under those circumstances he hoped that the house would feel that the Government had only done their duty in pro. posing the course to which he then asked the house to as sent. The right hon. gentleman concluded by proposing his motion. Mr CRAW FORD BPid this was not an engineering ques. ....-,.........0................5rara., - - —WA ..:le°il3g ..... tion, but a large question of social economy, and involved num, less income-tax, p he , reserve fund , a 61 . 1 ree.q „rtere: important interests of a large mass of the population, that a balance of £3,000 for t would not have an opportunity of being thoroughly con- credit of the next account. , A mile and tn rel A id 11 13 'able on the 19th i11 , E 4 k o9 to the sidered in this committee. He adverted to the vast number the line between Lurgan a n, I Moira have id sleepers, an.. e 0 ve st die, of railway stations p ro j ec ted in the city, which, he said, had fish-jointed rails and mos( At been tensi le re° anticipaeen:: a prosy , of all the railway accommodation that could be newels of timber and ballast h eve been andeffeicuted I. g required. Re .Iwelt upon the enormous amount, of property growing requirements of the t raffle, four owerful,losief destroyed in furtherance of railway schemes, and upo2 the the opening of the Banbridge line , n dA umuljst last, utt , 4 niggardly compensations, as weal as upon the personal in- were era for delivery in Ja ly b r last. The °P et ad convenience sustained by individuals, especially the poorer two of them "ere delivered in T.l ecem eNorth-Westeta 14 ' , classes of persons. o f t h e eemmun icsation with the Iris h , wag gon tob` Lord ;STANLEY said he did not rise to express any Midland lines at Clo:tes cansed ti al traffic. A'" B",-,,e sad opinion upon the question of metropolitan railway cora- less available than formerly for 1 0 c line had been Pa'''," c. munication, nor did ho wish to object to the present pro- in respect of the Clones L:tensill' he company 6 . ii ~, c ati tg oineer. The ca 517 ~.8 a position of a joint committee of both houses ; but he settled with the contractor a.:ld el.' Dw that £1,331077 P' hoped it would not be inferred that it was to be a prece- counts of the old and new lines she dent for future occasions. This plan of a joint committee been expended. was practically a novelty. There had been, it was true, joint committees in very remote times, hut the object of such joint committees was not to make a report. They were appointed for the purpose of collecting information and preparing iden tical evidence to be laid before the two Houses; so that practically the present proposition was a novelty. The re commendation of the committee appointed last year was against the appointment of joint committees and in favour of having the number of members serving on committees reduced from five to three ; and further, that either house would take the report of the other as sufficient for the pur poses of examination. He believed that if the private bill business was to be retained before Parliament, that was the only way to deal practically with it ; and that it was a h et :, - "r plan than joint committees of both houses. He thought in this case it would have been better if the initiative had not been left to private enter prise. ; for, although he beived that Sir Robert Peel was right in not giving the initiative i.s.f the railways to the Go vernment, yet in the case of London it would have been better if somebody whose opinion would be listened to with respect had been appointed by Government, and that, put ting aside all the plans proposed by the railway companies, the Government had brought forward the scheme devised by such a functionary, and offered it for completion to any party who would give the necessary guarantee. By adopt ing such a course the Government would have obtained a more complete and homogeneous system than at present. But the time was now too late for it. (Cries of No, no.) Well, if it were possible still to adopt such a system, he could only say it was so much the better. Mr. MASSEY was of opinion that a very little exten sion of the existing railway s would amply meet all the wants of the capital, without cutting up and destroying the town n all directions, as was contemplated by the various projects now before the house. He disapproved of the proposal to inquire by a joint committee of both houses. Lord J. MANNERS concurred in the opinion expressed by his noble friend, and thought the proposal of a joint committee of the two houses was both too late and insuffi cient for any useful purposes. Sir J. SHELLEY also described the proposal as crude and unsatisfactory, and having urged the advantage of delay, moved the adjournment of the debate. The amendment was seconded by Lord ENFIELD, who advocated the appointment of a Royal Commission, with a rigid exclusion of civil engineers. Mr. Crawford, Mr. Scourfield, Sir M. Peto, Mr. Selwyn, Lord Fermoy, and Mr. Locke participated in the discussion which ensued, and Sir J. Shelley having consented to withdraw his amendment, the motion for a committee was agreed to. The other business on the paper was also disposed of, and the house adjourned at 20 minutes past 12 o'clock. RAILWAY AND CANALot It appears from a return of the Board ' Trade just issti'' 13 6 ' in Great ~,, that the number of • , n a mounts tale and Ireland deposited for this includiogo:; Of this number 291 authorise newseswsioonks • hexililast.proLnoted by new companies, and rl4; bills ° b lt' BILLS• _A ing companies. Of the 142 bills prom t''n ;0 of companies , railw 131 are for the construction a 1,./7",noes itx railway in England, 7 for the construction a miles.ll '" ilo ay Scotland, and 14 for t ate construction of 174 ' f b r o ll eO t ' in Ireland. With resPect to the 143 bills promoted To i m of ruagiw companies, 123 are for the construction of 71 1 000 0 1 i ay in England, 15 for the construction of 63 1 • 41 ° Ott ofrailwayrailwain .Scotland, and 5 fa' the construction of . L a: AO yin Leland, The total length of prorwAiiitloth lines is,therefore, 3,099 miles; idea there are in io' 66 miles of deviations from lines a:r dy authoribea' _ RAILWAY BILLS. , a o'o Yesterday, before the examiners, the b .. b an- . ing tto " were declared to have been complied with in r e li c Cbir following railway bills :—Waterford and Wel_,.„.tjatt ping-Norton and ThAnbury, 'Wallingford and il• Or Liverpool Central Staoon, Alford and IfilablethorPe,otriep Riding and Grimsby, Vaidstone and Ashford, &OS Stamford, and Essendine (Sibson Extension) iyistol Western Canal and Bristol aod Exeter B,ailvisPstiosh c e c l u l r , coksfis ß ienl ic dg k )a, m uw an d s and South Wales Union, West Drayton an d 0 1 0 ) Hs (Leve lt :a l w d , eil w lad o y r w t o h airdg,B A enH m t,e e a rir ,a n y in ialinond n op w ail f23 oo C f; ) : wall (Extension), Blyth and Tyne oionsl North Durham, Blyth and Tyne (new wor , ..' c O* ter o Oloch e The only case of non - compl iance was thei and Wiltshire. ---...............••••••••• _--, _-.—-- _ COUNTRY MARKETS. d rat COLCIIE SI'.ER—FEB. 6, th is tif t o We had a small show of wheat on offer is per 4 0 to , to-day, and former prices were exceed°, by isr o thr; "t 0 Fine malting barley scarce, and q uite as dear f ails 0 f • in fair demand, and late rates supported. 1e rather higher in price. ak ,,,,,,gar1.'" 7 7 ,,, Wheat, white. 448 508 8ean5,.01.7700,11.L.- 3°o red 40s 44s middle °' OO Barley '' '' ''' Oats ' ..„ 2os 25s grel' '' .0 - --- GLOUCESTER—FE' wheat There was a good show of English tbero the farmers, which met a fair sale at prices r a ther of sellers. Foreign wheat dull, w ith no i/Aji. prices of last week. Barley, oats, an d beans " NORTHAMPTON—FEB• 6 ' tel l • The trade in wheat ~was moderate, but recent:4r 13 higher. Barl6s' in middling dewand, an d . o fer.t/‘ lee rates. Oats in good demand, and rath e :t s ; OR" 30 01 rates.—White wheat, 43s to 475 . .; red, 39s to 1 5e toe to —s per qr. Barley, 34s to 375—grindi05. 413. Oats, 18s to 32s per 24 stone. Beans, 380 to 30s to 38s per qr. .4 RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE, THE GREAT EASTERN. The directors of this company have declared'a dividend at the rate of two and a half per cent, per annum on the ordinary stock of the company for the halt-year ending the 31st of December last. --- CHELMSFORD—Frv. 5 , 0 fr' At this corn exchange to-day there viaß II S od wheat, which met a rather dull sale. Darla,' ° SSO articles firm, and unaltered in price. .„, p . ° Wheat, old white 30s 48s Yeas, Partv u g",..,..: 3 : 'r new 44s 51s White .•• • • : ~•'33s 3:0 old red 34s 41s ~90liing •• .. ...., A new 38s 42s 1.11.;n.• ••• • ' ' ....go u. "q Barley 25s 34s Ditto 1 1 .e li i , . o . lcl •• ,o al Chevalier 26s 378 Beans, Tie" , p oly•';,so ;ii Grndng 20s 29s ,•,:ks • • ,- 4} s go Ma1t..... 61s 67s harrow ' ll e vionns , r Chevalier . 64s 69s .• Oats 20s 28s Mazagan •'''' COAL /twee ot'Coal per Ton al _ lARK ET • S O D *h the dose ot • A. 9 Witlll4e girA • .15 • 1 9 6 Kelloe ........ ~.• 19 South Kelloe..•• ...,..19 6 Hartlepool • • • 96 East HartlePo,o,ol••,l9 9 Trinidon Hart' fi 0 South klartleP° ~• 19 9 Rid dell ...... • • " 0 rassop ...... • 9 Wharncliffe. • w ' 0 ,.• 1 11 0 B r addyir tut ~,•90 Tunstall .• • • '''',•• •• l 9 9 Hetton ...... 6 South fiettoo• • 0 IGosforth .... ..',1 9 3 Caswell ...... IS 6 CarA:doo .... ' 1 ;101 ''l 9 , 6 Tr imn „T i r m o • Russer s••• Whitworth . P .. 177 ; e01 d . 95. s. d. Bower's West Hartley.ls 0 Byass's Bebside West Hartley ....14 9 Lambert's West Hart- _ ley 14 6 Walker Primrose 12 9 Hastings Hartley l4 9 West Hartley 15 0 Davison's West Hart ley 15 0 Cow pen Hartley 15 0 lanfield Moor ....15 6 Tanfield Moor Butes ..15 6 Eden Main l2> 6 Batea'sWest Hartley 14 Holywell ..17 6 Wylam 16 6 Walls End. Heugh Hall 19 0 Ships at market Foreign Mail Packet X _Australia and MauritiusMA. , IviaLSsoDuUthEarn. 00.. ... c; , 11 6 , 5.5' Cape Verds, Brazil and C byviaßNriltarseishilles ......... .., CFaaplkeloafndGolo sl d 7m ll d o so pe Ascension and SO -Jew-0 ~ (;bins, Penang, Icvuiat ta i s) and u cl t h S a i fl u m e ::: l o p o n o n r : e: ; : 7: : .aitiliSiruc°.B.t:. .9.1Evil:.0.9.:0.:•••••.:1,0:11:0.vil. ::: , via _ , s ffi e ,o .. i t, ... " " r:, 13 1 ;,1 5 " India (Bombay), via Southampton .CI 8.;;:an:l. ...... . :fieellil: Portugal Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via SouthamPt°"' ...e b. U. S. and British .... ... .v . ii: . 11:1 . 7 . ei . i . 1!5 . ....... ............... ~..: ..••• : 0 : : r c e et , 17 0 .. , 1 1 ' 61: ... . y 6 - via Marseilles ... 4 ... • ' 1 1, Newfoundland .. Oporto and Vio ...................... .•".:0' isi N. America, by . Brit."'. 5) . ➢ . ............ Feb' 1 101: W.C. of Africa, Madeira, by nif a ful''t 11 - by cr. U.S. a P i a: P. p ' s. e . it . e .t : f: c e b : : * 1 1, - and Tenerl °i•;;., .•• , f0 A Bahamas, via New Y Nlexico ............ .ork ............... .,_., . rg".ifelPr All parts of West Indies, .in..c.luTua.g. ......... J e. . ) California. and British C o l um bia,. .... f ... ..,' 4 0 1: fro P m er a s l o l n d s ebt in s an '-r---'':-'----.----'------'d d eb li t al7: r mprisonment or se.'_ mire of their goods , ss"' by $l 7l a / p A r avi o - te e e tt li w °ll ,, e li t o ele : o6 , obtain instant to Messrs. Marshall, ors of the Cour t ° tS• I, Oa 6, Chars es under £5 payable , by easy instaltrocir- , (established 183002, Hatton-garden. C M age 0. gate-street, Bank.-ADVT. ties without publicitY, i )3 ,01: 00 ei . , y al/ M tit °l ,e , ADVERTISEMENTd-Avoid medicines s tb e-ocjoitgri b., 4 -- r vete chronic complaints, but Du BarrY ls P .,,,, ' 6 w re it° r 's , Restoring Revalenta Arabica Food, which '`, 14 60 e. . hy t i oo its cost in other remedies, invariably cur ° : uell it p. ll pot perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound fUng":44i, 0 0 0 '0 pure blood, refreshing sleep, functional regu le : o t $ n ott o i ; to the most disordered or enfeebled. We , e „lfsr ell itr f je , of 60,000 Cures :-Cure No. 58,216 of Ow 01 ' o ,t, 0 0 years, debility, with a nervous Brehan, Paris, of a iiver complaint, wasting $ ~ o i nc or s digestion, constant sleeplessness, thernost intolliorac 0 agitation, and dreadfully low spirited.-Cere 4 le 6 - 4° o o, Stuart de Decies, Lord Lieut. of Waterford, :00, ~ dyspepsia.-NO. 49,832. "Fifty yeare' Indcre,, 0 0 . jog' o f from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthina, ocoh'"'"isfi"„ftei!,oo flatulerry, spasms, sickness, and vorniting;K, scl'efollFo -Cure No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of f il d, liVe r silto l foif thirty years' diseased lungs, ,pitting of WI 0 0 4'0 0 ' ment, and partial deafness.-Cure o. 4 7,12 • ,1 05...,e Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestioo;:oe P a toll : ;, , spirits, and nervous fancies. -Cure No. 54 10 . 8 o ticilLlttli e ll o PalpitatiollPeri:oo, T. Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, "at i lid 7jica lt- go ; ( 0; dity of the liver, which had resistedi all to e . 12 1 h., f p% 0 In tins,l lb., 25. 9d. ; 21b., 45..6d , ~ 11 „ ° ,. ; t-str ee r tet oi°- 4010.-Barry Du Barry and Co., No. 77, Reg:, and v" ,/ also Fortnum and Mason ; and all GrOoe"" .- very town of the United Kingdom. f - ------- ofif e°l Births. to' 1 a-ete' Oa' ALlsoN—On the Bth inst., at 43 litit.sll eon ' of $ anti Lieutenant-Colonel A. Alison, C.D ., roe - .At 'ev e is aP - Illcx.s-On the 6th inst., at Southyll o f a it nt oot park, the wife of Colonel B , sell iliettbill, P - Jr' ST. LEGER-On the 6th inst., at Fa r -bter VP" the wife of Major St. Leger, of a dallgcrvosePt TAYLOR- On the 6th inst., at Lav en t ; worth, Mrs. Tom Taylor, of a 0110 P P' $ atoll; m ar riageS• 401 tiOiV, w et o' HORNCASTLE-FARBROTHER--011J1Inecotle, cc'isogliter James's, Paddington, Mr. John tie r _ 0180,,,,,eit hope-terrace, Hyde-park-gardens, tu o i iliao- op Edmund Seymour Farbrother, Es q., ClOr 117 , shire ~ at 94 4 110 1 ail W l"' VP A rite , 0' HANYEY-SOUTHEY-On the at.. _ rs 0 0 ,0 I 4 0C Bluest, youngest 8011 of John -1311eseariotttf ClP'" Park-crescent, Portland - pl ace, they, 0544 eldest daughter of Thomas Souapt, house, Clapham-park 0 0 " t' Oil owe D eathe. 4 05 8, $O O BENTLEY-On the Bth inst., at L41)1000011 Cie ' off Matthew Bentley, Esq , late of the 40 000.= , . 0 house, aged 71. a i ,. ~., h ot , :0 03 CLOVER-On the 2d inst., at Bali 0 ' Dli til ile0; Esq., aged 7 5 . We ' oP Davy, Esq,, late of Leeds, aged D e is le of SJ3 4 DAVY-On the 3d inst., at Seaton Car ew, ft,yde. lotion, 4,000 GORDON-On the 4th inst,, at /3 , 4" ii lr f utd ° Abernethie Gordon, - R t 13e t/ 40 e a (I 82, s tree t ' ong" 10 1# GunDoN-On the 6th inst. at II ro f pr 00 Amy Louisa, youngest 'dangllte 0 3° _ t er Esq., M.P., aged 30. f. f o'llll lo or Ow HALLOWES—On the 6th aIS.• io tolir lowes, Lieut. R. N., aged 61 * tip per C' ' - - A s , HARRIS-On the 3d inst., 8t ' - '1) - fl y ll' Harris, Esq., aged 7 9 . 410 rio' if -sq., late of --- . ', s ued DY IV 5 111' , he a - - 11 ,-141/ ` 0 0 O f/ London : Prir,ted and Pr',2- sheTO , 41 w of No. 112, Strand, Printer, 6,,,foyi, Strand, in the Precinct Of (4, 02. Aliddleses,-Tuesdity, eproP' VALE OF NEATH. The directors of this company have agreed to recommend to their proprietors at the half-yearly meeting to be held oit the 19th inst., the declaration of a dividend on the ordinary stock of the company, at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum. MID KENT. The half- yearly meeting of this company was held yes terday, at the office, Duke-street, Westminster, Mr. W. A. Wilkinson in the chair. The re?ort stated that the agreement with the South- Eastern Railway Company having come into operation on the Ist of July last, the company are now in receipt of the interest payable by that company on the Mid Kent Com pany's share capital, in lieu of the traffic earnings. The rent charges and the half-year's interest on so much of the debenture debt as was created for the purposes of the main line being also payable by the Southern-Eastern Company, in accordance with the agreement, the directors are in a po sition to recommend a dividend of 3 1 per cent. for the half year. The South-Eastern Company have introduced the necessary bill into Parliament this session for the formal completion of the agreement which now regulates the rela tions of the two companies. The works on the Addiscombe Extension have been unexpectedly delayed by the wet autumn and other causes, but the line is new practically completed, and will be opened in the course of the month, The capital account shows that £153,481 had been expended. The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report, said they had made a very satisfactory agreement with the South-Eastern Company. No one could grumble, as they had obtained a fair interest on their outlay. He believed it was an equally good agreement for the South-Eastern Com pany. The cost of the line was moderate, and from the ex isting traffic on the railway he thought it was quite as de sirable for the South-Eastern to have the line as it was for the Mid Kent Company to sell it. Mr. L. SIMPSON seconded the motion, and it was carried unanimously. A dividend at the rate of 31 per cent. for the past half-year was declared. Captain Edwards, the retiring director, and Mr. Room, the retiring auditor, were re elected. The CRAIRWAN said they were obliged to keep up the u 3 . ; . rection of the company until the bill passed. The p :oceedings concluded with a vote of thanks to the chairman ant; directors. GREAT SOUTI; .511 N AND WESTERN. The report of the directors ulf this company states that £224,226 had been received for traffic during the half-year ending the 31st of December last against £217,712 for the corres p on ding half of 1862, showing an incres.: e of £6)544. Out of the net surplus revenue for the half-year 0t: 93,639 the directors recommended that a dividend at the rate ..4 471 per cent. per annum be paid to the proprietors on the consolidated stock of the company, leaving £8,319 to the credit of the next account. The Irish South-Eastern Rail way, from Carlow to Kilkenny, became amalgamated with this company on the Ist July last. The branch from Ros crea to Nenagh was opened for traffic on Oct. 5, but, owing to the unfinished state of the stations and approaches, has not contributed much to revenue ; unexpected difficulties have prevented the completion of the line to Birdhill, but it is now in a very forward state. The company had been reluctantly obliged to cease working the Bagnalstown and Wexford Railway, between Bagnalstown and Ballywilliam, ' as in its present incomplete state the receipts were insuffi cient to pay the expenses. The directors have entered into amicable arrangements with the Grand Canal Company ; and also for through booking of goods and passengers with every portion of the London and North-Western Railway, the Cork and Waterford steam companies being parties thereto ; all of which, they trust, will insure that harmony and unity of action so essential to the development of rail way traffic. The capital account shows that £5,652,416 had been expended, including £142,824 for the purchase of the Irish South-Eastern Railway. The revenue account for the half year ending D, c. 31 shows that £226,094 had been received, end £100,928 expended, leaving a balance of £125,166, to which is added £1,559 from the preceding ac count, making an available sum of £126,725, out of which £33,086 has been deducted for interest on loans and prefer.. ence shares, leaving as above £93,639. GREAT WESTERN OF CANADA. The loss on exchange by the conversion of American money received for the carriage of through traffic from the commencement of the current half year to the 23d January, 1864, amounted to £38,020, and at that date there was a further sum of American funds still remaining to be con verted of 73,013. SCINDE. It appears by advices from Kurrachee of the 9th January that this company's staff of engineers was then about to commence the survey of the line for the extension of the railway from near Kotree along the Indus Valley to a junc tion with the Punjab Railway at Mooltan, and that the authorities had directed that every information and assist ance along the route should be given to the company's engi neers in order facilitate their operations. With regard to the company's steam flotilla, it was stated that the number of voyages performed between Kotree, the present terminus of the Scinde Railway on the Indus, Sukkur, and Mooltan, was 42 during the year 1863, against 28 in the year 1862. The gross earnings of the flotilla for the half-year ending Dec. 31 last amounted to 370,000 rupees, against 300,936 for the last eight months of 1862, showing a considerable increase. ULSTER. The report of the directors of this company states that the gross receipts on the Ulster and Dungannon lines for the half year ending December 31 last amount to £62,440 against £57,639 for the corresponding half of 1862, show ing an increase of £4,891. The working expenses amount to £28,923, which represents the cost of working 105 miles for the whole period, and 15 miles of the Banbridge line since the 13th July. The locomotive charges were some what increased by the deficiency of engines, and the conse quent necessity of having the entire stock almost daily in steam. The increase in the working expenses, after de ducting £1,804, received for working the Banbridge line. was £2,523. After paying interest on loans and other pre ference charges, the total sum available for dividend was £21,912, out of which the directors recommend a dividend of 255. per share on the £5O shares, and 12s. 61. per share on the £25 ohms, being at the rate of 5 per cent, per an- te i Lbie eet ldiat t it : 47 leet. it 4 L 4 4 krNC ' e k r t e iri To b e t l o: L CaPit; Nitkt ,