The Sun. — London, England, 1863-12-18 00:00:00

THE CRAWLEY. COURT-MARTIAL. The court-martial cm Lieut.-Colonel Crawley waq resumed yesterdaymornin a t the Club-house., g Aldershot, after an adjournment of a week to enablf the prisoner to pre pare his defence. HosveYermuct L public iwerest may have flagged during the cour se of this lengthened inquiry, the appearance of tile court indicated that r.lo such feeling was to be evinct,d by those w h o were .able to gain admission to 'Lts precincts. Nearly , 3,tic whole of the space hith e : t o devoted to the gene ral public was appropriated to rows of reserved sea;ts, duly numbered, which,' .)n , before the o pening ix. C the court, began to be filled by distinguished visit( irs, together with many of acers and l a dies. Among, it those present were Lord and L a dy Chelmsford, Sir W. Hayter, Colonel M'IVI - urdo and lady, Mr. Hetttllam, M.P., Judge Advocate- General, Sir E. Luga rd, Sir Harry Jones, General Brook Tiylor, Genet al Aitchinson, Colonel Scott, Colonel Luard, Co!ona ! Kr)ox, 18th Hussars, Colonel Bentinek, Colonel N.tpier, &c. Oa the Court re-assembiing, Colonel Crawley said—May I ask at this stage to introduce to the court the letter which I 'wrote in application to the Horse Guards for the production of the historical memoir of the 6th Dragoons men tioned by Sir Hugh Rose, and also to read the reply to my application ? The President—Certainly. Colonei Pipon then read the letter of application from the prisoner for the production of the memoir in question, and the reply of the Adjutant-General, Sir James Yorke Scarlett, informing him that the Field-Ma.rshal Commanding-in-Chief considered that the production of that document would be detrimental to the public service, and was, there fore, unable to consent to its production. A copy of an address delivered by Colonel Crawley to the officers of the Inniskillings, on the 2d March, 1863, shortly after the Mhow court martial, and also verified extracts from the court martial books of the regiment , w ere p ut in as evi dence and attached to the proceedings. The former inculcated good feeling amongst the officers, declaring that two pa rties no longer existed in the regiment; and the o bject of the latter w a s to show that a far smaller number or courts-martial took place during the tim e he commanded the regi ment than in any prec edin g p eriod. Having obt a i ne d leave to postpone callin g the witnesses to cha rac t er until after the conc lusion of his statement, Colonel Crawley then proceeded to ree d the fol lowing address: —At last, Sir —at last—the hour has arrived when I. am permitted t o speak in my ght be supp ose d that, for an o wn defence. It might officer who has the honour to command a regiment secon d to none in her Majesty' s service—it might I say, th a t th e d ay upon wh i c h have been supposed , such a man was arraigned as a prisoner before this tribunal would hav e b een to him one of bitter humi liation and unmixed regret. Strange, indeed, must have been the combination of circumstances and cruel the caprice of fortune, by which to me, who for 30 years have faithfully served my country and my Queen, the prospect of this trial has been that to which alone for many a dreary month I have been able to look forward with comfort and satisfac tion. I speak in the presence of men—of men of honour and of gentlemen—who are capable of ap- preciating that which I have had so long to endure. To have been for months the mark of public scorn and the object of popular execrwion ; to know that my name had become a byword and a disgrace in the remotest corners of that country which it was my pride and my pleasure to serve in distant lands, where in dangerous climates I daily perilled a life held upon no tenure but that of England's need; to have felt that I had been made hateful to men of my own nation whom I had never known, and that Englishwomen I had never seen heard my name with horror; to have become in those English homes whose good esteem is the great reward of a soldier's arduous and ill-requited life a proverb of cruelty, cowardice, meanness, and false hood,—to know this, and to know that it is false, is an existence which might have been endurable to the monster I am sup posed to be, but which, being what I am, has all but crushed me beneath the overwhelming sense of unredressed injustice. If any of those in whose presence I now speak should ever know—which God forbid—the bitterness of such a life, they then understand that nothing can enah:o a mAn to bear up under so great a load of misery but the con sciousness of his own innocence and the hope of a fair trial. Up to this time I have kept silence, though I was assailed by calumnies of the fouiest kind, spread abroad by every artifice of unscrupu lous enemies, who have found others to repeat them, either knowing that they were false, Cr, what is little less culpable—not caring to learn whether they were true. What answer I have had to give I have given to my military superiors—the only tribunal to which a soldier is accountable, or before whom he at liberty to plead. I, for one, what ever I may have suffend, or whatever 1 may have yet to suffer, have resolved not to make the disci pline of h er Majelty's army a topic of newspaper recrimination. I therefore held my peace till 1 was commandod by those who alone had the right to un close my tips. I have endured too much from the efforts I have made in teaching others the lesson of subordination to permit myself to transgress the first duty of a soldier—that of military obedience. How in I he dark and dreary night of calumny and wrong have I longed for the day when the truth mi ght ao be legitimately known, and when the foul v a m i" ' r vs of malice and falsehood would dissolve like said, o ring mist before the sun ! Punishment, it is m. " limping late behind, but, alas ! I know by a terrible , Xl7netic3 that justice, too, halts upon both its feet , the darkest hour of calumny the thought of this trialhas sustained and comforted me, for with it I kn deliverance must arrive. I have yearned ev e :, tnY for this painful remedy, as the man suff ?zing under som e foul corroding disease we lcomes: the knif e which is l at length to restore him to bealt'a an d to lite, li e ved that the insatiable malice sir, will it be be has g rudged me even. bk. of my enemies tardy but in evitable red ress ? Can i t be credited re England, a country proverbialcdited that in for its love to been made of fairness and f or its humanity even open and deliberat e attempt shou ld have crime, an on the eve of a judic ial investigati on to d e , t e so it prive the prisoner cf the chance s of a fair trial? aY b The seeds of calumny a nd falsehood htt broadcast in the furrows of the press, andtha n e crop had fructified under the congenial itviiheZk of credulity and spite. But none knew better than the authors of this superstructure of mendacity h ow little it was capable of bearing the test of a fair i t , vestigation. It was necessary', therefore, to the ae ., complishment of their ends to poison, if it might be, the fountains of justice, and to pervert, if not to in timidate, the tribunals which were sworn to admi nister the truth. I have spoken of my enemies ; their existence will not be doubted, for their male volence and their activity sufficiently reveal their presence. They are of two classes, different in the motives which inspire their malignity, but unani mous in their desire to accomplish my destruction. The first are those whom it became my painful but paramount duty in the discharge of my military functions to punish or reprove—men whose long and obstinate habits of insubordination had taught to regard with hatred those who controlled their passions av and punished their delinquencies. You semi them before you ; you may judge the spirit by which they are actuated, and the end to 'which thei r ev id ence and their A prevarications have bb:coanu..dsiereit is cted. To tho s e men my ruin is necessary, ruin that they can re establish the characters upon my I have anntl,cernt clads i racters they have forfeited. But of enemies whom you hays not seen, but whom not aninio the less you have heard, less direct in their it, but far more powerful for m ischief by their abilities, These are the self-con stituted social hangm en formality c o y ccute their unlovely ogico without the menwho, from atrial or the sanc tion. of a sentence— ea;rid, see ra m it to h jealous and treois temperament of of everythingae a a na tural and i ncurable aversion to everybody that is anywhere placed itsaautahno-2tthi disparage prideag and the safeguar d e ar rity. Do not su pp ose that I intend to or condemn the liberty of a free press of a free people. I speak only of those who licentiously abuse an unlimited Dowel : I speak of the anonymous libellers Who, like an un wholesome vermin, infest our social body, and, bar. rowing into the healthy flesh, themselves create the sores on which they feed and fatten. I do not flatter myself that, however bitter may be their attacks, they have thought me worthy of their per sonal hatred. I know that they fly at higher game than a simple coke:lel :of dragoons. They find in me only an incidental instrument for attacking a system they dislike,and subverting an authority they abhor. To that object truth is sacrificed and justice is outraged. I am neither the first, nor shall I pro bably be the last victim of a system of detraction which seeks, by the ruin of individual reputations, to accomplish a scheme for the transfer of the con trol of the British army from the authority of the Crown to a self-appointed board of anonymous writers. For the particular individuals whom it may be necessary to sacrifice for this object they care as little, I know, as any secret revolutionary tri bunal ever did for the wretches it dismissed unheard to the scaffold, or handed ever nneondemned to the fury of the mob. Their end is the destruction of military discipline, and for that object they are not likely to stick at the ruin of personal reputations far more considerable than mine. But, on this occa• sion, it seems to me that their sagacity has been inferior to their ability. They have miscalculated the extent to which popular prejudice may be worked upon. They have fo r g o tten that, in the most careless minds, the sentiment of justice and of fair play is never wholly extinguished. When it was known that I was to be brought to trial, even those who had been the loudest in their cries for ven geance were shamed into silence. The justice they had demanded was about to be awarded, and de cency required that they should at least appear to wait in patience for judgment. Such was the sentiment of all right-feeling men, and I desire hero to acknowledge the sense of fairness and justice by which, in this respect, since my trial has been commenced, the respectably-con.. ducted portion of the English press has been distin guished. Bat this did not meet the views of my re , tentless assailants. They were loth to lose the 'vantage -ground of slander on which they had so long triumphed unresisted. They demanded that I should be tried in England—l suppose because the English military administration in India is either unwilling or unable to dispense justice. If it be so indeed, the; sooner the Indian Empire is abandoned the better. Or was it because they thought that they could here more snccessfuly bring the arts of popular intimidation to bear against me ? Well, sir, I was to be tried in England. To me, so long as I had a fair trial—which I knew I should anywhere have—it signified little where the court might sit. But the last thing my enemies were dis posed to tolerate was that I should have a fair trial. They have spared no pains, they have hesitated at no artifices, to insure my condemnation before I could be heard. The evidence to be taken on this trial has been forestalled—the constitution of the court before which I was to be arraigned has been attacked. Nay, so alarmed were they lest justice should demand my acquittal, that they have de nounced by anticipation the tribunal which should dare to absolve me. They may be—nay, they are —gifted with great abilities ; but there are some things they do not know, or which, in their per- verse malignity, they cannot understand. They might have learnt from simpler minds that there is a point at which injustice defeats itself, and male volence unwillingly ministers to the cause of charity. They have forgotten, if they ever knew, that, how ever much the minds of Englishmen may be warped by prejudice or perverted by misrepresentation, there is no criminal, however heinous, whom they will willingly see defrauded of fair play. I pas; from this revolting theme. It has left upon the honour of English literature a stain which time will with difficulty efface. It is a transaction which, as I believe it to be without precedent, 30 I am sure it will be without imitators. Upon the authors of such an outrage I desire no other judgment than that which the indigna tion of their countrymen has already passed. As for me, sir, I have no cause to complain of such pro ceedings. Nay, from the bottom of my heart I have to thank these accusers, who have laid bare the spirit by which they are actuated, and the profound distrust they entertain of the merits of their cause. To be tried was all I desired. To be fairly tried was a right of which I knew that the malice of my ene mies would be impotent to deprive me. The same reason which makes them distrust the tribunal be. tore which I stand is that which causes me to sub mit myself with eagerness to its judgment. I am an old soldier. I know courts-martial well. They are the judges which a guilty man has most reason to fear, and which an innocent man has most cause to welcome. Here I know the voice of prejudice will have no force, the influences of popular passion and private malignity will be unfelt. A soldier desires no better than to be tried by his peers. And I plead, at last, with inexpressible satisfaction and relief before a tribunal which knows by habit what are the duties of an officer, and by instinct what are the feelings of a gentleman. Have I not a right to say, even at this stage of the proceedings, that the day of my trial was to be that of my deliverance ? Are not the very charges upon which I am arraigned in themselves an acquittal upon the greater part ot the odious crimes which have been laid at my door ? Let us examine precisely how this matter stands, for an exact understanding of it is essential to my complete vindication. An outcry has been raised out of doors that the charges brought out against me are too limited in their character, and that I am not put upon my trial for the real pith and substance ot the offences which are imputed to me. Sir, that may or may not be true. I am not the author of F the imputations, nor am I the framer of the charges. If they are too limited, that is my misfortune ; it is certainly not my fault. I have respectfully requested —I have entreated—l have supplicated that those charges should be enlarged, in order that the whole of the matters of which I have been accused should be put in issue, and that so I might be allowed to prove in evidence, and put on record, the complete and satisfactory answer to them all with which I am prepared. That request has been denied me. It is not for me to complain of that denial. I am bound to believe that it is done upon good and sufficient rea sons, and I bow with submission to that authority to which I owe implicit obedience. But, if I am refused the supreme satisfaction of meeting face to face my accusers upon the thousand falsehoods which calumny has heaped upon my head, at least no right thinking, no just-judging man will deny me the benefit of that complete exculpation which such a refusal carries with it. It has happened to but few men on this side the grave to have had their conduct and character canvassed as mine has been, with every disposition to lay bare and tomagnify its delinquen cies and its shortcomings. Every act of my life, suety word I have spoken, has been ransacked and Doted has davyn. Nay, the expression of my countenanc e been criticised, and th e secre t mo ti ves o f my inmost heart have been interpreted. When, then, I was put oe m y ot trial, I had a right to demand th a t the whol e character and conduct should be investigated, i ta j but that if I am guilty I should b e justly condemnednt if I am i n n ocen t I s h ou ld b e c ompletely absolved , m y trial that th ey the is so obviously just, that I no one will imputeto authorities by whom I am t p e u n t could have refused to lie toonso reasonable a r e — They have had my uc details • they have heard th e charges against condt b e fore them in 1 :t re r i t t ' s - c; the have .7 heard also the explanations to offer• Some things they have thought required that further . . . ' I had 4 investigation which this court is now conducting , Upon all the rest which is not before you they h ave been pletely satisfied that they did not think • so com it right to further answer, 0 , call upon me for any even to • opportunity of e , . yield to my urgency for a n justification. A ivatification. A any further or more pu blic time who under such circumstances stands upon his p e w s trial has a right to say to his accu sers, `` Speak n ow or hereafter for ever hold your peace." He ha; . th what you a right to say, " Charge me w i th please, charge me with what you can ; but, in the name of common justice and common h o nesty, do not keep in reserve charges which you will not ad vance so that I may meet th em , an d which you will not retract so that I m ay h ave the advantag e of their withdrawal." Before, then, I proceed to re ply • to the specific charges upon which I am arraigned, I am sr.re that the Court will not deny nee the late but solid satisfaction of registering the aeqeittal which may be considered as already affirmed upon all the points on which I am not now called in question. The Court may be assured that I am not going into any detail upon matters which are not immediately before them. Nevertheless, in common justice to a man who has been so griev ously assailed, they will permit me to note a few of the offences of which I have been publicly accused, but of which by the very terms of this indictment I am now tacitly pronounced not guilty. In the first place, I have been accused of harsh language, over bearing conduct, and improper demeanour towards the officers and non-commissioned officers under my of st a t ay h r e yl s mo e u r i v sgd i h c e t e mie ta l on f nh t nhari have ea h nb a de d eln been true c ommand, tending to th e di squ i et of my regiment charged o m i g h t a l i ta w wd i a l t l sh v ea e ih n ni t ig u uh r r e yin t with it. Why am I not charged with it ? Have I not a right to conclude—have I not a right to de. mend that others s h a ll conc l u d e — t h at upon due investigation those who have brought use to trial upon other matters found that there was no sort of foundation for these accusations ? Again, I have been accused of base, malicious, mean, false, and tyrannical behaviour in the matter of the Mhow court-martial.' Is that true ? If it is, why am I not charged with it now, in order that, if I am guilty, I may be punished, but if I am innocent, I may be absolved ? Sir, 1 say there is, and there can be, no other possible reason why I am not allowed to answer such a charge, except it be that those whose business it has been to call me to an account have satisfied themselves that there is no ground for the imputation. It has been said that in the Mhow court-mar tial I was guilty of persecution of the grossest cha racter, that I perverted justice; that I intimidated witnesses ; that I suborned evidence. Are such things, if they be true, not grave offences for which an officer ought to be tried, if there were even a primci facie case of suspicion against him ? Are they not heinous crimes, if they were true ? Are they not malignant libels, if they be false ? In either case, ought a man in my position not to be either charged with them at once or acquitted of them altogether? And now I am come to the accusations which have been levelled against me—viz., the mat ter of the imprisonment of the three sergeant majors ; and even here I may be permitted again to claim my acquittal on the substantial matter of which I have been publicly accused. It has been said and repeated, till I may say it has been univer sally believed, that I wickedly, cruelly, and unjustly caused three nnoffending and deserving non-com missioned officers to be imprisoned without evidence and without justification. Have I done so? Is this, then, no offence ? It is said to be an act directly and flagrantly in contravention of the Articles of War. Then, why am I not charged with it, in order that I may be either condemned or acquitted of so grievous an offence ? Mark ! there were three sergeant-majors arrested—pl ace d i n c l ose arrest — in an arrestof a precis e ly s i m il ar ki n d ; a ll upon the same evidence and for the same reasons. IV ith respect to two of them my conduct is not questioned in these charges. With respect to the third, the propriety of his arrest is not contraverted. It is to me a matter of deep regret that the authorities who have framed these charges have not been able to find even such a prima facie case for calling in ques tion this transaction as would permit me to explain and to justify it. From the shape which these charges have taken I am precluded from tender ing evidence on the matter. I wish to God I could. I would then undertake to satisfy you why it was that General Farrell ordered that arrest, why Sir W. M ans fi e ld con fi rme d , an d why Sir Hugh Rose approved it ; why the Judge- Advocate-General of India pronounced it altogether unimpeachable ; and why, now, after the matter has been sifted to the bottom, the highest military authorities, by not calling me or any one else in question for it, have given it their final sanction. Sir, it is enough for me that those who do know the facts, and the necess it y f rom w hi ch the apparent severity of the act arose. are satisfied of its justice and propriety. Those who, not knowing the facts, choose, in the face of such authority, to condemn me, are persons whose judgment I can afford to despise. Nor let it be supposed, for one single in stant, that in this matter I am base or cowardly enough to seek shelter myself under the cover of superior orders. I am proud of the approval of those distinguished officers, but I do not wish to decline one tittle of my share of the respon sibility for an act which was mine no less than theirs. It is true I could not have done otherwise if I would. Bat it is equally true I would not have done otherwise if I could. lam prepared, if I were only perpitted to do so, to justify my acts, as my superiors I know are persistent in the assertion of their approval ; but when I am charged with per. sonal vindictiveness and individual malice against these sergeants, I have a right to rely on the autho rity of officers who are beyond the reach of such imputations. If I owed a grudge to Sergeant- Major Lilley, did General Farrell, did Sir W. Mans field, did Sir Hugh Rose share so wicked and despi cable a sentiment ? If I was harsh, tyrannical, Ippressive, in my conduct towards those sergeants, do these epithets apply to the commander of the if how division, to the commander of the army of the Presidency of Bombay, or the commander-in , chief of the army of India ? If so, why have they not been suspended from their posts ? Why are they not at this moment standing at the bar of this tribunal? But if officers such as these were capable, upon precisely the same evidence, and for exactly the same reasons, of arriving at the conclusion that the course which I adopted was justifiable and right, I think I have some reason to claim that those who are not acquainted with the facts of the case should, in candour, allow that my act does not deserve to be condemned. It is impossible for ms to vouch the sanction of these great names with out paying to them the public tribute of my grati tude and admiration. It is in the hour of danger, and the crisis of misfortune, that a subordinate officer who has dared to do hie duty learns to value and esteem the superiors on whom he can rely. No man who has had the honour to serve under Sir Hugh Rose or Sir W. Mansfield can say that they ever betrayed him. Fortunate, sir, are the officers who have the honour to serve under such chiefs, and fatal will be the day when theßritish army has to look to any other source for judgment on its acts than the censure or approval of its military supe- Fatal indeed will be the result when officers serving the Queen in distant lands shall have to look, not to their own conscience of right—not to their own sense of duty—not to the orders of those under whose authority they are placed—but to the ephemeral ideas of what is falsely called public opinion, but which, in fact, is nothing more than the ignorant judgment of ill-informed and irrespon sible writers, by whose denunciations or applause their fortune or their disgrace is to be decided. Then, air, no man in authority will dare to do his duty, for he will feel that he is at the mercy of in terested calumniators, setting in motion the treache rous engines of anonymous slander. There is no fear that under such men as Sir H. Rose and Sir W. Mansfield such a system should be inaugurated. They know well what is necessary to the discipline of the English army and to the maintenance of the Indian Empire. They know that the dominions of the Queen in Hindostan are held by a military tenure, and that the basis of that military tenure is military discipline. They have seen one mutiny, and they have quelled it. They know not of what begin nings that dire cataclasm burst forth. They know how the dykes of discipline were broken down, and the flood of mutiny overwhelmed us un awares. It began by pampering the insubordi nation of non-commissioned officers, and it ended in those scenes of dread and horror which are commemorated on the stones which cover the wall of Cawnpore. Men who have witnessed such a calamity are not likely to be careless of the symp toms which h era ld ano th er . Th ose who have charge t d a i [l.P:zee:. niTahgeayz know inedo thatnot i look u such t a s a p e a a r a k n s first signs of with b'ooc-ty wswmoerluridettieienmrrysse afmsruoamrye ei b lr t e l i t tei : l in t s se i early wth severity is the truest mercy, and they . punish the insubordination with strictness in order that they m a y not finally to suppress bloodshed. Close arrest may be a se soldiers than blowing your of I gn orant Mansfield and re t i wh r r e eos self-samepeo nsi b e know th a a c t ts thn ai s e e d calumniate r their policy—but . we against the severity riors. THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 18, 1863. I men who denou nce d the cl emency o f C ann i ng. W e know that it is the shortsighted and the panic stricken who, acting on momentary impulses, are lax in the hour of security only to become cruel in the instant of danger. It is they alone who have the wisdom to be severe in time who have the cou rage to be merciful when severity can be safely dispensed with. Sir, to the full and proper under standing of this transaction, it is most material and relevant —as, indeed, the Court has deliberately de cided—to understand what was the condition of the 6th Dragoons at the time when these events took place. My justification, and that of those under whose authority I acted, consists is this—that the regiment at the time of the court-martial on Mr. Smales, and of the arrest of the three sergeant majors, was in a state of;insubordination, as respects certain of the officers and non-commissioned officers, of the most dangerous character. That which I could have proved if I had been permitted, now that I am debarred of the means of proof I will ; take upon me to re-assert. What the condition of the regiment was when it came into my Hands I would, had I been allowed, have demonstrated out of that letter to Colonel Shute. I would have proved it out of Sir Hugh Rose's historical memoir of the 6th Dragoons. But, sir, even in the absence of this most material document, I am not wholly without the means of satisfying you, to some extent, of that which I should have been glad more fully to have demonstrated. In the course of this weary inquiry you have had some means of judging of the materials with which I had to deal, and the diffi culties I had to encounter. You will judge by your own eyes, you will judge by your own ears---above all, you will judge as officers and gentlemen, by that inborn sense of honour which is more conclusive than reasoning, and more irresistible than logic. I speak to a body of men many of whom are, all of whom have been, commanding officers, You have seen some of my officers You have seen, you have heard enough, I think, of the men who have so com ported themselves in a court of justice to judge of what must have been my situation on the parade and in the mess room. I ask you, after what you have seen, to place your selves as commanding officers in my position, and to judge me as you would in like circumstances yourselves claim to be judged. Whoever else it was, sir—it is clear it was not I—who educated these officers in their ideas of what was due to military discipline and to the authority of the supe riors by whom they might happen to be reprimanded. These were not officers of my teaching any more than Mr. Fitz• simon was an adjutant of my choosing. You will readily believe that, when disaffection has become chronic among the officers, it is not long before the infection begins to spread among those immediately below them, who ought to look up to them as an example. Of all the forms of insub ordination, that which descends from above into the ranks is the most fatal and incurable. Those who ought to be safeguards against mutiny are become themselves the pro pagators. What lesson do you think the sergeants of the r and , the ,h e two bo other dy of regiment were likely to learn from such instructo rs ? In subordinate officer s na t ura lly seek allies again s t th e i r colo nel by tampering with th e no n-commissioned o ffi cers of the regiment. The r eg i men t a l sergeant in n erg co ea n n sp t i m ri a n j g or t s o h o a v d e b r e th en ro s w uccessfully enlisted by th e ca b a l the regiment, it i s t rue , was still sound. Th e di sc i pline my maj authority. o The of the troops was intact. But the crisis had arrived, the danger was imminent ; one step more and the flame might have kindled in the ranks, and the famous regiment of In niskilling Dragoons would have broken out into open mu tiny. Sir, I took those measures which such a condition of things seemed to me to require. I knew what was my duty, and I did it without fear and without favour. How rapidly the process of deterioration of discipline takes place in a re giment under the influence of tropical climates and tropical habits no one who has not experience of Indian military life can form any conception. The measures which are necessary to enforce discipline elsewhere are there ten times more ne cessary. I may bo permitted to quote on this subject the language of a great civilian who knew India well :—" A strong line of demarcation must be drawn between soldiers and the rest of the community. They must be subject to a sharper code and a more stringent form of procedure than are administered by the ordinary tribunals. For of all ma• ladies incident to the body politic military insubordination is that which requires the most prompt and drastic reme dies." These are the true and striking words of Lord Ma caulay. I acted on those principles with that instant, ne cessary, and justifiable severity which, in my firm belief, alone prevented a great catastrophe. In a position of unex ampled difficulty, I acted with a prudence and circumspection in which I have nothing to regret. I took the course which wisdom dictated and the rules of the service prescribed. I did nothing on my own unassisted judgment. I consulted at once my military superiors. I took evidence, as you have heard, from credible witnesses and from the culprits them selves. I took it in my orderly-room in the presence of the adjutant and two other officers. I wish I could lay that evi dence before you as I laid it before General Farrell, who sub mitted it to Sir W. Mansfield. From that moment I deferred to their judgment, which I unfeignedly knew to be better than my own, and I acted in strict accordance with their directions, not more from a sense of military duty than from a profound confidence in their superior wisdom. I was ready at the time—l was always ready—to have proceeded to the trial of these men. If they were not tried it was none of my doing, If the question of the propriety of that arrest, and the justice of the decision of my superior with referents to it is not now tried, that again ie none of my doing. I am ready—l always have been ready—and anxious to try it. Sir, the question which lies at the root of this whole matter is the question of mutiny or no mutiny. That is the key to the whole business, and you are asked to unlock the mystery while the key is withheld from you. Sir, again, that is no doing of mine. I would have laid before you the evidence which I laid before my immediate superiors, and upon my conscience I know that that evidence would have satisfied you, as it abundantly satisfied them, Then you would have been in a position to pronounce upon the real merits of the case. You would have been able by your finding to have satisfied a nation whose judgment has been perverted by falsehood and blinded by calumny, that nothing has been done either by me or by those whose approval I have earned which was not consistent with justice and essen tial to discipline, which was not necessary to maintain the organisation of the British army, and therein to maintain the integrity of the Indian Empire. It, Sir, this wider and more real issue is not presented fcr your immediate adjudi cation, I deeply regret it ; that it is not is, as you know, no fault of mine. And now, Sir, I come specifically to con sider the two charges on which I am here arraigned, and on which you aro asked to pronounce your sentence. The first charge is, "for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, and to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, in having caused the order for the close arrest of Regimental Sergeant Major Lilley to be carried into effect with unnecessary and undue severity, whereby the said sergeant major and his wife were subjected to great and grievous hardships." Colonel Crawley then p*- ceeded at great length to analyse the evidence, which is now familiar to our readers, and pointed out how that adduced by the prosecution, so far from supporting the charges, completely refuted them. The case, he said, had been treated as one of peculiar military barbarity—but, he asked, in what respect the execution of military law differed from that of civil sentences. Did a judge, in passing sen tence, take into account the circumstances of an offender's personal position in determining the measure of punish ment when inflicted upon him ? Did he he ask what was his habit of body, or what teas the exercise he was used to ? or did he inquire whether he had a wife, and if she was sick ? Equality of sentence for similar offences was the rule of both civil and military tribunals. Equality of ope ration upon the offender .was beyond the reach of human justice. He arrested the three sergeant-majors for the same misconduct, the same evidence, and they were all sub jected to the same restraint. Why, then, was that which in the case of Sergeant-majors 'Wakefield and Duval was not called in question, made a subject of accusation in that of Sergeant-major Lilley ? On the contrary ho thought it would appear that if anything was to be laid to his charge it was rather en excess of leniency than an exaggeration of severity. Of the three prisoners confined, two were placed in an arrest equally strict, with this aggravation in their punishment, that, being single men, their confinement was solitary. If, upon the receipt of the orders from his supe riors, he had sent Mrs. Lilley to the female hospital, and had placed Sergeant-major Lilley in the same arrest as that in which the two other sergeant majors were confined, who could have said that he had exceeded his orders ? But he knew the circumstances of the case, and he deliberately ab stained from exercising a severity which seemed to him ex treme and unnecessary. Having disposed of the question of the bungalows, and shown that they were in no respect unfit places for confinement, he strongly impressed on the Court that in no instance had Mrs. Lilley's privacy been outraged, and that the placing of the sentries inside the house was not for the purpose of annoyance but to protect them from the heat of the sun. He dwelt on the culpable neglect of AdjutantFitzsimon in having never seen the sen tries properly posted, and denied that the officer had given a true version either of the orders which were given concern • ing the arrest in the first instance, or of the alleged subse quent conversation in the orderly-room. The evidence of Surgeon Turnbull he in like manner impugned as unworthy ' of credit; and, with regard to the general character of Ser geant Major Lilley declared that the charges had nothing whatever to do with it. If it had been a material issue, he thought they had heard enough to know that they were in possession of only half the case ; but as to the circumstances of Sergeant Major Lilley's death, he asked if it were not plain, beyond all manner of doubt, that there was on the part of Surgeon Turnbull at l eas t a d e liberate design, by a suppressio veil and a s u gges ti o f a l a i, to saddle him with personal responsibility for the death of that unfortunate man ? He denied in toto corroborating the evidence of Lieutenant Davies on the point that Surgeon Turnbull had i applied for a coroner's inquest on the body and—quoting, n support of his statement, the addendum to the medical report, and the testimony of Lance Corporal Holman— meintainea that the predisposing cause to Sergeant IlLjor Lilley's death was the quantity of spirits which he drank during his confinement. It had been said that Sergeant Major Lilley took the brandy during his arrest owing to depression of spirits. But was a commanding officer re sponsible because a prisoner was depressed by a just punish ment, or because he took an excess of liquor in consequence? He then dwelt on the absence of all complaint by Sergeant Major Lilley, and the sympathy evinced towards him by the men of the Inniskillings on his leaving Mhow to be tried by court martial in England, and thus concluded : Sir, there is one question which I think, at the close of this long in quiry, can hardly fail to be made : Whence did this mass of falsehood originate ? Who organised this foul conspiracy ? Who invented, who propagated, who connived at, the story of the " bomb-proof oven and the Black Hole of Calcutta P" Who was the ingenious inventor of the indignities to Lilley? Who thought or the "functions of nature performed in the presence of strange men ?" These sort of stories don't invent themselves. They have an author somewhere. I have not the honour of Mr. For rescue's acquaintance, but I have no reason to doubt that he is a gentleman in every way worthy of the noble name he bears. I give him every credit for having sincerely be lieved the statements he was induced to make; but I think he cannot, and he will not, let this matter rest where it is. Ho has vouched witnesses in the c iresence of Parliament for the truth of assertions which are now proved to have been wholly false. The honour of Mr. Fortescue seems to me to demand, the dignity of Parliament seems to require, that he should help to expose the fraud of which he has been the dupe. The country is in the habit of taking for granted assertions thus vouched in public by honourable men. When such men have been deceived they owe it to themselves and to others to give up their authority. I think Mr. Fortescue will feel he owes me some explanation of this matter to the officer he has so cruelly wronged, and to the nation he has so expensively misguided. And, Sir, what I say of Mr. Fortescue, I say also of the nobler portions of the English press. They have inflicted on me great suffering and irre parable injury, but I believe they have done it unwittingly. It is, I know, the high and honourable function of a free press to call for justice upon wrongdoers, and to defend the cause of the innocent. I have no doubt that in what they have done they thought they were acting upon reliable in formation and performing a paramount duty. But I think they owe it to themselves and to the public to put others on their guard against those who have thus deceived them. I think that, when this trial is over, they will consider that there is some reparation to be made, and that there remains another injustice to redress. The press of India in this respect has already set an honourable example. The Times of India, which was one of my bit terest opponents, has expressed in the most honourable manner its regret at having given credence to the volumes of correspondence with which Mr. Smales had plied it. They say, and they say it truly, " It is the fact, we fear, that the late Sergeant Major Lilley was more the victim of Paymaster Startles than of Colonel Crawley." I know, Sir, there are journals of another stamp who will continue to repeat exploded falsehoods and to reproduce refuted slan der. But I heed them not. These are not the legitimate exponents of the sentiments of a just and generous nation— a nation which is honourably vehement in its indignation against supposed oppression, but which is equally frank in its repentance for unintentional injustice. And now, sir, this long and tedious address must have an end. Forgive me if I have wearied you. Remember what a spring tide of obloquy I have had to roll back, and to crowd into a few hours a defence against months of calumny. Permit me, before I close, to tender to the prosecution my acknow ledgraent of the fairness and courtesy with which they have performed a painful duty. That fairness and that courtesy I know I had a right to expect both from the official posi tion and the personal character of the gentlemen who have conducted it. But it is not the less fitting that I should here acknowledge it. I trust they will pardon any impa tience which I may have exhibited in a long and anxious struggle. And now, sir, this contest is over. I have fought a battle which is not mine alone, but that of everyone who may be similarly pladed. I have fought the battle of the English army against secret conspiracy and anonymous slander. There is no one so high whom such treacherous blows may not reach , there is no one so low that he can escape this crawling venom, If in exhibiting the triumph of truth and exposing the machinations of falsehood I shall have contributed to deter men from the repetition of such attempts; if from this example others shall have learnt not to give too ready an ear to imputations upon the honour of absent men serving their country abroad; if the experience of this trial shall make such another event impossible—the English army and the English nation will have gained by my loss ; and, much as I have suffered, I shall have ttte satisfaction of feeling that I have at least not suffered in vain. 1 have fought this gigantic battle, and I have fought it alone. I have fought it with no friend but Truth, and no protector but the All-knowing and the All mighty. My enemies' name is Legion ; but against such defence their malignity was impotent for harm. They have sought my shame, and they have accomplished their own. They have attempted my ruin; I will not deny them the satisfaction of knowing that they will have partly succeeded. The cost of this tremendous struggle will have exhausted that slender fortune which is the only provision of those who are dearer to me than myself. Sir, let them enjoy their triumph ; it is the only one they will obtain. They may have ruined my fortune ; my reputation is beyond their reach. They have filched from me what is but trash ; it will be for you to give me back that without which 1 am poor indeed. My part is done : yours yet remains, I know what your sentence must be, because it will be in accord ance with the evidence, and according to the truth. I can not hope that you will in every detail consider my conduct faultless. I cannot expect that in the long course of these trying events you may not discover in my behaviour, under unexampled difficulties, some errors of judgment and some defects of temper. I can only say, let those who are with out such sins cast at me the first stone. But of these grave and serious charges I know you must absolve me, for I know lam innocent of them. You will give me back my character ; you will give me back my sword—a sword which has been for thirty years—aye, and which shall be again— at the service of a nation at whose hands, in the language of the charge, I have suffered "great and grievous hard ships." You will redeem what remains to me of life from dishonour, and you will rescue my memory from disgrace. Sir, I wait the sentence of the Court. Loud and general applause marked the close of the ad dress. It occupied two hours and three-quarters in delivery, and was listened to throughout with unflagging attention both by the members of the court and the general public. Nut a few were affected at that portion of it where Colonel Crawley spoke of the ruin which would be cntailed on his fortunes, no matter how the inquiry might end ; and Mrs. Crawley, who was dressed in deep mourning and sat a little way from her husband, was observed to draw her veil over her face to conceal her emotions. A number of officers were then called, who gave evidence of the character borne by Colonel Crawley from the time of being a gentleman cadet in the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, more than 30 years ago, up to the period of his leaving the 15th Hussars, a few years since. All spoke in the highest terms of his great professional merit as an offi cer, and of the high honour and kindness of heart which characterised him as a gentleman. Letters were also read from M ijor Tench and Capt. Geo. Macartney, who were unable to attend personally. On the conclusion of this evidence, which was of the most unequivocal character, Colonel Crawley said—l have no more witnesses to call, though I might call several, and I beg, with the per mission of the Court, to say that my defence is now con cluded. The prosecutor intimated that he should be prepared to make his reply at 12 o'clock to-morrow (this day), to which time the Court was then adjourned. THE GREAT SHIP. Yesterday the first meeting in connexion with the affairs of the Great Ship Company since it has been consigned to the custody of the Court of Chancery for the purpose of in vestigating and winding up the affairs was held before Mr. G. Whiting, chief clerk to the Master of the Rolls, at the Rolls-chambers, in Chancery-lane, the object being to ap point an official liquidator under the Joint-Stock Companies Winding-up Act. Mr. Hutchins, of the firm of Murray, Son, and Hutchins, said he had to propose Mr. Hawes, the late chairman of the shareholder's committee, of Skinner's place, Sise-lane, to act as official liquidator in behalf of the company. The total number of shares in favour of Mr. Hawes's appointment amounted to 30,000. The total num ber of shares in the company was 300,000 ordinary and 100,000 preference shares, There were creditors to the ex tent of £25,000, the total amount of debts being £35,000, excluding a first mortgage of £lOO,OOO, and a second mort gage. The total debts of the company, including unsecured creditors, were £142,850. Mr. Dantziger, the assistant secretary of the company, in his affidavit, stated that the nominal capital of the company was originally £330,000 in shares of £1 each, but only 303,304 shares were taken up; 100,000 preference shares of £1 each were subsequently issued, making the aggregate subscribed capital £103,304. The assets of the company consisted of the great ship, her stores and appurtenances, the office furniture in London, and the arrears of calls due, amounting to £530, which were believed to be irrecoverable. Mr. Bradlaugh, of the firm of Leverson and Co., St. Helen's place, Bishopsgate-street, proposed Mr. J. Cooper, of the firm of Johnstone, Wintle, and Cooper, of Lothbury, as official liquidator, and objected to the appointment of Mr. Hawes, who, until the last meet ing of the company, was a shareholder in the company. Mr. Hawes had for some time past been in constant dis ' pute with the largest shareholders, the bondholders, and directors, and had spoken in violent opposition to the policy of the late directors. Mr. Hawes had declared that ho was pledged to carry the great steamship on the long voyage to India, and had made arrangements with persons who were prepared to advance funds to carry out that object. Mr. Rose, solicitor, of Salisbury-street, Strand, proposed the appointment of Mr. R. P. Harding, of Serle.street and Lothbury, to be official liquidator on be half of Mr. Anderton Rose, M.P , the late Lord Mayor, a holder of 250 paid-up shares and a debenture for £lOO, and, a creditor for overdue bills of £Bl3 from the time when they were dishonoured. Mr. Harding w accountant, and perfectly conversant with as a g°°d he r °Purtaientl °i°:f winding-up. He wa s , moreo ver, indepentenntttooff all parties and in a position to realise the largest am the good management and conduct of affairs both for the creditors and the public. Mr. llawes, h e contended, was disqualified for the office of official liquidator. by reason of his close connection with the company's affairs, The Chief Clerk, in the course of a long summing up, said he was of opinion that Mr. Hawes ought to be appointed official liqui• Bator, His knowledge of the company's affairs well quali fied him for the office, and'he appeared to possess the suf frages of the largest number of the shareholders. Al r. }Twee was accordingly appointed official manager, giving £3,000 as security, it being understood that an appeal against the ap pointment would be made in favour of associating with the official liquidator either Mr. Harding or Mr, Cooper. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TIMES.--On Monday last we recorded the perpe tration of a shocking murder in the Waterloo-road ; on the nest day we reported the examination of toe murderer at the Southwark Police court ; on Wed nesday we published the proceedings of the Coro ner's inquest on the victim ; and yes.crday our readers saw that the prisoner had been brought to trial, had pleAed guilty, and had been sentenced to death. So rapid has been the course of justice in this case that the offender has actually been con demned to the gallows before the corpse of his un happy victim has been committed to the grave. The deed itself presents in its immediate circumstances only the ordinary features of such crimes. Samuel Wright, described as a bricklayer by trade, had cohabited, it seems, for some little time with a woman named Maria Green, and they had occupied together the secono floor of a lodging-house in the Waterloo-road, On Saturday last a dressmaker who rented the first floor of the house, and who was acquainted with Wright and his companion, saw them "very happy and comfortable" together in their own room, about 8 o'clock in the evening. Shortly afterwards they went out, and were seen standing for a time at the corner of the York-road, where the deceased was exchanging angry words with another woman. They left this woman, however, and re paired to a publichouse, where they had some gin ; hut, though the deceased remained "excited" after her quarrel, neither she nor her paramour is said to have been intoxicated. Nothing more was known of their proceedings up the time of the catastrophe. At what hour they returned to their lodgings is un certain ; but about 4 o'clock on Sunday morning the lodger on the floor beneath them was alarmed by a loud knocking and screaming overhead. As she opened her door she met Wright coming down the stairs, and his appearance betrayed the dreadful work in which he had been engaged. His sleeves were tucked up, his arm was bloody, and his look altogether so shocking that the witness nearly fainted. She contrived, however, to ask what was the matter, and "Wright told her, as she fancied, to/ go upstairs and see. She did so, and found tbe woman Green lying on the floor with her throat cut, and just able to articulate feebly that Wright itad committed the deed. A policeman was soon fetched, and Wright, who had remained in the house without attempting to escape, End who ac knowledged himself tbe perpetrator of the' crime, was taken into custody. That a quarrel originat ing in jealousy had led 'to the deed seems suffi ciently probable, and the scene witnessed in the York-road would appear to indicate that the jealousy was on the side of the woman. Otherwise, the evi dence represented them living together quietly, and with habits so generally regular as to sug gest the impression that they were man and wits.. It required, however, a singular combination of cir cumstances to give this extraordinary rapidity to the course of justice. The time of the murder hap pened to coincide with the sitting of the Court, and the self-surrender of the prisoner prevented any delay. As he made no effort to escape, no time was lost in apprehending him; and as he confessed his guilt, there was no necessity for the collection of evidence. It was not, indeed, to be denied that his hand had deprived the woman of life, and he appears to have advisedly discarded the shelter pos sibly derivable from inquiry into his stale of mine at the time. He was at first undefended by counsel, but Mr. Sleigh appeared on his beha,l before his sentence, though after his first plea of " guilty," and expressed an opinion that the plea might be advantageously retracted. The prisoner, however, deliberately refused to recall his words, or take such chance of deliverance as the forms of law might give him ; and Mr. Justice Blackburn, after assuring himself of the man's intelligence and purpose, passed the sentence of death in due course. The case will long be memorable from the strange though fortuitous brevity of its history, though this is not without precedent in criminal annals. The capture, indeed of a murderer red-handed during the sittings of a Court would naturally lead to such a result. It appears to us, however, that a remark able feature of the occurrence is presented in the contrast between the barbarous violence of the act and the general demeanour of the criminal. Wright, who committed this shocking murder, had never, ii seems, till that time occasioned any disturbance or disorder in the house which he and his paramour in habited, and no sooner was the deed done than he ap pears in possession of his senses, recognising the cha racter of the act, foreseeing consequences, and pre- . paring himself to accept them without any kind of opposition. What were the circumstances which hurried him into crime? Thera was a quarrel, no doubt, and as the woman had been " excited," and they did not apparently go to bed that night after coming in, they proceeded probably fromone stage of ill-blood to another; indeed, the prisoner spoke of the deceased as having taken up a knife to him. Still, though quarrels are naturally incidental to such a life as they led, they do not seem to have been given to quarelling ; in fact, this awful catastrophe represents, as far as we can see, the first and last of their known disagreements. Perhaps it was in these circumstances that Mr. Sleigh discerned the chance elan advantage, had the prisoner chosen to embrace it, and the ease no doubt acquires additional singu larity from his resolute refusal. A plea of " Guilty" on a capital charge is so rare that it is not even re ceived without question. In the present instance the judge twice seised the prisoner if he knew what he was about, and explained carefully to him that by pleading " Guilty" he was confessing not simply that he inflicted the wounds of which his victim died, but that he did this deed wilfully and without excuse. The Clerk of Arraigns, too, had previously reminded the prisoner that his plea went the lenglh of an admission that he had killed the woman " pur posely and with malice aforethought," and yet he still persisted in his course. To the public it will not improbably appear that the malice could not well have been harboured long, and that the recorded incidents of the case by no means exclude the possibility of a sudden transport of rage under provocation or temptation. Yet it must be observed, on the other hand, that the pri soner was never seen for a moment either before or after the murder in any such state of mind as would betray a suspension of self-control. Before the act he was not intoxicated, nor was he shown to have been even excited, and though he was seen and spoken to within a minute or two afterwards, and, indeed, while ilia victim was still living, his manner indicated no discomposure. If there was an interval of frenzy, it was when no witness was by. The Judge, therefore, could find nothing in the depositions requiring him to reverse the plea of self-condemnation, and his sentence did but echo that passed by the prisoner on himself. These are the circumstances, rather than any particulars of the crime itself, which render the story a strange one, and which will carry it probably into the list of criminal cases which are marked and rememb, red. POST.—The most singular feature of the Schles wig-Holstein movement in Germany is the remark able revulsion which it has effected in the relations between the Prussian people and their Sovereign. When William I. convened the Chambers at Berlin, in the commencement of November, a con test apparent imminent, in which nothing less than unconditional submission on the part of the advisers of the Crown could stave off a revolution. The King had already within a year dissolved two Parliaments in consequence of their refusal to sanction measures which he believed to be conducive to the interests of the State; and is meeting the third he unequi vocally announced that be should consider himself the best judge of the manner in which the State should be administered, and of the means by which its safety should be secured. Of the result of such a struggle as that invited by the Prussian Monarch, the experience of past history left no room for doubt, and the well-wishers of the House of Hohenzollern viewed with alarm the recklessness which marked the conduct of its present head. However, whilst the Ministry, with their scanty supporters, and the popular leaders, with the eve! - whelming phalanx which constituted the Opposi tion in the Lower Chamber, were preparing for the approaching contest, an event occurred which cop; pletely banished from the miuda of the lartßerernin thought of the grievances which they to redress. The King of Denmark Bird an Pre as,nia herself ing to the terms of a treaty to which _-t-o a the throne. was a party, Christian IX.. succeeded the succession Although, both in law and in a_ t d accurci was thus accomplished. to a portion o tenburg thought proper to a y certain Prince of Angu s . the late Kicg of Denmark formallydl I rt;9 o m p il si o t ' n- s e t i Holstein—and—cea, postponed at:he soma recognised u e n i d vindi cation' tt t hh ho ee ef these preten sions of Schleswig a Pow N e o rs sooner had the minorhGiseremioaimnds.t than the Prussian a o n f t h e i r own rights, whicia --- justice b e o e f i a ' thetci Cthraotwnti,mine Deputies forthwith been seriouslysaodvaneP Pohrardduesrsto support the claims of the Prince of Angus tenburg. Whilst Frederick VII of Denmark lived, the Prussian King in vain asked for additional sup pigni.tud., ; scale t p h li a e t s t to of n m btle a rfi i e n : t ja7itgn e hiS army ' on what he considered l a Ilia ' a readiness to vottehebut since the death of uweic Chambers have evinced perationa o WOatever might be demanded, on condition that in Military 0 • Supplies should be expeniett pinst Frederick's succes• sor. It would, however, be incorrect to say that peace is again established between the Government ind the Chamber. Sach is not the case. Count liismark has still a powerful Opposition with wnich to contend, but on (his occasion his opponents are arrayed ~gainat him in czinsequence of purtzing a policy whicti has mer wilt the :pprove..l of every non-Gelman State in Europa. Count Bisru:lrk has declared it to b the intention of the Prus sian Government to respect international obli gations, and to observe faithfully a treat to which, after due deliberation, and without coercion, it formally assented. It is singular that it should be one of the few ac's of the Bismark Ministry which can he supported by houf-st men which now plat•-s that Government and the Liberal party in Prussia iu apparently uncotn promising opposition. The Condemned Murderer, Tow'.eY• After sentence of death had been pissed upon Townley, on Saturday, he was removed to a p rivate room in the County Hall, where he made a hearty dinner immediately afterwards. Townley's mother and aunt here in the 'Sheriff's gallery during the trial, but when Baron Martin ens bringing his summing up to a close, Mr. BOUrner, the acting under•sheriffs' clerk, made a communica tion to them, and they withdrew, proceeding to the County Hotel, close by. The statement that 't'ownley's father was in court during the passing Of the sentence is incorrect. He had sat beside his solicitor, Mr. Leech, during the trial, but hapPen ed to be out of court at the time the jury gave in the ir verdict, and was thus spared the anguish of hearing his son condemned to die upon ',he scaffold. On the intelligence being broke to Mrs. Townley, she w completely prostrated, and Mr. Gibson was called in to attend her, The condemned criminal was got away from th e court by a ruse on the part of the governor, and his departure was not witnessed by the dense mob rho had congregated outside the couq. On arriving at the gaol his clothes were taken from bim and the prison dress substituted, and he was conveyed to th e condemned cell, where two turnkeys remain with him day and night. His father and mother held en interview with him the same evening, and we be lieve Mr. Mundy, M.P., chairman of the visiting justices, has given them permission to pay frequen t visits to their unhappy son, a privilege which they avail themselves of very freely, In addition to the assistance of the good chaplW- 139 Townley has the privilege of selecting a spiritual adviser during the brief time he has to live, and b e mentioned the name of the Rev. Mr. Gordon, 0f Manchester, a clergyman of the Esththished Chure b ' and that gentleman arrived in Derby or, :goods,' morning last, and had an interview with him in his cell on that day and also on Tuesday. The Rec. Jr Moore, the gaol chaplain, also visits him daily. His condemnation has not made the slightest sate" ration in his demeanour. He partakes of his me als heartily, sleeps well, and repeatedly asserts that 1 1 ° was perfectly justified in taking away his victim s life, and that he feels no remorse for the deed. A We understand his friends are actively eng a g e d in getting up memorials to the Home Secretary, oot only from Derby, but also from Manchester. t) c course the royal clemency is asked on the ground 0' insanity, and it is stated that the memorial will b e influentially supported by medical men and the genera' public. The High Sheriff has fixed the execution to tale place at noon on Friday, the Ist day of Januari (New Year's-day), the interval between the senten ce and execution being rather more protracted than 18 usually the case. COUNTRY MARKE TS. ------.1 - • MANCHESTER—THURSDAY. At our market this morning the English wheat offer.ted ing sold slowly at is per qr lower. Foreign met a very business, at 2d to 3l per 100ibs decline for All but the choicest sorts. Fiour a slow sale , although offered at a r re," duction of 6d to is per sack. Oats and oatm eal very dull. Indian corn 6d per qr in favour of buyers. Beans eceded 6d to is per qr from this day se'nnight. BRISTOL--TiaunaneY. We had a good supply of English wheat to-day, which again sold slowly, at a decline of fully is per quarter on last week's rates; for foreign wheat scarcely any inquiry, and nominally at last Thursday's prices. Barley quiet, at late rates. Oats met a slow trade, but were in good supply. Beans and Indian corn without inquiry. IPSWICH-TUESDAY. Supplies of whcat continue moderate, and farmers are reluctant sellers at any decline. Tbe supply of barley huo fallen off very considerably. Old white wheat..44s to 49s I Old red wheat, 42s to 43s New do. 46s to 48s I New do. 4ls to 426 Malting barley....34s to 388 I Oats 22s to :-Os Grinding d0.....28s to 31 s I Beans 36s to 37 BIRMINGHAM—THURSDAY. Wheat was in fair supply to-day, and sales were mode at very little change in prices , and with a limited trade. English wheat was sold at 41s to 458 for white, and s t ) to 43s per 36 stone for red. Barley, new malting., 308 t, O 40s per qr; grinding, 26 s to 30 s Oats, old 24 s to 2b 5 per 30 stone ; Irish, 18 s to 245. Beans, 40 s to 44s per q r. Peas, 36s to 44s per 36 atone. EDINBURGH GRAIN—DEC. IG., 1 , m et a A fair supply of farmers' wheat to-day, wh' c— last slow sale at is to 2s per qr lower than the prico ra ther o ' . week. Barley was also in slow demand, and prices n. lower. Oats dull, and is down. Beans and peas wer °u altered. Wheat on the top 4s 6d down .. average 2s 51 down. Barley on the top Os 6d down O, 31 down' Oats on the top is down... average s o. average 06 Id ao Beans on the top 3s 6d down average 36 Oa d°''' Total Supply and Sales. Wheat ... 76 ) qrs Sold 601 qrs 8ar1ey........2685 qrs Sold 1737 qrs Oats Beans 164 qrs Sold *lOl qr!' . Flour sells as follows : — Whites, 40 s Od ; extras , 31s clO superfine, 36s Od ; fine, 34s lid. 1 1 1 1 PRE F PROP X' Gt Ln Profit Sin riloi ra sh ton, A Aft 4,8 8 u, am o , 'rani alder Pl] ev ery , rate r No Yond the I NC whic days stree throe the Ap zs. Capii 1)!pc NO 001 'Wm Li; W. 1 01, 4tk ][i .. 0 eor Na Jose Stau Thol lae, IV• 8 Thos Ba Cant Oct, jose Ban] Ti uncle othe !Atli Wit BOur Whit are Per Of f , and Bern Won Sue: %. Ir be r 101), lOw Tett G Of CO E CO E , a ny o Yu Ott yea We Wel to Ee t ri Ca Foreign Mail Packet List. NAILS 1) "pr. lg. Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton -- via Marseilles ......... a n ' 4, Jrazil and Cape Verde, by British paOiet. ...... . Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helens. Dec' 19. ;hina, Penang, and Singapore, via SourhamptoD.P eo. via Marseilles ..•Vec* Falkland Islands lg• oibraltar, via Southampton Dec. 9 1 !ndia. (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton. • D ec " 2 7 • via Marseilles...• D ec. •'/. ndia (Bombay), via Southampton ....... • P ee ' 21. via Mariseiiles D ' e. 4. Portuga1.... • Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton......... : Jan ' l ' : 21 9 . via Marseilles ........ De c . D -u" - 23. Newfoundland ... Oporto and Vigo .............. e .„, e' 23 U. S. and British N. America, ty Brit. packe t ... • --'-' by U.S. packet.. • • tee. 16. by Canadian packe i •L ii. 10. W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneride .......... ', an . 11 , . J 9 Bahamas, via New York .• Pke' "? ' Mexico All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru,•!De e ' 29. California. and British Columbia.. .......... ' . No hoME complete without a WlLcox hie ll , ' SEWING-ACHINE. Smp le, compat, efficient, dara -- a noiseless. M Warranted to fulfil au/ c the require ra ents o at No. 135, t family Regent-street, aehine Vi'.—[ADVT.].P_ro E s A p p ec v. l t: free on application. Births. BLAKISTON.—On the 13th i ns t.. of at liellinConixna n g d Fey n, near St. Leonard's-on-Sea, the wife er toe. Blakiston, R.N., of s B on. Devls.—On the 16th inst., at 8, Cornwall-villas, West. bourne-park, the wife of N. Boultcn Davis, E.q., of a son. 1 , Effington-villag, Tile icensivgton, the wife of Robert Offurozi, B , :g: 01 d ' •, daughter. Oviaoihi,D.—On the 16th inst., at Marriages. ovvr—TAYLOR.—On the 17th i ns t., at St. rashow's Dent , r k•bill Mr Richard Hayhow,4 Fencburchlt_:: an d Grosvenor-park, S., to Alice, third daughter of Joni: PAKTsitae'suynotlshoNirt's,g—Et oP:E:l(LoiEli..ff—ColreOmdnpenatthr'sseollas; jest., teD":paettariSen:l).3idgi:B3;3st;ra.ti Laura Olivia Babington, daUghtta • Peile, of Hatfield, Herts. of the late Rev. Bo' eaths. BATTEN.—On the 13th i D nstat Tamert Follett, De vorY, B. P. Batten, Esq., late "of Penzane,s, C o rnwall, ag ed 65. BUCKERIDGE.—On the 14th inst., at LiebEeld, the Cteot Buckeridge,ag 66. COOKE ge —On the 16th inst., at e Cheltenham, Wm. Cooke, Esq , aged 81. Franey' FRANCIS.—On the 15th ins , t , , at Hampton, ;`Sri aged 84. JENNEIL—On the 12th inst., Birt Jenner, Esq,, biettiian, aged 51. MARTIN.—On the 10th inst., very suddenly, at Pre• ver n',131. Lancashire, Lieut.-Colonel W. Martin, 20 y ears Go of the Preston House of Correction, pged 58. MIELMAN.—On the 15th inst., at 327, me ter John Millman, Esq., tato of the Ad roir alt y , kigtd 86- Londcn : Pri zed and sh ert by 11'LL! A A • ti of ;No. 112, Strand, Prin ter, at Tun SUN 011ie.' i=a" "'„...1 • Strand, in the Precinct of the Javoy, Ai the Co IgiddieFCX. - Friday, December 13, 1863. I r Thtl .ter" Beale Kreet, Cl l,ll tietllen, Chary F ranc Bir w Thorn 'John Pr e d t Thou,