The Sun. — London, England, 1851-07-26 00:00:00

fur an from the House solution, d, one in this counsel rayer of •ed to be ►Lion on ring the 4 years, and the the said inuities: and for ar since LEET. 1. of the y to be ►orial of ;ranting l to the ination? yer had )0 taken Le Trea louse at he Hoc. ie would for the legisla ig so he is objec posed to me had t. Since met, no Led. It and pe he car se, and e other )f with medical ie much sit in ey had pointed minis te Mr. ies was demned irksome nised to then he answer Ecclesi s►easure i,OOOl a tituents, to this i regard er upon 'lreland ►d busi- The was an as over ard this opinion le rules h motion ad was ian we 5 ht upon the ad- eat ob at the id said overly MO which ) pro would mea great these eland, effee edieal I the to each of the King's aeholars during last ceiling, of 21. l3s. 4d., had always been paid, and still contined t) be paid; and that the Dean of Worcester had nothing t) do with the money of the King's scholars, their money always passing through the hands of the treasurer for the time being. Another allegation, that during the time the Bishop of Rochester was Dean of Worcester the school fell into decay, was also unfounded; for when he became dean he found 40 scholars, and that number still remained. The Hon. Member for Penrhyn, he hoped, would find that he had been led into error, and had made a statement which was unjust towards the Bishop of Rochester. Mr. MO WATT replied that if he had made a state- Mont reflecting unjustly on any one, it would not only be his duty to retract, but to apologise. But he re gretted that, with the single exception of the last point, on which he could conscientiously state that he had not Meant to say the cathedral school at Worcester had fal len into decay, he must adhere to his statement. His authority for the allegation that the Bishop of Roches ter, when Dean of Worcester, had cut down the stipends of the scholars, was a work entitled " Cathedral Trusts and their Fulfilment," by the Rev. Mr. Whiston, which had gone through four large editions—which had been criticised publicly by various parties affected by its statements—among others by canons both of Rochester and Canterbury; and it was a remarkable circumstance, if that statement to which he had referred were not correct, that it had never been openly impugned by any writer Who had attacked the work. He had, since the Hon. Baronet had communicated with him, gone through the Papers written by these canons, and found the statement Was not impugned. He was not aware that it had been Publicly impugned at all, and therefore it would have been more to the purpose had the Hon. Baronet applied his remarks to that work. The Hon. Member concluded by reading from Mr.Whiston's work (p. 180) a pragraph, from which it appeared that the author said he had dis covered that at Worcester, where the Bishop was for five years dean, 40 foundation scholars did not receive even 21. 13s. 4d., but only ss. 10d. Whether the state anent he read were strictly correct or not, he (Mr. Mowatt) had made the statement, as he thought, on ample authority, giving the source from which he had received his information. Mr. BRIGHT inquired why the report furnished by the Board of Health on what were called the prelimi nary proceedings relating to the subject of metropoli tan interment was not signed by the Noble Lord who was chairman of the Board of Health, as well as by the Earl of Shaftesbury, Mr. Chadwick, and Dr. Southwood Smith. Lord SEYMOUR replied, that all these inquiries were instituted before he was a member of the uoard. He had not heard the evidence, and could not, therefore, be responsible for the result of the inquiry. Mr. BRIGHT remarked, that the report related to What took place after August last. Mr. REYNOLDS then withdrew his motion, at the same time giving notice that he would, early next ses sion, move for leave to bring in a Bill to abolish minis ters' money in Ireland. Sir J. PAKINGTON inquired when an opportunity Would be given to consider the subject of refining sugar in bond? Lord J. RUSSELL—On Friday next. _ PATENT LAW AMENDMENT BILL. --a.— The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, in moving the se cond reading of this Bill, said that for a long time past complaints had been made of the delay, uncertainty, and expense of granting patents, and it was impossible to len) , that these complaints had considerable founda tlon. The consequence was that much inquiry and dis cussion had taken place upon the subject, a Committee of the other House of Parliament had been appointed to consider it, the matter had been fully canvassed, and the result was, the Bill now before the House, which had come down to them from the House of Lords. The Bill Proceeded upon the principle that patents for inventions should be granted to persons who contributed useful in ventions or made discoveries to the benefit of society. Some persons had lately started the notion that there should be no inquiry as to whether a man should have a patent or not, but that any man should be allowed to c laim the merit of his invention, register it, and then, Without further inquiry, be entitled to the patent tights, and maintain the invention against the rest of Mankind. But, in his opinion, they ought to pursue a totally different course. They ought to guard the public against the assumption of rights to which an individual Was not entitled; and in case his invention was neither new nor useful, to guard other inventors who h ad preceded him, and acquired prior rights; and these rights should be protected without driving the Parties to an expensive investigation for that purpose. The next question was, by what mode they shouldsde termine as to whether a person was entitled to the rights Which would accrue to him under a patent. All were agreed the present system was a bad one, and its costli ness was a great objection. In the application for a Patent, seven different stages at seven different offices Were gone through. The first application was sent to the Home-office, from which it was referred to the law officers of the Crown, who made a report to the Secre tary of State for the purpose of the Queen's warrant being granted. Next, the applicant was referred to the Patent-office for the Queen's bill ; then to the Signet office for the signet bill ; afterwards to the Privy Seal office for the Privy Seal bill ; and .ultimately to the Great Seal Patent-office, where, at length, the warrant for the patent was issued. At each of these stages different fees were to be paid, five out of the seven stages b eing absolutely useless and mere matters of form, and t he amount disbursed was 944 Gs. If the patentee Wished t o t a k e ou t a p a t en t f or th e same i nvent i on i n S cotland, five other offices there were to be in like man lier applied to, at a cost of 631. ss. 7d. ; and if ho took ;ilt a patent in Ireland also, five offices there likewise Were to be had recourse to, at a cost of 1191., making a total for the United Kingdom of 2761. ss. 7d. If two P er sons, were joined in a patent additional fees were f i r , which brought the expense very nearly up to 3001. e proposed to sweep away the greater part of that ex e, and make one common system of patent for the tee kingdoms, giving at the same time the inventor e advantage of dividing the sum total of the expense 'nto three separate payments, the smallest of which s hould be made upon the patent being granted; thenext iti,c_tYinent should be made at the end of three years, and ue last and largest at the end of seven years. The g r ound of this di v ision of payment was that the great b enefit o f p atents w hi c h were t a k en ou t produced no uenefit to the patentees, the inventions falling to the goound. The first Lost of the patent shoald be limited l e r 20 1 e with an additional 51. stamp duty. At the end . 0 t e he three yars which woul be given to a patentee f, r bringing his invention befo d re the public and testing 1 7 value by experience, the patentee should obtain a re 4nal of his patent for four years longer on payment of t n and 101. st am p d u ty, i n a ll 501. At th e end of ese seven year s , d ur i ng w hi c h h e h a d h a d su fficient ti me h to test th e va l ue an d a d van t age o f his Patent, the inventor should obtain a monopoly O a n dpatent for seven years more on payment of 801., 4 .. 11 E1 a stamp duty of 201. Thus the whole cost of a c hange would be reduced from n ea rly 300/. t o 1751. This of system would cause the abolition of a great amount of fees, and give rise to the necessity for large compensation being made, and hence they must begin thatchanges which would leave a sufficient margin for 4 st purpose. But as th e new system d eve l ope d i tse lf t hey expected to be able to lower the cost of taking out . 4 Patent considerably further than the present proposed :aount. Next arose th e question by what tribuna l s hould it be determined whether a party was entitled to a Patent? Hitherto that was left entirely to the law n Ed.cers of the,' Crown—a tribun a l to which we ll - f oun d e d Ob jections were taken both on the ground of its secrecy The secrecy at present arose from titlother defects. of ° law officers making their report at the early stages aa the invention to be patented, and when it was a warlmary object with the inventor to keep secret the '6 4 _ t ilre of his invention until the patent was sealed. the other hand, the party who denied the novelty (3 f t patented, eea he invention or objected to its being Ir'Lut.eavoured to show that he had some invention filch Would range under the title of the patent a li e ri or, a n d h e a lso desired secrecy. The r esu l t le t he law officers were obliged to hear both parties thewith clo se d doors. The Bill proposed to remedy by. enabling the applicant for a pa tent to l odge in Isai a et hce of the Commissioners a provisonal s p eci fication, ss ' Was something analogous to the de p osit at pre efltk hrequired. This document would set forth the nature 1)%„.? uivention and its general features; and th e y p ro i hee v e : to gi ve hi m a p rov i s i ona l protection of six, or , it k s arY, nine months, to use his invention and m a ke pi rlt il °,a to th e pu bli c w ith ou t a pp re h e nsion of its being te lik e u with i m p u nity. When a party objected to a n Jseti, t he would have to lodge the particulars of his ob an and then the law officers' court would be made ' th e l i en tribunal, to hear both parties on the question at be el ine time. Another objection to the present trie ocea n ,was that the law officers of the Crown were hi ke ,r e ret to deal with questions of science involved in 13 4%1 1 ' 3 05, which was to a great extent a true objection ho questions were so mixed up with matters of p e ,3 o Lo the case of patents, that it was desirable to have boa ra u s of judicial habits to decide, and, therefore, a mend examiners would be constituted, consisting of g lz , lit ?t scientifi c k now l e d ge , t o w h om th e sc i ent ifi c to t h ln r,ls should be referred, and they should report tine a law officers whether the provisional specifics also Properly described the nature of the invention; ti eti en the question of novelty. And in case of opposi ept”he patent, the law officers shoald act on their nee e e ; B "o questions involving conflicting rights; and, if thei r 1 7, they should call in the board of examiners to seit4 a ssistance ; but the ultimate decision should be left es eas _the law officers. This proceeding wo u ld not in that v the exp ense o f the patent. H e s h ou ld ment i on Wool one great advantage of the provisional specification sehe the opportunity it would afford poor inventors, pe aee wne not able to take out a patent from its ex itieeeiioe make known, in security, the nature of their silt u s to capitalists, and thereby obtain their as (ince to t a k e eideration out a patent. The next point for con sling and was the proper classification of patents, and riet tic"' of from time Z epie g theiree or records ° o P t: specifications, their publication and the registering of patents and ors. Prom the want of any office to book d evoted inve • ntions it constantly happened that a man cut a tim e , , t' "elm), energy, and money to bringing reap the discovery, and when he fancied ho was about to el an had reward of his pains he found that somebody Medi a& a nticipated him. This evil would be now re ticnrta Another provision of the Bill gave to the tents of law an • . . . • ee equity jurisdiction in actions on pa ' that recourse to the equity courts would not be Whi c OtrY as at present. There was another clause, to v : 4 there were some objections entertained. It pro -44. ed. that if an invention was te e is country. Of • Would be fatal practised in foreign coun tt to any right claimed on account a this A man might at present acquire patent right in * ro a a n d invention which he merely introduced man might obtain Le Patentre et forab . this country, and a ; and if the original inventor eubse be ,Y applied for a patent in this country, ho would tro_ introducerzeated account of the patent originally granted of it. What was au objectionable us- THE SUN, tern. On the other hand, it was likewise objectionable that a man who was at the trouble of introducing a useful I invention into this country should have no reward. A middle course, he thought, might be taken in the matter. However, that could be settled in Committee. These were the main provisions of the Bill, and he thought the House would agree with him that it con stituted a great improvement on the present law of patents. Mr. L. RICARDO thought that the House, before being called on to give their assent to the principle of the Bill, ought to have some time allowed them to in vestigate the difficulties of the subject, and to make themselves acquainted with the evidence that had been adduced before the Select Committee. He did not defend the present system of patent law. But many, and amongst the leading scientific men of the country, Mr. Brunel, Mr. Stephenson, Mr. Cubitt, and othere, doubted the usefulnetq; or advantage of patents at all. Mr. MACGREGOR supported the M. He con sidered that a man had as fair a right to the productions of his intellect as to any other property whatever. Mr. LABOUCHERE said he believed there never was a measure which had received a more careful and attentive consideration than that Bill had received from a Committee of the other House of Parliament. The present state of the law upon that subject was full of ad mitted defects; and Parliament had no alternative but either to sweep away the patent law system altogether, or to adopt some improvement of that system. He would not attempt upon that occasion to pronounce an opinion upon the propriety or the impropriety of abolish ing the protection given by the patent laws; but he should state that he believed public opinion was not pre pared for such a change; so that he did not see how Par liament could then escape from the duty of amending the existing system. There were many valuable inven tions to be seen at the Great Exhibition, which had been registered provisionally for a year, and the owners of which would be compelled to register them anew next year if they wished to avail themselves of the protection of the patent laws; and it would not be fair to compel those parties to obtain that protection through the pre sent cumbersome and expensive system when a much better and cheaper one could be created. He hoped the House would give a second reading to the Bill, with a view to enable them to consider its details in Committee. Sir DE LACY EVANS supported the Bill. Mr. R. PALMER said he was sorry to find that they had not obtained from the Right Hon. Gentleman the President of the Board of Trade a distinct assurance as to whether or not he approved of the protection given by a system of patent laws. For his part he totally denied that the protection given to patentees was any wrong to the public, for it merely deprived the public, for a period of fourteen years, of that which, without the inventor, they never would have enjoyed. Without patent laws the most useful inventors could derive no re turn for the time and labour they had devoted to the accomplishment of objects most beneficial to mankind. Let him give as an instance the invention of lightning conductors for ships, by Sir W. Snow Harris—an inven tion which had saved a large amount of life and pro perty, but which had been productive of little or no benefit to its author, because it had not been patented by him. He should support the second reading of the Bill as an improvement of the existing system, although he hardly thought that it carried far enough the prin ciples of protection to inventors. Mr. W. WILLIAMS said he did not mean to oppose the second reading of the Bill, although he believed that an extension of the patent system might greatly cripple the industrial enterprise of the country. Mr. MUNTZ said he believed that no greater blow could be struck at the inventive genius of the country than by the abolition of the patent .law system. Alderman SIDNEY thought that there were many clauses in the Bill which required modification, and it was his intention to submit some amendments when they went into Committee. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL thought that under the proposed measure there would be a much greater number of patents taken out than before, as the expense would be considerably reduced, and greater security given to the proprietors of them. A large proportion of the payments went in stamps, and another proportio❑ went to the Consolidated Fund. It was most dangerous to allow too great a facility for taking out patents, He knew the case of a person taking out a patent for a sup posed new kind of cab, and the person used his power in the way of extracting different sums of money from other cab proprietors, by threatening them with law proceedings for pirating his invention. He believed that there were a vast number of exhibitors in the Great Ex hibition looking most anxiously for the passing of this measure, in order that they might apply for patents. Mr. WAKLEY was disposed to think that it was im possible at the present advanced stage of tho session to discuss this measure satisfactorily. He was of opinion that the principle which should govern legislation in re ference to patents and copyright should be the same. They were, in reality, identical. He could not under stand why the simple manner in which the question of copyright was treated by the law could not be equally well applied to inventions. He objected to the creation of the board that was proposed by this Bill. He would prefer that the responsibility should be thrown upon one man, who would be bound to inquire fully into the mat ter, and to give his reasons publicly for his decisions. He complained of the unjust and ungrateful manner in which many great mon had been treated by the Govern ment and the public. He instanced the cases of Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood, and Jenner, who discovered a remedy for one of the greatest plagues with which mankind had ever been visited. Toe Bill was then read a second time. EMIGRATION ADVANCES DISTRESSED DIS- TRICTS (SCOTLAND) BILL. This Bill went into Committee. Oa the first clause being proposed, Mr. S. CRAWFORD wished to know whether it was the intention of the Government to apply a similar mea sure to Ireland, as the position of the two countries in respect to such legislation was the same. Sir. J. STUARTe said that though the observations of the Hon. Member for Rochdale deserved much attention, he did not think that that was the proper time to enter upon such a subject. Ho regretted that this Bill had not been introduced at an earlier period of the session, when the advantage to accrue from it would hare been con siderably greater. He thought that the benefits of the measure should be extended to the larger tenants as well as to the owners. Mr. Fi'AKLEY said that the remedy provided by the Bill would be partial and inefficient. It would afford temporary relief, but he apprehended that it would also lay the foundation for still greater distress. Mr. HENLEY suggested the insertion of words in one of the clauses to define the extent to which encumbrances of estates would be affected by the Bill. The several clauses were then agreed to, the Bill passed through Committee, and the House resumed. METROPOLITAN INTERMENT (ADVANCES) LONDON, a ion, determine on placing a large sum of money at the cisposm.l of the Board of Health, for the purpose of pur chasing cemeteries. Lord JOHN RUSSELL wished to hear some Hon. Gentleman point out a practical mode of getting quit of the difficulty-. The House should bear in mind the possibility of some serious epidemic coming upon them, when it would be necessary, as a matter of safety-, to close many of the graveyards. In that case, unless some other and convenient burying-places were within ordinary reach, the consquences to the poor would be very serious. It might be no inconvenience to the rich, who could afford to go to a great distance, or in the case of paupers buried at the expense of the parish; but what would become of the poorer portions of the community, belonging to neither of these classes?— (Hear, hear.) The Metropolitan Interment Act pro vided, that when any graveyard was closed by orders in Council, there should be some other cemetery put in possession of the hoard. It was clear, therefore, that they could not shut up the present graveyards, whatever might be the evils arising from them, unless that part of the Act was followed out. With regard to the Board of Health, the original proposal was that there should be a new board constituted for the pnrpose of carrying the Act into effect. But the Government did not think it right to make such new board, with new machinery, and therefore they proposed that the Board of Health should be entrusted with the execution of the Act. This wai agreed to, but previously the House was of opinion that a separate board ought to have been established for that purpose.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. BRIGHT said, the Noble Lord spoke of the pos sibility of an epidemic coming upon them, and then asked what the poor would do when interments had to take place at a great distance from towns? But the Noble Lord forgot that the Board of Health's grave yards would be more distant than any now in existence. —(Hear, hear.) The Bill before the House gave power to buy all the cemeteries in and about London, and to leave the management in the hands of the Board of Health; but he hoped Parliament would hesitate before it granted any such powers. It would be much better to pay the forfeit incurred by not concluding the nego tiations, than to vote away this large sum of 130,0001. — (Hear, hear.) It was quite ridiculous to leave the work ing out of a great scheme like this in the hands of the Board of Health, which was composed of Lord Shaftes bury, Mr. Chadwick, and Dr. Southwood Smith. Men like these might make very valuable suggestions on sa nitary subjects, but it did not follow that they had the qualifications requisite for carrying them out.—(Hear, near.) Enthusiasts on the subject of sanitary reform were not exactly the men best fitted to work out their own suggestions.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord, therefore, should adopt some mode by which these sani tary schemes would be placed under representative con trol.—(Hear, hear.) There was no end to the expense of boards like the present, and they uniformly led to all kinds of jobbing. He suggested that they should leave matters as they now were, and that next year the Go vernment should come forward with some fitting and comprehensive scheme of management.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. FORSTER was understood to support the Bill. H e had lived 40 years in London, and nothing had given him more paia or disgust than the state of the grave yards.—(Hear.) Mr. HENLEY asked what advantage they Lad got from the Bill so hastily passed last session, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer was obliged to come down and ask for 130,0001. It was quite evident that nobody had any confidence in the management now going on; then what was the harry for so much money ?—(Hear, hear.) What was to prevent the Board of Health renting sufficient ground for interment purposes, should we, unfortunately, be afflicted with cholera or some other epidemic ?—(Hear, hear.) He saw no necessity, there fore, for the present advance. Lord SEYMOUR said, if the Act of last year was to be carried ont, it was necessary that burying-grounds should be provided. If, however, the House did not wish to carry out the Act of last session, then, of course, they would come to the conclusion that additional places of interment were not necessary. Mr. W. WILLIAMS said, there was so great a desire in the metropclis to close the graveyards, that there would be no objection to voting any sum of money to purchase ground provided a proper syitem was adopted. No necessity bad been shown for purchasing tbe two cemeteries mentioned by the Ghancellor of the Exche quer, and he must characterize it as a job. What they wanted was a comprehensive scheme for closing all the graveyards. Tht; CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, the Hon. Gentleman was ready to vote any sum of money to close the graveyards. He (the Chancellor of the Ex chequer) proposed to buy two cemeteries in order to carry out that object, and the Hon. Gentleman refused the money.—(Hear.) Mr. B. DENISON thought the proposition of the Go vernment exceedingly fair and reasonable. It was clear that the graveyards could not be closed without money. Mr. D'EYNECOURT had received communications from his constituents within these few days, in which they expressed apprehensions lest the measure of last year had been abandoned; and he feared that if the House negatived the proposal of the Chancellor of the Exche quer that' impression would be strengthened.—(Hear.) Mr. LOCKE said, they had been told, that the plan of last year was abandoned, and• the object of this money seemed to be to get the Government out of a difficulty into which they had been led by the Board of Health. He thought the most prudent course was to postpone the vote. . . Lord J. RUSSELL said the difficulty was how to close any of the graveyards without an arrangement of this kind. The Government had not, as the Hon. Gentleman stated, abandoned the scheme, though they did not see the propriety of carrying it out to the extent proposed by the Boarn of Health. Mr. W. J. FOX did not see why so large an amount of money should be wanted for what the Board of Health itself declared to be a temporary purpose. Mr. BRIGHT would recommend that, instead of pur chasing the cemeteries, they should lease them for a year, and in the meanwhile consider what course should be finally adopted. He could not but regard this pro ceeding on the part of the Government as an arrant job, and, believing that Government would be glad to get rid of it, he should oppose it. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said they could not pass a Bill for closing churchyards with out giving compensation. Mr. WAKLEY observed that a year ago full power was given to raise money to provide extramural inter ments, but, notwithstanding, nothing had yet been done, and he thought the best way would be to move that the chairman should report progress. Lord J. RUSSELL observed, that the Hon. Member had objected that nothing had yet been done in this mat ter for a year, and so, in order to satisfy the public mind, he proposed hat nothing should be done for a year to come.—(dear, and laughter.) The motion for adjournment being withdrawn, the Committee divided on the original motion, when there appeared— For the motion Against it ... ... 26 Majority ... —24 Mr. REYNOLDS complained of the vote, as particu larly profligate. They had voted 130,0001. to buy certain cemeteries for the richest city in the world, when they re fused a few thousands to aid the hospitals in Dublin, one of the poorest cities in the empire. He complained of Irish Members supporting this vote. The resolution was then reported to the House. BILL. The House having again resolved itself into Com mittee, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose and said it would be remembered that, in consequence of the reports which had been made known to the public of the disgraceful state of many of the burial-yards of the metropolis, an Act of Parliament was last year passed which vested in the Board of Health the charge of pro viding for the interment of persons dying within the metropolitan districts, and for the temporary duration of the Board of Health; but the Act did not give the board the complete power which they considered to be requisite in order to ensure the provision of adequate means for the expense of burials and the compensation which they were liable to pay on closing any grave yard in the metropolis. Considering it necessary that they should be in possession of all the burial-grounds within the metropolitan districts, the board applied to the Treasury for its sanction of the purchase of the whole of the cemeteries; but the Treasury thought they were going faster than was expedient, and refused its permis sion to their doing so ; but at the same time suggested that the purchase of one or two cemeteries might afford better means of judging how to deal with the others, and put them in the position of being able to close some of the worst of the graveyards in the metropolis, and of enabling the parishes in which those graveyards were situated to bury in the cemeteries. During the Sistine there was not the least doubt entertained that the board would have been able to obtain from some of the great insurance companies a loan of sufficient amount to accomplish that object; but it turned out, on reference to the solicitors of t h ese com p a nies, that they did not think there would be good security for the payment of the interest on the loan. In pursuance of the permis sion of the Treasury, however, notice had been given by thetthi o e n C No o t ifma thehm e i a s iuomanne dt r o s n o b r f eo tpmhapei paid o ß rif o o a cr r e d ,inh o ee f tme H r i e ew a s t s h a d t no . o wt hp pending n c q h dui a en s sg e . before arbitrators, on the delivery of whose award, sup posing the money was fortheorninz, the transactions would be complete. The Board of Health would then be able to close any of the graveyards in the metropolis on pa yment of compensation to the clergy and other parties entitled to compensation under the Act. Unless the Board of Health were furnished with the means of paying the sums awarded for the purchase of the two cemeteries, and the closing ofgra a vey s a u r m ds , within w th a e s metropolis, the Act of last session w ould be a dead letter, n an o d d h ou e b p t r l o a p r o ge se ,o proposed, therefore, that heref ore'to advance purpose, which Would cover all incidental expenses, and leave it open to Parliament to deal with the whole question in the ensuing session, and put it on a satisfactory footing. He proposed, then, that a sum of 132,0001. be advanced for the purpose from the Consolidated Fund. Sir B. HALL complained that so important a subject should have been kept back to so late a period of the session, when it was impossible to give it full considera tion. Besides, the inhabitants of the metropolis had not such confidence in an irresponsible body like the Board of Health to consent to so large a sum being placed at their disposal. Another reason for postponing the vote was, that it was probable the Committee on the metro politan water supply would recommend the amalgama tion under one management of the sewers, the water supply, and the interments of the metropolis. If the Board of Health wanted money, let them raise it by a penny rate throughout the metropolis. Mr. WAKLEY wanted to know why the board should purchase the Brampton Cemetery, which was almost within the metropolis, being but two miles from Hyde-park-corner, when the original intention of extra mural interments was, that they should take place at least seven miles from the metropolis. Let them pass a Bill, which they could readily do in the course of next week, to prevent intramural interments in the metropolis after one year from the present time, and they might be certain the parishes would make the necessary arrange ments for the purpose. Colonel CHATTERTON said he wished to remind her Majesty's Government that the Board of Health might at present purchase for a moderate sum a ceme tery at Woking, extending over 2,000 acres. Mr. J. BELL said, he understood that the owners of that cemetery were not disposed to sell it. He hoped that the Committee would not, without further consider- POOR RELIEF ACT CONTINUANCE BILL. This Bill passed through Committee. CHURCH BUILDING ACTS AMENDMENT BILL. This Bill went through Committee pro forma, and was ordered to be printed. SHEEP CONTAGIOUS DISEASES PREVENTION BILL. This Bill passed Committee. COMMISSIONERS OF RAILWAYS ACT RE- PEAL BILL. This Bill passed through Committee. To ba reported his day. REPRESENTATIVE PEERS FOR SCOTLAND BILL. This Bill passed through Committee. ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPROVE ME NT BILL. This Bill was read a third time. A new clause was addrd, and the Bill passed. The other orders of the day were disposed of, and the House adjourned a t H a lf- past O ne o'clock, until to-mor row (this day) at noon. COURT CIRCULAR. OSBORNE, FRIDAY. The Queer, the Pance, and the Royal Family, took their usual exercise in the grounds at Osborne yesterday, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent romaineon a vif.it to her Majesty. Colonel the Hon. C. B. Phipps had the honour of dining with her Majesty and his Royal Highness. A Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon at the Foreign-office. It was attended by Lord J. Russell, the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Minto, Viscount Palmerston, Earl Grey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Francis Baring, Lord Broughton, the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, the Earl of Carlisle, and the Marquis of Clanricarde. The Council sat one hour and a half. A deputation from Eton had an interview yesterday with the General Board of Health, at their Offices, Whitehall. The deputation consisted of Mr. Cleave, Chairman of the Local Board of Health; Mr. Stephen son, Mr. Voules, Clerk to the Local Board; and Mr. Webber, Surveyor to that Board. The Oxford University Commission had a meeting yesterday, at the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury, in Downing-street. Present—the Bishop of Norwich, the Dean of Carlisle, the Master of Pem broke, the Rev. 11. G. Liddell, J. L. Dampier, Esq., the Rev. G. H. L. Johnson, and the Rev. A. P. Stanley (Secretary). FIRE AT SP ITALFIELDS.—Between three and four populated d ng an portionextensive o f s fi p r j e t a b i r ti o e k i d e s r t ß i a n co t the o mostclocl d r ehsely yesterday p 0 which huil d unfortunatelyings,most of f t resulted hem the habita tionsin theiaennedve;e srtarlious families. The fire appeared to have commenced .in a kind of double house, one portion oc cupied by a clothier named Bateman,. and the other by a greengrocer of the . name . of Williams. Almost immediately oa the alarm being raised the flames burst forth from every terSeterti OC Brick-lane, O ko r -fl window, awl there being no party wall t o protect the ad joining buildings , these quickly caught fire. The positi on o f their inmates was in many instances extremely perilo us , b u t through the prompt relief afforded by the police no lives were sacrificed. The distress and excitement amo ngs t t h e poor creatures were most painful; they rushed about the street almost frantic. The official report of . the brigades de scribes ten houses burnt and damaged. With the exception of two parties who were insured, the loss will fall heavily on the inmates (some 13 or 14 families), they having lost every article of furniture they possessed. SATURDAY EVENING, W SPAPER STAMPS. REPORT. The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the present state and operation of the law relative to newspaper stamps, also into the law and regula tions relative to the transmission of newspapers and other publications by post, and to report their opinion thereupon to the House, and who were also empowered to report the minutes of evidence taken before them to the House, have considered the matters to them referred, and have agreed to the following report : "In conformity with the object for which your Colli mate was appointed, they have examined witnesses corn potent to give information upon the state of the law affecting newspaper stamps, and the operation of that law upon the newspaper press and the public welfare. "Your Committee have further taken evidence re specting the transmission of newspapers and other printed matter by the Post-office. " Upon the interpretation which the Board of Inland Revenue put upon the law, and the practice which has been pursued by that department, your Committee have examined the solicitor and the assistant secretary of the board. Among the witnesses practically cognizant of the details involved in the publication of newspapers your Committee have examined the manager of the Times, one of the editors of the Daily News, and other gentlemen connected with the metropolitan and the pro vincial press; and upon the policy of imposing a direct tax on the diffusion of a knowledge of current events through newspapers they have examined several gentle men who have given attention to the subject. " The duty on newspapers is imposed by the Act 6 and 7 William IV., c. 76, and is as follows: " For every sheet or other piece of paper whereon any newspaper shall be printed, Id. "A further additional duty of id. and Id. is imposed in case the paper exceeds certain sizes specified in the Act. " These additional duties are practically not incurred. " On supplements not exceeding a certain size, id. " These duties are declared to be payable ou— " 1. Any paper containing public news. intelligence or occurrences printed in any part of the United King dom, to be dispersed and made public. " 2. Also, any paper printed weekly or oftner, or at intervals not exceeding 26 days, containing only, or prin cipally, advertisements. " 3. Also, any paper containing any public news, in telligence or occurrences, or any remarks or observations thereon, printed for sale, and published periodically, or in parts or numbers, not exceeding 26 days between the publication of any two such papers, parts, or numbers, when any of the said papers, parts, or numbers respec tively, shall not exceed two sheets of the dimensions specified, or shall be published for sale for a less price than 6d., exclusive of the duty by the Act imposed. " The net produce of these duties, in the year 1850, was 350,4181.; and, on an average of the years 1848, 1849, and 1850, amounted to 350,5451. per annum. " It appears from the evidence of Mr. Keogh and Mr. Timms, that in the opinion of the Board of Inland Re venue there are three classes of publications legally liable to the newspaper stamp :-1. Any paper contain ing public news, without reference to price, size, interval of publication, or to its being published more than once. 2. Any paper printed at less intervals than twenty-six days, containing only or principally advertisements. 3. Any paper containing remarks on public news printed at less intervals than twenty-six days, where the price is less than 6d., or the size less than two sheets. " With regard to publications of the first class, your Committee would remark upon the difficulty which must necessarily exist in determining what the taxable article news' is, and whether any or how much of it may be contained iu an unstamped publication ; and, there fore, they were not surprised to find that the officers of the Board of Inland Revenue were unable to define the character of the intelligence which may legally be published on unstamped paper, or that the practice of the board had not been uniform as to the kind of publications upon which they had felt themselves bound from time to time to enforce the stamp. In proof of the difficulty of defining the meaning of the term news, your Committee would point to the evi dence of the solicitor of the Board of Inland Revenue, who states that the Queen's speech is news,' and he thinks that any ono who printed the Queen's speech on a piece of unstamped paper would be liable to a penalty of 201., but ho doubts whether the Chancellor of the Ex chequer's speech is news; and in the case of the Queen's speech being printed on unstamped paper, he says that it is clone almost immediately after every speech is de livered, but when we have notice of that we write and tell the parties; that they have infringed the law; if we had a copy of it, so that w e could bring the offence home to the party, we should prosecute him.' Further, the Board of Inland Revenue, as it appears from the evidence of their secretary, recognise a difference hard to be un derstood between public and private news, and draw a distinction unknown to the law between public and class news. Respecting private news, the secretary states that a paper containing nothing but records of proceedings in private families, and calumnious insinuations as to the conduct of individuals, is not liable to the stamp; and as to class news, it is understood that a paper ad dressed to one particular subject—for instance, architec ture or law, &c., and giving news bearing on that par ticular subject only, or on persons connected with it, is not considered a newspaper; thus the Legal Observer publishes without a stamp an account of a meeting of lawyers upon any subject, as class news; but if it had published an account of a meeting of clergymen, then the secretary would not have had the slightest doubt' as to its liability to the stamp duty, as it would then be a report of a meeting of persons not connected with the class subjects. "It appears that the Board of Inland Revenue have not usually interfered with class publications confined to particular objects in consequence of the insertion therein of some trifling paragraphs of public news; yet there are exceptions to this rule, for in the case of an un stamped class monthly publication, called the Norwich Reformer, where only one-sixteenth of the contents came under the description of news, the solicitor to the board thought it necessary to intimate to the publishers that they were infringing the law. " On the second class of publications your Committee have not much information before them. It appears, however, that the circulation of these papers must be re stricted by the stamp, and the facilities to the public of advertising thereby considerably lessened. This is es pecially true in regard to the cases of advertising sheets which are given away, where the point at which expen diture and receipts balance each other, and beyond which no circulation can take place without absolute loss, is sooner arrived at where each copy is compelled to bear the stamp than if it were free from that tax. " As Co the third class of publications which are held by the Board to be liable to the stamp, your Committee would observe, that if it is difficult to make clear the meaning of the term news,' the difficulty is greatly in creased in attempting to define remarks upon news, and in drawing the distinction between remarks upon news and news itself, a distintion necessary to be made, be cause the former may, under certain conditions, be pub lished without a stamp, while the latter is always liable to the duty. The object for which the third class of publications was rendered liable to the provisions of the Newspaper Act appears to have been to subject to restrictions small and cheap publications issued at fre quent intervals, not considered as newspapers, but merely containing essays on political subjects; the solicitor to the Board of Inland Revenue states that there has been very little practice at nil' in reference to this class of publications, because the publications that have come under the notice of the board have generally contained public news, and therefore they have coma under the first definition of newspapers. Parties have attempted to excuse themselves by stating that their paper is not a newspaper within the third definition; but our reply to that is, It is a newspaper within the first definition, because it contains publie news, intelligence, and occur rences.' " It appears to your Committee that, with respect to comments on news in cheap publications, the law has been allowed to some extent to sleep. One witness, extensively engaged in publishing periodicals of various kinds, pointed out the difficulty of keeping within the law about commenting on events; and it is notorious that a great number of publications, issued at intervals of less than 26 days, and at prices less than 6d., by phi lanthropic, religious, political, and other societies, are published without a stamp, and contain comments and observations upon public events. "It appears to your Committee, that if the law im posing a stamp on public intelligence and on observation thereon were carried out, nearly all periodical matter, and a large portion of occasional printed matter, would be subjected to the stamp duty; white if it be understood that the law is not to be fully observed, much unequal competition must continuo to arise between different publishers, and the Board of Inland Revenue will con tinuelo be placed in the undesirable position of having to decide upon what periodicals the law is to be en forced, and in what cases its provisions may be dispensed with. " A want of uniformity in the practice of the board, even as to the sort of publications on which they appear to intend to enforce the law, is shown by the evidence. As an instance that might bo cited, the Committee would point to the case of the Wakefield Examiner, a provincial paper, where a prosecution was in ,tituted against, and a penalty of 101., being rather more than the duty incurred, inflicted upon the publisher for re printing separately, on unstamped paper, the report of a trial which had previously appeared in his own stamped newspaper, while it appears that in the metro polis and elsewhere speeches in Parliament and accounts of public meetings are issued without stamps in a similar manner. " With regard to the operation of the stamp on the es tablished newspapers, it is of course obvious that by in creasing their cost it limits the field of their circulation; and moreover it has been shown that the penny stamp on each copy of a newspaper generally raises the price to the public beyond the mere addition of that sum. The effect of the Newspaper Act in restricting the superficial ext en t of letter-press in newspapers, and affixing an additional stamp on supplements to newspapers, is to make it neces sary for the proprietors of the Times, as stated by its ma nager, in order to avoid loss, not only to reject advertise. ments, but to prevent the circulation of that paper from exceeding certain limits. The manager of the Times also states that 'if there were no considerations but that of supplying the public demand for that paper, it wou ld probably double its circulation within two years.' "Some opinions are expressed, that the prop r i e t ors o f existing newspapers have an interest of the stamp, and would be injured by its abolition. Were these views correct they could not be considered to furnish a good ground for retaining the stamp if the public inte rests required its repeal; but your Committee find little evidence in support of those opinions, and they point to the testimony of the manager of the Times, who states 'his conviction, that if the stamp duty be taken off, the com mercial advantages to the Times would be enormous.' " It is stated to your Committee by the editor of the Scotsman that the penny stamp a favourable sr-, JULY 26, 1851. rang:merit for newspapers on the whole;' that he does not consider it a tax,' but a payment made to the Post-office for services which he does not think could be so efficiently performed in any other way for much more cost.' Other witnesses do not participate in this opinion, nor is it supported by the Post -office authorities. It appears to your Committee that newspapers do not practically enjoy such favourable terms for transmission by post as other printed matter; for while newspapers are compelled to stamp every copy of their imp ress i on, whether sent by post or not, other publications, u p to the weight of 2 oz., obtain, by virtue of a Treasury minute, the same freedom from postage as newspapers, by registering as newspapers, and by stamping only so many copies as are actually required to be sent by post. If the newspaper stamp were allowed to be affixed only to such copies of newspapers as go through the post, it might then assume the character of a mere equivalent for postal services; but in those canes, especially in that of provincial papers where the post is little used, the compulsory stamp upon every copy can be viewed in no other light than that of a tax. In reality, however, the freedom from postage charge is not alwap accorded to newspapers in return for the newspaper stamp. As en instance of this, your Committee think it right to ad vert to an anomaly that exists with regard to the trans mission of newspayers by postage, viz., that in the Lon don district, a circle of three miles round the General Post-office, and where the post might be of much use, for the distribution of newspapers, a stamped newspaper is charged a penny if posted in one part of this district to be transmitted to another. Your Committee do not see any good reason for this regulation, and would, therefore recommend that it be abolished. " Your Committee find that considerable evasions of the postage charge take place under cover or pretence of stamped newspapers; that letters and unstamped pub lications and parcels are sent concealed within rolls of stamped newspapers; and that unstamped and foreign newspapers are occasionally passed without being sub jected to charge. This is partly ad m itt e d by the Post office authorities, who attribute much of the evasion to the papers which pass through the Post-office by virtue of the Treasury minute of 1833. It is clear that in a department transmitting daily from 120,000 to 260,000 papers, and which are dispatched within two or three hours after the greater portion of them aro received, nothing but an extravagantly large force of examiners could prevent evasion. "If a revenue is to be derived from the postage of newspapers, it is worthy of consideration whether it would not be simpler and more economical that the col lection of such revenue should be managed, as in the case of letters, directly by the Post-office rather than indirectly by another department. Were this suggestion adopted, and the present newspaper stamp abolished, your Committee see no reason to doubt that the Post office authorities would devise means of regulating the transmission and distribution by post of newspapers, if not of all printed matter, at a small charge, not exceeding a penny for each packet up to a weight equal to that of the largest existing newspaper, without exposing the revenue to the frauds to which the present system un avoidably renders it subject. In passing, it may be right to mention the peculiar use which is sometimes made of the existing privilege of sending papers within the United Kingdom, free from postage charge for ever, in virtue of the original Somerset-house stamp. Mr. Park hurst, senior clerk in the office of the secretary of the Post-office (Evidence 1,677), says, ' We know that news papers are sent as waste paper very often through the post; there have been cases of very old bundles of papers being sent in that way.' " There is, however, a consideration conuected with the additional cost supposed to be caused by the impo sition of the stamp on' newspapers, which requires a particular notice, viz.—the right of gratuitous transmis sion of newspapers through post. Mr. Smith, the head of a London newspaper agency firm, which has been established for the last 60 years, and which trsnsmits about one -seventh of all the London daily papers, states distinctly that the re-transmission of newspapers is car ried on to tt'neost enormous extent, so as greatly toreduce the cost of their newspaper to those least able to pay for ia He gives instances in which the cost of tho Times is thus reduced to 2d. and even to ld., and yet read by the last person in the series en the second morning after publication; and he adds, that the number of persons thus receiving the, best newspapers at a very cheap rate, is exceedingly numerous, and that the proposed charge of a penny for each re-transmission would in fact pre vent them, probably, from taking any paper at all, un less it was a weekly paper. " Oa the whole, considering on the ono hand the va rious modes now in use by railways and private agency, of distributing newspapers through the country; and, on the other, the frauds upon the Post-office from unstamped publications being now unavoidably carried-"pest free; seeing, in short, that in many cases the stamp is paid where no postal advantages aro received, and in other cases the stamp is not paid where postal advantages are obtained, your Committee are of opinion that immediate steps should bo taken to place the regalations, affecting the transmission of newspapers and other printed matter by post on a more satisfactory footing. "In examining witnesses as to the operation of the law on the newspaper press, it is found that an opinion prevails to some small extent that the maintenance of the stamp has the effect of rendering newspapers more respectable than they would be if free from that restrict tion. After weighing the reasons for such opinion, your Committee conclude that it does not rest on any good foundation. No deterioration of the newspaper press, but on the contrary an improvement followed the re duction of the stamp which took place in 1836; and doubtless the character of newspapers would continue to improve in proportion to the advance in public taste and morals, although the stamp should be entirely abolished. It is stated by one of the witnesses, as an object to the removal of the stamp that a new class of journals would spring up, if the stamp were repealed, in the smaller towns and country districts, and that it would be (Evi dence 1,555) a misfortune that there should be local papers of a more petty character than at present exist.' The general bearing of nearly all the other evidence is of a contrary tendency; and the unanimous opinion of those gentlemen who, being persons who had devoted attention to the education and social improvement of the working classes, were specially examined on this branch of the subject, was to the effect that moral advantages might be expected to follow the establishment of cheap local newspapers. " Your Committee concur with the proprietor of the Liverpool Journal in thinking that the cheapening the cost of existing provincial papers would extend their cir culation and improve their quality; while they also be lieve that, should a new class of small and cheap local papers arise, they would occupy a field hitherto not reached by existing newspapers, and be the vehicles of knowledge to large classes of persons who otherwise would get no newspaper at all. " The present extensive sale of penny publications, as shown by the evidence (Evidence 2,494 and 2,509), abundantly proves the desire among the humbler classes for some kind of reading and mental improvement; bat the stamp prevents the penny paper from containing a record of the current events of life, thus depriving the readers of small periodicals, who are for the most part persons living by labour or of limited means, of that most useful knowledge, the news of the day; for which, as is stated by Mr. Abel Heywood, a gentleman extensively engaged in supplying cheap literature, as the result of his experience' among the class of readers alluded to, there is a greater desire than for any other kind of in formation. It may be said, with truth, that the news paper stamp prohibits the existence of such newspapers as from their price and character would be suitable to the means and wants of the labouring classes. " The question of pirating articles of intelligence by one newspaper from another, has been brought under the notice of your Committee by witnesses conversant with the newspaper press, and favourable to the aboli tion of the duty. The established newspapers—particu larly the London daily press—collect the valuable infor mation which they report to the public at a very great expense, and publish it at a very costly celerity. It has been stated that if the newspaper duty were abolished, there would be great temptation to the numerous half penny and penny publications which would then spring up, to pirate the public intelligence collected at so much cost and exertion. It has been proposed that some short privilege of copyright should therefore be conferred. " YOur ConYmittee consider it their duty to direct attention to the objections and abuses incident to the present system of newspaper stamps, arising from the difficulty of defining and detorming the meaning of the term news ;' to the inequalities which exist in the application of the Newspaper Stamp Act, and the anomalies and evasions that it occasions in postal arrangements; to the unfair competition to which stamped newspapers are exposed with unstamped publi cations; to the limitation imposed by the stamp upon the circulation of the best newspapers, and to the impedi ments which it throws in the way of the diffusion of use ful knowledge regarding current and recent events among the poorer classes, which species of knowledge, re lating to subjects which most obviously interest them, call out the intelligence by awakening the curiosity of those classes. " How far it may be expedient that this tax should be maintained as a source of revenue, either in its present or in any modified form, your Committee do not feel themselves called upon to state; other considerations, not within their province, would enter into that question. But, apart from fiscal considerations, they do not consi der that news is of itself a desirable subject of taxation. " July 18, 1851," THE WATER COMMITTEE.—On Thursday, Mr. Scott, of Liverpool, was called on behalf of the companies and ex amined relative to the water economy of that city. Mr. Gibb, civil engineer, in the drainage of the Haarlem Lake, and other works, deposed from his experience of public works in general, that in conducting matters of this kind individual enterprise was best, joint-stock enterprise the next best, and municipal control the most imperfect species of management. The witness was about to be ex amined with reference to a repert which he had made on the subject of the Farnham and Bagshot new sources of supply as contained in the report of the Board of Health, when Mr. James, Q.C., objected to the tenor the exami nation was about to take, as not being in accordance with the resolution of the Committee, which directed that the residue of the inquiry should relate to the general management of the London companies. Mr. Sergeant Bellasis replied that it was only fair the companies should have an opportunity of refuting the unfair and fallacious statements contained in the reports of the Board of Health. The Honourable Chair man said it would be remembered that none of these reports were signed by Lord Seymour, the Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests; and he thought that, for the remain ing objects of their inquiry, it would be as well to assume that the River Lee, the New River, and the Thames above sewer point, should be taken as unexceptionable sources of supply, leaving the other numerous so urces t o b e l ooked on as auxiliaries. The witness was cross-examined at great length by Mr. James, and the Committee rose at four o'clock. Yesterday the Committee were occupied throughout the sitting with the evidence of Mr. Wickstead, the engineer of the East London Company. Dispatches were sent off yesterday evening from the Colonial-office, for the Gove rnors o f t h e N or th American colonies. LAW INTELLIGENCE. VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, July 25. (Before Sir J. L. KNIGHT BRUCE MURRAY V. INGRAM—" BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON"— COPYRIGHT. This motion was brought.on to-day. It prayed " that an injunction might be granted against the defendant, Her bert Ingram, his servants and agents, to restrain him and them from printing, publishing, selling, or disposing of, or being in any way concerned in the printing, pub lishing, selling, or di s p osing o f, any copy or copies or volume or volumes of a certain work, published, sold, and brought out by him, called The Life of Samuel John son, by James Boswell, Esq.,' containing any notes or note, passages or passage, or copy taken or colourable altered from any note or notes, written and composed by Mr. John Wilson Croker, as in the bill filed in this cruse mentioned and distinguished as therein mentioned in the plaintiff's editions of the work." In consequence of the short interval which had elapsed since the notice of motion, the defendant, had instructed his counsel to ask that the motion might s t an d over unt il next wee k , to enable him to prepare affidavits negativing the allega tion of piracy. The questio n was, what underta ki ng the parties would give in the int erva l . The defendant stated that the third volume of his edition of the work was an nounced to appear on Monday, when it was expected that 10,000 volumes would . be sold. His HONOUR inquired of Mr. Russell and Mr. Gif fard, who appeared tor Mr. Murray, wh et h er they would be willing to give an undertaking to b e answerable in da mages to the defendant, if .they should f a il-i n establish initheir allegation of copyright. Mr. RUSSELL assented to this. Mr. P. BURKE (who appeared with Mr. Moore for the defendant) said the plaintiff's affidavits did not give them any information as to the passages in the two works which were so similar as to justify the suspicion of an unfair use of Mr. Croker's notes, and the defendant was not therefore prepared to meet this motion. If the de fendant were restrained from publishing the third volume on Monday, it would probably c2casion to him a loss of 5,0001. Mr. RUSSELL said if the defendant would furnish him to-day with a copy of the forthcoming work, and would give an undertaking to be answerable for any damages to the plaintiff from the publication of the three volumes, he would offer no opposition to the request for postponing the case. Mr. BURKE denied the right of the plaintiff to ask for any undertaking extending to the third volume, as the notice of motion was only directed to the volumes already published. He was willing that the defendant should keep an account of the sales of the three volumes. He was instructed that the defendant had a good defence, although there had not been time fully to instruct counsel as to the details or nature of it. His HONOUR expressed surprise that counsel shoul d have been so instructed without being informed of the nature of the defence. He must pursue the usual course of examining personally the passages in the plaintiff's and in the defendant's edition. Mr. RUSSELL and Mr. GIFFARD then called the at tention of his Honour to four instances of alleged piracy, and referred to the corresponding pages in both volumes. In reference to one instance, his HONOUR observed, " the source of information is here acknowledged by the defendant. Now that in one sense, and in one point of view, is candour; in another point of view, there may be those who may think it may be called some thing else." The other instances having been examined and the passages in the notes compared, Mr. MOORE, for the defendant, objected that the plain tiff's affidavit did not show any originality in the author ship of Mr. Croker's notes. His HoNoun, after hearing Mr. Russell, read passages from the affidavit to prove this, said there was so strong a probability in the case evinced by three of the instances, without saying anything of the fourth, that something must be done on this occasion. Tho defendant's counsel had act:d rightly in refusing to give any undertaking in respect of the forthcoming volume. If the defendant would give the undertaking asked in the words of the notice of motion, the forthcoming volume would not be affected by it, and the motion might be postponed. Mr. BURKE said nothing could be more fair on the part of the defendant than to undertake to keep an account of the volumes already published, as well as of that to he published, on Monday. The VICE•CHANCLLLOR—The plaintiff undertaking to too answerable in damages, I grant the injunction. Take twenty-four hours' notice of motion ter dissolving it. Take the injunction, as asked, without prejudice to any question. - /dr. BURKE said the defendant would undertake to be answerable is damages, and in the language of the notice of motion. The VICE - CHANCELLOR—Then' both parties under take to abide by any order that this Court may make respecting damages, and the defendant without prejudice gives an undertaking, in the language of the notice of motion, until further order. But, notwithstanding that undertaking, the defendant is to be at liberty, without prejudice to any question, to continue until further order to issue and sell the volumes already published, keeping an account thereof. If the third volume shall not be a breach of the undertaking, well: if it shall be a breach of the undertaking, the defendant will be committed as sure as he is born. Let this motion stand over until this day week, the defendant filing such ailidavits, if any, as ho may desire to file, on or before Thursday next. Mr. RUSSELL asked that copies of the affidavits might be furnished to him before that time. The VICE-CHANCELLOR—YOU must not be hard on the defendant after that undertaking. Is must be at your expense. Mr. EIISSELL assented, and further asked to have a copy of the third volume to-morrow (Saturday) night. The VICE-CHANCELLOR—Let Mr. Russell have a copy tomorrow of that which all the world is to have on Monday, and let him pay for it. Mr. RussELL—We will pay for it, but without pre judice. The VICE-CHANCELLOR—Mr. Russell shall have back his 3s. 6d. if the merits shall give it to him. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE. WESTERN ClRCUlT.—Dorchester, July 24. The commission was opened here yesterday afternoon, and the judges having arrived at an early hour, were able to go to church and discharge all the necessary preliminaries so as to be enabled to commence the actual business of the assizes at ten o'clock this morning. The consequence was a paucity of grand jurymen at the hour when the roll was called, but owing to this arrangement the whole of the business, civil and criminal, was com pletely disposed of by six o'clock--the hour fixed for the judges' dinner to the magistracy. Such a circumstance as that of the disposal of the whole civil and criminal business of this county in eight hours has not occurred for many years. CROWN COURT. • MANSLAUGHTER.-71 Garland, attired in a smock frock, was arraigned upon the coroner's inquisition for the wilful murder of Captain George Frederick Symes, at Lyme Regis. The bill for murder having, under the direction of the judge, been ignored by the grand jury, the prisoner Wa3 tried only for the lesser offence. Mr. Stock, who prosecuted, stated the case to the jury. The prisoner was a labourer, living at ' Lyme, and the deceased was a gentleman, of fifty-two years of age, who had b een a capta i n i n th e Madras Artillery, and had several yearn since retired to Lymo Regis. On the 14th of April Captain Symes was sit ting in his own house, and cries of " Murder !" were heard proceeding from the road. Captain Symes and other persons immediately went to the spot. The pri soner Garland was lying on and pummelling a man named Beer, with whom he was proceeding to Lyme, when ho quarrelled with him, and struck him down. Captain Symes and his neighbours with some difficulty rescued Beer from the clutches of the prisoner, who swore he would do for the captain, and after knocking his hat off he rushed at him, threw him down, knelt on his body, and no doubt - veould have proceeded to other acts of violence if he had not been forcibly taken off him. The unfortunate de ceased was at once raised to his feet, when it was dis covered that ho had lost the use of one side, and was in a state of complete insensibility. Medical aid was sum moned, but so severe were the injuries he had received that the next morning, after having remained insensible since the attack, he expired. The prisoner asserted that he had not the slightest in tention of injuring the unfortunate gentleman. It was all done, he said, "by a twist." Captain Symes wanted to go away from Lyme, and he wanted to go to Lyme, and in jerking himself out of Captain Symes's grasp the injuries were occasioned. In support of this view of the case, he cross-examined the constable of Lymo Regis, inquiring if the captain did not say, when asked if he had any charge to prefer, " Oh, not much; its only a bit of a brush." The constable acknowledged that he had used these words, and the judge remarked that he ought to have stated them in his evidence in chief. The jury at once convicted the prisoner, and Mr. Justice COLERIDGE sentenced 'him to be trans ported for 20 years. NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—York, July 24. CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice WILLIAMS.) William Scott, who was convicted of feloniously shoot ing at Sophia Widdop, at Leeds, with intent to murder her, was sentenced to be transported for ten years. SHOOTING A POLICEMAN AT LEEDS.—James Morton, 26, was charged with having, on the 31st of March last, at Leeds, attempted to shoot Henry Mirfield, with in tent, &c. The prosecutor is a police-officer in the Leeds force, and on the morning of the 31st of March last, about two o'clock, he was on his beat in Kirkgate, when he ob served the prisoner lying upon the door-step of an inn, situated in that street. He was apparently asleep, an d the officer took hold of him by the collar with the inten tion of awaking him. Th e p r i soner at fi rs t refusedt o get up, but at length did so . Mi r fi e ld as ked the t pri. pri soner what he was doing there, and be replied hav ing no bed to go to h e h a d consequently l aidhimself ssar which was down upon the st e p. Whil s t this c onv er sation going on the pri soner p u ll e d o ut a loaded to ho presented a t th e h ea d o f the police officer, but, al though the hammer went down, t he pistol fortunate ly p r t e a d n a n f r s'ec a o n n d d time to discharge the pistol , but i m medi a a t t t o e l m Y missed fire. The prisoner whilst he was making his exit be failed i n so doin g . Mir and the prisoner was app re h ended field sprung his rattle, by a person in the street. In defence the pris oner said the officer struck him vio lently with a stick over the back several times before he pulled out the pistol. Guilty—To be transported for life. MIDLAND ClRCUlT.—Nottinghon, July 25. CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Baron PAattE ) THE POISONING AT EASTWOOD. Sarah Barber, aged 22, dressmaker, and Robert In gram, aged 19, butcher, were indicted for the wilful murder of Joseph Barber, the husband of the first named prisoner, at Eastwood, on the 24th of March last, The female prisoner is a very tall and rather good- v • tit s . - . " lo oking woman, but upon her appearance in the dock and during the progress of the trial her behaviour, was • ti remarkably indifferent and unconcerned. Ingrate 011: the other hand, p reserved throughout an attitude and appearance of the deepest attention. Mr. Macaulay, Q.C., and Mr. Denison conducted the prosecution; Mr. O'Brien defended Sarah Barber, and Mr. Cockle defended Ingram. It appeared that the deceased, Joseph Barber, was a horse jobber, in comfortable circumstances, residing at Eastwood, in this county. He died en Thursday night, the 20th of March, at the age of thirty-five years. At that time he had been married to the female prisoner five years; but she had no family. Th e d eceased for some wees before his death had been unwell, and suffering from pains in the joints, for which he had bear attended by Mr. Smith, a surgeon, at Eastwood, and his assistant, Mr. Mather. Mr. Mather left Mr. Smith's on the 23d or 24th of March, or the begin ning of April, and had had not appeared since. He was called upon his recognizance as a witness, and upon his non-appearance that recognizance was entreated. It was said that he had left the country. Ou the Sunday before his death tho deceased was riding out in a gig with the prisoner Ingram, who lived near him, and who assisted in nursing him during his illness; but he had a bad night on the Tuesday following, and on the Wed nesday was so much worse that his mother was sent for. His mother remained with him until 11 o'clock on the Thursday morning, when he appeared better. After she had left he again became worse, and at twelve o'clock he died. On the following Monday an inquest was held, which was adjourned from time to time, in order to afford opportunities for an examination of the body. At first Messrs. Smith and Mather did not succeed in discover ing arsenic in the stomach; but its contents were pre served and afterwards subjected to various tests by Pro fessor Taylor and other medical gentlemen of eminence, who ascertained that arsenic was present in sufficient quantities to have caused death. The circumstances ad duced in evidence for the purpose of bringing home to the prisoners the charge of wilfully administering poison to the deceased were very numerous, and many of them minute. The female prisoner and the deceased had not always lived on very good terms, and on some occasions she had used threatening language towards him. About two years ago she had left him for seven months and gone to France with another man, accord ing to the statement of the mother of the deceased ; but the deceased went and brought her back. Since that time they continued to live together ; and the deceased on his death-bed spoke in terms of gratitude for the kindness and attention which his wife and the other pri soner had shown to him during his illness. Both pri soners, however, were proved to have purchased arsenic shortly before the death; they had admitted the purchas ing of arsenic on the Friday and the Wednesday before; it had been purchased openly for the avowed purpose of destroying mice, with which the house of the deceased was very much infested. The statement of the prisoners, however, was that the pennyworth bought on the Fri day was. burnt, and the pennyworth bought on t h e Wednesday lost. Neither of them, however, had made any disclosure of the purchase by Ingram of a third pennyworth of arsenic at Bulwell, on the Sunday morn ing, when th e d ecease d was ridingout with him in a gig. The case for the prosecution having been closed, Mr. O'Brien addressed the jury for Sarah Barber, and Mr. Cockle for the prisoner Ingram. The Learned JUDGE sumrLacd up, and the jury found Sarah Barber Guilty, and Acquitted Ingram. The Learned JUDGE then passed sentence of death on Sarah Barber, without hope of mercy. - POLICE INTELLIGENCE. GUILDHALL. Mr. George Lake, of 49, Cheapside, eating-house keeper, who was charged last week with violating the person of Emma Gardiner, his servant, appeared yester day, in discharge of his bail, before Alderman Wilson and Sir Chapman Marshall, for further examination re lative to that charge. Mr. Ballantine, instructed by Messrs. Humphreys and Morgan, appeared for Mr. Lake. Eaima Gardiner was called through the precincts of ;h© court, but did not answer to her nc,...ne. Mr. Ballantine said he was very anxious that no mis. take should occur in this matter, and that in consequence of the girl's non- - attendance, he had come to the conclu sion it was the duty of the defendant to charge the cora -1 plainant with wilful and corrupt perjury. With regard to the assignment, the specific charge would be that of " falsely charging Mr. Lake with entering her bed-room in the night and committing a rape upon her person." lie had no doubt that she well knew he had witnesses present who could refute the whole charge, and there fore kept out of the way in ord,r that by her absence she might avoid being placed in a very unfavourable position. lie attended now with the view of asking the worthy alderman for a warrant for her apprehension. The WI tuesses present could prove that Mr. Lake's whole conduct towards tho girl was irreproachable, and that he had not even spoke to or looked at her in any other manner than that of a master towards his servant. He therefore hoped that the magistrate would take the evi dence of the defendant, for the purpose of issuing tho warrant without any further delay. Alderman WILSON said there could be no mistake about the time, as the girl and her father were both pre sent when the case was remanded, and they were par ticularly told to be in attendance on Friday morning at eleven o'clock. Mr. Ballantino said Mr. Lake was desirous, in order to vindicate his character from such a serious charge, that the girl should be examined by a medical gentle man. She had been examined, and by her own request the surgeon who examined her was present. She finds that the surgeon's evidence will be fatal to her case, and therefore, feeling the effects of her crime, has failed to appear. Alderman WILSON said on the last examination the case was ready for committal for trial; but he thought it due to the defendant to remand the case to allow of the girl undergoing an examination, and for defendant to produce witnesses in his defence. - After hearing the sworn statements of Mr. and Mrs. Lake, the charwoman, and a boy who lived in the house, Alderman WILSON said he had heard sufficient to justify him in granting a warrant. The depositions were then made out, and the warrant was issued. LAMBETH. MASQUERADING, OR ROYALTY IN TROUBLE.--Amongst the " disorderlies" brought before the magistrate was Jane Griffiths, a full-gr own , j o ll y -l oo ki ng, young woman, dressed i n the character of " Charles IL," and whose ap pearance at the bar in the gorgeous trappings of the " Merry Monarch," and their somewhat bemudded ap pearance, caused considerable laughter. The charge against her was that of being found in Kennington-lane, at four o'clock on that morning, so right royally drunk as to be scarcely able to move, and certainly not capable of taking care of herself. Mr. NORTON (to the prisoner —the dexter side of whose jolly countenance was much disfigured with a " gravel rash")—Well what have you got to say to the charge of being so drunk? You hav e b een masquerad ing, I perceive. Prisoner (holding her hand over that part of her face so severely grazed)—Yes, your Worship; I had been to Vauxhall. - Air. NORTON—Might I ask what was the character you assumed? Prisoner—Charles IL, sir. I have had the misfortune to drink a little too much wine, but still I think they should have shown more respect for a monarch than to have locked him up.—(Laughter.) You perceive, your Worship, I have had a tumble down, and caught the " gravel-rash," and what was worse, some evil-disposed subject " boned" my handsome black wig, with long fi9Viing locks and curls.—(Laughter.) Mr. NORTON—I supposel you were disposed to sup port the character to the life, to get drunk and be locked up; for this, I believe, was rather in c h aracter ? Pri soner—lt was, your Vorship.—(Much laughter.) Mr. NORTON—WeII, as this is the first time we have had Charles 11. here, I shall discharge him on the pay ment of the usual drunkard's fee. Prisoner—The fact is, your Worship, that all the money I have about me is merely sufficient to pay for a cab to take me to my lodgings in Waterloo-road, and as it would not be quite decorous for me to walk through the streets in these trappings, I hope your Worship will not think of again locking up or further detaining the King.—(Loud laughter.) Cook (the gaoler)—Are your friends aware of where you are? Prisoner—No; but I dare say they l' us pest.—(Ronewcd laughter.) • lit send Cock—Because I wa s go i ng to say you m igh t home for your proper d ress , so as tu b e fit to app ear in the street. Prisoner—Oh, his Worship will leave me pay for a cab. in hands of the M he r. NORTON—WeII, y ou are the means to gaoler, auo I dare say h e w ill not be very n t e The prisoner here l e ft the court amidst witht e h fr e ai l ia o you. u f d r o e m a laughter, in which th e magistrate co uld n joining. The drunkard' s fine being remitted,she Loon after l e ft in a cab for her lodgings_l CLERKS ASSOCIATION. of the meeting held at the PROVI T D O E T N HE T g o l t roß OF THE stm . iSIII, —ln your se Y °II, say,, "the chair man, was the only one ab sent ad the directors of the association. stitoataetttalleakt,MVEyhiCh confined L m o a n n d , o n n . Tavern ijon Janes, Esq., s ht uA s p t sia , el te a 0 y sent from that impor t a nt meeting, / beg you will do me g was occasioned by a absenc me to my bed. Yours, &c., j. W. WELCH. July 25,1851. severethtavrobuertuntos 'rig ENGLISH IN AMERICA. By THE AUTHOR OF ~s Am SLICK," " THE OLD JUDGE," &C. 2 VoLs.—A n ew work from the pen of the humourous and sarcastic Judge naliburton always finds a hearty welcome. We have no doubt that the present volumes will be considered as the cleverest which the author has ever produced. Possessed of immense intelligence, having a large amount of good sense, and with powers of observation of no ordinary quality, he is better suited than any one we know to give to the inhabi tants of this country that information of America, its consti tution, its civil and religious properties, its manners and cus toms, of which too many are still in this age of progression ignorant. —Messenger. [ADVERTISEMENT.] —A Lieutenant of Dragoons cured of Rheumatism by Holloway's Ointment and Pills.— This officer, who is in the Dutch army, states that Holloway's Pills and Ointment have cured him of rheumatism, w hich baths, aP• peered to be incurable, a s n e ith er sea b a thi ng , .vapour nor preparations vaunted es sure remedies, did l h m im on an th y s, and the treatment of the doctor, after severe • tment into the complaining these pills, and rubbing the o intment trial, g l was without success. At this juncture he commenced taking parts twice a day, which effectually cu e r e e t d him bein tvlieeeecboeurdsefoorf six weeks. The truth of this statement can by Mr. J. B. Stratman, of Beis-de e - e ll tat. uc._Sold by all Drug gists, and at Professor Holloway's E London. THE HON. CAROLINE C. BOYLE—We und ers t an d this lady was overturned in a carriage near the seat of the Earl of Cork, on Saturday now happily recovering. last.. The coach man was much bruised, and Miss Boyle sustained severe concussion of th e brain and the spine, from which she 1.9 , , _ itting pur iociul )pted Lord for irely mrse ) the also n re- Lion. elt it G the vard s on )ver pied high neat ~~, N