The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-12-26 00:00:00

ecclesiaztical Intelligente.

Tan Bishop of London, it is believed, will lose no
time in bringing under the notice of Parliament the
present working of the Rabrie re.peeting the dress a/
ministers end the ornann-nts of the Church. His object
will be to get the Rubric repealed, and there is no is..
sort to doubt Mist he will be a armly sustained by the
author of the celebrated " Durham Letter," now at the
head of the Government.—Pest

TRIAL OF FORWARD.
On Wednesday the man Forward, or Southey, was
brought up before Mr Justice Mellor for trial, at Maid-
stone assizes. The counsel for the prisoner applied that
the trial might be postponed until one o'clock. The
prisoner endeavoured to make a statement to the Court
concerning the offences he is charged with. His
Lordship : You must elect either to undertake
your own defense or leave it altogether in the
hands of the learned gentlemen who now ap-
pear for you. You will, in my opinion, do much
better by adopting the latter course.—Prisoner : I
cannot, my lord, conscientiously leave my defence to
counsel, and oonsent to remain myself silent. I must
speak in my own defence, at any risk—His Lordship:
Well, you will have time to consider on the subject,
and I should recommend you to give it every attention
before you decide upon electing to conduct your own
use. The trial was then adjourned until one o'cluk.
The trial was brought to • close on Thursday. Mr.
Smith, for the deletes, sought to prove that the prisoner
was ksane. The prison Burgeon and other officials all
expressed their opinion that be was perfectly sane.
While the 'prison durgeon was being examined the
prisoner several times shrieked out. For the defense
three medical men were called, who all expressed
opinions that the prisoner was insane. One of them
lead he did not think the prisoner comprehended the
!nature of the present proceedings, while another
'ithought Southey knew perfectly well that he was tieing
tried for murder. After a careful summing up tiet
jury found the prisoner guilty and he was sentenced to
death.
A correspondent thus describes how Forward occupied
the past four monthi in prison:—Forward's chief desire
‘eeinci to have been to write e to convince
that his mis•ion was to murder these five persons, and
there is • dash cf inceherency in what he writes that
would maims one Nee, he was mad, were it not clue
from other circumstances that be is sane. His manner
hes been while in gaol quiet and ed. But one
ellusion to his friends seems to have affected him at all.
Ile glories in the havoc of human life he has made, but
the calling to mind of the name of an old schoolfellow
seemed to bring hint-to a reoollection of what be was and
what be is; but the emo ion was alight, and soon over.
In appearance he looks much better than when he first
entered the gaol; helm allowed the hair on his face to
grow,
, and the cunning eye has gained some additional
lustre from the regularity of his lite. One dark and
dreary page in the history of this case mug be that which
tells of his invitaticons tooted interviews with, the clergy;
latterly, he has expressed a desire to see different clergy-
men. The Venerable Archdeacon Davis Ins seen him,
and the congregational minister has vi.ited him several
times at his request; hut the ohject of Forward has not
been to make peace with his God, but, on the-contrary,
to argue with these reverend gentlemen that he has done
right in committing these murders, on the ground that
certain maidenlike recorded in the Bible, and the perpei
trators were not punished, and, therefore he has • right
to murder. It was at St. Leonard's that Foward was
educated, and he has writen the clergymen th ere • letter
'taking that gentleman to give him a character and to see
him. He reminds the rev, gentleman that he always bore
a good character in the school, and that on leaving the
rev, gentleman added his commendations to those of his
inetructore ; he also states that he hes never forgotten
the precepts he learned at school, and it is quite clear,
too, from conversation that his memory is better than
that of the bulk of hie more fortunate fellow countrymen.
The clergyman at St Leonard'edid net grant him an inter.
view, but wrote him a Titter -full of kindness and good
advice, I have it on good authority, hut I state it asa
rumour only, that Forward wrote a most insolent reply
Such, then, are the leading facts in connection with hi
history in Sandwich Gaol.

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