The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-14 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A Prette LIBRARY having
been projected at Ormskirk, in Lancashire, a public
meeting was held iu the town on Wedpesday, for the
purpose of organising the proposed institution.
Lord Stanley, M.P., presided, and in a most in-
teresting address stated many gratifying facts in
relation to the spread and increase of public libraries
and literary associations in the district, and deline-
ated the chief purposes which such institutions were
calculated to promote, especially among the indus-
trial classes. Referring to the requirements for the
town of Ormskirk itself, his lordship recommended
that the future library should be kept separate from
any other educational institution, that works re.
lating to theological controversy and party politics
should be excluded, and that the books it might
contain should circulate among the members, the
collection being formed, at all events for the com-
mencement, merely into a lending library. Such a
plan he conceived to be at once useful and economical,
as the expense attending a reading. room would be
saved. Upon this principle it was calculated that
4001. would suffice to establish the library upon a
respectable scale, and of this sum, including a dona-
tion of 1001. from his lordship, 322/. were subscribed
during the course of the meeting.

THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY have at
length commenced their coal traffic, which is ex-
pected to be very considerable, both from the Forest
of Dean and South Wales.
THE MAGNIFICENT GOTHIC CHURCH which has been
for some time past in course of erection in Gordon-
square, in close proximity to University College, and
which is intended to be the cathedral of the body of
religionists of whom the late Rev. Edward Irving was
the founder, was solemnly opened on Sunday week.
The members of this sect assume to themselves the
title of "The Holy Catholic Apostolic Church."
IN the Antediluvian Court at the Sydenham Crvs
tal Palace a variety of models, of supposed life-size,
are being constructed to represent such specimens of
extinct animals as have left relies sufficient to enable
modern geologists to ascertain their form and cha-
racteristics with some approach to certainty. Among
these the iguanodon holds a principal rank, at least
in size. The mould for a cast of one of these
monsters has been recently completed by Mr.
Hawkins, and, as it offers dimensions of twelve feet
in height by eighteen feet length in the body, the
ingenious idea was thrown out of turning this space
into a dining-room for a select party of naturalists
and men of science. This banquet accordingly came
off on Saturday week. There were twenty-one guests,
among whom were Professors Forbes and Owen.
The dinner was prepared in the best modern style
from a neighbouring tavern, and eaten with addi-
tional gusto on account of the singularity of the
apartment in which it was served.
AFTER a series of obstacles, the English and
Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company have completed
their operations. The telegraphic communication is at
length perfected between Stranraer, in Scotland, and
Queenstown, through Belfast, Dublin, and Cork. The
wires being already established between Stranraer,
London, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, Dublin will very
shortly be in close communication with those cities.
THE CONVOCATION OFYORK Will meet in the Chapter-
house, immediately after the Minster service, on the
morning of the Ist of February. The canon in re-
sidence (Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt) will preside as
commissioner for the archbishop.
LORD HARRIS, whose period of service as Governor
of Trinidad will shortly expire, has been offered the
governorship of Madras. His lordship will, in all
probability, be succeeded in Trinidad by Captain
Charles Elliott, R.N., now Governor of Bermuda.
THE DIPLOMATIC DUELS IN MADRID have elicited
a letter from Lord Howden, addressed to Gatignani,
in which the British Envoy at Madrid denies the
newspaper reports that a duel was about to take
place between Count Esterhazy, the Austrian Am-
bassador, and himself. He has always maintained
the most friendly relations with the Court, and the
rumours of a misunderstanding are attributed to the
scandalous gossip of the capital, which is, says Lord
Howden, " a perfect plague in Madrid, envenoming
all that is said, and inventing all that is not said."
IN reference to the proposed removal of thirty
City churches, the Bishop of London has written a
letter to the Times, correcting certain misapprehen-
sions which he finds have been entertained with
regard to the extent to which he has sanctioned that
proposal. The bishop says :—" I am desirous of
stating that I have expressed my approval of the
principal which it embodies, but that I have not
sanctioned any plan with regard to the number of
churches to which it may be applied. That princi-
ple is, that, in any case where it can be clearly
shown that a church is not required, it may be ad-
vantageously removed to a place where it is. Each
particular case must of course be dealt with by itself,
after careful inquiry, and with full consideration of
all its circumstances.—C. J. LONDON."
THE COUNT DE CHAMBORD, the head of the elder
Bourbons, is, it is said, about to visit his cousins of
Orleans at Claremont.

INFMIME

33

AMONG the ships destroyed by the Russians at
Sinope was a steam-frigate belonging to the Paella
of Egypt, officered by three English engineers and
two English stokers. This vessel was captured, and
the engineers and stokers, together with a great
number of the crew, were made prisoners by the
Russians. They were taken to Sebastopol, and
thence transported to Odessa. Although the en-
gineers wore the uniform of officers, they were treated
as common Russian sailors, being kept in strict con-
finement, and with the allowance of si copecks
silver, or 311., per diem. On their arrival at Odessa
the consul-general represented the facts to the
authorities there, and required that the chief en-
gineer, at least, should be treated as an officer and a
gentleman; but to all his remonstrances the authori-
ties turned a deaf ear, and it was said intended to
march them all eighty miles into the interior on font.
The consul.general has reported this ease to the
British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, whose re-
monstrances have been most energetic, but it would
appear that they have met with as little respect as
those of the consul-general. Were the authorities to
acknowledge the rank of the officers it would coat
them twice tt copecks, or but sixpence, per diem.
But the chief reason for this ill treatment is evidently
the wish of Prince Mensehikoff to show his dislike
of Englishmen. The chief engineer in question is
the head engineer of the Paella of Egypes dockyard
at Alexandria, well known to many of the officers of
her Majesty's steam-vessels, and to those of the
Peninsular and Oriental Campany, for the facilities
he was always ready to afford where assistance was
required in cases of derangement of machinery, &c.
THE DEVONPORT SAILORS' HONE, up to December
:11, 1553, being the termination of the first year the
establishment has been in operation, had afforded an
asylum and other advantages to no less than 4,916
seamen.

THE present trust capital of the Corporation of
Queen Anne's Bounty amounts to 2,4110,1NKM. sterling.

SIXTEEN NEW CLt•BM were admitted into the
Royal Caledonian Curling Club during the course of
last year, twelve belonging to Scotland, one to Eng-
land, and three to the Canadian branch. There are
now 270 associated clubs, embracing about 12,000
members.

IN SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE the return of Lord
Ingestre to England has thrown new life into the
canvass. His lordship has met various sections of
the electoral body during the past week, and expe-
rienced a most favourable reception. lord l'aget
and his friends are very active, and sanguine in their
reliance upon the support of Lord Ward and some of
the great tronmastcrs of the district

APUBLIC MEETING ON THE WINE DUTIES IN to be
held on a very early day after the meeting of Parlia-
ment, at which the Lord Mayor has consented to
preside. The committee that has been formed to
support Mr. (Iliviera's motion for a reduced duty
amounts to more than ;ix) persons of different pro-
fessions and commercial eminence, amongst them
about 1(X) members of Parliament ; and, at the meet-
ing in question, the various questions of revenue,
reciprocity, and moral considerations, will be amply
discussed.

THE "STRIKE" FUND AT PRESTON showed, as was
expected, a falling off dining the holiday week.
Including the balance in hand of 4241., there was,
nevertheless, a total amount of 2,12-I/. available for
distribution. On Monday Mr. Hollins, a large manu-
facturer in Preston, tried the experiment of opening
his mill at the old prices. The result was, however,
a failure. Only three operatives applied for work,
and those were strangers, who had not previously
been in Mr. Hollins's employ. A man, who was de-
puted to convey the last week's subscriptions of the
Darwen people to Preston, has absconded with 100/.,
and, as yet, has contrived to elude the vigilance of
the police. At Wigan there are promising symptoms
of an early termination to the strike. On Monday a
much larger number of hands went to work than on
any day since the reopening of the mills. In fact,
there were about 3,500 again at their employment,
being only about 1,000 short of the whole body. All
the mills are running, except one small concern, and
several of them have a full complement of hands.
THE WINTER SHOW 01, TILE METRoIsoI.ITAN PotI.TRY
CLUB opened on Monday at the Baker street Bazaar,
and was attended by many hwidreds of persons. Her
Majesty was among the first to avail herself of the rule
of the club which declares that any pen of birds may
be claimed at the price affixed to them after one
o'clock on the first day of the show, by claiming at
the affixed price, 101., a beautiful pen of gold-laced
(Seabright) bantams, bred by Mr. Spiney, of Dun-
stable. Prince Albert's pen of Brahma Poutra fowls,
to which his Royal Highness bad affixed a price of
251., were claimed, although they had won no prize,
at that slim by Mr. Fox, of Skinner-street, Snowhill.

MAJOR-GENERAL TAYLOR, C. 8., Lientenant-Go-
vernor of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,
died on Sunday last, at Harcombe, Devon, at the age
of seventy-one. By the gallant officer's decease the
oolonelcy of the 17th Lancers also becomes vacant.

i 7

PPM

MEI

.ZM'ir

34

nnb Volta.

A FIAT IN BANKIWPTCY was issued as far back as
January, 11447, in the case of Mr. James Bohn, a
bookseller in St. James's-street, but, owing to the
protracted nature of the law proceedings taken for
the recovery of assets in his estate, the bankrupt was
not able to tile his accounts in condition tit for pass-
ing the court until the 91st ult. lie accordingly
came up to "pass" on Tuesday last :
The balance-sheet, which extenda from September, 1515, to
January, 1817, shows these results :—To creditors, 6,7721.; ditto,
secured, 9,2111. ; capital, 9341.; profits, 8,8591.; accounts received.
Ell. ; by debts (assigned), 0761.; property, 53111.; property held as
security, 21,3331.; trade expenses, 1,606/. ; personal, 7341. ; losses,
1,4111. ; liabilities, 1421. The principal creditor was the trustee
of the late Captain Long, of ltyde, who bad advanced the bank-
nip& 3,0001. in 1845. By venous indentures, bearing date in
1845 and 1846, the bankrupt had assigned to Captain Long all
Ids copyright and interest in " llugilale's Monasticon
minim," and other works. A further security extended over the
lease of his premises, and the remainder of his stock in trade
and fixtures had been given as security for a further advance of
8,0001., which Mr. Bohn denied having ever received. Judgment
was obtained and execution put in, as the bankrupt contended
improperly, whereupon an action was cummenceil against the
sheriff, and proceedings taken to Chancery against the trustee.
In the former the assignees were successful ; the latter are still
pending. About 6001. has been received under the estate, but
there has as yet been no dividend.
The bankrupt passed.
THE MAGISTRATES OF MARLBOROUOR.STREF.T PO-
ME COURT have made some judicious arrangements
with the parochial authorities and the police, with a
view of relieving as far as possible those privations
to which the poorer classes in the district are exposed,
in consequence of the severity of the season and the
high price of fuel and food. Aided by the contribu-
tions entrusted to their hands, or placed in the" poor-
box" at the court, the magistrates have placed at the
disposal of the parishes a large quantity of coke, to
be distributed among poor families in the various
localities, and have also consented to receive recom-
mendations from the relieving officers, as these par-
ties are more likely to know who are the honest
necessitous, and who the mere lazy pauper and im-
postor. The police have also had instructions to
search out for proper cases of relief, and the result
is that much uncomplaining and undoubted privation
has been brought to light and suitably relieved.
Tim LONDON GAS COMPANY charged a hairdresser
in York-street, Camden-town, named Strutt, with
stealing some gas. The nature and the object of
the alleged felony were considered novel, and the
case, which was tried at the Middlesex Sessions,
excited much interest. Strutt, it appeared, hal con-
tracted with the company for gas enough to supply
one burner. Their inspectors fancied that he was
using more than he paid for, and examined his shop,
where, in a corner, they discovered that a small pipe
had been inserted in the main, whence gas enough
was extracted to keep his shaving-pot boiling. When
found out Mr. Strutt declared that he had fully in •
tended to pay for the surplus gas. One of that
had
been in use for more than a twelvemonth, as he had
seen it often when going to the shop to get shaved
before he entered his present employment. At the
trial some difficulty arose as to the proof of proprie-
torship in the gas, it being pleaded and admitted
that the several gas companies who supplied the dis-
trict occasionally tapped mains in mistake belonging
to one another. That doubt being ultimately cleared
up, the jury returned a verdict of " Guilty of stealing,
without felonious intention ":
The AastaTAN r Jenoc : Gentlemen, that's nonsense. That
is a verdict of not guilty, though you say guilty. It is the
felonious intent that makes the guilt, and that verdict is like a
jury finding a man guilty of murder without wilful design.
The jury were then locked up for some time, but
presently returned into court with a verdict of Guilty.
The prisoner was sentenced to one month's im-
prisonment.
THE NIGHT Or WEDNESDAY WEEK will be memo
rable in the annals of London traffic from the many
interruptions and inconveniences which the weather
occasioned, but in no respect were the elemental
influences more seriously felt than in the supply and
price of cab accommodation. It was a time when all
the accustomed regulations were overset, and when,
if ever, Mr. Fitzroy's Cab Act might be considered
temporarily dormant. Nevertheless, the provisions
of this act were invoked against an unlucky cab-
driver by Mr. I'anizzi, whose name has acquired so
much notoriety in connection with the unfinished
catalogue of books at the British Museum, and as
the plaintiff in divers actions for penalties against
publishers in London and the country. The present
charge was heard on Monday at Bow-street Office,
when Mr. l'anizzi made the following statement of
his grievances:—
On Wednesday afternoon, the 4th init., h
eelt a porter from
the Museum to get him a cab, but lie rwtiirl it it the answer,
" No one will come." Witness then walked to the Maud in South-
=punt-row, it being then between seven and eight o'clock, and
LW/ four or Ave calm, but no drivers. Supposing they had gone
into public-houses, he continued for some (tine to bawl out for
the cabmen, but the waterman and two or three other Melt Way
laughed at him. Eventually, on seeing defendant with his cab,
witness desired him to come to the pavement to take hint up. lie
did se vary 'broke, and witness went behind the cab to look at its
Punter, upon which defendant exclaimed, " be In e pas-

THE PRESS.

sion !" and putted the smoke of a cigar iu hie (Mr. Panizes)
face. Witness said, "This is not respectful conduct, and you
know it," at the same time demanding the number of his badge.
The cabman stood in such a position that witness was obliged to
put his face close to the titan's breast in order to see his badge,
and while doing so the defendant blew another puff into his Iwo.
Witness ordered him to desist, but he replied, ' I have paid for
it (the cigar), and shall smoke it." All this time the other men
were laughing and jeering at him, and when witness had taken
his seat, and directed the cabman to drive him to Belgrave-squure,
they cried out, " You'll never get there!" The defendant would
not ring or knock at the house where witness alighted, and never
delivered up a ticket of his number.
The defendant said the occurrence happened on the first after-
noon after the great snow, and the gentleman came up in a
great passion from not being able to get a cab. Detendatit
could not pull up close to the kerbstone owing to the snow, and
this excited hint very much. lie (defendant) was certainly au-
noyed at the gentleman's manner ; but he took the cigar out of
his mouth when the gentleman was taking his number, and also
whim lie opened the door of the cab.
Samuel Wright, &journeyman watchmaker, said that he hap-
pened to he passing at the time, and was attracted by the crowd.
The gentleman was very much excited, but the cabman did not
mitt his cigar in complaimuit's fare, nor use any abusive lan-
guage. When the gentleman got into the cab, the driver offered
to give him a ticket, but the gentleman said, " You be —!" and
refused to have it.
Mr. Panizzi stated that this evidence was wholly false.
Mr. IlAtd, said it was perfectly ridiculous to suppose that any
gentleman of common propriety would make such a false charge
against a cabman ; and the witness, in making out a case for the
defendant, had even gone further than the man himself, who did
not any that Mr. Panizzi refused to take a ticket. Besides, the
defenhuit was liable to a penalty of 40s. fur smoking at all while

on awl.
The cabman was fined :10s. for the two offences, and
costa, or twenty-one days.
Jolts BURTON was detected coming out of some
warehouses belonging to the St. Katharine Dock
Company, where he had no legitimate business, with
seven pounds of pepper in his pockets. There were
large quantities of that article lying about in the
stores where he was noticed to have been prowling
about. Being taken to the police superintendent of
the dock, the prisoner endeavoured to make him be-
lieve that he had received the pepper from some of
the men, and merely carried it away to show to the
dock authorities, in proof of the frauds which their
employes were committing ; but this barefaced at-
tempt to shift his guilt upon innocent shoulders
proved abortive, and Burton was sent to prison. He
was in due course brought up for trial at the Mid-
dlesex Sessions on Monday last, when the above
facts were stated in evidence, and a moral certainty
of the crime sufficiently established. A technical
difficulty, however, arose from the circumstance that
the stolen article could not be legally identified.
The pepper found upon the prisoner's person exactly
resembled that which lay in the company's ware-
houses, but still it could not be sworn to as actually
having been their property. Nor could the dock
officers even declare that their stores had been
robbed at all, since the gross quantities of pepper
lying in heaps were too large to allow the deficiency
of a few pounds to be perceptible. Upon this point
Mr. Ribton, the prisoner's counsel, quoted a prece-
dent from the law reports of 1845, the case having
been tried before Mr. Justice Erie at the Wiltshire
Assizes :
In this ease the prisoner, a little boy, was indicted for stealing
a doll and other toys. It was proved that the prosecutor kept a
large toyshop at Trowbridge, and that the prisoner came into his
shop dressed in a smoekfrock, and, after remainingfor some time,
front suspicion that was excited, he was searched, and under his
smockfroek they found concealed a doll and six toy horses. The
prosecutor swore that he believed the toys to be his property, as
they exactly resembled others which he hail in the shop. With
respect to the doll his evidence went still further, as he swore
the doll had been his, because his private shop-mark was on it;
but lie could not say it had not been sold in the regular way of
business, and lie had not missed it; trod, front the peculiar nn-
titre of his stock and the business lie carried on, could not miss
any of the articles with stealing which the boy stood charged.
Under these circumstances Mr. Justice Erle re-
m 'irked that the corpus delicti had not been made
out, and consequently directed an acquittal. Mr.
Sergeant Adams, however, would not consent to
follow the precedent set by Mr. Justice Erle, as the
decision entirely contravened his own opinion of the
law, but offered to refer the case to the Court of
Appeal. This course was accordingly adopted, and
formal verdict of Guilty recorded, subject to revision
by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
THE same company have had William Cook, an
extra porter employed in their warehouses, taken
into custody on a charge of stealing some raw silk.
lie was suspected, watched, and searched, and four
skeins of silk being found secreted in his stockings,
where they formed false calves to his legs, he was
cosigned to the police. After an examination at
the Mansion-house on Tuesday the prisoner was
remanded.
THE BELGIAN MINISTER at the Court of St.
James's, M. Drouet, had been made defendant in an
action brought by one Taylor to recover a sum of 2501.
which that plaintiff alleged was due to him as a deposit
on certain shares in a company for working mines in
Belgium, of which company M. Drouet had been a
director. The case had proceeded through the pre-
liminary stages during the defendant's absence from
England. On Thursday, however, he applied to the
Court of Common Pleas for a rale to show cause why
all the proceedings should not be set aside or stayed,
alleging through his counsel, Mr. Willes, that,
though he had a good defence to the action on the
merits, he felt it due to his diplomatic position to

SATURDAY,

plead the exemption from liability to all legal pre_
cess before an English civil tribunal which apper-
tained to his status as a resident Minister of the
Belgian Government at the British Court. The rule
was, therefore, asked for on the ground that the
Court had no jurisdiction in the case. The applica-
tion was unopposed, but the Court made a variety of
inquiries touching the international law which
governed the case, and in the course of the atgu-
ments sundry precedents, some of them dating from
the time of Oliver Cromwell, and a number of high
legal authorities, including Grotius and Vette], were
cited in support of M. Deouet's demand. Ultimately
the Court granted the rule.

I