The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-26 00:00:00

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THE Mayo Constitution announces a case of mer-
cantile embarrassment in that county, which appears
to have caused very general regret there. The old
and respected firm of Pinkerton and Thompson have
been compelled to suspend payment.
Mn. JUSTICE JACKS ,N died last week in Dublin.

THE Evening Post states that Mr. Justice Moore,
one of the judges of the Queen's Bench, whose state
of health for some time past had been anything but
satisfactory, is now considerably better. It was
believed that, in the event of a continuance of his
illness, he contemplated a journey to the south of
Europe.
THE hopes of a conclusion of the great slander
case before Christmas are becoming more faint. No
less than eight witnesses were examined on Tuesday
on the part of the defendant, and it is said that the
liq is not yet exhausted. The trial was resumed on
Wednesday morning. The trial is altogether of a
most singular nature. It has been before the Dublin
Court of Exchequer for the last nine days, and is
likely to occupy many more. The plaintiff is Mr.
George Strevens, nephew of the unfortunate Mrs.
Sarah Kelly, whose barbarous murder yet remains a
mystery, so far as any knowledge of the perpetrators
1 is m question. The defendant is Mr. Christopher
Campion, a Dublin attorney, who for many years
acted as the legal adviser of the murdered woman,
and who was residing in her house upon the day she

met her untimely end. The action having arisen out
of circumstances connected with this tragedy natu-
rally excited more than an ordinary share of interest,
and the court has been donsely crowded during the
whole day. The damages were laid at 6,000/. The
pleadings averred that Mrs. Sarah Kelly had been
murdered by two persons on the Bth of April, 1856,
and that after that occurrence the defendant spoke
and published of the plaintiff words to this effect :
" This is the man who got it done." " Well, Mr.
Strevens, how was that job done; where did they
come from, or where did they go to? When you say
they did not pursue you any more, you were not the
man they wanted to shoot." The inuendoes were to
the effect that i he plaintiff had conspired with two men
to shoot Mrs. Kelly and likewise the defendant. The
defence consisted in a denial of the use of the words
ascribed to the defendant in the defamatory sense
alleged, and a justification, stating the circumstances
from which the defendant believed in the guilt of
the plaintiff, and that he spoke the words believing
that the plaintiff had conspired to murder Mrs.
Kelly. The defence comprised two branches usual
in such cases—namely, that the defendant had rea-
sonable and probable cause for believing that the
plaintiff had murdered Mrs. Kelly, and that the
communication in which he represented that he had
murdered her was a privileged communication. The
issues which the jury had to try were whether the
defendant had spoken the words in a defamatory
sense ; secondly, whether the matters stated in the
special defence were true in substance and fact.
The Dublin Freeman says that the long-expected
affidavits in the case of" Kingston and Sadleir " have
been filed on both sides, and that they exceed in
extent any that have ever been filed in Ireland in
any one case. The affidavits, it is computed, coves
7,000 folios.

The Morning Post announces the departuao from
town of the Right Hon. W. G. Hayter, to pay an
"interesting visit " to his constituents.

The Daily News of yesterday designates the
appointment of the Hon. W. A. Tollemache to the
vacant Treasurership of the Kent County Courts as
" discreditable to Lord Palmerston personally, as it
is unsatisfactory to the Liberal party."

INDIAN FINANCE.—A return, moved for by Mr. A.
Mills, of the revenue derived annually from all
sources of taxation in India from 1852 to 1855-56
was published yesterday. In 1855-56 the net receipts
from the land, Sayer and Moturpha revenues,
amounted to 16,002,3631.; salt, 2,038,8831.; opium,
3,961,975/. ; Post•ofce (a deficiency), 21,5151.;
stamp duties, 519,731/. ; Customs, 1,982,2751.; Mint
duties, 130,0471.; miscellaneous, 1,369,8921.; and
charges, 23,539,0241. Total receipts, 30,817,5281;
charges, 28,372,9011.—5urp1u5, 2,444,6271. In 1852,
the surplus was 3,329,8611.; 1853, 1,299,2841.; 1854,
1,391,3291.; 1855.56, 244,6271.