The Press.
London, England, 1858-06-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS, Jr NE 19, 1858.

able thought as well as command of language. The
Newdigate English Verse Prize, by Mr. F. L. Latham,
scholar, Balliol, upon the discovery of the North
West Passage, was received with considerable
applause, as was the Gaisford Prize, a Greek transla•
ticn from that inimitable scene in Henry IV. where
Falstaff adopts King Cambyses' vein. This, which
was an admirable rendering of the original, was
effectively recited by the author, Mr. R Broughton,
scholar of Balliol, and brought the business of the
morning to a successful termination.

DEATH OF THE LORD JUSTICE CLERK.
THE Right Hon. John Hop,, Lord Justice Clerk of
Scotland, died at his residence, in Moray-place,
Edinburgh, at half-past eleven o'clock on Monday
evening. His lordship had felt poorly for some days,
and on Saturday had gone to visit his country seat in
Ayrshire, returning on Monday. He had just
finished writing in the evening a letter to Mrs. Hope
announcing his safe return, when he was seized with
a shock of paralysis, after which he never recovered
consciousness, and expired in a few hours. The
learned lord was the eldest son of the late Right
Hon. Charles Hope, of Granton, Lord President of
the Court of Session, and was connected through both
pirents with the Hopetoun familj. He was born at
Edinburgh in 1794, and passed the Scottish bar in
1816. For a series of years he filled the honorary
position of Dean of the Faculty of Advocates; and in
1841, when h's father retired, and the late Right
Hon. David Boyle was appointed to the conjoined
offices of Lord President and Lord Justice General,
he was chosen as Lord Justice Clerk. In that impor
tant judicial office he presided over the second divi-
sion of the Civil Court, and practically had the
leading part in the ditties of the Justiciary Bunch,
having presided at nearly all the trials of imdortance
that have taken place in the High Ci4urt of Justiciary
for the last seventeen years, as well as taken his
share in the business of the Circuit Courts. On the
meeting of the Court of Session on Tuesday morning
the intelligence of his lordship's death produced a
profound sensation. The judges all assembled in the
First Division Court room, when the Lord President
intimated that, in compliance with the request of the
Vice Dean and Faculty of Advocates, as well as in
accordance with the feelings of his bisetliren and
himself, there would be an entire cessation of
business for the day. His lordship also took occa-
sion to pay a tribute to the memory of the late lord,
who had, he said, distinguished himself as a most
able, upright, and indefatigable judge. With regard
to the important vacancy created by his lordship's
death, the general expectation is that the Lord Ad-
vocate, who is usually considered to have the firs
title to such legal promotion, will, notwithstanding
his repeated refusal of an ordinary judgeship, avail
himself of his present privilege.

LAND JOBBING IN THE UNITED STATES.—The affairs
of a concern called the La Crosse and Milwaukee
Railroad having lately led to a deman 1 for inquiry
which could not be resisted, a committee of the
Legislature was appointed to examine and report,
and the. whole history of the concern is now em-
bodied in an official report of 400 pages. From this
it appears that the comnany obtained their dona-
tions of land by the direct bribery of the entire
Government of the State. Thirteen members of the
Senate received bonds of the company to the amount of
35,0001., in sums varying from 2,001/. to 3,0001.
each. Sixty members of the House of Assembly
received sums ranging from 1,0001. to 2,0001. each.
Only four members voted for the bill without pay.
The Governor of the State received 10,0001., his
private secretary 1,0001., the Lieutenaut-Governor
2,0001., the Bank Controller 2,0001., and the clerks
of the house from 1,0001. to 2,0001. each. In addi-
tion about 50,0001. was distributed among a set of
persons termed " out-siders "—lobby agents, ttc.—
Times.
The commission of lunacy appointed to inquire
into the state of mind of Sir Henry Meux at the
time of his adding certain codicils to his will,
brought their sittings to a close on Thursday last.
The counsel employed on each side were as follows:
Mr. M. Chambers, Q.C., Mr. Bovill, Q.C., and Mr.
Bodkin for the petitioners, Lord and Lsdy Malden
and Mrs. Arabin ; Mr. M. Smith, Q.C., and Mr.
Quain for Sir William and Lady Bowyer Smijth ; and
the Attorney-General, Mr. Wilde, Q.C., Mr. Edwin
James, Q.C., and Mr. Hawkins for Lady Meux. The
main question at issue was whether the codicil to
his will by which Sir Henry Mettx bequeathed his
entire property, valued at 40,0001. a year, to his
infant son, and on his death to Lady Meux,
to the exclusion of his other relatives, was valid or
not. About forty witnesses were examined altoge-
ther; and at the conclusion of the inquiry, which
lasted nine days, the jury reported as follow- :
That they were all agreed as to the fact of Sir Henry
Meux being insane, but they could not come to any
agreement as to the particular time when the insa-
nity first showed itself. The court then broke up.