The Express.
London, England, 1848-05-16 00:00:00

trbe Court.

The baptism of the infant daughter of the Duke
and Duellist+ of Sutherland took place, yesterday morning,
in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace, in the pre-
sence of the Queen and Prince Albert. The Hon. and Rev.
C. L. Courtenay, , her Majesty's domestic chaplain, efficiati d
at the ceremony. The sponsors were the Queen, Lally
Rivers, and the Duke of Bedford. Her Majesty nam. d the
infant " Alexandrine."
Her Majesty and Prince Albert left Buckingham
Palace at eight o'clock yesterday evening to honour the
Duke and Duchess of Sutherland with their company at
dinner, at their residence, Stafford House. The royal suite
consisted of the Countess of Cherlemont, lady in waiting ;
Lord Byron, lord in waiting ; Viscount Clifden, lord in
waiting to Prince Albert; Colonel the Hen. C. Grey,
equerry in waiting to the Queen ; and Captain the Hon. A.
Gordon, equerry in waiting t 4 Prince Albert.—The Duchess
of Bent also honoured the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland
with her company at dinner last evening. Her Royal High-
ness wee attended by Lady Augusta Brace and Colonel Sir
G. C

:oui.er.

Mr. Power, M.P., had an interview with Sir G:orge
Or y yesterday. The Earl of llarewood had elm inter-
view yesterday with the right hon. baronet, at the Home-
office.
The Bishop of St. David, the 13ishop of St. Asaph,
and Sr. Thuums Phillgs, hail nu interview with the Lord
President of the Council on Friday, respecting educatieu
the principality of Wiets.
The Right Rev. Dr. Davie had au interview with
, Earl Orey e.t-relay, at the Colonial-office.
The Lion. Edward Curzon had an interview with
Earl Oraaville petard iy, at the office of the Beard of
Trade.
Despatch( a were received yesterday at the Colonial-
office from thu Clam rent of Lidwalmr.

'rue LAw ASSOCIATION. —The 31st annual gene-
ral meeting of the law atatclaiion, established for the bete. Gt
of widows and families of pro'es tonsil men in the initropoli,
and vocinity, was held yesterday in the hill of the Incrpo-
rated Law Society, C:laite!l7.l is". Augustus Warren, EN..
one of the trerautain, was in the chair. The minut. s of .hc
last annual court having been read and confirmed, the seers- 1
fury, Mr. John Murray, wee called upon to read the annual Brava or van COMITitY. —A murder wa ;wo-pttra'.:,, on
report, which commute, d by congratulating the members Wednesday night near Euniacymon, county Clare. Th 3
of the society on the increase in tilde income • but at the cause assigned is that the Victim, namtd I.l.l.insiira, '.ad
same time, it regretted that some meralwrs Of the society 1 prosecu'ed at the last Clare ris-iae. three min f,r cow. steal-
had been tobligk ct to epply foe re!iet, w's:ich thq had sec ii ed. 11.4, wi OW. ess 55,,5,m5,.,1 to 5rm,..0,,ti,,„. it is moo': m m
The sum of 2001. stock bad be a purchased by the society 1 pr.ibable, tiORUT r, that the duvet of the murderert was
during the preccdinr year. The receipts amounted, in- i plunder, ta. every availehle chattel in the deoeu:d's bow%
eluding a balsa's! of 1801. 13a, to the sum of 1,6511. ; 8501. was t..aren au iy, even to the shirt off his body. T 4...
had bi en voted for the r. lief of e idows, and the remoinder gross, stun to be levied off L=m: rick coun'y N„,
for other applients for r 8.1. T•ie funded steak of tie grand jury azaewment within the Lest hair. ,oar
society was 20,5002, which is for the benefit of thous families, 1. 37,9)21., of which there is for re - ply meat of
of d ceased =lnters who may hereafter require assiatince. relief adva,:ces 13,8751 This latter, under the t,,,4 hill
The report having been adeptel, the Rielit non. list of rho Chancell.ir of the Exchequer for r .assuin„ 4w,,a
Lyndhurst wits elect( 4 the president; the Visc-Coanecan kviiii, will, wind former aroess.seuza fur the, maw Area°.
of England, ant Vice_chowel,s 8...., with Vie-Via,.. I give the cmuty for fl fishing the Inc ,nll,/ etc public works a
cellor Wigesra wi re re-eieesid vice-presidci ts. 0
' officers havi..g been elect. I,i tn, usual oireplimimter/ teso elusive of the ar;isms, in -gn not, Aro. stonecut•ers '2oo ni a
lutions wee pasieti to the diremors stud othir sills e .th.irers. enkiged i n •h•:L .a
ee Limerick d rs, and goo ~,,,R the' 4,.....44.
At, sum stover 20,00 f.; said warn we kilo ds Luis mere au„.
cx.
A vote of thanks to %Ito chairman closed th• prola,ediosit. wai,hs, the purees of employ-Apt in that muck at the

*mat will be unusually vent in the period of illitars. be.
eareen this. and the re st harvest. Another eireunts.ance
with which the Limerick peuyle felicitate themselve
the e
penses of the staff of engineers, pay ch rks, insp
all of which will be defrayed oat of the consolidated fund.
- _

SCOTLAND.
EDINIttftOH, MAT 13.
A rumour is current that the Lord Advocate intends
intr.:diming a general police bill for Scotland this ses-
sion, but it is possible hat the report mar have arisen
from the promise of a sanitary bill for Srcotland, con-
tingent on the passing of Lord Morpeth's bill for
England. The Lord Advocate has three bills in pro-
gress, and it would be well to see them safe through
before attempting new measures. Public opinion has
been pretty well expressed regarding the whole three.
The manufacturing and mercantile classes condemn
the Entail Bill, as a plaster to a sore which should havlle
been extirpated by the knife. Proprietors generally
approve of it; libera d
l lan-owners like Sir D. Baird
think it too partal but this class. like the extreme*
conservatives of Aberdeenshire, who rug ird entail as
a time-honoured system, is not large in number. The
Marriage and Registration bills are evidently in better
odour than they were last year, but this riot eo much
from the efforts of friends as from the decreasing op.'
position of enemies. The Lunatic Bill is looked at
rather suspiciously. All admit that pauper lunatics
have been ne :lected, and that great abuses have
existed in private asylums, but it is thought that the
care of the insane poor, I:ke that of the sick poor,
might have been devolved on the Poor-law board of I
supervision, and so have saved the imposition of
another special tax. Registration andlunatic se-
clusion are bah admitted to be good, ad, l
could the '
cos. be charged on the Consolidated Fund, all objec-
tions would melt away like ice in June. Employ-
ment will be given to a number of 0 e cials, and this
will si far compensate fur the removal of numerous
public boards flora Edinburgh to London; hut then
ale people of Glasgow and other provincial places
rumble at the eentralasation of F.dinaurgh, and even
to Edinburgh all the patronage going is conternd on
lawyers or their friends, civilians tieing invariably
excluded, although they bear many burdens from
which the legal profession are exempted. But to the
non-ministenal Scotch measures - the Site- Bill is
generally approved of. The more sensible of the
established clergy would have it passed on the ground
that the continued 'chisel of sites affords a pretext
for agitation by the Free Church party. The bill
regarding chapel of case property is a deli-
eve subject. 11, law is clearly on the side of the
establishment, and no body, especially an incorporated
one, ever likes to give up its legal advantages.
Equity, indeed, goes against law iu the case, but re-
ligious passion prevails so much here that judgment
is blinded, and little interest will be taken in the
matter except by Free l'hurchm.n. This last makes
up the tale of Scotch legielatiou yet anaemic. d, but
much more is expected and required. University and
school reform, throwing open the colleges and parish
schools to all sects, is needed; bank reform is needed;
church reform is needed in large towns, where dis-
senters are called on to uphold empty churches with
ministers ; and Scotland farther joins England rather
heartily in the demand for sanitary, game, and excise
reform. The defeat of Mr. Macaulay shows that
Edinburgh is tired of the do-nothing policy, and it
also shows that parliament house intluenet is gone,
unless new life and vigour be acquired both by Whig
and tory.
The treasury has voted 101100/. in aid of medical
relief to the poor in Scotland, and the parochial boards
are busy scrambling for their different shares of the

Sammie Caen.—On Thursday afternoon, a monied wo-
man, named Agnes Gray, was killed by her husband in
Glasgow. It appears that the woman had carried dinner to
her husband, who is a stone-breaker. They returned toge-
ther, but before they went to their lodgings they had gone
luta a public-house, where both of them got oinsillerably
worse of liquor. Alter this they proceided homewards, and
though but six o'clock in the evening, went to bed, which
consisted oaly of a miserable pallet of straw. y had not
*eta there more than a few minutes when the woman
was heard crying ent, and immediately afterwards, their
only child, a boy of twelve years of age, rushed out
of the roam into an adjacent apartment, occupied
by the other tenants of the house, exclaiming that his
mother was murdered. The neighbours immediately en-
tered Gray's room for the purpose of intcrferiag, thinking it
was but a Ilnanicen scuffle ; but the first object that met their
eyes was the poor woman lying stretched on the floor quite
dead. Eff.irts were made to recover her, as there seemed to
be no marks of violence about her person, but she
moved, and it was at last apparent that she had ceased to
breathe. The boy said that the only blow which was struck
by his father was one with his clenched hand, and that it
hal not been repeated. Appearances, however, have since
been discovered on the body, which tend strongly to counte-
121111Ce the suspicion that death was the result of strangula-
tion. The man was immediately taken into custody.

PROVINCIAL.
LtNCASIIIRE.
TIIE COTTON MILLS Is BOLTON.—At several mills
previoudy working short time, the working he's have this
week been augmented to the comolement allowed by law,
and on the whole there is a gradual increase.
INCREASING BURDEN OF TILE POOR.—The quar-
terly abstract of the expenditure of the Preston union for the
three months which termivated on the 2.5. h of March last,
just published, exhibits an increase of pauperism sod of re-
relief over the burden of any previous quarter. The total
number of persons relieved during the period has been no
less than 24,735 ; while for the December quarter of 1847 it
was but 23,659, an excess of 1,176 against the commencement
of 1848. to the March quarter of 1847 the !lumber was but
13,661, con,equently the increase within the year kas been
to the fearful extent of 11,074. The expenditure for relief
during the lest quarter was 11,7711. 13s. 24., aping
9,1431. ss. 2d., in Dec., an excess ut 2,6281. Bs. Od. ; while
f..r the March quarter of 1847 the total expenditure was but
5,0151. 7s. 1114., showing an increese, this year, of
6,7661. Ss. 241. per quarter.
YORKSHIRE.
FATAL AND DISTRESSING ACCIDENT.—Lest 'Wed-
nesday morning, about ten o'clock. Mr. and Mrs. Maugham,
with two of their daughters, left their country residence—a
farm called Wedsley Park—in their four-wheel carnage for
their place of business, a drapery shop, in Sheffield. The mare
which drew the vehicle had never been put into that
carriage before; and in consequence a man-servant was em-
ployed to run by its side, to render assistance if required.
e animal proceeded steadily till it arrived at the bottom
of a bill, when, iron some 11111.1SCert.ined cause, it started off
at a fearful speed. The servant caught hold of the reins at
the mire's head to stop it, but ho could not succeed, and in
the attempt he was knocked down, after having kept hold
for 20 or 30 yards. Tne carriage then struck against the
corner of a house, and precipitated all who were in it with
fearful violence on to the street, while the mare brike j
entirely away, leaving the carriage smashed to riries. Mrs. I
Maugham was kille.i on the spot. The two daughters for
tunately did not sustain much injury, the only wound re-
ceived being a alight cut in Miss Matilda Ma
the infirmary,
apparently in a lifeless state. Mr. Maugham recovered his
consciousness shortly after he was Liken to the infirmary,
and the first question he asked related to his wiie. An
evasive answer was given him, from wnich he at once con-
cluded that she was dead, and he mode no further inquiries
on that point. lie then seat for Alderman Lowe, and told
him that he had not made his will. Mr. Maugham dictated,
while Mr. Law, el the infirmary, wrote down his wishes as
respects the disposal of his property, and completed the
document before ten o'clock in the evening, at which time
the unfortunate gentleman expired.
WARWICKSHIRE.
Tim CHARGE AGAINST LORD LEIGH.—The
Leamington Courier of Saturday, in referring to the investi-
gation recently made before the Warwick magistrates
into the abrurd charge against Lord Leigh, .'ices that "
formation has reamed us, in which we place entire coal.
dence, that at least two of the persons sworn to have bees 'I
murdered can he, brought forward alive and well, to contra-
dict this vamped-up story ; and the registry of tile deaths of
others shows them to hale survived, for tom, years, the catas-
trophe that is said to have consigned them to a premature
end. L7ga.l steps will be taken against all the ponies con-
cerned—a measure which is quite lateens:wiry to vindicate
the reputation of the noble lord."

uNcouisamr.
LANDOWNERS AVoIDING TAILATION.—The heavi-
ness of the poor rates in Lincoln is causing great grumbling
amongst the poor, who find it a difficult ma ter to meet the
frequent and heavy demands upon weir puree. " There is
way (says the Slam/ ord Mercury) by which this burden
iiiight be reduced pretty nearly a halt. The Lincoln union
contains a vast amount of extra parochial property, which
therefore is not asseued to the poor rive. This property
mainly belongs to persons who, of all others, are best able
to pay ; and that no independent member of the House of
Commons takes up and endeavours to work out an equi-
table adjustment of poor-rate taxation seems empire
indeed, end points strongly to the eonclusion that pro-
perty is designedly represented at the expense of
right. Many years since, through the intervention of
C. Cheplin, EA., all tLis property was brought under assess.
ment to the county rate; and why it should be exempt
from poor rates because some centuries awe it belonged to
an order of :unitary priests, or to a priace of the royal blood,
is wholly incionprehensiale. It is now in private hands;
and use in the pi itinction of non-liability to the payment
of the poor rates, 41,1ers in no respect frog other property.
This arbitrary exemp:ion ought therefore to be abolished
without delay, since it one mean+ ot oppressing the poor,
and favouring correepougi:ngly the rich owners of property.
Perseverance in th, mainten sacs of the abaurd distinction
operates in Lincoln not only to .'B3‘• away a large dice of the
loaf tf the poor to feed the poor, i:vss to tax the city heavily
for vice and crime,—this property 4•? if "new's'? of
coil, sod w.. ere the makers et vice an: Crime take refuge,
laugh at the saws that would root tiled "4 Of Parial•••"

moved, an:
breathe.
by his (eh
hat not be.
been disco,
DRUM the 1
tion. The
Tim CA
previou•ly
week beer
and on the
INCRES
terly abstr
three mor
just puble
relief ore]
number of
less than 'r
was but 2;
of 1848.
13,661, cc
to the fea
during tl
9,1431. ss.
f„r the M
5,0151. 7,
6,7561. Si.
FATAI
nesday
with two
farm call
their plac
which dr
carriage 1
Filoyed tc
1111110
of a hill,
at a fearf
the mare'
the attest
for 20 or
corner of
fearful r
1 entirely
• luaughaa
1 tunately
oe ived b
II Mr. Mat
apparent
consciou
and the
evasive I
eluded tl
on that
O him that
while M
respects
I 1 documer
the unit
Tile
Leaman
gativn
into the
formati,
dence, I
murder
I diet thiJ
others I
trophel
end.
cerned-
the rep
LAN
nese of
• among,
frequer
••
1., ight
conrair
therefc
mainly
to pay
Cumin
,
! table
indeed
Pert/.
right.
C. Ch.
ment
from p
an orde
is who!
and u,
of the
This a
withou
and fa
Verner
°perish
lost xf
for Tic
evil, ar
lat