The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-25 00:00:00

tato Enttlttanut.

maul tic COURTS.
Before the Lord Chancellor.
THE ORRAT WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY O. TEI
BIRMINGHAM ♦ND OXFORD JUNCTION RAILWAY COM-
PANY.--AG 88888 NT TO SELL A RAILWAY LINI.--Srm-
CIVIC PIRFORIIANCIL—Dtmcummft —5lr.J. Parker, having
concluded his argument in support of the demurrer, was
followed on the urns side br Mr. Burns and Mr. Willcox.—
The further hearing war adjourned at half. put 3 o'clock.

Before Vice.Chuncellor Knight Bruce.
SIDEON O. EDGEWORTH. —E•ILWAT
suit, which has been oft. n before the court, is instituted by
• shareholder in the Wrexham, Nantwiiii, and Crewe Junc-
tion Railway Company., on b half of himself and all other
shareholders, except the defendants, for a distribution of the
assets remaining after payment of the expenses. A plea of
one of the defendants had been allowed with leave to amend,
and four other pleas wi re now filed by other defend.ints—
the substance of one of them being, that there were some al-
lottees who had not signed the subscribers' agreement, and
who might sue for the return of the whole of their deposits,
being,consequently, in a different position from the plaintiff,
who was bound by the subscribers' agremcnt, and could only
obtain his share of what was left after payment of the ex-
penal. The substance el two other pleas was, that some
shareholders had commenced actions since the institution of
the suit far the recovery of the whole of their deposits, and
the remaining plea was in substance the same as that of the
plea which had been allow. d.—Mr. Bacon Lad Mr. Frieling
supported the pleat], and Mr. Russell and Mr. Chisholme
Ansley the bill. The Vice-Chancellor, adverting
to the terms of the prospectus, thought the dis-
tinction between those who had signed and those who had
not signed the rabecrihers' agreement not made out; but
his Honour gave the defendants leave to make the same
defence by answer ae they had by their pleas. As to the
remaining plea his Honour thought it had better stand over
till the result of an appeal from hie Honour's decision on the
former plea had been heard.
EWILTN O. WINDSOR, STAINES, AND SOVIII WESTERN
RAILWAT.—INJONCTION.—Mr. Russell and Mr. Smythe
moved for a special injunctim to restrain the defendants
from entering into or in any manner using the lands of the
plaintiff until they had pad the sum of SOW., according to
agreement. The p'xintifl was the lessee of • house on the
border of Staines Contemn, and Mr. Tite, the surveyor fur
thecompany, had, as the bill alleged, entered into an agree-
ment, on behalf of the company, with the plaintiff to pay the
latter 5001. before possessi.in of his land was taken by the
company; and on the faith of this agreement the plaintiff
had withdrawn his oppesi..ion to the railway bill in parlia-
ment. A deviation being projected, so that the railway
would not pass so near the plaintiff's house as was originally
intended, a proposal was made to him on behalf of the cam-
mll to abate some portion of the stipulated compensation.
The plaintiff, however, declined acceding to the proposal.
It was now stated by the affidavit that the workmen of the
company had nevertheless entered upon the land and com-
menced their operations.—Thecourt gnuttedthe injunction.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
Debi" Mr. Ossua%Mom Ihrgissed.
Setereurelost OF CBSTIPICATA.—IR ISO ease Oi Williem
Humphreys, tavern-limpet, Bow-street, Coveatiperikin, who
applied for hie ea:debate, it appearing the t halad bees a
bankrupt • year ago, and paid no dividend, sad had Mao
pored fineagh the Insolvent Court en a farmer 00CigOO, the
Commissioner postponed the granting of the certificate for
six month", extending the promotion to the bankrupt, how-
ever, far three months longer.
INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT.
Before Mr. Commissioner
Tx an Wit.tuat Faratcie ELtsur.—Thie insolvent,
who was engaged as the attorney in Lord Huntingtower's
bankruptcy, was unounopposed.The debts set forth in the
schedule amounted in the aggregate to 1,1091. Bs. 2d.;
wits, 8211. 4s. 21. The insolvent had been mixed up in
very many bill transactions, both in connexion with Lord
Huotinstower and with Mr. Comports. The great bulk of
the inWirent's liabilities were on bills of exchange, for most
of which, according to his own showing, he bad received no
consideration. Ono bill for 1001., drawn by Lord limiting-
tower upon and accepted by the insolvent, appeared in
the schedule, for which his lordship had received only a
few cigars. Another bill for 1001. appeared as having bees
accepted by the insolvent, and upon which Lord Hunting-
tower realised only 301.—The Commissioner expressed his
opinion that a man In the position of the insolvent had no
right whatever to mix himself up in bill transactions. The
case must, however, be adjourned till Wixluesday, for further
Investigation.—Adjourosd.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.
Before Mr. niece), end a Bench et glaglitraten
I plutanteci.—Noirin. YROCMDING,—Mr. J. Gore, the
dust contractor for the district of St. Luke's, surrendered
in court to answer an indictment, charging him with having
allowed certain offal and refuse to accumulate upon his pre-
mises in Hatfield-street, St. Luke* to such an extent as to
become an intolerable nuisance to the inhabitants in the
immediate neighbourhood.—Mr. Ballantine, on behalf of the
defendant, applied to the court for an order to compel the
prosecution to hand to the defendant particulars of the
charges the defendant had to meet. The learned counsel,
at great length, contended that the indictment was couched
in teams of too general a nature for the defendant to be pre-
pared to answer the charges preferred against him, and that
he could not safely proceed to trial without them. The
court made the order, and allowed several hours for
the required particulars to be given, but Mr. Bal-
lantine, when the particular bad been handed to
hies, c .mplained that they were not more specific than
the indictment itself. A very long argument tinned on
both sides, at the end of which the court decided that the
particulsys were sufficiently explicit, and that the trial must
proceed.—Mr. Ballantine then challenged the whole panel
of the jurors, on the ground that as they were inhabitants
and rate-payers of St. Luke's, and were perhaps some of them
affected by the alleged nuisance, it might fairly be inferred
that they Ind an animus in the matter, and were, therefore,
persons not proper to try the issue between the crown and the
defendant.—Several of the jurymen said they lived near the
premises where the nuisance was alleged to exist, and had
tormed opinions upon the matter ; therefore they would
much rather not try the cage,. A discussion of
two hours' length now took place relative to the mode
in which Mr. Ballantine ought to challenge the whole
panel. In the end it was decided that each juror should be
challenged when called, and theta statement of the grounds
upon which the objection wee made should be laid before two
"triers," ore being chosen by each party, and whose deci-
sion was to be binding on both parties. Mr. Parry (who
with Mr. Metcalf and Mr. Chorus& prosecuted at the in-
stance of the parish of St. Luke) named Dr. Southwood
Smith, and Mr. Ballantine named Dr. Guy. Both those
gentlemen were then sworn to decide whether the jurors,
considering them to be inhabitants of St. Luke's, were in-
terested in en indirect manner in the case, and whether they
were proper persons to try the indictment. The first juror '
called was Mr. Gurney, of Old-street, to whom Mr. Ballast-
tine objected on the above grounds. The referees decided
that the juror was not a proper person to be on the jury.
Hereupon Mr. Parry said that u the same objection would
be urged against the whole of the jurors, he thought the beat
course would be to allow the case to stand over until a jury
could be summoned teem other parishes.—Mr. Ballantine
assented to this, and the court ordered the case to stand over.
—lt was stated that forty-twe witnesses, including several
eminent scientific gentlemen, were in attendance.

BAIL COURT
Battings In Banco. &lore Mr. deities Wlghtman.
Re MA10•11.111 WHITII.—THE CABE UP ALLSORD CHILD-
STEALINe.—In obedit nee to the writ of habeas corpus which
Mr. Ball obtained last week in this case, the child was now
brought up in the custody of Mr. Brown.—Mr. Ball stated
that he had received a letter from the attorney on the other
side, making a proposition to which he waswilling to accede.
He now proposed that the child should be delivered up to
the custody of its mother, who was residing with Mr. and
Mrs Buckingham, of Golden-square, and that Mr. Brown
should have access to the child at certain intervals to be fixed
by his lordship--say every two months—Mr. Worlledge,
who appeared on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Brown, thought it
would be a fair proposal if Mr. Brown were allewei to
see the child once a month, if accompanied by Mr.
Thurston, the putative father.—Mr. Ball objected
to this : he was instructed that Mr. Thurston was not the
father of the child, and even if he were such a course would
be unpleasant to the mother.—Mr. Justice Wightman
thought that it might probably be disagreeable to the mother,
but he recommended very strongly that the matter should
be settled.—Mr. Worlledge would agree to an order of the
court directing the mother to retain the custody of her child,
and that Mr. and Mrs. Brown should see the child once a
month in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Buckingham.—Mr.
Ball said he could not acquiesce in that part of the proposi-
tion which related to Mrs. Brown, and he was about to pro-
ceed to read his affidavits when Mr. Justice Wightman de-
sired him to hand them up. On hearing that she was likely
to return to the custody of her mother the child, Margaret
White, commenced crying most lustily, and by every means
in her power testified her dislike to return to her mother.—
Mr. Worlledge said he trusted his lordship would note
the child's unwillingness to leave her present custody,
and he begged to call his lordship's attention to the case of
ft Re LloYd," (3 Manning and Oranger,) in which the late
Lord Chief Justice Tindal had held that the mother of en
illegitimate child had no more right than a stranger to its
custody, after it had attained the age of seven years. He
trusted no force would be allowed to be used to remove the
child from Mr. Brown, and that his lordship would question
ker as to where she would like to go.—Mr. Ball said that
this was a different case to the one quoted by his learned
friend, inasmuch as the child had been actually stolen from
the custody of the mother whilst playing with a dog in
Golden-square. He would refer his lordship to a
late case before Mr. Justice Patteeon, "Re Preston,"
in which the learned judge held that it was ridiculous to
examine a child of tender years as to where it would like to
live, and although the child in that ease was nine years of
age yet it was hold to be incompetent to exercise a sound
accretion.—Mr. Justice Wightman, after reading the affi-
aavite, said he thought it would be better that this matter
should be settled, and with a view to the furtherance of that
object be would adjourn the ease till ten o'clock to-morrow
(this day.) As to examining a child of such tender years, that
was a test he could put very little confidence In. If the
matter was not settled betwesa that time and the next morn-
ing Mr. Worlltdge might file affidavits is answer to those
put in by Mr. Ball, and the merits of the ease could then be
gone into.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.
The only remaining case of appeal from the decisions of
the revising barristers wee appointed to be taken this
morning, but was postponed, in consequence of the absence of
one of the counsel engaged in, it until Thursday. The new
trial paper was then proceeded with, but the ,cases heard
were devoid of public interest.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.
Bitting, in Banco.
ACKLAND v. BULLISH AND ANOTNIR.—TIIII TITHE
Coanurratrios ALT.—This was an action upon the case
brought by Sir P. Ackland against the defendants, Thomas
Wentworth Buller and Richard Jones, tithe oommissionen,
for having, without reasonable and probable cause, certified,
under the Tithe Commutation Act, that a difference had
11611•11 between the plaintiff, as owner of certain lands in the
parish of Charles, in Devonshire, and the Earl of Fonseca',
as to the apportionment of the tithes claimed in respect to
those lands. The certificate stated that the amount due to
the Earl of Fortcaeue in respect of the lands was 391, 7s. 10d.,
and it was granted in order t 3 enable the magistrates to
issue a warrant to levy that sum upon the plaintiff's seeds.
A warrant was accordiugly issued and executed. The
plaintiff was compelled to pay the amount, although, he
alleged, no ground whatever existed for the granting of the
cerufieate. The defendants pleaded—first, not guilty;
second, that the grievances complained of were com-
mitted under the authority of the Tithe Commuta-
tion Act; third, that a month's notice of the action
was not given, u required by law; and fourth, that the
alleged grievances were committed in the county of Middle-
sex, and not in the county of Devon, where the venue
was laid. Those pleas were severally demurred to, and
argued yesterday.—Mr. Greenwood was heard for the
plaintiff, and Mr. Peacock for the defendants.—The Court
took time to consider its judgment.
The sittings in bane* after term will comment, on the
6th of February. The learned Barons will MOM on the
7th, and continue the sittings for the five succeeding days.

THE EXPRESS TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 25, 1848.

months' imprbmnsent ; Minted Cayley, the porter, six
wweeks't and C. Somers, W. Mardannt„ IL W. and Phil lip
Reshdown, J. Seelll, D. Levy, C. Ralswarth, J. Walker, J.
Davis, J. Lawrence, A. tkaith B. Hopkins, W. Johnson,
and Gnome Jones. were fined as., or 21 days' impriesament.
MABYLEBONB.—CireIIOI AGAINST A FINAL/ NOR
CUTTING AND WOLINDING.—A young woman named W.
Staten was charged with having wounded Joseph George
Ley, her father In-law, residing at No. 27, Stafford-street,
Lisson-grove.—Complannutt, whose head was strapped up
with adhesive plaster, deposed that on the previous day,
having dined, the prisoner was going to pat a saucepan of
water on the fire for the purpose of washing up the plates,
&0., but was desired to demise, as her mother had not come
in,: upon which she firtantly .flew into a passion, sad lay-
ing bold of the saucepan struck him with it three or four
times upon the head, thereby inflicting two severe wounds,
from which the blood streamed in such abundance that his
clothes were nearly saturated with it, and a quantity thereof
run upon the floor. She then quitted the place, and in the
course of an hour or two returned, when she kcame
tremely violent, and broke in two panels of a door. Be at
length obtained the assistance of a policeman, by whom she
was conveyed to the statioa-bonee.—Tho prisoner replied
that her father first assaulted her by hitting her
upon the arm and body with a poker, end that she had been
badly treated by him ever since he married her mother.
She also alleged that his spite against her had arisen from
her having refused to accede to proposals of an improper
nature which he made to her some months ego.—The father
denied that there was as y truth whatever in this allegation.
—Mr. Broughton fined the accused fAls., in default of pay-
ment two months' imprisonment. She was then locked up.
WESTMINSTEB.--Sraauno PROM A CHVRCH ROOF.
—C. Booth was charged with stripping a great quantity of
lead from the roof of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster.
On Saturday evening Police-sergeant Adams, accompanied
by a constable, entered the church, and they placed themselves
in a petition to command a victor of the vestry-room. After
remaining some hours, the prisoner was area to approach
the edifice, and having with surprising agility ascended to
the roof of the vestry room, he threw a roll of lead over the
parapet to the ground below. The officers immediately went
into the churchyard, and, having procured a ladder, ascended
the roof of the vestry-room, but could see nothing of the
prisoner. Tapping (the constable) with the aid of another lad-
der, gained the rout of the chureh,where he found the prisoner,
who, observing that he was on a level with him, advanced to
the edge of the parapet, and sating Sergeant Adams below,
observed : " It's no use ; I can't get away—l've no chance
of escape. Fetch me down as soon as you can, for I'm very
cold." Crow, tho parish beadle, who was in attendance,
with the keys of the gallery windows, opened one of
them, and the prisoner was conveyed to the station. A
second roll of the lead, which had been thrown down while
the officers were leaving the church, was found on the pave-
ment —The prisoner made no defence.—Mr. Broder'', re-
manded him until Wednesday.

SOUTHWARK.—Corrneintrrioxe TO THE POOR-ROI.—
The magistrate begs to acknowledge the receipt of a 61.
Bank note from " W. H. C.," and 21. 41. from W. Stagg,
Erg., in aid of the poor-box.
THAMES.—Quitextoo OP DESERTING A VESSEL.—A
shipowner named Barrack was summoned to show cause
why he refused to pay a balance of 81. 10s. to Richard Henry
Ferneaux, second mate of the ship Amigos.—Mr. Smith, a
solicitor, appeared for Ferneaux, and Mr. Stevenson attended
on tke part of the owner. The case governed five others of
a like nature, and the ground of refusal was that the men
had deserted the vessel at Falmouth.—Mr. Smith, on the
pest of his client, admitted that the men bad abandoned the
vessel, but contended that they were warranted in doing so
by apprehension that their lives would be endangered if they
continued to remain in the vessel with the captain (Mead),
whom they alleged to be an habitual druokard.—Feroeaux
being called, stated that he had engaged with Capt. Mead
for a voyage to the Brack &a and back to any port of dim-
charge in Great Britain. lle had not been lung on bosrd
when he discovered that the captain, who was a very reli-
gious man, and said prayers with great regularity, was at
the same time an habitual drunkard. When sober, he was
very well conducted, but when drunk he would yield to
no suggestion from any of the officers, and on several occa-
sions he by his intemperance placed the lives of the
crew in the utmost danger. At one time, in the
Black Sea, he ran the Amigos against another v.ssel, and if
they had come directly athwart it they would have been
cut completely through to the water's edge. On another
occasion, whilst the captain and the first mate were down at
prayer', the atter not having given any cotase to the steers-
teen, witness called out to the man at the helm to change ,
his course or the vessel would go ashore. She struck Immo.
diet ly aft. r, on which the captain came up laughing, and
said, " I have seen more than that at the Whitby bar." He
was drunk at the time. Coming at one time from Corotan-
tinople the captain was so drunk that ho fallout of the boat,
and but for witness's exertions would have been drowned.
Though he constantly read the Bible, he did not seem to be
aware of what he was at, and frequently read the MN
chapter twice over. When awaking from a drunken dose
he used to make the most out-of-the. way replies, Orme
when asked how many points the ship should be kept away,
his answer was, " Two roubles." At another time, in
making the Bosphorus, the captain was so drunk that witness
had to pull him out of his chair, and on opening his eyes he
looked around and said, " This is not like Odessa." He often
mistook the points of the compass; and he once went to the
wheel, but it was to hold himself up, not being able to
stand ; and he used to wear his south-wester, with the back
part to the front. (Loud laughter.) Once, when eating
a piece of pudding, he said it was very fine beef, but
it was raw, and he could seldom distinguish the difference
between tea and coffee. (Laughter ) He used to rate
witness for swearing occasionally, and when told it was
worse to set drunk on the Lord's day, kis reply was, that
he was the only sober man on board. At Falmouth he
threatened to knock the chief mate's head off, because his
watch did not keep time. Oa one occasion, in attempting
to use the quadrant, it fell out of his baud, and, in two or
three minutes after, he complained that the empty case was
brought to him without the quadrant. When asked at
Falmouth by Some one in the quarantine boat, what was
the tonnage of the vessel, his reply was, " planks and mats."
Lusby r.) On seeing these things, and having arrived at
Falmouth, the crew resolved not to trust themselves with
hi,l to Hull, knowing the passage to be dangerous. He
called them to prayers, and then took them be-
fore a magistrate, but preferred no complaint, ex-
cept their refusal to proceed to Hull. In other
respects he admitted that their conduct was unex-
ceptionable. They assigned their reasons for not proceeding
to the magistrate, who told them they might leave, and sent
an officer on board, who saw that their register tickets were
given up. They were then desired to muster their traps, as
a new sbip'a company was coming; and the captain having
calculated their wages said they should be paid. They
would all have proceeded to Hull with the vessel had there
been any other captain. The captain did not offer to
take a sea pilot on board and go himself by land
to Hull. The vessel's forefoot WAS knocked off in the
Bosphoruss—The cook and two other seamen, named
Davis and Winter, deposed to the same effect.—
Capt. Mead was then called. He is a staid-looking man,
about 38 years of age, yet did not appear to perceive the
peculiarity of his position. He denied the charge of drunk-
enness, and insisted that he was but once affected by liquor
during the voyage. He accounted for the irrelevant answers
by stating that he had heavy duty to perform; sod when
asked about the "points," he did answer " two roubles," for
he had been thinking in his sleep about money and expenses,
but he was not drunk. Before going to evening prayers,
he had given directions as to the crutees.—John Linklater,
the carpenter of the Amigos, was called on the part of the
owners, to show that the captain was not a drunkard, but
his evidence tended more toe other way. He seldom saw
the captain in the evening, but had seen him twice drunk,
but not "mortal" drunk, during the day.—Mr. Yardley
regretted to. say that as a consequence of the evidence
the character of the captain must be called intoquestioo, but
the amount of the evidence •as to inebriety was strong
against him. The captain, himself, swore that during the
voyage he was never drunk but once, whilst the only wit-
ness whom he called, and who could only see him in the day
time, proved to his drunkenness on a second occasion. On a
question en important to the character of the ceptain, which
was deeply compromised, why was not the first mate pro-
duced ? The evidence given by the men was tendered in the
most straightforward way. Nothing had been alleged
against them by the eaptain, at Falmouth. They were
orderly and well conducted to the last, and took the
fleet opportunity of leaving a weed a continuance
in which would, as they believed, endanger their lives. He
(Mr. Yardley) would b., the last man to held out encourage-
ment to a Crew to abandon a TWIRL but in this case he
thought they were fully warranted, and he must order the
full wags. Mr. Stevenson said the owners were only de-
sirous of a full inquiry.—Five other cases, in all amounting
to 451., were governed by the same decision.—Theta was an
attempt at applause in the body of the court, which was
quickly silenced by the officers.