The Express.
London, England, 1848-05-19 00:00:00

TO BAIL.

An application was made in the Queen's Bench chamber,
before the Chief Justice, at half-past ten o'clock, for the ad-
mission of Mr. John Mitchel to hail.
Sir Colman O'Loghlen read a portion of the informations
under which Mr. Mitchel had been committed to preen,
and stated that by a recent act, the 11th Victoria, the offence
with which Mr. Mitchel stood charged was made a felony,
otherwise he would have been admitted to bail in the usual
way. The facts of the case rendered it a matter of right
that Mr. Mitchel should be admitted to hail if the
court were satisfied that he would afterwards be amenable
to justice. According to " Blackstone's Commentaries"
all offences were bailable except those of murder, treason,
and some other Monies therein specified ; but it leaves
the ordinary cases untouched. This offence was the same
u those bailable at common law, and the court in all
I such cases never refused bail, except in something of an
extraordinary description. In delivering judgment in the
case of " The Queen r. Wood," Mr. Justice Crampton said
that in all such cases, where sufficient bail could be given
so as to ensure the attendance of the party accused, the
court should always a-c_pt it, In the ease of " The Queen
v, Orgy," an application was made to J adv. Perna on

circuit to have the prisoner admitted to bail, but he
having some doub's on his mind as to the propriety of
doing so, referred the application to the Queen's Bench,
and they acted on it. the prisoner was accordingly
admitted to bail. There was nothing to prevent hail from
being taken in common law, except in eases of the offences
of murder, manslaughter, and some other eases, which
come under the peculiar construction of the estate. lie
would therefore call on the court to admit Mr Mitchel
to bail, which was a matter entirely st the discretion of the
Court. _ _ _

Mr. Baldwin opposed the application, and said that the
offence with which Mr. Mitchel was charged was not only
felony, but it was an instigation to commit the highest clam
of offences known to the law, having a tendency to deprive
her Majesty of the royal prerogative and crown, and to
establish a republic. Mr. Mitchel stood charged with two
offences of that description under the 3rd section of the act,
and his lordship would see the propriety of not admitting
Mr. Mitchel to bail, who was in the habit of repeating the
offence. He did not dispute the right of the court to exer-
cise its jurisdiction, and did not mean to say but the court
might take bail; but it was an extraordinary kind of offence.
The only effect that bail would have would be to diacharge
Mr. Mitchel for two days, as he was entitled to take his tnal
on Saturday before the commission.
Sir Colman O'Loglilen—l wish to observe, with respect to
Mr. Baldwin's remark about Mr. Mitchel's offence being
Veal.=

Baldwin—l beg your pardon, I don't mean to say so;
I alluded to its tendency.
Chief Justice—l wish to state that I will be considerably
influenced on the subject, in coming to a decision, by an
affidavit from Mr. Mitchel, stating that the publication of
such documents will of hereafter be repeated.
Sir Colman O'Loghlen—My lord, I have received no in-
structions to that effect _ . .

Chief Justice—Well, then, I must refuse bail, as there is
no recurity given that the offence will not be repeated. His
lordship then left the chamber, and the parties retired.

SCOTLAND.

EDINBURGH, MAy 17.

The town council of Edinburgh, apprehensive that
bank reform may be lost sight of, have agreed to pe-
tition " for the repeal of the restrictions imposed upon
the currency and banking system of Scotland by the
acts 1844-5."

The spirit of David Deans still continues to impreg-
nate the community, and appropriately lifts up its
voice in church courts. At the united presbyterian
synod, now sitting, a remonstrance was made against
the practice, unfortunately increasing in that body, of
reading sermons. " The tendency of the age," said
one reverend divine, "is to affect intellectuality, and
in accordance with that feeling many considered that
reading enabled ministers to give more matured ser-
mons and to round their periods better, but if the
pulpit was again to be the organ of power reading
must be discontinued." No deliverance was come to,
some of the ablest preachers of this and other dis-
senting bodies having long adopted the " defection"
in question. The synod meets this year for the first
time in an elegant new hall, the decorations of which
have been gravely objected to by same as savouring
of the theatrical; and in ordcr that the appearance
of the moderator might be in keeping with the new
order of things, the ladies of Edinburgh presented
him with a gown and bands, which on being referred
to afterwards, an elder from Stirling put the ugly
question as to what passage of Scripture authorised
the use of the garment. The United Synod is a
vigorous and progressive body, and the " cattie
stool " class are the exception, not the rule, amongst
its members.

MAT 18.

Yesterday afternoon, according to ancient custom,
the keys of the city were eelivered to the Lord High
Commissionetto the General Assembly, by the magis-
trates, who, along with a number of other official per-
sons, were afterwards entert...ined at dinner by his
grace, in Holyrood. To-day the commissioner will
open the assembly.
On Tuesday the Lord President of the Court of
Session, accompanied by Lord Moncrieff, held a trial
at Forfar, before a grand jury, at the instance of the
crown, against Lord Arbuthnot, when the criminal
charges against his lordship, lately disclosed, were
proved, and a true bill made out. The object of the
investigation was to deprive the accused of his titles.
Only one document was p.oduced, and five witnesses
examined, in connection with it. Similar investiga-
tions are to take place at Stonehaven and Aberdeen.

A RAT FREAK—The engineer of the Maid of Galloway
lately missed a pack of small playing cards, which he kept
on a shelf in his cabin. A search was made for them and they
were discovered in the fireman's cabin, on the other side of
the vessel, the owner, however, being quite innocent of the
fnlnny, which had haen rommittod by a pwie and', anxious
to make their young ones as comfortable as possible. A
beam runs across the vessel above the doors of the cabins,
and the cards had been conveyed along the adjoining space,
and used like elates to line the roof, walls, and floor of a very
warm and comfortable domicile, in which seven young rats
were found lying as snugly as passible. All the cards were
recovered uninjured by nibbling or otherwise, except one,
and that the ace of spades, so that there was no evasion of the
Stamp Act, whatever there might be of the ordinary laws of
mews and tuum.—Dumfries Courier.