The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-24 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 24, 1846.

Webby, 345), and argued that there had been here a bona
fide demand and not a voluntary or fraudulent preference.
Mr. Russell appeared in support of the fiat.
The chief judge said that the fiat could not be annulled
without a trial at law of the question of fraudulent prefer-
ence. The advertisement, however, should he stayed in the
mean time. The admissions to be made, and the action, and
the other terms on which it was to be brought, were after-
wards arranged between the parties.
Ex PARTE BARTON, RE HARMAN.—Ex PARTE KINODON,
RI PINNER.—£IO AND £2O OFFICE FEES.—Mr. Sturgeon
appeared in support of both these petitions, which involved
the question, which has been so often raised, as to the right
of the public treasury to have retained the office fees of 101.
and 201. (payable on the choice of assignees) as against the
solicitor suing out the fiat. It will be remembered that there
is a difference of opinion between the Court of Review and
the commissioners on the point; the Court of Review
having, in several cases, ordered payment of the solicitor's bill
to the exhaustion of the assets in hand, when there appeared
no probability of any choice of assignees ever taking place.
In one of the above petitions the commissioner was repre-
sented as having dccliocd ordering payment to the solicitor,
on the ground that he was not to be called on to decide, whe-
ther it was probable that a creditor's assignee would be
chosen.
The Chief Judge said the question was about to be brought
before the Lord Chancellor, and that the petition had better
stand over till his lordship had decided the point.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
Beftre Mr. Commissioner lunbisnque.
PETITION D15131188E1) FROM INFORMALITY.—Art insol-
vent, named Wicker, an attorney at Chichester, came up for
his interim order. He was opposed upon the ground that
the petition was incorrect, and that the insolvent had not in-
serted the debts due by hint under a former insolvency in
his petition. One of the objections taken was clearly a
clerical error, but the act of parliament did not allow
the petition to be amended.—His Honour dismissed the
petition.
IN RY. FARRER.—This insolvent came up for interim
order.—Mr. Cooke opposed under these circumstances: The
insolvent had dislocated his wrist, and was attended by Mr.
Wildbourne, a surgeon. Fencying, however, that his cure
was not so complete as ought to have been, he brought an
action against Mr. Wildbourne for unskilfulness; but two or
three days after the trial, which was gained by Mr. Wild-
bourne, and before he could get his costs, which were heavy,
the insolvent made himself a bankrupt, and obtained a cer-
tificate. He (Mr. Wildbourne) was shut out Irons proving
under the bankruptcy, but the insolvent haling tiled another
petition, the present opposition arose.
The insolvent said tLat he had now entirely lost the u..e of
his wrist, and being a poor man, he could not contend against
a body of surgeons who were against him.
His Honour would grant the interim order, and de fir his
decision until the final order, as he could have to re-try the
action.

Before Mr.

JUDGMENT, IN RE ASLIDOWN.—The bankrupt, as our
readers will recollect, was an ironmonger at Chatmore. His
Honour said,—l have carefully read over the examinations
which have been handed to me, and I cannot but say that
the bankrupt has acted in direct defiance to the principles
en which the bankrupt law is founded. I must believe that
before the bankruptcy he intended to conceal property ; and
had it not been for certain facts which made the circum-
stance of the concealment impossible, the bankrupt could not
do otherwise than he did. At one time I thought I could
not do otherwise than refuse the certificate; but I feel a
great difficulty in giving a punishment which is to last for
life. Had there been any pressure upon him, which
tempted the removal of this property, I would have given
him the benefit of that pressure. If this bankrupt had done
that which he ought to have done when he was not in good
circumstances, he would have passed through this court.
This is a case which in strictness calls for the refusal of the
certificate ; but taking all the circumstances into considera-
tion, I shall suspend the certificate fur four years. Mr.
Duncan applied for protection, which was refused.

SECONDARIES COURT.
Before Mr. Secondary Potter.
GOLDSMID V. COW:N.—LIABILITY OF A lIVSRAND UNDER
♦ CONTRACT MADE BY HIS WlFE.—This was an a,tion
brought to recover the balance of an account for goods sold
and delivered to which the defendant pleaded that he never
was indebted, and if indebted, that the plaintiff had been
paid. In April last, the defendant's wife went, without the
knowledge of her husband, to the plaintiff, a dealer in Bir-
mingham goods, and purchased a plated tea and coffee service
for which she agreed to pay 71., and on receiving the invoice
she paid 51. 10s. on account, which was acknowledged there-
oc. When the defendant saw the service, and knew its
price, he sent it back again to the plaintiff, demanding a re-
turn of the money. The plaintiff, however, demanded the
balance. The defendant hereupon informed against the
plaintiff at the Stamp-office for having given a re-
ceipt for more than 51., otherwise than on a stamp,
for which he was fined M. The plaintiff's witnesses
swore the price charged was a fair retail price. In defence,
it was contended, and witnesses swore, that the goods were
not worth 3/. 10s.—Mr. Hawkins argued, that assuming the
wife to have had the authority of her husband to order cer-
tain goods, she was not empowered to enter into any special
contract as to price, which could bind the husband, and that
were such contract entered into, the husband could not be
compelled by it to pay more for those goods than their real
worth.—Aßer some diuussion, the learned Secondary asked
the jury if they were satisfied that a certain price had been
agreed upon.—The jury replied by a verdict for the
plaintiff for the balance, kl. Is. fxl.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.
Before Mr. Serjeant Adam., theMpistant Judge.
RAILWAY RoIitiEHIES.--John Morrell and Robert Enter-
ton, two porters lately in the service of the Loudon and North
Western Railway Company, were indicted for having stolen
on the 12th inst.'s quantity of tea, the property of the said
company. A constable, nnmed Bates, deposed to having seen
the prisoners on the evening of the day in question very
busily engaged searching for something at the rear of a lug-
gage train, and his suspicions being aroused by seeing
Morel hand something to Emerton, he took them into cus-
tody, and on searching them he found the tea, which proved
to have been extracted from a chest in one of the luggage
vans.—The prisoners protested that the tea was scattered on
the ground and they gathered it up. The jury found the
prisoners Guilty, and the learned judge sentenced them each
to six months hard labour.

George IVilliants, aged 16, was indicted for stealing a port-
manteau, the property of Mathew Rogers, from the Padding-
ton terminus of the Great Western Railway. The rrisoner
was detected through the vigilance of an omnibus conductor,
named Joseph Richardson, who deposed that on the 10th
inst., while waiting at the Paddington station, the last
Bristol train came up, and the prisoner handed up a port-
manteau, and took an outside seat on the omnibus, wishing
to be set down at the Bank. When they arrived at the Kings
and Keys is Fleet-street, the prisoner said he would get
I down, claiming a carpet-bag, which, however, was owned
by a gentleman, and the prisoner proceeded to Bridge-street,
Blackfriars, where he got down and asked for the portman-
teau and another carpet-bag. Witness delined to let him
have the bag, as he had not seen him with one at the
station, and from some prevaricatory answers regarding the
portmanteau heinsisted on taking the prisoner back to Pad-
dington where he was detained for the night, and on the fol-
lowing morning the portmanteau was identified by the pro-
secuter.—The jury found the prisoner Guilty, and he was
sentenced to six months hard labour.

The court rose at three o'clock, the business of the SCSEIOII
Defog disposed of.

POLICE.- _ Y ESTERDAT.

——
GITILDHA.LL.—BaNzvoLENez.—The annual donation
of 101. from the Goldsmiths' Company, for the poor-box,
has been duly received.
WORSHIP-STREET.—CIIARITY.—The following con-
tributions to the poor-box of the court have reached the
hands of the magistrates, who requested their acknowledg-
ment by the press, according to the wish of the benevolent
donors : The usual annual remittance of 10/. from the
Goldsmiths' Company; the second half of a 101. note from
8.A., the other portion of which had been previously trans-
mitted; a 61. bank note, No. 36,327, from W. W. F. • and
the first half of a 51. note from B. C. who will forwa;d the
remaining moiety when the former shall be acknowledged.
The sum of 10s. has also been received from H. F. 8., Park-
bill, Newton Abbott, for William Cotton, the disabled sol-
dier, whose case has lately been so often before the public.

MARLEOROUGH-STREET. —A JusricE OF PEACE.
Mr. Walter Jones, a county magistrate, was sum-
moned before Mr. Hardwick, for having threatened to
" crush and to break every bone in the skin" of Mr. John
E. Lovegrove, proprietor of Fladong's Hotel, Oxford-street.
Mr. Lovegrove stated Mr. Jones was stopping at his hotel,
and on Sunday night, about ten o'clock, he sent a written
notice to Mr. Jones to quit his house, as he wanted the
room he occupied. About half an hour after this, Mr.
Jones came into the bar, and gave him a volley of abuse
and threats. Among other threats, he said " if he had not
given a promise to the contrary to his (complainant's) sister,
he would have broken every bone in his skin, but, as it was,
he would have his revenge before he had done with him."
These threats were afterwards repeated to a witness who
was in court —One of the servants proved the groat dis-
turbance made at the hotel by the defendant on Sunday night.
Mr. Warren, an attorney, said the defendant called on him
after the disturbance, and requested he would be present
at an interview he was about to have with Mr. Lovegrove,
for if no one were present he was certain he should com-
mit some violence. —The defendant, in reply to the
charge, said, the complainant was his brother-in-law.
He had come from the country to nurse the complainant's
father, and had carefully attended on him for several weeks.
When the old gentleman died a will was produced, which
constituted the complainant, with but trifling exceptions, the
sole heir of his father. Recently, his brother-in-law had
treated him with great abuse • indeed, to such an extent had
his brother-in-law carried his irritating conduct and his in-
juries, that he considered he had strong provocation for using
the language he had uttered. He, however, denied that he
had any intention to commit an assault on the complainant.
—Mr. Hardwick said it appeared to him that the
case was one which made the interference of a magis-
trate imperative. The defendant talked of strong pro-
vocation and injuries, and even if there were any
ground for such complaints, the proper course was to
resort to the courts of law, and not to threats of personal
violence.—Mr. Jones said he bad only said he would have
resorted to violence bad he not promised his wife to the
contrary. He was in the commission himself, and it was
therefore unlikely he would seriously contemplate a breach
of the peace.—Mr. Hardwick replied that the defend-
ant's violence of manner towards the complainant made it
very doubtful whether the promise he had given to his wife
would have sufficient force to restrain hint from committing
an mama, As a magistrate, he ought to know if the cora-

plainant had doe him any wrong, that he must apply to
the courts of law for redress, and that under no circumstances
of provocation ought he resort to threats of personal violence.
Enough had been proved by the witness, and even by the
defendant, who asserted he had strong provocation fur what
he had done, to require him to put in bail, himself in 1001.,
and two sureties for 501. each.
BENEVOLENCE.—For the poor-box, M., from the directors of
a private evening concert at the Hanover-square Rooms.—
The second half of* 51. note from E.C. has been received.—
From the late Miss Mary Briggs, 51., through her executors.
MARYLEBONE.—Cnanivv.—The latter halves of two
51. uotes were yesterday received for the poor-box of this court,
one of them from J. W., and the other from E. C. A.
51. bank note was also sent for the like benevolent abject,
from the Executors of the late Miss Mary Briggs, of
Nightingale-Tale, Woolwich.
LAMBETH: ALLEGED CRUELTY TO AN INFANT.—
Yesttrday, Emma Allen, a young woman at present an in-
mate of Lambeth Workhouse, was brought before Mr. Elliott,
by order of Mr. Bushell, one of the Guardians of Lambeth
pariah, charged, on the evidence of several witnesses, with
being i u the habit of treating her illegitimate infant with great
inhumanity.—Mr. Johnson, assistant to the parish surgeon,
deposed that he had attended the prisoner's child for some
time, and did not at any time perceive any marks of violence
upon it. The prisoner did not appear to be over kind or at-
tentive to her infant —Mr. Bushell here said that the ma-
tron of the ward had frequently spoken to the prisoner about
her negligence and treatment of her infant, and he wished to
ask the prisoner what her replies used to be.—Prisoner : I
always told her I had a right to do what I liked with my
own.—Mr Elliott : This expression, together with the evi-
dence that has been given, satisfies me that you are a person
of very violent temper, and that you have not treated your
child as you should have done, find my order, therefore, is,
that the child be taken from you, and sent to the nursery,
and that you yourself be taken back to the workhouse, until
you can provide yourself with a situation.—The prisoner was
then discharged, knd removed from the dock.
SOUTHWARK.—W. Eels, a porter in the employ of the
South-Eastern Railway Company, was placed at the bar
before Mr. Seeker, charged with stealing various articles
from packages transmitted by railway.—Mr. Shaw, a clerk
in the luggage department of the above railway, stated that
of late considerable property contained in leaving packages
have been pilfered. That morning, on the arrival of one of
the early trains, the prisoner, with others, had been engaged
in unloading a van containing baskets of herrings, boxes of
oranges, and also of onions, and was in the act of quitting
the terminus when witness, perceiving that his pockets pro-
jected out from his person, railed him into his office and in-
sisted on examining their contents. The prisoner, however,
demurred, but was compelled to undergo a search, when
it was found he had taken herrings, oranges, and onions
out of the packages which he had been previously en-
gaged in unloading from the luggage-train. Upon
this discovery the prisoner was immediately given into cus-
tody. In reply to Mr. Seeker, the witness said the prisoner
had been five months in the company's service, at good
wages, and that until the present occasion his character for
honesty was not impeached.—The prisoner declared it was
the first time he had ever taken anything of the kind; that
he bad always borne an upright character, and that pre-
viously to his being employed on the South-Eastern line he
had been two years in the service of the Brighton Railway
. Company, from whom he had a written character for honesty
and sobriety.—Mr. Seeker said, that under all the circum-
stances, instead of sending the prisoner for trial, he should
deal summarily with the case, and commit him to Lewes
Gaol for 14 days for unlawful possession.

THAMES.—Tae Fientes' EXPEDITION.—Mr. Adder-
ley Wel!cocks Slr gh, K. T.S., who, it was understood,
was to have commanded the squadron intended to aid Gene-
ral Flores' expedition, was brought before Mr. Yardley,
charged by Inspector Evans, of the riser police, under the
59th Geo. Ili., cap. 69, sec. 2, with unlawfully enlisting Bri-
tish subjects to serve under a foreign power, without the
sanction or consent of her Majesty. Mr. I'otberry, solicitor
to the Board of Customs, who attended for the prosecution,
said, that as the defendant had only been just arrested, the
case was not in a state for thorough investigation just then,
but he could produce evidence sufficient to warrant a re-
mand to this day. He then called John Wyming, of No. 9.
Crown-street, Westminster, who deposed that he was an
Englishman, and had served in the Portuguese legion.
About seven weeks ago he was engaged to act as sergeant in
a corps going to the Equador, and was told at the time that
he would be certain of promotion. On the 15th ult., he saw
Capt. Sleigh, with whom he had served on the continent,
and, who was passing 200 or 300 men as they were examined
by the doctor. The captain told the men they were going
to the Equador, where the privates were to have 6 dots. per
month, the corporals 8, and the sergeant 12, with clothes,
rations, a house, two bullocks, and a milch cow each.—
Witness heard something mentioned in the presence of the
prisoner about the men thus engaged being called emigrants,
but he did not hear the term soldier used, unless the term
scrjcant could be so construed. A promise was held out to
the men that they would find most comfortable accommoda-
tion on board the vessels engaged for the expedition, namely,
the Monarch, the Neptune, and the Glenelg. Witness had
instructions to enrage all the old hands he could Collin with,
and acted in accordance with these instructions, and his
mode of doing so was after the usual way of military
enlistment. Ile had no doubt that be himself had
been enlisted for some foreign military service.—Thomas
Rinings was then called, and gave similar testimony.
The defendant, however, told some of the men that they
were going out as emigrants, whilst he told others that they
were going out as soldiers. The defendant, a fine agile look-
ing young fellow, about 30 years of age, whose handsome
features were deeply bronzed by exposure to various climes,
and who looked more like a Spaniard than a native of the
sister isle, while, it appears, is the land of his birth, ached,
with a tone of mingled surprizc and composure, " What is the
charge."—Mr. Yardley : That of unlawfully enlisting British
subjects to serve under a foreign power without the sanction
of their sovereign.—Captain Sleigh : Why these men have
already served under a foreign power ; and I am not aware
that they had such sanction.—Mr. Yardley : That does not
form the question now before me.—Defendant (Glancing
contemptuously at the witnesses) : I do not pretend to under-
stand the question, for my solicitor isnot here. All I know is
that these faithful followers who tell you that they fought
with and served under me in Spain have been
brought here for some paltry purpose that I cannot fathom,
and I am glad to find that General Flores' expedition is not
likely to be disgraced by the services of such despicable
wretches. They solicited the service from me, for they
sought me, and not I them. It was unnecessary for you, sir,
to issue a warrant for my apprehension; the slightest inti-
mation that my presence here would be necessary would
have instantly brought me. Ido not feel myself at all dis-
graced by my position, for, being bred to arms, I would, in
the pursuit of my profession, engage in any foreign service
not opposed to my own legitimate sovereign. Mr. Yardley
held the prisoner to bail to answer the charge at the Cen-
tral Criminal Court, himself in 200/., and two sureties of
1001. each, but he will be brought up again this day to
complete the evidence.