The Express.
London, England, 1851-08-09 00:00:00

At the close of the address of the learned counsel there
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were cries of "Hear, hear," and applause from the body. of
the court. His lordship immediately ordered that portion
of the court to be eh aced, (Amercing that such unseemly
proceedings could not for a moment be tolerated in a court
of justice.
The learned Judge then summed up, and the jury imme-
diately returned a verdict of Not Guslty.
The prisoner was ordered to be at once discharged from
custody.
Nothing of interest took place in tho Civil Court.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—BoDmix, ArcusT 7.
Cum, Cerirn—lfamas 61,11 Coirszu.
CHARGE OP WILFUL MUIWEIi..

Vilalt Teague, 17, was again placed at the bar this
mqnung, charged with the wilful marder of Nicholas Ken-
dall. tattier-in-law.
Hr. Collier addressed the jury for the defence. He made

a most able and powerful speech, commenting on the in-
sufficiency of the evidence and the danger of convicting •
man of so heinous a crime on circumstantial evidence, there

being no direct evidence of the primmer having committed'
the deed. At the close of an eloquent address,
His Lordship commenced summing up, which be did
somewhat favourable to the prisoner, and
The Jury, after a brief deliberation, found the prisoner
Not Getally.
This concluded the business or the assize, and the Right
Hon. Sir J. T. Coleridge left 11 idmin in the early part of ;
the day, and in the afternoon the Right Hon. John Lord I
Campbell followed, for Somersetshire.
I
Ilitinn MATER, A l'GCgr 7.
These assizes were opened late this afternoon by Mr. Jus-
tice Coleridge, who came up by train from Buchan), and ;
was met at the railway station by the High Sheriff and his
retinue. As some little interest attaches to this preli- ;
minary proceeding, when the reception of Mr. Baron Platt
at Durham is remembned, we may be excused for remark- '
ing that the whole of the high slieres large body ofja-
TOM men were mounted on horseback, that their I
' captain appeared in a richly gold-lac.xl uniform with drawn
sword, and that the high sheriff himself appeared in a hand-
' some court dress. At church the municipal authorities
vied in doing honour to his lordship. The mayor ap-
i peered in his robes of office, and in front of the judge's
I pew were placed three large and handsome silver maces.
The calendar contains the names of only 41 prisoners,
a number on:-third smaller than the usual proportion of
offenders, and the crimes, though they look rather startling
lin a classified form, will, we are assured, prove of (compara-
tively speaking) a light nature. There are two charged I
, with murder, one with manslaughter, two with maliciouslyy.
wounding, two with forgery, two with burglary, two with
bestiality, one with embezzlement, two with obtaining
under false pretences, one with concealment of birth, and
'V 27 with larcenies. But the murder is a simple ease of death
' from a drunken affray, the manslaughter arises from a person
tn. ing ridden over, one of the malicious wounding eases consists
of the act of firing a pistol after the prisoner had been
greatly provoked, and as it would appear without any in-
tent I to injure. The forgery case is the fraudulent signing
of a Post office order; and of the larenies the following
I am fair samples :—" Stealing a rocket handkerchief,"
I
I " stealing a pair of hoots," " stealing two chains," " steal-
, ing 1011 N. of potatoes." The embezzlement charge is
brought against a man nixed 70 for einberzling the sum of
; 9iil. It is really to be deeply regretted that for such trivial
i offences as these offenders should he sent to undergo their
trial amidst all the publicity and parade of a county assize.
On the other side there are 12 venires, one of which only
is entered as special, and that is said to involve some ques-
tions of cim.ilerable importance to the legal profession.

NORTHERN CIRCUT.--CAut.tsLy., Am. 6. '
NVI Pate CerkT.-14...tka HL Joshes *lilt on.
HANCLION C. (;trios.—A Puovtss is,. EDIVIR.
This was an action by a former editor of the euttArland
Parket, brought against the proprietor for the residue of a
year's salary, he having been dismissed from his office at
the expiration of three months. The defendant pleaded,
first, that he did not promise to pay him a year'a salary ;
secondly, that he had been induced to engage him fur a
year he fraud. There were other Ideas traversing other
allegations in the declaration, and finally, a plea that the
defendant bud paid hint all that was flue to him.
Mr. Atherton, Q.C., and Mr. Cowling appeared for the
plaintiff, and Mr. tieljeaut Wilkins and Mr. Temple fur
' the defendant.
It appeared from the opening of the learned counsel for
the plaintiff that the plaintiff was now the editor of the
Carmarthen Journal, and that he had for many warm been
connected with various newspapers as editor and reporter.
The defendant was the proprietor of the Puutfarland Parket,
bublished at Whitehaven, and the present action was
rought against him for the residue of a year's salary, which
the plaintiff claimed, he having been dismissed from the
editorship of that journal in April last year, after haring
been employed upon it for three months. The defendatit
was in want of an editor in January, 1850, and he applied
to Mr. Nelson, of Adam-street, Adelphi, in London, who
kept a register of such appointments, and that person not
having an editor on his books, advertised for one in a Lon-
don newspaper, and obtained an answer from the defendant.
The terms were arranged to be after the rate of 100/. ay car,
and 10s. a week for every hundred that the plaintiff could
increase the circulation of the newspaper. These tares ap-
peared to have been aecepted by Mr. Nei-on, but that agent
wanting 71. 104. eummissiuu from each party. which both
refused to pay, the name of the newspaper war. not given up
to the plaintiff, nor the plaintiffs name and address to the
defendant, +tied thus that negociation was broken off by Mr.
Nelson, to the great surprise of the defendant, as appeared
from some of the letters put in, who thought from Mr. Nel-
son's candid and obliging manner that he was really anxious
to serve him. Be a mere accident, however, the plaintiff
learned, through a gentleman connected with the prim of
Manchester, that the defendant wanted an editor, and
wrote to hint, and they then mutually learnt that they had
been mutually seeking each other, and that they were each
then most anxiou, to form that engagement and enter into
that contract which was the subject of the present action.
The letters of the plaintiff and defendant to each other,
which were of considerable length, and in which they each
spoke in no (tattering terms of 3lr. Nelson, were read by
the horned counsel. These letters, amidst a vast amount of
verbiage, contained the agreement above net out. and in one
of them, dated the 16th Jan., 18.50, the plaintiff spoke of
himself as having " edited the Cheltenhant Journal, reported I
for the Sane/edam! &aeon, edited the Ma Pock t, rut-
ported fur the Leeds Intelliyenter, edited the Balk Pose,
acted n• a correspondent for the London and various lite-
rary journals," and then went on to describe himself as
being n in the prime of life, being about 40, possessed of an
excellent constitution, affable and obliging." Won by
this description, the defeniant engaged him at once.
But three mouths afterwards the plaintiff el -
missed him on the alleged grounds of incompe-
tency as an editor and reporter, and as unable to I
read proofs. For three months after this the plaintiff had
been kept out of employment, and bad at last obtained a
similar appointment as editor of the Parovtrthen Journal,
at a less salary—the handsome remuneration of 801. a year.
This the learned counsel for the plaintiff urged us laying
grounds for appropriate damages.
Proof was then giv-n hy calling one of the clerks of the
Whilrharrn Herald that the plaintiff had acted in the capa-
city of editor and reporter Mr the Cunt4erland Pucka ; and
the handwriting to the plaintiff's and defendant's letters
forming the agreement Wa, also proved. In this witness's
opinion a month's notice to quit was the proper notice for an
, editor.

Mr. Serjeant Wilkins objected to the letters being put in
unless stamped.
One of the series had had a half-crown stamp placed
upon it.
Mr. Serjeant Wilkins submitted that the 2s. fel. stamp by
the recent Stamp Act, was made applicable only to agree-
ments requiring a IL stamp under the old Stamp Act. But
letters funning an agreement under the old statute required
a e.tie. stamp, and they were not referred to by the new act.
His Lordship held that the prov:so relating to letter in
the old act was in mitigation that they should in no case re-
quire more than a 35, stamp whatever quantity of words
they might contain. But if the present letters contained
more than 1,010 words they would require an additional
stamp.
Mr. Scrjeant Wilkins then objected that the words of the
letters must be counted.
Mr. Cowling mid the defendant ought to be prepared
with a witness who had ted the word., if he insisted that
the single stamp was insufficient, and referred to a case, in
support of this position.
His Lordship said he should admit the letter as evidence.
The letters were then put in. Those dismissing the plain-
tiff complained, in addition to general incompetency, that
the plaintiff was unable to spell correctly, or write granuua-
tically. punctuate properly.
Evidence was then given that the ordinary period of en-
gagement for an editor was 12 months.
This was the plaintiff's case.
Mr. Serjeatit NVilkins, for the defendant, said the plain-
tiff had been demented to run into this action, as be should
prove him to be utterly incompetent for the duties of either
editor, reporter, or reader ; and, whatever the result of the
action, it must be disastrous for him. Ile would show, in
support of the plea of fraud, that the plaintiff had made
misrepresentations, and stated falsehoods, by means of
which he hail obtained his engagement with the defendant;
and he would exhibit to them specimens of the plaintiff's
incompetency which would disgrace a Sunday-school
In one, of the lette s the plaintiff stated that he had been
five years editor of the huh Poeket, and had raised its cir-
culation from 500 to 1,500. Ile should prove that before
the defendant left that paper its circulation was only
250. lie had also stated that he was a reporter on the
Leeds Inteltigeneer. lie should prove that he never was
engaged in any capacity on that newspaper. The learned
serjeant then read a great number of instances of bad spell-
mg and incorrect grammar from the letters put in, and
from the manuscripts of the plaintiff sent to the printers
! of the defendant's newspaper, and a!eo some scraps of
Latin from printed paragraphs the plaintiff had written.
R One of these read " Seaviier in modo ; fortiter in rea ;"
1 another read " Cum multi. alias." The description which
the plaintiff gave of his previous engagements and qualifica-
tions reminded hint of Caleb Quotem's description of him-
. self—" I am the village factotum, I bleed, and draw teeth ;
I can write leaders, grind paragraphs, draw up reports, and
' suply. you with anything from a wheelbarrow down to a
toothpick." (Laughter.) Was there ever such a hash as that
letter seen ? "The bear put his head out of the window ;
I cried. ' What no soap! he died, mid she married the gar-
' dener." (Loud laughter.) The learned serjeant then read
portions of one or two of the leading articles written by
the plaintiff. One began, Thanks to the Chancellor,
there is not much diffieulty in dissecting his s. nine."
! Another began, From the uneguivotalde defeats of last
week sustained by the free-trade ministry, time was when
such defeats would have been followed by a resignation."
lic wished the ministry knew in whose hands their fate
rested. These articles reminded him of a very witty. little
• fellow, an Irishman, named Dunn, formerly on this circuit,
whom he once met in the Strand, laughing 6t to burst.'
" Oh," said he, " by the holy Moses, " I have just been
meeting a gentleman that has been writing an article in the!
Sun against the aristocracy, Lind I have just been lendinfr
I him eighteenpeuce to get his breeches out of pawn. '
(Great laughter.) The learned serjeant then read a great
many other singular blunder. from printed paragraphs
written by the plaintiff. In one he spoke of a farmer who
was " in possession of a half-bred yew" (ewe); in another he
• spoke of the " barrakades ;" in another "he hoped Sunday
Ischool teachers would devout their time ," in another he
wrote about "a subjoiuted document just issued," &c.
1 These errors gave the compositors great trouble in correct-
' ing the pre.s, and the defendant, who for many years had
edited his own paper and had only given up that occupation

to avoid the labour of it, had been compelled to correct the I
plaintiff's manuscripts. The plaintiff had gone down to him '
from Landon in a wretched condition, and the defendant hail
lent him money to make himself decent, and had regularly
paid him his salary of 2/. t.week till he left him. If he sa-
tisfied the jury of the plaintiff 's incompetency, that he bad
obtained Ids engagement with the defendant by fraud and
falsehood, and that nothing wa• owing to the plaintiff when
lie left for work done, the defendant had a right to dismiss
him at a moment's notice, and he looked therefore for their
verdict.

1 91r. it. IL Gibson, the son of the defendant, was then 1
called and produced quantities of tho plaintiff's manu-
scripts, and pointed out the blunders read by the learned
scrjeant in his speech. On cross-examination it appeared
1 that his father had had six editors iu about 18 months for
the Cumberland Parfet, who had remained in that caps-
11 city front two to live months each. Of these some got into
' debt, and ran away, the debts of others followed them, some
' had been turned away for incompetency, and one because he
was " disobedient." (The examination of this witness oe-
easioneil some amusement front his constant provincial
omission of the letter " h," which gave the learned counsel
for the plaintiff opportunity to retort in reply.)
..The printer of the defendant's paper was then called to
prove the trouble and expense occasioned by the plaintiff's
bail " copy." This witness, speaking of the plaintiff; said,
" lie did not like his style."
A number of gentlemen employed in various capacities
on different newspaper* were called, who proved that when
the plaintiff, 2-1 years ago, was on the Hall Packet, that
paper circulated '270 copies, and never reached 500 ; that
I the plaintiff had never been employed ou the Leeds Infelli.
yenrer in any capacity ; that he had been discharged front
the Nottinghtsusshire Guardian as editor for incapacity;
and that, although it was possible for a person to be cape-
' Me, and yet very negligent, yet that faults in spelling were
• not faults of negligence, and, generally, that the "copy"
produced was not such as a competent editor would furnish.
This woe the defendant's case.

Mr. Atherton having replied, contended that many of
the fault. in the manuscript produced were apparently faults
of rapid and negligent writing in a bad hand, and that the
plea of fraud was not substantiated, unless the jury believed
that when the plaintiff represented himself to be competent
he believed that he was not so. Unle.s this plea were made
out, there was no doubt that the plaintiff was entitled to
their verdict for a year's salary.
His Lordship having summed up,
The jury, after a short absence, found a verdict for the
defendant.