The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-28 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

NEW YORK, 16.

The transactions at the Stock Exchange to-day were
extensive. Government stocks and other leading securities
were firm, whilst other descriptions were heavy. Parker
Coal Ce. declined 2 per Cent.; Cumberland Coal Co., 1;
Phcesix Mining Co., 1; Erie Railroad, 1; Hudson litver,
21; Long Island Railroad, ; Harlem, ; Rochester and
Syracuse, 1; Morris Canal, j ; and Canton Co., 1. Foreign
exchange is inactive:
Lot.don
Paris
Arasterdant
Hamburg 3B to 36
Bremen 79 to 80

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

THIS DAY.

The Central Criminal Court resumed its sittings this
morning before the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, the Right
Hon. the Recorder, Aldermen Farebrother, Hunter, and
Sydney, Mr. Under-Sheriff James, &c.
There are 107 prisoners fur trial.
The Recorder, in his charge to the grand jury, said he
regretted to see that the calendar not only contained the
full average of prisoners for trial, but that many of the of-
fences were of the most serious description, and that there
were no less than six cases of murder and manslaughter.
Having briefly called the attention of the grand
jury to the charges of murder, he said it appeared to him
that if the facts should be proved u they appeared in the de-
positions, it would be the duty of the grand jury to return
true bills in all tor:eases, in order that they might undergo full
inquiry before the petty jury. One of the charges of man-
slaughter was of a very peculiar character. It appeared
that at a recent session a woman who had filled the office of
nurse in the Greenwich workhouse was tried for an assault
by burning one of the children entrusted to her charge, with
a coal in the hand. Under the belief that she had acted
thoughtlessly, and without consideration, and that she had
no deliberate intention to injure the child, and as she also
appeared to have previowly bw.FS doer "welt siascertainly '
the court at that time, --1-•
oe u very lenient sentence. The child had
sines died, and although undoubtedly in such a case, if it
had been clearly made out that the injury originally re-,
indeed was the cause of, or accelerated the death, the party
would still be amenable to the charge of manslaughter;
but it certainly appeared to hint in this case that
the coroner's jury bad returned a verdict of manslaughter'
directly in the teeth of the evidence laid before them.
lie believed that in this case there had been an opinion on
the part of the public that the punishment originally in-
Meted was much too light for the offence. He was not
aware of all the facts, but he must observe, that although
pablic opinion ought undoubtedly to have a proper control
over the administration of justice, yet it ought never to be
allowed to operate to the extent of inducing jurors to act
contrary to lase and to the evidence laid before them. In
the present instance, it appeared by the depositions that no
lass than four medical gentlemen swore distinctly that the
death of the child arose from water on the brain, and
that the burning of the hand had nothing whatever
to do with that event, and yet in the face of this evidence
the coroner's jury had returned a verdict of manslaughter
against the party accused. Under these circumstances it
appeared to him that if this evidence should be laid before
them it would be the duty of the grand jury to throw out
the bill, and not permit a person to be put upon ber trial for
a charge which the evidence clearly would not support. His
lordship then referred to one or twoother cases,and concluded
by stating that he felt it his duty to call the attention of
the jury, and through them that of the public, to two
matters of considerable importance in the administration of
the criminal law. lie said he believed that an impression
had gone abroad that the punishment of transportation was
altogether to be abolished, but this was not the fact, and he
trusted that no such determination would be come to with-
out the very gravest consideration. He believed that
although convicts would not in future be sent to Vast
Diemen's Land, yet that there were portions of Western
Australia which were still available for such a purpose,
and where convicts would still be sent under the regula-
tions at present in force regarding transportation. Another
point of great importance was to contradict an impression
that prevailed in the minds of many of the poor creatures
who brought themselves under the power of the law, that
by being transported they would have an opportunity of
reaching the gold regions, and that transportation would no-
tually be a means of improving their condition instead of
operating as a punishment. It should be known that this
was a most erroneous impression. In every case where a
prisoner was sentenced to transportation he had first to sub
ter an imprisonment of a very severe character in London
for twelve months, and be was thea sent to Portland, where
additioa to this year's imprisonment, he was employed
the most severe and laborious labour on government
weeks for very lengthened periods. If a person were
transported for seven years be had to undergo this labour for
two years; if for ten years, three years and a half ; if for fif-
teen, six years ; if for twenty, eight years and a half ; and if
for ife, Ise had to undergo this severe labour for ten years
and a half, and it was only in the case of a convict having
conducted himself uniformly well during all these respec.
Uwe periods that he was sent out of this country with what
was called a ticket of leave. It was a most erroneous
opinion, therefore, that persons sentenced to transportation
had at once the chance of getting out to the gold regions,
and it was very important that this should be thoroughly
understood.
The grand jury then retired.

TIM BOWYER BIBLE. This celebrated book,
which has become tolerably well known to the public from
its appearance in two of Mrs. Parkes' lottery schemes, was
sold on Saturday by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, the auc-
tioneers, of Piccadilly. The collection of the illustrations
and their elaborate arrangement occupied a large part of
the life of the late Mr. Bowyer. Since his decease it has
been submitted to the public in the lottery before alluded
to, and the prize being drawn by a member of an eminent
drapery house in the City, it was re-purchased of him, and
became the subject of a similar lottery (the total subscrip •
Ilion to each being four thousand guineas), when the holder
of one of the guinea tickets became the fortunate possessor,
1 and by him it had been consigned for public sale. The
main features of this remarkable book have been too long
before the public iu the form of advertisement to need more
particular allusion. It may, however, be remarked, that
it is the most extensively illustrated book that has ever
been formed, and does ample credit to the taste and perse-
verance of the gentleman under whose care it was under-
taken, and who expended upon it upwards of three thou-
sand pounds. At the sale, which was well attended, it ex-
cited an animated competition, and was at last knocked
down at the sum of 4051., the purchaser being Mr. Willis,
bookseller, of Covent-garden.