The Express.
London, England, 1858-02-06 00:00:00

CHURC7I 0! ENGLAND SPECIAL SERVICES.

The following is a copy of the bill introduced into
the House of Lads but night by the Archbishop of Canter-
bu4y, intituled "An Act for Special Services in the
Church of England••:

`, Whereas it is expedient to enable the bishops in their
respective dioceses to make provision in populous paces for
the preaching of God's word in any building or buildings
not usually appropriated to purposes of religious worship,
by clergymen of the United Church of England and Ireland
who have their permission for this purpose, any statute,
law, canon, or usage notwithstanding : be it enacted by the
Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons,
in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of
the same, as follows .

"I. That in any city, town, or place, whether the same
shall consist of one or more parishes or ecclesiastical die-
tricts, the population of which shall at the last census have
exceeded , and in which the bishop, either of his
own knowledge or from representations made to him, shall
judge that the spiritual wants of the population render it
expedient to make further provision for promoting the
preaching of the word of God, it shall be lawful for the
said bishop, by writing under hie hand, to declare that such
deficiency has been made evident to him, and to permit
such clergyman or clergymen of the United Church of Eng-
land and Ireland as to him shall seem fit, for a period not
exceeding to preach God's Word, and to say the
Litany, or any of the collects contained in the Book of Com-
mon Prayer, with the Lord's Prayer, in any such building
or buildings not usually appropriated to the purposes of reli-
gions worship.

" 2. Provided always, that notice of the intention of the
bishop to grant such permission shall be given to the
incumbent of the pariah or ecclesiastical district in which
such building is situate, at least one calendar month
before such permission shall issue; and that such
notice shall contain a designation of the building or build-
ings to which such permisdon shall apply; and that a copy
of such notice shall be duly entered in the registry of the
diocese; and that it shall be lawful for the incumbent of the
said parish or eockedastical district, at any time during the
said calendar month, to appeal to the archbishop of the pro-
vince against the iesne of such permission; and that the
permission shall not be issued before the archbishop shall
have heard and determined the said appeal ; and that at say
time after the issue of such permission it shall be lawful for
each incumbent as aforesaid to make application to the
bishop to withdraw wall permission; and if the bishop shall
refuse to do so, then it shall be lawful for the incumbent to
appeal to the archbishop, who shall thereupon summarily
determine whether such permission shall continue er be with-
drawn.

"3. Provided always, that all the laws, statutes, and
canons now in force ea to the public services of the united
Church of England and Ireland apply to the occasional taus
vices contemplated by this act, except in so far as it is ex-
pressly enacted in this act to the contrary."

THE VOTE OP THANKS IV THE Kumar,
NAVAL, AND CIVIL SERVICES LY INDIA.

Tho following are the terms of the vote of thanks
to the above services, to be proposed by Lord Panmnre in
the House of Lords, and by Lord Palmerston in the House
of Common', on Monday next

"That the thanks of thia house be given to the Right
Hon. Viscount Canning, Governor-General of the British
pommies' in the East ladies; the Right Hon. Lord Mania,
Governor of the Presidency of Madras ; the Right Hon. Lord
Elphinstone, Governor of the Presidency of Bombay, Sir
John Laird Mair Lawrence, 0.C.8., Chief Commissioner of
the Punjaub ; and Henry Bartle Frees, General Commander
of &Inds, fn the energy and ability with which they have
employed the resources at their command to suppress the
widely-spread mutiny in her M►jesty's Indian dominions.
" That the thanks of this house be given to his Excel-
lency Gemini Sir Colin Campbell, G.C.8., Commander-in-
Chief in India; Mejor-General Sir James Outram, 0.C.8.;
Major-General Sir Archdale Wilson, Bart., K.C.8.; and
Major-General John Eardley Wilmot Inglis, K.C.8.; for
the eminent skill, courage, and perseverance displayed by
them in the achievement of so many and such important
triumphs over numerous bodies of the mutineers.
" That the thanks of this house be given to the other gal-

Lag officers of her Msjeety'a army, navy, and marines and
also of the Hon. East India Company's service, for the in-
trepidity, the patient endurance, and other high military
qualities which have marked their discharge of these arduous
duties which they have so successfully performed.
"That this house doth highly approve end acknowledge
the high courage, the devoted loyalty, and the brilliant 'ke-
eled; of the non-commissioned officers and men of her Ma-
jesty's military and naval forces; of the European troops in
the aerobe of the Honourable East India Company ; and of
the great body of those native corps throughout India who
have remained faithful to their standards; and that the
seine be signified to them by the commanders of the several
corps, who are desired to thank them for their gallant
behaviour.

"That the said resolutions be transmitted by Mr. Speaker
to the Governoe•Gsneral of India, and th his lord-hip Do
requested to communicate the same to the several officers
referred to thank:L."

MUIDEBOUS ASSAULT BY d CLERGY:ILAN.—
BICTILAOADIXABY CASE.

(From the Brute! Jferrestry of the day.)
One of those extraordinary and mysterious occur-
rences which every now and then spring up as If to attest the
proverb, " Truth is stranger than fiction," transpired oa
Wednesday night, at Yate, about eleven miles from this eity,
on the Bristol and Birmingham railway. Thu heinous nature
of the outrage is greatly aggravated by the fact that its
chief perpetrator was a gentleman of education, in the holy
orders of the Church of England, and bearing the academie
rank of Mesta. of Arta. The Rev. S. Smith, MA., • native
of Sodbnry or its neighbourhood, who formerly officiated at
Wapley Church, but who is now principal of a Collegiate
academy, which he conducts at No. 16, Richmond-terrace,
Clifton, has been arrested and detained in custody on the
charge ; and his wife, Mrs. Sarah Smith, is likewise • pri-
soner, standing accused of a participation in his crime.
The circumstances connected with the occurrence are of a
romantic and very mysterious character. The gentleman
upon whom the outrage was committed ia Mr. John Leech,
who ii thirty-three years of ago, a contractor for public
works, residing in the neighbourhood of Croydon, Surrey ;
and Mr. Leech sap, he has no doubt that the attack upon
him, for the committal of which no sufficient cause at present
appears, was the result of a cunningly-devised conspiracy.
Mrs. Smith was the daughter of a respectable farmer named
Mills, at Walton, four miles from Canterbury, and about
eight or nine years ego, and before her marriage to the Rev.
Mr. Smith, Mr. Leech paid his addresses to her, and would,
it was at the time thought, have married her. Circum-
stances occurred which broke off the match, end Wise
Mills afterwards became united to her present husband.
Some time ago Mr. Leech had the misfortune to loos
his wife, and it is therefore believed that in some way
Mrs. Smith must have become acquainted with that fact,
for • fortnight ago she addressed • letter to her whilom
suitor, in which she stated that her husband bad died, and
reminding him of en evening which they had spent toge-
ther by the sea-side in 1849, and said if he had not forgotten
what he said to her on that occasion she should be glad to
tee him, and to renew the intimacy that had once subsisted
between them. The letter begged him to write in reply to
her, and to address his letter to the care of "Mr. Las-
bury, bookseller, Perk-street, Bristol." There was some-
thing in the style and composition of the letter which for
the moment arouaed Mr. Leech's suspicions, but he resolved
upon writing beck to the address given, which he did, at the
same time intimating his doubts as to the truthfulness of the
cemmunication. To this letter he received a reply, dated
as before, but assuring him of the genuineness both of it
and the former communication, and proposing • meeting
at Bristol on Sunday, the 31st of January, or if he could
not come thin, on the following Sunday. It happened that
the times proposed would not wait Mr. Leech, end having
replied to that elfoo, he subsequently received a third
communization, e Lich was dated from Bristol, but stated
that the writer, Mrs. Smith, was staying with • relation of
her late husband's at Wapley, and requested that he would
come by the ene o'clock train from Paddington and meet
her on the platform of the Bristol and Birmingham Railway
at • quarter before seven o'clock on Wednesday night. Mr.
Leech determined upon complying with her request, took
train from his home to London-bridge station, drove in a
cab from there to Path:in:Veto, and took hie place for Bristol
by the train indicated. At a quarter before seven o'clock
he went on to the platform and was almost immediately
joined by Mrs. Smith, will wore widow's weeds. They en-
gaged in conversatirn, and upon his &skits her how long
her husband had been dead, she replied six weeks, and told
him that she was visiting a cousin of his, a gentleman
named Isaacs, at Wapley. While they were conversing
and awaiting the departure of the train, Mr. Leech saw a
man, who he for the moment felt satisfied was the Rev. Mr.
Smith, on the platform. He called her attention to him, and
mentioned his suspicion, but as she replied "How can you
think such a thing; he has been dead six weeks," he thought
no more of it, and he having taken two first-riase tickets,
they entered the train. On its stoppage at Tate station
they got out, and Mr. Smith was also seen, Ly a person who
knew him wall, leaving the platform from the same train.
When about to leave the station, Mrs. Smith stated that they
were going to cross Yate; common. The station-mast r,
Mr. Sedaillt, told them it would be impossible to make their
way across it on so dark • night, and Mr. Leech also pro-
posed that they should take a coareyance, or at any rate go
by the med. Mrs. Smith replied that she must go by the
110■11110n as she knew her way to Wapley better that way
than by the road, Leda which Mr. Isaacs, she said, had
agreed to come and meet her, in the event of her friend (Mr.
Leech) not arriving, and they would miss each other. Upon
this, the station-master offered to conduct them to the com-
mon, and he lit them with the aid of his lantern to the point
from which they would have to cross it. After he left them
Mrs. Smith became guide, and led him to a very dark and de-
solate pert. He proposed that they ebould retrace
their steps and take the high road, but the said
she was feeling for the hedge, and so soon as
she had found it they would be all right. In a minute
or so Mr. Leech thought that he beard footsteps, as if
some one was tracking them, and he was turning round,
when Mrs. Smith said, in • loud voice, " I have lost my
way." A man's voice echoed, "And I have lost my way ; "
immediately upon which Mr. Leech received a desperate
blow across the forehead from some heavy instrument,
which was immediately followed by • second across the back
of the head. Both blows indicted severe wounde, from
which be bled profusely. The man, whom he discovered to
be Mr. Smith, again struck at him with his bludgeon. Hay-
ing no weapon, save an umbrella, to defend himself with,
and feeling convinced that the intention was to kill him, Mr.
Leech threw his umbrella away, seized his anailant by both
arms, sad struggled with him. A severe scuffle ensued, and
Mr. Leech, being an agile man, succeeded in felling Mr.
Smith to the ground and throwing himself upon him. Luckily
the struggle was overheard by two platers on the Midland
railway, named George Heaven and Charles Owen.
These men distinctly heard the blows, and, suspecting
that some one was damaging the railway fences, hastened te
the spot, where they found the Rev. Mr. Smith en the
ground, and Mr. Leech, whose face and clothes were com-
pletely covered with blood, bolding him down. The men
pulled Mr. Leech off, but were so alarmed at his appearance,
that they neglected to snare his assailant, who got away.
Mr. Leech was carried in as exhausted state to the house of
Mr. Ford, the Railway Hotel, Yate, where Mr. Leman,
surgeon, was summoned with all despatch, and attended and
dressed his wounds, both of which were so extensive as to
require sewing up.
So soon as the alum was fairly given, numbers of persons
turned out on the common in pursuit of Mr. and Mrs.
Smith, but they had eluded pursuit. On the com-
mon wasfound the widow's cep, which Mrs.
Smith must have thrown away from her, and at
daylight the next morning, one of the railway workmen
found • revolver pistol, having six barrrle, loaded and
dipped, near the spot where the struggle took place. It is
believed, from information since received, that the rev. gen-
tleman and his wife, after leaving the common, made their
way on foot to Wickwar, where they presented themselves
at the New Inn, kept by Mr. Robert Shipp, and asked for
some conveyance oi Bristol. Mr. Shipp told them that he
did not seep any trap, and referred them to Mr. Robinson,
grocer, who did. Mr. Robinson. was from home, and Ina
wife hesitated st first to comply with their request ; but the
gentleman said if she refined, he should complain to the
magistrates and get her fined ; and he also, to ware her of
his respectability, gave her his name as Henry Johnson, 7,
Wilson-street, bt. Paul's, Bristol. The trap was then pro-
diced, and they were defy= to Bristol.
Upon informed= of the outrage htgiven to the county
police
poli at Sodbury, ea officer was dispatched to this city, and
with the 16160411•24' of P.C. Windmi of the detective force,
proceeded to the ltev. Mr. Smith's residence and apprehended
both him and his lady. When Mr. Leech set out from ids
house he brought with him • small parcel c ntaieing o shirt,
collar, satin reed, and pocket handkerchief. There things,
which were all marked in his wine, were found in the rev.
gentle/Ewa', house. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were mewled to
Sodbary on Thursday night, but the offence lasting bent
committed within the Lawford's Gate jurisdiction they had to
be remanded. We understand that upon inquiry at the hones
toe police ascertained that the rev. gentleman and his lady
arrived at home about one o'clock in the night of Wed"ll
and that they were up fur some time after that, betwixt= _1 1
cleaning their clothes.