The Express.
London, England, 1860-08-15 00:00:00

A~TGt'BT 15,... 18410.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME OlRCUlT.—Gtaxamosp, Avouer 14.

It wth andentood in the Mews en Manley evening that
the High Sherihad seceived the commends at the Mpg
to be in attendance naming in the court in which
Mr. Justice Blackburn ded. Accordingly at 9 o'clock
the High Sheriff, in court drain came into court, and was
quickly followed by the Lord Chief Justice Cockbasn and
Justice Blackburn in their robes, escorted by their marshals
and utdoera.

The Lord Chief Justice then called upon the High Sheriff
to state whether the placard that had been posted outside
the walls of the court bad been placed there by his au-
thority
The High Sheriff replied that it was.
The Lord Chief Justice then inquired what explanation
he had to give for such a proceeding!
The High Sheriff then rose, and bowing to their lordships
end the bar, of whom there was • full attendance, he said
that he was glad to have that opportunity of offering an ex-
planation of the coarse be bad pursued in publishing the
placard which was now the subject of remark. That course
he had not taken without dehberstion, and he was bound,
with thegreatest respect and deference to their lordship+, to
affirm that he believed that be had discharged his duty to
the county of Surrey as the high sheriff appointed by her
Majesty. He proceeded to say that Mr. Justice Mack.
barn had ordered the court to be cleared of several of
the audience, and that the officers effectually ex-
ecuted the command. This he respectfully contended was
an illegal act, and had the effect of invalidating the
verdicts which had been afterwards returned, and this
being so, be considered it obligatory on him to do what he
believed the duties of his office required at his hands, via..
to assert the illegality of the course pursued by the learned
judge, and to command his officers not again to obey such
orders from the court. The High Sheriff then stated that
he had left the town on Thursday with their lordships'
sanction, that he hail departed in terms of amity and good
feeling with their lordships, and be nowdiatinctly disavowed
on his honour as an English gentleman the least intention
to offer any personal insult to Mr. Justice Blackburn.
(Mr. Justice Blackburn bowed his assent to this
remark.) He would only say, in °occlusion, that be
desired to treat the court with all respect and
submission, and that the step he had taken was taken
upon • sound conviction that in ordering an English court
of justice to he cleared of the auditory, the learned judge
had assumed an illegal authority, and one which he (the
high sheriff ) felt hound to disobey as the chief officer of the
county. (Some slight applause occasionally greeted the
high sheriff's observations).
Their lordships having briefly consulted,
The Lord Chief Justice, amidst breathless silence, said
that the court had heard with anxiety and sorrow the state-
ment which the high sheriff had addressed to them, amount.
ing as it did to an entire jwitilleation of what theirlordahipa,
as her Majesty's judges of amiss, sitting as the representa-
tives of the sovereign, felt to be a moat Improper, unlawful,
and unseemly contempt of their office, and of the
administration of justice. The high sheriff had most
unquestionably mistaken his law to the utmost, and he (tbe
Lord Chief Justice) now declared that the power and autho-
rity of her Majesty's judge*, acting in pursuance of her Ma-
thstye'dslucommission, were perfectly well defined and mtab-
• and that the course taken by his learned brother was
one w 'eh he had the most undoubted right to agopt. Hie
lordshipa said that
be at once conceded that English courts
of justice were open to the public in the fullest sense;
n he trusted they ever would remain so ; but it was
(Li far beyond either law or necessity to avow, as
t • h sheriff had done, that there was no power
reposed in the presiding judge to order each modi-
fications of the arrangements of the court as were
indispensable to that which it was the office of a
judge to carry out, viz., the efficient administration of jus-
tice. His lordship thee adverted to the great structural
inconvenience of the courts in which the judges had pre-
sided, and to the fact that his learned brother had ordered
the lower part of the court open to the street, and not the
other parts of the court, to be cleared, because the ex-
amination of witnesses in criminal cases, when prisoners
were standing on their trial, were inaudible to the court and
fury, and this' wail surely a trsuspvent necessity for the
order which his learned brother had conveyed to the officers
of the high sheriff. His lordship then observed that the
high sheriff bad not made the least complaint or remon-
strance before he left the assize town, and stated
that the court were nevertheless perfectly assured
that the high sheriff, who was an honourable English gen-
tleman, neither bad intended, nor was capable of offering
any personal indignit to her Majesty's judges; but the
course the high sheriff; bad pursued was clearly • painfully
contumacious contempt of the court as such, and a most
serious reflection upon the authority of the judges' commis-
sion, which emanated from the throne, and demanded,
especially from the high sheriff, as Pine of her Majesty's
' important officers of justice, obedient and respectful
observance.

The Lord Chief Justice then fined the high sheriff 500&,
and the fine was immediately recorded.
The business of the smiles was brought to a conclusion
late last night.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.-LIVERPOOL, Am It

Mr. Boron Martin took hie seat on the bench in the
Crown Court this morning at 9 o'clock.

Thomas Ratriilsorm era; indicted on the
coroner's warrant with the wilful murder of his wife, on
the 15th of June bat.

In this case the prisoner and his deceased wife lived in a
cellar, in Mason-street, Wapping. 'The prisoner was a
carter, and the deceased was an habitual drunkard. On the
day in question, the IIedISMA and two women (each of whom
were called as witnesses), were drinking in the cellar at 10
o'clock in the morning, Mrs. Itswlinson being at that time
in an almost helpless state of intoxication. The women
left about 11 o'dock, and the deceased went to bed in a
tack cellar. About half-past 12 o'clock the prisoner went
home to get his dinner; he knocked at the door
several times, but received no answer, and then in-
quired of one of the women (Holland) where his
wife was. The reply given was, " She is again drunk in
bed." The prisoner then went again to the door, and his
wife opened it for him. He asked his wife what there was
for dinner, when she made nee of some flippant and foul
expression towards him. He aid, "Itis a very hard thing
for • man to come borne after a day's work and find
nothing for him." The deceased then ran into the back
cellar, and the witness saw him strike her on the fore-
head with • saucepan, and she fell. The prisoner, afterth
was very anxious about his wife, and had her washed
and pot to bed, but later in the day she was
conveyed to the Southern Hospital, where she died.
In the croes.exanaination all the witnesses admitted that

the prisoner wee &steady, sober, and indwitrioue man.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty of manslaughter,
with a recommendation to mercy.

His Lordship, in passiog sentence upon the prisoner, said
the fury bad found the only verdict they could under the
circumstances. There wa■ no doubt the deceased came by
her death from • blow with a soucepao, under the most
miserable circumstances. It was very wrong to use such •
weapon, and as he could not look over the offence altogether,
he should sentence the prisoner to one month's imprison-
ment.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

OLD
_COURT.

(Before the Baconler.)
David Iremys Jobs" a well.dreeeed men with a large
black beard and moustache, surrendered to take his trial for
misdemeanor, in having threatened to publish certain
libelous matter reflecting upon the character of Sir Junes
Ferguoson, with a view to extort money. In other counts
of the indictment the defendant was merely charged with
publishing a libel.
The defendant merely pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Giffard and Mr. Poland conducted the prosecution ;
the defendant conducted his own case.

The learned counsel for the prosecution, in opening the
case to the jury said that the defendant war charged with
an offence which it appeared to him was one of the
most serious that amid be committed upon society
—that of endeavouring to extort money, under a
threat of publishing scandalous and libellous matter
reflecting most seriously upon the character of the
Ms°p:who was intended to be the victim of such extortion.
osecntor of this indictment was Sir Jnmes F
a= gentleman 28 or 20 years of age, and until
rigs were taken he knew nothing whatever of the
TeFei7atit, but it had since turned out that there was some
family connexion between them, a niece of the defendant
having intermarried with au uncle of Sir James Fergusson.
In order that the jury might the better understand the
nature of the iuquiry into which they were about to enter,
he had to inform them that Sir Jams Fergusson was a
lieutenant in the Guards, and that he was seat with his
regiment to Varna, and subsequently landed in the
Crimea, and was present at the battles of the
Alma and Inkermann, and he remained in the
Crimea during the whole of that veinier, the cir-
cumatances connected with which were now matters
of history, and be did not return to England until
May following. He had been elected member for Ayrshire,
of which county he was a native, during his absence, but be
did not leave the Crimea until he had consulted his brother
officers, and left with the entire sanction of his commanding
016002. The defendant appeared to have taken advantage
of his knowledge of the general circumstances connected
with Sir James Fe 's stay in the Crimea with his
regiment, and he had made against fhim the most serious
charge that could be made against a British officer or a gen-
tleman—namely, that of cowardice in the presence of the
enemy ; and when the jury had hoard the facts he believed
they would entertain no doubt that the object
the defendant bad in view was to extort money, and
that this was the mole object and motive fur the persecution
to which the prosecutor had been subjected. The learned
counsel then proceeded to state that the first letter that was
the subject of the present indictment was one received by
the prosecutor on the 21st of December, 1e4.59, in which the
defendant stated that he believed the prosecutor had ex-
pended a considerable portion of his patrimony in seducing
the electors of Ayrshire to return him as their reprekenta-
tire, and that unless he gave him a portion of the money
he should publish the matter, and make it known to every
club in London. In the month of February following,
no notice having been taken of the first letter, the prose.
tutor received a second one from the defendant, in which
De Ilmostootti to dog him from out end to the other of any