The Express.
London, England, 1866-03-02 00:00:00

'THE EXPBFSS, FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 2, 1866.

founded thereon. (" Hear, hear," and a laugh.) I may
also state that the returos which are in preparation for
the information of the house, and which will GU a volume
of several hundred pages, are undergoing a final revision,
ban esnnot preemies that they will be I. the hands of
Inembees till the sod of next wee►, and possibly not till
eves the day after my statement ; bat no time shall be lost
in placing them on the table.
Viscount ORANBORNE—Does the right hon. gentleman
propose that the bill shall be read a first time before the
statistics are in the hands of members If so, it will be in
direct contradiction to the statement of the Queen's speech.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—I am not
aware of any such oiretradictioe. Hy motion will be for
Lan to bring in a bill ; and after that motion is
pealed it will be quit* competent for any hon. member to
raise the question on the Bret reading of the bill. (Cries of
"No, no.") I say it will be perfectly competent to raise
the question on the first reading. (No, no.) Well then,

sir, I am in your hands.
The IiPSAKER—Wban a bill has been brought in it is
read a Arai tiros. (Hear. boar.) _ _ .

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—I will ask
the noble lord to explain what he means when he speaks 01
" a direct eoetradietion "of her Majesty's spunk 2 How-
ever, I will refer to the terms of the speech, and then I
shall be prepared to answer the noble lord's observation.
(Hear, hear.)
THE DEVONPORT ELECTION PETITION.
On the motion that the Speaker leave the chair,

Sir J. PAHL/TIFTON put aortal& questions to the
Secretary of the Admiralty with reference to the serving
of certain Speaker's war:sets on workmen in the dockyard
at Developed who bed voted at the late moral election for
the sitting members (Mews. Fleming and Farmed). The
right hen. baronet said that on the 20th or 21st of last
meth a telegram wee received by the port admiral
at Devooport from the Admiralty, directing that
" every facility was to be given to the serving of
Speaker's warrants in the matter of the petition
against the
ascittlinin members for the borough ;" that the
men were y collected a place called " the
sale-room." which, owever, was used as a polies-station.
and that they were not only served with the warrants but
were also subjected to acee-examinatioa under the eyes of
the uthorities, not cooly by the persons who agreed
the warned% bet subemnently by polies-officers. Thin
proceediag we., he said, calculated to intimidate cal alarm
the msa, and he asked by whose authority these " facili-
ties" were given.
Lord 0. AGET explained that lie knew nothing what-
ever &beat the matter until Sir J. Paldngtas had given him
notice of his intention to bring it under the notice of the
house. He then canted inquiries to be made, and bad
amearlained that the spat e of the petitioner had applied to
the First Lord of the Admiralty to allow them to have the
men collected, so that the Speaker's warrants might be
Nerved urn than with the least possible incouvecienoe.
The Duke of Somerset telegraphed his coosest, hut his
grace had so idea that the voters would be subjected to
say examination, and if such examination had taken place
it was wholly without lie kaowledge, approbation, or
eonsent.
Lord CRANBOUItNE oonsidered that the defence of
the government was far from satisfactory.
Sir B. CAIRNS oeinniceted with some severity on the
conduit of the Admiralty in relation to the matter.
Lord R. YONTAGIJ was of orates that the conduct
imputed to the government was PIA each as might have
bees expected from Lsvieirnmeot totterieg to its all.
Lord HOTHAY acquitted the Doke of Somerset
of any knowledge of trausetion, shish he felt per-
suaded the noble duke would now disapprove of.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER expressed
his regret if any irregularity had takes plus, sad promised
that farther inquiry should take rue in order to prevent
the recommits of say such complaints.
Mr. DISRAELI declared, with some warmth, that the
government had given no answer to the substantial enema-
Noe of Sir J. Pah:into; and charged them with remissness
of duty in not having instituted a full inquiry into an the
circumstances of the cam as soca as they had seen that after.
don was about to be Galled to it.
Lord J. Mennen, Hr. Lowe, Hr. Hamm. Mr. Selwyn,
and others jobbed in the debate ; the hoe. member for the
University of Cambridge pointing out that the service of a
warrant was a momentary operation, whereas the men at
the dockyard bad been detained from one hour to two
hours while the parliamentary *gut was endeavouring to
make them criminate themselves.
The other matters discussed on the motion of supply were
experiments made for the cure of the cattle plague, raised
by Kr. Sandford, and the alleged grievances of the insiders
of the nary, by Sir L. Palk.

THE NAVY ESTIMATES.
The house having gone into committee on the navy esti-
mates, the coesidaratioe of the Ent vote (the cambia of
men and boys) was resumed by
Sir 1L PETO, who, baying criticised the estimates,=o-
daily with regard to the construction of ships and d
'sprained • hope that the Admiralty would give Captai;
Cowper Coles another opportunity of contracting a turret-
ship as his own peculiar principle.
Mr. PUMA/4D hoped that after Oaptehn Oolaw had made
ea apology to the Admiralty they would do him justice.
Lord C. PAGET promised that so mon as Captain Oohs
bed wide an apology he would be misdated.
Mr. FERRAND wee glad to hem it, and would also like
to see an apology from Mr. Reed to Captain Coles for the
sthectigas he ha east upoe him in one of his speeches.
Lord C. PAGET defended the policy permed by the
Admiralty, and contended that the ships they were turn-
ing out were in ma-going qualities, general safety, and
speed, far superior to those Which WWII built for foreign
governments is English private rude.
Lord ELCHO drew attention to a paragraph in a letter,
signed by ape on with an unprononeosable name. which
had apps red lately in a morning paper, and moteining •
charge against 12 men of her Majesty's ship Wolverine of
haying for a series of days subjected a female elate leader
in Jamaica to the most brutal outages. He wished to
know whether the Admiralty had received any informa.
tics coafirmatory of the truth of the statement.
Lord C. PAGET replied that no information of the
sort had reached the Admiralty, and he believed it to be
a base falsehood. Full inquiry should be mule, and if
any such occurrence bad takes place he trusted the guilty
parties would meet with condign punishment ; but if it
were a false and wicked accusation he hoped its authors
would be visited with public reprobation.
Eventually the vote of 68,00 seaman and marines for the
levy was agreed to, as were also several votes of mosey for
the effective and um-effective service.
On the boom resuming,
The Cattle Diemen (Ireland) Bill was read a third time
and passed ; and the other business' on the payer having
been disposed of, the house adjourned at ten minutes past
1 o'clock.

fftuoic.

Cabo Intelligente.

COURT OP PROBATE AND DIVORCE.

31. tics I
(Before the Jadp Ordinw.)

BELL= N. BYANW, PAD!, AID om OAST =ARM .
In this mu the defendant, Mr. Henry Bellew, pro-
rB7ds, as executor, the will dated the 6th of August
.11, or his sister, Miss Corolla° Bellew, commonly called
the Countess Bellew, late of Stookleigh-house, Reeent's-
park, who died on the 25th of February, 1866. The plain-
tiff, Miss Frances Bellew, the elder sister of the deceased,
on the other band, alleges that the instrument is a forgery.
The value of theiroperty is about 26,0004
Mr. Hawidos, C., Dr. kinks, and Mr. Stavely Hill
appear for Mr. Be low ; Mr. O'Malley, Q. 0., Mr. 8011, and
Mr. Buller for Mist Ballow ; and Dr. Tristram for Mrs.
I:levitate% ni•oe of the deceased, who also opposes the
will.
Mr. Hawkins to-day replied at great length on beat of
Mr. Bellew.
Sir James WU., in summing up, commented on the
painful features of a use in which a brother and • sister
were the litigants, the one relying upon a charge of forgery,
and the other upon a. charge of destroying a will. Happily
it would not be neceseary for the jury to determine which
allegation was true, the sole issue for their decision being
whether the paper before the court had really been the act
of the testatrix. It was an old rule that a will which did
not come out of proper custody, or one that had been written
by the baud of a party interested. was tainted with sus-
picion ; and in this cue both those circumstances
had occurred. It via true that Mrs. Oases bad,
by the feet of her attesting the , lost her
legacy ; but there was mention made in the will
of a post-obit bond for 6001., and she had thus • decided
interest in obtaining probate. Nobody bad suggested
that Mr. Henry Bellew had had any hand in a forgery ; if
forgery there was, it was the forgery of Mrs. Ouse. It was
a curious circumstance that no sooner had Mrs. Care inti-
mated to Mr. Bellew that she held a will of his atlas then
she wanted to borrow 4001. from him. But that wu not
all. Before the date of the document Mrs. Osere's suit in
Chem:wry had been made public, and the Ouster; Bellew
must, therefore, have known that Mrs. Oases was charged
with forgery by the representatives of the lateLordSaltoun.
Of that charge she might, of cum, have bun perfectly
innocent ; but it having been made, it was Waage that the
countess should have selected her to take charge of her
will. The alleged arrangement, by virtue of whisk she
was not to modern the instrument till three mouths after
the testatrix's death, wee also an extremely odd one. It wee
one foe which, if the will was good, it woe difficult teeniest
an adequate reuse. On the other band, if the will was
not genuine, it was easy to see why it would act be desirable
to bring it to light too moon, and so run the chance of a real
will being found. As to the evidence of handwriting. it
was no doubt difficult to determine the validity of the
paper before them on any comparison of the alleged signa-
ture of the ecientem with her admitted writing ; bat it was
not contended that the austere "B. Simmouda" bare any
resembles to the two letters produced of that
witness. Still there wee the distinct oath of Mrs. Ousaittlainit
of another witness, who swore that he had seen the exe.
cation ; and if the jury believed them they must find the
will to be genuine.
After deliberating for about an boor and a half the jury
(a special one) handed in a verdict to the effect that they
were sot satisfied with the gesuinenees of the signatures.
Sir J. Wilde thereupon pronounced against the will, and
000demned Mr. Bellew in the costs.
This is the third will which has been Input during the
present sittin circumstance almost, if not entirely,
without p out sines the establialinteat of the court

A long argument owned as .o the ads isibility of this
root
The Deputy Rewarder asked the proieru'rix whether she
had been subjected to any annoyance by the defendant.
The promentrix replied that she had been persecuted
from the time of tbelibel. She had been followed front
plane to place and from street to street by the slanders and
libels of the defendant. The expenses of the two actions
in the superior eourts had been ruinous to her, and, in feet,
she and her husband were comparatively ruined.
The Deputy Recorder commented upon the grievous and
ruinous effect which these iniquitosslibele created. It must
be visited with puslehinent, and a fine would be out of the
question. The sentence of the court wee that lb* defendant
be imprisoned for one mouth. that be. husband eater into
his recognisant* in 1001., ald filed two sureties in 601. each
that the defendant should keep the peace towards the
complainant for the next twelve months.
The defendant was then removed to the Neel of Ns/tepee.