The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-21 00:00:00

THE EYRE DEFENCE COMMITTEE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXPREWL

SIR, —The Eyre Defence Committee are adver-
tising as follows :-1. That the Eyre prosecution
has commenced. 2. That four actions have been
commenced against Mr. Eyre and Colonel Nelson
by the solicitors of the Jamaica Committee. 3.
That the Jamaica Committee aro also preparing an
indictment against Mr. Eyre for murder. 4. That
in consequence of this unparalleled and oppressive
persecution, which they say will entail upon Mr.
Eyre an enormous accumulation of coats, the Com-
mittee earnestly request additional subscriptions.
The facts are as follows :-1. The Eyre prose-
cution has not yet commenced. This mis-state-
meut, however, if it stood by itself, would not be
worth correcting, as the prosecution will be com-
menced as soon as the witnesses, who have been
sent for, arrive in this country from Jamaica. 2.
Two private gentlemen who were illegally arrested,
and one of whom was flogged, but against whom no
shadow of evidence has ever been produced, have,
without any connexion with or assistance from the
Jamaica Committee, commenced actions for damages
against Mr. Eyre and Colonel Nelson, and have
entrusted their cases to the solicitors who are also
instructed by the Jamaica committee. The defence
of the actions against Colonel Nelson has been
undertaken by government, who are thus inter-
posing the national purse between these victims of
martial law and an hnglish court of justice. This
step on the part of government will, of course, very
greatly diminish the expense of defending the other
two actions which have been commenced against
Mr. Eyre, as the defence in each case must be sub-
stantially the same. 3. The only proceeding with
which the Jamaica Committee has anything what-
ever to do is the intended indictment, which they
are advised is the only mode open to them of
testing the legality of the late proceedings.
The Eyre Defence Committee, having been in-
formed by us of the above facts, have instructed
their secretary to reply that " they see no reason
whatever for altering their advertisements to suit
the tastes " of the Jamaica Committee and of our-
selves. Not in order to suit anybody's tastes, but
to prevent the public being misled, we must there-
fore ask you to be good enough to give insertion to
this explanation.—We are, &c.,
SHAEN and ROSCOE.
8, Bedford-row, London, W.C., Jan. 19.

THE ACTIONS AGAINST El-GOVERNOR EYRE
An application was made on Saturday to Mr. Baron
Bramwell, at the Judges' chambers, Chancery-lane, by Mr.
Hone, solicitor for ex•Govemor Eyre, in respect of the in-
dictments to be preferred against him for his conduct in
Jamaica, the nature of his application being that all (la-
ther proceedings in the actions brought by Mr. Phillips
and Dr. Bruce, of Jamaica, to recover damages for false
imprisonment, flogging, and other injuries sustained by
them at the hands of Governor Eyre during the late re-
bellion, might be stayed until the plaintiffs bad given Mr.
Eyre security for his costs. The ground of the application
was that the plaintiffs were resident beyond the jurisdic-
tion of the court, and could not, therefore, be taken in
execution for Mr. Eyre's costs in case he should be suc-
cessful in the actions that were pending against him. Mr.
Ilirnie, from the office of Messrs. Sheen and Roscoe, of
Bedford-row, opposed the application on behalf of the
plaintiffs. After hearing both sides, Mr. Baron Bramwell
decided that the application was both premature and irre-
gular, and ordered it to be adjourned inne die.
HOSPITAL TOR DISEASES Or THE CHEST, VICTORIA-
PARE. —The number of patients relieved at this institution
during last week was 1,001, of which 264 were new mass.