The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-05-12 00:00:00

WHAT IS NOT BRIBERY

In the Court of Exchequer Chamber at the sittings in
error on Friday, the cause of Cooper v. Slade, Q.O , came
on for judgment. The original action was brought to reco-
ver:penalties from the defendant for certain acts of bribery,
alleged to have been committed by him when candidate
for the representation of the borough of Cambridge. The
question turned upon the legality or otherwise of the
payment to a voter of his reasonable travelling expenses
to and from the place of election. Mr. Baron Alderson
delivered the judgment of the court, which was unanimous,
with the exception of Mr. Justice Vaughan Williams.
The learned baron said that some of the learned judges

and some of the committee on elections had held that the
payment of travelling expenses was illegal, whereas others
had held that it was legal. The statute was directed
against, and applied solely to, the payment of money for
illegal expenses. The question for their consideration
was whether the money had been paid corruptly. They
were clearly of opinion that it had not, and that the
honest bona fide payment to a voter of his travelling
expenses did not bring the person paying the money
within the operation of the act. For these reasons the
defendant was entitled to their judgment.

A MONSTER SCROOL TRENT.-It is proposed to celebrate
the peace in Norwich by giving a treat shortly to 7,500
children, attending the various gratuitous schools in that
city.

THE LATE ATTMPTED ASSASSINATION IN RUPERT-STREET.
—From enquiries made on Saturday morning, at Charing-
cross hospital, we learn that two of the injured men, Rossi
and Rodeo, have completely recovered from their wounds,
and have left the hospital. The other two are likely to leave
in the course of a few days. Up to the present time nothing
has been heard of the assassin, Foschini.
THE DRAMA IN SPAIN.—The Madrid Gazette contains a
royal decree, forbidding the performance in the theatres of
dramas founded on sacred or biblical subjects, or in which
the personages of the Trinity or the Holy Family figure.
The Gazette says that the decree has been issued in conse-
quence of the ecclesiastical authorities of Madrid having com-
plained of the performance at the Princess' Theatre of a
rclirious drama called "The Passion."

HEALTH OF COLONEL TULLOCH —lt appears, by an
extract from a private letter, that the doctors pronounce
Colonel Tulloch to be going on favourably, but he is in
a sad state. Sir James Clarke stated in his certificate that
the colonel was suffering from " mental exhaustion ;" his
complaint is, in fact, a nervous fever, very nearly brain
fever. He will not be able to return to the Chelsea court,
as Sir J atncs says it is as much as his life is worth.
THE IRISH RAILWAY FORGERIE3.—COO Friday at the
Dublin police office, James Montgomery Knighting was
brought up on a writ of habeas corpus, for the purpose of
having preferred against him a series of charges in relation
to the forgeries of railway shares transfers. There was
altogether eight fresh charges of forgeries; and, a number
of witnesses having been examined for the prosecution, the
prisoner was fully committed for trial at the next com-
mission on the eighth charge proved to-day, and which, in
addition to the charges already brought under the public
notices, make the aggregate amount of forgeries £14,170.
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER'S FIRE INcitUR-
ANCE BILL,—A new clause has been added to this bill,
intended to meet the ease of continental offices doing insur-
ance business in this country, by rendering the insurer
liable to the duty which he would have had to pay had he
insured in a British office ! It is not said how this liability
is to be discovered, but when discovered it is to be sued for
as a debt due to her Majesty. Under such a clause, hundreds
may escape the tax for one who is made liable ; and it is
difficult to to see how parliament can sanction a liability
difficult ; if not impossible of being enforced.
DISCOVERY OF A HOMAN SKELETON.—EXTRAORDINARY
CASE.—A. good deal of interest has been excited in
Londonderry by the recent discovery, near Claudy, in
that neighbourhood, of a human skeleton, popularly sup-
posed to be that of an excise officer, for whose murder, at
the same place, three brothers named Matthews were
tried at Derry more than twenty years ago. The skeleton
was found about two feet below the surface in a bog in
the townland of Upper Alla. It was wrapped up in a
coarse blanket or horse rug, and the covering was fastened
round the skeleton with wooden skewers. The person
whose murder was alleged to have taken place at the
period in question was a Mr. Lambkin, an officer of
inland revenue. The brothers Matthews kept a
paper mill at Claudy, and shortly before their commission
of the imputed crime had been fined in .€BOO for a breach
of the Excise laws, in consequence of information given
by Mr. Lambkin. Shortly afterwards this gentleman was
missed, and suspicion at once fell upon the owners of the
mill. The last time Mr. Lambkin had been seen, he was
observed by a woman to enter the mill, and after a short
interval she distinctly heard a shot. The unfortunate
man was never afterwards seen alive, nor could the body
be then found, although the most extraordinary means
were taken to discover it, bloodhounds having been
brought over from England for the purpose. Having
been taken into custody, the trial of the brothers Mat-
thews for the alleged murder came on at the assizes in
Londonderry, and true bills were found by the grand jury.
There was, however, no evidence to insure a conviction,
the absence of the body being fatal to the case for the
prosecution. The men soon afterwards left the country,
and emigrated to America, where their career was not a
prosperous one. The latter circumstance confirmed the
popular notion as to their guilt. The constabulary are
busily endeavouring to " make a case " out of the dis-
covery. The skeleten is in a fair state of preservation,
the teeth and hair being perfect.

FASHIONABLE DINNERS

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES

Sir,—l am desirous of bringing before your notice a very
Of late, the generous hospitality of bye-

serious grievance.

Formerly,

pictures, &c