The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-12 00:00:00

COUYTY COURT.-YESTERDAY.

His HONOR sat at ten o'clock yesterday.
HENDERSON V. ZWITCHENBART.—This was an action
brought by the captain of the brigantine Cameleon,
named Henderson, against Messrs. Zwitehenbart,
Blessig and Braun, merchants, of Liverpool, to re-
cover the sum of 36/. 6s. 6d., for the freight of 300
sacks of flour, shipped from the port of Santander,
in Spain, in January last, to the defendants.
Mr. GROCOTT appeared for the plaintiffs, in the
absence of Sir George Stephen ; and Mr. ASPINALL
for the defence.

From the evidence given by the plaintiff, it ap-
peared that a negociation took place between
Messrs. Gallo and company, to charter the vessel
with flour from Santander to Liverpool. The
plaintiff accordingly chartered the vessel to these
parties, with flour consigned to a party named
Lorenzo de Bermingham, and 500 sacks were con-
signed and delivered to the defendants. Mr.
Blessig, one of the defendants, offered to pay the
amount of freight less 71., which he claimed to
have deducted for damage. The action was accor-
dingly brought.
Mr ASPINALL, on the part of the defendants,
relied upon the fact, that the plaintiff, by his' own
admission, had chartered the vessel for a lump
sum of 1001. to Messrs. Gallo, not at the rate of so
much a ton, and having been paid that amount,
was not entitled to claim any more. If freight was
to be paid to any one, it should be to Messrs.
Gallo, who had chartered the vessel, and not to the
plaintiff. It appeared that a larger sum was de-
.manded of the plaintiff than the proportionate rate
at which the vessel was chartered. A lengthened
legal argument took place upon the point involved
in the question. After which, his HoNon said he
would take time to look over the authorities, and
would reserve his judgment upon the case until
Monday the 21st instant.

The other• cases heard daring the day possessed
no features of public inter est.

OPIUM. —From. a return just published it is shown tha
he importation of opium has increased. In the month endodt
the 10ah ule., the quaetity was 36,759 lbs.
Catherine Hayes has been very successful on the Pacific
shore, and it is stated that she has sent home $50,000 for
the purchase of an estate.—New York Herald.
Mr. Dargan has contributed the munificent sum of £lOO
towards the relief of the sufferers by the late flood in
Mallow.
By a canvass from house to house throughout two muni-
cipal wards in Manchester; containing a population of nearly
50,000 persons, it is found, that of all the youths between
13 and 14 years of age, one in every 351 have never been to
a day-school.
Messrs. Napier and Edmonds have arrived in Stockholm,
as representatives of the English railway firm, Peto, Betts,
Bramy, and. Geach, to treat with the Swedish government
on the concession of a new line of railway from Gothenburg.
to Stockholm, probably with one or more extensive branch
lines.

THE FRENCH OPERA.—MdIIe. Sophie Cruvelli, on Satur-
day last, signed an engagement with the Opera for two
years at a salary of £4,000 sterling a-year. She is to choose
her own parts, to play only twice a-week, and to have four
month's vacation in each year. In case she should be called
upon to sing three times a-week, the extra night is to be
paid £6O. A separate engagement is entered into for two
months of the lady's vacation, during the Universal Exhibi-
tion of 1855, at the rate of £lOOO per month, so that the
salary for the second year will, in fact, be £6,000.
DECREASE OF CRIME IN IRELAND.—Although the propor-
tion of offenders in Ireland to her population, when it is
compared with that of England and Scotland, is lamentably
great, yet there is a decided progressive improvement in her
social state, as evinced by the decrease in the number
charged with offence :-1850, compared with 1849, showed
a decrease in the number charged with offence before the
tribunals of Assizes and Quarter Sessions, of 10,663 ; 1851,
comparedwith 1850, a decrease of 6,642; andnow, 1852, com-
pared with 1851, shows a further decrease of 7,006.' Being
a total decrease in the last three years of 24,311. This de-
crease in 1852 will be found to have taken place in every
class of offence, which cannot be said of either England or
Scotland. As regards Ireland, the decrease exists not only
in every class of offence, but in every province.
TERRIBLE PUBLIC EXECUTION.—At an execution of fear
criminals in Mexico, on the 24th of September, a shocking
addition was made to the sufferings of one of the criminals.'''
Three were garotted with the accustomed readiness ; but on
the executioners endeavouring to perform the last functions
on the fourth, the machinery could not be made to work.
For some minutes endeavours to force it to do so were made,
but in vain ; and finally the unfortunate victim was obliged
to be released from the chair, to gaze on the corpses of his
fellow sufferers, while one of them was lifted out to make
room for him, and, finally to take his seat in the chair thus
vacated, there to undergo his sentence. This was the
second time, of late, that a similar shocking scene has
been witnessed:in Mexico.—yew York Herald.
qmnira —On Wednesday, John Lee, a
private in the first battalion of uoiustreasn urees es, ees
brought up tn I. .7.1,u-s-woocl Barracks, in custody, from
St. George's Barracks, Charing-cross to receive corporal
punishment, pursuant to the sentence of a court-martial held
on Friday last. It appeared that on Thursday last, when
returning from guard, he was addressed by the sergeant on a
slight breach of military discipline, when he used very.
abusive language, and showed other signs of insubordination.
so much so that he was threatened with an arrest. This appear-
ed to be altogethei without the desired effect, forhe continued
to use very violent language, and eventually he drew his
bayonet and threatened the sergeant with personal violence,
but he was overpowered and taken into custody. For this
offence he was, as stated above, tried by a court-martial,
and sentenced to receive fifty lashes. He was accordingly
tied up and the stated number of lashes inflicted, which he
received with a firmness befitting a better man, scarcely
uttering a cry, and at its conclusion he was heard, it is
stated, to express his determination to have his revenge.
THE MARCH or MATRIMONY.—Ten young couples are on
the books of the Gateshead Union for marriage, their
respective ages being 22 and 20, 20 and 22, 20 and 18, 25
and 27, 30 and 25, 30 and 21, 21 and 19, 22 and 20, 20 and
19, and 24 and 25. So great, indeed, is the demand in
Gateshead for wives that a young widow who lost her hus-
band by the epidemic in September was nominated on Sun-
day in our parochial church as the bride-elect of a young
bachelor ! There is a line in Hamlet which will rise to the
reader's eye ; but before he quotes it, let him listen to the
recital of another domestic romance, the remembrance of
which has been revived by the occurrence of Sunday.
There was once a coal-mine explosion on the Tyne, and
many lives were sacrificed. The bodies of the dead could
not be recovered until some weeks had passed away ; and
the corpse of one married man, when it was carried home,
found the widow lying by the side of another husband!
She had wedded her new spouse before burying his prede-
cessor. Shakespeare " exhausted worlds, and then imagined
new ;" but he never dreamt of "the marriage baked meats
coldly furnishing forth the burial tables !" Real life is
more than a match for fiction.—Gateshead Observer.
CAUGHT NAPPING.—One of the railway porters at Con-
way (says a correspondent), experienced a practical joke on
Thursday last which, I doubt not, will in future keep him a
little more wide-awake." This man was left to attend to
the train arriving at Conway about 12 p.m., from Chester.
Two gentlemen, expecting to meet a friend, went to the
station at that time, and found the porter fast asleep—so
much so, that it was impossible to rouse him. After several
ineffectual attempts to waken him, they determined to punish
him for his neglect. They first blackened his face most
effectually, and then cut off as fine a pair of whiskers as you
could meet with in a nine days' march. When the train
had actually arrived they rang the bell in his ears, which
aroused him, and in a half-bewildered state he called out,
" Conway, Conway !" He weer dreamt of the figure he
cut. This discovery he made on his return home, and it is
already manifest that he is much more active since this
joke was played upon him, and I queation if the most severe
reprimand would have answered so well.
WHAT IS THE MAINE LAW ?—lt is an act to put an end
to traffic in intoxicating drinks among the people. It has
nothing to do with a man's own private affairs •, it has
nothing to do with the interior of any man's family ; any
man, wherever he can find liquor, if he chooses may purchase
it, and bring it into his own family, and use it there if he
likes—the law does not touch it or him. It considers every
man's house his castle, and if he has a mind to drink in the
bosom of his family, it does not take hold of him ; it leaves
him free in that respect. But if any man does bring intoxi-
cating liquors into the State for sale, if he sells intoxicating
drink to make money by it, if he even gives it away, and
takes something else to evade the law, what does the law do?
It takes all his rum away, and throws it on the ground. It
does not touch his pocket or his person, but it says,—" You
are not a fit person to have the possession of intoxicating
drink, and we shall take it away." If a man takes solemn
oath that he will not sell, and does not intend to sell, any of
that spirit, it leaves him unmolested. —Tait.
RAILWAY ROUND THE BRISTOL QUAYS.—This project
has been favourably received, and that the undertaking will
be matured by the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, who have
been in communication with the various railway companies
and influential parties on the subject. The object aimed at
is to connect the quays and wharfage of the city with the
grand terminus of the three lines of rail which there con-
verge, thus bringing. the very heart of the city into rapid
connection with the lines. The plan has been 'natured, and
the cost estimated; it is proposed to run a line of rails
around the various quays, upon the same level, and converge
these to the south side of Queen-square, where a large depot,
or goods terminus, would be constructed. The goods thus
collected will be raised by hydraulic power to a higher level,
whence they will:be carried across the float to the opposite
wharf on a bridge having an opening of about 30 feet,
thence running along a line of rail which will be constructed
and carried over the great public thoroughfares, upon the
same level as the main lines of rail. This would be accom-
plished by a series of arches forming a long viaduct about
16 feet in height. Branch lines with inclined planes would
be made for the purpose of facilitating the removal
.of the
immense rafts of timber now floated up,