Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-10-24 00:00:00

WAKEFIELD ELECTION COMMISSION.

•
WAI(EFIELD, Friday.
The inquiry was resumed at eleven o'clock this
mormng.
William 'Fawcett Dodgson,. sheriff's officer, deposal
that after the election he went with a stranger to pay
some bills. . The .stranger went to witness's house and
-said he
.understOod witness knew the public-houses in
the borOugh. Witness said he did, whereupon the
stranger- Showed -him a list of about twenty houses.
Witness- ultimately pointed out the various public
houses to him, and received D. 15s. for his services.
The stranger appeared to be a Scotchman, and paid
about £5O or £6O at different public house's.
Mr. Richard Dunn, corn' merchant, stated that at the
election of 1852 Mr. Snow, a .clerk in his establish-
ment, expended a sum of between £1,500 and £1,600
on behalf of Mr. Saunders, the ,Conservative candidate,
which sum was afterwards repaid to the firm. He be-
lieVed that the greater portion of the money' Was ex-
pended on laW era.
Johnßirnill. voted for Mr. Leatbarn,• and after the
election. his wife received £3O frOm Aillo3 Sexton.- He
: believed that Archie Crowther offered his .wife £BO to
cote for Charlesworth. •
Thomas Stephenson, a non elector, said he was
requested by Mr. Shaw, the spirit merchant, tO canvass
Tower, the hairdresser. He did so, when Tower quoted
the advice of the quaker to his son----qiamely, .‘ Get
money honestly if thou canst; but, at all events, get it."
Tower further asked him whether, if he went fishing
in two .ponds, and saw a large fish in one and s, very
little one in the other, •he would not preer angling for
the former: (Laughter.) Witness • understood from
these remarks that Tower wanted money, 'and'returning
to Shaw, told him so. Shaw told him to ascertain what
the man wanted, and he therefore called upon him again,
and without making an offer wrote down on a piece of
paper first £lO, then £2O, then £3O, and finally £4O.
Tower, however, wanted £6O, and witness made a
report to that effect to Shaw.
Oliarloo Simpson stated that ho spent the evening
before the election with several other voters 'on the
Leatham side at the house. of Mr. Thortus'on; miller.
Mr. W. Burrell came to him in a gig at Mr. Thompson's
mill, with a stranger, and asked him to vote for Mr.
Charlesworth, lint he declined.
Mr. W.' 13. Burrell, solicitor, 'was then called, and
closely qUestioned by Serjeaut Pigott as to who the
stranger was who accompanied him in the gig. He said
he did not remember ; and said it might be Mr Charles
Martin, e mister of Newton.
Mr. Martin happened to be in court, and denied hav-
ing accompanied-Burrell in his visit to Simpson.
. Mr. Serjeant Pigott severely rebuked Mr. Barrell for
the manner in which he gave his evidence, reminding
him that his nrofessional reputation was at stake.
Mr. Burrell said that if the person who accompanied
him to Simpson's was not Martin, it must have been
Mr. William Gill, a clerk in the office of Mr. Pincksley,
solicitor.

• Sitnpson was recalled, and said that some time after
the election, he asked Mr. Burrell who the person was
Who accompanied, him in the gig, and was told that it
Was a stranger, and that it was not always convenient
for people to tell all that they knew.
Many witnesses were e:,:arnined in reference to bribes
offered to the:li both by the Liberals and the Conserva-
tives, and the court adjourned.

. QUEENSTOWN, SATURDAY.—The channel fleet, under
the command of AdMiral Elliott, sailed at 11.30 a.m.
• Sir John D. Paul and Mr:•Stralian haVe been released
from prison, 'after having undergone four years' penal
servitude. • '

HEALTH OF ADMIRAL TIOPE.—WC arc much gratified
in being able to announce that, from letters received at
Carridi:n on Tuesday, from the gallant admiral, his wound
.was nearly healed up, and that his health was excellent.
=Falkirk Herald.

. _ .....
A militaryjournal states that the first battalion of the
military train is undevorders for China, overland. The
2nd Queen's Royals, now at the Cape, is also to proceed
there. The second battalion: 10th Foot is to proceed to
the Cape to relieve the 2nd Foot.
The Lord Chancellor will give a dliieiiner at Strath-
eden House, Knightsbridge, on Wednesday, November
2, being the first dav of ,lichaelmat Term, when 'the
;noble and learned lord will receive the judges and
• Queen's counsel. Previous to the reception of the
judges, the Lord Mayor, the Lord Mayor elect (Alder-
man Carter), the Recorder, and other civic functionaries
will wait on the Lord Chancellor, when his lordship
will signify her Majesty's approval of the choice of the
citizens of London. .
AN ANSWEEL TO MOTJBLESOINfE CORRESPOIVDENTS.-7
Our correspondents must hold us excused from privately
answering all their favours, however highly esteemed.
We reply to the utmost of • our ability, but even if we
req&red no rest, or leisure for sleep or meals, the twenty-
four hours would afford insufficient time to get through
the entire of our daily business. We must, therefore;
beg our friends not to attribute to neglect, but simply to
over-occupation our silent receipt of their.,eommunica-
dons. As to giving our reasons for not inserting poetical
and other contributions. such an expectation could only
be founded upon enviable innocence of the V'aried and
incessant labour which the editor of the newspaper who
minds his business is obliged. to undergo.--Tifipe:•ary
Brizn'ner.

A ROMAN MTJRDER.—A letter of the 15th' in the
Courier de Marseilles, says :—" The town of Velletri
has been thrown into consternation by the following
horrible event Spontoni, belonging to one of the
first families in the place, was assassinated at the mo-
ment when he was leaving the Filippi Palace. lie was
about to be united in marriage to Mlle. de Filippi,
daughter of the Count de Filippi, ex-equerry to the
Sovereign Pontiff. He had on the very evening gone
through the ceremony of betrothal, and was returning
home, when he was suddenly assailed by two persons
wearing masks, one of whom pinioned his arms, whi'.e
the other stabbed him twice with a dagger. He was
not killed on the spot, but after having been conveyed
to his home, lived lOng enough to make his will, leaving
part of his property to his intended bride. In 1853,
M. Spontoni had been imprisoned for some political
affair, and he is thought to be the victim of the Italian
societies, who condemn to death all who abandox them.
If credit can be attached to an avowal made by M.
Spontoni before his death, his murderers do not belong
to Velletri, but he would not name them.
SIR JOHN COLERIDGE ON BLIND INSTITUTIONS.—
On Thursday, the Right Hon. Sir J. Coleridge presided
at the annual meeting of the West of England Blind
Institution, at the Royal Public Rooms, Exeter. The
institution has been instrumental in effecting much good
in the west, and satisfactory proofs of the skill and
ingenuity of the pupils in the manufacture of baskets,
mats, &c., and of their ability to read and to sing were
given at the meeting. In the course of an interesting
address, Sir J. Coleridge said,—" Conceive to your-
selves, for a moment, what is the ordinary entertainment
and conversation that passes around any one of your
family tables ; how many things we talk of as matters of
course, as to the understanding and as to the bare con-
ception of which sight is absolutely necessary. Consider
again, what an affliction the loss of sight mutt be, and
that when we talk of the olden sun, the bright stars, bush the beautiful flowers, the of spring, the glow of
summer, and the ripen'ug fruit of autumn, we are talk-
ing of things of which we do not convey to the minds of
these poor creatures who arc born blind anything like
an adequate conception. (Cheers.) There was once a
great man, as we all know, in this country, a poet—
and nearly the greatest poet that England has ever had
to boast of—who was blind ; and there is a passage in
his works which is so true and touching that it exactly
describes that which I have endeavoured, in feeble
language, to paint. Milton says:—
" Thus with the year
" Seasons return ; bat not to me returns
" 'Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n, or morn,
" Or sight of vernal bloom, or Summer's rose,
" Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
" But cloud instead, and ever during dark
" ' Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
•
" Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
" Presented with a universal blank •
" Of Nature's works, to me expunged- mid rased,
" And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
" So much the rather then, celestial light,
"'Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers

Irradiate ; there plant eyes ; all Mist from thence
Purge and disperse ; that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.'
Tr
light
ig poet,
to ec
t, wahtolila it. Andthis uponxinpint:nthis
bringssoughtwork,m e to
that for
celestiale
part of the labours of oar institution upon which I
dwell the most,. and which, after all, is the greatest
compensation we can aftord to the inmates for the Odic-
tion they. suffer. ; and that is, the means we provi lc for
them-to read tha blessed Word of God, which they can
read by day as well as by night,
. for light in their case
is not an essential." (Cheers.) The hon. gentleman
concluded by a fervent r.peal to the boncironntpub4c
to support this and kindred institutions, whirl, were
quietly, but effectually, Ling a vast amount of goxl
in
the land.