Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-27 00:00:00

CRUEL TREATMENT OF LASCA.RS.

At the Thames (London) Police Court, en Tuesday, Mr.
Walter Pelham, articled clerk to Mr. Fletcher, solicitor,
applied to Mr. Yardley f r distress warrants to seize the
ship Roehampton, Captain Bred:haw, master, and now
lying in St. Katherine Docks. It appeared that the
boatswain and four other Lascars assisted in naviga'ing the
ship from Sing Tore and Moulmein to the port of London,
and they were discharged from the ship on the 10. h
instant, and sent to that excellent institution the
Strangers' Home, in Limehouse, where it was agreed they
should remain until they were transferred to the Bombay
Castle, which it WAS originally intended to send to
India. The Lascars ware turned out of the Strangers'
Home for breach of discipline, and applied to Captain
Bradshaw, the master of the Roehampton, for their wages.
Their 'ay was refused, although they had been regularly
discharged, and accounts re ,dered to them. They sum-
moned the captain beore Mr. Yardley, on Saturday, and
after a long investigation, in the course of which it ap-
peared they were put in gaal, and imprisoned for twenty-
eight days in Moulmein, in the Bay of Bengal, Mr
Yardley ordered their wages to be paid, and spoke in con
demnatory terms of the evidence of the chief mate, and
an attempt made to reduce the wages of the Lascars
to a greater ext -nt than the justice of the case
demanded. Mr. Yardley also said that the captain, in
advancing 150 rapees to the serang, had debited him
2s 4d to each teepee; but in calculating the wages, had
credited him 2a only fir eaeh rupeP. • That was a manifest
injustice, which he would not countenance. At the pre-
sent time, it was especially the duty of owners and cap-
tains of British merchant ships to treat the Lascars with
kindness and considera'ion, and they ought to have the
protection of English law and justice. lie ordered the
wages, and 12s c )ets, to be pail in each case. On Monday,
Mr. Pelham said the wages had not been paid, and the
Lascars were in a state of soarvation, and had not tasted
food since Satu:dey last. Mr. Yardley directed that
minutes of the order should ha served on the captain, and,
if the wages were not pair!, he would issue distress war-
rants After the disposal of the night charges, on Tuesday
afternoon, Mr. Pelham applied for distress warrants, and
said the Lascars were lying in the streets, and exhausted
for want of food. They would have been starved to
death if his principal, Mr. Fletcher, had not advanced
the money to purchase a little food. Ho (Mr. Pelham)
considered the captain had treated this court with
disrespect, for although it was promised they should be
sent out in the Bombay Castle, that ship was not going to
India. Howland, a police-constable, No 89 H, said he
served five orders on Captain Bradshaw on Monday morn-
ing, and he refused to pay the wages. Mr. Yardley : Are
the Lascars here ? Mr. Pe ham : They are in the street.
Mr. Yardley: They mast come into court and be sworn to
the non-payment of wages. The Lascars were brought
into court, and, through the intervention of Id r. Levy, an
interpreter, were sworn on the Koran, and declared they
had not been paid their wages. The warrants were
granted, and Howland immediately proceeded with a
broker and his man on board the Roehampton, and put the
ship under seizure. She will be sold by public auction
on Monday next, unless the wages and all the costs are
paid.

MRS. GASKELL'S MEMOIRS OF MISS BRONTE.

The following letter appears in a Landon cotemporary
of yesterday
see with some concern a " communicated"
notice in your paper of the 2 lst instant, which misrepre-
sents a gentleman whom no one would wish to troutee
with irksome notice, but tvh.se sincerity ought not to be
rendered doubtful by any carelessness, misapprthenson,
or party-spirit.
In that notice Mr. Bronte, of II tworth, is declared to
have recently spoken of Mrs. Gaskell's Memoir- of his
daughter as the work of an enemy, and of herself as, to
say the least, reluctaet to repair mistakes in her narrative.
I have no intenttoa of entering on the subject of those, or
any other alleged mistakes ; but I think it right to say that
I have seen two letters from Mr. Bronte to Mrs. Gaskell,
one written soon after the appearance of the Memo:r, and
the other five w:eks alter the dare of his alleged com-
plaints, in both of which the most entire confidence in.
and gratitude towards, Mrs. G skell are warmly expressed,
it is impossible that the writer of those letters could have,
in the interval between them, represented Mrs. Gaskell as
an enemy, or attributed to her any want of candour in
regard to clrrecting errors of statement.
The respective values of Mrs. Gaskell's authorities is
quite another question. When I find that, in my own
case, scarcely one of Miss BrouL's staternetys about me is
altogether tru?, I c•tnnot be surprised at her biographer
having befn misled in other cases of more importance.
It is a perilous task to write the history of a singularly
ineagiastive person, during- the lifetime of catemporaties
—as Mrs. Giskell has four,d : and the more mistakes there
really are iu the narrative the strontzer is the appeal to our
justice that errors injurious to Mrs. Gaskell herself should
not be left uurec.ifiel.--I am, &c..
Ambleside, Aug. 24. HARRIET MARTINEAU.

Exolosivclyfor CLOTIIING BOYS from 6 to 20.Yeare,

LEVI IS & COM') A 7,17, Ibmnlitzh street.

The French government has taken a hint from Lard
Campbell's bill. A general razzia is just now being carried
on in shops where pictures and engravings are exhibited
for sale, and all prints which the nice taste of the police
officers consider indscmt are mercilessly seized. Sonic
queer mistakes, however, have scoured, the most startling
being the seizure of a photographic represeutstion of the
Venus de Medici.

SPOLLEN.—This notorious character was broueht up,
on Monday, before the Capel-street Police-office, Dahlia,
and committed for trial on the charge of robbing the
Midland Great Weetern Cornpaey of money exceeding
£5, on the evening of the 13th of November, 1856—the
fatal evening whet unfortunate Little was murdered.
When he was arrested, on znaturday evening, by Inspector
Ryan, of the detective force, he was, says Saunders'.
rows-Letter:—" At tha time in company with his eldest
son James; and upon being told the purpose for which he
was taken into custody, replied, after consideration, It
cannot be helped, but I know nothing of it.' lie appeared,
however, when the announcement was made, to have
lost a portion of the unflnching; confidence by which
his manner was characterised IT in the former occasion,
and his sulesequent conduct would appear to justify this
impression. Tne son remarked, I snpre•se this will be
another three months' job ;' to which Spollen replied,
Well, we must only bear it with patience.' Upon
being searched, a sum exceeding £lO was found, the
surplus of which is supposed to have been the produce of
his Fishamble-street exhibition." Areeher account says
that the £lO was wale up of the eight seve.reigns found
by the police in a drawer in his cottage, covered with
particles or earth, and £2 paid him by the company for
wages du at the time of his arrest. Be that as it may,
he is now in prison ; and we only hope puh'ic justice will
not he again defeated, but that sufficient evidence will be
forthcoming to warrant a conviction. We suppose "his
friend," Mr. Curran, will again have the ',Leasure of
defending him ; if so, he ought to look out in time for
Borne innecent party to whom to impute the robbieiy. It
admits of no doubt that a robbery was committed ; and,
as counsel eseurne a license of being, as Junius describes
them, the " indiscriminate defendera'of right or wrong,"
by. as Bentham added, the "indiscriminate utterance of
truth and falsehood," it is:therefore, perfectly allowable
for Spolleu's "friend," not only to protest his entire
innocence, but to accuse any indifferent and innocent party
of the crime. Resides, such an accusation will be com-
pararivey trivial—a robbery is not just as heinous a crime
as murder; and the same stretch of conscience will not be
required as was necessary to accuse the unfortunate wife
of a guilty intrigue with the real murderer, and of con-
spiring with him to swear away the life of her injured
husband--Irish Paper]

Mr. Brett : I must beg my learned friend's pardon—
what has these letters to do with the case now before the
court ?
Mr Aspinall : If you listen a moment you will hear.
That is a statement made for the reason of selling to John
Bingham, although at that time he had not called to him
on the subject at all. The defendant hid drawn bills on
Messrs. Bingham, as against a cargo ; these bills were
deposited and endorsed by the defendant in the Borough
Bank, and all that was requirel was the acceptance of
Messrs Bingham. The bills were sent from the bank to
Messrs. Bingham for acceptance, but acceptance was
refused, and the bills were sent back to the bank unac
cepted. The bank then sent for Mr Doherty, in order to
explain the matter, and he made some .exeuse that
answered for the time. It would be remembered that the
bills were endorsed by Mr. Doherty to the batik, and
when the officials of the bank ep ke to Mr. Doherty, and
informed him that Messrs. Bingham had refused to
accept them, Me. Doherty went to Messrs. Bingham
and offered ti em the security of 1,500 barrels of flour
by the " Centurion," and the bills of lading for that quan-
tity, which he ple.iged as against their acceptance of the
bills at the bank. Mr. Doherty, it would appear had
already pledged the same bill. of lading to Mr. Hubback,
bit on the faith of his representations and the bill of lading
that he produced to Messrs Bingham, he obtained their
acceptance to the bills that were at the Back. This (con
tinned the learned counsel) was clearly a false representa-
tion; because he had first pledged the original bill of
lading to Mr. Hubback and then he pledged the duplicate,
which he knew was of no value to Messrs. Bingham. He
would prove this case to the satisfaction of the Court, and
ha imagined there was only one course left for his worship
to follow. He would be met on the other side by
saying the defendant made a mistake in the bills of
lading but that would be a question for a jury
and not one for that court for to deci 'e. Another point
that no doubt the defendant would rely on was, that there
had been a condonement of the offence on the part cf
Messrs. Bingham and Co. who had consented to receive
the amount (4' they got it) of which they were defrauded.
They at the time such offer was made to them, were in a
different position from that in which they now stood—they
had not then paid the bills, but now they had done so, and.
he (Mr. Aspinall) knew of very few gentlemen in Liver-
pool who would be patriotic enough to forfeit such sums
of money —if they could have procured payment
—in preference to proceeding to a public criminal
prosecution, They were not, however, aware of
the facts and circumstances of the case at that
time as well as they are now. No doubt also,
some discussion would arise regarding technical meanings
of the Act of Parliament, and in this respect he cited the
case of the Queen versus Danger," in 30 vol. of the
" Law Times," and said although the present was like that
case, there were essential differences in several of the
ingredient parts, and he would therefore call on the court
to commit the defendant for trial, and let a higher tribunal
decide the case.
Mr. John Bingham examined : I am of the firm of
John Bingham & Co , corn merchants,
Me. Btett here interrupted the examination, and said it
would be better to decide the point of law at that stage of
the proceedings. He contended that there was no false
representation. The bills for the amount were drawn and
in the bank, and endorsed by Mr. Doherty before they
were presented for acceptance. There was nothing false
in that. Mr. Doherty did not obtain bills from Messrs.
Bingham—the bills were d^awo and endorsed, and ready
for acceptance. He obtained the acceptance on a promise,
and that was no offence. The present C 338 was exactly
like that just cited, and which had been decided in the
court of criminal appeal—there was no appeal from that
court, and the court would not stultify itself by hearing a
similar case and delivering it otherwise.
After some discussion on this legal subject, Mr. Mans-
field said he would not stop the case at that portion of the
proceedings.
Mr. Bingham's examination was then pre'eeded with as
follows : I remember seeing them two bills (for £1.250 and
£1,700) at the office for about a fortnight, and I believe
they were endorsed by Mr. Doherty. Sent them back to
the Borough Bank unaccepted. Mr. Doherty came to us
cm the 13th May this year, and he had these bills with
him. When I had gone he had left a memorandum on a
piece of paper, and he showed it to me. I have not been
able to find that paper. When I saw him he said the
Borough Bank would kick up a row if we did not accept
the bills, and that he had brought us there securities.
He produced two bills of lading by the " Centurion."
He produced a bill of exchange also, for £790, but I re-
jected it as of no value, when ho said it was worth ss.
in the pound. We afterwards kept the bill as wel' as the
bills of lading. He valued the flour at £2 200, and stated
the b'lance of our account for about £l,OOO, and the bill
for £7OO, he put down as a collateral security. He asked
me and my brother to accept the bills, and offered those
things as security. My brother accepted the bills. When
I came in the bills of Lading were endorsed. We agreed
to accept the bills, and my brother accepted them in my
presence. We hive paid them. When I saw the vessel
reported on the Ela'e. I never obtained the 1,500 barrels
of flour—only fourteen barrels.
Cross-examined : The Ehip arrived on the 22nd May.
The defendant came to my helve on the day of her arrival
—about eight o'clock, but I had teen him before on that
day at five o'clock at his office. I went to ask how the
bill of lading was a duplicate, or if he had two
lots of the same brand ? I saw Corr. his clerk first, and
asked him that. I said I heard that Mr. Hubback
had a bill of lading for the same 1,500 barrels, and bow
that came ? And he said it was a mistake ; that he
intended the Indian corn for Hubback, and the flour for
us. I left then, tolling him to see and get it arranged, as

he was liable to a ail:dual prosecution for obtaining 1720
lf%
under false pretences. He came to my private house
•
that, bat gave no explanation. He sad he was in afi
and that he found the balance of Hubbell( larger -than
ours, and he wished to give us security to withdraw ?n,;
claim on the flour. Refused several plans for the Covert!!
of our loss. He oMred several. I objected to thew'
chiefly on the ground that they were not sufficient securitt
He offered a quantity of stuff that he said would leave
profit. He told me he would give me 2,000 barrels of
fl me by the Lady 14% anklin that would leave a balance
(11 ?ci
about £2OO. I went with him past Ely's door, but
,0
go for the bills. I agreed to accepr, Mr. Richardson,
brother-in-law, as security. I believe I suggested iteee
went to Mr. Richardson's afterwards, and it was avatar'
that he was to be the security ; but Mr. Richard°
refused without =suiting his partners as to his doing I;
He was examined in reference to a trausaetion 1/
Duke and Baker, but it was not very mate'
Bought 500 quarters of corn from him on "..:t
9th ay ; it was weighed over to us. He was to transn;
£l,OOO to Richardson, from America, and he pledged 111
honour it would ba settled, and I agreed. I knew he wr,
e
going to America next day, and he did go, and came bn
and wrote to me to come and sea him as he came back.
never got the £l,OOO and then I took out this sumo%
To Mr. Aspinall: He never got the corn for us.
maintained all through that Hubback got the bill of lades
by mistake. We had no means of knowing what his transits;
tions with Mr. Hubback had been. The affair with IN";
and Baker had nothing to do with this case. It is I!.a
true that he sold us 7,992 bushels, or two other quantity"
of corn by their other ship.
Mr. William Bingham was examined. and gave nearly
the same evidence as his brother : I accepted the bills ;e'
got the bills of lading, and he (Mr. D.) endorsed them'
my presence.
To Mr. Brett : He had the bills in his hand at the tables
bat I did not read them particularly.
Mr. Joseph Hubbard examined : I had a transactie°
completed with Mr Doherty. I had those two bills of WI
from him in a letter, (identified them) one for £1,500, all
one for 2,000 barrels by another vessel. These were el°
to me its securities, and I obtained the flour on these bin'
of lading. (Read both inclosed bills and asking for the
acceptance)
Cross examined by Mr. Brett : I don't know anythie%
about the affair of Duke and Baker. Mr. liichards°ll
came to me on behalf of Mr. Bingham, to get something
from me.
What was it?
Mr. Aspinall objected to this.
Witness : I saw Mr. Bingham after-on that motif:
They wished me to give Mr. Bingham £5OO out of the
proceeds of the flour.
Mr. Aspinall : And you declined ? I did.
Mr. Edward Bel'., the security clerk at the Borate
Bank, produced some letters written by Mr Doherty te
the Bank. Remembers that Mr. D. brought the billl!
the Bank, they were endorsed by him. I remember
they were sent to Bingham for acceptance and tilt%
came back afterwards. I frequently saw Doherty about
that tune. These letters came from him. (letters put P"
as above)
Cross-examined by Mr. Brett : The bills were passed
Mr Doherty's credit before they were sent for acceptance'
but I can't say if they were technically discounted.
Mr. Aspinall : That's our case.
Mr. Brett then addressed his Worship, and contend*
that the case was brought into a criminal court instead
being one of civil proceedings. He said Mr. Bingham
;
must have known from the beginning the whole bearings
of the case. He argued that the whole affair was treate;
as a mistake all through ; and if Mr. Bingham had treated
it as a criminal offence, he would not allow Mr. Doherty
to go to Americae or would Mr. Doherty come
back, and send to him on his return, if he well
guilty of a criminal offence ? Ile dwelt with strong
observations on the whole of the case, and said, after Afr'
Bingham had tried all means to get paid for the mistake'
but failing to get that, he allowed Mr. Doherty °
proceed to America to get £l,OOO. Not having got the
money, he returns, and Mr. Bingham finding that he WO
to be in no better condition than any other of the creditors'
he turns round and tries to make a criminal offence of
The learned counsel said there were bills of lading bell
ship called the Andrew Forster, that was lost, and
the bills of the Centurion were given in mistake for then;
After arguing on the law and facts of the case, he cape"
Mr. Owen Corr, examined—l was clerk to Mr. Dohertyr
who was the largest importer of produce in Liverpool:
There were a great many bills of lading coming in ana
going out daily. The duplicates were put on a file and the
originals in my drawer. Many were handed from the
drawer daily in the course of business. Between the 9tll
and 13th May there were bills of the Andrew Foster in our
office. The ship was lost then, and it was known so, The
orig-nal tills were consequently put on the file as not
required. Before the bile of the Centurion were handect,
out, the Andrew Foster's bills were taken off the file and
put in the drawer. I did not take out the bills that were
sent to Mr. Bingham. Mr. Doherty took the AndreW
Foster's bills off the file and brought them back to the
drawer. There is no book kepo., showing to whom bills 01,
lading were given. The Centurion was reported as having
cleared on the 25th of April ; the passage is made ill
from fifteen to thirty five days. To Mr. Aspinall : VPer
had three or four bills by the Andrew Foster.
The produce was sold in April or May, before
we got the bills of lading. The goods were sold to
Richardson Brothers, but not, to my knowledge, to
Cunliffe, Paton, and Co. ; thinks there were four bills io
the drawer, on the 13th of May. Mr. Doherty was not
then pledging everything as it came in. That was tell
days or a fortnight before he went to America. There
were u numbered bills in his possession for twenty-four
hours, in Mr. D.'s possession for ten days before he went to
America. I believe the bills were not sold to Cunliffe, Patolh
and Co. The statement of Mr. D. to the bank on that
point, I now believe is not true, but I did not know it at that
time. I believe Mr. D was very much pressed for money et
teat time. He left for America, and left me a small sure.
He was made a bankrupt of, and he came back and sur-
rendered to it. I knew of the bill of lading to Mr. Hub-
back, and would know whet it was worth. To Mr. Brett
the witness made some explanation regarding the bills of
lading This was the case for the defence, when Mr'
Aspinall replied on the kart of the prosecution, and con-
tended that there was no mistake, as suggested, made by
the defendant in regard to the bills of lading. Mr. Mane-
field would not decide so serious a case there He sent
the defendant for trial, but it was agreed to accept of Mr.
Richardson's bail in £l,OOO for his appearance.

At LEWIS & COMPANY'S, Rrmelagh street,
BOYS are CLOTHED from the Ages of 6 to 20 Years;

CURIOSI TY REWARDED.—There is a story of an imperial
highness waltzing thrice in the same evening wish an
English lady at the court of Berlin. She naturally felt,
and frankly expressed, herself highly flattered by the
compliment. "I did not intend it as a compliment," was
the answer. " Then " said the lady, somewhat rebuffed,
"your highness must be very fond of dancing." " I
detest dancing," was the still unsatisfactory response.
Undeterred by her ill-success, our fair countrywoman still
prosecuted her inquiries. " then, may I ask, can
be your imperial highness's motive for dancing?" " Mad-
ame," was the exaltel personage's curt reply, " I dance
to perspire !"—/dorizing Bast.
A DECEITFUL DOCTOR.--In a certain town in Northum-
berland, a medical gentleman recently hired four lads to
pull his cherries. They were to have so much for the
job, and "no pickings or stealings." The cherries
pulled, the youngsters presented themselves for their Par,
and in reply to his inquiries, protested that they had,not
"sweetened labour •' with his cherries. The old gentle-
man was satisfied—patted them on the head—and said
they were goad lade, and must have a glass of wine apiece.
The your'? rogues were delighted—winked, and nodded,
and giggled behind the doctor's back—and were as demure
as Tabby before Lis feed. In came the tray, bearing four
glisses—oae for each. But lo ! a few moments later, and
four masses of mashed cherries were scattered over the
floor ! The old gentleman must have !miler] cherries is
his school-boy days himself.—Gateshead Observer.
DITORIAr, PERILS TN A ERICA.—We learn from a gen-
tlemen of Osatoo,ka that at 12 o'clock on election night,
Aug. 3, a lamentable efftir occurred. The editor of The
Herald, Mr. 5. M. Brown, with Mr. D. W. Rice. was sitting
at the window. At this time Mr. Bowen, who has kept a
saloon in the city for the last twelve months, came along,
and with a number of others stopped on the steps beneath
the win low where Brown and It,ee were sitting. Some one
in the crowd said to Mr. Bowen that Mr. Brown wrs in the
wicdow above. At this Mr. Bowen commenced cursing Mr.
Brown swearing if he came down he would "cut out his
hears," " take his life's blood," " stamp him into the
earth," and other threats of violence, made with the most
fearful and bitter profanity. To all these threats Mr-
Brown made no reply. Bowen, getting more exasperated,
said " I will head a mob and clear cut The Herald
office," and rushed up the stairs, followed by one or two
others. Mr. Brown drew a revolver and as Bowen was
trying to force open the door, fired, the ball striking the
casing at the side of the door. Brown then told him to
try the door again at his peril. Bowen made another
effort to get in, when Brown fired a second time, the ball
passing through a panel of the door, striking Bowen in
the breast and lodging in the right lung. Bowen made
his way down stairs, sunk upon the pavement, and in about
20 minutes was a corpse.

At LEWIS & COMPANY'S, Rasehigh street, a
LOY'S are CLOT ED from the Ages of 6to 20 Yeare.„