Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-27 00:00:00

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SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1857

THE DAY'S NEWS

In the House of Commons last night, the
Attorney-General moved the adoption of the Lords'
Bill, respecting Probate of Wills, Administration,
kc. Sze. By this bill it was proposed to divide the
country into districts, with courts which might
exercise jurisdiction in cases of property not
exceeding the value of . £1,500, the London court
having jurisdiction in all other cases. Mr. Henley
expressed himself in favour of the bill, and
seconded the motion for the second reading,as the,
principle of local jurisdiction was a most impor-
tant step in the right direction. A discussion
occurred, in which some exception was taken to
the expediency of compensating the judges, whose
offices would be abolished by the passing of the
bill, several members expressing themselves deci-
dedly against saddling the country with the ex-
pense. After some discussion, the bill was read a
second time, and some other business having been
transacted, the House adjourned.

In the House of Lords, the Earl of Albemarle
presented a petition from the King and Princes
of Oude, complaining of the conduct of the East
India Company, and asking for a Select Corn
mittee of the House to inquire into the circum-
stances of the case. The attention of the
House was drawn by Lord Dungannon to the
conduct of certain magistrates of Kilkenny, who
had made very unseemly remarks upon the
bench respecting Scripture readers in that town,
and had only fined a person in 61. for an as-
sault upon one of that fraternity. Earl Granville
stated that the magistrates had denied the ex-
pressions laid to their charge. After a few words
from Lord Derby, the matter dropped. A futile
attempt was made to throw out the Ministers'
Money Bill, but a division showed twenty-four
for the third reading, and seven against.
If we are to place any reliance upon a London
cotemporary, there is at length a prospect of some
public movement being attempted in favour of
Parlimentary Reform. "We understand," says
tho authority alluded to, " that a considerable
number of the leading Reformers, both in and out
of Parliament, have met and agreed on certain
general principles, which they think ought to be
insisted upon in any measure of reform that may
be offered to the country, A committee has been
appointed to prepare a document embodying these
views, preparatory to making an appeal to the
people for support. We are not at liberty at
present to mention names ; but we believe the
gentlemen engaged in this movement will not
fail to command the general confidence of the
• oun try."
Of political gossip, in addition to the above,
there is a great variety flying about ; but not
much faith can be put in any of the reports.
It would appear, however, that the Premier
is very wrath at the slender majority by which
the Ministers' Money Bill passed the second
reading in the Lords. It is whispered that there
has been a serious row in the Cabinet, and a severe
onslaught on the Parliamentary managers by the
Premier; that, for almost the first time in his life,
he has been in a towering rage, and objurgated
right and left among his colleagues and subordi-
nates. The result has been immense activity in
the machinery under the stage ; every sort of
blandishment, threat, promise, vow—all the Hay-
terian art has been put in force to smooth things ;
and a " whip," the most severe that could be con-
centrated, was brought to bear on the Ministerial
peers, in order to meet the Opposition in commit-
tee on the Ministers' Money Bill, where proxies
would not count,and the personal presence of peers
demanded. The halt, the lame, the blind,. old and
young, had the screw put on them, and it was
found that the efforts made were so successful that
a email majority would have been present during
the discussion in the committee. This, and the
defection of the Earl of Ellenborough (whose con-
duct on the question, it is said, influenced several
Conservative peers, who would at least have
stayed away), it is said, induced Lord Derby to
withdraw his opposition to the future progress of
the bill. The course taken by the noble Earl has
been the subject of some comment, and ill-natured
things have been said about his opposition not
having been hearty from the first ; but there is little
doubt that the motives which influenced him were
founded on a well-considered exercise of his dis-
cretion, especially if some things that are rumoured
on the subject are true. The screw, they say, is
to be kept on the Ministerial peers until the
Oaths Bill come before the committee in the
Upper House; and we hear that Lord Lyndhurst
has stated that he will carry the bill through all
its stages.
In our colums to-day will be found full parti-
culars of the arrest of the man, Spollen, charged
with the murder of Mr. Little, cashier of the Mid-
land Great Western Railway Company of Ireland.
The wife of the prisoner gave the information
which led to his capture. It appears that on the
night of the murder he came home, as she alleges,
about eight o'clock, with a considerable amount of
gold and silver coin in his possession, and informed
her that it was Mr. Little's money, and that he had
murdered him. He then, in her presence, threw
his pocket-book and also his neck-tie into the fire,
and smeared his coat with paint in places where it
was stained with blood. They both set about con-
eealing the money. She told the police the hiding
place of a portion of it, also stating that the bag
containing £47, which was found not long after the
murder, in the carriage department, dripping with
wet was her husband's, and that he placed it in the
tank. It is further alleged that Spollen was at
work in the place shortly before that discovery
was made. The correctness of her statement as to
the concealed money was fully established
early in the afternoon, when the police pro-
ceeded to the places indicated, and there found
between £l4O and £l5O in one snot, in gold and
notes, nearly defaced by damp, and £67 in silver
in another place. The larger sum was hidden in
a cavity or dyke between two walls, about four feet
asunder, one of them forming a boundary of the

railway premises, and the other of the North Union
Workhouse. In a stream which runs at some dis-
tance lower down, and near which there is a
range of small cottages, of which he occupies
one, the silver was concealed. The hammer
and razor which were found in the canal, not far
from this part of the railway premises, she declares
her belief to have been her husband's. On the•
day that the razor was discovered he appeared
very excited and uneasy, and said ho had thrown
in the case with it, and that, if it were found, the
identity of the razor might be established. The
hammer, it is said, was observed at the time to have
some marks on it as if of paint or putty. She states
that he informed her on the night of the murder
that he made his escape through the roof—a cir-
cumstance which, like the other details of her
information, if it be correctly represented, sets
aside preconceived notions and theories on the
subject of the murder. The wife stated that her
sole object in giving the information which had led
to the arrest was the hope that the prisoner might
turn his thoughts to the salvation of his soul ; and
we are informed that she exclaimed more than
once, whilst the charge was being entered, " Oh !
you villain !—you murdered the man for the sake
of the money ; you murdered the man !"
Some short time ago we gave the particulars of a
melee between Mr. Hodgson a magistrate of Bir-
mingham, and Mr. Collis, a solicitor of the same
town. The affair arose out of the banquet to the
Duke of Cambridge. Collis went to Hodgson's
office and there maltreated him. He was brought
before the Recorder on Wednesday, and was found
guilty of the offence. The judgment was delayed
to the following morning, when Collis having made
an apology, he was only fitied £5O. This, we
should think, was neither law nor justice. What
is a fine of £5O to a man in independant circum-
stances? and to make the matter worse, Mr.
Hodgson has not had the use of one of his arms
for the last twenty years. This alone should have
been a suffic:ent protection against such an unmanly
assault as that made by Collis.
Cardinal Wiseman has heen granted a new
trial in the case of the action brought against him
by L'Abbe Roux, provided the former pay the costs.
meeting of merchants, ship-owners, and others
interested iu the Mereatitile Marine Act, was held
in London yesterday, for the purpose of taking into
consideration the evils arising from the unjust
operations of some of its clauses.
The distribution of the Victoria Cross came off
yesterday in Hyde-park. London. The ceremony
on the whole was a failure—true there were a large .
number of persons present, but not one tithe of
them witnessed the proceedings. The troops
assembled were about 8,000. The people numbered
15,000. The men who received the Victoria Cross
from the hands of the Queen have certainly
merited the distinction. They have been selected
for special acts of bravery, but in reality those very
acts thus described, or at least a large proportion
of them were, as detailed in the Gazette, rather acts
of supreme humanity performed under circum
stances of entire self-abnegation. Men like these
are an honour to any country, but it is a great
mistake to suppose that the qualities they have
displayed shine more lustrously on the battle field
than elsewhere. Compare the grand display in
Hyde-park with the quiet, almost obscure, distri-
bution of rewards the other day by the society for
saving life from fire ; yet the men who received the
latter displayed as much cool devotion in the
cause of humanity, and risked their lives as entirely
as did any of the Crimean heroes, and with less
motive of approbation.
Yesterday the annual monthly accounts relating
to trade and navigation were issued. They give
the figures for the month of May last, and for the
five months of the year ending with May, and show
a sustained increase of British exports. These
during May amounted to 11,382,2041, against
8,733,3001 in May, 1858. In the first five months
of 1857 the exports exceeded fi:ty millions ster-
ling. The shipping returns are equally favourable.

The Committee on the Mersey Conservancy Bill
have come to the conclusion that the preamble is
proved, subject to certain arrangements, a copy of
which will be submitted to counsel on either side
on Monday.
The Bank Returns this week are again of a
favourable character. The bullion in • the bank
coffers is set down at £11,172,862, being an increase
of £263,607 on the previous returns.
We have no exciting news from abroad this
morning. The result of the French elections is
now pretty well ascertained, and it is probable the
opposition will have returned seven deputies. The
responsible editor of the Memorial d' Amiens has
been tried by the tribune of correctional police of
Amiens, for having stated that a commissary of
of police of Montdidier had abused his power in
the electoral struggle. An inquiry has proved the
incorrectness of this stat'ment, and the editor has
been condemned to 15 days' imprisonment and
300 f. fine. This verdict is important, since the
Siecle and two other papers are to be tried for
having reproduced the article of the Memorial.
The Universal German Gazette states that an
amicable settlement of the Austro-Sardinian diffi-
culty is near at hand, everything concerning such
a result having been, it declares, arranged diplo-
matically.
Count de Morny, who represented the Emperor
Napoleon at the coronation of the Czar in Moscow,
and who had remained ever since in St. Peters-
burg, in the character of Ambassador Extraor-
dinary, has arrived at Berlin, on his way to Paris.
The Emperor of Russia has left, on his journey
to Western Europe, and the Sultan of Turkey has
gone on his projected excursion. The police
authority in Constantinople seems quite disjointed.
Denmark is about to make tariff reforms ; and
Sweden is promulgating laws of greater religious
toleration.

THE Educational Conference, held in London,
under the auspices of his Royal Highness Prince
ALBERT, has terminated its sittings ; and we are
disposed to ask what good will result from the
interchange of ideas and opinions which have
taken place. The inaugural address of the
Prince Consort was very good in its place. Had
it been delivered by any other personage,
however, it would have been regarded by the
public, and particularly that portion of it who
have made the philosophy of Education the
subject of deep, earnest, and lengthened study,
as a mere medium oration. No doubt the
papers read, and the discussions and conversa-
tions which each evoked, will, if published at full
length, be a most interesting- volume for the
perusal and study of Educational Reformers ;
but that they will find their way to, much less be
perussd in, the dwellings of the working classes,
is what we have no faith in. As far, then, as
the promotion and extension of Education are
concerned, we dare not hope for any great
results.

The complaint made by Prince ALBERT, in the
inuugural address, and subsequently by the
Bishop of OXFORD, was, that parents generally,
as well as the children themselves, did not value
an increase of knowledge in that important light
which they should. As a necessary consequence
of their indifference to the benefits to be obtained
at our elementary schools. Parents preferred
the prospect of immediate gain to the ultimate
advantage of an increase of the mental and moral
enlightenment of their offspring, Prince
ALBERT tells us that it will probably happen
that in this instance, as in most others,
the cause of our social condition can