The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-09 00:00:00

SUN,

LONDON,

dary of the colony, on the Murray, are still all but
untried. Neither skill nor capital have yet been em-
ployed, and the result hitherto attained has been by the
rudest and simplest means.
" How long this is to list is the ques'ion. Most peo-
ple seem to think that it will be a leegth of time before
the rich -s of the surface are exhaus,ed, and if so, it is
certain that the ordinary occupations of life will be ne-
glected, and that the present sc.rcity of labour will con-
tinue to be experienced. I, however. cannot help in-
clining to the opinion that these gold fields, like others
that have preceded them, will gradually become less
productive, and only yield their treasures to enterprise,
skill, and capital. Until this happens the relations of
this life will never be established here; and the sooner
this takes place the better for the colony. There are
a few thousand men at work at Ballarat, but this is now
quite a secondary field, both in extent and richness.
" The people at the diggings are on the- whole very
well behaved, but this is in no small degree attributable
to the measures taken to prevent the inordinate use of
spirits—for scenes of excess and riot are of daily occur-
rence in Melbourne and Geelong, end crime is very pre-
valent—the organization of the police force being quite
inadequate for its suppression. The robbery of the
Nelson, in harbour, is the most daring act that has yet
been committed, though cssos of less importance against
both person and property are very frequent; but on the
whole, considering the motley nature ot the population
and the imperfect means of control, the smallness ot the
, amount of crime is perhaps rather to be wondered at."
The St. George has arrived from Sydney, whence she
sailed on the 4th of April, with 13,329 ounces of gold,
valued at 53.200/. Her advices were anticipated by the
' last arrival, which brought dates from Sydney to the
17th April.

COUNTY LUNATIC ASYLUMS.
Institutions of the above description are at length
deemed so preferable, as to render their adoption very
general throughout the kingdom. Among the many
which have been recently erected, that for the County
of Bucks, for its style and general arrangements, appears
deserving some public attention.
Itstands on a commanding and salubrious site, the north
side of an extensive valley,from whence the Chiltern Hills
may be seen in the distance. This spot is about 3 miles from
Aylesbury, on the high road to Oxford. The style, from a
design by Messrs. Wyatt and Brandon, the architects, is
plain but neat, and may be termed the Late Domestic."
The exterior facing is of red brick (made in the loca-
lity), in which every care has been taken to preserve
uniformity in colour, with a dental cornice finished with
Bath stone. The few pretensions to ornament are in
that portion of the front contiguous to the high road,
and consist of a circular headed gateway leading to an
inner court, and which support an entablature and
enclose two recessed porches, the whole of which
present a very neat and interesting appear-
ance. The principal front of the" superintendent's
is similarly relieved, and is in the centre of a long range
of apartments for the tranquil and convalescent patients,
who are thus appropriately afforded a southern aspect.
The form of the building resembles the letter E, the
principal front is in length about 556 feet, and the
whole building may be said to stand on the block of
three acres and a half, or thereabouts. The buildings
for the refractory are its one story, and for the tranquil
and convalescent on the next story, where also
will be placed the paralytic as well as epileptic.
Every arrangement has been made for the due classifica-
tion of all, while in the asylum department provision is
made for 200 patients. Altogether there are fourteen
corridors and 124 apartments, including the cells, dor-
mitories, lavatories, bath-rooms, &c., &c.; the whole are
lofty and of appropriate dimensions. A considerable
portion of the corridors and lower floors, are laid
with Orsi and Armari's patent meanie lava,
and the ceilings and floors throughout are
rendered fire proof under the direction of
Messrs. Fox and Barrett. Great attention has
been paid to the warming and ventilation, and the
whole will be lighted with gas manufactured ou the
premises. The entire cost will be about 28,000 L
Since the commencement of operations in July, 1850,
the works have rapidly progressed under Messrs. H. and
B. Holland, the general contractors, and. would have
been completed earlier, but were delayed through an in.
sufficient supply of water; this difficulty. was, however,
at length overcome by extending the borings of the well
to a depth of 568 feet from the surface, by which a pure
and ample supply can now be obtained.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
HOME ClRCUlT.—Guildford, Aug. 7.
Before Lord Chief Justice Jan.vis and a Special
Jury.)

GRIFFITHS v. DE L'ESPINESSN AND ANOTHER.
Before the court finally adjourned on Friday night,
the following additional evidence was given on behalf
of the defendants.
It should be stated that all the French witnesses were
examined through the medium of an interpreter, but
as he appeared incompetent to perform the duty in a
satisfactory manner, Mr. Munster, a gentleman of
the bar, volunteered his services, and he rendered
great assistance to the court by the very efficient man-
ner in which he interpreted the evidence.
Madame Desirde de Brenille, known in religion as
Sister St. Thecaiosie, the second defendant in the
actioo, deposed that she succeeded Miss Leith (the
lest witness whose name was incorrectly printed as
Smith in the report of the proceedings on Saturday)
in the management of the class to which the plain-
tiff belonged. She remembered the presentation of
the robe to Cardinal Wiseman, but she could not say
whether the girl Henrietta Griffiths worked any part
of it or not. She did not rerhember ever having
told her to say that she had worked part of it. At
the period the robe was presented the plaintiff was not
under punishment of any kind, and on the day the
Cardinal came she recollected perfectly well she was
wearing a red ribbon across her shoulders as a mark
of reward. It was in November of 1850 that the
plaintiff was first sent to the trial class. Her offence
was:for saying that she would never obey one of her
mistresses. This was the only time that she was
punished in the trial Class. She continued to misbe-
have herself, and was sent to work in the kitchen, and
she came out on the 6th of January, 1851. The mo •
'Dent it was discovered that her eyes were affected,
Dr. Chapman was called in, and everything be di-
rected was done for her. Witness would swear posi-
tively that the plaintiff was never locked up in a dark
room with nothing to sit upon. She was merely
placed in a darkened room by the direction of the
doctor, on account of the state of her eyes; and it was
quite impossible, from the arrangements of the esta-
blishment, that she could have been forgotten for a
day and a night as she had represented. She could
state positively also that the plaintiff was never
punished by being ordered to perform prostration.
It was not the custom for the children to perform
prostration; She had seen the nuns do it, but it was
always done voluntarily. The statement of the plain-
tiff, that when she left the convent witness told her if
she said anything about what happened there she
would go to hell, and that she could not be saved, was
also false, and she declared that she never said any-
thing of the kind to her.
Cross-examinel----Witness might have said some-
thing to the child about going to confession. She
remembered that the plaintiff did say to her that when
she went to confession the priest took down in writ-
ing what she said, and she did not like it. She heard
that the plaintiff had told the other children not to
go to confession, because the priest wrote down what
they said. Witness believed it was not true that the
priest had dune so. Did not remember that the
plaintiff insisted upon not going to confession on this
account. She was quite sure the plaintiff was never
forced to go to confession. The children always went
to confession of their own free will, and they had to
ask witness's permission eight days before. Some of
the children confessed every week, some every month,
and others only went every two months. If a child
should never go to confession witness would not in-
flict a penance upon her for not going. While the
plaintiff was in the different class-rooms other chil-
dren were allowed to see her, except at the period
when she had the chicken-pox. She was quite sure
that roast meat and porter were supplied to the plain-
tiff by the doctor's direction; but there was a diffi-
culty in getting her to drink beer. They used small
beer and porter in the establishment. The plaintiff
would not drink the small beer and they gave her
porter, and sometimes she left it, and sometimes she
threw it away. Witness punished her by taking
away a good mark from her for throwing away her
porter. She said that she did not like it.
Madame Folinot, one of the nuns, deposed that ahe
managed the kitchen in November, 1850, and re-
membered the plaintiff being sent there in November,
and her remaining there for some time. She helped
to prepare the things for dinner, but was certainly
never put to do anything beyond her strength, or that
was likely to injure her health in any manner.
Cross-examined—Was quite sure that she never
fe.cahinilndtded, and
fainted away in the kitchen while witness superin-
z the r.
she
fThereq
u plaintiffen tl
y
i
l l
She was in the kitchen from five in the morning till
nine at night. She had her dinner by herself in the
kitchen, and was not allowed to speak to any of the
other children.

' the
hcook, deposed that
while the plaintiff was under
Madame Armant Dezier,
et sb washingies,
andl)hercteusst
tai
and
diddg
and o
pt hr
ei np ga r
nugt
into the
gl iagrhdtenwotorkiestcuhchveags
them. She said that all the hard work of tche
was done by herself.
Cross-examined—The plaintiff never complained
of the work being too hard for her, but she frequ.nly
said that she was very tired ; and when she did so,
witness used to tell' her to' sit down and rest herself.
Into the children were in the kitchen for punish
mint, they were not allowed to go out from half.
past four o'cl(ock in the morning till nine at night.
Elisabeth Bedser, a very sharp, intelligent girl, an-
parenly about eighteen years old, said she had hi,!en
in the orphanage class of the establishment at Nor-
wood. She first went to the institution in July,
1850, and left in frlarch, 1851. She went to it a
second time in November, 1851, and went away for
good in February, 18.52, when she was apprenticed
to a lace manufacturer at the west end of the town.
While she was in the establishment she was very
kindly treated, and had nothing to complain of.
They had
quite as much to eat on all occasions as

they wanted, and sometimes more. The girls were
allowed to take plenty of ez-rcise, and in winter
time, when they could not go oat of doors, there was
a room for them to play in. The plaintiff was treated
just the same as witness herself azd all the other
girls wi,re. She never heard of any of the girls
being compelled to perform prostration, or of their
being punished if they did not go to confession. She
was never treated with unkiodneis in any way while
she was in the convent. Witness had been placed in
the trial class, and also in the kitchen, but it never
injured her. She used to go to confession when she
liked.

Cross-examined—Was sure she had not been to
confession that morning. She came to Guildford
with the ladies and some of the other children. The
priest came down with them also, and she had seen
him that morning, but had not spoken to him. Wit-
ness used frequently to go to confession, but not so
often as once a week. She never tried to make her
escape from the trial class:-room by breakinz a win-
cut. The wound on her hand was dow and getting

not caused in that manner. While she was at So-
mers-town she was wounded with a carving-knife by
and the scar on her hand was
one
o
cofnhseerqucoenalcpeao
.niSnhse was sent to the trial class-
room a second time. It was for disobedience to one
of her mistresses. and she deserved to be sent there
laugh.) She was very disobedient indeed.—
(Renewed laughter.) She was very sorry to say that
she was disobedient again afterwards, and was sent a
third time to the trial class. The usual practice was,
for the first offence to keep them eight days in the
trial class, for the second fourteen, and for the third
offence twenty days. She was kept for twenty days
to try to make her better. She had misbehaved her-
self, end had caused great scandal to her companions
by refusing to kneel down in the middle of the
school-room, when she was ordered to do so. If
she bad performed this penance well she would have
been pardoned directly. She was ordered to kneel
down, because she talked too much to her compa-
nions. She was allowed three days to consider
whether she would obey the order to kneel down, and
because she persisted iu refusing she was ordered to
the trial class-room. It was a very common penance
to be' ordered to kneel down in the middle of the
room. She was in the kitchen for four weeks after
this. She used to be allowed to go out to walk every
day, but she could not say at what periods of the day
or how long at a time.
The witness here exhibited a good deal of agitation,
and Mr. Cieesanees inquired what bad alarmed her.
He then pointed to a person standing in front of the
witness, and who was stated to be one of the priests
belonging
to the convent, and asked her if there was
any one in court who she was alarmed at ? She re-
plied there was a person in court she was ashamed of.
Mr. CHAMBERS-4s he standing behind me ? Wit-
ness—lt is not a " he," it is a " she."—(Laughter.)
Mr. CHAMBERS inquired who it was she was
ashamed of ? The witness replied that it was the
plaintiff, Henrietta Griffiths, who she was ashamed of.
Cross-examination continued—Witness was in the
trial class when they used to sit facing the wall. They
sat upon a sort of low stool, and she had sat facing the
wall as long es six or seven hours.
.Frederica Mahony, another of the orphans, gave
similar evidence as to the kind treatment she had re-
ceived during a residence of three years in the convent.
Mary Jane Hart, another orphan, said that while
she was in the convent she was treated with very
great kindness, and the ladies behaved to her more
like mothers than anything else. She had always
more food than she could eat, and she had plenty of
rest and exercise. She also stated that she. had taken
the plaintiff meat twice a day while she was ill, and
she had seen her throw a portion of it away.
Cross-examined—The plaintiff used to eat part of
her dinner, and throw the rest away. She had also
seen her, when she was in the porter's room, give a
portion of her diviner to the poor who used to come to
the convent for the broken victuals. She had also
seen her throw away the beer that was given to her.
Mary Ann Barton, another of the orphans, also
said 'that she had been treated with every kindness
since she had been in the institution.
Cross-examined—Witness was now wearing a red

---
ribbon -round her shoulders, which was a mark of
honour. Five or six of the girls belonging to the
orphan class were down at Guildford ; three priests
accompanied them, the two belonging to the convent,
and a third who did not. She had seen the priests
that morning before the Court sat. The other girls
had seen them too—they had been together all the
morning. The witness Bedser had spoken to the priest
that morning.
This concluded the evidence for the defendant.
Mr. CILAMBERS at ten o'clock this morning, pro
seeded to reply. Re said that from the nature of the 1
case the jury would doubtless anticipate that it would ,
be his duty to occupy their attention for some time,
but he should endeavour to confine himself as closely 1
as possible to the question at issue, and should not
detain them any longer than was absolutely necessary.
In the first place he would remind them that the
charges against the defendants were generally that
they omitted to give the plaintiff proper food and
nourishment ; that they did not allow her to have
sufficient rest or exercise; that they confined her
improperly in a dark room ; and that they had: im-
posed tasks and punishments upon her beyond her
strength to endure, and which were injurious to her
health, and had ultimately occasioned the dreadful
defendantst
ak e
n calamity. of the loss of her sight; and if the j ury should
be of optoion that upon any one of these points the
OA the duty they bad under-
plaintiff would be entitled to a
verdict. The most fearful and startling part of the
to
perform,
had ne
theglt
case appeared to him to be this. According to the
statementof the defendants themselves, it was admitted
that for four or five months the plaintiff was in a state
of dangerous illness, all the medical men agreed in 1
opinion that she was in a dreadfully emaciated condi-
tion, and Dr. Alexander said that when he saw her she
presented the appearance of a person who had been
starved ; and it was certainly a very striking circum-
stance, tending to show that she must have been
grossly neglected while she was in the establishment,
that it had been proved that when she left the con-
vent, and was treated in a proper manner, she was
noticed very shortly to be in a state of comparative
good health, her remaining eye recovered, and she
was totally cured. This fact naturally raised the
inquiry whether the evidence that had been brought
forward for the defendants could possibly be true. It
was said that the narrative of the plaintiff was a tis-
sue of falsehoods; but he could not help observing
that it appeared to him the fact he had mentioned
went a great way to confirm the truth of her story.
His Learned Friend, who appeared on behalf of th•
defendants, seemed to lay great stress upon the ab-
sence of any motive on the part of these ladies to act
in the manner stated; but he did not think it was any
part of their duty to
enter into any question of motive
in the present case. In their own religion, and con-
nected with it there were a great variety of charities
of every description, from the mere charity school to
those at a much higher character; and it was not at
all an unusual or extraordinary matter to hear
of the principals, or persons connected with them.
being Otte' of some acts of misconduct towards
their scholars and ' the persons under their
charge ; and therefore it was not at all impossible
that the same thing should occur with persons pro-
fessing the Roman Catholic religion ; and all they had
to do was to ascertain whether the fact was proved,
and they had nothing to do with.motives, good or bad,
that might have suggested it. The first thing they
bad to consider was, whether the story told by the
child was a probable one. What was her story ? She
said that she waseslaced in the first instance in this esta-
blishment, and a year's board paid for her by Cardinal
Wiseman; and he here felt it his duty to make this
observation upon the conduct of the Cardinal, that'
there was no man in this Country, however high his
station might be, but was bound to obey the law, and
to submit to that law which protected him ; and that
the highest person in the realm, instead of endeavour-
ing to evade having a subleasatt to attend a court of
justice served upon him, ought to be the first person
to obey it. The Cardinal, however, was absent.
They had tried to subpoena him, not for the purpose
of annoying or harassing bins,. but in order that jus-
tice might be done this poor child, and that he might,
by his testimony, confirm her evidence with regard
to one of the issues on the present occasion ; if be had
been' there he might have contradicted the evi-
dence of the child on one important point, or he might
have confirmed the evidence given by the ladies who
had been examined upon that point ; and undei these
circumstances he could not conceive how it had hap-
pened that the Cardinal had set the evil example of
cons
evading the service of a sub P • It was conceded
that this child bad been placed in the establish-
ment by Cardinal Wiseman, and he must, therefore,
have known all about her; and he thought it would
have been very desirable that he should have at-
tended, and informed the jury how it happened that
this child, islho was now sai(l to be unworthy of
credit, came to be introduced into such an'sstablish
ment , for either she was an unfit person to be there,
or else the statement reseeetief4 her hed ne founda-
tion. He could not deny that this poor child wa•
the unhappy subject of a scrofulous affection ; but,
at all events, she was in a good state of health when
she went first to the establishment, although she op_
peered feeble and weak, and this was admitted by
the defendants. This was 3 vsry important point as
regarded some of the issues, far if the defendantsi
knew that sh.e was feeble and weak, t was clearly
their duty to have taken more care of her, and
not to have done anything that was calculated
to increase her malady. Was it then a pro-
per thing, under such circumstances, to compel a
child to get up at half-past four in the morning., and
remain up until nine at night? Look at the number
of hours for a weak and ailing child to -be kept from
rest. The question of necessary rest, therefore, was
a very important one for the consideration of the
. jury. Then, with regard to the food, which was
another important consideration. He admitted he