The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-24 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, as Pre.
sident, ea:44Tel°, of the Council of Education, and
Governor of the Royal Military Academy at Wool-
wich, yesterday attended and closed the half-yearly
course of studies of the gentlemen' cadets at that es-
tablishment. His Royal Highness was assisted by
by the Vice President, Major General Frederick
tiVilliam Hamilton, C.B.—Major General Sir Fre-
derick Abbott, C.B.—the Rev. Canon Mosely,F.R.S.
—and Col. Thomas Elwyn, R.A., members of the
Council, who were present. The Field Marshal, on
his arrival at half-past 10 a.m., alighted on the area
fronting, the principal entrance to the Academy
ground, where he was officially received by the Corn..
mandant and Staff of the garrison, the Lieut. Go.
vernor and commanding officers of the Academy, a
number of General officers from the Horse Guards,
and others assembled in full-dress uniforms.TheD aka
v;oro the uniform of Colonel of the Royal Engineers.
Soon after his arrival he was joined by his Royal
Highness Prince Arthur, who had ridden down from
the Ranger's house, in Green wichapark, accompanied
by Major Elphinstone, R A., his governor. The
following officers formed a portion of the staff from
the Horse Guards :—Gen. John Burgoyne, G,C.8.,
Director of Works—Gen. Sir George Pollock,
C.C.B. and K.S.l.—Lieut.-Gen. Sir Harry Jones,
G.C,8., Royal Engineers, Governor of the Royal
Military College at Sandhurst—and Lient.aGen. the
lion. Sir James Y. Scarlett, K.C.8., Adjt.-Gen. to
the Forces. The following officers also formed part
of the escort :—Major Gen. Warde, C. 8., R.A.,
Major. Gen. Sandham, RE., Col. Gambier, Deputy
Adjt..Gen. R.A.—Brigade Major Hay, Capt. Nau-
gle, Deputy Assist.-Quartermaster-.Gen.—Capt.
Williams, Aide-de-Camp—Col.Payne, Commandant
Royal Marines—Col. Hawkins, Commanding Royal
Engineers—Col. Kennedy, C. 8., Commandant Mill.
tary Train—Lieut.-Col. Gibbon, C. 8., 4th division
depot brigade Royal Artillery—Lieut.•Col. Field,
governor of the general hospital—Major Shervin-
ton, Brigade Major Military Train—Dr Litle and
the Medical Staff of the Academy—Col. F. A.
Yorke, R.E., Inspector of Studies and second Com-
mandant—Capt. Bruce, R.A., Assist.-Inspector of
Studies—B revet. Maj or Thrin g,R.A.—Capt. Stokes,
R.A., and Second Capt. Arbuckle, Captains of Com-
panies of Gentlemen Cadets, together with the pro.
fessors and masters forming the civil branch of the
Academy. The whole of the field batteries of the
Royal Artillery having been drawn o'it in coma
mand of Colonel Anderson, C. 8., 4th Brigade, R.A.,
marched past on the Duke's arrival, and underwent
an inspection. Afterwards his Royal Highness
proceeded to the Academy parade, where the
gentlemen cadets were mustered under arms,
and were put through a course of manual and
platoon exercises by the senior cadets Nicholson,
Washington, and Curling-; and in which they
acquitted themselves in a most creditable manner.
After examining the landscape and other drawings
executed during the past half, his Royal Highness
proceeded to one of the class rooms and made a viva
voce examination in the French and German lan.
guages, and privately gave an admonitory address,
in which he referred with much regret to certain pro-
ceedings which had recently been transacted, and
which he hoped would would never be repeated.
The company then adjourned to the School of Arms,
and formed in double file to the number of 178, in
front of the table on which were placed the prizes.
The general visitors were here admitted by tickets
only.

Me Duke and Prince, accompanied by the officers
above named, took up their position at the back of
the table, and Col. Yorke, addressing the Duke, read
the aunt xed report _

Royal INElitary Academy.

havo the honour to report to yourßoyal High-
11C138 that the gentleman cadets of the Ist class who have
been found qualified for c'immissions at the recent examina-
tion by the Council of Military Education are also qualified
in regard to conduct and drill. In every class throughout
the Academy the emulation in study has been very appa.
rent, and the monthly returns on that head have been highly
satisfactory. The zeal and attention of the professors and
instructors and masters have been unremitting in every
branch of art.

Every rank of (Meer connected with the discipline and
military exercises has received material assistance from the
responsible and sub-division under officers and from the
greater number of corporals in carrying out the du ies and
in hiaintaining discipline, which has been carried out with
liminess and consideration. The bearing of the officers
t ,warts the cadets and of the cadets among themselves has
t,ccri very satisfactory. The drills, gymnastics, and riding
have been carried out as fully as time permitted, and the
senior class have had the advantage of four days' practice
with the heavier guns at Shoeburyness.

I have the honour to be, &3.,
11. S.A.SMIAINI,
Major-General, Lieutenant-Governor.
After reading the report, the Duke proceeded to
address the company, and said that it pleased him
to receive so gratifying an account of the professors
and masters, and that it gave him great satisfaction
to find that, in pursuance of their studies and the
general duties of the Academy, the gentlemen
cadets had conducted themselves well. He congra-
tulated them on that score heartily, but told them
that they must bear in mind that there were other
duties to be carried oat in order to attain that posi-
tion for which they were designed. He should not
enlarge en that topic again, as he had already dis-
cussed the subject in anether part of the establish-
relent. They ought never to overlook the fact that to
be able to command they should learn to obey. This
was one of their duties, the importance of which he
wished most to inculcate. Without it they could
never be qualified to figure well in the roll of the
valuable corps to which they might be appointed.
Hie royal highness concluded by wishing them an
agreeable Christmas. One of the classes then pro-
ceeded to the gymnasium, and went through a most
interesting course of exercises. The following were
the prizes awarded :—Mr Curling, a regulation
sword for exemplary conduct ; Mr Nicholson, five
prizes, viz., for exemplary conduct the Pollock gold
medal ; for Ist artillery, a double telescope ; Ist for-
tification, and " aide memoirs ;" Ist topography, an
aneroid barometer, and for chymistry, a microscope;
Mr Broun, for 2d artillery, a small aneroid baromee
ter, and for geology a microscope; Mr Lindoc, 2d
fortification, a prismatic compass; Mr Beresford, for
2d topography, a pocket sextant, Mr Pulford, for
natural philosophy and practical mathematics, a
microscope; Mr Walker, for Ist French and 2d
German; Air Moore, for 2d French; Mr Arnott,
for Ist German, an atlas ; Mr Jacob, for Hindustani,
a gazeteer of India; Mr Purcell, for Ist mathemae
lice, a case of instruments ; Mr Watson, fur 2d ma-
thematics, ;c1 fortification, and let practical geome-
try, a prismatic compass, a pocket compass with
scale and pen in case, end a pocket sextant ; to Mr
Jekyl, for Ist landscape drawing, the " English
:_chool of Painting in Water Colours ;" and to Mr
Leech, for 2d landscape drawing, a box of colours,
with bruahes, See. After leaving the Academy the
Duke attended the riding-school of the garrison,
where a class of the cadets went through a course
of bar riding. His royal highness left Woolwich
at about three o'clock for London, under a royal
salute from the guns of the Royal Artillery at the
Greenhill Battery. Before taking his departure
he said he must not refrain from complimenting
some of the cadets—namely, Mr Beaver, who is
still an inmate of the hospital from a severe wound
in the face; al, Biscoe, Mr Curling, and Mr Reid
for their courageous and humane conduct at the
scene of the late railway accident at Blackheath,
when, although injured and suffering themselves,
they tendered all the assistance in their power to
their fellow passengers.

Tha War Dopartment screw steamvessel Balac-
lava, from Woolvvich, arrived on Thursday at De-
voriport with stores for the gun-wh4ry,

The ironcased screw steamship Caledonia, 35,
fitting for the first division of the Steam Reserve,
was removed on ti ettnestilly from I")..vonport dock
yard to Koyharn.

The screw steam frigate Liverpool, 39, Capt.
Rowley .Llwhert, is now in No. 1 dock at the De-
vonport yard. She was commissioned in April last
year, and was obliged to return from her station in
eonsflitencs of leakage and the loss of a portion of
lin. false keel. Oa arrival at Plymouth it was ru-
?allure.' that the defects were so great that her officers
expected she would be put of commission. She has
lost a portion of her false keel extending from the
stem to two.thirds of its entire length. Since she
has been in dock several patches of copper have

been stripped from her bottom, but no serious in-
juries have been discovered. Her decks are, how.
ever, out of repair. The Liverpool was built with
great despatch—in nine months, it is saie—and the
planking used may not have been sufficiently sea-
soned. After she was put in commiisicn she pro.
ceeded at once to the West Indies, 'where at first
she remained in port exposed for some time to the
sun, which opened her deck beams, especially
underneath. She then went to sea, and having
encountered heavy weather, which strained her, a
serious leakage ensued. Gangs of caulkers are now
busily occupied in repairing her decks, and when
her new false keel is ready the shipwrights will set
her up with shores ; the dock-blocks will then be
removed, and she will be restored to a seaworthy
condition.

The Cadmus, 21, 400. horse power, Cspt. A. C.
Gordon, fitting at Chatham harbour for the North
American and West India station, has had no day
named to take her departure, and it seems pro-
bable that she will be delayed some time in conse-
quence of the slow rate at which the crew is being
'completed. Her compliment is fixed at 270 men, but
up to the present time only 60 hands have joined,
and these were sent on board a day or two since
from the naval barracks to proceed, with the Royal
Marines, with the ordinary work of fitting out the
ship. Very little now remains to be executed on
board by the shipwright department, and the vessel
is so far advanced that had she the proper number
of men she could proceed to sea next week.

By the Saxon, which arrived yesterday at
Plymouth, we learn that the military commander
at the Cape of Good Hope was at Graham's
Town. The transports:Roselyn Castle and Mary
Shepheard had arrived in Simon's Bay, with the
let battalion of the 10th Regiment. The relief, 858,
commanded by Col. Annesly and Major Henslow,
were under canvass on the parade at Cape Town.
Her Majesty ship Valorous was in Table Bay, but
was expected to leave on Nov. 22 with the 2d bat-
talion for Simon's Bay, where the troops will join
the transports and proceed to Calcutta. Her Ma-
jesty's ship Orontes, from Plymouth, arrived in
Table Bay on Nov. 7, and left for Simon's Bay on
the Bth; she sailed on the 13th for Ceylon. The
French gunboat Preg left Simon's Bay on Nov. 7
for Bourbon. The Prussian steamer Don Juan, 12,
from the Mozambique, arrived in Simon's Bay on
Nov. 13. Commodore Wilmot, in the Rattlesnake,
had made a long visit to St. Helena. The Jaseur, 5,
arrived at the island on Nov. 19, and left on the 23d
for Ascension. The Diamond Company's steamer
Kaffraria, from England, arrived on the 13th. The
storeship Meander, 10, Capt. T. G. Bickford, the iron
Screw steam troopship Dromedary, Master-Coro.
Alexander Brown, and the screw steam gun.vessel
Jaseur, 5, Commander Walter J. H. Grubbe, were at
Ascension on the 31 of December; the screw steam
gun-vessel Espoir, 5, was at Madeira on the 16th
of December.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Lieut. R. B. Lambert to the
Royal Adelaide—Lieut. Frederick B. Boardman and
Lieut. Lawrence Ching to the Excellent, for study
—Henry D. King, assist.•clerk, for the Secretary's
office—Thomas F. Harrison and George Taylor,
assist.-clerks, additional, to the Princess Royal.
The following appointment has been made in the
Royal Naval Reserve :—John Irwin Browne, to be
Lieut.

WILLS AND BEQUESTS.

(From the illustrated London News.)

The will of Robert George Cecil Pane, Esq., a
Commissioner of the Court of Bankruptcy, of 4,
Upper Brock-street, was proved by his relict, Har-
riette Anne Fane, only daughter of Admiral Sir
Henry Blackwood, Bart., the sole executrix nomi-
nated in the will, to whom he has bequeathed the
whole of his property absolutely. The personalty
was sworn under £40,000. The will is dated Aug.
6, 1861, and is executed on a printed form. The
learned commissioner died on the 4th of October
at the age of 68.

The will of John Leech, Esq., artist, was proved
by his relict Anne Leech, the sole executrix, and the
personalty sworn under «6,000. Ile has left the
whole of his property, real acid personal, to his wife,
for her use absolutely. The will bears date March
10, 1854.

The will of Hudson Gurney, Eici , of Keswick,
Norfolk, and St. James's, Westeninister, was proved
in London under £1,100,000 personalty in England.
The executors are John Henry Gurney, Daniel
Gurney, of North Runcton, near Lynn; and Francis
Hay Gurney, of Tnorpe, Norwich. The attesting
witnesses are Fredk. Jansen, solicitor, Basinghall-
street, and George George, land agent, Cringleford
The will is dated 26th June, 1860, and there are six
codicils, the last dated the 26th October, 1864, and
the testator died on the 9th November. There are
many legacies. The principal legatee is John Henry
Gurney (the testator's second cousin, and sore.in-law
of testator's late brother, Joseph Henry Gurney). To
him he has devised the mansion and freehold of Kes-
wick, all other his real estates, and has left to him
the plate, library, manuscripts, and family reminis-
cences as heirlooms, bequeathing £5,000 for the
erection of a room suitable to contain the collection ;
and further bequeaths in trust for him, the sum of
£160,000 to be invested and settled in the same man-
ner with the inheritance of the freeholds, appointing
him also residuary legatee of the personal estate.
And the testator further directs that the sum of
£120,000 shall also be invested in the purchase of
real property, to be held in trust for the sons (ac-
cording to seniority) of the late John Gurney of
Earlham (who was the son of testator's late cousin,
Samuel Gurney, of Upton-street). To his said cousin
and executor, Daniel Gurney, he leaves £120,000 ;
to his said executor, Francis Hay Gurney (eldest
son of the said Daniel Gurney), £20,000. Amongst
the legatees is W. H. Covington, of Barclay and
Bevan's Bank, 100 guineas, and a like sum to gene
tlemen in Gurney's Norwich Bank ; and legacies to
others in the brewery of which the testator was
principal partner. Annuities and legacies to his
domestics, and £lO for each year they have been in
his service. The charitable bequests are :—'ro the
Old People's Hospital, St Helen's, Norwich, £l,OOO.
Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, £1,000; Quakers'
Monthly Meeting in Norwich (to which his family
had belonged), £1,000; Norwich Public Literary
Institution, £lOO. He also leaves £2,000 to be
placed at the entire discretion of his executors in
providing for such minor allowances as he had been
in the habit of making; and as they fall in the prin-
cipal to be given to charities in and about Norwich
and elsewhere where he had property. All charie
table bequests, legacies, and annuities not exceeding
£20,000 are to be paid free of legacy duty.
The will of the Hon. Hannah Meyer Fitzßoy, of
Upper Grosvenor-street, the widow of the Right
Hon. Henry Fitzßoy, and daughter of the late
Baron Nathan Meyer Rothschild, has been proved
in the Principal Court of Probate. It was made on
the 21st of November last ; and after making various
bequests to Lady Southampton and other relatives
and friends, the will directs £4OO to be applied
by the executors, through the National Lifeboat
Society, in the purchase of a lifeboat, to be called
the Arthur Frederick, after her late son ; also £4OO
to be given to the poor of the parishes of
GSteoGrgeoerfn.e,
Hanover-square; St Marylebone, St
the-East, and St Margaret, Westminster. There
are also legacies and other bequests to all her ser-
vants ; and the residue is bequeathed to her only
daughter, Caroline Blanche Eiizabeth, the wife of
Sir Coutts Lindsay, Bart., who inherits the whole
of the large fortune of the deceased, The executors
aro Sir Coutts Lindsay and Mr Edmund Barlow, by
whom the will was preyed.
The will of Charles Lewis, E.,q., of the Mansioo,
Albany, has been proved in London by Licuts.
Frederick Lewis and Alfred Lewis, and Mr Tyrrell
Lewis, solicitor, three of the executors. The will
bears date October 5, 1862, and after making ten
specifie legacies of £lOO for the immediate use of
h
fol:Whiisduawidaenst and
d ninetwochildren,young
andest specific provisions
gives a farther legacy of £2,000 to each sons thoef
testator
afit ov re
sons, Lieuts. Frederick, Alfred, Ernest, and Somers,
and Mr Tyrrell Lewis; his freeholds to his widow
and daughter for life ; and empowers his executors
to sell his pictures and personalty, and gives the
residue of his estate to his said five sons. The per-
sonalty was sworn under i 23,000,

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.—LEwEs, Dec. 23.
CRONVN COURT.
(Before Mr Baron Channell.)

The business of the Assizes here was concluded to-day.
In the case of manslaughter arising out of a blow struck
in a casual encounter, the medical evidence leaving it
doubtful whether the blow was the cause of death, the
grand jury threw out the bill.

Two young women, servants, were convicted of stealing
a pair of boots, and one George Henry Hutchins with re-
ceiving the same, well knowing them to have been stolen.
Mr A. L. Smith prosecuted.

They were sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.

It has already been mentioned that most of the cases
in the calendar were cases either of burglary or forgery.
None of the cases of burglary, however, were bad cases, or
attended with any circumstances of violence or nocturnal
terror to the inmates. The cases of forgery came from
Brighton.

In the course of the day the learned Judge took occasion
to observe that in cases of forgery it was very desirable that
the written instruments should be annexed to the deposi-
tions, or at all events copies or facsimiles of them, for other-
wise it was often difficult to understand the cases. He
had found great difficulty in charging the grand jury in
some of the cases of forgery in the calendar in consequence
of the omission to annex the documents.
A youth named Cooper was convicted on his own con.
fession of forging several orders for the payment of small
sums of money.

Mr Hurst was for the prosecution; Mr Roupell and Mr
Besley appeared for the prisoner.
The prisoner had been a clerk in the service of the Lon-
don and Brighten Railway Company, who have a sick fund
for their servants formed out of their contributions, and on
which they have a right to draw in case of sickness or acci■
dent. The prisoner, who had previously borne a good cha-
racter, had forged several orders purporting to be signediby
persons thus entitled to draw upon the fund.

The learned Judge sentenced him to 18 months' imprison-
ment with hard labour.

A man named Fuggle. described as a carpenter, was in•
dieted for forgery and uttering a cheque for £2O, with intent
to defraud.

Mr Merrifield conducted the case for the prosecution—the
prisoner was not defended by counsel.

The case was rather peculiar. The prosecutor, one Se-
lines, was in business at Hastings some years ago, and in
the year 1857 had an account at the Hastings branch of the
London and County Bank, and the prisoner was in his sorb
vice. Since then the prosecutor had left Hastings. On the
sth of November last the prisoner presented to a clothier at
Brighton a cheque on the bank for £2O, dated 26th October,
1864, and purporting to be signed by Selines. At the back
of the cheque was the indorsement, " Paid 16th October,
1857," and the date and signature bore traces of erasure and
rewriting. The prisoner gave a false address, and when the
cheque was stopped at the bank he denied having presented
it. It was found to be an old cheque of the year 1864,which
had been cashed and cancelled, and it was supposed that
having been mislaid or left about, the prisoner had found it
and altered the date, and had erased the erasure on the sig-
nature, and had then re-written it over the erasure. The
prisoner himself stated that he had picked up the cheque,"
but he denied having altered it.
Mr Selines proved that 1857 he had an account at the
Hastings branch of the bank, and he received his cancelled
cheques as is usual, and sometimes left them about. The
signature to this cheque, he said, had been his, but it had
been altered, apparently by erasure and then rewriting it,
and as it stood it was not, he said, his signature—and the
date also had been altered. He had mislaid the counterpart
books, and he could not say when the cheque was drawn.
The learned Judge—Do you put a number on the cheques
and counterpart ?

Witness said he did not.
The learned Judge—Then let me advise you to do so.
It is a very good precaution.

The manager of the Hastings branch of the bank in 1857
was called as a witness, but had left his books behind, and
so could not positively say, except upon reference to a
memorandum made therefrom the other day, that he had
paid the check.

The learned Judge observed that he was sorry bankers'
clerks should so often forget to bring their books. The
books of the Bank of England were considered so far public
that copies of entries were admissible ; but that was not so
as to private books or the books of private bankers.

The witness said he had no doubt he paid the check.
The original debt he believed to have been the 16th of
October, 18Gt The check had been paid and cancelled in
the usual way by erasing the signature, and he believed
the erasure had been erased and then the signature re-
written over the traces of the former signature.
The prisoner, a poor, ignorant fellow, whom no one could
suppose capable of so crafty a device, repeated his former
statement that he had picked up the check and presented
it.a.s he found it, and had never altered it.

The learned Judge, in summing up the case to the jury,
pointed out to them that there was a count; for uttering the
check, knowing it to ba forged, as well as a count for
forging it, and they might convict him upon either or both.
There could be no doubt upon the evidence, that the check
was originally drawn in 1857. The suggestion wes that the
cancellation had been erased. and the signature being re-
written or retraced. Of this they could judge from inspec-
tion of the instrument—and if they believed that the pri
soner had found the check and thus dealt with the date
and signature so as to give the appearance of a recent
check of the date of the 26th of October, 1861, he would
be guilty of forgery. Or, if finding it so altered by any-
bady else, and knowing it to be forged he presented it,
ho would be guilty of the uttering. Looking
at the prisoner's appearance and his apparent want of in-
telligence, they might doubt whether he made the altera-
tions. Then came the question whether lie knew the check
to be false or forged. Beyond all doubt he uttered it. And
then there were the facts of his giving a false address, and
falsely denying his presentation of it, and it was for the
jury whether these facts showed guilty knowledge on his
part.

The jury found the prisoner Guilty of uttering the check
with intent to defraud, and they recommended him to
mercy on account of his poverty and infirmity.
The learned judge, in passing sentence, said he thought
that they had rightly found him guilty only of uttering the
check. But, knowing Mr Setines as he did, his own story
convicted him of great dishonesty in not taking the check
back to him, even assuming that he had, as he said, found
it. His real off,mce probably was that he had been guilty
of a false pretence in presenting the check as if it were a
genuine one, and obtaining goods by means of it. Under all
the circumstances, the sentence would be imprisonment for
nine months, and, on account of his weak state of health,
without hard labour.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—LEEDS, Dcc. 23.
(Before Mr Justice Keating.)
His lordship sentenced James Thompson, who was tried
yesterday for stabbing his wife, to penal servitude for life;
and the prisoner Ackroyd, who was found guilty of various
offences under the bankruptcy laws, to one year's imprison-
ment.

Thos. Drake was indicted for feloniously attempting to
drown Elizabeth Wilson, with intent to murder her, at
Halifax, on Dec. 6 last.

Mr Thornbei conducted the prosecution; Mr Wheelhouse
defended the prisoner.

It appeared from the evidence that the prosecutrix and
prisoner are only 17 years old, and that they had been liv-
ing together for come weeks; but the prosecutrix had left
the prisoner about a month before the unhappy occurrence
took place. The prosecutrix then lived in a furnished room
and used to go to work every day in Halifax. On the 6th
December she arrived too late at her work, and had to re-
turn home again. As the was returning she met the prisoner
by the canal. He accompanied her;towards her home. When
they had got under the canal bridge.he caught hold of her
with one hand and put his other hand over her eyes and
pushed her into the water. She went under the water three
or four times, while the prisoner stood looking on without
offering her any assistance, and then walked away. John
Furness, a man who happened to be passing, bravely jumped
into the water, and saved the prosecutrix at great peril to
his life. The prosecutrix was then laid on the grass, and
while the people on the spot were attending to her the pri-
soner threw himself into the water and attempted to drown
himself.

Mr Wheelhouse contended, on behalf of the prisoner, that
he was not in his right mind at the time, and called several
witnesses to prove the fact.
His Lordship, in summing up, said that the witness Fur-
ness had conducted himself in a most gallant and humane
manner, which reflected the greatest credit on him, and he
regretted that he was unable to grant him a public reward.
The learned judge then said that it was fcr the jury to con-
sider if the prisoner at the time was in a state of mind to
form any intention at all, for it appeared that the prisoner
at the bar, from an accident he had three or four years ago,
was subject to fits, and that he never was himself for some
days after, and that he had a fit the night before; but still
the jury must look at his conduct at the time to arrive at a
right conclusion as to his state of mind.

The jury found the prisoner guilty, and told his lordship
that they had made a subscription for the witness Furness
to show their appreciation of his services.

His Lordship said they had better give the money to the
officer of the Court, as probably there might be other per-
sons in court who might be desirous cf adding to it. (His
lordship himself added a handsome donation.) His lordship
said that under the circumstances he should only sentence
the prisoner to 15 years' penal servitude.
George Wrighlson, Thomas Bourne, George Walker, and
Isaac Askbam were indicted for night poaching.
Mr Maule said that Robert Wright, the head game-
keeper of Mr George Fox, with five other keepers, went
out to watch on the 16th Nov. last at one o'clock in the
morning. At half-past one they were in Bramham-park,
close by the Thatched House, Whincozer, in the township
of Barwick in Elmet. They saw the prisoners standing
about, and went towards them. They noticed that there
were nets about fur catching game, and a bag was subse-
quently found with game in it. The prisoners cried out
"Hiss, hies," and advanced to meet the keepers, whom
they attacked. The keepers, however, got the best of the
fight, and several of the poachers were wounded. The fight

lasted 10 minutee, at the end of which time the keepers
succeeded in apprehending the prisoners.
It was contended on behalf of the prisoners that the
keepers attacked them, and that they, on their part, offered
no resistance whatever beyond what was absolutely neces-
sary to protect themselves.

His lordship said that if the jury believed the witnesses
there was no doubt the offence had been committed.
The jury acquitted the prisoners.
Thus ended the business of the Midland Circuit.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—READING, Dec. 23.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr Justics Byles.)

Jesse Oakly was indicted for wounding Isaac Oakly on
the throat, at Chieveley, on the 12th Dec. last, with intent
to murder him, or do him grievous bodily harm.

The prisoner, upon being arraigned, pleaded Guilty; but
the learned judge caused the indictment to be ex-
plained to him and a plea of Not Guilty to be entered for
him.

The prisoner was out in service as a farm labourer,but on
Sunday, the 11th inst., unexpectedly returned home to his
father, who is a labourer, and lives in a cottage on the Hill-
green in Chieveley. Isaac Oakly is his younger brother
and with the prisoner and a brother and a sister Charlotte
made up the family. The prisoner is 21 years old, and his
brother Issac 10 years old. After he came home on the
Sunday the prisoner ate his meals as usual and went to
chapel it the evening. He was observed by his father and
sister to be whetting one of the table knives on a brick
before the house, and he told them that he was doing it to
cut off some dead skin which he had on his hand, and his
father saw him afterwards cutting at his hand, On the
Monday morning Charlotte gave Isaac his usual dinner to
take with him to school, and between 8 and 9 o'clock Isaac
started. Jesse was then on the green, and he asked Isaac
to go along with him. Isaac refused to go, but Jesse took
him by both hands and pulled him over a stile close by the
cottage. The stile led into a field in which was a path and
also a chalk pit. Jesse took Isaac up this path and to the
chalk pit, which he asked Isaac to go in to seek a rabbit.
They both went down into the pit. Jesse put Isaac to sit
and lie down, and sat himself down alongside, Isaac had a
handkerchief round his neck, and this handkerchief Jesse
fastened round his eyes. Isaac immediately felt something
sharp against his throat, and blood trickled down between
his skin and his clothes. Mrs Oakly, the mother, who had
been at work on this morning in a field near, and was re-
turning home when she met Jesse some short distance from
the chalk pit, who told that Isaac was up against the chalk
pit and would not go to school. She went to the chalk pit
and found. Isaac with a little blood on his frock, but so little
had fahen on the outside of his frock that she thought that
his nose only was bleeding. He was sensible, and she took
him home. and there she discovered that his throat had been
cut. The wound was described as an incised wound of three
inches in length, and half an inch in depth in the centre,
and made an opening in the windpipe sufficiently large to ad-
mit the point of a little finger. Jacob Oakly, the father, came
home soon afterwards, found what had been done, and went
after Jesse, whom he found in a lane near, When he was
asked whether ho was guilty or not, Jesse made no answer.
In the chalk pit was found the handle of one of the table
knives belonging to the cottage. No xiotive for the act could
be assigned by the prosecution. Jesse was described as al-
ways very good to Isaac, and it was said there never had
been any quarrel between them. He, however, had not kept
his places where he had been at work, and generally left of
his own mind. The policeman who took him into custody
found upon him a card which had been given him at a re-
ligious camp meeting, and which purported to appoint him
a collector for the Primitive Methodist connection, on be•
half of the Peasemore chapel, in the Newbury circuit. His
father, too, had once known him praying in the open air on
the green, with others of the same persuasion, and stated
that when a child he had- had fits. .But it appeared that on
Sunday, the 11th inst., he ate as usual, and nothing strange
was observed about him.

His Lordship, in summing up, commented on the impos-
sibility of assigning any motive for the act done by the pri-
soner, and told the jury they must consider whether the
prisoner was or was not of sound mind when he did the deed,
and that he was of sound mind if he knew at the time he
was doing wrong. It appeared thatahe had the means of
such knowledge, but, his lordship added, those who know
best are subject to strange aberrations *of mind. His lord-
ship alluded also to the religious tendencies of the prisoner,
saying, however, that no inference could be drawn from the
form of religion adopted by the prisoner, for that, whatever
form the Christian religion assumed, it was the best security
for the virtue of mankind,