The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-28 00:00:00

TEE RIOTS IN NEW YORK.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, July 13.

The enferceinent of *the. conscription has fallen
with the suddenness of a surprise upon the people of
New York. So lately as a fortnight ago no one
believed that the Government would dare to resort
to it ; but, emboldened by the check which General
Meade was enabled to offer to the advancing armies
of General Lee, and still more by the surrender of
Vicksburg, Mr. Lincoln and his advisers have
plucked up heart, and taken a step that may yet prove
to be the most momentous of the war. They calculated
upon the good temper of the people consequent upon
the first promise of success that has rewarded them
for "pegging away." A few days will show whether
or not their confidence has been misplaced. The
draught c,ymmenced on Saturday, and will be con-
tinued during the present week in all the congres-
sional districts of the city. Fearful, apparently, of
the resistance of the working classes, especially of
those of foreign birth, the Government has adopted
the precaution of taking each disttiet separately,
and of sending a military guard of 400 men to pre-
side over the turning of the wheel, to see fair play
and to preserve order. The Republican papers and
all the supporters of the Administration take especial
pains to spread abroad the impression that the draught
is a mere formality, that the rebellion is all but sup-
pressed,that the existing armies are more than ample
to give it the coup de grace, and that none of the
enforced levies will ever be required to do other
than militia duty in the towns and cities where
they will be drawn, and that they will under no
circumstances be incorporated with the armies now
in the field. It is much too early to ascertain to
what extent these representations are believed by
the people most interested. There is no question
that the conscription is in itself intensely un-
popular, and that among the Irish and Germans,
and to a smaller extent among the native-born
Americans, Trades' Unions, and other societies have
been organised in opposition to enforced military
service, and that many valiant resolutions have
been adopted, on paper, in assertion of the determi-
nation of the Americans, like Britons, " never to be
slaves." The doubt is whether the opposition will
take the shape of armed resistance—a doubt which
among the native-born Americans is justified by the
well•known civic cowardice—or, if that epithet be
considered too strong, the respect for law, or what
appears to be law—that characterises the Americans
as a people. They will fight obstinately against a
foreign or a domestic foe, as their past and present
history proves ; but they are reluctant to take
up arms in the street against their own Govern-
ment, however great the provocation, as French.
men, Italians, Poles, or Germans would do, and
have often done. It would not, therefore, be cur-
prising if the only resistance to the draught should
come from the turbulent foreign element that
abounds in this city, or if the Government should,
in case of its assuming any large proportions, re-
solve to overpower it by force of arms. It does not
seem, however, as if any army or portion of an
army to be raised by this means could be of much
service to the Government. The conscription an-
swers its purpose in the Soutb, and is cheerfully
submitted to because the conscripts are inspired with
a burning hatred against the Northern people,
whom they consider tyrants, oppressors, 'Yankees,"
and " worse than hyenas" who desire to overrun
their country, exterminate the people, and confis-
cate the property of all classes. But no such danger
affronts the North, and no such passions, either of
hatred or patriotism, exist. In the minority of cases,
where such passions find play they are to be dis-
covered among the non-fighting classes, the pugna-
cious disputants of the pulpit and the lecture-rooms,
and the strong-minded women, whose type is Anna
Dickinson, and whose model gentleman is General
Butler. Whatever these people and the war con-
tractors may think or say, there is a growing feel-
ing throughout the North that the Southerners are
as right in their assertion of the principle of inde-
pendence as they are gallant in defending it, and a
growing disinclination to fight for the emancipa-
tion of negroes and the destruction of the Constitu-
tion, under the protection of which both North and
South had attained so high a pitch of greatness
and prosperity. The feeling is too strong and too
widely diffused to be mistaken. It has not been
weakened by the temporary success of General
Meade, nor would the defeat of the Army of the
Potomac, which the present disposition and strength
of the contending forces do not render at all impro,
bable, have any perceptible effect in diminishing
it. These persons say that if the Union cannot be
preserved by the willing arms of volunteer soldiers,
the Union is dead, and would not be worth the
trouble of resuscitation, if resuscitation were pos-
sible.

JULY 14.

I had written thus far yesterday, when the report
reached me that the most serious riot that had ever
occurred in America had broken out in the upper
congressional district of the city, where the draught
had first commenced, and that a mob of men and
women variously estimated at from 20,000 t 040,000,
had suddenly appeared, acting without concert or
known leaders, and were committing havoc that,
unless speedily checked, might lead to awful loss of
life and immense destruction of property. The
report, though possibly exaggerated as to the
numbers of the rioters, was in other respects true.
The pent-up passions of the multitude had broken
loose, and there was imminent peril of a catas-
trophe that might have delivered the city to
the unrestrained possession of a populace that
had tasted blood and grown furious on the diet.
The readers of this correspondence have been
from time to time informed that the working classes
laZn°only disgusted with the war and all re-
t
gto It'; that they did not sympathise with or
take any interest in the abolition of slavery, except
to condemn it ; that they looked upon the negroes
with mistrust and dislike ; that they felt the bur-
den of the aest the enhancement of the price of
food and clothing,dh
andt of every article of comfort
and necessity; and that, above all, they were op-
posed to the principle of a conscription and had
banded themselves into secret societies to resist it.
All these motives of
day, and were intensifiedaction came into play yester-
port of the women, y the sympathy and sup,
in immense
numberswho o
turned out into the streets
to incite their sons, brothers,
fathers, husbands,
those Or lovers to the work of de-
struction. The lists ofwho were draughted in
the Ninth District were published e published in the evening
papers on Saturday,
and repeated in the Sunday
journals. This publication was the only notice of
their doom that the unfortunates had received; and
all day on Sunday the lists
were studied' by
men,
excited groups of working
gathered at
street corners, at chureli or chapel doors, and ai the
less tranquil resorts of lager-beer
saloons, grog.
opposition shops, and hotel bars. The verbal o • -
draught was loud and universal. plpt on td the
was declared
to be illegal, unfair in its mode of operations
exempting from personal service the man as
0 was
rich enough to pay 300 dollars, and as an, assump-
tion
of power on the part of the Federal Govern-
went which could not be submitted to in a country
that still claimed to be free. It was alleged in one
of the Sunday journals that no less a person than
Mr. Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State, had
declared his opinion that the act of Congress was
unconstitutional and could not be enforced; and that
its legality would be tested before the recognised tri-
bunals of New York. This statement, which ought to
have allayed the agitation of the people, produced a
contrary effect. Early in the day gangs of workmen
went from workshop to workshop to call upon their
fellows to leave their labour and proceed to the
building in the Third-avenue where the formalities
of the draught were to be resumed. By 11 o'clock
some thousands of persons had collected. They com-
menced by throwing stones at the windows. They
next rushed into the office, seized the wheel by which
the lots were drawn and broke it into fragments, got
hold of theenrolment lists and tore them into shreds,
thus rendering the prosecution of the draught im-
possible until a new enrolment had been completed
—assaulted and severely ill-treated the functionaries
employed, and were debating what was next to be
done, when a man suddenly appeared on the plat-
form with a pail of turpentine, which he deliberately
urea upon the floor. A lucifer match was imme-
diately
applied, the turpentine blezed up furiously,

and in less than half an hour afterwards the whole
edifice was in a blaze from the basement to the roof.
The firemen arrived to extinguish the con ration.
They were received by the mob with lord cheers,
but were not permitted to throw water o the flames.
The fire spread rapidly until eight co nous houses
were enveloped in one common destn ction. The
crowd assisted the terrified inmates to escape, but
otherwise manifested a stern resolution to suffer no
interference with their vengeance. Their next
business was to tear up the iron of the street rail-
ways, to prevent the passage of cars with troops or
police to the rescue, and to provide themselves with
weapons. This done, they cut the telegraphic wires
in all directions, and broke up into several separate
mobs, each bent on its own purpose, or going
wherever chance conducted it. Of course, such a
riot became the holiday of all the rowdies, black-
guards, and thieves of this city, who, scenting
plunder as the crow scents carrion, turned out in
large numbers to swell the volume and disgrace the
character of the crowd. Hitherto no blood had
been shed. A detachment of the Provost Guard
that had been hastily sent from the Park Barracks,
to prevent further destruction, if theycouinidthne very
errye-
store order, arrived Forty-first-street,
heart and focus of the riot, and found their further
progressosedto impededamount byto
5,
adoeonosoerm6a,ososoo,fwpheooprleen,
esiuvepd-
-
them with stones and brickb
them with shouts and yells ofexecrTantinosn,hmaenmdped i
pelted
ats. n
and surrounded, anda in danger of being torn to
pieces, they fired deadly volley into the crowd,
and about 20 people fell mortally wounded. No one
knows whether or not they received orders to fire,
or whether the fatal discharge was the unpremedi-
tated and unauthorised act of their own fear; but
the consequence, as might have been expected, was
only to add to the fury of the multitude. The
Provost Guard no sooner fired than it retreated, pur-
sued by the crowd. The men threw away theirfire-
arms;to facilitate their escape, and these being picked
up by their pursuers seemed to suggest to the mob
that in a future conflict with the troops it would be
necessary they should have muskets and rifles. Seve •
ral soldiers and policemen—it is not yet known bow
many—were killed, and the crowd, growing larger
and more furious as it rolled, invaded an armoury on
the Second-avenue, belonging to Mr. Opdyke, the
Mayor of New York, where a large store of arms and
ammunition for which this gentleman and his
brother had contracted to supply the Government
was known to exist. It was defended for a short time
by the servants and workpeople of Mr. Opdyke.
But all resistance was vain. The people overflowed
into the building like an advancing sea, and in a few
minutes the musketry and ammunition, were seized
and distributed among the insurgents. Whatever
was not of a nature to be made available as a weapon
was destroyed. This done the torch was applied
to every corner of the edifice, which in a short time
was in such a blaze es would have defied all the
efforts of all the firemen of New York to extinguish.
While this scene was being enacted another body of
rioters, who had chased an obnoxious soldier or po-
liceman into a large stone house at the corner of
Lexington-avenue, surrounded the building, and
demanded that he should be given up. The cry
was raised that the house belonged to a " shoddy
contractor," who had made a fortune out of the war.
The allegation, true or false, was fatal to the house.
The mob burst into it, tore down the pictures from
the walls, cut them to pieces with their knives, or
dug holes in them with railroad iron, demo-
lished a large and costly pianoforte, threw the
fragments out of the windows, took the books
from the library and set fire to them in the street,
broke open pantry and larder, wine cellar, and
plate chest, closet and wardrobe, and carried
off every portable article of value and the wearing
apparel of the male and female members of
the household as trophies of their achievement.
Finally they set fire to the building ; and, watching
the progress of the flames until they were quite
assured that the work of destruction would be
complete, marched off to commit new outrages.
The next place that received a visit was the
splendid house of Mr. Opdyke, the Mayor, in the
Fifth-avenue, a gentleman, particularly noted for
the fervotie of his war sentiments, the richness of
his contracts, and the vehemence of his Black Re-
publicanism, or philanthropic love for the negroes.
Cries were raised to gut and fire th© house, and in
one moment more the thing would have been done
had it not been for the opportune presence and
judicious speech of one of the city judges, Mr.
Barnard, who endeavoured to calm the fury of the
mob. Having obtained a hearing, from a doorstep,
he bade them remember that Mr, Opdyke was the
legally elected chief magistrate of the city, and as
such entitled to their respect and obedience. He
entreated them not to sully their just cause by acts
of violence. He declared that, in his opinion, as a
lawyer and a judge, the Conscription Act was ille-
gal and unconstitutional, and added that, if any
citizen, taken from his home in pursuance of that
act, applied by his counsel for a writ of habeas corpus
before him, he would grant the writ, and bring the
question to a test in the state and city of New York.
This restored the crowd to good humour, and with
three cheers for the judge they proceeded on their
way, leaving Mr. Opdyke's mansion unmolested.
But, although opposition to the draught was the
main motive that impelled the people to these law-
less deeds, another passion took possession of them
as the day wore on. In their hatred of the war and
the draught which had grown out of it, they re-
membered that Mr. Lincoln by his Proclamation of
Emancipation had so embittered the South as to
render a restoration of the Union impossible.
Hatred of the war, and hatred of the negro, whom
they supposed to be the cause of it, were equally
strong in their minds. No negro could venture
into the crowd without insult or danger. One un-
fortunate man of, colour, being hooted and pelted
with brickbats and brought to bay by a furious gang
of assailants, drew a revolver from his breast and
shot the foremost man dead. He was immediately
pursued by a mob of hundreds of excited ruffians,
seized, thrown to the ground, beaten on the head
with clubs and pieces of iron, stamped and spat
upon, and next, after every shred of clothing had
been stripped from his back, hung stark naked from
a Imp-post, and pelted with stones and mud by an
assemblage of juvenile ruffians, from the age of 12
upwards. After dangling fora few.minutes all the
available combustible rubbish of the neighbourhood
was piled under his feet and set fire to, the maniac
crowd dancing around in a frenzy of blood and hor-
ror. In another part of the city a second negro met a
similar fate ; and towards 6in the evening a body of
several thousand persons, breathing vengeance
against that unhappy race—most of whom this day
in New York would have been glad to exchange the
peril of liberty in the North for the security of
Southern slavery and protection—marched up to a
large building, called the " Coloured Orphan
Home," an institution, as its name implies, devoted
to the maintenance and education of orphan negro
children. Giving the inmates an hour to escape,
they declared their intention to set fire to the build-
ing. which intention they ruthlessly carried into exe-
cution at the appointed time. One life only appears
mthaetelsoctoala
to have been lost—that of a poor negro child, who
vethas accidentally trampled to death in the rush of
these, e in escape
authorities
rucAmid scenes
uthorditiets being almost
en-
tirely powerless to resist-the progress of the insur-
gents, the f
not
o t like
night darkened down upon a city that
would have been doomed to destruction if the mob
had had as much leadership as it had ferocity. But
leadership was waeliee
The vast mass was in spon-
taneous combustion. Its actions
Were neither planned
nor directed. If they had been,
there was nothing to
prevent it from seizing every arsenal and armoury
in the city, and providing arms and ammunition for
100,000 men. Fortunately the local authority had
sufficient presence of mind to despatch troops to the
most vulnerable of these stores of mischief.ektlle
o'clock at night, the sky—covered by a dense hot,
mist, as hot almost as a vapour-bath—was lit lap by
the lurid glare of a dozen fires in different parts of
the town, and 40,000 or 50,000 rioters were in un-
disturbed possession of the streets. There is no
knowing what might have happened before day.
break if it had not been fur the sudden downfall of
a drenching rain-storm that cleared the thorough-
fares in a few minutes. The rain continued for
several hours,—e better conservator of the public
peace than ten thousand soldiers might have proved
in fine weather.

This morning the riots were resumed at daybreak.

The lower part of the town towards Wall-street and
the Exchange was but little affected ; but up beyond
Grace Church and Union-square the whole region
lying between those points and the Central Park
was at the mercy of the crowd. It was asserted
that by some means the people had managed to ob-
tain possession of several pieces of artillery ; that
all the omnibuses and cars plying np Broadway and
the railroad avenues were seized as soon as they
came within the lines of the insurgents, and that
the carriages were converted into barricades, and
the horses impressed for the service of artillery.
But the statement does not appear to have been
true. The mob, however, had abundance of small
arms, and when those were wanting made up for
the deficiency of bludgeons, clubs, brick-bats, and
fragments of iron rail. The rioters still entertain-
ing a feeling of vengeance against Mayor Opdyke, a
gentleman who has made himself conspicuous, not
alone for his uncompromising and unconditional sup-
port of the Emancipation policy of the Government,
but also for his assertion that war has its " noble
side," betook themselves about 11 in the morning to
his mansion, in Fifth-avenue, and manifested a dis-
position to devote it to the fate which it yesterday
escaped at the intercession of Judge Barnard. To-
day the neighbours formed themselves into a guard
for its protection, and were sufficiently powerful to
save it from the crowd of small boys and young
men who wished to commit it to the flames, with all
its luxurious furniture and trappings. The house
of the postmaster of New York, Mr. Wakeman, was
less fortunate, and, after having been plundered of
its contents, was burnt to the ground. The houses
of scores of other persons who by their action in
the war and their support of the Government had
rendered themselves obnoxious to the working-
classes have shared a similar fate. The offices of
the gribune newspaper have been barricaded
during the day with piles of wet printing paper ;
and all the banks in Wall-street and the neigh-
bourhood have been closely guarded. The lead-
ing citizens have enrolled themselves into a special
constabulary to assist in the restoration of order;
but as yet the crowd is all but undisputed mas-
ter of the situation, and no one knows what the
night may bring forth. Governor Seymour, having
been summoned by telegraph from Long Branch, a
watering-place on the coast of New Jersey, whither
he had gone last week for health and recreation, ar-
rived in the forenoon, and after a hasty consulta-
tion with the civic authorities at the City-hall
appeared at the balcony and addressed a crowd of
about 12,000 persons. His speech was temperate
and judicious. He denounced the rioters, but at the
same time declared his belief that the State authori-
rities were able to preserve or restore order without
the aid of the Federal Government, and added that
he had sent a special messenger to the President on
Saturday last to urge upon him the expediency of
countermanding the draught, at least until time had
been allowed to bring authoritatively before the
Courts the constitutionality of the Act of Con-
gress upon which it was founded, and by which
alone it was justified. To this message he had re-
ceived no reply. Great confidence seems to be
generally entertained in the wisdom of Governor
Seymour in bringing this unhappy business to a safe
issue, though he is greatly hampered by some inju-
dicious and timid fools in high station in the city,
who clamour for the establishment of martial law
as the only possible means of preventing anarchy.
Martial law in New York is what the Federal Go-
vernment desires above all things. If such a State
cannot preserve order within its own 'boundaries
without the aid of Federal troops, the abrogation of
public liberty and the substitution:of the law of the
drumhead and the Dragoon officer for that of the or-
dinary courts of justice, liberty in America is as dead
as the Union, and will not be again restored until
this generation shall have gone through a probation
of tears and blood such as shall make it alike sadder
and wiser and more worthy of freedom in the future
than it has ever been in the past.
Those who oppose the draught on the ground of
its unconstitutionality—among the most conspicu-
ous of whom is Governor Seymour—make out a
strong case. The 15th and 16th sections of the
Federal Canstitution, which alone apply to the sub-
ject, declare that the Federal Government " may
call out the militia to execute the laws of the Union,
suppress insurrections, and repel invasions," and
that it may " provide for organising, arming, and
disciplining the militia, and for governing such of
them as may be employed in the service of the
United States—reserving to the States respectively
the appointment of the officers and the authority of
training the militia according to the discipline pre-
scribed by Congress." It follows from this that Mr.
Lincoln may call upon the Governors of the States
for the aid of militia, to be raised in accordance
with State laws, and officered by men appointed by
the State Governors. It does not follow that he can
raise an army by conscription, and appoint its offi-
cers himself. Those who contend that he can base
their argument upon the express act of Congress
passed in March last for this especial purpose ; but,
as Congress itself is bound by the Constitution, and
can pass no law which that document does not ex-
pressly sanction, all other rights of the States except
those mentioned in that instrument having been
solemnly restrved,the question for the SupremeCour t
as the interpreter of the Constitution, to decide is that
very question which is at issue between the work-
ing men and the State of New York on the one side,
and President Lincoln, his Administration, and his
Congress on the other. The probability, however, is
that Mr. Lincoln will be advised to yield, and allow
the Conscription Act to become a dead letter.
But under such circumstances what becomes of the
war Nay, what becomes of it under any cir-
cumstances ? Without a new army he cannot pro-
tract the struggle ; and a new army, it appears, he
cannot raise, either by means of a conscription or
without it.

JULY 16.

The night passed over more quietly than was
anticipated. An announcement made in the even-
ing, as if by authority, that the Federal Govern-
ment had consented to forego the draught through-
out the whole State of New York tended to allay
the agitation. It did not, however, completely
satisfy the mob. Too many thieves and assassins
had mingled themselves in its proceedings to
accept any promise on the part of the Govern-
ment as a warrant for their laying down their
arms, and these persons kept the city in terror
until daybreak. It is this morning announced
that 5,000 troops are in position to quell all
further disturbance, and that the Militia regi-
ments ordered to the relief of Pennsylvania at the
first alarm in that State, consequent upon the late
Confederate invasion, are on their way home and
expected during the day. The principal merchants,
bankers, and other householders have formed them-
selves into an armed special constabulary, and guard
all the principal posts of danger. Business is al-
most wholly suspended, but there is a general im-
pression that the worst is over, and that New York
will be saved the primary disgrace of further mob
law, as well as the secondary disgrace of being in-
debted to the Federal Government for the restora-
tion of order. It seems to be conceded on all hands
that the draught must be abandoned. The con-
tagion of opposition has communicated itself to
other towns and cities in the North. There have
been riots in Hartford, in Connecticut, and even
sober Boston, where negrophilism reigns trium-
phant and supreme, has seen in its streets since
yesterday a mob of upwards of a thousand people,
declaring against the draught, pronouncing it to
be unconstitutional and oppressive, and expressing
their determination to resist it. A few fanatics of
the press in this city persist in urging the Govern.
ment to maintain the conscription. If the Govern-
ment be unwise enough to follow their counsel, the
indications are that it will speedily have a new civil
war on its hands, in addition to what it technically
calls the " rebellion" of the South.

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LAW INTELLIGENCE,--July 27.

WESTMINSTER COUNTY COURT.
(Before Mr. Francis Bayley.)
THE HON. CAROLINE NORTON V. SIBLEY.
This was an application for a new trial by the Hon. Mrs.
Norton, of 3, Chesterfield-street, Mayfair, in the case
wherein she was sued by Miss Mary Sibley, of 54, Doughty-
street, for the education of the applicants' two grandchildren.
Mr. Macdonald appeared for the Hon. Mrs. Norton, and
Mr. Francis opposed the application.
On the case being called on,
Mr. Francis said that in the case of Sibley v. Norton,
which was tried on the 14th inst., an application was about
to be made for a new trial, and he submitted fhat his friend
Mr. Macdonald, who appeared for the Hon, Mrs. Horton,
had no locus standi, because the rule of practice requires
that seven clear days' notice should be given to the registrar,
which had not been done ; and the service was only made
at the office on Monday last, which put the plaintiff com-
pletely out of court.
Mr. Macdonald had heard that the notice was served on
Saturday week.
Mr. Francis thought it could be found out by the endorse-
ment at the office. A copy being produced, the judge ob-
served that it had been served on the Monday.
Mr. Macdonald repeated that he had been told that it was
served on Saturday week, and if necessary he would send
for the party who personally served it.
Mr. Farrow, the senior usher of the court, stated that the
service was on Monday morning.
Mr. Macdonald, looking at the paper, said it was inevi-
tably consistent with what had been stated as to the service
of the notice ; however, they were willing to put up with
the consequences, but he would ask his learned friend if he
intended to take advantage of that which was a mere slip.
Mr. Francis thought it his duty to take every advantage
in a case when a lady like the Hon. Mrs. Norton had
thought proper to send letters to the newspapers, and throw
a slur upon a lady's character, as she has done upon Miss
Sibley's.
Mr. Mac donald—Well, will you name the objection ?
Mr. Francis—Certainly not,
Mr. Macdonald suggested that the Court had the power
to put the defendant in such a position that she should not
suffer by the mere slip of not having served the notice in
the prescribed time.
The Judge—l have the power, I believe, to listen to the
application for a new trial.
Mr. Macdonald—Will you say Wednesday ?
The Judge— Well, we must have some grounds for giv-
ing leave.
Mr. Francis—Let us see what they are.
Mr. Macdonald asked if his friends would allow Mr.
Wilkinson, the solicitor for Mrs. Norton, the favour of
bringing down the person who served the notice, to ascertain
from him why it was not delivered within the proper time.
The Judge—Here is the order, and that seems conclusive.
You can't get out of that.
Another discussion here arose between the two learned
counsel, and at length Mr. Francis said he would waive the
objection, as it was the wish of his client.
Mr. Macdonald, then addressing the Bench, said that
when he came into court in the morning he found that Mr,
Wilkinson, who had the management of the case, had come
there without some important papers, and he, Mr. Mac-
donald, had applied to Mr. Francis to permit him to go in a
cab and fetch them. Mr. Wilkinson had not yet returned,
so that he wished to apply for a:short postponement of the
application. _ _

Mr. Francis objected, on the ground that it was unfair to
his client, who had been brought there unnecessarily at ten
o'clock, whereas the hearing of the application was not fixed
until eleven, and they now asked for another half-hour.
The application was at length proceeded with,
Mr. Macdonald said that he moved for a new trial in the
case of " Sibley v. the Hon. Mrs. Norton," upon the follow-
ing grounds :-Ist. That the judge misdirected the jury in
telling them if their minds were in doubt they must find for
the plaintiff. He, the learned counsel, had not had the honour
of appearing before his Honour when the case was tried ;
but he had no doubt that what had appeared in the different
newspapers was a very correct report of the proceedings.
The plaintiff was then represented by a solicitor (her own
father), and Mr. Francis was the counsel. The jury, after
they had heard the case, found the following verdict :—" The
jury say they find a verdict for the plaintiff for her salary and
expenses, but there seems to be so much doubt respecting
the payment of £l5, that they think Mrs. Norton is en-
titled to the benefit of the doubt, and they therefore find a
. verdict upon that part in her favour." Miss Sibley, the
plabtiff, was examined in chief by Mr. Francis, and she had
been cross.examined, and when the jury gave their verdict,
she was recalled and examined afresh, and Mr. Francis said
that it was for Mrs Norton to make out the payment of the
£l5 if the jury had any doubt, This was said rather to the
Court, and no doubt for the purpose of letting the jury hear
it, and with that knowledge the jury again consulted, and
they returned the same verdict still, namely, " that Miss
Sibley is entitled to her salary and expenses, but we think
that Mrs. Norton is entitled to the benefit of the doubt as to
the £15." His Honour then stated that if the minds of the
jury were so much in doubt they must find for the
plaintiff. Now, he apprehended that, after the intimation
thrown out by his learned friend as to the payment of
this sum, the jury were fully alive as to what was
specifically going on between the judge and jury, and
notwithstanding that, they found the verdict the same, and,
when they had so found, there was misdirection.
The learned Judge—That is not according to my recol-
lection of what took place. I said more than that. If they
had so much doubt that they could not satisfy their minds
either way, then they must give a verdict for the plaintiff, &c.
Mr. Macdonald—And the jury then said they must find a
verdict for the plaintiff, because they were so far doubtful
that they could not say whether the money was paid or not.
The second ground was " that the terms of the finding of
the verdict, though nominally for the plaintiff, amounted,
in point of law, to a verdict for the defendant, and should
have been so recorded." Supposing that the finding of the
verdict had been in these words—" W e find a verdict for the
plaintiff for her salary and expenses, and £l5 we find also
for the defendant," that is, "we find a verdict for plaintiff's
salary and expenses, less the £15," would there have been
any objection, in point of law, to such a finding? Again,
the jury were not bound to give their reasons for their find-
ing, and if a verdict be coupled, it he might so speak, with
an argumentative mode of giving that verdict, it would be
no part of the duty of the Court to inquire upon what
grounds they arrived at a conclusion so long as the verdict
was recorded by the jury in substance. If that were correct,
and applied to the present finding, it might be read thus—
that the jury retired, and on returning they found a verdict
for salary and expenses less the £l5, which they find for
Mrs. Norton.
The learned Judge—That is not the whole of what the
jury said; either the foreman or some of the jury said they
thought that there must have been a mistake on the part
of Miss Sibley. It was stated that she had paid for various
things, but she could not have paid for them unless she
had received the £l5, for she admitted she had only £1 of
her own, and it was with the view of clearing up that £l5
that she was recalled.
Mr. Macdonald then submitted the third reason for grant-
ing a new trial, namely, that the verdict was against the
weight of evidence, inasmuch as the plaintiff stated in her
evidence that from the 13th Sept. to the 6th Nov. she had
received nothing, and produced a book containing the en-
tries of sums received and also entries of disbursements,
and it appeared from that book that on the 12th September
plaintiff received £25, and a few days later one £5 for another
distinct purpose, whilst on the 11th October it was clear
that Miss Sibley had expended about £l3, which showed
that she had actually expended a few shillings more than
the two sums received, the £25 on the 12th September, and
the £5 later in the month, and the plaintiff swore that from
the 12th Sept. to the 6th November she did not receive one
farthing.
Miss Sibley—No, no, that is not right.
The Judge—Except the £5 on the 28th.
Mr. Macdonald---In her own handwriting and by her own
book it appeared that, on the 11th October, there had been
a few shillings more spent than those two sums; and on
the 6th November there had been expended by her £l3 12s.
over and above the two sums of £25 and £5, in September.
An obvious question arose here: if, from September to
November, she did not, to use her own words, receive a
farthing ; and if, according to her own written document,
it would seem that in October the disbursements were more
than she received money for, and that from the 6th Nov.
the disbursements were also in excess to the amount of £l3
125., he thought the Court would agree with him in adopt-
ing the expression, that it was an error, and that the defen-
dant ought not to be prejudiced by it, and that the defen-
dant was upon this ground entitled to a new trial—unless it
could be shown that this sum of £l3 12s. had been accounted
for by the plaintiff. Mrs. Norton stated upon oath that from
the 23th September to the 6th Nov. she was not asked for
a farthing. Next, there was the fourth ground of surprise.
The hon. Mrs. Norton said that the plaintiff kept the book
in which were entered the sums of money. They left in
December at Edinburgh, when Mrs. Norton asked Miss
Sibley to let her have the book, which the latter declined
to do until three weeks had elapsed, and then the plaintiff
sent the book, and consequently Mrs. Norton says she was
taken by surprise, for although there is an entry of £l5,
which she swears was paid on 14th Oct„ and admitted to
have been received in the plaintiff's writing, the plaintiff, on
of
being recalled by Mr. Francis, gave in explanation that she
the
intended the entry of £l5, which was next the date Nov.
14th Oct., to have been put down under the date of I h
6. Under these circumstances Mrs. Norton might well be
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been taken not to make a mistake in the account, and not •
withstanding that the book was returned with this entry,
so that Mrs. Norton was taken by surprise in the plaintiff
not admitting what was regarded as an error. The Hon
Mrs. Norton had made an affidavit in which she stated that
she was utterly taken by surprise by the plaintiff persisting '
in the statement that she had not received from her the £l5
on the 14th Oct., on which day the plaintiff had been sup-
plied with the money, consisting of a £5 Bank of England