The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-01 00:00:00

= rnE,. SUN, LONDON,. TUESDAY tVE'NING, ',NOVEMBER .‘l, 1864.

LAW INTELLIGEZ,ICE—This Day.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.

Mr Commissioner Holroyd resumed his sittings after the
vacation, bat was occupied during the morning in hearing
applications in the private room. The list was very light.
Mr Registrar Winslow also sat as commissioner, but was
occupied the whole of the morning at a private examina-
tion.

RE COLONEL W. 4.11011.
This case will be heard on Thursday, not Wednesday,
as before stated.
Mr Commissioner Goulburn will not sit till Thursday.

SHERIFFS' COURT.
(Before Mr Commissioner Kerr.)

CAN A *WOMAN MARRY HER FIRST HUSBAND'S lIALP.

BROTHER LUDDEN Y. ENGLISH.

In this case plaintiff sued a Mrs Eliz ibeth English for
rent, and when the case was called on the defendant stepped
into the box,

His Honour—How do you make out this case, plaintiff?
Plaintiff—She occupied rooms in my house, and has not
paid the whole rent.

Defendant—l am a married woman.
Plaintiff—No, she is not. She has married two brothers,
and therefore the second marriage is void.
His Honour—That would be so, Mrs English. You
see that, by the English law, you are forbidden to marry
your first husband's brother.
Defendant—l was lawfully and regularly married to
him,

Plaintiff—Were you married to him abroad ?
Defendant—Oh, dear no. We were married in Eng-
land.

Plainiff—Then your marriage is not recognised here.

Defendant—My second husband was not exactly my
first husband's brother, but more l.ke a brother in-law.
(Laughter.)
His Honour—Well, perhaps there might not be so much
objection to that.

Plaintiff—But the husbands were not brothers-in-law.
As I am informed, they were of the same name and brothers.
His Honour—Well, let us see. Now, Mrs English, what
was the name of your first husband ?
Defendant—Robert Hall Englbl, and he died In 1850.
His Honour—And what was the name of the second
husband ?

Defendant—James English. I married him in Juno, 1863.
His Honour—Well, were they brothers ?

Defendant—No, they were like brothers-in-law.
His Honour—How was that ?

Defendant—Old Mr English, the father, was twice mar-
ried, and his first wife bore him my first husband, his second
wife my second husband.
This answer caused no little surprise, calculation, and
argument in court.
His Honour—Then you see, Mrs English, that you have
married two half-brothers.

Defendant—Yes, I think that is it.
His Honour (considering)—Well, I do not know, no, I
do not think it will do, Mrs English ; but it really is a very
nice question in common law. The question will be, " Can
a woman marry her husband's half-brother ?" In my
opinion it is prohibited. It seems very hard, Mrs English,
but I am afraid you oannot set up your marriage as a
defence to the action.

Defendant—l had no idea that the marriage was not a
good one.

A young man here stepped forward, and said he was the
son of the old gentleman, known as the second husband.
He complained of the manner in which the plaintiff had
gone on with the case,• and with some little warmth of
temper, said that the old gentleman had never been seen;
and yet plaintiff had the blushing effrontery to come for-
ward and say he had promised to pay the money.
His Honour—So far as the case has gone I have nothing
to do with the old gentleman at all ; the only matter for me
to consider is whether defendant is married, and if such
marriage is a good one. I do not think that in law a woman
can marry her first husband's halt brother, and so I am
bound to decide that defendant cannot plead her marriage.
However, as it does seem to be a hard case upon Mrs Eng-
lish, who might have fancied it was a good marriage, I will
let the case stand over so that the parties may come to some
arrangement about the payment.
Verdict for the plaintiff.

THE SHERIFFS OF LONDON AND MIDDLESEX.—
The ancient ceremony of cutting faggots, chopping sticks,
with a bill-hook and chopper, and counting horseshoes and
nails, as suit and service to the Crown for the right and pri-
vilege of the City of London to choose the Sheriffs of London
and Middlesex, took place yesterday morning before Mr W.
H. Walton, the Queen's Remembrancer and Senior Master
of the Court of Exchequer, at the Queen's Remem-
brancer's-offiee, Chancery-lane, with all the usual cere-
monies. Until within the last three or four years the
eeremony used to be carried out with all due civic pomp
and grandeur on the occasion of the Sheriffs of London
and Sheriff of Middlesex proceeding in Ste.to to Westmin•
ster-hall on the 30th of October, when they were pre-
sented in due form by the Recorder to the then Cursitor
Baron, the late Right Hon. Mr Bankes, in the Court of
Exchequer, for the approval of the Crown. On those occa-
sions the court was always crowded. Some years ago, when
great reforms in law took place, and a number of patent
offices were abolished, the Cursitor Baron was made to
cease on the death of Mr BAnkes. When that event
took place the duty fell on the Barons of the Ilxchequer,
but that being found most inconvenient a short Aot
of Parliament was passed to do away with the cere-
mony of presentation, but reserving all the other ancient
ceremonies, appointing the barons or their chief officer, the
Queen's Remembrancer, to see the ceremony performed.
Accordingly, yesterday morning the City solicitor, as repre-
senting the corporation, Mr: Davison, the senior under-
sheriff, as representing the Sheriff of Middlesex, and Mr
J. K. Potter, the Secondary, as representing the Sheriffs of
London, attended at Queen's Remembrancer's-office, when
the usher of the court made the usual proclamations, and
the ceremony of cutting faggots and chopping sticks
was performed as suit and service for a piece of land called
the Moor, in Salop, and containing six horseshoes and 61
nails as suit and service for a place called the Forge, in the
parish of St. Clement Dane. The usual warrants of attor-
ney to account having been filed and recorded, the cere-
mony terminated.

LIVERPOOL, Oct. 31.—FEDERAL CRUISERS AND
BLOCKADE RUNNERS.—The Bat steamer, from this
part, with machinery, was captured off Wilmington October
10 by the Federal steamer Montgomery ; one of the crew
was wounded and afterwards died. She arrived at Boston
in charge of a prize crew on the 17th. A blockade-running
paddle steamer, with smoke stacks, two masts, was sunk by
the blockading vessels off Charleston on the sth of October,
while trying to run in by the inner channel, Her mast
and smoke stacks were visible, but her bull was entirely
submerged. She was sunk at a point off Long Island out
of reach of the Confederate batteries, and it was probable
that she might be raised and portions of her cargo saved.
The Confederate steamer Florida was reported off Salt Key
Banks steering towards Havannah.
MR E. H. KNATCUBULL-HUGESSEN, M.P., AND
His CONSTITUENTS.—Mr E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen,
M.P., addressed a meeting of his constituents, in accordance
with an annual custom, at Deal, on Friday evening. The
meeting took place in the Town Hall, which was well filled
with electors, and the chair was occupied by Mr George
Hughes. The hon gentleman spoke at some length on the
various topics of the day; and at the close of his address a
vote of renewed confidence in him was passed.
GENERAL TODLEBEN.—GeneraI Todloben and
other officers in the Russian service visited Woolwich yes.
terday morning, and were received at the dockyard by Com-
modore Superintendent Hugh Dunlop, C.B. At 11 &clock
the party embarked on board the Admiralty steam-vessel
Vivid, Staff-Commander Allen, which proceeded down the
river to Long-reach, passing the immense works now in
progress for the southern metropolitan sewage outfall, and
the scene of the recent gunpowder explosion at Erith. The
Vivid returned to Woolwich at 12 o'clock, an intended
voyage to Shoeburyness, for the purpose of witnessing gun-
nery experiments, being, it is stated, postponed. After
landing at the jetty the general and party, accompanied by
Major-General Warde, C.B , paid a second visit to the
Royal Arsenal, and returned to London about 2 o'clock.
DETENTION OF THE ROYAL TRAIN.—About 2
o'clock a.m. on Saturday a goods train from War-
rington, while travelling on the up line near to Minshull
Vernon, was thrown off the rails by a valuable horse stray-
ing on the line. The animal had been grazing in a field;
and our informant, who visited the place, says that a gate,
regularly fastened with a chain round it, had been lifted off
its hinges and thrown into the field. It would have been a
work of great difficulty to have thrown it on the line. The
animal had passed through the gate. The Royal train,
containing her Majesty, was detained nearly an hour in
consequence. The line was blocked several hours, two or
three carriages having been pitchedclean over. This matter
calls for strict inquiry, as it must have been no easy matter
to raise the gate off its hinges,—Manchester Courier.
TRAGIC OCCURRENCE AT WEYMOUTH.—EarIy
yesterday morning the inmates of the residence of
Captain Dow, of Rodwell, Weymouth, were startled by the
cries of " Murder " proceeding from the upper part of the
rear of the house. Upon hastening to one of the servant'.
rooms it was discovered she was greatly excited, and said
that a man had just escaped from the window who had
pounced upon her whilst asleep and nearly strangled her,
Upon seurch being made, a ladder, which had been removed
from a house undergoing repair a short distance off, was
found raised against the bedroom window, and it was no
doubt by this means that the man gain'l
access to the
room. Marks of violence were found on the neck Of the
girl, and the house was in a state of alarm till daptre,....,
soon after which it was discovered that the man who had
entered the house was lying dead at the bottom of one of
the Weymouth and Portland Railway cuttings near the
back of the house, He was a marine nansed Henry Stokes,
belonging to her Majesty's ship Black Prince, and in his
flight had evidently fallen down the cutting, which is hewn
out of stone, and was killed. Footmarks which correspond
with deceased's boots were visible from the ladder to the
cutting. Au inquest was held. when a verdict in accord-
ance with 113 facts was recorded,

POLICE INTELLIGENCE,--This day.

MANSION-HOUSE.

EXTENSITE FRAUD.—Duncan Maclean Wright, a re-
spectably dressed man, was placed at the bar, before Mr
Alderman Stone, charged with endeavouring to obtain, by
false representations and fraudulent pretences, a quantity
of wine, and also with forging and uttering account bills of
exchange to the amount of £2,500.
Mr Sleigh, who attended on the part of the prosecution,
said the prisoner was charged with one Do Witt, who has
been under remand, with conspiring to obtain a large quan-
tity of wince from Messrs Garcia, Rubet, and Co., by false
pretences, and whose name, for obvious reasons, he had
not before mentioned in connection with the charge, was
apprehended by Sergeant Spittal, who, after some exertion,
had traced him from Liverpool to London. He should not
trouble the alderman with much evidence, but merely call
Spittal who, when apprehending the prisoner, told him the
charge, when he replied that ho intended to plead guilty,
and that he should do all in Lis power to obtain a complete
restitution of the property. He should then ask that the
prisoner bo remanded until to-morrow, when ha could ba
brought up in company and be examined with Do Witt.
Sergeant Spittal said he traced the prisoner from Liver-
pool to London, and last night he apprehended him in the
neighbourhood of Bayswater. When he told him the charge
against him, ho said he should plead guilty, and gave every
facility towards recovering the property.
Alderman Stone at once remanded the prisoner until to-
morrow.

Letter from the Vice-President of the
Confederate States.

The following letter from the Hon. Alexander H.
Stephens, giving his views upon the peace move-
ment, was written in answer to a letter addresed to
him by several of his fellow-citizens of Georgia :

Crawfordsville, Ga., Sept. 22.

Gentlemen,—You will please excuse me not answering
your letter of the 16th instant sooner. I have been absent
nearly a week on a visit to my brother at Sparata, who has
been quite out of health for some time. Your letter I found
here on my return home yesterday. The delay of my reply
thus occasioned my 'egret.
Without further explanation or apology, allow me now to
say to you that no person living can possibly feel a more
ardent desire for an end to b 3 put to this unnatural and
merciless war upon honourable and just terms than I do.
But I really do not see that it is in my power or yours, or
that of any number of persons in our position, to inaugurate
any movement that will ev,:n tend to aid in bringing about
a result that we and so many more desire.
The movement by our leg'slature at its last session, at the
suggestion of the executive, on this subject, was by autho-
rity properly constituted for such a purpose.
That movement, in my judgment, was timely, judicious,
and in the right direction. Nor has it been without results.
The organisation of that party in the North to which you
refer may justly be claimed as a part of the fruits of it.
These, it is to be hoped, will be followed by others of a
more marked character, if all in both sections who sincerely
desire peace upon correct terms will give the movement
thus inaugurated all the aid in their power.
The resolutions of the Georgia Legislature, at its last
session upon the subject of peace, in coy judgment embodied
and set forth very clearly those principles upon which alone
there can be permanent peace between the different sections
of this extensive, once happy and prosperous, but now dis.
tracted country.
Easy aid perfect solutions to all present troubles, and
those far more grievous ones which loom in prospect, and
portentously threaten in the coming future, is nothing more
than the simple recognition of the fundamental principle
and truth upon which all American constitutional libel ty is
founded, and upon the maintenance of which alone it can
be preserved—that is, the sovereignty, the ultimate abso-
lute sovereignty of the States. This doctrine our Legis-
lature announce—to the people at the North and to the
world, It is the only key note to peace—permanent, lasting
peace—consistent with the security of the public liberty.

The old Confederation was formed upon this principle.
The old Union was afterwards formed upon this principle.
No league can ever be formed or maintained between any
State, North or South, securing public liberty, upon any
other principle.
The whole framework of American institutions, which in
so short a time had won the admiration of the world, and
to which we were indebted for such an unparalleled career
of prosperity and happiness waa formed upon this principle.
All our present troubles sprung from a departure from this
principle, from a violation of this essential law of our poli-
tical organisation.
In 1776 our ancestors, and the ancestors of those who are
waging this unholy crusade against us, together proclaimed
the great and eternal truth, for the maintenance of which
they jointly pledged their lives, their krtuneg, and their
sacred honour,thatgovernments are instituted amongst men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
—and that whenever any form of government becomes de-
structive of those ends for which it was formed, it is the
right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute a new
government, laying its foundations on such principles and
organising its powers in such a form as to them may seem
most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
It is needless here to state that by " people," and

" governed," in this annunciation, is meant communities
and bodies of men capable of organising and maintaining a
government, not individual members of society. The con-
sent of the governed refers to the will of the mass of the
community or State in its organised form, and expressed
through the legitimate and property constituted organs. It
was upon this principle the colonists stood justified before
the world in effecting their separation from the mother
country. It was upon this principle that the original 13
co-equal and co-Sovereign States formed the Federal com-
pact of the old Union in 1787, It is upon the same principle
that the present co-equal and co-sovereign State of our con-
federacy formed their new compact of union.
The idea that the old Union, or any union between sove-
reign States, consistently with this fundamental truth, can
be maintained by force, is preposterous. This war springs
from an attempt to do this preposterous thing. Superior
power may compel a union of some sort, but it would not be
the union of the old constitntion or of our new,

The subjugation of the people of the South by the people
if the North would necessarily involve the destruction of
the constitution and the overthrow of their liberties as well
as ours. The men or party at the North to whom you refer
who favour peace, must ba.brought to a full realisation of
this truth in all its bearings, More their efforts will result
in much practical good. Any peace growing out of a union
of States established by force will ba as ruinous to them
as to us.

The action of the Chicago convention, so far as its plat-
form of principle goes, presents, as I have said, on another
occasion, a ray of light which, under Providence, may prove
the dawn of the day to this long and cheerless night, the first
ray of light I have seen from the North since the war began.
This cheers the heart, and towards it I could almost ex-
claim, " Hail, holy light, offspring of heaven, first-born of
the eternal co-eternal beam. May I express thee un-
blamed, since God is light."

Indeed, I could have quite so exclaimed, but for the sad
reflection that whether it shall bring healing in its beams or
be lost in a dark and ominous eclipse ere its good work be
done, depends so much upon the action of others who may
of regard it and view it as I do. So at best it is but a ray,
a small and tremulous ray, enough only to gladden the
heart and quicken the hope.

The prominent and leading idea of that convention seems
to have been a desire to reach a peaceful adjustment of our
present difficulties and strife through the medium of a con-
vention of the States. They proposed to suspend hostilities
to see what can be done, if anything, by negotiations of
some sort. This is one step in the right direction. To such
a convention of the States I have no objection, as a peaceful
conference and interchange of views between equal and
sovereign Powers, just as the convention of 1787 was
called and assembled.

The properly constituted authorities of Washington and
Riehmond, the duly authorised representatives of the two
confederacies of States now at war with each other, might
give their assent to such a proposition. Good might re-
sult from it. It would be an appeal on both sides from the
sword to reason and justice. All wars which do not result
in the extinction and extermination of one side or the other
must be ended sooner or later by some sort of negotiation.
From the discussion or interchange cf views in such a
convention, the history as well as the true nature of our in-
stitutions, and the relation of the States toward each other
and towards the Federal head, would doubtless be much
better understood, generally, than they now are; but I
should favour such a proposition only as a peaceful confer-
ence, as the oonvention;of 1757 was. I should be opposed
to leaving the questions at issue to the absolute decision of
such a body.
Delegates might be clothed with powers to consult and
agree, if they could, upon some plan of adjustment, to be
submitted for subsequent ratification by the sovereign State
whom it affected, before it should bo obligatory or binding,
and then binding only on such as should so ratify it, It
becomes the people of the South, as well as the people of
the North, to be quite as watchful and jealous of their
rights as their common ancestors were.
The maintenance of liberty in all ages, times, and coun-
tries when and where it has existed, has required not only
constant vigilance and jealousy, but it has often required
the greatest privations, and sufferings, and sacrifices that
people or States are ever subjected to. Through such an
ordeal we are now passing. Through a like and even
severer ordeal our ancestors passed, in their struggle for
the principles which it has devolved upon as to defend and
maintain.
But great as our sufferings and sacrifices have been and
are, to which you allude. they are as yet far short of the
like sufferings and sacrifices which our fathers bore with
patience, courage, and fortitude, in the crisis that tried
men's soul's in their day, These are the virtues that sus-
tained them in their hour of need. Their illustrious and
glorious example bids us not to under-estimate the priceless
inheritance they achieved for us at such a cost of treasure
and blood.

Great as are the odds we are struggling against, they are
not greater than those against which they successfully
struggled. In point of reverses our condition is not to be
compared with theirs. Should Mobile, Savannah, Charles-
ton, Augusta, Macon, Montgomery, and even Petersburg
and Richmond fall, our condition would not then be worse
or less hopeful than theirs was in the darkest hour that
rested on their fortunes.

With wisdom on the part of those who control our destiny
in the cabinet and in the field, in husbanding and properly
wielding our resources at their command, and in securing
the hearts and affections of the people in the great cause of
right and liberty for which we are struggling, we could
suffer all these losses and calamities, and greater even, and
still triumph in the end.
At present, however, I do not see, as I stated in the
outset, that you or I or any number of persons in our posi-
tion, can do anything toward inaugurating any new move
went looking to a peaceful solution of the present strife.
The war on our part is fairly and entirely defensive in its
character. Row long it will continuo to bo thus wickedly
and mercilessly waged against us depends upon the people
of the North.

Georgia, our own State, to whom wo owe allegiance, has
with great unanimity proclaimed the principles upon which
a just and permanent peace ought to be sought and ob-
tained. The Congress of the Confederate States has fol-
lowed with an indorsement of these principles. All you
and I, and others in your position therefore can do on that
lino at this time is to sustain the movement already in-
augurated, and to the utmost ut our ability to hold up those
'doles as the surest hope of restoring soundness to the
' the North, as the brazen serpent was held up
the wilderness.

pn"..
public mina
far the healing of IKraeL
The chid aid and oucourarraeL...
party at the North is to keep Moro 41v+.,

' we can give the peace
these great

fundamental principles and truths, which alone will lead
them and us to permanent and lasting peace, with posses-
sion end enjoyment of constitutional liberty. With these
principles once recognised, the future would take care of
itself, and there would be no more war so long as they
should be adhered to.

All questions of boundaries, confederacies, and Union or
Unions, would naturally a.nd easily adjust themselves, ac
cording to the interest of pailies and the exigencies of the
times. Herein lies the true It.lw of the balance of power
and the harmony of States.—Yours respectfully.
ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS,

SECOND EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 O'CLOCK.

—_,
SPORTING INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

WORCESTER RACES—This DAY.
(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
HURDLE RACE.

Morocco
Ross 1
........
Ten ran.

THIRD EDITION