The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-20 00:00:00

TIM SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 20, 1864.

Court of Aldermen,

Yesterday the Aldermen of London held a mut-
ing at Guildhall, the Lord Mayor presiding. Mr,
Alderman Besley and Mr. Alderman Dakin, the
newly-elected sheriffs, were invited to come to the
table to enter into the customary bond for the due
execution of their office. Oa presenting themselves,
Mr. Alderman Besley,who at the recent election was
returned at the head of the poll, appealed to the
Court to decide the question of priority between
him and his friend Mr. Alderman Dakin, who is the
senior alderman of the two. The Town Clerk (Mr.
Weodthorpe), he said, without meaning any die•
courtesy to him, had a " knack" of calling the name
of Alderman Dakin before that of himself in matters
relating to the shrievality since the recent election.
That was not in accordance with the:return of the
Livery, and he submitted that the time had arrived
to have the point decided. To any ether man he
should have made some apology for mooting the
question, but his friend Alderman Dakin would, he
was sure, give him credit for desiring only to have
what was right done in the matter. The Livery
had returned him (Alderman Besley) at the head of
the poll, and he submitted that, as far as priority
and seniority were concerned, he was senior sheriff,
and that no resolution of that Court could alter or
affect the return of the Livery, which, he appre-
hended, must be taken to be final. Mr. Alderman
Dakin said he would cheerfully submit to what had
been the recognised rule in the Corporation of Lon.
don in cases where two aldermen had been elected
sheriffs. With regard to the accidental circumstance
of his friend Alderman Besley having been returned
at the head of the poll, he (Alderman Dakin) was
absent from this country at the time of the election,
but since his return he had been informed that from
day to day he was at the head of the poll until a few
hours before its close, when some 50 voters were slid•
denly and in a most mysterious manner, introduced (a
laugh), and to that accident his friend was indebted
for that seniority which he now most cheerfully ac-
corded him, taking the circumstance for what it was
worth. Mr Woodthorpe, the Town Clerk said, on
being appealed to at the Common-hall on the last
day of the election, he casually observed that it
might turn out on exsmination of precedents that
the gentleman who was at the head of the poll
the question being as between two aldermen, would
not be the senior sheriff. On a subsequent examine
ation of the books he had found that on the last
occasion when two aldermen were elected the alder•
man who had the largest number of votes was not
held to be the senior sheriff, and he had since
thought it his duty to communicate that precedent
to the two aldermen who had been recently re-
turned as sheriffs. He added, in reply to Mr Alder.
man Allen, that the election to which he had re-
ferred was in 1838, when Alderman Thomas John-
son and Alderman Thomas Wood were returned, the
votes being for Johnson 1,014, and for Wood 1,051,
and when Alderman Johnson, though not at the
head of the poll, but who was, of the two, the senior
alderman, was held to be the senior sheriff. Mr.
Alderman Dakin said he thought it would be found
by a clause in the Act governing the mode of elec-
tion that, whatever the order of return, the order of
precedent was conclusive where two aldermen, as
in this case, were concerned. Mr Alderman Cope-
land, M.P., said when he was elected sheriff with
Mr Booth he was only a liveryman, but a few weeks
afterwards he was elected an alderman; It was
then suggested that, having become an alderman,
he, and not Mr. Booth, was the senior sheriff, but
he declined to raise the question, though many of
his brethren in the Court thought the alderman
ought to have taken the precedence. He Low moved
that the matter in dispute be submitted to the ar-
bitrament of the General Purposes Committee. The
motion was at once adopted, and Mr. Alderman
Besley and Mr Alderman Dakin then executed each
a bond, pledging himself in the sum of £l,OOO to
the due execution of the office. The Remernbrancer
(Mr Carrie) having reported that the Brokers' Bonds
and Rents Bill had been rejected by the House of
Lords, Mr Alderman Waterlow moved, pursuant to
notice, that a reference be made to the General Pur-
poses Committee to consider the present regulations
in respect to brokers in the city, with power to con-
fer with the City Lands Committee of the Court of
Common Council, and other parties interested in the
matter. He explained that the evidence taken
before the committee cliEclosed that a large number
of the brokers felt that there should be some modi-
fication of the rules and regulations made by the
Court of Aldermen in the interests of the class gene-
rally. ►ihen the corporation opposed the bill which
had been rejected by the Lords they were Lot
actuated by any consideration in regard to the loss
of £3,000 or £4,060 a year it would entail on them,
but because they believed the control exercised by
the Court of Aldermen was for the benefit and pro-
tection of the public; and desiring that that control
should be continued, but in a way most convenient
to the trade, ho asked to have the matter referred to
a committee. The motion was seconded by Mr
Alderman Finnis and carried. The Town Clerk
reported that he had received a communication from
the Home Office that Sir G. Grey had on Monday
last signified his approval to the by-laws recently
submitted to him by this Court for the regulation of
the traffic in the city. The by-laws so sanctioned
were ordered to be advertised in conformity with
the Act of Parliament preparatory to their being
brought into practical operation a month after the
date of their approval by the Home Secretary. The
Court then adjourned.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE,

NORFOLK CIRCUIT.—AYLEsEuRY, July 19.

The commission for the county of Buckingham was
opened with all due formality by Baron Bramwell yester-
day afternoon, and this morning the business commenced
at 10 o'clock. It is of a lighter description than has been
known for a long time past, there being not one cause and
only eight prisoners for trial, against whom, however, the
charges are serious—vix., one of murder, one of man-
slaughter, two of burglary, two of rape, one of wounding,
with intent, and one of coining.

CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr Baron Bramwell.)

Wm. John Stevens was indicted for the wilful murder of
Annie Leeson, at Buckingham, on the 27th February.
Mr Keane, Q.C., and Mr Markby were counsel for the
prosecution—the prisoner being defended by Mr Payne.

From the opening statement of the learned Counsel for
the prosecution it appeared that the prisoner and the poor
girl whose death was the subject of the present inquiry, and
who was a servant in the employ of a butcher at Bucking-
ham, were not only near neighbours but were lovers—at
least there was sufficient proof on the prisoner's side of a
eery strong affection. They both used to meet once a week
at Buckingham where her parents lived,and where he lodged
with her parents. On Saturday, Feb. 27, she having then
gone home as usual, went out with a pail to the pump near
her parents' house, and before she could be aware of what
was about to happen the prisoner, whose step had been heard
in the house, was seen to run out after her, say something
to her, and immediately clasp her round the neck, and draw
something across her throat. The poor creature got away
from him and staggered into her master's shop, who to his
horror found her throat cut, and in whose arms she died in
a few minutes, the prisoner having in the meanwhile cut
his own throat so severely as nearly to die himself.

The learned Counsel for the defence examined the charge
and the evidence in support of it, and after a careful inves-
tigation, urged the main—nay, the only point in behalf of
the prisoner—viz., that the state of frenzy he was in from
jealousy drove him beside himself and into the commission
of the dreadful act.

His Lordship then proceeded to sum up the evidence,
and said—" Gentlemen, this is a very sad case. You have
a young girl of good character losing her life through the
act of one who otherwise has been a well-conducted young
man, and who, had his feelings been under proper control,
might have passed the remainder of a respectable life. The
learned judge then told thq jury that there were three ques-
tions for them to consider—first, how did the girl's death
happen ? secondly, by whose hand was her death inficted ?
and, thirdly, if by the prisoner's hand, what was the nature
of the crime ? As to the first and second, after the incon-
testable evidence that had been adduced, the jury could
have but little doubt. As to the third, said his lordship,
if a man wilfully inflicts a wound calculated to cause death,
and death ensues, it matters not that he had in his mind
no wish or intention to take life, ho must be held respon-
sible for the consequences of his act, and his crime is mur-
der, and the good sense of this is obvious; for what does it
matter to society whether the man intended to kill or not if
he does take life ? lam bound to tell you, gentlemen, that
there is no evidence that this crime is other than murder if
you think the prisoner did the act."

The jury, after a shcrt deliberation, returned into court
with a verdict of Guilty, and, after the prisoner had been
called upon in the usual way,

His Lordship sentenced him to death,
(Before Baron Channell.)

Thomas Price, aged 17, pleaded Guilty to the manslaugh-
ter of Wm. Dale at Beaconsfield, on the 12th June.
In passing sentence, his Lordship said—You have
pleaded guilty to this very serious charge. I have looked
through the depositions in order to see what are the real cir-
cumstances connected with it, and I gather from them that
you caused the death of the deceased under the influence of
great provocation on his part towards yourself. This un-
fortunate event began in what is called a " lark," and I see
that the first act of violence, after the " lark" assumed a
different appearance, proceeded from the deceased. In re-
turn for the blow you received you threw a stick, which hit
him on the back of the head, when he rosy as if for the pur-
pose of hitting you again, staggered towards you, and fell.
I am sure when you come to think of and reflect upon this
sad termination of your dispute, you will feel acutely for
having been the cause of the death of a fellow-creature, and
I therefore think it unnecessary to say anything to increase
your grief, nor do 1 think this mischance calls for a very
severe punishment—l therefore sentence you to three
weeks' imprisonment. _ _

With this case the business of the circuit for the county
of Bucks ended.

NORTIIERN CIRCUIT.—NEWCASTLE, July 18.
CIVIL COURT.
(Before Mr Baron Pigott.)
GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY V. NESBITT.

This was an action at the instance of the Great Northern.
Railway Company for 163 31, being the difference between
a third-class railway ticket between King's-cross station,
L-ndon, and Morpeth, and a second-class ticket between
the former station and Newcastle, and also for Ss. 1011,
being the charge for the defendant's luggage between Lon-
don and Morpeth.
Mr Mellish, QC., and Mr Davison appeared for the plain-
tiff ; and Mr James, Q.C., and Mr Jones for the defendant.
It appeared from the opening statement cf the learned
counsel for the plaintiffs that the defendant was the
manager of a large drapery establishment iu Newcastle, and
the action was instituted to recover two very small sums,
the payment of which involved a question of principle of
considerable importance to the railway companies, and
which sum he believed the defendant refused to pay. The
present action was brought to recover—first, the sum of
16s. 61. for difference in fare, which arose in this way. They
would perhaps be aware that on all railways there ware what
were called Parliamentary trains—viz., trains which carry
3d-class passengers at id. per mile, and these trains stopped
at the stations. All railway companies were bound to run
such trains at least once in every 21 hours. A quick train
leaves London at a quarter past 9 in the evening, and arrives
at Newcastle at 5 o'clock in the morning, by which the
Great Northern and the North Eastern carry passengers
who wish to go to Morpeth or the North at ld, a mile—but
they have to wait at Newcastle until 6 o'clock, when a train
takes them to Morpeth, and by that train third-class pas-
sengers could only be booked for Morpeth and the North.
The fare,which is ld. a mile between Morpeth and London,
amounts to £l4s. 31., while the second-class fare from Lon-
don to Newcastle amounts to £2OB. GI., being IGs. 3d. more
than the third-class ticket to Morpeth, It was perfectly
plain from the conduct of the defendant in the case that ho
must have known what the regulations of the company
were. On the Bth of April last he went to the King's-cross
station in time to start by the quarter past 9 train,and took
out a third-class ticket for Norpeth. Among other regula-
tions to which third-class passengers were subjected by the
Act of Parliament, there was one that they were not en-
titled to carry with them more than 561 b of luggage. The
defendant came to hang's-cross station with a portman-
teau and a large parcel, and the largo parcel was not
passengers' luggage at all, as it contained drapery
goods for the purpose of sale, lle told the porters to put
his luggage into tha Newcastle van, and by the order
they supposed that the defendant was either a first or a
second-class passenger. If they had been told that he was
a third-class
passenger to Morpeth he would then have had
to pay 111. for every pound of luggage above 561 b. Having
given these orders to the porter he went and took out a
third-class ticket for Morpeth, and on the back of the
ticket there was the following condition :—" This ticket is
issued on the understanding that it is only available as a
ticket to Morpeth, and should the holder alight at any other
station he or she will have to pay the full second-class fare
from the place of starting." The defendant admitted that
he never had the slightest intention of going to Morpeth,
but simply to Newcastle. This was a device to get to New-
castle for a third-class fare by a train which only carried first
and second-class passengers, When the defendant arrived
at Newcastle the ticket collector checked hie ticket and re-
turned it to him, and his luggage being in the Newcastle
van was of course taken out, but the collector, who knew
the defendant was possessed of a ticket for Morpeth, seiz3d
the luggage before it got out of the station. The luggage
was sent on to Morpeth, and the defendant refusing to pay
for a second-class ticket, as set forth on the conditions of the
back of his ticket, his luggage was retained until he should
do so. The defendant had brought an action against the
North-Eartern Railway Company for de.aining his luggage,
but the action had yet to be tried by a jurY. The question
in the present case Was, then, whether the Great Northern
Railway Company was entitled to 163 3d, the difference be-
tween the third-class faro to Morpeth and the second 'class
fare to Newcastle, and also whether they were entitled to
the 8s 10:1d for the Glib parcel, at lid per lb. The defendant
had also thought fit to charge the railway company with
having entered into the agreement to convey him to Mor-
peth by means of fraud. Ile (the defendant) said that the
word " Parliamentary" on the railway ticket was in large
letters, while the conditions on the back were in small letters,
and that ho thought was for the purpose of deceiving him.
That charge, ho thought, was entirely unfounded, These
were the facts of the case.

These facts having been proved,
The learned counsel for the defendant contended that the
regulation of the company in preventing- a passenger from
stopping before the end of the journey for which he had
paid was absurd and ridiculous. It must be more advan-
tageous to the company to get rid of the passenger and his
luggage, whom they had to carry, and the passenger might
stop eotaoknenhiiltl
joonurtnheeywwaiyth,
without
td
paying- Nc,asit
the difference betweento be said he should not
his Parliamentary train fare and the second-class
fare to that place ? These regulations of railway companies,
who were monopolists, ought to be strictly watched, or the
interests of the public suffered. In point of law he con-
tended that the company had no right to detain either the
defendant or his luggage as they had done.
His lordship having summed up the evidence,
The jury found a verdict for the plaintiffs for the amount
claimed.

In the action by the defendant against the company for
detaining his luggage, it wag agreed to refer it to the
decision of his lordship,

MILLER Y. THE RIVER TYNE COMMISSIONERS.
This Elation has occupied the greater part of the day, and
WM brought by the plai4tiff, the owner of the prig John

Botcherley, to recover £3OO for damages and demurrage
arising out of a collision in the river Tyne, a " steam hop-
per"•laden with river scrapings belonging to the defendants
having run into the plaintiff's vessel and greatly damaged
her, causing her to be delayed repairing 32 days, for which
demurrage at £2 a day was claimed and tho cost of her re-
pair. The collision took place on the 13th of February,
during a hurricane of wind, the steam hopper going down
the river laden to sea, and the plaintiff's vessel going up the
river. The plaintiff's case was that it was entirely the fault
of the defendant's steamer, which took the wrong course.
The defendants' case was that it was the fault of the plain-
tiff's vessel, which was oat of its course, and that the de-
fendants' steamer could not have safely lane otherwise
than she did,

Mr Temple, Q.C., and Mr llciall appeared for the plain-
tiff, and Mr James, Q.C., and Mr Bruce for the defendants.
The civil business was concluded to-night.

CROWN COURT.
(Before Lord Chief Justice Cockburn.)

In the Crown Court the town prisoners were tried before
Lord Chief Justice Cockburn to-day. The principal case
was a charge of rape against a man named James Carlow,
an engineer, who was charged with successive rapes on four
little girls, at different times, all the children being under
the age of 10 years, and he had induced one to bring the
others to him. The particulars were most disgusting and
unfit for publication.
The prisoner was found guilty on two charges, and sen-
tenced to 15 years' penal servitude.
This finished the assizes.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—DEnnY, JVLY 18,
LINACRB V. ADAMS.

This was an action by the executors of a carpenter to re-
cover the value of work done by the deceased upon a house
alleged to belong to the defendant.
Mr Serjeant Hayes and Mr Wills were for the plaintiffs,
and Mr Boden, Q.C., and Mr Mellor for the defendant.
The plaintiffs allegea that the work had been ordered by
the defendant, and that he had offered to pay the amount
claimed (£23125.), if they would deduct £7. This proposal
not having been acceded to, and the defendant not paying
the money, the plaintiffs consulted their attorney, who
wrote a letter to the defendant demanding payment, and
winding up with the usual request for 3s Gd for the costs of
the application. Upon receiving this letter the defendant
consulted a local preacher named Shore, who appeared to
act ao his legal adviser, who had wroto a letter in reply.
stating that the amount claimed had been overpaid, and
winding up as follows:
"As for the 3s Gd you charge Mr Adams, I can honestly
tell you I will never pay you, neither in this world nor yet
in the world which is to come, (Laughter.) So, if no one
pays you the 3s Gd in this world, you must claim it in the
next, in that country where lawyers go to. (Roar of
laughter.) Even there your claim will be as just as it is
here, and the £23 12s will share just the same fate, so you
can proceed as soon as you like and at fast as you like."
The defence now set up was that the house belonged not
to the defendant, but to his son, who was employed at the
railway station, Derby, at wages of £1 a week, and that the
work had been done for him and not for his father,

The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for the full
amount claimed.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The ironcased sloop Enterprise, 4, 993 tons, 160-horso
power, Commander C. J. Rowley, still lies at moorings in
the Medway, at the entrance to Chatham harbour. The
principal alteration already made has been the construction
of the wrought dron casing, round the funnel, inside the
battery, whereby considerably increased room has been ob-
tained for working the heavy guns with which this iron-
cased ship is armed. Instead of the armament she has
hitherto carried the Enterprise will in future mount
two of the 100-pounder, smooth-bore, wrought-iron, 6k-ton
guns, and two of the 100-pounder naval Armstrong guns,
of 84 cwt, each. During the recent experimental cruise the
Enterprise showed that she excels both in steaming and
sailing qualities most of the other vessels composing the
squadron. There are some minor alterations to be made
on board before the Enterprise leaves the Medway.
The Research, 4, 200-horse power, Capt. A. Wilmshurst,
the second of Mr Reed's ironcased ships, has been removed
from the Medway into the great basin, where she is under-
going some trifling alterations, and making good defects.
Among the other improvements which are being effected on
board is an alteration in the funnel, which has been taken
completely out of the midship battery and placed further
forward in the ship, thereby giving a very considerable in-
crease of fighting space in the battery—a most important ad-
vantage, the value of which in a vessel of this class cannot
be overrated. She is also having strengthening beams in-
serted beneath the battery deck, in order the better to resist
the recoil of the enormous guns with which she is armed.
Mr Reed is also making some important improvements in
the arrangements for firing the battery guns, both forward
and aft. Hitherto the iron plates forming the port and
starboard bulwarks forward of the battery have been taken
down when it was necessary to fire the guns in a line with
the ship's deck; but there being several objections to this
arrangement—not the least of which would be the loss of
time incurred when the vessel was being cleared for action,
Mr Reed intends to alter the bulwarks so that they may
open inboard, on a hinge, by which arrangement they can
be cleared and the guns trained in a few seconds. This
considerably simplifies the arrangements for cleating for
quarters, and will also, it is believed, have the effect of
keeping the decks more clear and preventing the smoke from
the guns rolling inboard. The Research, before being put
out of the basin, will be fitted with a donkey engine.
According to orders received at Chatham, the armament of
the Research is to be altered, and she will in future be sup-
plied with four of the 100-pounder 6 ton smooth bore
wrought iron guns.

Yesterday a number of boys and lads from the training
ship Wellesley, 72, in Chatham harbour, left that vessel,
and were conveyed in the Wildfire, paddlewheel steamer, to
the Nore, where they joined the Clio, 22, Captain N. E. B,
Tumour, fitting for the Pacific, and the Fawn, Commander
C. J. Wrey, fitting for the West Indies.

HEALTH OF LONDON.

(From the Reyistrar-General's _Report.)

Thirteen hundred deaths were registered in London in the
week that ended last Saturday. Of those 607 were deaths
of males, 633 of females. The average number of deaths
for the 28th week of 10 years, 18d4-63, is, with a correction
for increa,o of population, 1,212. The actual number is 88
in excess of that which is obtained by calculation.
The deaths from diarrhoea increase steadily, but slowly,
and, after having been 71 and 81 respectively in the two
previous weeks, rose to 97 last week. The mortality from
measles oontinues high, but it has not increased within the
last two months. It was fatal in 81 cases in the week, the
average for corresponding weeks being only 34 ; 84 of the
97 cases of diarrhea occurred to infants less than two years
old.

There were 6 deaths from measles in the Poplar sub-
district, and 5 in that of St. James, Bermondsey, Of d 8
deaths from scarlatina in the metropolis, 6 occurred in the
sub•district of St. John, Westminster, and 9 in Hoxton.
A young man died in Middlesex Hospital of apnoea from
chloroform and loss of blood during an operation. A boy,
aged three years, died of laryngitis from drinking boiling
water out of a kettle.

A widow died at the age of 98 years.
Last week the births of 955 boys and 919 girls, in all 1,874
children, were registered in London. In the 10 correspond-
ing weeks of the years 1854.63 the average number (cor-
rected) was 1,885.
METROPOLITAN WATERS FOR JUNE, 1861.
The domestic waters supplied to London are generally in
a purer condition than in the preceding month, according
to the analyses of Dr Robt. Dundas Thomson, F.R.S. The
East London and New River contain less total impurity
than in the preceding month, ar.d the latter only ono-half
the amount of organic impurity which it contained in May.
Total Impurity Organic
per gallon. purity.
grs. or deg. grs. or deg.
Distilled Water
Loch Latrine water, new supply
to Glasgow 2'35 •005
Manchester water supply

THAMES COMPANIES.
Chelsea
West Middleserx 16..6 1.24
Southwark
Grand Junction lB.BO 116
Lambeth
OTHER COMPANIES.
Kent
New River
East London
116

The table is read thus—Loch Katrine water contains in the
gallon 215 degrees or grains of foreign matter in solution,
of which •605 degrees or grains are of vegetable or animal
origin.

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height
of the barometer in the week was 29'931 in. The reading
fell to 29.87 in. on Wednesday, and rose to 30.01 in. on
Saturday. The mean temperature of the air in the week
was 00.8 deg., which is 0.9 deg. below the average of the
same week in 43 years (as determined by Mr Glaisher).
The mean daily temperature was below the average on every
day except Monday. The highest day temperature was 79
deg., and occurred onMenday; the lowest night temperature
occurred on Friday, and was 45.8 deg. The range of tem-
perature in the week was therefore 33.2 deg. The difference
between the mean dew-point temperature and air tempera-
ture was 9 deg. The mean degree of humidity of the air was
73, complete saturation being represented by 100. The wind
blew almost constantly from the north-east, The rain-fall
was only 0.02 in.

Ireland, by a recent Act of the Legislature, enjoys the
advantages of registration. Mr Donnelly, the registrar-
General of Ireland, to make it as useful as possible in pro-
moting the public health, now publishes a weekly table of
the causes of death in Dublin. Dr. Burke, in whose bands
it has been placed by the Registrar-General, adopts the
same forms as are in use in London; thus facilitating the
comparison of the two returns. The birchs registered in
Dublin during the weeks ending the 9th and 16th of July
were 134 and 142, and the deaths were 90 and 75-

The deaths in Vienna, as returned by Dr, G latter, were
303 in the week ending the 9th of July, when the mean
temperature was 67.5 deg., that at Oreenwich having been
60 6 deg•

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

- - -0-

TIMES.—The present war in New Zealand will
be memorable in the annals of the British Empire
if it really arouses the attention of Parliament to
the very peculiar relations that exist between our-
selves and our colonies. The old system of depen-
dence is gone, but it has left behind it many a bitter
legacy. We are at the present moment subjected
to the evils of the old and the new systems. We
find that we have raised up in the bosom of the em-
pire independent republics, with policy, feelings,
and interests entirely strange and uncongenial to
us. We have handed over to them our patronage,
which we do not regret; and the power of burden-
ing our trade with heavy imposts, which we hale
often reason to regret sincerely. We have sent out
the young people into the world, and they hare not
been slow in showing us how entirely they feel
emancipated from parental control. For all these
sacrifices, for all those concessions, we naturally look
for our reward. It is not much that we ask. We
do not seek for contributions to our revenue ; we do
not require that the colonies should consider our
wishes in time of peace, or lend us the slightest aid
in time of war. We only ask that they should give
us no trouble and put us to no expense; that, as
they have undertaken the management of their own
affairs, they will be so good as to conduct them in
their own way, and trouble us neither for advice
nor assistance. Our wishes have not been granted.
In the far North. West, Canada draws off a large
proportion of our army to defend a frontier which
she is well able, if she were but willing, to defend
for herself; and now New Zealand draws upon our
credit, demands 10,000 of our troops, and will not
allow us the miserable satisfaction of regulating the
policy for which we are to pay so dearly. General
Peel asks what power the Government of New Zea-
land has in directing the movement of the British
troops in that colony. He might have asked what
power the Government of England has in directing
he policy towards the natives which the troops
are sent to Now Zealand to enforce. It
is certainly bad enough that our troops
in New Zealand should be under the command
of a General who must obey the orders of a
Governor himself virtually dependent on the Colo.
nial Government. But it is infinitely worse that
our troops should not only be employed and
directed by what is essentially a foreign Power,
but should be the blind instruments of a policy in
forming which the English Government has really
no voice. If we lend our military and naval assis•
tance to a European State, we at least know what
we are fighting for, and have deliberately espoused
that side of the quarrel. But in New Zealand we
are fighting, not because we believe the quarrel of
the colony to be just, but because we are reduced
tamely to follow in the wake of the Parliament and
Ministers of New Zealand ; and to employ our
troops, not as allies and partners in the war, bat as
unreasoning instruments to execute a will which is
not the will of the country they serve. This is to
us the most mortifying and degrading part of the
whole transaction. It is bad enough to spend a
penny in the poand Income Tax on a war in which
we have no interest, and from which we cannot pos-
sibly derive the slightest advantage. It is worse to
have our army, which has so many claims on its
services, drawn off to a remote and ignoble field of
action, where victory is attended with no honour,
end defeat with unusual disgrace. Bat worse than
et! these is the helpless feeling that we are not in
our own hands, but in the hands of others; that we
are no core masters of our own policy than we are
of our own troops ; and that Mr Fox and Mr Whit-
taker, and no.t Lord Palmerston or Lord Russell,
are the persons to decide for what objects we are to
make war and on wha` terms we are to make peace.
With an empire that girciAlqs the earth, with a mag-
nificent trade, with an enormou,s revenue,
of our highest prosperity, we find urselvat a period
es reduced
to something like a state of subjection, our policy
thwarted, our credit commanded, our army eons
trolled and directed by a community the whole
population of which is not so large as a single
electoral district of this metropolis. This comes of
setting up independent Colonial Governments with-
out following the principle to its legitimate conclu-
sion, and leaving the colony to defend for itself the
rights which we have so cheerfully conceded. If it
be sound reasoning that every colony should be
intrusted with the management of its own affairs,
it is at least equally reasonable that it should defend
with its own hand the rights which it claims to
exercise. In the present instance we are not only
fighting and squandering our money for a policy
which is not our own, but for a policy as contrary
to our own as anything can possibly be conceived.
We have no quarrel with the aboriginal race of New
Zealand. We pride ourselves, and not unjustly, on
being superior to the prejudices of caste and colour,
and of being the friends—in theory at least—of the
whole human race. We have quarrelled with half
the nations of the earth for the sake of the negro,
yet we find ourselves employing our choicest troops,
with very indifferent success, as the agents in a war
of extermination. We are shedding our blood to
add one more to the long list of nationalities which
the gentle and pious Anglo-Saxon race have swept
off the face of the earth. And this we do at the
bidding of a small colony, for whose selfish purposes
we are content to assume the ignoble (Bee of exe-
cutioner upon a race fighting for all that makes life
worth having. If the colonists of New Zealand
have determined to exterminate its aboriginal in-
habitants and take their land for a spoil, can no
other arm than ours be found to fight the ignoble
battle and execute the execrable sentence ? Let
the colonists of New Zealand make peace or wage
war at their pleasure with their native neighbours,
but do not let us, by the loan of our credit and our
army, relieve them from the legitimate responsi-
bility for their own acts. if they are to divide the
game among themselves, let us leave to them the
honours and the penis of the chase. As it is, we
have contrived to make it the interest of the whole
colony to carry on upon as large a scale and for as
long a period as possible a war which is to them a
nane of wealth. The revenue flourishes, lucrative
contracts abound, every department of industry re-
ceives an unwonted stimulus by the profuse expen-
diture of British money that the war has occasioned.
We, who have wisely refused to give our colonies
the assistance of Imperial credit for the purpose of
works of reproductive industry—for the making of
roads, the building of bridges, and the construction
of railways—are lavish of our credit when the pur-
pose is war and destruction, the waste of the re-
sources of the present, and the anticipations of the
hopes of the future. Who can wonder that, with
such encouragement, little hopes are held out by the
New Zealand Government to induce the natives to
surrender ? In a recent proclamation the lands of
the Waikatoes are declared forfeited, and those who
were concerned with the King movement—that is,
the most influential chiefs of New Zealand—are
threatened with death. It seems as if capitulation
and surrender were not desired,—as if the object
were to prolong the conflict ter the purpose of
making it more complete a means not of conquest,
bat of extermination,

POST.—The season has arrived when the heat of
the weather usually produces a peculiar effect on the
brain and nerves of organised beings generally, ex-
cept perhaps those which live in the water. Notices
are poefed about to the effect that dogs found at
large without muzzles will be summarily dealt with
on the spot by the police. In fact, the days at this
season have been named after the canine animal. It
is the period of the year when they are most likely
to exhibit a very dangerous aberration from the
mess sana its corpora sano. The heat just now is
intense, water is more scarce, and what there is to
be found accessible to these animals is almost luke•
warm. Whether the comet that has been announced
is to be considered as the cause of the great heat and
drought which prevail at the present time, is a point
which may be left to experts to determine. But of
the fact of the heat itself there can be no question.
We are all painfully conscious of it. It was only the
other day that there were complaints of the cold ;
the complaints are now equally loud and general,
but this time it is the heat which is complained of.
We hope then that proper precautions will be taken
in reference to the dogs. But, as we said, it is not
merely the canine bat the human species which
seems to be just now suffering in this direction from
the effects of the intense heat on the brain and nerves.
We do not merely allude to the number of suicides,
attempted or accomplished,
the chief actors in which
are believed to have been suffering from mental
derangement, but to cases where the tendencies
manifested were homicidal, and not merely suicidal.
One of these, which formed the subject of a police
case at Bow-street, is. of a very peculiar nature.
The unfortunate manias was brought before the
magistrate for writing and sending threatening
letters of the most extraordinary and outrageous
character. These were so numerous that he may
really be said to have sown them broadcast, and so
truculent and sanguinary, that he appears to be a
patient of the most dangerous tendencies, But the
most curious hallucination of this unfortunate per-
son, whose name appears to be Edward Pope, and
who is described as a man of good education, and
acquainted with several languages, is that he fancies
himself the Prince of Wales, and that the Prince
of Wales is not the Prince of Wales, but somebody
else. He has also contracted a violent hostility
against Sir George Grey, Dr. Begley, a medical
gentleman connected with the institution at Han-
well, and other persons besides. One of the most
curious phenomena in the letters which this poor
man has made the medium for conveying his extra-
vegant sentiments is the repeated and emphatic
assertion that nobody shall know of his vengeance
until it has been executed. "No note of warning,"
he says; " no foolish scrawl warning them of their
coming fate! Deadly . silent !—silent as the grave."
'These letters opp ar e to have been addressed to the

Prince of Wales, Sir George Grey, Dr Begley, an,°:.
others. The English eotwil at BJulogne an
dressed in this stvle—" English Consul at Bow
'ogee, your doom is sealed Her Majesty's Secre;
Lary is bluntly informed—" Sir George Grey, ru,
fate is now at hand. You have but hours to live..
To these extraordinary epistles the author signs
himself sometimes by his real name, sometimes °Y
the title of " The Avenger," and sometimes he
ponds the signature of" Beware !" In one of these
wild and savage compositions he brings together all
his imaginary enemies in a batch—the Prince °I
Wales, Sir George Grey, the British Consul at
Boulogne, Dr Begley, &c. Here are some extracts
from these epistles—" You, 0 ! incarnate impostor
and chief of liars and usurpers ! a horrible vengeance
is waiting for you. The measure that is meted t°
your servant Grey shall be meted to you. And you,
vile agent of a wicked Government, shall recel"
your share of in the reward of those who are On;
donned by their acts." " Beware, for your term °`
life is short indeed—it is in my hands. The taking
of it will be a meritorious execution, and no Inur,,
der. You, with your master, that vile impostor W
usurps my station, shall fall by my hand. I aka
give you no warning. I am commanded by a higher
,
Power to say no more.—Yours, in eternal hatred,
" The A.venger!" This is addressed to Sir George
Grey. It is a providential circumstance that this
unfortunate lunatic did not carry out his alleged
designs with that secrecy and stealth which lie 6°
loudly proclaimed—with the curious inconsisten°l
and self-contradiction of madness—should chu:
racterise and pervade them. It appears that
this outrageously homicidal maniac is labouring
under delusions the natural effect of which would
be to impel him to the commission of the most frignl;
ful murders. When insanity takes the direction ef
.
murder and destructiveness of this sort, the patient
is more dangerous than a mad dog. The man igh°'
without being really a lunatic, was temporarill
maddened in a railway carriage the other del;
through morbid fear, arising from a overwrought
brain, the result of too great mental labour and ei
citement, was very nearly murdering his feller'
passengers. Had there only been a single traveller
in the carriage with him there would have bee°
murder without a doubt. But, violent as he was, )31
was unable to do more against his several intended
victims than to cut and wound them in a way 06t
was within an ace of crippling them for life. A W.'
firmed and dangerous maniac, however, like 016
unfortunate Mr. Pope, might go about destroying
numbers of lives. But perhaps the most signifies°',
point in the case is that which relates to the gees'
tion how far a madman is responsible for his 004
in the sense of being ameaable to the fear of punish'
ment. How far is a man like this maniac Pope
capable of understanding and feeling the connection
of cause and effect which subsists between crimes°
its penalties ? It is quite clear that though this man
is as thoroughly mad as mad can be, there is still s
good deal of method in his madness. Of courbc:,
like all persons in that unfortunate condition 0'
mind, he believes he is perfectly sane. " Say lam
mad !" he writes in one of his letters. "No one Will
believe you. Can a madman speak as I speak, f:
as I act, think as I think, write as I write ?"
main question therefore for the legislator is whether
or not such a man as this, notwithstanding his In.
sanity, knows the relation between the acts he el
templates and the punishment annexed to them. I%e
confess that it appears to us that many madmen
know and understand full well the connection he:
tween crime and the penalties it deserves, and the.'
therefore they are fit objects of punishment. It 1:
only when a man's insanity is of such a nature that
he is lost to all sense of the relation between his act!
and their consequences, in the shape of punishment
to himself, that he 6hould be allowed to escape the
penalties of the law. To render him liable to
ment it may not be sufficient that the madman
should understand merely the consequences of hi'
acts to..
his victims. He may know that running
a knife into a man will kill him, and he may use 6
knife in this way with the express object and motive
of destroying life; but, at the same time, he may
not understand that hanging is the lot of those Nok°
do such acts, He may not, in the state of mind be
is in, be able to comprehend and appreciate the
connection between these two things, and, in 0111'
a case, be may not be a fit object of punishment'
But where he does know and understand this COna
nection, it is against public policy and incompatible
with the safety of society that he should escape'
for the obvious reason in this case, that the Pre"
ventive effect of the punishment would be the ear°
as in that of a person not mad at all. The consider'
ations which would exempt such a criminal frel32,
punishment would be equally valid to exempt. 01
and every criminal whatever; because all criminals
in committing crime are impelled by the atronges.'
motives, and are therefore just as much as 0b1!
kind of maniacs, in a position to have it said that
they are not masters of themselves or their actions.
But, for all that, they both equally understood the
connection between crime and punishment, and are
therefore equally fit subjects for the operatioll
our penal ordinances.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

»-~p..,.~....

LEEDS—TUESDAY.
There were only small arrivals of fresh grain this srqk'
Factors are very firm, and our millers are compelled to Five
the full prices of last Tuesday. Spring corn of all luau'
in favour of the seller.
Averages—July:lB—Wheat 44s 6id per clr•
—Barley Od
—Oats . 22s 85d -
- —Beane 38s llid
—Peas 33410d --

LIVERPOOL—TUESDAY.
There was a small attendance of both town and cotilll
dealers at market this day. Wheat met with an acti%,,t
inquiry to hold over and for consumption at an advance v.,
Id per ceutal on last Friday's prices. For flour prices 31.1.9/
be quoted same as of late, but good brands are more divi;
cult to buy. Oats and oatmeal advanced in price. Bel
very steady. Peas and barley without any change•
Indian corn a limited trade was done, owing to the high
prices asked.