The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 14, 1863.

LAW INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT.
(Before Vice-Chancellor Stuart.)
THE COUNTESS DE LA SETTA V. LORD VERNON.
This cause, which has atti acted so much public interest,
came before his honour this morning for hearing, en ad-
journed motion that the Countess de la Setts should have
access to her children, the appointment of guardians, and
that the trustees should be restrained from appropriating
any part of the sum of £l,OOO secured to the Countess and
her children, as set out in the deed.
At the conclusion of the arguments,
His Honour delivered his decision, which was to the
effect that the children, or infants, were to be made defen-
dants in the suit, and that the trustes under the deed were
to be the guardians of the children. With respect to the
increase of the sum of £4OO, now payable to the Countess,
to £7OO, his honour made no order, but said, if a want of
funds should arise, application could be made to him at
chambers.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT—This Day.

OLD COURT.
(Before Chief Baron Pollock.)
CHARGE OF VILFUL MURDER.

Thomas Lidbetter was indicted for the wilful murder of
Martha Lidbetter, his wife, and also of his son Daniel.
The prisoner pleaded not guilty,
The prisoner was a cabinet bar-fitter, residing in the
Borough-road, and for some time had given way to intem-
perance in consequence of several contracts which he bad
taken turning out a pecuniary loss. The unfortunate man
had no ground of quarrel with his wife, and after he had
inflicted the wounds on them which produced death, delibe-
rately went to a medical man residing in the neighbourhood
with whom he was acquainted, and informed him of what
he had done.

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, on the ground
of insanity,

NEW COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Wightman.)
CHARGE OF WILFUL MURDER.

Mary Ann Payne, 21, married, was indicted for the
wilful murder of her son, Charles Albert, aged two years
and three months.

The prisoner pleaded not guilty.
It will be recollected that the prisoner resided with her
husband at No. 8, Alsop-terrace, Marylebone, and that
on the B,:h of June, about half-past eight, a
great excitement was occasioned in the neighbour-
hood in consequence of the prisoner jumping out
of the second floor window. On being picked up she was
conveyed within the house, and a surgeon sent for. It was
afterwards discovered that the infant child of the prisoner
died from wounds which had been inflicted on its throat.
When the surgeon arrived he found the prisoner in a state
of insensibility, and when she partially recovered she told
him she had met with the accident he was attending her
for, from falling from a door-step. She had no recollection
of having jumped out of window, and when she was told of
the death of her child she appeared perfectly bewildered.

Mr.Sltigh, for the defence, appealed to the jury to acquit
the unfortunate woman at the bar on the ground of tem-
porary insanity. She had suffered very much previous to
the birth of her child, and as she was then pregnant, he in-
sisted that the morbid state of mind, consequent upon that
circumstance rendered her an irresponsible person.

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, on the ground
of insanity.

THIRD COURT.
(Before the Recorder.)
THE INDECENT ASSAULTS ON WOMEN.

James Smith, alias Arthur Robert Willoughby Wade,
35. a gentlemanly-looking man, described as a soldier,
pleaded guilty to several indictments charging him with
indecently assaulting a number of pregnant women.
The circumstances connected with these charges will be
in the recollection of the public.
The Recorder said the prisoner had pleaded guilty to five
indictments of misdemeanour. Upon the first count he
should sentence him to twelve months' imprisonment, and
on the second to six months—the latter sentence to com-
mence at the expiration of the first.
Wm. James Martin, shipwright, pleaded guilty to an in-
dictment charging him with stealing a gold chain, the pro-
perty of Wm. Robertson.
He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment.
Thomas Redwood pleaded guilty to an indictment charg-
ing him with stealing a number of miscellaneous articles,
the property of Samuel Johnson.

He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
Wm. Smith pleaded guilty to an indictment charging
him with stealing a watch, the property of Philip Dods-
well.

He was sentenced to six years' penal servitude.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

Banquet to Captains Speke and Grant.

Last evening the members of the East India
United Service Club entertained Captains Speke
and Grant, the discoverers of the source of the Nile,
at a sumptuous banquet—the first public dinner
given by the club—at Willis's Rooms. About 160
gentlemen were present, including General Jacob,
C.B. (chairman), Colonels North and French (vice-
chairmen), Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein,
Lord Stanley, Sir J. Lawrence, Sir R. I. Murchi-
son, Sir L. Peel, Sir G. Everest, Sir J. Currie, Sir
G. Back, Sir James Hogg, Sir C. Nicholson, Sir R.
Vivian, &c.

The usual loyal toasts having been given,

The CHAIRMAN proposed the toast of the even-
ing, " The healths of their fellow members and
brother officers, Captains Speke and Grant," whom
he characterised as the two modern heroes of the
Nile. He adverted to the fact that from the time
of Herodotus the source of that river had been a

subject of curiosity, and quoted from Lucan to show
that the ancients regarded it as the Indians regard
the springs of the Ganges, as a kind of divine mys-
tery. He said that 30 years ago, in reading a work
on Egypt, he had been struck with the wording of
an ancient inscription which it contained—" I am
he that was, that am, and that shall be, and no
mortal can lift the veil that surrounds me."

That was popularly attributed by the Egyp-
tians to the Divine hand, but it might not in-
appropriately be applied to describe their ideas
of the origin of their sacred stream. That origin,
however, had now been discovered by their friends
Captains Speke and Grant, and he heartily congra-
tulated them on their great achievement. (Loud
cheers.) There were some objectors who asked,
" Cui bono ?" in the same spirit as the Scotch ma-
thematician, who, when invited to a perusal of
Milton, quietly inquired what it would prove ?
(Langhter.) To these objectors be could only reply
that anyone who unravelled a leaf of the book of
nature, and who, as " the priest and interpreter of
nature," expounded one passage in her open scroll,
was a benefactor to mankind. (Hear, hear.) It
they exulted in the researches of a Taschandorf,
who succeeded in finding an original manuscript of
the fourth century in a convent upon Sinai, how
much more pride should they feel in the labours of
their friends, the results of which had an import-
ance that none could estimate P When Newton
brought a ray of light into a dark chamber, and
separated it into its component elements—when
Galvani experimented upon a poor frog, and made
its limbs quiver by means of an agent to them un-
known, their experiments might have been re-
garded at the time as trivial, but what immeasur-
able power had they not put into the hands of man !
And so with their guests It was impossible now

o foresee what consequences to science might arise

from their discovery. Who knew what new fields
it opened to us, in language, in ethnology, and in
geographical inquiry ? (Hear.) It might be the
means of introducing us to a new country of
gorillas, and possibly might even supply Professor
Huxley with his "missing link." (Laughter.)
They did not even fully understand the dis-
covery, much less were they able to estimate its value,
and they must wait for the book Captain Speke had
promised them to gain further information upon the
subject. (Hear.)
Captain SPEKE, in acknowledging the compli-
ment, paid a graceful tribute to the hospitality of
his entertainers, and dwelt upon his attachment to
the service of which both he and they were mem-
bers. He then stated that after being ten years in
India, be took furlough, and instead of coming direct
home, spent some time in Africa, which had since
become the land of his adoption. They were all
aware of what he had done there. (Hear, hear.)
It was not every expedition of the kind that was
successful, and on his first journey he was speared
and kicked out of the country. (Laughter.) That
was at the time of the war in the Crimea, and as
that was too great an inducement for him to with-
stand, he proceeded thither. On returning to Eng-
land, the Geographical Society, then in full force,
wished a large tract in Africa to be explored, a
piece of land which was described by certain church
missionaries to be as large as the Caspian Sea. At
the suggestion of Sir George Back, an expedition
was accordingly organised, in which he (Captain
Speke) took part, and laid down what they saw in
the map before them—the southern end of the Vic-
toria Nyanza lake, He believed from the first that
the Nyanri was the source of the Nile, as he had sur-
veyed in Thibet, and saw such a strikingresemblance
between some of the lakes there and that to which

he referred as led him at once to the conclusion. When
he returned he had no sooner shown his maps to Sir
Roderick Alurchison than he said to him, " Speke,
we must send you there again." (Cheers.) Captain
Gram, an old fellow-sportsman in India, volunteered
to take a part in the expedition, and a more honour-
able, upright, and honest wan he never met with.
(Hear, hear.) He had told them all the tale, and
now returned his most eincere thanks for the
honour they had done him in making him one of
their guests on that occasion.
Captain GRANT also briefly returned thanks.
The " Home Government of India, proposed by
Colonel North, and acknowledged by Mr. Mills,
vice-president of the council, and " The Visitors,"
concluded the list of toasts.

been bough
TILE LABEDOYERE COLLECTION has
for the Imperial Library for 80,000f1 containing al
the newspapers, pamphlets, caricatures, and bills
pasted on the walls during the whole of the
Revolution;that were
altogether the, must extraordinary colleetion of the kind
ever gathered together.
BRITISH FISHERIES.—The annual report of
fish-
ing Fishery Commissioners show that the herring
off the coasts of Scotland and the Isle of Man,wa_s_verY
productive in 1862-830,934 barrels were cured,
year—
and
"
in-
crease of above 162,000 barrels over the previous
and 491,910 barrels were exported, an increase of 101,996
barrels. The quantity branded increased
by 81,365 bar-
rels, showing the increased reliance of the Continent upon
the brand. The Continent is the only important foreign
market; the large trade to the West Indies before
ieman-
cipation has shrunk into nothing. Last year for
the first time several beats fished off Wick for
t
her-
rings in the winter. They were found with milt
and roe, with the appearance of becoming full fish in
three or four weeks. The experiment will probably be re-
peated and extended. The opinion is now very generally
entertained that the herring spans twice in the year. The
cod and ling fishery of 1862 was about an average fishing.
Several vessels went to Rockall, but the adventure does not
appear to have been very successful ; severe weather was
experienced thdre, and it was thought that too many at.
tempted the enterprise at once, and that this caused several
to come away disappointed; 13,144 boats, manned by
43,508 fishermen and boys were employed in the herring
and cod and ling fisheries in 1862, an increase of 183 boats
and 757 men; and the estimated value of the boats, nets,
and lines was £811,355. It is estimated that these fisheries
also gave employment to above 53,000 other persons.
A Turin letter contains the following :—" A
solemnity of which the importance has not been
sufficiently remarked is the institution of the national rise-
shooting fete which has just taken place rec, Turin, under
the patronage of Prince Humbert. This awakening of the
military spirit is calculated to attract attention, The nation
feels instinctively that it will be great and powerful only as
far as it shall be armed, and able to defend itself. Na-
tional rifle-shooting societies exist more or less in all free
countriesinEurope, but scarcely anywhere is it essentially a
monarchical and conservative institution. In Switzerland it
bears a very marked political colour, and only a certain
part of the population take part in it. In Italy, on the con-
trary, it is governmental and conservative ; and everywhere
the upper classes apply themselves to the exorcise. Prince
Humbert was invited, by a deputation of the Swiss marks-
men, to be present at the Federal rifle festival at Chaux-
de-Fonds. As the acceptation involved an official
journey abroad, the question had to be submitted
to the Ministers, who decided in the negative,
The Ministry considered that to allow the hereditary
Prince to travel abroad or on the eve of his majority, and
on the occasion of a fete possessing so marked a character
as the Swiss national rifle meeting, would be inopportune.
Had Prince Amadeus been the person invited, the Go-
vernment would have made no objection; but much
greater reserve is necessary with respect to the pre-
sumptive heir to the throne. Besides, Prince
iluinbert is to go to Naples during the month,
which is the principal reason alleged for declin-
ing the invitation to the federal fete. The camps for mili-
tary instruction have commenced in Italy. They have been
formed in Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia, and Tuscany.
This is the first time, since the war of 1859 and 1860, that
Italian troops have been assembled in training camps
That fact is the best proof of the re-establishment
of tranquillity, and of the complete absence of disquietude
in the interior. Although the provinces are deprived of
troops, order and calm prevail everywhere,"
CRYSTAL PALACE, ONE SHILLING DAY, ON
DAY, July 13.—Admissions on payment, 7,731; ditty
by
ieabou tickets, 1,099; total visitors, 8,830,

NAVAL PROMOTIONS—This Evening.

The following appointments were made at the Admiralty
this day :
Thos. Lumley, promoted to chief engineer.
Thos. Elliott, appointed paymaster in charge of the Wye.
E. F. Nicholson, paymaster, to the Duke of Wellington.
Naval Cadet Nominated—Robert Henry Stewart.