The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-09 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER.

AN INGENIOUS DEFENCE.—AIfred Parker, a espectable
looking middle-aged man, was placed at the bar before Mr.
Ingham, charged with stealing a set of harness.
Police-constable James Gower, 132 E, said that at five
o'clock this morning he was in Beaufort-mews, Chelsea,
when he found the prisoner sitting in a cab in a stable
yard, and found in his cap a pair of reins and a bridle. As
there had been a great many robberies of late committed in
that neighbourhood in various stable yards. witness asked
him where he got the harness from, when he said it belonged
to a man with whom he was going to buy a horse. Sub-
sequently an owner was found for the property.
Mr. King, the occupier of the stables in Beaufort-mews.
said that the hat ness had been stolen from there in the
course of last night. An entrance had been eff cted to the
stable by either a false key or by getting over a fanlight.
Mr. Ingham asked the prisoner what he had to say.
Prisoner said that it was kit a mistake about his stealing
the harn ss. The fact was that he wanted to try a horse,
but of course could not do so without rein.; or bridle, so he
went to the stable yard, where he was afterwards found,
and seeing a bridle and reins told a boy there that he should
like to borrow it, and would be sure to bring it back. He
took the bridle and reins and brought them back in the
course of last night, but not liking to restore it without
seeing the boy he was waiting till he came in the morning
to give him sixpence, when the policeman came up.
Mr. Ingham asked if anything was known of the
prisoner.

The police replied that he had been before convicted,
He was remanded for a week.

THAMES.

THE MAD SAILOR.—James Pavey, a seaman, who was
described as having no home and no occupation, and who
declared that any port in a storm would do for him, was
brought before Mr. Partridge charged with being drunk,
disorderly, and violently assaulting three police.constables,
named Thomas Robbins, 137 11, William Mitchell, 215 H,
and Thomas Coultrup, 44 H, in the execution of their duty.
The first two constables had sustained considerable injury.
The prisoner was very noisy and intoxicated last night
in Whitechapel, and there was a mob of disorderly persons
about him, whom he was fiercely haranguing in a very in•
coherent strain. R.bbins, who was the first policeman called
to him, endeavoured to get him away and disperse the mob
of disorderly persons about him, but he was unable to do
so, and he made a savage attack on the constable and
threw him. They rolled over and over each other on
the ground, and whilst doing so, he bit Robbins on the left
arm, through his coat and linen. Mitchell came to
the assistance of Robbins, and he was also attacked by the
maddened sailor. A fierce struggle ensued, in the course
of which, the prisoner seized Mitchell's hand, put it in his
mouth, and severely bit and lacerated one of his fingers.
Another constable, named Coultrup, came to the assistance
of the others; there was a good deal of up and down fight-
ing, the prisoner frequently escaped from the clutches of
the three officers, and was as often retaken; he roared,
shouted, and swore that twenty constables should not
take km, ; he capsized many persons about him, and
it was not until all his clothes were torn and he became
exhausted that he was secured. It required the united ex-
ertions of seven policemen and others to convey him to the
station house. On the way there he kicked Robbins on the
knee and disabled him for some time.

he prisoner, an active young fellow, said he was sorry
for what he had done—that he came on shore yesterday on
a cruise, and was " three sheets in the wind" and did not
know what happened to him.

Mr. Partridge said the police recollected too well what
had happened to them, and that it was impossible to over•
1 Jok a case of this kind, where policemen had been so fiercely
assaulted and injured. The prisoner had acted like a perfect
maniac and must be punished for his misconduct. He
sentenced the prisoner to be imprisoned for two months and
kept to hard labour.

THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY.—I wonder how often
the ensuiug conversation has taken place, word for
word, during the last twelve months? "Lord Duo dreary
—oh yes, delightful, is it not ?" "Yes, capital—very
amusing." " I wonder what he's like off the stage. Did
you ever see him ?" "Yes. I met him once at dinner."

" Yes ? How very nice. And what is he like ?" "
well, you know, he's a quiet, gentleman-like man."
"Really. How very delightful. I'd give anything to see
him. They say that acting the part so often has quite made
him stammer." " Oh no, not at all. You wouldn't know he
had ever acted the part. Ho doesn't look the least like the
character," &c. Can anything be more monotonous, again,
than the conversation of that wonderful class of serui• dip-
lomatic wiseacres who get together at conversational clubs
and other places of male resort? The man who knows for
certain that on that particular question Gevernment must
go out—there is no help for it ; he, again, who "has it
from a source that he musn't mention, but which leaves no
doubt of the correctness cf the report, that Pilgrimstone
was sent for in the middle of the night to Windsor in con-
sequence of the expressions let fall by the Secretary for
Peace in the house, the night before last, and that on his
return a cabinet council was called to consider," &c. And
is it not remarkable that these same political prophets in no
wise lose caste or fall in the estimation of those who listen
to them, in consequence of the failure of their predictions?
When one of these individuals, for instant, announces that a
certain noble lord is going out of office on a certain question,
and when the noble lord does not go out on that question
or any other, one would suppose that this gentleman's
next prophecy would be generally disregarded. Not in the
slightest degree. Oh, Society I what sacrifices do people
make to thee; sacrifices of health, of comfort, of money, of
sleep, of digestion of temper, of inclination. And all for what?
Apparently that they may have the opportunity of stand-
ing upon a landing place, and asking Mrs. Worldly Wise-
man whether she has seen The Duke's Motto, and what she
thinks of it—which, after all, does not matter much—or
whether she has attended Professor Pepper's lecture at the
Polytechnic, and what she thinks of that—which, if pos-
sible, matters still less. They get, too, the chance of ex-
changing defiant stares with several gentlemen who are
possessed of a good command of eye, whom they know per-
fectly well, and who know them perfectly well, but who are
as determined as they are, not to bob first. And these pas-
times indulged in to the full, and a due amount of iced
coffee swallowed, they are at liberty, beim= very hot, to cool
themselves by attending Mrs. Worldly Wiseman to her car-
riage, bare-headed, with a keen north-easter blowing into
the hall, and then, at last, to depart. The next morning
their brains feel as if they had bsen boiled, and their eyes
as if they had been roasted, their legs ache, they have a
cold in the head, and rheumatism in the tendon Achilles.—
.dlc the Year Round.

Births.
BALLARD.—On the 6th inst., at Pembroke, South Wales,
the wife of Commander J. B. Bullard, R.N., of a daugh-
ter.

RYAN.—On the Bth inst., at 44, Beaufort-gardens, the wife
of Charles L. Ryan, Esq., of a daughter.

Marriages.
BARNEs-11AwsEs.—On the 7th inst., at Radcliffe on-
Trvnt, the Rev. Brooke Cremer Barnes, of Rutherfield,
Sussex, to Martha Elizabeth, the second daughter of H.
Hawkes, Esq„ of Lamcote House, Radcliffe, and Spald-
g, Lincolnshire.
IVlLLts—Houtwoon.—On the 7th inst., at Saint John's,
West Hackney, James Willis, Esq., to Emma, eldest
daughter of George Holmwood, Esq., of De Beauvoir-
town.

Deaths.
AußkkT.—On the sth inst., at Paris, Susanna, relict of the
late J. D. &übert, Eeq., of York-terrace, Regent's-park,
aged 76.
DODD.—On the 4th inst., Miss S. Dodd, of Skyes terrace,
Mile-end-road, aged 73.
MACOABE.—On the 30th ult., at 80, Wimpole-street, Chas.
klaccabe, Esq.