The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-18 00:00:00

THE GREAT SHIP.

Yesterday the first meeting in connexion with the affairs
of the Great Ship Company since it has been consigned to
the custody of the Court of Chancery for the purpose of in-
vestigating and winding up the affairs was held before Mr.
G. Whiting, chief clerk to the Master of the Rolls, at the
Rolls-chambers, in Chancery-lane, the object being to ap-
point an official liquidator under the Joint-Stock Companies
Winding-up Act. Mr. Hutchins, of the firm of Murray,
Son, and Hutchins, said he had to propose Mr. Hawes, the
late chairman of the shareholder's committee, of Skinner's-
place, Sise-lane, to act as official liquidator in behalf of the
company. The total number of shares in favour of Mr.
Hawes's appointment amounted to 30,000. The total num-
ber of shares in the company was 300,000 ordinary and
100,000 preference shares. There were creditors to the ex-
tent of £25,000, the total amount of debts being £35,000,
excluding a first mortgage of £lOO,OOO, and a second mort-
gage. The total debts of the company, including unsecured
creditors, were £142,850. Mr. Dantziger, the assistant
secretary of the company, in his affidavit, stated that the
nominal capital of the company was originally £330,000 in
shares of £1 each, but only 303,304 shares were taken up;
100,000 preference shares of £1 each were subsequently
issued, making the aggregate subscribed capital £103,304.
The assets of the company consisted of the great ship, her
stores and appurtenances, the office furniture in London,
and the arrears of calls due, amounting to £530, which were
believed to be irrecoverable. Mr. Bradlaugh, of the firm of
Leverson and C 0.,. St. Helen's place, Bishopsgate-street,
proposed Mr. J. Cooper, of the firm of Johnstone, Wintle,
and Cooper, of Lothhury, as official liquidator, and objected
to the appointment of Mr. Hawes, who, until the last meet-
ing of the company, was a shareholder in the company,
Mr. Hawes had for some time past been in constant dis-
pute with the largest shareholders, the bondholders, and
directors, and had spoken in violent opposition to
the policy of the late directors. Mr. Hawes had
declared that he was pledged to carry the great steamship
on the long vo3 age to India, and had made arrangements
with persons who were prepared to advance funds to carry
out that object. Mr. Rose, solicitor, of Salisbury-street,
Strand, proposed the appointment of Mr. R. P. Harding,
of Serle street and Lathbury, to be official liquidator on be-
half of Mr. Anderton Rose, M.P , the late Lord Mayor, a
holder of 2.50 paid-up shares and a debenture for £lOO, and,
a creditor for overdue bills of £Bl3 from the time vgl,ran!
they were dishonoured. Mr. Harding was a good pracicl
accountant, and perfectly conversant with the routinefall
arties
winding-up. He was, moreover, independent
and in a position to realise the largest amount
affairs both for the
oof
the good management and conduct assets by
abfr:leoutended, was
creditors and the public. Mr. Hawes, by reason of
disqualified for the office of official liquidator

his close connection with the company's affairs. The Chief
Clerk, in the course of a long summing up, said he was of
opinion that Mr. Hawes ought to be appointed official liqui-
dator. His knowledge of the company's affairs well quali-
fied him for the office, and he appeared to possess the suf-
frages of the largest number of the shareholders. Mr. Haws.
was accordingly appointed official manager, giving £3.000 as
security, it being understood that an appeal against the ap-
pointment would be made in favour of associating with the
official liquidator either Mr. Harding or Mr. Cooper.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—On Monday last we recorded the perpe-
tration of a shocking murder in the Waterloo-road ;
on the next day we reported the examination of toe
murderer at the Southwark Police court ; on Wed-
nesday we published the proceedings of the Coro-
ner's inquest on the victim; and yes- e,day our
readers saw that the prisoner had been brought to
'rid, hail pleaded guilty, and had le en sentenced to
death. So rapid has been the course of just ice in
this case that the offender hes actually been con-
demned to the gallows before the corpse ot his un-
happy victim has been committed to tee grave. Toe
deed itself presents in its immediate circumstances
only the ordinary features of such crimes. Samuel
Wright, described as a bricklayer by trade, had
cohabited, it seems, for some little time with a
woman named Maria Green, and they had occupied
together the secono floor of a lodging.house in the
Waterloo-road. On Saturday last a dressmaker who
rented the first floor of the house, and who was
acquainted with Wright and his companion, saw
them "very happy and comfortable" together in their
own room, about 8 o'clock in the evening. Shortly
afterwards they went out, and were seen standing
for a time at the corner of the York-road, where the
deceased was exchanging angry words with another
woman. They left this woman, however, and re-
paired to a publichouse, where they had some gin ;
but, though the deceased remained "excited" after
her quarrel, neither she nor her paramour is said to
have been intoxicated. Nothing more was known
of their proceedings up the time of the catastrophe.
At what hour they returned to their lodgings is un-
certain ; but about 4 o'clock on Sunday morning the
lodger on the floor beneath them was alarmed by a
loud knocking and screaming overhead. As she
opened her door she met Wright coming down the
stairs, and his appearance betrayed the dreadful
work in tvhich he had been eegsged. His sleeves
were tucked up, his arm was bloody, and his look
altogether so shocking that the witness nearly
tainted. She contrived, however, to ask what was
the matter, and Wright told her, as she fancied, to
go upstairs and see. She did so, and found the
woman Green lying on the floor with her throat
cut, and just able to articulate feebly that Wright
bad committed the deed. A policeman was soon
fetched, and Wright, who bad remained in the
house without attempting to escape, end who ac-
knowledged himself the perpetrator of the crime,
was taken into custody. That a quarrel originat-
ing in jealousy had led to the deed seems suffi-
ciently probable, and the scene witnessed in the
York-road would appear to indicate that the jealousy
was on the side of the woman. Otherwise, the evi-
dence represented them living together quietly,
and with habits so generally regular as to sug-
gest the impression that they were man and wife.
It required, however, a singular combination of cir-
cumstances to give this extraordinary rapidity to
the course of justice. The time of the murder hap-
pened to coincide with the sitting of the Court, ano
the self-surrender of the prisoner prevented any
delay. As he made no effort to escape, no time was
lost in apprehending him; and as he confessed his
guilt, there was no necessity for the collection ot
evidence. It was not, indeed, to be denied that his
hand had deprived the woman of life, and he
appears to have advisedly discarded the shelter pos-
sibly derivable from inquiry into his stale of mind
at the time. He was at first undefended by
counsel, but Mr. Sleigh appeared on his behalf
before his sentence, though after his first plea of
" guilty," and expressed an opinion that the plea
might be advantageously retracted. The prisoner,
however, deliberately refused to recall his words,
or take such chance of deliverance as the forms ot
law might give him ; and Mr. Justice Blackburn,
after assuring himself of the man's intelligence and
purpose, passed the sentence of death in due course,
The case will long be memorable from the strange
though fortuitous brevity of its history, though this
is not without precedent in criminal annals. The
capture, indeed of a murderer red-handed during the
sitiings of a Court would naturally lead to such a
result. It appears to us, however, that a remark-
able feature of the occurrence is presented in the
contrast between the barbarous violence of the act
and the general demeanour of the criminal. Wright,
who committed this shocking murder, bad never, it
seems, till that time occasioned any disturbance or
disorder in the house which he and his paramour in-
habited, and no sooner was the deed done than he ap.
pears in possession of his senses, recognising the cha-
racter of the act, foreseeing consequences, and pre-
paring himself to accept them without any kind of
opposition. What were the circumstances which
hurried him into crime? There was a quarrel, no
doubt, and as the woman had been " excited," and
they did not apparently go to bed that night alter
coming in, they proceeded probably from one stage
of blood to another; indeed, the prisoner spoke
of the deceased as having taken up a knife to him.
Still, though quarrels are naturally incidental to
such a life as they led, they do not seem to have been
given to quarelling ; in fact, this awful catastrophe
represents, as far as we can see, the first anti last of
their known disagreements. Perhaps it was in these
circumstances that Mr. Sleigh discerned the chance
of an advantage, had the prisoner chosen to embrace
it, and the case no doubt acquires additional singu-
larity from his resolute refusal. A plea of " Guilty"
on a capital charge is so rare that it is not even re.
ceived without question. In the present instance
the judge twice asked the prisoner if he knew what
he was about, and explained carefully to him that
by pleading " Guilty" he was confessing not simply
that he inflicted the wounds of which his victim
died, but that he did this deed wilfully and without
excuse. The Clerk of Arraigns, too, had previously
reminded the prisoner that his plea went the length
of an admission that he had killed the woman " pur-
posely and with malice aforethought," and yet he
still persisted in his course. To the public it will
not improbably appear that the malice could not
well have been harboured long, and that the
recorded incidents of the case by no means exclude
the possibility of a sudden transport of rage
under provocation or temptation. Yet it must
be observed, on the other hand, that the pri-
soner was never seen for a moment either before
or after the murder in any such state of mind as
would betray a suspension of self-control. Before
the act he was not intoxicated, nor was he shown
to have been even excited, and though he was seen
and spoken to within a minute or two afterwards,
and, indeed, while ais victim was still living, his
manner indicated no discomposure. If there was
an interval of frenzy, it was when no witness wet,
by. The Judge, therefore, could find nothing in
the depositions requiring him to reverse the plea of
self-condemnation, and his sentence did but echo
that passed by the prisoner on himself, These are
the circumstances, rather than any particulars of
the crime itself, which render the story a strange
one, and which will carry it probably into the list
of criminal cases which are marked and remernb, red.

POST.—The most singular feature of the Schles-
wig-Holstein movement in Germany is the remark
able revulsion which it has effected in the relations
between the Prussian people and their Sovereign.
When William I. convened the Chambers at
Berlin, in the commencement of November, a con-
test apparent imminent, in which nothing less than
unconditional submission on the part of the advisers
of the Crown could stave off a revolution. I he King
had already within a year dissolved two Parliaments
in consequence of their refusal to sanction measures
which he believed to be conducive to the interests
of the State; and meeting the third he unequi
vocally announced that he should consider himself
the best judge of the manner in which the State
should be administered, and of the means by which
its safety should be secured. Of the result of such
a struggle as that invited by the Prussian Monarch,
the experience of past history left no room for
doubt, and the well-wishers of the House of
Hohenzollern viewed with alarm the recklessness
which marked the conduct of its present head.
However, whilst the Ministry, with their scanty
supporters, and the popular leaders, with the over-
whelming phalanx which constituted the Opposi-
tion in the Lower Chamber, were preparing for the
approaching contest, an event occurred which conli
pletely banished from the mirth of the latter lain
thought of the grievances which they came to
d nerrd-
to redress. The King of Denmark died, and Dhcfrself
ing to the terms of a treaty to which
was a party, Christian IX. succeeded to
tlhoe succession
Although, both in law and in throne
to a portion o:
tehhurg thought proper to lay
was thus accomplished, a certainlf:Piemrtince of Angus-
anU some or
the late King of Denmark's d_2ll.sioet..B7n,,amely,
Powers ormatillydrecognised
Duchies of Schleswig and
formally
7
the
justice of his claiinds.
the minor German Pow
than N ot
soonerhe
t,ione advanced
th Prussian People and ti 3
Deputies forthwith Prussian De , Pc'etPwit'd the vindi-
cationof their own rights, which to that time
had been so seriously threatened by
lo Crown, in
order to support the claims of the p
tenburg. Whilst Frederick WI prince of Angus-
the Prussian King in vain asked of Denmark. lived,
plies to maintain his army for additional sup-
scale of befr tin, ma on what he considered
their, monarch tz7e prgul!ud"; but since the death of
a readiness to vote,Ct:ambers tav, evinces
wharever might be demanded, condition that
Supplies should be expended
in military °pent'
---1"8 against Frederick's susses-

sor. It would, however, be incorrect to say that
peace is again established between the Government
,:nd the Chamber. Such is not the case. Count
Bisniark has still a powerful Opposition with which
to contend, but on this occasion his opponents ore
arrayed ~,gainst him in consi- (pence or his purtAiing
a pOilt,'y Whien n;.3 met wi7h the ariprov.,.l of every
non-Gei man State in Europe. Count Bistwirk
has declared it to by the intention of the Prus-
sian Government to respect international obit-
otions, and to observe faithfully a treat to
which, after due deliberation, and without coercion,
it formally assented. It is singular that, it should
be one of the few ac's of the Bismark Ministry
which can be supported by hr,nust itnpartial
men which now pine, s that Governravnt titd the
Liberal party in Prussia in ai_,R.irewly uncom-
promising opposi!ion.

The Condemned Murderer, Towidey.

After sentence of dcNt.n had ben plssed upon
Townley, on Saturday, he was removed to a private
room in- the County Hall, where he made a hearty
dinner immediately afterwards.
Townley's mother and aunt i‘ ere in the Sheriffs
gallery during the trial, but wnen Baron Martin
tv.ls bringing his summing up to a close, Mr. Bourner,
the acting under-sheriffs' merk, made a communica-
tion to them, and they withdrew, proceeding to the
County Hotel, close by. The statement that
Townley's father was in court during the passing of
the sentence is incorrect. He had sat beside his
solicitor, Mr. Leech, during the trial, but happoJed
to be out of court at the time the jury gave in their
verdict, and was thus spared the anguish of hearing
his son condemned to die upon the scaffold. 0:1 the
intelligence being broke to Mrs. Townley, she Was
completely prostrated, and Mr. Gibson was called
in to attend her,

The condemned criminal was got away from the
court by a ruse on the part of the governor, and his
departure was not witnessed by the dense mob who
had congregated outside the court. On arriving at
the gaol his clothes were taken from aim and the
prison dress substituted, and he was conveyed to the
condemned cell, where two turnkeys remain with
him day and night. His father and mother h: .d al
interview with him the same evening, and we be-
Have Mr. Mundy, 111. P., chairman of the visiting
justices, has given them permission to pay frequent
visits to their unhappy son, a privilege which they
avail themselves of very freely,
In addition to the assistance of the good che.pla.e,
Townley has the privilege of selecting a spiritual
adviser during the brief time he has to live, and be
mentioned the name of the Rev. Mr. Gordon, of
Manchester, a clergyman of the Established Church,
and that gentleman arrived in Derby on Monday
morning last, and had an interview with him in fits
cell on that day and also on Tuesday. The Rev. ALIT
Moore, the gaol chaplain, also visits him daily.
His condemnation has not made the slightest site-
ration in his demeanour. He partakes of his meals
eeartily, sleeps well, and repeatedly asserts that he,
was perfectly justified in taking away his victim
life, and that he feels no remorse for the deed.
We understand his friends are actively engaged
in getting up memorials to the Home Secretary, 7.l°t
only from Derby, but also from Manchester.
course the royal clemency is asked on the ground of
insanity, and it is stated that the memorial will be
influentially supported by medical men and the
general. public
The High Sheriff has fixed the execution to tape
place at noon on Frithy, the Ist day cf 7anuer9
(New Year's-day), the interval between the sentence
and execution being rather more protracted than 10
usually the case.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

,I

MANCHESTER-THURSDAY.

------------ - --------
At our market this morning the English wheat offering
sold slowly at Is per qr lower. Foreign met a very limited
business, at 2d to 31 per 100ibs decline for bll but the
choicest sorts. Flour a slow sale, although offered at a re"
duction of 6d to is per sack. Oats and oatmeal very dull.
Indian corn 6d per qr in favour of buyers. Beans receded
6d to is per qr from this day si3'nnight.

BRISTOL—THURSDAY.
We had a good supply of English wheat today, which
again sold slowly, at a decline of fully is per quarter on last
week's rates; for foreign wheat scarcely any inquiry, aLd
nominally at last Thursday's prices. Barley quiet, at la,e
rates. O.ts met a slow trade, but were in good suptly.
Beans and Indian corn without inquiry.