The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-31 00:00:00

NEW COURT.

(Before Mr. T. Chambers, Q C., Common Sergeant.)
Samuel Howard, 38, labourer, was indicted for
the manslaughter of Sarah Smith.
Mr. Orridge prosecuted, and Mr. Ribton defended.
It appeared that the prisoner and the deceased
cohabited together and lived at a placed called New-
court, St. George's-in-the-East, and upon the night
of the Ist of this month some of the neighbours liv-
ing opposite heard the prisoner and the deceased
quarrelling, and then the sound of blows being
struck and of some one falling ; and upon the fol-
lowing morning, about 6 o'clock, the prisoner went
to the Arbour-square police-station, and said that
he had had some words with his wife, after which
he went out and upon coming home again laid down
at the foot of the bed and slept until 4 o'clock, when
on waking and getting up be fell over the body of
his wife, who was on the floor, with her head
towards the window, quite dead.
The medical evidence proved that the deceased
woman was suffering from disease of the heart ;
that that was the immediate cause of her death,
which had been accelerated by the violence that she
had received.
The jury found the prisoner guilty, and he was
sentenced to nine months' imprisonment with hard
labour.
William Brittain, 46, carpenter, was indicted for
stealing a quantity of battens of yellow deal tim-
ber, the property of Thomas Brown.
Mr. Ribton prosecuted; Mr. Metcalfe and Mr.
Orridge defended the prisoner.
Mr. Ribton narrated briefly the following case to
the jury :—The prisoner had been employed by
the prosecutor as surveyor and manager of some
building transactions in which he was engaged,
and in the course of these transactions had com-
mitted the fraud now imputed to him, which was
that he obtained a check from the prosecutor for
the payment of about £5 for some battens which
he (the prisoner) alleged were required for the work
which he at that time was superintending. These
battens the prisoner obtained from a timber mer-
chant in Gray's-inn-road, paid for them with the
prosecutor's check, and instead of taking them to the
works for which he had alleged they were required,
sent them to a place belonging to himself and ano-
ther person at Notting-hill. These were briefly
the facts which the jury would hear more in detail
from the witnesses. The learned counsel then
called
The prosecutor, who said that his name was
Thomas Henry Johnson Brown, that he resided at
No. 2, Robert-street, Adelphi, and was an ar-
chitect and surveyor by profession. The prisoner
was in his service, and had been so since the year
1859, and his duty was to superintend buildings
under his (prosecutor's) orders, to note the time of
the men, to let him know the materials required,
and to undertake the general management of the
job, whatever it was, and to apply, as directed,
the money supplied to him. In December last he
(the prosecutor) was engaged as architect in
the reconstruction of some houses in Bennett's-
buildings, Drury-lane, for the Association
for the Improvement of the Dwellings of the
Poor, of which Mr. Bosanquet was the treasurer.
There were a great many men employed at the
work under the prisoner, and as the work proceeded
the prisoner intimated to prosecutor that it would
be necessary to have some new joists, and at the
same time handed him a list of the number of bat-
tens which would be required for that purpose. He
(prosecutor) gave the prisoner a cheque for about
£6, and the prisoner obtained the battens, paying
the cheque to the timber merchant, and returning
to him (prosecutor) the invoice of the timber, and
alto bringing him in debt 6d., which he alleged he
had paid for cartage. That timber had not been de-
livered, to his knowledge.
The witness was severely cross-examined by Mr.
Metcalfe, and answered with great flippancy and
with a continued laugh as each question was put to
him by the learned counsel. In reply to the inter-
rogatories he said that the invoice for the timber in
question was made out in the prisoner's name, and
added Ido not know how that was. I have been
engaged in a great many building speculations. I
was a bankrupt in 1859, when the prisoner was my
petitioning creditor. I really do not know how the
affairs of the bankrttptcy stood. I really cannot tell
you. I was an insolvent in 1855, but I really can-
not tell you the particulars of that. I have done
some business in Oxford, and I was in business at
Birmingham. I cannot say whether I have other-
wise compounded with my creditors. In 1857 I was

engaged in some bill transactions with a man named
Bradley. An action was also tried in which Lord
Campbell ordered some of the documents to be im-
pounded ; to that action I was a party.
Mr. Metcalfe—Have you ever been in trouble ?
Witness (with apparent surprise and nonchalance)
—Trouble! I do not know what you mean. After
some hesitation, when pressed on the point, witness
said he had been charged with forgery by a man.
named Hawkins, but the inspector at the police sta-
tion declined to take the charge. In 1855 he lodged
at the house of a Mrs. Bennett, against whom he
made a charge of robbing him. "I do not know,"
said witness, "whether the servant of Mrs. Bennett
said that I had told her to make the charge. I have
not done very much in bills, but I did discount a
bill for Mr. Pullein. I agreed to pay £3O on a bill.
and I paid £2O. I know Mr. Gale, of Greenwich,
who had a cheque of mine for £2, which cheque
had 'no effects' marked against it. Ido not know
that the cheque was said to be a forgery. The
charge I first made against the prisoner was for
obtaining money by false pretences in the case of
the wages of the men."
In reply to further questions put by Mr. Met-
calfe the witness denied that he had preferred the
charge in order to forestall the prisoner in prose•
cuting him (the witness) on a charge of forgery.
His attention was first drawn to the course of con-
duct pursued by the prisoner by Mr. Bosanquet,
but he did not know whether or not that gentle-
man was now contributing to the prisoner's defence.
He saw Mr. Bosanquet in court sitting behind, and
occasionally instructing the learned counsel. There
were two men, named Conly and Davis, employed
on the work to which allusion had been made; but
they never, to his knowledge, ever came to his
house on a Sunday. He would not swear that
they had not done so, for they might have come for
the keys. Some of the men he understood had
broken open the prisoner's desk. Witness had told
them to clean out the place. Mr. Bosanquet had
since stopped the works, and witness had brought
actions against Mr. Bosanquet and others for con-
spiracy, together with an intent to charge him
(witness) with forgery.
Mr. Metcalfe—Who was your attorney in that
action ?

Witness—Pray in what case do you mean ?
Mr. Metcalfe—Have you so many ?
Witness—ln this case my attorney was Mr.
Abrahams, of Bow-street.
In further cross-examination the witness said he
had been very unfairly treated on the charge of
forgery by. Hawkins, against whom he had brought
an action in connection with that wrongful charge ;
but Hawkins -got out of the way, and was
next heard of in Whitecross-street Prison.
Hawkins, however, now came forward again, and
had given witness into custody, but he had been
discharged, and the documents ordered to be im-
pounded. Hawkins had said of witness that he
would sooner spend £lOO to get him transported
than that witness should succeed in convicting the
prisoner.
The remainder of the evidence for the prosecution
simply went to show that by the prisoner's 9rderre

the timber charged to have been stolen was re-
moved from the timber merchant's yard in Gray's-
inn-road to some premises at Notting-hill, instead
of to the works in progress in Drury-lane.
Mr. Metcalfe was proceeding to addresa the jury
on behalf of the prisoner, when
The Common Sergeant interposed, and said that
he had carefully looked over the depositions, and
had been attentive to the evidence adduced in court
that day, and he felt that there was no case to go
to the jury. The prosecution had failed to complete
the proof of a felony. No evidence had been given
to show that some timber had. not been taken to
and used at the works in Drury-lane. On these
grounds he should direct an acquittal.
The jury accordingly, under the direction of the
court, returned a verdict of not guilty.
The prisoner was again given in charge to the
jury on an indictment charging him with obtaining
money under false pretences.

The offence imputed to the prisoner in this in-
stance was that, while engaged upon the works in
Bennett's-buildings, Drury-lane, he had charged
to the prosecutor larger amounts under the head of
wages than he had actually paid to the men. The
sums in question were but small. One of the men
was examined, and proved that he had received at
the rate of 18s. per week, whereas the accounts of
the prisoner set him down at £1 Is. Two other
workmen proved a similar variance between the
sums they had been paid and those charged to the
prosecutor by the prisoner.
Mr. Metcalfe addressed the jury for the prisoner
commenting upon the fact which he had elicited in
cross-examination, that the three men who had
been called had been discharged by the prisoner,
and restored to their employment by the prosecutor.
The Common Sergeant summed up the evidence
at considerable length, and
The jury, after a brief consultation, returned a
verdict of not guilty.

MR. TIIACKE RAY ON REPUDIATION

AND BLUS7TI:

(From the Cornhill Magazine.)

I have talked during the last week with many English
holders of American securities, who, of course, have been
aware of the threat held over them. "England," says the
New York Herald," cannot afford to go to war with us, for
600 millions worth of American stock is owned by British
subjects, which, in event of hostilities, would be confiscated;
and we now call upon the companies not to take it off their
hands on any terms. Let its forfeiture be held over England
as a weapon in terrorem. British subjects have 200 or 300
millions of dollars invested in shipping and other property
in the United States. All this property, together with the
stocks, would be seized, amounting to 900 million of dollars.
Will England incur this tremendous loss for a mere abstrac-
tion ?" Whether " a mere abstraction" here means the ab-
straction of the Southern Commissioners from under our
flag, or the abstract idea of injured honour, which seems
ridiculous to the Herald, it is needless to ask. I have
spoken with many men who have money invested in the
States, but I declare I have not met one Englishman
whom the publication of this threat has influenced for
a moment. Our people have 900 million of dollars invested
in the United States, have they ? And the .Herald " calls
upon companies" not to take any of this debt off our hands.
Let us on our side, entreat the English press to give this
announcement every publicity. Let us do everything in
our power to make this "call upon the American" well
known in England. I hope English newspaper editors
will print it, and print it again and again. It is not we who
say this °Oho American citizens,but American citizens who
say this of themselves. "Bull is odious. We can't bear
Bull. He is haughty, arrogant, a braggart, and a blus-
terer ; and we can't bear brag and bluster in our modest and
decorous country. We hate Bull, and if he quarrels with
us on a point in which we are in the wrong, we have goods
of his in our custody, and we will rob him I" Suppose your
London banker saying to you, " Sir, I have always thought
your manners disgusting, and your arrogance insupport-
able. You dare to complain of my conduct because I have
wrongfully imprisoned Jones? My answer to your vulgar
interference is that I confiscate your balance I"
What would be an English merchant's character after a
few such transactions ? It is not improbable that the
moralists of the Herald would call him a rascal. Why
have the United States been paying seven, eight, ten per
cent, for money for years past, when the same commodity
can be got elsewhere at half that rate of interest ? Why,
because though among the richest proprietors in the world,
creditors were not sure of them. So the States
have had to pay eighty millions yearly for the use of
money which would cost other borrowers but
thirty. Add up this item, of extra interest alone
for a dozen years, and see what a prodigious penalty
the States have been paying for repudiation here and there,
for sharp practice, for doubtful credit. Suppose the peace
is kept between us, the remembrance of this last threat
alone will cost the States millions and millions more. If
they must have money, we must have a greater interest to
insure our jeopardised capital. Do American companies
want to borrow money—as want to borrow they will ? Mr.
Brown, show the gentlemen that extract from the/Veto York.
Herald whioh declares that the untLeo mares win confis-
cate private property in event of a war. As the country
newspapers say, ' Please, country papers, copy this para-
graph." And, gentlemen in America, when the honour of
your nation is called in question, please to remember that
it is the American press which glories in announcing that
you are prepared to be rogues. And when this war has
drained uncounted hundreds of millions more out of the
United States exchequer, will they be richer or more inclined
to pay debts, or less willing to evade them, or more popular
with their creditors, or more likely to get money from men
whom they delibera!ely announce that they will cheat ? I
have not followed the Herald on the stone ship question—
that great naval victory appears to me not less horrible and
wicked than suicidal, Block the harbours for ever; destroy
the inlets of the commerce of the world ; perish cities, so
that we may wreak an injury on them. It is the talk of mad-
men, but not the less wicked. The act injures the whole
republic, but it is perpetrated. It is to do harm to ages hence,
but it is done, The Indians of old used to burn women and
their unborn children. This stone-ship business is Indian
warfare. And it is performed by men who tell us every
week that they are at the head of civilisation, and that the
Old World is decrepit, and cruel, and barbarous as com-
pared to theirs.
The same politicians who throttle commerce at its neck,
and threaten to confiscate trust-money, say that when war
is over and the South is subdued,-then the turn of the old
country will come, and a direful-retribution shall bo taken
for our conduct. This has been the cry all through the war.
" We should have conquered the South," says an American
paper which I read this very day, " but for England."
Was there ever such puling heard from men who have an
army of a million, and who turn and revile a people who
have stood as aloof from their contest as we have from the
war of Troy ? Or is it an outcry made with malice pre-
pense ? And is the song of the New York Tinzes a varia-

tion of the Herald tune ?—" The conduct of the British, in
folding their arms and taking no part in the fight, has been
so base that it has caused the prolongation of the war, and
occasioned a prodigious expense on our part. Therefore, as
wo have British property in our hands, we, .Co." The
lamb troubled the water dreadfully, and the wolf in a
righteous indignation "confiscated" him. Of course we
have heard that at an undisturbed time Great Britain
would never have dared to press its claim for redress.
Did the United States wait until we were at peace with
France before they went to war with us last ? Did Mr.
Seward yield the claim which he confesses to be just,
until he himself was menaced with war ? How long
were the Southern gentlemen kept in prison ? What caused
them to be set free ? and did the Cabinet of Washington see
its error before or after the demand for redress ? The cap.
tor was feasted at Boston, and the captives in prison hard
by. If the wrong-doer was to be punished, it was Captain
Wilkes who ought to have gone into limbo. At any rate,
as " the Cabinet of Washington could not give its approba-
tion to the commander of the San Jacinto," why were the
men not sooner set free ? To sit at the Fremont House,
and hear the captain after dinner give his opinion on inter-
national law, would have been better sport for the prisoners
than the grim salle-d-manger at Fort Warren.
I read in the commercial news brought by the Teutonia,
and published in London on the present 13th January,
that the pork market was generally quiet on the 29th
December last; that lard, though with more activity, was
heavy and decidedly lower; and at Philadelphia, whisky
is steady and stocks firm. Stocks are firm : that is a com-
fort for the English holders, and the confiscating process
recommended by the _Herald is at least deferred. But pre-
sently comes an announcement which is not quite so cheer-
ing :—" The Saginaw Central Railway Company (let us call
it) has postponed its January dividend on account of the
disturbed condition of public affairs." la bonne heure.
The bond and share holders of tho Saginaw must look for
loss and depression in times of war. This is one of war's
dreadful taxes and necessities; and all sorts of innocent
people must suffer by the misfortune. The corn was high
at Waterloo when 150,000 men came and trampled it down
on a Sabbath morning. There was no help for that calamity
and the Belgian farmers lost their crops for the year. Per-

baps Tam a farmer myself—an innocent co/onus; and instead
of being able to get to church with my family, have to see
squadrons of French dragoons thundering upon my barley,
and squares of English infantry forming and trampling
all over my oats. (By the way, in writing of " panics,"
an ingenious writer in the Atlantic Magazine says that
the British panics at Waterloo were frequent and notori-
ous.) Well, I am a Belgian peasant, and I see the British
running away, and the French cutting the fugitives down
What have I done that these men should be kicking down.
my peaceful harvest for me, on which I counted to pay my
rent, to feed my horses, my household, my children ? It is
hard. But it is the fortune of war. But suppose the battle
over; the Frenchman says, "You scoundrel ! why did you
not take a part with me? and why did you stand like a
double-faced traitor tooking on ? I should have won the
battle but for you. And I hereby confiscate the farm you
stand on, and you and your family may go to the work-
house. The New York press holds this argument over
English reople in t " We Americans may be ever
o roron,
so wrong in the matter in dispute; but if you push us to a
war, we will muscat() your En51i314 property,., very

good. It is peace now. Confidence of course is restored
between us. Our eighteen hundred peace commissioners
have no occasion to open their mouths ; and the little ques-
tion of confiscation is postponed. Messrs. Battery, Broad-
way, and Co. of New York, have the kindness to sell my
Saginaws for what they will fetch. I shall lose half my
loaf very likely; but for the sake of a quiet life, let us give
up a certain quantity of farinaceous food; and half a loaf,
you know, is better than no bread at all.

SIR JOHN PA KING 7 ON ON THE VOL UN-

I'E_ER 310 VE'NEArT.

At a meeting held at "Worcester, on Tuesday, under the
presidency of Lord Lyttleton, it was determined to form a
rifle association for Worcestershire. Among the speakers
at the meeting was Sir John Paking;on, who said that he
never expected that movement would be permanently
maintained at the extent and proportions it had reached.
Nor could he think it was very important it should be so.
A great effect had been produced, the power and patriotism
of this country had been proved, and no rational man in his
mind could doubt that if occasion were to arise, if an emer-
gency were to present itself, they would have, with an al-
most incredible rapidity, a force not only equal to the pre-
sent, but of four or five times the present numbers. The
nucleus had been established, the organisation was com-
plete, and that organisation might be acted upon to any ex-
tent. At the same time it was undoubtedly desirable that it
should be maintained at such an amount as to secure con-
tinued efficiency, and to make it certain that organisation
could be at any moment increased ; and he thought that
could not be done without some mode of securing adequate
funds. He entirely agreed with his noble friend in the
chair that it was not right, that it never could have been
contemplated as part of that movement, that the expenses
should fall upon the officers. The country was deeply in-
debted to these officers for the time they devoted to the
drilling of their respective corps. He thought that was
as much as they could be called upon to bear, and there-
fore it was desirable that funds should be provided
in the various localities where these corps existed.
It had been said that the Government had very
much advanced upon the extent of assistance they at first
agreed to give. He was glad they had done so, and he
should be very glad to see a further advance in that direc-
tion. It was very desirable, however, that this volunteer
establishment in the country should retain its voluntary
character—(cheers)—that it should not be made a Govern-
ment force, nor depend upon Government support, except
what might be called for in aid of local support. Ho was
glad to see that the Government had it in contemplation to
facilitate their equipment by offering to provide their cloth-
ing at the low price which the Government are able to
secure it by contract. He was also pleased to hear that the
Government would only give this assistance in one of those
colours in which they were accustomed to see the soldiers
of England equipped. (Cheers.) He thought that the
proper colour in which the volunteers, from one end of
England to the other, should be dressed, is that red in
which they had been accustomed to see British soldiers—
(cheers)—and he thought there was an argument in favour
of it absolutely unanswerable. If they were to have a great
army of volunteers—if any enemy should ever be rash
enough to think that they could succeed in the invasion of
England—that army would be infinitely better clad in the
national dress of English soldiers. How could they sup-
pose that an army amounting to 150,000 men—and that
would then amount to 400,000, or 450,000, or 500,000 men.
—how could they suppose they could be regarded as mere
skirmishers and hedge poppers? (Laughter.) If they
were to fight at all, they must be considered as a portion of
the great army that was to defend this country ; and what
could be more impolitic, more unwise, than to enable an
invading enemy to put his finger upon any body of men,
and to distinguish at once to what body of soldiers they be-
longed ? (Cheers.)

COUN2.R.I MARKEIS.

,h...

MANCHESTER-JAN. 30.

At our market to-day there was a thin attendance, and
business in both wheat and flour was dull. Holders of
the former were firm in requiring last week's prices for
English, but foreign was offered at a decline of 3d per
cental. Other articles a quiet sale.