The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-30 00:00:00

THE EVIDENCE.

The minutes of the evidence taken before the Se-
lect Committee on the Leeds Bankruptcy Court
were issued yesterday morning in a blue book of 242
pages.

The committee met for the first time on the 2d of
June. Mr. Howes was elected chairman. The other
members were Mr. E. Egerton, Mr. Evans, Colonel
Pennant, and Mr. H. Vivian. The Lord Advocate
and Mr. Bovill served on the committee to examine
witnesses, but without the power of voting.
The witnesses examined during the inquiry were
Mr. J. F. Miller (four times), Mr. H. S. Wilde
(three times), Mr. E. Bond, the Rev. J. R. Hard-
ing (twice), Mr. P. R. Welch (twice), Mr. B. Cariss,
Mr. H. Fuller, Mr. J. North, the Hon. R. Bethell,
Mr. D. Morley, Mr. D. F. Skirrow, Mr. G. Carew,
Mr. F. C. New, Mr. C. N. Wilde, Mr. H. P. Roche,
the Lord Chancellor, Mr. D. Stewart, and Mr. A.
P. Abraham.

During the examination of Mr. Miller the fol-
lowing note to Mr. Wilde was produced, and it
was after the production of this note that Mr.
Miller confessed, contrary to his previous state-
ment, that Mr. Wilde's petition was prepared by
him :

Court of Bankruptcy, London, July 28, 1864.
Sir, —I have your note and medical certificate, and if you
will sign the enclosed petition, and swear to it before any
commissioner for taking affidavits, and send it to my house,
No. 26, St. Stephen's-square, this evening, I will endeavour
to get the Lord Chancellor to make the order to-morrow
morning. —Yours obediently,

J. F. MILLER.

In the course of one of Mr. Miller's examinations
the following letters of the Lord Chancellor, re-
ferring to the resignation in May, 1854, of his
registrarship by the hon R. Bethell, were read :
Sir,—lt has just come to my knowledge in the most
sudden and overwhelming manner, that my eldest son, Mr.
Bethell, has been guilty of the most flagrant misconduct.
It is stated to me (and the fact admits of no doubt) to
have lost during the last twelvemonths very large sums of
money by betting at races, and to have raised money to pay
those debts by bills of exchange and loans in every quarter;
he is also stated to have been for some time in the habit of
neglecting personal attendance at his office, and to have
had his official duties discharged by deputy. I feel it my
duty instantly to remove him from his office. I beg you to
prepare an order without a moment's delay, stating, "It has
been proved to my satisfaction that Mr. Richard Augustus
Bethell has neglected the duties of his office, and is unfit to
be continued therein," and that I therefore remove him
from the office of one of the registrars of the court as from
this day. It would be idle to speak to you of the state of
mind I am in; but I am determined that he shall be instantly
removed, and that in the manner which justice requires.—
Your faithful servant,
To the Chief Registrar. WE sTniatv.

Dear Mr. Miller,-1 am much obliged to you for your
kind,feeling letter: You knew I could not show my face in
court if I did not do in this case strict impartial justice.
It has nearly broken my heart. I will wait until Monday.
Do not think of coming out, as I am so ill that I must go
to the country. Yours faithfully,

WESTBURY.
18th of May.
Dear Sir,—l am much obliged by your kind and feeling
letter respecting my son. But it is due to the public that
he should resign, and therefore I shall accept and act upon
his resignation as from to-morrow. I had no suspicion of
his misconduct until the day on which I wrote to you my
first letter, last Saturday. It has been to me an overwhelm-
ing affliction.—Yours faithfully, WESTBURY.
During Mr. Skirrow's examination a letter of the
Lord Chancellor, addressed to that gentleman, and
referring to the same event was read. It was as
follows:

I, Upper Hyde-park-gardens, W., Thursday.
My Dear Charles,—After a sleepless night I can think
of nothing better than the conclusions I mentioned yester-
day. It is useless to attempt to make any arrangements
founded on his retaining his office. It would be discre-
ditable to me his being allowed to remain. He must leave
the country immediately. Germany will be the best place
of residence, but care must be taken to fix it in a country
where the foreign holder of one of his acceptances could
not sue him. All that he can do is to devote himself to the
education of his children abroad. It will be greatly for the
future benefit of his sons if they become good German and
French scholars. I shall not listen to any proposal for his
return to this country for some years. His childish vanity
and weakness are such that he is always the prey of some
rascal or other. . . . lam sure he must be indebted to
you ; I will repay you. But do not lend any more money
to him, for it is a direct encouragement to evil. If his wife
and six little children, affection for his father and brother
and sisters, and regard for his own character and position,
have not been sufficient to keep him from plunging a fourth
time into these mad and evil courses nothing will. . . .
In December, 1864, another letter, from which
the following are passages, was written by the Lord
Chancellor to Mr. Skirrow

Sunday.

My dear Charles,—l am much disappointed at your not
coming down to-morrow. . . As to Richard, it is hope-
less ; let him understand that I neither can nor will ask
for any place for him. . . . I will increase his allowance
to £l,OOO per annum if he will go and Rye in Dresden, or
some other proper place, and educate his children there,
where they can be well brought up.

The evidence of the Lord Chancellor extends over 15
pages. His lordship, before being asked any questions,
made a statement to the committee relative to the circum-
stances connected with the resignation of Mr. Wilde. He
stated incidentally that the examination which he had in-
stituted into the accounts of the officers of the Court of
Bankruptcy had resulted in the recovery of sums of money
amounting to between £30,000 and £40,000. The general
nature of his lordship's evidence was described by the com-
mittee in their report, and we notice very few matters
which escaped their analysis. His lordship declared that
Mr. Miller could not have had the smallest possible inte-
rest in getting Mr. Wilde to resign, and said he had never
heard that Mr. Welch had lent money to Mr. Bethell.
With regard to the allegation that he desired to appoint
Mr. Bethell to the office of Registrar of Leeds, his lordship
said, " I think I had better tell you the whole of the cir-
cumstances, painful as they are. In the month of May,
1864, I received from one of my daughters-in-law a letter,
in which she enclosed a letter from my son to his
brother, and it stated that he had lost a very large sum of
money indeed on the turf ; that came upon me in an over-
whelming manner, and I wrote immediately to Mr. Miller,
because I felt that it was impossible that he could do his
duty ; and it was also stated to me that he had neglected his
duty, and I wrote to Mr. Miller a letter in which I insisted
that he should be immediately compelled to resign; I required
the resignation to bo sent to me the next day. Mr. Miller
was at time, if I recollect rightly, confined to his bed with
gout. He wrote me a letter in a very proper tone, and in a
very kind spirit ; he begged that he might be allowed to
make arrangements, and that I would not carry into effect
any determination with regard to my son. I was certainly
under the impression that he could not by possibility have
acted in the manner in which he had done, or on his
proceedings without neglecting his duty, and a number of
tales were brought to me about it, and 1, therefore, was very
firm in my determination that I would hear of nothing but
his resignation. 'probably should not have acted in the same
manner with regard to a stranger. With regard to him, I
was determined so to act, because I thought it would be a
reproach to me if I permitted him to continuo. The conse-
quence was that within a few days his resignation was sent,
and from the time of my receiving this imputation upon his
conduct until now I have never seen him, nor have I had
any communication with him, except that on one occasion
when he had a son born, when his wife was confined, he
wrote me a very proper letter announcing that event. He
went to Paris, I think, and I had formed a firm determina-
tion never to appoint him to any office. But in the month

of February of the present year, his friends surrounded me,
and his wife wrote to me, and I ascertained that there was
no reproach attaching to him on the ground that he had
neglected his duty ; I found that it was a false imputation.
I was then entreated to give him some appointment, provided
he got a release from all his creditors. What I said upon
that occasion was this, that I would make no promise, but
that I would consider the matter when the release was
obtained. Some suggestion was made to me at the time
(I think it was by my son's wife, my daughter-in-law) that
he might have an appointment to a registrarship in the
country. I made no promise, neither did I give any en-
couragement to it. This was some time, if I recollect
rightly, in the month of February in the present year.
Information then reached me that there was so little hope
of his being weaned from these courses that I found he had
pursued the same thing at Paris. I then sent for Mr.
Skirrow, and I begged him never to mention the subject to
me again, for that I had determined never to appoint him.
I am now told, but of that I had no knowledge, that in con-
sequence of the manner in which I had received his wife, or
his wife's letters, his wife gave him some encouragement to
hope that, if an arrangement was made with his creditors,
I might appoint him to Leeds. The consequence was that
he was induced, I believe, to go down to Leeds upon that
encouragement, and to act in the manner that you have
heard. All that was unknown to me, and when I found
from the information I received that therb was no hope of
his getting rid of these temptations to go upon the turf
again, I made the communication that I have stated to you
to Mr. Skirrow."

Mr. Bovill asked—Did your lordship ever give any direc-
tions for any order, or draft order, to be made out for the
purpose of appointing Mr. Bethell to the London registrar-
ship, which had become vacant by the resignation of Mr.
Slingsby Bethell P—Certainly not ; never.

Did your lordship hear from Mr. Miller ef his having drawn
ont such an appointment, and having had it engrossed ?—I
heard of it since this inquiry has taken place, never before;
I was astonished when I did hear of it. But Mr. Millar has,
from no other motive I believe than a kind motive,on vari-
ous occasions solicited me to consider the propriety of ap-
pointing my son, pressing upon me that I had treated my
son with more severity than I should have done another
person. lam ashamed to have exhibited any emotion or
weakness, but it is hardly possible for me to speak of these
things without doing so.
The Lord Chancellor further said he had no
doubt that his son was led to do and say many
things in the hope of producing a state of circum-
stances that would almost compel his father to make
the appointment.
The Chairman asked the Lord Chancellor if the appoint-
ment of Mr. Welch to the registrarship of Leeds was made
by his lordship simply from his own examination of thp
names, and knowing who had applied, and what wore their
recommendations, or whether it was on the application of
any other person. The Lord Chancellor replied :—lt must
have been upon my own recollection and knowledge. You
see I knew that there must be a vacancy at Leeds, because
of the circumstances affecting Mr. Payne ; at least I
thought it probable that there would be a vacancy at Leeds,
and I had been desirous of appointing a barrister from the
northern circuit ; consequently when Mr. Miller brought
me the resignation of Mr. Wilde, and told me (which was
a very unusual thing) that it was necessary to fill up the
office immediately, from the circumstances I have mentioned
to you, I had present to my mind the fact that the gentle-
man who had been most strongly recommended to me was
Mr. Welch ; he was on the northern circuit, and at once,
from my antecedent knowledge, I either wrote the name
myself in the appointment that I signed, or directed Mr.
Miller to fill in the name and give it to him immediately.
The resignation came to me by surprise. I had no reason to
expect it, and therefore it was done immediately.
The Lord Advocate—The entry of Mr. Welch's name in
that book is the 21st of May, I think, in the last book?-1
am told by my secretary that it is immediately under the
21st of May. These books are kept in the secretary's office.
The entry refers to the Attorney-General, " Northern
Circuit sent several testimonials?"—Yes, and the Attorney
General of the County Palatine also sent a recommendation
of Mr. Welch ; in fact, as Mr. Baron Martin observed to
some gentlemen who told it to me, the recommendations I
have received of Mr. Welch may be considered as compre-
hending the whole of the northern circuit,
Mr. Edward Egerton—The testimonials were very high?
—Yes ; and they were from a great many gentlemen.
All the leaders of the circuit, in fact ?—Yes.
The Lord Advocate—Your lordship was not aware, I
presume, that Mr. Welch had been in the habit of lending
money, either to your son or anybody else ? I had not the
least knowledge of it. Indeed, my son had never pressed
upon me Mr. Welch's name with any particular feeling, or
made a particular request on his behalf. No doubt, origi-
nally he mentioned to me Mr. Welch as a gentleman whom
he was friendly with.
Mr. Miller, in his last examination, just following that of
the Lord Chancellor, said that to the best of his recollec-
tion ho considered he was carrying out the intention of his
lordship in tho terms of the letter of the 6th July to Mr.
Wilde. In the case of Mr. Payne, which was " almost, if
not altogether, on all fours with this," the Lord Chancellor,
Mr. Miller said, never objected to allowing Mr. Payne to
retire upon a pension.

The following letter is among the documents
printed in the appendix :

Letter of acknowledgment from Mr. R. Bothell to Mr.

Welch.

Div DEAR WELCH,—I have not replied to your former let-
tors, because I am really annoyed at your troubling me in
the *ay you do. Nobody knows better than you do my pre-
sent circumstances—how impossible it is forme to make any
repayments, as I do not know from one day to another what
course my creditors may take. lam sorry that the opposi-
tion to the bill is such a costly affair, but I cannot assist
you ; there can be no possible dispute between us as to the
amount of liability ; but to relieve your mind (which is
much more punctilious than it used to be), I owe you
£1,050 money advanced, and some day or other I will
either pay it, or at all events give you some sort of secu-
rity ; but at present Ido expect you not to bother me. I
assure you I am harassed to death.—Yours, dcc.,
(Signed) R. Bynum,.

My address will be 43, Sussex-gardens, Hyde Park.
It appeared from the Rev. Mr. Harding's evidence that
the friend whom he sent to communicate with Mr. Welch
with regard to the share of the money which he (Mr. Hard-
ing) considered was due to him, was a clergyman, the Rev.
Josiah Bartlett.

The Lord Advocate said—Who is this clergyman you
sent down to Leeds ?

Tho Rev. Mr. Harding-31r. Bartlett, the Rev. Josiah
Bartlett.

Why did you choose a clergyman to go and ask for pay-
ment of this money ?—Because I thought that we were all
acting as gentlemen, and a clergyman would be a proper
person to act between us.

Yox thought that he was the most appropriate person to
send down upon the subject ?—The fact is this, I had con-
sulted him.

The committee attempted to get the Rev. Josiah Bartlett
before them, and an order for his attendance was twice
served at the rev. gentleman's place of residence at Syden-
ham. Mr. Bartlett, however, appears to have left the house
early in the morning, and his whereabouts could not be
traced up to the time when the inquiry closed.

There seems to have been no division in the committee on
the report. The official account of the last day's sitting
says :—" The committee deliberated. Draft report pro-
posed by the chairman, read Ist and 2d, amended and
agreed to. Ordered to report, together with the minutes of
evidence and appendix."

Mr. Smiles, the secretary of the South Eastern
Railway., was the plaintiff in an action for libel tried
in the Court of Exchequer yesterday. Mr. J. J. Hamilton,
who has been proceeded against by the directors of the
South Eastern Railway preciously for libel, had written to
the Railway Times letters in which he charged Mr. Smiles
with perjury and malappropriation of money. When the
case was called on counsel for the defendant:offered a com-
plete withdrawal of the charges which had been made.
After some discussion the apology was accepted, and a
Tordict for X 250 damages entered for the plaintiff.

A DARING DESERTER.—An extraordinary case of
desertion occurred last week at Colmar, Haut-Rhin,
France, where the 3d Regiment of Lancers is in garrison.
A private of that regiment, named Huissou, when on
duty at the entrance of the barracks between eleven and
twelve at night, took advantage of the confusion caused
by the simultaneous entrance of a number of men, who
had receiied permission to stay out, to slip unperceived
into one of the stables, where he saddled the horse be-
longing to the chief veterinary surgdon, and contrived
to leave the barracks by a back gate, the key of which he
had taken from the guard-house. His flight was not dis-
covered till five in the morning, when despatches were
sent off in all directions ordering his arrest. Soon after a
telegram arrived from Neuf-Brisach stating that Huissou
had alighted at the principal hotel of that town at three
o'clock, where ho ordered a good breakfast to be prepared
for the 'officers of his regiment who, he said, would soon
be there. He also called for a breakfast for himself,
which he ate and ordered to be placed to the account.
of the officers, and then rode off towards the bridge
which separates the French town of Neuf-Brisach
from the S wiss town Neuf-Brisach. On reaching the bridge
he was stopped by a sentinel and ordered to show his
papers. He pretended to feel for them in his pocket, but
the moment the sentinel rested his musket to receive them,
Huisson rode over him, and galloped across the bridge into
Switzerland. The French gendarmes found the horse the
next day at Saint-Louis, and it was given up to them by
the Swiss authorities, but the deserter had escaped into the
interior, and nothing has been heard of him since.

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