The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-18 00:00:00

rim SUN,- LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, IFEI3II,UARYI 18, 1862.

CURIOUS WILL CASE.

LNIPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

The Civil Tribunal of Belfort (Haut-Rhin) has
just been engaged during five days in trying an
important cause relating to the validity of a will.
A miller, named Menetre, residing at the village of
Fentenelle, near Belfort, who had amassed consi-
derable property during a long industrious life,
finding himself, in 1856, unable to manage his busi-
ness any longer, let his mill and land on lease for
18 years to his assistant, a man named Meyer.
Four years after, on the 9th November, 1860, he
signed a deed of gift of several meadows to the
same Meyer, with whom he lived; and on the 11th
of the same month he made a will in which he be-
queathed the usufruct of all his property to Meyer.
Menetre's family becoming aware of what he had
done, they took legal measures to prove that 'the
old man was weak in mind, and incapable of
managing his affairs, but before the cause was de-
cided Menetre died, at the age of 77. The day
after his decease, the members of his family ordered
a post mortem examination of his body to be made
by three medical men of Belfort, who found that
the brain presented several lesions, that the
veins of the pia-meter were congested, and there
was a considerable serous effusion, and
that the cerebral pulp was softened ; from the ap
pearances they concluded that the intellectual
faculties of the deceased must necessarily have
been impaired for some time previously to his
death. Menetre's sister and his other relatives,
in consequence, applied to the Tribunal to have
the will cancelled. A further inquiry was ordered,
and above 80 witnesses were examined, among
whom were three medical men, who had attended
the deceased during the last years of his life, and
they deposed that they had never perceived any
symptoms of weakness of mind ; but the evidence
of the other witnesses proved that the old man was
so completely under the influence of Meyer and his
wife, that he was not a free agent, and that Meyer
prevented all the old man's family from having any
communication with him. Menetre's relatives also
submitted the case to the judgment of several eminent
physicians of Paris—Dr. Baillarder, of the Academy
of Medicine ; Dr. Parchappe, Inspector of Lunatic
Asylums ; and Dr. Leger, of the Bicetre. These
gentlemen declared that the state of the brain was
incompatible with perfect sanity, and that his facul-
ties had been, in all probability, impaired for some
years before his death. In opposition to this,
Meyer put in evidence the opinions of Doctors
Trousseau, Grisolle, Falret, I Cm, and Lasegue,
who denied the possibility of deciding as to the
sanity or insanity of the deceased from the state of
the brain described in the account of the post mor-
tem examination. Leaving the medical evidence
entirely out of the question, the Tribunal in its
judgment, declared that the fact was fully estab-
lished of the deceased having been so completely
under the influence of Meyer that he was no longer
a free agent; it consequently pronounced the will
invalid, and at the same time annulled all the other
deeds signed by Menetre in favour of Meyer, who
was also condemned to pay all costs of the suit.

HOUSE OF LORDS—YESTERDAY.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.

'T.IIE EDUCATION MINUTE.

The Earl of DERBY presented several petitions against
the new education minute, The noble earl said, seeing
the noble earl, the President of the Council, in his place,
ho wished to ask a question, or rather offer a suggestion,
with respect tc the course that was proposed to be taken
with respect to thaiscussion on the new education minute.
When the new minute was first made public great
( apprehension and dislike was evinced. Subsequently
her Majesty's Government made some alterations, and 'us
far as they went they were in the right direction, but there
still remain many other points which would require the
most serious consideration. There was, for instance, the
new state and altered condition of pupil teachers; the
examination of pupils in elementary schools, and that relat-
ing to the remuneration to be paid under the new code, which
was at variance with the report of the Royal Commission,
upon which the code was formed. If the measure was:only
an experimental one, and to come under consideration year
after year, he might feel disposed to allow the measure
to be tried as an experiment, but he looked upon it as a
permanent system, and therefore it was desirable that it
should be considered most attentively by this and the other
House of Parliauent in all its details. Instead of the course
intended to be pursued, the subject could lse best dealt
with if the whole of the provisions were embodied in a
series of resolutions, when the whole details could be most
amply discussed in the same manner as that
of an ordinary bill, clause by clause. If this course
was not adopted resolutions could still be moved con-
demnatory of some provisions of the measure, if it was
thought advisable to adopt that course. What he wished
to ask was, whether the Government would have any ob-
jection to the embodying the main proposals in a series of
resolutions which would enable Parliament to thoroughly
discuss each part of the scheme.

Earl GRANVILLE said he had to thank the noble earl
for the candid manner in which he had spoken on the sub-
ject the other evening, when the revised code was
under discussion. He must say, however, that with respeet
to the present suggestion of the noble earl, he did not see
any reason for a departure from the usual course of pro-
ceeding as regarded the discussion of the new educational
minute. He begged to assure the noble earl that there
was no desire on the part of the Government to abridge
discussion, neither war there any wish on the part of th•
Government to avail itself of any technicality. He re-
gretted he could not assent to the course proposed by the
noble earl.

THIS DAY'S MARKETS.

HAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, £2 to £4 158 ; clover, £3
10s to £5 10s ; and straw, £1 8s to £1 16s Od per load.
Trade Ball.
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---
CUMBERLAND..—MeOIOW hay, £2 Os to £4 15s; clover
do., £3 lOs to £5 10s; and straw, £1 8s to £1 168 per load.
A slow demand.
WHITECRAPEL.—Meadow hay, £2 Os to £4 15s; clover,
£3 10s to Lb lOs ; and straw. £1 8s to fl 16s per load.
Both hay and straw sold heavily, at our quotations.