The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-23 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.—The case of Hayle v.
Pratt was before the Court of Common Pleas. The
plaintiff in this case was stated to be a gentleman of in-
dependent means, who was very fond of antiquarian pur-
suits. On the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal
he became a guest of the Pacha of Egypt,
and during several months' residence in that
country he Picked up a number of pieces ancient
armour which were very valuable, especially to him, as
they filled up various gaps in his collection. He en-
trusted the armour to the defendant to clean, but
as he could not get it back again, he commenced the
present action to recover it. An order was made that the
defendant should answer certain interrogatories, the
object of which was to discover where the property was,
but afterwards judgment was signed by default for
21,000 damages, and the writ was issued to the sheriff,
directing him to return the amount to the plaintiff.—Mr.
Gadsden stated that the sheriff had been unable to exe-
cute this writ, because he could not tell where the things
were, and therefore the present application was for a rule
calling upon the defendant to shew cause why an attachmet
should not issue against him for contempt in not answering
the interrogatories. The learned counsel admitted that such
an application after judgment signed was a novel one, but
he added that the £l,OOO was quite an unimportant con-
sideration to the plaintiff, whilst he regarded the posses-
sion of the armour as most important. The court took
time to consider the matter.

COLLISION AT SEA.—In the Admiralty Court, the cause
instituted by the owners of the steamer J. B. Watt against
the owners of the steamer Thuringia, for the value of the
loss of the vessel, came before the judges. Damages were
laid at £20,000. On the 14th of last October the J. B.
Watt, on a voyage in ballast from Hamburg to West
Hartlepool, was about 15 miles to the N.W. by
W. W. of Heligoland. When the Thuringia
was seen on the starboard bow, the usul precau-
tions were taken on board the J. B. Watt
to prevent a collision, but the Thuringia ran stem on into
the port side of the J. B. Watt, and did her so much
damage that she began to fill, and was abandoned by her
crew. The case for the Thuringia, which belongs to the
Hamburg and American Steampacket Company, was
that, wishing for intelligence of the French fleet, she made
for the J. B. Watt for that purpose; and it was con-
tended that the collision was caused by the mismanage-
ment of those on board the J. B. Watt in letting her fall
across the bows of the Thuringia. The court held that
the Thuringia was solely to blame for the collision.
GREAT FAILURE.—An application was made on Satur-
day at the Court of Bankruptcy for the appointment of a
receiver and for an interim injunction in the case of
Julius Liebert and Edwin Rogerson, merchants and
commission agents, of East India-avenue, Leadenhall-
street, and of Saint Peter's-square, Manchester.
The liabilities are enormous, not less than
£300,000, of which £60,000 is due to unsecured
creditors. The assets were thought to be considerable,
but no estimate of the amount has yet been arrived at.
It was stated that proceedings had been taken against the
debtors by Mr. Lorr and by the Consolidated Bank, who
are creditors for £3,383, which it was important torestrain.
Mr. Kealy, accountant, of Cornhill, was appointed re-
ceiver, and an interim injunction was granted.
THE "SOUTH LONDON ART UNION."—At Lambeth,
the Government prosecution against John Cannon, a
jeweller, 14, Kennington-road, and James Stevenson,
landlord of the Oxford Arms, Westminster-bridge-road,
was proceeded with. Cannon was charged with getting up
an illegal lottery, under the title of " The South London
Art Union," (according to Act of Parliament 21 and 22,
Victoria, cap. 102,) and Stevenson was charged with allow-
ing the same to be drawn at his house contrary to law.
Mr. Straight, for the defendants, proposed to call wit-
nesses to shew that the transaction was properly
n: con-
ducted,it an
would b e
and he
su trustedffi ci
sufficient
histh
e defendants
Worship
entered would
consider
t o
their recognizances to appear if called upon, and not to
in
deal with them as mentioned the Act, as "rogues and
vagabonds." Several witnesses were examined as to the
recent and former lotteries. They were properly carried
out and prizes were obtained. The witnesses had taken
books of tickets, and sold some of them. They attended the
drawing of the lotteries, and saw no money distributed as
prizes. The lottery was respectably carried out.—The
magistrates said one of the reasons why the Legislature
had interfered to put down all lotteries was that they
were open to great frauds. With regard to this particular
case it was not alleged that there had been any fraud
practised. The question was whether it was illegal, and
whether the parties were to be committed as rogues' and
vagabonds. This was the first case of the kind that had
occurred. The Treasury had no desire to proceed to the
extreme penalties. It would be sufficient of the defen-
dants entered into their recognizances in £lOO each to
appear to receive judgment if called upon. Ile added that
if there was any repetition of the offence the extreme
penalties of the law would be enforced.

A WOMAN IN MEN'S ATTIRE.—At Westminster
Jemima Flemming 25, described as a married woman,
was charged with being abroad in male attire, supposed
for an unlawful purpose. Herbert Stammers, a detective
sergeant of the A division, said, at half-past eleven on
Thursday night he was on duty in Page-street, West-
minster, and saw the prisoner in a man's dress with two
women. The prisoner said her husband was a gas-
fitter, and had been laid up for sixteen months. He had
been six months in Westminster Hospital, and was now
in St. George's. She only put the clothes on " for a lark."
A witness was called, who gave the prisoner a good cha-
racter as an industrious woman, and said that during his
absence from home she had put his clothes on. He would
not have allowed it had he known it. Mr. Arnold said it
was an outrage against public decency, and ordered her to
find bail for six months.

LAND IN IRELAND.—The extraordinary desire of
the people for the possession of land is sometimes shewn
in very extravagant prices paid for the goodwill of the
tenant. On Wednesday a farm of 18 acres, situate
between Castlewellan and Banbridge, in the county
Down, which had been let at a rent of £l3, was put up
to auction. The landlord issued a notice distinctly warn-
ing the bidders that he intended to raise the rent to a fair
sum after having the farm revalued ; but, notwithstand-
ing this intimation, it was bought by a tenant of
Lord Annesley's for £550, which is over 40 years pur-
chase.
BREAKFAST.—EPPS'S COCOA.—GRATEFUL AND COM-
FoRTING.—The very agreeable character of this preparation has
rendered it a general favourite. The Civil Service Gazette re-
marks :—" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which
govern the' operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a
careful application of the fine properties of well-selected cocoa,
Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately
flavoured beverage which may savens many heavy doctors'
bills." Each packet is labelled—JAMES EPPS & Co., Homceo-
pathic Chemists, London. Also, makers of Epps's Cacadine, a
very thin evening beverage.--Advt.

The Saaurday _Review thinks the true cause of the pre-
sent discontent with Mr. Gladstone's Ministry is the sus-
picion that he is not properly aliVe to the necessities of
National Defence. if he commanded full confidence in
this respect, not one of the other grounds of dissatisfaction
would possess any weight. Any importance that may
attach to them now is simply a reflected importance. No
objection would have been made to the closing of useless
dockyards, had it not been for the doubt whether, with
the present wants of the Navy, they were really useless.
Lord Granville's despatches would have been the theme
of unmixed praise if Englishmen had been sure that their
conciliatory tone was not due to any want of strength to
use more decided language. It may be that Mr. Glad-
stone is suffering from that reticence as to the coming
Session which is becoming a Prime Minister. It may be
that, when Mr. Cardwell brings to the light his scheMe of
army reorganization, it will turn out that both Ministers
have been misunderstood ; that Mr. Gladstone can carry
into the preparation for certain expense and possible war
the same zeal and fervour which he imparts to the conduct
of civil business; that his grasp of principles and mastery
of detail will be as conspicuous- in. the ..debate. :-the
ArtnY Bill as they were in the debates on the Irish Church
or the Irish Land Bill. It may be that Mr. Cardwell has
determined to follow the advice of competent experts, and
to leave his name indissolubly associated with the recon-
struction of our national forces. If they are prepared to
justify this new conception of their characters, we have
no doubt as to the result. All past shortcomings will be
forgotten, and Mr. Gladstone will still be the head of a
virtually united party. If, on the contrary, the Aimy
Bill is an obvious makeshift, only designed to last until
the Duke of Cambridge can be persuaded to resign, or
until some newer subject has taken the place of National
Defence in the public imagination, it is by no means cer-
tain that the disatisfaction of the Liberal party will not he
such as seriously to affect the fortunes of the Ministry.
That Mr. Gladstone ought to allow nothing but convic-
tions of the positive kind to interfere with his taking the
lead of his party in the new and untried field which lies
before them, cannot need demonstration. There could
net be a worse augury for useful legislation than the pros-
pect of seeing reproduced in the House of . Commons the
same temper that is now rising up in the country. Let
England once be made secure, and she will go on giving
her mind to the subjects which Mr. Gladstone most loves.
Let her be left helpless under danger, and if she has not
energy enough to remedy the evil by turning out the
Ministry to which she attributes it, she will certainly
have none to spare for anything else.

THE TENACITY nF THE FRENCH RESISTANCE.

There is no good news from France, says the Spectator.
If we may believe the last reports, General Bonrbaki has,
like all the other French generals, lost the moment when
success was within his grasp at Belfort ; has allowed
General Werder to be reinforced by General Zastrow, and
now finds his task more than he can manage without re-
ceiving reinforcements in his turn. One might hastily
infer that with every week the prospect of ultimate
French success is disappearing, and the prospect of a
treaty of peace, assigning Alsace and Lorraine for ever to
Germany, becoming more and more certain. That is not
our impression of the situation. Oa the contrary, we
should say that acute judges look forward with much less
confidence to the end of the war now than they did a fort-
night ago, when legends of the immediate surrender of
Paris and close of the war were floating freely about in all
circles, as if they had been self-generated. As far is we
judge, the condition of the French national mind seems to
be this :—There is no high daring, great despondency, a
diffused melancholy ; but there is, at the same time, some-
thing like a positive incapacity for giving in. The nation
looks at the thing repeatedly, tries to consider it ; nibbles
again and again at the German proposals ; finds them dis-
gusting, " impossible," and goes on in its feeble way, raising
great armies, half-winning small battles, losing great
ones, and raising new armies in the place of the old ones.
It seems to us quite a mistake to suppose that the resist-
ance is deep-rooted only in proportion to its fire and
intensity. \Vith a commander of real genius, the fire and
intensity would at once gleam out in the French resist-
ance. In the meantime, it is faint and weary and almost
childish at times in its helplessness. But it is deep rooted
far more than in proportion to its vigour. If the levies in
any part of the country choose, they could easily refuse to
come. Gambetta has no regular armies at his disposal
with which he could constrain districts unwilling to send
recruits. The truth is, that all France feels the duty of
resistance, none the less for the half-hearted way in which
she fulfils it. The destiny is on her to fight, though she
cannot feel the fire kindling. We very much doubt if the
war will not drag on after Paris is fallen, and become
infinitely more troublesome to the Germans then than it
is now.