The Sun.
London, England, 1823-08-08 00:00:00

THE OLD HOUSE OF LORDS.

Yesterday, in pursuance of a plan. to itnproie
the avenues of Parliament, the materials of the old 'Rollie of
Lords, the Robing-room, anti passages were sold by auction
under the order of the Surveyor-General of his 31atesty's Office
of Works. The demolition of this Venerable pile does not ex-
tend to the Painted Chamber,
.which is to remain at least dur:.
ing another year. The whole of the structure to be pul&d down
must,' according to terms of sale, be moved °Why the purchasers
in the course of 14 days. The arches of stone over theP oat ie
win-
dows*ere not sold, but retained by the Menlo( Works for future,
embellishments. Thepublie on the occasion found a good oppor-
tunity to examine,the Vaults in which Gin' FAwsrs, and the
other conspirators laid the mine to blow up King JAMES and his
Parliament. "The doortothe vault by which the traitors entered is
plainly seen b ticked up, in the wall nex t Cot ton -gard en. It appears
. upon close ins that the moment the conspirators passed
that door they. sitirenntier the Robing Itaom where the ItING
and Princes put on their Parliamentary robes. Some distance
further, in the vaults, they were under the Royal Throne,
where the KING took his seat. Bad tilts train been lighted
according to the design, the catastro* must have been ter-,
rible indeed. The appearance of the vaults is altered by
bricking up the Airches and the paving,. but no one who has
seen the place, can' doubt for a moment that every facility
was presented for the execution of the intended explosion.
The scene of a project remarkable in the history of this coun-
try, must soon pass away ia. the destruction of the building,
which will be replaced by aliete range, to be erected under the
direction of Mr. Soitwg—T6 roof timber is discovered to be of
ehesnut, and not oak, 'as some supposed. It is still sound at the
heart, anti would no doubt stand A century longer. We are not
prepared to state the . precise time at which the building was
raised.—The House of Commons, which adjoins the House of
Lord:, was, according to STorex, a Chapel founded by Ring
PrEPLIEN, in 1141. It was new built by Enwanu the ',Plum,
in. 1347, Out King holding his Court near the spot. The Ilouse
having surrendered to EnwArtn the Sixth, it has been %Mee
ustd for the business of Parliament. On ST 01v tra anatomy
we may conclude tha welts and the .roof timber of the Old
House of Lords most have been 'standing about ..100 years.—
In the reign of Jams:B the First the house of Lords had a
number of small buildings adjoining.

Itit..'Sergeant Oerstow laid if he hwi'4iiditt 'fAet
fore, ha should not have suffered the :prieonet to-be pot Olt iii'
trial until he was in aeflt state to make hit defence.
The visiting surgeetkof the gaol, Whatinart, teal the a
called, and stated that he had strictly watched: the prisoner.
and had reason to think that he etai,setiot, at ail times sane. He
was now directed to examine the prisoner, and giye his opinion
as to his present state. Accordingly he. went into the dock, felt
the pritioneee pulse; and expreseed hie ennvietion that his pre.
sent state of body and mind tendered him incapable of under.
mantling what was passing, or
,of making hi, defence. His
pulie at that moment was 135. 'Upon
Mr:Serge:int 0 ieseow :said that but one worm: of 111;6046de
ins{ was open--namely, to discharge the Jury from git.tng.iny
verdict, and postponing the case until the next gaol delivery.,
This was not a matter of frequent oceti'rrenee, but he had ne
doubt of his authority so to deal with the. cite.
The Jury were then discharged from giving any verdict, the
prisoner was remanded to jail, and the recognizaneee of the
witnesses respite ii till the next assizes.
Williosn Denalien., alias Dowilly, was indictott, for the wilfa:, -
murder of Bridget Donallan, his wife, at Chatham, on • the
19th September, 11.119, by drowning her in a well.
Mr. al AItSHAM (with whom was Mr. Ceenthor) stated
the case for the prosecution, and celled several witnesses, who'
deposed to the following facts :--In the year In: ii the prisoner,
who had been .previously a soldier, was broeght as it deserter
from Portcheeter jail to the depot °utile apt,' regiment, (to:
which he belonged) at the Isle of Wight. The regimeet,heing •
then in Canada, he, together with his wife and two children,
was ttent to America ; and in 18 Irhe returned to this country,,
and was quartered at Brompton. In September in that year he
was billeted at the Duke ofl ork public.house, and a back kitchen,
to which was attached a bed.rootn, was assigned to him and his
family.- His wife (who was represented to be-tt very respectable
woman) was then; in en advanced state of pregnancy. On the
morning of the 19th of September, the deceased, watt mieeing,
and the prisoner being asked by the wife of a sergeant who was
abroad what had become of her, said elle hail gone off with a
soldier of his regiment, and taken 31. with her, anti her clothes,
leaving him but 15e. Ile then proposed to the sergeant's wife,
who was preparing to join her husband at the Cape of (oed
Hope; that rite should cohabit with hits: She treated the pro-,
positron with derision, and told him she had no doubt his wife
would return to him in a day or two, knowing her to be a •
woman of correct habits. He, however, said lie would be
d—il if his wife would ever be seen in Chathem
,egain. On
the same day the sergeant's wife agreed with the publican to
take the apartments which had been occupied by the prisoner,
who was let into possession of another rote in the house._.
Upon examining the prisoner's bed, there were stains of blood •
upon thoboleter, the sheets, and the ticking, which were said
not to have arieen front natural causee. This circumstance
excited no' suspicion against the primmer, end he remained in
the'house for a week after. Immediately 'under the window of
the room was a well. In a, few days after the dere:lied was
missing, it was observed that the water was tainted and unfit for
use. At the end of three weeks something was discovered in the
well which excited curiosity, and a man was sent to examine
it, and the result was, that the body of the deitased wee brought
up in a state of nakedness and putridity. No marks of violence
were discernible, from the length of time the body had lain in
time water, but na doubt was eeoertaineel of her identity. It was
admitted on the part of the prosecution that nothing would turn
upon the nakedness of the body, us it was the prilc4ce of the
lower orders of Irish to sleep in that state. At tine time the pri-
soner hail left Chathwil, having been ttlio:harged from his regi-
ment, aria no traresot iron could bieselogadotel. ju du..41-10Ut
A private in ilic' :bet it'eet India Iteerinfens, named, Thompson,
who was stationed in the (stand of Itirbeiloes, soul hod been a
sergeant in the :Midi in the year Ifiln,,When the p w )prisoner as
received at the depot in the Isle, of Viright, happened, to ,
pick up at the guard-room door, apiece of an old newspaper,
containing an account of Aire. Detiallan's Murder by her
husband, which brought to his mind the ceersiction that the
prisoner, was the man. In the month of 3larch, 11;4, Thompson
happened to be quartered at Clanmorlis, county of Mayo, in
Inland, where the prisoner then resided: Being on duty one
day, the prisoner patted the barracks, and he imme,!iately re-
cognized him as tut old comrade. They fell into convereation,
anti Thotimson asked him how Biddy and the children were,
meaning the prisoner's wife. The prieonerbecam e much agitated,
and answered that his wife died, or that he had bulled her (which •
the witness could. not say), at Chatham,ite in a day or
two Thompson eeinermnieated his suspicions to Captain Smith,
anti in coneequetice of informations hi and twit other soldiers
were sent by the Denourable Dents Browne to desire the
prisoner to attend him. Time prisoner being infortned'a, the
message betainie again violently agitated, and expressed a wish
first to put on a clean shirt, which he was incapable of'doing
without assistance from extreme perturbation at the (=Mum-
, cation which had been made to hint. Upon his appearing be-
fore Mr. Browne, he was sent to this Country to answer this
charge. The • prisoner stood for trial at the last Assize*, but
in consequence oldie abseAce of material witnesses his trial had
been postponed, Two circumstances were admitted, to be foe
vourabla to the prisonertirst, that within a week after iris wife
was missed lie had drank of the water of the well ; and second-
ly, that 1141 maddito attempt to escepe when suspicion was
attached to

The prtsoner„ who was without 'Counsel, cress-cxatnined sc..;
veva ofibe witnesses With'' acuteness, but nothing Was elicited
tending to relieve him from his perilous situation. Ile handed
in a written defence, wherein he solemnly protested his inno-
cence. In a feW words which he addressed to the Jury- be
earnestly appealed to them, if it was possible that he could be
guilty of any violence towards a woman hY.whom he had had
two children, anti who had accompanied him through .1,:nr,.•
lauti,'Sentland, Ireland, France, and. America,' in -all his cam
pops. Ile hoped the Jury would strictly examine their own
consciences -Wore, tinder such cireurnstanctt, they. would lin&
him guilty of so atrocious a crime.
Mr. Sergeant t.)l4sLow recapitulated the eviknee, tend left
the jury,todetermine three questions—first, whether they were
satisfied of the deceased's identity ; second, whether the
pri-
soner was the author of the death ; arid third, Whether the de-
Ceasettcame by her death in the manner charged in-the indict-
ment. '

.
The Jury d'eliberated for some tune, and found `the prisoner
—Guilty—Death. •
The prisoner being. called upon in the usual mariner to say
whether he hail any thing to argue Why sentence of death should
not be passed upon hint, again solemnly declared his innocence.
;Ur. Sergeant ONstmtv then passed the awful sentence of the
law, and ordered the prisoner Air execution 'on Friday morning
next.

TILE Y ST1:111(t1)8 STitA NG E4O--(" Ea_sibot Artie,
Aug. the last few. days, a circumstance occurr,,d
here which has given rise to a COBjeCture, that hits c;
ceLei sonic
interest, and.ohtained no small degree of creditit will, no
doubt,. be recollected by reanvof your readers, that about two
years ago, the East Lothian flank ITO TONIC& ;0 nrery gated.
derable amount, and that a man of the name of flortb wiek (for
whow apprehension a reward of oth theinsand pountre *as of=
fared) was suspected. of being deeply concerned La the robbery.
He was described as having a scar on the kft eye-brow, and
ano her on the right leg, whieli hare led to at suspicion, that a
stranger who: the other day was seized by A ;4 Mid soon. after
expired here, was Borthwick, his body exhibiting the &man-
gutsh Tng markt' above stated, And in other respects correspond.
mug „ill the description giy en of him. The body lias in con-
attqmean; necessary for preventing inuii.ettilite putrefaction, as the
corps-,t, it thought,
e
ben by some person of the East Lothian Hank, to which the
e;irueum
sc
erfe al bi;l:11 .I'°l7l' rel:cl;l‘r'‘l. 4t'°i enll 741141°a:t'!::btneett;bacv4Itet:In411:.mde niklis it,
di
:wit whoa
4wt took
tehkbt :tgte: '7:
ohneel,a4r has any thing transpired whereby to learn who or what
ha was -.All that.wwi found. about his- person was three keys
rid his lodgings were as destittite of property as his vileketa.—
t Recevidon Chloniete.)