The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-31 00:00:00

THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Sole Lessee. Mr. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, at 7 o'cicck. NO SOM.+ NO SUPPER: Mr.
Kendal, Mr. Compton, Mr. Eclw aid. Osborne, Mr. Clark; Miss F.
Wright, Kiss Francis, Miss Fosbroke, and Miss F. Gwynne.
After which, at 8 precisely, BARWISE'S BOOK: Mr. Sothern,
Mr. Chippendale, Mr. Compton, Mr. Kendal, Mr. Buckstone; Miss
C. Hill, Mrs. Frank Matthews, and Miss Fanny Gwynne.
And (by desire) A REGULAR FIX: Mr. Sothern, &c.
Concluding with A IKSS IN THE DARK.

striking incident illustrative of the latent mutiny and
suppressed insubordination ac►ually at work under
the apparently tranquil surface of Conservatism--it

seems like another of those spring portents indicative
of the proximate breaking up of the ice of the Neva.
To whom—this really seems to be the problem
thrust upon the consideration o f all who are intcl
rested in the maintenance of the constitutional system
of Government by Party—to whom will soon pass that
Leadership of Conservatism which Li fast slipping, if

ikDELPHI THEATRE.—New Company.—New
Drama.—At 7.30, FREE LABOUR, a drama, hi foar
acts, by Charles Reade, played by a new company, selected from
first-class theatres. New scenery by Hawes Craven.

it has not already slipped, out of the grasp of

OLYMPIC THEATRE.-MISS BA I'EMAN.-
THIS EVENING, at 8, MARY WARNER: Mary Warner,
Miss Bateman; assisted by Messrs. Vernon, D. Fisher, Blakeley,
Roberts, Elliott, Vanghan, and G. Belmore.
receded by, at 7, MUSIC HATH CHARMS: Miss \Tattle
Reinhardt.

right hon. gentleman the member for Bucking-
hamshire? Derision is hardly the meed he had
earned by twenty years devoted to the furtherance
of the influence of what is, now, once more, by
the accidents of fortune, the Opposition, an I what
he has thrice helped to form into a Government.

To conclude with THE 'VARSITY BOAT RACE. Mr. Cleo.
Belmore.

4
YCEUM THEATRE (under the management
of Messrs. Mansell).
HIS EVENING, at 7.30, HIS OWN RIVAL Mr. F,
Charles and Miss L. Morgan.
At 8, BREAKING THE SPELL.

Derision, nevertheless, is, now, unsparingly and, as it
seems to us, ungratefully accorded to Mr. DISRAELI,
however, by the two leading organs of Conservatism,
who a.-e therefore preparing, we presume, to trznsfer
their allegiance by preference to—whom ?

Aftei which, at e. 30, LITTLE FAUST: Mr. T. Maclagan, M.
Marius, Mr. Aynsley Cook, Mr. Odell, and Mr. Wilmot; Mdlle.
Debreux, Mesdames Lennox Grey, Lawson, Lee, and Emily
Soldene.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and .1; anageress, Mrs. Swanborough.
THIS ENENING, at 7 o'clock, LOVING liEARTS. Messrs
Edward Teiry and Turner; Mesdames Bufton a..diSantley.
Followed by Kenilworth. Messrs D. James, terry, Turner,
and Fenton; Mesdames Bant'ey, Anstiss, Goodall. Metcalfe, and
Moore.

THE amazing crime at Denham has not proved the
mystery that might have been at first anticipated.
The person who is at present charged with the mur-
ders has been so accommodating in providing the
police with abundant clues, he has been so careful in
filling up blank places in his history, that within a
week the entire story is complete. That is to say, a man
Ts now in custody, and a set of evidence of great force
is stored up against him. It usually happens that
these crimes of exceptional atrocity involve some
difficulty in tracing the author. The Ratcliffe
Highway murderer was enabled to perpetrate two

wholesale massacres before he wascaptured. TRorr•

MANN was taken under very peculir circumstances,
and only after much search .11 the woman Wmrson, ha d
been content with a moderate number of poisonings,
she might have been enjoying the recollection of
them now. The ability or recklessness required for
a very great crime may also be employed to defeat
the ends of justice; and, moreover, when the horrid
work is so thoroughly done it is frequently very diffi-
cult to obtain a clue: But the Denham personage,
after doing his work most thoroughly, carefully
set himself to undo it. He took no greater precau-
tions to conceal his connection with the deed than a
beast of the field would have done. • , He took
less, for an animal might have scampered
away, but this libel on humanity tendered
every needful clue to his apprehension, and
remained in the neighbourhood that it might be
effected'with the least possible trouble.
JONES, or JENKINS, arrived in Uxbridge (Ai the
night of Saturday week, and took lodgings in Bell-
yard. He was then dressed in the poorest attire,
and slept with a tramp bricklayer, named
COOMBS. Early on Sunday morning COOMBS was
astonished to find that his companion was no longer
in his place, and still more surprised to find him
return later on the same morning with a different
suit of clothes on, and bearing a carpet-
bag well filled with good things. During the
few intervening hours the massacre. had been perpe
trated. The MARSHALL family had been seen on the
Saturday evening as late as dusk, and they slept in
their own cottage that night. About three on the
Sunday morning a policeman met a tramp dressed in

shabby clothing in the village of Denham, and directed
him on the road to Oxford, which ran past the MAR-
SHALLS' cottage. At seven o'clock a woman saw a
person whom she took Ibr MARSHALL, as he was
wearing clothes which she knew belonged to the
blacksmith; but it could not have been he, for
MARSHALL vas then beyond doubt lying dead in his
workshop. Between three and seven the
murders must have been committed. The murderer
whoever he was, took MARSHALL'S clothes with some
property, and left his own behind—saturated with
blood. The ragged dress left behind was proved to
be that of JENKINS, and the respectable dress in which
0001IBS saw JENKINS return to the Bell-yard lodging-
house on Sunday morning was proved to belong to
the dead blacksmith. After returning to Uxbridge,
JENKINS remained there some time. He pawned
various articles belonging to the murdered family.
He indulged in some remarkable extrava-
gancies of conduct, more or less pointing
to him as a man who had been guilty
of some offence. In fact, though there is not the
slightest reason for thinking him insane, he appeared
so drunk with the intoxication of blood as to threaten
the lives of several of the.miserable companions with
whom he spent Monday night ; and when captured at
Reading, he drew out a revolver, not, it has
been very justly conjectured, to kill himself, but
to commit more murders. He left Uxbridge on
Tuesday morning, and was taken at Reading on the
same evening, leaving a door-key in the lodging-
house where he was staying. This key belonged to
the house inhabited by the MARSHALL family.
Except for its extraordinary magnitude, this mas-
sacre is now reduced to one of the commonest char-
acter. It raises no question of interest whatever.
That the pure love of bloodshed, regardless of advan-
tage or consequences, does occasionally enter the
mind of man has been proved before ;

and the exertions of this b ery, bungling
scoundrel were not needed to enforce the truth. All
the accessories which rumour added to the crime in
order to bring it within the scope of some rational
law,, have vanished. There is nothing to prove that
the murders were committed for revenge: and it does
not appear that JENKINS is, as was horribly sug-
gest xl, the brother of MARSHALL. His motives were
of the meanest, as his after conduct was of the
maddest kind. Petty plunder of a few clothes, and
of such valuables as a village blacksmith's home was
likely to contain, was the sole object for which he
took the lives of seven persons. Compared with him
TROPP➢SANN was au intelligent and rational being,
for the Frenchman had a plan, and the
Massacre of the whole KINCK family was
indispensable to his success. The Denham
mnrderer committed an almost unparalleled crime in
order to carry out a petty burglary.

THE Bristol election petitioners have justified the

perseverance with which, in opposition to the advice
of some of their local leaders, they pressed on their
objections to the return of Mr. ELISHA ROBINSON. It

has been clearly established that bribery was practised
to a certain extent to ensure the success of Mr.
ROBINSON at the- test ballot, when the respective
claims of that gentleman, Mr. lIODGSON, and Mr.
ODGER, were decided. There is no doubt as to the
fact, but there is a question as to its bearing upon
Mr. ROBINSON'S return. A test ballot is entirely a pri-
vate affair; the law does not recognise it; and therefore
Mr.BaronßuAmwELL has resolved to seek the assistance
of the Couit of Common Pleas in order to fully
determine how far bribery at the preliminary trial of
strength invalidates the result of the more serious
contest. ye seems disposed to think that the one
can have nothing to do with the other; but he takes
counsel in order to get a final decision on the matter.
Of course the judges at the Court of Common Pleas
will endeavour to lay down the spirit of the law as it
is, not as it ought to be. There can be no
doubt, however, that if the existing Acts are not
adverse to test-ballot bribery, the sooner the
omission is remedied the better. Any bribery
whatsoever, bearing, however indirectly, on the issue
of the -election, must be forbidden. At Beverley it
was laid down that corruption at a municipal elec-

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EN ENING, 114 Y 31, 1870.

tion, with a view to affecting the greater contest,
invalidated the latter. It is true that a municipal
election is recognised at law, whereas a test ballot
is not; but on ;the other, hand the second has a
far more more intimate connection • with a parlia-
mentary election than the first. It may often be.
doubtful whether money spent by would-be ,to\vn
councillors is distributed for any other purpose
than that of merely winning them th-
lacal honour : there can scarcely ever. be
any doubt that money is spent at a
test ballot with an ulterior object. If these pre-
liminary trials, which now promise to become fre-
quent, are disregarded, nothing will be more simple
than for corrupt men to once more set at defiance
the law and the public. It will be easy to
set up a test ballot. It will be safe
to distribute any sum of money at it.
'lt is true that the bribers will have to trust to the
honesty of the bribed; but it would seem that at
Bristol, as well as at Beverley, there is no objection
to this. Indeed, it will often be found that a bribed
voter will be true to his bargain. The fact that he
takes a bribe skews that he cares nothing for his vote,
except in respect of what it will fetch, and he might
as. well, therefore, give it to the candidate who has
bought it, as to anybody else. Surely the pure
saction of the community are not to be laughed at in
this fashion.

The business transacted in the House of Lords last
evening was not of a very interesting character, the
principal discussion being on the High Court of
Justice Bill. In the House of Commons the Irish Land
Bill came on for the third reading, and after several
members had protested against the principles it con-
tained, and others warmly expressed their acceptance
of its provisions, the measure was read a third time.
The bill was subsequently brought up in the Lords
and read a first time. The Navy Estimates, in the
House of Commons, gave rise to a long discussion,
and several Conservative members—notably Sir Jas.
Elphinstone and Sir J. Hay—vigorously attacked the
naval administration. Several grants were made,
and the remainder of the estimates will be consi-
dered to-day, when the House will meet at two
o'clock. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in moving
the second and third reading of the Gun Licences
Bill, announced his intention to retain the game
licenc , in deference to private and public represen-
tations which had been made as to the inexpedi-
ency of abolishing it. The bill was rea I a second
time.

PARLIAMENTARY. INCIDENTS.

THIRD READING OF IRISH LAND BILL.

Without a division, and amidst enthusiastic cheer-
ing from the Liberal side of the House of Com-
mons, the Irish Land Bill was last evening read a
third tim-, after an earnest and animated speech from
the Prime Minister. The Premier's quoted couplet
from Dryden, anticipatory of the time when the
beneficent influences of the measure would become
apparent in the sister island—
" A flood of mercy that o'erflows our isle,
Calm in its rise, and fruitful as the Nile"--
told magnificently.
CLEARING THE HOUSE.

Without waiting for the promised motion of Mr.
Gilpin, the Quaker member, in reference to the
absurd power still at the command of any one of the
national representatives, to clear the Rouse of Com-
mons of strangers, and thereby to turn out among
others the whole body of the Reporters. Mr. Henley,
last night, brought this important matter again
under the consideration of the popular branch of
Parliament. If the power should still be retained in
the hands of a single member, it ought to be a pri-
vilege exclusively accorded to the Leader of the
[louse, and to him only.

LITEE,ATUivE

A BOOK FOR THE DERBY DAY !

Nicholas's Notes. By the late W. J. Browse. Edited by
Tom Hood. Ono vol , pp. 152. George Boutledgo and
Sons.

Some twenty years ago, several of the contributors to
Punch wrote and published "A shilling's north of Nonsense."
Hero, on the contrary, in this attractive little volume —alas !
that we should have to say it posthumously— a single con-
tributor to Fun, has issued from the press a shilling's worth
—a splendid shilling's worth—of the truest sense and of
the richest, and with a double significance, it may be said,
the raciest humour. Appended to Nicholas's Notes and
Sporting Prophesies are several miscellaneous poems, seri-
ous and comical. Prefixed to the body of the work there
is a brief biographical notice by the editor of Fun, and the
per,onal friend of the creator of Nicholas. The title page
of the volume has as a frontispiece to it a 3ife-size sketch,
from a photograph of the author. Born at Torquay, on the
6th of May 1836, William Jeffrey Prowse—known among
his intimates as Jeff Prows:., according to Mr. Hood— died
at Nice, on the 17th April (being Easter Sunday) 1870—
having run out his career in thirty four years, another vic-
tim of consumption, and (if we understand his biographer
rightly) in some sort also of journalism. He was a leader
writer in the Daily Telegraph, in which his first contribution
was an ac ount of the Oxford and Cambridge boat race, in
1861 - his last article in that journal being a leader, written
not long before his own death, on the death of Tom
Lockyer, the Cricketer. The one " hit" of Mr. Prowse's
life, however, was his creation in Pun a that genuine
original, or character, the Old Man Nicholas. Mr: Hood
in no way over-rates the achievement of his friend, in having
called into existence this most humorous individuality,
where he speaks of it as "surely a creation which might
have been not unworthy of the pen which drew Captain
Costigan." Throughout, from the first page to the last.
Nicholas's notes are thoroughly and genuinely humorous.
There is no straining after omicality in thorn. They are—in
all their lingual muddle and confusion as to the personal
pror,oun, in fact as to all the rudimentary laws of gram-
mar simply delightful in their droll extravagence. Wit
and Wisdom, mother wit and worldly wisdom, 'run through
the maundering monologue of the Old 4 'ard one can hardly
say the Correct Card—giver of tips, lover of sherry wine,
knower of horse-flesh, in one word—Nicholas !