The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-28 00:00:00

THE FRENCH FUNDS.

According to Reuter's telegrams the French
.enter to-day were quoted 74f. 12c. Heavy.

There is a rumour that another cavalry regiment
is to be sent to Ireland, and that the Scots Greys will be
sent out in detachments to small towns and outposts in the
west and other disturbed parts of the country.

The minority of 56 which .voted for Mr. Bou-
verie's amendment on clause 27 of the Peace Preservation
Bill—a clause affecting the press, comprised several Eng-
lish Liberals and seven Coiservatives. The latter are—
Captain Arclidall, and Messrs. Assheton, Stavely Hill,
Johnston, Mellor, Newdegate, and W. H. Sinith.
Amongst the English Liberals were Mr. Jacob Bright,
Sir C. W. Dilke, Messrs. Cowen, Carter, Denman, Few*,
sett, Leatham, Muntz, White, Sir W. Lawson, &c.
The twenty-second Report of the Ecclesiastical.
Commissioners, just published, shews that in the lasii
three years lands and tithe rent-charges of the value of
more than £l2, 000 a year have been assigned to rectors and,
victors, and withdrawn twin the management of the
board. Also that upwards of £300,000 a year has been
appropriated to the augmentation of poor livings. Grants
are proposed to be made during the current year of the,
capital value of £300,000.
It is said that the Royal Academicians have deter-
mined to institute practical scholarship for the benefit of
the abler students, to endow the posts for a limited period,
and employ the holders, who will be required to compete
for their honours, in decorative works of the higher and,
pictorial order on the walls of public buildings. The
authorities at South Kensington have invited the Royal
Academicians to use the walls of part of the new build-
ings of the Museum for this purpose, and the invitation
has been accepted.
The terrible:disaster at the Lundhill colliery, near
Barnsley, by which 189 boys and men lost their lives,
occurred in 1857. More than £12,000 was subscribed far
the families, reduced to destitution. The whole of thta
sum (says the Leeds Mercury), excepting 2230, having been
disbursed, the committee by whom the responsibility of
paying the recipients of the public bounty has been dis,
charged, a few days ago met to wind up the affairs.
Originally there were 92 widows and 220 children depend,
ent upon the fund, but all except 16 are now otherwise
provided for. It was decided to go on raying these
long as the funds lasted.
A Correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette sayt
that the affiance between the Unionists and Progressists
in. Spain is at an end, and serious eon-sequences may be
expected. Rumours are current now that the Regent is
by no means satisfied with political matters in general;
and his own position with regard to them in particular ;
so a Council of Ministers is to meet. The present un-
satisfactory state of affairs will then be discussed, and sr_
attempt made to settle matters. It is very likely that
Serrano will exact something decisive, and a King or
Republic may be declared,
HOWLAND'S MACASSAR OIL —The case of Rowland v
Breidenbach has been brought before the Rolls Court, an
application being made to dissolve the injunction restrain-
ing the defendant from advertising and selling imitations
of the plaintiff's macassar oil, kalydor, and odonto. The
defendant moved for the dismissal on the grounds of long
usage and acquiescence. The Master of the Rolls dis- ,
solved the injunction, without prejudice to any applica-
tion hereafter as to damages.
TRAINING CHILDREN TO BEG. —Two cases in which'
children had been sent out to beg by their parents have,
been brought before the metropolitan magistrates. The
Marquis Townshend was the prosecutor at the Mansion'
House, and- the children charged were girls of 10
and 11. They were sent to the workhouse.--At South-
wark, a middle-aged woman was charged with teachinir
children to beg, and was ren_ipaded,

LORD ALFRED CHURCHILL AND THE
- - OY. FORD POLICE.

The . charge of perjury brought by Lord Randolph
Churchill against the Oxford police broke down at the
Vice-Chancellor's Court. The case rested on two points.
It was in the first place charged that Partridge, the ac-
cused constable, had committed perjury in swearing that
his lordship had knocked his hat off. In the
second place it was alleged that Lord Randolph had
offered money to " square " the business, whereas it was
held on the other side that he had done no such thing. As
to the hat knocking off allegation there might have been a
mistake. The charge of perjury mainly rested on
the "squaring" business. The little court of the
Vice-Chancellor was crowded with undergraduates,
who were decidedly hostile to the police. The
first witness examined with respect to the charge of perjury
was his lordship, a young man of an ingenuous aspect
qualified by a remarkably self-confident manner. To the
questions of his counsel he answered briefly, and to the
effect that he had been dining at the Randolph Hotel on
the night of the sth instant, when he hurt the forefinger
Of his right hand, and had to send for surgical assist-
ance ; that he did not molest Police-constable Partridge
on leaving the hotel ; and that he never offered him
five shillings, or any other sum of money, in the
street or at the station. His lordship was subjected to a
curiously strict and searching examination by Mr. Mon-
tagu Williams ; and, though plainly taken aback by many
of the questions, maintained his coolness and self-posses.
sion in a remarkable degree. But he had to confess that
the dinner, which was the terminal feast of a certain
" Falstaff Club," was a merry-making of an extremely
jovial kind ; that the thirteen gentlemen—an unlucky
number, by-the-by—might have drunk more than
twenty bottles of wine among them ; that glasses
were broken, whence the ugly cut on his forefinger; that
in a sort of dancing procession round the room, to the
chorus of a well-known song called "Dixey's Land,"
chairs were overthrown and jumped over; and that he
personally had amused himself and his companions by the
richly comic feat of upsetting glasses of claret over the
table. But, coming to the proceedings which afterwards
took place outside the Randolph " Arms," as Mr.
Montagu Williams irreverently called the head
quarters of the Falstaff club—when Lord Randolph
promptly corrected him, with the more impos-
ing word " Hotel" —the witness gave a resolute denial
to the imputations of drunkenness, foulness of speech,
riotous or disorderly conduct, and attempt at bribery.
He could not, however, satisfy his questioner as to the
reasons of his having refrained from exonerating himself
before the magistrates, by a declaration that he knew
who actually had molested the policeman Partridge. All
that Lord Randolph could or would say was that he
did not choose to incriminate another person. It
turned out too that Lord Randolph had ridden as a gentle-
man-jockey at the Northmoor races, a few days after the
Falstaff festival. More evidence was given. Mr. Franklin
confessed that he was the gentleman who had knocked off
Partridge's hat. This witness could not tell how many
bottles of wine had been drunk at the dinner;
but the secretary might know ; and the secretary
was Lord Randolph Churchill. This revelation
caused some little amusement, inasmuch as the noble pro-
secutor, in giving his evidence, had repudiated the power
of stating the exact quantity of wine and punch absorbed
by the Falstaff Club on the memorable occasion of their
terminal dinner. Four undergraduates in turn then gave
evidence for the prosecution, and-were unanimous in asser-
tion of the party's immaculate sobriety on the evening, of
the sth of March. They all swore that Lord Randolph
Churchill had not, in their hearing, offered money to the
police, and that they must have heard any such offer had
it been made. Mr. Montag-u Williams then spoke for the
defence, and said that the charge of offering money was
supported by several policemen who could have no motive
for trumping up such a case. John Brooks, a constable,
said that Lord Randolph Churchill came up to him and
said, " Halloa, who are you ? You're not the man."
When Partridge afterwards confronted Lord Randolph,
and asken him for his name and college; the answer was,
" You would very much like it." His lordship offered
Partridge five shillings ; and, when the offer was declined,
he said he should not mind going to the Oxford station.
Of the other police evidence, which was voluminous, the
most important was that of Inspector Barrett, against
whom the charge of perjury had likewise been advanced
by Lord Randolph. Inspector Barrett had been for three
years in the Metropolitan X division ; and his connection
with the Oxford police was of fifteen months' standing.
This witness swore most circumstantially that the offer of
money was made at the station, Lord Randolph Churchill
chewing a " George and Dragon " crown-piece in
the palm of his hand. An excellent character
was given to the defendant Partridge. The court
adjourned, the Vice-Chancellor conferred with Dr.Wynter,
and then judgment was given. The Vice-Chancellor said
there had been a great deal of conflicting evidence, but
upon the whole they were inclined to believe there was
not sufficient evidence to establish a charge of wilful and
corrupt perjury. They were, however, agreed
that it was a case of mistaken identity. But
while they were of opinion that the defendant had not
been guilty of a wilful intention to mislead they were
bound to warn the police to be careful in swearing to the
identity of persons. This was not the first case that had
come before him, in which he had been obliged to make
that remark. With regard to the offer of money there
was on that point the same conflict of evidence, but
he did not think the case was so satisfactorily established
as to justify him in sending it for trial before a higher
tribunal, and he had come the more readily to that
conclusion because Lord Randolph Churchill had I.is
remedy. The charge on both grounds was therefore dis-
missed.