The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-22 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A SURETY.—On Friday, in the
Court of Common Pleas, judgment was given in the case
of the Guardians of the West Mailing Union v. Graham,
in which the question arose as to the extent of liability of a
surety. The defendant became surety for one Assiter, who
had been appointed assistant overseer, at a yearly salary
of £2O, by the parish of Mailing. He was appointed on
tae 3rd of April, 1865; but in March of 1866 the parish
recommended the guardians of the Mailing union
to appoint him as collector of rates. The
guardians employed him, and the question now
was :—Does the surety for the first employment
artach to the second ? It had been contended that
the employment was the same and continuous;
bat the court held that there had. been an
entire revocation of employment and constructive resig-
nation on the tart of Assiter, and that therefore the
defendant was not liable, as surety, for any breaches of
duty by Assiter. Judgment, therefore was given for the
defendant.

THE KELLY CASE.—The Rev. James Kelly finished his
opening speech on Friday, having spoken in the aggregate
something like a dozen Lours. He complained that the
judgment of Lord Penzance had rendered him infamous
throughout the land, and he had heard that even at
Astley's pantomime he was introduced. His great points
were that the judgment was against both law and the
weight of evidence. When he had concluded, Dr. Deane,
Q.C., rose to address the court on behalf of Mrs. Kelly;
but Baron Channel said he would rather read the short-
hand notes of the evidence adduced at the original trial
first, to see if it would be necessary for the learned
counsel to address them ; and for this purpose the cause
was adjourned to Wednesday.
A "CHRISTIAN Br.orionß."--A man named John
Thwaites was charged at Marlborough-street, on Friday,
with obtaining money by means of begging letters from
the Rev. Frederick Hall, curate designate of St. Ann's,
Soho. The prisoner told Mr. Hall that he was a carpenter,
and had walked up to London from Windsor in search of
work. He twice relieved him, and then the poisoner sent
him a letter • stating that he could get work at Messrs.
Jackson and Graham's if he bad tools. Mr. Hall advanced
him 10s. to buy tools with, and on Thursday received
auother letter, which read as follows :—" My dear
reverend Sir,—l trust this will find you quite
well, as it leaves me much better than I have been,
for the work made me feel better. I think, please God, I
shall have three months' work. My dear reverend Sir, I
could not get away this evening in time for the evensong.
I purchased somes planes, tut had not enough for a rule.
If you will lend me enough to take me through the week
I will thank you, and will call for it in the dinner hour.
Trusting you will oblige me, m y rev. dear Sir, I remain, yours
truly, a Christian brother, J. HOPKINS.—Rev. Sir,—We are
paid Sd. an hour overtime, and I make three hours every
night." On inquiry at Messrs. Jackson and G raham's, Mr. Hall
found that nothing was known of the prisoner there, and
the whole story which he had told proved to be false. Mr.
Knox said that a more disgustingpiece of hypocrisy he had
never heard of. andsentenced the prisoner to three months
hard labour.

A CREW SAVED BY LIFEBOATS.—The schooner,
John Steward, bound from Ipswich to Perth, laden with
artificial manure, went ashore at the mouth of the Tay.
The crew worked incessantly at the pumps from early
morning until day light, when the dangerous position of
the vessel was observed on shore. There was a heavy sea,
but the Elanore lifeboat immediately put off, and was soon
followed by the Droughty Ferry lifeboat. Through their
united exertions the whole of the crew were got off in
safety.

PEW WARFARE.—Pew warfare has been earried
before the magistrates at Driffield, in the case of a sum-
mons being taken out by a schoolmaster of the town, who
charged two gentlemen, one of them a warden of the
church, with assault. It appears that the complainant, on
coming to reside in Driffield, found great difficulty in ob-
taining a seat for himself and wife in the parish
church, and he wrote a letter to one of the
churchwardens, saying that if a suitable seat
were not provided, ho and his wife would accommodate
themselves in his (the warden's) pew, where theie was
plenty of room. Accordingly this was actually done, and
during the performance of service the annoyance was
alleged to have taken place. The defendants, in answer,
said that a proper seat had been provided for complainant,
to which the bold schooltaaster retorted by saying that he
could not sit there, as a young lady occupied it, with whom
he should be very sorry to have anything to do. He added
that the churchwarden (one of the defendants) would be
very sorry to have anything to do with her himself ; but
here he was snubbed, by that gentleman declaring he would
have the greatest pleasure in sitting with her. After
hearing evidence on both sides, the magistrates dismissed
the summons, and forced the complainant to apologise for
contempt of court in complaining of their decision.

WELSH AND ENGLISH.—The Usweatry Advertiser
defends the Welshmen from the charges of stupidity and
vindictiveness, and, in allusion to the recent stories about
Welsh juries, says :—" We have known. English juries
arrive at curious conclusions. The other day we reported
a Shropshire case in which a notorious offender was lot
loose on the world, although seen to go from a place he
had broken open, and found with the stolen articles in his
possession. The reason assigned by rumour for this was
that as the culprit was an old offender he would
probably have a very harsh sentence if -they convicted
him ! We once heard of a Somertetshire jury
who found a verdict of not guilty becaute the learned
judge in summing up called the prosecuting counsel,
who was a serjeant, 'Brother," and they thought it was
a family job to convict the prisoner! And be it remem-
bered, the speeches of advocates, and the summing up of
judges in Wales, are always conduct's' in English,
whereas in most cases the jury have a \very imperfeet
knowledge of the language spoken, and not a few instances
are known of their not understanding a singe word that was
said to them i Were their own language : Token, we will
confidently assert that Welsh juries, in the main, would
give more intelligent verdicts than English ones." Then as
to the allegect lawlessness of the Welsh :--`0 A threatening
letter is found—or said to bo found—under .s door. Who
put it there? No one in Wales really bdies es he was an
seayin,
evicted tenant, or a sympathisor ; but huadreds would
ratheri in
5,`.1.4:.ai ingencmy hath done this !' 'Air judges all
e jnb
that the 'Welsh an. less Oven to crime
than the people of the lest of Great Britaii, and it is a
notorious facs that the bulk of the con . 'talc as at Welsh
assizes and sessions aro of English tram pr. Journalists
must not believe all they hear about 'W‘i..3h doings
Much that they publish is spiced fur the English market
Take an instance. A short time since ag( o::-Ieman wrote
to the papers to say that during the last el• :ctici, in Cardi-
ganshire a Bible had been publicly bur. it, and ghat a
Welsh minister, whom he named, had Sul evil ;tended the
operation ! The minister indignantly denied the charge
and demanded an apology. A reply stated that ;on further
inquiry it was discovered that a crowd of peep] .e had burnt
a Prayer-book. This also the minister denied , and when
the matter was pressed to its source it was din loveredthat
a lot of children had made a bonfire, an, 1, be ing short of
fuel, the poor ignorant little wretches ha fe4Vlie flames
with a Standard newspaper, not knowing Owhat valuable
to