The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-25 00:00:00

THE MORDAUNT DIVORCE CASE.

desirable to =cues runner questions m relation to MS
Royal Highness. Ido not think he in any way whatever
shook the position that originally and after due considera-
tion we took up ; that Lady Mordaunt was more intimate
than her husband wished her to be. That she
wished to convey that idea, and intended to convey no
other, is what I sincerely hope and trust; and after
hearing his Royal Highness upon the subject. I am
obliged to say that I also believe it." But it must have no
operation in your minds unfavourable to my client.
If I thought it necessary to point out that which
would be criminal in the highest in the land,
I hope I have firmness and honour enough
to do so. I hope at the same time that in the con-
duct of my profession I have sufficient feeling for those of
whom I am obliged to speak to cause no additional or un-
necessary pain. If you are forced to the conclusion that
the words of this lady meant something that I have
not put upon them, that must be your construction.
But I invite you to consider that all Lady Mordaunt said
is consistent with the evidence and with the case which I
present to you on the part of Sir Charles Mordaunt.

SIXTH DAY.

THURSDAY.
The trial of this remarkable case was resumed to-day,
before Lord Penzance and a special jury.
Mr. Serjeant Ballantine, Dr. Spinks, Q.C., and Mr.
inderwick were for the petitioner (Sir Charles Mordaunt) ;
Dr. Deane, Q.C., Mr. Archibald, and Mr. Searle for the
respondent (Lady Mordaunt) ; the Attorney-General, Dr.
Tristram, Sir John Karslake, Q.C., and Mr. Lord held
watching briefs for the co-respondents and other parties
affected by the evidence.
All the evidence in the case proposed to be called by the
learned counsel on either side had been completed on
Wednesday afternoon.
A Juryman now asked that Dr. Jones might be recalled
to explain what he meant by saying that at Walton Lady
Mordaunt was generally sane.
Lord Penzance referred to the evidence, in which the
following passages occurred :—" What do you mean by
`generally sane ?' That all the peculiarities that she ex-
hibited were produced by the crushing weight upon her
mind, which the pressure of circumstances could scarcely
fail to produce. She could not by possibility be called a
lunatic ? Certainly not."
The juryman, having heard further portions of the evi-
dence of Da Jones, expressed himself satisfied.
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine then drew the attention of the
judge to a letter which had appeared in the London news-
papers, purporting to have been written by an eminent
firm of attorneys, and directed to the evidence in this case.
He felt, and he was sure his lordship would feel, that if
they had any comment to make upon the object of any
witness in the case, they might in common decency have
waited until the trial was over.
Lord Penzance: I quite agree in that.
Mr. Serjeant Ballantine then proceeded to address the
jury on the case of the petitioner. He observed that they
had now arrived near the termination of this case, which
had properly been described as a most painful ones al-
though every endeavour had been made to make it as
little so as possible. But interests so important were very
seldom at stake in a court .of justice, and he felt deeply
the responsibility resting on him, now that he
was called to address the jury in support of those
interests,. for in all probability upon the jury depended,
the happiness, comfort, and respectability of the remain-
der of Sir Charles Mordaunt's days. He would ask them,
then, to consider more particularly the months of March,
April, and May, 1868. The issue before the jury was
this. It was for the Moncrieff family to show that this
lady was insane at the time when she made certain state-
ments, and at subsequent periods when she was said to
have been incapable of instructing her solicitors. They
liad undertaken to show this on the part of Sir Charles
Mordaunt, although he had only to show a negative. Every
witness who could possibly throw light upon the case had
been called. But a most remarkable difference occurred uixm.
the other side, and upon due reflection he characterised
that difference as being a deliberate attempt to keep back
the materials most calculated to enable the jury to form a
conclusion. He advanced that proposition after the gravest
consideration and in the broadest terms that could be used.
They had confined themselves to the evidence of four
women-servants, whose evidence was incredible, and
which he would shew was untrue; and they had
striven to overwhelm the opinion of the jury
with the theories of a swarm of eminent men
who knew nothing about the case. Where was
Lady Louisa Moncreiff ? She was in London ; she
was said to have been in court. Where was Mrs. Forbes ?
It was said her confinement prevented her attendance.
Where was Miss Blanche Moncreiff ? No reason had been
given for her not being present. Where was Mr. Fiennes,
the uncle of the respondent, to whom she was sent to
obtain advice, and with whom she did advise for the
purposes of this suit ? Would his learned friend
say why these persons had not been called?
Could any argument remove the fact. that Lady Mon-
creiff, the most important witness in this case, had never
been called, and that no excuse had been offered for her
absence. They were trying the sanity of a young girl of
one or two-and-twenty, brought up in her father's house
under her mother's care, and who could better tell them
what was the difference between the daughter's present
state and her previous life than the mother ? If this were
a mechanic's case would not everybody expect that the
mother who vas with her daughter during her confine-
ment would be called ? Of course it was painful
to have to appear in a witness box, but it would be no
more unpleasant to Lady Moncrieff than it had been to
Jessie Clarke. His learned friend-must know that there
was some reason behind for not putting her in the box,
because something would be obtained from her which
would destroy the respondent's case. Mrs. Forbes would
have been a witness almost as important but she had not
been called. They would be inclined to excuse the
younger and unmarried sister abstaining from
joining in such a case ; but still in the silence
of Miss Blanche it would not do for the other side
to impugn the the evidence of the witnesses who had been

Speaking of the other persons mentioned in the case, the
learned counsel remarked that while two of the gentlemen
named by Lady Mordaunt had been called to deny what was
said there were two others who had not been called;
namely, Lord Cole who was charged with being the father
Of this child, and Captain Farquhar, against whom, un-
contradicted, the evidence was conclusive. The affidavits
containing the accusations against these persons had
been open to them in the court for many months,
and therefore he thought their non-appearance was con-
clusive as to the truth of the allegations. With regard to
Sir F. Johnstone it was noticed that while he denied the
adultery with comparative mildness, he was quite indig-
nant about the other accusation. No doubt in this he met
with the sympathies of those who did not attach the same
amount of criminality to adultery which they did attach
to that which would be thoroughly ungentlemanly. But
what business had this young man to meet this young lady
at an hotel and remain from eight to twelve o'clock ?
At any rate he compromised her character and
there was nothing in the case to shew that in
speaking of Sir Frederick Johnstone Lady Mordaunt
was telling a falsehood. After commenting on the absence
of Mr. Fiennes, the uncle of the respondent, Mr. Serjeant
Ballantine concluded his address with a brief but eloquent
appeal to the jury to consider well the interests of his
client.

The address of the learned serjeant occupied about two
hours and three quarters.
Dr. Deane proceeded to address the jury on behalf of
the respondent. He observed that his learned friend had
mixed up the questions for consideration with . some with
which the jury had no concern. There was no question of
damages ; but the point for the jury to decide was simply
as to the sanity of Lady Mordaunt at a given time. '1 he
e
friends of the respondent had thought it right to confine
themselves to this course, and therefore they had not
called some of the witnesses named bythe learned serjeant.
But the other side had taken a different course, and the
result was that they had supplied links of evidence so fitly
joined together that he should be able to lay before the
jury a chain of evidence without flaw or break, extending
from the 28th of February down to the present hour. He
felt deeply for the position of Sir Charles Mordaunt, but
he also felt for the family of Lady Mordaunt, and he
should be obliged to speak strongly of the odious cause of
all this trouble. He would at once call their attention to
what he believed to be the foundation of this case. ,
Sometime in November a strange conversation took place
between Sir Charles and Lady Mordaunt with respect to
Sir F. Johnstone, and Sir Charles told Lady Mordaunt
that Sir Frederick was suffering under a complaint which
might bring disease upon any child which he had. They
had it from Mrs Cadogan that Lady Mordaunt was very
anxious about her confinement. It was not true that the
day after this conversation she came up to London to meet
Sir F. Johnstone, but she did meet him accidentally while
staying at the Alexandra Hotel with the Duke and the
Duchess of Athole, and the impression made upon her by
the conversation and this event together, in her state of
mind at the time, remained fixed until the child was born,
when she asked, "Is the child diseased ?" The learned
counsel referred to the fact that Sir Charles lived
with his wife after his return from Norway, as
proof of the position that the lady simply inquired if the
child was suffering from a disease, and added that he
thought Sir Charles would for ever regret the conversation
he had held with his wife in November. The case pre-
sented by the other side was that Lady Mordaunt had
made certain admissions ; that these had been found to lie
true ; and that therefore Lady Mordaunt knew what she
was saying, and was consequently sane. The learned
sergeant also concluded that when Lady Mordaunt spoke
of the Prince of Wales, she meant that she had disobeyed her
husband's direction not to keep up her acquaintance with his
Royal Highness. But there was not a tittle of evidence
that Lady Mordaunt, after being told to be more guarded,
ever set eyes upon the Prince of Wales, except in the pre-
sence of her husband. Lady Mordaunt's confession must
have had some other meaning ,• but if, as was shewn by
the evidence of the Prince of Wales, her self-accusation in
one case, arose from delirium, how dared anybody to say that
the self-accusation was not also a delusion in the others ?
The case with regard to Sir F. Johnstone was as much a
delusion as the other ; and with regard to Lord Cole, who
simply paid homely visits to the sister of the lady to whom
ho was betrothed, it was no stronger. As to Captain
Farquhar, the evidence of Clarke about the letter which
she said was burnt, and the fact that his name was not
inserted in the petition, were circumstances which threw
discredit upon the charge against him. The learned
counsel, after examining the medical evidence, and cha-
racterising Mr. Orford as a man who had throughout held
to one idea simply, went on to speak of the utter incredi-
bility of the statement that Lady Mordaunt wrote to her
nurse a letter begging the latter not to repeat the nonsense
she (Lady Mordaunt) had talked. It would not do to throw
doubt upon the colfelusions of Sir James Simpson, and the
other doctors called on behalf of the respondent
for the statements of the doctors on the other
side were founded on an observation of the same
circumstances, although from a- different point of view.
Dr. Deane proceeded to refer in detail to other points in
the case, quoting the affidavit of Mr. Haynes, solicitor to
Sir Charles, as proving the insanity of lady Mordaunt
when the citation was served upon her. He than pro-
ceeded to refer to the evidence of Dr. Gull, which, he
said, was of great and special value.
At the conclusion of the learned counsel's address, Lord
Penzance said he should not sum up till to-morrow.

examined. It was necessary to bear in mind the follow-
ing dates : The confinement occurred on Sunday, February
28, 1868, Lady Louisa arrived at Walton upon the follow-
ing Wednesday, March 3, and remained until March 6;
the original confession to Sir Charles was made upon the
Bth of March, and there was a second confession upon the
13th ; while the letters from Sir Charles to Lady
Louisa filled up the interval between the Bth and the
13th. On the 14th Sir Charles discovered the letters, and the
hotel bills ; then a communication was made to Lady
Louisa. She arrived at the house upon the 16th, and re-
mained some days—over the 20th March, at which time
Sir Thomas arrived. Sir Charles, who did not see any-
thing of his wife from the period when he discovered what
he conceived to be crushing evidence of her guilt, left
Warwickshire on the sth April. Then came the service
of the citation upon April 30th. Lady Mordaunt left
Walton on the 15th May ; and there was a
letter on the 16th. These dates exhausted
the period to which he must refer in detail.

The references to Sir Charles Mordaunt's letters gave him
an opportunity of referring to the character of that gentle-
man. He was a country baronet, probably not very
fami!iar with fashionable life, though possessed of con-
siderable fortune. So far as they could prove from his
manner he most likely passed more time in the country
than in the metropolis, except during the period when he
was attending to his duties in Parliament. He seemed to
have been a man of thoroughly sincere mind, and
to have been devotedly attached to this lady,
his wife ; and the letters which lie wrote at this
time exhibited in every line his disbelief that anything of
blame attached to his wife, and a clinging hope that.one
dear to him was not guilty of great crime. Up to the
13th he appeared to have been trying to believe that his
wife was innocent ; and if his letters were not very logi-
cal or even true in their description of Lady Mordaunt's
health, they shewed what was the state of his mind.
Coming to the consideration of the circumstances sur-
rounding the confinement, it was seen that up
to the 3rd March, when Lady Louisa arrived, except
the inquiry of Lady Mordaunt about the child
nothing occurred to indicate anything of what afterwards
came out. It appeared that certain statements were mach
to the mother, and yet it was asserted by the other side
that Lady Moncrieff left the house while there were about
her da,ughter signs of mania,which, if their case was true, must
have been evident to the most ordinary understanding.
And at this point he might take the opportunity of observ-
ing With regard to the confessions of Lady Mordaunt
that while his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was
mentioned in the first, his name did not occur
in the second. It was but just to make this remark ; and
at a later period he would shew the distinction between
what was said of his Royal Highness and what was stated
of other parties. But, if they were to believe the evidence
on the other side, Lady Mordaunt must have been
maniacal for three or four days after her confinement, over
the Bth, when the first confession was made, and the
mania was at its height, and up to the 13th, when the
confessions were repeated. Her mother was with
her on the 16th, and learned from her daughter that
she had confessed and yet his learned friend would
not call her. Mrs.'Forbes also was staying with her sister
at this time, when she was alleged to have been maniacal.
Instead of calling either of these ladies, Sir Thomas Mon-
crieff, who knew nothing of these matters, had been put in
the box. Commenting further on these points, the learned
serjeant observed that the evidence of Mrs. Hancock (the
nurse) went to shew that in the conversations between
mother and daughter it was fully admitted that this child
was the child of Lord Cole ; and in the absence of the other
witnesses to whom ho had referred, it must not
he said that the nurse, in speaking of the wretched chaf-
fering which took place as to providing for the child, was
describing what never took place. It was singular that
although this lady was said to have been insane, she was
left almost entirely to the care of a country doctor ; and
it was somewhat extraordinary that the medical certificate
should have been given without more complete inquiries
being made. No evidence could have been given with
more candour than that of the Dowager Lady Mor-
daunt, - and it went to shew that on the
13* of May, when the respondent sat on
a coal-box in the passage, she was attempting
a puerile sham. Mrs. Cadogan saw nothing of this
insanity ; and it was strange that the acts of Lady Mor-
daunt which were said to shew her insanity were never
committed before the medical men, but occurred during
the attendance of the women sent down as to take care of
a lunatic patient. And it should be observed that although
Lady Mordaunt was said to have tried to throw herself
from carriages she never hurt herself. Passing briefly'
over some portions of the medical evidence, the learned
serjeant went on to say that it was immaterial to his
case from which specific diseases the respondent
suffered. It was enough that knowing nothing of the nice
distinctions which could be drawn by medical men, Lady
Mordaunt felt it would be useless to attempt to deceive
'iir Charles. He would say nothing to imply that he dis-
believed Sir Frederick Johnstone's denial. lie did not
disbelieve him.

LI,S7 FOR THE USE OF VISITORS TO

THE METROPOLIS.

At this point the Court adjourned for a brief interval.
On its reassembling,
Mr. Serjeant Ballantine alluded to the letter written
by Lady Mordaunt from Belgrave-square to her husband
in Scotland on the 16th May, as being inconsistent with
any theory of insanity. And here he remarked on the
absence of Lady Kinnoul, another important witness,
adding that there seemed to be an epidemic amongst
all the people connected with this lady, the
respondent, which kept them out of the court. It
appeared to be spread through all the Moncrieff family
into every channel from which information could be
obtained. They would smother them with doctors, but
not give a bit of information. Was it not too bad that
they did not attend? It was an insult and a cruelty to Sir
Charles Mordaunt.

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 25, 1870.

AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
A letter appeared in the New York Nation on
Massachusetts credit. Tha writer states that the market
relied on for money by Massachusetts has been small, her
loans having all been raised through a few bankers who
had confidence in the management of her finances. When
Mr. Walker of Springfield was sent to Europe to nego-
tiate a loan he found the usual market closed, not from
want of faith in the credit of the State.but from causes of a
special and temporary character. This threw bins on the
general market; and then the fact transpired that the
credit of the State had been impaired by the mismanage-
ment of the last year or two. The agent was reminded
of the loan to the Boston, Hartford, and Erie Rail-
road, and the lloosac tunnel jobs. We never know,
said the lenders, whore your State is going to be six
months hence ; her loans come along a few millions
now, a few more next year, more the year after so no
man in 1869 can calculate on the indebtedness of 1870.
The agencies at work in impairing her credit are these
two undertakings. The Springfield Republican has been
actively engaged in showing them up, but every second
man in Boston being loaded down with " the worthless
stock or the imperilled bonds of the company, the press of
that city is silent or else apologists or defenders of the jobs."
An effort was made to get Judge W. A. Richardson, lute As-
sistant-Secretary of the Treasury, or Congressman Dawes,
to take the Presidency of the Hartford and Erie, in the
room of Mr. Eldridge. Neither, however, could be in-
duced to do so, and Messrs. Rice, Oakes, Ames, George M.
Barnard, and others, fled from the direction when they
found how bad the state of affairs was. Mr. Eid.idge has
re-entered on the management, and has marshalled his
forces for another vigorous invasion of the Treasury;
but the Commonwealth has awoke to the necessity
of checkmating these moves, as they now find the proud
position imperilled which Massachusetts credit once held.
Orders have been introduced into the Legislature re-
quiring the Attorney-General to appear and repre-
sent the interests of the State in all the applications for
money, and another for the full examination of the Com-
missioners ejected last year, at the instance of Mr. El-
dridge. In the face of such an opposition the -rail-
road clique is likely to be defeated, still it is added that
this is by no means certain.
The House of Representatives last Tuesday
adopted a resolution calling on the President for' the in-
formation in his possession relative to American citizens
confined as Feuians in British prisons, and their treat-
ment. From the facts which have transpired their treat-
mont is none of the best. We grant that they rillty be very
troublesome prisoners; that, being rebels, they are of a
rebellious turn of mind; that, considering their country,
and themselves grievously injured, they entered the pri-
sons saturated through and through with grievances, and,
as a natural result, that they are difficult to manage. But
prison officials should never forget that many of those
men, O'Donovan Rossa for instance, were influenced by
patriotism, fully believing in the righteousness of
their cause, and in defeat and humiliation should
still retain respect. If the London correspondent of
the Dublin Freeman be - correctly informed O'Donovan
Rossa has been subjected to corpora Ipunistnuent, receiving
ten lashes for insubordination. A few days ago an in-
quest was held in the Spike Island Prison, Cove of Cork,
on the body of Michael Tarbert, who there died on the
tsth Feb. of dropsy. He had been sent to Spike Island,
from Mountjoy Gaol, as Dr. O'Connell considered him
unlit to undergo cellular discipline, which means solitary
confinement ou bread and water. Although received in
the prison with this certificate he was frequently sentenced
to close confinement for breaking the regulations, and this
undoubtedly hastened the prisoner's death. In deliver-
ing the verdict the jury strongly censured the practice
of frequently punishing a man in his state of health.
Although the exhibition of impatience of restraint on the
part of these political prisoners may irritate the gaol-offi-
cials wheat they frequently insult, the greatest forbear-
ance should be exercised, for they are not ordinary cri-
minals however strongly we may censure their attempts
to carry fire and sword through their native land,the very
course best calculated to retard instead of to hasten the
removal of the grievances of which they complain.
As we suspected, a Democrat, Mr. M'Neely, of
Illinois, out of "pure cussedness" offered the resolution
in the House cf Representatives on the 31st Jan., which
was tabled by 3 to 1, " That the National Debt should be
paid in strict compliance with the csntract, and that the
Five-Twenties are payable in greenbacks : condemning at
the same time the policy of the Administration iu redeem-
ing such bonds at a high premium while it has the clear
right to redeem them at par." We would like to know
what Mr. M'Neely's object was. He had no right to ex-
pect even as large a vote against Mr. Jones' movement to
lay the resolution on the table, therefore no practical pur-
pose could be served in Congress; but is Mr. M'Neely
aware of what the effect is in Europe ? The Times' special
correspondent immediately telegraphs a resolution which
has no point or value : through the French cable comes an-
other tidegram, which is published, headed, A motion in the
Representatives to repudiate the national debt. For that day
one of the common subjects of discussion was the insecurity
of American Securities, and thousands congratulate them-
selves that they did not take the advice of Sir. Jon: s, Smith,
or Robinson, to invest in Five-Twenties. It is not that the
value of the securities is lowered, for such paltry motions
by such paltry people cannot haw, that effect even ou this
side; but their upward tendency is certainly checked, and
that time delayed when American cred.t will stand where
it ought. Who suffers? Americans who are forced to pay
an unduly high interest on the debt.. Who gains? Why
the foreigners, who have the sense to see that such mo-
tions mean nothing, the American people having shouldered
the debt, and are able, willing, and intend to carry it to its
destination, from which they derive an excessive rate of
interest, considering the nature of the security. The exact
sum that such a motion as Mr. M'Neely's costs the United
States could not be calculated, but if it could, we are slue
that its magnitude would astoun d.the citizens of the Union.
Does Mr. M'Neely know why the enemies of the Republic
are so sharp in telegraphing such idiotic motions as his?
If he does not, we can tell him—that it is because they
are better acquainted than he is with the consequences
on this side.

Mr. Arthur Folsom having been U.S. commer-
cial agent in Hayti has now become the Haytian agent at
Washington. He, with Mr. Delmonte, a Haytian resident
in New York, are at Washington, acting in the interest of
the new Government of that portion of the island, Gen.
Tate, Salnave's Ambassador, having been superseded and
banished. Mr. Folsom, whose evidence is certainly un-
biassed by any wish to baulk the aggrandisement of his
own country, does not hesitate to describe the feeling in
Hayti against annexation as very bitter, and to predict
trouble in the event of the policy as regards San Domingo
being carried out. We now learn from a telegram, dated
Washington last Monday, that he and his colleague have
been officially informed by the Secretary of State that the
Union has assumed the Protectorate over the Baez (o-
veinmeut in virtue of the Samana Bay Treaty against
aggression from Cabral Imperon and other insurgents. We
can tell Mr. Fish what the result will be as well as if writing
after, not before, the events. The United States must become
involved in a war which will last over several years, and
will end, after considerable bloodshed and expenditure, in
th, conquest of the whole island. The United States will
then possess a conquered colony, held against the wish of
the majority of its inhabitants; while,in so far as this hap-
pens it will depart from the great Republican principle
upon which the Union is founded, and thereby shake the
rock upon which the structure has been built. We regret to
see this false step taken ; we admire the honest stand
made against it by the New Fork Tribune, and we feel
assured that the President's Administration, unless the
Senate wisely draws it back from its false position, la ill
soon have cause to repent the movement.
AiILITARY ITEMS.—General Sherman issued an
order, Jan. 31, abolishing the First Military District, and
creating the Department of Virginia, with General Canby
as commander. The new Department comprises Virgi-
nia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland, and
forms part of the Military Division of the Atlantic, under
command of General Meade.

BUDGET OF PERSONAL.--Commodore Vanderbilt
refuses to make a will. He desires that his youthful wife
shall have her full legal share of his property. She will
be heir, therefore, when he dies, to some $23,000,000.—A
Washington correspondent says that Revels, the new
Mississippi Senator, has " a yellow skin. a conical-
shaped head." —Gonzalo Castanon, enitor-rof die Voz de
Cuba, while standing on the hotel porch, at*.Bey West,
Jan. 31, was attacked by several Cubans, who „fired pistol
shots at him. Ho returned the fire, and then received a
shot, from the effects of which he died in fifteen mi-
nutes. He succooded in wounding three of the assas-
sins before he died. Saveral arrests were made.--

The ReV. R. R. Collyer has been offered $7,000 a year and
a parsonage by the " Church of the Unity" in Boston.
Mr. Seward's prophecies aro always unlucky. He had
hardly foretold unbroken peace for Mexico before there was
another revolution there.—Camilla Urso has secured all
the singers and musicians necessary for her " monster fe*
tival" at San Francisco.---Joseph Pulatizar, member of
the Missouri House of Representatives, was shot and
wounded on Thursday, the 27th of January, by Ed-
ward Augustus, Supervisor of Registration for St.
Louis. The shooting was caused by charges made
by Pulatizer against Augustus in the liresflicher Post.
Minister L)w and suite left San Francisco for Pekin on
the Ist inst.—G.)vernor Hoffman has offered a reward of
$3OO for the apprehension of the murderers of Robert
Harper, who disappeared from Albany on the evening of
Jan. 22, or for the discovery of his body.—The fifth annual
reunirn of the Yale Alumni took place at the Parker House,
Boston, on Monday evening, January 31. The following
onlaers were elected : --President, the Hon. Dwight Fos-
ter; Vic27Presidents, Linus Asahel Huntington,
Wm. G. Bates, John P. Putman, W. Hoppin; Secretary

and Treasurer, S. Arthur Brut.—ln the United States it is
reported that ex-Minister Jan P. Hale was at Rome ill

and not likely to return to America till June.—J. B. Kerr,
of Missouri, has just been appointed Consul at Scio.—The
Louisiana House has passed a resolution of impeachment

against State Auditor Wickliffe, for maladministration,
bribery, and fraud, while in office, and has appointed a

committee to conduct the impeachment trial on the part of