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

LAW AND POLICE.

THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUcH.—An appeal has been heard
by the House of Lords from a judgment of Vice-Chan-
cellor Malins. The owner of some land in Lancashire
was the respondent, and the Duke of Buccleuch, as Lord
of the Manor, the appellant. The Duke claimed the right
to work the mines under the land of the respondent. The
Vice-Chancellor decided that the Lord of the Manor had
such a right, but must not cause a subsidence of the land
by so working. Both appellant and respondent appealed
against the decision. The House of Lords affirmed the
decision that the appellant had a right to work the mines,
but reversed it so far as it restrained the appellant from
causing a subsidence of the surface.
THE ALBERT LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY.--Several
matters connected with this case have been mentioned to
Mr. Bloxam, the chief clerk. The Vice-Chancellor has
extended the time for the policy-holders who have paid
their premiums to the official liquidators, under the order
of the 14th August, to have the premiums returned to the
30th June. The question of advances on policies came
before the'chief clerk, and it was proposed that the parties
should take the opinion of the chief clerk on the question
to be raised.
A CURIOUS QUESTION OF PROPERTY.—A Case has come
before Vice-Chancellor Malins on the administration of
Ambleside Charities. Ambleside is a small town in
Westmoreland ; and it appears that in 1688 James 11.
granted letters patent to trustees to receive certain tolls
which were to be applied to the use of the poor of the
town of Ambleside. From 1688 to the latter end of the
last century there was no record of the tolls,
but from 1806 to 1866 it appeared that the tolls had
averaged between £3 and £4 per annum ; and in the latter
year they had diminished to 11.. 6d., difficulties having
arisen in the collection of tolls, on account of the dispute
on that legality. It appears that the trustees had called
themselves the- Corporation of Ambleside, and they had
acquired some waste lands, which they had sold, and had
built a market house in the town. The question was
whether the property had accumulated under the original
charter ; and if so, the money having been applied
for lighting and sweeping the streets could not be con-
sidered for the benefit of the poor of Ambleside. The
Vice-Chancellor came to the conclusion on the whole of
the evidence that the property, now yielding £6O per
annum, had accumulated under the original charter of
James 11., and that therefore some scheme would have to
be devised for furthering the objects of the original grant,
viz., the relief of the poor of Ambleside.
REMARKABLE BURGLARY.—The Croydon burglary
which has attracted so much attention during the last
few months, has been the subject of investi-
gation at .the Kingston Assizes. The bur-
glary was committed on the night of the 30th
of September, and the case for the prosecution was that it
was committed by two men, one of whom was thought to have
been a man named Greenhead, who was afterwards found
lying dead near Cuckfield. The prosecution believed that a
dispute had taken place between the thieves as to the
disposal of the stolen property, which was worth about
£5OO, the house robbed being that of a jeweller,
and that in this dispute the man Greenhead
was murdered, and a bricklayed named Charles
Rowland, was apprended soon after the event
and has now been charged with being an accessory
before and after the fact. The principal evidence against
him was given by the children of the murdered
man, who• said that on the night of the
burglary the prisoner came to their house and gave
their father a " jemmy," or crowbar, saying that
would do the business. They afterwards went out toge-
ther, and the next morning Rowland came again, and the
children heard money clinking. The judge, in summing up,
remarked upon the singular nature of the case, and the
lack of positive evidence. Rowland was found guilty,
and sentenced to twelve months' hard labour.
ENCORES AT MUSIC HALLS.—At the Sheffield County
Court a case has come on in which Mr. J. F. Robins,
comic vocalist and dancer, otherwise John Robinson, at
present engaged at the Rotunda Music Hall, Liverpool,
sued Mr. Thomas Jackson, proprietor of the RoyalPavilior
Music Hall, Sheffield, fora sum of £2 15s. for salary. Tb„
plaintiff was engaged at the defendant's music hall, r..t a
salary of £2los. a week. One evening his perform nice,
in singing and dancing were so good t' a t
hi
was encored no less than four times. Onbe ,ng
agai-'
called on the stage, he was so much exhaue.,d
th his
previous efforts that he declined to go on akin, and in
consequence of that. Mr. Jackson disr •
e'd him? , and
would not allow hiHmistowoulaoyurouwtashis:3-intra jniiloientticim pay
him his salary.—
recover then amatoutll plaintiff had a perfect right to.
claimed, and therefore gave jr.dg,ment for £2 10s, withl
full costs. He considered that. it was optional on the part
of the plaintiff to go on t:ue stage after having been
encored four times.

CRUEL NEGLIGENCE.---Tlui bailiff and shepherd on the
estate of Sir Ivor Gue.4t have been convicted by the Winn-
borne masistrates of, 'cruel negligence of the sheepfold
under their charge, The animals were insufficiently fed
and wretchedly neglected. Forty ewes and 279 lambs had
died in consequ.ence. The prisoners were each sentelyzed
to a month's Gard labour.

A. telegram was sent from India at 12.20 p.m.,
Was received in Lordon by the Indo-European line at
2 p.m. the same afternoon, an inatauce of renAckAitt

MR. MILL ON TIIE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTY,
The speech of the evening at the great Education League
meeting held in London, was that of Mr. J. S. Mill. He
was received with great cheering, the entire audience
rising when he came forward to speak. His vigorous
remarks on the religious difficulty seemed to give equal
satisfaction. The bill, he admitted, was good in many
respects; but its religious provisions were still defective.
Hitherto, he said, instruction has only been given to
those who asked for it ; but we are now going—at least
we hope so—to teach every child ; and the bill gives up
to the local bodies, which in the rural districts means
the squire and the parson, all the neglected
children—the children of all who care little about
religion, of all who are dependsnt, of all who
are under obligations for charitable offices, of all who are
too timid to risk displeasing their superiors by sending in a
solemn refusal in writinc, to do what they are wanted to do.
And because the Nonconformists would not stand this they
were told—but I must do the Government the justice to
say not by them—that their motive could not be religious
or political principle, but could only be unworthy sectarian
jealousy. By the promised concessions this blot is in great
part—l wish I could even now say entirely—taken out of the
bill. But the principle remains of teaching the religion of
a part with funds raised by taxation from the whole ; and
a measure infected by this bad principle cannot be satis-
factory to any but persons of the dominent creed, nor to
impartial persons of any creed. It is true we may be
told that the Dissenters can teach their own doctrines if
they please, and in the school buildings, too. They can,
if, after deducting the school hours and the extra hours
set apart for Church teaching, sufficient time re-
mains • but they must pay the whole expense, and
their sharel of the cost of the Church teaching besides.
We may be told, too, that in places where the Dissenters
arc the strongest it will be they, and not the Church, that
will be enabled to teach their own doctrines at other
people's expense. As if an injustice in one place were
cured by an injustice in another. But this permission to
be unjust in their turn wherever they are strong
enough the Dissenters are so extremely unreasonable
as not to value. It is well known that they do not desire
their distinctive doctrines to be taught in school.
moreover,added the speaker, they were not strong enough
in most places to triumph over other Dissenters and the
Church. The worst feature of the system, the bigoted re-
fusal of aid to secular schools, is to be abandoned ; and
the bill provides that if the boards, instead of providing
new schools, elect to subsidise the old, they must subsi-
dise all denominations impartially, secular schools, I hope,
included. For this the framers of the bill are en-
titled to our cordial thanks. But it is puzzling to find such
opposite principles acted on in different parts of the
same Bill, and such different measure meted out to the
old schools and to the new. It looks like the result of
a compromise between two parties in the Government, on
the plan of giving something to each ; the sort of thing,
in short, which makes our legislation the jumble of in-
consistencies that it is. Some have the face to tell us that
the ratepayer, after all is not taxed for the religious instruc-
tion, for the rate is so limited by the Bill that he in reality
pays only for the secular teaching. Indeed Then who does
pay for the religious teaching ? Do the Church party intend
to raise the money by voluntary subscription ? But if
the expense is not paid by subscription it must be paid by
the Privy Council--that is, by the taxpayer—and do not
Dissenters pay taxes ? Is there a Conscience Clause for
the tax-gatherer ? One more thing is said, which might
well amaze anyone who is not past being astonished at
any of the tricks that are played with words. We are
told that in our case for the conscience of the minority we
violate that of the majority, who conscientiously dis-
approve of schools in which religion is not taught. Now,
if what their conscience objects to is sending their own
children to such schools, there is no compulsion ;
they are free to found schools of their own. It is neces-
sary to say this, for the principal supporters of the
bill in the House of Commons did not appear to be aware
of it ; they seemed never to have heard of such an idea ;
they charged us with expelling religion from the schools,
as if there were no schools to be had but those supported
by the rates, as if we were proposing to pro-
hibit all schools except secular ones, or to throw some
great obstacle in their way. What we demand is that
those who make use of religious teaching shall pay for it
themselves instead of taxing others to do it. So that the
conscientious scruple which we are accused of violating is
a scruple not against going without the religious instruc-
tion, but against paying for it, and their conscience requires
them to get it paid for by other people. Is not this a sin-
gular spectacle of the richest and most powerful part of the
nation, who, with two-thirds of their expenses sure to be
paid by the Privy Council or the school-rate, canot bear to
do what the smallest denomination of Dissenters cheerfully
does—pay for their own religious teaching? But is not this
precisely because they are the rich and powerful ? The poor
and weak never dream of throwing their personal pecuniary
obligations upon the public. It is a privilege only sought
by those who do not need it, but who think they have a
right to it, because they have always had the power to
exact it. The liberty we stand up for is the equal liberty
of all, and not the greatest possible liberty of one and slavery
of all the rest. There ought to be room in the world for
more than one man's liberty ; and there ought to be
room in the world for more than one conscience.
Let all parties have what religious teaching- their
conscience approves and they are willing to pay for.
But when a man tells me his conscience requires that
other people shall have religious teaching, whether they
like it or not, and shall have it in schools, though they
would prefer having it elsewhere, and shall not be helped
like other people with their secular teaching unless they
consent to accept religious teaching along with it, I tell
him that he is not asserting his own freedom of conscience
but trampling on that of other people. If this is a right
of conscience, it was bigotry and prejudice to complain of
the persecutions of the Vaudois and of the Protestants.
The case is less flagrant, but the principle is the same.

Mr. flugg, the Administrator-General of Bengal, is
dead.

The rainfall in the Punjaub has failed, aid severe
distress is apprehended.
Wachtel will, it is said, sing at Covent Garden at
the rate of £75 a night.
The Ireland Scholarship has been awarded to Mr.
John A. Godley, scholar of BallH, a first in Moderations.
The Court Journal, in announcing the continuation
of the bull fights at the Agricultural Hall, says that
several Irish M.P.'s will assist on Monday.
Mr. and Mrs. Murphy (as Lady Blanche Murphy
prefers, we hear, to call herself) are on the point of
szatung

A temple explosion occurrea In melton Uounty,
Ohio, on March 12. The boiler of a portable saw-mill
exploded, killing seven persons.
The fanatical sect of the Skopze, whose stronghold
is in the South of Russia, have latterly been making con.
verts amon., the Lutherans or St. Petersburg. Some of
these offenders have been punished.
CHINESE LABOUR IN LOUISIANA.—Chinese labour,
to a limited extent, is about to be introduced into
Louisiana from Cuba. Colonel Roberts, of that State,
has contracted for 240 Chinaman from Habana and Cecu-
fuegas. They are employed by contractors who deal with
American employers.
THE ERIE RAILWAY.—The New York correspon-
dent of the Pall Mall Gazette telegraphs :—" Before the
State committee of the Legislature at Albany, Mr. Jay
Gould has made a speech controverting Mr. Burt's most
material assertion concerning the Erie Railway. Mr.
Burt's chance of success is considered to be complicated
by the serious split which culminated yesterday between
the city and the country Democrats on account of the
notorious corruption connected with the Tammany rule
in New York." The Liverpool Journal of Commerce says
--Mr. Lane, one of the "executive "of the Erie Railway,
has arrived in Europe, and is now in Paris. Contrary to
general expectation, it is stated that he is not armed with
any power from his brother directors to treat with the
English shareholders' committee.

SNOWSTORM IN AMERICA.--The American papers
report the heaviest snow fall of the season to have occurred
on the 12th and 13th March. Business in New York was
interfered with in consequence. A severe snow and hail
storm prevailed along the Hudson for sixteen hours, accwn-
panied by a high wind. The snow and hail were eight
inches deep. The storm in Massachusetts wf..,s very
severe • the snow was fifteen inches deep. Rep arts from
Springfield state that the snow was a foot deep there, and
high winds prevailed. On the thirteenth a snowstorm
commenced in Providence, and continued midnight.
The accumulation in the streets was larger than before
this season. The freight house of the Fall 'River steam-
boat was crushed in by the weight of sr.icow. on the roof.
The train from Boston came in half an hour late, with
two engines. A severe hail and svaO'Vi storm had been
raging through Chicago, and was &en eral over the north-
west.

DENOMINATIONAL OXEN.- —A. gentleman travelling
in Texas met on the road a.l-daggon drawn by four oxen,
driven by a countryman,. v-41„,, in addition to the skilful
flourish and crack of wh-4--,
p was vociferously encouraging
his horned horses after this fashion :—"w,_Presby-
terian ! Gee, Baptis',; ! Ahoh, Episcopalian! Geet up,
Methodist ! " The traveller . stopped the driver, remark-
ing to him that /..ie had strange names fer his oxen • he
would like to know why he thus called them. Said
driver: " Ic 41 this ox Presbyterian because he is true
blue and ne.rer fails, pulls through difficulties, and holds
out to the
call thi• end • besides, he knows more than the rest. I
4 Baptist because he is always after water, and
Beßeans, as though he'd never drink enough ; then again, he
aPt eat with the others. I call this Episcopalian because
ne.. has a mighty way of holding his head up, and if the yoke
gets a little tight he tries to kick clear of the traces. I
call this ox Methodist because he puffs and blows and
bellows as he goes along, and you'd think he was pulling
all creation, but he don't pull a pound unless you con
tinually stir him up."
VICTOR HUG 0 AND THE CAPTAIN OP THE
NORMANDY.—The Rappel_ publishes a letter from Victor
Hugo to a friend, dated Hanteville House, March 20th.
It is as follows :—" I write to you in sorrow. There has
been a great catastrophe here. A packet has been lost (as
you see by the accompanying account). The island is in
mourning, the houses dosed. It is the first time that a
packet has been lost during the forty years in which there
has been a steam service between England and the islands.
The captain died heroically. He was named Harvey,
and three years ago -I - was on board his ship. - The
English fleet was then at Sheerness with the Viceroy of
Egypt and Queen Victoria. Some ladies who were with
me on board the Normandy, wished very much to see, the
fleet, and asked me to tell the Captain of their wish. It
required a d6tour of two hours. They said to me, " Tell the
captain that. you - wish it ; " " but" ladies," I replied, " a
French ship would not do this for me." -Captain Harvey
overheard me, and exclaimed " What a French ship
would not do for' Victor "Hugo an Esli ship must dp."
He made- the detour and showed usngli t'-'l6 fleet while the
Queen was shewing it to the Khedive. ." This amiable
man," concludes Vicfor Hugo, " died like a hero, saving
all these he could save and remainiaz to die," _