The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-15 00:00:00

At At4

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 1.1, 1846.

The anxiously expected decision in the case of
WALSTAB v. SPOTTISWOODE, has at lengeth been
attained. The Court of Exchequer, on Friday, pro-
nounced their unanimous judgment through the
Lord Chief Baron, and that judgment and the rea-
sons therefore are perfectly decisive, as to the hitherto
rexccta questio, the liability of the allottees of shares to
contribute to the expenses of the abortive railway
schemes. It will be seen that it fully bears
out the anticipations that we have from
time put forward with respect thereto, although no
decision has yet been given in the other important
case of WOOLMER V. TOBY. The judgment of the
Court of Exchequer is perfectly decisive as to that
case also, and the several provisional committeemen
must now prepare themselves to bear the entire ex-
penses of the abandoned undertakings, to withdraw
from the numerous actions so rashly insti-
tuted paying to the defendants the costs
thereof, and to make arrangements for the re-
turn of the full amount of the deposits to such of
the allottees as had, in pursuance of the demands
made on them, paid the same without drawback or
deduction of ally kind. Few will be disposed to pity
those who authorised the commencement of actions
with the hope of extorting from the fears of the par-
ties interested that which they could not obtain from
their justice. They did not do so without
having been clearly and explicitly warned as to the
probable consequences to themselves likely to result
from such a reckless course. On Friday, March the
20th, the verdict at Exeter was delivered, in the
case of WooLmEn v. TOBY. The following Monday
we stated in The Sun the difficulties that existed ;
and that we could not believe that the verdict
could he allowed to stand. Nothwithstantling
that caution not a day was lost by the acting
managers in availing themselves of the apparent
sanction afforded to their claims, and letters innume-
rable were forwarded to the several allottees, calling
their attention to that case, which they said settled
the question of their liability, and threatening im-
mediate proceedings for the full amount of the de-
posit unless a certain specified sum (and generally
ss. additional for the cost of the letter of application)
should be paid within a short time. On the
28th March The Sun contained an article clearly
showing that no decision whatever had been given,
that the important points involved in that case had
been merely placed in train for an argument before
the full Court, that it might receive the calm and de-
liberate consideration so essentially necessary to a
sound conclusion, and we also pointed out the reason
why judgment was nominally entered for the plain-
tiffs on the occasion, viz., that no injury
could be thereby occasioned to any per-
son if the plaintiffs were wrong, whereas
great hardship would be inflicted on them if right in
their demand, and that the points bad been ruled at
Nisi Prins in favour of the defendant. We also
showed why the allottees should not be held responsible
for any portion of the preliminary expenses, if the un-
dertaking were not proceeded with, and stated the

broad principle, " that where persons set a scheme on
foot, and assume to be the managers
of it, all the expenses incurred before the scheme

is in actual operation must be sustained by them,
if that scheme should afterwards be abandoned." It
will be seen that the Lord Chef Baron in his

judgment, quoted and approved of that principle, and
founded an important part of his judgment thereon.
We afterwards repeatedly urged the same subject,
and called upon the directors and managers, who were
lending their names to the commencement of litiga-
tion, by which their expenses and liabilities
must be fearfully increased, to pause ere
they plunged into such a difficult and
doubtful course, and at least to await the final result
of either of the two great cases. But in vain—" Quod
Deus vult per dere, priusguam dementar —hundreds o
actions were actually commenced ; too many, terrified
at the effect which such proceedings might have on
their future prospects, were induced to effect com-
promises, and to pay large sums in order to escape
from further annoyance ; but a vast number,
we have been assured, were through our state-
ments led to resist the unfounded demands,
and have thus saved their property. The
unseemly haste with which the proceedings were insti-
tuted, the urgency of the demands, and the threats
with which they were attempted to be enforce•],
were in themselves sufficient to satisfy any one of
ordinary sense, that the parties were themselves con-
scious of the we akness of their cause. The judg-
ment of the Court establishes that there was no part-
nership existing, inasmuch as the prospectus having
held out that there were to be a certain number
of shares, and a certain deposit on each ; a
smaller number only had been paid upon,
and on the authority of PITCHFORD v. DAVIS, where
it was held that a party could not be considered
liable as a partner unless he knew and sanctioned the

deviation from the terms of the prospectus, and
NOKK ELLS V. CROSBY, already mentioned, no part-
nership could be said to exist between the parties.
The Court also laid down the important rule, " that
an allotment of shares in an abortive scheme is not a
compliance with t application, which must be

taken, of course, to have been for shares in a bond
fide railway ; they then stated that there could be no
pretence at all to retain any portion of that part of the
deposit which was intended to meet the standing
orders of Parliament, the ten per cent. on the amount
of the shares, and they also stated that the 2s. 6d.
per share, which was apparently demanded for the
preliminary expenses, must be returned in full.
Nothing ian be clearer or more decisive on the entire
point. We verily believe that there is not a single case
of claim against an allottee that will not be governed
thereby. ,We may now congratulate the person
threatened with proceedings on a satisfactory ter-
mination being put thereto, and on his mind being
relieved from the feverish anxiety he endured while
the law was in an unsettled and doubtful state ; and
we do think that nothing more beneficial could have
happened to the provisional committeeman himself than
the taking away the fallacious and unwarranted hopes
by which he has hitherto been sustained, the enabling
him to view his real position in all its stern realities,
that
tn a t
eh, ebumtatyo thus
suchbe t eps as
sinduced
mlonger b
sufficient topr procras-
tinate, c r a
ts
o
extricate himself from his unpleasant position. The
certainty of any loss, however great it
deferred,wit hi n h
whichmeans,
sickens
will
theh be
heart
thana
b it
r better
habits rt;theness, or perhaps worse, which he may acquire during
an absence on the Continent, and the destruction of
sa of
may
fe be,
ihopedle if
-
his professional business, which must necessarily be
occasioned by the want of a master's eye and a
master's superintendence.

Having considered the precarious position of po-
litical parties just at the present juncture of the
session, it is scarcely possible to resist the inclination
to tarry for a moment upon one of the most remark-
able personalities with which Parliamentary discussion
was perhaps ever interrupted ; and we are the more
impelled to this course from the manner in which
those personalities were met on Friday evening by the
Prime Minister. It would be nothing less than
impertinence to recapitulate the assertions of the as-
sailant, Lord GEORGE BENTINCJI, inasmuch as those

assertions have already attracted so universal a no-
tice, but especially inasmuch as they have been so
wholly and triumphantly disproved by the illustrious
man whose character they were evidently intended to
blacken. We do not, indeed, ambition to be
regarded as the panegyrists of Sir ROBERT
PEEL —as far as he is entitled to pa-
negyric, his own political acts form his noblest
eulogium. Neither do we aspire to the office of
becoming the excusers of any statesman ; but, as
honourable journalists and as conscientious commen-
tators upon the great internal and international
movements of the age, it becomes our bounden duty
to narrate facts in their original nakedness, and to
point out the most rational inferences which a
consideration of those facts evolve. When, there-
fore, we recognise the general jeopardy in which
legislative matters are placed, and placed principally
by the contemptible squabbles of party ; when we
perceive justice, and national benevolence, and mercy
travestied, by being employed as masks, for the con •
cealment and for the realization of a petty revenge ; when
we behold the amalgamation of individuals in one unique
corps whose sympathies have in reality not the
feeblest affinity for each other ; when we see the dig-
nity of the Senate compromised by recriminations,
and the time of the public frittered away in the ut-
terance of personalities—some direct allusion to these
circumstances becomes to us absolutely requisite,
Such an allusion, moreover, is not of a barren and un
profitable character, as, from comparing the tone and
the arguments of the different speakers upon these
occasions, we may readily penetrate the motives
which actuate the aggressors, and the integrity to
which the aggressed can lay any just claim. Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S rebuttal of the charges cast upon
him by the Noble Lcrd the Member for Lynn
is the more particularly significant from the fact of
its being altogether decisive upon the many malig-
nant and graceless attacks which have been
showered upon the Premier throughout the
pending session. That the Prime Minister hunted
Mr. CANNING to death scarcely required that
elaboration of statement in which the former
indulged to disprove; the memorials of history had
already settled that interesting episode in modern
statesmanship to the satisfaction of every calm and
reflective mind. Any reference to that portion of the
Premier's defence would therefore be literally super-
fluous. It is in what is indicated by the subjoined
paragraph, however, that our chief attention was
occupied immediately upon its utterance.
" I cannot understand," said Sir ROBERT PEEL, in
conclusion, " I cannot understand how the Noble
Lord—believing that I had chased and hunted his
noble relative to death, and without making any public
or private intimation to me of those feelings—consented
to accept me, nevertheless, as a Leader, and to call me
his Right Hon. Friend !"

There is something withering in the sarcasm of that
sentence—it is opening a window in the bosom of his
accuser, such as the ancient philosopher once yearned
for. Through the candour, the delicacy, and the
simplicity of those unostentatious words the whole
flimsiness of the imputation is divulged. One
perceives that the origin of the accusation
was something totally distinct from that of mere re-
verence for a departed relative, otherwise so many
years would not have elapsed before that accusation
was pronounced ; otherwise, the Noble Member for
Lynn could scarcely have numbered himself
during so many years among the political
adherents of the man who had " hunted that
same relative to death ;" otherwise he could never have
called that man, however otherwise illustrious, his
Right Honourable Friend. And all these things could
never have been accomplished without the entire abne-
gation of self—a supposition which Lord G. BENTINCK
with great reason would be the very first to
repudiate. The aspersion must consequently have
originated from some pressing and exciting senti-
ment of the moment, in the flush and unpremedita-
tion of which it must have been pronounced. From
these reflections it becomes manifest, that however
emphatic may be the declarations of politicians
gifted with extreme excitability of temperament, a
fair allowance must be made for the dimming haze of
passion, that allowance must be subtracted, and the
remainder placed only to the account of reality. Again,
if so much must be conceded upon the matter of
Mr. CANNING'S demise, may not just so much
be conceded upon the matter of coercive measures
towards Ireland? May not this antagonism to the
Ministerial policy be just as attributable to some mo-
mentary impulse of feeling rather than to
any deep-rooted anxiety for the lenient legisla-
tion of the inhabitants of that island—the more so
as upon the first reading of the Curfew Bill during
this identical session many Of its present fiercest op-
ponents were numbered amongst its supporters ?
There was then a glimmer—a chance—a possibility
of throwing out the obnoxious commercial
measures : that possibility no longer exists,
and on that account they may not unreasonably be
charged with having fastened upon the Irish Bill as
the readiest means of revenging themselves on the
Ministry. Were we not justified in calling their
behaviour a ruse

A Berlin letter, in the Cologne Gazette, states in
positive terms that the independence of Cracow is to
be annihilated, even in name. The town is to be incor-
porated with Austria, but the other conditions agreed
upon between the three Powers are not yet known. The
writer adds—" It is incontestable that Prussirventers
into the views of the two other Powers with great re-
gret ; but, to induce her to concur, they cited a secret
article in the Convention of Munchengratz, whereby
Prussia, Austria, and Russia agreed to destroy the
independence of this small state, if it continued to
form the focus of Polish propagandism."
The Augsburg Gazette states that the Government
of Russian Poland has, in consequence of the recent
insurrection, sent out of that country all the Prussian
artisans and journeymen, even those who had regular
passports.

The prosecution commenced against the Com-
mandant of Ham and two of the gate-keepers, in con-
sequence of the escape of Prince Louis NAroauoN,
has been discontinued, and the only person to be
brought to trial is Dr. CONNEAU. lie will be tried
by the Court of Assize of Amiens.

The Commerce says, General MONTUOLON has just
been pardoned, notwithstanding what the journals
say to the contrary. He was to be set at liberty on
Thursday night.
The Akbar, of Algiers, of the 7th, informs us that
the Governor- General left that place on the preceding
day for Oran, in the Cameleon steamer. The Duke
D'AIJMALE left on the sth, for Tenez, in his way to
France, in the Titan.
The Pest Ampt Gazette of Frankfort has a letter of
the 31st ult. from Cracow, stating that M. KYBALSKI
had been attacked and robbed on the high road in
Galicia, and left with his arms and legs broken with
flails ; that near Bochnea three landowners have been
murdered by the peasants; and that, near Turnou,
the wife of another land-owner was murdered as she
was returning from Cracow, where her husband had
died in prison.
Prince WALDEMAR of Prussia, who was present at
the Seikh war, arrived, with his suite, on the 4th
instant, at Trieste. He was to proceed immediately
to Berlin.

Madrid papers of the 7th and Bth instant have been
received. The news of the POPE'S death had created
a great sensation in Madrid, as it would affect mate-
rially the negotiations now going on with the Court
of Rome. Accounts from Portugal to the 3d
state that the PALMELLA Cabinet had issued
an annesty to political offenders, a decree
for organising the National Guard, and an-
other for the dissolution of the Council of
State. The PALMELLA Ministry was gradually ac-
quiring the confidence of the people.
MADRID BOLSA, Juws 'B.—The official bulletin
quotes neither the Three nor Five per Cents. Ex-
change on London, 37.

We have received the Paris papers of Friday and
Saturday. On Thursday, the Dijon and Mulhausen
Railway Bill was passed in the Chamber of Peers ;
and in the Chamber of Deputies all the articles of
the budget of Algeria were voted; and on Friday
the project of law itself, relative to the extraordinary
credits for Algeria, was adopted by
215 to 17. a majority of

Letters from Marseilles, of the 13th, state that
serious troubles had occurred :at Rome ; that bodies
of insurgents had paraded the streets,
deeinanding

Constitution, and crying "Down with the priests;"
"No Papal Government." Collisions are stated to
have taken place between the people and the troops
both at Rome and at Ancona, and throilghout Italy
commotions were apprehended.
The Duke DE FITZJAMES died at P.^ is on Thurs-
day.

The preparations for opening the Great Northern
Railway from Paris to Lisle, on Sunday, are repre-
sented by these papers as being on the most magni•
ficent scale.

The Journal des D(''.l)als publishes the following
intelligence from Lisbon, dated June 2 :
" Since the last collision between the garrison and popu-
lation of Lisbon, public tranquillity had not been disturbed.
The provincial insurgents, who had marched upon Lisbon,
appeared disposed to retrace their steps and return to their
homes. Several measures had been agreed upon in the
Council of Ministers, presided over by the Queen. A general
and entire amnesty heel been granted to all the insurgents of
Torres Novas who had risen in 1842 against the Costa
Cabral Ministry, after the re-establishment of the charter
of Don Pedro. They had been reinstated in their property
and offices, the decree authorising the Government to re-
move from their residence the public functionaries whose
opposition it apprehended had been revoked. This decree
had excited a great animosity throughout the country
against the Costa Cabral Ministry. The law on the Council
of State, which converted that body into an administrative
council, had been suspended until the decision of the new
Cortes. Several juntas bad sent in their adhesion to the
new Cabinet, which, having confirmed in their offices most of
the civil governors appointed by the insurgents, had em-
powered them to dissolve the Administrative Council in the
provinces, and to replace them by temporary commissioners
until others be chosen by the electors. M. da Silva Passos,
former Minister of Finance, and a very popular man among
the insurgents, had been invested with the command of the
strong place of Santarem. The Colonel of the, Municipal
Guard of Lisbon has been superseded in his post, as well as
several other officers and functionaries known for their de-
votion to the Costa Cabral Administration. All the mea-
sures of the new Government appeared to have given satis-
faction to public opinion, and considerably allayed the popular
effervescence. Nevertheless, the insurgents continue to de-
mand the re-organisation of the National Guard, which the
Ministry was well disposed to accord. It was then actually
occupied in revising the existing law, which had occasioned
many abuses. The financial crisis continued, money was
exceedingly scarce, and the Ministry will only find re-
sources when the Cortes have met. It had authorised the
company called ConflanQa National, as well as the bank, to
suspend payments during three months. That company had
been instituted for the purpose of bidding for the Govern-
ment loans."

The Constitutionnel gives the following relative to
the mission confided to Mr. HOOD at La Plata
" Mr. Hood has received from the French and English
Governments a special mission and full powers to arrange
the affairs of La Plata. At first M. Guizot refused to con-
sent to the power demanded for Mr. Hood, but after a long
correspondence he at last yielded. From the plan adopted
it is much to be feared that the only persons who will derive
any profit from this mission will be Rosas, Oribe, and Mr.
Hood himself. Mr, Hood remained at Monte Video, first
as Consul of England, and afterwards as Consul-General.
He was obliged to withdraw immediately after the treaty of
October 29, 1840. He went to England, where he did not
cease intriguing for six years in favour of his protegee. His
incessant endeavours in favour of a man who has become the
right arm of Rosas, and like him sullied with crimes and
blood, ought to have opened the eyes of the Cabinet of St.
James's. Let any one who can explain the sympathy of M.
Guizot for this bitter enemy of our country. Will M. Guizot
deny the facts imputed to Mr. Hood ? If necessary, all the
city of Monte Video could bear witness to them. M. de Ma-
reuil, whose conduct we have pointed out, has received
orders to proceed to Buenos Ayres to assist Mr. Hood. It is
even said, that the two Governments have authorised Mr.
Hood, if necessary, for the accomplishment of his mission, to
disavow the acts of their present agents, particularly in what
concerns the navigation of the Parana,"
The Three per Cents. closed on the Paris Bourse on Saturday at
83f. sc. ; the Five per Cents., at 120 f. 25c. ; the Orleans Railroad
shares, 1,248 f. 75c.; Rouen, 1,016 f 25e. ; Havre, 743 f.; Great Northern,
73f. 50c. ; Avignon, 877 f. 50c. ; Vierzon, 622 f. 50c. ; Bordeaux, 6001. ;
Boulogne, 485 f. ; Paris and Strasburg, 503 f. 75c. ; Tours and
Nantes, 5161. 25c ; Paris and Lyons, 540 f. ; Lyons and Avignon
Definitive, 5151. ; Bordeaux ansl Cette Definitives, 509 f. 15c. ; Spanish
Actives, 31 ; Spanish Three per Cents. 57%f.
The following are the quotations in the new lines :-
LYONS, JUNE 11.--Marseilles and Avignon, 917 f. 15c.; Rouen,
1,0251. ; Lyons, 5461. 25c. ; Great Northern, 752 f. 50c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, JUNE 13.
Boulogne and Amiens, 11-East Indian, -Luxembourg, FA, -
Namur'and Liege, 331-Orleans and Vierzon, 15-Paris and Lyons
Constituted,

HOUSE OF LORDS.-(THIS DAY.)
The House sat to-day at eleven o'clock to hear appeals.
The Peers present were the Lord Chancellor, Lord Cotten-
ham, and Lord Campbell.
PINKUS V. THE RATCLIFFE GAS COMPANY.
The further arguments in this part-heard appeal occupied
their Lordships the whole morning.

PRIVY COUNCIL.-(THIS DAY.)
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat to-day
at the Council Chamber, Whitehall.
The Lords in attendance were Lord Brougham, the
Master of the Rolls, the Judge of the Admiralty Court, and
the Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall.
Their Lordships were occupied the whole morning with ap-
plications for the extension of patents.

QUEEN'S BENCH.—(THIS DAY.I
(Sittings in Banco.)
STOKES V. BAYCOTT.
This is a case arising out of the occupation of a common
in Shropshire, entitled Nudge Heath, i❑ the parish of Pat-
tingham, held by the defendant. An action was brought by
the plaintiff to deprive the defendant of possession, and the
case was tried at the last Shrewsbury Assizes, before Mr.
Baron Parke, when a verdict was given to the defendant.
On a previous day Mr. Sergeant Talfourd obtained a rule to
show cause why the verdict should not be seti aside on the
ground of misdirection, and the case was argued this morning
at some length.
The Court decided against the rule and in favour of the
direction of the Judge. The rule was accordingly dis-
charged.

(Sittings in Nisi Prins, before Mr. Justice WIGLITMAN and a
Common Jury.)
QUINNEY V. ILEY AND OTHERS.
The Court was occupied the greater part of this morning
with this case, which was an action to recover damages for
false imprisonment. The plaintiff; on the charge of stealing
grass, had been committed to custody, but was subsequently
discharged, no grounds for proceeding against him being dis-
covered ; in consequence lie brought the present action to
recover damages. The jury after a short consultation gave
a verdict for 40s.

BANKRUPTCY.-(THIS DAY.)
(Before Mr. Commissioner SHEPHERD.)
IN RE WALLER AND WALLER.
IMPORTANT QUESTION OF PARTNERSHIP AND BREACH OF
TRUST.—These bankrupts, who had carried on business as
grocers at Ipswich, came tip to pass their last examination,
and the same time was appointed for declaring a dividend.
The last examination had been adjourned sine die in con-
sequence of the accounts not having been filed, which was at
the time shown to be in consequence of the poverty
of the bankrupts, and there being no assets in hand
out of which they could have an allowance ; a
sum of 7001. having been recovered, the bankrupts were
allowed to come up at the expense of the estate; but were
still unprepared to pass their last examination, as they had
not the means of paying the accountant to file the balance
sheet. A further adjournment of the examination and
dividend was, therefore, prayed for, as it was contended that
the balance-sheet might show a very material difference in
the assets to be distributed under the joint estate.
From the facts stated during a long argument, it ap-
peared that the business had originally been carried
on by Thomas Butterman Waller, who, however, sent letters
to some of his creditors, stating that he had taken his brother
Thomas into partnership. Yet nevertheless Thomas made
an assignment of the property as his own, for the benefit of
his creditors, to Messrs. Alexander, of Ipswich, and they
realised the property. An action, however, was brought, in
which the issue of partnership was raised, and the verdict
established the partm rship. Messrs. Alexander then paid
over the 700/. they had received, and the separate creditors
now sought to prove tinder the joint estate. Mr. Lawrence
appeared to support their interests.
Mr. RUSSELL, the solicitor to the fiat, said Thomas Waller
had dealt with the property as his own, the assignment was
duly attested and advertised, and by th• lapse of time, six
months, afterwards became a valid assignment; if therefore
Messrs. Alexander had handed over to the assignees that
which belonged to the separate estate of Thomas Waller, they
were liable to the separate creditors for breach of trust, and
moreover that the creditors never trusted or had a claim
against the joint estate, but it was a great question whether
they could come in and prove under the joint estate. He
was engaged for the fiat, but wished to see everything cleared
up, and no opposition would be made by him to any course
the Court felt disposed to sanction.
Mr. LAWRENCE said this Court could not try the question
of partnership although it could direct an issue ; the cre-
ditors generally had no idea that a partnership was in exist-
ence ; surely, however, taking it there had been one, the per-
sons giving credit to the partners under the presumption
that it was to the individual, had a right to come in and
prove under the facts existing.
The Learned COMMISSIONER said that he should adjourn
the examination and dividend for a month, to ascertain
whether there was any separate estate, which appeared to
him to be the question, as in fact the partnership had been
made out on the issue tried.

CRIMINAL COURT.—(THIS DAY.)
OLD COURT.
These sessions, the eighth during the present Mayoralty,
were opened this morning before the Recorder, and Alder-
men Gibbs, Musgrovo, Sir Chapman Marshall, &c. The
total number of persons committed to take their trial is 180--
for murder, 1 ; manslaughter, 2 ; rape, 1 ; cutting and
wounding, 7; misdemeanour, 4; larceny, 119; robbery, 2;
forgery, 7.
The prisoners committed in London are 21, Middlesex,
118 ; Essex, 2 ; Kent, 9 ; Surrey, 30.
The grand jury having been sworn in,
The RECORDER proceeded to charge them in the following
words:--Gentlemen of the grand jury,the number ofprisoners
committed to take their trial appears by the calendar to be
180, and that number will probably be augmented during
the progress of your labours here. The calendar contains
one charge of murder: in ordinary circumstances I should have
felt it my duty to enter somewhat into the features and pecu-
liaritise of that charge before you ,• but onlooking into the de-
positions made in that case, I think you will feel it is of such a
nature and the details so plainly laid down, that you will
think it your duty to put it into the course f further inves-
tigation.t There are seven cases of cutting and w
with instruments that would endanger life; and I cannotoun bi)g
repeat the observations that I have beencalle_dshoanrptomke
too frequently, that the use of the knieferiunfortunately on
and o
f
instru-
ments, to the endangering of life,
is
nn
the increase, and the particular
habits and public-houses have been
s a
showme
generally thatco intemperateected with
these manifestations of the disposition to this crime. Whether
has
risen out of what has formerly
been done in this Court,whether the sentences with which
it be that this frequency a
this crime has been visited have created the opinion
of impunity, I know not ; but it is unhappily on
the increase. There are many charges of larceny,
and larceny in the case of servants, and offences that relate
to coining; in all these the depositions set forth matters of
fact, but not anything on which you require any direction.
In any matters, however, in which you think questions of
law arise you may always consult the Court, and you have
besides the advantage of an able officer of the Court, to whom
you may apply in cases of difficulty. In the Court of Queen's
Bench the chief clerk of the Queen's Bench officer has been
resorted to when occasion seemed to demand it, by the grand

juries assembled there, and though that practice has existed
for years with the knowledge of the Court, it has been al-
lowed to continue without observation. The grand jury,
then, assembling here may have the aid of the Court, if they
should deem that necessary. There are two charges of man-
slaughter and two of robbery. One of the cases of manslaughter
comes before the Court from the coroner's inquest. The
death on which this charge is founded occurred beyond the
jurisdiction of the Court, but the Act 6 and 7 of Victoria
c. 12, " for the more convenient holding of coroner's in-
quests,"gives the coroner within whose jurisdiction the body
is lying authority to hold the inquest. (Here the Learned
Recorder read the words of the section and proceeded.) But
this Act of Parliament, though it affects the jurisdiction of
coroners, has no reference to grand juries to give them
power to try cases which have happened beyond their juris-
diction. The Court, however, can try it on the coroner's
finding, and I think the parties will not send the
bill before you. I thought it proper to remark
upon this case. a case in which ignorance is alleged
against a persoWpractising hydropathy, and thereby en-
dangering life, that you might be aware of the grounds on
which the Court could dispose of a case, the depositions in
which come direct from the Coroner's Court, without pre-
viously passing before you, Gentlemen, you are aware that
it is necessary, in any presentment from the grand jury,
that not less than twelve of your number must agree in that
presentment—that it must be made by not less than the ma-
jority of your number, for the law does not allow anybody
to be put upon their trial by a less number than that which
constitutes the petty jury. Whatever, in any case before
you, remains unanswered or unexplained, and which would
warrant further investigation before a petty j ury, it will be your
duty to put it in the course of further investigation. On the
other hand, where a case is supported only by evidence which
appears to be frivolous, you will not act on such evidence,
but shelter the parties from being put upon their trial. At
the same time where the evidence first laid before you is not
satisfactory, you will call for more, and continue to do so
until you exhaust all the evidence in the case; for, as the
facts are sometimes laid before magistrates, the most im-
portant and decisive may not have been deposed to first, and
through precipitate decision on the part of grand juries the
guilty have escaped—and vet it is no release to the parties
charged, for new bills are filed against them. But let me
add if the evidence satisfies you in the outset, you need not
go through the testimony of every witness. With these
remarks, I lecve you to the discharge of your duty. You
will not find it arduous, and if you require it, you will take
advantage of the Court, which will render you every
assistance in its power.
The rest of the morning was occupied with swearing the
petty juries.

BRIDPORT ELECTION.
(THIS DAY.)
The Committee on this election met to-day at twelve
o'clock, to inquire into the circumstances connected with the
improper transfer of certain votes taken in the recent elec-
tion, and especially the vote of Mr. Wm. Rockett. On the as-
sembling of the members the room was cleared of all parties
but the Committee, and the proceedings conducted with
closed doors.

RAILWAY COMMITTEES,

(THIS DAY).

HOUSE OF LORDS.