The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-01 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

LORD HENRY SEYMOUR AND THE LONDON CHARITIES.—
At the Rolls Chambers, before Mr. Marshall, chief clerk,
the case of " Wallace v. The Attorney-General " was
heard on an application for a further distribution of the
estate of the late Lord Henry Seymour amongst the
numerous charities of London admitted to a participa-
tion, under the denomination expressed in the will of
his lordship of " Les Hospices de Londres." The appli-
cation was for a further payment of £B5 to each of
the eighty-five London charities. The residue of the stock
standing so the credit of this cause generally will also be
divisible amongst the eighty-five charities, but not until
the accounts have been adjusted between the " Hospices
de Londres " and " L'Administrateur d'Assistance
Publique de Paris." About £lOO will in addition, be
shortly paid to the London " Hospices," so that under
Lord Henry Seymour's will each of the eighty-five charities
will receive nearly £7OO.
A ROMANTIC CASE.—In the Divorce Court, before
Lord Penzance, the case of "Plowden v. Plowden " was
again mentioned. It will be remembered that the peti-
tioner, MrS. Plowden, is a daughter of Mr. Henry Taylor,
the proprietor of the Maravilla, Cocoa, and the respondent
is a captain in the army. It was originally a petition for
a dissolution of marriage, on the ground of the
husband's cruelty and subsequent adultery, and
the case created great interest in consequence of its sen-
sational and romantic charater. The judge ruled that no
legal cruelty had taken place, and allowed the case to
'stand over, so that the petitioner might apply for a judi-
cial separation on the ground of adultery. Mr. Searle now
applied, on behalf of the respondent, for the petition to
be dismissed. Sergeant Parry said he thought the
application should be acceded to, and he should
offer no opposition to it. It was intended
to appear to the House of Lords against his Lordship's
decision, and unless there was a direct judgment, he
feared his right to do so, would be imperilled.—Lord
Penzance said of course all the while the case was left un-
decided, no appeal could take place. As no opposition
was offered, he should dismiss the petition.
THE BRISTOL ELECTION PETITION. —Mr. O'Malley,
Q.C., applied to the Court of Common Pleas to fix a
day for the hearing of the special case raise in " Re the
Bristol Election Ptition." The question to be decided
was whether bribery affecting the test ballot was bribery
affecting the election, and the decision of the Court upon
this novel point was desired by Baron Bramwell before
giving his judgment in the matter of the petition. After
some coniultatioia, the Court agreed to hear the case on
Thursday, June 9th, and inasmuch as the decision will
involve the seat for the borough, it will be taken first on
that day.

PUBLIC RIGHT ON THE SHORES OF THE THAMES.—In
the Queen's Bench their lordships decided that the public
have an uninterrupted right of footway along the river
side between Greenwich and Charlton, and that Messrs.
Bessemer and Maudesley, whose premises abut upon the
river wall, are not authorised in obstructing the passage
of the public. The dispute as to the question involved
in this case has subsisted for some time, and the de-
cision must be regarded as of considerable general import-
acne.

The right of petition was exercised for the first
time in the Corps Legislatif on Saturday last, when M.
Rampont presented a petition from the Mayor of Sens
respecting the Waters of the Vanne.
TEE PORCUPINE OUT OF PRISON.—The Liverpool
Daily Courier seems to imagine that the lines of Mr.
Shimmin, who has just finished a month's imprison-
ment for libel, have fallen in rather too pleasant a place.
"But now that it is all bver," says the Courier, " it
may be worth while to ascertain the kind of punish-
ment Mr. Shimmin has undergone in gaol. There is
a treadmill in Kirkdale—Mr. Shimmin was excused the
unprogressive step; there are mat looms, oakum eels, and
casemated apartments—Mr. Shimmin has acquired no
knowledge of weaving, and has not ruminated on the
separate system ; there are gloomy courts, where a blade
of grass never springs, and the eye grows weary of
dull bricks and dingy flags—Mr. Shimmin suffered
from none of these depressing associations. lie was a
first-class misdemeanant, and we are not sure whether
this is not a desirable punishment. Just as a famished
" arab" breaks a street lamp to get rations in prison, so an
overworked editor may libel a merchant prince to enjoy a
pleasant holiday."

AUSTRIAN ELECTIONS.—The elections which will
shortly take Place in Austria for the opening of the
Reichsrath and the Provincial Diets will be carried out in
accordance with the existing electoral law which has been
condemned by nearly all the Diets. The bourgeoisee of
Vienna sent a petition to Count Potocki begging him to
grant the right of suffrage to all citizens who paid a
moderate tax. Count Potocld a=cknowledged the justice
of the request, but was unable to comply with it because
a partial reform of the electoral law would only place
him in a false•position, and interfere with the success of
his scheme. The German Centralists are alarmed at the
autonomist movement, which is spreading in all directions.
At a meeting of deputies which took place at Brunn, a
manifesto was prepared which bore the signatures of
many members of the Reicherath. This set forth the
dangers which would ensue if they departed from the
constitutional path, and asked for the adoption of mode-
rate reforms.
AN OLD OFFENDER.—There is an intelligent
Irishwoman named Mary O'Neill, at Greenock, who, how-
ever, so often gets into trouble, that serious intentions of
committing her to jail are often contemplated by the
magistrates. Mary OtNiel, or, as she has latterly been
called, Madge Wildfire, has one great fault, namely, a
lo ve of drinking, andwhile in a state of intoxication, as she is
occasionally, she becomes amazonian in her strength, and
vehement in her denunciations. The poor woman's
appearance-in court always causes much amusement, and
her sensible arguments and self-possession often lead to the
modification oethe sentences passed upon her. Mary O'Neil
was last in the Police Court on Saturday, when she was
summoned, as usual, for a breach of the Peace. The
accused woman pleaded Not guilty, and added, " I just
took a wee drop on the Queen's Birthday, and I was danc-
ing the Highland fling in a ring, like this." Here she
gave a specimen of her dancing, to the great amuse-
ment of the Court. She interspersed her dis-
course with a profusion of blessings and pious
exclamations. While the evidence was being given
and the long list of Mary's previous transgressions
gone over, she rambled on with great volubility, "America
wants me, and England and France wants me, but I'll
stick to Scotland. Bailie, you must • get a mar' for me,
for I cant protect myself. I'll make a good wife.
(Laughter.) I like Scotland ; I get my meat and my
drink. When they put me out of the jail Igo
to the chapel, and when they put me out of the
chapel I go to the jail. Listen to the outcast in the desert.
I've behaved myself for twelve months." The Bailie here
said that as Mary had kept comparatively free from
trouble since 1869, he would modify the penalty for her
misdemeanour to 10s. 6d. fine. Mary—You'll make me
good yet. I've nobody but the bailies to protect me,
everybody else is against me. Bailie—But I will give
you a warning. and you must remember it, that if you
come back here again and I am on • the bench you
will be sent sixty days to prison, and ordered to find
security for your future good behaviour, or go other thirty
days to prison ; and if you come back again after that,
you must be sent to the Sheriff as an incorrigible.—
Mary : That's,two chances yet.—Mary then blessed the
Court with great impressiveness, and, having curtseyed to
the Bailie, disappeared. •

A MUNICIPAL ELECTION IN NEW YORK.
In the late municipal election in 1N ew York, the New
York Tinzes says, there were more tickets in the urns
than people who voted, and many more were counted
than were put in the urns. This, it is said, was due to
the system of " repeating "—that is, one person voting at
many places, giving the names and addresses -of
persons in the district, but of course without the
latter's knowledge or consent. It seems there are still
some difficulties to overcome in the use of the ballot.
The Tribune says thatover 80,000 votes were polled for
Mr. Church, and not more than 50,000 voted. The New
York Sun, a violent supportdr of Church, admits these
facts, and says, " Never before were our citizens dis-
graced by so corrupt and infamous an election. Repeating
was the order of the day." In the Bth ward, 8,474 votes
were polled for Mr. Church, says the Tribune, and in this
ward less than 3,000 voters live, and of these a large pro-
portion did not vote. Fifteen dollars is stated to have
been the price for a forged vote,

THE CAPTURE BY BRIGANDS IN SPAIN.
Very little is known of the second case of brigandage
which has come upon Lord Clarendon's hands within
the last few weeks. Authoritative details are wanting,
and the whereabouts of the brigands is not known ; but
of course the Spanish guardians of the peace are in • full
search. Marshall Prim is said to be much distressed at
the event, and promises that the Spanish Government
will pay any ransom demanded. According to the account
given by the bnparcial, of Madrid, it would appear that
on Saturday, the 21st, Mr. John Bonell went out from
Gibraltar on horseback towards Sabal, accompanied by his
nephew, Mr. J. A Bonell. On entering the gate of the
little inn at the latter point they saw a man dragging
the woman who kept the inn towards a car-
bonera (coal-house) there was in the patio (court-
yard). The woman called out to Mr. Bonell,
Don Juan- he is going to kill me !" Mr. Bonell went
up to them, and remonstrated with the man, but to no
effect, for he locked her up in the carbonera, together
with her child of four years, and her servant,
who were already there. The uncle 'and nephew
had hardly entered the inn (ventorillo) when another man
closed the door to prevent their egress. Very shortly
five men entered, one of them apparently very respect-
able. They represented to the Englishmen that they
were in great want ; that they had a business trans-
..ction of importance in Gibraltar for some time
which they were unata to cwnpiobo f.. waiib ‘,4
and that they (the English) must help them or else the
thing would be entirely lost. They proposed that Mr.
Bonnell should go to Gibraltar for the money, his nephew
to remain as a hostage until his return with the sum they
required. Mr. Bonnell replied that he would not leave his
nephew, even if they shot him. He begged them to be
allowed to go both of them to Gibraltar so as to
avoid alarming his family, and he gave his word
of honour that he would send them the money.
The robbers refused. Again they ordered him to
go alone for the money, and again he refused to
separate from his nephew. He said ' You may do what you
like about getting the money ; I will not go without my
nephew." While this was going on there was a knock
at the gate, and one of the thieves opened it. A
manservant of Senor Herrera was there on a
mule. This individual they also shut up in the
carbonera, and they did the same to a daughter of
his who arrived shortly after. At eight at night they
saddled the mule and placing on it some skins of wine, some
spirits, and provisions, they made Mr. Bonell's nephew
mount it, leaving his horse in the stable, and then with
their two English prisoners all set off in a direction un-
known. Before starting they threatened those they had
shut up in the carbonera that if they broke the door or gave
any, information all should be killed. The sum they de-
manded from the Bonells appears to have been $5,000. They
took away with them two hammers from the carbonera, but
they failed to notice a bar of iron there was in a corner, which
served those incarcerated to break open the door, which
they did shortly after the party had left. It is said
these bandits had been hanging about the place for some
days ; according to their own account they were waiting
for smugglers. The two Englishmen had had negotiations
with them in Gibraltar, respecting the purchase or sale of
a horse. A few days before the event some civil guards
asked them to shew their passports, which they did, and
it appeared they belonged to la Hoya de Malaga.
The correspondent of the Standard, writing from
Gibraltar, says that most well-informed people are of
opinion that the robbers are the leaders of a well-known
and numerous band of contrabandistas, whose speculations
in smuggling tobacco have lately been very unfortunate,
and that, consequently, they have been induced to have
recourse to this means of repairing their broken finances.
" Most people here blame the Spanish authorities
for having dispatched troops in such active pursuit,
fearing, no doubt, a repetition of the Greek tragedy. It
is believed, however, that the Governor of Gibraltar, has
strongly repiesented to the Spanish military authorities
the absolute necessity of temporising with the bandits till
the personal safety of the Messrs. Bonell is assured." It
may be as well to explain that a ventorillo means a drink-
ing shop, or rather a house where the traveller can rest
for an hour or so and refresh himself. A letter in the
Tines says that Sir Richard Airey, the Governor of
Gibraltar, has been active in taking measures to ensure
the capture of the brigands.

THE TIDE WESTWARD.

When the student of history reads of the immigration
of the Northern barbarians over the Roman Empire, of
the stream of the Goths pouring from Scandinavia and
Northern Germany into Southern Europe, or of the Van-
dals into Spain or Africa, he fancies that there must
have been a movement of peoples then to which modern
times afford no parallel. But, precisely as in geology we
can hardly imagine that mountains of chalk are being
formed now at the bottom of the ocean, and whole races
of beings perishing, and land sinking and seas rising, just
as,'and no less than, they did in ancient fossil periods,—
so we do not perceive that ancient history renews itself
in the nineteenth century. The " people's wanderings,"
as the Germans call them, are nearly as remarkable novas
were five hundred years after Christ. A steady stream of
" Northern barbarians " pours upon our coast—an immi-
gration like that in the time of the Roman Empire—with
this difference, that it is well organised, and produces the
most beneficial results. The descendants of the ancient
Goths and Gauls, and what not, are invading our borders
as their fathers did those of the Caesars. Into the blood
of the conquering race Of this country they are infusing
their new element of power, as their ancestors did into
that of a more degenerate stock. Three hundred and
fifty thousand of these vigorous " barbarians " will
probably this year come into our ports, and scatter them-
selves over our territory; the Celts, like their fathers,
sticking to the large towns, and the Germans going to the
farms. But besidss this vast movement of for-
eigners to our coasts, a tontinual and un-
seen stream of population is coursing from
the older States to the new. It is said that no experience
of emigration in this country has ever been paralleled by
that of Kansas during this season. Those who remem-
ber, a few years since, the pathetic appeals for "bleeding
Kansas," and the cry through the Northern States for
aid to the impoverished settlers who were nearly starving
can hardly imagine that the El Dorado of the West is
that once much abused State. In fact, no gold mine ever
drew such a throng of industrious labourers as do the
cheap, uncultivated fields of Kansas and the available
Border States, So great is the throng that people
have been obliged to live in tents, and every
line leading to the region has been crowded with passen-
gers and crammed with freight. The peculiar advan-
tage of Kansas, which is thus attracting immigrants,
is that she is almost the only State left where Government
land can be bought, with good soil and nearness to
market. Excellent land can even now be purchased from
the Government, along railways, at s2'so per acre, and at
$1 25 in the interior. The railroad companies sell at $8
The country is remarkably clear, the soil good, transpor-
tation easy, a variety of fruits grow, and the winters are
milder than in the north-west. The drawback to be
apprehended is drought, but the construction of railroads
and planting of trees seem to be changing the
hydrometric balance of the atmosphere, and occasion-
ing much more moisture. The society in Kansas
owing to the character of its first settlers, is
far superior to that of most Border States. A con-
siderable portion, however, of this incessant Western
stream of population eddies aside into Missouri. Here,
in the northern portion, are excellent lands, probably as
high as $lO or $l5 an acre, but with great capacities and
near to markets. In the middle and southern portion of
the State are very cheap lands, but with poorer soil and
more adapted to vine-growing. Good vine-lands within
sixty miles of St. Louis can be got from $2 50 to $5 an
sores but the objeutduus Unuughuul, the state are the
ignorance and inertia of society; the results of slavery. A
distinct branch of the great stream Always flows toward
the North-west, and fertilises those new States. The
amazing progress of lowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin,
during the last decade is due to this immigration, a valu-
able portion of which comes from the ancient " hive of
nations," Scandinavia. The cool, bracing climate attracts
the North Europeans. With population and wheat-
growing come railroads, and that region is attaining
wonderful prosperity. Still, land is usually held some-
what high for an emigrant, unless it be very inaccessible.
The winters also are cold and long, and fruits do not
flourish so well as further South. The central West,
too, continually feeds the side-currents of this
river of immigration. The restless Yankee, hay-
ing• made the Prairie golden with crops, becomes
tired of civilisation, sells his farm to the new-comer, and
moves on to struggle with the wilderness. So land changes
hands continually, and the van of the army of foreign
settlers takes the places of the rear of the old army of
pioneers, who are marching forward. Not as many of the
waves of the westward tide touch our Pacific coast as
might be desired. Possibly the news of the drought of
this year in California has deterred the immigrants, as
well as the overcrowding of useless hands in San Francisco.
There is still, however, a boundless field open on that
coast for farm labour, and if our Pacific Mail Company
took the matter in hand vigorously they might lead
thither a vast amount of profitable immigration.—New
York Times.

The Attorney-General proposes to introduce into
the House of Commons on the 9th of June a bill for the
protection of inventions exhibited at international exhibi-
tions in the United Kingdom.

A few nights since a farmer named Graham, who
resides in a house which he has built on an island near
Newton Butley, was visited by three men with blackened
faces, who dragged him and his wife from their beds,
placed them bound in a boat, and did not release them
till they had reached the opposite shore, where they left
them almost destitute of clothing; and then returned to
the island, where they demolished the house and all its
contents. Three men, named Cosgrove, M`Donagh, and
Goodana, have been arrested ou ouspicion,