The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, -THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 23, 1846.

tnittee to the fact that a few days ago this Bill was referred
to the Committee to meet on the 3d of August. It appeared
that this arrangement was altered last night, and the only intimation
the opponents had was by the votes this morning, but at too late a
period to be present at the opening of the proceedings.
ft was nearly twelve o'clock before the parties could be present, by
which time the preamble was declared proved. Pleittoped, therefore,
the Committee would recal their decision till his case was heard.
The CHAIRMAN considered it would be as well to postpone the
further consideration of the matter till to-morrow, and in the mean-
time the Committee of Selection could be consulted on the point.
RUGBY AND LEAMINGTON.

This Bill was next proceeded with.
The scheme was opposed by two petitioning landed proprietors.
Witnesses were called from Rugby and Leamington, showing the
great benefits the line would confer on the inhabitants of these towns
and districts.

Mr. Robert Stephenson was examined on the engineering peculi-
arities of the line. lie stated that the steepest gradient was lin 120,
and the severest curve a radius of half a mile ; the estimated capital
was 360,0001.

•
The witnesses were examined with the object of showing that the
line might have been as efficiently laid out as It was, and havo
avoided the residential damage complained of, bat no point of
material importance was elicited.
The Committee then adjourned till to-morrow at eleven o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
GROUP LXVII.

The Committee on this group of Bills met again this day (Lord
Lincoln in the chair), and were occupied the whole of the day in
hearing evidence on behalf of the
LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN (LONDON...
BRIDGE EXTENSION),
and adjourned at four o'clock till to-morrow.

EDUCATION OF APPRENTICES.
COPY OF A CIRCULAR LETTER TO THE
SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE SEVERAL
DOCKYARDS.

Admiralty, June 27, 1846.
My Lords being of opinion, with a view to the pro-
motion of greater emulation among the apprentices
educated in the dockyard schools, and to the better regu-
lation of those schools, that a general system of reward
and punishment should Ice established in them, are
pleased to direct:-
1. That the Inspector of the Greenwich Schools be
requested to undertake the duty of making an annual
tour of inspection of the dockyard schools, for the pur-
pose of examining into, and reporting on their condi-
tion, and that, at such annual examination, a certain
number of prizes, to be hereafter determined by their
Lordships, on the recommendation of the inspector, be
distributed among such apprentices as may appear to
him and to the School Committee to be the most de-
serving of such rewards.
2. That in cases of grave misconduct, or of repeated
neglect and disobedience, the Admirals and Captains
superintendent of the several yards, on the recommenda-
tion of the school committee, be authorised (in addition
to such minor punishment as they may deem it neces-
sary to resort to? to mulct any apprentice, who may be
guilty of such misconduct, of time and pay for any time
not exceeding one month, or to order such apprentice to
work extra hours without extra pay ; but in all eases of
such extraordinary punishment, a special report is to be
made to their Lordships, specifying the nature cf the
offence, and the degree of punishment inflicted ; and if,
notwithstanding such punishment, any apprentice should
prove incorrigible, and by his bad example endanger the
order and discipline of the school, the superintendent is
to make a report accordingly to their Lordships, who
will decide whether it may not be for the general
good
that such apprentice should be discharged from the
service.
3. My Lords are also of opinion that it is essential to
the good of the service, that a certain limited number of
such apprentices as may display extraordinary ability
should receive a more scientific education than that
which they can obtain in the ordinary dockyard schools,
and they therefore, direct that the inspector of the dock-
yard schools shall, at his annual examination, select a
certain number of such of the apprentices as shall have
completed the fourth year of their servitude, for such
superior education during the three remaining years of
their servitude, in the following proportions for each
yard, viz.:—

Portsmouth
Devonport 2 ,
Chatham
Sheerness
1 19
Pembroke 1 „
Woolwich and Deptford

Total 8
4. That the selection is to be made with reference to
comparative talent and proficiency, coupled with good
conduct, of which a certificate from the superior ship-
wright, officers, and schoolmaster, must be produced ;
and that in order to obtain greater security that the
most deserving of the candidates shall be selected, the
inspector shall, after the general examination, set apart
for re-examination such of the apprentices qualified for
selection (that is, who shall have completed his fourth
year of servitude) as may appear to him to have dis-
played superior ability and proficiency ; and that on
the result of this re-examination, which is to be held in
the presence of the school committee, the final decision
is to depend ; but that no apprentice is to be so selected
unless he shall pass, to the satisfaction of the inspector,
an examination in arithmetic, i❑ the three first books
of Euclid, and in algebra to quadratic equations, and
a discretion is nevertheless to be exercised by the in-
spector as to the qualification of the candidate for selec-
tion, notwithstanding that he be the best of the school.
5. That in the case of Woolwich and Deptford yards,
from which combined one apprentice only is to be an-
nually selected, the general annual examinations of the
two schools are to be held separately, bnt that the ap-
prentices chosen for re-examination, for the purpose of
selection, are to be examined together in the presence
of the school committees of the two yards.
6. That if in any school none of the apprentices
should, in the opinion of the Inspector, be qualified for
selection, the next best qualified unselected apprentice
is to be selected from some other yard ; and that, with
a view to this contingency, the Inspector is to note the
names of the canditates best qualified after those on
whom the selection may have fallen.
7. That the apprentices so selected from the several
yards (unless their parents or guardians should object,
in which case the next best qualified apprentice is to
be chosen) are to be removed to a separate school in
Portsmouth yard, to be called the Mathematical School,
in which they are to be instructed during the three
remaining years of their apprenticeship, by the profes-
sor of mathematics, and the mathematical assistant of
the Royal Naval College, in the higher principles of
pure and mixed mathematics, as applied to practical
purposes, and by the superior shipwright officers of
the yard in the theory of the science of Naval Archi-
tecture ; but that they are, notwithstanding, to be em-
ployed like the other apprentices of the yard in learning
the practical part of their profession, in the actual build-
ing and laying off of ships ; and the professor of mathe-
matics and the master shipwright, in concurrence with
the inspector, are to draw up ani transmit through the
Rear-Admiral Superintendent a detailed scheme of in-
struction and employment, for the consideration of their
Lordships.

8. That the professor of mathematics, being a clergy-
man, or if it should be incompatible with his other
duties, the chaplain of the yard, be required to attend
to the moral and religious education of the apprentices
in the mathematical school, and that the Inspector is to
report specially on the state of the school in these re-
spects at his annual examination, as well as with re-
spect to the proficiency of the scholars in scientific
attainments.

9. That the apprentices belonging to the mathemati-
cal school be required to attend the lectures on chemical
and experimental philosophy now given to the officers
of the yard.
10. That as the pay of apprentices when removed
from their parents or guardians is insufficient to pro-
vide for their maintenance, those selected for instruc-
tion in the mathematical school are to be victualled at
the public expense, under such arrangements as may
hereafter be determined, and they are to be lodged
within the dockyard, in the building of which a portion
is at present appropriated to the Dockyard School.
17. That the Rear-Admiral Superintendent be di-
rected to call on the master shipwright to select from
among the unmarried shipwright officers, some compe-
tent person to have charge of the discipline of the
mathematical school, within the limits of which, apart-
ments are to be provided for him, in which he is to
reside.

12. That, subject to the above general regulations,
the Rear-Admiral Superintendent is to consult with
the professor of mathematics of the Royal Naval
College, and the master shipwright of the yard, and to
submit to their Lordships, for their consideration, the
details of such further regulations as may appear to be
required for the proper management and discipline of
the school

13. That it is to be distinctly understood that the
apprentices to be selected for instruction in the mathe-
matical school are to have no further claim to pro-
motion to the higher grades of their profession than that
which, it must be presumed, superior scientific attain-
ments and professional skill will necessarily give them ;
and it is, therefore, essential that their instruction in
the practical operations of ship-building should be as
much attended to as its theory and science. And in
order that the prospect of promotion to the higher
grades may still be open to those apprentices who may
not have had the good fortune to be selected for instruc-
tion in the mathematical school at Portsmouth, but
may subsequently recommend themselves to the favour-
able opinion of their officers by their good conduct,
skill, and professional attainments, my Lords have pur-
posely limited the pupils to be taught in the mathe-
matical school to such a number as, it is estimated, will
be sufficient to fill ORe-half only of the vacancies which
occur in such superior grades on the average of years,
leaving the remaining half to be filled by selections from
among the shipwrights educated in the ordinary schools
of the dockyards.

By command of their Lordships,
H. CORRY.

!ASE OF POISONING IN FRANCE.—A trial was com-
menced at Strasburgh on the 26th ult., which has excited
the greatest interest, not only in that town, but throughout
Theatio n charge hoafr g
thee iss
tort:,
seboufrgh pmurderrofe
st
s poison,do no tmi neyowisntdeci
mystery,
coincide
the e,
i'r a
ndceecia r
with those of the Parisian chyrnists. Last November an ad-
vertisement was publiished in the newspapers, inviting those
who could give information respecting a certain flour-dealer
who, during an attack of fever, had risen from his sick bed
and taken to flight, to do so at a given address. The dis-
appearance of the man remained a complete
until a few days after his body was found concealed in
a water closet. The body was cut up in pieces, and the
heart and entrails, which were also afterwards disco-
vered, removed. An inquiry immediately led to
the suspicion that the wife of the unfortunate man
had committed a murder upon her husband, sad
taken out the heart and bowels, in order to avoid an accusa-
tion of poison, in case of an evental discovery and examina-
tion of the remains. She was immediately arrested, and the
entrails and heart of the murdered man given up to the pro-
fessors of the university, for the purpose of ascertaining
whether they contained poison. A well-grounded supposi-
tion that this must be the case was the more general, inas-
much as arsenic was found in the house of the accused, and
it was also proved by an apothecary that the prisoner had
analysis,
such poison in the preceding August, from which
period the deceased had commenced to sicken. The chymical
edin it a
professors of Strasburgh declared that they had found no
traces of arsenic in the remains delivered to them. The au-
thorities engaged in the investigation were, however, not
satisfied with this statement, but sent the corpse to Paris for
where Professors d
s Dousveeorifi itte,rsCenhiecvaliTerh,esaendprko'fleasisicloirisi
discovered
are now at Strasburgh, and at the trial repeated their state-
ment. By desire of the Court and jury, the trial was ad-
journed for the purpose of making a renewed analysis, of
which the result has not vet been made public. The ac-
cused, who wishes to make it believed that her husband poi-
soned himself, has a very bad reputation; and, in tltv course
of the trial, another crime has conic to light. It appears that
five years ago a step-child of the accused fell from a garret
window, and was picked up lifeless. All the facts conspire to
prove that in this case also a wilful murder was committed
by the accused in order to insure a larger inheritance to her
own children.

CRICKET.—The first match this season between the
Windsor and Eton Star and the St. James's Metropolitan
Clubs came off in the Borcas, at Eton, on Monday. The re-
sult, however, showed that the Dietropolitans were either
over-matched, or that they were not in " playing cue." In
both the innings they could only number 91 runs, being
defeated, in one innings, by 78 runs —The match between
pay
thieGeresntlemett
gained
in v. ththeePsleacyoenr:l winansicugonst,inl42se.d yesterday.Thegentlemen The
had only one wicket down, when time was called, having
gained 17. It will thus be seen that all the wickets, save
that of Sir F. Bathurst, are to go in this morning, to obtain
109 runs to win. There is more betting on this match than
on any which has been played this season.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

ROME ClRCUlT—Maidstone, July 22.

The business for the county of Kent commenced on
Tuesday morning. Mr. Baron Parke sat on the Civil
Side, and Mr. Justice Coltman presided in the Crown
Court. There were thirty-seven causes entered, five of
which appeared to be special jury cases, but it is under-
stood that three of them, which involve the question of
gavelkind tenure, will not be tried. In the Crown Court
there were fifty-three persons for trial, but most of the
cases were of the ordinary description.

HENDSOR V. HALLS AND ANOTHER.
This action was tried on Tuesday, and occupied the
Court upwards of twelve hours, and was not concluded
until nearly eleven o'clock at night. The plaintiff, who
is a professional gentleman, sought to recover from the
defendants, who are directors of the Gravesend Diamond
Steam-boat Company, cor4ensation for an injury he
received on board one of these vessels, called the Eme-
rald, through a collision with the General Steam Na-
vigation Company's vessels, the John Bull, and which
was alleged to have been occasioned by the negligence of
the persons having the management of the former vessel.
As is usual in these running down cases, the evidence
was very conflicting but the jury in the end returned a
verdict for the plaintiff—Damages 251.
Mr. Montague Chambers and Mr. Leech were for the
plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant Shee and Mr. Bovill for the
defendants.

MERCER V. CURLING.
This was an action to recover compensation for certain
services performed by the plaintiff, on account of the de-
fendant, in reference to the projected railway called the
Kentish Coast Railway.
Mr. Sergeant Channell and Mr. Peacock appeared for
the plaintiff, and Mr. Locke for the defendant.
It appeared that the plaintiff is a solicitor at Rams-
gate, and the defendant in the year 1845 was engaged
as solicitor for a railway speculation, called the Kentish
Coast Railway, and his name appeared on the prospectus
of the Company, as he acted in that capacity. The
plaintiff was employed to make up the books of reference
for the neighbourhood of Ramsgate, and was engaged in
other matters in connexion with the railway, and he now
sought to recover the amount of his demand for those
services.

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages,
231. 7a.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—York, July 20

BIGAMY.— REGISTRY OFFICE MARRIAGE. - Richard
Major, aged 24, was indicted for marrying Eliza Birley,
his first wife Martha Jane being alive.
It appeared by the witnesses that the prisoner and
Martha Jane Rumel, both being under age, were mar-
ried on the Bth June, 1841, at the Register-office, Man-
chester. After living with his wife eight months, he
left her, and went to work at Sheffield for Mr. Birley, at
wood carving. He paid court immediately to Birley's
daughter, and after eight months married her at Roth-
cram Church, and returning to Sheffield lived with his
new spouse eight months, and left her also. Birley got
intelligence of the previous marriage, and took up the
prisoner.
The defence set up by the prisoner was, that the mar-
riage at the Registrar's-office was a nullity ; that his
father-in-law had told him so, adding that te young
man and woman were both free from all matrimonial
contract, being under age at the time of the registra-
tion. He was therefore at liberty to marry Eliza Bir-
ley, but her father caused the prosecution through sheer
spite, because the prisoner would not work any longer
with him, and pay the rent of a house he (Birley) had
taken for the young couple.
The jury disregarded this ingenious defence, and
found him Guilty, and sentenced him to eighteen calen-
dar months' imprisonment with hard labour.
•

Had the prisoner not been so young when his mar-
riage was registered, the Learned Judge, Mr. Baines,
told him the sentence would have been transportation.
Richard Hague, aged 26, was indicted for breaking
and entered in the night the house of John Keen, at
Sheffield, and stealing bed-hangings, a sheet, and other
property, on the 22d of June last. Mr. Heaton and Mr.
Phillips prosecuted.—The jury found him guilty of bur-
glary, and a previous sentence for felony against him
having been proved, the Learned Judge sentenced him
to be transported for ten years.
York Castle, July 21.
CIVIL SIDE.
CRIM. CON.—WOOD V. NICHOLSON.
Mr. KNOWLES stated the case for the plaintiff, who
was a man of a respectable condition in society, an at-
torney by profession, but carrying on also a small farm-
ing business, at or near Leeds. The defendant was his
intimate acquaintance for years, and was a brewer in
large business in Hunslet-street, in that town. The
cause of action, there was good reason to believe, had
subsisted for three or four years before the knowledge of
the guilt of the parties came to the husband's ears, and
it was to be regretted that the plaintiff had been mar-
ried to his wife 18 years, and had had a large family by
her, of whom five children were now alive. It was for
having deprived him of the society and comfort of a wife
under such circumstances that the plaintiff endeavoured
to obtain at the hands of a jury compensation for his
loss through the hypocrisy and treachery of his sup-
posed friend.

Several witnesses were called to establish the plain-
tiff's case, the chief of whom was a man named Robin-
son, a person of equivocal character. He stated that
Mrs. Wood was continually running after Nicholson,
and he swore to direct acts of criminality. The greater
part of the evidence is unfit for publication.
Mr. BAINES made an able speech for the defendant.
He observed that nothing could be more clear than that
this case had bees got up by the plaintiff to get rid of
his wife, by whom he had had a large property, and who
had borne him a large family, and was a careful, indus-
trious woman, as well as a good wife and mother. The
attempt was the more to be reprobated because the par-
ties had lived for several years in affection and harmony.
The Learned Counsel called several of Mr. Wood's
servants, a governess, two medical gentlemen, and a col-
lector of taxes. The servants and governess gave Mrs.
Wood an excellent character, and deposed to various
acts of ill. treatment on the part of her husband, and im-
pruper attempts to procure evidence against her; and
one of the medical gentlemen stated, that Mr. Wood
had endeavoured to obtain a certificate of his wife's in-
sanity.
The result was a verdict for the defendant.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT—Lincoln, July 20.
(Before Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
CRIMINAL COURT.—CASE OF ADMINISTERING POl-
SON.—Joseph Heggett, aged 23, was charged with hav-
ing, on the 4th o: June, at Spalding, administered to
Henry Goodliffe a certain corrosive sublimate of which
he died. Mr. Wing conducted the case for the prosecu-
tion. The prisoner was undefended. The facts of the
case were very few. The prisoner and the deceased
were labourers; the deceased being of the age of 18.
He had complained to the prisoner of being diseased,
which he was afraid would come to his master's ears,
and he should be discharged; and he wished to know of
the prisoner whether he knew of anything that would
do him good. The prisoner stated he had before cured
himself with something, and he would give it to de-
ceased, whereupon he obtained some corrosive sublimate,
aed the deceased, taking too large a dose, died very
shortly after. The only question in the case was whe-
ther the prisoner had acted with that degree of careless-
ness which would make him amenable to the law, there
being no doubt his intention had been to do the deceased
good rather than harm. The jury acquitted the pri-
soner.

BIGAMY.—James Handley, an Irishman, was charged
with having intermarried with one Sarah Lahau, his
former wife being still alive. Mr. W. 11. Adams con-
ducted the case for the prosecution ; Mr. Griffin de-
fended. The prisoner married his first wife at Bedford,
as far Livinging
anda
th veryat catwa was to
d
dog
theyasagthreeedyeainr 1836.0ne
thing,
separate. The wife continued to reside at Bedford.
life b,
ac
The husband, after roaming about in different directions,
settled down at Stickney, in Lincolnshire. where he set
up housekeeping. In the October of 1844. the second
wife, a widow, came to lodge with him, and in the March
of 1845 they married. The case was clear enough, but
the fact of the length of separation, and other matters,
were extenuating circumstances. The jury found the
prisoner Guilty. Sentence six months' imprisonment.
Nothing of interest occured in the Nisi Prius Court.

July 21.
CIVIL SlDE.—(Before Mr. Justice PATTEION and a
common jury.)

SNAITH V. NEWCOMBE. - LIABILITY OF RAILWAY
DIRECTORS.
..... .

This was an action on promises. The plaintiff is an
attorney practising i❑ this county ; the defendant is a
solicitor and proprietor of the Stamford Mercury, a paper
of very extensive circulation, and the action was brought
by Mr. Snaith to recover from mr. Newcombe, in his
capacity of a director of the Peterborough and Notting-
ham Junction Railway, the sum of 731. 10s. for deposits
paid on account of certain shares which the plaintiff had
purchased in that undertaking. This sheme was adver-
tised to consist of 27,000 shares. To the provisional
committeemen 6,000 shares were allotted ; to the ma-
naging directors none in the first instance, although
subsequently some of them did take their 100 shares,
and Mr. Newcombe himself paid 200 guineas out of his
pocket, as did several others of the managing directors,
towards the expenses of the undertaking. There were
applications for 400,000 shares. The plaintiff had ap-
plied for 50, and as a favour was allotted 35. It was
proved the plans and sections had been prepared, but
owing to the panic, and the subscribers refusing to pay
their deposits (even the thred shillings per share re-
quested of them by letter), the scheme did not go on.
As to Mr. Newcombe being a director, the principal evi-
dence was his name appearing in advertisements con-
tained in his own paper. The Learned Judge so strongly
intimated his opinion of the insufficiency of evidence to
fix the defendant with liability, that the plaintiff elected
to be non-suited.

CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
ABDUCTION 07 A HUSBAND.—A female of the name
of Westmorland, and four respectable-looking farming
men, were indicted for conspiring to seize the person of
one J. Toiler Westmorland. The prosecutor, as appeared
from the evidence, is a person posessed of some property,
but had for some time past been separated from his
wife, to whom he allowed 1001. a year. The wife, not
satisfied with this arrangement, with the other defen-
dants, seized the prosecutor at his place of residence at
Bourn, in this county, put him into a chaise, and carried
him away to a lone house near the sea, the property of
one of the defendants. He was, however, soon found
out and brought back. It was alleged that Mr. West-
morland was not in the fullest possession of his faculties,
and that the proceeding was not dictated by any im-
proper motive.
The defendants recalled their plea of not guilty, and
pleaded guilty to the common assault.
The prisoners were bound over to keep the peace for
fwe years to Mr...Westmorland in their own recogni-