The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-25 00:00:00

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K ri s
learn from the Herald as follows :—" Amongst the
notes we have received, the following give the
largest amount bagged :—On the 12tli, Mr. Capel
shot, at Shiners, 34 brace grouse and '2 hares, and
on the 13th, 15 brace grouse and 2 wild geese.
'On the 12th, John 'Robson, Colonel Leslie's keeper
on the Balquh.ain estate, killed, upon Benachie,
27i brace of grouse. Mr. Duff, M.P., has Mar
Pqrest, and Lord Pannaur&s shootings are thus
Occupied :—lnvermark, Lord Panmure and Col.
erguson ' • Gleneffock, Ln-d F.salyburton and
Colonel Du ndas, • Milideb, Hon. W. Maule
and Major Douglas ; M.P.Huntil, Captain Phillimore
and Captain Hogg ; Gannachy, Capt. Perith and
party. Mr. Archibald Hastie, M.P., has returned
to Dunearn Lodge, Forres."
"An Old Sportsman" writes as follows :---" A
tenant for the last fifteen years of moors in the
north of Scotland, I venture to address, through
the medium of your paper, both the landlords and
tenants of shootings. The oldest gamekeeper liv-
ing never knew so bad a grouse season as this. Last
season, the severe spring of 1855 and frostbitten
state of the heather upon the higher grounds, drove
vast quantities of birds down to the lower moors,
when gentlemen who occupied such grounds had
unexpected good sport. But now the stock from
whence they had their supply is exhausted, and
from my own experience of one of the finest and
most extensive high moors in Ross-shire, I can
assure you, in the deer forests and mosses not one
brood exist i now, where in 1854 twenty could be
found, and daily I see the few remaining old birds
dying of disease. Whence, I ask landlords and
tenants, can the breeding stock come from, if shoot-
ing be continued during the present Season ? I
know that it does not suit parties in the north to
acknowledge a scarcity of game, but as the truth
must eventually come out, surely it is more politic
for both landlords and tenants now to admit the
undoubted failure of their crop—for the former im-
mediately to remit half their rents, for the latter
(if sportsmen who hope again to enjoy the charms
of a well stocked moor) to abstain from killing the
few remaining denizens of the heather, when met
by their landlords in a fair and liberal spirit. Let
me rectal to the memou of botl3 rxt.i,-...= the fable
-s,sl ‘Tirs 'Goose And Goldenlkgs.l - -

SEDUCTION AND DESERTION-VIE GERMAN'
LEGION AGAIN.

COLCHESTER, SATURDAY.
Yesterday, at the usual sitting of the borough magiss
trates, Marianne Merriton, a young woman of respect.
able appearance and lady-like demeanour, was charged
with assaulting Lieutenant Augustus Lewis, of the Ist
Jager corps of the German Legion, now encamped in the
neighbourhood of this town.
Mr. .Abell appeared for the complainant, and Mr.
Jones for the defendant.
Augustus Lewis, the complainant, whose face bore
proofs of some sharp finger-nails having been recently
over it, on being sworn, said he was a lieutenant in the
Ist Regiment of the German Jager Corps. He was
walking through Head-street with the Quartermaster,
George Burden, when the defendant, whom he had ecea
several times previously, in the town, rushed upon him
and said, " I've caught you at last with your —." He
was then walking with a young woman, and the defen-
dant scratched him in the face. He turned round sud-
dente, his back being towards her in the first instance,
and in cmsequence of the, continuance of hei violent
conduct he gave her into custody. He gave her no rea-
son whatever for the assault which she committed. He
followed her to the police-station. She talked loudly all
the way, but he did not know what rho said.
Cross-examined—He did nut know the name of the
female who was with him, but she was called Louise. He
did not attempt to strike the defendant with the stick
which he had iu his hand. He did not push ber nor
strike her. Had known the defendant for about two and
a half or three years. When he first-knew her, her
name was Meriten, but she now sometimes went by the
name of Lewis. Mad written to her many times in that
name, but she was not his wife. Had said she was his
wife, but had not introduced her as such to any other
society than that of a few of his brother officers. Had
not represented her as his wife to the army authorities,
nor to his agents and bankers. She was living with her
parents at 'Woolv.'ick when he first knew her, and she
left home to live with him. She followed him to Tur-
key, where he was obliged to receive her ; and she also
followed him to Heligoland. She did not return with
him in the transport. The only reason she
was not allowed on board was because she was not his
wife. She, however, came home in a Government
transport. He never went through any form with her,
purporting to be a marriage ceremony. He declined
answering as to whether he had refused to make any al-
lowance to the defendant. "Have you not charged her
with a felony since you have been in Colchester, for
which you have not a shadow of foundation ?" " I
have charged her with felony, which I swear she has
committed on me. I charged her with stealing a
watch, chain, and cross. The chain and cross she f
mer y gave me. I have not admitted, since I pre-
ferred the charge, that the chain and cross are is
my possession. I have not said that I would see her
bet re she had the chain and cross."—" What
were your reasons for not going on with the charge
of felony ?" Complainant at first declined to answer.
The Cilia raid it was a fair question ; and the com-
plainant gave as his reason for not proceeding that there
was su much trouble in attending to make affidavits
before the magistrates. •
Mr. Jones then addressed the Bench for the dee: dint.
That punishment was inflicted upon the complainant
beyond what this unfortunate woman intended, he was
not there to deny ; but he submitted that she was justi-
fied in doing that which led to the a,ssaat complained
of. It was not clear that she contemplated any per-
sonal injury whatever, though her intention was .to
rake hod of him, uhicit she did, when these scratches
were inflicted on his face. Whi!e in Hcl.goland, the
marriage ceremony was performed iii ace )rdance with
the tenets of the Lutheran Church, but which,. h)
understood, was more like the Border marriages of
Scotland than anything else, and was merely a civil
contract entered into between the parties before a
public notary, and not a religious:service. Acting upon
that observance, he had passed her off from place to
place as his wife, and introduced her into m isarespect-
able society. Thus things went on till they arrived in
Englan,l, when he hired lodgings for her at Sandgate,
and she was shown as Mrs. Lewis. Whilst here Ids
financial affairs were in a very reduced condition, and,
at his request, this young woman borrowed for him 301.
from an aunt, not one farthing of which had been repaid.
After a short time they arrived in Colchester, and then
the complainant thought proper to break off this ac-
quaintance by charging her whom he had ruined, and
taken from her friends, her whom he had left without a
single creature to assist her with money or advice, with
the commission of a felony. When the bench considered
that the complainant had first seduced this young woman,
then deserted her, and in her d-grale.i, ruined state,
bad charged her with felony, they wou'cl see a provoca-
tion strongly to exonerate her from any blame which
misfit rest upon her for having incautiously scratched
this man's face.

Louisa Bollingbrook, servant to Mrs. Osborne, said
saw the complainant walking with Maria Maur, a
girl of loose character, on the night in question. When
the defendant went over to him, he struck her on the
face with a stick before she scratched his face.
The magistrates having consulted,
The mayor said the inquiry had been one of a most
painful character to the Court. Taking into considers•
tion all Vie circumstances and the provocation and un-
kindness the young woman had experienced at the hands
of the complainant, they could not do otherwise than
dismiss the com,il.int, which they did with the motot
perfect disgust.
The decision of the Court was received with a bunt
of applause, which was with difficulty suppressed.