The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-28 00:00:00

HULL MICHAELM A 8 SESSIONS.

CHARGE OF MR. WARREN, M.P., RECORDER.
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury—The Summary Jurisdic-
tion Act continues to keep down our calendar, and, at the
present sessions, it numbers only 25 or 26 ; but that is, not-
withstanding the Stipendiary Magistrate has, since the
last sessions, disposed of 40. But for the Act to which I
have alluded, however, we might had now to deal with a
oalendar of at least 60 cases. Twenty-eight, however, is a
larger number than I had hoped, at the last sessions, to
have to deal with ; but on looking over the depositions I
find that our labours are likely to be light enough, from

the nature of the cases, to admit of my addressing some ob-
servation to you, which I hope may be found practically
useful, especially at this time of the year, which is a
period of leisure to thoughtful men'; for I intend to point
out, briefly, such of the more important changes in thelaw,
sainted during the last Session of Parliament, as bear di-
rectly on an important maritime and mercantile commu-
nity like that of Hnll. I commend with confidence to
the attention of yourselves who may hear me, and all
who may read what I am about to say, for it comes
home directly to your own businesses and bosoms. Ig-
norance, or defiance of the law, it is that gives oc-
cupation to courts of criminal justice. Gentlemen, you
are familiar with the saying that every one is presumed
to know the law; but let no one run away with the notion
that this is literally so. All that is meant by this great
and often-repeated fundamental maxim of jurianruaenee
is, that no man's ignorance of the law under which he lives
shall excuse or exonerate him from criminal or civil liabi-
lities. Were it otherwise, no one could tell how far such
an excuse might be carried, and it would paralyse'the
whole administration of the laws. Gentlemen, energetic
attempts are being at this moment made to reduce the
bulk, and simplify the structure, of our statute law. In
this direction I devoutly hope that not more haste than
good speed will be seen • otherwise we shall rue the result
for many a long day. Something has been actually effected
during the last session, by statute 19 and 20 Vic., c. 64,
passed solely to expunge from the statute book 118 sleep-
ing statutes, that is, within two of the entire number of
public statutes passed during the last session. The law of
mint Stock Companies it has been endeavoured to con-
solidate and amend, by an act which I hope will be found
to stand wear and tear—stat. 19 and 20 Vic., c. 47—the
Police of Counties and Boroughs has bean the subject of
an act of extensive and important operation, the 19 and 20
Vie., c. 69; the jurisdiction of the county courts has been
extended, and in some respects remodelled, by the 19 and
20 Vic., c. 108; the powers of the Church Building Com-
missioners have been transferred to the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners ; the law of advowsons amended, by en-
abling parishioners and others, forming a numerous class,
to sell advowsons held in trust, and applying the proceeds
in providing parsonage houses, augmenting small liv-
ings, and for other beneficial purposes; and better pro-
visions have been made for the spiritual care of populous
parishes, and forming separate parishes, by three acts—
chapters 50, 55, 104 ; the laws of Marriage, in England and
Scotland, have been amended by the acts 19 and 20 Vict.,
c. 96 and 118 ; the Administration of Intestates' Estates
has been rendered uniform by Stat. 19 and 20,Vict., c. 94;
the good government and extension of the University of
Cambridge, sought by Stat. 19 and 20 Vict., c 88; the
Coast Guard Service and the Manning of the Navy stand
on a more secure footing by Stat. 19 and 20 Vict., c. 88 ;
the Customs' laws are amended by c. 75 ; a Vice-President
of the Committee of Council on Education is appointed by
chapter 116; the Electoral Law of Scotland, elaborate".
amended by c. 58, and several other highly important and
valuable statutes have been passed with reference to Scot-
land and Ireland ; the Factories Acts have been amended
by chap. 38, and those relating to the duty on Fire Insur-
ance by oh. 22 ; that relating to Pawnbrokers, by chap.
2;0. By chapter 113 valuable facilities are afforded for
taking evidence in relation to civil and commercial mat-
ters, pending before foreign tribunals, to come into opera-
tion as soon as the judges have framed rules and orders for
carrying it into effect ; while chapter 54, as I pointed
out lass session, effects a great improvement in the method
of discharging your office as Grand Jurymen, at once
imposing on you a responsible duty, and relieving us from
needless interruption in the discharge of ours. By Stat.
19 and 20 Tict. c. 120, an admirable alteration has Ifeen
effected in the few relating to Settled Estates—one equally
bold and beneficial ; giving the Courts of Equity ample
power to deal with a difficulty.which has hitherto required
he circuitous, clumsy, and costly interference of the Legis-
lature, in private family settlements. This statute comes
into operation on the Ist November—and I confidently an-
ticipate that it will effect great good, by relaxing the
stringency of settlements of property made with the best
intention, and on the best advice, but which subsequent
events, impossible to have been foreseen, have rendered
worse than useless—mischievous and oppressive to those
intended to have been benefited by them. It appears to
me to overstate the benefits conferred by this'act, if it be
carried out by the Courts of Equity carefully and discreetly.
Let me now glance at three short statutes, effecting salu-
tary and extensive changes in that department of the law
more directly concerning such a community as Hull. First
of all, I warmly congratulate the sailors, and all interested
in the welfare of them or their families on the passing of
stat.l9 and 20 Vic., c. 41, which affords great inducen
to economy, and facilities for securing to sailors their . A
earnings, by establishing a central savings bank for seamen
in London, and branch banks at all our principal seaports,
at any of which sailors may instantly deposit their, wages
with complete safety, withdraw the whole or any portion at
any port they please; receive interest on their deposits,
and in the event of death both principal and interest will be
banded over at once to their families. The wives, widows,
and children of seamen are also liberally allowed to open
accounts on the same terms; and sailors may deposit
money for their children, which those children, if above

-14 years old, may draw out 89 and when they require it
Is not this better than spending the money hardly earned
in a voyage round the globe, in a first day or night's profli-
gacy ashore I Is there a sessions here at which we have not
the sad duty of dealing with such cases, and seeing the
poor foolish sailor driven back, ashamed of himself, and a
beggar again to the wide ocean, leaving often his wife and
fa,nily beggared and broken-hearted? Let him now, how-
ever, only make the Board of Trade his bankers, instead of
scattering his earnings among crimps and thieves, and in
brothels, and beer and gin shops, and he may take ship
again, light-hearted, and with a smile, reflecting God's
pproval, while he dashes a tear from his eye at parting
with a happy and affectionate family. The Legislature has
done its duty, and let our gallant seaman do his, and let
you and me, gentlemen, be spared the pain of seeing him
;tend either here, er there—beside me here, or before me
there—in the witness box, or at the bar—as prosecutor or
a 3 prisoner, publicly telling, when sobered and ashamed,
the wretched story of his folly and guilt ! Gentlemen, by
another act, chapter 26, a banker's cheek, bearing across its
face, in written or stamped letters, the name of a banker,
e • the words "and Company," either in full, or abbreviated,
is now payable only to, or through, some banker; which
the Statute truly recites will conduce to the ease of
commerce, the security of property, and the prevention
of clime. Another act is chapter 97 • and I recom-
wend the careful study of it, not only to the pro-
fessional lawyers of Hull, but to all engaged
in trade and commerce, for it effects great changes in mer-
cantile law. First of all, it makes it no longer necessary
that a written guarantee should state the consideration on
which it was given, and which may now be proved by
word of mouth. Again, a guarantee given to, or for, a
firm, ceases to be binding after a change in any one or
more of its members, unless the contrary be the expressed
or necessarily implied intentions of the parties ; and every
surety paying his principal debt is entitled to the imusedi-
ctehfeonahheltdo bs
tya thend
con the Bill is now necessary
Again—a written acceptance
rt ee dai I odr ui
nl ews th ao
sdev
placean tag
etsh eo fs
ua Ire le; iusr tie° ns
in all bills of Exchange, whether Inland or Foreign; and
bills and notes drawn in any part of the United Kingdom,
er the Channel Islands, and islands adjacenth wceitfhoirtnht
be deemed inland bills, but without affecting e
Queen's dominions, and payable there,
those whop
duties. And as to the rights and remedies of
have done repairs to ships, or furnished suppliesthem,
every port in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands,
for
aercetinegn the Stem
or other adjacent islands within the Queen's dominions,
is to be deemed a Home Port. Important improve-
ments, also, are effected in the Statutes of Limitations,
and thers relate to the law of debtor and creditor,
principal and agent, and co-contractors, and co-debtors,
whether liable jointly only, or jointly and severallys
goods,
Another valuable section protects persons bona fide, and
for a valuable consideration acquiring a title to
against writs of execution against the seller, provided the
buyer had no notice that any writ was in the hands of the
Sheriff, unexecuted. Finally, singularly stringent provi-
sions are made by this act, to enforce the specific delivery
of goods contracted to have been delivered, for a price in
money. A jury will have henceforth to say (under the di-
rection of a judge) what are the goods remaining undo-
livered, and what the plaintiff would have had to r if
they had been delivered according to contract ' • as well rs
what damages he would have been entitled to receive, if
the goods should, or should not, be afterwards delivered
in conformity with the act : which provides that the j ridge
may order execution to issue for the goods, on payment of
the sum due, without giving the defendant the option of
retaining them, as payment of the damages ; and, if the
goods cannot be found, then all the lauds and chattels of
the defendant within the jurisdiction of the sheriff are to
be distrained till the delivery of the goods ; or, if the
plaintiff prefer it, the sheriff must realise the assessed
valae or damages, out of the defendant's goods. Gentle-
men, even as far as I have gone, and assuring you that
have necessarily omitted from my view, perhaps 80 or 90
out of 120 acts of the last session,—l think, we shall be
entitled to say, looking solely at the record of the statute-
book, to which I strictly confine myself here,—that Par-
liament has not been idle during the last session; and,
speaking solely as an administrator of the law, I
deprecate excessive, far more anxiously than deficient,
legislative action in matters of such magnitude as those
I have just been laying before you. Inconsiderate legisla-
tion serves only to plunder the public, and enrich lawyers
—whether they will or not ! I have not yet, ho waver, closed
my catalogue of the labours of Parliament during the last
session. There remains one more yet—the 19th and 20th
see., chap.loo—to bring before you, and I have reserved it
for the last, because of its supreme interest and importance
both in itself, and as forming one of three statutes, passed
respectively in the years 1854, 1855, and 1856—a1l of which
it declares are to be read as one act, which together con-
stitute what, I think, may be regarded as the glorious code
have these words ! indicating, as they do, the grand corn-
of reformatory procedure. What a fresh and blessed sound
mencetnent of a moral and social revolution, and the
working of which will go on producing its glorious results,
year after year more and more glorious ; and when you and
1 have laid our heads iu kindred dust, those who supply
our places will bless the memory of all who were in any
way connected with this movement, for this regeneration
of vast sections of our species. Gentlemen, I wish to lay
before you and the public, practicably, the exact position
of the new system ; and entreat your. particular attention
to it. For this purpose I have taken pains to give you, in
very few words, the substantial result of the three statutes
to which I have referred—the 17th and 18th Vic. c. 86,
the 18 and 19 Vic. c. 109, and the 19 and 20 Vic. c. 109.
On application by the managers of any reformatory insti-
tution, the Home Secretary may direct one of the prison
inspectors to examine and report oA.ita constitution and

regulations; and, if satisfied on this subject, may certify
its usefulness and efficiency—and may afterwards, also, if
need be at any time, 'withdraw such ceitificate. Any ju-
venile under 16 years of age, and sentenced to at least 14
days' imprisonment, may, in addition to that sentence, be
directed by the Court, to be sent, at the expiration of it,
o any such certified Reformatory School as may be wil-
ling to receive him, and as the court may, before the ex-
piration of that sentence, direct, and by supplemental or-
der, the Court may substitute any other such school. If,
however, the parent, guardian, or nearest relation of the
youthful offender, shad within 14 days, duly object to that
particular school, and name another, the directors of which
are willing to receive him, and pay or
give security for the
ad litional expense of removal, then he may be sent to such
other school. The governor of the gaol must forward with
the prisoner a duplicate or copy of the commitment, with
a memorandum identifying him, The Home Secretary
may remove him from one school to another, and at any
time order him to be discharged. The Treasury, on the
Home Secretary's representation, may defray, out of the
funds provided by Parliament for that purpose, the whole
cost of the care and maintenance of the offender, or such
portion as shall not have been recovered from the parents ;
who (including step-parents), are liable, if of sufficient
ability, to contribute such sum, not exceeding ss. a-week,
as any two justices, on complaint of the Home Secretary,
may order' enforced by distress, or imprisonment not ex-
ceeding 10 days. The Home Secretary, however, may from
time to time remit all or any portion of such weekly con-
tributions. Here I may say that the Government has re-
cently and liberally raised its allowance from ss. to 7e. a
week, for every such juvenile offender. Finally, if he ab-
scond from school, or disobey its rules, he may be commit-
ted by a justice to prison, for not longer than 3 months ;
and any person withdrawing or persuading him to abscond
is liable to a penalty of 5/. Such, gentlemen, is the system
which benevolent and judicious men have devised and at
length brought into action in many parts of the kingdom,
and I hope that every portion of it will shortly be studded
with them.. For my part, I wouid sooner see one reforma-
tory, making its sternly simple appearance, than 'the most
gorgeous and magnificent edifice that could be constracted
by the skill of man, for the purpose of van's glorification
—of material display, or eortimemorating the proudest.
achievements of even genius or valour. Let us take heart-
of grice, gentlemen; depend upon it, we are on the right
tack at last • our principle is sound; and its results are as
certain as blessed.. I cannot better indicate that principle
and those results than in well-considered language used at
a Reformatory meeting in a southern county. The Refor-
matory system aims at saving the outcast, whose ignorance
and necessities have led him into crime, by making his
maintenance and education go hand in hand. It makes the
parent pay the penalty of his negligence or profligacy, by
compelling him to contributo to the cost of his child's re-

foraiation'.. It unites Goyernment inspection and national
aid, with private effort and individual philanthropy; and
appeals to humanity, as well as to Christian bene-
volence and sympathy. Ido not here advert to the
grave question whether the establishment of these
institutions be not of imperative obligation on the State ;
as to which I own I entertain a very strong opinion.
I am thankful that the State has stepped so far
as it has in the right direction, and feel it a
duty to meet and accompany her. Gentlemen, I ap-
peal to the noblest synapathies;of your nature, and conjure
you to give your personal assistance to this ever memor-
able movement. Lose not a day in linking yoursel with it ;
nor be uneasy if at first these links be few and slight. They
will soon increase in number and strength, as you perceive
the results which are being effected, and feel the rays of
heavenly approbation which they reflect upon you. Give
your social influence, give the eloquence of
your voice;
give of the substance with which a gracious, but watchful
and just God has given'you, Providence has not enabled me
individually to give such pecuniary assistance as I would,
but what I could do I did, readily, with delight, and a
hope that God's blessing might go, with it, as with the mite
which the widow east into the treasury. I implore you, from
this seat of solemn judicial authority. I implore the inhabi-
t sn tsof this powerful section of the community, who are rising
more and more into the notice of the country, casting aside
all misgivings, and shaking off vacillation, to come forward
with wise and timely liberality. From the highest to the
lowest among you, add to whatever else you do in the way
of charity, the support of these incalculably important and
richly repaying institutions. I leave to others to deal with
the startling statistics of crime ; it is enough for me to say,
that I see the mass of preventible crime, hanging
like a
mill-stone round the neck of the nation. Oh that one
could loosen it, that our eyes could be gladden:l by see*
ing it at length being detached! It is a work which ought
to commend itself to your religious convictions, and to re-
ceive the warm support of our religious teachers, of every
denomination—Protestant and Roman Catholic, Church.
men and Dissenters—all of whom acknowledge and publicly
profess themselves the servants and ministers of gim, the
Saviour of mankind, who declared himself the Son of Man,
come to seek and to save that which was lost. That is
their sublime mission, and let tliern take heed that tkey
fulfil it. Gentlemen, am I not as one of the dispensers of
criminal justice entitled thus to speak to you? Nay, I
feel myself constrained to do so, for you all know that I
speak with the weight of sorrowful experience in this seat;
and in doing so I but echo the sentiments of the wisest and
best men of the age, of all ranks, callings, and parties, ut-
tered on every available occasion, with increasing energy,
and with justly increasing hopefulness. I rejoice to find
that your reformatory is now in action, and that the great
desideratum, a good master has been obtained, whose heart
is in his work. He is a clergyman, and what did he say the
other day at York, in giving his interesting account of their
doings ? After alluding to the difference in character among
the boys, requiring a judicious variation of treatment, he
observed, `f but there is one feature common to them all—
they are all estranged from God." Ah, there we see the root
of the whole matter—the source of the evil ; and what is
clearer than the remedy—earlyreligious education ? On this
subject my convictions are so profound that it requires a
strong effort to restrain my expressions of them—my rokte-
ratel, my solemn, my affectionate expression of them. But
I do restrain myself,and conclude by assuring you that when
far away from you, since the last sessions, my heart exulted
at seeing the noble effor ;; made by the working classes of
one important district here to contribute to the establish.
meat of schools. God send them—God send all such efforts

—prosperity. Every boy, every girl, guided in that direc-
tion, is one diverted from the dreary path which leads to
youder Bar—to the prison, to the hulks, to the gallows, to
Hell. Gentlemen, since my arrival here last night, I have
read with deep interest the annual report of the worthy
chaplain of the gaol, to my brother magistrates and myself,
which I hope they will lose no time in directing to be laid
before you, and which I entreat all of you, and of your fel-
low townsmen, to read with attention. There you will see
Protestant and Roman Catholic in harmaaious action, en-
deavouring to reclaim the wandering sheep of their respec-
tive folds ; and I envy not the feelings of him who can
read, unmoved, what is said upon the subject by our Pro-
testant chaplain. With one small passage of his Report, I
close this charge to you, for I agree with every word of it,
and believe it springs from an equally discreet and devoted
religious heart.
dThe more these Reformatory institutions become
known throughout the country, the more eagerly they will
be supported by all who desire to see our idle and criminal
youthful population changed into honest and industrious
young men and women. And it is a greater act of hu-
manity, it shows more Christian feeling, it is wiser and
more economical to do that which, by God's blessing, will
prevent the viciously inclined boy or girl from becoming
a hardened criminal, than to punish them when they kayo
become such." That, gentlemen, is the plain utterance of
a minister of Christ's Holy Gospel, in the discharge of his
most solemn duty ; I humbly, affectionately, reverently
echo it, in my capacity of a minister of justice; and leave
it to sink deep into your hearts, and bear fruit a hundred-
fold.

TBE FATAL ACCIDENT AT BbYN-

!RALLY MINE.

r e3Tohy ee
rboedd, i e s
The of f t rwaetee
rm, es np
eaa n:Wdi
na boy
gagEeX:hraavli length
w°acsTg been
02t5 .out
on Thursday, and on the afternoon of that day a descent
was made into the pit, under the superintendence
of galdcroft, the intelligent overseer of the workings.
The same difficulty had to be encountered which at an
earlier period rendered an attempt to search impossible,
but unremitting •efforts to disperse the chake damp so
far succeeded that the party were able to get to the
middle levels, in which it was known these four persons
were working at the time of the accident.. The body of
Ishmael Griffiths was brought to the surface at four
o'clock yesterday afternoon, and the bodies of Edward
Curnah, Stephen' Davies, and the boy, Samuel Parry,
were brought up this morning. 1 hese individuals posi-
tively threw away their lives. They were warned of the
water having burst into the mine, but, perhaps believing
that it was only a repetition of one of those many in-
stances in which, the water having risen from natural
causes to an unusual height, the men were called up.
They continued their occupation some few minutes, and
when they reached the place of outlet found themselves
cut off from those means of escape which numbers of
their comrades happily obtained. The barrier which
interposed
water
:flt
ei fling—somewhere g; a
ns odbr
aet
may. be reasonably inferred that he attempted to pass
through ,t. The other three bodies wt ri found at the
swcv eh
Gee nrr
ffithemths' betweenand
body
three
s af
ety was comparatively
and five feet of
had een in water, it
edge of the mark wt ere the water had wtained its high-
est level, but, being dry, it is assumed that they were
quickly overpowered by the fatal "damp." All of them
were recognisable
at first ; but so rapid is the decompo-
sition consequent on exposure to the atmosphere that
they can hardly be said to be so at the present moment.
The inundation washed into the deep level a maes of
rubbish, either from the old mine or from unused work-
in 4s of the Bryn-Maily Mine, which must be cleared out
before the other 9 bodies can be recovered, and this ope-
ra:ion, which has been proceeding since Thursday, may
occupy three or krir days longer. So strong is the
flue,nee of hope in the minds of these simple people that
even now some of the bereaved survivors cherish the
thought that they will recover their relatives alive, al.
though all the others had far less chance of life than these
four whose bodies have been brought up, because of the
greater amount of choke damp known to prevail in the
localities where they were working. Some idea of the
magnitude of the damage caused by the accident may he
gathEred from the fact that the deep levels will not be in
a state to allow of coal being raised from them until long
after. .Christmas.
An influential meeting of the clergy and principal in-
habitants was held at the Town-hall yesterday, the vicar
(Rev'. G. Cunliffe) in the chair, when a Louse-to-house
collection on behalf of the sufferers was resolved upon.
It was stated that the amount already contributed ex-
ceeded 8001.

Mr. Andrew, the chairman of the European and In-
dian Junction Telegraph Company, with Mr. Brett, Mr.
O'Shaughnessy, and Mr. Pinneger, had an interview on
Saturday with Mr. Wilson, at the Treasury, regarding
the estaulishmen.t of telegraphic communication between
Europe and India, via Seleucia, the Euphrates, and the
Persian Gulf. The valuable co-operation of Mr.
O'Shaughnes.sy with Mr. Andrew augurs well for the
success of this important undertaking.