The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 11,

. trIXED i.ENCAI.N

CRIMINAL COURT.—(This Day.)

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—(This Day.)

RAILW A YS.

Lzuslak
COmpanF

C °situ, tricot
yester tap .

OLD COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron Martin:).

SOUTHWARK.
ATTEMPTED SUICIDE AT LONDON BRIDGE.—Sophia
Bishop, a respectable-looking young female, was brought
before Mr. Combe, charged with attempting to commit
suicide at London-bridge.

THE HYDE PARK RIOTS.—The trial of William Bewley
was resumed this mornift, at 10 o'clock.
Mr. Clerk appeared to conduct the prosecution ; Mr.
Parry and Mr. Metcalfe were counsel for the defendant.
Mr. Wm. Floyd, the prosecutor, upon the first count
of the indictment, stated that he was in the park about
4 o'clock in the afternoon on the let of July, and while
he was standing near the iron railings the defendant,
who is a sergeant of the D division of police, ordered
him to stand back. He told him he was unable to do
so on account of the crowd behind him, upon which,
according to hie evidence, the defendant exclaimed to his
men " Come on," and without any provocation attacked
him with his staff, and beat him severely upon the
shoulder and arias. He expressed himself to he positive
that the defendant was the man who assaulted him, and
he said that he tact him in Wignsore-street a few days
afterwards, and recognised him immediately.
James Vassey, the second person who was represented
to have been assaulted, swore positively that the de-
fendant assaulted him without any provocation ; but is
cross-examination he gave a very unsatisfactory account
of himself, and admitted that he had been oonvicted of
getting drunk and assaulting the police, and that he
had undergone two sentences of fourteen days' hard
labour.

Police-constable 268 M said that about 12 o'clock
last evening he was on duty at the Surrey side of the
London-bridge, when he saw the prisoner rush down the
steps leading to the water. He immediately followed
her and seized hold of her clothes as she was in the act
of plunging into the river. He then with assistance se-
cured her, and took her to the station-house.

Mr. C,;tnbe asked whether she was know❑ ?

The mistress of the prisoner here stepped forward and
said she could not account for the girl attempting to
commit suicide, as she was generally well conducted.
Yesterday she left the house after having a slight
quarrel, and she hears nothing more of her until the con-
stable came and told her she was locked up.
The prisoner said she very much regretted having at-
tempted to commit such a rash act, but she promised
not to repeat it, if his worship would allow her to be dis-
charged.
Her mistress said she would take her back and attend
to her carefully if she was discharged.
Mr. Combo accordingly ordered her to be delivered
up to her mistress.

Mr. Bodkin, upon hearing these facts, said he should
withdraw the count of the indictment that referred to
this witness.

The counsel for the defendant said he was instructed
that the prosecutor was mistaken as to his identity, and
he believed he should be able to satisfy them that he
was not the man who assaulted the prosecutor. The
defendant himself was knocked down by a portion of a
hurdle that was thrown at him from the crowd, and the
only time that anything that could be construed into an
act of violence committed by him was when he
rushed into the crowd to endeavour to apprehend the
man who had assaulted him, but this happened at a to-
tally different spot to the place spoken of by the prose-
cutor. _ _

A great number of witnesses, many of whom were
constables who were under Use orders of the defendant,
were examined, and they swore positively that he did
not commit an assault upon any one. Several persons,
who had come forward voluntarily from reading the
evidence that was given before the Commissioners, also
daposed to the same facts.
The defendant received a most excellent character.
It appeared that he had been twelve years in the police,
and that he had, on acoount of his being considered a
discreet officer, been employed at races and various
places of public amusements to preserve order, and no
complaint had ever been made against him.
The learned Judge, in summing up, expressed his
opinion that there had been a mistake in the mattter,
and the jury, without any hesitation, returned a verdict
of Not Guilty.
Charles Medgett, who was convicted on the previous
day of assaulting Mr. Stevens, was then brought up for
judgment, and sentenced to be imprisoned for nine
months.

LORD JOHN RUSSEILL ON RAGGED

S( HOOLS.

GLOUCESTER, Thursday Evening.--Lord John Russell
paid a visit to Gloucester to-day. After visiting the
Ragged School here, and examining the pupils, 160 in
number, and also inspecting the industrial farm con-
nected with it, his lordship presided at a public meet-
ing held at the Shire Hall. There was a very crowded
attendance. On the platform were Mr. Price, ➢T.P. ;
Mr. E. Holland, M.P. ; Mr. S. Bowley, Mr. Baker, of
the Hardwicke Reformatory School, &c.

Lord J. RUSSELL, on taking the chair, addressed the
meeting at some length. He said that the only danger
which he saw in connection with these schools was, not
that they would give too much education, but that classes
would be admitted to the benefit of gratuitous education
who had the means of paying for it. If care, however,
were taken that none should have the benefit of these
schools but those who were unable to pay for the edu-
cation of their children, much good might be effected
through their means. Of late years more attention had
been bestowed on educational subjects than formerly.
We were now enabled with small means to obtain
clothing and furniture which might have been envied
by the richest in the land three or four centuries ago.
Yet in this age of civilisation, and in a country justly
proud of what the labour, the skill, the ingenuity, and
the science of man bad accomplished, we found that in
the midst of society—in London, close by the dwellings
of the highest and the noblest of the land—in the cities
where our great manufactures flourished, and in the
towns supplied with every convenience of life, there were
persons in the lowest class of society, and in a country
which traded with the countries of the whole world,
knowing nothing of geography ; in a country boasting
of its history and its constitution, knowing nothing of
that history or that constitution ; more than all, in a
country where the light of the gospel was spread around,
knowing nothing of the truths of religion—(hear, hear)
—ignorant even of the name of God and of Christ.
He pointed to the reports of the chaplains of gaols
and inspectors of prisons in proof of this, and asked—
How, then, came this about ? There were and must be
some in every populous community who, owing to the
competition of labour, sold the work of their limbs at so
cheap a rate that they could only afford just sufficient
food for their daily sustenance. This unfortunately
must be the condition of a great portion of the com-
rnunity. But what could be done to remedy this state
of things ? They could not prevent this competition.
They could not say, that if one person' sold his labour
for so much, another person, being on the brink of star-
vation, should not offer his labour for something lower.
(Hear, hear.) Neither could society pretend to keep in
a state of comfort all those classes, Such an attempt
would only involve in one common ruin the prosperous
and industrious and the poor and needy. An attempt
was made some time ago, on the part of the government
of France, to provide laws to be passed by every other
civilised nation, to enact that every class of commerce
should produce a certain quantity of produce and no
more—that so much of cotton goods, so much of woollen
goods, and so much of other produce, should be made,
and no more—and that every country should enter
into a league with those who called themselves the
" regenerators of mankind," in order to fix this
arbitrary rule. There could be nothing more absurd,
nothing more extravagant, than this ; and its absurdity
and extravagance were so patent that the originators of
the project were obliged to renounce it. But if they
were unable to do anything by which these classes could
obtain greater means and live in more comfort, they
could take care to furnish the means by which their
children could be instructed, by which they could learn
the common things of life, and obtain a fair elementary
knowledge, and by which the influence of the truths of
religion might reach their hearts. (Hear, hear.) When
this was done, if the children could stay long enough
at the school, there was reason to hope that they would
be sufficiently instructed to earn at least a larger re-
muneration for their labour than otherwise they could
do. They would learn to have more foresight, not to
spend their money extravagantly or intemperately,
but by the use of their faculties to consider
how they could improve their mental and bodily
powers. Having learnt some trade, they would be in a
better position than their parents were before them. If
they could accomplish these things, they would not have
to lament that there existed a class of persons among
them who were as barbarous, as far as knowledge was
concerned, as those who lived in the dark ages—to whom
Christianity was never preached, nor the arts ever im-
parted. (Applause.) By these means the institution of
ragged schools might improve society, not by any vague
speculation, not by holding out any theory of the regene•
ration of mankind, but by that plain, practical, patient
daily work which God had ordained to be the lot of man,
and by which alone they might hope that improvement
would be effected. (Cheers.) His lordship concluded by
expressing a hope that the Gloucester Industrial [tagged
School would not be allowed to languish for want of
support.
The meeting was also addressed by Mr. W. P. Price,
M.P., Mr. E. Holland, M.P., Mr. S. Bowley, Mr.
Baker (of the Hardwicke Reformatory), and other gen-
tlemen, and several resolutions were passed.