The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-18 00:00:00

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v.A.:,'TERSALL'S.—T HIS EVENING.
Six o'cLocx.

DERBY.
9 to 1 agst Hobble Noble
IS to 1 agst Claverhouse
38 to 1 apt Vortex
40 to 1 apt Little Harry
40 to 1 agst Filius

CHESTER CUP.
No change.

CRIMINAL COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

OLD COURT

M.skNaLACGHTF.II. William Murphy, aged 26, a
cooper, and Mary Ann Murphy, aged 26, his wife, were
indicted for feloniously kiting and slaying Bridget
."4.1 urphy.
On the 19th of November last the prisoner took a
lodging near to the Commercial-road, and a few days
afterwards the female prisoner came home in a state of
intoxication. Mrs. Walsh, the landlady of the houe,
followed her into the room, and was horror-
struck at finding one child lying dead on a table,
and another child lying insensible on a bed,
with its head hanging over the bedside. A few
minutes afterwards the male prisoner also came home
intoxicated, and Mrs. Walsh remonstrated with them
upon the brutality of their conduct, wh_en they
aanowledged that both the children were their own.
The living child was in a wretched state of filth, and
famishing tor the want of food. Mrs. Walsh took it
down stairs and gave it some bread, which it devoured
with greedy eagerness. This was the deceased Bridget.
The prisoners, instead of attending to the wants of the
poor child, went out again and remained out all night,
and the next morning, when they returned home again,
M-rs. Walsh told them it would be a charity to send
Bridget to the workhouses, for she had been starved, and
Was a mere bundle of skin and bones, but the female pri-
soner took no heed of the observation, except to say that
she wished the child was dead, as then she could leave
her husband. Two days afterwards Bridget died, and
th en a medical man was called in, who pronounced it as
opiaion, that the child had died from want of food ;
and as it appeared that the female had some money in
her possession when she came home drunk, while her
husband was in a situation by:which he could earn 245.
a week, if he pleased, the two prisoners were given into
custody on the present charge.
n The prisoners denied that they had starved the child.
she died, they said, from the effects of the hooping cough,
and the medical witness admitted that the child must
have had the cough, and its ravages upon the child's
windpipe were as much the cause of death as the want
of food.

TheLearnedJUDGE summed up, and the jury returned
a verdict of Not Guilty.
The prisoners were accordingly liberated.

GERMAN Y.

The German Diet has adopted the following resolu-
tions for the regulation of the publication of its pro-
ceedings :
" 1. The proceedings of each sitting of the Diet, as
far as no objection exists to their immediate publica-
tion, shall, in their essential purport, be printed as
speedily as possible, in the daily journals chosen for
that purpose.
" 2. The publication of the protocol of a sitting,
with the exclusion of all matter that is to be kept
secret, is permitted within a fixed period, hereafter to
be defined, hut at longest one year from the date of
the protocol. The Diet reserves to itself the measures
necessary to take to insure the verbal accuracy of the
reports of the protocols..
" 3. A. Committee of five members of the Diet,
chosen for a year, will be elected, who will be
charged with the following duties :—A. To put in
execution the resolution No. 1, and as far as neces-
sary to make to the Diet the necessary proposals for
doing
,so. B. To superintend the drawings of the
resumes of the sittings for the journals appointed,
with the omission of all not calculated for immediate
publication, and to see that it is inserted as soon as
possible. C. To prepare for the successive
publication of the protocols, by fixing the dates of
their appearance, when they are permitted.
Every envoy of the Diet is allowed to address
any representations to the Committee in reference to
the publication of matters that directly affect his Go-
vernment, or to make any proposals to the Diet itself
respecting them. In case of difference of opinion in
the Committee, the question is to be referred for
decision to the Diet.

" Finally, this Committee is authorised, at a proper
time, to report to the Diet how these resolutions have
worked in practice, and what modifications in them
may be desirable."
This Committee has been chosen ; the foregoing
resolutions are the firit of the series, being the autho-
rity on which all the others are to follow. The
cacial journal is the Ober-post-amts Zeitung.
Letters from Viinna state that the sisters of Kos-
'suath have arrived in that city as prisoners.

LITHOGRAPHIC PORTBAITS.—We hare just had
submitted to us an admirable lithographic proof
print, after a daguerreotype by J. E. Mayall, pub-
lished by Mr. J. L. Grundy, of 130, Regent-street, ex-
ecuted on stone by that accurate delineator of pictorial
life, Mr. G. B. Black, representing four of the most
eminent medical psychologists of the present clay
(Messr?. Munro, Winslow, Lawrence, and Suther-
land) in consultation, a subject which forms a suit-
able companion to a print previously published by the
same house, of celebrated chemi,ts.

SCOTTISH CENTR.AL RAJLWAT.—Traffic for the Week
=ding Dec. 14, 1851 :
Passengers (6,821), parcels, horses,
and carriages ... .£746 4 2
Goode, cattle, &c. 912 5 3

Total .. ... .. 1,658 9 5
Corresponding week in last y.ar... 1,544 2 2
Perth, Dec. 17, 1851.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
LYONS AND AVIGNON.

A. meeting of the shareholders interested in obtain-
ing a return of the caution money was held yesterday
at the London Tavern, to consider and determine on
the immediate steps to be taken ; Mr. Alderman
Salomons in the chair.

The CHAIRMAN said he had called the meeting with
3 view of obtaining their opinion under the circum-
stances in which the holders of shares in the old
Lyons and Avignan Company are now placed. The
minting would recollect that in 1846 there was a
company formed, consisting of English and French
shareholders, for the purpose of constructing a line from
Lyons to Avignon. The capital,was subscribed, and the
concession completed; but there were reasons to appre-
hend at that time that the various details on which the
assumed capital was based were erroneous. A period
of famine and commercial difficulty followed. The
Trench Government, at the time M. Guizot was in
power, agreed with the directors of the company that
there was reason to believe the estimated cost of con-
struction was fallacious, and that the concession to
the company required modification, in order to enable
the company to carry out the undertaking. The
French Government at that time brought a Bill
into the Chamber of Deputies, embodying cer-
tain modifications of the concession for the line.
The democratic part of the Legislature deemed
the modification so proper that they agreed to
the Bill as introduced, but when it came
I'-fore the Chamber of Peers a question was raked
a° to the probability of a scarcity of money, which
was b,rne out by the great financial difficulties evi-
denced in the tailures of 1847. The Chamber of
Peers thought it would be more favourable to the
French national interests that such enrerprises should
be got rid of rather than to encourage railways, and
the Bill was throw,
out. The Lyons and Avignon
Company had no other alternative than to dissolve
the company, and to divide the funds in hand ; the
caution money being left
in the hands of the
Government. From
.that date to the pre-
sent time various aoPlications had been made
for he return of the caution
had hail interviews on she subject of the
money. He
money
yal
with
Louis Napoleon since he be-
came Is:resident of the French RqutAio, and he had
recei-ied from the President assurances that as far as
lay in his power he would do all he could to place
thse claim of the shareholders in the best possible
libsition. He had no doubt, if the question rested
with the President, that they would obtain what they
required. On the Ist of December the late
the Assembly
to
about its last act—gave its approbation
framework of a concession fora line from Lyons to
Avignon. Having looked closely through the condi-
tions of the lease, which was for ninety-nine years, they
were most ample and favourable, and on the 19th day
ofc' the present month the line is to be conceded to some
orntne ll'iny• As far as he was aware, there was only
‘,„
company. in treaty for the line, and, conse-
quently,nO second company appeared, it would
be given to the company who had been a consider-
able time in negotiation for the line. He was not
aware that any of the English parties in treaty for
the line bad represented the interests int -s of the
pany in that concession. The old COM.'
wpresent proprietors were
cal led together to determine
h step should be taken
')n the 19th instant, or whether that they ought to rotest
against its being given to
any other comps P
Bering for the line, or whether it was their niny ten-
s tere t
to tender for the line:,theuiselves. Every Minister
of Public Works in succession had been aP
piied to on
the subject, and they had offered
on behalf of the company that if the aovernment
.were wilting to grant the concession, the shareholders
would subscribe to make the line. The conditions '
of the new concession specified that the capital should
be 120,000,000 f. 4;4,800,0000, the Government to
sub? cribe one-half that sum; but under the old condi-
tions they did not offer to subscribe anything towards
the undertaking; and with a view to enable the new
parties to raise money, they would be authorised to

TI-114.1 SUN,

raise one-half of their moiety of the capital on bonds
at 5 per cent. interest. He had but little hope of suc-
cess in obtaining the new concession, as it appeared
the whole matter had been arranged in the Minister's
office, and he believed that three or four English con-
tractors and capitalists were the parties who would
obtain the concession.
The memorial to the President of the French Re-
public was then read. It states that the committee
nominated to represent the claimants consists of the
following gentlemen, viz.:—Mr. Alderman Salomons,
M.P., the Hon. W. Ashley, Mr. J. Bagshaw,- M.P.,
Mr. F. B. Barlow, Mr. J. Field, Mr. J. A. Frank-
land, Captain Kelly, Mr. J. P. Kennard, Mr. F.
Mowatt, M.P., and the Hon. C. P. Villiers. M.P.
The CHAIRMAN', on moving the adoption of the
memorial, stated that the material part of it was,
that they were ready and willing to take the con-
cession upon the condition of the caution-money
being brought into account. He believed the object
of the English contractors was to deal with the in-
terest of the old company in the caution money, and
to give them 53. or Cs. Bd. in the pound.
After some observations from Mr. ,OLIVERA and
Mr. BAGSITAW, M.P., on the propriety of the Lyons
and Avignon and Bordeaux and Cette shareholders
acting together, with a view to obtain a return of
the caution money,
Mr. MowATT, M.P., explained the grounds upon
which they claimed a return of the caution-money.
The estimates of the French engineers, upon which
the original concession was granted by the Govern-
ment, and accepted by the company, amounted to
76,000,000 f. (3,040,0001.), for the construction of
the line from Lyons to Avignon and the branch to
Grenoble. On the company's engineers making a
fresh estimate of the cost, it was found that it would
be 130,000,000 f. (5,200,000 l.), or 4,800,0001. without
the branch to Grenoble. These estimates were veri-
fied by the French engineers, and it was admitted by
the French Government that the company were enti-
tled to a modification of the concession, and as more
money would be required for the construction of the
line than they were authorised to raise, they could
not proceed with the undertaking. It had been ad-
mitted by the French authorities that the failure in
carrying out the enterprise was not the fault of the
company, but it arose from circumstances over which
they had no control.
Resolutions were passed adopting the memorial,
adding the Honourable C. P. Villiers, M.P., Mr.
F. B. Barlow, and Mr. F. Mowatt, to the com-
mittee appointed on the 15th of May, 1851, authos.
rising the committee to declare the readiness of their
constituents to tender for the concession of the
railway from Lyons to Avignon, as authorised by the
law of the late National Assembly, or to adopt such
other measures as may be found expedient for se-
curing the recovery of the caution-money now in
abeyance, expressing a hope that no English capitalists
will interfere to weaken or prejudicefthe indisputable
claims of the company, and that they will feel under
great obligations to any member of the committee
who will undertake to proceed to Paris as a deputa-
tion to represent their claims to the French Govern-
ment, and to enforce the same in every suitable
manner.

The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman.

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.
OXFORD, DEC. 17.—1 n a convocation holden this
day, the Rev. John Bury Harrison, M.A., of Magda-
lene College, Cambridge, was admitted ad eunilem.
The Rev. Robinson Thornton, M A., Fellow of St.
John's, was nominated by the Junior Proctor one of
the masters of the school.

I❑ a congregation holden at the same time the
following degrees were conferred
:
DOCTOR IN CIVIL LAW.—The Rey. Thos. Francis
Cross, Exeter College.
MASTERS OF ARTS.—Rey. Randolph Payne, Mag-
dalen Hall ; Rev. Charles John Newdigate, Christ-
church ; James Empson Alcock, Lincoln.
BACHELORS OF ARTS.—Alfred Newdigate, Christ-
church ; Herbert Harman Mayo, Scholar of Pem-
broke; Charles James Wynne, Jesus; John Young
Sargent, Postmaster of Merton.
On Monday last Mr. Frederick Elliot Blackstone,
Scholar of New College, was admitted an actual
Fellow on the Law line of that society.
CAMBRIDGE, DEC. 17.—At a Congregation holden
on Monday, graces passed the Senate-
1. To appoint Mr. Johnson, of King's College, an
Examiner of the Moral Sciences Tripos for the en-
suing year.
2. To appoint Dr. Paget, of Caius College, an
Examiner of the Natural Sciences Tripos of the en-
suing year.
3. To appoint Mr. Thring, of King's College, and
Mr. Westcott, of Trinity College, Examiners for the
Maitland Prise.

Mr. E. T. W. Polehamptom, M,A., of Pembroke
College, Oxford, was admitted ad eundent.
At a Congregation on Tuesday (being the last day
of term) the said term was dissolved in the usual form,

CROSSE SCHOLAR.

The vacancy in this scholarship has been filled up
by the election of Mr. George Martyn Gorham, 8.A.,
of Trinity College.
NATURAL SCIENCES TRIPOS, 1852.

The examination fa the Natural Sciences Tripo3
will begin un Monday, March g, at nine o'clock, A.M.,
in the Senate-house.
The order of the examination will be as follows :
Monday—Comparative anatomy and geology.
Tuesday—Physiology and botany.
Wednesday—Chemistry and mineralogy.
Thursday—Mixed questions.
All persons who shall have passed the examination
required for the degree of B.A. after February, 1851,
may be candidates for honours in the commencing
Bachelors' Natural Sciences Tripos.
All persons who have passed the examination re-
quired tor the degree of B.A. between February, 1850,
and February, 185], may be candidates for honours
in the Middle Bachelors' Natural Sciences Tripos.
All persons who have passed the examinations and
kept the exercises for the degree of LL.B. or M. 13.,
may be candidates for honours in the Commencing
Bachelors' Tripos on this occasion, if the term be the
fourth Lent Term after their first term of residence ;
and in the Middle Bachelors' Tripos, if the term be
the fifth Lent term after their first term of residence.
(Grace, May, 1851.)
All persons desirous of being candidates in this ex-
amination must send their names, with notice of the
requisite examination which they have passed, to the
Professor of Anatomy, on or before Friday, March 5,
1852.

1 he Lectures of the Professor of Moral P hilosophy
will commence on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1852, at one
o'clock P.m., in the Lecture Room in Trinity College.
Tnese lectures will be continued every Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, during
the greater part of the Lent Term.
The Professor will examine candidates for the
Professor's certificate on Monday, March 22, at ten
o'clock.

The subjects of this examination will be Dr.
Whewell's "Elements of Morality," books 1 and 2,
and Plato's " Republic," book 1 (in the English
translation).

HEALTHOF LONDON DURIiVG THE WEEK.

(From the Registrar-General's Report.)
Though the rate of mortality in London is still
high, the present returns bear witness to a considera-
ble improvement. The deaths, which after a period
of continuous increase, ultimately rose to 1,316, de-
clined under the influence of milder temperature, and
in the week ending last Saturday the number was
1,194. The weekly mean temperature which during
the earlier part of November fell to 40 degrees, or 12
degrees lower than it had been during the previous
month, and afterwards suffered a further reduction to
35 degrees (which is about 8 degrees less than the
average of the period), again rose in the week ending
6th December to 38 8 degrees, and last week to 44.8
degrees, or about 3 degrees above the average.
'faking for comparison the corresponding weeks of
1841-50, with the exception of that part or the series
which belongs to 1847, when influenza swelled the
mortality of the week to 2,416, it appears that the
average number of deaths was 1,031, or with a cor-
rection for increase of population, 1,134. The return
of last week shows an increase of 60 on the corrected
average.
_ 3Diseases of the respiratory organs, which rose to
3 s e
3 in the previous week, have fallen to 284, and
Phtbisig, which in the table forms part of the tubercular
class, has declined
from 180 to 142. The number of
fatal cases ascribed to bronchitis last week was 136,
and to sepneumoniaeer or inflammation of the lungs 105,
of which 83
w
children. The increase of
bronchitis above the
average is worthy of remark.
The mortalityfrom z ymotic or epidemic diseases
week
243,t0
o malady in this class
and is in the aggregate
heavy,amoun amounted last
hn
no particularprevails to a formidable extent. The table shows that
37
Pr
off by small-pox 16 b
bwye r e
scarlatina, carried
24 by hoopin
g cough, 5 by
croup, 21 by diarrhoea, one by dysentery, 2by
measles.e3n4s
cholera, 6 by influenza, one by Purnura, 3
by fever,re-
i2ebsy3inofttneteilceaseso puerperal disease),
10 by fever after
childbirth
e (besides
one by rheumatic fever, 62 by typhus, continued
fever, &c., 11 by erysipelas, 5 children by syphilis,
and 2by noma or tantrum oris. The mortality
from fever is considerable, and does not yet evince a
disposition to fall to its ordinary amount.

STATE OF THE WEATHER DURING THE PAST WEEK
SUNDAT.—The sky was overcast till evening ; cirrostratus
and light clouds. Light rain fell at noon Electricity—
Nothing was shown during the first four days of the week.
MONDAY.—The sky was one-half covered with cloud during
the earlier portion of the morning, and generally clear until
evening; cirrostratus and light clouds.
TUESDAY.—The sky was overcast throughout the day ;
three-fourths‘a s n y
—T
cirrostratus. A few drops of rain fell during the evening.
V EpN
skywasov
reermcaasithduenrtil
of nothoen,
day;and
covetedhe during the
cirrostratus, fleecy clouds, and scud.

LON DON,

TiteßsDAT.—Light clouds and haze prevailed during the
afternoon, at other times the sky was clear. Electricity—
Positive, and very active after noon.
FRIDAY.—Dense fog prevailed throughout the day Elec-
tricity—Positive, and very active throughout the day;
sparks were shown.
SATURDAY.—The sky was overcast throughout the day;
cirrostratus Electricity—Positive, and tension strong
throughout the day.
The mean reading of a thermometer placed on the main-
mast, and read each day at 9h. A.M. was 45•2°; and the mean
reading at 9h. P.M. was 44'8° ; the mean readings at the
Royal Observatory for the same times were 43.54 and 43.7 Q
respectively.
The reading of the barometer decreased from 3013 in.
at the beginning of the week to 29.84 in. by 3h. AM. on
the Bth; increased to 30439 in. by 9h. A.m. on the 9th; de-
creased to 29 89 in. by 9h. r.m. on the 10th ; increased
quickly to 30.29 in. by 9h. A.m. on the Ilth ; and still
further to 30.42 in. by 9h. P.M on the same day, at which
reading it remained for several hours, and then decreased
slowly to 30.23 in. by Bh. P.M. on the 13th, after which it
turned to increase ; and was 30.31 in. at the end of the week.

MORTALITY in the METROPOLIS.
NUMBER OF DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES REGISTERED IN
THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DEC. 13, 1551.
Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious Diseases ...*243
Diseases of Uncertain Seat ... 36
Tubercular Diseases 190
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves, and Senses... ... 125
Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 4141. ... 41
Diseases of the Lungs, and other Organs of
Respiration ... 284
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs
of Digestion... 66
Diseases of the Kidneys, &c. ••• •.• 15
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, Sze. ... „. 8
Diseases of the Joints, Bones, and Muscles ••• 8
Diseases of the Skin, Sco. 1
Malformations— ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 5
Premature Birth ••• ••• 41 •• ••• ••• 41
Atrophy ••• ••• ••• 41440 ••• ••• 18
Old Age 4141. ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 61
Sudden ••• •• • •• • ••• ••• ••• ••• 7
Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance ... 51
Causes not specified ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 4

DEATHS FROM ALL CA.IISES 1,194
Population Deaths in cone- Deaths
Enumerated, sponding week in the
1851. of 1850. Week.
West Districts... 376,332 . . 177 ... 157
North Districts.. 490,441 .. 215 ••• 263
Central Districts 392,986 ••• 166 ... 202
East Districts ... 485,336 ... 233 ... 270
South Districts .. 616,545 ... 299 ... 302

Totals..., 2,361,640 ... 1,090 ... 1,194
Males ... ... ... ... ... 589
Femalss ... ... ... ... ... 605