The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-23 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CONFESSION.

About a month since the Neu, York Express stated i
that lately, at Halifax, a private of the Ist Royal
Regiment, then in garrison, about to return to Eng-
land, appeared at the police-office, and voluntarily
confessed to having murdered a young woman, about
eight years ago, at Norwich, in England. The man
gave his name as Thompson, a native of Dumfries-
shire, Scotland. His victim was a young woman
with whom he had been on terms of intimacy, and
the crime was perpetrated by drowning her in what
he termed a canal. The crime had so preyed on the
offender's mind that he at length determined to give
himself up to justice, and allow the law to take its
course. Subsequent occurrences have confirmed the
truth of the principal circumstances narrated. Thomp-
son has arrived in England, and is now in Winchester
gaol, and one of the superintendents of that district,
Mr. Hubbersty, late of the Norfolk constabulary, has
been over to this city instituting inquiries. Thompson
gives the name of his victim as Hannah Barber, and
both he and the girl were well known to many people
still living in Norwich, the crime having been perpe-
trated so recently as 1846. Thompson himself states
that it was in the month of August of that year, and
Mr. Hubbersty has learned from several sources that
Thompson was at that time a private of the regiment
of Carbineers then lying at Ipswich, having just left
Norwich, and that a girl named Hannah Barber had
shortly before been rejected by one of the band of the
same regiment, in consequence of her intimacy with
Thompson and other men ; that Thompson got a
day's leave of absence, and came down to Norwich ;
saw the girl there again, and walked out with her in
the evening. It appears, also, that a Mr. J. Taylor,
of Pockthorpe, well remembers that between twelve
and one o clock one night in the same month, while
bobbing for eels in the river, near St. George's-bridge,
he heard some blows struck, and immediately after-
wards a splash in the water. He also distinctly heard
the footsteps of a person running away. 11e un-
moored his boat as quickly as passible, aad hastened
to the spot, tend succeeded in rescuing a young woman
from a watery grave. After she recovered herself a
little he placed her on the steps leading to the house of
Mr. Brooks, blender. Mr. Taylor, together with Mr.
Rix, a brewer, who came up at the time, attempted to
learn from her her name, but she positively refused to
tell, or to reveal any of the circumstances connected
with the event which had just occurred. She shortly
afterwards left the spot, no one knowing who she was,
or whither she went. Two or three persons now state
that they have seen Hannah Barber in Norwich within
the last twelve months, but have no knowledge as to
where she is to be found. She is said to he a country
girl, and her visits to Norwich were only occasional.
It is very desirable that she should be found, in order
that it may be ascertained whether she is really the
girl whom Mr. Taylor rescued. Under any circum-
stences, however, it appears probable that Thompson's
victim escaped the death to which he has till now
thought that he had hurried her. Shortly after
August Thompson left the Carbineere and j nined the
Ist Royals, who were lying in Ceneda, whither he
was sent to join them ; and he has, doubtless, been
living since that time under great mental suffering.—
Lynn Advertiser.

G REBA, TEA and its ADULTERATIONS.
The Lancet, in three of its late numbers, has de-
voted a portion of its space to an exposure of the
adulterations to which green tea is subjected before it
reaches the bands, or rather the tea-puts, of the con-
sumer, a tow, it is to be feared, on which the
greenness" of the public is in proportion to its want
of preciee facts and information. Toe disclosures
made by the " sanitary commission " of the journal
will be anything but gratifying to these who prefer
" Hyson," " Young Hyson," and " Gunpowdei," to
Congou or Souchong, for while the principal black
teas are declared to arrive in this country in a genuine
state, every sample of green tea subjected to the mi-
croscopical test was found to be adulterated—that is
to say, glued with colouring,matters of different kinds,
which are employed to give a " facing " to the tea,
and consist in general of Prussian blue, turmeric
powder, and China clay.
Not the least curious conclusion arrived at by the '
commission is, that in this country there is really no
such thing as a green tea—that is, one which pos- •
sesses the natural green hue considered to characterise
that kind of tea, that colour being invariably arti-
ficialiy produced by the materials abovementioned.
Oat of thirty samples to which chemical and micros-
copical teats were applied, not one was found pos-
sessed of the natural green colour ; whereas, out of
several samples of Assam teas, of British and Dutch
growth and manufacture, and unquestionably genuine
and without any " facing" whatever, the teas were of
a dull yellowish colour, without the slightest tinge of
green—resembling, in fact, the leaves of the adulte-
rated samples of green tea imported from China, when •
deprived of the colouring so much patronised and
admired. We are further informed that the British
fabricators of spurious tea are but little behind them
in the manufacture of imitation green tea, which they
prepare from exhausted tea leaves, or from any other
leaves which may be picked up by the hedge-side, or
in the wood, faced with ingredients of a still more
poisonous description than are used by the Chinese
themselves, the home adulterators thus contriving to
" better the instruction" derived from the example of
the foreign manufacturer. Directing their attention
next from green tea, as imported, to the same article
as commonly sold, the commission state of twenty
samples purchased of various tea dealers in different
parts of the metropolis, all were found to be adul-
terated.
Whether any genuine green tea exists in China is
held to admit of some doubt; but there is none at all
as to the artificial colouring of all that is imported
into this country, and consequently of all that is sold.
We speak. now of the respectable dealers, for it ap-
pears that those of the unscrupulous class are in the
habit of mixing what is termed " lie tea" (an article
most fitly named) with the choice " gunpowder"
they retail to the public, and which is thus made to
undergo a further deterioration after leaving the
honest hands of the Chinese. The " lie tea" in
question is a compound of sand, teadust and clay, and
is worth, exclusive of duty, only sixpence or eight-
pence a pound, and therefore offers the temptation of
large profits to those who are unprincipled. enough to
employ it for the adulteration of the superior kinds
of tea.
The remedy indicated is, that of a reduction of
duty on all descriptions of black tea to the extent of
at least one-third, allowing it to remain the same as
at present on every kind of green te"a. Such reduc-
tion, it may be inferred, would extend the consump-
tion of black teas (which for the most part are found
to be unadulterated) so largely as to prevent any di-
minution in the revenue, and at the same time
proportionately tend to diminish the consumption of
green teas, which as imported into this country are
proved to be artificially prepared for the British
market.

W ACT FOR ARREST OF ABSCONDING

DEBTORS.

It will be remembered that prior to the passing of
the Ist and 2d Vict., c. 110, a debtor might be taken
on a writ of capias by the simple filing of an affidavit
of debt, if the creditor believed he was about to quit
the country. The writ issued as a matter of course,
and the facility with which arrests were in this
manner obtained led, no doubt, to numerous cases of
abuse by the creditor and of hardship upon the
debtor. To remedy this a provision was made in the
above statute, which limited the power of holding to
bail to cases which were brought before a judge of a
superior court, who had a discretion to order an
arrest. But it was found in practice that this provi-
sion, which had been generously made in favour of
the subject, was open to abuse by fraudulent debtors,
who, during the interval which must necessarily elapse
before the writ could be obtained, had opportunity to
make away with their property,. and pass beyond
the jurisdiction of the courts. With the view of ob-
viating as far as may be this mischief, the Legislature
passed last session "An Act to facilitate the more
speedy Arrest of Absconding Debtors" (14 and 13
Vict., c. 62). By that useful statute authority is given
to commissioners of bankruptcy and to the judges of
any, district county court, except the county court
judges acting in the counties of Middlesex and Sur-
rey, on application by a creditor, and duo proof by
affidavit that a debt of 201. or upwards is owing to
such creditor, and that there is probable cause for be-
lieving
that the debtor is about to quit the kingdom,
to grant a warrant to the messenger of the Court of
Bankruptcy or the high bailiff of the said county
court, to arrest the said debtor, and him safely keep
until he has given bail or deposited the debt and
costs of the warrant; provided that every creditor so
acting, and in cases where no action is pending, shall
cause a writ of capias to issue, and before the issuing
of the writ shall cause a writ of summons to be issued
against such debtor, and such capias, if he be already
in custody under the warrant, shall be served on him
within seven days from the date of the warrant.
These warrants are to be auxiliary tc the processes
now is use, and of no effect whatever as a protection
to the person on whose behalf they are issued, unless
a writ of capias be Issued or served as directed by
this Act. The time and place of the debtor's arrest
are to be endorsed on the warrant, and upon its pro-
duction the sheriffs are to receive
ond retain such
debtor. As soon as the person arrested under the
warrant is taken into custody by the caries, the war-
rant is to expire. Any person for whose arrest a
warrant has been granted may, either before or after
arrest under the warrant, and before the capias shall
have issued, apply to any commissioner of bankruptcy,
county court judge, or judge of superior court, for a
rule callieg on the creditor to show cause why the
warrant should not be set aside if application be made
before arrest, or why the debtor should not be dis-
charged out of custody if mode after arrest ; and
such commissioner or judge may make absolute or
discharge such rule, and make such order as to costs
as to him shall seem fit. A form of warrant for ap-

II la%

prehension, and a warning to defendant, and a table of
fees, are given in schedules annexed to the Act. Such
are the leading provisions of this Act. That it will
be found extremely serviceable in counteracting the
designs of fraudulent debtors, cannot be doubted. Its
distinctive feature is the extension of power already
possessed by the judges of the superior courts to local
judges, by which the delay which has operated so un-
favourably to the interest of creditors is in a great
degree avoided.—Law Times.

THE PREMIER'S NEW REFORM PLAN.

Much anxiety has been expressed in all quarters to
get at the details of the new Reform Bill, which will
most likely prove the cheval de battaille for all parties
in the House of Commons during the next session.
The clerks in the office of the Board of Trade are
already busily engaged, as we are informed, in work-
ing at the statistical papers necessary for the comple-
tion of the proposed arrangements, and the following,
as we learn from accredited authority, is the plan
which it is the intention of the Prime Minister to
place before Parliament.
In addition to the present constituency, a new body
of electors will be constituted, consisting of all persons
who can prove that they pay taxes and rates to the
amount of 151. yearly.
Whenever in any district or parish such electors
may amount to a certain number or quorum (to be
defined in the Bill), then such district or parish (as
Kensington, St. Pancras, &c.) shall be entitled to
proceed to the election of one representative, and re-
turn him to the llouse of Commons as its Member.

That all votes shall be taken in electoral colleges,
as in France.
The 40s. freeholders to be disfranchised. _ _

These are the details of the new Bill, subject to
certain slight modifications. Lord John Fussell
is
said to have given up, after anxious consideration,
the literary or "degree" qualification, which he had
originally intended to propose. The voting by elec-
toral colleges is a novelty which will not be very
generally admired. By this means the electors will
first return their member to the colleges (a fine word
for polling booths), and then the member will be re-
turned or not, as the number of colleges or polling
booths have majorities in his favour.
Simple as this system may appear, it has been found
in France, even with the additional protection of the
ballot-urn, to give occasion to much corrupt canvas-
sing and bribery, and, in some instances, has even
operated to throw out the Members actually having
the majority of voters. The disfranchisement of the
forty-shilling freeholders will narrow the rural con-
stituency in a manner exceedingly injurious to the
friends of progressive reform, who atter having had
for years to fight an up-hill battle in the counties, had
just obtained a point d'appui for the future operations
on this very section of the franchise. The Freehold
Land Societies, also, a most useful new order of in-
stitution, by which the savings of the artisan classes
we re beginning to be largely invested in the land,
will he nipped almost in the bud ; so that the lever
that would have moved the whole fabric of aristo-
cratic classes and family government will be at once
snatched from the hands of Mr. Cobden and the Fi-
nancial Reformers. What wonder, then, that a
stormy session is anticipated fur the next year's Par-
liament ?—Sunday Paper.