The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 8, 1856.

Carey Whitbread, Esq., to be Captain, vice Walker, pro-
moted ; Heber Thomas Hardinge, Gent., to be Second
Lieutenant.
Ist Regiment of the Royal Surrey Militia—Lieutenant
Stewart Forbes to be Captain.
Hampshire Militia Artillery—John Annesley Brown-
rigg Gent., to be Second Lieutenant.
Hereforshire Regiment of Militia Henry Wood
Willett, Gent., to be Ensign, vice Landon, appointed to
tho 55th Foot.

Queen,s Own Light Infantry Regiment of Tower Han{-
lets Militia—Robert Pipon, Esq., late a Captain in the
King's Own Light Infantry Regiment of Militia, to be
Capt lin, vice Jennings.
King's Own Light Infantry Regiment of Militia—Lien-
tenant Samuel James Remnant to be Captain, vice Pipon,
app tinted to the Queen's Own Light Infantry Regiment
or Tower Hamlets Militia. _ _ .

[The following Appointment is substituted for that
which appeared in the Gazette of 14th December last.]
Worcester Regiment of Militia--William Joseph Tibbs,
Gent., to be Ensign.

BULL CELRISTHAS SESSIONS.

The Christmas General Quarter Sessions for this
borough opened on Thdrsday morning, in the Sessions
Court, before Samuel Warren, Esq., Q,C., D.C.L., Re-
corder.

The usual proclamations having been read,
The Recorder proceeded to deliver his charge as fol-
lows :

Recorder, or Chairman of Quarter Sessions, can now try
any felon for which, if a first offence, the prisoner may
be transported for life, and the prohibition extends to a
long catalogue of other offences of greatly inferior enor-
mity, as specified in statute 5 and 6 Yic., o. 33. We
can still deal with offences punishable with 15 years'
transportation; but observe—we can try, and continually
do, a case of housebreaking ; but are prohibited from one
of burglary ; as if the time of committing the offence
made no real difference for such a purpose. I could men-
tion a long list of other offences of a much less heinous
nature, which we have been prohibited from dealing
with, for no earthly reason that I ever saw, or now
see ; except that possibly they were thought such as
ought not to be left to those more liable to make mis-
takes than the judges of the superior courts. But ob-
serve—that reason has totally fallen to the ground, since
the very recent establishment of the Celia of Criminal
Appeal, one of the most admirable acts of modern times,
and which provides effectually against almost every kind
of judicial miscarriage, at either Quarter Sessions, or
Assizes. Why not, then, restore the jurisdiction to
courts which are henceforth, owing to the late summary
Jurisdiction Act, left with so little to do, and yet have
so effective a staff, and machinery ? This simple step
would remedy most, if not all the evils now complained
of in the administration of criminal justice—would save
prosecutors and witnesses the trouble and expense of
travelling to, and being detained at, the assize towns--
and leave cases to be disposed of promptly, and on the
spot, by those possessed of local knowledge, and acces-
sible without delay, inconvenience, or expense. This
would diminish the criminal busi.ness of the assize by per-
haps two-thirds—and in other ways be for the public be-
nefit. Other changes could be easily engrafted on such
a measure ; and I hope that the legislature will take it
into their earnest consideration. All these matters, gen-
tlemen, of great public importance and interest, and
directly affecting the administration of criminal justice
here, I have thought proper to submit to you for practi-
cal purposes, and not without hope that it may prove
useful ; for what is done in Hull is net done in a corner ;
and it is evident that the whole administration of justice
in this country is in a state of transition. Gentlemen,
having made these fe N remarks to you, which I submit
to your attention, nod which, I hope, will meet with
consideration, not only by yourselves, but by the intelli-
gent public of the town. I have only to observe that
the duties devolving upon you to-day are not of that
onerous nature, and w►ll not take up so much of your
time as has been usual on these occasions. I bays looked
over the cases in the calendar, and have read most of
the depositions, and I :ant happy to see that none of the
cases are of the serious character which I have pre-
viously had to deplore. lam glad to see an entire ab-
sence of those cases which have called for salutary seve-
rity. I say salutary severity, for I am happy to know
that the sentences passed here have inspired salutary
dread among that class of persons upon whom they were
imposed. There were, as you remember, many cases of
coining, an offence which I was anxious at the last two
sessions to suppress ; for I consider that these cases,
which bear with great hardship upon the industrious and
trading portions of the community, are usually perpe-
trated by persons of a class who wander from town to
town, to put in practice measures against the public in-
terest in places where they think they can reap the
greatest harvest with the least danger of detection. I
am exceedingly happy to see that there are no cases of
that kind to come before us to-day. I don't see, also, any
ca,es of violence, such as we have seen heretofore, by
ruffians upon the police. Gentlemen, I trust that a dis-
criminating administration of justice has had also its
salutary influence on persons liable to fall into this class
of offenses, which I am determined ever to visit with
severity. Gentlemen, lam not aware that any of the
cases in the calendar cell for any particular remark.
Yes, there is one, by the way, with reference to stealing
some fixtures. That is a clear case of felony, if you
find there are fixtures attached to a house, and if you
find that a tenant has removed theta with any intention
of appropriating them to his own use ; and you will find
a true bill for felony if there is good ground for patting
the party on his trial before us. You don't try the case,
but if you see from the evidence of one or two witnesses
that there is sufficient in it, as, unanswered—l say as
unanswered—to amount to felony, you will send the case
here for trial.
The trials possessed no general interest.