The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-25 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, SAT URDA Y EVENING, JAN UARY 25, i 851:

until I saw the account of a county meeting in Essex,
which has had its counterpart nearly in every part
of England, and at which Sir John Tyrell was one of
the most prominent actors, when he called for three
cheers for Lord John Russell.—(Cheers.) Look at the
actors throughout the country in this present movement
against what is called the Papal aggression. Who are they ?
Have you seen those men advocating the repeal of the
corn-laws?—(Hear, hear.) Have you not seen, in every
case, that the most prominent actors in these county
meetings are the men who resisted the establishment of
that principle of commercial reform?—(Hear, hear.)
When I ask you if by any accident—such accidents as
may happen in our constitution—we are precipitated at
any moment—when I ask those who agree with me upon
the subject of commercial freedom, and generally upon
questions of liberal policy in secular affairs—when I ask
them to answer me this question,—Suppose a general
election were to take place, and those who are prominent
in opposing religious toleration succeeded—and I am not
sure that they would not succeed—in returning to Par-
liament a majority for re-enacting the disabilities and
restrictions upon Roman Catholics—would not that be a
majority that would either tamper with the corn-laws or
take care to indemnify themselves for what has been
taken from them?—(Cheers.) It is so; and those who
are acting have not been so discreet in this case as
to conceal their belief in the possibility of retrieving
their monopoly. I say to those who have generally
been favourable to commercial freedom—who have
been, in fact, friendly to civil and commercial
freedom, and who join in this cry, and lend
themselves to the support of this party who are in
favour of religious restrictions—l say they would,
in my opinion bring hack on themselves commercial
monopolies and political monopolies; and I say to them
as inconsistent men—for I don't address myself to those
who oppose freedom in every shape, but those who are
eenerally with us in advocating civil and commercial
freedom—l say if they gain the triumph of religious in-
tolerance, and if they gain along with it a monopoly
in food, as well as political institutions, they richly merit
their fate.—(Loud cheers.) But there is one thing that
has been said by those who preceded me—they have
alluded to the bigotry, and fanaticism, and ignorance,
which prevailed fifty years ago among the mass of the
people of this country. Now there is one symptom, and
almost the only symptom, which has consoled me in this
agitation for religious disabilities, and it is this—the
calm, passive, and, in many respects, contemptuous silence
and indifference with which it has been regarded by the
great mass of the people of this country.—(Cheers.) If
the same tumults had occurred fifty or sixty years ago,
owing to the then ignorance and bigotry of the mass of
the people of this country, half the Roman Catholic
chapels would have been in flames, and half their oc-
cupants' lives in danger.—(Hear, hear.) And I thank
the demonstration only for this—that it has given me,
more than anything else, a conviction of the great
progress that has been made in real intelligence by the
great mass of the people, especially in ,the north of
Eagland. I will not say so much of the south. And I
cannot say much of the corporation of London.—
(Cheers and laughter.) Why, only think of that cor-
poration professing to represent the city. Only think of
it! Last year setting itself up and agitating in a fer-
ment of enlightened intelligence and patriotism in favour
of religious liberty to the Jews. When has there been
such a spectacle, even so absurd a spectacle, exhibited
as that which was shown, when the London corporation
took that great gingerbread coach, the pattern of 200
years ago, and clothed themselves in that Bartholomew
Fair dress of theirs, and took a man with a fur cap,
whose pattern dates back, I believe, five centuries, with
a long sword in his hand, and all the other set of the
paraphernalia of the corporation of London, and went
down by the railroad to Windsor in order to present an
address to the Queen in order to put down—Popish
mummeries!—(lmmense cheering and laughter.) If you
want to see mummeries, go and see the Lord Mayor's
procession. I have seen the grand ceremonies in the
Vatican at Easter; I have seen the most gorgeous re-
ligious processions the Church of Rome can boast of; but
I never saw anything half so absurd or half so offensive
to intelligence or common sense as the mummeries in
which the corporation of London indulge in every year.
—(Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, lum glad to say of the
north of Eogland that the mass of the people here have
not joined in this ietolerant outcry.—(Hear, hear.) I
only regret that circumstances have prevented this meet-
ing from being hold in the Free-trade Hall, that I might
have heard the cheer which I should have had frem
5.000 auditors in expressing the sentiments I have just
enunciated. Now, gentlemen, only one word more—
as a politician again, but not as a party politician, if
you please. Something has been said about conduct
or misconduct during the lad session. I don't come
here to answer to you, because I have not the honour of
representing most of you. But this I will say, I am
exceedingly tolerant of every Member of the House of
Commons who strains a point to vote with the Govern-
ment, because ho has been some 15 or 20 years lon-
ger in the political arena than I have been. I believe
my friend Mr. Brotherton, for instance—(Cheers)—aims
as much at benefiting the mass of the people in this
country, in every form which ho can do it, as I do—
(Cheers)—but I believe Mr. Brotherton has a stronger
sentiment of reliance on and sympathy towards the pre-
sent Government than I have; and it is easily accounted
for. Mr. Brotherton entered Parliament after the pass-
ing of the Reform Bill and shared their struggles in ob.
taining that Bill, which I still regard—notwithstanding
what Mr. Dyer said—a great progress in political reform.
Ile shared all their struggles in carrying that Bill, and
it is natural that he should have those sympathies. But
I will say this in vindication of myself, that I entered
somewhat at an advanced time of life for a man who has
taken up the discussion of a public question, and I did it
resolved to devote my labours to the solution of that
question, without reference to the temporal interests or
conveniences of any existing political party. And the
result of that agitation in the case of the corn-laws has
convinced me that if anything is to be done in this
country for the great mass of the people, if you
are to succeed in establishing any reform of mag-
nitude, it can only be done by the people
out of doors, and in the House resolving to do
that one thing, and totally disregarding the existing
political parties in that House. I desire to see some-
thing accomplished. I have set myself the task of ac-
complishing certain things, and among them the one
most dear to my heart is the advocacy of a more peace-
ful and conciliatory policy in the intercourse of nations,
I would especially say, the intercourse between this
country and weaker nations. It you want to wound my
principles most acutely, it will bo to-show me England
violating the principle of conciliatory and humane po-
licy when it has to deal with a weak power, which is
like a child in its grasp. I look upon inhumanity, rude-
ness or violence on the part of England towards a power-
less state like Greece with additional resentment, just
as I should regard that man as a coward as well as a
despot who molested and ill-used a child. Feeling, then,
that my principles were violated in the case of Lord
Palmerston, in the Greek affair, I voted against him on
that occasion, and I should do so again, if 10,000 seats
in Parliament depended on the issuing of my vote.-
-(Loud cheers.) Now, gentlemen, let me give one
word of advice to those who are in Manchester or else-
where, and take up a hasty conclusion against some of
our Members, with whom you generally agree, and in
whose judgment and sagacity you have some confidence,
to beware how you take side against them merely because
you see in certain public prints a certain line of policy
argued. Give them credit for being wary—they have
a better opportunity of sifting public men than you
have.—(Hear, hear.) A man must be a fool if he does
not know better after being in Parliament seven or eight
years, and sitting in committee with nearly all the
Members, and hearing their motives when they are dis-
closed, not on the public arena, but when they are
chatted over by their own friends in private.—(Hear,
hear.) Depend upon it your Members will have rather
better opportunities than you will have of judging of
the conduct of public men. And if you happen to
think that Lord Palmerston, although he did try to
maintain a fixed duty long after Lord Aberdeen had be-
come the advocate of total repeal and untaxed bread—
if, notwithstanding certain other symptoms, I could
mention that Lord Palmerston is not the champion of
liberty that you suppose—if, I say, notwithstanding
you have an impression in favour of Lord Palmerston,
and if your Members come to a different conclusion,
why, give them credit for the same honesty of purpose
and intelligence with yourselves; and bear in mind that
they have the better opportunity of forming an opinion
than yourselves. I have no desire to stand out singu-
larly in my vote. As was well expressed by Mr.,
Bright, it is a very unpleasant thing to do so ; and it
would be far more agreeable to make companionship
with those men on the Treasury benches, instead of
treading on their toes, and poking them in the ribs, and
making them uncomfortable. Is it any satisfaction to
me, do you think, that Lord Palmerston's organ, the
Globe, has denounced me, over and over again, as a dis-

from the present party. But this I say—if I cannot say
that I have at least the liberty cf voting iu the House of
Commons for something different to that which now ex-
ists—if I cannot hope to see some change and some
reform—at least if I am not allowed the free advocacy
of my own opinions for some distinct principle different
from that which is now the rule of conduct with Whig
and Tory—why am I to be sitting up till twelve o'clock
every night in the House of Commons? This "disap-
pointed demagogue" wants no public employment; if I
did I might have had it before now.—(Cheers.) I want
no favour, and as my friend Bright says, no title. I want
nothing that any Government or any party can give
me; and if I am in the House of Commons at all, it is
to give my feeble aid to the advancement of certain
questions on which I have strong convictions. Deprive
me of that power; tell me I am not to do this because it
is likely to destroy a Government with vvhic:b at the pre-
sent moment I can have no sympathy, I say, then, the
sooner I return to printing calicoes, or sem ething more
profitable than sitting up in the House of Commons night
after night in that way, the better both fur me and my
friends.—(Hear, hear.) I have come here, then, merely
to renew personal acquaintances, or rather„ anxious by a
short sojourn in this neighbourhood and in Yorkshire
not to lose old acquaintances which I higtdy prize and
value. I come, moreover, in order to ham) an opportu-
nity of testing the current of public opini on a little and
sounding its depths, to see whether it be Ina unusual tide
or a steady, permanent stream. I think this meeting
has demonstrated to me that, whatever hEas existed in
other parts of the country, here at least there is no re-
action.—(Loud cheers.) And if we are ) band true and
faithful to our recorded opinions, you i a Lancashire,
and I hope my friends in Yorkshire, will a sways be found
true to their principles. (Ur. Cobden stet down amid
loud and long-continued cheering.)

BRIGHT, and of RICHARD COBDEN. The language
employed by those popular representatives s vill call to
mind the palmy days of the Anti-Corn•lasst discus-
sion ; a circumstance in no way matter of surprise,
seeing that according to the phrases of the Hon.
Gentleman the, Member for the West, Riding
of Yorkshire, there were assembled together yes-
terday, in the apartment already mentioned, " the
pith and marrow of the Reform and Free-trade party
in South Lancashire." Among an audience so nes
culiarly congenial, no wonder that the advocates of
constitutional reform gave utterance once more to the
sentiments with which the people of these islands
have been long getting more and more familiarized.
The precise meaning and purpose of the ". Parlia-
mentary soil*" to which we are now directing public
attention, may be recognized at once from the opening
speech of the evening, the speech delivered by the
senior Member for Manchester. From the remarks
uttered by that Hon. Gentleman, it will be perceived
that the intention with which he and his brother legisla-
tors had met each other in the midst of the sceues of their
former successes was simply that cf explaining, in
some degree at least, the policy they have resolved to
carry out if possible during the ensuing session of the
Legislature. To this end a variety of the most mis-
cellaneous topics passed under the scrutiny of the
orator.,, upon all of which they were sufficiently plain-
spoken for the most fastidious and inquisitive. For
example, Mr. MILNER GIBSON, not contented with
avowing at once that " he would have Ministers upon
some well-considered scheme of financial policy
repeal those taxes which were most oppressive to
the industry.of the country, and which in the
greatest degree contracted the enjoyments of the
people," insisted that the abolition of the tea-duty
would prove actually beneficial and remunerative to
the revenue. Jumping, shortly afterwards, with some
abruptness to a scornful reprobation of the taxes on
knowledge, the Honourable Gentleman boldly turned
to a consideration of the arch-difficulty of the time,
thrusting plump upon his hearers the inquiry, " What
shall be done with the .itoman Catholic hierarchy ?"
The purport of his response to this, interrogation is
nothing less than—toleration. One question he an-
swers with another. " Don't you think," he says,
it might be wise for people to mind
their own affairs, and lock after their own bishops ?',
Mr. BRIGHT, as usual, was ingenious enough to iuveat
the driest of political topics with the interest
of the ridiculous. His humorous allusions
told well with an audience ever ready
to respond to his facetious oratory with mingled
applause and laughter. But, coming as he did after
experienced and successful orators like Mr. BRIGHT
and Mr. Ginson, there could be no doubt that the
speech of the evening was, for various reasons, that
which fell from the lips of Mr. COBDEN. Seldom
has the Hon. Gentleman the Member for the West
Riding of Yorkshire been more happy in his " hits"
on, matters " political," " economic," or " ecclesias-
tical," than he was when yesterday addressing once
more his old familiar friends of Manchester. Never
did his tongue declare more clearly that
his is in truth essentially the Genius of
Common Sense. About the Catholic hierarchy
he was, if possible, yet more explicit than Mr.
MILNER GIBSON himself. What, for instance, could
be morn suggestive or more significant than these
sentences in which he summed up the Ministerial
difficulty in regard to this most conspicuous
object for legislative enactments :—" Are we (in
the House of Commons)," said he, "all Churchmen,
owning the spiritual authority of the QUEEN ?
Why, we are about forty or fifty of us
Roman Catholics ; and, mark me, you will have a
great many more Roman Catholics returned from
Ireland at the next election. We have an Independent
or two, we have three or four Unitarians, and we
have a Quaker, lam happy to say, and I wish we
had a good many more. And we have a prospect of
having a Jew. Now is not that a very nice
body of men to uphold the QUEEN'S supremacy as
head of England's Church ?" Everything considered,
the observations made upon this remarkable subject by
the Representative of the West Riding are
deserving of more marked consideration on all
accounts than almost anything that has hi-
therto been uttered upon the same fruitful
theme of discussion. Nor were the comments made
by the same speaker upon other matters less entitled
to examination. As, for instance, where he remarked
upon the surplus of two millions of money sterling,
which the Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer made
such a subject of glorification, which he pretended to
return to the nation.by his brick-dust adroitness, with
a consummate air of magnanimity. " Thank you
for nothing," says Mr. COBDEN, should be the only
reasonable acknowledgment. Such were among the
pithy sentences enunciated by the chief among the
leaders of the League, when yesterday, calling to mind
his old oratorical triumphs, he spoke in the old style, to
his old friends, in the old scene of his political and
commercial labours—Manchester. The entire report,
we doubt not, will be read by the majority of the
intelligent public, and read, too, with the care and
attention to which it is eminently entitled.

_NO TIC E .- THE

SECOND VOLUME of PEPYIS' DIARY,
CHEAP RE-ISSUE, price 6s.

, .
Will bo READY with the Magazines, January 31.
This complete Edition of Pepys' celebrated " Elary and Corres-
pondence," containing al the passages restored *from the original
manuscript, and all the additional notes, will be published in Five
Monthly Volumes, post Bvo., with Portraits, &c., i irice only 6s. each,
bound.

" Trial by jury" has long been regarded as one of
the most valued and highly-prized institutions of this
favoured land. It is, indeed, justly considered the
" Palladium" of British liberty, which can never be
destroyed, so long as no man can be punished, either
in purse or person, save on the unanimous verdict of
twelve of his peers—honest, independent, and intel-
ligent men. There is no higher duty than that
which a person summoned to the jury-box, to hear
and decide upon the several matters and things
which may be brought under his considera-
tion, owes to society. He is bound to receive
the legal evidence that may be brought before
him in every case, to weigh it calmly and dispas-
sionately, exercising a nice discrimination in setting
aside irrelevant matters, testing the accuracy of the
different witnesses, and attaching due importance to
each portion of their respective statements. He owes
a double responsibility, viz., to society in general and
to the prisoner at the bar. If the charge be clearly
established—if no reasonable doubt can exist that the
offence has been committed by the person on
his trial, there must be a verdict of " guilty."
No consideration of the inevitable consequences
of such a decision, no compassion for, or
sympathy with, the person whose future wel-
fare is involved in the issue can be to inter-
fere with the stern requirements of justice. The
heart of the juror must be steeled against all such
feelings, and his sole object must be in accordance
with the solemn obligation he has taken, " a true ver-
dict to give according to the evidence "

But the second portion of his responsibility—his
duty to his fellow-man—is even of more vital import-
ance, inasmuch as the consequences of an im-
proper conviction are infinitely more formidable
to the individual, than those of an injudicious ac-
quittal are to the community in general. Guilty
men may escape with impunity without any very
serious mischief to society being the result, but it is
totally different if an innocent man should be sub-
jected to unmerited punishment. Such a case—and,
unfortunately, the instances are not so rare as we
could desire.—is justly regarded as a public evil of no
ordinary magnitude. The confidence in the law it-
self is shaken, and each person feels that he himself
may be the next victim to the prejudices or mistakes
of a jury. Hence every possible precaution is adopted
to prevent—we will not say the possibility, for every
merely human institution is subject to error, and ab-
solute infallibility cannot be hoped for—but the pro-
bability of such a calamity. "It is better that one
hundred guilty persons should escape than that one
innocent person should suffer," is a maxim which
from time immemorial bas been recognized and acted
on by the criminal tribunals of the country, which
will be repeated by the judge in every case where
such a caution may be considered necessary.
This humane principle materially relieves the juries
in such inquiries. In a civil case they are required
to balance the evidence on either side, and to pro-
nounce in favour of the party to whom the balance
may incline but in criminal matters the truth of the
accusation must be distinctly and unequivocally es-
tablished, and guilt brought home to the defendant.
One of the greatest and most amiable men of the
present century has placed this matter in so clear a
point of view that we cannot refrain from quoting
from the observations of Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY
on the Criminal Law of England the following re-
markable passage :

appointed demagogue, and hurled language at me which
no other journal—the Times for instance—has ever le-
velled at me? I know perfectly well that on the Man-
chester Exchange, and the Leeds Exchange, and the
Liverpool Exchange, where the Globe paper is taken,
and that being a Whig paper, when persons see it speak
in such terms of the Member for the West Riding, they
are apt to think there must be a great deal in it, and that
the Member must be making himself especially ridiculous
in the liouso of Commons.—(Hear, hear.) I am not a
disappointed demagogue; if ever there was anybody who
ought to be satisfied with his public career, it is I.—
'(Euthitsiastiecheeriwr'.) I thank you for giving me the only
response which could relieve me from the imputation of
great egotism in saying so.—(Renewed cheering.)
Well, as I said before, my position is not the same
as that of Mr. Brotherton. I have lived so long that I
cannot see the line of demarcation between Whig and
Tory-. I cannot see what principle the Whigs advocate
which the Tories do not advocate. I find from Lord
John Russell, in the House of Commons, nut simply
great impatience, but petulance, and I had almost said
great insolence, in his dealings, particulary in the re-
marks he has made to our friend Mr. Bright—who I am
sure is very indifferent to the remarks themselves—but
they are sufficiently important in indicating the tone of
the man supposed to be the leader of our party.—(llear.)
I must confess. that in regard to fiscal mutters, I am
bound to say I believe the Opposition party would do
quite as much in the way of retrenchment as the Whigs.
1 um not sure that they would not do more. I believe
Sir James Graham, for instance, would show less sub-
' ,erviency to the Duke of Wellington in military ar-
rangements, than Lord J. Russell or Lord Palmerston. I
believe in colonial policy; while Sir R. Peel resolutely re-
fused to add another acre to our tropical possessions, the
present Government are taking possession in Asia,
as well as Africa, of tracts of tropical territory which, I
believe, notwithstanding anything that may be said to
the contrary by the Manchester Association, arc only
calculated to entail additional expense upon us, instead
of benefiting us, as a free-trading community. And I
liar that next session we shall be placed in a still worse
dilemma. If we are to believe the reports that Lord
John Russell, instead of being the champion of religious
liberty, is going to embark in a crusade against religious
freedom, I shall then find myself still further alienated

" It should be recollected, too, that the object cf penal
laws is the protection and security of the innocent;

that the punishment is resorted to only as the means of
attaining that object; I when, therefore, the guilt)
escape the law has merely failed of its intended effect—
it has done no good indeed, but it has done no harm.
But when the innocent bec acne the victims of the law the
law is not merely ineffic: eat—it does not merely fail
of accomplishing its inten•aed object—it injures the ver)
persons it was meant to protect ; it creates the very
evil it was to cure, and destroys the very security it was
made to preserve."

These admirable suggos Lions should sink deeply
into the minds of every person about to assume 01.,
onerous functions of a juror in criminal matters, who
should also recollect that Ids decision is irremediable ;
that: there is no appellate tribunal by which the ver-
dict may be revised, so far as the facts of the case are
concerned ; errors of law may be rectified, but error.
of fact never can. In this respect a verdict can
never be reversed, or even varied in any respect. It
must for ever remain on record against the con-
victed party, however clear and indisputable may
be the proof of his innocence.

A case was tried before Mr. Sergeant ADAMS and
a bench of magistrates, at the Middlesex Sessions,
on Thursday, which has created an extraordinary
sensation in the public mind, more especially in the
City, where the probity, veracity, and high character
of a gentleman, whose testimony was directly
impugned by the Learned Sergeant and by the ver-
dict of the jury, are fully known and duly estimated,
We unhesitatingly assert that that verdict has not
given satisfaction, that it was totally opposed to the
weight of evidence, and we call on the Secretary of
State for the Home Department to institute a
searching inquiry into all its circumstances. It
affords the most powerful illustration of the mis-
takes that may occur even under the most judicious
system, and of the absolute necessity for the esta-
blishment of a Court of Criminal Appeal. Gon
forbid that we should be supposed to impute wilful
error or corrupt motives to either Judge or jury,
but we cannot help thinking that a most serious mis-
take has been committed—a mistake fraught with
the must pernicious results to an innocent gentleman,
who has been improperly sentenced to three months'
imprisonment in the House of Correction; while wil-
ful, deliberate, and corrupt perjury has been imputed
to six persons, three of them gentlemen occupying
respectable stations in society.
The case to which we desire to direct the public
attention is that of Mr. JOHN GOLDSMID, a member
of the Stock Exchange, who was on Thursday tried
fur an assault committed on an officer attached to the
department of Inland Revenue. From the evidence
of the prosecutor it appeared that he was subjected to
some very rough treatment by some person whom he
believed to be the defendant, on the evening of Saturday,
the sth of October, at the Blue Posts, in the Hay-
market. Unfortunately he was induced not to give
the culprit into custody at the moment, in conse-
quence of being informed that the offender was
" JOHN GOLDSMID, of the City, who would, on the
Monday, make any compensation for the injury he
might have dune to his clothes." This compensation,
however, did not arrive; and three weeks afterwards
the prosecutor having discovered, as he supposed,
the residence of the defendant, summoned him to
the police-office. The defendant did not appear on
the first summons; a second was accordingly taken
out, and the defendant then refused to adopt a sug-
gestion of the magistrate to arrange the matter,
alleging that he could prove that he was at Brighton
at the time the alleged assault took place. The
matter was then very properly remitted to the ses-
sions for a jury to decide on the conflicting tes-
timony.

From the evidence of the prosecutor, it was mani-
fest that it might be a case of mistaken identity, in
which the prosecutor might have erred as to the per-
son of one whom he had never seen but on that even-
ing. For the defendant, his father and brother (both
highly respectable stockbrokers), positively swore
that the defendant had on the day in
question gone down with them to Brighton,
from whence he did not return until the
following Monday. This was confirmed by Mr.
GOLDCMID'S footman, and by a gentleman named
STEVENS, a respectable auctioneer in the City. A
clearer alibi was never established, and it was impos-
sible to convict the defendant without supposing that
these four persona had been guilty of wilful and
corrupt perjury. But this was not all; three other
witnesses to the transaction not only swore that it was
not the defendant who committed the assault, but
declared the name of the real offender, who it was
said "much resembled the defendant." On this
evidence the jury found the defendant guilty,
and the Judge, in passing a very severe
sentence, distinctly charged the several witnesses with
deliberate perjury. The matter cannot rest here; it
must be stringently investigated in every particular,
and must lead to an alteration of the law, and a
full power of appeal in such cases. The consequences
may otherwise be of a very disastrous character, such
as we should not willingly be called on to encounter.

This is the age of newspapers. A recent calculation
made in Vienna gives no less than 1,282 journals and papers
as actually known in Europe, not including therein Austria!
There are, of course, many provincial papers not included in
this list, but the following comparison is curious. In Paris
160 papers of various kinds are published; in London, 97;
in Berlin, 79; in Leipsic, 68; in St. Petersburgh, 36. The
number of journals published in Germany, exclusive of Aus-
tria, in the German language, is 645, nearly three times as
many as Paris and London put together. The Leader.
COMPENSATION TO THE OFFICERS OF THE DEFUNCT
PALACE COURT.—The officers of the defunct Palace Court
have just received intimation that the Lords of the Treasury
have granted them annuities for life. It will be recollected
that the court was abolished on the 31st of December, 1849.
The claims of the officers were made within theperiod.
limited by the Act of Parliament, and no decision was come
to until within the last few days, when it was ascertained
that the summoning officer had received his annuity for a
year,,amounting to nearly 501. The other officers in a short
time received
.the gratifying intelligence that their claims
had ken considered, and were made acquainted with the
amounts a,.varded. There were about fourteen applicants fur
compensation, but all, it is understood. were not successful.
The Treasury paid the parties who were granted compensa-
tion a year's annuity to each, ending on the 31st of Decem-
ber last. The compensation to the several officers vary from
401. to 601. a year.
THE CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER AT BRISTOL.-
At the resumed inquest, on Thursday, the captain of the
Adolphe, Frederick Dugais, was examined. He did not
witness the assault on deck, but heard the deceased complain
afterwards that Mr. Alexander had struck him. Auguste
Dugais, a son of the captain, was also called as a witness;
his evidence went to show that he did not see the cause
which led to M. Bippert's fall from the quarter to the main
deck, but he afterwards saw the deceased, who appeared,
to be
trembling and shaking from the effects of the fall. The in-
quiry was then adjourned till the following day (Friday).
Mr. Long, the surgeon who attended the deceased, was re-
called and examined as to the probable effects of strangu-
lated hernia. The coroner, having read over and commented
on the evidence, commencing with the deposition of the de-
ceased, taken in articulo mortis, and
carefully going through
the examinations of all the other witnesses, the jury, after a
consultation of about an hour, returned a verdict of man-
slaughter against Mr. Philip Alexander,
~ who was thereupon
committed for trial at the ensuing Gloucestershire assizes.
The remains of the unfortunate deceased, M. Bippert, have
just been conveyed for interment in the cemetery at Arno's
Vale.

LONDON ENVELOPED IN A DENSE FOG.---NUMEROUS
ACCIDENTS.—Yesterday afternoon and evening the metropo-
lis and suburban districts were visited with one of the densest
fogs that has been witnessed for some winters past. All tra-
velling by the usuall steam, conveyances was completely out
of the question. At four o clock in the afternoon it became
so dark that it was extremely difficult to see more than a
foot in advance; the consequence was, that several accidents
happened both on the river and along the public roads. Near
Westminster steam-boat pier, a boat containing three men
and a female, who were making for College-stairs, ran their
vessel against the stairs and all four were thrown overboard,
and narrowly escaped drowning. At the foot of the various
bridges, and along the streets, several vehicles came into
violent collision.

CUSTOMS WATERGUARD...-..MF. D. S. Harding,
senior inspector of the river, has, we understand, been ap-
pointed to the situation of inspector-general of the water-
guard department of the Customs, vice Mr. Ansell, deceased.
THE ALLEGED MURDER or A HUSBAND BY HIS
WIPE.--Yesterday a long inquiry was concluded before Mr.
W. Carter, at the King's Head Inn, Blackfriars-road, as to
the death of John Brown, aged twenty-three, who was
alleged to have been murdered by his wife, Jane Brown, who
is now in custody. The jury returned a verdict of " Man-
slaughter against Jane Brown."
APOTHECARIES'-HALL.—The following gentlemen
passed their examination in the science and practice of medi-
cine, and received certificates to practise, on Thursday;_
Edwin Henry Bolton, London; George Elm; William Chap-
man, Sedbergh.
ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.---The following
gentlemen, having undergone the necessary examinations,
were admitted members of the College on Thursday :---
Messrs. Thomas Coke Higgs, St. George's, Bermuda, and
Edward Higgon 'Evans, Treffgarne-hall, Haverfordwest.
THE MURDER IN CHESHlRE.—Yesterday her Ma-
jesty's Government offered a reward of 1501. for the disco-
very of the person or persons who so brutally murdered Mrs.
Mary Kinder, on the evening of the 16th inst., at Roads Fold,
Chester. It was announced also that any accomplice, not
being the actual murderer, who will give such information as
shall lead to the apprehension and conviction of his or her
confederates, will receive her Majesty's free pardon.
THE INDIAN COLLECTION.--The Lords of the
Treasury have granted Mr. Catlin, the owner of the North
American Indian collection, the privilege of retaining his
collection in this country, without being subjected to the
duties due on the several articles, for a further period of
time, in order to give him an opportunity of exhibiting it in
the metropolis during the ensuing summer, at the expiration
of which the collection will be taken from this country.