The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-11 00:00:00

851.

would have come upon me. I was still upon the arm of
Lord Ranelagh. Lord Ranelagh held up his arm to pre-
vent my being knocked against the sate. The porter
collared him—that i 3, I suppose, hew it is expre:sed in
English.—(A laugh.) The policeman, whom I know
(that is the man, meaning Price), also collared him. All
that Lord Ranelagh said was, " Leave me alone." Ho
never did strike with his cane. I saw Carpenter. He
collared Lord Ranelagh in the same way. I never
heard Lord Ranelagh use any bad expressions, but only
" Leave me alone."
Lord A. S. Churchill and Captain Jennings gave
testimony similar to that of Lieut.-Colonel M‘Dowall.
At the desire of the magistrate, the question was put
to each of the witnesses who formed the party whether
they had tickets; and they all stated that they had.
Frederick Swinburn, 22, Bush-lane, Cannon-street,
was at the station, and saw the dangerous position of
Mrs. Jennings and Lord Ranelagh; bat he did not see
any blow struck by his Lordship.
Jr. Ballantine—That is the case for the defendants.
Mr. Bodkin—l believe by a provision in a recent Act
of Parliament I am not permitted to address you, Sir, in
reply?
Mr. SECKER—NO. It is one of Sir J. Jervis's Acts.

Atter a few minutes' deliberation,
Mr. SECKER preecedrd to give his decision. He said,
—lt seems to me that this is a case which, though it has
occupied a considerable time, and has from the first been
the cause of observations of a nature calculated to irri-
tate ono party or the other, lies, after all, in
a very small compass. The charge is that there
two gentlemen did unlawfully and wilfully obstruct
Price, he being au officer of the South-Eastern Railway
Company, and in the due execution of his duty as such.
,The state of the civourasteneet,appears to me to divide

the transactions itito two distin-ct periods, on each
of which I shall deliver my opinion as well as I can,
after having heard the voluminous and contradictory
evidence, that has been given. The first part of the
transaction is tho conflict arising between some pas-
seners on a railway station, and the officers who are
there placed to execute certain duties. The second part
is with respect to certain acts of violence that occurred
at a subsequent period of the transactions, and which by
themselves appear to be the foundation of a different
charge. With respect to the first, I am called upon to
convict two passengers, what their condition in life may
be is matters not, for assaulting and obstructing officers

he railway while in the execution of their Linty. In
rder to convict them of any such offence, it seems to me
,het I must first believe that those officers, were in the
)xpeution of their duty, and that, being so, they were oh-
Jtructed by the defendants. Now, in my opinion, the
officers were not in the execution of their duty; and it is
for this reason that I have had it put in evidence that
these parties who presented' themselves at the railway,
and who aro accused of attacking the officers are entitled
by the payment of a certain sum to be carried by the
railway company. By that payment the railway com-
pany contracted an obligation to admit them to the plat-
fdrm, so that they might avail themselves of the licence
travel by their train, which they by such payment
had obtained; consequently these passengers were era-
ailed to have free ingress to the station and egress from
it in order to make use of the train in the fulfilment of
that contract. These passengers, then, having been per-
mitted to pass the outer barrier, had a right to expect
that the coast would be clear, and that they would not
find any one interfering with them. If, then, these pas-
sengers, having thus acquired this right to pass, were
improperly interfered with, can it be said that those
officers who were guilty of such interference were iu the
execution of their duty? I think not. Therefore,
With respect, to this charge, in which I am asked to
convict Lord Ranelagh and Mr. Michael Rowland,
for that they did unlawfully and wilfully obstruct
r%Tilliana Price and Thomas Widdows, being officers
of the South-Eastern Railway Company, they being
in the due execution of their duty, I am of opinion thai
those men were not in the execution of their duty, and
therefore the information must be dismissed, and I dis-
miss the complaint accordingly. With respect to the
assault which might be considered to have been cone -
mitted at the station by these officers, that is another
4uestion, which must be gone into on the second inquiry.
Mr. Ballantine said that, with the exception of the
Fact that Lord Ranelagh and Mr. Rowland would have to
be examined, the second case would rest upon the tes-
timony which had already been given, and he should be
perfectly willing to leave the question upon that

;evidence.
i Mr. SECRER said that contradictory c-vidence might
possibly be brought forward which might make it im-
possible to decide the case upon the testimony already
taken.

After a good deal of discussion, it was arranged that
the case against Sergeant Carpenter should be pro-
ceeded with on Wednesday next, Lord Itanelagh re-
serving to himself the right to adopt any course he
thought proper with regard to the charge against the
railway officials.
The proceedings did not terminate till a quarter to
five o'clock.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
APPOINTMENTS.

Lieutenant N. C. Forsyth has been appointed first o
the Virago steam-sloop, Commander Stewart, fitting ev
Devonport for the South American station. Lieutenan
Forsyth entered her Majesty's servico on board the
Bittern in 1826, served as mate and midshipman in the
West Indies and Mediterranean stations ; and in 1845
was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and appointed
as additional of the Hibernia, bearing the flag of Vice-
Admiral Sir W. Parker, and subsequently served as
acting first-lieutenant of Boneta, Commander Brock,
and from her be was appointed to the Albion, 90, Cap-
tains N. Lockyer and Charles Howe Fremantle ; and in
April, 1848, was appointed as first-lieutenant to her
Majesty's sloop Waterwitch, on the west coast of Africa,
where he served in her boats (under the immediate com-
mand of Sir C. Hotham), at the burning and destruction
of the Gallinas, in February, 1849 ; he subsequently
commanded the Waterwitch's boats at the capture
of a large slaver on the 10th of July, 1849,
and was repeatedly fired on by her piratical
crew, for which service be was highly compli-
mented by the commander-in chief, and the Lords Com-
missioners of the Admiralty were pleased to acknow-
ledge his gallantry on the above occasion. And on the
12th of August, 1850, Lieut. Forsyth was again tent
away in command of the boats of the Witch in chase of
a strange sail. On his coming up with her she opened
a heavy fire on him from her stern-chasers, loaded with
langridgo and round shot. A breezy springing up she
escaped for the time, and at ten P.M. the Waterwitch
came up with and captured her. she proved to ho tho
coleLrated slave brig Pedro Grande, mounting several
12-pounders, some of which were thrown overboard
before taking possession. For this service Lieut. For-
syth was again highly complimented by the commander-
in-chief.
Lieut. William Horton, 1842, whose appointment we
lately announced to the Waterloo, has received his com-
mission for the Shearwater, 8, steam-vessel, for employ-
ment in the Dardanelles, to be placed at the disposal of
the Right Hon. Sir Stratford Canning, the Ambassador
at the Sublime Porte.
Second Master—George P. Heather, to Rodney.
Masters' Assistants—R. H. Rusden, to Grecian; 13.
P. Ledmend, to Virago; A. F. Boler and W. C. Gillard
to Vengeance; C. W. Stevenson, to Waterloo.
Assistant, Surgeons—H. H. Smith, to Victory; G.
Moore, to Impregnable.
Clerks—Edwin Jago, to Rodney; J. M. Forster to
Vengeance.
Clerks' Assistant—H. E. Kitchen, to Tortoise.
To be Acting Boatswain—W. Haynes (!ate Meander).
MALTA. AUG. 2.—The murderer, Paolo razz ,parch,
mentioned iu my last, has been committed for trial,
which will take place about the 19th inst.
Oar only news of the squadron under Admiral Sir
W. Parker is that her Majesty's steamer Merlin, on her
way from Marseilles, communicated with them of Ma-
rit tlnao.

Her Majesty's steamer Merlin, with the London mails
of the 24th ult., arrived in Malta harbour on the 30th,
at one A.m. The Peainsular and Oriental Company's
steam-ship Indus reached this port at eight P.M. on the
31st ult., and left for Alexandria in six hours after ar-
rival.
Lord Stanley, M.P., arrived in Malta by the former
vessel, and left it by the latter, for his tour in India.
His Royal Highness the Duke d'Aumale vi4ited
Malta by the French Government steam-ship from
Naples on the 25th ult., and took his departure for Gib-
raltar on the 28th. His Royal Highness received every
attention from our very popular acting G overnor.
It has in former times been stated that the Maltese
would he hard to please with a Governor. I believe I
may, however, safely say that never were people more
satisfied than they are at present with his Excellency
the acting Governor.
The solar eclipse of the 28th of July was to us only
partially visible. The greatest darkness took place about
4.30 P.M. About three quarters of the sun was darkened,
and the sun's light was sensibly reduced for sonic
minutes. The eclipse was over about 5.30 nat.— Vint
PORTSMOUTH, SUNDAY.--T he Fairy royal
syLile.':
embarked the Queen, Prince Albert, the Princedsy, at
lens, and the Court, at the Clarence-yarci Y
"ee, under
a quarter to one, and convoyed them to
the usual salutes and ceremonies. The
gt/I;:ptain Lord
I9srbir of honour
was furnished by the Royal Marines.
t„d by illness from
Adolphus Fitzclarence being Proven"-
of the royal yacht
attending the Queen, the navigation
was intrusted to Commander Criipin• .
The Rodney, 92, Captain Charles Graham, will fit
v-„naeanee, 84, at Spithead,
out to fill the place of the f-.o_ •
er e ,
the latter being ordered to compi n ompiemeut and
proceed to the 111.editerrancau.
The Lords of tho Admiralty
are expected hiertehteo-mpoorrt:
row to commence their annual. inspection o
They are supposed to dine with the Port-Admiral on
arrival,
with the teutenant•Goveruor on Tuesday, with
the Admirat-Superintendent on Wednesday, give their
own entertainment at the George Hotel on Thursday,
nd leave on Friday. The First Lord will hold his levee
a'rthe Naval College on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Ilempsekn convict-ship sailed from Spithead to•
day with prisoners for Bermuda.
PLYMOUTH, AUG. 10.—YesteAay the Duchess 01
Orleans, the Count cad Paris, his brother, and attendants,
accompanied by a Captain in the- Navy, arrived by an
early train from Torquay, and being received by Rear-
Acilisiral Sir John Ommanuey, wore conveyed in that