The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-28 00:00:00

LON DON, T V ESD A Y EVENING OC'T'OBER 26, 1856.

HULL MICHAELMAS SESSION&

I CHARGE OF MR. WARREN, M.P., RECORDER.
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury—The Summary Jurisdic-
tion Act continues to keep down our calendar, and, at the
present sessions, it numbers only 25 or 26 ; but that is, not-
withstanding the Stipendiary Magistrate has, since the
last sessions, disposed of 40. But for the Act to which I
have alluded, however, we might had now to deal with a
calendar of at least 60 cases. Twenty-eight, however, is a
larger number than I had hoped, at the last sessions, to
have to deal with ; but on looking over the depositions I
find that our labours are likely to be light enough, from
the nature of the cases, to admit of my addressing some ob-
servation to you, which I hope may be found practically
useful, especially at this time of the year, which is a
period of leisure to thoughtful men ; for I intend to point
out, briefly, such of the more important changes in thelaw,
effected during the last Session of Parliament, as boar di-
rectly on an important maritime and mercantile commu-
L nity like that of Hnll. I commend with confidence to
the attention of yourselves who may hear me, and all
who may read what I am about to say, for it comes
home directly to your own businesses and beet:ug. Ig-
norance, or defiance of the law, it is that gives oc-
cupation to courts of criminal justice. Gentlemen, you
are familiar with the saying that every one is presumed
to know the law ; but let no one run away with the notion
that this is literally so. All that is meant by this great
' and often-repeated fundamental maxim of jurisprudence
is, that no man's ignorance of the law under which he lives
shall excuse or exonerate him from criminal or civil liabi-
lities. Were it otherwise, no one could tell how far such
an excuse might be carried, and it would paralyse the
whole administration of the laws. Gentlemen, energetic
attempts. are being at this moment made to reduce the
bulk, and simplify the structure, of our statute lavr. In
this direction I devoutly hope iat not more haste than
' good speed will be seen ; otherwise we shall rue the result
for many a long day. Something has been actually effected
during the last session, by statute 19 and 20 Vie., c. 64,
passed solely to expunge from the statute book 118 sleep-
ing statutes, that is, within two of the entire number of
public- statutes' passed during the last session. The law of
Joint Stock Companies it has been endeavoured to con-
solidate and amend, by an act which I hope will be found
to stand wear and tear—stat. 19 and 20 Vic., c. 47—the
Police of Counties and Boroughs has bean the subject of
an act of extensive and important operation, the 19 and 20
Vic., c. 69; the jurisdiction of the county courts has been
extended, and in some respects remodelled, by the 19 and
20 Vic., c. 108; the powers of the Church Building Com-
missioners have beeiet transferred to the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners ; the law of advowsons amended, by en-
abling parishioners and others, forming a numerous class,
to sell advowsons held in trust, and applying the proceeds
in providing parsonage houses, augmenting small liv-
jugs, and for other bneficial purposes; and better pro-
visions have been made for the spiritual care of populous
parishes, and forming separate parishes, by three acts—
chapters 50, 55, 104 ; the laws of Marriage, in England and
Scotland, have been amended by the acts 19 and 20 Viet.,
c. 96 and 118; the Administration of Intestates' Estates
has been rendered uniform by Stat. 19 and 20 Vict., c. 94;
the good government and extension of the University of
Cambridge, sought by Stat. 19 and 20 Vict., c 88; the
Coast Guard Service and the Manning of the Navy stand
on a more secure footing by Stat. 19 and 20 Viet., c. 88 ;
the Customs' laws are amended by c. 75 ; a Vice-President
of the Committee of Council on Education is appointed by
chapter 116; the Electoral Law of Scotland, elaborately
amended by c. 58, and several other highly important and
valuable statutes have been passed with reference to Scot-
land and Ireland ; the Factories Acts have been amended
by chap. 38, and those relating to the duty on Fire Insur-
ance by ch. 22 ; that relating to Pawnbrokers, by chap.
270. By chapter 113 valuable facilities are afforded for
taking evidence in relation to civil and commercial mat-
ters, pending befcre foreign tribunals, to come into opera-
tion as soon as the judges have framed rules and orders for
carrying it into effect ; while chapter 54, as I pointed
out last session, effects a great improvement in the method
of discharging your office as Grand Jurymen, at once
imposing on you a responsible duty, and relieving us from
needless interruption in the discharge of ours. By Stat.
19 and 20 Vict., c. 120, an admirable alteration has been
effected in the law relating to Settled Estates—one equally
bold and beneficial ; giving the Courts of Equity ample
power to deal with a difficulty which has hitherto required
the circuitous; clumsy, and costly interference of the Legis-
lature, in private family settlements. This statute comes
into operation on the let November—and I confidently an-
ticipate that it will effect great good, by relaxing the
stringency of settlements of property made with the best
intention, and on the best advice, but which subsequent
events, impossible to have been foreseen, have rendered
worse than useless—mischievous and oppressive to those
intended to have been benefited by them. It appears to
me to overstate the benefits conferred by this act, if it be
carried out by the Courts of Equity carefullyand discreetly.
Let me now glance at three short statutes, effecting salu-
tary and extensive changes in that department of the law
more directly concerning such a community as Hull. First
of all, I warmly congratulate the sailors, and all interested
in the welfare or theta or their families on the passing of
stat.l9 and 20 Vic., c. 41, which affords great inducements
to economy, and facilities for securing to sailors their hard
earnings, by establishing a central savings bank for seamen
in London, and branch banks at all our principal seaports,
at any of which sailors may instantly deposit their wages
with complete safety, withdraw the whole or any portion at
any port they please, receive interest on their deposits,
and in the event of death both principal and interest will be
handed over at once to their families. The wives, widows,
and children of seamen are also liberally allowed to open
accounts on the same terms; and sailors may deposit
money for their children, which those children, if above
14 years old, may draw out as and when they require it.
Is not this better than spending the money hardly earned
in a voyage round the globe, in a first day or night's profli-
gacy ashore ? Is there a sessions here at which we have not
the sad duty of dealing with such cases, and seeing the
poor foolish sailor driven back, ashamed of himself, and a
beggar again to the wide ocean, leaving often his wife and
family beggared and broken-hearted? Let him now, how-
ever, only make the Board of Trade his bankers, instead of
scattering his earnings among crimps and thieves, and in
brothels, and beer and gin shops, and he may take ship
again, light-hearted, and with a smile, reflecting God's
approval, while he dashes a tear from his eye at parting
with a happy and affectionate family. The Legislature has
done its duty, and let our gallant seaman do his, and let
you and me, gentlemen, be spared the pain of seeing him
stand either here, or there—beside me here, or before me
there—in the witness box, or at the bar—as prosecutor or
as prisoner, publicly telling, when sobered and ashamed,
the wretched story of hie folly and guilt ! Gentlemen, by
another act, chapter 26, a banker's chock, bearing across its
face, in written or stamped letters, the name of a banker,
or the words "and Company," either in full, or abbreviated,
is now payable only to, or through, some banker; which
the Statute truly recites will conduce to the ease of
commerce, the security of property, and the prevention
of crime. Another act is chapter 97 • and I recom-
mend the careful study of it, not only to the pro-
fessional lawyers of Hull, but to all engaged
in trade and commerce, for it effects groat changes in mer-
cantile law. First of all, it makes it no longer necessary
that a written guarantee should state the consideration on
which it was given, and which may now be proved by
word of mouth. Again, a guarantee given to, or for, a
firm, ceases to be binding after a change in any ono or
more of its members, unless the contrary be the expressed
or necessarily implied intentions of the parties ; and every
surety paying his principal debt is entitled to the immedi-
ate and fullest advantages of all securities then held by the
creditor, in whose place the surety is thenceforth to stand.
Again- a iosr nFoowrenigence;ssaanryd
writtenin all bills o f a
Exchange,ccepta
whethern
bills and notes drawn in any part of the United Kingdom,
or the Channel Islands, and islands adjacent within the
ce on the
Inland Bill
Queen's dominions, and payable there, arehenceforth to
be deemed inland bills, but without affecting the Stamp
duties. And as to the rights and remedies of those who
have done repairs to ships, or furnished supplies for them,
every port in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands,
or other adjacent islands within the Queen's domns,
is to be deemed a Home Port. Important improve-
ments, also, are effected in the Statutes of Limitations,
and Others relate to the law of debtor and creditor,
principal and agent, and co-contractors, and co-debtors,
whether liable jointly only, or jointly and severally.
Another valuable section protects persons bona fide, and
for a valuable consideration acquiring a title to goods,
against writs of execution against the seller, provided the
buyer had no notice that any writ was in the hands of the
Sheriff, unexecuted. Finally, singularly stringent provi-
sions are made by this act, to enforce the specific delivery
of geode contracted to have been delivered, for a price in
money. A jury will have henceforth to say, (under the di-
rection of a judge) what are the goods remaining unde-
livered, and what the plaintiff would have had to pay if
they had been delivered according to contract ; as well as
what damages he would have been entitled to receive, if
the goods should, or should not, be afterwards delivered
in conformity with the act : which provides that the judge
risay order mention to issue for the goods, on payment of
the sum due, without giving the defendant the option of
retaining them, as payment of: the damages ; and, if the
goods cannot be found, then all the lands and chattels of
the defendant within the jurisdiction of the sheriff are to
be distrained till the delivery of the goods ; or, if the
plaintiff prefer it, the sheriff must realise the assessed
value or damages, out of the defendant's goods. Gentle-
men, even as far as I have gone, and assuring you that
I have necessarily omitted from my view, perhaps 80 or 90
out of 120 acts of the last session,—l think, we shall be
entitled to say, looking solely at the record of the statute-
book, to which I strictly confine myself here,—that Par-
liamentt
excessive,bee ufairdle
more
anxiously during
nx
itohuesllya session;stthaii
deficient,
legislative speaking
t eh assol'eloY
llegniasvlaetjinvestancetiooonlaiyniomg
as an administrator of the law, I
whseetrh.veerstohnelyywtiouplunatblteeftrreo:sl:heoeyfpou,7lc.hln.emoangsniditulii:adteeasthose
legisla-
tion
my catalogue of the labours of Pail:ace' e'undt
session. There remains one more yet—the(i 1uenrichrnhg
altn,ahtstse'
20th
0e:
ttrshst
or no.. have not yet, however, closed
see., chap. tOO—to bring before you, and I have reserved it
both in itself, and as forminPreenmeoinfterest and importance
for the last, because of its supreme
reTectively in the years 185 f, 18°55, thwreheicshtattouo.tettsh,eprassed
it declares are to be read as one act,a
con-
stitute what, I think, may be regardedncilalsBtsll6e—glabolilioofu‘svchoicdhe
of reformatory procedure. Wheats and blessed sound
have these words ! indicating, theya fc
mencenaent of a moral and social revolutht.e grand coin
me, and the
working of which will go on producing its glorious
year after year more and more glorious ; an.whenresults,
I have laid our heads iu kindred dust, those who
you
supply
our places will bless the memory of all who
and
were in any
way connected with this movement, for this regeneration
of vast sections of our species. Gentlemen, I wish to lay
before you and the public, practicably, the exact position
of the new system ; and entreat your particular attention
to it. For this purpose I have taken pains to i v
very few words, the substantial result of the g e you, in
throe statutes
to which I have referred—the 17th and 18th Vic. c
the 18 and 19 Vic. c. 109, and the 19 and 20 Vic.a'll
On application by the managers of any reformatory insti-
tution, the Home Secretary may direct one of the prison
i tzepectoTv to examine and report on its constitutionand

regulations; and, if satisfied on this subject, may certify
its usefulness and efficiency—and niay afterwards, also, if
Deed be at any time, 'withdraw such certificate. Any ju-
venile under 16 years of age, and sentenced to at least 14
days' imprisonment, may, in addition to that sentence, -be
directed by the Court, to be sent, at the expiration of it,
o any such certified'RefortnatOry School as may be wil-
ling to receive him, and as the court may, before the ex-
piration of that sentence, direct, and by supplement or-
der, the Churn may sithstitute any other such school. If,
however,.the parent, guardian, or nearest ,relation of the
youthful offender, within 14 days, duly object to that
particular school, and name a nether, the directors ofeivhich
aro willing to receive him, and pay or give security for the
additional expedse of removal, then he may be sent to sneh
other: school. The governor of the gaol must forward with
the prismeer a duplleate or copy of the CJlLlMitweut, with
a memorandum ddentifying him. The Home Secretary
may remove him from one school to angther, and at any
time order him to be discharged. The Treasury, on the
Home Secretary's representation, may defray, out of the
funds provided by Parliaanent for that purpose, the whole
cost of the care and maintenance of the cainder, or such
portion as shall not have been recovered from the parents ;
who (including step-parents), are liable, if of oufficient
ability, to contribute such sane, not exceeding ss. a-week,
as any, two justioes, on complaint of the Home Secretary,
may older, enforced by distress, or imprisonment not ex-
ceeding 10 days. The Home Secretary, however, may from
time to time remit all or any portion of such weakly con-
tributions. Here I may say that the Government has re-
cently and liberally raised its allowance from ss. to 7s. a
week, for every such juvenile offender. Finally, if he ab-
scond from school, or disobey its rules, he may be commit-
ted by a justice to prison, for not longer than 3 months ;
and any person withdrawing or persuading him to abscond
is liable to a penalty of 51. Such, gentlemen, is the system
which benevolent and, jUdicious men have devised and at
length brought into action in many parts Of the kingdom,.
and I hope that every, portion of it wilt shortly be studded
with them. Foe my pad, I would sooner see and reforma-
tory, making its sternly simple appearanceothan the most
gorgeous and magnificent edifice-that oottld.b, ponstructed
by the skill- of mane-for the purpose of misn'ilglorification-
-of material display, or commemorating the proudest
achievements of even genius or valour, Let us take heart
of grace, gentlemen; depend upon it, w9are on the right
tack at last ; our principle is sound, and its results are as
certain as blessed. I cannot better indicate that principle
and those results than in well-considered language used at
a Reformatory meeting in a southern county. The Refor-
matory system aims at saving the outcast, whose ignorance
and necessities have led him into crime, by making his
maintenance and education go hand in hand. It makes the
parent pay the penalty of his negligence or profligacy, by
compelling him to contribute to the cot of his child's re-
formation. It unites Government inspection and national
aid, with private offort and individual philanthropy ' • and
appeals to humanity, as well as to Christian bene-
volence and sympathy. Ido not here advert to the
grave question whether the establishment of these
institutions be not of imperative obligation on the State ;
as to which I own I entertain a very strong opinion.
I am thankful that the State has stepped so far
as it has in the right direction, and feel it a
duty to meet and accompany her. Gentlemen, I ap-
peal to the noblest syinpathies,of your nature, and conjure
aeslytohue rays of
perceive
heavenly approbation which they reflect upon you. Give
you to give your personal assistance to this ever memor-
able movement. Lose not a day in linking yoursel with it ;
nor be uneasy if at first these links be few and slight. They
strength,innbuemintgrereffanjte,i,aidfeel
thewil l results increase
which arc
your social influence, give the eloquence of your voice;
give of the substance with which a gracious, but watchful
and j ust God has ,given you. Providence has not enabled me
individually to give such pecuniary assistance as I would,
but what I could do I did, readily, with delight, and a
hope that God's blessing might go with it, as with the mite
which the widow east into the treasucy. I implore you, from
this seat of solemn judicial authority. I implore the inhabi-
tentsof this powerful section of the community, who are rising
more and more into the notice of the country, casting aside
all misgivings, and shaking off vacillation, to come forward
with wise and timely liberality. From the highest to the
lowest among you, add to whatever else you do in the way
of charity, the support of these incalculably important and
richly repaying institutions. I leave to others to deal with
the startling statistics of crime ; it is enough for me to say,
that I see the mass of preventible crime, hanging like a
mill-stone round the neck of the nation. Oh that one
could loosen it, that oar eyes could.be gladdened by see-
ing it at length being detached! It is a work which ought
to commend itself to your religions convictions, and to re-
ceive the warm support of our religious teachers, of every
denomination—Protestant and Roman Catholic, Church-
men and Dissenters—all of whom acknowledge and publicly
profess themselves the servants and ministers of Mm, the
Saviour of mankind, who declared himself the Son of Man,
come to seek and to save that which was lost. That is
their sublime mission, and let them take heed that they
fulfil it. Genllemen, am I not as one of the dispensers of
criminal justice entitled thus to speak to you? Nay, I
feel myself constrained to do so, for you all know that I
speak with the weight of sorrowful experience in this seat;
and in doing so I but echo the sentiments of the wisest and
best men of ago, of all ranks, calliugs, and parties, ut-
tered ou every available occasion, with increasing energy,
and with justly increasing hopefulness. I rejoice to find
that your reformatory is now in action, and that the great
desideratum, is good master has been obtained, whose heart
is in his work. Ho is a clergyman, and what did he say the
other day atYork, in giving his interesting account of their
doings ? After alluding to the differancedu character among
the boys, requiring a judicious variation of treatment, he
observed, " but there is one feature common to them all—
they aro all estranged from God." Ah, there we sec the root
of the whole matter—the source- of the evil; and what is
clearer than the remedy—early religious education ? On this
subject my convictions are so profound that it requires a
strong effort to restrain my expressions of them—my reite-
rated, my solemn, my affectionate expression of them. But
I do restrain myself,and conclude by rissur ing you that when
far away from you, since the last sessions, my heart exulted
at seeing the noble effort made by the working classes of
one important district here to contribute to the establish.
went of schools. God send them—God send all such efforts
—prosperity. Every boy, every girl, guided in that direc-
tion, is one diverted from the dreary path which leads to
yonder Bar—to the prison, to the hulks, to the gallows, to
Hell. Gentlemen, since my arrival here last night, I have
road with deep interest the annual report of the worthy
chaplain of the gaol, to my brother magistrates and myself,
which I hope they will lose no time in directing to be laid
before you, and which I entreat all of you, and of your fel-
low townsmen, to read with attention. There you will see
Protestant and Roman Catholic in harmoeious action, en-
deevouring to reclaim the wandering sheep of their respec-
tive folds ; and I envy not the feelings of him who can
read, unmoved, what is said upon the subject by our Pro-
testant chaplain. With one small passage of his Report, I
close this charge to you, for I agree with every word of it,
and believe it springs from an equally discreet and devoted
religious heart.

"The more these Reformatory institutions become
known throughout the country, the more eagerly they will
be supported by all who desire to see our idle and criminal
youthful population changed into honest and industrious
young men and women.. And it is a greater act of hu-
manity, it shows more Christian feeling, it is wiser and
more economical to do that which, by God's blessing, will
prevent the viciously inclined boy or girl from becoming
a hardened criminal, than to punish them when they have
become such." That, gentlemen, is the plain utterance of
a minister of Christ's Holy Gospel, in the discharge of his
most solemn duty; I humbly, affectionately, reverently
echo it, in my capacity of a minister of justice ; and leave
it to sink deep into your hearts, and bear fruit a hundred-
fold.

THE FATAL ACCIDENT AT BI YN-
MALLY MI NE.
WREXIIAM, OCT. 25.
The bodies of three men and a boy have at length been
recovered, The water, speaking generally, was got out
on Thursday, and on the afternoon of that day a descent
was made into the pit, under the superinteddence
of fialdcroft, the intelligent overseer of the workings.
The same difficulty had to be encountered which at an
earlier period rendered an attempt to search impossible,
but unremitting efforts to disperse the choke damp so
far succeeded that the party were able to get to the
middle levels, in which it was known these four persons
were working at the time of the accidcat. Tue body of
Ishmael Griffiths was brought to the surface at four
o'clock yesterday afternoon, and the bodies of Edward
Cumah, Stephen Davie, and the boy, Samuel Parry,
were brought up this morning. These individuals posi-
tively threw away their lives. They were warned of the
' water having burst into the mine, but, perhaps believing
that it was only a repetition of one of those many in-
stances in which, the water having risen from natural
causes to an unusual height, the men were called up.
They continued their occupation some few minutes, and
safetythr was comparatively
three
and five feet of
when they reached the place of outlet found themselves
cut off from those means of escape which numbers of
their comrades happily obtained. The barrier which
interposedw
trifling—somewheret
er; a
n db, e
nt between e
Griffiths' en t h ei ,me t v
;a
body
between
n had ben in water, it
may be reasonably inferred that he attempted to pass
through it. The other three bodies w. r. 3. found at the
edge of the mark where the water bad a tamed its high-
est level, -but, being dry, it is assumed that they were
quickly overpowered by the fatal "damp." All of them
were recognisable at first ; but so rapid is the decompo-
sition consequent on exposure to the atmosphere that
they can hardly be said to be so at the present moment.
The inundation washed into the deep level a mass of
rubbish, either from the old mine or from unused work-
ings of the Bryn-Malty Mine, which must be cleared out
before the other 9 bodies can be recovered, and this ope-
ration, which has bees proceeding since Thursday, may
the bereaved
of the
survivors
rvsiivmoprs cherish the
thought that they will recover their relatives alive, al-
le people that
even occupy three or four days longer. So strong is the in-
flu:neruio‘ovf hope in o
f theth
though all the others had far less chanoe of life than these
four whose bodies have been brought up, because of the
4reatt'r amount of choke damp known to prevail in the
jeealltiee Where they were working. Some idea of the
magnitude of the damage caused by the accident may be
gash red from the fact that the deep levels will not be in
a state to allow of coal being raised from them until long
aft, r Christmas.
An influential meeting of the clergy and principal in-
habitants was held at the Town-hall yesterday, tile vicar
(Rev. G. Cunlifle) in the chair, when a hooks-to-house
collection on behalf of the sufferers was resolved upon.
It was stated that the amount already contributed ex-
ceeded 8001.

Mr. AndreW, the chairman of the European and In-
dian Junction Telegraph Company, with Mr. Brett, Mr.
O'Shaughnessy, and Mr. Pinceger, had an interview on
Saturday with Mr. Wilson, at the T.eAsury, regarding
the establishment ofttelegraphic communication between
Europe and India, via Setenni% the Euphrates, and the
Persian Gulf. The valuable co t.peraton of Mr.
O'Shaughnessy with Mr. Andrew augurs well for the
einem of this important undertaking.

COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA.