The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-26 00:00:00

OXFORD AND THE UNIVERSITY

COMMISSION.
The venerable Alma Mater of the Isis has just dis-
covered a mare's nest of the first magnitude, and is pro-
claiming her discovery to the public with a degree of
twaddling solemnity which is perfectly ludicrous. As
all our waders know, a Royal Commission to inquire
into the state of our two aucieut 'Universities, was ap-
pointed at the end of last session. It was announced at
the time that the Commission was directed in no hostile
spirit, but in friendly co-operation with the efforts at
self-improvement which were being made in the Univer-
silica themselves. No one supposed that attendence
before it was compulsory, or that It had any power to
enrorce ;he pruritic:trill of (lucerne:tit» or the answering
of ieterrogatrries. Of course tio much pogor can be con-
fenced c„, liii6sl(Ynere by the Crown sinely, or hy either
house of Parliament eiugly. simeer 11.1,i Commis_
sloes had issued before; and it wits kuewn by aetual
practice, se well ae from constitutional theory, that at-
tendance before them was perfectly optional. This had
been proved in the case of the Municipal Curporatioes
Commission; IMO an anslo,;Yous case ban occurred about
thirey years ago, ler.fere the Education Committee of
Lord (then Mr.) fireugiaam. On that occasion, the
Watden of Winchester refused to produce. the College
Statutes, or to answer any questions about them, and
1".1.41Y attempted to compel hire.
W 11, the, Oxford University Commission was duly
appointed; it had held several meetings; it had collected
much information when suddenly the Oxford Dons
publish a long legal .
Opinion to prove, what nobody ever
thought of disputing_tilmaiy, _..
that they and everybody
else might refuse
to give information to the Commis-
sioners,end that nobody
could punish them for such a
rya u4al.
If the 1-eeaning or an tt is is, that the Oxford Dons
Mean to onstruet the C)tnission as much they can
they he
i
we must say .°e taken a very stupid way
of announcing a 17,"-'7.y stuff id reseeleim They will get
no good by concealme"t• Every abuse that exists
among them will 1:e tedi-,7`,11 to be ten times as bad as
it really is, on Liovtint of :heir efforts to cloak it over;
and a thoesand charges
egainst them. will find credit
heive something
with the public, which tree a" fair investigation
would prove t, be nefoutelrel.
The argument is deeisive; they /pest
to be ashamed of or they .vou:d not shrink from being
inspected.— 'redly ew s.

A CHILD BURIED ALIVE by its MOTHER.
On Tuesday last, on:. of the most atrocious,enses of
child murder ever rec,rded was committed at SI, ingfield,
in this county. by the mother, a young u,lmarried worriat!,
'tamed Maria Clarke. Clarke, it appears, fild been dis-
charged, .at her own reqw,st, from the Fulham Union
House that rnocnini,7, and with her child, a male, six
weeks old, she proceeded to Wingfield, where her
friends reside. Before going to her -mother's cottage,
she Called upon several of the neighbours, and in the af-
ternoon was seen proceeding in the direction of Mr.
Hill's meadow, carrying the child on one arm
and a
scuppet in her other hand: In the evening the child was
missed, and suspicions being Fx ited by what had tr,ns,-
pired in the afternoon, the mother was qu,,stioncd, when
she said she had sent the child to Norwich to be
brought up by an aunt. Not - satisficd with this
...representation, she we directly accused of having
midi, away with the child. :3he at first denied it, but
at length made the astounding confession that she had
murdered the child, but had Luried it alive in Mr.
1.11.4's meadow. Information of the circumstance was

immediately given to policeman William Clarke, and the
woman was shortly afterwards apprehended. The next
morning the meadow was searched, and in a ditch about
four feet deep, filled with water, the scappet was found,
which it appeared had been missed from the cottage
garden of a labourer named Das‘ey on the Tuesday
afternoon. The mother then accompanied the policeman
to acorner of the meadow, and pointed out the spot where
she had buried the child. The turf was removed, and at
the depth of six inches from the surface the body was
discovered. The women,we understand, has since made
a full confession of her guilt. She stated that she left
the Pulham Union House because a young man in
the neighbourhood of Wingfield had promised her mar-
riage. She was apprehensive if he knew she had a
child that he would not fulfil his promise, but she had no
idea of committing the murder until she was leaving
the cottage of Dassey, when the sight of the scuppec
standing outside the door, suggested the thought to her.
She dug a hole, she said, laid her infant in it, and then
sat down and cried. She afterwards covered the child
with turf, " without hurting it at all," and then hearing
it shriek in the ground she stamped upon the sod and
stifled its cries ! She was taken before the county ma-
gistrates of the district,"the Rev. A. Cooper, the Rev. R.
Colbeck, and the Rev. J. Hodgson, and remanded for
further examination on Monday next. Yesterday Mr.
Charles Gross, coroner, went to Wingfield, to hold an
inquest upon the body. The prisoner is about twenty
years of age.—Suffolk Chronicle of March 22.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, March 25.
ST. JAMES'S-PALACE, MARCH 24, 1851.
The Qaeen has been pleased to appoint the Hon. Bea-
trice Byng to be one of the Maids of Honour in Ordinary
to her Majesty, in the room of the Hon. Caroline Dawson,
resigned.
FOREIGN-OFFICE, MARCH 24.
The Queen has been pleased to approve of Mr. L. A.
Van den Bergh as Consul at Portsmouth, of Mr. G. C.
Welsford as Consul at Weymouth, and of Mr. John
Benueld as Consul for Scilly, for his Majesty the King
of Hanover.
CROWN-OFFICE, MARCH 24.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint Matthew
Davenport Hill, of Lincoln's-inn, in the county of Mid-
dlesex, Esq., to be one of the Commissioners of the
Court of Bankruptcy, to act in the prosecution of fiats
in Bankruptcy, in the country, in the room of Ebenezer
Ludlow, Sergeant-at-Law, deceased.
MEMBER RETURNED TO SERVE IN THIS PRESENT
PARLIAMENT.
Borough of Thirsk—Sir William Payne Gallwey,
Baronet, in the room of John Bell, Esquire, deceased.
OFFICE OF ORDNANCE, MARCH 21.
MEMORANDUM —The date of the commission of First
Lieutenant Henry Raymond Pelly, corps of Royal Ea-
gineers, is altered to July 26, 1850.
ADMIRALTY, MARCH 21.
The following promotions have this day taken place
consequent upon the death of Admiral Sir Edward
Hamilton, Bart., K.C.B.:—
Admiral of the Blue George Barker to be Admiral of
the White.
Vice-Admiral of the Red the Earl of Dundonald,
G.C.8., to be Admiral of the Blue.
Vice-Admiral of the White William Henry Brown
Tremlett to be Vice-Admiral of the Red.
Vice-Admiral of the Blue John Impey to be Vice-Ad-
miral of the White.
Rear-Admiral of the Red Charles Philip Bateman to be
Vice-Admiral of the Blue.
Rear-Admiral of the White Sir Charles Napier, K.C.8.,
to be Rear-Admiral of the Red.
Rear-Admiral of the Blue Alexander Renton Sharpe,
C.B, to be Rear-Admiral of the White.
Captain William Willmott Henderson, C. 8., K.H., to be
Rear-Admiral of the Blue.
And the following officers have been also promoted
to the rank of Retired Rear-Admiral, under the terms
proposed in the London Gazette of the Ist of September,
1846, without increase of pay :
Captain Joseph Digby.
Captain Charles Warde, K.H.
Captain William Ffarington.
Captain James Rattray.
Captain John Allen.
Commission by the Lord-Lieutenant of Kent.
Th© Right Hos. George Viscount Torrington to be
Deputy Lieutenant, March 18.
Commission by the Lord-Lieutenant of the County Pa-
latine of Lancaster.
James Lomax, &q., to be Deputy Lieutenant, March 20
Will TELIALL, FEB. 27.
The Lord Chancellor has appointed Edwin Boxall, of
Brighton, in the county of Sussex, Gent., to be a Master
Extraordinary in the High Court of Chancery.
The Lord Chancellor had also appointed Parkin
Wigelsworth, of Donington, in the county of Lincoln,
Gent., to be a Master Extraordinary in the High Court
of Chancery.
WHITEHALL, MARCH 19.
The Lord Chancellor has appointed Bruges Fry, of
Cheddar and Axbridge, in the county of Somerset, Gent.,
to be a Master Extraordinary in the High Court of
Chancery.
LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S OFFICE, FEB. 13.
Notice hereby given, that her Majesty will hold a
Levee at St. James's Palace, on Wednesday, March 26,
at two o'clock.