The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-29 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

THE CASE OF OVEREND AND GURNEY.—On Wednesday
she case of Overend, Gurney, and Co. was before Vice-
.:!hanctilor Malins on a demurrer. A bill has been filed

to make the directors responsible for the loss the
company sustained by purchasing the goodwill ani
undertaking the liabilities of the old company on
the representation of the directors that the business
of the old firm was solvent, whereas they knew that it
was insolvent to the extent of £2,700,000. The directors
demurred that a question of damages was not one for an
equily, but a common-law court. The Vice-Chancellor
overt Wed the demurrer, holding that it was a proper case
to std,mit to a court of equity, and that the bill was pro.
pet ly framed and ought to be answered.

A LITERARY DISPUTE.—A literary inquiry of some

intcri:st has Leen going on in Vice-Chancellor James's
court during the last day or two. Mr. Pike, the author
of a work entitled " The English and their Origin," pub-
lished in 'Ally 1866, filed a bill to restrain the publication
of the defendant's book "The Pedigree of the English
People," on the ground th t it was a piracy of his work.
Both works arose out of a competition for a prize
of 100 guineas offered by the National Eisteddfod at
Aberystwith, in 1865 and 1866, for the best essay on the
Origin of the English Nation. The plaintiff competed in
1865, when no prize was given ; but the arbitrators

expressed a hope that his essay would be published. He
published it in May ISGG. In that year the defendant
competed for the prize, which ag eitl was not
awarded. The late Lord Straugford, who was the
adjudicator,praised his essAy highly, and after submitting
the NIS. to several ethnologists, the deen,lant arranged
for its publication by Messrs. Longmans. A copy of the
work was sent to the plaintiff for notice in the Anthropo-
logical Renew, when he arrived at the conclusion that
an unfair use had been made of his book, and filed this
hill. The defendant admits having read the plaintiff's
book, but asserts that the scheme and argument of his
work were in existence before its publication. The case
was not concluded.

Dr. Irons, of Queen's College, Vicar of Bromp.
tun, has been elected Barnpton Lecturer for 1870.
Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, K.C.8., has
been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediter-
ranean Station, vice Lord Clarence Paget, whose period
of service has expired.

At the M insion Howe, on WedneFdly, Sydney T.
Webb, a clerk in the employment of the Provincial Bank-
ing Corroration, was committed for trial on a charge of being
cone, rued with another man, now under sentence of seven
years' penal servitude, in forging and uttering a ch quo fur
£397 10s., with intent to defraud.

ELECTION PETITIONS.—TIIO two special cases out
of the 70 election petitions arising out of the late general
lection have been appointed to be argued in the Court of
Common Pleas on Wednesday next. The cases are New
Sarum and Manchester.
THE CASE OF MADAME RACHEL.—The writ of
error obtained by Madame Rachel, who remains in New.
gate, is to be heard on Saturday, in the Court of Queen's
Bench, when Mr. Mellish, Q.C., and Mr. Gibbons will
appear for the defendant; the Attorney-General, the
Solicitor-General, and Mr. Poland for the Crown. The
error is in law--whether the court was properly consti-
tuted.

The Bishop of Salisbury appends to a circular wbich
no has issued to his clergy asking them to make collections
for the Diocesan Church Building Society the following
observations :—"I cannot allow this request, which I
have much reason to think may be the last public ono
may be allowed to make to my clergy, to go forth,
without reminding them that I am seeking their
-ssistance in behalf of an object which must be amoLgst
those dearest to a Christian's heart, the worship of Gcd
irr
His Church on earth. I would also at the same time thank
them for the prayers, which I have the great comfort of be-
lieving are being offered up for me by them and their con-
gregations, to the end that I may bear my sickness patiently,
and that the sufferings of my body may by the gract, of (lir
Lord Jesus Christ be made to minister to my son,'s rest and
peace."

The statistical table showing the number cf
candidates who have sent in their names for the Oxfold
local examinations, which commence at the vanous
centres on the 24th of May, has been issued. Th,‘ total
number of candidates is 1,636 namely, 1,200 juniors
and 436 seniors; last year the numLer was 1,553•-1142
juniors and 411 seniors, being an increase over tlo. l'ar
1868 of 83. There are tnenty-'our centres to which can-
didates are stnt. The most consideruLl.! of thew, I;
of course, London, where 338 candidates were examined_
92 seniors, 246 juniors. 31ancLee,ter comes next with 184,
35 seniors, 149 juniors. Liverpool had 158, of whou, 53
were seniors; Bath 113, 20 seniors. N, xt comes Binning.
ham, 91 candidates. Tho lowest in the scale is Swansea,
with only 12 candidates. Windsor had 19; Lincoln, 22;
Ex. ter, Norwich, and Truro, 23 each.

. SUSPENDED ANIMATION.—I have read of trees
remaining dormant for a season, but I shall tell you of a
case that is probably unique of its kind. There used to
grow against a wall of my house a Virginian creeper. It
was an old plant with a stem thicker than any man's
arm, and it spread across to the next house, and my
neighbour has as good a share of it as myself. By some
accident the stem was broken or cut through—l think it
occurred when some workpien were about the place
Well, it was cut down to the ground, and the place
was paved over for some distance round about, fo
the roots of the plant were in a yard. Last summer,
to my surprise, a strong shoot of Virginian creepeg
started by the edge of a paving-stone and grew four-or fly/
feet. That shoot is now pushing a new growth, and I
have no doubt at all that my creeper will be restored or
the very spot where it stood before. The story so far may
appear nothing extraordinary. I must add that betweer
the disappearance and the reappearance of the plant fon)
years have elapsed. That there may be no mistake about
my meaning, let it be understood that we saw mothiug GI
it through four successive summers. I suppcse some part
of the r ,ot, still alive, was quickened by ttr intensely hof
weather of 1868,—The garcloter'eyiragazilx.