The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-23 00:00:00

MURDER ARAB FROME,

The vicinity of Frome seems destined to produce periodi-
cal outrages, and we have to add another to the long list of
murders for which the district has unhappily become so
notorious. On Saturday morning Mr. Henry Farthing, of
Remington (a village some five miles distant from Frome),
sent one of his labourers, named Edward Smith, and a
lad, also in his employ, named Prank Taylor, aged 11,
to drive two beasts to Cannard's Grave, near Shepton
Mallet, about ten miles distant. On their return, at eight
;clock at night, they stopped at Wells, and Smith had a
pint of beer at the Talbot Inn. He asked the boy to par-
take of it, and on his refusing, the man, who was already
the worse for drink,became angry, and usedhard language.
They then left for home, taking a short cut to Buckland
across the fields. It is stated that people living near the
entrance to those fields heard cries as of someone being
beaten. The next morning (Sunday) a man named Taylor
found the body of a boy in a ditch in a lane some dis-
tance from the path to Buckland. It lay face downwards,
and was covered with mud and dirt. Smith, on being
juestioned, owned that he had given the boy a cut or two
with his stick because he would not keep up, and that he
then left him. Being taken into castody, he added that
" he was very sorry, and would not have it happen for
E 10." He was conveyed to Frome, where he remains in a
very desponding state. At one part of the footpath there
were traces apparently of a struggle, and the dead boy's
')oots exactly correspond with the footprints. The coroner's
nquiry has not yet been held.

The case of the Sheffield miners on strike,
tharged with assaulting and intimidating the non-unionists,
's concluded. Some of the defendants were sentenced to
)ne month's and two months' imprisonment. Notice of
tppeal was given.
In celebration of the return of Mr. S. Morley as
if.P. for Bristol, a great operatives' banquet is to be held in
1 that city on Thursday next, Mr. Mundella, M.P., Mr.
Richard, M.P., Sir William Guise, and M. Morley, M.P.,
being among the speakers.
The London correspondent of the Manchester
Guardian says that the over zeal of Mr. Reverdy Jonnson
Is looked upon as the cause of the failure of the Alabama
treaty. The terns would Lave been accepted through Mr.
Adams. It is certain, however, that the committee i ecom-
mend the ratification of the two other conventions, viz., that
respecting San Juan, and that regarding naturalisation. Mr.
Tehnson's recall is looked upon as one of the earliest conso-
luences of President Grant's assumption of power.
The provincial papers are full of " horrors."
lUtinost consternation" we are told has been created at
Cheltenham by an attempted murder by a painter of his
sister. "Considerable excitement" has been caused in the
Forest of Dean by the murder by a man of his wife—the
unfortunate wretch afterwards committed suicide. At
3rimsby an inquest has Leen opened on the body of a
woman killed by her husband. Two seamen going to their
Vessel late at night quarrelled on the road, and one stabbed
.he other, causing his death in ten minutes. Two at least of
'hese occurrences were caused by excessive drinking.
A SHORT CUT TO BANKRUPTCY.—Sixpence per
?ound per week appears to be the very moderate interest
:harged by Wrexham money-lenders to poor borrowers on
short loans. At least this is the revelation of the Bank-
'uptcy Court. A tradesman borrows twenty pounds, and
pays ten shillings a week interest, or l3Oper cent., amount-
ng in the year for the use of twenty pounds to twenty-six
pounds ! Bankruptcy must be inevitable when trade is
thus carried on. We understand that these modern
3hylocks get their pound of flesh, blood and all, chiefly
'rum the butchers.— IVrexhain Advertiser.
DISEASED SHEEP. Deputations have waited
won members of the Government, praying that the Privy
y alitu6llLcr or Importecl
beep at the water-side may be rescinded. On Saturday
%nether deputation bad an interview with the Lord Presi-
lent of the Council, pressing for the same object. Never-
theless, positive information has been received by the
Home Cattle Defence Association that Friesland and Gro-
ningen are full of sheep-pox ; and we are expected to
submit patiently to a removal of our only safeguard
against this dreadful scourge.—Chanter of Agriculture
Tournal.

Mr. Gladstone is, according to a London corres-
pondent of the Manchester Guardian, strongly in favour of a
modified adoption of the Irish Railway Commission, but the
proposal meets with severe opposition from some members
of the Government, and has not been adopted by the Cabi-
net. The same authority states that "Mr. Bright is strongly
proposal of Dlr. Cave to bring in a
urged to acquiesce in the
bill for the public audit of life assurance accounts ;" and adds
that " the measure, if invidiously aimed at a particular class
companies, would be certain to provoke considerable op-
position from men of opposite political parties." Another
(tern of political intelligence is that the Conservatives
contemplate making an attack on tho Government for
appointing Mr. Stansfell a third Lord of the Treasury, for
they assert that Parliament alone had the power to make
such appointment.

Under the heading " Reality of Irish Life," the
Dublin Evening Mail publishes the following letter :
I met, this morning, in the county of Meath, a gentle-
man sitting with his double-barreled gun on one side of a
car, and two policemen on the other side. I believe that
he is amiable and popular, but has incurred the anger
of some Ilibbonmen. On Sunday morning part of
Westmeath bordering on Meath was placarded with a notice
to the public upon various topics, and stating that whoever
disobeyed their edicts would bo shot by the enemies of
oppression. One of these was posted upon the gate of a
magistrate. Public rewards are not issued in these cases—
the authorities, probably, being unwilling to proclaim the
suspense of law and order when the Habeas Corpus Suspen-
sion Act is about to expire.
The bill for extending the operation of the County
Courts Admiralty Jurisdiction Act of 1868 has been printed.
It is endorsed by Messrs Norwood, lleadlam, and Candlish.
The measure preserves the same limits as the Act of
1868, £3OO, and provides that within the value of this
sum, a County Court which has Admiralty jurisdiction may
determine any claims arising out of a contract for the use or
hire of a ship, or for the carriage of goods therein, and any
claim relating to freight, damage to cargo, or short de-
livery of it, or any claim whatever of a civil
and maritime nature, referring to a ship and
its goods, except insurance. But if the parties can come to
an agreement causes affecting greater sums way be deter-
by the uounty Court. The 22d section of the Act
of 1868 is repealed. Rules are laid down for the time the
maritime lien may remain in force. The Act is tc come into
operation ou the Ist of September, 1869.
MR. BRIGHT'S TRIBUTE TO SIR ROBERT PEEL.
—Perhaps no finer illustration of the President of the
Board of Trade when at his best could by possibility be
adduced than his magnificent tribute to the late Sir Robert
Peel, in the House of Commons, on the 28th of January,
1846, upon the very morrow of that great statesman's
grandest speech, and, as we conceive it to have been, the
grandest act of his whole political life, his announcement
that the corn laws were to be at last abolished. So
magnanimous, so generous, so exquisite in their manly
evidences of appreciation, were the words then uttered
in regard to that speech by the then member for Man-
chester, that the Premier's emotion in listening to them
was simply irrepressible. As the large-hearted orator
spoke, as those burning words passed his lips, " You say
the Premier is a traitor," adding immediately, "It would
ill-become me to attempt his defence after his speech last
night—a speech, I will venture to say, more powerful and
inore to be admired than any speech that has besn de-
livered within the memory of any man in this House "—as
he went on to say—" I watched him as he went home last
night, and for the first time I envied him his feelings.
That speech has circulated by scores of thousands
throughout the world, and wherever a man is to
be found who loves justice, and wherever there is
a labourer you have trampled under foot, that
Teech will bring joy to the heart of one and
hope to the breast of the other "—as these words fell upon
the hearing of Sir Robert Peel, as he sat there on the
Treasury Bench, still Prime Minister of England, deserted
by his party, forsaken by his friends, but beloved and
honoured by the great mass of this vast commonwealth,
from the Queen on the throne to the humblest cottager
and the poorest artisan, the tears started from his eyes,
the great Minister's heart was touched, his very conscience,
we may say, in a moment of sore tribulation, was com-
forted. Yes—at his best, Mr. Bright can be more than
magnanimous, he can be magnificent.—The Gladstone
government. by a Templar.

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IIER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Feb. 22.

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise
and Princess Beatrice, and attended by the
Dowager Duchess of Athole, Lieut.-Gen. Seymour'
and the ladies and gentlemen of their suite, at'
tended Divine service at Whippingham Church
yesterday.

Prince Leopold is progressing most satiafactorili'
Dr, Hofineister is in attendance.

LATEST INTELL fGENa

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)