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

MURDER IV EAR 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
flernington (a village some five miles distant from Frome),
Sent one of his labourers, named Edward Smith, and a
lad, also in his employ, named Frank 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,
a.nd was covered with mud and dirt. Smith, on being
questioned, owned that lie 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 custody, he added that
" he was very Eorry, and would not have it happen for
C 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
boots exactly correspond with the footprints. The coroner's
nquiry has not yet been held.

The case of the Sheffield miners on strike,
:harped with assaulting and intimidating the non-unionists,
:s concluded. Some of the defendants were sentenced to
me month's and two months' imprisonment. Notice of
tppeal was given.
In celebration of the return of Mr. S. Morley as
ALP. for Bristol, a great operatives' banquet is to be held in
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
Gain-diem says that tho over zeal of Mr. Revordy Jonnson
is looked upon as the cause of the failure of the Alabama
treaty. The terms would have been accepted through Mr.
Adams. It is certain, however, that the committee recom-
mend the ratification of the two other conventions, viz., that
respecting San Juan, and that regarding naturalisation. Mr.
Tohnson'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."
llltmost consternation" wo aro told has been created at
Cheltenham by an attempted murder by a painter of his
lister. "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
arimsby 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
these occurrences were caused by excessive drinking.
A SHORT CUT TO BANKRUPTCY.—Sixpence per
pound per week appears to be the very moderate interest
:barged by Wrexham money-lenders to poor borrowers on
;hod loans. At least this is the revelation of the Bank-
!uptey Court. A tradesman borrows twenty pounds, and
gays ten shillings aweek interest, or 130 per cent., amount-
'ng in the year for the use of twenty pounds to twenty-six
9ounds ! Bankruptcy must be inevitable when trade is
thus carried on. We understand that these modern
'ihylocks get their pound of flesh, blood and all, chiefly
'rem the butchers.— Wrexham, Advertiser.
DISEASED SHEEP. Deputations have waited
von members of the Government, praying that the Privy
;Jouncil order for the compulsory slaughter of imported
beep at the water-side may be rescinded. Ou Saturday
inother deputation had 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.—Chamber of Agriculture
TOllillal

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 severo opposition from some members
of the Government, and has not bcon adopted by the Cabi-
net. The same authority states that "Mr. Bright is strongly
urged to acquiesce in the proposal of Mr. Cave to bring in a
bill for the public audit of life assurance accounts ;" and adds
that " the measure, if invidiously aimed at a particular class
)f companies, would bo certain to provoke considerable op-
position from men of opposite political parties." Another
item of political intelligence is that the Conservatives
contemplate making an attack on the Government for
appointing Mr. S tansfell 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 :-
441 met, this morning, in the county of Meath, a gentle-
man sitting with his double-barreled gun on ono side of a
car, and two policemen on the other side. I believe that
he is amiable and popular, but has incurred tho anger
of some Ribbonmen. 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 be shot by the enemies of
oppression. Ono of these was posted upon the gate of a
magistrate. Public rewards aro not issued in those 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, Headlam, 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 gcods, except insurance. But if the panics can come to
an agreement causes affecting greater sums may be deter-
mined by the County Com t. The 22d section of tile 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 on the Ist of September, 1869.
Mn. 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
more to be admired than any speech that has been de-
livered within the memory of any man in this House "—as
Ile went on to say—" I watched him as be 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 haws trampled under foot, that
speech 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 naagnificent.—Tits Gladstone
q.9l,frlititent, by a Templar.