The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-15 00:00:00

THE WRECK OF THE GOSSAMER.

At the Devon Assizes, on Friday, Andrew Grant, the
pilot of the wrecked vessel the Gossamer, was indicted
before Mr. Justice Smith for the manslaughter of eight
persons, including the captain and his wife, who
we+o washed by the waves from the remains of
the wreck. The Gossamer was one of the clipper-
built ships that recently made an extraordinarily
quick passage from Shanghai. She left London for
Adelaide, via Plymouth, on December 2. '1 he crew
included four certificated officers (with the captain). All
went well till December 10th, when the vessel
was driven ashore off Pawle Point, thirteen
lives in all being lost. Tiie prisoner, who was
a pilot of the Trinity board, was out of his
prescribed limits, and the question wised was
whether be was guilty of culpable negligence in the
management of the vessel. The captain, during the greater
part of the time that the vessel was in danger, was in the
cabin, leaving all the responsibility to the pilot. Tho
prisoner, who was prosecuted by Lloyd's underwriters, was
acquitted.

Her Dlajesty has signalised Ler accession to the list
of royal and noble authors by becoming patroness of the
Booksellers' Provident Institution, and testified her sym-
pathy with its objects by a substantial donation to ilir funds.

The " mixed commission," said to havi, been pro-
posed for the settlement of the Belgian difficulty is the sub-
ject of some controversy. Some say it is positively not
true. The Paris correspondent of the Express, however, be-
lieves that England has trade the propesitioa), and that the
Emperor's Government is annoyed at the interference.
The Spring Assizcs for the North and East
Ridings will commence on Tuesday, at York. There are
two cases for trial in the city, the most interesting being an
indictment against a man named Court, who is charged with
threatening a man in order to induce him to vote at the re-
cent election for Mr. Lowther, the Conservative candidate.

•
Pawnbrokers, as a body, will be interested in a
case tried at Liverpool on Friday. A man pawned a num-
ber of watches with which he had been entrusted to repair,
and then made off to America. The pawnbroker refused to
give up the watches, as the man who pledged them had not
been convicted. The magistrate held that the proof of
felony was strong enough, and ordered the watches to bo
given up. Notice of appeal was given.
NORWICH MUSICAL FESTIVAL.—The precise date
of the next triennial musical festival at Norwich (which
will take place this year) has not yet been fixed, but the
festival will probably commence about the 20th of
September. Mr. Benedict, who will probably prepare
some composition expressly for the festival, will again act
as conductor. Some progress has been made will the
guarantee fund, which has reached a total of nearly
£4,000.

The curates of the dioceses of Dublin and Kildaro
have mot, and passed a resolution complaining that in the
scheme of compensation for their vested interests included
in the Church Bill the conditions guaranteed by law, on
which they entered the ministry, are violated. The number
of cures to which they might be promoted will, they say, be
greatly diminished, and no power of removal fs given to them
until they shall have "commuted," which they cannot do
without the consent of the rectors. "This consent they
cannot give, since they would thereby he entailing on them-
selves and their parishioners the expense of providing
stipend for our successors." The Archbishop of Dublin has
declared his sympathy with the curates' grievance.

The Daily Telegraph has some funny remarks on
an incident revealed at the late Taunton election inquiry,
apropos of the question, What is " treating ?" Our con-
temporary, however, has fallen into an error in imagining
that Mrs. Bray was kissed by " two serjeants of the law."
One of them, Sergeant Shephard, being, not a serjeant
at law, but a sergeant of militia. This mistake is the
converse of one related by a learned judge as having
occurred to himself before his elevation to the Bench.
Arriving with his family at a popular watering•place the
hotelkeeper begged to be furnished with the name of the
new-corner, for insertion in the local list of fashionable
arrivals, and on receiving the name of Serjeant So-and-
So, thoughtfully and delicately erased " Serjeant" and
substituted " Lieutenant," observing the young ensigns
who came there were always styled " Captain," and the
alteration would look better for the house.—Solicitors'
Journal.

WASTED MONEY.—A practice of sharp dealing is
common in South London, and it deserves to be exposed.
A certain clique of adventurers, who profess to be reporters
to the daily papers— but who have no actual connection
with the journals—attend the Newington Sessions for the
trial: of cases respecting the use of unjust weights and
measures, and levy black mail upon sundry convicted
tradesmen, ostensibly to withhold their names from publi-
cation. No respectable journal lends itself to such a shame-
ful fraud, and the money paid to these persons is absolutely
thrown away.— South London .I';Tss.

Tttc CONDEMNED MunDEREa IN WARWICIC
GAOL.—Mr. Anderson, the governor of Warwick Gaol,
has received a letter from the Home Secretary, to the
effect that the sentence of the prisoner, Michael Atkins,
who was condemned to death by Mr. Justice Hayes at the
last Warwick Assizes, for the murder of his wife at Bad-
desley Ensor, would be respited until her Majesty's plea.-
sure was further known. It is understood that the
respite is granted on the ground that the explosion of the
gun, which caused the death of his wife, was accidental.
Since his sentence the prisoner has been most attentive to
the ministrations of the chaplain, and on the fact of the
respite being communicated to him on Sunday, he was j
Quite overcome.