The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-17 00:00:00

BEVERLEY ELECTION COMMISSIOY.

The Beverley Election Commissioners—Mr. Sorjeant
O'Brien, Mr. Barstow, and Mr. Famersham Cox—reassem-
bled in the Tea Room of the House of Commons on
Tuesday morning.
Mr. D. D. Keene, Q.C., was the first witness called. He
had, he said, been a candidate for Beverley in consequence
of a requisition signed by 495 persons, which was the
number who subsequently voted for him. He had
a communication with Mr. Todd on the subject in the
middle of June, but nothing was then said about money.
The only arrangement made was with his (Mr. Keene's)
brother, that he should see to the expenses, and that the
witness would repay them. That conversation took
place about ten days before the election. The
sum of £5OO was mentioned, but his brother
knew that if he paid five times the amount
he would be repaid. There was a petition
against the return of Sir Henry Edwards, but he
(the witness) was no party to it. After his brother had
gone down to Beverley he thought there was a disposition
in favour of the Liberal party, and stated his opinion that
£7OO would pay the expenses.
In reply to farther questions, the witness said he knew
nothing about the way in which the money was spent,
and that he had only canvassed a portion of the borough.
Mr. Rose, of the firm cf Baxter, Rose, and Norton, par-
liamentary agents, was the next witness appointed to be
examined. When, however, his name was called, a tole-
gram was banded in to the commissioners by a clerk,
which stated that Mr. Rose was unavoidably detained at
Brighton, but could be in London and appear for examina-
tion any time after two o'clock in the afternoon or the

morning.
The inquiry was thereupon adjourned till to-day.

HEATHENISM IN DEVONSHIRE

A fow days ago an appeal to the Court of Quarter Sessions
at the Castle of Exotcr was made against a conviction at
Petty Sessions of two men—one a farmer's son and the other
his companion, both of whom had been sentenced to im-
prisonment, the former for three months, for trespassing in
pursuit of game on the property of a neighbouring farmer.
The conviction was confirmed, and the men, who had escaped,
have been lately apprehended and committed to prison.
A contemporary referred to this as a very hard case, and
spoke of the prisoners as respectable men. The writer of
these lines visited the parish of Nymett Rowland, in North
Devon, where these men and other members of the family
live. The bead of the family is an old man, and he is the
owner of 30 acres of land. On this property he has no house,
but in a barn, without windows or doors, he, his wife, his
son, three daughters, unmarried, and a numerous pro-
geny reside. There is scarcely a vestige of furniture in
this dilapidated building, and the manner in which these
people live is of the rudest, coarsest, and even savage-
like character. A pit dug in the centre of the barn serves
for the dormitory in which the members of the family
sleep, with the exception of two of them. These
two are a daughter and her friend, and they
sleep in a hayrick in an adjacent field. To
the clergyman of the parish and the neighbours they
behave in the most shameful manner. They sing
obscene songs when the reverend gentleman passes ; they
perform the most disgusting and nameless acts when he
is in the company of ladies; and those who are obnoxious
to them they pelt with stones and mud as they go by
their wretched domicile. In the summer they may be
seen in the fields at work almost in a state of nudity. De-
predations in the neighbourhood are frequent. Gates
and gate-posts, and other objects of utility, often disappear;
and threats of violence are common. We may add
that members of the family have been several times con-
victed of offences. And yet these people continue their
savage habits to the annoyance and disgust of their neigh-
bours, treating the remonstrances of the clergyman with
mockery, ribaldry, and obscenity, and setting the rules of
civilised life at defiance.—Times.

Mr. Robartes will probably take the title of Lord
Robartes of Truro. Lord Edward Howard is expected to
claim the name of Lord Glossop.

The Bishop-Elect of Carlisle will be consecrated in
York Minster, on the 80th inst., by the Archbishop of York
and four other prelates.
THE ROMANCE OF CRIME IN 'WOLVERHAMPTON.

—On Tuesday, Francis Love surrendered upon his bail in
the Petty Sessions Court, Wolverhampton, before the
mayor and two other magistrates. The brother-in-law of
a county member and a baronet, ho forsook his wife at
Mossgate, in North Staffordshire, to follow Mary Plant,
his senior by eight or ton years, whom he was charged
with robbing of £lOO, under the circumstances recently
reported. A technical objection was raised against the
prosecutrix being a married woman. The magistrates con-
sulted, and they reluctantly liberated the prisoner.
HONESTY OF SIR CURTIS LAMPSON AND MIL
"EAnonv.—Sir Curtis and Mr. Peabody frequently worked
together. They could thus pull a heavier weight. There
was an American railroad they had recommended, and it
purchased, in consequence, its iron on credit. It turned
out to be a swindle. Of course the ironmasters felt badly,
and so did Messrs. Peabody and Lampson, but all
parties knew what a commercial recommendation meant—
"we believe the thing to be good "—and there the matter
was supposed to have ended. After every effort to recover
payment from America had failed, Mr. Lampson went to
Mr. Peabody and said—" Peabody, we must pay for that
iron." " How so ?' replied the latter. "We surely
never guaranteed those bonds ; we only recommended
them. You thought them safe, and so did I. We cer-
tainly cannot be held responsible for them." " No,
not legally, I know," answered Mr. Lampson. "Nor
morally either," rejoined Mr. Peabody. " Perhaps not,'
continued Mr. Lampson. "You aro a just man, and so am
I. I didn't come to argue the matter. These men ought
to be paid, and, by Heaven, they shall be." The iron-
masters were paid. Mr. Peabody joined with Mr. Lampson
in doing it. The case was exceptional, even when tried by
the h;ghest code of commercial honour recognised by the
merchant princes of the Old World, and redounded to the
credit of both. It is satisfactory to add that the railroad
company eventually redeemed its bonds.
TIIE LATE M. DE SAINTE-BEUVE.—A Paris letter,
in the Nord of Brussels, says :—"A curious scene took
place at the breaking of the seals in the house of Sainte;-
Beuve. The three executors, M. Trouhat, secretary to the
late • author, M. Lacaussade, former secretary, and the
notary were there with the juge do pair, when some
persons unknown came on the scene. The judge was
about to break the seals when one of these said, ' I am

he mandatory of the Princess Mathilde. I claim in her
name a bundle of letters written to the deceased by her
•mperial highness' A second said I am a commissary
of police. I come to support the demand, and I oppose
the opening of the papers.' The executors, having con-
sulted together, replied:—` Since the question has taken
a legal turn the tribunals will decide it. The letters
referred to will remain under seal.' A third unknown
said :—` I have come from the family of the testator. I
oppose the opening of the seals, and still further the
execution of the will. We will prove that the testamen•
tary document was inveigled and. falsified. It is dated
only eight days before death occurred, and we know that
M. Sainte-Beuve no longer wrote.° Porn all quarters
come people whom nobody knew claiming to be his relations,
amongst them being a provincial attorney. This promises
a fine lawsuit."
A TOWN COUNCILLOR COMMITTED FOR STEAL-
ING GEESE.—A case of an extraordinary character was
heard at the County Magistrates' Office, Reigate.
Mr. Henry Wesley, a builder, and a member of the Com-
mon Council of the borough of Reigate, was charged,
with his son, also named Henry Wesley, with stealing
two geese, the property of William Lanaway, of Horley,
about five miles from Reigate. The evidence went
to shcw that on last Saturday morning, about 10 o'clock,
the prisoners (although the witnesses were not altogether
clear as to their identity) wore seen with a dog and a
gun in a cart near Holley, and about the same time they
passed through the turnpike gate. After nine o'clock that
night the prosecutor had eight geese safe by the side of
a pond, and soon after ten o'clock two men, believed to be
the prisoners, passed through the gate again in their cart,
and in a few minutes after the report of a gun was heard
by more than one person. Next morning one goose was
found dead in the pond, and two were missing. Informa-
lion was given to the police, and Inspector Hibbard, from
information went on Monday to the house where the elder
Wesley lived with his sister. On searching the premises
he found sundry indications, such as goose feathers and
blood,which confirmed his suspicions, an d in a saucepan which
was boiling on the fire he found the necks and giblets of two
ecr3e. He then asked no sister of the elder Wesley
where she got the gceeo, when, according to his statement,
she said that her brother had brought two geese home on
Saturday night, and said that they were some that had been
shot on the way home from Holley. lie then arrested
the elder prisoner, cautioning him against making anystate-
ment ; and at the same time telling him that ho would ac-
company him to any respectable tradesman in the town or
out of it, if he could show that he had bought the geese.
The prisoner did not make any sign of a compliance with
the suggestion, and he was taken into custody and locked
upfor the night. The son was afterwards apprehended
and locked up. The sister of the elder prisoner was called,
but she denied that she had ever made the statement
imputed to her by the police. On the evidence the magis-
trate (Mr. Farquhar) thought himself justified in discharg-
ing the son, but committed the fatint for trial to the
Surm§gpions in Decemi.