The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-03 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The Madrid journals of the. 29th ult. publish
telegraphs stating that the Queen and Royal family,
after visiting the chapel and grotto of Cavadonga,
had, on the previous day, returned to Gijon. The
Espana contains an account of the Queen having
visited the coal mines in the neighbourhood of San
Juan. Her Majesty expressed a desire to descend
into the principal pit, which is upwards of 350 feet
deep, and to go further in the pit than any one had
ever been. The President of the Council, Marshal
O'Donnell, recommended her Majesty not to make
the descent, as it might be attended with some dan-
ger, but the Queen persisted. The Minister and
General Lemery then went down to receive the
Queen, and her Majesty, accompanied by the King,
and attended by the director, and by the engineer,
Mr. Smith, afterwards descended. When the Queen
got to the bottom, she cried to her suite that they
might follow her without fear. The Queen then
went along the principal gallery of the pit, which
goes on an incline upwards of 300 yards—great
part of this under the sea. Arrived at the very
extremity, the Queen formed her initials on a large
block of coal, by means of drops from a tallow
candle. The director declared that no female had
ever had the courage to go so far, and he requested
and obtained permission to place a stone on the spot
to perpetuate the remembrance of the visit. When
the Queen ascended to the orifice, the miners who
were assembled cheered enthusiastically.

CONVICTION FOR GIVING A FALSE

CHARACTER.

A strange case was brought before the bench of
magistrates, at Sidmouth, on Tuesday the 24th ult.
plr. Charles Penruddock Fitzgerald, of Avebury,
in the county of Wilts, surgeon, appeared upon a
summons obtained against him by John B. Lousada,
Esq., of Peak House, one of her Majesty's justices
of the peace, charging him with having given a
false character to a servant whom Mr. Lousada had
engaged as dairymaid upon the recommendation of
Mr. Fitzgerald. The information was laid under
the Act of 32 Geo. 111., c. 56.
Mr. George Gutteres, of London, who happened
to be staying at Sidmouth, conducted the case on
behalf of Mr. Lousada ; and Mr. Wellesford, of
Exeter, attended for Mr. Fitzgerald.
From the opening statement of Mr. Gutteres,
which was fully borne out by the evidence, it ap-
peared that, in consequence of an advertisement in
the Times in May last, Mrs. Lousada, who was in
want of a dairymaid, applied to the address given
at Avebury for the character of the person men-
tioned in the advertisement, and in reply received
(May 28) a letter purporting to come from Mrs.
Fitzgerald, but which was written by the defen:
dant, giving a very high character of a girl named
Ann Rose, who was stated to have lived with Mrs.
Fitzgerald.twoyears, and to be thoroughly com-
petent as a dairymaid in all respects, and to be
steady, sober, trustworthy, &c. Upon the faith
of this character, confirmed by a second letter
written by the defendant in his wife's name,
Ann Rose was, in the beginning of June, engaged
by Mr. and Mrs. Lousada as dairymaid. They soon
found that she was perfectly incompetent to her
situation, and on the 26th July gave her warning.
Mr. Lousada, on the 13th August, wrote to Mrs.
Fitzgerald, expressing surprise at the character
which she had given to Ann Rose, as she appeared
quite incompetent ; and received a reply, dated 14th
August, in a different handwriting to the letters
containing the character, stating that Mrs. Fitz-
gerald had never given Ann Rose a character,
and knew nothing whatever of her, and had
had no previous communication with Mrs.
Lousada on the subject. This part of
the case was proved by Mr. and Mrs.
Lousada, and by the production of various letters
from the defendant, one of which was written to
Ann Rose, and was couched in very warm lan-
guage, and in others of which, addressed to Mr.
Gutteres, he admitted having given her a false
character.

Ann Rose was then called, and proved that her
real name was Harriet Fell—that she was confined
of an illegitimate child in Oct. 1856, at Avebury,
when the defendant was then called in by her
then mistress to attend her. The child was
dead, and she was tried at Salisbury, at
the Winter Assizes of 1856, for child murder,
and was sentenced to twelve months' imprison-
ment. She came out of prison in December,
1857, and went to reside at home with her parents,
at Compton Bassets, where she remained until she
went to Mr. Lousada's in June. During the time
she was at home the defendant saw her at times,
and promised to try to get her a situation, and to
give her a character, and put the a dvertisement in
the paper. He knew all about her imprisoament.
She had never lived in the service of the defendant
or of Mrs. Fitzgerald, or as a servant in any ca-
pacity.
The defendant was then convicted; and ordered
to pay a fine of £2O, and 10s. costs, being the
penalty imposed by the act, or in de Fault three
months' imprisonment and hard labour.
The defendant paid the amount.