The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL B, 1858

the habitual mismanagement of countries inhabited by
Englishmen like ourselves, who had every facility for
representing and urging their grieiances, it is not likely
to be any effectual protection to Messulmans and
Hindoos.
" All governments require constitutional checks but
the constitutional checks applicable to a case of this pe-
culiar kind must be found within the governing body
itself. .
" Though England, as a whole, while desiring nothing
but to govern India well, is necessarily ignorant of India
and feels, under ordinary circumstances, no particular
interest in its concerns, there are in England a certain
number of persons who possess knowledge of India, and '
feel an interest in its affairs. It seems, therefore, very
desirable, for the sake of India, that England should
govern it through and by means of these persons. This
would be the case if the organ of government prin-
cipally consisted of persons who have passed a
considerable portion of their lives in India, or
who feel that habitual interest in its affairs which
is naturally acquired by having aided in admini-
stering them • and if this body, or a majority of it,
were periodically elected by a constituency composed of
persons in England who have served the Government
for a certain length of time in India, or whose interests
are connected with that country by some permanent tie.
It would be an additional advantage if this constituency
had the power of requiring information, and compelling
a public discussion of Indian questions. These are con-
ditions which, to a considerable extent, the existing
constitution of the East India Company fulfils.
" The other great constitutional security for the good
government of India lies in the forms of business. This
is a point to which sufficient importance is not generally
attached. The forms of business are the real constitution
of India.
" From the necessity of the case, recognised in both
the proposed measures, the administration must be
shared in some proportion, Between a minister and a
council. The council may consist of persons possessing
knowledge of India. The minister, except in very rare
cases, can possess little or none. He is placed in office
by the action of political party, which is governed by
considerations totally unconnected with India, and, in
the common course of politics, he is removed from office
by the time he has been able to learn his duty. Even in
the unusual case, of which present circumstances are an
example, when the Minister has made himself ac-
quainted with India through the discharge of high
junctions in India itself, his knowledge is but the know.
ledge of one man ; and one man's knowledge of a sub-
ject like India, until corrected and completed by that
' of other men, is, it may safely be affirmed, wholly in-
sufficient, and if implicitly trusted, even dangerous.
The good Government, therefore, of India, by a Minis-
ter and a council, depends upon the amount of influence
possessed by the council; and their influence depends
upon the forms of business.
" However experienced may be the council, and how-
ever inexperienced the Minister, he will have the decid-
ing voice. The power will rest with one who may know
less of the subject than any member of the council, and
is sure to know less than the council collectively, if they
are selected with ordinary judgment. The council will
have no substantive power, but only moral influence. It
is therefore all important that the influence should be
upheld. Unless the forms of business are such as to in-
sure that the council shall exercise its judgment on all
qudstions ; that all matters requiring decision shall be
considered by them, and their views recorded in the
initiatory stage, before the Minister has committed him-
self to en opinion they will possess no more weigh er
influence than the same number of clerks in his office
(whom also he can consult if he pleases), and the power
of the Minister will be practically uncontrolled.
" In both the bills these consideration. are entirely
disregarded. The first bill does not establish any forms
of business, but leaves them to be determined by the
MinLter and his council ; in other words, by the Minis-
ter and his council ; in other words, by the Minister.
Even, therefore, if the Minister first appointed should
be willing to establish forms which would be any re-
straint upon himself, a subsequent Minister would have
it in his power to alter the forms in any manner he
pleased.
" The second bill, unlike the first, does establish forms
of business; but such alone as would effectually prevent
the council from being a reality, and render it a useless
pageant.
" To make the council a merely consultative body,
without initiative, before whom subjects are only brought
after the Minister has made up his mind, is already a
fatal inroad upon its usefulness. Bat by the second bill
the council are not even a consultative body. The
Minister is under no obligation to consult them. They
are not empowered to hold any regular meetings. They
are to meet only when the Minister convenes them, or
on a special requisition by six members. He may send
orders to India without their knowledge when the case
is urgent, of which urgency he is the sole judge. When
it is not urgent, his orders must be placed in the council.
room for their perusal for seven days, during which they
are not required, but permitted, to give their opinion,
not collectively, but individually. Their only power,
therefore, is that of recording dissent from a resolution
not only taken, but embodied in a despatch. And, as it
this was not enough, provision is made that an office
always invidious, shall be incapable of being fulfilled if,
any but the most invidious manner. The members of
council mutt come forward individually in declared op-
position to the Minister, by volunteering a protest
against his announced intentions, or signing a requisi-
tion for a meeting of council to oppose them. Such a
council is fitted to serve as a shield for the Minister's
responsibility when it may suit him to seek, and them
to accord, their adhesion, rather than as a restraint on
his power to administer India according to his indivi-
dual pleasure.
44 The directors are bound to admit, that the first of
the bills contains several provisions indicative of a wish
to assure to the council a certain, though small, amount
of influence. The administration is to be carried o
in the name of the President in Council, and not, as by
the second bill, in that of the Secretary of State
alone. The council, as well as the president, has a
voice in the appointment of the home establishment ;
while in the second bill all promotions and all appoint-
ments to the principal offices under the council, rest with
the Secretary of State, exclusively, a provision which
divests the council of all control or authority over their
own establishment. Again, by section XII. of the first
bill, no grant involving increase of expenditure, and no
appointment to office or admission to service, can be
made without the concurrence of half the council. This,
as far as it goes, is a real power, but its value is much
diminished by the consideration that those by whom it
is to be exercised, are the nominees of the Minister de-
pendent on him for their continuance in office after a
few years.
"In some other points the provisions of the second
bill seem to have the advantage. Its council is more
numerous, to which, however, little importance can be
attached, if the council has no substantial power. It
also recognises that the whole of the council ought not
to be nominated by the Minister, and that some part of
it :hould be elected by a constituency specially qualified
by a knowledge of India. But even in these, the best
points of the bill, it is, in the opinion of the directors,
very far from unexceptionable. The nomination of even
half the council by the Minister takes away all security
for au independent majority. It may, indeed, be
doubted whether there is any sufficient reason for the
Minister's nominating any portion, except the supposed
reluctance of some eligible persons to encounter a can-
vass. The proportion of one third, whom the Minister
now nominates to the Court of Directors, seems the
largest which, consistently with full security for in-
dependence, can be so appointed.
"The provision, that each of the members nominated
by the Crown shall be selected as the representative of
some partieular branch of the service in India, is still
more objectionable. Not only would it preclude the no-
mination of the most distinguished man, if the seat in
council appropriated to the department in which he had
served were not at the time vacant, but it would intro •
duce a principle which cannot be too strongly deprecated,
that of class legislation. The council should comprise
the greatest attainable variety of knowledge and expe-
rience, but its members should not consider themselves
as severally the representatives of a certain number of
class interests.
• "The clause which continues to the proprietors the
power of electing some portion of the council is, so far,
deserving of support, and the principle of enlarging the
constituency by the addition of persons of a certain
length of Indian service and residence, is, in itself, un-
exceptionable ; but unless guarded by provision, such
as have never yet been introduced into any electoral eye-
tetn, so large and scattered a constituency as that pro-
posed would greatly add to the inconvenience of canvass,
especially as it is not certain that the new electoral body
would adopt, from the old, the salutary custom of re-
electing, as a general pracfe o whoever has been once cho-
sen, and has not, by misconduct or incapacity, deserved
to forfeit their confidence. The duties of a member of
council would be entirely incompatible with a conti-
nually-recurring canvass of the constituency.
"Respecting the proposition f tr. giving the choice of
five members of council to the parliamentary constituen-
cies of five great towns, the Court of Directors can only
express a feeling of amazement. It is not the mere fact
of election by a multitude that constitutes the benefits
of the popular element in government. To produc
these benefite, the affairs of which the people are
enabled to control the management must be their own
affairs. Election by multitudinous bodies, the majority
of them of a very low average of education, is not an ad-
vantage of Popular government, but, on the contrary,
one of its acknowledged drawbacks. To assign to such
a constituency the control, not c f their o ;en affairs, but
of the affairs of other People on the other side of the
globe, ia to incur the disadvantages of popular institu-
tions without any of the benefits. The Court of D1:-eotors
willingly admit the desirableness, if not necets ty, of
some provision for including an Eeglish element in the
council of India ; hut a more objectionable mode than
the one proposed of attaining the object, could scarcely,
in their opinion, be devised.
contain
Ptrhev ibistrongest
" Besides the erovisions which relate to the organ of
government in England, the a
billse o
open to o
re-
lating to India itself, which
objection.
Tne appointments to the councils at Calcutta and
at the subordinate presidencies, which are now made by
the Couriof Directors, with the approbation of the
Crown, are transferred by both bills to the Governor
General, and to the Governors of Madras and Bombay.
The Court of Directors are convinced that this change
would greatly impair the chances of good government
in India. One of the causes which have most cent' i-
buted to the many excellences of Indian administration
is, that the Governor General and governors l ave a!
ways been associated with councillors selected by the
authorities at home from among the most expeei ,aced
and able members of the Indian service, and who, not
owing their appointments to the head of the govern-
ment, have generally brought to the coneidtration of
Indian affairs an independent judgment. In conse-
quence of this, the measures of a government, necessarily

absolute, have had the advantage, seldom possessed in
absolute governments, of being always preceded by a
free and conscientious discussion, while, as the head of
the government has the power, on recording his rea-
sons, to act contrary to the advice of his council,
no public inconvenience can ever arise from any
conflict of opinion. These important officers who, by
their participation in the government, form so salu-
tary a restraint on the precipitancy of an inexperienced,
or the wilfulness of a despotically-tempered, governor
general or governor, are henceforth to be appointed by
the great functionary whom they are intended to check.
And this restraint in removed, when the necessity for an
independent council will be greater than ever, since the
power of appointing the governor general. and of recall-
ing him, is taken away from the company, and from the
body which is to be their substitute. It may be added,
that the authorities at home have had the opportunity of
being acquainted with the conduct and services of can-
didates for council from the commencement of their
career. The Governor General or Governor would often
have to nominate a councillor soon after their arrival in
India, when necessarily ignorant of the character and
merits of candidates, and would be entirely dependent
on the recommendation of irresponsible advisers.
"Another most objectionable provision demands
notice, which is to be found only in the second bill. A
commission, appointed in England, is to proceed to
India, for the purpose of inquiring and reporting on the
principles and details of Indian finance, including the
whole revenue system, and, what is inseparably involved
in it, the proprietary rights and social position of all the
great classes of th• community. The Court of Direc-
tors cannot believe that such a project will be persisted
in. It would be a stop towards the disorganisation
of the fabric of government in India. A commission
from England, independent of the local government
of the country, deriving its authority directly from the
higher power to which the local government is subordi-
nate, and instructed to carry back to the higher power
information on Indian affairs which the local government
is not deemed sufficiently trustworthy to afford, would
give a most serious shock to the influence of the local
authorities, and would tend to impress all natives with
the belief that the opinions and decisions of the local
government are of small moment, and that the thing of
real importance is the success with which they can con-
trive that their claims and objects shall be advocated in
England. Up to the present time it has been the prac-
tice of the home government to uphold in every way the
authority of the governments on the spot ; even when
reversing their acts, to do so through the governmer to
themselves, and to employ no agency except in subordi-
nation to them.

" From this review of the chief provisions of the bills,
which embody the attempts of two great divisions of
English statesmen to frame an organ of government for
India, it will probably appear to the proprietors, that
neither of them is grounded on any sufficient considera-
tion of past experience, or of the principles applicable to
the subject ; that the passing of either would be a
calamity to India ; and that the attempt to legislate
while the minds of leading men are in so unprepared a
state is altogether premature.
"The opinion of your directors is, that by all consti-
tutional means the passing of either bill should be op-
posed ; but that if one or the other should be determined
on for the purpose of transferring the administration, in
name, from the East India Company to the Crown,
every exertion should be used in its passage through com-
mittee to divest it of the mischievous features by which
both bills are now deformed, and to maintain, as at pre-
sent, a really independent council, having the initiative
of all business, discharging all the duties, and possessing
all the essential powers of the Court of Directors. And
it is the court's conviction that measures might be so
framed as to obviate whatever may be well founded in
the complaints made against the present system, retain-
the initiative of the council, and that independence of
action on their past which should be regarded as para-
mount and indispensable."

On the motion of the Chairman that the report should
be received,
Mr. MACKENZIE moved as an amendment that Par-
liament having determined that it was necessary to le-
gislate for India, Sir James Melville and Mr. J. Stuart
Mill should be requested to draw up a scheme for the
future Government of India, to be submitted to the
Court of Proprietors and eventually to Parliament.
Sir F. CURRIE thought it was too much to ask the
directors to draw out a bill for their own extinction.
The hon. proprietors could hardly expect the directors
to consent to become their own executioners. (Loud
laughter.)
Mr. ARBUTHNOT entered into a consideration of the
different clauses in the bill. He was more inclined to
the present Government than the last; but, on the
whole, he preferred Lord Palmerston's bill to Lord
Derby's bill.
The CHAIRMAN, on behalf of the Court of Directors,
said that if Parliament decided on changing the present
form of government, it would he the duty of the direc-
tors to render every assistance in making the measure as
perfect as possible.
Mr. SERGEANT GAZELLEE urged that the Court of Pro-
prietors ought then to discuss the provisions of the 'oill.
He was prepared to do so, and in the course of his
speech, he said he gave the preference to Lord Palmer-
ston's bill. He objected to the council, and would rather
the responsibility was thrown on the Secretary of State.
The members of the proposed council would be merely
"gentlemen clerks." Tney would be paid 1,0001. a-year
each f3r doing the work of clerks, but no voice in the
government cf India. If the two bills were smut to a
select committee of the House of Commons he thought
a good bill might be produced from them. The change
of government was only a question of time, and the
Home Government had lauded the present system to
make the directors' fall easier. (Hear, hear.) He called
on the directors to heartily join the Home Govern-
ment in providing a good system of government for
India. Re objected among other things to the qua-
lifications for the representative council, remarking
that any one who had sent goods to India even
if they were so bad as to poison the people--(laughter)--
was qualified for a seat at the Board. He then analysed
the bills, clause by clause, stating his objections to them.
He described Lord Derby's Bill as the most absurd im-
practicable scheme that was ever concocted. Referrieg
to the election of the nine members of the Council, the
learned gentleman said it was objectionable, and he
ciuld not believe it was the intention of Lord Derby
that an Indian Director fcr the City of London should
be elected by the longshere men, who were ready to
vote any way at so much per head. The Court was a
piece of antiquity like an old hackney coach—(laughter)
—and they must make up their mind to b 3 abolished. He
should like the present Governmeot to remain in power
to keep out the Whigs a little longer—(laughter)---but
he was afraid if they persisted in the bill, they would
have to pick up their traps and be off. (Laughter.)
The meeting was ultimately adjourned to Tuesday
next, for further discussing the report and the bills be-
fore Parliament ; the Chairman having previously stated
that a copy of tee report had been forwarded to the
Earl of Edenboreugh. The court of Directors were
alone responsible for the report, which did not implicate
the Court of Proprietors. It was a report from the
Court of Directors to the Court of Proprietors.
The Court then adjourned.

WILFUL MURDER IN DORSETSEIRE.

LDORCHESTER, TUESDAY NIGHT.

At the Town Hall, this evening, an inquest was
held before Mr. G'olesSymonds, the distr'st coroner,
on the body of a newly-born male child which was
found dead in bed with its mother, Anne Vincent,
aged 18, on the morning of the 27th ult. The
parents of the young woman are respectable, the
father, James Vincent, being bailiff to Mr. Pope,
of Sutton Poyntz.

Mr. W. Mansfield attended on behalf of
.the
young woman.
The young woman, who was known to be in the
family way, went to bed on the night of the 26th,
apparently well, about nine o'clock, and no noise
was heard during the night. At five in the morn-
ing the father got up, and while dressing fancied
he heard a moan. Went to call his daughter, and
said she had been sick. He called his wife to get
the gill some tea, and went on to the farm (Her-
ringetone, near here). The mother got her daugh-
ter some tea, and the girl reached it herself whilst
the mother prepared breakfast. On again going to
the girl, and e-,,saying to wrap the clothes more
closely around her Mrs. Vincent found a newly-
born baby, dead in the bed.
Messrs. H. Arden and E. Emson, the surgeons,
sated their dec ded opinion, unanimous indeed as
to the result of the post mortem examination Ex-
ternally thcre were marks of finger nals on the
baby's cheek and forehead, a scratch, two bruises,
and a curious bruise, as from a cord, reaching
round from the ear to the front of the throat. The
tip of the tongue showed wounds, and the root of
the tongue was torn from the bone of the tongue.
The back of the throat was much injured ; the
windpipe was stopped. Blood gushed from the
child's mouth and nose on being moved. Both arms
were broken. The lungs and heart floated, and the
arm fractures were received during life. Death in
their opinion ensued from the injuries on the
tongue and consequent suffocation. The child had
been born alive certainly, and when first seen by
thei•urgeon, about 10 o'clock on the morning of t' e
27th, appea.ed to have been dead some hours. The
foreign substance causing the throat wound might
have been a hand.

The Coroner having summed up,
The jury consulted for about three-quarters of an
hnur when they unanimously arrived at the verdict
of Wilful Murder against Anne Vincent, the
mother of the deceased.

A w.irrant was issued fir the apprehension of the
young woman.

[ADVERTISEMENT].— Rapid Rec very. —Hoiloway's
Pi Le and Ointment.—Abot t twelve months since Mr.
1101,0 e, Woothide, Horsforti), was se'z d by a serious
pro,tratting weakness; six mouths afetrwarde an erup-
tion took place i, t his leg. Ho immediately placed him-
golf tinder the treatment of the moot eminent men in
Liverpool and Manchester, but, to use his own words,
gm-Wally got worse, and was prevented following any
-Inployment during the whole time." He removed to
Ef ,
or-forth ; a .riend there induced him to try the effect
of Holloway's medicines. He purchased them, followed
the instructione, and was cured in a few weeks. He
wi-has Mr. Hollings, druggi,t, to make his case known.
—SJId by all medicine lendors throughout the world ;
and at Professor Holloway's Establibment, 244, Strand,
London.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The following reinforcements, to the number of
nearly 1,000 officers and men, will embark at
Gravesend this day on board the screw steamer
Golden Fleece for Calcutta :—Captain H. H.
Stewart and 10 men of the 2d Dragoon Guards ;
Lieut. W. G. Blake, Cornet W. Gair, and 51 non-
commissioned officers and men of the 6th Carabi-
neers ; Cornet S. Ashton Preter and 31 men of the
9th Lancets ; Ensign J. V. Gooch and 15 men of
the Ist battalion of sth Fusileers ; Ensign A. G.
Westby and 10 men of the Bth (the King's) Regi-
ment, 30 men of the 13th Light Infantry ; 44 men
of the 20. h Regiment, 30 men of the 24th Regiment,
24 men of the 27th Enniekillens, 13 men of the
29th Regiment ; Captain C. R. Ricketts and 14
men of the 32d Regiment ; 67 men of all ranks of
the 34th Regiment, 20 men of the 38th Regiment ;
Ensign F. T. Rolls and 38 men of the 53d Regi-
ment ; 11 men of the 54th Regiment ; Ensign
Eaton S. Steward and 35 men of the Ist battalion
60th Rifles ; Ensign Augustus L'Estrange, 75th
Regiment; Ensign R. Clay and 11 men of the 78th
Highlanders ; Captain C. F. Auriel, Ensign G.
Lloyd, and 138 men of all ranks of the 80th Regi-
ment ; Easign Seaton R. Forster and 20 men of the
84th Regiment ; 35 men of the 88th Connaught
Rangers ; Ensign Robert Lefroy and 18 me❑
of the 97th Regiment ; 20 men of the 2d battalion
Rifle Brigade, 25 men of the 3d battalion Rifle
Brigade, and 151 non-commissioned officers and
men of the Royal Artillery.
Yesterday the steamship Benares embarked at
Gravesend upwards of 600 men, selected from the
battalions at Chatham, Maidstone, Canterbury,
Colchester, Walmer, Parkhurst, Woolwich, Stir-
ling, Aberdeen, and Farmoy, for Bombay.
Yesterday a district court-martial of which Lieu-
tenant-Colonel J. H. Gascoigne, Royal Marine
Light Infantry, was the president, assembled at
Chatham Barracks for the trial of Sergeant James
Warington, 70th Regiment, on the following
charges :-1. For conduct unbecoming the charac-
ter of a non-commissioned officer in having been
found in a state of intoxication when in command
of a picket at the huts, Chatham, on the night of
the 2d ins. 2. For having broken h's arrest when
confined on the first charge, and been found drink-
ing in the canteen at the huts. The prisoner has
only been a few months in the service, having
been promoted for his exemplary conduct. The
procee sings will be confirmed by the Duke of
Cambridge before the finding of the Court is
known.

The Eagle, 50, coast volunteer ship at Pembroke,
has now a large crew of coast volunteers. This ad-
mirable force is making rapid progress in the use of
the great guns, 11 of which are mounted for them,
and the crews are becoming expert at ball practice,
in which they are often exercised. The Violet,
gunboat, has arrived as a tender to the Eagle, iu
order to afford the coast volunteers the opportunity
of sea practice. The garrison at Pembroke has
been strengthened by the 23d Welsh Fusiliers and
the 15th Fool; depots, in lieu of the depot of the
80th Regiment.
It was announced yesterday in the dockyard at
Woolwich, on the visit of Lieut.-Colonel Greene,
Director of Engineering and Architectural Works,
that the newly-constituted Board of Admiralty
have abandoned the intention of erecting the new
storehouses in that yard proposed by their predeces-
sors
about 40,00 W. This resolution, it is said, has
been in
nadooffiptceed and which, it was estimated, would
to meet the necessary reduction in
the exp.nditure on Government works, so as to
clear off the heavy sum exceeding the estimates of
last year..

The following appointments were made yester.
day at the Admiralty :

Lieutenant—Stratford Take, to the Excellent.
Assistant-Surgeon—James Stevenson (aotine), to the
Eagle,

Assistant-Paymaster—Thomas Waterfield,' to the
Victory.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

NEWMARKET CRAVEN MEETING.

THE SUBSCRIPTION-1100M . —TUESDAY NIGIT.
Kelpie was backed at 25 to 1 for both the Chester
Cup and Derby ; and for the latter event The Hadji was
driven from 16 to 1, laid to NI., to 1,000 to 45 ; 50 to
1 was taken to 501. about Ethiopian for the Derby ; and
10 to 1 was laid against Toxopholite for the Two Thou-
sand. The other transactions were unimportant.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD CIRCUI I'.-GLOUCESTER, APRIL 7.

CROWN COURT,
(Before Mr. B3ron Channell.)

THE TRIAL OF THE REV. MR. AND MRS. SMITH.

Oar report of this case yesterday was brought up
to the departure of the last train for London, when
the rev. defendant had concluded a most eloquent
and touching address to the jury, wholly exculpat-
ing his wife and taking all the blame upon himself.
The verdict was communicated by telegraph, but
the following summary of what followed after the
prisoner's address to the jury is necessary in
order to make this extraordinary case intelligible.
Mr. Huddleston, Q. C., in his address to the jury
on behalf of Mrs. Smith, pointed out that she took
no active part in the attack on Mr. Leach, and sub-
mitted that she was throughout the transaction
acting under the coercion of her husband. He
submitted that in this view the wife was entitled to
an acquittal.
Baron Channell having consulted his brother
judge (Watson) on the point, returned into court
after a short absence, and, referring to authorities,
decided against Mr. Hud.dleston.
His Lordship then addressed the jury, entering
more minutely into the circumstances of the case
than appeared necessary after the admissions of the
male prisoner. He said a great deal had been im-
ported into the case which did not belong to it.
The jury would take the true bearing on the case
from him, and he would tell them that all that had
been addressed to them both by the rev. prisoner
and the counsel should have no weight unless sup-
ported by the evidence. No amount of provocation
justified a man in the eye of the law for taking the
law into his own hands. They must remember
they were not trying Mr. Leach, but they were
trying the guilt or innocence of the prisoners on a
charge of committing au assault or aitack upon him
with certain intents mentioned, and it was not for
them to determine whether Mr. Leach was or was
not blameable iu the matter, but whether the pri-
soners were or were not guilty of the crime imputed
to them. With regard to the charge of robbery,
they might dismiss that altogt titer from their minds.
The ques tioas they had to decide were whether the
prisoners were guilty of an assault upon the prose-
cutor, with intent to kill and murder him ; 2dly,
whether the intent was to disfigure Lim; and &by,
whether the intent was t) do him grievous bodily
harm. As to the conduct of the feins.lo pi isouer,
it did not seem she had assisted in committing
actual violence upon the prosecutor, and it would be
for them to consider whether she was a free agent in
the matter. If they thought she was acting under the
coercion of her husband at the time, a point of
law might arise, which perhaps he might have to
reserve for the consideration of two judges. He
should leave it to them to say whether they were
satisfied that the two prisoners, acting with one
common object, did cut and wound John Leach
with intent to murder, with intent to disfigure, or
with intent to do him some grievous bodily harm ;
or whether, with regard to the female, they were
satisfied that what she did, she did entirely by the
coercion of her husband.

The jury, after a short consultation, said they
were agreed that the intent was to disfigure and do
grievous bodily harm ; but with the strongest pos-
sible recommendation of the female prisoner to
mercy.

Soine discussion then took place as to the form
of the verdict, the jury expressing a desire to make
a distinction between the two prisoners. They did
did not think the female had taken any part in the
actual violence.

His Lordship having again consulted Baron Wat-
son, took down and read the verdict to the jury to
the following effect :—That the male prisoner was
guilty of wounding wita intent to maim the prose-
cutor, and to do him some grievous bodily harm ;
that the female was acting in concert with the male
prisoner, but that she acted under the coercion of
her husband ; if she had acted by herself and not
under the coercion of her husband, they considered
her guilty.
His Lordship said he should reserve the point
with regard to the female, and would for the pre-
sent defer passing sentence on the male prisoner.
The trial occupied ten hours, and there was no
manifestation of popular feeling within the court
during its progress. On the prisoners being removed
from the building, however, to the prisoh van,
which was in waiting behind the court, the mob sur-
rounded it, and gave vent to a storm of hissing and
hooting as long as the vehicle was in sight.
This morning (Wednesday) the two prisoners
were again arraigned on the charge of robbing
the prosecutor Leach of his parcel, contain-
ing a shirt, pocket-handkerchief, scarf, and
collar, which, it will be remembered be lost
in the fray, and which was found in the prisoner's
wardrobe. No evidence, however, was offered on
that charge, and the sentence was—Mr. Smith to
fuur years' imprisonment ; Mrs. Smith to find
sureties to appear when called on.

where he lived, and proceeded to his brother-in-law's
house, in Fashion-court, but had not been there
five minutes before the prisoners agaiu came with
staves in their hands and said—" Now, we have
got you to rights ;" and the prisoner Chandler took
hold of him by the breast and threw him against
the wall. His brother-in-law then came to his
assistance, when the other prisoner took hold of
him and threw him down, and tore his coat. He
was then taken to the station-house, and both the
defendants told the inspector that they had taken
him into custody because he would not tell them
where he lived, or what he had got, although he
had informed them of both. Mr. Sykes, from the
County CJurt, told the sergeant on duty that he
knew him to be a respectable shopkeeper, and he
then refused to take the charge. Both prisoners
then made use of a good deal of vulgar language ;
and when he cams to examine his bundle he found
that one of the articles, a g ,wn, worth 53. was
missing. He had never seen either of the prisoners
before.

Two other witnesses were examined for the pro-
secution, but there was a great discrepancy in their
evidence, awl after a very able address from Mr.
Me:calfe, the jury acquitted the prisoners.
Joseph John Word was indicted for corruptly
receiving from James Russell Williams the sum of
5/. for the restoration of a stolen dog.
Mr. Metcalfe prosecuted ; Mr. Lewis appeared
for the prisoner.
It appeared from the evidence that in the month
of February the prosecutor's daughter was going
along Long acre, and a large Newfoundland dog
belonging to her was following, wearing a brass
collar, on which her name and address were en-
graved.
When she got to the corner of Craubourn-
street she missed the dog. She had previously seen
a man who frequently put his baud towards the
dog, but she did not see him touch him. As the
dog did not come home to Leicester-square, where
she resided, the next day bills were distributed
( ffering a reward of 2/. for the restoration of the
dog. The day following, her father received a com-
munication, and in consequence of that he went to
Waterloo-bridge, where he saw the prisoner, who
told him that if he would give 5/, he could have
the dog back. He accempanied the prisoner into
the Strand, where he said he expected to meet a
man, but he was not there, and then they went to
the City, but no man was to be found. The pri-
soner then said they must go elsewhere, and a cab
was ordered, and they proceeded to some place in
the neighbourhood of Bunhill-row, which was a
narrow court, and at the bottom of it was a public-
house. Here the prisoner introduced him to two
other men, and after a good deal of parleying be-
tween the prosecutor and the men as to how they
got possession of the dog, but to which inquiry
they gave him very abrupt answers, the dog was
produced and the 5/. was paid. When the prose-
cutor was about bringing the dog away, he wanted
to know what had become of the collar, and one of
them said that would be all right, and on the fol-
lowing day it was returned through the London
Parcels Delivery Company. The prisoner was sub.
sequently taken into custody at a dog-show, in
Half-moon-street, Bishopsgate, by Thomas Evans,
of the G division of police, from a description given
of him.

Mr. Lewis addressed the jury, and contended
that no corrupt payment had been made to the pri-
soner, but to the persons who had produced the dog.
A person named Gleed, who said Ire was the mas-
ter of the prisoner, gave him a good character for
honesty during the time he had been in his employ-
ment for upwards of 16 months, but in his cross-
examination by Mr. Metcalfe he admitted that
when the prisoner was at the police-office he heard
it star ed that he (prisoner) had been convicted and
sentenced to a month's imprisonment for dog-
stealing.
Mr. Creasy wanted to know, with that fact be-
fore him, how he dared to come into a court of
justice and give a man a good character for
honesty ; and ordered him to he taken into custody.
He then summed up the evidence, and

The jury immediately found the prisoner guilty.
Mr. Lewis then moved in arrest of judgment,
but his application was refused.

Mr. Creasy sentenced the prisoner to imprison-
ment for six months. He then addressed the man
Gleed, and said he should not commit him for trial,
as his case was not so bad as that of a man who yes-
terday stated a series of falsehoods ; and, after a
caution, ordered him to be discbarged ; but re-
marked that if any more such cases occurred, he
would order such witnesses to be indicted for per-
jury, as both judge and jury were imposed upon,
and the ends ofjustice defeated.