The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-10 00:00:00

SHERIFF'S COURT.

(Before Mr. Commissioner Kerr.)
A CHOICE OF LAW.--STONES V. HENDERSON.

This was an action to recover £llss. for a quan-
tity of crinoline steel, defendant having paid
£4 13s. 9d. into court, and pleading never indebted
as to the remainder.

ATI% Lewis, sen., of Ely-place, for the plaintiff,
called witnesses to show that an order had been
given for a large parcel of crinoline steel, under a
sample, and that defendant, after receiving it, had
broken the bulk, accepting a portion and returning
the rest to plaintiff in such a state as to be unfit for
use.

For the defence it was sworn that all crinoline
steel had to be subjected to a certain process before
it was put into the skirts, and that after this parcel
had gone through the necessary ordeal a large por-
tion proved unfit for use, and was returned in good
condition to plaintiff.
His Honour said that he was inclined to believe
defendant's case ; but Mr. Lewis might have a non-
suit, and bring his action before a jury in the
Mayor's Court, if he were so minded.
Mr. Lewis said he would do so.
His Honour—Then I will nonsuit the plaintiff,
and order the money defendant has paid in to be
returned to defendant.
Mr. Lewis thought that was hardly fair, as de-
fendant at all events admitted owing £4 16s. 9d.
In the superior courts, when money was paid in, a
plaintiff was nonsuited, and still had that money.
His Honour thought as the parties were going to
begin in another law court all over again defendant
was entitled to be able to pay in the money to that
court, and plead in the usual form as to the remain-
der. The parties had chosen their law, and plaintiff
would be nonsuited, defendant having costs.

SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday.—The Union Com-
pany's screw steamship Saxon, Capt. Baynton, sailed hence
this afternoon for Ascension, St. Helena, and the Cape of
Good Hope, taking 70 passengers and a full cargo. She
will embark the mails at Plymouth.
BARNUM'S GO-AHEAD-ITIVENESS !—" When the
laying of the Atlantic Telegraph was nearly completed, I
was in Liverpool. I offered the company 41000 sterling
($5,000) for the privilege of sending the first twenty
words over the cable to my Museum in New York—not
that there was any intrinsic merit in the words, but that I
fancied there were more than $5,000 worth of notoriety in
the operation. But Queen Victoria and Old Buck' were
ahead of me. Their messages had the preference, and I
was compelled to take a back seat.' "—Barnum's Humbugs
of the World.
The Methodists are fast recovering the ground
lost by them when the Southern wing seceded.—
In Louisiana and Texas more than 20,000 coloured
Methodists have broken off their connection with
the Southern Methodist Church and joined the
Northern Church. Bishop Thompson organised in
December, in New Orleans, the Mississippi annual
conference of the church, which already numbers
17 preachers and over 22,000 members. A Biblical
Institute has been opened in the city of New
Orleans, and a new church organ. The New Orleans
Advocate has been started by the Rev. Dr. J, P.
Newman. In Kentucky 25 ministers of the
Southern Methodist Church, with about 5,000 of
the white members, have declared their intention
of joining the Northern Church. The coloured
congregations either have already taken the same
step, or intend soon to take it. In Georgia the
Rev. Mr. Caldwell, a member of the Georgia
annual conference, is now labouring as a missionary
of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
There are about eighty Americans spending the
winter in Berlin, Prussia, chiefly students. They
have Sunday worship together. The ministers who
officiate are Mr. Denniston and Mr. Hepburn, Pres-
byterian ; Mr. Stuckenberg, Lutheran ; and Mr.
Simon, Mr. Mead, and Mr. Gage, Congregation
Mists.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND THE BAGDAD AFFAIR.

—The Times correspondent says the recent lawless-
ness on the Rio Grande is regretted in the United
States. Our people sympathise with Juarez ; but
overriding all their sympathies, there is an intense
desire for peace. They would sacrifice even their
sentimentalism to maintain friendly relations abroad,
and while they gave their sympathies full flow so
long as no overt act was committed that would im-
peril peace, when the act came it was deeply re-
gretted. They did not wish or expect it. A
partisan press applauded it, but President John-
son knew better than the newspapers the real feel-
ing of the country when he ordered the apprehen-
sion of R. Clay Crawford and his band, commanded
General Sheridan to investigate the matter, and
discover who was at fault, and again ordered the
strictest observance of neutrality. The country
will support no man or no party, however popular,
in a new war, but it will support any man or any
party that maintains the peace.