The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-08 00:00:00

MURDER AT SOUTHSEA.

About half-past five o'clock on Wednesday morning
last, the body of William Upton, a lance-corporal of the
87th regiment, was found lying on its face on Southsea-
common, which, upon slight examination, presented to view
a bayonet wound on the right breast. The body was im-
mediately conveyed to the Cricketers public-house, and it
was quickly ascertained that the deceased was last seen
in company with a private marine, named Crossley, who
was found in the barracks, and on being questioned by the
Sergeant-Major, instantly avowed that the deceased had
struck him on his ear with a cane the previous night, as
they were walking from the town to Southsea Castle, where
the soldier was quartered, and with whom he was going to
sleep ; that he had immediately drawn his bayonet, and
struck the soldier with the socket of it ; but on the Sergeant-
Major examining the weapon, and finding about five inches
of it stained with blood, and charging Crossley with mur-
dering Upton, Crossley surlily added, "he would serve his
father the same way if he had struck him on the ear." This
confession he subsequently again made, with trifling
alterations, to Dr. Quarrier and tha constable Hawkins.
The bayonet, from a post mortens examination by Mr.
Julian Slight, was found to have entered between the third
and fourth rib, thence passing through the right lobe of
the liver, entered• the pericardium, and wounded the right
auricle of the heart. Instant death must haVe ensued.
The bayonet pierced six inches. The deceased was a man
of good character, and it is not a little singular, that
Crossley has never had a complaint made against him.
Crossley, who was brought in custody from the Bridewell,
at Gosport, to hear the evidence adduced at the inquest,
upon being asked by the Coroner if he wished to make
any observations, said, " that no quarrel had previously
passed between himself and Upton ; that the deceased had
given him a blow in the breast and knocked him down, and
that, on attempting to rise, deceased had struck him over
the ear with his stick." The Jury found that " William
Upton came to his death in consequence of a bayonet
wound inflicted by John Crossley, and that he was guilty
of the wilful murder of the deceased." Crossley was com-
mitted to Winchester for trial at the next assizes in March.
--1-lampshire Telegraph.

REFUSAL OF A CHURCH RATE.—At a meeting
held in Berwick on Thursday a rate was resisted on grounds
of moral justice, and the following amendment prefaced by a
logical and masterly speech from J. Cunningham, Esq., was
adopted by an immense majority :—" His Majesty's Minis-
ters having pledged themselves to introduce a measure early
next session for the extinction of Church Rates, I move that
this meeting do postpone the further consideration of a rate
' to and for the repairs of this parish church' until this day
twelvemonths."

Last week at Lushington Wilts, a master mistaking
his servant for a robber, shot him dead.

Liquor Potassee is found to allay the irritation
arising from the sting of a bee or wasp. The poison is an acid
which is neutralized by an alkali.
The Salisbury Herald says, upwards of 200 copies
of an unstamped weekly newspaper are circulated in that
city alone.
VEHICULAR PROGRESSION.--A few of the lead-
ing Whips, friends of Reform, and Ultras in driving, have
thrown aside the barbarous trammels of a dark age. Checks,
balances, and mystification are found to be as false and foolish
things in d-iving, as in governing. It was the good old prac-
tice—and as all improvements are of slow growth, is still to a
very great extent—to rein up, as it is called, all harnessed
horses, to fasten bits of leather, called blinkers, over their eyes,
and to hang the gig in such a manner as to have a pretty
considerable pressure on the horse's back. This latter stupid
practice has, within the last two or three years, entirely dis-
appeared. The bearing rein also, another rather cruel relic of
the wisdom of our vehicular ancestors, has for some time been
getting into disfavour, and even blinkers the long-cherished
absurdity of a true English whip, are gradually going out of
fashion.

EXPLOSION OF THE EARL GREY.—We under-
stand that one of the criminal cases from the county of Ren-
frow, which is to come before the Circuit Court, which meets
on the Bth inst., is that connected with the late explosion of
the Earl Grey steamer. Fifty witnesses, we hear, have been
summoned to appear in support of the prosecution ; and as the
authorities of the Lower Ward-ef Renfrewshire, instituted at
the time when the melancholy 'accident occurred, a most'
searching inquiry, the trial is looked forward to with intense.
interest. 'We understand that mddels of the boiler, as it stood
before and after the explosion, have been prepared under the
directions of our ingenious townsman, Mr. Peter Macquisten,
civil engineer. We are happy to announce that all the sur.
viving sufferers, who were patients in the Greenock Infirmary,
have been discharged as recovered, so that the amount of deaths
by that catastrophe may be now considered as ascertained,
being ten.—Glasgow Courier.

BARBAROUS MURDER.—On the night of Friday,
the 28th ult., a young man named John Herrick, residing on
the lands of Iscar, was returning from the market of Banagher,
when within half-a-mile of the said town, and about 50 perches
from the tower police station, he was most wantonly and in-
humanly murdered, having been stabbed through the head,
and his legs and arms broken in several places. There are
four or five persons in custody for this atrocious deed, three
of whom are named Dolan. out of whose house the weapons
for the murder were taken. On the same night, and within
half-a. mile of the same place, another man, whose name has
not been ascertained, nearly shared the same fate, the side of
his skull having been laid open; and, notwithstanding, he is
not at all inclined to give the police any information which
might lead to the detection of those daring assassins.--Saun-
ders's News Letter.

MURDER OF A WOMAN IN LEIGHLIN.—On
`Wednesday last an inquest took place before the coroner on
the body of Margaret Murphy, of Leighlin-bridge, who was
brutally murdered by a man named Patrick Houlahan, of the
same town, a shoemaker. Catherine Reynolds deposed, that
she saw the deceased go to bed about 8 o'clock in the evening,
and about 10 o'clock Houlahan came to the door, when de-
ceased called witness and said Pat was coming; witness made
no answer ; deceased desired Houlahan to go home, and re-
quested him not to disturb her; Houlahan pushed in the door,
and went to deceased's bed and seized her by the throat • she
thought he had no stick. Dr. polton examined the body ;
found on the left side of the head and face several contusions ;
he proceeded to examine the chest, and found six ribs on the
right side, and four on the left, broken, with corresponding
fractures at the sternum extremities ; found nearly three
quarts of extravasated blood in the cavity of the sternum. He
swore the injuries sustained in the chest were sufficient to
cause death. The jury returned a verdict of " 'Wilful mur-
der" against Patrick Houlahan, who has absconded.—Carlow
Sentinel.

SPIRIT.OF TIM - PAK.. JOURNALS.
•
We yesterday prepared our readers for the ap-
tance by Ministers and the House of Commons of the
Municipal Reform Bill, as last amended by the Lords.
Lord John Russell, on introducing the subject last
night to the House of Commons, began by expressing
"a wish that he could preface what he was about to
move by saying that, with scarcely an exception, tile
Lords had agreed to the amendments proposed by the
House ; because he thought that the House did treat
the amendments of the House of Lords in a spirit of
conciliation which justly entitled them to expect that
the principal amendments made by the Commons
would have been agreed to." . After a clear account
of the progress and present state of the Bill, and show-
ing that it had been very considerably injured
by the last amendments of the Lords, he said he
was prepared to say, that he did not think it would
be wise in them to attempt to make any fresh
Amendments, to get a part of what had been removed
back again, or to remove a part 'of what had been sub-
stituted. He had no hesitation in saying, that on the
whole he considered the Bill. a great improvement.
And he concluded with movinc, that the House agree
with the Lords in the amendments. His Lordship
was immediately followed by Mr. Hume, who took
the measure as an instalment of that debt which was
due to the country, and notwithstanding the complaints
of some individuals, consented `to .receive the amend-
ments, of the House of Lords. At the same time, the
Honourable Gentleman earnestly hoped that, from one
end of the country to the other, the people would pro-
claim that there was little use in a reform in the House
of Commons, if there was not also a Reform in the
House of Lords. Let it be observed that the remark was
loudly cheered by a House in which it would have been
scouted a year ago. Such is the, assistance which the
Lords have furnished to the good cause. It has been
remarked, that the discovery of truth is• often promoted
by the propagation of error, and it is not less true that
in the inscrutable ways of Providence it often hap-
pens that selfish and unjust men are allowed to ac-
celerate the progress of Reform. Where there is a
will there is a way. If the people of England deter-
mine that the Lords shall be Reformers, they will
be Reformers. It did not depend on the woodcutter
in Moliere, that he became a doctor. The Lords
are disposed to reject the claims of the people--
but prudence penetrates sometimes very strange
noddles. Very intractable animals are reduced to '
a wonderful state of submissiveness. But this
must be the subject of future lucubrations. Most

of the Reformers took the same view of the
sill as Mr. Hume did. Mr. Thomas - Dun-
combe, however, expressed himself strongly against
receiving the Bill. Several Members made use
of language still stronger than that of Sir. HUME in
characterising the House of Lords. Sir William
Molesworth said, " A few years ago an open expres-
sion of opinions such as these regarding the House of
Lords would have created the greatest astonishment :
but now the general question asked was, what is the
use of the House of Lords ?" No set of men can
long bid defiance in this country to what is held sacred
_ _

by the people. Much will be forgiven to error, but a
rooted conviction that the heart is depraved by sinister
interests, will certainly not he forgiven. We. are. as
certain that the House of Lords will-be reformed ere
long, as we are that we now exist. The motion was
agreed to, and the Bill, as amended, will become the
law of the land. Lord John Russell declared that in
naming the justices he should follow the recommenda-
tion of the Town-Councils.-_.Morning Chrouicle.
It will be seen by yesterday's Parliamentary pro-
ceedings, that the Municipal Reform Bill, as dealt
with on Friday last by the Lords,- has been finally
accepted by the Commons, and will forthwith become
the law of the land. At a meeting of the friends of
Ministers in Downing-street yesterday, this course was
recommended by Lord John Russell, and approved of
by a large majority. After the House met his Lord-
ship repeated
.the same recommendation, assigning the
reasons which disposed himself and his colleagues to
take the measure in its actual condition, and amongst
those reasons he enumerated the points which the
Lords had conceded to the House of Commons, de-
scribing fairly their great value and importance, and
admitting the prodigious improvement which the Bill
as it now stands must be allowed to constitute over

the old state of the Corporations. Having ourselves
already expressed with entire frankness our respect
for the temperate and conciliatory spirit whiCh had
appeared to actuate the House of Commons in
the latter stages of their proceedings upon this Bill,
that is to say, after it had been returned to them from
the Lords, with all its amendments on its back, we
with equal readiness renew our approbation of the dis-
creet promptitude manifested by the representatives of
the people on the receipt of the Lords' ultimatum yes-
terday, when the Bill, as amended, was accepted by
them as a preferable alternative to that of leaving the
old Corporations altogether untouched, and the whole
mass of acknowledged municipal grievances in full
force for an undefined duration. Nor can we let the
occasion pass without calling to public notice for an
instant the admirable wisdom with which the usages
and regulations of our legislative bodies, whether as
regards their separate transactions, or their intercourse
with, and operation upon, each other, have been con-
trived by our cautious and clear-sighted ancestors, for
the avoidance of precipitancy, the defeat of pas-
sion, and the- eventual triumph of reason and
judgment, over all the obstacles to sound legisla-
tion, interposed by prejudice, impetuosity, and par-
tial and one-sided views of public questions. The
repeated readings, the committals, the re-commit-
tals, the conferences, the successive opportunities thus
afforded for considering measures both in principle and
detail, under every imaginable shape and aspect for
men of practice,inen of theory, men with personal and
conflicting interests on all sides to set the flail to work
vigorously and skilfully, to thrash out the substance
from the husk, and ascertai❑ by frequent examination
what ought to be kept and what delivered over to the
winds ;—these are portions of our constitutional ma-
chinery_ ittle thought of in ordinary times, but at all
times of inestimable value, and never susceptible of an
illustration more gratifying or more striking than that
which they hare received from the complex discussions
and various intercommunications between the Houses
to which this
,most important and most beneficial Bill
has given rise, while from them we trust, and are con-
scientiously satisfied, it has gained the most solid im-
provements. One extraordinary advantage which has
arisen from the comparatively long period during which
the,Bill from first to last has been before one or other of
the .Houses of Parliament, has been the gradual evapo-
ration of violence And progressive increase of calniness
and good-temper so observable in both Houses as. the
deliberations went on. The , earlier debates .in , both
were of a , somewhat menacing and acrimonious cha-
racter, which disappeared with the continuance of dis-
cussion.. The last, which took place in each House
respectively, was, on the part of the chiefs on both
sides, a model of moderation and senatorial temper,
and the once alarming scene has closed in cheerful-
ness and peace, Lord John Russell, we see—but it
neither surprises nor at all offends us—felt himself
under the necessity, good-hilmouredlv hinted at by Sir
Robert Peel in his speech on the 24th ult., of articu-
lating a " hard word or two," just to smooth down
the rising bristles of some of his ultra-Radical sup-
porters. His Lordship talked of his conviction that
the. Bill could not be regarded as a " final measure."
His Lordship, of course, did not mean to stir up with
one hand those embers of disagreement which, with
the other, he had just been so laudably extinguish-
ing ; and therefore we shall say no more than
that it will be the part of prudence as well as pa-
triotism in those who. are charged with the mainte-
nance of the public peace, to abstain from pledging
themselves so long beforehand to the incompleteness
of an experimental measure, but rather to watch its
workings, and be determined by the results of an ex-
perience which does not yet exist, in pronouncing
whether it shall hereafter be considered to fulfil or
disappoint those hopes of public benefit, on the
strength of which it has so recently won its way through
Parliament. In our opinion, without at all pretending
tto o affirm that h‘avt
et:
swouldt
with notao yb
oe
the
iththeitsßiiilrloviissiopieisrfe(cat;
more important ones) until after a full and attentive
trial of their efficacy. The measure must be tested in