The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-04 00:00:00

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

A very crowded meeting of this soc-fty was
held on Monday evening at Burlingto% -house--
Sir R. I. Murchison, president, in the chair.
Among those present were the Earls of Ripon,
Albemarle, Ducie, and Sheffield ; Lcrd Alfred
Churchill, Lord Keane, Generals Porticck, Cannon,
Anstruther, Cameron, and Phillips ; Admiral Sir
0. Back, Sir John Davis, Sir J. Clarke, Captain
Carr, of the United States; Sir H. Rawlinson, Sir
E. Belcher, Mr. Stephenson, M.P., Mr. R. W.
Grey, M.P., Alderman Salomons, M.P., &c. The
papers read were :—Notes of a Voyage up the
Yang-tse-Keane,., from Wosung to Hankow ; by
Mr. Lawrence Oliphant, F.R.G.S., Secretary to the
Earl of Elgin, with a chart of the river, by Capt.
Sherrard Osborne, R.N., F.R.G.S.; 2. View of the
Great Valley of the Yang-tse-Keang before and
after its occupation by the rebels, by Sir John
Davis, Bart., F.R.G.S. ; and 3. Ascent of the
Yang-tse-Keang, by Lieut. W. Blackney, R.N.,
communicated by Captain Bryon Drury, R.N.,
F.R.G.S.
Dr. SHAW, the secretary, read the paper fur-
nished by Mr. Oliphant. . It commenced by ob-
serving that, although the expedition up the great
river of China popularly known as the Yang-tse-
Keang, from which the British Embassy had just
returned, was undertaken in pursuance of a policy
of which that interesting event formed a con-
cluding episode, it was a source of great gratifica-
tion to those engaged in it to feel that its geo-
graphical value was fully equal to its political im-
portance, and that while employed in forwarding
the interests of Great Britain in those quarters they
might also incidentally be the means of rendering
some service to the great cause of geographi-
cal discovery. It was scarcely too much to
assert that the ascent for the first time of an un-
known river for a distance of upwards of six hun-
dred miles from its mouth, in a ship of 1,300 tons,
drawing 16 feet of water, was an achievement
which had never been surpassed. The breadth of
the river and the nature of its channel were equally
unknown, but it was not unknown that many of
the principal cities on its banks were in the hands
of the rebels ; it was therefore deemed advisable
that Lord Elgin should be accompanied by a naval
force to Hankow, the point fixed upon as the ulti-
mate destination of the expedition. The squadron
left its anchorage a little above the mouth of Shang-
hai on the 9th of November, consisting of her Ma •
jesty's ships Retribution, Furious, and Cruizer, the
gunboat Dove, and gunboat Lee. In consequence
of the great draught of water of the Retribution,
she was left at an Imperial town about 90 miles
above Nankin. All the other ships reached Han-
kow. The facility with which the Cruizer, of 750
tons, drawing 14 feet water, made the passage to
Hankow was the more remarkable as she was fur-
nished only with an auxiliary screw of 60-horse
power. The importance of that fact would be better
appreciated when they came to consider the com-
mercial capabilities of the river. The expedition
had not proceeded far before they discovered that
the channel of the river had undergone such a total
change as to render the charts upon which Captains
Kellett and Collinson had expended so much labour
calculated rather to mislead than to guide. 24
hours had scarcely elapsed before every ship dis-
covered a new sandbank. Shoals had been con-
verted into islands, or had disappeared. On the
11th the expedition passed the Lanshaw or
Wolf's-hill Pagoda, a conspicuous object on the
left bank, perched upon a conical hill, which
rises abruptly from the plain. Opposite lay the
village and Fort of Fouchan, " The Hill of
Peace," situated on low hills. The river at
this point was about six miles in breadth. Here
the progress of the expedition again received a sud-
den check. Within a few yards where they were
obliged to come to an anchor six fathoms were
marked on the chart of Captains Kellett and Col
linson, while the soundings of the expedition gave
just six feet. Mr. Oliphant on this point observed
that the important changes which had thus been
found to have taken place in the direction of the
current of the river rendered an extended survey
of its branches a work not only of great necessity
in a hydrographical point of view, but, in the
present state of our altered relations with China, of
the utmost importance in the interest of our com-
merce with that country. After describing the
difficulty of navigating a portion of the river which
a British fleet of eighty sail passed unscathed
in 1843, and also their visit to the ruins of the city
of Chian-Kiang, Mr. Oliphant proceeded to give a
picturesque description of the progress of the ex-
pedition up the river. They passed Kinshan or
Golden Island, a rock on which stood a ruined
pagoda and the remains of some temples ; but the
rock was now no longer an island, though 15 years
ago it was divided from the mainland by a channel,
in which according to the chart there were 10
fathoms of water. From the summit of this rock
an extensive view was obtained over a vast plain to
the north; following with the eve the winding of
course of the grand canal, and seeing the ruined
town of Kwaehow, marking the spot at which it
entered the Yang-tse-Keang, two or three war
junks were the only signs of river life at a point
once celebrated as a focus of commercial activity.
It was worthy of note that it was only from that
point to the sea that the river Yang-tse-Keang was
known to the Chinese by that name. Hencefor-
ward the expedition heard it called only the Ta
Keang, or Great River. On the afternoon of
the 20th they passed the advanced junks of
the Imperial fleet at present blockading Nan-
kin. A few minutes afterwards the flag of
truce hoisted by the Lee was fired upon by
the rebels. A collision ensued, but was soon
ended. Kewh-sien was the first Imperial town the
expedition reached since entering the rebel coun-
try at Nankin. Leaving the Retribution at Ke wh-
sten, the expedition proceeded with the remaining
four ships, and reached the Italian-looking town
of Tee-Kiang. The river then took a somewha

eccentric course of great depth, folding back like a
huge serpent, and embracing in its coils large flat
islands on the southern bank. The navigation of
the river was attended with no great difficulty up
to this point. The soundings were regular and the
river occasionally united into a magnificent sheet
of water from three to four miles in breadth. A
spur of the Ta-hwa-shan range approaches the
river below Tung-ling, that terminates in the pic-
turesque bluff called Nang-shan-ke. According to
Mr. Ellis, the hills in this neighbourhood were
composed of sandstone and pudding-stone, in a
state of disintegration. The expedition was three
weeks in performing the voyage to the Poyang
Lake. The magnificent Lew Shan or mountains
abruptly terminated in a stupendous peak upwards
of 8,000 feet in height. The eddies circled round
the rugged base of the " Tsa Cha," or " Jagged
Head," on the summits of which the white houses

and walls of Hankow were picturesquely perched.
There was no section of the river more worthy of
attention in a geographical point of view. The
expedition had now ascended the Ta Keang for a
distance of 450 miles, and had only just reached
its first affluent ; for, with the exception of the
Tsung-yang, a river which joined a lake a little
above Ganking, all those tributaries marked as
such in the maps turned out to be ditches almost
dry in the winter time. But here the Great River
met a feeder worthy of it in a single deep rolling
tide. The Poyang Lake discharged into it the
whole drainage of the vast province of Kiang-Si.
About 15 miles above the confluence was the city of
Kew Keang, its walls running for miles over the tops
of the barren hills. Throughout the whole length of
their voyage to Hankow not only did the banks of
the river retain very much the same character, but
the cultivation did not perceptibly alter. The cotton
district of Hong-Kwoh, which was the first on en-
tering Hoopeh, was celebrated; and on the north
and east of the Lootien range good teas were pro-
duced. The level plains afforded excellent pastur-
age and herbage for herds of buffaloes. Although
there was an appearance of a denser population, yet
the expedition were not impressed with a high idea
either of the fertility of the soil or of the wealth
and abundance of the inhabitants. There could be
little doubt, however, that the natural advantages
which that celebrated mart possessed must always
render it a place of great importance in a commer-
cial point of view. It was not easy to estimate
the effect which a concentration of a foreign com-
munity and the accumulation of foreign capital at
that point might produce. There could be no doubt
that few rivers in the world offered greater facili-
ties for navigation than Ta Keang, and, although a
ship drawing 16 feet of water a distance of 500
miles from the mouth in a dry season experienced
some impediments in her progress, vessels of a
smaller draught could always navigate it with
ease. There was great traffic at Hankow, and there
could be no doubt it was the only place on the lower
part of the river which had any pretensions to com-
mercial activity. Political and commercial conside-
rations were not within the scope of the present
paper. " Meantime," observed Mr. Oliphant, "we
may safely predict that, sooner or later, the mighty
Keang will afford abundant occupation for the
statesman, the merchant, and the geographer."
Sir J. DAVIS then read his paper, commenting as
he proceeded on the results to be anticipated from
Lord Elgin's expedition and mission to China. He
was of opinion that the river would at other seasons
of the year be found to have a much greater supply
of water than was the case at the season when Lord
Elgin navigated it.

Capt. Collinson, Capt. Carr, and Mr. Lockhart
also addressed the society, expressing their con-
currence in the view taken by Sir John Day is PS
to the facilities of navigating the Ta Keang, or
Great River.

The meeting did not adjourn till a late hour.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

SOUTH WALES CIRCUIT.--CHESTER, APRIL 1.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Hill.)
THE DODDINGTON MURDER.
Richard Bolton and John Danks, alias Banks,
were indicted for the wilful murder of Thomas
Maddocks, on the night of the 28th November, 1858,
at Doddington, in this county.
Mr. Welsby, Mr. M'lntyre, and Mr. Giffard con-
ducted the prosecution on the part of the Crown ;
and Mr. Morgan Lloyd and Mr. Brandt defended
the prisoners.
Mr. Welsby stated the case, and called the fol-
lowing evidence:—
Joseph Basford—ls an under-keeper of Mr. Henry
Akroyd, rf Doddington-hall. On the night of the
27th of November he was watching the Acorn
covert in company with the deceased and other
keepers till about two o'clock in the morning
of the 28th, when he heard the report of a gun,
and went with his comrades in the direction
whence it came, and saw three men, one in the
covert and two in a closely adjoining occupation
road. Witness captured Thomas Hulme, one of
the poachers, and handed him over to John Mad-
docks. The keepers had a dog with them, with a
chain. Witness then ran up the road towards Ber-
rington's cottage, and after proceeding a short dis-
tance dragged him into the covert. He heard the
reports of two guns immediately afterwards, almost
like a double shot ; they came from his right, in the
'little croft, so he went there and saw the deceased,
Thomas Maddocks, dropped on one knee, about 70
yards from the covert. Witness spoke to him. His
face was towards the covert. Maddocks pointed over
his shoulder in the direction of a pit in the next
field. The dog then broke away from the wit-
ness and seized another dog in the field ; the latter
dog was a lurcher, colour black, with white about
his neck and face. Richard Evans called out to
witness, who went back and found James Beach
dead, and another poacher, named Lear, in custody.
A cart was sent for to take away the dead and the
wounded man. It was a moonlight night. None
of the keepers had guns • their weapons were small
fl ails, and some had sticks.
The witness was cross-examined by Mr. M.
Lloyd, but nothing was elicited, except that thoro
was a rising mist as high as a man's head.
Thomas Beach, another of Mr. Akroyd's keepers,
was watching the Acorn covert on the night in
question ; corroborated the earlier parts of Basford's
testimony. He heard a noise in the covert, and
pursued a poacher into Steel's field, and failed
to catch him. He saw four or five men in
the covert, and, jumping in, fell into a small
brook inside it. As he scrambled out a man came
out of the covert towards witness, who seized
him by the leg ; a struggle ensued, and both
fell back into the brook. Some other men came from
the direction where James Beach was found dead.
Two shots were fired almost simultaneously
when witness got out of the brook the second time.
The sounds were straight away from the place
where Maddocks and Beach were found. The man
witness captured was William Lear. Witness was
armed with a hand-flail.
John Maddocks, brother of the murdered man,
gave similar evidence to that of the previous wit-
nesses. On cross-examination he stated the two
reports were like those of a double-barrelled gun
fired right and left.
Richard Evans, another watcher, deposed to the
same effect.
William Lear said he met Oakes the night of the
27th of November last, about eight o'clock, and
went with him to a house in Onneley, where he
saw the prisoners Bolton and Banks, and James
Malkin and Hulme. They remained there until
about nine, and left altogether. They went into
a field, set some nets, and caught some hares. The
party turned out into the road again, and came
to a little wood ; Malkin and Hulme accompanied
witness along the right side of the wood,
leaving the other three men, Bolton, Banks, and
Oakes, in the part of the road leading to the
other part of the wood. Heard two shots. After
being in the road a short time the keepers came
upon him and his two companions. One keeper
laid hold of Hulme. Witness jumped over into the
covert, and went along the wood-edge, and was
making over a low place in the hedge when Thos.
Beach caught hold of him, and they fell into the
ditch together. Just before he was seized by Beach
he saw a person on his right hand fall into the ditch.
Believed that man to be Oakes, but would not
swear whether he was or not. After he was taken
he heard two more shots. One might be a minute
after the other. Could not state the particular
time. Oakes had a mingled-coloured dog with
him, brown, very spotty. Danks had another
dog, a very dark-coloured one.
Cross-examined by Mr. Morgan Lloyd—Was,
summarily convicted by the magistrates, and sen-
tentenced to three months' imprisonment for being
in pursuit of game.
James Oakes—l am a potter, living at Tunstall.
On the night in question I met William Lear at
Madeley, and went to Danks's house. Richard
Bolton, Banks, Hulme, Malkin, and William Lear
were there. I stopped there about half an hour,
and then all went through Woore, and turned over
a stile into a field. I had a single-barrelled gun
and a dog, a speckled one. It belonged to John
Mitchell, of Tunstall. There was also another dog
from Danks's house, black with white about the
neck. They set four fields with nets, and caught
six hares. I carried one hare for a while. After
that we came to a wood where the road forks on
each side of it, Malkin, Lear, and Hulme went up
one side to the right hand ; Bolton, Danks, and I
went to the wood, and I shot a pheasant. Danks
fired after. We had time to charge the guns, and
then the keepers came. Danks and Bolton went
to my left hand side as we went in. I was
on the right hand. I saw William Lear come
across the covert from the direction of the lane
he went up. When I heard the cry of the
keepers I ran, and just as I was getting out
of the covert I slipped down into a ditch on
purpose, and while I was there I heard a rush just
below me, and saw a man taking Lear. I heard
the keepers say to Lear he was there last Saturday
night, and that he knew him, he came from Made-
ley. The man then took Lear out of the wood.
The next noise I heard was of guns going off, after
Lear was taken. I heard two. There was time
to speak between the shots. Bolton had a double-
barrelled gun, Danks had a single one. Shortly
before I heard those guns I saw the prisoners
making out of the wood to the left hand as I came
in, as if they were going through the same hedge
I was against. I stopped in the ditch for half an
hour or like. I heard them say, "Go for a cart ;
go for a doctor; go for a policeman." After the
guns were fired I heard the cry of a dog ; it might
be five minutes after. I stopped till I heard the
sound of a cart come, and I heard it go back.
Then I made my way out and went to Danks's.
I cannot tell what time I reached there ; it might
be three o'clock. I threw up some dirt at the cham-
ber window, and asked if he was in. A man
answered that he had gone to Stoke. I then
went to Bolton's. It would be after four o'clock,
because the clock struck as I went through Madeley
village. Bolton was in the house in his shirt. I
said, • Eh, Dick, whatever have yea done ? " He
said, "Nobody shall suffer for me." I asked him
who shot, and he said Danks shot, and then he shot.
I told him I had been surrounded in the wood.
They had taken Leary and another. I asked him
which way he had come, and he said he had come
through Woore. I asked him if he had met any-
body. He said he met two policemen. I asked if
they said anything to him. He said one said, "You
have got a poaching dog." He said he had hidden
his gun. I asked if the dogs were come home, and
he said they were—he saw Danks's dog go past him.
The dog I brought was on a squab or sofa at Bol-
ton's. After I left Bolton's I went home, and took
the dog with me. I was taken at my own house
on the Monday after. As soon as I got home I
took my gun to my uncle, Thomas Oakes, at Chelly.
Cross-examined—In 1832 I was convicted of
stealing three ducks and was three months in Staf-
ford gaol. In November, 1837, I was committed to
Stafford for poaching, and had very likely three
months' imprisonment. Never took note of the
time. I have been in for poaching many a time.
In 1842 was again there, for an assault, for one
month. On the 17th of February, 1843, I was in
for trespass for 14 days with hard labour, and after-
wards for two calendar months for unlawfully sail-
ing game. At the Winter Assizes, 1843, I was tried
at Stafford for a poaching murder, and acquitted.
In February, 1844, I was committed to Stafford
gaol for want of sureties. On the 16th of July,
1848, I was committed for 14 days for unlawfully
suffering a poaching dog to be at large ; again in
June, 1849, I had 14 days for obstructing the police.
The 7th of June, 1858, I had another month for an
assault ; on the 28th of September last I had two
months in Stafford gaol for trespass in pursuit of
game. I paid the money and came out. At the
Winter Assizes, 1851, at Chester, I was tried for
poaching and had 12 months. In 1838 I was in
Knutsford gaol for poaching, and had three months.
The following year was there again for two months.
I remember the Copedale murder, when the cut-
lasses were struck through the heads of the
keepers. I was charged with murdering a police-
man, but I never had anything to do with it. I
have heard talk of a murder at Copedale when a
keeper was shot, but was not in custody for that.
These and other replies in his cross-examination
were given with the greatest effrontery, and were
accompanied by noisy declarations of his general
innocence.

John Salt, a surgeon, was called in on Sunday,
the 25th of Noyecaber, to a wounded man in a cot-