The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-04 00:00:00

The new judge, Mr. Mellor, was yesterday sworn
La before the Lord Chancellor in his lordship's private

room, at Lincoln's-inn. Mr. Mellor was called to the bar
by the Society of the Inner Temple in June, 1833, and
subsequently joined the Midland Circuit, of which several
years ago he became one of the leaders. Mr. Mellor was
recorder of Leicester, and at the last election was chosen to

represent Nottingham in Parliament. Although a good and
consistent Liberal, we believe that the hon. and learned
gentleman owes his promotion to the industry and ability

Which have marked his career at the bar. The selection of
Mr. Mellor by the Lord Chancellor has given general satis-
faction to the profession, though not unmingled with regret
at the retirement of Sir Hugh Hill, who only held the office
of Justice of the Queen's Bench for the short space of three
years.

THE SURREY CANAL MURDER.-A respite was
received yesterday by Mr. Bannister, the governor of
Maidstone Gaol, for Geerge Inkpen, who was convicted
at the last session of the Central Criminal Court of the
murder of his sweetheart by drowning her in the Surrey
Canal.

DESTRUCTION OF CREETING RECTORY-HOUSE
BY FIRE.-A telegraphic despatch arrived on Monday at
the residence of the Rev. George J, Dupuis, at Eton Col-
lege, one of the fellows, announcing the total destruction by
fire of his rectory-house at Creeting, Needham-market,
Suffolk. The fire was first discovered by the coachman at
five o'clock in the morning, who saw the flames issuing
from the drawing-room. Immediate alarm was given, and
prompt assistance rendered, but the fire spread with such
rapidity that the residence, with the valuable plate, furni-
ture, and effects, was consumed in a few hours. Although
an insurance had been effected on the house and its con-
tents, it will in no way cover the serious loss sustained.
THE SHIP ELIZA OF LIITERPOOL.—A Calais
letter says :—" A three-masted ship, measuring from 400 to
600 tons, was moored last evening at our quays. She is an
English ship called the Eliza, of Liverpool. She was
abandoned at sea, and found by three French fishing boats
14 miles north of the port of Calais, without anybody on
board. She is a magnificent ship, quite new, and would
require a crew of 20 men to navigate her. The aba ndon-
meat of the ship can only be accounted for by the bad
weather which prevailed on Tuesday last, when she way
have struck on some of the sandbanks in this neighbour.
hood. Her log-book, which was found on board, was
written up to the 26th ult., so that she was not abandoned
previous to that day. No tidings have been heard of the
crew, and it is feared they were drowned, as a
boat was seen by the fishermen near the ship,
and which had capsized. The Eliza came from
London, and was bound for Carthagena and Con-
stantinople. She, is laden with bar iron. The ship is
valued at about £lO,OOO, and her cargo at as much. Ac-
cording to maritime law, the fisherman who brought her
into port have a right to a third of the value of the ship
and cargo. This is a magnificent prize for the fishermen,
who will have thus gained as much in one day as they
could have earned in the course of their lives by catching
fish."

THE CARLISLE MURDER—CLUE TO THE As
SASSIN.—CARLISLE, Tuesday.—Yesterday the adjourned
inquest on Jane Emmerson, the poor aged woman, who for
years had charge of the level crossing of the Newcastle and
Carlisle Railway at Botcherby, and who was found most
brutally murdered on the morning of Friday, the 22d ult.,
was resumed before W. Carrick, Esq., the coroner, and a
jury. Since last meeting of the jury the police have been
smremitting in 'their exertions to trace the perpetrator of
this foul and horrible deed; and it is believed that a clue
has been obtained which may lead to the apprehension of
the murderer. On Thursday last as a labourer was walk-
ing beside the river Peterell he saw a bundle, which he
opened, and found that it contained a shirt and a pair of
trousers, stained with blood and very dirty. These articles
were handed over to the police, and hopes are entertained of
tracing the owner of them, as they were doubtless th©
clothes worn by the murderer on the night, and who has
used this means of disposing of clothes which would be
strong evidence against him. The evidence given before
the coroner was, for the most part, a repetition of what is
already known.
ANOTHER CAB OUTRAGE.---TWO men—William
Randall, a cab driver at Leeds, and John Robson, of
Thwaite Mills—were on Monday committed for trial by the
Wakefield magistrates, charged with having attempted to
murder, by drowning in the canal at Thwaite Mills, th•
wife of John Wood, a coalminer at Churwell. The story
of the prosecutrix went to show that she had hired
Randall's cab to take her home on Thursday night last,
being too late for the last railway train. The two prisoners
accompanied the cab, but instead of driving to Churwell
took the direction of Thwaite Mills. Robson drove for a
short distance, and then—having his place supplied on the
box by Randall—entered the cab, and attempted to crimi-
nally assault the prosecutrix. She resisted, and received in
retaliation two black eyes from blows given by Robson, who
at Thwaite Millls threw her into the canal, and left her to
drown. Such was the statement made by the woman before
the magistrates. Her rescue from the water was proved,
but it was also sworn that she was intoxicated, and that her
statement on being taken out of the water fixed upon Ran-
dall, and not 12 °boo., attl act or pu.hins hoz. izabo tho user.
The defence sought to be established was that herstory was
a fiction, and that she fell into the canal when in a state of
intoxication. She, however, strenuously denied the allega-
tion of drunkenness. The magistrates determined to send
the case for trial, but admitted both prisoners to bail.
EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE OF THE FEMALE
BLoNDIN—The Female Blondin gave a performance at St.
George's Hall, Stonehouse, on Monday night. The rope
was stretched from the organ loft to the platform, being at
one end about 30ft. high, and at the other 10ft. or 15ft. It
had evidently been put up in haste, and was not all pro-
perly secured. When she had got half way across the first
time she suddenly stopped and loudly called to have the
rope tightened, as it was vibrating strongly. This was done
and she managed to cleverly get to the end, receiving loud
applause. The rope having been further tightened, she
walked back, and all present thought the miserable exhibi•
tion, which was certainly a disgrace to the town, to be
finished. However, some men were stationed at the side
ropes, which ran through tackling at each window, and
the Female Blondin again prepared to walk, but this it will
be found nearly resulted in her death. In fact, how she
eseaped was a miracle. She stepped on to the platform,
and bandaged her eyes, after which she put a sack over her
head, her arms being at liberty for the purpose of using the
pole. Again she started, everybody beholding her with
terrified looks, in consequence of the slack state of the rope.
When just beyond the chandelier nearest the organ-loft
one of the side ropes suddenly broke, and the rope on which
she was standing actually fell about three feet. A subdued
groan instantly went through the room, as all expected to
see her tumble headlong down. Strange to say, she did not
fall, as she managed to save herself with the balancing pole.
How she got up the remainder of the rope was a mystery ;
we confess that a sickening sensation at the sight prevented
us from seeing. The " enterprising proprietor" and his
assistants instantly rushed to the gallery, where they res •
cue•l the unfortunate woman irom her perilous position.
Upon examination, the rope which broke proved to be to-
tally unfit for the purpose.—Western M,rning News.
" THE QUADROON " AND " THE OCTOROON."—
A change has been made in the cast of " The Octoroon,"
which strengthens the play—now running more freely than
at first. A question of Mr. Boucicault's claim to any con-
siderable share in the merit of authorship has arisen, and a
mass of evidence has been placed in our hands against that
claim. This evidence suggests the unpleasant inference
that what Mr. Boucicault put forward at the Adelphi
Theatre as the result of his own experience and observa-
tions in Louisiana is derived in substance and in spirit
from Capt. Mayne Reid's story of " The Quadroon."
4' Octoroon," it is urged, is but a colourable alteration of
" Quadroon." Zoe is Aurore, Dora is Eugenie. The change
introduced int ) the story, by means of the poisoning, is not
a happy effort of art. One who knows the life of Loui-
siana assures us that the scenes introduced into "The
Octoroon" originally, or from some other source than " The
Quadroon," are so unlike the real life of that country as to
suggest the idea that Mr. Boucicault has found his origi-
nal on the stage of New Orleans, not in the plantations.
The captain of the Mississippi steamer, we are assured, is
a very gross caricature—the original being as well-dressed,
bred, debonnaire a gentleman as the captain of the Quirinal
or the Alhambra. The French planters of the coast are
not less villified, we are told, in " The Octoroon." In
dress and manners the real men resemble their countrymen
on the Boulevards and the Rue Rivoli. These pints have
an appearance of supporting the charge made against Mr.
Boucicault, that he has adopted without permission or
acknowledgment the work of a literary brother; but our
readers know that appearances are often extremely mis-
leading, and it would be unjust to condemn Mr. Bouci-
cault until he has had, and neglected, the opportunity of
justifying his acts. As the case now stands before the
public, Captain Mayne Reid appears in the position of
a man of letters who has suffered a literary wrong.
Can Mr. Boucicault show that the wrong is unsubstan-
tial

TURNER AND CLAUDE.—It was and is well known
to men living in the early and middle portion of Turner's
professional career, that he did not often sell his oil-pictures;
they were not sought after or appreciated by the aristocracy
or fashionable picture-buyers, with few exceptions, such as
Lori Egremont of Petworth, Lord Yarborough, Sir John
Leicester, and Lord Ellesmere : the cause of which ma 3
be traced and principally attributed to the influence and ab-
sorbing preference given by Sir George Beaumont (an
amateur artist) to the works or pictures of Claude. Whe-
ther there was anything personal or not in this advocacy of
Claude to the exclusion of Turner I know not ; but it is cer-
tain that Turner was well acquainted with it, and deeply
felt the injustice of Sir George Beaumont's prejudices, as
well as the influence he had in picture society to direct all
taste and to concentrate it on Claude; the painful know-
ledge of these facts gave rise, no doubt, to Turner's be-
queathing two of his best pictures to the nation, on condi-
tion that they were placed side by side with two of Claude's
best pictures, in order that posterity might do him that
justice that either ignorance or something worse denied him
while living; in the same spirit, and in defence of himself
as an artist, did Turner commence his wonderful, beauti-
ful, and highly-estimated work of the " Liber Studiorum, '
as compared with the "Liber.Vtritatis" of Claude.—From
Thornbury's Life of Turner,