The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-02 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

On Saturday night last a middle-aged man named
Benjamin Meredith, residing at Bridge-terrace,
Maidstone, was taken to the police station, on the
charge of having brutally assaulted his wife, and
attempting to set fire to her. The prisoner, it
appears, has latterly been employed as foreman of
the carpenters engaged in the erection of the new
railway station at 'Maidstone, and frequent dis-
agreements have taken place between him and his
wife (who is most respectably connected), both, it
is said, being addicted to intemperate habits. On
Monday the prisoner was brought up at the Town-
hall, before H. Argles and T. W. Allen, Esqs.,
when the following particulars transpired :
Detective Sergeant Hills deposed that on Satur-
day night, at about half-past ten o'clock, he was
told that he was wanted at the Bridge-terrace.
He accordingly went to the prisoner's residence
there, and in the parlour he found the wife
lying on a sofa, apparently dead. Her dress was
turned up, and some of her under-clothing burnt.
The room was " swamped" in blood, and full of
smoke ; and the things were thrown about in the
greatest confusion. Witness took hold of the
woman, but was obliged to get a candle before he
could see whether or not she was alive, when per-
ceiving a movement in one of her eyes, he sent for
medical assistance, and Mr. Sanders, police-surgeon,
with Mr. Furber, house-surgeon of the We.st Kent
Infirmary, shortly arrived. In thee mantime the
prisoner had come in, and on witness asking him
what he meant by burning a woman in that way,
he replied, " It served her right ; she ought to
.be
burned alive." (The prisoner here denied
Prisoner also said, "It has now come .
to acrisis ;
it
wonder it wasn't a murder ; I'm sure end in
that." Full ten minutes elapsed after witness got
into the room before the woman became sensible.
There was a cut at the back of her head about two
inches long, another cut by the side of the left ear
an inch and a half long, and a third by the side of
the nose. The upper lip was very much swollen,
as was also the left side of the face ; and one of her
legs was much burnt so near the knee, that a large
piece of skin hung down from it. Witness several
times remarked to prisoner that nothing would
justify him in treating his wife in that manner,
when, after the lapse of about half an hour, he said
his wife had set fire to herself, and had frequently
done so before. The prisoner was raving about like
a madman. He was drunk.
Prisoner—l was not drunk.
Hills continued—There was a leaf of the table
broken off and lying on the floor; also a candle-
stick, the table cover, and the sofa cushions.
Prisoner—The candlestick fell off the table, and
that was how the fire was occasioned.
Hills
further said that there were two candles
alight on the floor. In a pool of blood near the
door, Mrs. Hills, the landlady of the house, picked
up a razor, but it did not appear to have been
taken out of the case it was in. Witness had in-
quired that morning, and found that the woman
was considerably better, but she was still confined
to her bed. He believed she was not in danger,
though the wounds on her leg from the burning
was very severe. When witness first saw prisoner
the latter had a kettle of water in his hand, which
he had just fetched from the conduit, and which he
was going to throw over his wife. Her clothes
were wet and steaming at the time, and prisoner
said he had already thrown one kettle.fullfoNor a erh •
Superintendent Blundell then applied re-
mand, to produce other witnesses.
Mr. Case (the clerk) told the prisoner that if he
had anything to say in answer tothe charge, he
might either do so then, or reserve .t ~w
Prisoner (after some hesitation)—Nell,
ell, I think
I shall reserve it.
The prisoner, who viewed the case
with a good
deal of unconcern, was then remanded till Saturday.
—South Eastern Gazette.

--
A number of the Turkish medals for distribution
to the British army having been received, his Royal
Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief, at the
request of the Secretary of State for War, has
issued a circular addressed to the officers command-
ing depots, desiring them with as little delay as
possible to transmit to the War-office nominal rolls
of all officers and soldiers who served in the Crimea
before the 9th Sept., 1855, or who were engaged
subsequent to that date in any operation against
the enemy, as specified in the General Order dated
" Sebastopol, March 13, 1856." The roll must in-
clude all who were entitled to the Crimean medal
granted by the Queen, excluding, of course, de-
serters and men who by other misconduct have for-
feited the decoration. The roll is to be divided into
two distinct parts ' • firstly, of all officers and men
who were entitled to the Crimean medal now be-
longing to the regiments whose depots are under
the command of the officer to whom the circular is
addressed, stating whether they be serving with
the regiment or depot, and in the case of those
transferred from other corps, the regiment in which
they earned that distinction. Secondly, of all the
officers and men entitled to the same, but who have
died, or retired from the service, been placed on
half-pay, or been discharged ; specifying, also, the
former regiment of such as may have been trans-
ferred from some other corps in which the medal
was earned. Each depot is requested to furnish
distinct rolls, which are to state the men's regi-
mental number.
First Lieuts. D.Davidson and T.Hewett, Second
Lieut. C. Ricketts, and 150 non-commissioned offi-
cers and privates, belonging to the Royal Marine
Light Infantry, from head-quarters, Woolwich,
yesterday relieved an equal force on duty at the
Victoria-yard, Deptford.

DEATH OF A WATERLOO VETERAN.

An old soldier, named Thomas Evans,many years
a resident in the neighbourhood of Windsor, and
one who, in the course of his military career, had
seen much arduous service, recently departed this
life at Old Windsor. Born in 1780, at Calhngtree,
Northamptonshire, he enlistedinto the Royal Horse
Guards (Blue) in 1800. He served throughout the
Peninsular war, and received a medal
and two
bars. After the return home of the regiment it re-
ceived orders for active service in France, but Evans
was in the first instance rejected on account of
his great weight. On hearing this, Evans told his
colonel (now Sir Robert Hill ),that if not permitted
to join, he would follow his regiment as a volun-
teer. The first arrangement was abandoned, and
Evans went with his regiment.
Among other daring feats performed by him at
Waterloo was the following. He observed that his
colonel
had got away, was surrounded by five
cuirassiers, and in imminent danger, upon which
.he instantly left his ranks, and galloping up
to him he actually slaughtered four of the
enemy, on which the colonel escaped. Aiming a
blow at the bridle-arm of the fifth, his sword caught
the cuirass, and. was broken in two. He then
attempted another blow, upon which his sword
broke out at the hilt, when he was obligeno make
his escape, which he accomplished with great diffi-
culty. He also led his colonel eff the Plains of Water-
loo after he had been wounded by a ball through
the right arm. After returning home these services
were publicly acknowledged by Colonel Hill, in
the Riding-school of the Windsor Barracks. He
served in the Blues until 1820, and was appointed to
drill the Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire Yeo-
manry Cavalry till 1829, foiwhich he received a
medal, when he retired to the quiet village of Old
Windsor, where he lived for 30 years, until his
death, which took place last week. He kept a
beer-house, called the Oxford Blue, on the road to
the river, and in addition to this followed his trade
of a shoemaker. He was buried with military
honours by the 2d Life Guards on Monday last.
He has left a widow, three sons (to each of whom
he has left a medal), and a daughter, all grown up.

Blue-
IMMIGRATION TO THE WEST INDIES.—A Blue-
book of 500 pages, yesterday published, otttains PtahPeeVi
lative to immigration of Chinese and Contends in to
from ea
Indian colonies. The correspondence . _ Jan.
1854, down to 1857, and refers almost exclusivelyto matters
of mere detail.
EXTRAORDINARY SALE OF NEGROES.—Omnadee Of
the most extraordinary sales of slaves—notsp much on ac-
count of their number as th® prices obtained for them, al-
:asvfuerisanctoifonl6o
though even the number
wasofvAeriyitauarge—viliwas the
,000 dollar , b • g
public auction at the village
el
belongingge during
o\'er. In thse laermge
four days of last
1 of Richard Ilortouf were sold on 12 months' time, with in-
an average .
terest added, for twhdeoeel
numb& composing the lot were old and -
lame, and one deaf and dumb. A girlyoung, halt and
aad hand, brought 1,935 dollars. A
, aged 14, bla ck, and
bought off for 2,160 dollars.--If young fellow was
ontgomery Confederation.
el: an;r°sr m17:01
dus

PRICE OF GOLD. The quotation of gold at
paris is about at par, and the short exchange on London
is 25.10 per £1 sterling. On comparing these rates
with the English Mint price of £3 17s. 1016. per
ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is about 3-10 the
per cent, dearer in Paris than in London. By advices from
Hamburg the price of gold is 4241 per mark, and the short
exchange on London is 13.4$ per V. sterling. Standard
gold at the English Mint price is, therefore, about 1-10th
per cent, dearer in Hamburg than in London. The course
of exchange at New York on London for bills at 60 days'
sight is 1091 per cent., which, when compared with the
Mint par between the two countries, shows that
.the ex-
change is about at par; and, after making allowance for
charges of transport and difference of interest, the present
rate leaves no profit on the :importation of gold from he
United States.

THE SUN.

WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 2, 1859.

If Mr. BRIGHT cannot command success, he
most unquestionably deserves it. He is going the
• right way to work, following the plans adopted
during the palmy days of the League, when the
Anti• Corn Law Agitation was most vigorously
carried on—when every successive meeting or
conference procured new adherents to the great
truths so powerfully urged, and inflicted " a heavy
blow and great discouragement" on the monster
monopoly. Mr. BRIGHT is the champion of the
present agitation, and never was one more ener-
getic and indefatigable! Although his bill may
not be carried in all its details, it will at least
indice a larger bidding than might otherwise be
obtained from the rival promoters of other mea-
sures under the same title. The conference held
yesterday at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester
will no doubt have a beneficial result on the different
candidates for the Premiership, and induce them to
advance a little further in the way of progress.
Of the leading, men we confess that wo
anticipate far more from Lord DERBY than
from either of his competitors. He has always
taken a manly and straightforward view of
public affairs, andowhe-n he promised that the
subject should receive full and fair consideration,
we may rest assured that no stinted or milk-and-
water measure will be brought forward. He has too
frequently resisted popular demands ; but when he
ever undertook to
...deal with a grievance, he did
so boldly and decisively, going even further than
the most ardent reformers on the particular point
he believed would be either offered or granted. We
may refer to many cases in corroboration of the above
assertion, and we earnestly hope his conduct in
respect to the Government Reform Bill will be
another valuable precedent added to those already
established.

We know something of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S
views. He had, after repeatedly advocating the
doctrine of " finality," brought forward a bill,
which, however, he permitted to be shelved on very
slender grounds, and most unquestionably it would
not be accepted by the nation at the present
moment as anything approximating to a solution
of the interesting problem. He may exclaim—

" Davus non Edipus sum,"
for he will never meet the requirements of the poli-
tical sphynx. Besides, he has invariably spoken
and voted against the ballot, and that is an
inevitable necessity. Without it no measure will
be acceptable to the people. Until ample protection
is given to the voter—until there is satisfactory
evidence that every corrupt and demoralising
influence must cease, the agitation will never
terminate. There will be monster meetings and
repeated conferences until that which might now
be conceded with a good grace must be granted to
an indignant and determined nation.
Lord PALMERSTON is even more hopeless. He
is not only committed against the Ballot, like
Lord J. RUSSELL, but the Times, once a strenu-

ous and decided Reformer, and which has
taken the Viscount under its especial pro-
tection, is writing a series of anti-reform
articles, seeking to show that there is. no
necessity] for. any change, and even this day in-
quiring "for what purpose, or with what definite
object are his hearers to do all that he recommends
to be done ? " There is that " sentimen-
tal (!) question," the extinction of Church
Rates, and the abolition of the Game
Laws, which "The Leviathan" suspects to be " of
much the same character." There may be a notion
that there would be some effort to produce more
economical government, but that is all a mistake, for
the extension of democratic power and democratic
principles would rather lead to extravagance than
otherwise. Such is the argument of the Times,
and there can be but little doubt of the concurrence
of Lord PALMERSTON.

There must, however, be a large and comprehen-
sive measure of reform this session, and although
it may not be exactly the bill of Mr. BRIGHT, he
will be entitled to no inconsiderable portion of the
credit to be obtained therefrom.

It is impossible to accept the political article in
the new number of the Quarterly as in any way an
indication of the views entertained by her
MAJESTY'S Ministers in regard to the great pro-
blem now upon the eve of attempted solution—the
Reform of Parliament. The argument advanced
by the Reviewer is one that no sane person, in
either Lords or Commons, would have the temerity
to advocate from his place in either branch of the
Legislature. It is a great deal more than a mere
declaration in favour of the principle of Finality.
It is an avowal far more flagrant in its way than
that memorable one made once upon a time in the
House of Peers by the late Duke of WELLINGTON.
Upon the occasion referred to, it will be remem-
bered that his Grace contented himself with the
intimation that, according to his view of things, so
far the country had gone in the way of reform,
and that it should thenceforth go no further !
But the Quarterly Reviewer is a good deal bolder
than this in the irritating temerity of his political
dogmatism. He writes not only as though the
country ought not to advance further, but as
though it ought not to have advanced by any
means so far ! Precisely at the very time when
everybody is pointing forward—when everybody
is pressing on, with more or less eagerness—when
all alike are looking for improvement, advance-
ment, developement—this Sir Oracle, of the Quar-
terly, is proclaiming loudly the doctrine of Retro-
gression ! He is positively for retracing our foot-
steps. Instead of aspiring to witness the bettering,
in 1859, of what was done in 1832, he is for undoing
what was done in 1832, either in 1859, or as soon
afterwards as might be in any way practicable.
Upon the whole great question he expresses him-
self thus explicitly—" Reform," he writes, " is a
road which conducts to a precipice. At the first
halt there arises a cry, ' Advance.' Another stage
is passed, and reasonable men hope that they have
reached the goal, but suddenly they find the num-
bers greater than ever of those who cry, Advance,
advance !' In vain the wiser heads endeavour to
stop ; an irresistible force impels them onwards.
They become still more conscious that they are
approaching the brink, and they eagerly desire to
retrace their steps while yet they tread upon the
solid earth. But on they must go in spite of them-

selves, and although they know that they are has-
tening to ruin. Let the middle classes of this
great country, the manufacturers, the respectable
trades people, the farmers—all, in short, who em-
ploy labour and pay wages—pause before they put
themselves and their property under the dominion
of their men. Unless they offer a steady and
timely resistance the fatal boundary will be passed
when they will no longer be able to control the

movement and save the State." After such a series

of pusillanimous declarations, it is surely easy enough
to recognise the fact that in its capacity as a poli-
tical organ the Quarterly's occupation is gone as
irretrievably as that of Othello. For all the
influence it can ever exercise now upon the politi-
cal judgment of its contemporaries, it might from
this time forth be published at Coventry
or at Jericho, as at Albemarle-street, Piccadilly. It

was surely high time, in truth, with such evidence
before us, that Mr. BENTLEY, or some other enter-
prising Conservative publisher, should announce
the speedy commencement of a new quarterly
periodical. The old Quarterly, by the avowal
of views so utterly senile and antiquated, has to
employ the expressive phraseology of prospectuses,
but left a hiatus, the filling up of which has become

a desideratum. As though the opinions expressed by
the old Tory Quarterly in the current argument
upon Reform, from which we have already quoted,
were not sufficiently opposed'to the general ,
aspira-
tions of the community, the reviewer, writes

flagrantly, as follows:—" Of all the fallacies," he
observes, "that have been promulgated by theorists
about our constitution, the grossest is that of the
equi-balance of the three estates—independent and
coefficient. It is a state of political society which
would not exist a month. Supreme power (how-
ever nominally distributed) must, in practice, be
vested in one authority. With us that authority is
the House of Commons ; but, in order to prevent

that authority being wholly popular and supreme
over the other two, the Crown and the aristocracy
have a disguised but well-known and acknowledged
influence here, which preserves the real balance,
and obviates those dissensions and collisions to
which the same powers, operating in sepa-
rate and wholly independent movements, would
be liable. The present admixture of in-

terests in this house creates a certain
elasticity which has acted like springs, and has
prevented violent collision with the Crown and the
House of Lords. Take away these springs, and we
must run the risk of jostling against each other."
No fear of the Reviewer jostling with any one. He
is in nubibus. He has surely been slumbering for
the last two or three centuries in the mountains
where the giants are supposed to play skittles when
it thunders. Startled from his long sleep by this
new agitation for Reform, he stands looking down
upon the doings of our generation amazed and be-
wildered—the very
RIP VAN WINKLE of Politics.
"For what practical end, indeed," he asks, " is
Reform demanded, and what are the advantages
we hope to obtain to counterbalance its dangers?"
He is dismayed and astounded at the rashness of
Lord DERBY'S Government in promising to deal
with this purely supposititious difficulty. " The
legacy," writes the reviewer, " was bequeathed to
the present Government by their predecessors,
and [words could not be plainer] we heartily wish
they had declined to accept it !" The Quarterly
then has clearly abdicated its former position. It
is dreaming and doting over the memory of a ,
Toryism that is no more—that is not only dead,'
bat buried and almost forgotten. It is the poli-
tical organ of no party, of no section of a party
anywhere discoverable in either House of Parlia•
ment. As a sign of the times all this assuredly
furnishes the community with a negative augury
full of encouragement.

The Speaker arrived at his residence on Carlton-
terrace yesterday, from Ossington Park, Neward, Lady
Charlotte Denison is expected early next week.

DEATH OF MR. CO3I3IISSIONER
PHILLIPS.

We regret to learn that this eminent judge and
lawyer expired last night, at half-past 6 o'clock.
He was attacked on Monday last with a combina-
tion of paralysis and apoplexy. He remained in
an unconscious state up to the last moment, without
ever recovering speech. Dr. Todd and Mr. Harris,
his medical attendants, from the first gave not the
slightest hope of his recovery.