The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-21 00:00:00

A very great deal of interest appears to prevail
in the public mind with reference to what is
likely to be the ultimate fate of this prisoner, and
the sentencg, that is likely to be passed in the
event of his being convicted of the offence of birsamy
for which he stands committed to take hisc'trial,, at the ensuing session of the Central Criminal Court.
It may be as well to state that the punishment for
this offence has been very much changed by recent
alterations that have been made in the law ; but it
is looked upon as an offence of such a peculiar class,
and one which varies so greatly in its circumstances,
that a very large discretion is vested in the Court
before which a prisoner may be tried as to the
punishment. Before the abolition of the punish-
ment of transportation, a prisoner convicted of
bigamy was liable to be transported for seven years,
or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour,
at the discretion of the Court for "any period" not
exceeding two years. When the punishment of
transportation was abolished, the statute substituted
the maximum period of four years' penal servitude
in lieu of the extreme sentence of transportation,
and continued the same power as to imprisonment.
But this was again altered by a statute passed in
the 20th and 21st of the reign of her present Ma-
jesty, which gives the Court power to order a pri-
soner convicted of the offence of bigamy to be kept
in penal servitude for any period not exceeding
seven nor less than three years, or imprisonment not
exceeding two years, and either with or without
hard labour, as the Court shall think fit. It is
scarcely necessary to inform • the public that the
first wife can be no party, at least so far as giving
evidence, to the prosecution, the law not permitting
a wife to give evidence either in favour or against
her husband except in cases of personal injury, and
it is obvious that the person really injured by the
act, is the second wife, or rather the woman with
whom the illegal marriage is performed, and in all
such cases the punishment awarded to the prisoner
depends a great deal whether any deception or
fraud has been practised upon the second wife, and
where there is no evidence of this the sentence gene-
rally passed rarely exceeds four, or, at the most, six
months' imprisonment. In such a case as that of
Dr. Smethurst therefore, where the first marriage
took place 30 years before, and with a woman nearly
as many years older than himself, and where the se-
cond wife was perfectly aware that he was a
married man at the time she went through the cere-
mony, or, at all events, might very easily have made
inquiries and satisfied herself upon the subject if
she had been minded to do so, and when there did
not appear to be any suspicion of fraud or misrepre-
sentation, according to the usual practice of the
Court a very light sentence would have been in-
flicted, probably not more than throe months' im-
prisonment. The prisoner has now been more then
six months in prison, which is certainly a heavier
punishment than would have been passed upon him
if he had been originally tried and ronvicted for
bigamy; and it is difficult to taiderstand what
course can be taken by the Court under the peculiar
circumstances of the case, in case of a conviction.
The prisoner himself complains very much of the
course that has been taken in keeping him so long
in suspense, and also that, having been declared in-

noceni of the crime of wilful -ruurder, he should

•
now be prosecuted for the minor offence of bigamy.
He is still, of course, in custody, but it is understood
that an application will shortly be made to one of
the learned judges to admit him to bail, and it is

very probable that the application will be granted,
it being quite a usual course for parties charged
with this description of offence to be admitted to
bail, especially where there are no circumstances of

aggravation. If the prisoner should, by a failure of
evidence or any technicality, obtain an acquittal, it
is not at all unlikely that he will make a claim upon
the Goveyrnment for compensation for the pain and
suffering he has undergone, but it is not probable
that suc a claim will be attended with any success.
Mr. Sleigh has been retained to conduct the defence,
. .

but it is expected that a learned counsel will be spe-
cially retained to lead him on behalf of the prisoner.

THE RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS IN ST.
GEORGE'S-IN-TILE-EAST.
o

Ycaterdny there was a renewal of the riots in the
parish church of St. George's-in-the-East, and one
gentleman is at present in cusfody of the police,
living been charged for an offenc,e_against the 2.d
of William and Mary, for wilfUllf disturbing the
congregation. He would be mild/ upon to answer
the charge at the Thames Police-court this morning.
At the 11 o'clock service yesterday morning the
congregation was larger than on any previous occa-
sion. From an early hour cabs brought down visitors
from the west end of London, and it was plainly ap-
parent that not a tenth part of those who attended
were parishioners. Just as the organ commenced the

" Voluntary," and while the priests and choristers
were entering in procession, a well-dressed person
near the altar declaimed in a very excited state,
" I demand those seats for the choristers, in the
name of the Secretary of State, and I appeal to the
churchwardens to clear them." It may be men-
tioned that the choristers' seats were at this time
occupied by persons who had been passed privately
into the church before the doors were thrown open, I
and that they were reserving them for the choris-
ters. Mr. Churchwarden Thompson, hearing the
disturbance, immediately repaired to the place from
which the noise proceeded, and the gentleman in
question addressed him in a loud and imperious
tone of voice, saying, " Mr. Churchwarden, in the
name of the Secretary of State, I demand that you
clear those seats." He exhibited great violence of
manner, which the police failed to moderate. Find-
ing all remonstrance useless, Mr. Churchwarden
Thomson gave the offending gentleman into the
custody of Police-constable 7.2 K, who conducted
him to the station-house in King David-lane. He
there gave his name as Mr. William Cornwallis,
and his residence at Calais. Ile declined to dis-
close the nature of his profession or occupation.
He sent, however, for bail to a gallant colonel re-
siding in Westbourne-terrace, Paddington, but at
the close of the evening service he had not been
liberated from durance vile. He stands charged
with " willingly and of purpose disquieting and
disturbing the congregation assembled in the parish
church of St. Georgo's-m-the-East during the morn-
ing service." From the excited manner of the ac-
cused, it was feared that he was labouring under
some mental aberration, and this was also the im-
pression at the police-station where he was charged.
It appears that the rector's party, availing them-
selves of an early entrance into the church, had
filled the choristers' seats with friends of their own,
most of whom were strangers in the parish, and
thus those who intended to exclude the choristers,
as they did on the pre'sioas Sunday. were defeated
in their intentions. The body of persons thus
introduced joined in the choral service with
great spirit, and instead of the choir being over-
whelmed, as had been the case on previous Sun-
days, they had for this occasion much the best of
it, and the malcontents were unable to offer any
formidable opposition. Taking the morning ser-
vice as a whole, it was much more orderly than it
has been for many weeks past. There was an im-
posing array of police, ten or a dozen being located
in Cannon-street, seven or eight on the steps of the
church, while a large number were scattered in all
parts of the sacred edifice. Their presence had the
effect of exasperating rather than of intimidating
the people, and for all practical purposes it is evi-
dent that they would be far more effective if they
were stationed in some adjacent place, from which
they might be called in the event of their services
being required. This, however, is a matter which
rests neither with the superintendent of police nor
with the Chamberlain, but with the Home Secre-
tary.
The Rev. A. 11. Machonochie was the officiating
minister, and there were but few signs of disappro-
bation until he stood at the altar with his back to
the congregation. This elicited some hissing and
continuous coughing. On ascending the pulpit he
did not tarn to the altar in the invocation of the
Trinity, and thus escaped the hissing and yelling
which have hitherto been the accompaniments of
this part of the ceremony. He selected for his text
the 16th verse of the 33d chapter of the Book of
the Prophet Jeremiah. "This is the name where-
with he shall be called the Lord our righteousness."
The congregation listened to the preliminary por-
tions of the sermon with much apparent interest,
but soon there was walking up and down, slamming
of pew doors, and lounging over pews, giving the
place a theatrical rather than an ecclesiastical aspect.
The churchwardens, chief constable (Mr. Herbert),
and the beadle moved about, particularly near the
altar, where, if anywhere, violence was appre-
hended. The sermon was st plain, practical dis-
course, containing nothing which was calculated
to provoke any outbreak of feeling. At its close
Mr. Machonochie turned his bock upon the
people while he said the concluding prayer, which
gave rise to much hissing and confusion. The
offertory was a complete mockery. Not more than
a score of persons contributed. When the bags
were presented to them most of the people shook
their heads, while others smiled and seemed to view