The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-05 00:00:00

RAPE.

Henry Rudledge, described as a clerk, aged 40, remanded
from last session, was indicted for a rape on a young
woman, named Ellen Saltmarsh.

Mr. Sleigh appeared for the prosecution ; Mr. Ribton de-
fended the prisoner.

The prisoner is the man who was tried before Mr.
Baron Martin, last session, on a charge of rape on his
own daughter, snd after a long trial was acquitted.
Mr. Sleigh stated that he thought the facts would not be
sufficient to convict the prisoner, therefore he should offer
no evidence.

The jury then, under the direction of the Recorder, re-
turned a verdict of not guilty, and the prisoner was ordered
to bodischarged out of custody.

TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH CHINA.—
Without anticipating the time when we shall have an ab-
stract of last night's North China Herald hung up in our
news-rooms, we may at least venture to hope that the day
is not far distant when we shall receive a message from our
friends in China, and return an answer in 24 hours. If the
people of this country are ever expected to feel any particu-
lar interest in the leading events of China and Japan, they
must have it fresh and sparkling from the forge. News six
weeks old has a certain degree of staleness about it which is
anything but pleasant to us, or agreeable to our friends in the
East; it is more particularly so to an English palate accus-
tomed to feed on last night's debates. To most people in Eng-
land, China is a myth. News from that country is like news
from another world, and until the recent treaties called the
attention of the public to that country and Japan, it re-
quired an effort of mind to look upon news so old as to
really affect the people of England. This feeling the tele-
graph would at once dispel, and we should begin to look
upon these nations as a part and parcel of the English com-
munity. China and Japan would be within talking dis-
tance. Their customs, laws, and interests, would become
living realities instead of imaginary fables. An act of
oppression in Pekin would excite almost as much interest
as an obnoxious bill in the House of Commons ; and the
movements of the Russians on the River Amoor would
excite nearly as much attention as the diplomatic changes
at Berlin and Paris. Commercially speaking, the advan-
tages are the same as those now resulting from the use of
continental telegraphs; and, as our mercantile transactions
with the East increase, the value of our uninterrupted line
of telegraph will be more and more felt.—China Telegraph.
AFFECTING SCENE.—On Sunday afternoon, a
most affecting scene was witnessed in forth Shields. A
seaman named Gibson, a bluff, hearty, and cheerful mariner,
belonging Ito Cullercoats, on Friday?, lost his wife,
to whom he was warmly attached. Sunday afternoon was
the time appointed for interring her remains in the New
Cemetery, and about four o'clock the funeral procession
was passing through the village of Preston, when, as they
were approaching the cemetery, Gibson staggered into the
arms of a relative, and expired. A most distressing scene
ensued. His body was taken to a neighbouring house, and
a surgeon was called in, but he pronounced life extinct, and
that the man had died of apoplexy,—Manchester Guardian.

ROBBERY ON BOARD Snip.—A ferocious and dirty-
looking fellow, named Salem, a native of Java, who came
to this country in a Dutch ship a few years ago, and has
been a thief ever since, was brought before Mr. Yardley,
charged with stealing a quantity of wearing apparel, the
property of Michael Carey, a seaman, belonging to the ship
Liverpool, in the London Dock.
Carey stated that he was aroused from his slumber at
half-past two o'clock this morning by a noise in the fore-
castle. He turned out of his berth, and upon
passing round the forecastle, caught the prisoner:
A light was procured, and he discovered that the
prisoner had on a pair of trousers, and a pair of mitts,
which he had stolen 'out of a chest belonging to witness.
On the deck of the forecastle there was a quantity of wear-
ing apparel, which had been stolen out of the same chest.
.0n the prisoner being stripped, another pair of trousers,
which het(witness) 'missed on Saturday night last, were
found upon him. -When he asked the prisoner what busi-
ness he had on board, he replied, " I came here to sleep."
A Thames police-constable named Pickman, No. 67,
stated that the prisoner had been committed five times for
robberies of a similar description, and was a most dangerous
fellow.
Mr. Yardley committed the prisoner for trial.