The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-22 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

CLAIMS TO PEERAGES.—The House of Lords has decided
that the claim put forward by the Duke of Buckingham
to be placed on the roll of Scottish peers as Lord Kinloss
was a good one. With regard to the Burley and Kilwin-
ning peerage; their lordships agreed to a resolution
declaring that the claimant, Mr. Bruce, had made out his
descent from the last Lord Burley, but that owing to the
attainder of Robert, Lord Burley, in 1715, he had failed
to establish his claim to the Balfour peerage, and that
he had failed to establish his claim to the Kilwinning
peerage.

THE AFFAIRS OF THE LATE ADMIRAL KELLY.—In the
Lord Justices' Court, the case of Braund v. the Earl of
Devon was heard. The suit was instituted to administer
the estate of the late Admiral Marwood Kelly, who
bequeathed the residue of his property to trustees for
the purpose of founding a charity to be called the
" Kelly College," and to be situate in Devonshire. The
lineal descendants of the testator's paternal grandfather
were to have a preference, and then the sons of deceased
officers in the royal navy. The dill was demurred to
by the trustees on the ground, first, that as the suit
was to establish a charity it ought to have been com-
menced by the Attorney-General by way of information ;
and secondly, that the consent of the Charity Commissioners
ought to have been obtained before the institution of the
suit. Vice-Chancellor Stuart overruled the demurrer,
and the defendants, the trustees, appealed. Their lord-
ships, on the second ground, allowed the demurrer, but
gave leave to amend the bill.
ACTION AGAINST A CHURCHWARDEN.—In the Arches
Court a suit was instituted by the Rev. F. Richings, the
incumbent of Atherstone, Warwick, against Mr.
Edward Cordingley, one of the churchwardens, for vio-
lently entering the church and removing the super altar,
the altar cloth, &c., on the ground that at a meeting of
the vestry a resolution was passed that such decorations
were unlawfully introduced into the church. An immense
number of witnesses have to be examined, and the hearing
will most likely last for some time. During the hearing
of the case the Dean of Arches took occasion to remark
that much litigation would be avoided in ecclesiastical
matters if persons first obtained a faculty or permission to
introduce things in the services, or proceeded in a proper
manner to remove the same without taking the law into
their own hands.
STOrPING LP AN ARCHWAY.—In the same court a suit
was brought by a gentleman named Crawley, the lay
impropriator of Luton, Bedfordshire, against the Rev.
James. O'Neill for plastering up an archway leading to
the chancel. The defendant objected to the jurisdiction
of the court, but this was overruled. The church had
been restored, and since the institution of the present suit
defendant bad commenced to remove the obstruction. At
the suggestion of his lordship, the affair was amicably
settled.

STRANGE CAREER OF A CLERGYMAN.-At the Middlesex
Sessions a clergyman was convicted of fraudulently
obtaining certain sums of money on behalf of the male
Lock Hospital, and appropriating them to his own use.
Before sentence was passed, the accused put in a state-
ment, in which he attributed his fall to an unconquerable
love of drink. He had been engaged to be married to a
lady of great wealth, and everything was prepared for the
ceremony, when, yielding to temptation, he becat,e
intoxicated, and " failed to be there as appointed." The
match was consequently broken off, and from that hour he
"rushed headlong into drink and gay company until
he was quite mad." He had been in prison on charges
of stealing toddy ladles, and of disappearing with his land-
lord's coat and watch ; then ho was nine months in Beth-
lehem ; next, curate of a parish in Surrey ; afterwards he
underwent eighteen months' imprisonment for forgery;
and then became secretary to the male Lock; Hospital,
Dean-street, Soho. For the offence with which he was
now charged he was sentenced to five years' penal servi-
tude.

ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO MURDER A WIFE.-At the Mary-
lebone Police-court J. Crummins was ehargedwith throwing
his wife out of the window with intent to murder her. A
policeman gave evidence to shew that he found the pri-
soner's wife lying on the leaden fiat of an outhouse.
As Mrs. Crummins was in a too precarious state to attend
the court, the magistrate visited her at the hospital, and
took down her deposition. She stated that on the night
in question she was intoxicated, but denied that the
prisoner had ill-used her. The accused was remanded.
SHEEP•STEALING NEAR THE METROPOLIS.-At the Mid-
dlesex Sessions, Thomas Daly, 19, pleaded guilty to, and
Edwin Winder and James Burns were indicted for, steal-
ing eighteen sheep, the property of Mr. J. C. Hartwell,
farmer, Chingford, Essex. On the 17th of June
the sheep were all safe, and the two first-named
prisoners were seen on the same day in the neigh-
bourhood of Chingford, and subsequently Daly was
seen driving some sheep, and was followed to a yard
belonging to his mother, where every preparation had been
made for slaughtering the animals. The prisoners were
found guilty, and it was stated that Winder had engaged
premises near King's-cross for the purpose of receiving
stolen sheep, and, in fact, had been the prime instigator
of most of the sheep robberies that have lately taken place.
Winder was sentenced to fourteen years' penal servitude,
and the other prisoners to five years each.

FATAL COLLIERY ExrLosroN. —An explosion of
firedamp has taken place in the coalpit of Sainte-Barbe,
near Rive-de-Gier, France. Twelve workmen are said to
have lost their lives, and seven to be wounded.

FATAL CHASE AFTER A BUTTERFLY.—A lad, 7
years of age, Darned Binns 800th,,, was, a day or two ago,
chasing a butterfly on the banks of the River Aire, at
Shipley, and not being conscious of his near proximity to
the stream, he fell in and was drowned.

THE CATASTROPHE TO THE BRIDAL PARTY AT
BATTERSEA.—Since Sunday evening last the Thames police
and several watermen have been engaged in dragging the
river with the view of recovering the bodies of the bride,
bridegroom, and bridesmaid drowned at Battersea. Their
efforts were without avail until Tuesday afternoon. At
that time the bodies of Mrs. Betsworth and her sister,
Ann Chads, were found, not far from one another, on the
Middlesex side of the river, opposite Chelsea. They were
at once conveyed on shore to the parish dead-house. At
three o'clock the body of the unfortunate bridegroom,
John Betsworth, was recovered off Pimlico.

MORE SUPERSTITION IN CORNWALL.—A fisher-
man of Mevagissey lately became impressed with the idea
that he was " " by a poor widow, whose son had
been dismissed from a mackerel seine. To avert the evil
consequences which he apprehended might ensue, he
procured a large bone, and, after filling the hollow with
pins, proceeded to place it in the chimney. During this
interesting ceremony he read portions of the Bible,
especially the 109th Psalm. This incantation was in-
tended to cast a spell on the " witch," but hitherto it has
failed in effecting the proposed result. As might have
been expected, a full measure of ridicule has been showered
upon the luckless victim of the machinations of the
" witch." But the hard-working, quiet woman, who
possesses an untarnished character, has been subjected to
great annoyance. It is an acknowledged fact that many
in Cornwall superstitiously attach importance to such
ovnzeleeti allrati9463of witvhcr4tt—iNefailior....,T
Now,

ANOMER PRONUNCIAMENTO IN SPAIN.

Nothing is so restless as the Revolution,
it is as untiring in its efforts as the spirit of
evil. Where it is powerful, as in Italy and
Austria, it speaks aloud and declares its aims
in the face of the world. Where it is weak, as
in Spain, it whispers in secret and plots in the
dark. One of these conspiracies in the dark has
just been discovered in Spain and nipped in
the bud, by the arrest of its leaders. The
Revolution is a very chameleon, taking every
colour as suits its purpose ; it is now republi-
can, now constitutional, now despotic, but un-
der every shape and colour alike it is the
deadly enemy of the Christian State. Spain
under Isabella is true, as a nation, to its Catholic
character, therefore, the Revolution has de-
creed the overthrow of the reigning dynasty.
The aim of the conspiracy which has just been
crushed, was to force Queen Isabella to abdi-
cate, and if the conspirators failed to induce
the Duchess of Montpensier to take her sister's
throne, to proclaim as King the Queen's son,
the Prince of Asturias, under a Regency,
formed of the Duke and Duchess of Montpen-
sier, Marshal Serrano, and it is said of Espar-
tero. The leaders of the conspiracy belonged
to the Liberal Union, the party of the late
Marshal O'Donnell, who had often plotted to
place the Duchess of Montpensier on Queen
Isabella's throne. The failure of General Prim's
conspiracy, and of the plot to create a Masonic
" Iberian Kingdom" by the union of Portu-
gal and Spain, under the King of Portugal,
forced the Revolution to try its hand at a less
daring game. But the Spanish Government,
well informed and prompt, arrested Marshal
Serrano and five or six other Generals impli-
cated in the plot, and shipped them off forth-
with to the Canaries, and at the same time in-
timated to the Duke of Montpensier the neces-
sity of his at once leaving the country. By
such prompt measures the plot, deprived of
military leaders, and of the countenance of
the Queen's brother-in-law, was speedily at
an end. The Duke of Montpensier had long
treated the reigning family with studied cold-
ness, and cultivated friendly relations with
disappointed Liberals. The House of Orleans,
it must be remembered, is not famous for its
family loyalty. The Queen, who by her Catholic
and Conservative policy, and by her loyalty
to the Pope, has conciliated the Spanish Car-
lists, and drawn to her throne the supporters
of order and religion, and in the same measure
exasperated the revolutionary and irreligious
party. Hence her name has become a byeword
in the mouth of Europeon Liberalism, that
vast conspiracy against justice and religion,
and her rule, under which Spain is gradually
recovering moral strength and material pro-
sperity, is the object of unceasing vitupera-
tion and slander in the Liberal Press. The
recent marriage of the Infanta with the brother
of the King of Naples has also given offence
to the revolutionary party, between whom in
every country a singular solidarity exists.
The suddenness, without warning of any
kind to betoken their approach, of these peri-
odical outbreaks in Spain has often been the
subject of remark, but this suddenness arises
from the fact that they are not popular com-
motions, but simply military plots. Their
cause is personal ambition, not popular dis-
content. People in Spain do not trouble
themselves about politics ; it is no affair of
theirs. They love peace-and quiet; they want
a Government that will uphold order and re-
spect religion. Politics in their eyes is a game
at which conspirators and speculators play for
their own private advantage. Respectable
men abstain from soiling their fingers by coni
tact with politicians by profession, who are
too often, indeed, in the Peninsula mere sedi-
tion-mongers. Were it not for ambitious and
disappointed soldiers, encouraged by foreign
intrigue and by that revolutionary Liberalism,
which, even in Spain, is to be found in some
of the commercial towns, Europe would not
every now and again be startled by the an-
nouncement of the discovery and suppression
of a new plot in Spain, to re move a Govern-
ment or upset a dynasty.—Westininster Gazelle.