The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-25 00:00:00

tion, to receive the spontaneous homage of a grateful
nation. It has so happened, that in very spite of the
recollections of Chillian wallah, the brave old General
has extorted the cheers, not of adulation but of pride and
gratitude—pride in his prowess and gratitude for his
achievements—from a community whose congratula-
tions are only heightened in emphasis by the re.
membrance of their momentary, ungenerous,
and unmerited abandonment of confidence. Never
having ourselves participated in the panic
which unhappily at one period spread so
widely throughout the population, but having
been actuated in our opinion of Lord GOUGH by
that implicit reliance on his prowess and capacity
which induced Sir Itc.BERT PEEL to declare " at no
period of his career did I ever despair of his ultimate
success "—we can look with threefold satisfaction
upon those tokens of respect and admiration which
are just now pouring down plentifully upon the head
of the aged conqueror. As if for the unalloyed gra-
tification of his ambition, he is now, immediately after
his return homewards, receiving from all classes and
sections of the community the welcome due to his
many distinguished services and his many illustrious
achievements. From the hand of his SOVEREIGN he
has obtained the guerdon of his bravery, and the re-
ward of his long and glorious career in arms. From
the Parliament, from the Government, from the Com-
pany, from his brother officers, from the leaders of
fashion and the leaders of trade, as well as from the
great mass of the population, Lord GOUGH has ob-
tained the assurance that his merits have been appre-
ciated and his numerous and splendid victories duly
recognised. The knowledge of ell this cannot
fail to console the victorious veteran for
his prolonged absence from his native land, and will
doubtless enable him with larger satisfaction to him-
self to sink into the brilliant obscurity of the peerage,
and exchanging the duties of the senator for those of
the commander-in-chief, to crown his services as a
soldier with his patriotic conduct as a member of the
Imperial Legislature.
Incidentally during the entertainment given to the
Noble Lord in the London Tavern, on Saturday
evening, we were gratified to observe the cordiality
with which two names of distinguished officers in the
sister service, the Royal Navy of England,
were mentioned and received—the names, we
mean, of Sir WILLIAM PARKER and Sir JOHN
FRANKLIN. It was due to the merits of those
gallant sailors, that though spoken of as it
were merely in parenthesis, their names should be
greeted with loud and earnest acclamations. One of
them, by his daring and self-sacrificing devotion to the
cause of science, and to the credit of his country and
of his profession, has expatriated himself during many
past winters in the frozen deserts of the Arctic Circle,
carried thither in his great voyage of discovery. The
other—than whom there is not a nobler or braver
sea captain now living in the Royal Navy of
England—has, for a considerable time past, in the
Indian Ocean, and since then in the Mediterranean
Sea, watched over the interest of Great Britain with
unwinking vigilance, during days of war, of conspi-
racy, of intrigue, and of revolution. Tne first, it is
true, has exposed himself to the peril of perishing by
the horrible death of starvation, while the other, by his
bold and brilliant proceedings, not only on
the coasts of China, but on those of Italy,
Turkey, and Greece, has rendered himself
the object of partizsn vituperation. Yet the
names of both we are certain are enshrined in the
hearts of the people of England, and the achievements
of both, we are satisfied, will be inscribed in golden
characters in the annals of our maritime greatness.
It was as appropriate that the merits of Sir Joan
FRANKLIN and of Sir WILLIAM PARKER should have
been incidentally acknowledged during the entertain-
ment given by the East India Company in honour of
Lord GOUGE, as it was but just for that great Com-
pany to welcome thus early and thus earnestly back
to his native land the veteran soldier, whose sword
has illustrated anew the glories of their empire, and
whose victories have so largely extended the limits o
their dominion.

Among the remarkable trials for murder that
have taken place within the last half•century few
present more extraordinary features than that of
MARY CATHERINB NRWTON, who was arraigned at

Shrewsbury last week, on a charge of matricide. II

was the third time that the unfortunate woman had
appeared before a jury of her countrymen to answer
the most serious accusation that could be preferred
against anyindividual—an accusation which, if substan-
tinted, would inevitably have subjected the wretched
prisoner to an ignominious and painful death upon
the scaffold. There was a legal question of no
ordinary importance connected with this part of the
case affecting the trial by jury, which has been justly
termed the palladium of national liberty. And there
was also that pleasing diversity of opinion among the
medical witnesses, for which " the profession" has
been distinguished from the earliest times, and which
has led to the aphorism that " doctors differ." The
case was, therefore, one of deep interest to the mein-
bers of the legal and medical professions, and the re-
sult
of the trial was awaited with the greatest anxiety.
It has terminated in an " acquittal," although we be-
lieve some of our contemporaries took a former jury
to task for the difference of opinion that prevented the
execution of the party accused.
The deceased ANNE NEWTON, whose death formed
the subject-matter of investigation, was a person of
advanced years, who had survived the ordinary age
of mankind, being seventy-two years of age. She
was described as " very quick and acute for that time
of life, but rather flighty ; not insane, but at times
much excited, and would say unreasonable things."
She was entitled to a life-interest of 5001. sterling,
2001. of which, on her death, would become the
property of her only child, the prisoner, who would
also be entitled to a life •interest in the
remaining 3001. It was established beyond the
possibility of doubt that the daughter had on several
occasions behaved in the most cruel and unnatural
manner towards her aged parent, having frequently
beaten her severely, and expressed an anxious desire
for her death, in order that she (the prisoner) might
' come into possession of " her fortune." Repeated re-
monstrances were made to MART NEWTON on the
gross impropriety of her conduct, but without any
great effect, although she occasionally promised
amendment. Her continued misbehaviour in this
respect gave additional weight to the grave
suspicions excited by the death of ber
mother, and the serious inconvenience to
which she has been subjected, her protracted im-
prisonmen', and numerous trials, may in a great
degree be ascribed to her own heartless and unfeeling
conduct towards the author of her existence.

Oa the evening of the 4th December, 1848, the
old woman went to the house of a Mr. Drzst, with
whom the prisoner lived as housekeeper, where she
remained for the night, sleeping on a sofa in the
kitchen. About two o'clock the next morning the
sofa was found to be on fire, but it was easily extin-
guished. On search being made, the deceased ANNI
NEWTON was found in the brewhouse, lying on her
face, apparently burned to death. The prisoner,
who at the time was in a state of intoxication, used
several remarkable expressions, and behaved very
strangely in other respects, so as to give some sanction
to the opinion that she was in some degree implicated
in the transaction. These, however, might in some
evening.
degree be accounted for by the maudlin condition to
which she had reduced herself, having consumed the
greater portion of a quart of rum during the
medical
end inquestiear
practitioners
wtehree body,examaitn
examined,-
of
whom, who conducted the post-ntortens exami-
nation, declared that in their opinion the death
had been caused by suffocation, and that the injuries
from fire had taken place after death, while two other
gentlemen expressed opinions more favourable to the
prisoner, and thought that there were no certain data
whereon to decide whether they took place befure or
after death. It was conceded that there had been no
examination of the " larynx, trachea, bladder, or rec-
tum," so that the investigation could not be consi-
dered as by any means satisfactory. The coroner's
jury, who met on ten different occasions, were unable
11) agree as to the cause of death, but the prisoner
was fully committed on a charge of wilful murder by
the borough magistrates.
The first trial took place at the Spring Assizes,
1849 ; the inquiry was continued during two succes-
sive days. The jury, however, could not arrive at an
unanimous decision, and the commission day in the
adjoining county having arrived, and it being declared
that there was no prospect of theitagreement, they