Star.
London, England, 1825-11-28 00:00:00

FATAL ACCIDENT AT WALMER••CASTLE.

. .
The accounts which have appeared relative to the fatal
accident in the Earl of Liverpool's family, ire erroneOus.
The circumstances were these:—William Hawkins, the
co-k, had in the morning cleaned his own fowling-
pie-e, and placed it carefully (which he had been in the
habit of doing the short time he had been possessed of
it), in a press in the bed room of himself and Chris-
topher West, the first footman. Hawkins, it appears,
was absent the greater part of the day, and the game.
keeper in his absence observing a snipe he wished shot,
requested to have Hawkins's fowling-piece, which was
immediately procuted and loaded, but before he could
fire, the bird was on the wing. The gamekeeper, hoiv•
ever, left the charge undrawn, and John White, another
of the footmen, returned the gun in that state to the
press, from which he had taken it. Hawkins, ignorant
of that fact, and in full persuasion that the piece was
in the state he hod left it in the morning, retired to his
room %%kb West. West quitted the room for a short
time, and Hawkins, he ruing him coming, took up the
gun, and in fun, presented it at him, when it went off.
and killed him on the s, ot. The two servants had lived
top-Alter six years, in the most perfect harmony, a
virtue prevailing throughout the establishm nt, and in
which, it is said, his Lordship has for years been sift-
gularly fortunate.
The unfortunate young man was interred on Satur-
day, in the Church-yard of Wilmer; the upper servants
of his Lordship's est 4blishment attended the funeral.

LIABILITY OF COMMANDING OFFICERS FOR

THEIR MEN'.

A recent adjudication of the County Magistrates, at
Gaspoi t, declares that our esteemed Commander-in-
chief, Sir Jasies Lyon, had forfeited the sum of 40s.
upon the conviction of two soldiers, who were taken in
t! e act of destroying game, in the Parish of Rowner.
We tiantct ibe the clause of the Act of Parliament under
which the conviction took place:
" The 6th Geo. IV. c. 5. s. 90.—That for the better preserva-
tion of game in or near such places where Officers and soldiers are
quartered; if any Officer or soldier shall, without leave of the Lord
or the Manor first had and obtained, take, kill, or destroy any hare,
coney, pheasant, partridge, pigeon, or any other sort of fowls, poul-
try, or fish, or his Majesty's game, and upon complaint thereof shall
be, upon the oath of one or more credible witnesses, convicted
before any Justice or Justices of the Peace, who is and are hereby
empowered and authorised to hear and determine the same ; every
Officer so offending shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of
five pounds, to be distributed among the pour of the place where
such offence shall be committed ; and every Officer Conintanding-in-
Chief upon the place, for every such offence committed by any
solder under his rammand, shall forfeit the sum of twenty shillings,
to be paid and distributed in the manner aforesaid ; and if, upon
conviction made by the Justices. of the Peace, and demand thereof
also made by the constable or overseers of the poor, such Officer
shall refuse or neglect, and not within two day's pay the said re-
spective penalties, such Officer so refusing or neglecting shall forfeit,
and he is hereby declared to have forfeited, his Commission ; and
bin Commission is hereby declared to be null and void."
We understand that the Magistrates, as well as Sir
James Lyon, have taken the opinion of Counsel upon
the forfeiture being affixed upon the Commander-in-
Chief resident in Portsmouth, and not on the Officer in
command at Gosport, under whose immediate orders
the soldiers were; and these authorities severally con-
cur in the opinion of the Magistrates, that the übiquity
of Sir James Lyon is co-extensive with the limits of his
command; and that, in be' iet conformity to military
usage, the Officer commanding in chief is assumed to
be omnipresent upon every place within his jurisdiction ;
so that the opinion we expresed is correct, that as
the law now stands, S:r James Lyon would be liable, ex
lido. as Commander-in-Chief, to a like forfeiture for
every such offence committed by a soldier, even though
he should be quartered in the city of Bristol, which is
comprehended within the south-west district. There is
also much peculia•ity in the severe penalty attached to
the non-payment of the forfeiture. But whilst the Act may
be intended to prevent his Majesty's set vice from being
injured by the confinement (by the civil authorities) of
such soldiers as may commit these offences, and to con-
nect the highest Officer intimately with
.the men under
his command, so that no offence of this nature may be
committed without being reflective upon the whole
body (thereby encouraging strict discipline, and an
esprit de corps necessary and useful in military life), yet
we presume that there is an omission in the Act, in not
stating the manner by which the Officer Commanding-
in-Chief is to be reimbutsed, and the mode by which
the penalties may ultimately be visited upon the per-
sons who actually commit the offences. We are in•
formed that the question has been submitted for the
consideration of the Commander-in-Chief, and that his
Royal Highness has graciously siKnified his intention of
communicating with his Majesty's Government upon
the subject, in order that the law may be revised or car-
rected.—Hamplrire ielegraph.

Benntez, SEPTEMBER 21.—Just as the clock was
on the stroke of 10 last night, six distinct shocks of
earthquake were felt here. The first was not severe,
but the three nest wete particularly so, shaking the
house, and giving to it the undulating motions of a
ship at sea ; wide the two last, which appeared pa-
' dually to decrease in force, this visitation passed off ;
the whole lasted about two minutes, and the shocks
followed one another in rapid succession. The atmo
sphere had given none of those previous intimations of
this approaching phenomenon which usually precede it
in countries subject to its fearful visitations."
An old man named Snow, having got together a
little money, built a few houses at Walworth, which
becoming an eye-sore to some of the neighbours, a
system of annoyance has been kept up for some time,
by breaking the windows with stones, old shoes, &e.
and the undiscoveied p-rpe:rators of the outrage have
given out that it is the wot kof a ghost, in cons: quence
of w hick the poor manes tenements have become empty.
Saturday lie applied for redress at Union-hall, but, as
he could not fasten upon any one in particular, the ,
Magistia'e could do ni.thing for him.
In cons quence of the disfranchising of the borough of
Grampound, tl.e County of York will return four Mem-
bers at the next Election. Among the new cendtdates
are Mr. FUUNTATNE WILSON, who professes to be ad-
vet se to the claims of the Catholics, to which both the'
present Members are favourable, as are two other
distinguished Gentlemen, Lord MOAPETII and M.
BETUEL, who have declared their intention to offer
thetmelves for that gieat County.—The Leeds Intelli-
gence+ says," It is rumotired, that in consequence of the
great change lately perceptible in the aspect of the
Catholic Question, Mr. NVortruxv does not consider
himself warranted in supporting it in future." Mi.
Wowrcav will not, we suspect, stand alone in this re-
spect, the conduct of the Roman Catholic leaders being
such as to alienate many conscientious advocates of
,their cause.

OGLE CASTLE'S CARGO.
This was a ca e of salvage which came on on the 9.511
inst. before John Shipdrm, E-q. Surrogate of the Cinque
Potts Admiralty Court, and it is interesting from the
novelty of the decision, in decreeing to the salvors a
proportion in kind of the cargo, instead of a proport'on
of the appraised value. The salvors, nearly 100 in num- i 1
ber,• had:picked up at set, a long distance from the
land, about 300 bags Of cotton, some bales of silk, and
other ankles, which they had delivered to the. Lord
Warden's Officers, and which were claimed' by the
consignees, subject to salvage. The Surrogate, in pro-
nouncing judgment, adverted to the great exertion of
the salvor., which he stated to be highly meritorious,
and to have been in several instances attended with
great personal danger, a gale blowing with a tre-
mendous heavy sea running, insomuch that several of
the boats' crews were obliged, fot the preservation of
their lives,-to throw overboard what they picked up.—
The Surrogate, t • king the whole of the circumstances
into consideration, and the difficulty, from the bulky
nature of the goods, of saving them, and their small
comparative value, decreed that salvage expenses sht uld
first he raised by a sale of a sufficient part of the go id-,
and that a nioiety of the remainder shouli go to the
salvors.—Cznque Purls Hera d.