The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-08-29 00:00:00

which may 1

to open out into the ba

are lounging

ber of the officers of the 46th, who have been called in,
are about to be called in, or who have been turned out
the midst of their examination, because the court w_
cleared,--and there they are all gossipping, with Colonel
Garrett in the midst of them. The method in which the
xamination is conducted is this :—Let us suppose that
- wishes to put

a quest

cross-examit

tion. The witness is standing between the President and
the Deputy-Judge-Advocate—so close that he could with
the utmost facility read any paper that might be in
the hands of either of them. The prisoner then
writes his question on a slip of paper, and delivers it to
the orderly sergeant, who carries it to the President.
The President looks at it, and may or may not raise a
little friendly discusssion upon it, in which all persons

officially present seem inclined enough to join. But let
us presume that he hands it at once to the Deputy-Judge-
Advocate. This functionary reads it aloud—but it must
not therefore be supposed that the witness is to be incom-
moded as yet with any necessity for reply. After reading
out the question, the Deputy-Judge-Advocate quietly
takes up his pen and transcribes it into the minutes with
all due circumspection and attention to calligraphy, and
then, and not till then, does he rise from his seat and read
the question out to the witness, much in the same tone
he would use if he were asking him to take a glass of
wine. We leave it to the experience of all persons who
have been connected with the administration of justice
to decide what chance there is of eliciting truth upon a
system of this kind. The theory which Lieutenant Perry
set up in his defence was, that the bulk of the officers of
the 40th were in combination against him, and that many
of them had been guilty of perjury in the evidence they
delivered against him—either the perjury of assertion or
the perjury of forgetfulness. It was with the weapons,
and under the circumstances we have described, that he
was to trip them into contradiction with themselves, to
confound them with the consciousness of their guilt, and
to drag the truth from their white and trembling lips.
Even then we have not quite exhausted the absurdities
of a court-martial. It must not be supposed that the
Deputy-judge-advocate records the answer actually given ;
he throws in pronouns and prepositions according to his
own fancy. He allows the witnesses for the prosecution
to alter and amend their evidence a dozen times before- it
is recorded. He helps a lame dog, so the dog limps on
the prosecutor's side, over any awkward style. The func-
tions discharged by the official prosecutor are perhaps the
most anomalous of all ; he frames the questions for the
examination in chief, and stops the questions for the cross-
examination ; he makes and enforces his own statutes of
limitation ; and, in fact, performs in his own person those
compound duties which, in civil courts, are discharged by
the judge, the jury) the counsel for the defence, and the
counsel for the prosecution, and winds up with an enco-
mium npou the impartiality he has displayed throughout.

OLD NICE.--At the review at Windsor, a spectator,
exulting in the magnificence of the warlike array, ex-
claimed, " What does Old Nick (Nicholas) think of that E"
To which irreverent question, a Quakerlike personage,
who, nevertheless, evinced great curiosity, and who mis-
tookpersonage referred to, replied with a groan, he
feared DitlZstia Would be but too delighted with it,"

CARDIFF.—As an instance of the overcrowded state of
the coal docks in the various ports of South Wales, we
may mention that at Cardiff there are at this time no less
than 15,000 tons of shipping waiting outside the dock
gates to be loaded with coal from the pits of one proprietor
only, and this exclusive of the vessels in the docks taking
in eargo. The new dock which is being built in order to
accommodate the enormously increasing traffic of the port,
is rapidly approaching to completion, but even this addi-
tional area will shortly prove inefficient. This new work
has been undertaken by the trustees of the Bute estate.
THE IsTEw PußrAo-nousE LAW.—At the Birkenhead
Police-court, on Thursday, several publicans and beer-
house-keepers were summoned for infringements of the
new act regulating public-houses. Several cases were dis-
missed on various grounds, but many persons were fined.
Mr. Case, during the hearing of the cases, more than
once stated that every publican in the township had been
supplied with an abstract of the new act of parliament,
and therefore they could not plead ignorance. The bench
were determined to carry out the new act with the great-
est severity and rigour.
STATUE OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGToN.—The inhabi-
tants of the town of Brecon are about to raise a statue of
the late Duke of Wellington, and the site for its erection
has just been selected. It will be placed on the Bulwark,
about 50 feet from the church. The height of the statue
and pedestal will be 18 feet, the former being 8 feet and
the latter ten. John Evan Thomas, the eminent sculptor,
will be the artist, and there cannot be a doubt that the
whole will be an ornament to the town. The site chosen
is very striking, and calculated well to show the statue to
advantage.

SPORTIIVG INTELLIGENCE
LATEST BETTING.

The speculation on forthcoming events during the past
week shows a great change in the favourites for the Don-
caster St. Leger. King Tom was laid against at 1,000 to
5 on Monday, and on Tuesday he was declared not to start.
Boiardo, reported to have had a very favourable trial, had
strong supporters, who, after commencing at 40 to 1 on
Monday, have backed him at all prices during the week,
2 to 1 only being obtainable about him on Friday evening.
Dervish, on the advance of his stable companion, has re-
ceded to the outside division, whilst Acrobat has many
admirers, who freely take 6to 1 about him. Champagne
is hors de combat, having broken down very badly in the
race for the Great Yorkshire Stakes.- The Trapper, Mid-
summer, Ivan, and The Knight of St. George, are also
inquired after, and have been backed at our quotations.—
For the Leamington Stakes and the Derby there is not
much doing. Latest prices:—
LEAMINGTON STARES.
9 to 1 agst Mr. T. Dawson's Amalgamation—taken.
DONCASTER ST. LEGER.
2 to 1 agst Lord Derby's Boiardo—taken.
6to 1 „ Lord Derby's Acrobat—taken.
6to 1 „ Mr. Payne's The Trapper—taken.
12 to 1 „ Mr. Morris's Knight of St. George—taken.
14-to 1 „ Mr. S. Ilawke's Midsummer—taken.
15 to 1 „ Lord Zetland's Ivan—taken.