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there was not even the allegation that revenue was the object. With regard to the equivalent, as it was called, of free transmission through the post, it should be remembered that the tax was charged on 80 million copies, while only 33 million passed through the postand, if the stamp were removed, arrangements might be made for the conveyance of these 33 million at a much less charge than was now paid. After demonstrating the uncertainty of the law by the example of the prosecution against the "Household Narrative," commenting on the impropriety of making excise-officers censors of the press, and animadverting on the injustice of exempting what are called class newspapers from the tax, while general newspapers were liable, he concluded by moving the resolution against the paper duty.-Mr. EWART seconded the motion, and quoted the opinions of Mr. Knight and the Messrs. Chambers, the publishers, as to the evil effects of the paper duty. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was not aware that the injurious effect of | the excise laws was greater in the case of paper than in that of soap, and other exciseable articles. Considering the question in a financial point of view-in which only he was at liberty to regard it--he did not feel justified in acceding to the motion. The united amount of the three taxes was considerable; but he admitted that the advertisement tax offered a subject for consideration, and that the newspaper duty also stood on a somewhat different footing from the paper duty. He reminded the house that the policy of the country had been, of late years, not to increase indirect taxation. One great source of indirect taxation-the Customs-had been seriously interfered with already; the other great source -the Excise was now attacked, and a committee, up-stairs, was at the present moment assailing the great sources of direct taxation. What could be more unwise-what more dangerous to the financial position of the country-than that they should go on diminishing the sources of indirect taxation, before they had settled the principles on which direct taxation was for the future to stand? He justified his vote in favour of Mr. Gibson's previous motion, by the circumstances of the time when it was brought forward. The present proposal would involve a sacrifice of revenue to the extent of a million-and-a-half; and, intending, as he did, to make his financial exposition on Friday in the next week, he wished, in doing so, to be left unfettered to deal with all taxes as he thought the interests of the country required.-Messrs. WAKLEY and COBDEN suggested that the debate should be adjourned until after the financial statement.-Mr. GIBSON, understanding that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had promised to consider the question of the newspaper stamp and the advertisement duty, consented to the adjournment. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER disclaimed having given any promise to give any peculiar consideration to those taxes beyond all others. The debate was then adjourned to Wednesday, the 12th of May.

what measures should be taken to meet any possible attack, for which 41,000 infantry in England and Ireland were not, in his opinion, a sufficient force. Lord John then instituted a comparison between the bill of the late government, which tempered, with every practicable alleviation, the condition of compulsion, with the present measure, which appealed solely to mercenary motives; and he asked whether a force so raised was one upon which the country could rely? The bill consisted of two parts-one, that of bounties, would be inefficient; the other, which adopted the ballot, would be oppressive, and interfere with the industry of the country. Speaking for himself alone, he should not recommend a large increase of our standing army; but there were other measures which had been suggested that evening whereby a large force might be raised for defence, including the organisation of the pensioners, a small amount of embodied militia, and a draught of 6,000 or 7,000 men from the colonies. He had, upon the whole, come to the conclusion, believing that the measure would be totally futile, and not provide a good and sufficient defence to the country, to vote for the amendment.-Lord PALMERSTON had hoped that, as the main principle of this measure had been admitted on both sides of the house, it would have been discussed solely with reference to the defence and security of the realm, and that no party feelings would have mixed themselves up with the discussion. It was with pain, therefore, he had witnessed the line which Lord J. Russell and those who acted with him had thought it their duty to take on this occasion. Great misapprehension, he observed, prevailed with regard to the position of the country in reference to its defence. It was impossible to reckon with confidence upon the nonoccurrence of some unforeseen event which might require the country to resist or submit to injury. Some said, "Why alarm yourselves with the fear of invasion?" But circumstances had in the last few years materially changed; the facilities for invasion had increased, and our force, regulars and pensioners, was insufficient to meet such an emergency. There were two ways in which this deficiency might be made good one by adding materially to our standing army, to which he entirely objected-for 8,000 regulars would cost as much as 80,000 militia; the other by a militia force. He was of opinion that this measure was a good one. What was the difference between it and the measure which the late government had made a vital question? In the latter compulsory service was the rule, and voluntary service the exception; in the present measure voluntary service was the rule, and compulsory service the exception-so that the reason why the late government opposed this bill must be because it was not compulsory enough. He believed that by voluntary enlistment as many men could be got as would be wanted, and that they would not be backward in obeying the call of their country in time of need. He, therefore, looked upon this measure as calculated to do an essential good to the country; but if he thought that, in some points, it might be improved, that was no reason why he should oppose the second reading. The debate was then adjourned.

On Monday the 26th, the adjourned debate on the Militia Bill was concluded. The principal speakers in favour of the Bill were Lord Seymour, Colonel Lindsay, Mr. Cardwell, Mr. M. Milnes, Mr. S. Herbert, and Mr. Walpole; against it, Mr. Ellice, Admiral Berkeley, Mr. M. Gibson, and Mr. Roebuck. On a division the second reading was carried by 315 to 165.

On Friday the 23d, on the question of the second reading of the Militia Bill, Sir DE LACY EVANS moved its second reading in three months. He objected to the bill, as a militia bill; but if we were to have such a bill, he would, he said, infinitely prefer that of the late government. The inefficient force raised by this bill, he contended, so far from increasing, would diminish the means of national defence, which would be better provided for by withdrawing troops from the colonies and concentrating our military resources at home. He entered into professional details with the view of showing the risks and impediments that would be encountered by an invading force, and suggested that we might, therefore, at least wait until a new parliament assembled.-Mr. RÍCH seconded the amendment.-Sir J. Walsh, Mr. Newdegate, and Sir J. Pakington sup-read third time, and passed.-Proclamation of Assembling House of Lords.—March 29th.-Law of Wills Amendment Bill ported the bill; Mr. F. Peel and Sir R. Peel sup- Parliament Bill passed through committee. ported the amendment.-Lord J. RUSSELL said, it was because he thought the country required more defence April 1st.-Administration of Justice in Lunacy Bill read a that he was unable to consent to the second reading of first time. this bill, which he believed would prove an utter 2nd.-East India Company's Charter Renewal.-Select Comdelusion. If, according to the opinions of all profes-mittee granted to Lord Derby. sional men, the means of warfare had improved, it was

PROGRESS OF BUSINESS.

30th. Ministerial Explanations.

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5th. War with Ava.-Lord Ellenborough's motion for papers agreed to. 6th.-House adjourned to the 19th.

not sufficient to recur to what had been done in former wars, and to our immunity from attack fifty years ago. 19th.-Masters in Chancery Abolition Bill introduced.—MuAll these precedents failed; and then the question was, | tiny Bills read a third time, and passed.

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30th.-Wine Duties: Select Committee appointed-Mr.Berkeley's motion for Vote by Ballot, negatived by 246 to 144.

137 to 95.

-Militia Bill read a first time.

5th.-Ministerial Policy, Debate on Mr. Osborne's demand for Explanations.—Caffre War Expenses, Vote in Supply Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill passed through committee. 6th.-County Courts Further Extension Bill, Amendments considered in committee.-Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill considered in committee. House adjourned to the 19th.

19th.—Grand Juries in London, leave given to the Attorney General to bring in a Bill to Abolish.-Passengers Act Amendment Bill, and Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill, considered in committee. The Rev. Mr. Bennett: Mr. Horsman's motion lost by the previous question.-Hungarian Refugees, Lord Dudley Stuart's motion for Correspondence agreed to. 21st.-Irish Fisheries, Mr. Conolly's Bill withdrawn.-Parish Constables Bill, and Enfranchisement of Copyholds Bill read a second time. 22nd.—Taxes on Knowledge.-Debate on Mr. M. Gibson's motion adjourned.

23rd. Militia Bill.-Debate and second reading adjourned. 26th.-Militia Bill.-Second reading carried by 315 to 165.Loan Societies Bill read a third time and passed.-Highway Rates Bill and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Bill, read a second

time.

and was a good linguist, who onee filled a well-paid situation in the Brazils under a mercantile firm, but has been confined in a lunatic asylum twice, and lately has been unable to do anything at all for his own living. His mother was fondly attached to him, and wholly supported him. The landlord of Mrs. Wheeler was Mr. Toms, a carpet-bag manufacturer, who occupied the ground-floor of the house in which she lived; and in a floor above that occupied by her lodged Eliza Phillips, who has known her for nearly thirty years. In the ex

April 1st.-British Subjects abroad: Mr. M. Milnes' motion disposed of by the previous question.-Borough of Harwich, Sir De L. Evans's motion for a Bribery Commission, negatived by 2nd. Ministerial Explanations.-Writ issued for Harwich.- | amination of the criminal before the Lambeth PoliceRepayment of Advances (Ireland) Bill read a second time.- Court, Eliza Phillips said, that, hearing a scuffling noise Protection of Inventions Bill passed through committee.-in Mrs. Wheeler's room, followed by a heavy fall, she Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill considered in committee. ran up-stairs and tapped at the door, which was partly opened by the prisoner, and hastily closed again in her down stairs, and called the landlord and landlady. Mrs. face. Fearing that something was the matter, she ran Elizabeth Toms, the landlady, stated that she ran upstairs, found Mrs. Wheeler on the floor, saw blood, ran of the prisoner. She added—“Ever since I have been in down-stairs, and sent persons for a doctor and in pursuit the house, I have observed something irregular in his manner. Lately I observed that he was getting worse. When he had his fits on him, he looked very pale and ill." the room the body of the deceased was still warm; on the Mr. Hutchinson, surgeon, stated that when he came into table, which was spread with a cloth for dinner, was the poor woman's head. On the floor was a pillow, bearing marks as if a person had knelt on it to be unstained by the blood on the floor. Mr. Toms stated that he followed and overtook the prisoner, and gave him into the custody of policeman Lockyer. Policeman Lockyer described what passed after the arrest. The witness: I said to him, he must consider himself in my custody, and go with me to the station. He said, 'They have not let THE Goldsmiths' Company entertained her Majesty's me go far: I have been tormented for four or five years ministers on the 17th. The Earl of Derby made a by them.' I said, 'Do you mean to say that you have speech, in the course of which he illustrated, by reference killed your mother?' and he said, 'I have: I am sorry to the recent gold discoveries, his own success in dis- for it.' I said, 'How came you to do it?' 'Well,' he covering a new crop of statesmen. "Hitherto," said said, 'I have been tormented for four or five years.' I his lordship, "gold has been considered to be confined asked him how he did it, and he said, 'She was coming to a very limited quarter, capable of very small exten-in at the door, and I knocked her down with the flat-iron, sion, and spread over a very small portion of the globe; and I found that that was not sufficient, and I then but suddenly, to the astonishment of the world, from took the carving-knife. She was very tough, and I then various distant regions, at one and the same time, it is struck her head off with the hatchet.' At the stationpouring in upon us with a profusion that is astonishing house I found a knife in his coat pocket, and I asked all ranks and all classes, the effect of which it is difficult him what he was going to do with it, and he said, 'That to foresee, but of which it is not difficult to say that it was for myself.' I understood that he was going to cut must work strange and extraordinary revolutions in the his own throat. He said, 'you will find a letter on the system of society. But it is not only in regard to the table, and take particular care of it.' That was before discovery of gold that new mines appear to be opened to he said anything about the knife. On going to the us. Within a very short time, as with regard to gold, house, I found several letters on the table, but I have so there was (as it turns out) a popular delusion that the not had time to read them yet. I searched for the flatfield of statesmen and of the political metal was almost iron, and found it in a bundle of clothes lying by the as limited it was supposed that the crop of statesmen side of the body. There is blood on the iron.-The was one of very limited amount, for which, if you were prisoner: I spoke more respectfully than the man has disposed to search, you must dig in certain favoured stated. I did not make a bravado of it. I spoke localities, and confine yourself to searching for them sorrowfully, did I not? - The policeman: Yes, you there. I am happy to think, gentlemen, that, to some did. The magistrate: I have already more than once degree, I have been instrumental in dispelling that cautioned you as to what you say.-The prisoner: I am illusion. A fortunate adventurer, as I was to consider quite prepared to go to the scaffold. I struck her with myself, honoured with the commission from her the flat-iron, and blood must have blood; but I did not Majesty to do the best that he could for her service, I bravado about it.-Eliza Phillips added this statement: have ventured boldly to open a new mine; and I am I saw him go out as if on an errand, and heard him happy to say that, in the opinion of competent judges, so return. As he went up-stairs, he talked to himself; that far as it has yet been worked, the ore that has been was usual with him, but he talked then louder than raised contains among it as large a proportion of sterling usual. Mrs. Wheeler had come into my room at about metal, with as little admixture of dross, as any that was half-past or a quarter-past ten, and said she was so much ever drawn from the old and exclusive mines to which frightened of him that she would send him away on we were formerly confined." This effusion was received Monday, as she could not bear it any longer; and that with "loud cheers and laughter." she had an idea last night to send to the workhouse that he might be taken there. She asked me if my little boy would carry a letter to the post-office for her; and I said he would. She said the letter was for her daughter, who was at Tunbridge Wells. She told me that the prisoner had been standing with a flat-iron in his hand in the morning, and was muttering something that was most awful. At the re-examination on the following day, the prisoner was generally tranquil, but at times his behaviour gave indications of his unhappy state. It became still more evident that it had been known for a long time that the prisoner's mind was affected, and that A letter from Hertford latterly he was dangerous.

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NARRATIVE OF LAW AND CRIME. A Dreadful Murder was committed in Lambeth on the morning of the 3rd. A son killed his mother, and then cut off her head. The murdered woman was Mrs. Elizabeth Wheeler, a widow, of about the age of fortyfour, who resided in Durham Place, Kennington Road, facing Bethlem Hospital for lunatics. The son who killed her was Thomas Cathie Wheeler, twenty-eight years of age, a young man who has been well educated,

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stated that he was in custody there in August last, for threatening to shoot a person on the high road. Mr. John Cathie, his uncle, gave evidence at great length. The mother seems to have been too indulgent to her son: he escaped from Wandsworth asylum, and though she was warned that he was still insane, she allowed him to remain at home. On Tuesday se'nnight, the young man went to his uncle's, at Dalston, and behaved so strangely that Mr. Cathie remarked to his wife, "Poor Tom Wheeler is very bad; I'm sure something fearful will happen." He warned his sister, and she promised to have her son confined immediately. He had never attacked any one before he was "an exceedingly mild young man-had not the heart to kill a mouse. He had twice enlisted in the army; and on the last occasion had been immediately discharged as unfit for service. The prisoner was then asked in the usual form, by the chief clerk, whether he had anything to say?-Prisoner (starting up suddenly): No; I have nothing further to say at present.-Mr. Cathie stated that he had been informed by the coroner, that in such an evident case of lunacy, the magistrate had power to commit the prisoner at once to close custody, without the painful exposure of a public trial. If possible, it would be most desirable that such a course should be taken. The magistrate said he was not aware that he had such power, but he would look into the act. The prisoner was then committed for trial.

A case occurred at Bow Street on the 3rd, showing the urgent need for Sanitary Regulations as to the Dwellings of the Poor. Eight men were summoned for non-compliance with the provisions of the Common Lodginghouses Act. They rent rooms at No. 214 Church Lane, St. Giles's; the proceedings were for the sake of the lodgers, whose health and lives must be endangered by the present state of things. Charles Reeves, a surveyor under the act, gave this evidence. On the night of the 8th March, he went to the house in order to inspect it. In the room No. 1, belonging to the defendant Collins, the size of which was 15 feet 6 inches by 14 feet 6 inches, which ought to have contained only nine persons, he found five families. In one bed, a man, his wife, and three children; in a second, a boy and a girl; in a third, a man and his wife; in a fourth, a man, his wife, and three children; and the same in a fifth, making in all twenty. There were no partitions, nor was the act in any way complied with. In the second room, belonging to Calman, there were ten people, the regulations allowing three; in the third room, in which Leary was the landlord, there were twelve persons, the proper number being eight. In the fourth room, 11 feet 8 inches by 10 feet 8 inches, there were fourteen occupants, the regulation number being four. In the fifth room there were eight lodgers instead of three; in the sixth room, which ought to have contained only seven, there were twentytwo men, women, and children; in the seventh room, there were twelve, six being the authorised number; in the eighth room, there were nine, instead of seven; making altogether, one hundred and seven people sleeping in a house which was adapted to accommodate only forty-seven. The whole of the rooms were in a most filthy and 'pestilential condition. There were very few bedsteads, and the occupants slept all together without any regard to decency. There was no water laid on, nor was there any means by which these unfortunate creatures could cleanse their persons. The defendants, several of whom could only speak Irish, pleaded ignorance of the act, and promised to do all that was requisite. Mr. Henry remarked upon the miserable condition of the unhappy creatures, who were obliged to resort to such filthy abodes; and said the evil was attributable in a great measure to the owners of the houses, who let them to such persons as the defendants, and extorted from them rents so high that they were obliged to overcrowd their rooms in order to pay them, or even to get their own living. The summons was ultimately adjourned until the 1st of May.

Mr. Charles Washbourne, a gentleman living in Cloudesley Square, has been the victim of a daring Street Robbery. On Sunday night, the 4th instant, a woman accosted him near the Angel at Islington, and would not leave him; presently another woman and a man came up; the man knocked Mr. Washbourne

down, and the three then robbed him of his watch. The police apprehended the two women; and stated at Clerkenwell Police Office, on Monday, that the man was known to them; the women were remanded, to allow time for his apprehension.

The ecclesiastical Appeal by Mr. Whiston, the dismissed Master of Rochester Grammar School, from the Bishop of Rochester, as Dean of Rochester Cathedral, and head of the Chapter, whose proceedings Mr. Whiston has impugned in his pamphlet on Cathedral Trusts, to the same Bishop as visitor of the Chapterwas begun in the Court of Arches on the 5th inst. The Bishop was assisted by Baron Parke and Dr. Lushington as assessors. Mr. Whiston conducted his own case; and Dr. Adams and Mr. Cowling appeared for the Chapter. Mr. Whiston occupied three days in his opening; exhibiting immense learning and legal erudition, great eloquence of oratory, and a respectful but firm bearing to Bishop and Court. The case was adjourned until after Easter.

At Taunton assizes, on the 5th inst., Thomas Crosby, a solicitor of Bristol, and Elizabeth Lewis, a young woman of respectable connections, were tried for the Murder of their Infant Child at Bath. The prisoners went to Bath as "Mr. and Mrs. Slater," and took lodgings at Mr. Searle's, a druggist; a few weeks after the child was born, it was left at nurse with Mrs. Searle; on several occasions, after the mother or both parents had visited the infant, it became ill, and, until the last fatal illness, it always recovered while they were absent. The symptoms were those of poisoning; and at length suspicion was excited, and the prisoners were arrested. The testimony of Mr. Herapath, the analytical chemist, and of the medical man who attended the infant, proved that it had died of poisoning by arsenic. But there was no evidence tracing the possession of arsenic home to the prisoners. An attempt was made to elicit, by cross-examination, that Mr. Searle was very careless with the arsenic he had in his shop, (of course with the intention to imply that some might by mischance have got into the food or medicine of the infant,) but the attempt was not successful. For the defence, the general insufficiency of the evidence to make out the case was urged; and the strong affection for the infant shown by the female prisoner. It was shown that she had also alive a second illegitimate child. The jury acquitted both prisoners.

At the same assizes, on the 6th and 7th, William Sparrow, William Maggs, and Robert Hurd, were tried for the Murder of Sarah Watts, on the 24th of September. Sarah Watts was the daughter, about 14 years old, of John Watts and Leah Watts, who occupy a small farm at a place about two miles from Frome. It appeared that the girl had been stunned, and then violated and murdered; and the house was robbed. The evidence against the prisoners consisted of a remarkable declaration made by one of themselves, and its confirmation by another of them, and some circumstantial proofs of a strong nature. Sparrow, on the Monday after the crime, had spoken of having seen the body on "the day after the murder: "the day after the murder :" he described its position on the floor on that day-but the body had been removed on the day of the murder. He had stated some additional facts as to the mode in which the murder was done, which were not then known to the police, but which afterwards proved true. There was also on his hand a wound such as would have made a similar stain to one found on the wall near where the murder was done; and a handkerchief left by the murderers is believed to have been his. The prisoner Maggs declared that Sparrow committed the murder, because he found the girl knew him. But Mr. Justice Erle summed up for acquittals, and the jury found verdicts of "not guilty. When the verdicts were given, Hurd said, My lord, we are all innocent: Providence has done this." Maggs said, “I declare to God we are innocent." Sparrow said, "We were not within a mile of the spot: God has done it." again said, "My lord, it will all be found out within a month: let me speak to Mr. Smith (the detective officer)." They all then said, "Let us see Mr. Smith."

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Hurd

Three corpses, those of a man and two boys, were discovered on the 9th inst., in a tide-pond at Putney;

and there is no doubt they were these of a father and Another Murder was committed in the same neightwo sons, the result of a Double Murder and a Suicide. bourhood, and on the same day. James Pearce and The pond is a piece of water near the High Bridge, and William Day, two boys about twelve years of age, were when the river-tide has entered it the water is twelve "crow-scaring " crow-scaring" in a field at Outwell Fen; Pearce feet deep. Two bargemen discovered the bodies. The having a gun to fire off occasionally at the birds, with a two youths were tied together by cord, and the arms little powder and wadding only. The two boys quarand legs of the father were bound together by willow | relled; Pearce was struck in the eye; and he fired the withs. A waterman recognised the man as a person he gun at Day, so close to him that the wadding was driven met walking on the towing-path on the previous evening, into his brain, and he died in a few minutes. Day was and he had met the youths following him at some missed in the course of the day; his brother hunted for distance behind. The elder, about eleven years old, him all night; and at last, on the following morning, was carrying the younger, about seven years old, and he found his body buried in a dry ditch, and his cap undersaid his father was on before him. It seems that the neath the ashes of a quitch fire, in which an attempt father had inquired at more than one place to get beds had been made to burn it. Pearce, when arrested, first for himself and children. A coroner's inquest was held said he did not kill Day, but he helped to bury him; on the 13th. The waterman who drew the bodies from then, that he did kill him; and then, again, that he did the water described how they were tied. The two not do it. At the coroner's inquest, his family swore children were tied face to face by stout cord, which left that they knew nothing of the murder till the body was them a foot apart; they were not blindfolded, and there found. A jury returned a verdict of "Manslaughter," was no mark of any violence on them. The father against the opinion of the coroner, who said that Pearce had his arms and feet bound together by willow withs would be tried for murder, notwithstanding. After the tightly twisted, but in such a manner as he could have verdict, some members of Pearce's family confessed that done it himself. It proved that he was Mr. Spankhurst, they knew of the murder on the afternoon of the day it a master basket-maker of Barking. He left home on took place, and that one of them went out and himself Wednesday, in anger with his wife; but as he had buried the body out of sight. The boy was afterwards done so before, taking the boys with him for a day brought before the Downham magistrates, when he or two, she hoped they would again return safely. He made this statement: "I did shoot him, but I could not wished to take his little daughter with the boys; but his help it; I held out the gun towards him and it went off; wife sent word to the teacher of the school not to let the and then I buried him because I was afraid." He was comlittle girl go with her father, and so the child escaped. mitted for trial on a charge of killing and slaying, so that On Thursday morning Mrs. Spankhurst received this he can be indicted either for murder or manslaughter. note from her husband:

"April 7.

"By the time you receive this, me and my boys will be locked in the arms of death; and I am very unhappy that my girl is not with us. You have to thank your own temper towards me, and I made up my mind on my pillow this morning what I should do, before I started; but I have little comments to make, but your temper has been that to me, that it has played on my mind for some time, but it finished before this time; and I hope that my girl will grow and be a good girl, and I should have been happy to have had her with us; and I hope that you will govern your temper for the future. You have no one to thank but yourself for this, and I hope that you will do well. "God bless you both for ever.

Amen.

N.S."

Following up the clue of the post-mark, the poor woman put the police at Chelsea on the search; but nothing was discovered by them till the dead bodies were found accidentally. At the inquest, the apprentice of Mr. Spankhurst stated facts which showed that his master had been in a desponding state of mind for some time, and which quite exonerated his master's wife from the unkind charges against her in the melancholy letter. The jury returned this verdict “That the two boys, Nathaniel Joseph Spankhurst and William Spankhurst, were wilfully murdered by their father, Nathaniel John Spankhurst; who afterwards committed suicide by drowning while in a fit of temporary insanity."

A Commission of Lunacy held at Kinmel has declared that William Lewis Baron Dinorben, of Kinmel Park, Denbighshire, has been of unsound mind since January 1846. The inquiry was very brief: three medical men gave testimony, and Lord Dinorben appeared before the jury; there was no doubt of his unfortunate condition. Dr. Phillips Jones, who had attended him from infancy, stated that he had never known him to be capable of any act requiring the exercise of reason and sagacity; the affliction originated from inflammation of the brain in infancy. As it was not necessary to fix a very early period as the date of the lunacy, 1846 was assumed.

A man, named Daws, gardener to Mr. Ayre, of Castle Rising, near Lynn, has Murdered his Wife and Daughter, and Drowned Himself. It had been noted of late that he seemed to be in a state of mental depression. Early on the morning of the 10th instant, his body was found in a shallow stream not far from his cottage; there was a slight wound in the throat. When people went to break the news to the wife, they could obtain no answer from within the house. The door was forced, and it was found that both mother and daughter had been murdered. A coroner's jury having heard evidence proving that he had formerly exhibited signs of madness, returned a verdict of "Temporary insanity in his case.

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A lunatic, named Armsworth, has committed Suicide, near the Farnborough station. On Good Friday he was sent from the Union-house, to walk in the fields for the sake of his health, a person accompanying him as a guard; though his quiet behaviour in the house had led to a belief that he was not at all disposed to suicide. When they were near the railway, an express-train was seen to approach; the lunatic darted away from his keeper, ran on to the rails, and advanced to meet the train; the people in charge of the train tried to stop it, but there was no time, and the madman was crushed to death.

The Inefficacy of the Poor-law in affording the relief for which it is intended, was exemplified at the Clerkenwell police court on the 17th inst. A sickly-looking youth, about 18 years old, applied to the court for relief. He wandered from his native place, in Yorkshire, in search of employment, three months ago, but having been unable to obtain any, he had sold what few articles he possessed, and had now left only the tattered garments he was wearing. On the previous day, overcome with illness, he called at the Royal Free Hospital, Gray's Inn Lane, after applying in vain for sustenance at different workhouses and other places; his immediate wants were at once attended to, and he was directed to apply to the sitting magistrate to interfere with some parish to forward him to his proper settlement. The magistrate ordered a constable to go and see what he could do with the applicant amongst the different overseers of the district. In a short time, the constable returned, and said that he had been with the young man to the workhouses of St. Pancras, Clerkenwell, and St. Andrew, Holborn, but could not move either of the parish authorities to take pity on his charge. The magistrate observed that such conduct was abominable. The constable said that the ground of refusal to relieve was in consequence of the applicant not having slept in either parish. The magistrate asked if a fellow-creature was to be allowed He added, to perish in the street on that account? that, under all the circumstances, the applicant should be provided with a bed and proper nourishment in that neighbourhood, and the parish wherein that happened should take all the legal consequences afterwards, if it refused to obey his order to relieve, and otherwise do justice to the young man, whose looks too plainly showed how much he had suffered.

The Court of Exchequer, on the 19th, gave judgment in the action for Penalties against Alderman Saloman for having voted in Parliament, as a member returne for Greenwich, without having taken the oath of abj ration. Mr. Baron Martin's opinion was in favour of defendant. He held that the substance of the oath not include the obligatory words, on the true fai

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a Christian,
"and that therefore the true intent and
meaning of the statute were best fulfilled by the substi-
tution for these words of such a form as was most binding
on the conscience of the swearer. Mr. Baron Alderson
was of opinion that the words, “
"on the true faith of a
Christian," formed an essential part of the oath, and
that the oath is not taken at all if these words are
omitted by the person swearing. He regretted the con-
sequences of this state of the law, and hoped that some
remedy would be provided by the legislature. Baron
Parke and Chief Baron Pollock concurred with Baron
Alderson, and judgment was accordingly given for the
plaintiff. The declaration was filed to obtain a penalty
of 5007.; but, by this decision, Alderman Salomans is
visitable with the penalties of a "recusant," as defined
in the worst days of persecution. On the following day
it was stated in the Court of Aldermen that a writ of
error is being prosecuted, for the purpose of obtaining
the decision of the highest judicial tribunal in the
kingdom upon the important question.

NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND

DISASTER.

The

take and have executed whatever orders the commander
might give me. Sixty men were immediately put on to
the chain-pumps on the lower aft-deck, and told off in
three reliefs; sixty men were put on to the tackles of
the paddle-box boats; and the remainder of the men
were brought on to the poop, so as to ease the fore-part
of the ship. She was at this time rolling heavily. The
commander ordered the horses to be pitched out of the
port-gangway, and the cutter to be got ready for the
women and children, who had all been collected under
the poop awning. As soon as the horses were got over
side, the women and children were passed into the cutter,
under charge of Mr. Richards, master's assistant;
boat then stood off about 150 yards. Just after they
were out of the ship, the entire bow broke off at the
foremast, the bowsprit going up in the air towards the
fore topmast, and the funnel went over the side, carrying
away the starboard paddle-box and boat. The paddle-
box boat capsised when being lowered. The large boat
in the centre of the ship could not be got at. It was
about twelve or thirteen minutes after she struck
The men then all went
that the bow broke off.

the

The survivors

In the Vice-Chancellor's Court, on the 23rd, Mr. Lumley, of her Majesty's Theatre, obtained an Injunction, restraining Mlle. Johanna Wagner from appearing up on the poop, and in about five minutes more the at the Royal Italian Opera. The application was vessel broke in two, crosswise, just abaft the enginefounded on an agreement concluded between Mr. | room, and the stern part immediately filled and went Lumley and Mlle. Wagner in November last, for her down. A few men jumped off before she did so, but singing at her Majesty's theatre exclusively for three the greater number remained to the last, and so did months, from the 1st of this month of April. The every officer belonging to the troops. All the men I application was resisted on the grounds, first, that Mr. put on the tackles, I fear, were crushed when the Lumley had failed in payment of a sum of 3007. within funnel fell; and the men and officers below at the the time stipulated in the engagement; and, secondly, pumps could not, I think, have reached the deck before that the clause binding Mlle. Wagner exclusively to her the vessel broke up and went down. Majesty's theatre was an addition inserted without the clung, some to the rigging of the mainmast, part of consent of Mlle. Wagner or her father. The Vice- which was out of the water, and others got hold of Chancellor granted the injunction, with liberty for the floating pieces of wood. I think there must have been defendants to move its dissolution the following day, about 200 on the drift-wood. I was on a large piece when Mlle. Wagner's first appearance at the Royal along with five others, and we picked up nine or ten Italian Opera had been announced to take place. more. The swell carried the wood in the direction of motion has not yet been made. Point Danger. As soon As soon as we got to the weeds and breakers, finding that it would not support all that were on it, I jumped off and swam on shore; and when the others, and also those that were on the other pieces of wood, reached the shore, we proceeded into the country, to try and find a habitation of any sort, where we could obtain shelter. Many of the men were naked, THE Birkenhead steamship, conveying troops from and almost all without shoes. Owing to the country England to the Caffre war, was Wrecked on the night of being covered with thick thorny bushes, our progress the 25th of February, off the coast of South Africa, with was slow; but after walking till about three p.m., a most melancholy and appalling loss of life. The vessel having reached land about twelve, we came to where arrived in Simon's Bay, at the Cape, on the 24th Feb- a waggon was outspanned, and the driver of it directed ruary. She put on shore a few invalids, one officer, Mr. us to a small bay, where there is the hut of a fisherFreshfield, and 18 men, with a considerable number of man. The bay is called Stanford's Cove. We arrived women and children; and having shipped some horses there about sunset; and as the men had nothing to for the troops, started for East London, near the seat of eat, I went on to a farm-house, about eight or nine war, at six o'clock on the evening of the 25th. The miles from the Cove, and sent back provisions for that weather was clear and calm, and the coast is well day. The next morning I sent another day's proviknown; so Commander Salmond, desiring to make a sions; and the men were removed up to a farm of quick voyage, ran closely along the shore. At two Captain Smale's, about twelve or fourteen miles up o'clock that same night, the Birkenhead ran on a reef the country. Lieutenant Girardot, of the 43d, of rocks which is well known to stretch out from Point and Cornet Bond, of the 12th Lancers, accompanied Danger, about fifty miles from Simon's Bay; and in this party, which amounted to sixty-eight men, includtwenty minutes she broke into three pieces and went ing eighteen sailors. I then went down to the down, carrying hundreds with her to rise no more, and coast; and during Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, leaving hundreds to struggle for life amidst the rocks, I examined the rocks for more than twenty miles, the masses of wreck, and the sharks, with boats enough in the hope of finding some men who might have to save only a fraction of their number. The official drifted in. I fortunately fell in with the crew accounts say that "438 lives of officers, seamen, soldiers, of a whale-boat that was employed sealing on Dyer's and boys, were lost, out of 630 who were on board the Island. I got them to take the boat outside the seaship when she struck.” weed, while I went along the shore. The sea-weed on the coast is very thick and of immense length, so that it would have caught most of the drift-wood. Happily, the boat picked up two men, and I also found two. Although they were all much exhausted, two of them having been in the water thirty-eight hours, they were all right the next day, except a few bruises. It was eighty-six hours on Sunday afternoon when I left the coast since the wreck had taken place; and as I had carefully examined every part of the rocks, and also sent the whale-boat over to Dyer's Island, I can safely assert that when I left there was not a living soul on the coast of those that had been on board the ill-fated Birkenhead. The order and regularity that prevailed on board, from the time the ship

A clear account of the wreck and its sequel is given by Captain Wright, of the 91st Regiment, in an official report of the Commandant of Cape Town, dated the 1st of March. He says:

"The sea was smooth at the time, and the vessel was steaming at the rate of eight and a half knots an hour. She struck the rock, and it penetrated through her bottom just aft the foremast. The rush of water was so great that there is no doubt that most of the men in the lower troop-deck were drowned in their hammocks. The rest of the men and all the officers appeared on déck; when Major Seaton called all the officers about him, and impressed on them the necessity of preserving order and silence among the men. He directed me to

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