10 DECEMBER 1853, Page 7

alisullautano.

In the usual process of compilation from the newspapers, we have unconsciously done some injustice to Mr. Warren, the Recorder of Hull. Among our provincial news last week, it was stated that "some severe sentences," "numerous whipping sentences," had been inflict- ed by him ; and that the attention of Lord Palmerston had been drawn to a case of one boy who had been sentenced to be whipped five times. Further information convinces us, not only that this statement was incorrect, but that it conveyed an implication grossly at variance with truth. In the first place, the particular case was peculiar in its circumstances. Regan, the lad, was an impudent and incorrigible thief; this was his fourth conviction : and under a recent act (12 and 13 Vie. c. 11 s. 3) the previous convictions were stated in the indictment to warrant a severer sentence; a circumstance, coupled with the incorrigible depravity of the boy and with the failure of the previous imprisonment and whipping, which challenged the judge to severity; and, as the Hull Packet states, the boy was sentenced to a long imprisonment in order that he might be the longer time under the instruction of the chaplain. The sentence did not include five whippings ; it was only four. It is equally untrue that Mr. Recorder Warren has inflicted "nume- rous whipping sentences." The records of the court., we are informed, will show only eight sentences of whipping out of 230 cases ; and in every one of those eight cases the prisoners had been previously convicted of felony, twice, four, or five times, and in one instance eight times. The number of prisoners, especially of juvenile offenders, has greatly dimi- nished in Hull since 1846. Last cession the juvenile offenders were reduced to two, from seventeen in the previous year. The incorrigible, however, appear to remain incorrigible. These re- peated imprisonments and whippings make us doubt whether to the more hardened offenders such treatment is really corrective. The one plan of promise as yet untried is Captain Maconochie's, which would consign the prisoner to confinement until he could earn his release by industry. We incline to think that working would perhaps be a healthier accompani- ment than whipping to the wholesome medicament of the chaplain's ad- vice. It might not succeed in all eases; but it is more likely to be effica- cious in a greater number. Mr. Warren, however, is certainly not an- swerable for administering the present system on the principles of the system ; though his assailants are answerable for attacking a man's cha- racter on the score of actions which he has ea committed. It is difficult to understand the motive of these attacks, unless it is some lurking poli- tical animosity, or some conscious soreness exasperated by Mr. Warren's satires,—for we do not suppose that the originator of the exaggerated statement had ever stood exactly opposite to Mr. Warren in court The statement in the Morning Herald respecting the Queen's letters has been contradicted by the Globe and other Ministerial journals. The letters, it is said, will be issued as usual, for 1854; but the contraalotion does not state anything further about future years.

At the dinner of the friends of the Scottish Hospital, last week, Sir Roderick Murchison announced that his late uncle, General Sir Alexander Mackenzie, of Fairburn, Roes-shire, had bequeathed 500/. to the Scot- tish Hospital, which sum it would be his duty to pay in before next St. Andrew's Day. This is by far the largest contribution made to the funds of the Hospital for many years. General Mackenzie has besides bequeathed equally large charities in England, and 7004 to the Infirmary and other charities of the Highlands.

Captain Beechey has published a letter in the Times in reply to the statements of Mr. Petermann and Captain Inglefield respecting the prac- ticability of the route of the proposed new Arctic expedition. Captain Beechey's object is to show that there is no clear Polar basin ; that the Polar sea is encumbered with heavy ice; and that it is not at all pro- bable Sir John Franklin has taken refuge at Spitzbergen, for if he had he would certainly have communicated with the Russians at the station there, and would have left in the Russian ship that visits the island every year. Mr. Petermann continues the controversy ; adducing as evidence in support of his views, a letter printed in the Athetecunt, from "Henry Whitworth, M.D., surgeon to the True-love of Hull in 1837. The True-love, he states, was "that season in 82f latitude, and from 12° to 15° East longitude, with an open sea to the North-east free from ice " ; "we might have reached the Pole with the same ease and safety that we reached the latitude we were in." The season, Dr. Whitworth adds, was very fine in 1837; but he thinks a screw-steamer might prove the practicability of the attempt in three months, if well manned and commanded. As a further argument in favour of the expedition, hope is held out that new whale-fishing grounds might be discovered.

Lord Aberdeen, confined to Argyll House by indisposition for several days, was able to attend at his official residence in Downing Street en Monday.

Lord Howden had arrived at Madrid on the lot instant.

Sir Richard Doherty, Commander-in-chief of Jamaica, has arrived there. The Honourable Stafford Jerningham, now Secretary to the Embassy at Paris, succeeds Sir Edmund Lyons at the Court of Stockholm. Mr. Carroll Spence, United States Minister to the Porte, left_Americs for Constantinople on the 19th November.

The "difference" between the Emperor of the French and the King of Naples respecting the treatment of the Duke de Lesparre has been ar- ranged, and M. de Maupas, the French Envoy, is again at his poet A diplomatist assures Inc that as long as Louis Napoleon displays any wish to visit England, some part of the family of the King of Belgium will remain there. "It appe areto me that King Leopold is playing a bold game," says my informant.— Vienna Correspondent of tlm Times.

Count Paul Esterhazy, on e of the members of the Hungarian Govern- ment during the war of Independence, has been permitted by the Knipe, ror of Austria to return to Hungary.

The late Queen of Portugal was buried with great solemnity, and de- monstrations of public regret., or public curiosity, on the 19th November.

"The British merchants at Lisbon were not backward in the demonstra- tion."

The Duke and Duchess de Mont pensier are to be present at Madrid when the Queen of Spain is confined.

Vice-Admiral James Richard Dacres died on Sunday, at his seat, Catiafield, near Fareham. He had served with great distinction. In command of the Guerriere frigate, in 1812, although carrying less weight of metal and fewer hands, he engaged with the United States frigate Constitution, and after a hard battle, in which he was wounded, he struck his flag. He was honourably acquitted by a court-martial which tried him for surrendering his ship ; and he subsequently served on va- rious stations.

" Captain " Warner, known as the inventor of the "long range," died suddenly this week. Ile had conceived hopes of selling his "secret" to the Turkish Government, and it is suggested that his death may have been accelerated by excitement on the subject. His rank in the Royal Navy was that of Master.

Lord John Russell and his family are at present residing at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park.

The Duke and Duchess de Nemours arrived at Dover on the 2d instant, from Ostend.

Count and Countess Walewski arrived in London from Paris on Monday night.

Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli have arrived at Grosvenor Gate, from a visit to the Earl of Hardwicke, at Wimpole.

The Duke of Argyll has been staying with the Duke of Sutherland at Trentham Hall, Staffordshire.

Sir Edmund Lyons has arrived at Constantinople.

M. Sauzet, formerly President of the French Chamber of Deputies, has gone to Rome to pass the winter.

Runge Bapojee, who was formerly the representative in London of the Rajah of Setters, has left England for India, the East India Directors having as- sisted him with funds.

The late Countess of Newburgh was interred in the chapel of Hassop Hall on Thursday sennight.

The late Lord Saltoun's personal property in England has been sworn to as under 10,000/.

Mr. George Atkinson, of the Northern circuit, has been made a sergeant- at-law.

Count de Hatzfeld, Prussian Minister at Paris, has been named by his roaster Privy Councillor of the first class, with the title of "Excellency "- the highest Prussian civil dignity that can be conferred on him.

The King of Bavaria, at his last birthday, instituted a new order. called "the Order of Maximilian for the Arts and Sciences." The decorations of the order have been already sent to several learned men and artists.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany is residing at Pisa ; where.he and his family walk the streets like the plainest citizens.

Prince Napoleon Bonaparte has been returning at Turin the visit of the Duke of Genoa to Paris. The Due de Belluno, Senator of France, son of Marshal Victor, died on the I 2d instant.

Pezuela, the new Captain-General of Cuba, is the son of the- last Captain- General of Peru. He is "a Castilian of the old school," and has been Go- vernor of Madrid and Porto Rico.

Major Bennett has obtained for the United States the right to the free na- vigation of the Amazon.

Mr. Crampton, the British Minister at Washington, has given great of- fence. At a concert, by Jullien, the band played "Hail Columbia " ; and when all the audience stood up Mr. Crampton kept his seat.

The Reverend J. O'Donnell, a Roman Catholic priest in Portland, Maine, has denounced the Maine liquor-law, as having increased instead of dimin- ishing drunkenness, misery, and crime, among his people.

Ruth Emerson, mother of Ralph Waldo Emerson, died at Concord, Massa- chusetts, on the 16th November, in the eighty-fourth year of her age.

Mr. Sichel of Manchester, who was badly treated by the Austrian military authorities on the frontiers of Lombardy, has been appointed Austrian Con- sul at Manchester, as an amende honorable.

The Emperor of Austria has just decreed that all instruction in the Col- leges of Hungary shall be given in the German language.

The Reverend Dr. Alder, formerly Secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, was admitted to holy orders on Sunday, by the Bishop of Gibraltar.

The Duke and Duchess of Wellington are in Portugal, travelling through the scenes of the Great Duke's victories. The present Duke has also been engaged in taking possession of the estates, and assuming the titles bestowed upon his father by the Portuguese.

In August 1852, the Anti-Corn-law League, reconstructed on the advent of Lord Derby to office, offered two prizes, one of 250/. for the best, and the other of 50/. for the second-best essay, "showing the results of the repeal of the Corn-laws and the Free-trade policy, upon the moral, social, commer- cial, and political interests of the United Kingdom." The judges have just awarded the first prize to the Reverend Henry Dunckley, Baptist minister, Salford; and the second to Mr. James Grant, of Plowden Buildings, Temple.

Mrs. Margaret Catchpole, the heroine of the Reverend R. Cobbold's novel bearing her name, is about to emigrate to Australia.

Zymotie Diseases Ten of Weeks 1813-32.

2,633 Week 0(1858.

Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 498 .... 46 Tubercular Diseases 1,798 .• • 222 Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 1,921 • • . . 131 Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 467 • • • •

63

Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 2,793 .... 379 Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 642

Diseases of the Kidneys, Sc Childbirth, disemes of the Uterus,tim 107 101

....

17

8

Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, die 86 ••••

8

Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, Sc 18

1 Malformations. 26

3 Premature Birth 253

42

Atroeby

174 .... 21 Age 957 .... 70 Sudden

72

.... 5 Violeuce,Privation,Cold, and Intemperance 300

22 Total (including unspecified causes) 12.002

1,411

the week ending on Saturday last. Result of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for

The Commercial Union of Stockholm have resolved to petition the King for a revision of the customs laws, that food and raw materials may Wei

nearly free of duty, and that there be no prohibitory duties. - It is officially stated that the harvest of Denmark—short in quantity but superior in quality—is little inferior to an average year.

The Paris Institute has been authorized to receive a legacy of 100,000 francs bequeathed by M. Breaut as a.prize for the discovery:of a cure for cholera. Till the cure be found, the interest of the money is to be given each year to him who has done most in combating the disease.

The Paris FlOtel Dieu is to be reconstructed on the island qfthe Cite oppo- site Notre Dame. The hospital will contain.600 beds. The cost of the rite and building will be fifteen millions of francs.

The committee appointed by the Peruvian Government to inqUire, bare reported that there are about 25,000,000 tons of guano on the Chincha 'E- lands. But the Commander of the British Pacific Squadron liaS Sent a cora-. munication to the Admiralty estimating the total at only 8,600,660 tons.

There is a great scarcity of shipping for the coasting trade in the North of Scotland.

The Russian frigate Aurora has been kindly Made "a better ship than she ever was" by the labours of Englishmen in Portsmouth Dockyard. But the corvette Navarin was only patched up sufficiently to enable her to make an early departure.

Mr. Griffin, an Englishman, has proposed to the Chilian Government to establish a line of steamers from England to Caldera, via the Straits of Ma- gellan. He asks an exclusive privilege for ten years, and a bonus of 60,000 dollars.

An arrangement has been made with the French Government' by which messages are conveyed by electric telegraph direct from London to Paris; hitherto they were transmitted across the Channel in the English signk, and were then translated into the French system and forwarded to Paris. The same boon has been conceded by the Belgian Government with regard to Brussels. Messages have been conveyed to Vienna in leas than two boom

The United States Government have resolved to fit out an expedition to explore the newly-discovered track for a ship-canal across the Isthmus of Darien. The track alluded to is that discovered by Mr. Lionel Gisborne.

A new principle in shipbuilding is to be tested at New York—" the appli- cation of the curve to every part of the model, by which an egg-like and buoyant shape is imparted, and the centre of gravity made invariably to fall precisely amidships."

In future when artificers in the Royal Dockyards are hurt in the execu- tion of their duty and are sent to a naval hospital, they will receive half their pay, as they have hitherto done when attended by the dockyard sur- geon at their homes.

A Danish professor, Nyeander by name, has invented a self-acting ballot.- box. "It receives and separates the two sorts of metal voting jettons. passes the Yeas and Nos each to their own compartment, checks the number deposited, and registers the result."

The American papers report two great inventions. The first, a machine for excavating rock formations, consists of a number of rotating steel discs, worked by steam, which seize and crush the hardest rocks with irresistible power. Exclusively of the engine and boiler, the machine weighs 75 tons it is easily worked by four men. The other machine is described as "a me- chanical nautilus," enabling persons to go to the bottom of the sea or of rivers, and remain there to perform any works needed, such as laying foundations, exploring, gathering treasure, &c. Several gentlemen, among them Mr. Robert Walker, have been down to the bottom of the sea ; remaining there half an hour, and moving about at pleasure. The description furnished by the papers is unintelligible ; but the principle of the invention appears to be the use of compressed air, on whose expansion, regulated at will, the vehicle floats, while an arrangement of grapnels and cords is used for locomotion.

In Hampshire county, Massachusetts, there is a smallpox panic, and all persons afflicted with the disease are prohibited from passing certain pre- scribed bounds.

St. John, New Brunswick, has suffered a good deal by an extraordinary flood, which swelled the rivers so much as to sweep away bridges.

It is expected that Rome will be lighted with ;gas by Christmas Day, by means of an English company.

During the month ending the llth November, 700,000 chetwerts of grain were shipped at Odessa : the proportion for England was small.

Several Hebrews have recently been appointed to Government situations in Austria.

A literary treaty between France and Spain was signed at Madrid on the 26th ultimo.

A statue has been erected at Brunswick to Lessing, the dramatist and critic "It is an ill wind "—while Tuscany generally is in a distressed state, all is prosperity at Leghorn, from the enormous importation of corn from the East.

The Danube is so low that the many corn-laden ships now in the river at Turn Severin have no prospect of getting through the Iron Gate till spring.

An Imperial decree has extended to the 31st of July the exemption from navigation-dues of ships conveying food to France, and of the reduced railway charges. The price of sheep and oxen has declined in France, in consequence of the Large importations since the reduction of the duties.

The vine disease has not yet appeared in Champagne, and has merely shown itself in Burgundy ; but in Gironde and the more Southern parts of France it has committed sad ravages. In Italy and other places some of the vines which had been diseased for two years have now recovered. '

A cafe-restaurant on the Paris Boulevards is in the market for sale at 800,000 francs—upwards of 33,000/.

The mortality in emigrant-ships to the United States has become very great out of 16,000 emigrants who left England, 1100 died on the passage.

Galamba,. a member of the Portuguese Cortes, has been assassinated, at Vidigueiva, in the day-time. He was formerly an active guerilla chief.

In the Cheltenham County Court this week, there has been a novel case. George Mieklewright, a pupil at the Cheltenham Grammar School, brought, through his father, an action against Dr. Humphreys, the master of the school. From the evidence it appears that on two occasions Dr. Humphreys had ordered the boy to be flogged, the first time with twelve, the second time with eighteen "lashes." These lashes were administered with a riding-w

by a drill-sergeant employed at the school. As might be expected, the hers back was dreadfully cut. Mrs. Crawford said it looked like "newly-cut meat" ; the Reverend J. L. Penington said, "I was so horror-stricken at the sight, I could not look closely." Golightly, a boy flogged some months ago, is still under medical treatment. The offences of Micklewright were quarrelling with another boy and throwing a firework in the fire. The

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Judge said, Dr. Humphreys ought to have investigated the first case more closely ; and certainly the flogging ought not to have been administered by a drill-sergeant Damages, four guineas.