20 DECEMBER 1856, Page 2

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The Court of Aldermen sat on Monday to elect a-new Recorder. The resignation of Mr. Stuart Wortley was accepted ; and resolutions were passed expressing a deep sense of the "great loss the City will sustain" by being deprived of Mr. Wortley's services, but the pleasure they feel that his preeminent abilities have been recognized by the Government, and recording with sentiments of the highest esteem their admiration of his conduct as a- judge. Mr. Russell Gurney, late Common Sergeant, was then unanimously elected Recorder.

The Metropolitan Board of Works held a sitting on Monday, to con- sider the propositions before them relating to the main-drainage of Lon- don. After some debate, it was resolved, by 23 to 13, that the plan pre- viously submitted to Sir Benjamin Hall, as amended, and now known as plan B*, should be adopted, and again submitted to the Chief Com- missioner of Works. A strong protest against the plan, signed by nine members, WBB handed in.

At the meeting of the Law Athendment Society on Monday, Mr. M. D. Hill in the chair, the Secretary, Mr. Hastings, read a letter from Lord

Brougham, suggesting the heads of subjects that may be fitly- considered by the Society at this time. One is the state of the law relating to breaches of trust : the discreditable peculiarity of treating breaches of trust as no offence' but only as a ground of claim to a creditor against his debtor, should be removed. Another point is the law of libel : per- mission to prove the truth ought not to be confined to private but ex- tended to public libel. The main employment of the Society at this sitting was the reading of a paper on "the Means of Freeing the Country from Dangerous Cnnii- nals," by Mr. Frederick Hill. Although crime has diminished, there still exists a notorious band of robbers, as well-known to the police as regular customers to a tradesman. They keep their ground bemuse it is difficult to obtain the technical evidence of guilt required by law. Mr. F. Hill revived his recommendation that magistrates should have the power of causing the arrest of suspected persons, and of committing them for trial, unless they could show that their means of living are honest:: where, after a few experiments, reformation is found impossible, criminals should be imprisoned for life; if they could be sent to some small island, it would be advantageous to transport them. With respect to the ticket- of-leave system, his opition was that it has neither succeeded nor failed,

not having in fact been fairly tried. Tickets-of-leave, for intanee, have not been withdrawn in cases where the holder was leading a bad life. Ile submitted these resolutions to the Society.

,41. That the existence of the present frequent highway robberies and burglaries, coupled with the fact that the great body of the people of this country are honest and peaceable, argues great imperfection in our criminal law, or in its administration, or in both_ "2. That, even in cases where there is no moral doubt of a man's guilt, and of his being an habitual criminal, it ia now often the case that, for want of the technical evidence required by the law, the culprit remains at large, to the great danger of the lives and property of her Majesty's subjects.

"3. That it is highly desirable that every legal obstacle which, while it is likely to afford a screen for the guilty, is not necessary for the protection of the innocent, should be removed.

"4. That it is highly desirable also that every habitual offender, especially when convicted of a serious crime, should be imprisoned for such a period as will in all likelihood suffice to effect his complete reformation; and that when there is no reasonable prospect of reformation, he should be con- fined for life.

" That as an important step towards the attainment of this object, it is the opinion of this Society, that the 4th section of the 16th and 17th Victoria, chap. 99, laying down a scale for substituting imprisonment for transporta- tion should forthwith be repealed, and terms of imprisonment adopted in- stead, fully equal to those of transportation; subject always, as. in the case of transportation, to the mitigating power of the Crown."

The paper and resolutions were referred to the Criminal Law Com- mittee, with instructions to report thereupon.

A deputation from the Incorporated Law Society waited upon Sir Benjamin Hall on Thursday, to set before him the inconveniences suf- fered by the profession and the public in consequence of the law courts and legal offices being scattered over the Metropolis, and of the inferior accommodation in the temporary courts, whether at Westminster or in Lincoln's Inn. The deputation proposed that Government should pur- chaseat site for the erection of a building capable of holding all the courts and offices ; and they suggest the site lying between Carey Street and the Strand, bounded East and West by numerous alleys the haunt of vice and crime. Mr. White, President of the Society, and Mr. Barnes, were the spokesmen of the deputation. Sir Benjamin Hall replied— "I am, then, gentlemen, to understand that it is your opinion that the courts of law in their present state are inconvenient and wholly insufficient to the requirements of the legal business of the country ; and that even if it were contemplated to effect improvements in the courts in their present locality, the site would still be objectionable, however complete the offices idea be in themselves. Under these circumstances, you desire that there should- be anew site chosen for the erection of a suitable building ; that it should be some spot in a central position; and that the one you would suggest is that lying between Pickett Place, the Strand, Temple Bar, and Carey Street. Now, the first question I have to ask you is, where are the funds to come from, and what is the value of the site you recommend ?"

Mr. White replied, that 800,000/. would defray the whole expense both of purchase and erection. Sir Benjamin Hall—" There can be no doubt that the courts at Westmin- ster are very inconvenient, and that great alterations must be made in them if they are to be continued there. If, however, the profession is of opinion that they ought to be removed, I think it would be better that the repre- sentation to that effect should come to her Majesty's Government from the proper representatives of the profession, who are undoubtedly the Judges of theland ; and I can assure you that if' they make any such representation to me, I shall lose no time in laying it before Government, and it shall be considered without delay. With the proposition, however, there should come a statement of how the funds are to be obtained, the sum that would be required, and what might be the objections to taking it from the suitors' fund."

Mr. Barnes remarked that the Judges are "slow to move." Sir Wil- liam lifolesworth, when questioned on the subject, said that the department which he represented had received no complaint from the Judges ; yet at that very time the newspapers each morning recorded the complaints made by the Judges that the courts were unfit for the purpose for which they were intended—that they were unwholesome and unhealthy. Baron Alder- son, in particular, complained of the court in which he sat, and ordered the windows to be broken for the admission of fresh air. Mr. White asked Sir Benjamin to move for a Select Committee to consider and report whether any and what funds in the name of the Accountant-General may be applied towards the purchase of a site and the erection of the necessary buildings. Sir Benjamin Hall—" If that be the ease, I should remind you that my duty is to see whatever works Government may order carried out; and therefore that the motion for the Committee should come from the Attor- ney-General, as principal law-pfficer of the Crown." They had better put themselves in communication with the Attorney-GeneraL The Reverend Dr. Livingstone, the celebrated African traveller, has been the "lion" of the week. On Monday evening, the Royal Geogra- phical Society held a special meeting to receive him; on Tuesday, the London Missionary Society received him at a public meeting held in the Freemasons' Tavern, and the Milton Club entertained him, at dinner ; on Wednesday, he took a prominent part in the proceedings of the Society of Arts.

The rooms of the Geographical Society were overfiovring long before the time appointed for the meeting, and numbers were obliged to go away as it was impossible to accommodate them. -Sir Roderick Mur- chison, took the chair at half-past eight ; and when he entered, accom- panied by Dr. Livingstone, there was much cheering: The missionary traveller shows the effects of long exposure to an Aftican sun. His skin is tanned a dark-brown, he has black hair, and wears a thick moustache. He inof the middle size, and, so far from looking as if he had suffered by hi long travels, he seems robust and able to renew his labours with vigour. Many distinguished persons were present; the Secretary for the Colonies; the Earl of Shaftesbury, the. Portuguese Minister, and Pro- fessor Owen, among the number. In presenting to Dr. Livingstone the gold medal awarded to him by the Geographical Society, Sir Roderick Murchison said— When that honour was conferred in May 1855, for traversing South Africa from the Cape of Good Hope by the Lake le_gemi. to Linyanti, and thence to the West coast in 10 South. latitude,. Lind Ellesmere,. their then President, spoke of' the scientific precision with which the unarmed and unassisted -Engllsli missionary had left his mark on so many important stations of re- eions hitherto-blank. If for that wonderful ,journey Dr. Livingstone was Justly 'recompensedwith the highest distinction the Society could bestow, What must now be their estimate of his prowess, /then they knew that he badretraversed the' vastregions which he. first opened out to their know- ledge ; nay, more, that after reaching his old starting-point at Linyanti, in -Vie interior, he had followed the Zambezi, or continuation of the Lmmbve river, to its mouths on the shores of the Indian Ocean, passing through the Eastern Portuguese settlement of Tete, and thus completing the entire jour- ney across South Africa ? It had been calculated that, putting together all his various journeys, Dr. Livingstone had not travelled over lees than, 11,000 miles of African territory ; and he had come back as the pioneer of sound knowledge, who, by his astronomical observations, had determined the site of numerous places, hills, rivers, and lakes, nearly all hitherto un- iMOW11, while he had seized upon every opportunity of describing the phy- sical features, climatology, and even the geological structure of the coun- tries he had. explored, and pointed out many new sources of commerce aa yet unknown to the scope and enterprise of the British merchant. (Cheers.)

Dr. Livingstone made a simple speech in reply to the President's re- marks.

" Mr. President and Gentlemen—I have spoken very little of my own language for the list sixteen years, and I hope you will kindly bear with my imperfections in speechmaking. I beg to return my warmest thanks for the distinguished honour you have now conferred upon me, and also for the kind and encouraging expressions with which the gift of the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society has been accompanied. As a Christian miesionary, I only did my duty in attempting to open up part of Southern intertropical Africa to the sympathy of Christendom ; and I am very much gratified by finding in the interest which you and many others express a pledge that the true Negro family, whose country I traversed, will yet be- come a part of the general community of nations. The English people and Government have done more for Central Africa than any other in the way of suppressing that traffic which proves a blight to both commerce and friendly intercourse. May I hope that the path which I have lately opened into the interior will never be shut; and that, in addition to the repression of the slave-trade, there will be fresh efforts made for the development of the internal resources of the country. Success in this, and the spread of Chris- tianity, alone will render the present success of our cruisers in repression permanent. I cannot pretend to a single note of triumph. A man may - boast when he is putting off his armour, but I am just putting mine on ; and, while feeling deeply grateful for the high opinion you have formed of' me, I feel also that you have rated me above my deserts, and that my futme may not come up to the expectations of the present. Some of the members of your Society—Colonel Steele, Captain Vardon, and Mr. Oswald, for in-, stance—could either of them have eftbcted all I have done. You are not in want of capable agents. I am nevertheless only too thankful now that they left it fur me to do. I again thank you for the medal, and hope it will go down in my family as an heir-loom worth keeping." (Loud cheers.) •

Mr. Labouchere, her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, moved the thanks of the Society to the Portuguese Governors- who had aided Dr. Livingstone; and this having been voted by acclama- tion, Count Lavradio, the Portuguese Minister, answered, chiefly in French, for his Government. Dr. Shaw, the Secretary of the Society, then read three interesting letters written by Dr. Livingston; at different places in South Africa, giving an account of his progress'; and at the con- clusion of the reading, Dr. Livingstone, called up by the President, re- counted some of his adventures, and drew a lively picture of the coun- tries he passed through, their products, inhabitants, manners and customs. .

He pointed out, on a large map of Africa, the places he had visited ; and he described the character of the country. He said that at 20 degrees of South latitude the country generally is arid, but to the Northward of 20 degrees there is a network of rivers that produces a most luxuriant vegeta- tion. The physical geography of Central Africa presents two ridges of high mountains to the East and -West, with a plateau between them seven hun- dred miles wide, towards which central portion all the rivers tend. There is evidence of the central part having at one time been a lake, the water having at length forced itself a passage through the ridge on the East, and rushed into the bed of the Lezambye. The ridges reach a great elevation; and granite, gneiss, and quartz, are the rooks most abundant. The tops of some of the distant hills are covered with quartz resembling snow ; and, as was suggested by Sir Roderick Murchison, this appearance probably deceived seine of the old African tra- vellers, who supposed the range of ruouutains called the Mountains of the Moon were perpetually covered with snow. Near Tete, on the Lezambye, there are several seams of coal, one of which Dr. Livingstone measured being 68 inches thick; and, as the river is navigable to the sea the greater part of the year, that source of fuel may become highly valuable. Near the coal there had also been found gold in the streams. Of the productions of the soil, which are valuable as articles of commerce, Dr. Liviegstnne mentioned a fibrous substance closely resembling flax, which is in great abundance : there are large forests of trees from which quinine is extracted ; sarsaparilla,.. sugar-canes, and senna, were also mentioned as being very abundant, and wax is found in large quantities. Among the mineral productions are excellent iron-ore and malachite. In Central Africa the women have the upper hand. They feed the men. A man who had five wives, having returned home, asked something of No. 1. No. 1 referred him to No. 2. No. 2 desired him to go to the one he loved beet. Ile was bandied about from one to the other till he became quite enraged; but all he could do was to go upon the top of a tree and cry aloud, "I thought I had got five wives, but I find I have got five witches.', If a wo- man beat her husband, she is punished in this way—both are taken to the market-place, and the wife is compelled to take the husband home on her back, amidst the cheers of the people. On these occasions the women gee nerally cry out, "Give it him again." As they approached the confines of civilization Dr. Livingstone found the people less kind. From the women,. , however' he and his companions had always received great kindness. Mr. Cnilton, Colonel Steele, Captain Vardon Mr. Brand; and Mr... Gordon Cumming, all African travellers, testified to the value of Dr.. Livingstone's discoveries, and to the tact, courage, and perseverance with which he had pursued them. Mr. Macqueen, the African writer, also • spoke at some length. An extremely interesting meeting was brought to a close at a late hour. At the Freemasons' Tavern, the Earl a Shaftesbury took the chair,. and pronounced a measured but hearty eulogy on the traveller and "mis- sionary. The first great result of his labours will be the milergement of the inter- course of nations. They will bring a large, wide, healthy, and legetineete commerce—a commerce that England desires, not for- heeself eitchistvdYe but for all the nations of the earth. They will do more; without assumin.g to ourselves the character of prophets, we may, venture to prodiete-and thue . is the opinion of Dr. Livingstone—that this healthy and legitimate common* will tend to make men so valuable in those central., regions, that the slaver. trade, by virtue of that commerce, will, under the sanction of Almighty God,,

people who he was, whence he came, and showed them, not his white face— for I understand it was blacker than a coal—but his white chest and arms, those men in Central Africa exclaimed, Oh, we know—you belong to the tribe that loves the Black man.' Is not that a glorious title for the empire of Great Britain ? I would rather that that should be said of her among civilized and uncivilized nations than that she should be called the Mistress of Kingdoms, the Queen of the Ocean, or all the high-soundings that the Herald Kizig of Arms could announce from the rising of the sun to the going elown of the same. And much do I hope and pray that this good man, going forth again to his labours and his toils, may be considered not simply in the language of courtesy, but in reality aud in truth, the representative of the British empire. Or rather, I would say that the British empire might be considered the representative of him ; and that this great nation, imitating his self-devotion and his singleness of heart, would devote all that she has

of arts, arms, and science, to the glory of God and the welfare of the hu- man race. But these things are not obtained without great self-sacrifice--

without sufferings and privations—without great singleness of purpose and readiness to endure. Our good friend has not escaped his share of sufferings. We know also that he has not escaped his share of toil. One short sentence will enable you to see what must have been his endurance—what must have been his dangers—what must have been his misgivings of heart, his sinkings of spirit, his doubts, arid his apprehensions, not only that he should never revisit his native country, but that he should even accomplish one-twentieth part of the work before him. 'He has had,' says a statement published at

the Cape in October 1856, 'thirty-one attacks of fever, and has been seven times in danger of his life from natives of countries he has passed through.

Similar privations, difficulties, and dangers, probably await him on his re- turn : but, with self-sacrificing Christian heroism and a dependence on Di- vine aid, he is willing to encounter them all, and to work still in this poor trodden-down country.' This enumeration of sufferings and privations almost brings to our recollection the enumeration of the sufferings, the difficulties, and the dangers of St. Paul."

Dr. Vaughan moved and the Honourable Arthur Kinnaird seconded a resolution conveying to Dr. Livingstone the thanks of the meeting for his missionary exertions. Sir Roderick Murchison moved and Sir Henry Rawlinson seconded a resolution expressing admiration and gratitude for his scientific discoveries.

In the course of the meeting, Dr. Livingstone made two or three speeches. He spoke modestly, and with a touch of humour here and there ; apologizing at the outset, as he had done at the Geographical So- ciety, for his unfamiliarity with the English tongue, from long disuse—he felt more inclined to fall into the African idiom than the English. Here, as at the Geographical Society, his speeches were full of the details that might enrich a book of travels.

They could form but a faint idea, he observed1 of what Africa really is, and of what missionary labour really is. The missionaries have been called

enthusiasts : he confessed that he is an enthusiast. But his enthusiasm re- quired hard work to sustain it—one had to go through a great deal to keep up the enthusiasm. The missionary cause suffers a little from this, that much more is expected than can be given. It is expected that when the gospel is preached to the heathen they will listen to it, and either believe or reject it. But the fact is, that those to whom the gospel is preached immediately begin to judge the missionaries by their own motives. They imagine that with all this fair speaking there is something behind, some other end in view, which will be discovered by and bye. The missionaries must labour to do good to their bodies ; must endeavour to promote their temporal advantage, in order thereby to acquire a good name, and convey the idea that they are really anxious to promote their welfare ; and then, and then only, will the Africans become attentive to the concerns of their souls. The native Africans are very slow in the emotions of their minds—they are not at all like the South Sea Islanders. One never heard of a whole tribe or people in Africa at once embracing the gospel, as had been the case in the South Sea Islands. The habits of mind of the two kinds of people are totally different. The idea entertained by some Christians at home, that the Africans would become converted all at once, sometimes re- minded him of an expression of the African chieftain Sicheli. When Si- cheli first perceived that he was anxious that his people should believe the gospel, he said to him, "Do you really imagine that these people will ever believe the gospel if I don't beat them ? " Dr. Livingston replied, that con- version could not come by means of the rod. "Well, you don't now these people," said Sicheli: " I see you want them to believe, but they never will believe unless I take the sambuk and beat them." In like manner, it would almost appear that many Christians in this country fancy that it is possible to beat belief, as it were, into the African races. He remained with Sicheli for a number of years ; and when the missionary station was destroyed by an attack of the Boers, while he was going North to explore the new country, he saw plainly what would follow. For years the minds of the people had been distracted by fears of an attack. He saw that this attack would actually come, and therefore prepared to leave and go to the North ; but before going he sent his family to England. He found that the Boers had attacked the tribe and carried off a great number of the children, and plundered his house of everything it contained. "Oh, I do not wish to make a pitiful wail before you ; for this relieved me entirely of all con- cern for what was behind." He would give an illustration of the estimation in which the name of her Majesty was held in Africa at the time of which

he was speaking. He met Sicheli near Kroomen, and asked him where he

was going. He said, "I am going to Queen Victoria." He endeavoured to dissuade him from setting out, telling him that he would have no one to interpret for him. "Well," said he, "if I do go to the Queen will she not listen to me ?" Dr. Livingstone replied that he believed she would do so. "Then," said he, "I'll go " : and he went a thousand miles down to the Cape with the view of going to England ; and was obliged to return because he could not obtain a passage. This showed the high estimation in which the English Queen and the justice of the English nation were held by the natives of Africa.

The Boers had determined that no Englishman should penetrate, if they could help it, Northward, because they wished all the trade to remain in their own hands ; but Dr. Livingstone determined that the country in the interior should be opened. When they shut one side he determined to open another ; and, as it turned out, he had opened up two paths into the interior of the African continent. They had all heard of " Afrie's burning sands " : that expression is quite correct so far as the country South of 20 degrees is concerned. The South is dry, and the population comparatively small. But when they got beyond 20 degrees, they came to a totally different country and a totally different people. The people are the true Negro family ; and their country is the country from which we once derived our slaves, and from which the Brazilians and the Cubans still obtain theirs. In the whole of the centre of this country he found the peopl exceedingly civil and kind ; but there is a fringe of population round about which has always prevented • commerce from entering into the interior. The Africans in the interior are fond of commerce. This he learnt from the eager manner in which they entered into his project of forming a path. Every one of these tribes in the central portion orate country would be delighted at the presence of a White rnan, regarding it as a sort of protection to them. A missionary is in their opinion a thing not to be killed—they are delighted to have him amongst them : but not because they wish to know the gospel—that desire comes after, when they have become acquainted with his character. A wonderful effect was produced upon those who went down with him to Loanda to see the ships of war. As they were passing through the villages on their way to the coast, they were told that the White man was going to wheedle them on board the ships, and that when they came there they would be fattened and eaten. They partly believed this. He said to them, "Well, if you like to believe that, you can go back : but when did you ever hear of an:Eaglish- man having a slave, or buying or selling one ?" "No, truly," they said ; but still their suspicions were not entirely removed. When he took them on board the ships of war, and all the sailors gave them bread and meat, and talked to them—though they could not understand a word of what they said to each other—they were extremely delighted. Every suspicion then vanished. They afterwards treated him in the kindest manner—they almost worshiped him. If he handed them anything, they would go down on their knees to receive it, until he told them not to dose; and, simply from seeing the power of the English, they believed that the religion of those who were able to make such things as they had beheld must be true.

In reply to the Chairman, Dr. Livingstone said that our cruisers have done a great deal to stop the slave-trade ; that they have not, as the slave-dealers assert, increased the horrors of the middle passage ; that the wars are not so cruel as they were formerly ; and that the interior slave-trade is not so profitable as it would be were the foreign markets open. Before the company separated, the Earl of Shaftesbury gallantly re- ferred to Mrs. Livingstone, then present. That lady, he said, was born with a distinguished name, which she exchanged for another distin- guished name : she was born a Moffat, and she became a Livingstone. In the name of the meeting, he expressed the gratitude and affection all feel towards her.

At the Society of Arts, Professor Owen read a paper on "Ivory and the Teeth of Commerce " ; and afterwards Dr. Livingstone gave an in- teresting account of the manners and habits of the elephant, and the mode of destroying that animal as practised by the Africans.

The Lords Justices gave judgment on Monday in the case of Mark Boyd : an appeal had been made to them against the decision of Commissioner Fane, who had granted the bankrupt a first-class certificate. Lord Justice Knight Bruce, in announcing a reversal of Mr. Fane'e judgment, remarked that more materials for a proper decision had been laid before the Court of Appeal than were submitted to the Commissioner. He then reviewed the impugned acts of the bankrupt. Mr. Boyd must have known he was in- solvent some time before he ceased to trade he had improperly dealt with 8421. 108. sent to him as a broker to buy certain Sardinian Stock ; he had sold the debentures of the Royal Bank of Australia improperly ; his personal expenditure, the state of his books, a transaction relating to his wife's for- tune, and other matters, were all open to censure ; and he had assented to declarations of dividends when there were no profits from the operations of the bank—deception had been used—the shareholders were led on to ruin. The judgment of the Court was, that the certificate be suspended for five years, to be then only of the second class, and that protection be denied till February. next. Lord Justice Turner fully assented to the strictures of his brother judge • and he even had doubts whether Mr. Boyd ought not to be punished under the penal statutes affecting bankrupts; but he gave Mr. Boyd the benefit of the doubts.

In the Court of Bankruptcy, on Monday, Mr. Mowatt, the secretary of the Great Northern Railway' was chosen assignee of the estate of Leopold Red- path. An allowance of 31. a week was made to the bankrupt, apparently for the assistance of his unfortunate wife,—fer, as Commissioner Goulburn observed, in his position Redpath could hardly claim a salary for "giving ufi his time" to assist the creditors. The account of Messrs. Wood and Field, Redpath's brokers, shows transactions from May to November this year to the amount of about a million sterling, in Como], and Railway Shares, the latter principally Great Northern. Messrs. Wood and Field claim a balance of 1185/.

An action arising out of the transactions of the late John Sadleir was tried in the Court of Exchequer on Thursday. Mr. Fullerton, an iron- merchant of Manchester, sought to recover 700/. from James Rhodes and Charles Henry Edmands the amount of a bill accepted by "John Sadleir for self and co-directors " ; Sadleir being the chairman and Rhodes and Edmands two of the directors of the Royal Swedish Railway Company. As against Rhodes the case altogether broke down; but the Jury deemed that there was sufficient evidence to render Edmands liable, and they returned a verdict for the plaintiff as against him.

The interest of the case lay in the revelations of the mode of transacting business in the concern. During the time, said one of the witnesses, "I was acting as secretary when the bills came in, I asked Sadleir who would accept the bills ? and he said it was a matter of indifference to him, and he accepted for self and co-directors. None of the other directors were present when this conversation took place, and I never made any communication to them on the subject." Another said—" There were two bill-books ; one for entry of bills which were paid for goods sent to Sweden, and the other was kept by Sadleir for cash borrowed on bills. Sadleir did this by his own authority." Mr. Chambers—" This bill was entered in Saclleir's private bill-book. Why, I see John Sadleir' written on the cover." The Chief Baron observed, that it was "rather remarkable that in this company there were two bill-books kept, one in which was printed, and which blazoned forth to the world that it belonged to the Royal Swedish Railway Company, which contained an account of certain bill transactions ; the other, which bore on it the name of John Sadleir,' was kept in the hands of the secre- tary, and none of the directors had access to it. The secretary had said the directors might haver seen it had they inquired for it: but how could they inquire for it unless they knew of its existence ?"

At the Central Criminal Court, on Tuesday, William Snell, formerly clerk to the Great Northern Railway, pleaded guilty to charges of embezzling the moneys of the company : his misapplications of checks are said to have amounted to 10001. in all. From the statements of the counsel on both sides, it appears that the prisoner was the son of a clergyman who died from an accident on the railway at Hornsey ; William was in consequence ap- pointed a clerk; at first he lived on his salary without ostentation ; after- wards he speculatell on the Stock Exchange, lost money, and to pay it took funds belonging to the company. The sentence was eighteen months' im- prisonment.

Captain Charles Clement Brooke, late of the Turkish Contingent, was in- dicted for a libel on Lord Mostyn. The late Lord Moetyn, uncle of the pre- sent Lord, left an illegitimate daughter, to whom he bequeathed 20,0001e secured on certain estates in Wales. At his death the prosecutor assumed the trust with regard to this bequest ; but he found, as he alleges, that the estate was so deeply mortgaged that the 20,0001. could not be got out of it. Cap- tain Brooke married the lady ; she is now dead; she 41 a daughter. Car tam n Brooke, who has been in great pecuniary straits, thinks he has been hardly used by Lord Mostyn : there have been lawsuits about the bequest, and much bickering : at last the accused sent a letter to Lord Mostyn threatening to beat him in public, to expose his " villanv," and to get him expelled from the House of Peers—that was the libel. Lord Mostyn was se- verely cross-examined, in an endeavour to show that he had not acted well to Captain Brooke's wife, to Captain Brooke, and to his little daughter. It would seem that a verdict for 23,000/. has been obtained against him in the matter in dispute, but that the money had not been paid : Ilia son has one of the estates in Wales; the estates produce 30,0001. a year. Ile is "free from arrest as a Peer." Lord Mostyn 's debts are heavy : his solicitor said his difficulties principally arose from the Welsh estates ; he is doing all he can to meet this particular sum. Mr. Sergeant Parry urged the extenuating circumstances in the case in favour of the accused : he was sorry he had, in the heat of the moment, written the offensive letter. The Jury found the defendant guilty, but recommended him to mercy on the ground that he had acted under great provocation. After some discussion, the defendant was ordered to enter into his own recognizances to keep the peace and come up for judgment if called upon.

Three Post-office servants have been convicted of stealing letters : the sentence on each was four years' penal servitude.

On Thursday, Mr. Stainbury and Mr. Collins were indicted for fraudu- lently obtaining money and bills from Mr. Deporter. This was the singu- lar case where the prosecutor advanced money on mining "shares" when he thought he was dealing in "chairs." Mr. Justice Crowder intimated that the evidence, judging from the depositions, could not lead to a convic- tion; and a verdict of acquittal was agreed to. It was stated that the de- fendants had made restitution to Mr. Deporter.

Another examination of Pierce, Burgess, and Tester, the alleged gold- robbers, took place before the Lord Mayor on Saturday. The evidence con- siderably strengthened the case, especially against Tester. More proof was given that Pierce and Agar had been much together at Foikstone before the robbery; that Tester was seen with Agar ; and that Agar behaved in a most suspicious manner. Jones, a guard, stated, that as he came with the up- tram one night in May 1855 he saw Tester on the platform at Reigate; he had a small black leather bag with him ; he travelled up to London by the train. h1f Jones could Si the date of this occurrence, his testimony would be a positive corroboration of Agar's statement about Tester's share in car- rying off one bar of gold.] A clerk and a watchman at the London termi- nus of the Greenwich line supported this part of the ease: one night in May, Tester came into the clerk's office, said he had been to Reigate and back that evening, and left a black leather bag in the office for ten minutes : the watchman had occasion to move the bag—it felt "lumpy and heavy " ; the watchman remarked on this to the clerk. Tester went to Greenwich by the last train that night. Testimony was produced to show that Tester, who had the arranging of the rota of the guards' duty at night, had kept Burgess on the Dover train an extra month—May, the period of the robbery. A 'detective stated that he found fourteen Turkish Bonds at Pierce's house, three documents relating to the lease of a house, and other papers, with a gold watch having "B. R. A." on the back. This concluded the case for the present ; and no more evidence will be offered before the committal of the accused unless something new should be discovered. The prisoners were remanded formally till this day, but they will be brought up again next Wednesday.

Robert Marley, the murderer of Cope, the jeweller's shopman, suffered for his crime in front of Newgate on Monday morning, before a vast con- course of spectators. The assassin's demeanour since his conviction is re- ported to have been very becoming : he admitted his guilt, regretted his crime, and, without ostentation, attended to the ministrations of the Ordi- nary. Till nearly the last, however, he persisted in one falsehood—he said he had no accomplices ; but eventually he confessed that the fellows who stood round the door while he was beating Cope were confederates in his crime. He said that that particular robbery was not premeditated ; that he acted on a sudden impulse when he saw an opportunity to rob ; and that he intended only to disable Cope, not to kill him. With the exception of the last statement, which is probable, these assertions may be doubted. Marley was a powerful and handsome man, of great resolution and firmness, ex- hibited without bravado. He met his fate without the slightest symptom of fear; went through the last preparations with calmness, conversed with the Sheriffs, and mounted the scaffold with a firm step. A new apparatus of leathern straps has been contrived to confine the limbs of persons about to be hanged, to prevent the repetition of the revolting scene at Bousfield's execution ; and Marley's arms and legs were thus trammelled : he died quickly, with no perceptible struggles.

Three lives were lost by a boat-accident at Blackfriars Bridge on Sunday evening. Four young men and three females went out in a hired boat ; returning towards the shore when darkness had set in, the boat was run against a pier of the bridge ; the females rose in alarm, the boat was upset, and the whole party were plunged into the stream. A waterman rescued a man and a woman, another person saved a second couple ; but two men and a woman were drowned.