altirlilltaig,
The official declaration of the poll at Greenwich election, on Saturday, gave the following as the exact numbers registered—for Salomons, 2165 ; for Wire, 1278 ; majority for Salomons, 887. Mr. Salomons besought of the electors the favour of two or three days rest " before he entered, if ne- cessary, on a renewed struale." Mr. Wire told the electors he had " disclaimed those means resorted to by other parties ; no public-houses bad been opened by hum; no votes purchased by him " : but he did not say that he should petition against a return which treating and bribery would have invalidated.
On Thursday, however, Mr. Salomon issued an address indicating a change of counsels— He had communicated with the most experienced Members of the House, soliciting their advice as to the most deferential mode of accomplishing the du'y he owed to himself and his constituents ; and they had strongly ad- vised him, that his own case and that of his constituents would be "greatly promoted by a short delay"—" that the bill for altering the oath of abjura- tion will pass the House of Commons this evening, and be in the House of Lords tomorrow night." "The House of Lords," continues he, "in addition its other great constitutional functions, may be considered as a court of honour" to such a tribunal he appeals for protection against the " plausible technicalities" urged against him : he recoils from a wish to prevail by " re- course to the same unworthy means." It would be a source of great grati- fication to him that he should take his seat "with the direct concurrence of all the branches of the Legislature." Influenced by these considerations, he yields to the suggestion made to him.
The recent decision of the Court of Error, reversing the standing law that a foreigner can have no copyright in this country, and affirming his possession of copyright although Englishmen have no copyright in the country of such foreigner, has united some of the most eminent British authors, and some of the leading publishers, in an agitation with the ob- ject of contesting the law in the final court of appeal, or of procuring new legislation. A meeting of authors and publishers was held in Hanover Square Rooms on Tuesday. Sir Lytton Bulwer presided ; and among those present were Mr. B. H. Horne, Mr. John Britton, Mr. Howitt, Mr. George Cruikshank, Dr. Worthington, Mr. Henry Colburn, and Mr. Henry Bohn. The Chairman opened business in a speech historical and argumentative.
Combating the idea that the act of Queen Anne includes foreigners, he mentioned that Voltaire published one of his works in this country by sub- scription. He was the friend of Walpole, he knew personally all the per- sons concerned in passing vie act of Anne, and he obtained subscriptions to the amount of 60001. ; but he never could get copyright, and never supposed he possessed it. He wrote an essay in E dish, and translated it and cor- rected it in French; but the essay was reprinted by others without his corrections, and with all its faults, and he was almost driven mad by the annoyance. Again his complete works were published at Oxford, not in his own name, but in that of his father Arouet. Yet he never attempted to repress either of these acts as piracies. Lord Campbell, in hisment, was equally wrong in his illustrative arguments about Rapin and Belk Lohue: neither of those men asserted the copyright attributed to them. Indeed, Lord Campbell seems to have decided the question according to his views of literary property and political economy, rather than as a judgment of law. The decision ruins all prospect of international copyright with France sad America, and will make the International Copyright Act so much parchment for battledores ; for foreigners will not buy of us that which they can take without buying. The effect on literature, as an international whole, will be disastrous. In America, where they get the works of Macaulay for no- thing, they are ceasing to get any solid works of their own. Sobs Belgium, where they are as much advanced in all industrial arts as in America : there is positively no national literature there. About a century back it gave promise of a healthy existence ; now it is thoroughly, extinguished, owing to the pirated editions of French works published there ; and so it will be in America. Their Cooper and Irving are children of a past gene- ration, and none are rising in their stead, with the honourable exception of Mr. Prescott.
Mr. Henry Bohn moved a resolution, that the decision of the Court of Error must prove extremely prejudicial to the interests of British litera- ture, while it removes the material inducement to the acceptance by foreign states of the International Copyright Act. Dr. Worthington se- conded the resolution. Mr. Ernest Jones, the Chartist, moved an amend- ment, to the effect that the decision is a satisfactory step towards interna- tional copyright ; which was seconded by Mr. Wilkes, bookseller, of Craven Street. Mr. Henry Colburn supported the resolution ; and it was carried by a majority. Mr. Cruikshank moved a resolution, affirming that the expense of contesting the law in the ultimate tribunal ought not to be borne by an individual, but that a society should be formed, and public subscriptions raised, for the purpose. Mr. Henry Mayhew proposed an amendment, but withdrew it; and the resolution was carried.
On Saturday last the oppressive heat thinned the visitors to the Great Exhibition down to one of the lowest marks at which the numbers have stood. The receipts at the five-shilling fee were 15901. 16s.; and the whole number present was but 11,501. The numbers admitted on the four first days of this week were, respectively, 52,879, 51,069, 49,399,, and 55,638; and the sums of money received on the same days were 2469/. 16s., 24291. 108., 2375/. 9s., and 26621. 9s. The numbers and the receipts are sensibly diminished from those of last week, but they are still so large as to show how fixed and steady are the causes that urge the peo- ple to the great central attraction.
An action of Bellamy and another versus Majoribanks and others, (" Messrs. Coutts and Co.,") tried by Baron Martin and a Special Jury at Westminster last week, settles an important point of banking usage. Mr. Bellamy was trustee of the property of the children of a Reverend Edward Frank, who died lunatic in 1834. The solicitor of the trust was that Mr. Geary who was transported for forging the signature of the Accountant-General in Chancery, two or three years ago. Mr. Bellamy had to pay a sum of 2596/. 17s. into the Court of Chancery, and he drew a cheek for that amount upon his bankers, the defendants. This check was " payable to Mr. Geary or bearer" ' • but, with proper precaution, there were introduced into its body the words " General unpaid costs account" ; and it was "crossed" to " the Bank of England, on account of the Accountant-General." Mr. Geary fraudulently struck out the crossing, recrossed it to "Messrs. Gosling and Co.' his own bankers • and paid it to them towards his own account. It was presented by them and cashed ; and the co-trustees brought this action against Messrs. Coutts and Co., on the ground that they had acted in breach of their duty as bankers in paying a check the original crossing of which had been thus erased, &c. The heads and chief clerks of all the great bank- ing firms and companies in London were examined as to the usage: the evidence showed that such a check ought not to have been paid without " inquiry " ; and there was very weighty evidence to show that such a cheek ought to have been " thrown out and not paid at all." The Jury found a verdict for the plaintiff; stating their strong opinion that by banking
usage "such a check ought not to have been paid at all not even to the Bank of England," to whom it was originally crossed, much less to Messrs. Gosling and Co., in spite of the directionin the body of the check, and of the original crossing.
Mr. Henry Frazer Dimsdale, one of the sons of Baron Dimsdale, will have to appear at the Old Bailey, to answer an indictment for throwing eggs and other missiles at Mr. Jarman on the Oaks day, on the return from Epsom. The practice of assailing persons with eggs, flour, and plaster of Paris, was carried to a shameful extent on the Epsom road during the recent races. Mr. Dimsdale was one of a number of persons on a "swell drag" who thus amused themselves; Mr. Jarman and a party of friends being among the sufferers. At South Lambeth, the offenders were in danger of summary punishment, and were about to be given in charge to the Police, when Mr. Peat, the army-saddler of Bond Street, who was passing, asked the gentle- men, whom he knew, if they would appear to answer any charge next day if he passed his word for them: they assented. But not one appeared. Mr. Peat has been a reluctant witness, the persons on the drag being mostly military officers, his customers ; yet they have taken his evidence, extracted by the Magistrate, in such dudgeon, that Mr. Peat has been threatened with the loss of his business. Warrants have been issued against several persona whose identity Mr. Peat was obliged to admit, but only Mr. Dimsdale was apprehended. The Lambeth Magistrate has been frequently engaged on the affair. On the last occasion, Wednesday this week, Mr. Peat mentioned the names of several officers who were on the drag. Mr. Dimsdale, a young Man, has refused to betray his companions ; and not one has volunteered to bear any of the brunt of the case, or to contribute a shilling towards the ex- pense incurred, though Mr. Dimsdale is now an inmate of the Queen's Bench ex- pense for debt.
William Canty, an elderly man known in "gaming circles," and John Tyler, also an old man, a returned transport, have been entrapped in the perpetration of a robbery. Inspector Lund and Sergeaut Whicher, of the Detective Police, saw Tyler in Trafalgar Square on the 31st of May. They followed him. He went to St. James's Park, where he was met by Canty. The two conversed for some time, and then walked to the London and West- minster Bank in Charles Street, St. James's Square. Canty entered the bank; in ten minutes he came out, and made a signal with his hand to Tyler; than both entered, and staid in the place twenty minutes. On the two succeed- ing Saturdays, the Detectives watched, saw the men meet, and traced them to the bank. Tyler on these occasions carried a greatcoat on his arm. It was now deemed necessary to warn Mr. Vile, the manager of the bank, that some villany was afoot. The cash-box, usually containing a large sum of money, occupied rather an exposed place. Mr. Vile withdrew the money from it, and pat in it a few notes and a printed book to give weight to the box. On the 21st of June the two men were again traced to the bank ; but while in the building, a Policeman entered to cash a check, and the rogues were frightened away. Last Saturday, the Detectives obtained permission from Lord Dartmouth to watch the bank from his house, which is on the wealth side of the street. Canty entered the bank ; came out again, lifted his hat, and was joined by Tyler; both entered the bank. In three minutes they came out again, Tyler carrying a bag which ap- peared to contain a box. Lund and Whieher hastened after them, sad arrested them. The thieves pretended that they did not knew
each other. The bag contained the cash-box. Under a seat upon which the men sat when taken to Scotland Yard, a piece of paper was found with these words on it—" To inquire if any cash has been paid into the London and Westminster Bank by the Marquis of Anglesea to the account of Lord William Paget." The use to which this paper was to be put, it was conjectured, was to afford a pretence for going to the bank in order to watch for the favourable moment to get possession of the cash-box. The men were produced at Marlborough Street Police Office on Monday, when evidence to the above effect was given. Mr. Vile stated, that a quarter of an hour before the box was stolen, he saw it in its usual place, on the top of an iron safe in the front room. The prisoners made no remark, and they were com- mitted for trial. It is said that there is a suspicion that some person em- ployed in the bank was in collusion with the thieves.
Mr. Payne, the City Coroner, held an inquest on Monday to inquire into the origin of the fires in Alderman Humphery's warehouses. A number of witnesses—a surveyor, persons employed on the premises, and firemen—ex- pressed an opinion that the second fire, which destroyed warehouse D, was not accidental. The wind had been blowing in a contrary direction ; and the fire did not originate near the trap-door, but in a corner of the top floor- " the corner nearest to the window." The firemen considered when they had mastered the fire in A and B that all danger was over. Foreman Hen- derson was firmly of opinion that the fire in D was " not a fair fire." On the other hand, persons stated that no threats had been heard against the Alderman's property. Several strangers were on the roof of C during the first fire. With respect to the origin of that disaster, Mr. Braid wood alone hazarded an opinion: he believed that it arose from spontaneous combustion among the rags—if there was oil or damp among them, the heat of the wea- ther would cause them to ignite. Mr. Hollingsworth, the owner of the rags, declared that they were clean, and were not moist. The Coroner—" Now, Mr. Braidwood, does anything occur to you to mention that might be of ser- vice to the public." Mr. Braidwood said, Alderman Humphery knew his opinions : he built his warehouses so large that they could do nothing with them. Mr. Alderman Humphery said, Mr. Braidwood wished him to build warehouses like tea-chests, so that he could get no goods into them. Cap- tain Acherley caused some amusement by proffering himself as a witness, and stating his opinion that this was a " political fire," which would never be ferreted out until Sir George Grey was compelled to appear before the Jury. The Coroner suggested an adjournment, as likely to bring forth more evi- dence; and he advised the offer of a reward for the discovery of the incen- diary. The Jury assented to the adjournment; and Mr. Wigan announced that he would give a reward of 2001.
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