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At a Special General Court of Proprietors of East India Stock, on Wednesday, the resolutions of thanks to the Governor-General and the forces employed in the late military operations in Afghanistan, which had been passed by the Court of Directors last week, were proposed for the adoption of the Company at large. Two alterations were sug- gested; one by Mr. Poynder, recognizing the Divine aid by which alone the great results had been obtained ; the other by Mr. Montgomery Martin, applying to the services of the Governor-General the stronger terms of "zeal and vigour" in addition to the "judgment and ability" acknowledged in the original resolutions. The Chairman opposed both amendments, as tending to bring on a long debate. Ultimately, the original resolutions were carried, only three hands being held up against them.

The annual meeting of the Literary Fund Society was held in Great Russell Street, on Wednesday ; Mr. Henry Hallam in the chair. There was a numerous attendance. The report stated that 1,2551. had been distributed in grants to distressed authors, their widows, and children, during the past year ; making a total amount granted to these purposes, from the foundation of the Society, of 29,0831. A letter was read front Baron Brunow to the Marquis of Lansdowne, announcing that the Em- peror of Russia had made a donation to the Society of 1,000 silver rou- bles (1551.) The Marquis of Lansdowne was reelected President ; Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, and other Vice-Presidents, were re- elected, with the addition of the Earl of Surrey and Mr. Bond Cabbell ; the other officers of the institution were elected ; and thanks were voted to the Chairman.

The trial of M`Naughten at the Central Criminal Court closed on Saturday. In part of our impression only were we able to state the

result, and that in a very meagre fashion, though the proceedings of the second day were of much importance. The court was very crowded, but not quite so much so as on the previous day. M‘Naughten stood for a few minutes at the bar, and was then allowed a seat. His de- meanour was quiet and listless.

Mr. Cockburn addressed the Jury at great length, resting the defence upon the plea of insanity. He described the nature of the clear and

positive evidence which he should adduce on this point ; and proceeded to examine the law-authorities on the subject—the opinion of Lord Hale, and the cases of Lord Ferrers, Hadfield, Bellingham, and others ; con- tending that modern science had thrown so much light upon the orga- nization of the brain and its morbid condition, that the doctrine of the Bench at earlier times must be received with caution— With regard to the case of Bellingham, who had been executed for the murder of Mr. Perceval, the general opinion now seemed to be that the verdict in that case had been improperly obtained. Bellingham had been tried and executed only a week after the crime was committed ; and it appeared that the application of his counsel to have the trial postponed had been refused, but that witnesses would have been ready to come forward, if the application had been granted, to make out decidedly the plea of insanity. In the case of Bowler, who had been subject to epileptic fits and manifested all the indications of in- sanity, the prisoner was executed ; and at the trial of Oxford, Baron Alderson remarked, " Bowler was executed, I believe, and very barbarous it was."

The Scotch authorities had taken a more humane view of the law— It was, for instance, the opinion of Mr. Baron Hume, that though a man might be in general conscious that murder was a crime, and yet commit a particular murder under the influence of some unaccountable delusion, he could not be held morally responsible for the crime. The true nature of the delusion which exempted from crime had been admirably laid down by Lord Erskine; who said, in his defence of Hadfield, that insanity might prevail upon a particular point, and that monomania exculpated an individual from the guilt of crime com- mitted under its influence. Mr. Ray likewise held, that a man might be as sane as the rest of the world on all points but one, and yet that an act committed under that particular delusion was one for which the man was no more answerable than if all his mental faculties had been deranged. He cited cases ih support of that proposition— One of these, which was quoted by Lord Erskine in his speech in defence of Hadfield, was the case of a lunatic who had brought an action against his own brother and a madhouse-keeper for false imprisonment. Lord Erskine, who was counsel for the defence, was unable in the course of the cross-examination to extract a single answer from the witness which could show that he laboured under the slightest delusion. Before the close of the proceedings, however, a medical gentleman in court informed him that the man believed he was Jesus Christ ; this being, in fact, his sole delusion. Lord Erskine immediately beg-' ged the prisoner's pardon for his irreverence towards Lim. Upon which the prisoner. addressing him, said, " I forgive you ; but I renlly am the Lord and

Saviour." What was the practical conclusion to which the investigations of modern science upon the subject of insanity had come ?—

. It was this, that a mind which was sane upon many points might be under the influence of morbid passion, which obscured and poisoned the very sources of thought ant feeling, which rendered a man wholly incompetent to see the relations of subsisting things around him in their true light, which made him the creature and the victim of some ungovernable impulse, and under which be committed acts which the law denounced and which it visited with the heaviest penalties, while the individual could not be made subject to those punishments, because he did not come under the restraints of those motives which alone could deter men from crime.

Mr. Cockburn gave an elaborate digest of the evidence he was about to produce, comprising a sort of sketch of M•Naughten's life— From the first his habits were gloomy : he was given to abstruse studies : he was disappointed that his father did not take him into partnership ; he was a.natural son, and possibly did not receive the same measure of kindness as the other children. He was inoffensive, fond of children, and humane to the brute creation. About the year 1834, he had a typhus fever, and he began to be restless and sleepless at night. In 1837, the person with whom he lodged gave him notice to quit in consequence of the strangeness of his manners : he then went to live in his workshop : his disorder became more marked• be had racking pains in the head ; he would sit for whole days in his workshop with his head in his hand, uttering tortured exclamations; and would run out to bathe his burning brow in the waters of the running Clyde, or tven to plunge into the river' to obtain relief from the burning fever. In 1841, he endeavoured to dispcse of his business in consequence of the persecutions of %Lich he be- lieved himself to be the subject. • Mr. Cockburn said that he should prove that the blow which struck Mr. Drummond was not intended for Sir Robert Peel, of whom lkl-nughten had always spoken in terms of the highest admiratior. He strongly cen- sured the evidence of Inspector Tierney, who under the guise of fairness and honesty had sought to worm himself into the secrets of the un- happy man. M`blaughten's conduct at the Bow Street Police-office showed that the delusion still continued ; and its existence would be proved by medical men who had examined him since his confinement— Some had been sent by the Government, and those very medical men were then sitting within arm's length of the Solicitor-General, and he had not dared to call them, because he knew that they had reported to the Government th.:ir opinion that the man was mail. He was astonished that those medical men had not been called. His learned friend had closed his case without calling them. There they sat; the Solicitor-General knew their opinion, and had not dared to call them. Their evidence, however, was on record, and its ab- sence spoke trumpet-tongued as to what were their opinions.

Mr. Cockburn concluded a very impressive speech, which lasted for more than four hours, with an earnest appeal to the Jury to found their verdict on the evidence which would be submitted to them.

The first witness examined was Daniel M`Naughten, a turner at Glasgow, and the prisoner's father. He said, that his son had been apprenticed to him about fifteen or sixteen years ago; and had remained with him in that capacity four years and a-half, and then as journeyman for three years longer. He was very steady, industrious, and temperate. He set up in business for himself in Stockwell Street, and remained here or nearly five years. After leaving his father's house, he seemed more distant in his manner than before; and would frequently pass him in the street without notice. The witness was aware that he lodged at Mrs. Patterson's ; but never visited him there. About two years ago the prisoner broached the subject of his delusions, coming to his father and desiring an interview- " We went into a room alone, and he then told me that various persecutions had been raised against him, and begged that I would speak to the authorities of the town upon the subject, in order to have a atop put to them. He particularly mentioned the name of Mr. Sheriff Alison, as one of the persons I was to speak to. I asked who the persons were that persecuted him ; and he told me that Mr. Sheriff Alison knew all about it. I told him I was extremely sorry to bear that he was so persecuted, and endeavoured to persuade him that he was labouring under some mistake. I told him that I was not aware of any person being persecutive in Glasgow. Finding that he was labouring under some delusion, I said nothing more upon the subject, but tried to turn the conversation : we then talked upon other subjects, upon all of which he spoke rationally enough ; he then asked me to get him a situation in some counting- house in Glasgow. I promised him that I would endeavour to do so ; but told him, that I thought he had, in the first instance, better go to some respectable teacher and learn writing and arithmetic. He said he would do so, and we then parted. A few days after that interview, he again called upon me, and inquired whether I had, according to my promise, caused the authorities to take any measures to prevent the persecution which was going on against him ? I told him, that I thought, after our last interview, he would have gone to school, and banished all such ideas from his mind : be then said that the persecution still continued, and that he was followed night and day by spies ; wherever he went they followed him. I asked him who the spies were—whether he knew any of them, or whether he could point them out ? To which he replied, that it would be quite useless to point them out, as they were always in his presence; where- ever be might be, whenever he tunnel round, there they were. I asked him whether he ever spoke to them, or they to him? He said they never spoke to him ; but whenever he looked at them, they laughed at him, and shook their fista in his face, and those who had sticks shook them at Lim He also said, that one of the men, whenever he looked at him, threw straws in his face. I asked him whether, if I went out with him, he could point out any of the spies to me ? he said, 'Oh, no ; if they see any one with me they a ill not follow at all; it is only when I am alone that they follow and annoy me.' I then asked him what he thought they meant by showing him straws ? to which be replied, he presumed it meant that he WAS to be reduced to a state of beggary by them." He pressed his father to go to Sheriff Bell ; which he promised to do. About a week afterwards, he came again, and urged his father to go to the Procurator-Fiscal. The elder M./slaughter:1 asked him to point out any individual who had annoyed him ; but he said he could not find out where they lived : be said they had Scotch dresses on. The father and son had a third conversation, when they accidentally met in the road near Glasgow, just like the first. Mr. M'Naughten never applied to the authorities, as he saw that his son was labouring under a de- lusion.

In his cross-examination Mr. M'Naughten said, he believed that his son left him because he was dissatisfied at his not letting him have a share in his "little business"; which he refused to do because he had some younger children to provide for. He seemed to fancy that his father was annoyed because he had taken some of his business from bin; which was not the case : but Mr. M*Naughten never visited him

in Stockwell Street ; they were not at all upon the terms that a father and son usually are. Upon all subjects but the one mentioned, the pri- soner conversed very rationally. William Gilchrist, a printer, lodged with M`Naughten, and slept in the same bed with him, at the house of a Mrs. Dalgleish, in Gorbals, from April 1834 to May 1835. This witness describes the eccentric stage of M`Naughten's disease-

" The prisoner used frequently to get up in the night and walk about the room, uttering incoherent sentences, and making use of such ejaculations as By Jove," My God.' He uttered them in a very serious manner, but not in a very loud tone. Sometimes he would walk about the room by the hour to- gether whilst undressed, and then return to bed. Such conduct occurred from time to time during the whole period we lodged together. His conduct was always that of a mild, inoffensive, and humane man. I have frequently seen him, when we have been going out to take a walk, put crumbs of bread into his pocket to feed the birds with. Ile appeared to be very fond of children, and I have observed him watch the children at play for hours ; he said he liked to see their innocence. The last time I saw the prisoner was in Jul) 1842, a hen we walked together for a short distance. I then thought he was altered both in manner and appearance; for when I looked at him he always dropped down his head and looked on the ground. I also observed that his conversation was not so connected as formerly. I have known the prisoner, sometimes in the course of the night as well as at other times, burst out into immoderate fits of laughter without any cause whatever. I never knew Lim to attend any po- litical meetings, or express any extravagant political opinions." Subsequently, for seven months in 1835, M`liaughten lodged at the house of John Hughes, a tailor, the next witness ; and here the symp- toms of his malady were more strongly pronounced. His landlord and a fellow-lodger, both of whom slept with him at times, were troubled by his restlessness at night- " Whilst he remained at my house," said Mr. Hughes, "be never had any person call upon him. I observed, that his manner and behaviour were gene- rally very strange. He did not appear to be fond of society ; and scarcely ever spoke unless first spoken to, and then his replies were quick and hurried, as if he wished to avoid conversation. I also noticed that when any person spoke to him, if their eye caught his he immediately looked down to the ground, as if ailment; whenever be asked for anything he appeared confused. His general hour for going out in the morning was seven o'clock. Be came to his meals regularly, and usually returned home about seven o'clock in the evening. When at his meals he was generally reading, and would frequently sit up half the night to read after the family had retired to bed. In consequence of his very strange manner, I gave him notice to leave, but he was very unwilling to go away. Another reason I had for wishing him to leave, was in consequence- of the Infidel doctrines be maintained, and the books of such a character which he was in the habit of reading." After Hughes had given him notice to quit, he came up to the land- lord and his wife in a very excited state, and asked if any one had been speaking against him ; which they denied. The reason that Hughes assigned for his being sent away wis, that his wife could not wait upon him any longer. Mr. Hughes said, in cross-examination, that M`Naughten's manner was more strange just before he left his house than it had been previously.

William Carlow, a turner, had known M`Naughten for the last seven years; had worked as his journeymen for the three years down to 1838, and succeeded to his business in 1841. He corroborated what Mr. Cockburn bad said respecting M`Naughten's behaviour after he had left Hughes's. He had frequently heard reports that there was something wrong about him, but did not believe them. About six months ago, however, they induced him to go to see M`Naughten ; who then told him the stories of the persecutions that he suffered in Scot- land, England, and France-

" I asked him who the parties were; and be told me they were Scotchmen, and natives of Glasgow. I told him it was all imagination, and endeavoured to persuade him to think nothing more about it. I also told him, that if any person ill-used him or slandered him, I would have them punished, as I consi- dered his character was very good. He said he would do act; and added, that if he could once set his eyes upon them, they should not be long in the land of the living. After the conversation had continued for some time, he became very much excited."

Jane Drummond Patterson said, that M`Naughten came to lodge at her house about two years ago ; and soon afterwards she observed some- thing very peculiar in his manner—a strange appearance in his eyes,. and a great restlessness in his sleep : he moaned and groaned, and sometimes talked in his sleep. Ile lett her house and returned, saying that he had been to France and England ; and after staying with her three months more, be again left her for a time and returned, and said he had been to France to obtain a commission in the army ; his manner stranger than ever-

" I at length began to be afraid of him, and expressed a wish for him to leave my house. He said be would leave as soon as possible ; he could get situations. anywhere, but it was of no use, as they were all haunted with devils. On one occasion, a few days before he left, which was in September, I found some pis- tols in his room. I said,' What, in the name of God, are you doing with pistols there ?' He said he was going to shoot birds with them. I never saw the pistols after that. Latterly he was in the habit of lying on the bed nearly all day. Be sometimes complained of lowness of spirits, and said he felt a great pain and burning in the chest. On one occasion, when I was speaking to him about getting a situation, he laid hold of me, made use of an oath, and looked very wild. When he went away, he took nothing with him but the clothes on his back. I noticed when he went away that he looked very wild and frightful." Mr. H. G. Bell, Sheriff of Lanarkshire, deposed, that about nine or ten months ago, M`blaughfen came to him, and made a long rambling un- intelligible statement about the persecution ; and Mr. Bell referred him to the Procurator-Fiscal if he had any criminal charge to make. In about a fortnight he returned with a similar statement ; and being told that the Sheriff could give him no assistance, he went away much dissatisfied. Mr. Bell concluded that he was not right in his intellects. Mr. Alexander Johnston, the Member for Kilmarnock, (and Presi- dent of the Glasgow Anti-Corn-law Association,) related a somewhat similar application from M•Naughten ; who said that he had been per- secuted by the emissaries of a political party, whom he had annoyed by interfering in politics.

Sir James Campbell, the Lord Provost of Glasgow received a like visit from M'Islaughten in May last, and endeavoured to persuade him. that he was labouring under some "hypochondriacal" delusion ; at which he went away dissatisfied-

" I immediately sent for the prisoner's father, in order to let him know what had taken place ; but be did not wait upon me, and I took no further steps in the affair. I felt no doubt at the time that the prisoner was labouring under some species of insanity."

The Reverend Alexander Turner, the minister of the parish of Gor- bals, was next visited by M'Naughten about six months ago, and listened to complaints that the authorities of the town would do nothing for him, in preventing the persecution-

" I observed that he appeared to be labouring under a very great degree of excitement ; which was evident from large drops of perspiration on his brow. I certainly thought that he was insane. In consequence of that interview, I called upon his father a day or two afterwards, and told him that I thought he ought to be put under restraint."

Mr. Hugh Wilson, a Commissioner of Police of Glasgow, said that he had. known the prisoner for ten or twelve years, and was the re- cipient of his complaint about eighteen months ago-

" He said that be had come to consult me on a very delicate matter ; and, after some hesitation, said that he was the object of some persecution, and added that he thought it proceeded from the priests at the Catholic chapel in Clyde Street, who were assisted by a parcel of Jesuits. I asked him what they did to him ; and his reply was, that they followed him wherever Ire went, and were never out of his sight, and when he went into his bedroom he still found them with him. He was perfectly calm and collected when he first came in; but when he began to talk about the persecution he became very much excited, and I then thought be was daft. I saw that he was extremely anxious upon the subject, and therefore told him to call again on the following Tuesday, and I would see what could be done for him. He then went away. He called according to appointment on the Tuesday, when he still persisted in the notion of his being persecuted. [Other interviews occurred, IN1r. Wilson putting himself with the readiest excuses. Some months afterwards he came again.] He said he had been to Boulogne; and asked me whether I knew the watchbox on the Custom-house quay there ? I told him I did. He then said, that as soon as he landed he saw one of his spies peep from behind it ; and added, that it was no use going further into France and spending his money, when he could get no relief. He appeared then worse than ever; and I advised him to go into the country and amuse himself by working, and not to think any thing more about it : but he said it was no use going there, as they would be sure to follow him. I had several other interviews with him ; and the last time I saw him was about the month of August last, when he made the same sort of complaint ; and the delusion then appeared to be stronger in his mind than ever."

A number of medical witnesses were now examined. Dr. E. T. Monro, a physician who has devoted himself for thirty years to the subject of lunacy, said that he met Sir A. Morrison, Mr. M'Clure, and other medical gentlemen, two of whom had been deputed by Govern- ment, in the prisoner's cell in Newgate, on the 18th February, and on other occasions. M'Naughten then complained that be was perse- cuted by " a system or crew," at Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, and Boulogne : "he had no peace of mind," he was "sure it would kill him " : it was "a grinding of the mind": he was " tossed like a cork on the sea." At Glasgow people pointed at him, and said "that is the man—he is a murderer, and the worst of characters." He made a fierce complaint against the Glasgow authorities— His complaints had been sneered and scouted at by Sheriff Bell, who had it in his power to puts atop to the persecution if he had liked. If he had bad a pistol in his possession he would have shot Sheriff Bell dead as he sat in the Court-house. Mr. Salmond, the Procurator-Fiscal, Mr. Sheriff Bell, Sheriff Alison, and Sir Robert Peel, he said, might have put a stop to this system of persecution, if they would. Some other complaints that he made to Dr. Monro are curious as indicating the ideas that floated in his mind. He said that persons dogged him to Boulogne: they would never allow him to learn French, and wanted to murder him. He was afraid of going out after dark, for fear of assassination. He imagined the person whom he shot at Cha- ring Cross to be one of the crew, a part of the system that was destroy- ing his health when he saw the person at Charing Cross at whom he fired, every feeling of suffering which he had endured for months and years rose up at once in his mind, and he conceived that he should ob- tain peace by killing him. Dr. Monro had not a shadow of doubt that the delusions were real-- He considered the act of the prisoner in killing Mr. Drummond to have been committed whilst under a delusion ; that the act itself he looked upon as the crowning act of the whole matter—as the climax—as a carrying out of the preexisting idea which had haunted him for years. " * • Monomania may exist with general sanity. He frequently knew a person insane upon one point exhibit great cleverness upon all others not immediately associated with his delusions. He bad seen clever artists, arithmeticians, and architects, whase mind was disordered on one point. An insane person may commit an act similar to the one with which the prisoner is charged, and yet be aware of the -consequences of such an act. The evidence which he had heard in court had not induced him to alter his opinion of the case. Lunatics often manifested a high degree of cleverness and ingenuity, and exhibited occasionally great cun- ning in escaping from the consequences of such acts. He saw a number of such cases every day.

M'Naughten was more than once asked, if he knew that it was Sir Robert Peel at whom he shot ? He paused and hesitated, and at length said, he was not sure whether it was Sir Robert Peel or not. Dr. Monro was cross-examined on the point of lunatics' moral responsi- bility— The Solicitor-General—' What do you mean by insanity ? Do you con- sider a person labouring under a morbid delusion of unsound mind ?" Witness—. I do."

The Solicitor-General—" Do you think insanity may exist without any morbid delusion?"

Witness—" Yes; a person may be imbecile: but there is generally some morbid delusion : there are various shades of insanity. A person may be of unsound mind, and yet be able to manage the usual affairs of life." The Solicitor-General—" May insanity exist with a moral perception of right and wrong?"

Witness—" Yes; it is very common."

The Solicitor-General—" A person may have a delusion and know murder to he a crime?"

Witness—. If there existed antecedent symptoms, I should consider the murder to be an overt act, the crowning piece of his insanity; but if he had stolen a 10/. note it would not have tallied with his delusion."

Sir A. Morrison, whose attention has been directed to the subject of insanity for half a century, entirely concurred with Dr. Monro-

He believed M'Naughten committed the act when insane. His morbid de- lusion consisted in fancying that he was subject to a system of persecution. This delusion deprived the prisoner of all restraint or control over his actions. Ile had not the slightest doubt on the point.

Mr. M'Clure, surgeon, who had examined the prisoner on four occa- sions with Dr. Monro, Dr. Bright, and Sir A. Morrison, was of opinion that the prisoner laboured under an hallucination which deprived him of all ordinary restraint.

Dr. W. Hutchinson, physician to the Royal Lunatic Asy /if 1"417-1' gow, said that the act was the consequence of the delusion irresistible. The delusion was so strong that nothing bu impediment could have prevented him from committing t might have done the same thing in Glasgow if the disease o iasw had reached the same point. He dated the insanity from th when M'Naughten called on Mr. Wilson, the Commissioner o *yr r

Dr. J. Crawford, lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence at the Anderso- nian Institution at Glasgow, who had examined the prisoner, entirely concurred with Dr. Hutchinson.

Mr. M`Murdo, the surgeon of Newgate, had regularly visited the pri- soner ever since he was in gaol, and had taken pains to ascertain the state of his mind'. The result of his observations was, that the prisoner was insane, and was so at the time that he committed the offence : M'Naughten believed that he was acting in self-defence, and correctly. Mr. A. Key, surgeon of Guy's Hospital, had not seen the prisoner before the trial, but had been in court during the whole of it. From the evidence, he believed that M'Naughten laboured under a delusion when he shot Mr. Drummond ; that he was exempt from all responsi- bility, and that he had no control over his actions. A person may be under the influence of a morbid delusion and yet be able to conduct the ordinary affairs of life. His judgment was formed mainly, but not en:- - tirely, on the absence of other motives.

Mr. Forbes Winslow, surgeon, author of The Plea of Insanity in Cri- minal Cases, and other works on insanity, delivered this opinion- " I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that he is insane ; and that he committed the offence in question whilst afflicted with a delusion, under which he appears to have been labouring for a considerable length of time."

Dr. B. Philips, surgeon and lecturer at Westminster Hospital, was called ; but Lord Chief Justice Tindal interposed, and asked the Soli- citor-General if he had any medical evidence to rebut the testimony of the medical witnesses who had been examined for the defence ? The Solicitor General said that he had not. The Chief Justice stated, that the Bench felt the evidence, and especially that of the two last medical gentlemen, to he so strong that they were induced to stop the case. The Solicitor General said, that after that intimation, he could not press for a verdict.

The Chief Justice thus put the question for the consideration of the Jury- " The point I shall have to submit to you is, whether on the whole of the evidence you have heard you are satisfied that at the time the act was com- mitted, for the commission of which the prisoner now stands charged, he had. that competent use of his understanding as that he knew that be was doing, by the very act itself, a wicked and a wrong thing ? If he was not sensible at the time be committed that act that it was a violation of the law of God or of man, undoubtedly he was not responsible for that act, or liable to any punishment whatever flowing from that act. If, on balancing the evidence in your minds, you think the prisoner capable of distinguishing between right and wrong, then he was a responsible agent and liable to all the penalties the law imposes. If not so, and if in your judgment the subject should appear involved in very great difficulty, then you would probably not take upon yourselves to find the prisoner guilty. If that is your opinion, then you will acquit the prisoner. If you think you ought to hear the evidence more fully, in that case I will state It to you, and leave the case in your hands."

The Foreman of the Jury said, that they required no more informa- tion, and without hesitation they returned the prisoner "Not Guilty, on the ground of insanity." The Clerk of the Arraigns ordered the gaoler to keep the prisoner in safe custody until the Queen's pleasure should be known. He was then removed from the bar, at ten minutes to eight o'clock.

Joshua Jones Ashley was placed at the bar, on Monday, to answer several indictments charging him with stealing a large quantity of silver spoons and forks from different club-houses, of which the pri- soner was a member, or to which he had the entree. The first indict- ment charged him with stealing four spoons and one fork, the property of John Howse, in his dwelling-house,—namely. the Junior United Service Club, of which Mr. Howse is Steward. The prisoner's coun- sel, Mr. Prendergast, objected, that the property in the spoons could not be said to reside in Mr. Howse ; nor was the club properly to be described as his dwelling-house. For the prosecution, Mr. Clarkson admitted the force of this objection, and a verdict of acquittal was directed by the Judge. The prisoner was then charged, upon another indictment, with steal- ing spoons and forks, the property of Sir James Watson and others, trustees of the Army and Navy Club. Another technical objection was taken to this indictment, that it did not set forth the parish to which the clubhouse belonged. The prisoner was found guilty of simple larceny; and n as sentenced to seven years transportation.

Richard Simpson and George Stacey, who had been seized in Hyde Park one evening lately, were put to trial on Tuesday. It had been stated that Simpson was really a person of title, a " Sir F.": he proved to be Robert Smith, a solicitor of Worcester. When he was seized, he had a silver lace round his bat, as if to give him the appearance of a servant : Stacey was butler to Sir Frederick Roe. Several highly re- spectable persons attended to give Smith a good. character ; he bad always been considered a " moral" man : and Sir Frederick Roe's so- licitor, another gentleman, and a landlady, gave Stacey a good cha- racter. The defence set up by counsel did not go to deny the evidence, but only to make out that it did not prove much. The prisoners were found guilty upon a minor count, charging them with unlawfully meeting. Their counsel then took technical objections to the count upon which they were convicted ; and judgment was deferred till next session, in order to the consideration of the objections.

Sir Felix Booth, at whom the previous insinuations were understood to have been levelled, was on the bench. Counsel on both sides spoke with the utmost indignation of the outrage committed on his name ; and he was affected to tears at these allusions to the calumnies.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has been threatened with assassi- nation. Mr. Goulburu, attended by Mr. R. C. Pemberton, his private Secretary, Mr. Dawson, and Mr. Maule, applied at Bow Street Police- office, on Tuesday, for a warrant to arrest John Dillon, late an officer in the Navy, who had threatened his life. Mr. Dillon formerly com- manded at the Preventive Coast Guard Station at Millcove, in the county of Cork. At eight o'clock on the night of the 15th February

1822, he went out to sea with two boats : a sail was pointed out; he approached, and prepared to board the the vessel, which was the smug- gler-brig Peru: but on seeing from forty to fifty men on b ntrd, (or, according to another account, fearing that the boats would be swamped,) he sheered off, and raised an alarm on the coast. The brig next day ran into Kinsale, thirty miles distant ; was boarded and seized by Mr. Masters, the Customs Surveyor, and condemned. Mr. Masters received 11,000/. prize-money. Mr. Dillon was not adjudged to have any claim, as he did not drive the vessel into Kinsale ; but, in 1833, 501. was given to him in consideration of his distressed circumstances. Some charge of cowardice was originally raised against him ; but he says that he was acquitted of that, on the testimony of Admirals Codrington, Stop- ford, and Durham. Three letters were produced in Court, dated 21st February, 22d February, and 4th March ; in which Dillon tells Mr. Goulburn, that William the Fourth cautioned his Ministers not to trifle with the writer and he threatens to send a ball through Mr. Goul- burn. In the first letter of the series he says- " If these letters are not attended to, I assure you, without the crime of an assasssin, I prefer to be placed in the same situation of that villain M•Naugh- ten, than draw on the miserable existence I am now suffering, out of employ- ment, in debt to those friends who had confidence in my honour, with an estate which had been over two hundred years in my family now enjoyed by Lord Templemore and Mr. Maunsel of Galway. Every article I have is in pledge. The late King, who knew my character, and my late friends, Sir Her- bert 'Taylor and Sir R. Spencer, requested of Lord Althorp not to trifle with me, but to give me a fair trial."

Mr. Pemberton identified the letters as Mr. Dillon's writing ; and mentioned, that in one of the frequent interviews which he had with the witness, Mr. Dillon said Mr. Goulburn "had better look out "; and he seemed much excited.

Mr. James Walsh, a colour-man, of Bankside, deposed that he saw John Dillon at a coffeehouse in the Strand, one day last week ; when he entered into conversation about M`Naughten and Bellingham-

" He referred to the case of Bellingham, who shot Mr. Percival ; and said there was a wide difference between his case and that of M‘Naughten, as Bel- lingham had received a bona fide injury, by which he was driven mad, whereas the other had received none at all. Be contended that Bellingham was per- fectly justified in shooting Mr. Percival. He continued this conversation with two strangers present, and told them he had a claim upon the Government, and, unless it was satisfied, he would have a pop at some of them; and, if be did shoot any one, it should be Goulburn. This occurrence took place late in the evening : and he appeared to be quite sober, and determined to put his threat into execution ; saying, • When I am tried, I'll not plead insanity, but injustice.' One of the strangers observed, Why not petition the House of Commons upon the subject, and wait for a reply to your petition, after it will be laid on the table ?' He replied, 'Before I can receive any answer, to any petition that I may make, I'll have taken Mr. Goulburn's life, and swing far it.'"

The warrant of arrest was issued at once.

Mr. Dillon was found in Whiteeross Street Debtors Prison : and the Governor was instructed to detain him under the warrant. On Wed- nesday, he wrote a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, amply apologizing for his threats, which he palliated by a reference to his sufferings and privations ; entreating that if his claim were not settled, at least his expenses and the sum he had lost from his profession might be paid, as the charge of cowardice had been abandoned ; and request- ing that Mr. Goulburn would state to the House of Commons his ad- mission of the acquittal.