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.qUeitect, great cheering," .the :Queen's gracious reef teethe ad- efteteereted by the peueteteeen the roartagormiett eekidethe frawneelerk .eseis instructed to enteeethe.reply upon theijarrintiseaocee tapir ill Of 93;held on NI ednestlay„ .e rife I ed;The. Committee of Beirileges wasloommissionalloeitamine the records rissifh reference to the history an &near:ins:of the; Court of Hustings, ewhinh is at presentleughed at as an oheinelasipundageetind: encumbinnce -tri the Municipality.: belief is entcatained titatit asap be roadie ;Meted lie a court for the regieteatio• ofebuildinss. i. eerie i ; aft, 5 -,■1, JILT n: Y91"I.J1 1T..L.se....seeree Ji hal3 ...At a Meetinfeeer:the ilonotreeblnArtallerpOomptirlyeasst week, for the pnrpose of eslecteugdffee Court of Amietante ,aud..otb.er offieets,. the party -*rho have iwpoee41Prieffe.Alheres views was,overthnown: a Court of As- sistants was elected chiefly from the Prineee sepporters: The cattle show of the. Smithfield Club in Baker Street, Portman Square, which was opened to the public on Tuesday, is described as re- markably large and excellent this year. The first prizes were generally won by breeders or farmers : the prize for oxen, by -Mr. John Tucker, of Somerset.shire ; for short-woalled sheep, by Mr. John Williams, of Berk- shire; for pigs, by Mr. Fisher Hobbs, of Essex; for extra stock, by Mr. Stephen Gooch, of Norfolk. The greater number of secondary prizes were gained by amateur noblemen and gentlemen—Prince Albert, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Warwick, and others. The Duke of Wellington exhibited "a four years and six months old Cross-bred heifer, between the Scotch Highland cow and the Brahmin bull, fed on grass, ehaef, barley-meal, oil-cake, and roots" ; " a most singular beast no less in shape than in temper, it having a buffalo hump, drooping behind like a mule, and launching out its heels with great dexterity at everybody who came near its range." It is noted that there was but one specimen of the favourite and generally profitable polled Galloway breed of cattle and that the Norfolk graziers complain that " there is now great din'. eulty in getting them at a reasonable price." The Speaker of the House of Co one excelled in " improved Essex Heckfield pigs" ; and the po>ni group altogether is described with admiration. The "National Association," wishing to profit by the presence in London of the agricultural gentry and farmers assembled to attend the Cattle Show in Baker Street, held a general meeting, at the London Tavern, on Thursday. Arrangements had been made to accommodate an unusual press of Protectionists in the great room, but the small room was found fully large; at no period were there a hundred persons present, and towards the end of the proceedings scarcely thirty—says the adverse Morning Chronicle. Mr. George Young presided, and Major Beresford was the sole M.P. present. The tone of all the speakers was one of very great hostility to landlords. Mr: Young stated the society's programme to include now the equalization of poor-rates, and its imposition on per- sonal as well as real property, abolition of malt-tax, non-renewal of income-tax, a just revisal of tithe-commutation, reduction of local rates, and a law to enable tenants to revoke leases made before 1846. Mr_ Young himself declared his belief that " the day of high prices is over."
The Consistory Court gave judgment on Saturday in the divorce case of King versus Xing, promoted by the Honourable Robert King, eldest son of Lord Lorton, on the ground of the adultery of his wife with a French gentle- man called Vicomte de SaintJean ; and resisted by Mrs. King on the grounds of her husband's connivance at her immorality, and of his own adultery with Madame de Saint Jean and other persons. The Judge, Dr. Luahington, held that the wife's unfaithfulness was proved ; that the proof of the hus- band's connivance failed, but that the husband's own unfaithfulness was established; he therefore "dismissed both parties," and refused to pronounce for a divorce. In Westminster Hall, on Monday, was tried an action of libel, brought by Captain Aaron Smith, the notable interrupter of the meeting to condemn Rajah Brooke's proceedings against Bornean " pirates," versus Captain Cook, formerly in the merchant service, afterwards one of the Government Commissioners of the Niger be Expedition, and now the agent in London of the Scottish Equitable Association. It will recollected that Captain Smith's unseasonable interpellations at the public meeting led to inculpatory reviews of his own former life; and that Mr. Cobden in Parliament charged him with having been " a most atrocious pirate." While the war of correspond- ence raged, Captain Cook, the present defendant, was in Scotland; but on his coming to London at its termination, he found himself drawn by per- sonal references into the controversy. He wrote a letter to the Times, stating how in Angust 1822 his ship the Industry was captured by a piratical schooner, one of whose principal officers in command was Captain Aaron Smith; and'e set forth the history of his case in a manner to rebut Captain Smith's pretences that he had acted under compulsion, and from fear of his own life, in his subordinate command of the pirates. On the warrant of that which he himself saw, Captain Cook expressly charged Captain Smith with having been a voluntary pirate " and no mistake" ; and for this libel damages were now sought. Captain Smith had been tried for piracy in 1823 and in 1839 : in 1823, on the two charges of having piratically taken the English vessels Vittoria and Industry ; in 1839, on that of taking the Dutch vessel Prevoyante. The two former trials were before Lord Stowell. The case of the Vittoria failed on evidence; the Judge and Jury seem to have agreed that the "hand and mind did not go together " in Captain Smith's piratical doings. The case of the Industry was abandoned by Sir Robert Gifford, counsel for the Crown ; and Captain Cook could not, of course, give his evidence in it. Captain Smith was therefore, in the present opinion of Lord Campbell, "honourably acquitted " of both charges ; for, no doubt, Sir Robert Gifford presented his strongest case first. The trial in 1839 was before Chief Justice Tindal, and there the Jury stopped the case and gave a verdict of acquittal. It was un- der these circumstances that Captain Cook, on his personal impressions, re- asserted the charge of piracy against Captain Smith ; that the action had been brought for damages ; and that Captain Cook pleaded in justification of his charge that it was true. The evidence on the side of Captain Smith consisted merely of the state- ments of two or three witnesses, who remembered his return in poverty to this country after his piratical adventures ; were present at his trial in 1 , and then heard witnesses, since dead, depose that Captain Smith was an un- willing party to the atrocities in which he was a joint actor, and even that Captain Cook himself admitted his life to have been saved by Captain Smith. The evidence on the part of Captain Cook was that of two sailors of the Vittoria; of the depositions made by Captain Cook himself at the Thames Police Court in 1823, in the matter of the piracy by which his ship was lost; and of the evidence taken before a Master of the Court of Queen's Bench last month, of Andre Jean Muelenaer, the boatswain of the Pre- 1§4,74;A: c.pp4ma the corsair inibmand. -he he elide eerthis evidence event concutreiatly to prove, that at. no time of Snalh'iediley with-the cor- mite:was his manner that of a:penesn acting under easimulsion:or fearc that hee acted with the,violent impiese,of * man pursuiug the life of his clioioe ; thatehe l ,amenber of chauces to. escape when on shore, and when close tetengleileand Ainerlean ships of war; that lie at last came to be the sole captain of the corsair cieweane the uncontrolled tufa- of both their ectiens sardhisemen ...enrolee eradenifinee that hit-life wasone of adiantageetes'well Qa lawless elieiternenti for hiebb;iseitsaid inthe hearing of -several pertions, that he, would, not giegheseown share of the Vittoria, which wee- but one of Elie rrfarly, wars mttures made, by the-corsairs, for ,6940 ' The-Ortil 'rellIlir,k8 of Lord Campbell in senunieg up wore very favour- able ne ,W%..", end the jury, a special'one, declared' thenieelves real" eitierieider'their Yerdiet without the itssistehee.of a' judicial review of all themiidemoce Aftenewenty minutete musideratierie they gave a verdict to the plaintiff', for ten pounds ; equally implying, as it should seem,- their belief that Captain Smith might have been an unwilling pirate, anti their opineon that Captain Cook has done him but a trifling injustice in calling h-ei willing pirate.
An extraordinary charge of domestic cruelty was investigated at Guildhall Police Court on.Saturday. Some particulars of the case had been mentioned on a preceding day, when a summons was issued, and- the court was now crowded. Me. George Sloane, an eminent special-pleader, residing with his wife at be chamrs in Pump Court, Temple, was charged with starving and cruelly beating June Wilbred, a girl in his service as maid of all work. Mr. Sloane was allowed to be seated in the centre rof the court; and Mr. Clarkson, who appeared on his behalf, sat on the bench. Underneath Mr. Sloane's chambers arc those of Mr. Phillimore and Mr. Fry. The laundress and clerk of Mr. Phillimore have for some months no- ticed that the girl Wilbred was becoming miserably emaciated, and that she bore the marks of violence on her person: they had queltioned her, and she had unwillingly, confessed that she was nearly dead from starvation and ill usage, On their information, Mr. Phillimore and Mr. Fry sought an inter- view with Mr. Sloane, and insisted ou obtaining the custody of the girl; and after some demur he yielded her up. She ate some food ravenously, and was made ill by it; she was then taken home by the laundress, and a doc- tor was called in; and ou his report of her dangerous condition, she was sent to the Bova{ Free Hospital. Only on- Saturday had she so far rallied that she could be safely removed to the Guildhall for examination. The witnesses examined were Mr. Phillimore, Mrs. Bell his laundress, Mr. Marsden, Surgeon of the Royal Hospital, some other persona, and the poor girl herself. Mrs. Bell stated, that she remembers the appearance of Jane Wilbred to have been healthy and plump eighteen months since; she was a comely girl with some colour. Mr. Marsden thus describes her appearance on Monday week—"The pulse was scarcely perceptible; the extremities very cold and livid ; the respiration feeble ; and she was almost unable to speak." There was no disease : the appearances resulted entirely from want of food; and this must have been the case for many months. There were marks of' vio- lence about her neck and shoulders; but they had not been inflicted b' any- thing hard, such as a stick, for if that had been used the bones must have been broken. She could not have existed in that state many days longer. "I have been," he said, "in the coustant habit, during the last twenty years, of seeing cases of extreme distress, in many of which the. ersons' have
in
died a few hours after their admission into the Hospital; but f never saw a case at all approaching the appearance presented by that girl. I could not have believed a person could be so reduced and live. She was certainly the most perfect living skeleton I had ever seen in the course of my life." Under treatment, she was slowly rallying. The girl was now carried into the court in an easy chair. Her appearance excited a horror that found vent in groans and involuntary exclamations. Placed beside the Alderman, her voice was inaudible to any person but him- self : he questioned her aloud, held his ear close to her mouth, and catching her replies repeated them aloud. She stated herself to be going on for eighteen, and to have been taken from the West Union Workhouse by -Mrs. Sloane, " on the 19th July going on for two years." She received no wages. At first they treated her pretty well; but after three months they took away the clothing from her sleeping-mattress, and stintel her meals. At lust they gave her only " a little bit of bread and mustard for breakfast, with coffee and carraway seeds" ; and it was often noon or later before she got that, though she rose at six. For dinner she had "a little bread and broth, we': a quantity of mustard in it." "The last time I had meet -- before Phillimore saw me; then I had ^ so much as I could eat. It was generally before ever I got any - sometimes . Sirens (1*- - h.,-
maw
not Slorea beater her shi out am, had the . me of drii much for scene cruel. ment, and a substance int. burst into a ye tempt to repress
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given of beatings, an. any food not given le now found that the fr. something in whicl
Clarkson rose to erne
you ?" After a long month ago"; and then that ahe had not faints _ eeeee questioning, as iniroser------esee "ienieg4 yrI bowed to the inter • t)-40'. les eVeset further investiga , it wits," yeel°,0e 'tee Alderman Humphery (wit. We' 0.1 )— inquiry, and Mrs. Sloane must else% ore U.
Mr. Sloane was liberated, on bail to the an ance next week.
Mr. Sloane appeared again yesterday. Ja. but is now somewhat improved. Mrs. Sloane on the ground of an accident which disabi^ ' seen Mrs. Sloane beat the girl an man Humphery censured lukewarmness in not prosecuting. Mr. Pontifex, the clerk, excused the of Seer:shy reference to difficulties respecting the expenses: but, after an in- dignant demonstration from the Alderman, he took up the ease for the Union_ Mr. Clarkson again, out of humane consideration for the weak state of the girl, abstained from an questions; but restated that Mr. Sloane's friends rely with confidence on his exculpation in the sequel. Mr. Sloane is to ap- pear again today. The case will ultimately be sent to the Old Bailey.
A number of men are in custody, and have been examined by the Bow Street Magistrate, on chargesof robbing the London Docks, some years since. One of them, Garrett, was a warehouseman in the docks, and another, John- son, was a delivery foreman ; three carmen were ehaeged with complicity; and Henry Wilson, a grocer in Cepel Street, Whitechapel, was:eeepsodoL purchasing some of the stolen goods, at a price far.below the abselgte st cost and duty. Coffee, sugar, and pepper, were earfied away ; the tiie in the docks taking adVantage of their position to send the propertyjtout waggons that came for other goods. The chief witnesses were thine11P- provers—Groves, a carinitn,. Maynard, a man who sold the plundered sugar and coffee to Wilson, and Ifite'hell, who was employed under Garrett. On Saturday, Johnson said he was "disposed to aditut his own guilt," and en- deavoured to "show up the rascality of the approvers. He and Wilson were committed for trial ; the others were remanded. On Wednesday, Garrett, Stratford, and Poole, were committed for trial, the former on two charges; Orem was liberated at the instance of the pro- secutors—the Commissioners of Customs—as the evidence against him was not strong. During the proceedings most extraordinary disclosures were made. According to the approvers, a regular. system of plunder has been carried on by many of the people employed in the London Docks: when certain men were seen to enter with waggons, the initiated knew at once that a robbery was to be effected; on those occasions the uninitiated were sent out of the way. Where goods were thus surreptitiously removed, the revenue as well as the owners was defrauded, as no duty was paid. An offi- cer in the Customs said the revenue-officials could not check this : millions of packages remained in bond for years ; if the officers took stock in ware- house A, the robbers made up any deficiency there by bringing goods from warehouse B, and vice versa.
The seven persons concerned with the robbery of jewellery in the Strand have been at last committed for trial by the Bow Street Magistrate.
At Marlborough Street Police Office, on Monday, William St. Clair at- tended to answer a summons charging him with endeavouring by threats and intimidation to compel the contractors for the Exhibition Building to alter their mode of carrying on their business. The evidence on both sides was similar to that formerly mentioned. The solicitor for the defence raised nu- merous objections : one was, that two Magistrates must adjudicate in such a case. Mr. Bingham postponed his judgment till the following day. He then reviewed the case at great length, disposed of the technical objections, and finally committed the defendant to prison for two months, without hard labour.
George Racket, the convict who escaped from the Model Prison, is still at large. A reward of 501. is offered for his capture. Yesterday week, when the offer of the reward was not generally known, he drove in a cab to Bil- lingsgate, where he is well known, visited divers public-houses, and treated his cronies. His father worked for many years in the market. No attempt was made to seize him.
A collision occurred at the Primrose Hill tunnel on Saturday night. Many luggage-trains having arrived at the Camden Town end of the tunnel, the line was completely blocked up, and notice was sent to stop up-trains from passing through the tunnel. A train from Tring was thus stopped it con- sisted of four carriages, containing about a dozen passengers. The 'driver of a train from Birmingham, either disregarding the signals of danger or not observing them, drove his engine into the stationary train. Though the shock did not kill any one or break limbs, several persons were severely cut and bruised. The last carriage of the Tring train was demolished : fortunately it was empty.