Ott Zttropplio.

The members of the Army and Navy Club gave a dinner on Saturday to General Williams and his comrades. Contrary to custom, reporters were admitted to the club, because the honour was considered to be in some measure a public recognition of the General. Colonel Daniell oc- cupied the chair; but of course the chief speeches were made by General Wahines : in one he spoke for himse1.4 in another for General Mourn- Tieff. Some few passages are of interest in connexion with the history of the Asian campaign. As at Harrow, he introduced his officers to the Club, and then went on to speak of the siege. "I have a sacred duty to perform in bringing to your notice the constant encouragement which I received from the Minister of State under whom I was particularly engaged—I mean Lord Clarendon. His despatches when they arrived among us produced, as it were, a kind of electrical shock which impelled us to go on. We were not at the time a melancholy crew ; we were laughing, we were merry, we were like men that would not be extinguished. We were surrounded by very great difficulties, but whenever the despatches arrived they produced a most extraordinary effect upon us. Not only were

these despatches read among us, but there were numerous private letters

read from that nobleman ; and if we had not, on the receipt of them, ex- erted ourselves to the utmost of our power, and valued our lives at the worth of a straw, we should not have been worthy of the name of English-

men. I can assure you that the very soldiers who served with me were ready to the for him. On a former occasion, at the banquet at the Trinity

House, I had an opportunity of returning my fhnnka to Lord Palmerston,

another nobleman with whom my career began. It was Lord Palmerston who sent me out to those countries. I had returned four or five times be-

fore I came under Lord Clarendon. I received from Lord Palmerston the greatest kindness and the greatest consideration, and to that kindness and that consideration I assure you I owe my present position." Of the Turkish soldiers he spoke more in detail than before. "Colonel Lake could tell you what they did, for no one could help ad- miring their courage, their discipline, their file fire, their rolling fire. I

assure you that neither the Guards of Londan nor those of Paris could have

surpassed them. From early dawn [on the 29th September] till an hour after mid-day, that fire continued; the noise of a thousand drums never

ceased for a moment : therefore you may suppose what soldiers they were. When the enemy got into those intrenchments, which, in consequence of the absolute necessity for protecting other points, were for the time unmanned, they were driven out again by those brave little fellows at the point of the bayonet." In replying to "the health of General Mouravief" he spoke of him in the highest terms, and then of his conduct and that of his army after his surrender of Kars.

"General Mouravieff received us in his camp as comrades, and from that time till the time we quitted the Russian dominions we were treated with

the greatest kindness. It may be said that, to be sure, such chivalry was to

be expected from such high_quarters ; but when I tell you that he was equally kind and humane to the Turk—to the Turkish soldier—to the suffering

starving host who went out to deliver themselves up that day, then I think

you will give a cheer for General Mouravielf. From that moment every arrangement which humanity could suggest, and which the most extensive cornmissariat could execute, was carried out. They clothed and reelothed

the Turks. As children of the desert, some of those Turks sold their clothes, not to buy drink, but to buy sugar or anything in that way. They acted and were treated like children of the desert. I wish to say also a word respect- flg the army of General Mouravieff—that splendid army—that army of po- lished steel. I assure you it was magnificent. It was with the greatest devotion to the Sovereign that they came down upon us, from day-dawn to eunsetlor

seven mortal hours : although they sustained the most severe losses, there was not a single moment of hesitation in the efforts and movements of that

fine army. They came forward, attack after attack, in a manner which

would have gladdened the heart of every soldkr to have seen. When they were assailed by a fire as well directed, as beadifully directed as ever came from a position, they never recoiled until the moment when they were ordered to do so ; and when the game was up they treated us like friends and brothers. Before we delivered ourselves up to them, they sacritled

themselves in the most splendid, most beautiful- manner ; they detached

themselves from the flanks of the columns, and came forward and made walls of themselves in front of their batteries. When we came to mix among them only two mouths after this terrible infliction, as the Turks

would say, 'there was not an evil eye among them,' there was the eye of friendship and the hand of a comrade from one end of Russia to another.

That was the feeling as we went along through the country. Of the Sove-

reign of that empire I speak in the same strain, and, in fact, higher. I can assure you it would be quite impossible to exceed the kindness and consider- ation which I received from the Emperor. Here again, you may say, this would be expected from so high a quarter; but when I tell you that he is considered by his subjects from one end of his country to the other as being really the spirit of benevolence, then I am sure you will give a cheer for the Emperor of Russia." 44 One cheer more" for Mouravieff, and " one more" for the Emperor of Russia, were given.

Sir William Williams dined with the Royal Artillery Mess at Wool- wich on Thursday. His entry into the town was an ovation. The Local Board of Works presented him with an address ; and Mrs. Hall Graham, on the part of the ladies, presented him with a bouquet, the flowers of which, if they could speak, said the fair giver, would express

how joyfully the ladies of Woolwich hail the arrival of General Williams among them. In the evening the Town-hall and many of the houses were illuminated.

A deputation from various parishes, headed by Lord Robert Grosvenor, Sir Benjamin Hall, and some members of the Metropolitan Board of Works, waited upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Wednesday, to call his attention to the duty of preserving Hampstead Heath. They proposed that the surplus remaining at the expiration of the coal-duties, in 1862, should be applied to the purchase of the Heath. Sir George Lewis admitted that it is desirable to preserve Hampstead Heath; but the rent difficulty is where to find the funds. If it were taken from the Consolidated Fund, then they might have Mem- bers for Cornwall, for Dublin, Manchester, Edinburgh, and other places, jumping up and complaining that these sums were lavished on Metropolitan improvements alone. It appeared, however, that what was proposed now was, that Hampstead Heath should be purchased by funds arising out of the surplus of the coal-tax. He supposed that it was meant out of the surplus of the 9d. per ton which the Government received. The Metropolitan Board of Works, he thought, was invested with the power, though they seemed themselves to think otherwise ; but with reference to the surplus of the coal-dues, he thought the Government were under a pledge that that tax should not even continue till 1862 if the charges upon it were liquidated previously. He did not know at that moment what those charges were, nor what the purchase-money for Hampstead Heath might be ; but he presumed there would be the common rights ef pasture to be purchased as well as the manorial rights of Sir Thomas Wilson as the lord. Sir Benjamin Hall said, the great point is to secure the Heath at once ; far if the present lord of the manor die, his successor may at once build all over the Heath. He believed the Metropolitan Board have power to purchase it ; but if they have not, he suggested that they should get further powers from Parliament. The Chancellor of the Ex-

chequer said, he could not give any promise upon the subject ; but he admitted that in the event of a surplus of coal-duties the object had a fair claim upon that fund.

Messrs. Young, Son, and Magnay, the shipbuilders of Limehouse, whose men have " struck " to resist certain changes in the hours of work proposed by Messrs. Young, state, through the Times, that they are pre- vented from obtaining new hands—their proposals not being unaccept- able to the workers generally—" by the dictation and machinations of a secret, powerful, and irresponsible tribunal, extending, by means of cor- respondence with affiliated societies, its authority through every corner of the United Kingdom, and subjecting the freedom of individual will to a slavery as abject and as terrible as that of the Inquisition."

In the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, on Tuesday, Dr. Lush- ington delivered judgment on appeal from the decision of the Prerogative

Court in the case of the disputed will of the late Mr. Dyce Sombre. The

Court below had decided that the testator was insane at the time he made his will and awarded costs against Mr. Prinsep and the East India Com-

pany, who maintained the validity of the will. Dr. Lushington reviewed the whole facts of the case, in a speech extending over three hours. A brief recapitulation will serve to remind our readers of the chief incidents. Mr. Dyce Sombre was descended from General Sombre, an European. His father was Mr. George Alexander Dyce, the son of a British officer by a native woman ; his mother the granddaughter of General Sombre, the hus- band of the Begum of Sirdhana in Upper Bengal. Mr. Dyes Sombre was therefore, by origin, partly Asiatic, partly European. That circumstance is of importance, because it is urged that what were called his delusions

were occasioned by his Asiatic habits and his ignorance of European cus- toms; a view rejected by Dr. Lushington. Mr. Dyce Sombre had two sis- ters, now Mrs. Troup and the Baroness Solaroli. They were all adopted by the Begum, and brought up in her palace at Sirdhana. She invested Dyce Sombre with almost despotic power in carrying on her government. At this period, and always, his personal conduct "may be described in one sentence

—the most unrestrained sensual indulgence of every kind." "it is proved beyond all doubt, that for several years before his death Mr. Dyce Sombre led a life of the grossest sensuality. Baron Palm states, that at Baden the deceased drank a bottle of curaeoa in the morning, and three bottles of wine

at dinner, or two of wine and one of porter, and strong wine too. His in- dulgence with women was unlimited ; and so it appears the deceased con-

tinued to live to the end." The Begum died in 1836, and left him probably 500,000/. In 1838 he came to England; was received into society ; and in 1840 he married Miss Jervis, the daughter of Lord St. Vincent. In 1843 it was found necessary to put Mr. Dyce Sombre under restraint ; a com- mission of lunacy was issued, and he was found to be of unsound mind. Among his delusions were these—that Mrs. Dyee Sombre had been incontinent with anybody and everybody—with shopmen, and with her own father, in open day, in Hyde Park ; that be had met Lord Ward in distress at Rome, and had offered to employ him to carve a monument of the Begum ; that to prevent a levee he had dined on apples and porter ; that Lord Metcalfe had told Lord John Russell, Lord Melbourne, and himself, that Madame Solaroli was illegitimate ; and that Count Nesselrode had told him everybody talked of Mrs. Dyce Sombre's connexion with a Mr. C. F. Allowed to travel in England under the care of a physician, Mr. Dyce Sabre escaped from Liverpool and went to Paris in 1843. Efforts were made to reclaim him to English jurisdiction. The French Government refused to give him up ; and the result of an investi- gation ordered by the Prefect of Police was that he was deemed of sound mind. A petition to dismiss the commission was laid before Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst. Mr. Dyce Sombre was permitted to come to England to be ex- amined; but, after the fullest investigation, Lord Lyndhurst declined to supersede the commission. At Brussels and St. Petersburg he caused an

investigation of his sanity to be made, and the physicians Consulted were of opinion that he was of sound mind; but it was proved thatene of them was promised 10,000/. if the commission were superseded within a specified term.

Mr. Dyce Sombre was again examinedin 1848, by five eminentphysicians, who declared him to be of sound mind. Nevertheless, in 1849, Lord Cottenham, reviewing the whole case, declined to supersede the commission. It was shown that Lord Combermere and others had exerted themselves to in- fluence Mr. Dyce Sombre in carrying out a scheme of deception by conceal- ing his delusions. Now it was in 1849 that the will was made ; and the question was, did the insanity of the testator, admitted up to 1846, continue ? Dr. Lushington showed that, although the testator had been tutored to con- ceal it, the insane delusions still existed. He for this purpose cited some remarkable passages from Mr. Dyce Sombre's book called the "Refutation," written by him in 1849; clearly showing that the delusions subsisted. "The book proves that there still existed in viridi observantia the delusion as to Mrs. Dyce Sombre, as to Madame Solaroli, Lord Metcalfe, General Ventura, Mr. C. F., the supposed Lord Ward. How useless to go further. We want no books of medical science, no legal authorities, to enable us to decide this case ; there is no vexata qurestio as to partial insanity. The true description of this case is insanity showing itself in divers particulars, and, so far as appears, without any perfect intermission. We are of opinion that when Mr. Dyce Sombre executed this will, and when he executed the codicil, he was of unsound mind ; and consequently, that the acts so done by him were null and void. Therefore we shall advise her Majesty to affirm the judgment of the learned Judge of the Prerogative Court pro- nouncing against the validity of these instruments." As regards costs, however, Dr. Lushington held that, as Mr. Prinsep and the East India Company were not aware, when the will was executed, that the testator was insane, the decree of the Court below should be varied : the Court would not give costs against Mr. Prinsep and the East India Company, but allow one set of costs between them, including costs of appeal. The respondents —Mrs. Dyce Sombre, Mrs. Troup, and the Baroness Solaroli—would have their costa out of their share of the property.

Sir John Dean Paul appeared as a witness in the Court of Common Pleas on Wednesday, to give evidence respecting the claim of his assignees against a Mr. Strickland for 98001. paid to a check of Mr. Strickland on the 9th June 1856, the day that the bank stopped. The circumstances were pecu- liar. A meeting of bankers had advised Sir John Dean Paul that then should stop on the 8th ; it was kept open throughout the 9th, on the ground that a transfer of shares in certain companies to Earl Fitzwilliam had not been registered. It turns out in evidence that these shares were executed by the bankrupts, not by Lord Fitzwilliam, and the secretaries of the Copper Miners Company and the General Cemetery Company refused to register. Mr. Strickland's account was a trust account, and likely to be called for in one sum. He sent a check by his solicitor, Mr. Cockney, for the whole amount-10,303/. 2s. 9d. ; but Mr. Cookney altered it to 98001.—an act un- precedented in any but the drawer of a check ; and the bank paid the check in several instalments—also unprecedented. Mr. Strickland had himself a balance of 2637/. at the time the bank stopped. The payment of this check was considered to be an act of preference; but the bank had paid all claims up to three o'clock ; and the Jury returned a verdict for the defendant.

As Mr. Bass and other Members were proceeding home from the House of Commons early on Wednesday morning, they discovered a house near Gros- venor Place on fire ; they raised an alarm, got a fire-escape, and rescued the inmates. While Mr. Bass was watching the progress of the flames, a thief seized his gold watch ; the lawmakers captured the lawbreaker ; the watch could not be found; but a policeman dragged it out of the back of the rob- ber's mouth, getting a bite in return. The Westminster Magistrate has re- manded the thief, one John Byron. Mr. Bass complained to the Magistrate that it was half an hour before a single engine arrived at the scene. The valuable property in that locality appears to be ill protected in cases of such calamities as fires.

At the Thames Police Office, on Wednesday, twelve shipwrights were charged with refusing to fulfil their contracts with Messrs. Young and Co. of Limehouse. The case was fully made out. Mr. Selfe announced that he must punish them with three months' imprisonment. Messrs. Young inti- mated their willingness still to employ the men; and eventually they all consented to go back to work at 7s. to 88. a day, instead of occupying a gaol. Mr. Young expressed a hope that all angry feeling would cease.

The case against Mr. Snape, a medical superintendent of the Surrey Lu- natic Asylum, charged with causing the death of Daniel Dolly, an aged lunatic, was resumed at Bow Street Police Office on Monday. The evidence then given was more cogent than at the former examination. Dr. Dimond, superintendent of the female department of the Asylum, detailed a conver- sation with Mr. Snape, which went to show that Dolley was put into the shower-bath as a punishment for striking Mr. Snape. Dr. Dimond said there was no disease of the heart to account for death; an opinion in which Dr. Dimond's son, Mr. Paget, and Mr. Hancock, surgeons, coincided. Dr. Dimond attributed Dolley's death to the long-continued shower-bath and the dose of tartar emetic ; Mr. Paget, Mr. Hancock, and Dr. Rilioteen, also inclined to that view. Dr. Elliotson has tried the shower-bath at the Asylum for eight minutes forty seconds—he found it "very disagreeable "— " very dreadful" even at the end of June : Dolley was exposed to its effects at a colder period, in April. Mr. Clarkson intimated that he should reserve Mr. Snape's defence. The accused was committed for trial, but bail was accepted.