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whether the . "broker . . who assisted Smitiiers , the lunatic suicide and murderer in his speculations , ought not to be expelled . And we have the ease of Henry Smith Bright , the great Hull cornmerchant and President of the Hull Flax Spinning Company , sentenced to tenors' penal seMtwte for forging the transfer of certain snares to himself in order that he might raise the v « id . "While ' merchant princes , ' collapsing like pricked wind-hags , are exciting no sort of commiseration , except from their f < &o \ v-gai # Me * s with overs ' means , an anxious sympathy will he felt for the distressed populations of our large manufacturing towns , whose trade has been deranged by the vicious system . But we have treated this subject at length in a separate article .
The careful discrimination , of the jury who tried the Bramhall murderer "between presumptive and positive proof of guilt has been followed in two remarkable cases this week . At the York Assizes , Fanny Speed was tried for poisoning her husband with arsenic . A man to wliom she had been attached returned from sea , and the fact , coupled with expressions which she had used in reference to her husband , strongly suggested a motive for taking away his life . Shortly before her husband ' s death she had asked a young man to get her some poison to kifl a dog , which she said had flown at her . She had also applied at a druggist ' for some arsenic , ¦ ¦
and been refused . When , her . ' husband was taken ill , she and the doctor who was called in were the only persons who attended upon him , and the doctor ' s medicine contained no arsenic . The man died , and his body was found to contain arsenic more than sufficient to cause death . No arsenic was found in the house ; but a . quantity , was found in a place common to seven houses . There was a dog which mi g ht have flown at the woman . But a more material point in favour of the accused was that her husband was suffering from a disease which he kept entirely secret . He might , then , unknown to any one , have procured medicine for this disease , and so have poisoned himself . He might—for it could not be proved that he might not . The jury , therefore , acquitted his wife .
Again , in the case of Philip Clare , tried for the murder , of Elizabeth Hopley . The evidence against the accused rested solely upon the credibility of one witness . His account was horribly clear : he deposed to have heard a struggle between the murderer and his victim , to have heard her imploring expressions for mercy , to have seen the murderer take up her body , and bear it towards the Qanal in which it was afterwards found ; and further , that the accused threatened the witness with death if he should reveal -what he had seen
ana heard . But the body exhibited no mai-ks of having been exposed to a violent struggle before death . The night was dark , and there were other circumstances of time and place to render a person liable to fall into the water at the spot where the murder was said to have been committed . The character of the witness , though not of the best , was not such as on ordinary occasions would have put his testimony out of oelief , and there appeared to be mo cause why he should seek to swear away the life of the accused man ; but the
chain of cixetunstantial evidence wanted a link or two ., and the jury would not venture to supply them . 3 they declared the prisoner not guilty . And ife no doubt is better that fifty guilty men should escape than that one innocent man should suffer . Naples , France , and Ireland furnish stories of blood this week . At Naples , a confidential servant of the Count of Aqujla , brother to the King , has been , sentenced to death for attempting to poison his ' master . Neapolitan justice is troubled with no such scruples as those just mentioned ; therefore it made * no difficulty in getting rid of numbers of the Witnesses for the defence by keeping the man in
prison for a year or so , and it did not hesitate to take measures to deter one of the leading advocates at its bar from undertaking the prisoner's defence . It was , in fact , determined to convict him . lTor what P His position in the royal family has put him in the ' , way of becoming possessed of many secrets—which the royal family , no doubt , had the strongest reasons to desire should bo kept eternally secret . The man is condemned to death . In the French murder there is something of the same desire to get rid of a troublesome person . M . QuiiiLOT , a mauvais sujet , had troubled the house of 2 £ adame de Jeufosse , of St . Aubin-sav-Gaillon , in NQjemandy , by hia unprincipled gallantries . He had , in spfco of being a married man , made love , first to the gOTOrnneas in Madame Jbujtosse ' s family , and next totfcafc ladVte daughter ; he had , further , made these
persons 'his . common talk , and shamefully . compromised , their s&araciejrs . The whole Jeufosse family were indigmait , and appear to have determined to bring him 4 « a severe account . He was in the habit of ¦¦ catering their park by night for the purpose of conveying lettej ® to the daughter ; , and Madame Jetjfosse prevailed upon her gamqkeeper one night to shoot at the intruder ' . The mast did his mistress ^ , bidding , and Guiixot was killed . Madame JextiFosse , lier two sons , and the man who lircd tie fatal shot hewve been placed on their trial ; but we have yet to wait for the result .
Vthrie this French tragedy calls up vivid recollections of ^ Balzac and Sotjxiis , the Irish case we have mentioned brings to mind a score of Irish tales of fraud aud bloodshed . On the Sth of April last year , Mrs . Sarah Kelly , landowner , was murdered in the open day , ou her own laud , and in the presence of a number of her workpeople . Some years px-cviously she had conceived a great esteem for one of her nephews , named Geouge Steevens . She had made him the manager of some part of her estates , and had , moreover , made a will greatly in his favour . But between the time of the making of the will
and the time of lier murder she had received into her confidence a lawyer , who , after a while , gave up his practice and went ' to reside with her . The effect of his advice appears to have been to induce Mrs . Kelly to alter her will , in a great measure substituting her lawyer in place of her nephew . Mrs . Kelly was shot by two men dressed in women ' s clothes with their faces closely veiled . In spite of the outcry raised by the nephew who was with her , no one stirred in . pursuit of the murderers , who got off , and have never been discovered . The lawyer , by innuendoes , endeavoured to make it appear that the assassins Lad been suborned by George StbevjenSj and it is on these innuendoes that the nephew has founded an action
against him for libel , the damages being laid at 5000 / . The verdict of the jury will carry with it a significance strange to eases of libel . Perhaps the most curious accusation of all is that virtually launched at Lord T > erby , in retaliation for his dreadful charge against " Mr . Verno ^ Smith , of having sent a letter to the Peninsular and Oriental Company proposing as new a scheme already in operation . It turns out that no letter passed ; the Globe challenges evidence that there was even any ' message ; ' the story has been traced to Mr . Anderson , who tells it in a very vague way on the strength of a conversation with two gentlemen in the office of the Peninsular and Oriental
Company . Yet Lord Derby told the story circumstantially , with minute particulars about the seal on the letter , &c . The enrichment of the talc with those traits of vraiseniblance is left with Lord Derby ' s anonymous 'informant , ' ' a man of station and position , or with the Earl himself—an odd predicament for a , gentleman and a peer .
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AMERICA . Difficulties seem to be once more growing up in Kansas . Governor Walker and the President are at issue on on important point ; bat they have already had an interview on the subject , and interchanged their opinions in a Tery friendly manner . Still the President does not seein inclined to withdraw from hia position , and clouda are again lowering over what may he called the battle-ground of slavery . The New York Herald thus states the cause of difference : —" The President holds the ground that the Kansas Lecompton Convention was a legitimate convention ; that it had tho law authority to frame a State constitution ; that it should have submitted such constitution bodily to tho vote of tho people ; but that , in submitting the question of
' slavery' or ' no slavery' to the popular vote , tho only material question at iasue was satisfactorily provided for , and that accordingly the immaterial reservations of tho Convention miglit be overlooked . Governor Walker , on the other hand , emphatically declares that this Lecompton constitutional programme is an outrage upon the people of Kansas — a sliamelcsa violation of all tho principles of free government ; that tho constitution in question is yet a secret document in tho territory , still in tho hands of tho committee , to bo altered or amended as they may think proper , and that an etfort on tho part of Congress to forco this constitution upon tho people of Kansas , without their voice hoing heard for or against it , will bo surely followed by rebellion and a bloody civil war . "
Tho money market keeps generally quiet nnd easy , and there haB been some improvement in tlio state , of trade . Mr . W . S . Tuckerman , formerly treasurer of tho Eastern Railroad at Doston , lias been arrested on a charge of stealing mail-bags . A good deal of agitation has talcon place nt Ban Francisco , on account of the commercial failures at Now York
and elsewhere . Several houses have succumbed to the atorm . jBcaragu * has issued a declaration of war against Costa-Rica , in consequence of the attempts of the latter state to get the entire transit route into its power The Governor-General of Canada has dissoWed the Parliament . The election votes are returnable on the 13 th of January . The new Administration has been formed as follows : —Messrs . John A . Macdonald Premier and Attorney-General of Upper Canada ; William Cayley , Inspector-General ; Robert Spence , Postmaster-General ; G . E . Cartier , Attorney-General , Lower Canada ; J . C . Morrison , Reeeiver-General ; P . II . Van Koughnet , President , Executive Council ; T . J . J Loranger , Provincial Secretary ; N . F . Belleau , President * Legislative Council ; Charles Allej-n , Commissioner ' Public Works ; and L . V . Sicette , Commissioner . Crown Lands .
The Amewcan papers report the death of Mr . George R . Gliddon , tbe well-kuown Egyptian scholar and author , who died suddenly at Panama , of pulmonary congestion , on the 16 th of November , aged about fifty years . A serious disturbance has broken out at the Piermont terminus of the Erie Railroad in consequence of an attempt to reduce tbe wages of the ' nay vies ' and to eraploy afresh lot of men . The ' navvies' have fortified the place and are in possession of a gun , which they have threatened to use if attacked . A body of police have been repulsed . Advices from Yucatan report the capture of Sisal by the revolutionists . Campeachy was still holding put . The National Convention at Lima has been dispersed at the point of the bavonet .
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THE ORIENT . . ' ¦ . ¦ ¦' . '¦ ¦ ¦ , ' ¦ ¦¦ .. CHINA . . From Hong-Kong we learn that an expedition under Commodore Elliot has been cruising about the great West and north rivers as far as Macao . Several Mandarin junks and some forts were destroyed , but private property was not interfered with . The people of the . towns -which' were passed willingly pointed but the . 'Mandarin boats .
Another massacre by Chinese has been committed on board ship . The schooner Neva left Hong-Kong ou the 17 tti of October , -with a valuable cargo of treasure and merchandise , forFoochow . The following evening , some Chinese passengers , assisted by the carpenter of the ship , killed the captain , and a couple of the seamen . The mate escaped up the rigging ; remained there till the Chinese left the vessel at Mirs Bay , taking with them 22 , 000 dollars' worth of treasure ; and then navigated her back to Hong-Kong by the 19 th of October .
JAPAX . The ti-eaty between the United States and Japan has been published . It provides that American vessels shall be allowed to enter the port of Nangasaki ; that American citizens may permanently reside at Simoda and Hakodade ; that tlie Government of the United States may appoint a vice-consul to reside at Hakodade ; that Americans committing offences in Japan , and Japanese committing offences against Americans , shall be tried respectively by their own authorities ; and that the Consul-General of the United States may go beyond the limits of Seven Ri . The consul has assented to a * request that he will delay the exercise of this last right , except in cases of emergency . These are the principal provisions : the others are of no general interest .
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STATE OF TRAt ) E . We are unable to report any improvement in the condition of trade iu the great manufacturing towns . The utmost stagnation universally prevailed during the whole of last week , and short-tirae-working was very general . The City of Glasgow Bank has obtained the full assistance necessary to enable it to reopen , and it will , therefore , not have to apply to the Bank of England . The Western Bank has formally notified that it cannot resume business .
The failures this week include—Messrs II . and M . Toldorph and Co ., Swedish merchants in London ; Messrs . Rew , Prescott , and . Co ., the chief liouso in London connected with tho Swedish trade ( liabilities estimated at about 150 , 000 ? . ); Messrs . Richard Willoy and Co ., silk mercers ; Messrs . S . C . Lister and Co ., woollen merchants at Halifax ; Mr . Edward Smith , -woolsUpIer , of Bermondsey ; William Cheesebrough and Son , the largest woollen dealers in Bradford ; Mr . Yewdall , ot Rawdon , nenr Leeds , a very extensive operator in wools } and the Dartford and Gravcsend Hank . —Six failures were announced on one day towards the close
of last week . These were in connexion with tho houses of Mess ™ . Heine , Scmon , and Co ., engaged in tho German trade ( liabilities about 700 , 000 * ., which will probably bo covered ); MesBrs . Wcinholt , Wehncr , and Co ., also a German house ( liabilities approaching HOO OOO / . ); Messr * . T . M . Elmonhorat and Co ., likewise German merchants ; Messrs . Montoya , Saenz , nnd Co-, a Spanish hou . se ; Mr . T . G . Ward , of West Smithiiold , wIjobo business was chiefly that of agent to cattle salesmen ; and the Worcester Bank of Farley , Lavender , and Co ., in which case tho liabilities arc boliovcd to bo smnll .
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1202 TH E LEADER . [ No . 404 , December 19 1857
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 19, 1857, page 1202, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2222/page/2/
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