government never required at once from the population of the empire so considerable a sacrifice. 80,000 men are regarded as the average result of the recruitment of one-half of the empire, at the rate of 7 or 8 men per 1000 souls. I do not exaggerate by estimating at 200,000 men the numbers recruited in virtue of the new decree. That maximum, however, will scarcely suffice to complete the effective force of the different corps and fill up the vacancies occasioned by the war. Every man is worth about 5000 roubles, so that a landed proprietor who owns 1000 serfs pays to the State 50,000 roubles. You may consequently judge of the enormity of the sacrifice imposed upon him." During the Czar's recent visit to Odessa, he attended Divine Service in the Cathedral. At the threshold, the archbishop, in presenting the Cross and the holy water, addressed (says the Russian Journal) some words full of unction to his majesty. These words were: "Pious Sovereign! Thou hadst scarcely put on the crown of thy ancestors, when it pleased Providence to surround it with thorns. Our bodily eyes are not accustomed to see such an ornament sparkle on the head of kings, but the eyes of faith see in it, with piety and respect, a souvenir of the crown of Christ. Have not indeed such crowns been worn by the most pious kings and princes from David, Jehoshaphat, Constantine, Vladimir the Great, to Dimitrii, our hero of the Don, and finally thy patron, Alexander Newsky? Have courage, and let not thy soul become weak at the sight of these smoking brands,' said the prophet to the warrior-king, Ahaz, when the two kingdoms of Israel and Assyria united against him in an unjust war. How closely do these words of the prophet apply to us and our enemies! This unhappy France! Is she not in truth the brand which for half a century has carried fire throughout the entire world? And the proud, but to-day abased and jeopardised Britain! What is she, if not the other brand, which, after being extinguished for two centuries, recommences to smoke in the midst of a yawning gulf? And we also will say with the Prophet, 'Let not thy soul grow weak at the sight of these two smoking brands before us!' At a sign from the Most High the winds abate, and the rain falls to fertilise our fields. These brands depart, and Russia, protected by God, recovers itself for the joy of her chief, and for the well-being even of her own enemies. Enter, then, O pious Sovereign, the temple where once thy august father came in the depth of night to raise towards Heaven his thanks for having escaped the tempest and shipwreck-enter, and in thy turn raise with us thy prayers to the King of kings for the cessation of the tempest which now rages both upon sea and land. May Heaven grant this temple may again see thee kneeling before God, but then only to render acknowledgments and to give thanks. Amen." In the United States an attempt has been made to excite a hostile feeling towards this country, but apparently without success. Several persons having been prosecuted at Philadelphia for having recruited for the militia service of England, Mr. Cushing, the attorneygeneral, in a letter to the district attorney of Philadelphia on the subject of these prosecutions, made a violent attack on the British government as having through its agents violated the rights of the United States. A person named Wagner has been tried and convicted of having contravened the American Foreign Enlistment Act, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of 100 dollars. A railway accident has occurred near St. Louis by which twenty-two persons lost their lives and fifty were wounded. NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART. THE approach of Christmas has at length infused some activity into the great publishing houses, and in number and importance the past month's contributions to literature are at least respectable. They have comprised, in Biography, the third and fourth volumes of the Memoirs of James Montgomery; the Life and Works of Goethe, with Sketches of his Age and Contemporaries, by Mr. G. H. Lewes; a curious little tract of Charles the Second's day, entitled Memoirs of Sir John King, Knt., written by his Father in 1677, Sir John King having been a highly successful nisi prius lawyer; a Life of Fielding, by Mr. Frederick Lawrence; a Life of Jeanne d'Albret, the celebrated Queen of Navarre, by Miss Freer; a second volume of Lord Brougham's Sketches of Statesmen; and an illustrated Life of Luther. In History there has been published Mr. Prescott's Reign of Philip the Second, and Lieut.-Col. Hamley's Campaign of Sebastopol, the latter written, as history has not often been written, on the spot where the history was acted. To Fiction the contributions have been Lady Willoughby, or the Double Marriage, a novel by Mrs. La Touche; the first volume of the Collected Miscellanies of Mr. Thackeray; a single-volume story by Holme Lee, called Gilbert Massenger; a child's story by Mrs. R. Lee, called Sir Thomas, or the Adventures of a Cornish Baronet; another by Miss Geraldine Jewsbury, Angelo, or the Pine Forest in the Alps; Tales of Magic and Meaning, by Mr. Alfred Crowquill, and the Talking Bird, by Miss Kirby; and a sequel to "Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland" under the title of Lilliesleaf. Of books of travels the principal are Pictures from Cuba, by an American traveller, Mr. Hurlbut; Eastern Experiences, by Mr. Kennard; the Last of the Arctic Voyages, being a narrative of Sir Edward Belcher's last expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, published under the authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty; notes of travel up The Rhine, by Mr. Henry Mayhew, accompanying a series of engravings after drawings by Mr. Birket Foster; a translation of M. About's description of modern Greece and the Greeks; a new edition, with important additions, of Lord Broughton's Travels in Albania and other Provinces of Turkey, forty-five years ago; and Two Summer Cruises with the Baltic Fleet last year, being the log of the Pet Yacht, by the Rev. R. E. Hughes. The Poems published have comprised a new translation after Eschylus, of Agamemnon the King, by Mr. Blew; Mr. Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha; a new edition of Longfellow's Miscellaneous Poems, illustrated by Gilbert; and Men and Women, fifty short poems by Robert Browning. Finally, the additions in Miscellaneous Literature have included a reply to Sir James Emerson Tennent on the Wine Duties considered financially and socially, by Mr. Bosville James; the second volume of Wilson's Noctes Ambrosiana; Mr. Punch's new Pocket Book ; an Inquiry concerning Religion, by Mr. George Long; the continuation of Dr. Lindley's Ferns of Great Britain, nature-illustrated by Mr. Henry Bradbury; a volume of Cambridge Essays, on the plan of those published earlier in this year by the members of the sister university; the first volume of Arago's Popular Astronomy, translated and edited by Admiral Smyth and Mr. Robert Grant; a new edition of Eschylus, with an English commentary by Mr. Paley (in Messrs. Long's and Macleane's excellent Bibliotheca Classica); a volume on Electricity by Mr. Noad; an essay on the Music of the Nineteenth Century and its Culture, by Dr. Adolph B. Marx; a new and greatly improved edition of Mr. Haydn's Dictionary of Dates and Universal Reference; a Pocket Dictionary of the English and Turkish Languages; the Keepsake, and the Court Album for 1856; an elaborate essay on the Currency, in a letter to the Duke of Argyle; an essay on The Bayeux Tapestry, with outlines of the subjects elucidated, by an accomplished northern antiquary, Mr. Collingwood Bruce; a Handbook of the Arts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, as applied to furniture and decorations, translated from the French of Jules Lebarte, with very numerous and finely executed woodcuts; and an Analytical View of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia, by Lord Brougham and Mr. E. P. Rowth. Receipts 50 1,056,843 20 Eastern Counties 94-3901,851 100 Great Northern.... 8. Beasts, per st. 3 3 Calves 3 6-5 2 South Downs.. 0 11-1 3 559,341 257,267 840,646 1,029,605 818,682 2,253,512 82 851 587,067 623 63-1,097,451 56 56 57 742,891 BEEF-Irish In., per tr., 150s.; CHEESE-Cheshire, per cwt., Cocoa, per cwt., Trinidad. 556. to 648.; Bahia, 518. to 538. COFFEE, per cwt.-Ceylon Native, 558. Od. to 568. Od.; De, Plantation, 778. to 82.; Mocha, 828. to 90s.; Jamaica, 668. to 84s. RICE, per cwt.-Carolina, duty paid, 28s. Od. to 38. Od.; Bengal, 158. Od. to 18. 6d. SUGAR-Barbadoes, per cwt., 60s. Od. to 668. Od.; Mauritius, 60s. Od. to 65s. 6d. ; Bengal, 618. Od. to 69s. Od. Do. REFINED-Grocery lumps, 718. 6d. to 748. Od.; Bastards, 0s. Od. to Os. Od.; Crushed, 5S$. TEA, per lb. (duty 1s. 9.)— EMIGRATION RECORD. Australian British United Other BANKS. 1855. Australian Colonial Gold. Australasian 90-92 Great Nugget - Lond. Chart. of Aust. 181-191 Total. 50,544 15,259 79,072 2,151147,026 Port Philip.. South Australian Australian Royal Mail ..... 2-21 Hobart Tn. 40 65 Melbourne £30 to £60 £20 to £30 £15 to £21 20 21 408 to 45s. 30 80 40 49 25 22 30 40 18-8 North Brit. Australian Published at the Office, No. 16, Wellington Street North, Strand. Printed 'y BRADEURY & EVANS, Whitefriars, London. Monthly Supplement to "HOUSEHOLD WORDS," Conducted by CHARLES DICKENS. PARLIAMENT, which stood prorogued to the 11th inst., has been further prorogued to the 31st of January, then to meet for the despatch of business. It appears from a recent Parliamentary return that some of the collectors of Income-tax get enormous incomes by the poundage. There are 122 collectors who receive 2007. and upwards; in the aggregate they are paid 66,562. The collectors appear to be paid at the same rate of poundage under the enhanced tax as before, -swelling their remuneration to an astonishing figure Mr. Richard Till received 29677. in 1853; 57887. in 1854. One collector received 28137. in 1854, another 1300., a third 17107., a fourth 30421. In contrast to these overgrown payments, a correspondent of the Times states that a collector at Burnham, for much labour, gains but 137. a-year, and that only if he happens to incur no losses. other small vessels, making altogether sixteen; and he did not stop at a distance of 2000 yards, but within 200 yards of the muzzles of the enemy's guns he attacked and captured the place. Captain Townshend, the other member for Tamworth, regretted that his colleague, who spoke so well on most matters, had not made himself better acquainted with naval affairs. The navy (he said) have done a great deal, and, with proper appliances, they would yet do a great deal more; and he should look to Sir Robert for a supply of gun-boats and mortar-boats; and if there was not a sufficient number provided, he should call him to account the next time they assembled there. This remark was received with cheers and laughter. The Treaty concluded on the 21st of November, between France, England, and Sweden, has been published. It is declared that the treaty is concluded to prevent every complication of a nature to trouble the balance of power in Europe. By article 1 the King of Sweden engages himself not to cede to Russia, nor to exchange with her, nor to allow her to occupy, any portion of the territories belonging to the crown of Sweden and Norway. His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway engages himself, moreover, not to cede to Russia any right of pasturage or fishing ground, or of any other nature whatsoever, as well for the said territories as for the coast of Sweden and Norway, and to reject any claim (prétention) Russia might raise to establish the existence of any of the abovenamed rights. Art. 2. In case Russia should make any proposition to his Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, or any demand with a view to obtain either the cession or exchange of any portion whatever of territory belonging to the Crown of Sweden and Norway, be it the permission to occupy certain points of the said territory, or the cession of fishing or pasturage rights, or of any other on those same territories, or on the coast of Sweden and Norway, his Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway engages himself to communicate immediately such proposition to his Majesty the Emperor of the French and to her Majesty the Queen of England; and their said Majesties take on their part the engagement to provide his Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway with sufficient naval and military forces to co-operate with the naval and military forces of his said Majesty, with a view to resist the claims or aggressions of Russia. The nature, the importance, and the destination of the forces in question shall, the case occurring, be decided by a common agreement between the Three Powers. Sir Robert Peel, at a dinner given to the retiring mayor of Tamworth, made a speech respecting the Naval Management of the War, which, as coming from a Lord of the Admiralty, has excited some surprise. Speaking for the ministers his colleagues, he said, that however determined the government may be in carrying on the war, it will be useless unless we have fitting agents abroad to carry out the policy of Lord Palmerston. Eight or nine millions had been spent on the Baltic fleet last year, yet that fleet had not answered the expectations of the public. Again, take the fleet in the Black Sea. Admiral Dundas had been recalled before Lord Palmerston came into office. Admiral Dundas is a brave man; but he had to give way to Admiral Lyons, who it was thought would inspire more vigour into the actions of the fleet. Sir Robert did not believe that such had turned out to be the case, but they expected more from Admiral Lyons, because his fleet was twice as large as that under the command of Admiral Dundas. Admiral Lyons had six first-class steam-ships, thirteen steam-frigates, twenty steam-sloops, besides mortar-vessels and other kinds of boats; and in addition to all these, six or seven sail-of-the-line. Now, Nelson with thirteen sail-of-the-line gained the battles of the Baltic and the Nile; and Sir Robert thought they would agree with him that all had not been accomplished by Admiral Lyons in the Black Sea which might have been. (A Voice-" The enemy would not come out.") It was said that the enemy would not come out, and that might be perfectly true; yet, notwithstanding, he must say that, whether right or wrong, the people expected, after the enormous outlay incurred on the fleet, much more would have been done. In the last war the sailing-vessels had to manoeuvre and work their way in to attack the enemy's forts, and to make their escape the best way they could, and then there was no AN action for Criminal Conversation was tried in the hesitation in attacking forts; but now, when, by the aid Court of Common Pleas on the 3rd instant. The plainof steam, a vessel might get beyond the reach of harm in tiff was Mr. Hawker, a Devonshire gentleman; the five minutes, our vessels had not been (with one single defendant Sir Henry Seale, a major in the Devon exception) within 2000 yards of the enemy's batteries. Militia. Mrs. Hawker, formerly Miss Polkinghorn, 2000 yards was the respectful distance they kept, married Captain Murray, who was killed in the Caffre and it was at this range that Sweaborg was attacked. war. On her return to England she married Mr. Hawker. This was not the way in which Nelson and Exmouth Unfortunately, although much attached to each other, acted. They all knew the way in which Nelson at- they perpetually quarrelled about trifles, and separated tacked the famous Dutch [Danish] three-crown battery; in the end. In 1854, however, Mrs. Hawker made and at Algiers Lord Exmouth went in with five sail of advances toward a reconciliation, and wrote a tender the line, five frigates, four bomb-vessels, and one or two appeal to her husband, promising that there should be VOL. VL. NARRATIVE OF LAW AND CRIME. n 266 THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE. no more temper on her part, and that she would try to speech for the prosecution, Mr. Keogh described how win back that affection that seemed to be gone from Petcherine had exhorted the people of Kingstown to her. Friends were deputed to bring about a reunion abandon and bring to him books of an immoral tendency. of husband and wife; but in the meantime, Sir Henry Among the numbers of books brought in were several Seale, a married man with a family, appeared on the copies of the Bible and New Testament. Were these scene, and won the wife's affections. Mrs. Hawker volumes included in the attacks made on the licentious lodged at the house of a Miss Spurling at Clifton. Here press? Why were they brought, unless included? The Sir Henry paid her frequent visits; occupied a dressing- books were burnt, the Bible and Testament among room adjoining her bedroom; dined with her; staid in them, in the most open manner; and if they were the house until midnight, sometimes all night. On one knowingly burnt, the law was so clear that there could occasion his red sash was found on Mrs. Hawker's bed. be no doubt Petcherine had committed an offence. The Miss Spurling said, that so long as her rent was paid, attorney-general then described at some length the what went on did not concern her. The evidence, in relation of the Bible to the administration of justice. one instance direct, led to the belief that the husband" From the humblest individual who is called to attest had been wronged. He only sought damages sufficient to any fact, to the sovereign who sits on the throne, to enable him to obtain a divorce. The defence was there is no security for anything except what is based limited to the efforts of Sir Frederick Thesiger to make on the authorized version of the Scriptures. The law as out that the evidence for the prosecution was weak and laid down by our greatest authorities, and as it has been stated- Offences immediately against God are by cominconclusive. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, recognised and established in our recent cases, is thus and awarded him 1007. damages. The Court for the Consideration of Crown Cases mon law indictable; as all blasphemy against God, Reserved has Quashed the Conviction of Cosmo Gordon denying His being or providence; all profane scoffing The offence was equally comfor Felony in not surrendering to a fiat in bankruptcy. of the Holy Scriptures, or exposing any part thereof to The At the trial, eight legal objections were reserved; the contempt or ridicule.'" judges soon decided seven against the prisoner, but mitted whether the Bible were the Douay version, the they took time to consider the eighth, and even had it Rhenish version, or the authorised version. reargued before them. The eighth objection was, that evidence for the prosecution was then taken. Christopher only one copy of the notice of adjudication of bankruptcy Duff, a boy engaged in the business, deposed, that, at was left at the counting-house of Davidson and Gordon, the request of Father Petcherine, he had wheeled a whereas there ought to have been two, one for each barrow full of books from the Father's lodgings to the partner: on the back of the document was a form of courtyard of the chapel. Another boy wheeled a second protection from arrest; "each bankrupt," said Mr. barrow. When Father Petcherine arrived, the books Chambers, "had a right to a copy which he might carry were tumbled out; and the Father, giving order that in his pocket." Lord Campbell, Barons Parke and they should be set on fire, went away towards the Alderson, and Justices Cresswell, Williams, and Cromp-vestry. A crowd of persons had collected. The fire ton, held that two notices should have been left at the was not lighted until the Father had gone. When the bankrupts' place of business; Lord Chief-Justice Jervis, Father came back, the books were well burnt, but not Baron Platt, and Justices Erle and Willes, thought one consumed. Henry Lawson, labourer, said that he saw, After this acquittal, they were in- among the books, Byron's Poems, some tracts, a New notice sufficient. dicted for obtaining goods under false pretences within Testament, a Prayer-book, and a Bible. Mr. W. T. three months of their bankruptcy. The charge was Darkin, a Sub-Inspector of Factories, and Policeman sustained by the evidence, and the jury returned a verdict Halpin, deposed that they saw a Bible and Testament of guilty. In passing sentence, Mr. Justice Coleridge in the fire; and the Reverend R. Wallace, Dissenting said, that in the present case he saw no circumstances of minister, produced a portion of the books of Deuteromitigation to call upon him not to pass the extreme nomy and Joshua which he had rescued from the flames. sentence under the act of Parliament upon which the For the defence, Mr. O'Hagan described the accused as indictments were framed; and it was therefore his duty one who, though a stranger, had resided in this country to pass upon them the full sentence of the law-that long enough to make him one of ourselves. For fournative land, where he had abandoned a high position they be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for two teen or twenty years he had been an alien from his years. for conscience sake. The indictment charged against the accused a matter of fact and a matter of intention. The counsel resisted both. His client had only endeavoured, in discharge of a religious duty, to put an end to the circulation of immoral publications in Kingstown, and had required them to be delivered at his lodgings. They were sent in multitudes, and he directed them to be burnt. It would have been better had they not been publicly burnt. There is not any evidence to show that he was cognisant of the presence, among the He was for a few minutes a not many books that were consumed, of the Bible and Tesdistinctly referred to. tament-the only Bible and Testament that had been very close witness of the burning; and all the fragments in the world proved nothing against him, when it was considered that great opportunities existed for other persons to have thrown Bibles into the heap. Mr. O'Hagan denied that the Roman Catholic Church is the enemy of the Scriptures. From the time when the early Christians took shelter in the Catacombs at Rome to this day, the Church has preserved the Scriptures. The monks perpetuated and spread them through the When printing was invented, the first employearth; and the Church called it preeminently "the 1 Book." ment of the press on any great and important scale was in the production of that Massarene Bible which is a behalf of the accused was called to show the nature of miracle to later times. The only witness produced on those discourses in which he had asked for books. But this testimony was rejected by the court; and the counsel for the defence therefore closed their case. Baron Green summed up; and, after deliberating for three-quarters of an hour, the jury returned a verdiet At Stafford Assizes, on the 3rd inst., the Grand Jury, to the astonishment of every one, Ignored the Bill of Indictment against Alice Grey. Mr. Scotland applied to Mr. Justice Williams to detain the accused till another indictment could be prepared; her counsel resisted this as quite unprecedented; and eventually the judge ordered her to be liberated. She was immediately arrested on a charge of perjury at Birmingham. When produced before the Birmingham magistrates on the 5th, charged with committing perjury in accusing a man of robbing her in October last,-she was remanded, as a government notice had been received that she was to be taken to Wolverhampton to meet a charge there. A most daring Robbery with Violence has been com- The Reverend Vladimir Petcherine has been tried at of acquittal. This announcement was received with the most vociferous applause, which was taken up by the crowds assembled outside; who interspersed their exclamations of delight with groans for the attorney general and her Majesty's law-officers. The jury was composed of five Protestants and seven Roman Catholics; the foreman was a member of the Established Church. James Hamilton, a boy concerned in the burning of the books, was tried on Monday, and acquitted. Edward Haydon, an ardent disciple of Father Petcherine, was tried on the 10th, for assaulting one of the witnesses for the prosecution. He was found guilty, but strongly recommended to mercy. Baron Green sentenced him to three months' imprisonment with hard labour. The streets in the neighbourhood of the court were illuminated in commemoration of the acquittal of Petcherine. injections and other medicines. On two occasions the prisoner produced to Dr. Hazlewood and Dr. Jackson a small basket containing bottles, one of which was labelled "Fowler's arsenic," a well-known preparation of arsenic. They spoke to him on the subject of this arsenic, but the bottle which contained it had disappeared. At the inquest it was sent for from the prisoner's house. Several bottles were brought back. This could not be found. Enemas were employed for administering injections. The prisoner had a syringe of pewter, which was used. On one occasion the elastic pipe got stopped up. The prisoner borrowed a syringe of Mr. Fothergill, a medical man. No other syringe was used till her death. Fothergill's syringe was then returned to him. Some time after, when this matter became talked about, Mr. Fothergill examined this syringe. The pipe was stopped up. It was carefully At Durham, on the 7th inst., the trial began of Mr. Jo. examined by him, and in his opinion arsenic was there. seph Snaith Wooler, who has been in custody for the last His test, it was admitted, was not a safe one; but a three months on suspicion of having wilfully Murdered further and more accurate examination showed a greater his Wife, by administering poison to her during a very quantity of arsenic than the test could contain. The long illness. The trial lasted several days, and excited the conduct of the prisoner, however, showed no indications greatest interest. The following is a summary of the of a desire to get rid of his wife. Throughout her facts. Mrs. Wooler, the deceased, was the daughter of illness, and during her last days, he attended upon her a medical man, and married the prisoner eighteen years by day and night with the most affectionate solicitude. ago. They resided for some time in India. About They had always lived together upon the most affecseven years since they came to live at Burdon, near tionate terms, and no pecuniary reason existed why he Darlington. She never was of robust health, but expe- should desire her death, neither was any suggestion rienced no serious illness till the 8th of May last, when thrown out that he wished to disembarrass himself she was seized with vomitings. Dr. Jackson, a medical of his wife, that he might contract a fresh marriage or man, was then called in, and attended her till her death, form any illicit connection. It was not, however, until on the 17th of June. His assistant, Mr. Henzell, saw several times urged by Dr. Jackson that he consented to her on the 16th of May, but not again till the 4th of further advice being called. It was stated by the medical June, and thence continually till her death. Her witnesses, that among other undoubted symptoms of illness continued, accompanied by diarrhoea. On the arsenic having been taken there is tingling of the 7th of June, the symptoms of the patient attracted Dr. hands. On the 23rd of June Dr. Hazlewood ascertained Jackson's attention, and he began to suspect that she from deceased herself the existence of this symptom. was labouring under arsenical poison,-restlessness, It was not till the same day that the prisoner, who had faintness, severe hiccough, intense thirst, besides seen the deceased after she had told the circumstance to purging and vomiting, which went on as usual. On Dr. Hazlewood, told them. In his presence the medical the 8th of June, Dr. Hazlewood, of Darlington, was men asked her how long she had this tingling. She called in, but Dr. Jackson did not communicate his answered, "Three or four days." He remarked it was suspicions to him. Consumption being apprehended, not so long. She replied that it was, and that she had her lungs were examined, but nothing wrong could be requested him to inform the doctors, but he had fordiscovered in them. Dr. Jackson treated the case as gotten it. Mr. Henzell examined the deceased's stools one of influenza. The three medical men continued and urine before the 22nd and after the 23rd of June. their attendance till her death, on Wednesday, the On the former day Mr. Henzell went to the coach27th of June. For fourteen days before her death their house, where the urine was usually kept for examiattention was attracted by certain indications. On nation, but he could find none. He asked prisoner for Friday, the 29th, a post-mortem examination took place, some. A bottle of urine was sent on that day, but it from which they concluded the cause of death to be an differed in character from what he had examined preirritant poison. A portion of the viscera was tested by viously or subsequently. The servant girl on the 22nd Dr. Richardson, and he detected the presence of arsenic. brought the urine from the coach-house into the An inquest was held on the 30th of June, and, by ad- kitchen, whence prisoner himself conveyed the bottle journment, on the 13th of July. The conclusion of the to Mr. Henzell. Many other slighter circumstances of inquest jury was that the deceased died of poison, but suspicion were urged against the prisoner, amongst no person was charged with administering it. Soon them his apparent indifference when his wife's death after Mr. Wooler was apprehended on this charge. The was evidently approaching, his not attending her body was exhumed on the 4th of August, and a portion funeral, the different accounts of the nature of her of the viscera was sent to Dr. Taylor, of London, who illness which he wrote to her relations, and an incorrect had no doubt of the presence of arsenical poison in it, statement of the cause of death made by him to the apparently administered from time to time in small registrar. Yet throughout these suspicious occurrences, portions in solution. Dr. Richardson, of Newcastle, nothing in the shape of motive could be traced, and the also tested a portion of the viscera, and detected the whole of the evidence failed to suggest any. Mr. Serpresence of arsenic. The symptoms exhibited during jeant Wilkins, who conducted the defence, insisted that her illness also indicated death by slow poison. The Mrs. Wooler's death was to be ascribed only to the bottles containing the remains of medicine which had infamous conduct of the medical attendants of the debeen administered were also submitted to competent ceased. "Had they," said Serjeant Wilkins, "divulged persons, and in those remains no traces of poison could in time the suspicions they entertained on the 7th of be discovered. The poison, it was urged, must have June, she might have been saved. They say that the been administered by some person of skill. The deceased poison must have been administered by a person of objected to the attendance of a nurse, and none was skill. What says Dr. Taylor? He says that the poison engaged. Two friends, Miss Middleton and Miss Lan- might have been administered or taken.' He drew chester, frequently saw her during her illness. These the distinction between administering by skill and two ladies, with the exception of the prisoner's brother, taken by mistake. They say the poison must have been were the only persons about the deceased during her administered by a person of skill who had the means. illness. To use poison in the way in which it must Dr. Jackson, Dr. Hazlewood, and Mr. Henzell were have been administered to the deceased required skill each such persons. Why should not they be accused? and knowledge in the subject of poisons, the evidence It may be said, they had no motive; no more had he; given of Mr. Wooler's own conversation went to show his motives were all the other way.' Serjeant Wilkins that he possessed both knowledge and skill. He was rebutted the accusation of indifference, and demonabout her during the whole of her illness, with the ex-strated from the evidence that the prisoner's conduct ception of one day, the 20th of June. He administered proved quite the contrary. It was said that the prisoner |