ther of the previous witness, corroborated his evidence. The hammer of the pistol, he said, had gone down, and the pan was in a state as if it had been fired off. John James, a builder, the uncle of the two Dassetts, and William Jones, a wood-turner, saw Charles Dassett seize Bean. James Torrington Purbride, a constable of the A division, said that he took the pistol from Charles Dassett, and gave it to Inspector Martin. George Martin, Inspector of the A division, received the pistol from the last witness, and unloaded it. The charge was not large: the contents consisted of coarse gunpowder, some short pieces of tobacco-pipe, and four small pieces of gravel, rammed down with wadding: there were a few grains of powder in the pan. William John Byrne, a general salesman, described his selling the pistol to Bean - he thought that it was on the Thursday or Friday before the 3rd of July; and Bean's afterwards coming for a flint to it. The pistol was very old, but capable of being fired if properly loaded. George John Whitmore, who cleaned the pistol for Bean before it had the flint put to it, said in his crossexamination, that he tried the pistol: the lock was not strong enough to fire it. Benjamin James was in attendance with the third of the Royal carriages on the 3rd of July the Queen was in the carriage, with the Prince and a lady. The last witness for the prosecution was Henry Webb, policeman of the A division, who apprehended Bean at his father's house in Somers Town: he said that he had been on Sunday in Barnsbury Park, Islington, and the Regent's Park.

Mr. Horry took some legal ob

jections to the form of the indictment. He agreed that if the prisoner had really assaulted the Queen, he ought to have been indicted for high treason. On the other hand, the Queen was not aware of the attack, and could not be alarmed; and therefore the charge of a common assault could not be sustained. Lord Abinger, Mr. Justice Williams, and Mr. Baron Rolfe, successively delivered opinions against the objections; and Mr. Horry proceeded to contend that the evidence did not bear out the charge that the prisoner contemplated any assault, he being one of the mildest of the Queen's subjects. He then called evidence. Henry Hawkes said, that he was about six feet from Bean and Dassett when Bean was seized, and he did not see him present a pistol at the Queen; although he thought he must have seen it if it had been done. Bean could easily have got away. After Dassett seized the pistol, he was playing with it, trying the lock, and laughing. The witness had his back to them, but he looked round very often to see what was passing. Thomas Vosport, a painter out of work, living at the Running Horses in Brook-street, Grosvenor-square, swore that the prisoner did not present a pistol at the carriage. Cross-examined by the SolicitorGeneral and Lord Abinger, he said that he saw the prisoner with the pistol in his hand some time before he was apprehended. did strike him as remarkable that the boy should have a pistol in his hand on Sunday morning. Lord Abinger-" Why then did you not interfere and give information?" Witness-"I waited to see the result of it." No questioning could get any other reason

It

from the witness for his passiveness: when asked repeatedly what result he expected, he only replied that of course he did not know that an attack was going to be made. David Hatton, a newsvender, and several other witnesses, gave Bean a character for mildness; among them was the prisoner's father, who wept bitterly.

The Attorney-General re-explained the law, so as to dissipate the effect of Mr. Horry's objections and arguments: and then he touched upon the evidence, remarking that Vosport criminated himself; for if his story were true, he admitted to having been guilty of what amounted to misprision of treason, in seeing a man standing there with a pistol and wishing "to see the result.'

Lord Abinger having summed up, the jury returned a verdict of "Guilty" upon the second count in the indictment; convicting the prisoner of presenting a pistol loaded with powder and wadding, in contempt of the Queen, and to the terror of divers liege subjects.

The prisoner heard the verdict without any exhibition of feeling. Lord Abinger, after a short consultation with his learned brethren on the bench, then proceeded to pass the sentence of the Court, as follows:-John William Bean, you have been convicted by a jury of your country of an attempt to harass, vex, and grieve your Sovreign, Her Majesty the Queen, and to create alarm amongst, and to disturb the peace of, Her Majesty's faithful subjects, by presenting a pistol loaded with powder and wadding at the carriage in which she was seated, and with attempting to cause that pistol to explode. If you had succeeded in that attempt, nobody can doubt

you would have accomplished those intentions with which you are charged in the indictment, namely

of harassing and vexing the Queen, and of breaking the peace and disturbing the tranquillity of Her Majesty's loyal subjects; for when proceeding from Buckingham Palace to the Royal Chapel at St. James's, for the performance of those sacred duties which the day imposed, what must have been her concern and grief to have found amongst the numerous body of her subjects which had assembled on that occasion one individual who had the audacity to present a loaded pistol at the carriage in which she was seated, for the purpose of annoying, alarming, and vexing her, and of exciting tumult and confusion? What would have been the feelings of those loyal subjects by whom Her Majesty was surrounded. Would not every sentiment of their hearts have been excited to protect, surround, and assist her in those devotions she was about to perform, if they had found her passage disturbed by an explosion of the nature you attempted? That your attempt is highly criminal, and that you have been guilty of an abominable crime, no man can doubt. The jury have given a most careful consideration to the case, the evidence on both sides has been fully examined, and I believe I state the impression of the whole of this auditory when I say that the verdict of the jury corresponds with the conviction on the mind of every other man in this Court. That you loaded the pistol with the intention imputed to you, that you levelled and presented it with that intention, no individual can hesitate for a moment to doubt, and I know of no misdemeanour more affecting the

public peace of the kingdom, of greater magnitude or deserving more serious punishment, than that of which you have just been pronounced guilty. Any circumstance which involves the tranquillity and repose of the Sovereign -more especially upon such an occasion and on such a day as that you selected-must be one which deeply affects the feelings of all classes of this realm. What shall be said of a man who, on his own wanton, wicked, or if you like, capricious view, should aim at something mischievous in order to attain a kind of ignominious notoriety, or an asylum for the rest of his days, and should make an attempt which was calculated to strike the bosom of every loyal subject with alarm, terror, and agitation? It was not confined to the peace of those assembled on the occasion, but it involved the peace and happiness of the whole nation. Under these circumstances, the crime being short of high treason, I would not have it to be supposed that the common law of this realm, which was intended to protect the meanest subject in the enjoyment of his tranquillity, property, and life, was defective to protect the Sovereign from attempts of the nature of that which you have made. I wish, however, I could say that the law at the time this your offence was committed had provided a punishment adequate to that offence; but I will take this opportunity now to state publicly, that if any desperate character should follow your example, he may, if not convicted of high treason, by which his life would be forfeited, gain another species of notoriety, by being publicly whipped at a cart's tail through any street in the metropolis. All the

Court can now do, is to pass that sentence, which the common law justifies; and I should do violence to my own feelings, as well as to the feelings of all loyal subjects, if I should treat your offence with any mitigation of punishment. The sentence of the Court is, that you be imprisoned in Her Majesty's Gaol of Newgate for the space of eighteen calendar months.

After the prisoner had been removed from the bar, the noble and learned judge said, that on referring to the statute he found that the imprisonment for such an offence must be in the Penitentiary at Millbank; he, therefore, ordered the prisoner to be confined in that establishment.

26. ESCAPE OF A FAMILY FROM DROWNING.An accident occurred in the vicinity of Egremont, opposite Liverpool, which had nearly been attended with fatal consequences to seven or eight members of a family. It happened remarkably enough, that the father of the family alluded to was a witness to the occurrence, and assisted in the rescue of his children without being at all aware, for some time, how dearly he was interested in the result of the exertions which were making. The following are the particulars of the occurrence: About tide time, a gentleman named Duffie, who resides at Egremont, was passing over the river. As he neared the shore, he saw that a bathing machine, containing several children. who had been recreating themselves in the water, had by some means or other obtained an impetus on the steep beach, and that it was rapidly descending into deep water. In a few moments, indeed, it was afloat, and at the mercy of the current, driving towards the centre

of the river. "God bless me!" exclaimed Mr. Duffie, "there's a whole family of children afloat, and they will all be drowned." He immediately sprang ashore and hastened to the spot, to render every assistance in his power. Meanwhile, Mr. Railton, proprie tor of the machine, was making the most incessant exertions to rescue the family from their imminent peril. He pressed his horse into the water till it lost footing, and was compelled to swim. The machine was afloat, but half sunk, and from its unsteady motion, strong fears were entertained that it would turn over. Mr. Railton called aloud to the children to keep in the middle of the caravan, but it is questionable whether or not they heard him. At length he found it impossible to reach the machine with his horse, but, fortunately some individuals had has tened after it with a boat. The poor little children were found on the seats of the caravan, up to their necks in water. They were taken into the boat, and the machine was towed to the shore. Mr. Duffie, who had been extremely anxious for the fate of the little ones, was standing on the beach waiting their arrival; but who shall speak his astonishment when he saw that they were his own children. It appears that they, with their attendant, eight in all, went into the caravan, and were, as usual, drawn a short distance into the water. Having bathed, one of the little boys, in order to enter the machine, climbed over the wheel, when the action on the spokes put the vehicle in motion, which, the bank being very steep, was accelerated by the weight inside.

-ELECTION LAW.-At Bristol

assizes, the Rev. William Lucy was tried for giving a false answer at the poll for the last election for Bristol. Being asked whether he possessed the same qualification as that for which he originally regis tered, he answered, "Yes;" such not being the case. It turned out that the deputy-sheriff had not put the whole of the question, and therefore the case fell to the ground. His counsel then stated that Mr. Lucy had acted under the direc tion of an agent for Mr. Berkeley, the candidate to whom he gave his vote, not being himself certain of the proper course; and he sup posed that he had acted correctly. An acquittal was directed, to the manifest satisfaction of a crowded court.

28. CONVICTION OF A CLERGYMAN FOR BIGAMY.-At the Central Criminal Court the Rev. Stephen Aldhouse was convicted of feloniously marrying Hephzibah Roberts, his former wife, Frances Morse, being alive. Mrs. Roberts was married to the prisoner in 1837. She gave up a business as publican to do so; she had had two children by him; but she left him in consequence of ill-usage. Mr. Morse, of whose brother the true Mrs. Aldhouse is a natural daughter, stated that ill-treatment had also made her separate from her husband; and she had kept herself concealed from him lest he should avail himself of her property. The prisoner was sentenced to transportation for seven years.

29. HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND. Her Majesty and Prince Albert, accompanied by the Duchess of Norfolk and Earl of Morton, as Lady and Lord in Waiting, and others of their respective households, embarked at Woolwich in the Royal George