[FROM THE " GUARDIAN."]

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 376, 11 June 1856, Page 9

[FROM THE " GUARDIAN."]

Her Majesty has determined on the cieation of an "Order of Valour," to be open, to all ranks of the army or navy who shall have been distinguished for conspicuous personal courage. The decoration will consist of a plain cross, ;uid the order, it is said, will consist of only one grade, and for this distinction, every individual, from the private soldier or able-bodied seamen up to the Admiral or Coui-inander-in-Chief, who shall have distinguished himself by a conspicuous act of personal valour before the enemy, will be eligible. In granting the order the particular reason for which it is awarded will be specified, and along with the decoration the recipient will be entitled to a small annual pension. The order is not intended as a reward for continuous good service, as that is already recognized in different ways. It will be confined to members of the naval and military forces of her Majesty, and it is probable that the first batch of creations will comprise most of those who have evinced conspicuous gallantry throughout the late operations in the East. The "Times" heads the following, from the "Observer," significantly "The Old Story."— Captain Lord Edward Russell is appointed to be paid aide-de-camp, and Captain G-eorge Elliott to be aide-de-camp to her Majesty. The Paris correspondent of " Le Nord'' says that when Prince Jerome went to communicate the news of the Russian acceptance of the peace proposals to his daughter, the Princess Mathilde, that lady threw herself upon his neck, "weeping for joy;" also, that when the Emperor Napoleon read the despatch to the council of war, Admiral Lyons cried, " Sire, I don't exactly understand it; there must be some mistake !'' Louis Napoleon smiled, and read it again. Then "The English began whispering busily amongst themselves. The Duke of Cambridge rose, saying that his mission at Paris was at an end, and that he had only to take leave of the Emperor and s art that evening for London. Louis Napoleon insisted that his Grace should remain three or four days.'.As to the Prince Napolion, after the despatch was read, his Royal Highness's remark was, ' Then Italy and Poland are sacrificed.' " The same writer asserts that lively differences' have taken place in the council between the Duke of Cambridge aud Prince Napoleon, the former warmlyresisting any project of the re-establishment of Polish independence

Mr. Macaulay retires from the representation of Edinburgh. For two years the right hou. gentleirr'Mias striked to fulfil his parliamentary duties in sf&ft of failin»; health, by being present at important divisions and taking part in important dfbates ; and the experience convinces him that he cannot be ever again capable of performing them, even in an imperfect manner, lie has, therefore, applied for the Chi.tem Hundreds, and a new writ will be moved for on the iirst day of the meeting of Parliament. This notice he hopes will be snliieient to enable his constituents to make a satisfactory choice of a better servant- " And now, my friends, with sincere th.-mk-: for all your kindness, and with fervent wishes for the peace, honom*, and prosperity of your nol)ie city, I for the list time bid you farewell—T. Ji. Macaulay.— London. .Tan. 19."

Two more murders have to be added to the already long list reported since the commencement of the present year. At Liverpool, a woman named Sally Drummond, after drinking all Sunday night with two men, with both of whom she had some time lived, became involved in a quarrel with one of them, named John Williams, which ended in his

taking her by the hair and cutting her throat with his clasp-knife. On being arrested, the murderer made a desperate attempt on his life, and had to be put in irons. Bath is the scene of the other case ; the cause, as usual, drink. James Howell, vender of oysters, was drinking with his wife at a publichouse, when they quarrelled; he struck her and she went away home. Presently he too came home raving and swearing, knocked the unfortunate woman down, and kicked her in the abdomen, so that she bled to death in a few minutes. The murderer has been secured.. The woman was very near her confinement, so that two lives have been

sacrificed

We announced in our Postscript of last week the assassination, on that morning, of Mr. George Waugh, Chancery solicitor, as he was walking to his office in James Street, Bedford Row, by the hair! of Charles Broadfoot Westron, a client. The prisoner was brought before the Clerkenwell magistrate, the same evening. From the evidence adduced, it appe-rs that the prisoner, who is a little man with a hump on his back, had armed himself with two loaded pistols and a knife; the shot fired from one of the pistols went through the heart of his victim ; Mr- Waugh exclaimed, " O God! take him—hold him ! " and fell. Several persons saw the act and heard the exclamation, and, hastening up, secured the assassin. A surgeon, passing, examined the wound, and found that Mr. Waugh was dea:i. Throwing another pistol on the pavement, Westron made no attempt to escape. When seized, he said, " I did it—l have not a friend in the world." At the station-house, he said thit Mr. Waugh had married into his family, and had cheated him out of £800 ;he added, " Now I am satisfied." The inquest on the body commenced on Friday, when Mr. Mitchell, for seven years the murdered man's partner, presented a statement respecting the connection between the murderer and Mr. Waugh, which has been published, but was not admitted as evidence. Mr. Mitchell states that his late partner instituted in behalf of the prisoner's famiiy a Chancery suit, by which he acquired for them a valuable estate; the prisoner, however, behaved in an extraordinary and provoking manner about his share, and was some weeks ago brought before a magistrate for writing Mr. Waugh a threatening letter, when Mr. Waugh consented to his release on his promising not to annoy him again. It also appears that the father of the prisoner destroyed himself while temporarily insane. Mr. Waugh was fifty-five years old. Another poisoning case, in which a surgeon is concerned, and the supposed motive the obtaining of the amount of a policy on the deceased man's Hie—similar in these respects to the case at llugeley —is under investigation at Manchester. Thomas Bull Holland, surgeon, of Salford. James Monaghan, son of the deceased, a man named Barry, and another man named Dunn, an insurance agent, and at present in prison for defrauding an insurance company, are the accused. The matter was brought to light by a statement of the surgeon, who has now been admitted to give evidence against his supposed accomplices. He deposed to having had several conversations with the rest, at public - houses, and in his surgery, at which they had asked him whether acetate of lead mixed with whiskey would look different from whiskey alone; he told them it would not. Remarks were also made that the old man Monaghan was a great whiskey-drinker; and it was hinted that he had taken small quantities of acetate of lead in his whiskey. The witness, however, gave his evidence with evident reluctance, apparently confusing it purposely, and contradicting himself frequently. The old man, it appears, died on the 11th of August last, apparently from dysentery. He left a will, by which his son the prisoner, James Monaghan, became entitled to a sum ofjg3oo, the amout of an insurance on the old man's life, effected in the office of the Diadem Life Assurance Compaii), recently .before his decease. James Monaghan claimed'payment of the amount ; but the company demurred, made some inquiries, and ultimately refused the claim ; whereupon the claimant entered an action to recover it. The case has been postponed for strict inquiry, bail being refused. The body of the old man has been ordered to be exhumed, and the persons employed to exhume it, after extensively disturbing the burial-ground, have at length, after taking out of the ground some twenty bodies, succeeded in finding it. Two children, Ann Green and Margaret Green, have also died rather suddenly at Manchester, after severe vomitings and thirst, and " poison'1 is again suspected. Mr. Joshua Barlow, surgeon, stated he had made a post-mortem examination on the body of the deceased, Margaret. The coats of the stomach were inllamed ; but the inflammation might have been caused by poison, and it might have proceeded from natural disease. He had only used one test in searching for poison ; and he wished to state to the jury that he considered that the ordinary practitioner had not sufficient time to spare to prosecute these poison analyses fully. It was decided to adjourn the inquiry, for another medical man to examine the body of the other child. In the Exe, near Starcross, the body of a child four years old has been found, with a black jipron

tied tightly round its face and head. It is supposed to be the illegitimate child of Mary Weeks, servant at a public house in Exeter, who has accordingly been apprehended on charge of the murder. Mr. James Hatfield, for many jears postmaster of Huntingdon, has been summarily dismissed by the Post-office authorities, and committed for trial by the local magistrates, under the following circumstances : —ln November last, a Mr. Fox took out a Post-office order for 235., inclosing it in a letter to Messrs. Dv Barry, for " Arabica Food" The postmaster being agent for Dv Barry, stopped the Post-office order, and directed the Arabica to be sent, by which he, of course, obtained a commission