DREAMS. [From the "Sydney Herald," March 22.]

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 529, 10 May 1851, Page 3

DREAMS. [From the "Sydney Herald," March 22.]

The way in which crime is discovered i>< sometime* as extraordinary as it is inexplicable. A chain of circumstances m»y fix suspicion, but so.ii^'ung inoiethan suspicion ii required to convict n person charged with crime. It has been laid down by an English Judge, of the highest eminence, that not only must the facts of presumptive evidence bring crime home irresistibly to the accused, but the presumptions must be irreconcilable with the guilt of any other person. A rule founded upon such premises is useful at a guide; and as some crimes are rarely committed under such circumstances as that positive proof forms the principal evidence against the accused, circumstantial evidence is always received with caution, and its applicability ri»idly tested. It is true that casei have occurred where persons have been tried, convicted, and executed, upon circumstantial evidence, who have afterwards been proved to have been innocent; hut it is equally noto* rioui that the same mistake has been committed in the cases of person* irho have been convicted on positive evidence. In addition the evidence of circumstances, it has occasionally happened that crime has been bi ought home to the accused through the agency of dreams. The discovery of a murder at Campbelltown many years ago was said to have had its origin in a dream. The murder of Maria Marten, at the Red Barn, was, after a lapse of twelve months, brovight home to William Corder through a dream. Maria Marten, who resided at Poluead, in Suffolk, left her home in May, 1827, with Corder, who had a gun with him, and was seen when last alire going towards the Red Barn. After she was missed the lied Barn was filled, by Corder's orders, with grain, and subsequently frivolous excuses were made by Corder to the girl's parents as to where she was reiiding, all of which eventually turned out to be false, and excited suspicion against him ; and though Corder had been seen carrying a pickaxe in the direction of the Barn, which fact was regarded as suspicious, the alarm of Maria Marten's family was brought to its height by her mother dreaming three successive nights that her daughter had been murdered and buried in the Red Barn. Under ordinary circumstances di earns suqh as these would cavie little Attention, and would be looked upon as emanating from on excited mind or diseased imagination. Maria Marten's mother was so fully impressed with the truth of her dreams, that she insisted upon the floor of the Barn being taken up and search made. This was done in April, 1828, nearly twelve months after the murder was committed, and a sack was discovered containing a female corpse, not so much decayed but that marks of violence were preceptible. The body was identified as that of Maria Marten by the want of two teeth. Corder had married in the interval, and lived apparently happy. He was apprehended at Baling, in Essex, condemned upon circumstantial evidence, confessed the murder while in prison, and was executed in August, 1828. We hare been led into these remarks, and men. tioned these cases, to prepare our readers for the discovery of a more recent murder, by a similar agency. The case to which we allude, is that of William Hayes, who was, at the Maitland Assizes, which terminated only last week, tried, convicted, and sentenced for execution, for the committal of Ihe atrocious murder of Benjamin Cott, at Dagworth, the discovery of which murder had its origin in & dream. Cott was last seen at Hayes home on Wednesday, the 13lh of November. Hayes about two years ago had cut a drain from a 'lagoon on his land to Wallis Creek. After the water had escaped from the lagoon, the drain was ploughed over, and became rilled up, except about four-and-twenty yards of it. near the Creek. This portion of the drain running alongside his fence, not interfering with the cultivation of his land, remained open. Within a day or two after Cott was mused, Hayes was seen filling in this part of the drain, which varied in depth from five to six feet— and on the Saturday following he was observed by constable Kedwell, of the Maitland Police, levelling its surface, and he wa* afterwards noticed chipping in peas there. Hayes, when questioned about Cott, gave differen accounts of him ; at one time he stated that he had left his house on the Wednesday night, to go to Maitland ; at another, that he was lometimes absent from his house |for four or five days together } on a third occasion, that he had gone to his brother's. Search was made for Cott in Maitland, in the River, and iv Wallis Creek, but without obtaining the slightesttrace of him. In this state, things remained till the 10th of Dec mber, when Jams* Anthony communica'ed to Thomas Evans, and the latter to Constable Kedwell, the particulars of a dream which he had had on thel Sunday after Cott was last seen alive; and the substance of Anthony's statement was this. He knew both Hayes and Cott, he had never been at Dagworth where they both resided, but on the Sunday night Anthony dreamt that he sa*v Hayes hit Cott on the head with a heavy weapon, and saw the blood mn down Cott'* face, and that Hayes made use of the words " now you old— l'll have your ground to feed my catile on." Anthony was alarmed at his dream, got up, walked about, returned to bed, fell asleep, and dreamt "just exact the same a second time." It was not till the next or the second day after the dream, that Anthony heard that Cott was missing. Though Anthony dreamt this extraordinary dream on the 17th j of November, he never mentioned it till the 10th of December, and then Kedwell having been informed of it by Evans he recollected that he had seen Haje> filling up the drain ; he conferred with the Chief Con•tnble, and the latter, with three or four men, imme diately proceeded to Dagworth, commenced at sundown opening the drain, and at midnight came upon the murdered body of Cott. There he was, with his hkull dreadfully fractured, lying in the drain, in the very identical clothes that he wore on the ni(:htthat he was lait »ecu alive ; am\ if further identification of Cott

were necessary, a key was found in the fob of bis tronseis vclneli belonged to his box, and which, when applied to the lock, opened it easily. Hayes has been tiiptl cotivicird and sentenced to be executed ; and though, as we have been informed, be has not admitted that tie stiuck ihe latal blow, he has confessed to hia l-nowleilge ol and wp believe consent to the murder. It would be idle t> say that the discovery of this murder was alloaeiher the result of accident ; Hayes had been suspected and watched. Anthony's dream was certainly Hie means by which the body was found on Hayes ground ; the dream created an impression on the mind of Kedwell that the body of Colt must be in the draia which he had seen Hayes filling in nnd levelling co soon after Cott waa missing. Had it not been for Anthony's dream the murderer might still have been at lurge, and fiom the careful manner in which the body wns concealed in all probability it would never have been discovered.

Professor Wilson's Opening Lecture. Professor Wilson commenced by stating that his prelection that evening would have reference to natural science and mental philosophy. It was held by 6orae of the ancients, and in particular by Pythagoras, that nnmeiical quantities constituted the harmony of the universe ; and, unquestionably, the application of the mathematical or pure sciences does reveal to us, in so far as they cm be revealed to our finite understanding, the various matters appeituinmg to God's universe. If we know not our own souls, however, and if we know not the Maker of all worlds, we see not the hai mony that is prevalent throughout all creation. In this view a man may know all that science can ever reach, and yet his knowledge be far inferior to that of the poor Indian ; wliOi seeing God in the clouds, and hearing him in the winds, may prove himself to be a greater proficient in the lore of truth than even the gieatest philosopher. It was sublimely said by Kant, the great German philosopher, that there were two infinities shown to every human, being— the one being the starry heaven above our heads, and the other the infinity within our own breasts. The telescope of the elder but not the great" er Ilerschell, and the still more powerful telescope, of Lord Ros.ie, had enabled us to ascertain that those nebulas, of which we formerly knew nothing, were suns and systems ; and he was satisfied that other and more powerful instruments, would only demonstrate the same result to our astonish gaze— causing 1 us to feel that we are, as yet, on the very border! of creation. Those whose scientific attainments enabled them to pursue Mich investigations, are put in poisession of results which are calculated highly to exalt the imagination and reason of mankind, if only able to pourtray and to describe them in language adequate to such wonderful studies. We have all been impressed with wonder and admiration at the wonderful appearance of order in all the goings-on of the heavenlybodies ; and therefore the astronomer, who describes these objects, may be said only to have converted our impressions into knowledge, and to have enabled us to read some chapters of that mighty scroll still expanding before the eyes of men. He would appeal to> one work as corroborative of what he was now saying— a work of the highest intellect-— the " Cosmo*" of Alexander Yon Humboldr. All the subjects of which, this hand-book of science treats, are exhibited with a ihnplicity and elegance that render them intelligible to all who read them ; and what could be dearer to them than the subject-matter of the " Cosmos," which was our home! Then as to the infinitude to which. Kant alluded as within our bosoms, our know* ledge does not depend, in any way, on the excellence of our instruments. Can we hope, therefore to peneetiate into that infinitude? We can. There are laws of the conscience, the affections, and the pasiious ; and the«e laws, if we know them and obey them, will render our souls as lovely and magnificient as the starry heavens above our headi. But here we meet iwth innumerable difficulties — difficulties greater than the astronomer has 16 encounter in his journey through, the starry sphere ; and why ? Because it is imposiible to contemplate mankind in one's self, inasmuch as every man has hi? own individualities and specialities. The very passions themselves which a man may wish to inquiie into, m order to ascertain their laws, hold a dominion over him which contiacts his feelings and his thoughts to that one item of existence— his individual self. It lmd been well remarked by Professor Brown, that the idea of an emotion or passion partook in some measure, of the emotion or passion itself ; bo that there* » as some disquiet in all our ideas and emotions when we came to consider them with a view to the putting of them into philosophical order ; and hence the error of such men as jLeibnitz and Claik, who endeavoured to carry into mi'iital or moral investigation the same rules that had been found to be applicable to the material universe. It was impossible to weigh or to measuie, for example, the affections of a mother, the passion of a lover, and the remorse of a murderer. The Professor then endeavoured to solve the question whether the knowledge of the human mind had advanced in any degree like that of the physical sciences ; and he argued that we must not settle the question by putting all the books that might be quoted in the library of physical science against the books written directly by metaphysicians on the science of the human mind. We must add to the lat" ter the hiatories of all nations and of all distinguished individuals ; the works of «U the theologians and jurists ; the worka of all the men who have written on. the economy of empires ; the works of the philologists, poets, painters, and sculptors ; and if these were ell taken inio account, he was certain that the balance would not be against, but in favour of the science of mind. The Professor couluded by an eloquent appeal >ga nst disparaging what had been accomplished in the pair. But in order to reverence it, they must study and understand ir. Were they lovers of truth ? They should veneiate the old rcfoimers. Where they loters of knowledge ? They would look on Bacon's birth-pliice as a very sanctuary. Where they lovers of patriotism ? Then should they remember the Bruce of, Bannockburn, and Englishmen should for ever remembered their own Runyinedc They should lix their eyes upon what was great, and not upon what was small and contemptible. Were they, then, lovers of knowledge ? Were they lovers of personal independence? And did they possess these qualities ? Were their soldiers brave ? Wexe their sailors armed with fortitude to face the battle and the storm ? Were, their villages pnd their cities consecrated by the sound of church-going bells? Whatever virtues reigned of i old, did they still auivive amongst them ? If so, they shou'd lemember that theie were their patrimony and I their biithright, and they should show by the discharge | of all the duties incumbent upon them, that they were I üble and willing to transmit them to another generation, and to their children after them. (Great ap- | plause.)

Printfr's Toasts. — " The press— it e.r presses truth— re -pi eases eiror — m-presses knowledge, asid 0/j-prestes none/—- We thought this too good to be i>up pressed, and therefore published it.-— "Woma n— the laireit woik of creation — the edition being extern* sive, let no man be without a copy."—' 1 Babie^— Miniature editions of Immunity, issued periodically, and. displayed in small capi."