ENGLISH EXTRACTS FROM THE HOME NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 283, 27 June 1868, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS FROM THE HOME NEWS.

We read in the ' New York Times' of March 18 :—" One of the most delightful places in the world to live in is Blanco County, Texas. Though the registered vote of Blanco is 112 white and eight colored, yet the district clerk, in making return of the cases of crime in the county since June, 1865, puts down 'B3 persons indicted for murder,' ' five assault with intent to kill,' '2O robbery,' '27 theft of stock,' and a failshow of other crimes. The 83 indicted for murder have been thus disposed of : —'lo acquitted,4o indictments quashed, 31 continued for service, 2 dismissed.' The Texas paper, which contains these official returns, quietly remarks :—' The number of murders, probably accounts for the small registration of voters."

The ' Nouvelliste de llouen thus describes the Mitrailleuse, a new instrument of war, partly invented by the emperor : —" Imagine a coffee mill half a yard in heighth, with an opening at the top half a yard in diameter. Into this the cartouches are shovelled, and by means of a wheel turned by a handle, the soldier who works the instrument lets a single cartouche fall into each of the eight barrels of the ' mitrailleuse.' These barrels are about a yard in length. As the trigger falls on the cap it closes the barrels, the shots are fired, and the wheel in turning reopens the barrels, recocks the trigger, and lets other cartouches assume the places of those discharged. This instrument, worked by a single soldier, discharges from 50 to 55 shots a minute, and is fifffintivp. _n.t. 1700 yards."

At the chambers of Yice-Cbancellor Stuart on April 22 several summonses were heard before Mr Peake, the chief clerk, in reference to the two suits, " Tichborne v. Tichborne " and Tichborne v. Mostyn." It was the first application since the transfer of the cause from the court of Yice-Chancel-lor Giffard, in consequence of the YiceChancellor having been counsel for the claimant to the titles and estates. The plaintiff, seeking to make out his title, had filed a mass of affidavits—49, it was stated, in number —and there were upwards of 40 more to be filed in support of his motion for a decree ; and on the part of the defendants it was asked that time should be granted to the 20th of May to answer the evidence, which application was strenuously resisted on the part of the claimant, and it was said th'.t the evidence principally related to his identity. The chief clerk said, if he understood the case, the claimant had been absent some years. It was stated that he had been absent 12 years, and many of the affidavits as well as the evidence had been known to the defendants, and therefore such a length of time as now asked was unnecessary. The ehief clerk said there were nearly 100 affidavits and upwards of 1000 folios 6f evidence. He should certainly grant, to the defendants to May 20 to complete their evidence. Leave was given to the plaintiff to go before the judge, and on the part of the defendants it was said costs would be asked on such appeal. At the Aldershott steeplechase on April 22, over the usual course on the Government ground several casualities occurred. The most serious happened on the first race, in which Capt. Reeves' Warwick Lass, who was ridden by Capt Tait, fell at the second fence and threw her jockey, who was picked up insensible, and conveyed to the tent. In the third race Captain Hogarth's The Yet, ridden by Captain Tucker, led for half the course, and then fell and broke his neck. Sergeant-Major Barnes of the Royal Engineers, who was watching the racing in a position close to the stand, suddenly fell dead, it is supposed from the effect of excitement acting on a diseased heart. A special session of the Central Criminal Court was opened on Monday, April 20, for the purpose of trying the six prisoners charged with murder, arising out of the attempt to blow up the wall of tho House of Detention at Clerkenwell, and also for trying Burke, Shaw, and Casey for treason-felony,

the indictments in tlio last-mentioned cases having been romoved to this court from Warwick. The judges were tho Lord Chief Justice arulßarouß ram well The indictment to which tlio prisoners were called upon to plead charged thorn with the wilful murder of Sarah Anne Ilodgkinson, one of the persons killed by the explosion. Tho prisoners all pleaded "Not guilty." Some effort was made to get the cases postponed, on tho ground that counsel had only been instructed for the defenco 011 Saturday, but the request was refused, and the prosecution opened by the Attorney-General, 110 difficulty being made by the prisoners in respect of the empanneling of aj ury for which some 300 persons it is said were summoned. At the conclusion of the case for the prosecution on April .23, the jury, under the direction of the Lord Chief Justice and with the concurrence of the Attorney-General, acquitted A«n Justice. The remaining prisoners will, of course, be called on to make their defence, aud the trial is expected to conclude on Saturday, April 25. Robert Smith, the wretched man who, in February last, near Annan, violated and murdered a little girl nine years of age, and afterwards attempted to murder a woman who had seen him take the child away from her dwelling, was put upon his trial at the Dumfries Circuit Court on April 21. He had fully confessed to the crime, was found and sentenced to death; the execution to take place at Dumfries on the 12th May. Sir J Y. Simpson, in the course of a lecture at G-ranton, near Edinburgh, urged the necessity of a change in the mode of education in schools, in reference to modern and ancient languages. Was it, he asked, a fact that no man could speak good English, as had been averred by Mr Tring, (whose arguments he took as a specimen of the whole), unless he had a knowledge of G-reek and Latin 1 Why, perhaps the most accomplished orator of the present day knew very little Lattin, and he believed, no Greek—he referred to John Bright; and Mr Cobden knew neither Latin nor G-reek, but there were few better speakers of English. The only language he learned was French. The greatest orators America had produced—Mr Clay and Andrew Douglas—were totally without nlaaoJml --.,1J-,' A J Ij. S. :a ,

one could write good English unless they had received a classical education —that would excommunicate from authorship all the ladies ; and he was told by a gentleman well acquainted with magazine literature, that half the articles in our magazines were written by those belonging to the female sex ; and what were they to say of Miss Mulock, Mrs Beecher Stowe, Miss Bronte, Miss Martineau, Mrs Somerville, and many others ? Or, calculated by money—a thoroughly English mode of calculation—there was one notorious example of a lady receiving £B,OOO for a novel, which was far more than Sir "Walter Scott ever got. Then, turning to the male sex, he spoke of Hugh Miller, Burns, Hogg, and even Sir "Walter Scott, who, although he knew a little Latin, knew so little Greek that he was called the Greek dunce. When it happened that the man was a good writer, it was said it was because he had learned Greek and Latin. It did not follow that that was a consequence, though it might be a coincidence. He had been told that Mr Bright modelled his style on the English translation of the Bible ; aud a Scotch critic of great powers had told him that Macaulay's style was built upon the same model. Sir James went 011 to say that in the English Bible 97 out of every 100 words were old Saxon. Shakspeare used 15 foreign words in every 100, and Milton 14. If, therefore this was a proper argument, it would bring us back to the study of other languages—to the study of old Anglo-Saxon, to which very little attention was paid until the importance of it was set forth by German and Danish writers. It is now taught in Oxford, and a professor of that language was about to be established in Cambridge. It is stated that part of the racecourse at Epsom is in the manor of Walton, which has just changed hands, and the new owners decline to permit racing 011 that portion.

Water : a clear fluid once used as a drink. Policeman : a man employed to sleep in tlic open air. Bargain : a ludicrous transaction in which either party thinks lie has cheated the other. Esquire : everybody yet nobody, equal to captain. Jury : twelve prisoners in a box to try one at the bar. Informer: a wretch who is pardoned for being baser than his comrades. Lawyer : a learned gentleman who rescues your cstato from your enemy and keeps it himself.