express permission of the committee of the members of
the Carlton Club, while the letters spoken of, addressed
to the newly-returned Whig representatives, ran thus:—
"In having the honour of placing the enclosed written
list in your presence, I beg leave to propose the insertion
of your portrait into the new series of this national
work to which it relates, and will presume to wait on
you for the requisite facilities to enable me to carry out
my respectful proposal." The enclosed circular, headed
with the name of Lord J. Russell, and followed by
Mr. Roebuck, Dr. Bowring, Col. Thompson, Mr. Hume,
and a vast number of others in the liberal interest,
intimated that the writer, with the countenance of the
Reform Club, was about to dedicate his talents to that
party. The prisoner denied that he had obtained the
portraits under false pretences, as he intended to have had
copies engraved, but was unable for want of the promised
support. He was remanded for further examination.

A case came before the Middlesex Sessions on the
19th, which shows the evil arising from the Insufficient
care of Lunatics. Joseph Aylieff, an elderly man, was
tried for stealing a publican's pot. In a field near
Kilburn he was found with the pot in question, which
he said he had brought from Kent, whereas he had
really taken it from the Swan Inn at Hendon. The
innkeeper said he had known the prisoner for a number
of years about the neighbourhood of Hendon—a respectable
man, and most respectably connected: he could not
think he meant to steal the pot. However, Joseph
Aylieff was convicted. One of his sons then told the
judge that his father was insane. It appeared that this
son had placed him in Marylebone Workhouse; but
after he had remained there nearly two years, another
son took him out, and allowed him to range
uncontrolled—with the result of a conviction for theft. The
certificate of the master of the Workhouse stated that
at the time the man was given up to his son, he was in
an "unsound state of mind." The judge remarked
that the lunatic would not have been discharged from
any regular public asylum, unless his relatives had given
security that he should be placed under proper restraint.
Sergeant Adams would not try him on a second charge
of stealing a shawl. The formal sentence was six
months' imprisonment with hard labour; but, on a
surgeon's certificate of insanity, the poor man is to be
placed in an asylum.

In the Insolvent Debtors' Court, on the 24th inst.,
Alexander Wallace, who had been a student at Oxford,
applied to be Discharged. His debts exceeded £900;
and for nearly £600 he had received no consideration on
accommodation bills accepted by him for other Oxford
students, and now held by bill discounters. Mr.
Commissioner Phillips expressed himself in indignant terms
on the schedule. There were debts for cigars and
jewellery. It was elicited from the insolvent that his father
was a conveyancer, and had allowed him £150 a year,
and had paid some debts contracted at Oxford. The
insolvent's counsel hoped it would be a lesson to him.
Mr. Commissioner Phillips was inclined to make it a
serious lesson by giving a remand, but it was pity for
the father, and not for the insolvent, that induced him
to forego. Had a tradesman opposed, he would have
been remanded for six months. The insolvent was
discharged.

John Mepham, convicted of Highway Robbery at the
Lewes Assizes, on the 23rd, was sentenced to transportation
for fifteen years. He had waylaid a farmer who
was returning home from a sheep fair, knocked him
down, and robbed him of £10 in bank notes and some
silver.

In December last, a milkman named George Bush, a
quiet, inoffensive man, residing near Bath, was
Murdered. He had attended an auction-sale at a
neighbouring village, and, after having spent part of the
evening at the village public-house, left it to go home,
and next morning was found dead in a field, with his
throat cut, and his pockets rifled. Several persons were
apprehended on suspicion, but discharged. But an Irish
pedlar, named Christopher Smith, while imprisoned in
Dorchester jail as a vagrant, told a fellow prisoner that
he had committed a murder in Somersetshire. This
led to his apprehension on suspicion of the murder of
Bush; and the prisoner made the following confession
to the chief of the Bath police:—"I was at the public-
house, and at the time selling lucifers and other little
things. I had half a pint of beer, and I saw the man
I murdered pull out his purse, which tempted me. I
followed him from the public-house until he went two
or three fields over a stile, and when he got 70 or 80
yards I tripped him up with my foot. He fell on the
back of his head and called out 'Murder' very loudly,
and said to me, 'Do you want to murder me?' I
replied to him, 'Yes.'" The prisoner, then looking at
his arms, said, "I was then much stronger and more
active than I am now, and I held him a few minutes
and drew my knife across his throat two or three times,
and he never moved afterwards. There was not much
struggling, as it was soon over. I knelt on him, and
when I was on him the blood came over me, and I tore
up some grass and stuffed it into the cut. I then took
his purse, but did not get more than seven or eight
shillings. I thought he had more, or it would not have
happened. I am sorry for it. It was a cold-blooded
deed, and one of the worst murders that ever was done.
I slept in a cart-house that night, and in barns and
under haystacks ever since; but wherever I was I could
not rest, as I saw the man. It was a dreadful thing to
have on the mind, and I am perfectly prepared to die
for it." On the 24th inst. Smith was brought before
the county magistrates at Bath. A number of witnesses
were examined, whose evidence corroborated the prisoner's
confession. When the magistrates were considering
the propriety of calling further witnesses, he said,
"Gentlemen, there's enough of evidence to hang twenty,
without any more." He was committed for trial at the
next assizes.

A dreadful act of Piracy and Murder has been
committed by Coolies on board an American vessel, the
Robert Browne, in March last. An account of it is
contained in the deposition of Joseph Valentine, the
steward of the ship. She sailed from Amoy with a crew
of 19 men, and about 400 Chinese, bound for San
Francisco. The captain in order to maintain cleanliness
cut off the tails of a great many of the Coolies, and
obliged them to come on deck and be washed all over
in cold water, the men scrubbing them with cane
brooms. The Coolies evinced much concern at losing
their tails, many of them crying. They were well
furnished with food and water. On the 10th day out,
while Valentine was at the galley door about half-past
nine in the morning, he heard a shout from the Chinamen,
and saw a body of them rushing aft, armed with pieces
of wood as clubs, and, at the same time, one from
behind seized him round the wrist. With a small knife
he held he cut his wrist, and the Coolie let go his hold
and followed his companions aft. Valentine then went
into the galley with the Chinese cook, and both held
the doors to prevent the ingress of the Coolies. From
a small window in the front of the galley, he saw the
murder of the second mate, who was knocked down by
blows on the head from ten or twelve men, and some
of the Coolies, having by that time obtained boarding
pikes, stabbed him. He was thrown overboard not
quite dead, and clinging to a rope was stabbed again
with pikes till he relinquished his hold. The Coolies
then forced the doors of the galley and stabbed at
Valentine with the pikes, notwithstanding the intercession
of the cook. He succeeded in wresting a pike from
them, and drove them aft, one or two of the Coolies falling
by his thrusts. He then jumped down the forecastle
hatch, where they barricaded him in. In about an hour
they called to him through one of the Chinese, who
spoke English, and told him to come up, promising not
to hurt him. He did so, and was led aft to the wheel,
where Smith was also brought. After steering for an
hour Valentine was taken into the cabin, and ordered
under pain of death to show where the captain's valuables
were. He did so, but they got but little. The men
were aloft when Valentine came on deck, whither they
had retreated after making unavailing resistance. The
Coolies told the men if they would come down and take
them to land they would not hurt them. The men did
so, and they were all well treated while they were
returning. Valentine was informed by the Chinese that
the captain, two officers, and three men, had been killed.
The Coolies obliged him to attend the wounded