all the corporations, are eminently due to the Lord Advocate.-Montrose Review.

High Court of Justiciary.-Janet Douglas was put to the bar, accused of theft, more particularly that species of theft called manstealing, or plagium. The indictment states, that the pannel did, on the 12th day of May last, barbarously steal and carry away Margaret Reach, a child betwixt three and four years of age, the daughter of James Reach, mason, residing at King's Stables, Portsburgh; that the pannel was pursued immediately after, and on the 14th of said month was apprehended at Halbeath colliery, Fifeshire, with the child in her custody. The pannel pleaded-Not Guilty. No objection being stated to the relevancy of the indictment, it was remitted to a jury, which was chosen, and the trial proceeded.

James Reach, mason, King's Stables, said, that on Monday, the 12th of May, when he came home to dinner, his wife said his daughter was lost. She had been inquiring for her at the neighbours, but the child could not be found: That he went to the Police watch-house, Portsburgh, and also to the principal Police-office in town, and likewise employed the town-crier to proclaim the loss of the child, but heard no tidings of her that night: that next morning he rose early and went to Whitehouse Toll, to Leith, and other places, but did not hear any thing of the child. He afterwards went on the Queensferry Road, and made inquiry at several places: that at Stockbridge Toll, he heard of a woman and child coming there on the Monday, who asked for a drink of water; he made inquiry of a Miss Marshall, residing about a mile from Muttonhole, who informed him a woman had called there with a child, and she had given her a penny : that he went to Queensferry, but getting no satisfactory information, returned to Miss Marshall, who desired him to call at the gate of Braehead, where he would get some word about the child, which he did and from the information he got there, was convinced it was his daughter: that he then crossed the Ferry, and went to Dunfermline, where he made every inquiry, but without success; he then went to different places, and returned again to Dunfermline, where a man said he thought he could give him some information about the child, and desired him to go to Halbeath colliery, which he did; that he found his daughter in a house, but the woman was out; that he got a warrant at Dunfermline for her apprehension, and then brought the pannel to Edinburgh; pannel was in custody of an officer from Dunfermline; halted at Miss Marshall's, and showed her the child: that when he found the child, it was very fond of him, took him round the neck and kissed him.

Mrs Reach, wife of the preceding witness, said the child went out of the house on the 12th of May, about eleven o'clock, to go to one Logan's, a neighbour; made every

search to find the child, and so did her husband, but never saw her till the 15th, when he brought her home from Halbeath colliery; the child was quite happy when she came home.

Mrs Anderson, residing at Bell's Mill, said, that on the Monday after the town's sacrament, a woman with a child came to her house, and asked permission to take off her shoes and stockings; the woman called the child Jeannie, and said it would be three years old at harvest; saw the child in the Sheriff's-office when Mrs Reach claimed it: the pannel seemed kind to the child.

William Halliday, residing at Stockbridge toll-bar, remembers a woman and child coming to his house about Whitsunday and asking for a drink of water, which having received, she passed on by the Ferry-road, and saw the woman and child two days after, on their return; thinks the pannel the

same woman.

Mrs Brown, residing at the gate of Braehead, said a woman and child came to the gate and asked to get leave to rest her; she opened the gate and let her in, when she laid down her bundle and the child, which she thought-unwell; that she offered the child some broth, but it did not sup them, which the woman said was owing to turnips being in them. Witness asked the woman if she had brought the child from town, she answered that she had brought it from the Cape of Good Hope; that the child looked very pitiful, and she lifted its bonnet to look at the child's face, but the woman forbade her, and said it would make her cry; the woman said the child was three years old on new-year's day; that the child cried mamma, which the pannel accounted for by saying, a woman kept the child at the Cape of Good Hope who she called mamma.

The declarations of the pannel were then read; she stated that she was a collier's bearer at Gilmerton, from which she was dismissed, and having no work, came to town, when a woman said to her if she had a child she would get employment at Halbeath; that this consideration induced her to steal the child, but she was kind to it, and meant to return it when she got employment.

John Robertson, William Brockie, and William M'Kinlay, coal-heavers at Gilmerton, said, the pannel wrought industriously for her bread; that she was obliged to leave Gilmerton for want of employ.

ment.

James Barnard, residing near Halbeath colliery, remembers a young woman and a child coming to his house, but could say nothing about them; does not know the pannel.

Mrs Barnard, wife of the preceding witness, said, the pannel and the child came to her house, and she thought her its moth er, as she was very good to the child. They staid all night.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL for the

Crown, and Mr CATHCART for the pannel, severally addressed the jury. The LORD JUSTICE CLERK summed up the whole in an impartial address to the jury, who, without quitting the box, unanimously found the pannel Guilty.

The LORD JUSTICE CLERK (after hearing the opinions of Lords Pitmilly and Succoth) addressed the prisoner in a most impressive manner, in which he pointed out the enormity of the crime she had committed, and sentenced her to suffer the punishment of death, in this city, on Wednesday, the 15th day of October next.

The prisoner is a young woman, apparently about 20 years of age. The father of

the child was in Court when the Lord Justice Clerk pronounced sentence, and seemed very much affected-indeed much more so than the pannel.

The Court next proceeded to the trial of Robert Reid, chimney-sweeper, accused of the murder of John Fraser, alias Thomson, who, having stuck fast in a vent in Albany Street chapel, was by him and Joseph Rae pulled by the legs, by a rope fastened to them, until he died. The facts of this case were fully before our readers in the trial of Rae, the principal culprit, who was sentenced to 14 years' transportation. The pannel, Rae, pleaded guilty to the extent of culpable homicide, and to the facts stated in his declaration before the Sheriff.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL stated, that as the case of this pannel was not of so atrocious a nature as that of his associate Rae, he would restrict the libel to the charge of culpable homicide, and adduce no proof but the pannel's own judicial confession.

Mr HUNTER addressed the Court in mitigation of punishment. All that the pannel admitted was, that he pulled the rope, and the principal atrocity of the case lay in Rae fastening the iron crow to the rope twice; that the boy was alive after he had pulled the rope. The pannel is a man of humane habits, and very kind to the boys in his employment; and he humbly submitted to the Court, that this was a case in which a far more lenient sentence should be inflicted than in the case of Rae.

Their Lordships were of opinion, that there certainly was a marked difference betwixt the case of the pannel and that of Rae. The latter had been far more active; and a charge also lay against him, and which had been proved, of malice against the boy, and extreme cruelty and ill treatment on former occasions, amounting even to the atrocity of making him eat his own excrement.

The LORD JUSTICE CLERK, after a suitable admonition, sentenced the pannel to seven years transportation beyond seas.

Tuesday, John Jeffrey, or Jeffreys, mate of the Prince Edward revenue cutter, was brought to the bar, accused of murder. The indictment charged him with landing a party of the crew of the Prince Edward on the island of Arran, on the 25th of March last,

in search of smuggled whisky, part of which they seized; that he commanded his party to fire upon the people, who assembled on that occasion, by which William M'Kinnon, Daniel or Donald M'Kinnon, and Isobel Nicol, were mortally wounded, and died soon after. The pannel pleaded Not guilty.

It appeared, from the evidence, that the smugglers, joined by a large party of country people, had followed close upon Mr Jeffrey and his party; had evidently shewn that they were determined to retake the whisky, and actually made several attacks upon them. The Solicitor-General admitted that the jury must find the pannel not guilty, even of culpable homicide. Mr Jeffrey, one of the counsel for the prisoner, said, that after the clear, decided, and strong testimony in his favour by the whole of the evidence, and the cordial acquiescence of the Solicitor-General in their views of it, his counsel declined adducing any more evidence in his favour, as they thought it only trespassing upon the time of the Court to no purpose.

LORD JUSTICE CLERK.-I have no hesitation in saying, that the conduct of the learned gentleman, who has just now addressed you on the part of the gentleman at the bar, meets my full and entire approbation. For, after the very fair, open, and candid manner in which his Majesty's Solicitor-General has disclaimed even a conception of any thing like guilt attachable to the prisoner under this indictment, but, on the contrary, having borne his testimony to his conduct upon this unfortunate occasion, it would be an useless waste of your time, and tending to throw distrust on the opinion you must have formed upon this case, to have detained you by any evidence in exculpation. I have no difficulty in stating to you, from the evidence disclosed, not only by the persons belonging to the revenue vessel, but from that drawn, some part of it with reluctance, from persons who took a considerable concern in the transaction, there is no ground for a verdict in terms of this indictment. Throughout this unfortunate day the conduct of the pannel was most distinguished for moderation, propriety, and determination to do the duty incumbent upon him by the office he held under Government for his country. Therefore, I have no doubt it is your duty, and will give you satisfaction, to find he is not guilty of the charge in the indictment.

The jury, without leaving the box, immediately returned an unanimous verdict of ---Not guilty.

LORD JUSTICE CLERK.-John Jeffrey, I have now the satisfaction of announcing to you, that, after a full investigation of the whole circumstances as to your conduct upon the unfortunate day charged in the indictment, a most respectable jury of your country have pronounced you not guilty of the crime with which you are charged. After

that evidence, which has been publicly given in this Court, it is unnecessary for me to add, that the conduct which you exhibited on the occasion in question, was that which was to be expected of an officer who had filled an honourable situation in his Majesty's navy. I have only to say, that while you conduct yourself, as you appear to have hitherto always done, according to the same rules of humanity, propriety, and proper public spirit, there will be little probability of a similar charge being ever preferred against you in any criminal court,

Mr Jeffrey was immediately dismissed from the bar.

Counsel for the Crown-The SolicitorGeneral, Samuel M'Cormick, and J. A. Maconochie, Esqs.-Agent, Mr Hugh Warrender. For the pannel-George Cranstoun, Francis Jeffrey, Alex. Wood, and John Hope, Esqs.-Agent, Mr W. H. Sands, W. S.

Lancaster Assizes.-Friday, Sept. 5.This day W. Holden, and the three Ashcrofts, one of whom is the father, the other the brother, and the youngest the son, were tried for the murder of a Mrs Ramsden and Hannah Partington, the servants of Mr Littlewood of Pendleton, near Manchester. It was proved that they got into the house between three and four o'clock in the afternoon of April 26, and that, after robbing it, and carrying away some plate, linen, and a considerable quantity of bank notes and gold, they murdered (as it is supposed), with a butcher's cleaver and the kitchen poker, the unfortunate domestics above-named. A murder of this kind seems unparalleled even in atrocity by the well known cases of Williamson and Marr. The robbery and murder were committed at mid-day, in a populous village, and within two miles of Manchester. The jury found them guilty without even retiring from their box; and the Lord Chief Baron Richards instantly pronounced sentence of execution for Monday. They loudly protested their innocence, and were taken from the bar making clamorous appeals to Heaven. The three Ashcrofts are creditable-looking men, apparently much above the ordinary condition.

On Saturday a special jury was appointed at the Lancaster Assizes, to try the Blanketeers, as they were called, from Manchester. When the trial was called on, how ever, Mr TOPPING, the leading counsel for the Crown, rose and said, "That it was not his intention to offer any evidence against the defendants. At the time the charge was preferred, Manchester was much agitated; but tranquillity now prevailed throughout the county, and a new tone and order of things had arisen. That his Majesty's Government, therefore, never desirous to prosecute any of the King's subjects, but in cases where the public safety demanded it, thought it unnecessary to press any thing against the defendants under the present circumstances, and therefore he, Mr Top

PING, should offer no evidence." The defendants were accordingly acquitted.

Inverness, Sept. 12.-We were visited by another smart shock of an earthquake, about half-past three on Sunday morning. This is the fifth shock since August last year.

Trial of a Life-Boat.-On the 4th inst. Lieutenant E. Thrackston, R. N. exhibited, before a number of merchants and shipowners of this city, the buoyant properties of his newly invented life-boat, which we are happy to say, exceeded the most sanguine expectations previously entertained. The extreme length of the boat exhibited is 21 feet, beam 6 feet 6 inches, and is rowed with 10 oars, double backed. It is constructed with canvass, in lieu of plank (which possesses an advantage over plank, wants no butt-ends to be stoved in case of accident), and has cork bilge-floats, which may be applied as life buoys, to throw out in cases where men may be washed overboard from a wreck, with a large fender round the boat, and which, from its elasticity, is capable of repelling any violent concussion. Without having recourse to the precarious assistance of air-tubes, Mr Thrackston has succeeded in gaining so much upon the water-line, that the boat, by the introduction of eight valves, discharges herself down to the thwarts, a space of nine inches. She has a canvass cover, contrived in such a way as to possess the advantages of a deck, at the same time keeping the men dry, without being an incumbrance to their rowing. The keel is the last thing that goes on the boat, and is so contrived, by the stem and stern parts working together with the elasticity of the timbers, which are sawn out of a straight piece of oak, and moulded into form by steam, that it is conceived impossible that the boat can ever be stoved. She took on board 30 persons, when filled with water up to the valves, and had 28 standing on one gunwale, without the least danger of upsetting. Upon an emergency, 60 persons might be stowed within her. She rows well and light on the oars when thus filled, and turns with great rapidity in her length. Boats may be built on a similar construction to any shape; and from the light but very efficient materials of which they are composed, Lieut. Thrackston is convinced, from the experi ments which he has made, that if generally adopted, they would be found fully to answer every common purpose of an appendage to a vessel, besides possessing the invaluable advantages of a life-boat.—Bristol

Observer.

Some days ago, a subscription having been set on foot to release the debtors, when the criminal prisoners were to be removed to the new jail, it was soon successful; and on Tuesday the door of the old jail was thrown open, and every prisoner for debt liberated; so much for the generosity of our citizens, to whom no appeal for charity is ever made in vain. It is expected that a little balance may be left, which will be