THE TICHBORNE CASE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1630, 26 August 1871, Page 17

THE TICHBORNE CASE.

Tho London correspondent of the Aryu» writes :: — ■ The Tichborne trial is still proceeding, and likely to drag its -dow length yet for many a day, unless by «>m<; ronolu.sivu uvi(louce the ea»e is suddenly idnsel. ( tieat bets are depending on the issue. Tlie ca.se irf wholly without precedent, and souuiuy .•startling incidents and puzzling problems Lav ft arisen in its couise, that public t;pini«ii. has. been greatly excited and divided. Li )uid Krii the universal subject of deb ite, and every *i:-y the fresh points oi evi'lenco are weighed ait'i argued in every circle with as much /.est as it wo all were rival uliuinunts. It i* impossible for me to give in this letter even ;ui outline of the voluminous evidence, copies of whkh will reach you by this mail. \ oil will get the story in ico entirety, and will scarcely be able to realise tlit interest oi' English readers as bit by bit, uuy by day, it has been slowly unravulie 1. WUui» numerous witnesses were found, shrewd meu ! of the world, and toriner associates, bearing j testimony on minute points, all tending tv ! identification, it seemed impossible that the ' claim could be an imposture. Tlie nev/a- ! papers have preserved throughout a discreet I silence, and i will not now attempt to trace | the fluctuating probabilities', but since tlie 1 claimant has come under cross-exauiinatiou ' it i.s a matter of fact that the " Tichbonie- ■ funds" have gone do-wn greatly in public ! estimator. The Solicitor-General has conducted this part of the case with uncompromising severity, as if sincerely indignant, and has laid him- ! self open to some censure, though handling the subject with great ability. The esami-nation-in-chief, by Mr Gill'ard, oceujjied more than three days, and the cross-exami-nation, not yet finished, has — though with frequent interruptions, through the claimant's illness — run over eight days, There was a painful sensation when he was questioned as to the contents of a sealed packet left behind him by Sir Roger, and swore — after protesting against taking tho resjjonsibility of such a public declaration— that it related to hio cousin, a lady then in court, whom he maintained he had seduced before he left England. The cross-examination, which covered the whole period of his life, revealed the most astounding ignorance and forgetfulness, supposing Mm to be a man who once received a partial education. Of the yeara spent in Pans he retains but the moat meagre recollection, and shrinks from committing himself to a single fact. Of Stoneylvurat he is almost equally ignorant; he did not know Greek from Latin — thought Caesar wrote in Greek, and when shown a Virgil said that it was written in Greek ; he had learnt mathematics, but never heard of the Puns Aiiiiiortim : physiology, he said, related to the " formation of the head." Lent v Deo i>cin)><r, he another day translated as "the laws of God for ever." Of chemistry, he remembered that " nitro-muriatic acid will dissolve gold ;'" and Avhen questioned whether he learnt that at Stoueyhurst or at Omeo Diggings, answered promptly, ' ' At Stoneyhurst." The claimant lias shown great astuteness in battling the lawyers ; once ho ventured to challenge the impartiality of the judge. The expenses of the trial will sink a fortune ; they have been stated in court to be "hundreds a day." The claimant is at present in the Bankruptcy Court, and a joint stock company has been formed to furnish funds for the prosecution. COMMUXIVM AXD XEW CALEDONIA, The same corresjiondent says : — A telegraphic announcement appeared in the Times last week which will excite a very keen interest in the minds of all Aus« tralian colonists'. The intelligence was to the effect that the insurgent prisoners at present kept at the camp of Sa« tory are about to be sent to New Caledonia, They are to be conveyed in 20 transports, each carrying 1000 persons. This is colonisation with a vengeance. A correspondent, a few days later, called attention to the probable consequences of this wholesale deportation of criminals, as affecting New South Wales, Queensland, and the other Australian colonies. ' ' The Australians have been energetics in demanding freedom from an English criminal population ; wliat," he asks, "will they say of this approach to their shores of 20,000 desperate Frenchmen, whom France herself is afraid to keep in her midst ?" Certainly, if this alleged purpose be carried out, the prospect is very disquieting. A large number of these people will undoubtedly contrive to escape from their penal settlement, and reach the more attractive communities of tlie Australian continent, and will carry with them principles which, if extensively propagated, will exercise a blighting influence upon the future history of those rising nations. The Daily Telegraph, however, hnds some reassuring considerations which may comfort the people of Queensland and New South Wales : — "The vast majority of the supposed convicts will not be criminals of tlie vulgar stamp ; they will be chiefly of the lower middle or artisan class, seduced or forced into a dangerous political career by scoundrels so desperate that obedience was sometimes the most prudent course. Tlie really bad characters — the enlarged formate, who constituted the best lighting material of the Commune— have been killed in such numbers that it will be long ere crime of a deep dye reaches formidable dimensions in France. When the strict investigation at Versailles has been completed, and the genuine man mi* Kiijet* have been drafted off to Toulon and Cayenne, the residue will probably be of a very different stamp from the | type of criminal at large whom the citizens

of Sydney have seen and shuddered at. Still, at the best, it is a pity that the penal colony chosen by our neighbours happens to be that island ofthe Polynesian, or rather Melanesian, group which is nearest to Australia. If the interesting f /y//';//7.s- could be divided, and one mwiety sent to the Marquesas, tliere ■would be less ground for alarm ; since any stray fugitives from Xoukahha would be absorbed in the almost numberless elusion of attractive islands that dot tl) 1 : \i\ht expanse of tN; Pauiiio. and would kudly ever yet .so far as New Walts or New Zealand. Another solution of the diilieulty will commend itself to phihtnthropie winds. The 20,000 convicts Uri! to include 4,000 women, many of whom :u'o probably far from bad, repulsive, or old, and who are veiy likely to have what remains of the ' hell-cat nniui o' soothed down uy the delicious surroundings of the lon eHunt climate in the world, Js thtio anything fcbsolntely impossible in such an arrangement as pairing olVfce\eral thousands of the best-beh.'ivod and bc-.it-louking of both se\c-s, and Hottling them on some one .if tin.- pleasant islands that riuein to he .specially designed for fuftening rude natures and coaxing out all that is »a\ age in humanity '.' A moat interesting stroke of colonisation miiiht thu^ he accomplished, and it Mould not he liable to interruption. Mau\ of the inland* ■want inhabitants, and some of them— the Fiji, for instance — have been begging the more powertul states (ovy ears to appropriate, colonize, and rule them, M, Thier.s was lecoinniended by an Kuglishmau to try such an expeninent in Algeria, and declined, for cogent reasons, but the same objections do not apply to Polynesia." The Standard, referring thereto, suggests the colonisation of the Fiji Islands as a counteractive. The Pall Mall G.vette think.-, NW Caledonia too far otl' to bo dancevous to the colonies, and refers to the lecrnitiug free labourers from the Melaiiesian Islands, and says that Queensland and New South "Wales are encouraging professed kidnappers and countenancing manslaughter, compared with which the most savage acts of the Communists are innocent. The insurgents who hr»ve boon condemned to transpoitation to New Caledonia may be accompanied if they wish by their families. They will be divided into two categorics — c>ne, executing works of construction ; the nther, labouring at the culthation of the Melds, Those who.se behaviour is satisfactory will receive a grant of laud after Have years, MIsCI.LL.\Xr.OVs JTl"tfs. Disturbances havo taken place in Affghan* ifttan. The Commons in committee voted for the "ballot by 324 to 230. The Prince of Wales attended the Aseol races in old regal st\ le, (treat distress in Persia continues ; the poople are eating bread made oi grass. Mr 1), Tallermau, the Australian pieservod meat merchant, ttasin Tans dm ing the last siege by the Versaillists. The London Sanitary I 'onunittee has communicated with the Hoard of Trade with the view to prevent tratlic in spurious tea. Mr Bradlaugh writes to the Echo to deny that he is a member of the International Society, or that he ever gave either moral or material support to the Commune. The Paris con esp indent of the Daily News says that the lire, insurance onices there are in great trouble. 'They aie not liable for losses prodm ed by lire arising out of war, but the act* of the insurgents are not yet recognised by the Government as acts of war. At Vienna a definite understanding is reported to have been arrived at between Ilnssia and the Porte, by which Russia renounces, her right of passage through the Dardanelles- for men-of-war, whilst the Porte limits to certain contingencies the right of passage to men-of-war of other powers.