Rudkin kept his arm down until the word was given; and during the interval between the first and second shot, he was employed in pushing a small stick which he had in his hand into the ground, and drawing it out again. During the same interval, deceased altered his position, drew himself up, and fixed his eye on Captain Rudkin. The pistols were common, and not such as are usually employed in duelling. The distance at which the parties fought was rather more than fifteen paces. Witness saw the distance paced off. Deceased told witness that he had taken off his flannels, which he had not been without for nine years before. Deceased threw off his coat on the ground: Captain Rudkin fought with his coat on. Witness had previously had some conversation with Captain Rudkin respecting the quarrel, during which Captain Rudkin stated that he had not the slightest animosity against the deceased. Has known Captain Rudkin ever since his arrival in this country; has been frequently in his company, and has always seen him act as an officer and a gentleman, and had never known him to quarrel with, or offer an insult to, anybody. Has also known Mr. Morice and Dr. Strachan, and has never known them to be engaged in a quarrel. Some time ago a dispute took place between two gentlemen, upon which occasion Captain Morice acted as mediator, and adjusted the affair. In this instance, he expressed to witness an anxious desire to make an amicable adjustment of the differences. All the proceedings in the affair were fairly conducted, so far as witness knows. MAJOR WILLIAM SKINNER:-Had frequent occasions of meeting the gentlemen at the bar, as well as the deceased. His general opinion of the character of Captain Rudkin is that he is one of the most inoffensive men he ever knew. Believes Dr. Strachan to be of the same disposition; and has ever found Captain Morice to be a good-tempered pleasant man. ALEXANDER MCKENZIE:-Is Captain in the Royal Veteran Companies. Became acquainted with Captain Rudkin in September or October, 1824. Since that period they have been on terms of intimacy, and witness knows him to be a humane, good-hearted man, and as little disposed to quarrel as anyone he ever met with. His manners were at all times the most gentlemanly; and witness is satisfied that he could call on every officer in the corps for testimony to the same effect. Witness's acquaintance with Dr. Strachan commenced immediately upon his arrival in this country, and he considers him a mild, gentlemanly, good-tempered man. Witness's acquaintance with Captain Morice commenced soon after the arrival of the yacht; he always considered him a gentlemanly, good-tempered man. STEPHEN RICE:-IS Lieutenant in the Royal Veteran Regiment. Has known the prisoners at the bar since 1824. Knows Captain Rudkin to be a most excellent-tempered man, and has never known him to have any quarrel with any officer in the garrison except with the deceased. Captain Rudkin has had a former quarrol with deceased. On that occasion witness was present, when Mr. Philpot certainly behaved in the most violent manner. The affair was settled by witness and Captain Willock's concluding that Mr. Philpot was decidedly wrong in his conduct in the beginning of the quarrel. The apology was received and a perfect reconciliation took place. Captain WILLOCK, re-examined :-Had been engaged in adjusting previous quarrels between the deceased and Captain Rudkin, and between the deceased and others. A sufficient apology was considered by Captain Rudkin to have been made for the offence which had been committed against him. JOHN O'FARRELL-Is Lieutenant in the Royal Veteran Battalions. Has known Captain Rudkin since the arrival of the Royal Veterans in this country. [Statement to the same effect as that of previous witness.] ROBERT GUMBLETON DAUNT:-IS Lieutenant in the Royal Veteran Companies. [Statement to the same effect as that of previous witness.] JOHN WALKER:-Is an Ensign in the Royal Veteran Regiment. Has known Captain Rudkin since September, 1824. His conduct has been that of a perfect gentleman. (This witness confirmed to the fullest extent everything that had been said by the former witnesses upon the temper and conduct of the prisoners at the bar.) CAMPBELL FRANCE.-IS Surgeon of H.M.S. Grasshopper. Has known Captain Morice since June, 1818. Has served in H.M.S. Liffey with him. [Statement to like effect.] CHARLES WARD:-Is supernumerary clerk of H.M.S. Grasshopper. Has known Mr. Morice since July 20, 1812. Served nearly twelve months in the Pincher gun-brig, in which he was a messmate with him. [Statement to like effect.] JOSEPH BULL:-Has done the duty of Hospital Sergeant ever since the Veteran Companies landed. The prisoner, Dr. Strachan, is Hospital Surgeon. He has always been kind in every respect to those who were under him, and has repeatedly given from his own table, to the patients under his charge, such delicacies as were not allowed by the hospital. The HON. JUDGE TUCKER then charged the jury. Awfully interesting and excruciatingly painful, his Lordship said, was the duty which he was called upon to perform. A consciousness that the life of a fellow-creature may be depending upon our conduct must always impress our minds with the greatest anxiety-when the accusation involves the crime of murder, the interest of that situation is much increased; but when it is made against persons with whom we have been on terms of intimacy, the case is almost too difficult to support. But the facts in the present case admitted of no doubt. The prisoners had admitted that by the hands of Captain Rudkin the deceased had met his death, and it had also been shown that the other gentlemen on trial had aided and assisted in the fact. Their lives and all that were connected with them turned upon the view which he should have to take upon the law of the case, because they (the jurors) were bound to receive advice and direction from the Court. The practice of duelling had, unfortunately, become so general that few were conscious of the light in which it was viewed by the laws of their country. From certain feelings of honour, and from the means resorted to by the parties to prevent discovery, it seldom happened that convictions took place; but the law was there was that time, it was impossible to reduce not,the less clear on that account. He should be the crime below that of murder. The defendants obliged to lay down principles which would be had addressed themselves to the feelings, and new to many who heard him. The laws of had rested their defence upon what were termed England differed from those which actuated the laws of honour; but the law of England was men of honour. He was aware that the practice as widely different from the law of honour as it was possible for two extremes to be. With respect to the cooling time and the nature of the provocation, it was of importance to consider whether Captain Rudkin proceeded to the ground in that state of mind which rendered him incapable of acting as he ought to have done for they must dismiss the usages of the army, and take the law to be that deliberate duelling is murder. If there was sufficient time allowed for the passion to cool, the jury must bring in a verdict of murder. If the case had been tried by those rules which govern military gentlemen, it should seem that Captain Rudkin must have been acquitted. Looking at his moral character under their rules of honour it was entitled to approbation; but his Lordship was bound to look at the law. This was one of those distressing cases which grew out of the artificial state of society which most of us had had frequent occasion to witness and lament. That the conduct of the deceased was of the grossest nature there could be no doubt; he therefore was most to blame. But notwithstanding the dreadful consequences of declining to resent Mr. Philpot's conduct, yet his Lordship was bound to say that the law does not tolerate duelling. Looking to the facts, they were awful. His Lordship adverted to the circumstance that the quarrel occurred at night, and the meeting did not take place until next day. It seems that before the meeting Captain Rudkin should have reflected. He went to the field not influenced by passion but by custom. It clearly appeared that Captain Rudkin's conduct in the field was very different from that of the deceased. It would also appear that he believed he was only going through a formal ordeal, and that from the subsequent conduct of his antagonist he was If the provoked to take more deliberate aim. jury believed that the parties were in such a state of mind as would render human beings justly responsible for their conduct at the time of their being on the ground, they ought to return a verdict of murder against Rudkin and Strachan. It was not for the Court or the jury to depart from the law, from considerations for the prisoners, but to look to its effects upon the state of society. His Lordship then recapitulated the evidence and commented upon it as he went along. had been sanctioned by the example of some of the most illustrious characters, and had received support from an eminent moralist, Dr. Johnson, who argued that, as it was consistent with the law of nature and society to defend our lives, and even our property, by taking the life of those who assailed them our character being more valuable than our property, or even life itself-it followed that it was equally justifiable to defend that character, even at the expense of the life of the assailants. This was the doctrine, and he deeply deplored the condition of those who were in such a state of society as to compel them to do so, or to consent to be expatriated. It was true that persons who do put up with such insults as Captain Rudkin had received were looked upon by their brother-officers with that contempt which requires a larger share of passive courage than men commonly possess to endure. That tyrant, false honour, was one of the most sanguinary that ever existed. At its altar had been sacrificed more lives than had, perhaps, been immolated at the altars of all the heathen deities. With regard to murder, it was essential that malice should enter into it; but malice was the dictate of bad dispositions. It was not that feeling which is called hatred ; nor is it envy. Envy, hatred, and malice are three distinct passions. In this case there might be nothing of hatred, nor even malice, according to its legal definition, as being "the dictate of a wicked, depraved, and malignant heart." It frequently happens that persons go out without the feelings just described, but victims of that tyrant, custom, are goaded to do that which is opposed to reason, conscience, and revelation. In these instances it was hardly possible to say that malice, either in the common acceptance of the term, or even in the sense in which it is generally understood by lawyers, entered into the act-yet by all the highest authorities in the law it is held that if two persons fight in cold blood, or after there has been sufficient time to cool, and one be slain, this is murder in the party killing and in his second. But his Lordship felt warranted in saying that the jury may acquit the second of the deceased. But the facts had been admitted-now for the law. The law considers that persons may be guilty of crimes in different degrees. There were principals in the first degree, and there were principals in the second degree; and there were accessories before as well as accessories after the fact. In the present case the principal in the first degree was Captain Rudkin; and in the second degree, if guilty at all, was Dr. Strachan. The question then was, what is the degree of guilt involved? The leading distinction between murder and manslaughter is, that one arises from infirmity and the other from depravity. But the laws were indulgent to the infirmities of human nature in manslaughter a slight punishment was awarded; in murder, the severest punishment which human laws could inflict. It was of importance to ascertain whether the act was done in the heat of or whether there was time to cool. If passion The jury then retired, and in about an hour returned, when the foreman informed the Court that the jury could not agree upon a general verdict, but upon a special one, subject to the The Court said law as laid down by the Court. they were certainly at liberty to give in a special verdict upon the principles set forth; but that care must be taken in wording such verdict, to enable the Court to proceed upon principles of law. When the special verdict was brought in, it appeared that the jury had acquitted the prisoners of everything like malicious intention; when the Court observed that they had acquitted the prisoners of that which constituted the essence of murder; but it was of opinion that such a special verdict could not, agreeably to law, be recorded-that the jurors must reconsider, and 01 09 00 00 02 06 The prices given are viis per bushel for For wyne and Oysters then and iiiis vid for when the Kings wreck came ashore 00 02 00 barley. January. towards To Francis Clifford by the apointmt of mr Paid .. more Corne .. unto mr 01 00 00 to Thomson 10 00 00 pay for Corne Paid more unto mr Thomson to Paid for mens help and boate hire to fetche a 00 04 07 Paid mr John Blowers for his sonnes beatinge 00 09 00 To Gowlding for mendinge the lock on 16 PAYMENTS. .. 00 10 10 The result of Charles Warne's visit to Kelsale was the pulpit now standing in The new work at KelAldeburgh Church. sale was approved-the pulpits are very similar and are evidently from the same hands. .. 31 To James Gowlding for a lock for the pound September. 00 00 04 To Charles Warne for his journey to kelshall Geven to 13 men that were taken with the 7. Geven more to the mrs mate Geven to then 00 13 00 Geven to a man that came wh a passe a woman that was 00 02 06 landed September. 00 01 00 (Many entries of "Charges laid out about the Lucorne on the Church leades ") September. on 00 02 00 Paid unto Willm Bardwell for diet More to Willm Baldwine for dyet on the 01 02 11 BRASS AT STOKE D'ABERNON, 1277: ENAMELLED SHIELD.-The brass to Sir John Daubernoun the elder holds a unique position among English brasses for more than one reason. Not only is it the oldest made, the chevron being In each shield the enamel is remarkably hard, but not brittle, and in fairly good condition though well worn. existing brass in this country, presuming pennon was as the dedicatory inscription at Ashbourne, engraved in outline only. 1241, to be a later work or copy, but it is the only brass, save a small figure in the Hastings brass, showing a lance with pennon attached; the effigy is also larger and bolder The shield of Sir John the younger does in design than its contemporaries. But not retain the slightest remnant of colour, there is a yet more important difference but the roughly engraved sunken surface from its fellows to be found in the technical was evidently intended for the more usual treatment of its heraldry-" azure, a chev- pitchy filling (now all gone) and not for ron, or "-in which vitreous enamel instead enamelling, nor was it cut away for the of some coloured pigment was used to insertion of enamelled plates. produce the colour of the field, most of the original enamel still existing. There appears to be no other remnant of enamel before the Carshalton brass, c. 1490. Enamelling is usually confined to small surfaces, and the method adopted at Stoke to overcome the difficulty occasioned by the size of the shield may be of interest, as this is a matter not touched upon in Haines's or any of the usual reference books. The accompanying woodcut shows the shape to which this portion of the great effigy was cut before the shield was filled in or attached. The dexter portion of the field was pierced through, leaving the projecting chevron as a part of the original sheet of metal, so that the sinister and base portions, cut away as in the print, are denuded of any sort of outline or frame to indicate the edge of the shield, the engraver trusting to the incised matrix These brasses are carefully covered with a thick carpet but are always open to inspection, which will repay anyone for a walk or ride from Leatherhead, three miles distant. WALTER E. GAWTHORP. 16, Long Acre, W.C, 2. PEDESTRIANISM IN 1818.-Toone, Chr. Hist.', ii., pp. 640, 642, writing of this year, has these entries : Feb. 6. The greatest pedestrian feat ever recorded was performed by Mr. Howard, of Knaresford, who for a wager of 200 guineas walked 600 miles in ten days, a task beyond the powers of a horse. Howard was exceeded by D. Crisp, who accomMay 9.-The recent pedestrian performance of plished the extraordinary and unparalleled undertaking of walking 61 miles each day, for 17 successive days; on the last day he was 52 minutes within the given time, and arrived quite fresh. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT, |