Northern Circuit. SPRIKa ASSIZMS. uAOw oVM7.-.-L te.rre Air. fulMw, VosTrXas.) Ann O'Donnell was Indicted for the wilful murder of het illegitimste chIld, by straLngling it. M1r. Hultonk conducted the prosecution ; the prisoer wag not defended by couniel. The particulars of this cae were not suitable for publca- tion. It appeared generaly, that from the appearane of the prisoner, the personaswbo retided in the same house Were induced to think that she had been delivered of a child Tbe prisonerat Srst denied thaet such was the cae, but she spb. sequently admitted that she had been so delivered; that the child lived for some little time, and that she afterwards wrapped it In an apron, sad put it up the oven chimneL The body was found there. There were a few sliht a rg on the body, net sufricient to account for the deth, nth which, in the opinion of the medical men, might hbav be Iufficted in the process of delivery The prisoner was found GuRy of disposing of the body, with intent to conceal the birth, and was senttnced to be ita fe fortwoyears. =ine Leach was Indicted for bigamy. Mr. Hulton was for the prosecution, Mdr. Wilkins for the defence. The case having been proved. Mr. WILKeS addressed a few words to the Court, admit- ting that he could not deny that the prisoner had boee guilty of the legal offence charged in the indictment, but urging the circumstances of the cae in mitigation. Some witneese were called, from whose testimony it appeared th" the prisoner was some years ago married to her trot bus- baud, Leach, writh whom however she only lied twv months. During that time he treated her with great cruelty. having, as was alleged, been disappointed in not receif,i" some moacy which ha expected with her. At the end et that time he turned her out of doors; and she returned to ther frends o alteered as 5tbe scatrcely reco*isable Lewa thenwen to merca.The risnerreceived the hlghest character from a number of writnemes.e It appeared that up to the time of the prepent prosecution being set on foot she To be impri oned one month. Sevra otercass erediposd f drig the day,which were however of no publiD interest. CrmnSrnL-(Before iSE Justice W1Eoaw&) _ BDaeoN r. MsaVnoNi~Z XfllS Wn an action to recover dages for an ssult ana faloe imprisonment. Mr. Serjeant Murphyand Mr. Bowler were for the plaintiff- Mr. Wortley and Mr. Crompton for the defendant It appeared from the statements of the Beveral witnessev for the plaintiff, that a saort time before the occurrence took place which formed the subject of the present action the defendant, who is a master-cabinetmaker at Maxchester, had had some difference with some of the men in his cm- ployment. Among these was a person of the name of Frth. rthey ere finally dismiessd from the defendant'agervie. Firth took away a box containing a large portion of his tools. A number of others, however, which were too bulky to be stowed in the box, still reminc Oak the day in quosttion he went to the workshop of the de- fendant in company with the plaintiff aed threecothers, for the purpose, as was aDleged, of removing then. He *a in- formed they wrere laid fior him in the lobby. There being, howTever, as wras allezed, some of them missing, he an those who accompoanied hun went into the workshop to lookfor them. While they w ere so engaged the defendant camein throw them down stairs, H ed one of them of the n2me of Raukin, by the collar, auda struggle .nssei, ia the course of which Rankin's foot caught in some ttmber, and he tell. In the tall he broke his thumb. Thedefeudgnt directed one of his apprentices too for a constable, and detained Rankin until the c.Per. arrived. The plaintiff (Sanderon) went down stai and wa in the street when the officers came up. The defendant thea gave him also into custody. He was taken to the poliee- offbce, hut bailed out the same evening. He ap- peared before the magistrates the next day, when the de- fendant stated he had no complaint against him, and he was discharged. This was the assault and Mlse imprisonment complained of. On cross-examination is appeared that the plaintiff and Firth, as wlU as some of the other parties, were members of a Journeyman Cabinet-maker' Union, which, howeer, was professedly only a sick and burial sodety. A short time before this.occurrence fr .M'Dounellhae taken into his servicea per son of the name of Evan Hughes,who was not a member of-the uRion, and who also took his work bythepiecein plaoeof the day-a measure which the union diapproved of. On this four or five of the men ceased work and weat to the defendant to expostulate. The result was, that the defendant aid he would not aubmit to any such dictatiou, and that they must seek employment elsewhere. Firth then removed his box. He came, however, to the workshop a day or two before the occurrence now in question in company with another man. He had some words with Evasn Haghes, arising, as he lleged from the latter hayinc given him the lie. He ass=Ultei Hughes, and was in consequence taken before the magistrate and fined 40a. It was the day after he was no fined that he same to the workshop of the defendant, as xbove stated, for the purpose of removing hic tool. Futrther evidence was adduced for the plaintiff to show that the defendant, after this occurrence, came to the Paek- horse Inn, where the officers of the Sick and Burial ociety were sitting, and proposed to them to use their influence witi Sanderson to settle the matter, offeriDg o pay 101. for that purpose, a admitting he had been too haty ia what he had done. dr. WoRTLIY addressed the jury for the defence, cor- tending that the smallest possible damages would meet the justice of the case. The defendant's workmen had assumed to themselves to dictate to him what workmen he should employ, and on what terms he should employ them. This he refused to submit to, and they were dis- missed. Shortly after, one of them came and made an assault upon another worksan, whose only fault was his bhaing agreed, as he had a right to do, to work for his master on terms of which they disapproved. That the a- sault must have been a serioua one the sentence of the ma- gistrate sufficiently showed. The day after, the plaintiff ac- compan.ied that same man to the defendant's workshop3, pro- fessedly for the purpose of assisting him to remove his tools. This, however, was a mere apology. It was absurd to eup- pose that four meR could be required to remove them. The object was clearly to intimidate the other workmen, and that ouch was the object was shown by their forcing their way into the workroom under the pretence of looking for Firth's raissiug tools, when Firth himself was the only per- son who would be required for that purpose. The Jury, after a short deliberation, returned a verdict for the plaintiff-Damagea, one farthing. WESTERN CIRCUrIT. TAUNTON, TUSDAY, AsPRIL 1. The commission for holding the assizes for tke county of Somerset was opened here yesterday by Mr. Justice Cole- ridge, wko afterwards attended diTine service at St. Mary Magdalea's Church. This morninx the businue of the as- sizes Commenced, Mr. Justice Coleridge presiding in the Crown Court, and Mr. Justice Erle sittiDg at .Nis! Prix% The calendar is extremnely heavy, there being nLow up- wards of 130 prisoners for trial. The folUowiDg is a stumri y statement ot te olfences:-murder, 3 (women); manslaugh- Ter, 1n; a on, 2; burglary, 23; housebreaking, 5; horse; stealing, 2 ; rape, I1; robbery, 5 ; bigatay 1 ; larcenies, &ce. The cause list contains 25 cases. Mr. Justice CuLIaruDGr in hig charme to the grand jury again adverted to the ambU offences wit which many of the prisoners stood charged, and to the length of time they had been in prison. He saw some cases in which tie parties were severally charged with stealing three loaves of bread. a copper teakettle, some cheese, and three ducks *Ld drake., and those persons haLd been in gaol ever since the beginning of JanuaPry, so Sthatifinnocent they w ld n hve suffered nearly three months' imprisonntnt, and if conicted would already have suffered raher more than the a,mount of punishument wrhich wrould have originally been inflicted upon them. He nuderatood that the Quarter Sesions had been held lat week. He must say theee commitments ought to have bee^ made to the Quarter Sessions. It was true that the difference in point of time in this instance was very small but the pr. ciple was of great importance, which WAS, tihat u 1 om- mitments previous to trial were only a necessary erii, to in- sure the appearance of the party charged to take his trial, it wast the bnoundnuty of tbefcveeriyupselr&n concernetd to take care tha th amuntof he revousimpisoment should be as short as possible. It wase a DeCeSe3rr evil, and, like all ne- cessry evils, they cught to reduce It to the least soesible amonut. He could conceive no reason why commitments of this sort should not have been made to the next sessions; andif it should be sugeszted thAt the expeune of removing the prisoners from the gael in which they were co the place where the sessions were held operated upon the mind of the commtitting magistrte, although, no doubt, honestly felt, and done with the best possible intention, he must saY that aL false principle had been acted upon, and nothing like the saving of expense to the count col be a justification. The subject of committl.ei for light ofuenees had excited the attention of some of the msagistrates, and perhaps they (the grand jury) would conrsider the matter ameng themselves, and see how faLritstruck them asbeingan evil that admitted of a remedy. Hig Lordship then alndsd to what has been termed the Shspwick murders-the aew of Sarah Freeman, who stood chared with no less than four wilful murders. In considering thiese case, every one of which presented remarkable circ'mtances, it was hardly possible for the humaLn mind to divest itself ef the fact of the number of charges when investigatisg only one. He rited not tell them that elach case must depend on the par- ticular evidence that applied to it. In some of the cases it was dificnult to ascribe a motive, and ini two of the cawe It could not be shown that the prisoner had any arsnic in her possession at the time. They would investigate all the evidence, and sce haow far it made out such a case as a-, tiefled them they ought to find any or either of the bill. His LOceDsnEr has keen -occupied all the day in trying light canes of simple larceny. Niec PR;VS COURT. Mr. Justice ERLg, at the sitting of the Court, heard two undefended aeotions upon hills of exchange. nlOLn Y. aICHARD&s This case, whh relted to the right to watrourse, oc- counselorthplaini; and Mr. cburn, Mr. But, a MIDLAND CIRCUIT. WARWIOK, TuLsDAY, APRIL 1. Thomas Hall, alks Thomnas lRoUl-n, a poor man not poe- messed of a farthinjq, or a farthing's wortth, in the worl-d, a~oed 85, was udm for ha,ing, onX the 8th oal eApri eater, taken cfor hias wie prved ,n Nbhuollk,gand ater- wampe nsddendfOinrfifeb,; hn.wrds, on the 65th of February, 1840, at the prls ot The offenc was clearly prove, but he stated that WiiSn a year or two ot his mrurare writh M1ary Ann she robbe him, and allied forth with she child,.nd. he hadnewerainco .cmen ither, thocgh he had at tho thne eoblalneI a special warrant for bar apprehendion, uarmd with wl hie ca seeeded tO4d ioo rgee* hkei selsor teti.mmt he got adly bardled by ruffis.e, at was cmade'birilt gIad to make the bent of bis wav home to ve his life, leaving .ils baggage in his precipisAri epatsre fromn that )roigate retreat. The substance of this, or at last nush of It, he elicited from the witreftns for the promeutiou. e had, however, represented to Maria that le had never entered Into the holy state,s sad ete had given birth to wo children by him. He Wuaon ited, n of '.soase, undeg theme circumstances, con- victed, anc Mr. Justice WAVLE, in Dassng sentence, nid, that it did appear tbat he had been hardly used. It wva bard far hbim to be Eo used, end not be able to have another wife to live with t,in, 'asch the former had gone off to livo in an im- Peroper atate with another man. But the law wsu the saYue for hia us it was for a rich man, and waa equally open Gfr him, ttfough its ai., to afford relief ; but, as the rich 'atn woaMl bave done, be also should have pur'ued the pro- pr means pointed out by law whereby to obtain redress of tis gtemnceeL He t houi4 have brought an action against the =am who was living in the way stated with his 'wife and he atul-d have obained damages, and then shouli bave gn10 the BEccesistical Court and ebtained a divorce, whih 'Would bhvc done what seemed to have been done al- rftty, and then ie sihould have gone to the House of Lords, 3t, proving a3l his case and the prelimrinary proceed- kng, bave obtained a fall aned complete divorce, after wLich he might, if be liked it, have married a-ain. Ithe prigonermight perhaps object to this that he had not the money to pay the expenses, which would amount to about fOP?. 'or i00.-perhaps he had not so many ',ence-but this did nct eerpt himn from paying the penalty for com- itting D felony, of wrhich he had been convicted. His Lordhshp'might, perhaps, have visiaed the crime more lightly the prbeoner had net misrepresented himself as a bachelor to Mara Hadley, and so deceived her. If he had told her the circumsta:ces, and sad, " Now I'll marry you if you like totake the chance," &c.; but thia he had not done, and thus be had induced her to live with him upon terms which ahe perhaps e!se would not bhre done. It wss a serious in- Jury to her, which he had no right to inflict because his wife and others had injured him. For this offence he must receive some punishment, and the eentence was, that he be nuprisoned and kept to hard labour far four monaths, which e hoped would operate as a warning how people trified with matrimony. DIVISIOX OP THE COUNTY. The grasd jury at Coventry were thus discharged by Mr. WIustice Mlaule :- After they bed civen thueir last bill to the clerk of the rraiga8s, Mr. Justice Maule inquired if they were residents mn Cosentry, and on being remin4ed of the division of the county, he addressed them as follows "Gentlemen, Imust beg to remind you of one circum- stance before I discharge you. I consider this the moat un- 'kealthy town in the world. On going to the lodgings ap- pointed for the judges, I v'as met at the door by a most in- tolerable steneb, much as I ought to cal your attention to: upon the ground floor, at the top of the steps going in, I was struck with a most abominable smell, which, it was said, wag caused by an old carpet; this was not ibe cause, but the effect. The same thing occurred on going.up stairs, so that nobody could go up without being choked. This eoull not be endured in a Christian country; it would be the death of me to stop here. I hope you wiU not take o1ience, though the thing is offensive in itself. You are aware of the proposed Bill for the Health of Towns; really the health of the poor people in these towns ought to be attend- edt to by those in affuent and important stations; if they did not remedy it, they vwould do no good in their generation. As for m?yself, I could not think of lodging here, mu I went to Leammn2ton.' Here, at Warwicic, his LoRDSHIP thus charged the grand lury:- " GenUemen of the grand jury-I shaU not detain you long from the important duties you have to perform; the calendar contains a considerable number of charges; the far jreaterpart consists of offences against property-offences of that description which chiefly constitute the business of the aesizes. Gentlemen, I em unwilling to enter into general topics upon such an occasion as this, unless immediately con- nected with the business of the county. Gentlemen, this county, unlike every other, has two divisions-why it should have been split into two, instead of four, five, or six, I cannot Fay. I have just come from the Coventry division, where the assizes commenced on Wednesday, and the court here, upon that account, could not be opened before Satur- day. At Cos entry there were 46 prisoners for trial, and no cause at all. We began on Wednesday and finished early in the afternoon on Friday. Had the assizes for the whole ce nty commenced on that day at one place, by this time 'asshouli have got through nearly half the business which hsto be done at this place. It would have been a saving of time, trouble, and money. I have made some little in- quiry what good you have got by this arrargement. Probably there may be some good reason for it. It eo, it ought to be rsevered in. If no good has b'n obtained, there isnone now. _really must submit to thos 'who have any influence or weight in the couaty, whether it would not be desirable to have the assizes at one place. The convenience would be of considerable benefit to the inhabitants of the whole, countrba lncing any inconvenience on the other side. With respect to Warwick, it seems a very good place, and most convenient. Res;ecting Coventry, it is a very bad place-ne of the mot unwholesome towns, from the avant of proper draining; it is not convenient to have it there. It contamnv a great number of persons, and through this cir- cumstance a greater number are detained there for some nights, 'which readers it more impure. Gentlemen, this is the firnt time 1 have had the honour of coming into this county, and it is not very likely I shall come again. I have thereb re taken this oppor.unity of making this suggestion. I shall not further detain you from your important duties." A preEentment, of which the subjoinedisa copy, was made and read in open court immediately before the dscharge of the grand jury:- " The grand. jurors of the county of Warwick, assembled on the present occasion, having heard the remarks your Lord- ship has been pleased to make on the anomalous position of this county with respect to assizes unanimously concur in hoping that your Lordship 'will mate known in the proper quarter your opinion and theirs of the inconvenience and ex- jense entailed upon the county of Warwick by the addi- and unnecessary aseize at Coventry. "1 BROOKE, Foreman. "Grand Jury-room, Warwick, April 1, 1845. "The Hon. Sir W. H. Maule, Anightl Realy the holding assizes at Coventry is a most outrageous naisance to all parties concerned, and an absolute and down- right job for the exclusive benefit of the town and some few interested parties. The practice is preDosterout. The grand jury, time after time, unanimously preseit-the Judges, time after time, loudly and vehemently protest-the barrister3 sorely complain-the officers of the court cry out -and everybody objects. There is one general, all-pervading growl of dissatisfaction ringing in one's ears from morning to night. The alteration was introduced by Sir J. Graham, has cost the county somewhere about 40,000L in buDdings, &c., and resulted in nothing but obstruction and mischief. Mr. Williars, the member, or some other wealthy inhabit. ant, or a number in copartnership, might surely take the premises for stores. At al events, they should beat once put up bv public auction, at an unreserved sale, to the highest bider. 1D9etnda eat all the new building for the purposes for which it was designed. Joseph Green, 23, and John Wolgrove, Sl, pleaded Guity to an indictment for a burglary, on the 3d of January last, in tk house of Richard Hall, at Eatington, in this county, and Labg stolen therein a gun and divers other goods, his pro- perty Green also pleaded Guilty to having been before con- victed of felony (burglary) at Glocester. The same men were then tried for and convicted of a burglary, on the 19th ot February la8t, in the house of William Bat8ford, and stolen therein a pair of shoee, the property of George Edginton. They were again tried for and convicted of a burglary, on the 19th of February last, in the house of Richard Harris, at Eatington, and stolen therein a loaf of bread, his pro- perty. They were again tried for and convicted of having, at 3minton, on the 8th of February last, feloniously broken ana entered the house of Martha Greerway and stolen two Bitches of green bacon, of the value of 51.; one green ham, of the value of IOs10 a 'wooden bottle, three quarts of vinegar one colander, a fryinzpan, a stone jar, and a saucepan, the property of the said Martha Green. Hi LORDSRIP then sentenced Green to be transported for 15years, and Wolgrove for 10 years WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2. CEowx CoURT.-(Before Mr. Jwftee M1AULE.) Richard Thomnas, aged 43, was indicted for having, at Birmingham, on the 27th of December last, feloniously stabbea, cut, and wounded WYilliam Holland, 'with a certain sharp instrument, to 'wit, a knife, with intent to do him some grievous bodily barns. He was found gutlay of an assault, and sentenced to im. prisoument writh hard labour in the Hiouse of Correction for three 'weeks. George Moore was tried for and convicted of, hAving, on the 17th of February lat.. at Astonsho1;hm , f.- loaiously wounded Paul Bil, with intent to do him some grieTous bodily harm, and thereupon sentenced to imprison- ment with hard labour In the House of Correction for one year. John Steadman was then tried for and convicted of having, on the 28th of December, at Birmingham, feloniously cut and wounded Barney Gittins, with a certain sharp instru. ment, to wit, a b,llhook, with intent to do him mome grievous bodily harm, and vas thereupon eentenced to im- prisonment with hard labour in the House of Correction forfive months. Nothing material has been taken in this court as yet to- day except these wounding casee, of which neither pre- Eented any peculiar feature. NORTHERN CIRUIT. IdW rY?LiOOD, Tuzs3D&T, ARILR I.