money, which I perfectly recollect. Though I cannot identify each individual piece I can identify the whole, and the conviction on my mind is that it is my property." I forbear to state what the conclusion was that was drawn in that particular case, but it will illustrate what I mean when I say that if part of the case leads to one conclusion, and another part of the case, though imperfectly, leads to the same conclusion, it adds strength to that conclusion; and so a third point, though not perfectly made out, still adds strength to the general case that is involved in a comparison of these different facts and circumstances; and that is the true value of circumstantial evidence. If you believe the facts that lead to the conclusion, you are bound to go on with that conclusion to the end. Well, gentlemen, I shall not trouble you further with reference to the hat which was found in the carriage, the hat which was found in the prisoner's box, or the watch and chain. I have already made a remark on Lee's testimony. I have told you distinctly that if you believe, from the appearance of the prisoner, and from what you know of his history and habits, that he was incapable of doing the deed, of course he is entitled to your verdict. It is said he was lame on the Saturday night, but according to the evidence he was walking about from six to nine o'clock on the night following that of the murder, and it is not stated that he walked lame or had to sit down in consequence. I now, then, come to the last defence made-the alibi. That is so entirely a matter for your consideration that I shall say very little about it. You have had the evidence of Mary Ann Eldred, whom it is impossible to hear or see without great compassion for the situation in life which she has filled. Her evidence consisted, certainly, very much more in saying what she could not than in saying what she did recollect. But she stated that she went out at nine, and that Müller called about half-past nine o'clock. No doubt that is the case of the alibi; that was what she came here to say. She said she knew Müller was going to America, and it is fair to say that his going to America was perfectly well known —that is, that he had the intention of going. And she said, “He told me that if I did not go with him he would not stay more than six months." You will have to say whether her account is at all a satisfactory one, and how far you believe that it makes out an alibi. With respect to the witness Jones, it is impossible to speak of her or her husband with the same degree of forbearance. With respect to the husband, I think a man engaged through the medium of his wife in a transaction of that sort is about the most infamous of mankind. How far the wife is some shades better it is for you to determine. But really the question comes to this and it is for you to consider-whether the whole movements of the prisoner spoken to on the night of the murder are not, according to the argument of the Solicitor-General, entirely reconcileable with the case for the prosecution. Between seven and eight o'clock the prisoner was at Repsch's. He then left, taking his boots with him, saying he was going to Camberwell. There was plenty of time for him to have gone to Camberwell, and to have returned, though not in the same omnibus with Mr. Briggs. He would arrive in the City in time to go by the train from Fenchurch-street. These, I think, are nearly all the circumstances to which it is necessary for me to call your attention. And now, gentlemen, I have endeavoured to discharge my duty. It remains with you to discharge yours. I must again tell you that the verdict is to be yours. It is for you to decide the great and important question of the prisoner's guilt or innocence. If I have in any part of my address to you intimated any opinion on that subject, I have desired to express none. I have called your attention to circumstances which I think you ought to consider; but as far as I could I have endeavoured to avoid the expression of any opinion of the kind. It is not for me to decide; it is for you to deliberate and decide according to the best of your judgment, and according to your conscience; and if you have collected any opinion as to any part of the case from what may have fallen from me, unless in as far as it goes along with your entire and deliberate judgment, I beg of you, gentlemen, to treat it as if I had said nothing on the subject. The verdict is to be yours. The law and the constitution have given to twelve men, sworn to act according to the evidence, the duty of finding the verdict of Guilty or Not Guilty. In deliberating upon that verdict, I doubt not, as advised by both learned counsel, you will act with impartiality and fairness; you will remember the duty you owe the prisoner, to deem him innocent till he is proved guilty. You will not forget the duty you owe the country and society at large, if the evidence leads you to a conclusion of guilt, fearlessly to act upon it, according to your conscience, and find that verdict which you believe to be the true one. And may the God of all truth guide your hearts and judgments unto that which shall be a perfect and satisfactory verdict according to the truth and justice of the case. The jury retired to consider their verdict at a quarter to three o'clock, and after an absence of fifteen minutes returned into court, finding the prisoner Guilty. 66 Being called upon to say if he had any thing to urge why sentence of Death should not be pronounced, the prisoner made answer : I have nothing to say before judgment." Mr. Baron Martin having put on the black cap, addressing the prisoner, said,— Franz Müller, you have been found guilty by the jury of the murder of Mr. Briggs, and it is no part of our duty to express generally any opinion with respect to the verdict of the jury. It is their province to decide upon your guilt or your innocence. But it is usual for the Judges to state, in passing sentence, if they entirely concur with the verdict, and they do so for two reasons. It is satisfactory if the opinion of the Judges concurs with that of the jury, and I am authorized by the Chief Baron to state, and I state on my own behalf, that we are perfectly satisfied with the verdict, and had I been on the jury I would have concurred in it. And there is a second reason for the statement, in order to remove entirely from your mind any idea of the possibility that you will live in this world much longer. Within a short period you will be removed from it by a violent death. I therefore beseech you avail yourself of what I have no doubt will be afforded you —the means, so far as you can, of making your peace with your Maker, and be prepared to meet that fate which very shortly awaits you. I forbear going into the particulars of the case; but there are a variety of circumstances in it which, if the evidence had been gone into more minutely, would have more and more tended to establish your guilt. The whole evidence as to your movements during the day of the murder points to that conclusion. You left the house of Blythe about eleven. You continued at the house of Repsch till between seven and eight, when, according to the testimony of a witness who was evidently favourable, you started at a quarter to eight, telling him you were going to Camberwell to see the young woman Eldred. You went there. It may be that Mrs. Jones supposed she was telling the truth when she says you were there after nine o'clock, but in my opinion she was in error, and from the time you left the City it was earlier; but you still had time to return by omnibus towards the Fenchurch station before the train started, where, observing Mr. Briggs, probably exhibiting this watch and chain, you formed the determination to rob him. There are other circumstances which tend to the same conclusion. What is your history during the following week? You exchange the chain of Mr. Briggs for another at Mr. Death's. You immediately proceed to pledge that chain in order to receive a sum of money upon it. Having done so, you take out of pledge your own watch and chain, and, having got them, you proceed to pledge them again at another shop for a higher sum and sell the ticket. If the real truth were known, I have no doubt it would be found that, moved by the devil; and for the purpose of getting money to go to America, you robbed Mr. Briggs of his watch and chain, and with these contrived, with assistance from your friends, to get sufficient money to pay your passage. That, there can be little doubt, is the true history of the transaction. I refer to these facts for the purpose of removing from your mind all idea of there being any possibility of a commutation of sentence. I must say, after listening to all the evidence which has been adduced, I feel no more doubt that you committed this murder, than I do with reference to the occurrence of any other event of which I am certain, but which I did not see with my own eyes. The sentence I have now to pass on you is not that of the Chief Baron; it is not my sentence; it is the sentence which the law of England imposes on all persons found guilty of murder, and that is, that you be taken back to the prison whence you came, and thence to the place of execution, and there be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and that your body, when dead, be taken down and buried in the precincts of the prison where you were last confined before this sentence of execution was passed upon you; and may the Lord have mercy on your soul. The prisoner then, with great firmness and self-possession, said,—" I should like to say something. I am, at all events, satisfied with the sentence which your lordship has passed. I know very well it is that which the law of the country prescribes. What I have to say is that I have not been convicted on a true statement of the facts, but on a false statement." The firmness of the miserable man here gave way, and he left the dock bathed in tears 1. For an account of the execution of Franz Müller, see the Chronicle, ante, APPENDIX. PUBLIC DOCUMENTS AND STATE PAPERS. I. AFFAIRS OF DENMARK. Summary of the Deliberations of the Conference of London, from the 25th of April to the 22nd of June, 1864. From Papers presented to both Houses of Parliament. AT the invitation of the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, the Plenipotentiaries of the Courts of Austria, Denmark, and France, of the Germanic Confederation, of the Courts of Prussia, Russia, and Sweden and Norway, met in Conference in London with the object of coming to an understanding respecting the arrangements to be made by mutual agreement in order to re-establish peace between Denmark and Germany. The first meeting took place on the 25th of April. In order to come to a thorough understanding of the relative situation of the belligerents at this period, it is sufficient to cast a glance at the map, and to recall in a few words the events which had preceded the opening of the Confer ence. The Duchy of Holstein had been in military occupation of the Federal troops, in virtue of a measure decreed by the Diet of Frankfort. This occupation, it must be stated, was effected without a blow being struck; King Christian IX. having resolved not to oppose by force of arms a measure taken by the Germanic Confederation, whose authority he was bound to recognize in the quality of Duke of Holstein. In the month of February an AustroPrussian army crossed the Eider to take possession of the Duchy of Schleswig, as a material guarantee for the execution of the engagements contracted by the Danish Government in 1851 and 1852. After a courageous but unequal struggle, the Danish troops fell back as far as the north of Jutland. A combat, long undecided, was still going on before the fortified position of Düppel. It was carried by the Prussian troops on the eve of the day fixed for the opening of the Conferences. At the same moment the Danish garrison, abandoning voluntarily the fortress of Fredericia, delivered the key of the position of Jutland to the allies. With the exception of the northern extremity of this province, to the north of the Lime Fiord, all the continental portion of the Danish Monarchy was thus in the power of the allies, at the time when the Plenipotentiaries were about to enter into deliberation in order to arrive at the re-establishment of peace. Conquered on land, Denmark maintained her superiority on the sea. navy blockaded the ports and captured the merchant-vessels of the German Powers. Her In reprisal for the losses sustained by their commerce, the allies levied on the inhabitants of Jutland a contribution of war estimated at 650,000 crowns, or 90,000l. sterling. Such was the state of things on the 25th of April. The first care of the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain was to invite the belligerents to consent to a suspension of hostilities; a preliminary measure equally called for by the interests of humanity and of the negotiations confided to the care of the Conference. This proposal, made by Earl Russell in the meeting of the 25th of April, was unanimously supported by the Plenipotentiaries of France, Russia, and Sweden. A prolonged discussion took place as to the simultaneous suspension of hostilities by land and sea. The Danish Government at first insisted on the maintenance of the blockade, which they considered as an equivalent for the occupation of the Duchies by the allied troops. The insufficiency of the powers with which the Plenipotentiaries of the belligerent Powers were furnished, made itself felt for the first time during this debate. The necessity of having recourse for fresh instructions to Copenhagen, to Berlin, and to Vienna, has occasioned delays which have interrupted the labours of the Conference in a manner much to be regretted as regards the success of its deliberations. Even the rapidity of telegraphic communication was found insufficient to overcome this difficulty. This will be admitted when it is known that the route for direct correspondence being closed to the Danish Plenipotentiaries by the state of war, they were obliged to correspond with their Government by the route of St. Petersburgh, Lapland, and Stock holm. These circumstances explain how it was that the question of the suspension of hostilities, brought forward on the 25th of April, was not settled till the third sitting, on the 9th of May, after a fortnight's loss of time. We will shorten the account of this long debate. In the opinion of the Representatives of the neutral Powers it would have been preferable to conclude a regular armistice of a certain duration, in order to leave all necessary latitude for negotiation. The Courts of Prussia and Austria declared themselves ready to consent to this proposal. The Danish Cabinet would not adhere to it; for reprisals by sea being the only measures within the power of Denmark, it is easy to understand that the Danish Plenipotentiaries did not wish to deprive their Government of this arm during too prolonged a period, above all in the Baltic, where the navigation is of short duration. We point out this consideration in a spirit of strict equity, however injurious the restrictions imposed by Denmark on the suspension of hostilities might be to the negotiation itself. The Danish Government limited it to four weeks, namely, from the 12th of May to the 12th of June. Protocol No. 3 determines the conditions of this truce. They may be resumed in these terms: "Hostilities shall be suspended by sea and by land, from the 12th of May, for the space of a month; "On the same day Denmark shall raise the blockades; "Prussia and Austria engage, during the suspension of hostilities, not to impede, in the parts of Jutland occupied by their armies, either the commerce, or the communications, or the regular course of the administration; not to raise contributions of war, but, on the contrary, to pay for all that may be furnished to the German troops, who shall simply continue to occupy their present strategical positions; "The belligerent parties agree to preserve their respective military positions by sea and land, and engage not to reinforce them during the continuance of the suspension of hostilities; "Official notification shall be made to the Commanders of the belligerent forces by sea and land by their respective Governments." This notification did not arrive in time to prevent the naval combat which took place at a short distance from the Island of Heligoland. But the cannon-shots exchanged between the respective forces were the last from that to the present time. The Conference has no cause to regret its having offered to the belligerents, and procured for commerce, this interval of security and repose. After having obtained this first result, the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain proposed to proceed in the next sitting to the discussion of the preliminaries of peace. With this object, Lord Russell, on the 12th of May, after having referred to the adhesion of the Courts of Vienna and Berlin to the proposal to assemble in Conference in London, in order to devise means for the restoration of peace, recognized that it belonged to the Plenipotentiaries of Austria and Prussia to explain the motives which induced their Governments to occupy a large portion of the Danish territory, and to make known the intentions of their Courts with a view to the re-establishment of a solid peace. In reply to this appeal, the first Plenipotentiary of Prussia thought it his duty to declare that the German Powers, before entering into a discussion on the conditions for the re-establishment of peace with Denmark, think it right to observe that they consider "the ground of discussion as entirely free from any restriction resulting from engagements which |