The Sun. — London, England, 1865-01-13 00:00:00

A Visit to the Criminal Lunatic Asylum. We are all of us familiar with the verdicts, " ac quitted on the ground of insanity," and the invaria ble sentence which follows on them; 44 to b e im prisoned during her Majesty's pleasure." These two meagre scraps of information, if such they may be called, are generally all that the public learn con cerning the career of criminal lunatics. What becomes of them afterwards—where they are imprisoned, how they live and die, whether - they become partially cured or still more confirmed in their derangement, and add to their first crime by fresh attempts upon the lives of their keepers--none but their own friends, if even they, ever know afterwards. The criminal lunatic—and by this term we mean to refer only to those of homicidal tendencies, persons never dangerous to themselves, but always so to others— is, when once acquitted of murder on the ground of insanity, as dead to the world as if the earth had already closed over him. For every other class of criminal there is some chance of ultimate reprieve ; for these dangerous madmen none whatever. Two or three years ago there used to be wards for these miserable homicides, men and women, in most of the county asylums, while very man y, including Edward Oxford, who so nearly killed the Queen, Macnaughten, who murdered Sir Robert Peel's Secretary in Whitehall-place, and the celebrated Captain Johnston, who under such ter rible circumstances killed all the crew of his ship, the Tory, were kept at Bethlehem by a special ar rangement with the Home-office. This system, how ever, was full of inconveniences, and these inconve niences becoming aggravated as every year added to the numbers of such prisoners, at least grew to such a height that the Government determined to build one large asylum capable of holding all the lunatic murderers, men and women, of Great Britain. This building is the Great Broadmoor Asylum. It is distant about two miles from the Wellington College Station of the South-Eastern Railway, and, surrounded by pine woods, commands a magnificent prospect. The building, or rather series of distinct blocks of buildings which compose it are lofty and handsome, and if, as Sydney Smith said, the builder of a red brick house is a public benefactor, then, indeed, the founders of Broadmoor deserve no ordinary meed of gratitude, for a warmer and more comfortable-looking structure was never erected in a more wild though beautiful situation. Every part of the buildings, and the long, steep, terraced slopes which lead down the hill in front, and are to be here after usg as gardens, are surrounded with high walls, for the place, as might be expected from the cha racter of its inmates, is not only an asylum, but, as it should be, a strong house of detention also. Beyond these walls, whether sane or insane, the murderers once committed to Broadmoor never - pass in life or death. In all that relates to diet, lodging, and every other comfort, they are treated with almost an excess of care. They can see their friends, can write to whom they please, can take what exercise they like in the spacious airing grounds, can, in short, do anything but pass the boundaries which shut them in for ever from the world be yond. Within these they live and die, and within these are they buried in the little cemetery attached to the asylum. It may at first seem hard that those who are restored to comparative sanity should still he condemned to the darkest and most terrible of all dooms—that of perpetual incerceration in a mad house with the very worst class of - maniacs, those whose homicidal frenzies no discipline can effectually check nor medical attendance entirely mitigate. Yet in reality this rule is a necessary even if a harsh one. There are several now in Broadmoor who years ago were only saved by accident from completing murder, and who afterwards passed two or three years in lunatic asylums. There in course of time the quiet, healthy life, freedom from mental anxiety, and care ful medical treatment at last succeeded in restoring them to apparent sanity, and they were set at liberty. But the mind which seemed sane in the quiet good order of a well-regulated asylum, and amid the more marked mental derangements with which it was sur rounded, soon lost its feeble balance when returned again to struggle with all the nervous excitements of the world. Some such who have been once liberated are now at Broadmoor—committed to its never-end ing confinement, not for having attempted, but this time forhaving completed, sometimes one, sometimes more murders under circumstances of peculiar cun ning and premeditation. Some of these are still as bad as ever ; some the quiet of the asylum and kindly care of Dr. Meyer have restored again to almost sanity for the second time. But the result will be the same in either case. Neither will ever more he trusted at liberty. A committal to Broad moor for murderous madness is as final as regards the chances of return to the world as death itself. It is time, however, to speak of the interior of Broadmoor and its inmates—of those whom a na turally defective mental organisation has brought to its eternal seclusion, of those in whom morbid jea lousy, morbid love of notoriety, or morbid vanity— for all these causes are sufficient to overturn the weak balance of ill regulated minds—has at last brought to hopeless insanity and detention. Broadmoor now contains nearly 500 inmates, about 400 men and 50 or 60 women. With a few rare exceptions, nearly all are homicides, and we are probably much within the mark when we say that the victims of their united crimes would amount to nearly 1,000. Here one may occasionally see a female croquet party on the lawn, the players in which have been guilty in the aggregate of some 30 murders ; or on the men's side, playing at bagatelle, a little group, with each of whose crimes all England at one time rung. Entering one of the large blocks devoted to the men, the visitor passes at once to the sitting, dining, and recreation rooms, which are all on the ground floor, the dor mitories and infirmaries being above. In the sit ting-room, which is nearly always full, the first thing which strikes him on entrance is, as a rule, the criminal type of all the faces. Any who have been in the habit of visiting our great convict prisons, know what we mean by this expression. The low mental organisation which one always finds asso ciated with crime in the common run of criminals, the small head, narrow and receding forehead, and restless furtive eyes, are at Broadmoor intensified, and in most cases accompanied with a weakly, undersized physical development. Small ill-formed heads, nar row stooping shoulders, weak limbs, and shuffling hesi tating gait, are the rule among them. These are the occupants of a " block" of a hundred, and are what they always call themselves, "her Majesty's pleasure people," that is, people acquitted of murder on the gro und of insanity, and sentenced to imprisonment during her Majesty's pleasure. Some are reading, some writing, some playing draughts, a few sham bling to and fro in moody silence, like caged animals, while some sit staring with blank intensity upon the opposite wall from which they never move their eyes. Here comes one who was, when at large, more dangerous to her Majesty than Oxford himself, hopelessly mad from a vain love of n otoriet y , which he think s he has attained, as the great strut with which he enters the room s hows clearly enough. T he once terribl e to a mild and inoffensive Johnston is here now, cured i idiotcy ; and here, too , is Macnaughten, m really Drummond. ai u. Y mad as when he killed poor a non-commissioned officer, whose murdere' of B years ago shocked all Encria n w d ife and family some now is about his good conduct His only anxiety medal are several whom w e have al:d . Here, too, having been in asylum s before for y alluded to as attempted murder, who have been discharged having then perpetrated murder out rigl eur ha e v d, e been and committed to stay here for ever more. Asa rule those reading are the half-cured, and those seldom speak or are spoken to. Those writing so intensely are generally preparing interminable memorials t o t h e Home Secretary, or keeping the most insane of diaries to show the Commissioners in Lunacy as proofs of their cure and reasons for their discharge. The maddest of all are those who beset Dr. Meyer and the governors with endless arguments on the ne cessity for their being set at liberty at once. " Mark me," says one most solemnly, " I hold you now responsible for my detention, for the jury them selves acquitted me." The same individual, as a reason for not going to church, said, " Why, you see, I cannot ; the presence of a sane man among these lunatics always disturbs them. I have no ticed it myself, so for their sake I had better stay away." This man is rather dangerous and has com mitted murder. As a rule, however, all in this block are harmless, though the prefixes which come attached to their characters and dispositions are not at first sight calculated to convey this mild impres sion. Thus we find "T. M- mardered his wife and two children ; quiet and very harmless. L. F- murdered wife, sister, and child ; obedient, quiet, and perfectly inoffensive." A few who are sane during the greater part of the year are sub ject to periodical returns of their dangerous mala- dies. But of the symptoms which precede these outbreaks Dr. Meyer is always a careful observer, and the patients are in good time removed to the " strong block," of which we shall have to speak presently. All in this first ward, and in fact in all the wards, as far as it can be enforced, observe the same rules of early rising, at 6 o'clock in summer and 7 o'clock in winter. Their diet is nourishing and abundant. The men who smoke are, under the doctor's orders, allowed tobacco in moderation. They are encou- raged to amuse themselves with reading and baga telle, and, in fact, everything is done to keep them quiet, which is about all that can be effected here. With a class so dangerously afflicted, of course, any thing like regular work is out of the question. All, it is true, would very gladly work. It is, how ever, only a very small proportion that can be trusted with such implements as spades, knives, scissors, or even needles and thread. In the quiet wards the pa tients have blunted knives and forks, just enough to keep up appearances and enable them to cut and eat their vegetables. In the " strong block" the food is cut up and the inmates have only a smooth horn knife and spoon with which to feed themselves. Yet in some few cases the labours of the lunatics can be utilised. Under the eye of vigilant attendants, a few are trusted to work in the garden. There is a cobbler's shop, in which every one at work, save the superintendent, has killed one or more people. You can pass through a row of tailors, where all are quiet and busy, but where all have a history of crime—where the earnest-looking man in the midst, whose very spirit seems absorbed in the movement of his sewing machine, is among the worst, and if mad crime is to be taken as a proof of danger, the most dangerous of all. Outside are a small group of gardeners labouring with the mi nute labour of love upon the patch of ground com- mitted to their care ;and again, you come upon a few painters with Edward Oxford, now a fat, elderly man, at their head, all busy, and Oxford himself carefully graining a door in beautiful style. Oxford has now perfectly recovered his sanity, and is the most orderly, most useful, and most trusted of all the inmates of Broadmoor. A small pecuniary reward is given to those who labour well as an inducement to others to do likewise, and this money they are allowed to spend in any harmless way they please. Out of his small earnings Oxford has between 50/. and 601. carefully saved. In the women's ward the same hours and rules are observed as in the men's, with only the difference which their additional fretfulness, vanity, and oc- casional acts of wanton, though not dangerous, mischief necessarily entails upon their management. The first person we meet with here in the corridor on the women's side is a gaunt Irishwoman, always violently abusive but not dangerous. The instant Dr. Meyer and one of the kindest and most careful governors of the asylum, Sir William Hayter, make their appearance she assails them with fierce abuse, and threatens to do for them what she did for Ned Naylor—the man for whose deliberate murder she is now restrained. The influence of mind over matter receives a fresh illustration here, as between the gaunt virago and the visitors a little wardress glides, at the mere jingle of whose keys the furious madwoman subsides at once, and, though still fierce and abusive, utters threats no more. In the dark padded cell is a young girl, rather a dangerous lunatic, but who when her fits of violence and screaming come upon her, as they often do, at once runs off to this dark quiet haven, where an hour or two of self-sought confinement never fails to re store her to serenity and cheerfulness. The want of a refractory ward for the more violent of the women patients is sadly felt in this division, and the visitor's ear is often pained and startled by the pro longed hysterical outcries of those suffering under a sudden access of frenzy. Every possible care, however, is taken of them. Nearly all are quietly engaged in sewing or reading, while many, young and old, are walking rapidly to and fro in the airing ground beneath the window. It is very rarely any of the women wish to be let out or make any com- plaint of detention. Their intellect seems to acquire at once, with a humble feebleness that is inexpres sibly touching, in the necessity for their future re straint, and their mania seldom rises beyond little vagaries in the matter of dress or jealous anger among each other. It is easy to utilise their labour in the kitchens, laundry, and sewing-rooms, where, under the care of the wardresses, many of them work hard and well, while their weekly recreation, the singing class on Friday, is looked forward to with eagerness by almost all but those few whom no kind ness can entirely conciliate to quietness with the others. The last comer in the women's block is one who murdered all her children in a fit of jealous vanity. The overweening airs of pride which this young woman still gives herself would be amusing in their exaggeration, if they were not also painful 1 evidences of the hopelessness of her malady. It is in the " strong block," however, where the most dangerous of all the male lunatics are confined, that what may be called the terrors of Broadmoor and its fearful collection of patients culminate. Here are confined the men whose murderous propensities and love of bloodshed seem almost inextinguishable. They are in the airing ground as we enter, a ground enclosed with tall, strong iron railings, within the area of which they are muttering and pacing to and fro, only a certain number within each sub-division of the yards, and with each gang sufficient warders to guide them, rule them, and, when their desperate fits of murderous insanity break out against each other, as they may do some times, to overpower them when necessary. As we enter, a thin, slight, dangerous man advances to the bars and, clutching them, blasphemes with vague unmeaning oaths at visitors and all around, and then with a burst of laughter lets go his hold and shuffles away across the ground, cursing as he,walks. Another takes his place—a man named G., the most dangerous of all at Broadmoor. This man, the sur geons say, is not so much mad as irrecoverably bad —a kind of modern Frankenstein, born apparently without a moral nature. Of all within the walls of this asylum there is none that will not at once be tray his fellow in any attempt at escape, any con cealment of weapons, any premeditated onset on the warders, save this man G. He alone possesses powers of combination, and can gain over his dan gerous associate s t o d o hi s will and keep it secret till it is done. He is here for most cruel murders, and is of all those in Broadmoor the most watched and dreaded. He is always asking to be let out and to be allowed to do work, but one might as soon trust a tiger with children as him with knives or tools. Beyond him is a man whom we will call F., red-haired, tall, lithe, and powerful, with a quick bow and fawning smile at the least token of recog nition. Face to face with F. you are safe enough, yet neither warder nor doctor would ever turn their backs upon him, or woe betide them. He w ill kill , or try to strang le and kill, any whom he can sur prise unawares and from behind, though, barring this little failing, he is, when openly confronted, harmless and even timid enough, though very cun ning. He, however, is one whose perpetual yearn ing and search is after weapons of offence of any kind. In this he resembles another dangerous mur derer P., of whom we shall have to say more pre sently, as also of W. whose cruel slaughter of his mothe r and sister shocked all England a few years ago ' As a matter of course all these dang erous men are kept distinct from the rest, and as much m Possible from each other. Th e ir sleep ing rooms a n r , fitted with strong doors, and so furnished s afford them n o apparently possible chance o f sticks, weapons, such as stones, bit s o f iron, e knives, &c. There is rule, th not, however, as a east fear of these people injuring themselves. Theirtendency is not suicidal, but homicidal. It i s murderous o nslaughts on each other or the warders w hi c h ar to e guarded against here. A s we enterbe. tdhris'ea‘d, dreaded and block" the man whom we h ave ca ll ed P. ga p e yY oa I desperate blow on the nose, which almost broke it. 1 They were instantly separated and transferred to different enclosures rin the airing-grounds, and while the man W. broke into an incoherent torrent of blasphemous ribaldry, P. explained, with clearness and good temper how W. had used some phrases re garding his dead mother which he (P.) considered a cruel insult, and felt bound to avenge. It requires great care and constant watchfulness to keep these men from instruments with which to injure the warders or each other. Their airing- ground is carefully weeded of large stones, yet the man G., a short time back, persuaded his comrades, to collect small pebbles, with which he filled the Locks of the doors, so that the warders could not open them, while he and others used their forms as battering rams to beat away the bars of the win- dows, and so succeeded in escaping into the court below. Over the walls of this, however, they could not pass, and there, with characteristic imbecility, they submitted at once to the captivity which one or two warders re-imposed upon them. Into the refrac tory wards of this " strong block" never less than three warders enter, so that in case of any attack by which one should be struck down there are always two left to grapple with the maniac. As an instance of the vigilance which has to be exercised over these, the most dangerous of the dangerous class of criminal lunatics, we may mention one story about the man P., whom we have already al luded to as giving a bloody nose to the murderer of his mother and sister. P., though generally amenable enough, is on the whole a very dange rous man, and one subject to frequent and uncer tain fits of homicidal madness. One day when Dr. Meyer was going his rounds a patient told him, as they all will tell like children upon one another, that P. had got a knife. He had not seen it, but he was sure from his mutterings and other signs that P. had got it and was likely to use it. This was alarming news of such a lunatic as P., so Dr. Meyer with the warders went at once to his cell. " Mr. P.," said Dr. Meyer, " I am told you have got a knife." P., of course, was utterly surprised at this intimation. Where could he get a knife ? It was against the rules to have a knife, and he of course would never break them—not he. This was part of the prosecution he had been subjected to throughout life. These lies come of being locked up with madmen, &c. " Very well," said Dr. Meyer, " but at least you must let me search you ; so come with me." Away went P. with the doctor and war ders to a refractory cell, where P. was stripped of all his clothes, a new suit given him, and the old ones searched. No knife was found. A fresh in quiry was made, and the information as to a knife in P.'s possession became clearer and more explicit still. So Dr. Meyer returned to P.'s cell and told him that after his examination of his clothes he felt quite sure that he had not a knife. " But still, Mr. P.," he added, as every one reports to me that you have a knife, and as that is quite against the rules of the establishment, here, in this refractory cell, you will have to stay, without tobacco, until you find a knife. Think about it, therefore, if you know of any place where a knife may be found, and then let me know, for here you must remain until you do." Of course, P. protested. It was very hard to be made answerable for the falsehoods of lunatics. How was it possible that, shut up there, he could find a knife ? If Dr. Meyer would only tell him where they were kept he would find a dozen cheer fully, but otherwise how could he ? and so on day by day as Dr. Meyer came to see him. A week thus passed away, and then P., becoming tired of his confinement, began to relax a little, and at last told Dr. Meyer that if he . would come alone to his cell, he would show him something—not a knife of course—that they knew he had not got, but still there was something to be seen. To this most uninviting proposition Dr. Meyer of course declined to assent. Whatever Mr. P. had to show in his cell must be shown to Dr. Meyer accompanied by his warders. Upon this the negotiation again fell through, till nearly a fortnight elapsed, when at last P. sullenly gave in, and went with the war ders and Dr. Meyer to his cell. Arrived here P. removed his bed, and, kneeling down, took out care fully one of the pine knots in the boards which fitted into its hole like a cork, and which when re moved gave a little spot of access to the space be tween the floor and ceiling beneath. P. then pro duced from an obscure corner of his cell a piece of cotton, to which was attached a pin bent like a hook, and dropping this into the hole he began a long and weary fishing to catch something, while Dr. Meyer and the warders stood patiently watching. At last P.'s efforts were successful, and he hooked up a thread of worsted through the hole, and then sat sullenly down upon the floor. That was all he had to show. Dr. Meyer, however, thought differently, and lifted out the thread through the hole, and, 10, attached to it was a knife pointed and sharpened to the keenness of a razor ! This, however, though a most characteristic story, is only one of the many which the annals of Broadmoor, brief as they still are, already furnish. With very rare exceptions, the minds of nearly all the men at least are bent on one object, and one object only—how to get away. Whether through the interest of friends, by lamentably insane memo rials to the Home Secretary, by fraud or violence, this is the one unchanging end which nearly all pur sue. It is some comfort, therefore, to find that these incessant efforts are always unavailing. One would hear with less alarm that all the menagerie of Regent's Park was thrown open than that there was even the slightest chance of these men being again turned free to prey upon society. Of the two, we honestly believe that the inmates of the menagerie would be less ruthless and less dangerous to human life than the liberated patients of Broadmoor. One thing the public may be pleased to learn, which is, that Victor Townley is not among the inmates of this great asylum. The intrigue which saved him from the gallows failed to secure him the easy life he might have passed here. The final examination which established his sanity, though too late to remit him to the hangman's hands, was early enough to consign him to penal servitude for life. In his case the work will be harder and the indefinite term of his dread sentence as inexorably carried out as it is among those mad criminals who are now and for ever enclosed within the walls of Broadmoor.— Times. RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE. GLASGOW AND SOUTH-WESTERN. A special general meeting of this company was held on Tuesday, at Glasgow ; Mr. J. Lumsden in We chair. The CHAIRMAN stated that in the Session of 1863 the company obtained an Act for the purpose of raising addi tional capital, to the extent of 286,000/., for general pur poses, the extension of stations, and for the increase of roll ing stock. They also obtained last Session, in conjunction with the Caledonian Company, an Act for making a branch line to Govan, and for that purpose they were authorised to raise 35,000/., making a total of 321,000/., and it was to exercise those powers that the directors asked the concur rence of th 6 shareholders. About 125,000/. of that sum had already been expended, and the interest upon it had been charged against revenue. The directors proposed that the new stock should be issued under a 5 per cent. guarantee, and be allotted to the shareholders at the rate of 108/. per 100/. stock, which would yield a dividend of fully 4/. 125.6 d. per cent. in perpetuity. He concluded by moving a resolu tion authorising the creation of 821,000/. of 5 per cent. perpetual guaranteed stock, to be allotted in the proportion of 101. for each 100/. of capital held by the shareholders, and so soon as one-half the total amount was paid up the directors be authorised to e x e rc ise th e b o rrowing powers in respect thereof. Mr. GALBRAITH seconded the motion, and it was agreed to unanimously. MELBOURNE AND HOBSON'S BAY. The report of th e di rec t ors of this eem Th any nt r !tates that during the last six m on th s , comprising r half year, only a small quantity o f wool hadbeene shipped, been the revenue from the merchandi se t ra ffi c h ad, therefore, dependent upon the amount of foreign imports, the inter colonial, e colonial, and the coal trade ; the latt er , as a. permanent - source of revenue, was rapidly progressing, 31 vessels hav ing discharged their cargoes at the pier during the last six months, as compared with 12 vessels during the correspond ing period of 1863. The directors felt confident that when the junction of this company's line with that of the Mel bourne Railway Company was effected a great impetus would be given to it by the opening out of coal depots at the, various Suburban stations. Nearly 8,000 tons s of coal had passed over the line during the past half-year. The agree ment entered into by the directors for the amalgamation of the undertakings of the Melbourne Railway Company and the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company was approved unanimously by the shareholders present at the extraordinary general meeting, held on the Bth of November THE - SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 13, 1865. and at which the holders of more than one-half of the shares issued by the company were represented. Applica tion would be made immediately on the opening of Parlia ment for an Act to legalize the amalgamation of the two -companies. As it was probable the Brighton Railway Com pany would obtain powers from the Legislature to sell their line it was thought desirable to ask in the Amalgamation Bill for power, with the consent of the shareholders, to combine that :company's line with the joint undertaking, if satisfactory terms could be arrived at. The traffic re ceipts for the last six months, including the balance of revenue from the previous hall-year, amounted to 43,0531., which, after deduction of working expenses and payment of interest on debentures, left a balance of 20,0891., an amount adequate to pay more than 10 per cent. per annum on the capital stock of the company. The directors therefore declared a dividend at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum for the past half-year. The permanent way and rolling stock were in good working order, and the latter would shortly be improved by a considerable accession of new carriages from England. The provisional agreement for the amalgamation of the two companies, to be called the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway Com pany, specified that the shares and capital stock of the re spective companies to be merged in the capital of the amal gamated company should consist of 534,7001. divided into 10,694 shares of 501. each, with power to increase the capi tal by additional shares to the extent of 115,3001. The proprietors of shares in the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway were to be entitled to one 501. share in the :amal gamated company in lieu of each share held by them prior to the amalgamation ; and the proprietors of the Melbourne Railway were to be entitled to 2,694 of the 501. shares of the amalgamated company. They were also to be entitled to 17,0001. secured by 6 per cent. debenturei p on the under taking of the amalgamated company. The mortgages or bonds already issued by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Company amounted to 100,0001., and by the Melbourne Company to 115,8001. After providing for the election of nine directors for the amalgamated company provision was made for forming a junction of the two lines of railway at Melbourne, and for raising further capital by the issue of additional debentures to an amount not exceeding 100,0001. GRAND TRUNK OF CANADA. The traffic receipts on this company's lines for the week ending the 24th of December last, amounted, for local pas sengers, to 5,055/. ; for foreign passengers, to 1,31.9/. ; for mails, &c., to 642/. ; for local freight and live stock, to 11,896/. ; and for foreign freight and live stock to 3,0041. — total on .1,377 miles, 21,916/. ; against 24,4941., on 1,335 miles, in the corresponding week of 1863, showing a de crease of 2,5781., in consequence of the traffic being inter rupted by snow storms. The total receipts from the let of July to the above date amounted to 594,5791., and for the same period in 1863 to 545,5471., showing an increase of 49,032/. The Collision on the North Kent Railway, Yesterday afternoon the adjourned inquest on the bodies of the five unfortunate men who were killed in the recent collision in the Blackheath tunnel of the North Kent Rail- way was resumed before Mr. C. J. Carttar, coroner for West Kent, at the Railway Hotel, Blackheath. Mr. Freeland again represented the company. Mr. Wool lett appeared on behalf of the signalman Jones ; and there were also present Mr. Eborall, the general manager ; Mr. Cudworth, locomotive superintendent ; Mr. Knight, traffic superintendent of the company ; and Mr. Claydon and Mr. Chapman, station-masters, Charlton and Blackheath. The first witness called'was Joseph Groombridge, who said that when the collision took place he was riding in the break next to the engine of the eupress train. When the collision took place he goi out of the carriage window and walked along the tunnel, which was full of smoke and steam. Hearing somebody say that a down train was coming, he got into the carriage again. A lamp was handed into the carriage, which he supposed came from the guard, but he did not know. Mr. Chapman, the station-master at Blackheath, was asked whether there had not been a train stopped in a similar manner in the tunnel next day. The Coroner, however, intimated his opinion that the question had no bearing on this particular inquiry, and it was not pressed. _ _ Mr. Woollett asked whether, according to the rules of the company, a signalman ought to receive instructions with reference to a telegram from a boy by word of mouth. Mr. Chapman said that a signalman ought not to receive any such instructions by word of mouth except from him self, as station-master. Instructions from others ought to be in writing. _ Mr. Woollett asked whether, under the revised and sup plementary rules, all trains travelling at unusual hours, not specified in the time-table—in which description would be included ballast trains—were not required to be telegraphed from station to station of the " speaking telegraph." Mr. Chapman said he did not conceive that such a ballast train as the one which had caused the collision was a train travelling at unusual times. Unusual times he considered to be hours after the ordinary working of the trains was over. Special trains were telegraphed by speaking tele- graphs. Mr. Freeland said there were special regulations as to ballast trains. Mr. Woollett called attention to the rules, by which any train not included in the time service was to be treated as special, whether ballast, coal, empties, light engines, or otherwise. In answer to a further question from Mr. Woollett, Mr. Chapman said that this ballast train was not telegraphed by the speaking telegraph. It was telegraphed, however, in such a way that everybody would know it would be a ballast train going to Bricklayers' Arms. Captain Tyler,R.E., the Government Inspector of Rail- ways, was called and said—l inspected the Blackheath tunnel, in which this accident took place, on the 19th ult. for the first time, and again on the following Thursday. There was one mark on the side of the tunnel where the engine was said to have come into contact with it, but no other mark. There was a good deal of water dropping, and the rails were in a very wet state. I had read a letter in the paper to the effect that the express train had gone off the line before the collision, and I made particular exami nation of the line with reference to that point, and I came to the conclusion that there had been nothing of the sort. The gradient of the tunnel is 1 in 168 from Charlton to within 215 yards of the collision, and up to the mouth to the tunnel there is a steeper gradient-1 in 132. There is a curve in the tunnel, but not such a sharp one as would se riously impede the progress of a train. The gradient is not a severe one, but it was too severe for this engine with the load it had to bear. Probably the engine might have car ried the load through if it had not been stopped at Charlton. It came to a stop on the second or steeper gradient in a very wet place. Under the circumstances the tail lights of the ballast train would not be visible more than 10 yards off. The engine driver of the express train could not see them until he was well on the train. I saw the engine of the ballast train after the collision. It appeared in good order. The driver told me that it was in good working order before the collision took place, but that afterwards the pumps had gone out of order. Being a ballast train, however, the col lision would not be so muchfelt in the fore part of the train. I have drawn. up a memorandum as to the causes of the accident if the jury would like to hear it. The Coroner—l presume it is drawn up from information you have received? Capt. Tyler—Yes, it is. The Coroner—Then, I hardly know whether we can re ceive it in the court. Capt. Tyler—Some juries wish to hear such memoranda, and some object, and I came prepared for both contingen cies. At the end of my memorandum I have stated my conclusions as to the cause of the accident.. The Coronor —We shall be glad to hear them. Capt. Tyler then read the following portion of his report, embodying his conclusions as to the causes of the accident : " The different circumstances which have contributed to porduce this collision may be thus stated :-1. A load was attached to the ballast engine heavier than it could, after being stopped at Charlton, take through the Charlton tunnel ; and this ought not to have been done, if only on account of the risk incurred of inconvenience and delay of the heavy passenger traffic of the company. 2. The station master at Charlton sent a message, Train waiting 'to Blackheath, independently of the signalman, and by thus interfering with the train signals, though with the good intention of avoiding - the chance of unnecessary delay, he was the means of causing the mistake which led to the col lision. 3. The Blackheath signal, who was compara tively inexperienced, and who was put out and confused by the verbal message Train waiting,' at Charlton, committed the fatal error of signalling the up-line clear to Charlton, in spite of the record which was plainly before him on his instrument of an up-train being already between Charlton and Blackheath. The railway company had done .what they could in this case to provide for the public safety by esta blishing a good system of train signals, intended to pre vent more than one engine or train being upon either line of rails between Charlton and Blackheath at the same time. But there remained the defect,:which I have had occasion to point out in other cases on the North Kent Railway, of the signalmen being unprovided with speaking instruments in addition to Tyer's train instruments. It is, no doubt, de sirable after a certain period has elapsed that a signalman working under that system should have the means of ascer taining from the next telegraph box whether a train has been delayed in its progress for an extraordinary length of time, or whether the signalman in that box, as may occasionally happen, has forgotten or been unable to give Line clear' as it passed him. But it is better that this should be done in a recognised manner ; that the train about which the inquiry is made should be specified, and that a clear statement should be given in reply as to the passage of that particular train before another is allowed to follow it. The danger of allowing any other sort of interference with the train sig nals is illustrated by the mistake made by Jones on this occasion. If on the one hand he had been let alone, and had wouldit arottto Charlton ec n oh o ttahroel courseftrohand, untilhh et a h v he e a received no verbal message from the cler k at Bl ac kh eat h , n o db c abe c l u lae rr snt e p d trra t o o viin. h dh i e m addw to give iptah Line If, s s a e n d d beenhim. able to use a speaking- instrument, and received a message upon it, from the signalman at Charlton, Has the ballast train passed Blackheath ?' in place of receiving a verbal message from a porter, it is impossible that either he him self, or even a less experienced man, should have replied otherwise than Ballast train has passed,' unless it had really done so. While, therefore, the speaking in struments under the control of the station masters, from being worked independently of the signalman at Charlton and from interfering with the signalman at Blackheath, may be said actually to have caused this accident, it is evi dent the same speaking instrument if placed in the tele graph boxes and worked under proper regulations by the signalmen themselves to each other, would, by affording a safer means of asking for and obtaining the required infor mation, have prevented its occurrence." The Coroner —Assuming that the guard of the ballast train when it came to a standstill did not go back to warn the following train, should you say that it was his duty to have done so ? Capt. Tyler—l have considered that point in my report, and the conclusion I have come to is, that if the guard went to the tail of the train and asked the breaksman to put on his break and give him a light, it was preparatory to un coupling the train and sending half of it out of the tunnel. Then the question arises whether the train had been stand ing long enough for the breaksman to go back and protect his train. The Coroner—You alp of opinion that the coming away from Charlton was the act of the signalman Jones in sig nalling " Line clear ?" Captain Tyler—There was a double process—telegraph ing the line clear, and then telegraphing for the passenger train to come on. The passenger train could not come on until it had received permission from Blackheath. Mr. Woollett—The guard said distinctly that the mo ment the signal, " Line clear," was made the train started at once. The Coroner—We certainly have not had anything brought out about a second signal. Capt. Tyler—lf you examine the signalmen at Charlton and Angerstein you will see that that is so. I have called attention frequently to the necessity of having speaking in struments, particularly in a report on an accident at the Commercial Docks in 1861. To Mr. Freeland—l think Tyler's system of signalling a very excellent one—one of the best ; but in my opinion it ought to be accompanied with speaking instruments. I know that there is a difference of opinion among railway men on the subject. To the Coroner—l don't consider from 7in the morning to 6 in the evening unusually excessive hours for a signal man. I wish there were no signalmen employed longer. I have had to report on cases where they have been em ployed 25 hours, and in one case 37. It was not with re ference to this company. I don't think the message from Charlton, " Train waiting," was suffic!ently explicit ; it ought to have been, " Has the ballast train passed ?" To the Jury—The want of air-shafts had nothing to do with the accident. On the contrary, the tunnel would have been more liable to get wet, and the accident was in some degree attributable to the wet state of the tunnel, which impeded the progress of the train. The jury retired to a private room, and after remaining in consultation with the Coroner for some time, The Coroner announced that they had decided to adjourn the inquiry until that day fortnight, in consequence of the inability of the breaksman of the ballast train, who was still confined in the hospital, to appear before them. Their intention was then to hear his evidence, if he was able to appear before them, and if not to go down to Woolwich Hospital to hear his evidence there. They would then be able to call Jones and hear his statement, if he thought fit to make any, and the case would be complete. The jury was then adjourned until Thursday, the 26th inst. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TIMES.—The Australian colonies seem destined to be a sort of convex mirror, in which we may contemplate on a reduced scale the institutions under which we live, placed under circumstances which can hardly occur under the quieter and more stable condition of political life in these islands. Ministries rise and fall, elections succeed to elections with a sort of tropical rankness and luxuriance of growth and destruction of which we in these temperate and frigid islands can form but little idea. The accounts which have reached us from Victoria and New South Wales have in them both much to interest not only the practical politi cian, but the speculator on representative government, its incidents, its clangers, and its Lt.dvantages ; and no time can be better spent than in carefully considering and maturely weighing the incidents passing in this little theatre which our own colonists have been good enough to get up for our instruction. Happily for us, the Australian colonies are what is called a good deal more advanced than ourselves ; they have the privilege, as Mr. Bright has often told us, of possessing institutions of which the mother country has not yet been thought worthy, such as universal suffrage and vote by ballot ; and it is pleasant to see at other expense than our own the full development of the modern panaceas for all the evils that Governments have been heirs to from the days of Athenian even to the days of American demo cracy. Of course the first thing that we hear of the two great Australian colonies is that the one has just passed through, or rather is just recovering from, the pangs of a general election, while the other is in the midst of it. How many of these periodical clearings of the political atmos phere there have been since the establishment of self-go vernment in Australia we do not profess to remember, but it seems to us that these colonies are always either in a general election, going to have a general election, or just out of a general election. The general election in Victoria has had results very unusual to such proceedings. It has, to the astonishment of everybody, greatly strengthened the Government. Every member of the Ministry has been re-elected, and only one member of the Ministry that pre ceded them. Of seventy-eight members of Assembly forty new men have been returned, and this after the Government has been fifteen months in power-.-a period in Australian eyes, we conclude, something like equal to the length of the Administration of Lord Liverpool. The colonists themselves are astonished at this phenomenon : one paper calls it a revolution, and if an entire change of practice be worthy of the name a revolution it certainly is. Of course the whole ingenuity of the colony is set to work to explain a phenomenon so strange and so startling. How can it be that a Ministry which has lasted 15 months can again meet Parliament with a fair probability of renewed political power? A sudden cessation of the ebb and flow of the sea could hardly be more startling to the eyes of a natural philosopher than this inroad upon the established seesaw of party. The favourite solution is arrived at by the aid of a principle which has already created and solved so many difficulties in European politics. The last Ministry was almost exclusively Irish ; during the long period of 20 months for which it held office none but Irish appoint ments were made ; and the present Ministry is the fruit of an alliance between English and Scotch to recapture the spoils which the natives of the sister island had so dexter ously carried away. People thought, whether rightly or not, that for these 20 months something more than justice had been dealt out to Ireland, and they acted on the laud able determination of doing justice to themselves. The star of Erin has paled for a while before this ominous combina tion, but it .is the happy destiny of Australian politicians that their adversity is as brief as their prosperity is uncer tain, and nobody can say, notwithstanding the present un favourable appearances, how soon the star of Erin may be again in the ascendant, and her sons enter into the posses sion of those spoils of which the Saxon has for a time de prived them. We may observe here a little anticipation of the practice of America, and an opinion, probably well founded, that the rise and fall of governments has more to do with the good things which they have to give away than with the measures which they introduce and the prin ciples which they advocate. Another important feature in this election is that in it, for the first time, as far as we know, in any British community, the fair sex have been admitted to the exercise of the franchise. We are sorry that this concession does not appear to be due to the gallantry of our Australian colo nists, but to a mistake which 'they made in adopting for Parliamentary elections the roll for municipal elections, in which women are permitted to vote. The women seem to have availed themselves in considerable numbers of the privilege, however obtained. Custom had not yet taught them that slight regard for the electoral franchise which seems almost inseparable with us from the creation of a large constituency. It is recorded that the women voted at least as wisely as the men ; that they generally voted for the best educated candidate ; that they showed con tempt for the secrecy of the ballot ; and that, espousing the cause which they took up with a heartiness and devotion incidental to the female character, they generally gave plumpers for the candidate of their choice. In a franchise so low as that enjoyed by the Australian colonies we can easily believe that this new element, especially as the female votes were given in respect of property, would be a marked improvement. It will be very curious to see whether this innovation, thus accidentally introduced, is allowed to continue, or whether the colonists will persevere in the course upon which they have stumbled. In the latter case it would seem hardly to be possible to leave matters as they are, or to prevent a much larger infusion of the female element into the constituency. Another symptom of the inevitable results of democratic govern ment is the prevalence both in New South Wales and Vic toria of Protectionist opinions. Why Assemblies practi cally representing working men, and working men only, should uniformly show so strong a disposition towards the establishment of heavy indirect taxes, which must be paid mainly by their constituents, it is very difficult in the abstract to say ; but so obviously is the spirit of Protec tion a concomitant of universal suffrage in America, in Canada, and in Australia, and so impossible was it found to obtain any efficient assistance from the masses towards the promotion of the Free-trade movement in this country, that the connexion may be fairly said to be established by a very efficient process of induction. In Victoria the Protectionists seem to have little union among themselves, and not to be likely, for the present, at least, to exercise much influence over financial legislation. They exist as a party, but that is all. But in New South Wales the case is very different. There they are in. the middle of a contested election. The Ministry, which has strong Protectionist leanings, and the Premier of which is an avowed Protectionist of the most ultra views, has been beaten by the Opposition. It claimed a dissolution, and the country is in the midst of the consequent election. The finances are in great disorder, and the colonial Treasurer has not yet made known his intended taxes. The struggle is not unlike that in 1852 in this country, Protection being really at the bottom of the quarrel, a principle by some manfully avowed, and by others uncandidly concealed. There is a strong feeling in the colony in favour of Protec tion, owing, we are told, to three causes—to a narrow local sentiment, to great ignorance on the subject, and to the prevalent predominance of the artisans. The sentiment is said to be strongest in the towns and in the capital ; the country settlers despair of a duty on flour, and are compa ratively lukewarm on the subject. It is evidently the lead ing topic of the day. Of course, we cannot predict what is likely to be the result of this contest ; but it occurs to us as —supposing the Protectionists are victorious, and pass measures injurious to British commerce and avowedly at variance with the commercial policy of the Empire—what steps the Home Government are prepared to take on the question ? So long as our colonists tell us that they must impose heavy duties for the purposes of revenue, and show —as, under the institutions under which they have the happiness to live, it is very easy for them to do—that they have a large deficit to fill up, it is extremely difficult for us to interfere with such legislation. But once let the flag of Protection be unfurled, once let it be admitted or once let it be proved that the object of legislation is not primarily the collection of revenue, but is rather the exclusion from a portion of her Majesty's dominions of the commodities created by the labour of the inhabitants of another portion, and a question is raised which it will become the Imperial Parliament and the advisers of the Crown very carefully and maturely to consider. The question of Protection is not one local to the British isles ; it is Imperial, and co-exten sive with the limits of that Empire of which we have learnt to consider freedom of commerce as the principal stay and support. It is a policy embodied in many treaties and sanctioned by innumerable Acts of Parliament, and it cer tainly appears to us that those whose duty it is to watch over not merely English but Imperial interests will ill dis charge that duty if they allow our dependencies a licence which we have solemnly renounced for ourselves and for all those communities over which we are able to exercise a legitimate influence. HERALD.—Suicidal as the financial policy of the Wash ington Government has been throughout the present war, its climax, perhaps, was not reached prior to the proposed abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty now existing between the United States and the British North American col°• nies. This seems to be the opinion, at all events, of the most influential men belonging to that ancient French set tlement, the good town of Detroit, than whom no better judges can be found in the whole breadth of Federal ter ritory. Situated on Lake St. Clair, and closely connected by river communication with the largest lakes of Erie and Huron, Detroit, from its highest buildings, commands also a view of the Canadian shore. If the rise of this city was in the first instance owing to its importance as a military post, its subsequent growth may be ascribed to an exten sive and constantly increasing trade with the British de pendencies. Whatever, therefore, to others may be the consequences of hasty interference with old-established commercial relations, to Detroit, such a charge of system must be fraught with inevitable disaster. We are not, then, surprised that the moment that the dissolution of the treaty was announced the Board of Trade in this town de legated to some of its members the task of making a care ful and minute inquiry into the merits of the whole ques tion. We have now before us the report of the committee appointed for the purpose, an able and valuable document, which demonstrates incontestably the benefits accruing to the United States from the Reciprocity Treaty. It is more satisfactory that they do not look at the matter at all from a British point of view, but regard it simply on the side of utilitarianism. The report, to which we call attention, though it has its positive argument, is mainly of a contro versial character. Its positive reasoning may soon be dis missed, based as it is upon statistics which prove them selves. The committee show that the treaty has done more for the trade os the United States than it has for that of the British colonies. From Juno 30, 1821, to June 30, 1863, the exports to Canada and the other British Ame rican provinces reached the value of $422,443,981, whilst the imports were worth only $260,327,900, there being in favour of the United States a balance of $162,116,081. But the chief object of the report is to point out the injustice and impolicy of the opposition raised against the treaty. Singling out some seven or eight principal objections, it answers them in detail. We cannot do better than avail ourselves of the committee's labours, not, however, always following the order in which their remarks are given. Amongst the objections which have been offered to the working of the Reciprocity Treaty, the first place is natu rally to be assigned to those which arrogate to themselves dimensions of national importance. It is alleged that neither Canada, nor Great Britain, has any sympathy with the United States in their attempt to subdue the South. The committee treat this difficulty in manly and lofty language. The imperial authority and commercial interests of a coun try, say they in substance, should not be confounded. If a state is injured nationally, let it avenge itself nationally, but do not let it mix up such insults and their consequences with questions of trade and commerce affecting the well being of 70,000,000 of people, for they conclude axiomati cally, " commercial treaties and quarrels should stand or fall on their own merits." Another complaint, springing from a cognate jealousy, that the treaty encourages the car rying trade of rivals through a foreign country, is discussed upon practical grounds by the report. It is shown that, what with the inadequacy of the means of transport and their heavy cost, the mercantile and farming interests must suffer materially, were an attempt made to convey the pro duce of the North-West solely through Federal territory. With what has gone before we may class the objection that the fisheries have not turned out so valuable as might have been expected. True, but the treaty had the inestimable advantage of settling amicably the disputes which might have arisen between the United States and Great Bri tain upon the subject. The object, indeed, of the Washington Government in getting the Reciprocity Treaty was threefold—the regulation of these very.fisheries, the opening of the common waters in the new world more freely, and the removal of duties upon certain enumerated articles of commerce, all of which results have been attained for many years. We pass to a more selfish class of objections. It is urged that since the treaty has been in operation the Legislature of Canada has from time to time imposed heavier duties upon the productions of the United States, and that consequently there has been a decrease in the de mand for such articles. Upon this the committee offer some just and pertinent remarks. In estimating a system of taxation adopted by a foreign country we have only a right to consider whether the taxes spring from hostile in tention or fiom sheer necessity. Now it is evident that the Canadian imposts arise entirely from the latter cause, and also that they do not touch a single article named in the treaty. We, cannot, therefore blame Canada a whit more than the United States, the Government of which has levied increased taxes to a far greater extent. But, say tha objectors to the treaty, our lumber interests suffer from competition with Canadian lumber merchants, and our coal from a similar competition with that of Nova Scotia. The answer upon the part of the committee is very bold and explicit. But for this competition the consumer would be entirely at the mercy of the great capitalists, who are taking up tin pineries of the West, and of the coal masters. Sup posing that most of the lands on which these pineries are pass into the hands of these powerful owpers, what will bo the price of lumber, and whence can it be got, to build and improve cities and villages ? The report expresses its re gret that Nova Scotia does not export twenty times more coal than she does to the Federal cities upon the Atlantic seabord, and dismisses the subject with the following sig nificant words :—" The interest of the manufacturer, the wants of the poor, and the requirements of our vast steam marine demand cheap fuel and no monopoly in either coal or lumber. Upon the disputed question of breadstuffs, the report shows that the United States have been largely beno fitted instead of being injured by the importation of Cana dian grains. Statistics prove that in 1863 there were imported into Detroit 300,000 bushels of Canadian white wheat, upon which Americans received for labour, freight, insurance, elevating charges, .and commission, no less a sum than $108,295 25c., and that the public revenue would gain also in this transaction $3,880. To the objec tion made by the opponents of the treaty, that all this wheat would have come in at a 20 per cent. ad valorem duty, and that therefore both the profits and duty might have been gained, this sensible reply is given—"We would not have received a single bushel of wheat with a2O per cent. duty, because the amount of the tax would have paid the freight, Sm., from the point from which the grain started in Canada to Montreal, where it would have been sold for a larger sum than at Detroit." There is but one other ob jection of importance mentioned by the committee, and that touches very closely the delicate question of American avarice. The commission merchants complain that con sumers who used to purchase at Detroit, now buy their flour at Toronto. This, says the report, is your own fault. If you would sell at a fair rate, instead of at an advance of from one to two dollars per barrel above other markets, you would not drive the trade elsewhere. But the committee adopt less confined reasoning when they show the folly of attempting to escape competition by make-shift legislation. Sooner or later different countries must compete with one another in foreign markets, it matters little whether it is at Boston or Liverpool. The report concludes with a warm recommendation of a renewal of the treaty for 25 years, with some modifications into which we have not space to enter. From the impartial summary of the Detroit com mittee it is clear that English writers have been guilty of no selfishness when they have urged the advantages of the Reciprocity Treaty, advantages falling most to the side of the United States. Whether the report will convince the Cabinet of Washington may reasonably be doubted. The Detrait merchants complain of the ignorance of their countrymen ; they make still more bitter complaints of their apathy and shortsightedness in matters concerning their real interests. One of Sherman's raids will be re garded by the Federal Government as more interesting than the destruction of Detroit, a town that was so sure a source of national wealth that so far back as 1852 its saw mills turned out about 10,000,000 feet of lumber every year. President Lincoln will perhaps have his joke upon the subject. Nero was fiddling whilst Rome was on fire. MR. MILNER GIBSON'S VISIT TO LANCASHIRE.— The President of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce has received a note from Mr. Milner Gibson, in reply to an in vitation forwarded to him, to the effect that the few days he will spend in Lancashire this month are so pre-occupied that he will not be able to attend the annual meeting of the Chamber. He hopes, however, at some future time to at tend a meeting of the Chamber. Ironmasters' Quarterly Meeting. BIRMINGHAM, Thursday Evening. The principal meeting of the ironmasters of this district was held in the Town-hall here this afternoon, and the at tendance was large, but, as at Wolverhampton on Wednes day, there was scarcely any business done ; the receipt of the telegram announcing that the Bank rate had been re duced to 51per cent. did not contribute in the slightest de- ‘. gree to stimulate the trade, not the least animation having been exhibited from the commencement to the close of the meeting. The large consumers were steadfast in their de termination not to buy, and spoke confidently of the oppor tunties offered to them to place orders at from 7s. 6d. to 108. per ton below the trade price ; undoubtedly, this re ferred to the second class makers, the producers of " marked" iron evincing no disposition to accept lower prices than those recognised by the trade: The nature of the inquiries by the merchants indicated that there are orders in that quarter to be given out, and some few were accepted at low prices ; but business was slack throughout, and with such influences operating against the trade as those set forth in our report of the Wolverhampton meet ing, it is not likely that there will be any immediate resto ration in healthy action, but if the difference with the men is amicably adjusted, it will be much facilitated. The transactions in pig-iron were moderate. A good staple article, hot blast, was quoted at 3/. 10s. to 3/. 15s. per ton. It would be easy enough to quote the prices at which sales were said to have been effected, but, as those who are familiar with the circumstances of the trade are well aware, this would be a most unreliable mirror as to the general price. COUNTRY MARKETS BIRMINGHAM-THURSDAY. During the present week no progress could be made in sale of wheat, except at some decline. Fine barley still wanted. Other sorts difficult to quit. A fair business doing in oats. Beans and peas only taken in retail. At this day's market there was a full supply of wheat, which sold slowly at a decline of 6d to is per qr. Barley held for fully previ ous rates. Oats realised quite as much money. Beans dull. Peas only found buyers in retail. Currencies :—English wheat, white, 40s to 44s ; red, 3 80 to 41s per 36 stone. Malting barley, 28s to 34s ; grinding, 22s to 25s per qr. Oats, 24s to 30s ; Irish, 19s to 24s per 30 stone. Beans, 38s to 42s ; and peas, 38s to 42s per qr. BURY ST. EDMUND'S-WEDNESDAY. There was a fair show of wheat at this market to-dal, and it met a slow sale at a decline of is per qr upon the prices of last week. Barley was in good supply, and fine malting qualities were in request at an advance of is per qr ; other kinds met a slow sale at late prices. MANCHESTER-THURSDAY. At our market this morning English wheat was mostly in poor condition, and it sold slowly at a reduction of 6d to is per qr. For flour there was scarcely any inquiry, and lower prices would have been accepted to promote business• Oats and oatmeal met a slow sale at late rates. Beans and Indian corn each rather lower. EDINBURGH-WEDNESDAY. At our market there was a large supply of count*: wheat, which met a quiet sale, at prices in favour of buyers. Wheat on the top, 2s Od down average, is 8d down• Barley on the top, Os 4d up average, Os 8d down• Oats on the top, is Od up average, Os id down. Beans on the top, 2s Od average, Os 5d up• Average prices. Wheat, 35s 6d I Barley, 25s 4d I Oats, 18s 7d I Beans, 34s iia Total supply and sales. Wheat 1083 qrs sold 646 Barley 2035 qrs sold 1439 Oats 2720 qrs sold 2110 Beans 164 qrs sold 164 Town-made flour sells as follows :—White, 36s 6d; extra! superfine, 355; superfine, 33s 6d; fine, 325. GLASGOW-WEDNESDAY. At this day's market there was an average attendance. Wheat was slow, at 3d decline per 2401 b. Flour unaltered• Beans in good inquiry at the above advance. Peas ad dearer per 2801 b. Barley, oats, oatmeal, and Indian corn' unchanged. Foreign Mail Packet List. Australia and New Zealand, via Southampton Jan. 18. Ditto, via Marseilles Feb. 1 2 . Brazil and Cape Verde, by British pao..et Feb. 3 . Ditto, by British packet Jan. 2 Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and st. Helena Fen. 19. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Sou hampton Jan 18. Ditto, via'Marseilles Jan. Falkland Islands _ Jan. --• Gibraltar, via Southampton Jan. • 8 • India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton..., Jan. 18• Ditto, via Marseilles . . .....Jan.: 2B ' India (Bombay), via Southampton. Jan. 2 8 • Ditto, via 31 amities ....Jan. 2 0 . Mauritius, via Southampton Ditto, via Marseil c i... Newfoundland Jan. 18. Portug 1 .. ..... Feb. s• Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon... . .... United States and British Noah America, by Bri tish packet.. Ditto, by United States packet, via Southamp- tt n Ditto, yia C irk - - Ditto, by Canadian packet, via Londonderry Jan. 4 ~. 0 ' West Ceast of Africa, Madeira, and Ttneriffe Feb. l u • West Indies and Pacific (except Babal.as, Cuba, and Mexico Bahamas, via New I ork Feb 9 • Bermuda, ditto Jan. 1 5 * Cuba and Mexico Jill. iki• ROUPELL 7 THE CONVICT AND Ex-31.0,P —A paragraph went th e roun d o f the newspape short time ago concernin g th e h onours pa id i n A us t ra Robson and other convicts by their fellow-prisoners. It , I remarkable that the same spirit manifests itself at Port towards Mr. Roupell, the late member for Lambeth' Roupell some time ago was sent from Milbank Prison t ° the works at Portland, and his uniform good conduct in prison entitled him to receive, as early as the convict re" gulations allowed, .a first-class certificate, with its att en dant privileges. But Roupell is set to the usual task work on the fortifications. Ho tells, however, his friends NO ° visit him that his fellow-workmen, whenever they 1 10° got a chance, are eager to help him to get through his tas k ' in order that he may leave work before them on the claY, 4 l on which visitors are allowed among the convicts. RouP el is to be seen as neat in person, in his prison garb, a s 11° used to be while he was a member of the House of Cora' mons. On the men breaking off work for the daY number of pails of water and napkins are placed for thel ll ' with which they are to wash and clean themselves, and tsv ° , or three prisoners use a pail am' ng them ; but howe ver pressed they may be for time they set aside one o f till pails, declining to use it until Roupell has washed in it, and they always reserve for him a clean napkin. Many Roupell's old friends go down at stated times from Loud° ll to see him, and they describe him to wear the same cheer ful, serious look which marked him in the house. He nev 64. i speaks to them of the past, but discusses the questions ° the day, showing still the master passion for politics.' Sherborne Journal. A general visit to the Paris catacombs has ] fit taken place, under the direction of M. Lame-Fleury, eri ; gineer of mines. A num b er o f persons who had ebtaille tickets delivered by the Prefect of the Seine assembled i ll the court-yard of the octroi building at the old Barrie° d'Enfer, and each, provided with torches or lantero6, descended into the catacombs, and remained there for W l.° than an hour, coming out by the Tombe-Isoire, near tllo Orleans-road. [ADVERTISEMENTd—HoIIoway's Ointment anti Happiness round the Hearth. With the sore triel temptations, and accidents daily endangering health o ll a life in large cities, it is most important to have at 1 3 - 913 3 some means of stopping the budding evil, for the longer _l, is neglected the more wide spread is the generatioi+B Holloway's medicaments supply this great want ; they 81j, inexpensive, purchasable everywhere, can be readily Ils e g are safe in inexperienced hands, and perfectly reliable 01 healers and purifiers. Holloway's ointment and pills ( 311 , 4 inflammation; abscesses, and ulcerations with a &call hitherto unknown. Holloway's noble remedies give reb e to sufferers from skin diseases of the most revolting Cl racter, for which in bygone days a dangerous mineral V iB often administered with fatal consequences. Births. BLACKBURN.—On the Bth inst., at Leeds, the wife o Vernon Blackburn, barrister, of a son. fib INGALL.—On the 10th inst., at Aldershot, the wife of Ingall, C. 8., 62d Regt., of a son. LivnlosisoN.—On the 12th inst., at 33, Cleveland-sqlo xe4 Mrs W. P. Livingston, of a daughter. MAcINNEs.—On the 11th inst., at Fern Lodge, Hampsteg4 the wife of Miles Maclnnes, Esq., of a son. Marriages. HUDSON—CLOUGH. — On Wednesday, the 11th inst., at - Michael-le-Belfrey's Church, York, by the Rev. C. lO se : Harrington Hudson, Esq, of Bessingby Hall, Bridlie ton, to Belle Blanche, third daughter of John Clo,t l gs Esq., of Clifton House, York, and Newbald Yorkshire. JOHNSON—ARMSTRONG.—On the 10th inst., at St. Alphl sus Chapel, Epsom, John Johnson, of Chelsea, and t a Coal Exchange, London, to Grace Elizabeth, the eltl e " daughter of Mr. John Armstrong, trainer, Epsom. Deaths. tor AusTEN.---On the Bth inst., the Rev. Henry Austen, roo d Tarrant Keyneston, aged 73. the CAMERON.—On the 10th inst., at Swaby, Eincolnshiro , "- Rev. Charles R. Cameron, aged 85. Afth FREEMAN.—On the 10th inst., Thomas Freeman, Esq. ~ surviving son of Wm. Freeman, Esq., of 27, Mill ' street, Westminster, aged 36. ,pet , KENYON.—On the 11th inst., at 6, Lower Berkeley-s& — , 1 Portman-square Cecil, youngest son of J. R. KenY ° " l Esq., Q.C., aged five months. t, SALT.—On the 12th inst., at 29, Gordon-square, John P Esq., aged 58. ~,.„ of WESTERN.—On the 12thiust_., Abraham Western, tib'll Tollington-park, and Clerkenwell-close, aged 62. V, WILLIAMS.—On the 11th inst., at Ryde, Isle of NM Thomas Williams, Esq., aged 73. London : Pri 'fed and Published by WILLIAM AND -it of No. 112, Strand, Pi inter, at THE SUN Office, N° cf Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the Cola"' Middlesex.—Friday, January 13, 1865.