The Sun. — London, England, 1863-04-09 00:00:00

Eatra( Irdinary Frauds--Scuttling of the Peruvian Barque Maria. (From the Shipping and Afereantide Gazette.) We have before us the full particulars of a series of extra . ordinary trends, connected with the alleged scuttling and abandoning of the Peruvian barque Maria, from Bahia for London. The case has excited considerable interest, not only in the City, but at Hamburg, Bremen, and Paris,where insurances had been effected to a very large extent. The Maria was an American built barque of 355 tons. She was owned by her master, Captain Matthias Albers, a German, native of Osnaburg, who had been trading on the coast of Peru. He bought the Maria in Boston for 6,000 dls., and proceeded to Rio, where he obtained a classified certificate of her seaworthiness, then made one voyage from Bahia to Hamburg and back, when a well known firm, Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger, merchants of Bahia, and who had hitherto held a high position in that port—became the charterers of the ship fur a voyage to London for £B6O. On Nov. 4 last the Maria took her departure for England. The charterers, Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger, advised several merchants in London, Paris, Bremen, and Hamburg, of the ship's de parture, consigning the cargo to them, representing it to consist, among other articles, of 3,2'22 bags of coffee and a large amount of diamonds. They forwarded the bills of lading, and stated that they, Messrs Souza and Reizenber , - ger, had taken the liberty of drawing bills upon them to a large amount, The merchants in question, on the receipt of the consignments, effected insurances on them, those in London on the various marine insurance companies to the extent of £16,000, while thc se at Paris, Bremen, and Ham burg did the same, the whole amount of insurances on the Ship and cargo amounting to nearly £40,000. The consign ment of the diamonds, however, on the receipt of the bills of lading excited some surprise, inasmuch that the course pursued of sending them by a sailing vessel and a strange master, was irregular to the general practice, diamonds be ing always forwarded from the Brazils by the Royal Mail steamers. The merchants to whom the consignment was made refused to honour the drafts made upon them by Messrs, Souza and Reizenberger, but effected insurance on the diamonds in one of the offices for £3,500. About the 12th January a telegram reached that the Maria, from Bahia, had foundered at sea on Dec 19, off the Azores, and the crew saved. Subsequent accounts stated that the cap tain and crew had landed in two boats, on the 20th and 21st, at St. Michael's, where the protest of the ship's loss had been made before the Spanish Consul. It coming to the ears of the Royal Exchange Insurance Company, on whom the insurance of £3,500 had been effected on the diamonds, that the captain and the crew had saved the whole of their effects, instructed a gentlemen at Lloyd's to inquire about the diamonds, which were represented in the bills of lading to be contained in two small tin boxes. The crew had already left St Michael's, and considerable difficulty was experienced in tracing out their whereabouts ; however, eventually they were found, when it was elicited that the diamonds werelost, having, it was alleged,been dropped over board by the captain in getting into the boat when he aban doned the ship. The circumstances, however, were so remark. able that an inquiry was prosecuted into the abandonment of the ship, for about this time the underwriters had their suspicions awakened by other ugly features connected with the bills of lading in the possession of the four merchants in London, bearing the signatures of Capt. Albers, which set forth that there had been a greater amount of property shipped on board the Maria than they had reason to believe, for the Bahia Custom-house bill of entry of November gave the following as the cargo of the Maria for the voyage :-155 dozen pieces of rosewood, weighing 320 tons; 222 bags of coffee, weighing 121 tons; 156 bags of cocoa, 111 tons; 11,000 double bundles of piassava wood (for brush brooms), 126 tons, and ballast; and 10 bundles of whalebone, weigh • ing 100 tons—making a tots! of 570 tons. But the other bills of lading previously alluded to represent the bags of coffee shipped on board was 3,222, instead of 222 bags ; two boxes of diamonds of the value of £3,900, some copper valued at £4OO, and other articles of considerable extent. For the ends of justice, the first proceedings taken were the depositions a the Maria's crew before a notary public in the City. They are of so voluminous a character as to pre elude their publication in our columns, on account of their great length, but the subjoined will be found to contain the whole of the leading facts : The Maria's crew numbered 12 hands. The most of them are foreigners—some had been shipped at Hamburg, and others at Bahia. On the ship being taken up by Mesars,Sonza and Reizenberger,the charterers, for a voyage to London, they first took on board 100 tons of stone ballast, and then commenced shipping the 320 tons of rosewood, when the captain called the men aft, and told them that they might go on shore for two days,or longer if they chose, as he intended t o emp l oy negroes to load the ship—a course most unusual, unless some of the crew were left behind. Each of the men received a sum of money from the cap tain that they might enjoy themselves. They did as they were told, and stopped two days and two nights on shore, when the captain came to them and told them to return to the ship, as she was loaded, and that the negroes had worked well. On getting on board they saw that the lower hold was filled up with the rosewood, and the 11,000 bundles of brush (brooms), the latter filling up the 'tween decks extending right forward to the mainmast. The 222 bags of coffee, with the 13 bundles of whalebone, were stowed aft, but they state positively there was no copper. They knew the quantity of coffee shipped by having seen it alongside the ship in lighters, and saw the remainder of the cargo go to the vessel in lighters from the shore, The ship left on 4th Novem ber, and the voyage proceeded favourably, having fine weather and smooth sea all the time. The vessel was pumped out every night, and did not make any more water than she did while in harbour. She was not over laden. When they had been out a short time the captain treated the men with liquor, and was frequently intoxicated. He offered the mate drink, but it was declined. The first thing that oocurred on board to attract their notice was the paint ing out of the ship's name on the stern, and also the re moval of the quarter-boards where the name was on. These were supposed to have been thrown overboard. The boats were also looked after once or twice, and supplied with masts and sails, two new sets of oars had been bought for them at Bahia. On the 18th of December, at 4 a.m., the ship was pumped out dry, as usual, but on sounding the well at eight o'clock by the captain's orders, three feet of water was found in the hold. The weather was fine, there was very little wind, and there was nothing to account for the sudden leak. The pumps were set going, and were continued at intervals during the day. Land was then in sight, but a long way off. At six in the evening the men were told to knock off pumping and go to their teas. The ship was steering her course. The captain then told them to get their clothes ready, as the ship was making water fast. One of the crew named Rtmel had previously heard the mate say that the captain had offered him £5O to assist in making away with the ship. When the ship commenced to leak, some of the hands went forward to the forepeak to look for the leak, but could net find it. While the pumping was going on the captain went into the cabin and told the cabin-boy to assist in putting his best clothes into a bag, and he gave him some loose silver for his trouble. The boatswain dined with the captain in the cabin that day ; the boatswain got intoxicated. The same afternoon the cabin-boy saw a quantity of gold in the mate's bed, and he asked the mate if he knew he had left it there. The mate replied 6 ' Yes." He said the old man had given it to him, meaning the captain. The gold was large pieces—doubloons. The captain carried a large quantity of money in his chest, and the cabin-boy believes that when he assisted the captain to pat his clothes into a bag he also put in the money. It was tied up in a shirt sleeve. The boy heard the captain tell the mate one day in the cabin that the cargo was insured in two places. Three or four hoars after the men had been pumping on the 18th the captain told them it was no use of their pumping, and that they had letter look after their clothes. The captain was drunk. The mate told the men to continue pumping. They understood then that the ship was not far off the Western Islands. They could only work one pump—the other one was useless. It had been out of order before leaving Bahia. On the morning of Dec. 19 the captain came on deck sober. After breakfast the long boat was got out, and water, provisions, and their clothes put in it. The mainsail had been hauled up, and the ship was then under the two topsails, main topgallan tsail, foresail, jib, and fo r 6 toPmast staysail. Before lowering down the quer terboat, the captain's clothes-bag, chronometer, quadrant, barometer, and some charts were put in, a nd also the logbook. Atter she was lowered from the davits the boatswain's clothes, were han an de d d do aasfshiheelaOythermen, o'clock when t eci. The weather w as fi ne, an d they with the provisions , alongside. It was about 11 had no fear for his'occurr the loss of their lives or their c l ot h es. Th e captain was dress e d and wore n gold watch in his wai s t coa t pocket a o id h e i r a o c i a l citd. ch il ai e n h o a n d . lie told the men to take t o th e boats, then a little the astern, and waited ord ers . T he captain port quarter, where the quarterboat, lay. He h e tr ato roll writing paper in his right hand, a n d i n h i s left he held oaf small paper package. It was not a box of any kind. The package was tied along lengthways, apparently with cotton twine, such as they had used for the repairing and making of the ship's sails; and the package had large red wax marks at each end of it. The captain then put his foot over the ship's side to get into the beat, and shifted the package end parcel into one hand, and, as he was descending, both parcels fell overboard. The package sank immediately. The roll D E' paper was picked up the moment they fell into the water. The captain called all the men by name, and said, " You see I have lost that small package." The captain then aban doned the vessel. They did not see the ship founder. W hen they left her some one said she had 10 feet of water in her hold, but none of them knew for certain. They lost sight of the ship about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. As long as they could see her she was up and off in the wind. At 8 o'clock the boats were close together, but after that they parted c omPanY. The mate's boat was picked up the next after noon by a vessel called the King of Tyrle, which conveyed them to St. Michael's, where they landed at 5 o'clock in the evening of the 21st. On the 23d the mate took his boat's crew to the Spanish Consul, where he made a protest of the ship's loss, and they signed it. The mate described the cargo sc as about 3uo or 400 bags of coff ee, rosewood, c. Nothing Wei said in it about the small package falling overboard. The other boat, containing the captain, boatswain, and Mi chael's rest St. of the cre w , reac h e d t h e w est end of the island of on the 23d, and on the following morning they em barked in a large fishing boat, which took them round to St. Michael's, where they landed, taking with them the captain's clothes, chronometer, and the rest of his pro- perty. The captain made also a protest before the consul. lie said the mate's protest was not correct, for, instead of 300 or 400 bags of entree, there were 3,000 or 4,t,C0. He als a declared that the packages that he let fall ovorboard con tained diamonds. The consul asked the men if they had seen the package fall overboard. They replie I they did, but they did not know that it contained diamon Is ; it was the first time they heard of diamonds being in the ship. The cabin-boy had seen the captain making up the paper pack age in the cabin, and sealing it with large patches of seal ing wax, but saw nothing else. The crew were sent to Lon don, where they reported themselves to the Peruvian Consul. Pending the examinationof the crew on the abandonment of the ship, the merchants and brokers in London who had effected Insurances at Lloyd's and other marine insurance bodies in the City, on the consignment as per the Maria's bi Is of lading, pressed for a settlement of their respective claims. On hearing the suspicions attached to the ship. ments they submitted the whole of the correspondence that had transpired between them and Messrs. Souza and Reizen berger, the shippers at Bahia. Unfortu na t e l y th ey h ad ac cepted the whole of the drafts which that firm had drawn on them, amounting nearly to the extent of the insurances that had been effected, £36,000. With the bills of lading sent to them and Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger, were several copies of the Bahia price c'lrrent —a printed paper evidently forwarded, as it were, to confirm the quantity of the Maria's cargo, as represented in the bills of lading. But on those copies of the price current undergoing a strict scrutinj , it was discovered that a figure of 3 had been printed, after the paper had been printed, before the 222 bags of coffee, in order to complete the fraud that there were 3,222 on board. The underwriters, on these discoveries, placed the whole affair into the hands of Lloyd's Salvage Association, for the strictest investigation, who at once despatched Captain Sceales, one of its officers, to Bahia. The officer, on his arrival there, put himself in communi cation with Mr. Morgan, her Britannic Majesty's Consul, who, it is understood, on account of the peculiar character of the fraud, the high position of the parties suspected at Bahia, and the difficulty of moving the Brazilian Govern ment in the matter, resorted to the expedient of publishing the affair in the Bahia newspapers, and on the 20th Feb. the Journal da Bahia contained the following : "THE BRITISH INSURANCE COMPANIES. "Mr. Editor,—lt has become my duty, in order to safe gnarl the interests of British underwriters, to request you will publish in your esteemed and accredited journal the documents herewith sent, Nos.: to 16. "Document No. 1 is a certificate of this Custom-house, showing the quantity of cargo legally despatched and shipped for the Peruvian barque Maria, on the 3d Noy. last, on a voyage from this port to that of London. "No. 2 is a copy of the manifest of said barque Maria, delivered by Messrs. Sousa, Reizenberger, and Co., to Messrs. Hoffmann, Laporte, and Co., agents for the Insur ance Company of Hamburg and Bremen. " By confronting these two manifests any one who knows the fiscal system of the country and the severity of its re gulations will at once perceive the object I have in view in coming to-day before the public. The Maria was lost off the Azores under very suspicious circumstances, under declara tions made and sworn to by her crew on their arrival in London. In the manifest delivered by Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger to Messrs Hoffman and Laporte is shown.the fabulous quantity of 4,722 bags of coffee shipped by them on board the Maria, and as mysteriously consigned by them to the following firms, on whom they also valued largely, namely :—To Messrs. Benoliel and Co., 400 bags; Messrs. Sieveking and Co., 3,222 bags; Messrs. D. Satow and Co., 1,100 bags—total, 4,722 bags. 66 0 n the other hand, the Custom-house manifest proves, without a doubt, that the quantity of coffee shipped on bow d the Maria did not exceed 222 bags, and that quantity did not belong to Souza and Reizenberger. This manifest also shows that the Maria was a vessel of large carrying capa city, and had already on board a legal cargo of 586 tons. In Sept. last she discharged at this port a cargo of 526 tons of coals, and on the previous voyage from this port to Ham burg she only took 451 tons of cargo. But in the account and manifest of Souza and Reizenberger the barque Maria must have loaded 769 tons of native produce, not including 1,100 bags of coffee consigned to Messrs. D. Satow and Co., which they dexterously omitted from their manifest, but which would have increased the cargo of the Maria, loaded from this port, to 829 tons. Upon the cargo, thus said to have been embarked in the Maria by Souza and Reizenber ger, insurance was effected in the London companies to the value of £16,100; in Bremen, to a further amount of £3,000 —total insured, £19,100. " The documents No. 3 to 16 are the correspondence which took place between Souza and Reizenberger and Messrs. D. Satow and Co. respecting the 1,000 bags of coffee. These gentlemen, on the refusal of the British underwriters to pay the amounts insured, that appeared to be little in confor mity to the capacity of the vessel, and the transaction of a suspicions character, hastened to furnish copies of this cor respondence, in order that the underwriters might make the use they thought proper to protect their rights thus assailed. "I refrain from saying one word on the shipment of the diamonds, and will finish this exposition of undeniablefacts by asking the commercial public of this city to value and take notice of them as they deserve ; and the Government of the country to weigh those circumstances as the morality and rectitude of the case demands. " JOHN MORGAN, Jun., H.B.M. Consul. 4 ' British Consulate, Bahia, Feb. 19, 1863." The next number of the same journal contained an answer from Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger, declaring that they were innocent of the allegations, and threatened the consul with law proceedings for defamation of character; that the cargo specified was actually on board the Maria, it having been smuggled on board to avoid the high export duty, 13 per cent. On the 22d the consul published a rejoinder to their ex- planations, as follows : " Mr. Editor,—The protest which Messrs. Souza and Rei zenberger publish in your journal of this day, against the publication of the documents which I presented to pub:ic ap preciation, may signify a desire to attenuate the impression which they necessarily produced in public opinion, but that protest never can!intend to be a compromise, nor the means whereby to destroy proved and inexcusable facts. Messrs. SOUZ A and Reizenberger ought not to consider themselves taken by surprise by that publication, for they well knew with antecedency that it was to take place. The British Consul does not undertake to contend with any one. Bound by his position, he did his duty. His exclusive aim was to protect the rights and interests of the British insurance companies. " It now remains for the honest commercial body of Bahia to wait and see how Messrs. S. and R. will nullify the value of the documents published—documents furnished by the Custom-house and other departments, and also by their own correspondence. And truly it is difficult to annihilate the fact of bills being drawn for value of imaginary coffees, said to be shipped by the Peruvian barque Maria. " When Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger shall have ful filled their compromise, the public will then be able to judge whether the British Consul took upon himself the sad and painful pleasure of wounding the „character of a fellow creature, or whether he performed a duty by exposing the truth. " J. blonG Av, jun., H.B.M. Consul. " British Consulate, Bahia, Feb. 21, 1863." On the morning of the 23d it transpired that Mr. Reizen berger had absconded. Although under the surveillance of the Bahia police, he contrived during the night to avoid their vigilance, and got on board of a United States whaler then in the bay, which sailed immediately after for New York. Previous to Reizenberger absconding the consul had insti gated the Customs authorities to prosecute, as the following correspondence will shew : " British Consulate, Bahia, Feb. 20, 1863. "Illustrious and Excellent Sir,—From the enclosed ex position, which I considered it my duty to publish in the Journal of Bahia of this day, your Excellency will perceive certain facts, not only scandalous in themselves, but also very suspicious, prejudicial to British underwriters. With the view of clearing up these matters, I beg on the present occasion to request your Excellency will be so good as to give me your opinion thereon, as well as to acquaint me what is the action the fiscal authorities intend to take in the matter. "I avail myself, &c., "J. MOBGAN, Jun., H.B.M. Consul. " Joaquim T. Carneiro do Campos, Inspector of Customs, Sce." To this the inspector replied as follows : " Custom House, Bahia, Feb. 26, 1863. good enough to address me "Sir, —It is only now that it was possible for me to reply to your letter which you m were anied by a Journal of Bahia, No. on the 20th inst., accompanied t other p documents published by you Reizenberger, and Co., in relating 7 the cargo of the Peruvian barque Maria, effected by Sou za , that vessel, of the cargo said London, another manifest o to where , th insurance of to be l oa d e d b y th e sa id Souza, Reizenberger, and Co., had appeared, and h a d b een presented to Hoffman, Laporte, and co., a gents for the Hamburg and Bremen Insurance Com pany, duly auth en ti cate d , f or t h e purpos es of insurance. I c ertainly saw w i t h surprise that t hi s second manifest showed a l arger cargo than that which was e mbarked and carried aw a y i n that vessel, of which the master and owner was M. J. Albers, and consignees Souza and Reizenberger. I immediately thereon solicited of Hoffmann Laporte en authenticated copy of that manifest, which being furnished to me I ordered a calculatio n to be made, at sight, of the true manifest, and of the legal despatches of the cargo existing in this department, all signed and approved by the aforesaid Captain Albers, of the amount of duties thus illegally subtracted, due on the cargo said to be embarked on board that vessel, which amounts to rs. 6,176,960. Consequently, as this department can only act administra tively, as it was not a case in jiagrante, I sent all the docu ments to the Public Prosecutor, with all the necessary information of the facts, as well as the confession of the parties to thefraud, in order that he (the Public Prosecutor) might in court prosecute them criminally, giving an account thereof to the Treasury, being the superior department. " I can also assure you that in all the hypotheses treated of, my opinion can never be favourable to those who neglect the paths of justice and honesty to promote their own nefa rious ends. "The Inspector, J. T. DE CAMPOS. " To H.B.M. Consul in this City, &c." While the above proceedings were pending at Bahia, Captain Albers, who, it appears had been stopping at Lis- THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY 14:,VILNING, APRIL 9, 1863. bon and Cardiff, presented himself at his agents in London got. Witness told him she had been tried, convicted, and for the amount of insurance, £407, which had been effected -sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment with hard labour, in his name on certain bags of copper in the Maria's bill of and he then asked him (witness) if he had a newspaper con lading, and a further sum of £B6O which had been done on taining the report of her case. Witness told him he had not, the freight. He expressed great surprise on finding his upon which the prisoner produced the pieces of newspaper, claim disputed, and demanded an explanation. He was in- and said accounts given of him in the papers wer enot quite troduced to Mr. Harper, the secretary of Lloyd's Salvage true. It was stated, he said, that he had drank Mrs. Levy's Association, and accounted for the discrepancies in the bills port and sherry, but this was not true, for he scarcely, if of lading and the Bahia price current, by pertinaciously ever, drank any wine. Again, it was stated that he had declaring that the bulk of the cargo had been smuggled on dined off a turkey at the house of Mrs. Levy on Christmas board to save the export duty. On being informed that this day, at the expense of that lady, and this was equally un could not be, that the crew had declared there was no copper true, as he bought the turkey he dined off himself. In re whatever on board, he answered that they were telling a ference to the £5 note, which it was alleged he had falsehood, and accounted for the abandonment of the ship changed in the Borough, he said Newton gave him a £5 by stating that they had had bad weather. When asked to note at the garden-gate. three days before she went away, produce his logbook he said it had been lost in the ship, but as she owed him £2 at the time, and that note he changed when pressed on this point he prevaricated, and at length in the Borough, and where he changed it he should recol admitted he had got it, or some of the leaves. He then left last. Witness told him that he had been informed by the in order to produce the leaves of the log, but it is needless to young woman Newton, that the prisoner bad half the pro say he did not return. His manoeuvres, however, were party she stole from her mistress, but this he said was un closely watched by detective officers, and measures were true, as £5 was all he had from her. He said that he taken for prosecuting him for attempted fraud, at the Man- had frequently been to the house of Mrs. Levy, to pray for sion-house, but as the Court ruled that no offence had been and with that lady for her future happiness—(loud laugh committed against the English laws, no proceedings were ter, in which Mrs. Levy joined and shook her head in dis taken. Captain Albers, however, soon quitted London for sent). On their way to town the prisoner acknowledged Hamburg, where £1,700 of the coffee had been insured in that he had accompanied Newton to the station on the his name, and there waited on the underwriters for his morning of the 21st of February, when she left the house of claim, who immediately handed him into the custody of the her mistress, and had also visited her whilst she was in the authorities of Hamburg on the twofold charge of wilfully country, but while there they lodged at different houses. scuttling his ship, and fraud. The crew of the Maria, who On their way to the railway station to this court, the pri • were in London, were telegraphed for, and they have since sonar asked his opinion as to what he should do, whether he arrived ; and upon their evidence, and the false bills of should not plead guilty to the receiving, as he was not lading, Captain Albers was fully committed for trial. guilty of the stealing or receiving with a guilty knowledge; In Captain Albers's possession, when apprehended, was and his (Martin's) reply was, that at his age and from his found a memorandum, or form of letter, carefully drawn up, experience he must have sufficient judgment to form an in order to assist him in imposing upon the credulity of the opinion f or hi mse lf, a nd that he (Martin) should give none. underwriters at Hamburg. We had prepared an extract to William T ras t, o f 7, New Bridge-street, Vauxhall, coffee append to these details, but to-day we were put in posses- house keeper, said the prisoner used to lodge at his house, ion of a letter addressed to Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger, and that three or four weeks ago he changed a£s note for from Captain Albers, at Antwerp, which appears to have him. The prisoner left his houseon the 16th of last month been intercepted by the authorities at Bahia. It is an exact without giving any previous notice, leaving his boxes copy of the form alluded to, and runs as follows : there. " Antwerp, Feb. 5. " Dear due time, in the month of October, as is known to you, I leit Bahia with my vessel, the Maria, with a cargo of coffee, for London, the port of my destination. Unfortunately I have lost my vessel, she having sunk, without my being able to save any papers, documents, or effects—anything but my bare life. I had on board of the vessel, for my own account, 1,700 bags of coffee, which were declared before you, and subsequently registered in your archives. The value of the same I caused to be inferred in Hamburgh through Mr. Augustus Bolton. Now, as I was also unfortunate enough not to save any of the documents either out of the vessel, the underwriters, by reason of the same, refuse to account to me for the value, I therefore now wish to humbly beg you to be good enough to issue a Peruvian consular attestation, setting forth that I declared before you what is registered in your archives, namely that I had, besides the cargo belonging to others, shipped and included the said 1,700 bags of coffee on my own account. This extract, in order to be valid in Hamburg, nust be lega lised by the Hamburg consul, Solely upon this will the underwriters pay, I therefore beg you to promptly send the same, with the note of your expenses, which I will will ingly reimburse you in, to —, shipbrokers, Hamburg. I am at present in Antwerp.—Thanking you in anticipation, your servant greets you, " M. ALBERS. " Mr. Eustides Jno, de Souza, Peruvian Consul, Bahia." From our letters respecting the firm of Souza and Reizen berger, dated Bahia, March 14, it appears that the misery they have produced in that city by their fraudulent act was b3yond description. Reizenberger, before he absconded, cleared out of a social chest some 20,000 dole. in paper, m hick he exchanged in Pernambuco for gold. He also received £3,500 in gold from a house, value of coffee shipped in the Trifolium, which he had not paid for, saddling a poor merchant in Bahia with the amount, who is ruined in con sequence. Reizenberger's partner Souza has been arrested by the Government, and is to be prosecuted for fraud. He declared he was ruined by Reizenberger, who had destroyed the leaves of the firm's books, and he had no means of jus tifying himself. He was refused bail. Blame is attached to the authorities for allowing the principal criminal to escape, This being all the evidence at present, and the prisoner declining to put any questions to the witnesses, or offering anything in defeace, observing that he should first prefer having legal assistance, he was remanded to a future day. The prisoner, who gave his age at 52, but who appears 10 years older, was then removed; but, on his application, Mr. Elliott cor sented to take two sureties, in 100 each, for his appearance. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TIMES.—The speech of the Solicitor-General on the subject of the escape of the Alabama from Liver pool' was so eminently saccessful in the assembly to which it was addressed that, for a time at least, it put to silence the clamours of a small and active party who, following their usual instinct, have set themselves to discover that the great mass of their countrymen are wrong in theory, lax in practice, and instigated by motives the most sordid and feel ings the must reprehensible, because it has been the pleasure of the press of the United States repeatedly to stigmatise the Alabama as a British pirate, to threaten all sorts of reprisals, and to denounce ex emplary vengeance against us for the loss inflicted on their trade. These persons were for a while con vinced that we had flagrantly violated the law of nations and broken through our neutrality, and after all our sacrifices and fair professions had at last openly sided with the South. Then it was said that we had wilfully an d deliberately conn i ved at the infraction of our laws, and suspended our interfer ence till we w e ll k new it was too late. To this class of declaimer s an d murmurers the speech of S i r Roundell Palmer was a very serious calamity. It absolutely and for ever demolished the whole super structure which the men who think that they can not be friendly to America without being hostile to England have so laboriously built up. The accom • plished lawyer had no difficulty in showing—and that not by English, but by American authorities, and by no authority so conclusively as that of Mr. Seward himself—that the selling of contraband of war to either party in the struggle by private Eng lish citizens was no breach of the neutrality of Eng land, nor any offence against her municipal law. Then it was made equally clear that England was not involved in any breach of neutrality, even though private citizens, contrary to her municipal law, should built or fit out ships for the use of either belligerent. Finally Sir Roundel' Palmer showed that the delay in producing proofs of the real character of the Alabama was due, not to the English Government, but to the American Minister and that the case was advised on quite as speedily as was consistent with its importance by the law officers of the Crown. We should have thought that in England at least, this controversy was for ever laid at rest, and that the most sceptical must have been convinced that nothing had been done against which America had any right to remonstrate, or of which any English subject had a right to complain. But we find that a meeting has been held iu Man chester' not, indeed, a tt en d e d b y persons of any political mark, nor by a single member of a Parlia ment, but amply compensating in violence of lea guage for what it might want in weight or impor tance, for the purpose of petitioning the House of Commons with reference to the case of the Alabama. Something was, indeed, said about the duty of neu trality which devolved upon England, but the lan guage which found most acceptance was the denun ciation of the " felonious and traitorous conspiracy which now rules the so-called Confederate States." The petition which this meeting is about to trans mit to the House of Commons is a curiosity of its kind. It calls the attention of the House of Com mons to the building of ships for the " rebel slave holders' Confederacy," to be used against the Go vernment of the United States, with which this country is in friendly relation. Having given this sample of their qualification for advising the Legis lature of a neutral nation, the petitioners proceed to show how well they are qualified for the customs of a constitutional country by commenting, in flagrant violation of the laws of Parliament, on words need in debate by one o f its members,—an irregularity which mu s t, we presume , p revent t h e acceptance of the petiti on. The pet i t i oners press urgently on the House of C ommons the necessity of calling on the Governme nt t o d eta i n , an d pr even t f rom l eav i ng th e country, certain v es sels which they believe to be now buildi ng f or t h e Southern St a t es un til th e present s t ruggle in the U n it e d S ta t es b e term i nated. They do not ask, as it would seem, that the law should be put in force, but rather that the Govern ment should act at once, not troubling itself to wait for evidence, whi c h might, as in the case of the Alabama, lead to delays unfavourable to the stop page of the vessels. The petition calls attention to the fact that the Alabama had on board trained gunners belonging to the Naval Reserve, and ex presses the regret of the petitioners that no prose cution has followed these acts. As if this was not enough, they express the gravest apprehension of the irritation produced in America; they believe I that the peaceful relations between the two coun tries are seriously jeopardised, and that we are drifting into a war fatal to our commerce and to our supplies of f oo d, w hi c h w ould plac e th e m illi ons i n sullen oppo s iti on t o t h e Government an d s y m p a th y with the enemy, involve the loss of our colonies, endanger our institutions and the integrity of the United Ki ngdom itself. Th ey, t h erefore, beg the House of C ommons to i n t erpose i ts authority in order to p revent any more ships leaving England for the use of the Confederate States. We have set forth this petition at a length very disproportionate to its merits, in order to afford our readers on both sides of the Atlantic a specimen of what are not the sentiments of the English people, so far as we are able to gather them, with regard to American affairs. There is hardly a word in the document which we have set forth which is not most repug nant to the feelings of the great mass of the people of this country. There is not the slightest wish to speak disrespectfully or act unfairly towards the North, but neither is there any disposition to em ploy or to approve the use of insulting language towards the South. So far from regarding the cause of secession as vile and infamous, we have freely ex tended our admiration to the unity, the constancy, the courage, and self-denial with which the affairs of the South are conducted. We refuse to identify the objects of the war of invasion and subjugation carried on by the North with the emancipation of the Negro, and view, in the proposal to break the bonds of a race which they will not suffer to tread the same earth or breathe the same air with them selves, nothing but an attempt to remedy the in humanity involved in the slavery of the blacks by the still more dreadful inhumanity of massacre and extermination. W© wish that our law should be respected, and that whenever sufficient evidence shall be produced on oath, not by way of hearsay, but of direct an d pr i mary testimony, the law should take its co urse . But as we would never tolerate that which is e very day practised in America in our Government ; as We would never endure that, for the sake of s ome i magined convenience, expediency, or necessity, our Government should take upon itself to disp ense with one jot or one tittle of the law which i s our birthright ; so, least of all, would we desi re this of the Foreign Enlistment Act. The law has prohibited certain things, but it has not made them wrongto be done in the case see why the selling of ships to belligerents in themselves, nor are we able to by the subjects of neutral States should be prohibited by the municipal law. It seems unwise to enact further restraints on our natural liberty than the law o f nat i ons has imposed, and thus to give foreign St ates and their adherents a claim to interfere in the m anagement of our domestic affairs. But, be this as it may, we cannot too strongly con demn the attempt to u rge our G overn m en t int o a violent and unconsti tutional course by the threat of a foreign war, of the disaffection of millions of its subjects, and of their sympathy with the cause of Serious Charge against a Baptist Minister, is Yesterday the Rev. T.Wicherley, a Baptist minister, who had been brought up from Whitchurch, in Shropshire, on a warrant, was placed at the bar of the Lambeth Police court, before Mr. Elliott, on a charge of feloniously receiv ing eight shirts and other articles, of the value of £5O, the property of Mrs. S. Levy, a widow lady, residing at No. 7, Stockwell place, Stockwell, Surrey. The first witness called was Mrs. Sophia Levy, the pro secutrix, who said that for four years, and up to the 21st of February last, a young woman, named . Mary Ann New ton had been in her service, and up to that time and for some weeks after she had placed the most implicit confi dence in her honesty. A. few days before the time she mentioned Newton represented that she had received in telligence from the country that her mother was in a dan gerous, in fact in a dying state, and asked permission to go to see her. This permission she granted, and Newton wished to start at five o'clock in the morning, saying that her uncle was going to accompany her, but witness objected to her going at such a time and before she was up. The young woman, however, persisted in starting at the for • mer time, repeating that her uncle was going with her, and witness consented. Newton accordingly left her resi dence at five o'clock on the morning of the 21st of Feb ruary, and she did not afterwards return, nor did she (witness) hear from nor see her again until the 18th of March, when she was standing at the bar of this court, on her own confession of having robbed her to a con siderable extent. On the 14th of March she (witness) missed from a drawer in her bed-room two £lO and six £5 Bank of England notes and articles of jewellery, amount ing in value to £7O or ao, and the drawer in which this property was kept was always locked, and the key always kept in her own (witness's) possession. On the day she saw the young woman Newton at this court the prisoner called on her and said it had been his intention to have given Newton into custody, but she had given herself up; Mr. Elliott--A constable called on you the same day to say that Newton had given herself up ; which, called first, the prisoner or the officer ? Witness —The prisoner, sir. Had the prisoner called on you before that day F—Yes, sir, on the Monday before, when he said Newton was a great liar; and I then charged him with being concerned with her in robbing me. What was your reason for thinking so P—Because at that time I had ascertained that he constantly came I o my house without my knowledge, and that he used often to be in my kitchen enjoying himself and drinking my wine—(laughter) —my port and sherry. (Renewed laughter.) Did the prisoner at that time say anything about receiv ing anything from the young woman Newton F—Yes, he said he changed one note he received from Newton in the Borough, but refused to say where or whether it was a £5 or £lO note. Did this latter conversation take place on the Monday or Wednesday ?—I now recollect it was on the Wednesday, for when he told me about changing the note, I said I thought it was time for me to send for a constable, and he at once left my house, and I have not seen him from that time to the present. Had the prisoner been in the habit of visiting your house, with your knowledge, before the time you have spoken of ?—I recollect his doing so once, when my servant told me that it was usual for persons attending the Baptist place of worship to ask the minister to come to pray, and as she was a constant attendant at the chapel of the prisoner at Clapham-rise she asked me if she might ask prisoner to my house, as he prayed beautifully. (Laughter,) At the time I had no suspicion that there was anything wrong, and therefore did not object to his coming. He accordingly came and prayed in my drawing-room. I was not aware, as I said before, of his constantly visiting my house with out my knowledge, and my slippers being ready for him when he came there. In conclusion, the witness said that from the examination of the prisoner Newton at this court, and information given by her to the officer, she (witness) examined a certain drawer she named, and there found duplicates for part of her property pledged, and a bunch of keys she had never before seen, which opened every lock in the house. Since that time she had missed several shirts belonging to her late husband, and the one produced she had seen in a box belonging to the prisoner, at his late lodging, on Monday last. Serjeant O'Dell, 18 L, said that on Wednesday, the 18th of last month, he was on duty at the station-house in Kennington-lane, adjoining the curt, at about eleven o'clock, when the prisoner and the young woman Newton came there. The prisoner, addressing the inspector, said, " I have got a young lady here who wishes to give herself up for robbing her mistress." The inspector asked him for his name and address, which he gave, and also the name and address of the mistress, and this he also gave, and left the station saying he should go and fetch Mrs. Levy, the mistress. During his absence Newton gave herself up on her voluntary confession, and on his return, in about three hours, he said Mrs. Levy was coming. He then asked to have some conversation with Newton. Witness told him he !could not do so then, and that what he had to commu nicate must be done in his presence and hearing. The prisoner Newton at the time observed that anything he had to say to her to say it then, and that she did not want to say anything to him. The prisoner declined saying any thing, but wont away, and though he (witness) had been his chapel, and several other places in search o t o f his hi to l , o dg he in h g a s c i not seen him from that time until that morning. Police-constable Henry Martin, 63 L, deposed that on Monday last he accompanied the prosecutrix to the late , lodgin g o f t h e pr i soner, at a co ffee-shop in Bridge-street, Vauxhall, an d t h ere found in a box belonging to him, a shirt, whi c h Mrs. Levy identified as one b e l ong i ng t o h er late husb an d. On Monday night he , y a widowcie n r n : e t e d la , alidny , Whit church, in Shropshire, and there apprehended the prisoner named Mary Ann Newton, ,on a warrant granted by hisworship. He told him the notes a g proceeded to charge was for being eon with a young woman, £5O, and other property amounting to g ab o out a like sum, the property of M rs , L e, Surrey. He denied the charge, but anxiously inquired if Newton had been convicted, and of at thest Stockwell, w u value 1 0 .1, f what punishment she had,, the enemy. Such language is a libel on the patriot ism and the courage of the British nation. We ear nestly desire to remain at peace with the United States—how earnestly, we have shown only too well by our constant advocacy of a strictly neutral atti tude, by the calmness with which we have met every species of slander and vituperation, by the patience with which we have endured the want of cotton, from which a month of war would have effectually delivered us, and by our refusal of recognition, in tervention, or mediation. But if war must come— and nothing is so likely to produce it as such at tempts to give countenance to the assertions of the American papers that there is really a sympathy in England for the barbarous policy of a sham eman cipation under servile war—we shall, we trust, be found realy to meet it, not undervaluing its perils or its losses, but certainly not the least afraid of finding traitors at home who pray for the success of the enemy and the ruin of their own country. The almost invisible minority who hold this lan guage have no feeling in common with the English nation. We desire to enjoy our liberties, and for that purpose to live under the rule of law. We do not wish to see a return to ex officio prosecutions for violations of a statute which it is open to any one who pleases to enforce, and while we abhor the slavish timidity which would call upon Government to abridge liberty at home in order to conciliate animosity abroad, we are firmly convinced that as no law has been strong enough to put down smug gling when a large profit is left on the transaction, so the Northern States must provide themselves with some better defence than our Foreign Enlist ment Act and their own inefficient navy if they wish to arrest the depredations and confound the enterprise of the Confederate States. HERALD.—The Polic. insurrection has now done for Poland all that it could do. It has failed to effect its purpose, but its achievements have not been small. This time the heroism of her sons will not be fruitless for Poland. They struggled to realise a dream, but they have not the less gained some solid successes. They have proved to Russia that, although they cannot throw off her yoke, they can, and will, make her rule infinitely more costly than profitable, that her sovereignty shall be con stant burden and a shame to her, until she loyally fulfils her solemn pledges and respects their na tionality and religion; and they have committed Europe afresh to the guardianship of their rights, which she undertook in 1815, and shuffled out of in 1831. They can do no more. If they carry on the struggle, they cause at the best a wanton sacrifice of life, and they may lose all the advantages which they have gained. The most sanguine amongst them cannot now believe that they have the slightest hope of carrying out their great programme; their oniy hope can be that the continuance of the struggle may extort concessions from Russia or bring the armies of Western Europe to their aid. But Russia is ready now to make all the conces sions that she can make. She will never be in a better disposition to do them justice. The Czar has, we believe, always been anxious to fulfil his obliga tions to Poland. Ho may well have scrupled to undertake that difficult task whilst still engaged upon his great scheme of social reorganisation. But the public opinion of Europe has reached him. The appeals and remonstrances of the Great Powers, the conviction of the impossibility of giving his empire internal peace until Poland is satisfied,have all had their due effect; and it may be confidently asserted that if the insurgents were to at once lay down their arms that step would be followed by an amnesty and a constitution assuring Poland a large measure of autonomy. The language of his Minis ter to the Western Powers commits him beyond all escape to such measures, and those Powers would treat any evasion of these assurances as a breach of good faith which they would soon take care to punisb,and could punish very well without recourse to war. But no such attempt at evasion need be feared if at this moment the Russian Government should be placed in the position to act justly towards Po land. So long as the insurrection lasts it cannot do that justice, and it is to be feared that if the Poles persist some months longer in their now vain fight it will not be disposed to do justice when the oppor tunity does come. The spirit of the Russian people is rising too. If, after some months, the struggle terminates by the destruction or expulsion from Po land of all the men who have taken part in the fight, men who have stayed to wreak their vengeance on the enemy long after all hope of defeating him had passed, the consciousness of a complete triumph, anger at the obstinacy with which the fight has been fought, will get the upper hand in the minds of the Emperor and his councillors. The sympathy of Europe will as usual have exhausted itself; some other object will have attracted the general inte rest ; and although the Governments will still urge counsels of mercy and justice, their action will not be halt so efficacious as when it was but the expres sion of the universal feeling. Indeed, granted the hopelessness of the struggle (and no one can doubt it), the persistence in it is in every s:nse dangerous and ruinous to Poland. We know how the Rus sian soldiers make war—at least we may take the description which the Poles give. If ruin and de solation accompany every Russian colonic, what must be the condition of the larger part of Poland if this fight is to be fought on some months, and small bands are to wage in every province that par tisan warfare that the Russians, like the Piedmon tese, deem it best to meet by destroying every build ing which can afford shelter and every substance that gives nutriment to a human being. So long as Langiewicz held his own, and it seemed possible for the one Polish army to maintain itself, it was perhaps excusable to hope, in spite of all reason to the contrary, that Poland might establish her in dependence. Now there is not the slightest pretext for such a self-deception, except indeed in the delu sion that if the war only lasts France will rush into it, and England will follow her as a sort of drag chain. The notion that France would go to war on behalf of Polish independence betrays a gross ignorance of the character of the Emperor, the position of France, and the condition of Europe generally. France has strong and warm sympathies with Poland, but the French Emperor and the bulk of the intelligent classes know well the difficulty it not impossibility of displaying those sympathies by war. Even in the war with Russia, when France and England were combined, they made no attempt to strike Russia through Poland, and the reason was that they thoroughly appreciated the immense dif ficulty of such an operation. The difficulty would be as great now, whilst the justification of such a step is quite wanting. France cannot go to war to enforce the fulfilment of those treaties of 1815 which she has herself torn up, and she cannot go to war from mere sympathy with a gallant struggle which she knows could under no circumstances be success ful. France does not believe herself capable, and if she believed herself capable she would not be mad enough to make the effort of conquering Russia, Austria, and Germany, and that is what she must do if the war is to be one for the independence of Poland. It was a comparatively easy thing to help Italy to her liberation. The battlefield was near; what little strange ground her armies had to cross to reach it belonged to the friends she went to help —but even then the Emperor eta! ed before he ac complished the task he had set himself. If it has been his mission to raise France again to the fore most place upon the Continent, and to gratify the pride of herpeople in their country's fame and power, it has been even more his work to develop the na tional resources and endow the land with all the benefits which flow from the steady culture of the arts of peace. War for Poland would mean per haps victory for France, but certainly destruction of all the progress which she has made under the Empire. The Emperor sympathises with Poland, and has laboured to help her. He has attempted to obtain the co-operation of England and Austria to a common intervention in St. Petersburg. Whether or not England, France, and Austria act together, li it is pretty certain that they are agreed as to the concessions they would ask for Poland. England may take her stand upon the treaties of Vienna. France and Austria may base their intervention upon other grounds, but all three have asked, and will ask again in substance the same thing—the autonomy of Con gress Poland and the recognition by Russia of the Polish nationality in all those parts of her domi nions in which it embraces a considerable portion of the inhabitants. There can, we repeat, be no doubt that Russia would give what they ask if the insurgents should have the wisdom to abandon at once the hopeless struggle. Should they do so, and their surrender be followed by these concessions, Europe will be bound to see that they are honestly acted up to; and her supervision, and the growing dependence o f R uss i a upon the West, the changes taking place in her own political and social organism, furnish good guarantees for the gradual attainment by the Poles, if they have but the political wisdom to build up a fabric of liberty—not, indeed, of the independence which died for ever in 1795, but of the great civil and religious liberties to which national independence can only be regarded as a means. In their last struggle the Poles began with armies, and sustained a long time an undecided fight. Beaten at last, they were crushed, as it seemed for ever, every rag of liberty was taken from them. In this engagement they began without arms, they had but one army, and that a small and ill-disciplined one—the struggle has lasted but a few weeks; but if it ends to-morrow its issue will be the restoration of the liberties they lost in 1831. The contrast speaks trumpet-tongued for the progress which the warld has made in the space of one generation. POST.—Although the intelligence which d a il y reaches us respecting the progress of the Polish in surrection ceases to excite thesame amountof interest as at the outbreak of the revolt, it would be incorrect to suppose that the efforts of the insurgents are gradually becoming weaker. An insurrection in Poland in its commencement naturally took us by surprise, and we looked forward with anxiety to the rest:lit of an extremely unequal strug g le. We i expected that h the cours e o f a compa ratively short time the authority of the Russian Govern ment would be once more vindicated. ; and looked from day to day for the official announcement that order reigned in Poland. But when days grew into weeks and weeks into months; when a few isolated bands of unorganised despairing men developed themselves into formidable bodies of armed soldiers ; and when provinces whose area exceeded thousands of square miles boldly threw off allegiance to the Czar, we saw that Poland had drifted into a civil war the duration of which would be extremely un certain. That war still rages, and, judging from the accounts which reach us, in the majority of the encounters between the insurgents and the imperial troops the former are successful. Such succ esses , however, may produce but little, if any, material advantages, as, owing to the preponderating force opposed to them. every loss which fails upon th e insurgents must tell heavily against t em. We have not lost our interest in the issue which is at stake, no more than we have in the ultimate result of the American civil war; but we are becoming habituated in the one case as in the other, to the details which constantly reach us of the varying fortunes of a contest carried on in a country of which even the best informed amongst us know comparatively little. The loss of Langiewicz has evidently not exercised insurrection. This visible e ff e ct u p on th e course of the This is not only manifested by the fact of engage ments between the Russians and the Poles being of almost daily occurrence in nearly every province of Russian P o l an d, b u t by th e at t em pt s which have been made ty the authorities to give a false colour ing to the eff ec t p ro d uce d by th e fl ig ht o f th e Dic tator. It is now ascertained that the reports so diligently circulated by the Russian Government— that the Revol u ti onar y C omm itt ee h a d advised the insurgents to lay down their arms—were false. It struck us at the time as being extremely improbable that the mere loss of a single individual should have exercised so depressing an influence on the large numbers of Poles who had taken part in the revolt that their leaders should thereupon counsel no further resistance. This useless attempt to de ceive the Polish people shows, however, to what expedients the Russian Government has been driven in the hope of speedily re-esta blishing its authority in the disaffected provinces. The necessity for diplomati c intervention on the part of the European Powers, at the Court of St. Petersburg, in favour of Poland, has consequently not been modified by recent events. It is now some time since we apprised our readers that her Majesty's Government would address a note to the Russian Cabinet on this subject, and that a similar course would probably be taken by France and Austria. We also referred to the tenor of these notes. The sole object which the European Powers could have would be the regulation of his Polish dominions by the Czar under such a system as would prevent these frequent disturbances of the general peace. Our Government, we pointed out, would refrain from demanding from the Emperor of Russia the adoption of a particular line of policy; but, rather can tenting itself with pointing out the necessity of reforming the government of Poland, would leave to the Czar the choice of such means as he considered adapted to that end. In the columns of a French contemporary we see an announcement that notes couched in a similar style have been transmitted to St. P eters b urg by the Cabinets of Paris and Vienna. Remonstrances proceeding from the three great P owers cannot but influence the Russian Government, nor can any umbrage be taken by the latter at this course. Though in unison in their sentiments, England, F rance, and Austria have wisely abstained fr om a dd ressing a joint note to Russia, as such a step m i g h t h ave given rise to a suspicion of intimidation It will be the more satis factory to learn that the Court at Vienna has inter posed in behalf of Poland, because some apprehension was entertained lest, in the presence of the difficulty of prescribing what ought to be the exact duty of Russia, Austria might have declin e d t o ta k e part in the intervention. This difficulty, however, is more imaginary than real. What to one Power may seem a constitutional form of Government may to another seem little less than a despotism ; but no doubt whatever can be entertained respecting the means by which tranquillity can be restored to Poland. With the interpretations of the stipula tions of the Treaty of Vienna the European Powers need not care to trouble themselves, since their in tervention is not based on any intention to secure respect for a compact which has for a long series of years been systematically violated. It may be that the Treaty of 1815 speaks of "constitutional institu tions regulated according to the mode of existence which each of the respective Governments should think fit to accord to their Polish subjects," Re garded from this point of view, the partitioning Poevers would each estimate " constitutional insti tutions" by its own standard, and Russia would doubtless m.intain that she had religiously observed her engagement. A discussion on thi s po i nt will not, however, arise, since what is expected from Russia is, not to give to Poland this or that form of government, but to give such a one as will prevent that kingdom continuing constantly in a state either of chrcnic or of active insurreciion. It is so clearly the policy of Russia to avoid adopting anything even distantly approaching a constitutional form of government in any portion of her dominions that it is not astonishing that the redress sought for by the Poles has been so long withhe,d. An empire of such extraordinary im mens i ty as that of Russia, and inhabited by a semi-civilised race, can only preserve its integrity under a despotic Government. Intro duce civilisation and an acquaintance with consti tutional rights to the Russian nation, and no one for a moment supposes that the imperial ukases would be submitted to without a murmur from the Baltic to the Pacific. No one, we believe, is more anxious than the present Czar to introduce reforms into the Government both of Russia and of Poland; but he is terrified, and not unreasonably, by the possible consequences. If he creates a constitu tional State on the borders of Russia, he knows well that the stream cf constitutionalism will not be checked by the imaginary line which will constitute the frontier of the constitutional State. Lord Pal merston truly observed in a recent debate in the House of Commons, "It is a great misfortune to suc ceed to the inherit ance o f a triumphant wrong. " The partition of Poland was a crime, the consequences of which have never ceased to pr ess upon those who participated in it. Th e possession of Poland places Russia in the mo s t perplexing of dilemmas. The experiment of ruling P o l an d b y means of a despotism has been tried and h as f a il e d . To give her a consti tution, and at th e same time still claim her alle giance, may be fraught with considerable danger to the maintenance of the existin g government in the adjoining provinces of Russia proper. Might it not be worth the while of Russia to consider whether she would not gain more by abandoning a useless possession, and, by granting to Poland perfect inde pendence, prevent any heartburnings which might be occasioned by granting t o some of her subjects privileges which were denied to others ? THE GREAT EASTERN. It was expected from the progress made with the repairs necessary to the great ship that she would have been floated off at the last spring tides, the largest of which was on Monday, and in the firm belief of this the vessel was advertised to sail for New York on the 18th inst. A very unexpected circumstance has for the present frustrated this in tention. The strong westerly gale which Prevailed on Sunday at the time of high water caused the Great Eastern to float, and she moved about four feet from the position she had previously occupied on the temporary gridiron, This carried her away from the excavation which had been made to enable the workmen to effect the necessary repairs on the lower portion of her hull, and although only a few rivets required to be put in these cannot be fixed until a new excavation is made under that portion of the ship's bottom to enable, the mechanics to get at them. The proceedings necessary to effect this are being rapidly and spiritedly carried out. The ship did not sustain the slightest injury by having been thus prematurely floated and shifted from her position. The only inconvenience occasioned by it is the additional cost of the new excavations and the delay in effecting the repairs —the completion p of a single line of n ew pl a ti ng on the out skin upwards of ds the ship. The level of the beachi ng p l ace isw of consequently t plenty of water to float the ship at any spring tide. It is therefore confidently expected that she will be floatel off on the 17th or 18tn inst. The company will not now fix the day for the departure of the "great ship" until the com pletion of the repairs is placed beyond doubt. 41...M•M0n5., THE BRIGHTON VOLUNTEER REVIEW.—Tbe following accidents, which occurred at the review on Mon day, were reported to Colonel M'Murdo, the Inspector- General, besides several other minor casualties :-1. Cor poral Harding, fracture of the left thigh bone, caused by falling on his rifle. 2 Corporal Cox, severe burns of the head, face, neck, and hand, caused by the explosion of the waste cartridges. Both were members of the London Irish corps. [ADVERTISEMENT.3-11olloway ' s Ointment and Pills,— Lives Saved.—Not a day ;passes without new cases of cure being brought to the knowledge of the discoverer of these peerless rem.- dies. For ulcers, sores, burns, skin diseases, and similar maladies, the insufficiency of ordinary applica tions is admitted by all, but none thus afflicted have been disappointed in their expectations when a fair trial has been given to Holloway's Ointment and Pills. The pain and swelling usually attending this class of ailments will dimi nishdaily under this cooling and soothing unguent, and the purifying powers of the Pills will rid the system of every thing which is obnoxious and so give full play to the heal ing properties of this matchless Ointment, IRONMASTERS' QUARTERLY MEETING. WOLVERHAMPTON, Wednesday Evening. The quarterly assemblies of the iroianasters of this district commenced in this town this afternoon. The attendaLce was only moderate, especially so as regards consumers, or those who are connected with the export trade. Not much disposition was manifested to do business, and the transactions were on so moderate a scale that it was gene rally considered a flat qu'irter-day. It is most likely, however, that inzreased animation will be displayed at the Birmingham meeting. Unless such is the case the second-class firms will find it difficult to obtain as good prices as they did during the last quarter, The principal makers are toler ably well supplied with orders. So far as they are concerned the trade scale of prices is strictly ad hered to, The inquiries for pig iron to-day were only mode rate, and that branch of the trade is not in nearly so satisfactory a state as could be desired. For some time past the prices obtained for gold mine "pig" of Staffordshire has been barely remunerative to the producer, who has now to contend with a further difficulty in the shape of an increasing tendency to advance in the price of native ores, which are be coming so scarce as to very much imperil the pros perity of the trade. Even now the pig-masters who do not raise their own "mine" are doing but poorly, and they have to encounter a competition which is daily increasing with North Staffordshire, the Forest of Dean, and the makers in the Cleve land districts. These have advantages which South Staffordshire does not now possess, and the only chance which the district has of maintaining its position so far as relates to the make of pig iron is by producing only that fine quality which gained for it the supremacy it has enjoyed. The number of furnaces in blast is about the same as it was three months ago, and last quarter-day prices are asked for the best hot-blast iron. For cinder pig there is little material demand. A topic discussed at the meeting to-day was the notices which the paddlers have given for an ad vance of wages ; some of these expired last Satur day, and the men have been making holiday since, the masters having refused to accede to the demand made upon them ; in fact, they are not in a position to do so, inasmuch as the wages scale is higher now than in former years in comparison with the price of finished iron. There is no probability that the men will stand out when they see what the deter mination of their employees really is. It is the custom to select a holiday time as the period when notices for an advance of wages may expire, so that there may be an excuse for a few extra days' "play.' On this occasion it may go over to the end of the week, but by next Monday or Tuesday it is most likely that all the men will have gone in again at the old prices. The great meeting of the trade will take place in the Town•hall at Birminghom on Thursday. COUNTRY MARKETS. ~- J' NEWARK-WEDNESDAY. About the usual quantity of wheat offered to• day, and prices generally the same as last week. Barley was slow, and in favour of the buyer. Oats unchanged. Beans scarce, and at extreme quotations. White wheat new, &Os to 66s Barley, grinding.. 27s to 30s Red do 43s to 48s Oats, old, .. 26s to 29s Old white ........ 50s to 56s New do 22s to 275 Red do 43s to 48s Beans. 42s to 45s i Barley, malting 37 s t o 41s Beans, new.. 35s to 390 Peas, .... 33s to 38s. HULL —TUESDAY. A moderate supply of English wheat to-day, which met a fair sale, a t a b out last week's curr ency.sans steady. Barley dull, and hardly so dear. Oats as before. Wheat.... Old white per qr. sos Od to 52s Od Old red ), New white .. „ New red .... „ Barley.... English malting ........... Grinding 27s 6d to 29s 08 Saul and Oderbruck Holstein and Danish 2Bs Od to 29s Od Oats ......E Grindi lis n h g old 2Bs Od to 31s Od ng, 26s Od to 28s oa Archangel and Riga, per st osl2lid to 13d Friesland and Dutch osl3d to 05130 Swedish and Danish o sl2 id to 08138 Beans ....En w glish, old, per qr 4ss Od to 46s Od New pigeon 42s Od to 44s Od New tick Egyptian Peas Foreign boilers Grinding Tares ....Spring. —5 Od to —s Od Indian Corn Linseed, feeding 62s Od to 56s Od crushing Linseed cakes (Hull) £9 15 0 to £lO 0 0 Foreign Bl5 oto 9 0 0 Rape cakes 6 5 oto 610 0 Bones 5 5 oto 510 0 LYNN-' A tolerable show of wheat at a reduction of is per qr. the same may be said of oats White .....45s to 63s Rid.. 445 to 47a Beans New 368 to 38s COAL i - rioed of Coal per Ton a' 'UESDAY. to-day, with a slow demand, Barley dull, at late rates, and and beans. s. d. Byass's Bebside West Hartley l5 3 Carway and Duffryn Malting ,..19 6 I ,ambert's West Hart ley 15 3 Davison's West Hart ley ..15 0 laniield Moor ........ 12 0 fantield Moor Butes ..12 0 alker Primrose .....11 0 Eden Main .. 14 9 Wylam 15 61 Hastings Hartley l5 3 i Holywell l5 3 Barley. 3ss to 400 Grinding ..32s to 339 Oats .22s to 249 Peas —8 to —0 ARKET. the close 01 the market. Walls End. 8. d. ships at marks Haswell ...... .. 17 3 Hetton l7 3 Cassop l5 0 Riddell Hartlepool 16 9 South Hartlepool_ _l5 0 K elloe South Kelloe l5 6 South Hetton ~.17 3 Wharneliffe l4 3 Gosforth l4 3 Br3ddyll's Hetton 16 3 Tunsta►l 1,, 85 ; sold, 63. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE., Auslralia and Mauritius, via Southampton. Apr. 18. via Marseilles .. Apr. 12. Brazil and Cape Verds, by British packet. Apr. 6. Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena. , May 3. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southarnpton.Apr. 18. via Marseilles ...Apr. 12. Falkland I s l an d s Gibraltar, via Southampton .................. Apr. 10. India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Apr. 18. via Marseilles Apr. 12. India (Bombay), via Southampton ...... Apr. 10. via Marseilles. Apr. 20. Portugal.... May 4. Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Apr. 10. via . Marseilles May, 5. Newfoundland ... ......... Oporto and Vigo Apr. 15. ............. U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet Apr. 15. by U.S. packet., b Canadian packet.. 10. W.C. of Af r i ca, M adeira, and Ty eneriffe Apr Ap r. 10. Bahamas, via Ne w Y or k May 7. Mexico .... Apr. 2.8. All plifornia, an arts of Wed British st Indies, Col lu u incmbiading Chili, Peru, 1 Apr. 13. Importing Tea without colour on the leaf pre• vents the Chinese passing off inferior leaves as in the usual kinds. Horniman's Tea is uncoloured, therefore, always good alike. Sold in packets by 2.280 agents. Births. DUFP.—On the 6th inst., at Drummuir, Banffshire, the wife of Major Gordon Duff, of a son. LARPENT,--On the sth inst., at Thorpe Morieux, the wife of the Rev. George de Hochepied Larpent, of a daugh ter. MORANT.—On the 7th inst., at Manatan Lodge, Hamp• stead, Mrs. Robert Morant, of a son. Marriages. —On the Sth inst., a t Paddington, Chris.. HEATH--PECKtoherHeath, Esq., F.R.C.S., of 31, Sackyille-street, Piccadilly, to Sarah, third daughter of the late Rev. J. Peck. PECHELL — BECKFORD.—On the 7th inst., at Broadwater Church, Sussex, Augustus Pechell, Esq., eldest son of the Rev. Horace and Lady Caroline Pechell, to Lucy Jane, only daughter of the Rev. Charles D. Beckford. 1 Deaths. ANDREWS.—On the 7th inst ,at Camden-road, Holloway, George Andrews, Esq., aged 55. BONNEY.—On the 7th inst , at Normanton R ec t or y, the Ven. Th omas Kaye Bonney, A.M., Archdeacon of Lei cester, aged 81. BRAGGE.—On the 6th inst., at Sadborow, Dorset, Colonel Bragge, late 3d King's Own Light Dragoons, aged 75. FICILLIN.—On the sth inst., at Little Shtlford, near Cam bridge, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Batcheler Ficklin, aged 69. HAnoir.--On the 7th inst., at Great Marlow, Thos.Nelson Hardy, aged 64. Low.—On the 7th inst., at his residence, 10, Warlters buildings, Holloway, James Low, Esq,, of 30, Grace. church-street, London, sincerelyilamented. MAGNAY.—On the 7th inst., Lady Magnay, wife of Sir Magnay, Birt., of 24, Kensington gate, Hyde. park. London : Printed and Published by WILLIAM ANDREWS. of No. 112, Strand, Printer; at THE SUN Office, No. 112, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the County of Middlesex. —Thursday, April 9,-1863.