The Sun. — London, England, 1864-11-11 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. (Front the Times' Correspondent.) NEW YORK, Oct. 28. Not a word is publicly spoken on the subject of the expedition against Wilmington, though vague allusions in the Southern journals show that the Confederate Government is aware of the blow to be aimed in that direction, and is prepared to meet it. Grant remains quiet at Petersburg and on the banks of the James. Butler is busily working at his canal at Dutch Gap, from the completion of which he expects great results. Sheridan is repos ing, after his barren victory, in the Shenandoah Valley, purchased, it is now admitted, with the loss of 7,000 men in killed, wound, and prisoners, though rewarded by the captur de e of 41 pieces of artillery, and the infliction of severe damage, the amount not stated, upon the enemy. Sherman, having left Atlanta to be defended by a small gar rison under Slocum, is marching and counter marching, flanking and being flanked, mar ce eyrie g and recee.cceavring, somewhere between that city and Chattanooga, to foil the strategy of Beauregard and Hood, which no one seems to understand ex cept those commanders, but of the success of which the Southern President and the Richmond news papers appear to be unusually confident. Ferree gut, having failed to make any impression against Mobile, is supposed, though not known, to be under orders to co-operate with Porter at Wilmington. In the Far West Stirling Price is proving that Missouri yields but scant allegiance to the Federal Government. One day he marches through the State like a conqueror, conscripts the by no means unwilling inhabitants to augment the ranks of his army, levies tribute, and promulgates military law, and on the next is off and away, no one exactly knows whither, with Curtis or some other Federal General in "hot" pursuit though probably in the wrong direction. Rose. cratz, who is in command in that department, is re ported to be making ready to try issues finally with Price; but, as Price is as nimble as he is bold, it may take more time and greater pressure than Rose. cratz imagines to coax the Confederate leader into battle. Altogether, the state of military affairs is not satisfactory to the numerous body of people whose hopes of place, power, and profit depend upon the re.election of Mr Lincoln. Yet they keep up their spirits, have great expectations concerning Wilmington, and are by no means disposed to admit that Grant will not find an opportunity to capture Petersburg before the Bth of November, and so ad minister very valuable discouragement to the sup porters of M'Ciellan. As usual in hotly-contested elections, even for officials much less powerful than the President, each party begins to accuse the other of fraud. Yeaterday morning an attempt was made to startle the town by a mysterious statement in the Tribune that a great conspiracy had been discovered, implicating high political personages, and of which the object was to manufacture " bogus" voting papers, sign them with the names of dead or entirely fictitious soldiers, and cast them all for M'Clellan. The pub• lication, however, did not effect the intended object, most people believing that it was no more than an allowable attempt to divert public attention from the unmistakable frauds committed by the Repub• lican party in Indiana, and the imposition of illegal test oaths in Maryland and Tennessee, under the sanction of the Administration. This morning the Democratic journals admit that there is a " con spiiacy," not of the supporters of General M'Clel bee, but of the unecrupulons agents of Mr Lincoln; and assert that the persons arrested in Baltimore and Washiog , on on the charge, though acting at the time as agents for the State of New York, under the authority of Governor Seymour, for the purpose of receiving and forwarding the votes of New York soldiers on the Bth inst., were traitors to the Governor, and were bribed by the Adminis tration to commit these frauds with the view of injuring the Democratic candidates. The World proclaims that " the charges are trumped up, and that the confessions of the delinquents are those of stool pigeons.' " On referring to the "Dictionary of Americanisms and Slang Phrases," without the aid of which it is sometimes difficult for an Eng lishman to understand American newspapers, the explanation of "stool pigeon" was found to be "a decoy robber in the pay of the police, who brings his aesoeiates into a trap laid for them." What ever may ultimately prove to be the truth in this matter, it is probable that much ill-feeling will grow out of it, and that if Mr. Lincoln be reelected the Democratic party will be provided with a new grievance heavier than any which they have hitherto been able to turn to account. When one side Bets unfairly, the other is apt to imitate the example, and it cannot be denied that the action of Governor Johnson in Tennessee and its approval by Mr. Lin coln, are ominous of danger. It is not only the Democratic party and their candidates which fore. see it, but prominent Republicans, nho deprecate the imposition of test oath!, or any interference with the absolute freedom of the polls, as likely to lead to angry controversy and to hostile collision. Better, they contend, to have no vote at all in States held by military force, such as Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Louisiana, than to tamper with the ballot-box, and manufacture ficti tious majorities at the point of the bayonet. Messrs. Wade and Winter Davis, members of Congress, ardent Abolitionists, and zealous friends of the Administration, were the firet to sound the alarm, and to declare their belief that any illegality com mitted on behalf of Mr. Lincoln would be a direct provocation to resistance on the part of the defeated candidate—resistance that in a time of passionate l'acitement was far more likely to display itself nrough the agency of armed and furious mobs than lobe calmly exercised in the courts of justice. tThe same intimation—or threat—was conveyed in the Chicago Convention, in terms not to be mistaken, and formally inserted in one of the planks of the platform. On Wednesday night, in this city, before one of the largest audiences ever drawn together to the Cooper Institute, the same impressive warning was dinned into the ears of the assembled people by a man whom no one can accuse of disloyalty, brand as a " Copperhead," or disparage as incompetent to deal witb the most important questions in a tone and spirit befitting their gravity. Mr Wendell Phillips, in a scathing review of the pretensions of both candidates, uttered these memorable words r— " I am an Abolitionist ; but I am also a citizen, watchful of Constitutional liberty ; and I say if President Lincoln is inaugurated next term on the vote of Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas, every citizen is bound to resist him." This man, who speaks so well, and who has spoken so often amid the silent and spellbound attention of delighted mul. titudes—broken only by bursts of irrepressible ad• miration—and to whose ear the sound of a hiss must be unfamiliar, was not allowed to express himself in this manner without creating an uproar which may have surprised, but did not subdue him. The people stamped, roared, and hissed for several minutes,while the undismayed orator folded his arms and looked on until it pleased them to be silent. At length the com monsense of the auditory got the better of the clamor of the dissentient, and a final salvo of applause told the speaker he might proceed. "Are you willing," he asked," to sacrifice the constitutional rights of 70 years in your fondness for an individual P I say these acts" (the creation of sham Governments in States held by military force, and the imposition of illegal oaths) " are acts of despotism. if George B. M'Clel. lan or any other Democrat enters the Presidential chair, and follows in these footsteps, woe be to th e American Union, and you know it." The warning is well timed, but Mr Lincoln's reply to the Tennes see deputation, and the general conduct of the State elections in Maryland, Indiana, and Philadelphia daring the present month, when every nerve was e'rained by the military and civil power in favour of the Administration candidates, go far to show that it will not be heeded, and that neither the entreaty of friends nor the denunciation of enemies will p re . ve nt Mr Lincoln and his over-zealous suppor ters from attemptieg to win the day per nefas, if fair mea ns are insufficient. The Democratic State Com• mittee, in a circular addressed to the Conservative voters of Indiana, claim that Governor Morton, a strong Republican and adherent of Mr Lincoln, was elected by fictitious and illegal votes. They state that the vote for Mr Morton in the township of Indienopolis was larger in number than the legal Mr. CI vote of both parties together; that the frauds every■ where perpetrated were " stupendous" and capable of proof by clouds of witnesses; that not oi;Or were minors and non-residents allowed and sr couraged to vote, but that the voters were catrie I from town to town and from point to point by railway trains expressly put on for the purpose, and voted re peatedly in the same and in different counties, nna challenged by the Republican officials who had charge of the polling places. The 60th Massachusetts Regiment, stationed in Indiana to keep the peace, though not entitled to a single vote in a State of which they are not citizens, voted en masse for Governor Morton, and not only voted once, but some of the men 10 and 12 times over. The facts are notorious in Indiana, and the proofs have been largely corro borated by the letters of soldiers to their friends — letters never intended for publication, but which have found their way into the Indiana and New York papers. Some of them are exceedingly naive, and do not appear the less authentic from the uns consciousness of the writers that they committed a wrong in so voting, or an indiscretion in avowing it. Such frauds are very apt to exasperate a losing party even in ordinary times ; but in extraordinary times like these, when the fiercest passions are raised to boiling heat and the most tremendous issues are involved, it is vain to deny that they are in the highest degree unwise and perilous, and may contain within themselves the germs of greater commotions than the country has yet been doomed to experience. As the last draught for 500,000 men has only been nominally enforced, and is admitted to have scarcely produced 100,000 men—a number insufficient to keep up the effective force of the army to the point at which it stood before General Grant began to hurl his legions against the cuter defences of Rich mond and Petersburg, and lose them by tens of thousands at a time—there is a talk of a new and, this time, a real conscription to be enforced as soon after the Presidential election as shall seem pru dent to the new President, whosoever he may be. With all its wealth of men and money, and all the resources of immigration from Ireland and Germany, the North is unable to maintain and replenish its armies to anything like the extent necessary for the work it has undertaken. Neither Grant, nor Sheridan, nor Sherman, nor Rosecrans has an adequate force to subdue Lee, or Longstreet, or Beauregard, or Price. The Southern Generals are in the same predicament, and if they gain a victory are prevented, by want of men, from following it up promptly and turning it to ulterior account. Both sides will therefore make the greatest possible exertions during the ensuing winter and spring to place new armies in the field ; and as the North claims that it has a hundred thou sand negroes under arms, though the assertion must be received with the deduction rendered necessary by the national vice of exaggeration—and that they make under proper leadership as good soldiers as the whites, it has long been urged upon the Confederate Government that, in default of other troops, it would not only be expedient but wise and just to imitate the example, and call out an army of a quarter of a million of ablebodied :slaves to fight for the inde pendence of their masters, their own liberty to be guaranteed to them hereafter as a reward for loyal service. The Southern people have shown a great disinclination to resort to such a measure, not because it would be necessary to emancipate so large a number of their most valuable slaves, but from a feeling of pride of race and blood, and a sentiment that it is derogatory to their dignity to owe the in• dependence of their country, in any degree whatever, to the aid of the negroes. Bat as the slaves, when engaged in the agricultural work which without their help would have had to be performed by white labourers, were, in fact, doing as much to aid the cause of Southern independence as if they were fighting its battles in the field, and, moreover, as they were largely employed as teamsters and waggoners and were as useful in all the spade work of the trenches as if they had been of the purest Caucasian blood—there were really no valid arguments against their employment as warriors except two. The first was that they might not make good soldiers, or might turn their arms against their masters ; the second, that the elevation of an y considerable number of negroes to the dignity of defending the country would be a virtual emanci pation of the whole race—which the South has declared to be impossible. It would appear that these objections have gradually lost weight, or a meeting of the Governors of no less than six of the Confede rate States would not have officially recommended to President Davis and the Confederate Congress, as they have recently done, the immediate enrol ment in the Confederate armies of every male per son in the South, of suitable age, capable of bearing arms, and irrespective of colour. The South has hitherto clung to slavery, because it saw no way to abolish it, without cruelty to the unprepared negro, or ruin to the staple productions of the country, but if the suggestion of the Governors be acted upon, as seems probable, it will prove to the world in the most emphatic manner that it does not fight for the maintenance of slavery, as the North pretends, and as some in Europe still believe, but for indepen. dente. In conversation lately with two Southern gentlemen in Canada, high in the confidence of the Confederate Government, I was informed the senti. ment of the Southern peeple towards the negroes was so kindly that there was nothing in the world that could be done to ameliorate their condition that the South would not gladly undertake. " Under every provocation to revolt and murder their mas ters and mistresses," said one of these gentlemen, " not a single negro has proved false to his protec tors. There have been a considerable number of fugitives wherever the Northern armies have pene trated, but in no instance has a negro lifted his hand in violencs against his master or his mistress. Plantations on which are 300 or 400 negroes have been governed by one aged white man, too decrepit to go to battle, and others equally large have been left wholly to the management of women, in the absence of their husbands, fathers, or brothers in the field. Never in any case hes there been a difficulty. The negroes have worked in their daily routine without a murmur, and as quietly and sub missively as if the latd were not convulsed with the fiercest struggle ever known. And if we Southerners hate the Yankees, and not without reason, our ne groes hate them quite as cordially as we do. I see no objection to arm them. They will fight for their masters, if their masters lead them, and they will not only fight but fight well. They are good, an affectionate, and a docile people. They deserve any thing we can give them. They do not, however, de serve to be suddenly emancipated and thrown on their own resources, for their careless, joyous na ture, left free to display itself without the judicious but firm control of a more provident race, would speedily convert them from slaves into paupers." "But," I inquired, "if you raised an army—say of a quarter of a million among them—would you not offer the reward of liberty to them and their wives and families ?" " Certainly, but under conditions which would educate and prepare them for the en• joyment of a boon which they would otherwise be unable to appreciate." if these indications of a change of policy on the part of the South towards the negroes should not prove fallacious, the ultim ate emancipation of the race may be effected, not by a vindictive people for the purpose of more easily su b j u g ating their white brethren, but by a grateful people, anxious to re ward them for timely aid in the cause of national independence. The advantages to the negroes of the Southern arrangement over the Northern are so palpable and obvious as scarcely to requ're enume ration. The main advantage, however, is, that the South has the power to emancipate them, while the North has not. lirling, On Tuesday night Mr. Caird, M.P. for Stirling District of Burghs, addressed a meeting of electors and non-electors in the Union Hall, Stirling. There was a large attendance, and the chair was occupied by Provost Murrie. Mr CAIRD rose amidst applause, and commenced his address by stating that the inhabitants of Stirling must attribute to the historical associations of their town, and not to his exertions, the fact to which the provost had alluded of their securing so large a supply of fireworks on the occa sion of the marriage of the Prince of Wales. He then pro ceeded to refer to the American war, directing attention to the fact that the North were now employing great numbers of negroes, and went on as follows :—Seeing the advantage which the North are deriving from arming the negroes, it is said that the Staith are about to adopt a policy of the same description. Dis quite dreadful to think what the result will be if such struggle should be carried on. It is most painful to us to see men of the same blood with ourselves —men speaking the same language—engaging in such a war, and causing so great a waste of valuable lives, ap parently for a result which it is difficult for us fully to estimate. This will I say, that if President Lincoln should be re-elected—and there seems every probability that he will be re-elected—there is every prospect that the war will be vigorously prosecuted. I know something of the country, and I have examined carefully its resources, and it is quite a mistake think the North will be brought to a stand for want of money. There has been no appearance of want of money since the struggle commenced. Much more likely are they to come to a stand for want of men than want of money. (Hear, hear.) Then look at the object of the struggle. The North do not say it is for the purpose of emancipating the slaves. The South say it is to deter mine that the North shall come into the South and impose upon them requirements in regard to their property in slaves which they are determined to maintain. But the North are determined to reconstruct the union, because they feel that if the vast possessions of the South are taken from them they will lose the brightest jewel they possessed in the tiara of the Republic. Think of the enormous wealth that the United States have derived from the possession of these rich Southern States ; I suppose it would not be a large estimate to say that the Southern States can easily ex port four million bales of cotton, and that would now be worth at this moment nearly £100,000,000. There is no agricultural product that any country can export of such enormous value as that. The North, looking to this, and seeing this is a great material benefit that they must endea vour to keep to themselves, are determined that that enor mous source of national wealth shall not be withdrawn from them. People in this country who don't look at these things say that they must run short of money—that their expenses are so enormous, their extravagance so great, that they will soon plunge into a debt from which there will be no possibility of relief. But look how easy it will be for the North—and I have no doubt that they argue in this way themselves—how easy it will be for the North to pay the interest of that large debt. Suppose they have four mil lions of bales of cotton to export, the advantages which the Southern States possess for the growth of cotton are so great, as compared with any other part of the world, that no other country can compete with them in producing cotton so cheap. What is the consequence of that fact ? The United States have only to say when the war is closed. " We shall put an export duty of say threepence per pound on cotton ;" and I have no hesitation in saying that everybody in this country who wants cotton would gladly pay threepence'per pound for cotton from the Southern States of America than they would pay for any cotton they could get from India or any other part of the world. Well, what would that pro duce? Why 20 millions sterling. This is a means by which the United States could pay, without any great draft upon themselves, but rather by a tax upon those who purchase their cotton, a very large proportion of the intee rest of the enormous debt which they have already accu mulated. It is quite a mistake, therefore, for us ,to imagine that the resources of the North are come to an end. Their resources are almost boundless. No doubt they could only be manifeeted by having the command of an enormous population, vigorous and enterprising. But if they have that population, depend upon it that their power of recuperating their resources is probably unparalleled among almost all other nations in the world. There is an other point which has not been considered with regard to this war. lam not disposed in what I say to undervalue the efforts of the South. Ido not for a moment mean to uuder value the wonderful struggles that have been made by the South in the cause of this war—struggles which I think must make them heroic in history. (Cheers.) I do not undervalue them ; but looking at the question from the point of view which we enjoy as the sad spectators of that war, we can take a calm view of it and say, j 1 What is the prospect of a termination ?" Both sides seem equally de termined to continue it, and there is no chance of a con clus on to it except by the exhaustion of one side or the other. Now, there is one point which I think has not been considered by most men, and it is this, At the commence ment of the struggle—l have it from the beat authority— that a majority of the influential men of the Southern States were against an outbreak and against a revolt from the Northern States. That revolt was the work of a mino rity—it was done by the force of a minority. No doubt, after the war broke out, the feelings of the whole popula tion were engaged in it. The majority who had disapproved of the outbreak gave way, and no doubt took part with the minority in the struggle ; but still their opinions remained probably unchanged, and should it come to the point that it must be clear even to them that the struggle which they are carrying on is a vain one, and only likely to end in their ultimate defeat, it is more than probable that the voice of the mejori . y, which was hushed at the commencement of the war, will then make itself heard, and lead to the conclu sion of a contest so deplorable. (Applause.) If,l should confine myself to a review of the past session of Parliament, my address to you need not be a long one. The country has been prosperous and contented at home, the public revenue has ;,entinued to increase, and that, coupled with some re. duotion in the military expenditure, has admitted of a still further diminution of our taxation. (Applause.) The po licy of non-intervention in the American war has been rigidly adhered to, and the danger of a general European war, which at one time seemed imminent, has been, perhaps more by good fortune than good management, avoided. (Applause.) A debate, which was intended to result in the overthrow of the Government, while it failed in that object —(applause)—elicited the opinion of Parliament, and seemed to meet the general assent of the country, that the British people are not called upon to shed their blood or waste their treasure, in arranging the quarrels of other na tions, where their own interests are very little, if at all, concerned. (Applause.) Our colonies have been pro sperous, with the exception of,New Zealand, where, how ever, the war seems likely soon to be brought to a close — and our vast Indian posressiuns have exhibited an amount of peaceful progress and prosperity never even dreamt of in the palmiest days of the old East India Campany. The only branch of industry which seemed likely to be paralysed by the American war has to a great extent revived, and the lack of cotton has augmented the prosperity of the other textile manufactures—linen and wool. (Ap plause.) Beyond all this, we have been favoured with a second fine season and a productive harvest, which has rendered the great staple food of the people cheap and abun dant. Ii eland has had again this year her full share in the bounty of a good harvest ; her crops of oats, potatoes, and flax have been large and well seemed. In taking a gene ral survey of our position, almost the only unsatisfactory fact that presents itself is the continued emigration of the people of Ireland. Many believe that even that ought not to be a matter of regret, as the people better themselves by emi gration, and their absence improves the wages of those who remain at home. Certain it is we can do nothing to arrest if)---and the fact of its existence must have its full weight in the minds of statesmen in considering every means by which the condition of the country may be improved. For one thing, it has always seemed to me that the severity of the Irish Poor-law, in the almost total denial of out-door relief is harsh in the extreme. Any one who has visited that country must have been struck with the amoral poverty of the people ; and yet, when brought to the test, of poor relief, it appears that while one in every 20 of the people of Eng land, and one in every 26 in Scotland,are in receipt of parish assistance, but one in every 100 of the population of Ireland are on the roll of the poor. An Irish Parliament could not have passed E 0 harsh a law. An English Parliament would not. But the bane of Irish legislation, like that of Scotland, is that it is often special. The pretence of a different set of circumstances affords ground for exceptional lawn; these, for that reason, are not examined by the English members ; and the Government is always strong enough to carry its measures against a mere Irish or Scotch opposition. (Ap plause) The more the legislation of the three countries is made one the better. The spirit of the English constitution is more generous and free than that of the sister country, and it is seldom an advantage to either to have their legis lation withdrawn from the influence of that spirit. On the discussion on the bfidget, I was fortunate enough to be able to persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to forego the intention he expressed of placing a duty on certain low priced corn—lentils, millet, and dari ; and, at a later period of the session, I carried a resolution in favour of the col lection of agricultural statistics. (Applause.) This is a question of growing importance to the general community. Previous to the repeal of the corn laws, it was computed that, in addition to our home supply, not much more than a fortnight's consumption of foreign corn was needed in the year. But during each of the last five years one half of our population has been fed on foreign corn. This proves is fe b d e , in a g nd lai a d ls t o o g th ra a s t s. m ß u u ch t d o e f r t e h n e . c th o a rn t t l h a e nd pe o o f p t l h e is ar c e ou b n et t t r e y r dent as we have thus become on foreign corn, it is of the utmost moment that we should have some knowledge of the extent of our home produce, and consequently of our foreign requirements. The only advantage our farmers now possess is being first in the market. To them beyond all others an early knowledge of the probable supply is of the first im portance. To the commercial and monetary interests it is scarcely of less moment. The mere movement of such vast supplies, equal to 3,000,0','0 tons of grain, involving the em ployment of a great mercantile fleet and the transfer of £30,000,000 of money, may, if not foreseen and provid3d for, most seriously embarrass the trade and commerce of the country. And hero I cannot help again remarking on the influence which the two last beautiful harvests are already exercising on the welfare of the people. Vie shall this year pay £15,000,000 less for imported corn than we have paid on the average of the last four years, The money pressure A very sharp frost again took place the night be. ' fore last in Paris. The ice on the basin of the Palais Royal was very nearly strong enough yesterday to bear a middle sized boy. At six in the morning the thermometer of M. Chcvallier stood at 4 3-10ths below zero Centigrade (241 Fahrenheit), and at noon marked 1 1-10 ths above C. (31 F.) [A.DvEnzisßmwx.r.]—Holloway's Ointment is a won derful remedy for bad legs, whether ca used b y external violence or resulting from cold, erysipel as, varicose veins, gout, or rheumatism. The deepest ulcerat ions of the flesh yield to the powers of this unguent with the same readi ness andlthe same certainty as the simplest sc ratch or s lightest inflammation of the skin. The heat and s martin g of scalds and burns are checked at once by th is soothing a pplication, and the progress of the cure, to the suffer er ' s as t o nishment and delight, proceeds in its painless course. This important fact should induce every one having the f charge of children to keep this pain-saving applicatio n w i t hin reach. Holloway's Ointment will spare the child 1 torture, and the mother anxiety. ERE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMB ER 11, 1864. now being experienced is fortunately unaccompanied as in former times by dear bread. (Cheers.) In 1817 and 1857. the periods of money panic, wheat was 70s to 80s a quarter; during the present year it has scarcely exceeded 40s. But though the price has been low, the imports have been enor mous, and the figures will show you that they must have materially affected the price of money. In the three years preceding the panic of 1847 we paid £26,000,000 for foreign corn; in the three years preceding the panic of 1857 we paid £62,000,000 ; but in the three years preceding 1864 we paid £98,000,000, It need not therefore be a matter of surprise that this, with the derangement of the cotton market, should have caused a pressure for money. But nothing can more clearly prove the prosperous condition of the people than the enormous increase in their con• sumption of food. Nor is it limited to corn. In 1859 we imported cattle, bacon, butter, cheese, and lard to the value of £5,285,000, In 1863 we imported of the same articles to the amount of £12,796,090. All this has been accomplished during the life of the present Parliament, and is mainly due to the admirable financial policy of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. (Applause.) This bring§ me naturally to the consideration of the public revenue and expenditure. Mr Gladstone's first budget after his accession to office in 1859 was that of 1860. He was most fortunate in having to deal with a surplus of about £2,000,000 arising from the lapse of long annuities; and using this with a master mind, second only, if inferior, to the late Sir Robert Peel, he inaugurated a financial policy which has provided for the increased de mands for the defence of the country, re-arming of the military, and the creation of a new fleet—while in the four years to 1864, he has at the same time been enabled to re peal and reduce taxes to the amount of £12,000,000. (Ape plause.) It is often said, and has been lately repeated, that the true way to diminish the public expenditure is by the close attention of members on questions of supply. I do not take blame to myself for absence from discussions in supply ; but the only votes I remember to have seen re duced were Highland roads, and a travelling inspector of arts' salary. (A laugh.) That much good is done by the criticism of the house I believe. (Applause.) But any con• sideraable reduction in the expenditure can be effected only by the discussion and direction of the national policy. Let us analyse the public expenditure. After deducting the cost of collecting the revenue, we spend about 63 millions, thus :—lnterest of national debt, 26 ; civil charges of all kinds, 10k; army and navy, 26i millions. The first is a fixed charge, which cannot be touched by Parliament. The second will probably not be reckoned very great for the whole civil Government of this country, and including education. The third charge, for the army and navy, is the only one on which any great saving may be effected. And it is odd enough that the ministers who are at the head of these branches of the service, and who are responsible to Parliament for their cost, are at present both of them peers, and not in the House of Commons, where alone the esti mates can be discussed. For the five years preceding the war with Russia this charge averaged £15,000,000 a-year. During the last five years, while we have been at peace, it has averaged 28} millions. Here then is the item on which the judgment and policy of the country can be made to tell. Now, I advocate no policy of total disarmament. A great country like this, with possessions and trade in every quar ter of the world, must both Toe, and seem to be powerful. (Applause.) But need it be at so vast a cost or on so great a scale ? (Hear.) For self-defence we are now invulnerable, thanks in a great measure to the spontaneous loyalty of the people in the formation of our army of volunteers. (Ap plause.) Our more important colonies will soon be able to defend themselves. The contemplated federation of our North American colonies will weld together for mutual pro tection nearly four millions of a bold and enterprising people India has a vast English army of its own. Why, with all these favourable circumstances, should we maintain our force on a war footing ? The only great European national struggles in which we took an interest—Poland and Italy— we have declined to intermeddle with. The Danish war, from which we made so narrow an escape, has been settled on terms as favourable as we could have secured. We have at last discovered that the less we interfere in our neigh bours' quarrels the more quickly will they settle them for themselves. (Applause.) We are insular, self-contained— csn, as a people, speak no language but our own, and less probably than any other can appreciate the motives and in terests of continental nations. Why, then, should we take it upon ourselves to lecture them on their duties to each other ? We trade with every country that has a trade. Our policy, therefore, apart from higher considerations, is to en courage friendly relations with all. The example afforded to them by the success of our peaceful progress has ten times more influence than the ablest diplomatic correspon dence. Now, if the country plainly expresses an opinion against unnecessary intervention in foreign politics, we may certainly look for a saving, by gradual and safe reduction, of a million or so a year, till we come down nearer to the old standard of military expenditure. The fire insurance duty will be reduced, and the income tax lowered. It is difficult to convey to our conceptions the value of the vast sums we spend. Let us suppose that in a few years the military and naval; expenditure should be reduced to 20 Imillions. .That would be a saving of 6i millions a year. Now, let us consider what that mean. At the last census it appears that there were 8,000 families in Scotland living in single rooms which contained no window. If we reckon England and Ireland in the same proportion, we should la:. ve 62,000 families living in windowless hovels of one room. That 61 millions would provide new and comfort able cottages for the whole of that population. I do not say it should be so spent. I only wish to realise the mean ing of such vast national savings as are deemed to be safe and praotioable. (Applause) And I cannot leave this subject without further reference to the startling facts in our social system brought out by certain returns in the last census. I have the more satisfaction in doing so, as it was in consequence of a motion of my own that the particular return to which I am about to refer was added to the Scotch Census Bill. It throws a light upon questions of sanitary i m p r ovement, and the m ode in whi c h the g reat bod y of the w hich, as marking the progress of the to in future years with the greatest p n ts a o ti p @ l n e , ar w e il l l od b g e e l d o , oked interest. In 1861, 40,000 of the people in Scotland were living in dwellings of single rooms which contained no windows, 1,030,000 Heed in houses of one room, and 1,230,000 lived in houses of two rooms each. Sanitary improvers recommended,what most of us think is required, both for comfort and decency, that no dwelling for a family should have less than three or four rooms. Is there one man in this country who has given attention to this subject who believed that the evil he complained of ever approached the lamentable but actual fact that 72 per cent. of our population are lodged in dwellings the best of which cannot boast of mare than two rooms ? Questions such as these are of vital importance to the welfare of the country, and the facts show how much we may find to do at home with out undertaking, at vast cost, to settle the affairs of our con tinental neighbours. (Hear, hear.) On the motion of Sheriff ROBERTCON, a cordial vote of thanks was given to Mr Caird for his address, and for his services as representative of the district of burghs, and the meeting broke up. A MU: no Murder at Boulogne-Sur-Mer. I IN, BERLIN, Oct. 28. The trial of Louis Grothe, Marie Fischer, the widow Quinche, and the carter Rosskamm has just been concluded. The first three were charged with the murder of Professor Nicholas Gregy, a native of Nancy, aged 53, teacher of the French language ; the latter with having concealed articles which he knew to have been stolen. Rosskamm was ac quitted. For upwards of six months the fate of Professer Gregy has been the theme of daily conversation here. The trial was impatiently awaited, and has bean numerously attended. Long before it camp on all the tickets of admission issued were seized. People who were not able to secure a place for sitting were content to stand, and many of those who had failed gaining admission into the court altogether had col lected in considerable numbers before the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of the prisoners. Indeed, it is difficult to remember any case of a similar nature which has pro duced more chilling horror, awakened more sad cariosity, called forth more general pity, and excited deeper sympathy in the minds of the people of Berlin than this one, of which I will endeavour to give a brief account. On the 19 h of April, 1864, was found in that part of the Spree which is called the Oberbaum, a sack containing a corpse, soon recognised as that of Professor Gregy. It was frightfully mutilated. The head alone had no less than 12 wounds. Five of these were stabs ; seven had been made by some chopping instrument, and ran parallel, and these had been inflicted after the stabs. The skull was broken, the brains had run out, one of the eyes was cut through, and the cheek entirely shattered. For a fortnight all endea vours to find out the perpetrators of the deed proved vain. At length, on the 2d of May, a tailor named Bonzol, living at 20, Oranien Platz, gave notice that on the 17th of April (the day Gregy was first missed) he had heard loud voices in the cellar immediately under jis lodging. The police hurried to the spot. After a close examination traces of blood and human brains were found on the walls, bedstead, and floor. Thera could be no doubt some person had here met his end ; there was little doubt that this person was Professor Gregy. The inmates of this cellar were the very scum of society. The widowQuinche is known to have been punished for va• rious offences. In her younger days she had been a regular prostitute, and even now, as the old sinner half smilingly informed the Court, she was not averse to receiving visits from gentlemen. Marie Fischer is a young woman of 25, earning the wages of shame, and Louis Grothe (son of the widow Quinche by a former husband, or rather lover), a lost character, living on those gains. His youngest brother, Hermann Grothe, was called before the Court only as a witness. For this poor lad one can only feel the greatest (0 0 1 .te desperate remedies. England is deePli l in id, in this question, and not only for her Con ce it O A maintenance of peace, but because a g re o ll ', English have been foolish enough to tb ts r e their money into the bottomless of of tsi 4 por Treasury, or the dismal slough of ite, l „, ll o to works, and more will probably fell viet-,000. desperate efforts which the Italian Gnvei; making to relieve them of their hard ea e "'„f affairs at home, which are in the opini °° a rer Palmerston so prosperous and eatisfactorY,l ciaso differently regarded by the cominere2.ll 0 . 6• 1 whom his lordship addressed. Many of had been living during the last two Ine llt3w sl lll / intense anxiety; they had seen, not onl9loola legitimate profits swellowed up by the 11 ig i , t ertl j m discount, but they had seen their proPert.'100110"; depreciated, their friends and neighbours also ruined, and hardly dared to hope, liew e l;ol4 themselves, that they might not be ruine" and none could feel assured on Wednesd6/cted'; danger was over. Lord Palmerston 111° 0 110 1 auditors in talking about the thesatiefacto cot, Europe and the general prosperity ef a 0099, try. Europe is in the most c ritical 513 condition ; so far from there being no Prelroef i j its general tranquillity will be disturbe",.o4 little prospect that tranquillity can pep ; 0 00, 1 4 1 ' and England can only be called prY,,cearerl man suffering under a violent attack 0 1 u: t o be described as in excellent health. Ab s ,,: r s ' sr, over, as were the Premier's reasons `" 00 0 Ir a nothing about the very important quesurroalar which the public expected some remark 'hislr, we are certainly not disposed to blam e gel nence. We hope we may take it as sem e ; oolt i ,i the lesson of last year has not been ty' so ierl, effect, and that the noble lord ha s e- O f keep a civil tongue in his head," and 11 ° l *te e ltie l " foreign nations before whom he . hag bow. It is really a great relief that he oe' d about Denmark or Italy. We are sPatie ",ed tain humiliation of seeing hi 3 declara with contempt. Lord Palmersto n has an end to that system of lecturing forelgd of which he is the author. He has ca p ie that even the justifiable advice or reme lt s ' England is disregarded. Let us hope 1 "', serve which he has thus learnt to practioi he bas equally imposed upon Earl Buss° be but a small gain that the Pre tnil bluster after dinner if the Foreign blusters in his despatches. As the are a a man to sacrifice himself w hile be 80% $ rival—and such reticence must have be five—there is a chance that i n sealing 111 he has locked up Earl Russe ll's p en ' England, if it should appear wite ll n ' t meets that the Foreign Secreta r y bag ° ' - single deyatch about the con vention about the Dano-German question, save to Herr Von Bismark's impertinent WI!), pity that the Premier was no t as re° America. This profession of regret Ott shed and desire for peace has been re p og, so often that it becomes quite nallsec° noble lord had really been desirous to ' l3 war brought to an end he w ould bal. ! the wise proposal of the Emperor of of the success of which no one c an entehrt:t Mr. Gladstone took occasion t o deny ti"" diate dissolution of Parliament is plation. We quite believe him, bur b ty le u nnecessary. The Conservative p' themselves too vigilant. But that a I°' Lord Palmerston did intend to dissolve in the course of the present month e p e e 6 which there can be no doubt, moans stone did not venture to deny it. Tr., the Conservatives disconcerted the POI vernment saw that its opponents we te taken taken by surprise, and, of course, made that discovery abandoned its e ve r, The annoyance at the failure is, linWi;st th to and its organs are instructed t o deny t f ed any such intention, in lang ua g e tbe perance of which itself sho ws the fit Otoi h et denial—a falsity further established 11 toll, absurdity of the declaration that the that tiv registration has ben so favourable gists will serve their purpose better. COUNTRY MARSETS' BURY ST. EDMUND'S ---W-- 5 rket to"#1 ' There was a large attendance at thisrot ody wheat, which was in good su pp ly, 151 'k r e f l ot I ` . rates. Fine barley at fully the p rices ° ferior is to 2a cheaper. DO' 0 111 :14 1 BRISTOL—T; id 0- s ° ouPP I ,I4O A moderate supply of wheat, vir Jor ge s cirl qr bdee ta m tree o rr r k e t ihmnadoz:n sold last week. . y t Malting ba n rley es o f::: Tea 110 CheteSt 9 pt inferior barley 6d lower Oats in E, all. - little doing. Blln fo l r lNG utr wheat i:SOP:rlo3'lo)ilteitaii English llA A. fair demand with an increased supply, but last week's c r 1 , 1 40 61 ,4/ unaltered. Fine barley in better in ; o'ol dull. In oats, beans, and peas previous rat v ' h ip —English wheat was sold at 4Os to 44s for iPitift Mt to 41s per 36 stone for red. Barle y , new I' A 368 per qr ; g rindin g , 23s to 265. Oats, old' per 30 stone ; Irish, 198 to 245. Beans, 44s to iieas, 38s to 40$ per 36 stone. MANCHESTER—THunsDAY. There was a fair attendance at our market rM ing, and Eng l i sh white wheat, beino• in short fi for rather more money ; but red, and also toreill in sale at last week's prices. Flour was rather 0 1 ° to quote former prices. Oats and oatmeal rolloto bully as dear as last market day, and choice c o ps l latter 3d to 6d per load dearer. Beans and unaltered in value. -------- DO I ED INBURGH GRAIN—W.EDOO oil To• day there was a fair supply of couutrYlll I met a good sale ; new sorts rather easier. 00 111 Wheat on the top 7s Od up .....average p't Barley on the top Os 6d down ...... average eo 00 41 Oats on the top Os 6 d,up... , Beans on the top Os 6d up... ...... average Total Supply and Sales. 5501: Wheat ... 9t2 qrs ........ Sold 6 0 A Barley... 312 7 qrs ........ od So ld 1 1 909 Oats .qrrss ........ ........ gol, 1. . o if f • Beans Average Prices. .. 11 Wheat.. 398 7d I Oats. ....... ..... 101 ; Barley 27s 2d I Beans. ... , tO, Town. made flour sells as follows :--Mrlii superfine, 355; superfine, 338; fine, 310. GLASGOW—WzDNEsDAIi 0 to o At this day's market the whe at trade 00 and there was a tolerably goo d a ttendant per 2401 b higher. Barley qu iet, and the t d , buyers. Beans and other artic les unchallge Foreign Mail Packet SRARP—HowELL.—On at to Carter Sharp, of Woolwich, D-e doe' I )oungest daughter of Matthew - 1 - - eington. Deaths. Ittio ATHERLEY.—On the Bth inst., at BO' Iti' Atherley, eged 66. pot V BRIGHT.—On the Bth inst., at vaticla yea ° i of three days, aged neary siic Yea r° ' f r l of John Bright. M.P. fo o 4 01 03 DALRYMPLE.—On the 9th inst.,_at Se' Right Hon. North Hamilton Pa ll ( SO / Stair, aged 89. r l tl l3° GODFREY.—On the Bth inst., at Ja° J. Race Godfrey, R,N. MGSMAN.—On the Bth inst., at Hugh Mosman, Lg., of Aucl TREBECK,-011 the 4th inst., Trebeck, Esq., aged 69 London : Printed and Prblishe, of No. 112, Strand, Printer Strand, in the Precinct of Novem, tiro n O - 0 1: red o bictirl ; r if e s' )40:4 rigid ie d )13 0- 0 ,,. : that ;tile tii, 35e11. ,- , it i ' c i oi f i 9 l ief . 1 ' ief rein - jo s i lare B slit )ee° 00 4 his Fa t . . y0r,1.01. o o, not it ..._ 60 1 Do, le re il il l .001. t r etice n bl i Peat t tbr i P a Al 5e0 09 ' id e ee of g e l have ad the 50 e rtsi t l o ld 4 ,s Dpi b a t - t iv Ac ei s e ty 11 0, A t toivari feat V Lie P arr is 6 / § yrj vett , d ilOi i be /Molt 481 7 0 0 1 1 i, we d o 0 0 "41 cle le eS ( pr, ve/ - thy 0 _, m . MAILS DUE. •f lit Australia and Mauritius, v i a SoutharaP u ....: 4 P l M v!a arseilles •;: ~ Brazil and Cape Yards, by Britis h pacniel/4 Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and 5t•,,,,,a4 ob . China, Penang, and Singapore, via Sell`Lilleeo via at'l P " ... a , . Falkland Islands ..•.......••.. ~ Gibraltar, via Southampton... •• * • ~••' t ee India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via :Sentm'illee' l , , ,p via Di fill ; • 0 0 ,1 India (Bombay), via Southampton •• ""...." ,• : via Marseilles ....... : ... o ,f s , Portugal.... ...................... • Malta, .Egypt, and Aden, via SoutheWPW.-::".7. via Marseilles •'.,.., Newfoundland ............ ...." 1.0 Oporto and Vigo ........ ...... y¢ • o ),eto o , U. S. and British N. America, by 1 3 r it * Ye e ots by U• S ' ltth 1 by Cea„ a ,, i cli r re i i ' All parts of West Indies, including , i' l ' .." ''. California. and British Colum bia.••• ~,4 Births. dv wifB e COBBETT.—On the 10th inst„ the - t lil tr eet" Cobbett, Peckham-rye, of a son. CORK,—On the Bth inst., at 1, G ir ° r afto 51., 0 / of Cork, of a son. rr iort o tr, HoLcomnu.—On the 7th inst., at Th?_ p , Jersey, the wife of Colonel liolconwe, ell .filli daughter. , 0 P,l/ PHILLIPS.-011 the Bth inst., at Bl c : o gef " Thomas Phillips, of the Coal Es c ' " O r ( Marriages. ,Oh i W. , 04 V' ELLlS—HuiDrunsli.—On the 9th Chats 4 of o Derbyshire, John Ellis, Bell , - ideOt / Boulogne-sur-Mer, to Susannah,,,e,„" a rsil',l.4ll I late near-Admiral Sir John ilin uw- d t IP A ,' 1 Su A ulA—Tinwr.i,T..—On the Bth inst. , ''' 07 4 ,0' _.._ to ii. at A , 1 6,ht9 i1 7f t 0--- d ie, 0, c htyfo a l ai° a t s ou 11:‘ DY ,0 9 r at • Lfoi iir .1 ); th e MDer SPIRIT OF BOVLOGNE-SIIII-MER., Nov. 9. The supposed murderer, Leduc, arrived here about nine o'clock last night. An immense crow d rece i ve d him with l o ud groans and hootrngs he was, however, taken to the prison in the Haute Ville in safety. On entering the prison he appeared very composed, and re mar k e d th a t he fancied the people who we re looking at hint might suppose he was a criminal. taken w in i Het with e r o u t Ih t e o h t eo i: d o n ee r Ida dead bodies I n ab p l d o i m t d c: i o l et n s S h f o r t w O ua n: s t h o e i u d np i i s w ,pl , lr i i t t ed h: : be eer This nievcxaeatoemi m i sbnoeuevrtdne hisrbi morning lg gentlemen. tcho he l t r r uo a gn s et adl, the dead bodies of the children. The examination was in on seeing the bodies. No sig n o f f ee ling or regret w as visible. He examined the bodi es, an d i n re ply to questions said, “Yes ; these are the children I brought with m e, and the brigand who has done away with them, I shall have his use ee ha shall have Leine." He was taken to the hospital gates to return to the prison. lam compelled to deal with rumour as an authority, be cause police proceedi ngs are not con d uc ted here as in Eng land. I have neverth e l ess en d eavoure d to sift out of the many reports what appears to me t o approximate to the truth. Report say s Leduc has stated tha t ho does not know the names of the p ersons to w h o m the children belong ; that he was requested to bring them over to Boulogne, and a person would m ee t them on landing ; that he waited at the room at the Chambre de Commerce until he was tired, and then proceeded towards the railway station ; that he met a tall dark m an w i t h a long black beard , wh o claimed the children and t o w h om he delivered them up. I also hear that a short ti me ag o Leduc wrote to his wife in Boulogne asking her to receive his mistress from London and her children, w hi c h s he indignantly refused to do. On his arrival on Sunday, at 8.30 p.m., she inquired after his children and what he had done with them. His answer was that he had left them in an hospital in England. His wife was then aware that his trousers were wet, as I have previously stated. During his absence, between 9 p.m. and 10.30 p.m., he unsuccessfully endeavoured to get lodgings in the Rue Thurot. lie then returned to his wife, and she at length agreed to make him a bed in the garret. Much quarrelling took place between the couple, and frequent reference was made to the English mistress and children. His wife was then aware that his coat was wet up to the elbows, an d she reiter ated her charge of his having made away' w ith the childre n, which he still denied. He at last wont to bed, leaving his clothes to be dried. In examining his pockets his wife found a child's cap, and immediately rushed upstairs to the garret, where she found her husband on his knees, apparently praying. She disturbed him , and again charged him with destroying the children, an d produced the cap He still persisted in his in nocence and prevous tale. He as evidence. i did not rise in the morning till very late, and then he was com pelled to get up by his wife, she having heard that , a c hild had been found in the river, which she conele was his. He is stated at last to have partially admitted the truth of this, and his wife insisted, upon his leaving . her house immediately, as she wouldnot have the dis• grace of his being arrested there imposed having her. He ac cordingly left, as before narrated,. she given him sf. by M. le Docteur Gros, and I learn that no appearance of poison was discovered in them nor any marks of external A post-mortem examination of the bodies has been made ing was evident, violence; but that the usuil symptoms of death by drown- pity. The question naturally arises, how did Professor Gregy come into this company ? What induced the well-educated man, the polished gentleman, for such undoubtedly he was, who during his whole life had enjoyed an irreproachable reputation, who possessed connexions and friends in the highest classes of society—what induced him to risk his reputation by seeking persons with whom the wildest young man of 20 would not like to be seen? M. Romberg, who appeared for the prosecution, as well as Dr I)obbelin, a re lation of the deceased, are of opinion that Gregy visited the widow Quinche and Marie Fischer out of mere kindness, in order to perform some work of humanity. lam the last to wish to lay blame on the deceased, yet I must confess that, after considering various points, such as familiarly speaking and drinking beer in the cellar, I come to the conclusion that the deceased visited the cellar in a moment when he forgot himself, with a purpose entirely different. I think that to affirm that Gregy went to the place merely because he wanted to do a work of humanity is almost the same as to affirm that a man who in a dark night jumps from Lon don-bridge does so because he is thirsty and wants to drink. However that may be, certain it is that Gregy went to the dwelling of the prisoners, From the declaration of nume rous witnesses one collects the following : The relation in which Marie Fischer stood to Louis Grothe is one which is by no means uncommon among such people. Grothe called himself the lover of the young woman, yet suffered her to prostitute herself. He did more. He had re peatedly induced her to attract men, to decoy them into the cellar, and at a fitting moment rob them of their money and watches. When she was on her walks through the streets he used to keep a little behind her and observe the men she met. If these appeared to be persons having money about them he would give a cough as a sign for her to take them home. Oa the evening of the 17th April, in consequence of an arrangement made by the deceased with the widow Quinche exactly a week previous to this date, Gregy appeared in the cellar. Grothe, Marie Fischer, and the widow Quinche were there to receive him. Entering the largest of the apartments he seated himself on a sofa between the t wo dissolute women and bid the boy Hermann fetch something to eat and drink. Gregy opened his portmonnale and gave the lad some money. According to the declarations of Herrmann, which bear the stamp of truth, Louis Grothe now left the room and sta tioned himself in the adjoining chamber, which was dark. Here he ordered his brother to bring some schnaps. On Hermann's return Louis Grothe asked," Has the gentleman much moneyabout him?' " Yes,a great deal," was the reply. " Weil, go into the street and play," added Louis Grothe, and locked the door as soon as the boy had left. This wit. ness also stated that there had been a talk between Louis Grothe and Marie Fischer of taking away Gregy's watch. Marie Fischer promised Louis Grothe to do so as soon as the proper moment arrived. The wretches were now alone with Oren'. To give an exact account of all that now happened is impossible. One can go only by what the defendants related themselves, and these not seldom con tradicted each other. Marie Fischer states that after she and the widow Quinche had been some time with Gregy in the sitting-room (if one may call it so) the deceased rose from the sofa, and saying that he had business to transact that evening was about to leave. At this moment Louis Grothe rushed into the cham ber and struck Gregy on the chest with an instrument called a spanring. (Grothe owns this himself.) A struggle ensued. Stunned by the blows, Gregy fell b ick on one of the beds, while Grothe, with a sort of axe, now levelled blows at Gregy's head, as if he were chopping wood. "Well, Louis, is he dead ?" asked the widow Quinche. " Yes, mother." "Then it's well. If he rises we are be trayed." That the wounds with the knife as well as the bruises on the chest were made by Grothe is known. His mother, as well as Mario Fischer, agreed in this, the only difference in the evidence of these two persons being that the one charged the other with having handed the chopping-knife to Grothe. Marie Fischer's evidence is undoubtedly correct. With regard to the wounding only one point remains to be cleared—who dealt the stabs? This question it has been impossible to answer. Let us now s ea in how far the two women were guilty of having taken part in the murder. Marie Fischer herself owned that she laid hold of Gregy. She adds that she did so in order to assist deceased and• draw him away from Grothe. 0 ther objections of more weight can also be brought forward. When Marie Fischer was led to prison she for a long time denied altogether being present on the occasion of the murder. Why, if she was innocent—why, if she had only assisted Gregy, did she not immediately own to having been present ? Why did she not call for help ; or why, at least, did she not the next day give notice of the deed to the police ? And what did she mean by the words she said to one Renter, "I have a deep secret with Grothe, and would betray him, did I not fear to bring misfortune upon my self ?" Marie Fischer laid hold of Gregy, not to assist him, i but to assist Louis Grothe. The picture of the horrid deed, therefore, is :—Grothe, out of the adjoining dark chamber, watches the three per sons. He sees Gregy rise. No more time is to be lost. Grothe rushes into the room ; he attacks the deceased with the spanring. Gregy, stunned, falls back upon the bed. Grothe and Marie Fischer both being occupied with the professor, Widow Quinche is the only one whose hands are free, She hands the knife to her son. The deed is done. In a moment the dark figures are'bending over their spoil. The clothes are stripped off the bleeding body. Marie Fischer takes the wedding ring from the corpse's finger, and soon after makes a grim joke that " she is married now 1" The last article of value is taken off, the corpse is shoved under cne of the beds, and covered with a cloth, With an energy inspired by the dreadful necessity of great haste, but also with great coolness, Widow Quinche scrubbs the floor and washes the wall. Her eye falls on one of the fingers chopped off from Gregy's hand, She takes it up, and wrap ping it up, sticks it in her pocket. The room is again in tolerable order. The murderers have only to get rid of the body. The streets are all still, the corpse is shoved into a sack, and transported by Marie Fischer and Louis Grothe to the Spree. With shaking knees, trembling arms, beat ing bosoms, oppressed souls, and hasty side looks of fear, they drop the burden into the water. The last act of the night's drama is performed. Mr. Meier, who appeared in defence of Grothe, drew the attention of the Court to the two points—that Grothe had taken spirits, and that he was irritated at the familiarity which Gregy showed in his behaviour to Marie Fischer. I need scarcely point out the weakness of these arguments. That Grothe had not been drunk could be seen from the wounds in Gregy's head ; a drunken man could never have aimed so well, and struck so regularly ; that Grothe could not have been jealous for a woman likeMarieFischer is clear. Various circumstances, some of which I have already stated, showed that Grothe intended to obtain money at all risks, Before the day of the murder, or a day or two before it, he must have taken considerable trouble to sharpen a blunt and notched chopping-knife. The knife must have been sharpened for the deed ; at least no other reason was men tioned. Whether Grothe had already selected Gregy for a victim it is impossible to say with certainty. But that a murder to be eommitted in case of resistance was on Grothe's part premeditated beyond a doubt. The jury returned the verdict of guilty. The Widow Quinche and Marie Fischer bad been made acquainted with the plan formed by Grothe of killing GI egy is not probable ; nevertheless, they were _;uilty of having assisted Grothe in the performance of that act of murder, Moreover, it has not been proved that their participation was not an essential one. ' The sentence of death was pronounced upon all the three 6 prisoners. ed WEST INDIA ENCUMBERED ESTATES ACTS.— By an order of her Majesty in Council, dated the Ist inst., the West Indian Encumbered Estates Acts are extended to the colony of Antigua, in compliance with an address of the local Legislature. Up to the present time six colonies have availed themselves of the facilities afforded by these acts—namely, Jamaica, St, Vincent, St, Kitt's Tobago, the Virgin Islands, and Antigua, TIMES.—A case resembling in many respects the famous Douglas case of the last century was yester day decided in the Rolls Court, after an investiga tion occupying judge and jury for three successive days, In was not, indeed, a question of the devolu tion of an estate large enough to be styled a Princi pality, nor did the contest, like its great forerunner, involve the purity of blood of a family which bad more than once usurped kingly power and kingly function, if not the kingly name ; bat the fact to be determined was of the same kind, and the contradic tion of improbabilities was almost as embarrassing. A child which had for years been accepted as the issue of a Lincolnshire gentleman and his wife, was de clared to have no claim to the title. The ease pre sented to the Court was that the supposed mother, who has been dead for seven years, had deceived her husband and her family by imposing upon them a chid which was not her own ; but, unable to carry her secret to the grave, she had confessed the fraud to two or three persons, one of whom was her father. The family of the wife had a direct pecu niary interest in negativing the legitimacy of the child, and the natural improbability of a deceit, which it was confessed would have been completely successful but for the weakness of the wife, was increased by the years which they had allowed to elapse since her death without taking any measures to obtain a judicial exposure of the fraud , The evidence brought forward was, however, so strong that the jury found it impossible to arrive at any o ther conclusion than that the child was supposi tious. It seems that in May, 1851, a Mr. Gedney, of Cendlesby-hall, in Lincolnshire, was married to a Miss Smith, of the same county, but up to Feb ruary, 1854, there had been no issue of the marriage. Miscarriages had indeed happened two or three times, and in September, 1853, the lady had told her husband and her friends that she was again pregnant. In February, 1854, she was in ill health, and went alone to London to consult a physician, taking lodgings in Park-street, Grosvenoresquare, but she had only been in the metropolis two or three days when she wrote to her husband announcing that she had been prematurely confined. He hur. ried up to town by the next train, when his wife presented him with a little fair-haired girl as their daughter. A day or two afterwards a cousin of his wife, who was a chemist and drug gist, warned him that a Mr Goss, the person attending his wife, was a very improper charac tat to have about her, whereupon Mr Goss was immediately dismissed, and Dr Farre was called in. Dr Farre, relying mainly, it would seem, upon his memoranda, declared at the trial he had no doubt but that the lady had been confined, and the child appeared to have been born only a few days when he was summoned, and he treated the case without any suspicion of fraud. There was no suggestion that the husband had at this time or till long after any reason to doubt that the child was his own, and a female cousin of the lady declared that the mother when living had always treated the baby with mo. therly kindness. The mother on her recovery was churched at the nearest church, and her brother was one of the sponsors at the christening of the child. So far it must be confessed the case for the legiti macy of the child was sufficiently strong. On the other hand, it was clearly proved that the husband and wife did not live happily together, and, indeed, he had been guilty of conduct towards her which comes under the legal definition of cruelty. In the ill feeling between the husband and wife the family of the latter discovered the motive for her fraud. A desire to win back an alienated husband was, it would seem from the evidence of one of her friends, the reason which prompted her to carry out a de sign which was so nearly successful. She was, however, evidently a weak impulsive woman, and the statements she made, even in confession, do not seem consistent with themselves, and are certainly not altogether consistent with the truth. She told her cousin, a clergyman, that she had been confined in Feb., 1854, of a stillborn child, and she had there upon got a changeling to supply the place of the deadsborn infant. The lady's-maid to whom she confessed the deceit said nothing of any dead birth, and a medical man, who examined her body after death, declared she had never been confined at ell. Dr Farre was positive that she must have been con fined two or three days before he was called in. Ile further evidence of the deceit made it unneces sary to decide that point. The landlady of the lodging-house in Park-street assisted in putting Mrs Gedney to bed on the night of her alleged con finement, and observed no signs of pregnancy ; Goss and his wife arrived a little later, the latter concealing a bundle under her cloak, and after three or. four hours, during which there was no noise or symptom of excitement in the sick-room, the land lady was called in ; was told that Mrs. Gedney had been confined, and a little female infant was pro duced which looked as if it had been born a week. The monthly nurse who was summoned the same night deposed that she saw enough to be satisfied that the baby was not newly born. In fact, the child was born on the 4th of February. On that day a single woman named Lucy Fletcher was con fined in the York-road Lying-in Hospital of a daughter, which she parted with a few days after to a gentleman who promised that it should be adopted by a lady. This child was a little fair blue eyed girl. She had never seen the baby or the gentleman since, and was apparently ignorant even of his name; but a nurse in the same hospital who was a party to the transaction, knew him as a Dr. Goss, and identified him with a Dr. GOES now living in Pimlico, who was identified as the Dr.Goss who attended Mrs. Gedney in Park-street. This iden tification was, perhaps, the weakest part of the case, and @neither side called the very irregular practitioner himself to prove or disprove his parti cipation in the fraud ; but the jury were satisfied of his identity, and the case was then practically complete. The confessions of the lady herself, made in one instance, at least, when in a very hysterical condition, might be o p en to suspicion, [ but the evidence of the landlady and the nurse in Parkestreet excluding the possibility of a regular accouchement, coupled with the actual sale of an infant a few hours before the supposed event to a man, who, with his wife, were the sole witneses of the alleged birth, precluded all doubt, and the jury therefore arrived at the conclusion that the little girl who has hitherto passed as Miss Gedney was in reality the child of Lucy Fletcher. The remarkable simplicity of the stratagem in the Gedaey case is perhaps not so extraordinary as the success which it so nearly achieved. If Mrs. Gedney had been as firm as she was daring, it seems probable that the deceit would never have been discovered. Nurses and landlady might have had their suspicions, but it would have been almost impossible to have got at the truth unless the man and his wife who were the active agents in procuring the infant had turned traitors. The actual mother was as ignorant of the fate of her child as the child was of the existence of her mother. It is indeed often said that there are negli gences in every conspiracy which expose them to detection ; but the observation is made after an analysis of the frauds which have been exposed, while undetected deceit is left out of the account, We believe that such impostures as that which has been unravelled in the Rolls Court are rare in Eng lish society, bat the conviction is based on the natural morality of the country rather than on the fewness of the cases which are brought before our notice. HERALD.—The guests of the Guildhall banque must have been very much astounded when Lord Palmerston told them as his excuse for not " excit ing their interest, or telling them something un known to them," as had been the wont of previous Prime Ministers—and he might have added of him self—upon such occasions, that everthing was per fectly quiet both at home and abroad, that affairs, foreign and domestic, were decidedly satisfactory, and consequently desperately dull. The readers of modern novels do indeed get so habituated to sen sations that even a story with some harrowing in cident in every chapter now excites in them only a languid interest. But political questions—the pros pects of peace or war, the prosperity or m'sfortunes of neighbouring States, the perils which affect them, and, still more, the difficulties they have themselves to contend with—never become dull by use to Eng lishmen; and although the nation may have seen for some years war and revolution around it, and become habituated to commercial crises, it has too deep an interest in them all to look upon them with Indifference. Few Ministers who have excited the interest of a Lord Mayor's guests have had such im portant themes upon which to speak as were offered to Lord Palmerston on Wednesday evening. The peace between Denmark and Germany has just been concluded. A State which for centuries played an important part in Europe, has been reduced to absolute insignificance. On the other hand, a territory containing a million of inhabitants, and from its geographical position of the utmost im portance, is left without an owner, and Europe waits with anxiety to know whether another is to be added to the number of its sovereign states, or Prussia is to be rewarded for the most brutal and wanton war which ever she has waged, or which Europe has ever known—the terms are convertible --by obtaining a position which will give her the command of the Baltic and assure her the ultimate possession of Jutland. That is a question of some interest, and if its present stage is satisfactory to Lord Palmerston, who is certainly chiefly respon sible for bringing it to that stage, it assuredly is not to Englishmen generally, or to any men who have a regard for justice and honour. The Franco- Italian convention, again, is exciting very great interest throughout Europe, and may involve the most serious disturbance of its peace. The condi tion of Italy is most critical ; she is on the verge of financial ruin, and will probably be driven to sonic JOURNALS, li Thi Fit N S the ol A Obi ".liii No rat T and 11401 28th Th the 1 GEIN gc Ind! don, at 0 Til frau