The Express.
London, England, 1862-10-24 00:00:00

TEE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 24, 1862.

THE DISTRESS iN LANCASHIRE.

(MOM OUR SPICLIM_CqRIISPONDIRT.),

MANCHESTER: Ocr. 22.

No part of England, I think, has a more marked
character of its own, iu regard both to its external
appearaneeand tothe peculiarities of its:inhabitanta,
than that portion of the cotton country known as
East Lancashire. It stretches from Belton and
Bury northwards to Clitheroe and Colue ; while
Rochdale and Blackburn may be taken to represent
Its extreme points on the east and west. It pre-
aentstheappearance to a stranger of &confused mass
of hills and valleys, for while it is watered by innu-
merable streams, they all run a rapid and brief
coarse, and the direction of the watershed is per-
plexingly various. A large part of it was reclaimed
from moor and forest at a comparatively recent date,
and many even of the cultivated fields have a touch
of their old wildness about them yet. Divided by grey
stone walls, they run up to the very top of the low
ridges, growing rushier and browner as they near
the summit, where not unfrequently some jutting
mass of rock, or the bright gorse, or the purple
leather contends with the scanty grass for the mas-
tery. There is a little corn in the bottom lands,
which even now lingers dank and sodden in the
fields ; but farmers find it more profitable to pro-
duce milk and butter for the teeming population ;
and the chief sign of improved culture is not the
substantial buildings and rich crops of grain and
roots of more favoured regions, but well kept
fences, and drained fields, and a greener, thicker
grass upon the ground. The hills do not stand out
against the sky in any bold Linea of brae or precipice ;
the valleys are rarely shut in by any overhanging
walls of rook ; the little rivers are turbid with the
refuse of dye-works and mill ; the trees are
gnarled and stunted by the scanty soil and the in-
clement sky. The grey farmhouses stand moss-
grown and weather-beaten on the hill sides ; in
what remains of the original villages, the buildings
lave a rough, sturdy, but not unpicturesque cha-
racter, as if they were the abodes of a strong race,
who were engaged in a hard fight with nature, and
meant to win it if they could. And they have won
it. Every turn of the valley reveals a fresh triumph
of human patience and industry. Now it is a soli-
tary factory, or print-works, or paper-works, rising
by the stream side, with its church and schools,
and rows of attendant cottages ; now a village,
grown up by the aggregation of three or four
such ; now a busy town, with name hardly yet
inscribed upon the map of England, but finding
work and foci for six, or eight, or ten thousand
souk. There are many greati,milla in East Lanca-
shire, but it is pre-eminently the country of small
ones ; where men are still perpetually rising from
the ranks, and struggling to comfort—often to
affluence. And though the picture which I have
tried to draw of it may not appear to some readers
rich in forms and hues of beauty, it is nevertheless
a region which makes a strong claim upon the affec-
tions of those who are springing from its soil, nor is
devoid of a certain simple picturesqueness of its
own. Never brooks ran through greener, quieter
"cloughs" than here. The long sweep of the hills,
enriched sometimes by plantation, and topped by
breezy moorland, is the place upon which the
shadows of the clouds love to play. And the whole
country rolls in waves so abrupt, that the hill-
aides gird about the towns on every hand, and there
is hardly a street but has the green fields, lifted up
before it, full in view.

Of this district, Blackburn, a town of 63,000
inhabitants, is, though not the geographical centre,
the most important place. It lies in a valley watered
by two rapid streams, but extends itself, polypus-
like, in four or five long arms, up the adjacent hill-
sides. The cause of the straggling shapelessness
of the town is, that much of the land belonged, till
lately, to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and was
in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
who would only let it on 21 years' leases—au
arrangement not favourable to building enterprise in
a manufacturing place. Now, much of the soil has
been sold to the lessees—and the benefits of the
change of tenure are already apparent. Black-
burn, the centre of one of those vast parishes, the
extent of which, in many parts of Lancashire and
Yorkshire, testifies to the former wildness of the
district, is a place of some antiquity, as the square
church tower, still standing, blackened by age and
smoke, by the side of a newer edifice, remains to
show. Round this an old town, of crooked and
narrow streets, had gathered itself, now fast dis-
appearing under the hand of improvement. Streets
are being cut through land hitherto covered with
mean cottages ; handsome shops and offices are rising
on every aide. Few towns, of whatever size, can boast
a more splendid town-hall, a more convenient mar-
ket. Still, the whole place, to the eye of a stranger
from the more stationary regions of the south would
appear unspeakably chaotic. Single buildings
have a finished look, but hardly a whole street.
Everything has the air of a new factory—as if it
bad been built with a prophetic view to extension.
You perpetually pass from well-paved roads to
others where the cinders from the engine fires are
out into deep ruts, or lie iu oceans of black mud.
Houses, milli, bridges, have been built at first as
cheaply and as plainly as was consistent with effi-
ciency, and are now being replaced by more durable
and more beautiful structures. Still there are
abundant signs of prosperity handsome churches
and chapels, many and good schools, a fine park ;
a noble infirmary, not yet, however, brought into
toe ; mills, in extent and solidity of construction
inferior to few. In twenty years' time, if all be
well, Blackburn will be, in its centre, a stately
town, and the cinder roads, the half-formed streets,
the irregular lines of factory and cottage, will be
pushing themselves farther and farther over the
hillside.

The cloth made in Blackburn is for the most part
of coarse quality, in which the price of the material
stands in a high ratio to the amount expended in
labour—a manufacture, therefore, which soon and
heavily felt the pressure of the present distress.
Many of the millowners are weavers only, bringing
from other districts the yarn which they make into
calico. This trade, which is commoner in East
Lancashire than elsewhere, is carried on chiefly by
small men, many of w Loin are themselves just
emerging from the working class. Larger manufac-
turers, who have a command of abundant capital,
are accustomed to look up 3u this business
as ono of precarious profit ; yet it frequently
becomes remunerative, even in times of no more
than average prosperity, by the active personal
supervision which the manufacturer exerts over the
hundred or two hundred looms which he has col-
lected in his cheap but convenient " shed." It is
chiefly for this class of men that Blackburn, alone
of all Lancashire towns, Las an Exchange of its
own, chiefly a yarn market, held on Wednesday,
and frequented not only by the small manufacturers
of the district, but by many of those who have at-
tended the great Manchester gathering of the pre-
ceding day. But all these circumstances, while
they concur to make Blackburn one of the most
rapidly growing towns of Lancashire, at once
deepen the intensity of the distress and lessen the
lassos of relieving it. Seventy-four cotton-mills,

strictly so called, within the limits of the borough,
are owned by some 62 or 63 firms. Of these
not fewer than fifteen have been utterly ruined by
the distress. Their mills are stopped, their ma- ,1
chinery sold off, the proceeds divided among their
creditors, and they themselves left to begin the
world anew. Two or three more have succeeded in
making a composition, have thus preserved their
" plant," and either have continued to work, or
will eventually work, their factories again. Then,
in Blackburn, the policy of extension, of which I
spoke in a former letter, has been pushed to • great
and imprudent degree. Some, upon whom the sun
of prosperity is just beginning to shine, who are
anxious not only to get on in the world, but to
keep their place in the race which they are running
with all their neighbours, are apt to flatter them-
selves that, if good times will not last
for ever, they will at least last long
enough to repay the money borrowed to build the
last loom shed, or to replace the negative balance
at the banker's. So the debt is contracted, the
loom shed built, the engines put down ; with a
brisk trade, all engagements can be met ; the cotton
can be paid for, the wages provided, interest of
money secured, if only cloth can be sold in Man-
chester as fast as it can be made, and at a remu-
nerative price. Difficulties appear and thicken,
even if demand grows dull ; how must it be at a
time like this, when the barest possibility of profit
is attained only by those who can afford to buy
and sell precisely at their own time
The borough of Blackburn contains, as I have
said, 74 cotton mills, usually employing 24,199
hands ; of these only 2,749 were, during the week
ending October 17, in full work ; 6,237 were
working short time; and 15,213 were wholly
out of work. Thirty-six mills were altogether
closed. Just outside of the borough, on the south
side, are the townships of Livesey and Witton,
which, for all but municipal and parliamentary
purposes, form a part of the town. There are 12
mills in Livesey (from Witton I have no return),
and a population of 3,972 souls, of whom 1,775 are
utterly unemployed. A slight element of confusion
is
introduced into the account by the fact that
many persons working in Livesey and Witton may
live in Blackburn, and vice versa. But making
due allowance for this fact, we may safely conclude
that 16,500 persons are now wholly dependent upon
public or private charity.
The union of Blackburn extends over a great
tract of country. It comprises no fewer than 24
townships, containing very nearly 120,060 inhabit-
ante. Last week 19,345 persons were relieved, at a
coat of 1,0201. 7s. Bd., an increase on the preced-
ing week of 1,184 paupers, and 651. 10s. 4d. in
money. The union is divided into four districts :
Blackburn first and second, Darwen, and Oswald-
twistle ; iu each of which • committee of the
board sits for the purpose of granting relief. A
rate of 3e. in the pound was laid in February last ;
a second rate of the same amount was levied in
September ; and the guardians, finding a difficulty
in the collection of the last from several of the town-
ships, are about to apply to the Peor-law Board for
borrowing powers. Notwithstanding this great
pressure of taxation, the rate of relief is below the
average, amounting to no more than is. Old. per
head. Up to the present time the management of
sewing classes and adult schools has been
left to private organisations of charity. For
the moment the labour test is not enforced.
A few weeks ago, a considerable number of men,
receiving out-door relief, were occupied in various
ilabours of public utility, and especially in levelling
land belonging to two neighbouring proprietors,
who paid the board for the work done, at the
price which would be asked by a respectable con-
tractor. The labour was unpopular with the
paupers, who petitioned the guardians for its cessa-
tion. The request was granted ; but with a reduc-
tion in the rate of relief. Such a measure, we
may be sure, was not popular with any of the re-
cipients of relief ; doubly unpopular with those
who were really willing to work for their wages.
In this condition the question hangs suspended for
the present ; whether work will be resumed, and
under what circumstances, rests with the Black-
burn guardians and the Poor-law Board. A
general opinion (which it is satisfactory to record)
seemed to prevail in the town, that it would not be
difficult to find useful work for the unemployed
poor.

The whole district is divided into sections for
purposes of charitable organization. Livesey and
Witton—s 3mewhat unnecessarily, as it appears to a
stranger—have each relief committees of their own.
Darwen, a town of some 10,000 inhabitants, con-
taining paper and print works in addition to its
cotton mills, has recently organized itself on a libe-
ral scale, the inhabitants having contributed
upwards of 3,0001. to the fund. Oswaldtwistle has
also its own subscription and methods of relief.
My attention will be confined wholly to Blackburn,
which both for the intensity of its distress, and the
length of time which it has already lasted, offers
in its various charitable schemes, most points of
interest to the public. At the same time, as Live-
sey is practically part of the borough, I may briefly
summarise its relief statistics. Last week the
committee relieved 432 persons also in receipt of
parish pay, whos3 average income was 90. per
head ; and 335 persons not upon the parish, whose
average income amounted to no more than 41d. per
head. The cost of relief was 341. 7s. 4d. Out of
7201. expended or in hand, 4501. had come from the
Lord Mayor, and 501. from the Manchester corn.
mittee. In justice it must be added that many of
the manufacturers have privately done a good deal
for their hands ; one firm in particular having dis-
tributed since the distress began snore than 500/. in
money and goods.
The operations of the Blackburn Relief Com-
mittee began in December, 1861. Since that time
the sum of 12,5921. 12a 9d. has been received and
expended. An analysis of the subscription list
shows that of this amount 3,8001. has been received
from the Lord Mayor, 2,6001 from the Manchester
committee, and above 2,0001. from miscellaneous
sources. Of the rest, 3,0601. ban been contributed
by resident, and 9471. by non-resident owners of
property. The original subscription, began ten i
mouths ago, was upon a somewhat small scale, 1001. '
being considered a liberal gift, and some 1,4001.
being the whole amount raised. Stocks of cotton
were then large ; and manufacturers, unwilling, as
most men are, to believe in the full intensity of an
impending evil, persuaded themselves that they had
only to make provision fora three months' trouble, ,
and that the American war, with all its attendant cala-
mities, would be over in the spring. Since that time,
as I shall presently have to record, private charity '
has effected much in Blackburn ; and the week's
need, to a far greater extent than appears in the
published subscription list, has been met by the
week's gift. It might fairly be questioned whether,
looking only to the effectual collection and distribu- '
tion of funds, some modification of this plan might
not still be advisable ; whether it would not be
better to pledge the wealthy inhabitants to a re-
gularly recurring gift of so much a month as long
as the need lasts, than to draw upon them at once
for a donation, which, while it shows more con-

apicuously iu a subscription list, may not answer its
intended end so well. However this may be, the
chief citizens of Blackburn have now resolved to
look their difficulties fairly in the face. It is cal-
culated that from all sources at least 1,5001, a week
will be needed throughout the winter. 0u Wednesday
last, therefore, a meeting was held to inaugurate a
second local subscription, to reach if possible the
sum of 15,000/. It was well begun, Mr. Hopwood
Hutchison, the mayor, who took the chair, contri-
buting, as will be seen, 1,0001. Several eloquent
and masterly speeches were delivered by Sir Jas.
P. Kay Shuttleworth, Bart., and others. The
following subscriptions were announced :

Clergy of Established Church and their
friends £2,000
Joseph Fielder, Fact.
His Warship the Mayor l,OOO
W. 11. Horsby, Esq., M.P.
Pilkingtoa Brothers and Co. l,OOO
Major John Baynes, Art. Volunteers 3,000
Colonel H. R. Jackson, Art. Volunteers
W. Esq.
W. D. CCooddddmmgton and Sows 250
Wm. Dickenson and Sous
Wm. Entwistle, Esq IE3
Firth and Sturdy lOO
James Thompson, Fact.
Lewis Brothers lOO
T. Hindle,
A. BullouglMts. lOO
This. Lund and them lOO
A. W. Paterson, Esq 5O
Joshua Armitage, Esq.
Joseph D. Bolton, Esq. 5O
And several others of lesser amounts. The list
is expected to reach 15,0001. in a few days. The
different speakers were unanimous in repudiating
the articles on Lancashire manufacturers which have
appeared in the Times. It is stated that their special
correspondent was told that many liberal subscrip-
tions were awaiting the opening of the second subscrip-
tion, which was delayed only till nearer the cold sea-
son. It is also stated that information such as the
following—that in Blackburn 20 per cent, in number
of the firms engaged in cotton manufacture had
suspended payments—was kept back by him ; so
that he could lead the public to believe that ma-
nufacturers were working to a profit. Moat of those
whose names appear in the above are either employ-
ing their workpeople, or have aided them consider-
ably up to the present time.
When, in my next letter, I proceed to describe
the various methods of relief now adopted in Black-
burn, it will be my duty to show how the large
and successful organization of sewing schools and
adult classes has been effected by private energy
and benevolence other than that which finds its
expression in the relief fund ; but as much has been
said of the apathy of the millowners throughout
Lancashire, and especially in Blackburn, I made
what inquiry I could into the facts of the case. I
confess that I find it difficult to express anything
like a decided opinion. From the circumstances
which I have mentioned, I think it is clear that
there are many men in Blackburn who, though they
are employers of labour to a greater or less extent,
would not, in common honesty, be justified in
making large gifts to a charitable fund. There may
very well be those who take a too narrow view of
their benevolent obligations in times like there
some, probably, who can give and will not. Of one
thing I am very sure, that much has been done by
manufacturers which has never made its way into
any subscription list. One large firm is distributing
food and money to its workpeople at the rate
of 1201. a week. A donor of 1001. to
the first subscription, has since, I have been
assured on good authority, spent far more than ten
times that sum in benevolent objects. One man
has set some 20 or 30 of his best hands to out-door
labour, at 15s. a week, and speaks highly of their
steadiness and efficiency ; another raised a fund of
2001. or 3001., which was spent in employing
the same class to level the waste land round the
Infirmary. Another firm has spent in provisions,
coal, and soup very nearly 0001. The active and
intelligent secretary of the relief fund is a young
manufacturer, just beginning business for himself,
who openly told his townsmen that he had nothing
but time and energy to give, and has throughout
the year given these with unsparing hand. Of
rents which remain uncollected I take little ac-
count ; they ought, I think, to be set down as an
item of manufacturers' lose, not as a part of their
liberality. A few months ago, any story of
a millowner's working his mill to a disad-
vantage was listened to with a smile of
half contemptuous credulity ; now, those who
are acquainted with the trade, know that all but
the fine spinners incur a certain loss on every pound
of cotton that goes through the machinery. I
heard of one gentleman who was thus working up
cotton, on which, by a single stroke of his pen to a
Liverpool broker, he could have realised a profit of
sd. a pound. Another of the small manufacturers
had bought yarn for his weavers, which he could
sell again to bring him in a gain of 3001. On being
advised to sell it, " Naw," he said, " I bowt it to
keep 'em going, and they shall have it." Ido not
mention these things to show that manufacturers
are men of an exceptional generosity—better than
all other ; but only that they are no worse : and
I know that in thus publicly recording them I am
risking the displeasure of those who have given me
the information. The millowners, with whom it
chiefly rests to contend practically, and from hour
to hour, with the evils which others commiserate
only at a distance, have some claim upon the for-
bearance of their countrymen, but a much more
imperative one upon their equity. Neither men
nor classes are wholly bad or good : and such an
enumeration of facts as I have given is the single
safeguard against the injustice of a sweeping verdict
of either praise or blame.

FATAL OCCURRENCE AT BERVICE.—Frve MIN
DRORNID.—EarIy on Monday morning a• accident of •
most melancholy nature occurred to a crew, numbering five
men, of • pilot boat belonging to Bpittal. About five
o'clock on that morning the captains of four pilot boats
discerned a vowel out in the bay, and being deceived by the
darkness, mistook it for one of the London and Berwick
clippers which was due, and hourly expected. They in-
stantly manned their boat., and proceeded towards the
ship, each boat striving to be the first to reach the vessel, so
as to secure the pilotage. The night bad been very stormy,
and the wind was still very violent. From some cause or
other—perhaps from the stream of canvas put on, or, sa
it is alleged, from the boats fouling in their struggle—
one of the boats, which was the foremost in the race, cap-
sized, and, with her crew, instantly disappeared beneath...be
surging waves, Up to Tuesday afternoon no tree' of the
boat or of her unfortunate crew had been seen. The names
of the drowned men are—George Wood (pilot) Edward
Wood, and James Wood (all out of one house) ; dohs
Wilkes and Alexander Wilkes, young men, and brothers.
George Wood has left a wife and • family of six children to
deplore his loss ; and his brother Edward two children, and
his wife near her confieement. The accident has cast a deep
gloom over the village of Spittal, and much sympathy is
expressed oo behalf of the bereaved relatives. Tke vessel
which the boats went out to meet proved to be only passing
the bay, and we have not heard her name.—EdisburyA
Courant.

1A)24.6 OF THE ROYAL MAIL STEAMER CLEOPATRA.
—The official inquiry into the circumstances attending the
lore of this steamer was resumed at Liverpool yesterday.
Nothing materiel beyond what has already been reported
transpired. The decision of the anthoritass will be given
to-day. . _

[Advertisement.}—frou.owAY's Prue AND purr
■EXT.—Bilious Disorders.—ln nonrgen of the body does dame
present Itself so frequently and to such varied forms as the liven
and in no affections is it more Important to apply Immediate and
safe treatment. Holloway's remedies happily phioe the means of
cm e within the reach of all : his Pills, aided by energetic friction
with his Ointment on the right aide, will soon reduce the trouble-
some dyspeptic symptoms, and perseverance with these preps-
rations will ensure a perfect recovery without any great re-
strictions In habits or diet. This treatment safely reduces the
enlarged liver, so often indicative of too great indulgence In the
pleasures of She teas, nor bit ler Olds* *repairing Imper-
fect algestia*

THE POLICE COURTS.

MARLBOROUGH -STREET.
✓oAs Pryer, the keener of a refreshmeat house in Lei-
cester-square, formerly booms as " Kate Hamiltou's," was
summoned by the polies for knowingly suffering prostitutes
to assemble in his house.

Inspector Draper: C division, said he visited the defen-
dant's house several times between twelve and three o'clock
on the morning of the 9th inst, and found from two to
seven women together, and ►bout 30 men. The house was
dosed ►t a quarter to live o'clock.
The defendant said he would plead guilty. All he
wanted, as boohoos to plead guilty, was for the magistrate
to Ilse him.
Mr. Koos said it was not for the defendant, who ranked
in his estimation with the brothel•keepers and other pate
of society, to lay down the law. He could not understand
the different phases this house had goes through, but he
could enure all parties concerned that the law war strong
enough to reach them.
inspector Draper said this was the first offence since the
license had been put in the defendant's name.
Mr. Knox—Then in that case the penalty will be 40a. and
costs.

George Morris, a private of the Royal Horse Guards Blue,
was placed at the bar before Mr. Ingham, charged with
stealing • gold chain and breast pin from the person of Mr.
George Blake Leheup Rogers, recently gazetted to a
coroetcy in the sth Dragoon Guards.
Prosecutor, who reside, at 11, Queen's-road West, Chel-
sea, stated that at 11 o'clock on Wednesday night he met
the prisoner at Knightsbridge, and having entered into con-
venation with him upon military subjects, invited him to
supper. Prisoner suggested that they should go to • re.
freshment house for that purpose in the neighbourhood of
Euston-square, and they got into an open cab. After
proceeding some distance in the direction of Easton.
square they stopped at a tavern and had some-
thing to drink, the cabman also going in with
them. They only proceeded a little longer towards Eus-
ton-square, when persecutor, considering the distance there
too far, ordered the cab tack to Knightsbridge. When he
left the tavern his watch-chain was safe, but when they
left the cab on their return to Knightsbridge it wee gone.
Prosecutor mentioned the circumstance, when prisoner
watched his breast-pin out, and walked away with it, speak-
ing as he went on to some loose women.
In Ammer to an inquiry from the magistrate, the prose-
cutor said he was quite sober.
Edward Bulliphant, 268 B, rid that the prisoner was
given into his custody at 3 o'clock that day morning on
Knightsbridge-green, by the prosecutor, charged with steal-
iog his gold chain and pin. Prisoner said he wax innocent.
Witness searched prisoner, and found part of the stein of a
breast-pin stuck in the lining of his jacket.
Prosecutor expressed • belief it wee his, from its being
bent a little io the worm.
The constable, in reply to the magistrate, said that pro-
secutor was in liquor ; he was neither drunk nor sober, but
witness thought he knew what he was about. Prisoner
was sober.
_

Prisoner imputed to the prosecutor that while in the cab
he made an advance of a disgraceful description, and then
gave him a couple of shillings. Prosecutor had been about
with soldiers all that evening.
Prosecutor admitted that he had spoken to several other
soldiers on military affairs.
Mr. Ingham asked prolocutor whether there was any
truth in the allegation of impropriety made by the prisoner.
Prosecutor replied—Most emphatically, no.
Prisoner said that when he was taken to the station a
constable there recognised the prosecutor as •person who
had been guilty of like advances to those he had mentioned
with another soldier that night.
Mr. Ingham directed the constable named to be fetched.
Henry Malt, 6 B, on arriving, said be saw the prosecutor
on Wednesday night, opposite the Roes and Crown, Knights-
bridge, with several foot soldiers. He was in liquor, hut
not so drunk as to be unable to take care of himself. He
saw prosecutor take hold of a Blue round the waist, sod
heard the latter make a reply (unfit for publication, and
which had a tendency to show that the Blue felt himself
insulted by • degrading overture).
In answer to Mr. Ingham, witness declared that prosecu-
tor almost embraced the Blue.

Mr. Smyth, on the part of the proescutor, said that as this
defence had been set up, he trust particularly ask for a
remand. He understood that a chugs of the same sort as
the present had been previously made against the prisoner,
who then adopted a corresponding line of defence.
It having been stated that a corporal of the Blues was in
attendance, Mr. Ingham desired him to stand forward.
Corporal Nichols said the prisoner had been io the regi-
ment four years. He bore a very good character and was a
good soldier. He had been formerly io the 10th Hussars,
and was in active service in India and the Crimea, where he
bad gained two medals. Prisoner had never been charged
with any offence like the present or witness must have
known it.

Mr. Smyth again pressed for a remand. For the sake of
his client's reputation, this was a matter that ought to be
fully investigated. The imputation under which he laboured
WAS one, unless cleared away, that would render
him unfit for the society of gentlemen. A remand was fur-
ther necessary that efforts might be used to trace the pro-
perty.
The corporal baying expressed a wish to put some qua-
lions on behalf of the prisoner to the prosecutor, Mr. log.
ham said he might do so through him.
Prosecutor, in reply, repeated that he had spoken to other
soldiers, both of horse and foot. He denied that he had
asked the prisoner to go into the park with him before they
entered the cab. He could not say whether the pin he had
lost was gold.
The corporal observed that the piece of the stem of a pin
found upon the prisoner was not gold, and was valueless.
He begged the magistrate would hear another policeman,
who had important evidence to give.
William Higginbottom, 299 B. said be saw the prosecu-
tor at Knightsbridge at • little after 11 on Wednesday
night. He bad been drinking, but knew what be was about.
He was in company with some Foot Guards in the street.
Witness here described his conduct to one of them, which
clearly indicated • most repulsive advance. The soldier's
designation of the prosecutor after he left showed his notion
of his character.

Witness, on beiog cross-e:ainined by Mr. Smyth upon the
neglectof his duty in not taking the prosecutor iotocustody,
said he hardly saw sufficient grouods, and prosecutor went
away the moment be approached him. He certainly might
hare taken him had be wanted.

Mr. Ingham observed that the evidence be had beard
satisfied him that the prosecutor was so far intoxicated as
not to know what he was about, and if that were so, what
case could there be against the prisooer ? And that evidence
had been given by disinterested persons and by. the police,
who were sometimes thought to be antagonistic in their
feelings to the military. He w■s looking at the evidence
before him,without giving any opinion of whether it was true
or untrue ; but upon that no charge of felony could be
sustained. The stem of the pin could not be identified.
Mr. Smyth having again preened fur a remand of some
description, . _

Mr.' Ingham called upon the accused to enter into bia
own recogniaance., to appear that day week.

well High-street. Those places where seamen congregated
were the resort of most infamous thieves and prestitutes.
Mr. Self* said he committed a man for trial on S.turday
for stealing a watch from a seaman in High-street, Shed-
well, and he was tried as the Middlesex Sessions on Mon-
day, convicted, and sentenced to three years' penal servi-
tude, and he knew the judges would visit with severity all
tens of this description.
The inspectors of police in attendance said many thieves
had been sentenced to four and five years' penal servitude
for stealing watches in the public streets.
Mr. Salle remanded the prisms's for a week.