The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-07 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.

(Before the Assistant Judge.)

George Spire, 20, was indicted for stealing 10 silver
spoons. vrlue 4/., the property of John Clarke Mcynott.
Mr. Platt prosecuted; Mr. Moody defended the prisoner.
The prosecutor lives at No. 62, Leinster-squarc, and on
the evening of the :10th of August be had just left the
dining loom when he we. called down and saw as man get-
ting out of the window. lie followed the man and shoi fly
aftei wards saw a man seized by a neighbour. He struggled
violently with him, and for a time managed to make his
escape. On his return to the dining room he missed a large
quantity of plate. He (witness) would not like to swear
that the man he saw stopped was the man who got out of
the window.

Ur. Thomu Henry Ball, of 17, Scaradide-terraee, Ken-
sington, add on the day in question he heard a cry of
" Stop thief " in Hereford-rued, and ran out into the road.
Saw the prosecutor pointing to a man, saying, '• Stop hbn."
Witness and another man closed with him. Several men
surrounded them, and witness was ill-treated by thew.
The prisoner got away, but was afterwards re-taken.
The prisoner was found Gaitta.
The judge sentenced the prisoner to Rye years' penal
servitude.

The Assistant-Judge called up Police-oonstable 321 Y,
and addressing him sad—lmit year a woman of the name
of Boiler was tried here, and sentenced to 12 months' im-
prisonment. She states that yon took possession of two
boxes of wearing appareL Did you do so!
The Constable—Yes, I did, my lord. I took them to
the sheriff at Newgate, and Mr. Hoard, the housekeeper,
received them for the sheriff.

The Assistant-Judge—l wish the police to understand—
and the inspector on duty (Mr. Allen, of the It division)
will report to the authorities at Great Scotland-yard—that
the court must be informed of all articles taken posses.
sion of—not having reference to the charge—before the
prisoner is tried ; in order that we may prevent articles
of wearing apparel being seized by the sheriff. He (the
Assistant-Judge) did not suppose the sheriff would make
use of them in any way, but they sometimes got into the
bands of persona of inferior rank and authority.
Mr. Inspector Allen said his lordship's observations
would be properly represented at bead-quarters.

THE FRENCH TREATY AND THE BILL TWA

At a meeting of the Macclesfield Chamber of
Commerce on Monday, the deputation who recently wsated
upon Lord Stanley presented a report of the statements
which they submitted to the Foreign Secretary on theeffecta
of the French treaty upon the silk trade. 'The committee
infortied Lord Stanley that the communications addressed
to the several chambers of commerce throughout the
country had elicited replies which showed that manatee.
tents generelly were becoming ;dive to the fact that
some better adjustment of tariffs was absolutely needed,
end that many who promoted the treaty changes of 1860,
and were elated at what they conceived to be their
success, were now taking a very gloomy view of the core.
mercial position of this country in relation to France.
The French manufacturers had had every reason to
congratulate themselves upon their gain by the treaty, and
indeed French commerce, as a whole, bail shared in the
benefit. The official returns for 1865 showed the total
exports from France to Great Britain to be :s3;
sterling ; and from Great Britain to France 23) million.,
being a balance of 30 millions in favour of Frew*, of
these France sent of industrial products (textile) i 1
millions ; England sent three milltua ; balaace against
England, 18 millions. Thus it appeared that of manufac-
tures France sent to England seven times the amount that
England returned to her. It had been too often imagined
that the silk trade was at no time of great impor-
tance to this country. But when it was known that
according to the census of 1861 there were no fewer than
117,989 persons directly employed in silk, which was
equal to one half the number of all employed in the
woollen and worsted trades (238,814), and one-fifth of the
number of those employed in cotton and eat added toge-
ther (563,014), it could not be said that the silk trade held an
insignificant place among the industries of the country.
The English manufacturers of this staple urged that their
interests and the interests of the large number of persons
employed by them, were not fully considered when the
French treaty was made. Their statement could scarcely
be denied if it were true that, notwithstanding the error.
mous advantages which the French silk manufacturers
were given by the total freedom from duty on silk goods
exported by them to England, the French government
insisted upon retaining duties which were then imposed,
and still continued, on certain goods made of silk in this
country, and in which England might have stood a fair
chance of competing with French manufacturers. The
English silk manufacturers oompLained of these duties
levied in France, while the English duties on French silk
goods, which were from 10 to 15 per cent., were totally
abolished. The while, British consumption of the raw
material for the employment of labour and capital had
been thus decreasing. While in 1866 the average ainouot
of silk manufactures imported front France into England
was GI millions sterling, the total amount of English
silk goods of all descriptions exported into France
in 1865 (the latest return) was under 70,0 W. The
extraordinary and rapid effect upon the localities
where the silk manufacture once nourished was
surprising and important. Besides a well-known die-
trict of London, the following towns might be named as
having severely suffered:—Manchester, Derby, Maecles-
field, Coventry, Nottingham, Congleton, Leek, Sandbach,
&c. Of all parts Macclesfield *Reeled the most remark-
able instance of the effects of the treaty. In Macclesfield,
in 18.59, before the treaty, there were 55 factories, em-
ploying 14,000 people; and there had been reduced, in
1867, to 31 factories, employing 5,000 people. In 1851,
there were in Cheshire alone 20,000 persons. employed is
silk manufacture. At the present time there were in
Macclesfield 2,000 empty houses, or 20 per cent. of the
whole. The sufferings of the workpeople had bent,
and continue to be. very great. Thousands had
been compelled to leave the town, and those operatives
who were left were subjected to much privation. In
Manchester, before the treaty, there were 25 silk mane.
facturers, employing a very considerable amount of capital
and labour ; now there were but five or six, and thoe
were suffering from depression of trade. The depreciatim
of property bad been painfully felt, and both employers
and employed were paralysed by the effects of the treaty.
As to British commerce geserally, Lord Stanley's attn.
tion was drawn to the fact that the commerce of Great
Britain had increased in a far greater ratio in the tee
years immediately preceding the French treaty than it had
since done ; and, although our commerce steadily increased
year by year, it was only at the rate of 17 per cent.:
whereas, five years before the treaty, the increase averaged
40 per cent—After hearing the above statements, Lord
Stanley promised, on the part of the government, the must
careful consideration of the whole subject.