The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-18 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, Oct, 17.

The October adjourned general sessions of the peace for
the county of Middlesex commenced this morning at the
Sessions-house, Clerkenwell-green, before Mr Bodkin (As-
sistant-Judge.)
The calendar contains the names of 84 prisoners committed
for trial, the greater'part of whom were charged with felony.
The grand jury having been sworn, the Assistant-Judge
briefly addressed them, and they returned to their room.
Mr Jeaks, Mr Joseph Reed, and Mr H. L. Taylor (the
chairman of the Markets Committee of the city of London,
and a member of the Metropolitan Board of Works) were
introduced, and severally took the oaths on being placed on
the commission of the peace for the county of Middlesex.
Ann Melville and Sarah Williams were indicted for keep-
ing a disorderly house in Oxenden-street, in the parish of
St. Martins-in-the-Fields. Both the prisoners pleaded
guilty.

Mr Le Breton appeared for the prosecution ; Mr Ribton
defended the prisoners, instructed by Mr Abrams.
Mr Ribton, on behalf of the prisoners, submitted that as
the house had been given up and the nuisance abated public
justice would be satisfied by a fine instead of imprisonment,
and that they should be allowed to go out on their own re-
cognisances, He went on to say that the parish authorities
had acted with great unfairness in selecting this house for
prosecution, while many houses in the same street, of a simi-
lar description, had been going on for years with the conniv-
ance and under the sanction of the parish authorities. These
women had only held the house for two years, but many
of the other houses had been going on for many
years, and yet they had been passed by, and this parti-
cular house selected for prosecution. The authorities of
St. Martin's had started up with a sudden zeal and pounced
upon this house, and so far from being guardians of the
public morals, as he had before said, they had connived at
and sanctioned these houses for years past. Under these
circumstances he hoped the Court would not send these
women to prison, but would impose a fine and allow them to
go at large on their own recognisances.
Mr Le Breton said that the overseers had no power to in-
stitute these proceedings unless they were set in motion by
the complaint of two inhabitants, who were required to
enter into sureties that they would prosecute the parties. As
to this house h; was one of the worst conducted in the
street, and the defendants had disregarded frequent
warnings.
The Assistant-Judge said this was a very bad case, as it
was proved in evidence that this place was frequented by old
men and mere children, and the sentence on each of the
prisoners was that they be imprisoned and kept to hard
labour for 6 months.
Richard Goddard, 19, and James Ward, 20, carmen, were
indicted for maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm upon
Henry Spiking.
Mr Cooper, instructed by Mr. Wontner, prosecuted. Mr
Collins, instructed by Mr Abbott, defended the prisoners,
who pleaded guilty to the indictment.
The facts of this case presented some very atrocious con-
duct on the part of the prisoners. The prosecutor lived at
Bath-row, Dalston, and was master horsekeeper to Messrs.
Waring Brothers, contractors to the City branch of the
North London Railway, and the prisoners were in their em-
ploy as carmen. The prosecutor had occasion to speak to
them on the subject of their neglecting their work, and on
Monday evening,- the 26th of September, he met them in
Dalston-lane with three carts, and he asked them where the
driver of the other cart was. They used some very vulgar
language towards him, and threatened to pull him off his
horse. When they went to the yard he handed to the pri-
soners their discharge tickets, and an order to receive their
money. Ward wanted to know what the paper was, and
the prosecutor told him it was his discharge, upon
which both the prisoners , collared him, and began
striking him, and a struggle ensued, which lasted for about
10 minutes, during which they threatened to .kill him. The
prosecutor at last made his escape, and got into the kitchen
of his own house, but even here he was followed by the
prisoners. He took up a poker to fasten the door with it,
but the prisoners burst the door open and took the poker
from him. Seeing the deadly assault they intended, he made
his second escape, when he was followed again by the pri-
soners, who struck him with the poker, and he fell down
insensible, and he remembered no more what was done to
him ; but on recovering his consciousness he found himself
in bed at his own house, wounded all over, and blood run-
ning from his legs, ears, and back part of his head. This
was seen by the time keeper, who saw the prosecutor fol-
lowed by the prisoners outside the gate, and just as he got
outside Ward knocked him on the head with a poker, and he
fell to the ground. As he was falling Goddard kicked him,
and afterwards they ran away, throwing down the poker (a
very heavy one, 3ft in length, and the bottom part about an
inch in width, the top having a large knob). The prosecutor
was led into his own house, and a surgeon was sent for;
but while he was there the prisoners went and looked in et
the window, and Goddard said, " We'll give you your --
dose to-night before you go out of the yard." They then
went towards the gate, where they met the man who had
been sent for a surgeon, and one of them knocked the man
down, Mr Cockell, a surgeon, of Dalaton-lane, at length
came, and ho found on the prosec .tor, on the scalp, a wound
31 inches long, dividing the integuments to the bone. There
was a bruise behind the left car fr ,m which blood was
000 zing, swellings on tho jaw on the right side, and the legs
very severely bruised. On the forehead was a bruise, and
over the region of the liver and several parts of the body
were bruises. From the injuries he had received there was
danger for a considerable time that erysipelas would set in,
and it was believed that the prosecutor's recovery was ens
tirely owing to his good constitution.

Mr. Collins, for the prisoners, said it was quite clear that
the prosecutor first used the poker, and that it was taken
from him by the prisoners in their own defence.
The Assistant-Judge said he never met with a more deli-
berate or aggravated case than thin. for here the prosecutor
was knocked down, and naturally attempted to defend him-
self in the best way he could, but the prisoners took hold of
the poker and struck him on the head with it, and it was a
great mercy that he was not killed ; it was only through
his having a strong constitution that his life was saved.
The sentence of the Court upon them was that they be each
imprisoned and kept to hard labour for two years.
Edward Bruce pleaded guilty to stealing, on the sth of
September, one coat, a silver mounted pipe, a snuff-box,
and a pair of boots, the property of Thomas Ridley, Waiter
at the Portland Club.

George King, 76 D, stated that nothing was known of the
prisoner, but at the time of his apprehension £1 8s 9d was
found on him, and that his apprehension was entirely due to
the pawnbroker's foreman, G. C. Badrete, in the employ,
of Mr Joseph Baker, of No. 28, Great Marylt bone-street,
who on several occasions had rendered the police great
assistance in stopping and apprehending parties offering
stolen property in pledge.

The prisoner, who declined to give any account of him
selfdp how he had disposed of the remainder of the property,
was sentenced to bard labour for six months.
The Assistant-Judge ordered that the sum of £1 8a 9d
be divided between the prosecutor and the pawnbroker.
Henry Brooks, 22, was indicted for stealing a watch, the
property of Chas. Wm. Tucker, from his person.
Mr Platt prosecuted ; Mr Itibton defended the prisoner.
From the evidence it appeared that on the night of the
Ist of October, between 10 and 11 o'clock, there was a
traction engine in the Pentonville-road, and a crowd of
people had assembled to see it. The prosecutor stood at the
corner of Southampton-street, and while there he felt'a pull
at his watch. He saw the prisoner's hand leaving him, and
he passed something to a confederate who was standing near.
He caught hold of the prisoner, forced him against some rail-
ings, and kept him there until a policeman came, who took
him into custody. The watch was not found.

Mr Ribton made an ingenious defence, but the Jury found
the prisoner guilty.
The Assistant-Judge sentenced him to be imprisoned and
kept to hard labour for nine Calendar months.

Francis Macuamara, 33, tailor, was indicted for stealing
a box, and other articles, the property of Robert Harding.
Mr Clarke prosecuted s Mr Ribton defended the prisoner.
It appeared in this case that the prosecutor is a cab pro-
prietor and driver, and on the evening of Tuesday, the 4th
of October, he was driving a cab from the Great Western
Railway with two boxes on the roof. When ho was in
Berkeley-street he heard a chain rattle, and on looking round
ho saw the prisoner with his hand on the cord of one of the
boxes, lifting it from the roof of the cab. He stopped the
horses, and
jumped down and seized the prisoner as he was
going away, telling him that he would give him into cus-
tody for attempting to steal the box off the cab. The pri-
soner said " Leave go, or I'll knock your head off ;" but he
held him until a constable came and gave him into custody.

Mrs Louisa Harding, of No. 4, North-row, Oxford-street,
said she was in the cab on the night in question coming
from the Great Western Railway, and the box mentioned by
the cabman belonged to her. It contained wearing apparel.
Mr Ribton addressed the jury, who found the prisoner
guilty of an attempt to steal.
Sergeant Coot, 8 S, and George Lockyer, of the House of
Correction, was ready to prove several convictions against
the prisoner, and one of them for penal servitude for 6 years.
The Assistant •Judge said ho had btd a very narrow
escape in only being convicted of a misdemeanour, and the
sentence of the Court upon him was that ho be imprisoned
and kept to hard labour for two years.
(Before Mr Payne.)

Joseph Brown, 26, and James Skinner, 61, surrendered
to take their trial on an indictment charging them as fol-
lows :—The said Joseph Brown for stealing two iron drums
and four tin cans, the property of Thomas Hubbuck and
others, his masters, and the said James Skinner for receiv •
ing the same well knowing them to have been stolen. This
was a else postponed from last sessions.

Mr Poland prosecuted, Mr Collins defended Skinner, and
Mr Pater appeared for Brown.
Mr Poland opened the t ase at some length, and called
_ _ _

Arthur Meek, who said—l am a clerk to Thos. Hubbuck
and others, of Ratcliffe, oil refiners and colour manufac-
turers. On Saturday, • Sept. 24, about half-past 6 in the
morning, I met the prisoner Brown coming eut of the wharf
with a can on his shoulder. I stopped him, and he said the
can was for Messrs Maugham. of Shadwell. Suspecting
him, I directed another clerk to follow him, and he was
given into custody. I sent to Skinner's house and asked
him if he had received any oil. He said "No." I then
said he must go to the station, I went to his house with a

policeman, and there saw 12 or:I4 cans, two of which I
recognised as my master's property.
Robert Morris said—l live at 36, Broad-street, Ratcliff. I
am a clerk in Messrs Hubbuck's employ. I followed the
prisoner for some time, but lost him. I searched Skinner's
premises with the last witness, and found several cans be-
longing to the prosecutors.

Police-constable 45 K said—l took the prisoners into
custody. They denied the charge.
Other evidence having been given,
Mr Collins addressed the jury for his client, after which
Mr Pater made a very telling speech for Brown.
Mr Payne summed up the evidence.

The jury found Brown Guilty and Skinner Not Guilty.
--

Mr Payne, in passing sentence, said this was a bad
offence, for which he (Brown) was liable to 14 years' penal
servitude, but the sentence of the Court upon him was, that
he be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for nine months.

Chas. Stack, 17, French polisher, was convicted of stealing
a pair of trousers, value 8s 6d, the property of Jacob Lazarus.
Mr Payne sentenced him six months' hard labour.

In eonsequence of its being supposed that Jas. Rowton,
the clergyman who was convicted last sessions of indecently
assaulting a boy on the London and North Western Rail-
way, would be brought up for judgment, the Court was very
much crowded by persons anxious to hear the result ; but
as the point of law reserved for the Court of Criminal Ap•
peal cannot for some time be disposed of, the prisoner will
not be brought up again uatil the latter end of November.

The Great Fire at Pimlico,

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.

This fire has been attended with a far greater destruction
of property than was at firest supposed. it is now stated
that the premises, machinery, and stock in trade were in-
sured for £22,000, which is only a tithe of the actual loss.
The offices that will suffer by the disaster are the follow-
ing :—The Commercial Union, liabilities, £3,500 ; the
Mercantile, £3,500; the Queen, £2,500 ; the Royal, £3,500.
There is a similar amount in the Guardian and another
office. The whole of the arrangements for settling the
claims for the various fire offices have been entrusted to
Mr John James Close, and the superintending of the
buildings has been entrusted to Mr Jennings, of the Guar-
dian office. That gentleman has already given orders to
have the dangerous walls secured, so that the Victoria
station may be guarded from further danger. The side
which the fire had penetrated has already been shored up.
The iron and glass roof shows unmistakable evidences of
the intense heat that prevailed at that part of the station,
for the glass is melted and the ironwork twisted.
At five o'clock last night one of the land steamers was
at work do*n the yard of Read's marble and stone steam
sawing mills. Five immense jets of water were pro-
jected into the still burning mass. Near the shaft are
several hundred tons of coal burning furiously, and it will
take some time before the fire can be wholly extinguished.
The lofty chimney still stands, and presents a singular
appearance, one side being of an orange colour, owing to
the action of the flame upon that particular part. The side
walls adjoining it are in such a state that they are expected
to fall betore they are shored up or pulled down.
The firm was in the constant habit of turning out 1,000
wheels per week; consequently, besides the great number
of men who will be thrown out of employment at the wheel
works, a great many others will suffer from short work in
many of the large carriage and waggon works in London.
Mr Parfrey, the resident partner, was sleeping in an
adjoining house when the fire was discovered, and he states
that when he was called he found the greater part of the
factory in fl Imes. He was certain that the five floors of
the main building were on fire, as well as the engineers'
shops and blacksmiths' shops. He also stated that he went
over the works at 11 o'clock on Saturday night, when the
place was to all appearance perfectly safe and free from fire.
All the furnace fires had been extinguished before the men
left off work in the afternoon. He therefore cannot form
the least idea as to the origin of the fire.

The Extraordinary Suicide of a Gentleman.

At noon yesterday Mr Wm. Payne, the coroner for the
city of London, held an inquiry at St. Bartholomew's Hos-
pital, into the circumstances of the death of Mr Charles Vie
Ridout, aged 65, who committed suicide on the premises of
the West Ham Gutta Percha Company, of which he was
the manager.
Mr W. Hancock appe&red to watch the case on the part
of the company,
Wm. Harvey, night watchman at the Gutta Percha
Works, West-street, Smithfield, said that Mr Ridout was
the confidential manager of the works. Witness last saw
him alive at a quarter past 11 o'clock on Friday night. He
had never been so late in the office before. He asked witness
to fetch half a pint of beer, and witness went for it. The
deceased had been writing all the evening—from 6 o'clock,
when he had come to the office. Witness brought back the
beer, but when passing the stable door ho heard a noise, ap-
parently from a pistol shot, followed by a groan, Witness
ran into the stable and saw decoasad lying on the ground,
with blood flowing from hie head. Witness thought ho was
in a fit, and called for help. He tried to lift the deceased up,
and asked him what was the matter, but he did not answer.
A policeman came followed by a surgeon, who said he had
been shot. The police found a pistol in the straw. Witness
found a paper of bullets, powder, and caps, and two letters
(produced). Witness noticed nothing, unusual about the
deceased latterly, or when he directed witness to go out for
the beer.

Mr E ward Broughton, clerk at the gutty percha works,
said he had known deceased for three years. Witness never
observed that deceased's mind was disturbed in any way.
The letters produced were in the deceased's handwriting.
Witness knew that deceased was involved in pecuniary
difficulties.

By Mr Hancock—The deceased was in no way wrong in
his accounts with respect to the G utta Percha Company.
Parsons, 232, City police, produced a pocket pistol which
was found in the stable by the side of the deceased. It had
just been discharged.
Mr Alfred Hancock, joint manager of the works with the
deceased, said he had known him for three years and a half.
He was latterly depressed very much; He was disappointed
at not getting other employment. He was about to leave
the Gutta Percha Company's employment because he was
not required any longer. His accounts were all right. He
was married and had two children, His incame from the
company was £2OO a year, but he had other property of his
own. On Friday afternoon witness saw him, and he was
then rather melancholy.
Mr F. Rowbottom said that latterly the deceased was
dispirited, apparently at the prospect of the loss of employ.
went. He was disappointed at not receiving certain sums
of money on which he had calculated.

Mr Botolph, house surgeon, said that the deceased was
brought into the hospital insensible from a bullet wound,
and he died near 3 o'clock on Saturday morning, The bul-
let was found in the upper part of his brain.
The Coroner said that the letters alluded to by some of
the witnesses were two in number—one was written to the
wife of the deceased, and the other was addressed " To the
Coroner and the Jury."
The letter addressed to the Court was as follows :
" To the Coroner and Jury.
" Gentlemen,—As the law permits, or as it is customary
for you to assume the right, of not confining your inquiry
into the mere fact of death, but to extend it into the causes
which led to self-slaughter, and as it is possible that I may
be branded with the absurd stigma of felo de me, which was
applicable only in a barbarous age, when, amongst our an-
cestors, men were the property of their lord, I desire to place
at your disposal the best evidence—my own.
" Throughout my life I enjoyed uninterrupted bodily
health, which I thought nothing could break, but utter
helpless, hopeless insolvency has overtaken me and weighed
me down. It is better for a man to owe £lOO,OOO than £lOO
if he is not in a position to pay the latter sum. The sum of
£lOO would more than make mo a free man, but that is not
to be got."

The deceased then at great length detailed how, three
years ago, he had borrowed a sum of £5OO, and how, to pay
interest on the loan, he had sold £3OO worth of property for
£7O, but that, nevertheless, all his efforts had loft him hope-
lesely embarrassed and involved. Ile continued :

" It (the loan) answered its purpose at the time, but the
end is that I am left without bread at 65. Let no one blame
me for living beyond my means—for what were they ? Two
hundred a year to support a wife and family. All those
that knew me know whether my habits were not proper
and sensible.

" The thought of the children and their gent le mother was
the only reward I had for struggling on for years in an occu-
pation I hold, and an employment I despised. So much for
life—now for death.

" The mind of man depends for its manifestation upon
corporeal functions. A blow on the brain with a hammer
would have converted a Shakspere or a Newton into drivel
ling idiots. Where, then, would have been their magnifi-
cent creations or grand thoughts ?
"I do not understand entering into eternity.' The
phrase involves a contradiction in terms. Eternity is that
which has neither beginning nor end. I have thought over
all this until my brain has become like that of one that
overhangs a precipice
" No one has a belief other than fervent hope, earnest
desire I We repeat what we have learned from others like
parrots. There is more honesty in frank doubt than in
weak bend 1.

"For my part I can only believe in what I can thoroughly
comprehend.

"I die believing nothing, but hoping all things. I write
all this because there is always so much said about death
beh.g a 'rash act,' a 'rushing into the presence of one's
Maker without God's permission.' I feel but an instru-
ment in God's hand for my own just punishment. I placed
all my happiness in a home to which I had no right, for I
had not the means necessary to keep it up. That darling
angel I If I could possibly I would still struggle for her
sake. And my child's cherub face is before me, saying,
Papa, don't leave us.' What can I do ? But this is going
back again to life. What tricks and subterfuges in order
to make this home happy

"I am ashamed to make so much fuss about dying, but
the thought of them overcomes me. My dying averts ruin
from another, who if I lived would be ruined too. Pardon
mo this trouble, but perhaps some of you have children.
Until the age of 60 I never was in difficulty. 1 trust you

will take a charitable view of all, and pardon me occupying
your time.

,' Oct. 14."

" CHARLES VIE RIDOITT.

"To face death at the cannon's mouth in presence of
thousands, and with the Victoria Cross to encourage your
spirits is an easy task ; but the heart sinks when in the
solitude of a chamber, shame, remorse, despair mock and
mouth at you from the barrel of a pistol, and a little cherub
cries out to you, 'Don't, papa ; papa, don't do it.' "
The Coroner said that it would be for the jury to consi-
der whether the letter read would tend to show that the de-
ceased was in an unsound state of mind. If they were not
of opinion that it did there could be no alternative but to
return a verdict of felo de se.

The Court was then cleared, and after a long delibera-
tion, the jury returned a verdict of " Suicide while in a state
of unsound mind,"

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.-Our last intelligence from Australia had
prepared us for the angry and, as we think,ill advised
communication from the Ministry to the Governor
of Victoria which we publish today. Melbourne has
long been in a ferment of agitation about the con.
tinuance of transportation to Western Australia. It
is not enough that the proportion of convicts
hitherto sent thither should not be exceeded ; the
colonists demand that the system should be aban..
doned altogether, whatever the inconvenience to
Great Britain or the other parties concerned, Fail-
ing to obtain the unconditional submission of the
Colonial-office to these terms, they have meditated
various kinds of reprisals on the mother country. In
the last session of the Melbourne Parliament it was
gravely proposed to vote a sum of money to retrans-
port ticket-ofsleave men to our own shores. The
motion was successfully resisted by the Government
on the ground that it was premature, and that it
would be better to wait for another despatch before
taking any violent course. The despatch proved
unsatisfactory, since it did not recognise the vali-
dity of the claims founded on the alleged influx of
convicts from Western Australia, and did not report
the passing of any measure for the abolition of
transportation. Hereupon Mr. Edward Wilson came
forward with a scheme of his own for effecting the
same object by voluntary subscription. The plan
was to invite " expirees" to emigrate homewards,
granting them free passages. The very worst ruf-
fians among the expected applicants were to be se■
lected, and, lest captains should be averse to have
them on board, these gentlemen were to sign an
engagement pledging them to go into irons upon the
commission of any outrage. The idea had been
warmly taken up, and large subscriptions were pour-
ing in, according to our correspondent, when the
last mail left, The present mail brings the news of
another measure already adopted by the official ad-
visers of Sir Charles Darling, though the power of
carrying it out must partly depend on the co•opera-
tion of other colonies. " Upon a careful considera-
tion of Mr Cardwell's despatch, written in the face
of all the earnest representations addressed to her
Majesty's Government"—so runs the minute—" it
has been forced upon the attention of myself and
my colleagues that further remonstrance is in it-
self useless, and that the time has arrived when
it is incumbent upon us, in the exercise of our
powers of self-government, to initiate legislation,
in connexion with the colonies whose interests
are alike affected, for our common protection."
The Chief Secretary goes on to say that he has
urged the Governments of the other free colonies to
frame identical bills for cutting off Western Aus-
tralia from all intercourse with the rest of the con-
tinent, that her position as the only convict 'colony
may be distinctly marked. He does not doubt that
this suggestion will be universally approved, and he
further requests the Governor to notify formally to
the Imperial authorities that on May 1, 1865, the
Victorian Government will cease to contribute to-
wards the postal subsidy of the Peninsular and
Oriental Company, and will have nothing to do with
the pending arrangement for a fortnightly service,
unless the Company's ships be forbidden to touch at
King George's Sound, or anywhere in Western
Australia. This decision is stated to have cost its
authors inexpressible pain, but to have been dictated
by a sense of their responsibility to the people of
this colony, on whose behalf they charge her Mft.
jesty's Government with injustice to Australia, and
in particular with a deviation from the terms of a
previous declaration of the Duke of Newcastle.
Upon the language and spirit of this document we
forbear to comment. It would ill become the

Minister of a great nation to allow his counsels to
be swayed in dealing with a great question by the
more or less respectful tone of remonstrances against
his policy. If the temper of the Victorian public
does not permit them to feel compunction or regret
at the prospect of a collision with this country, the
pride of the English public should not restrain
them from confessing how deeply they would de-
plore it. We can afford to look at the situation of
public affAirs without passion or resentment, and
consider what ought to be done as though no threat
had been used. Long before ezeitemout at Mel-

bourne had reached its present pitch, we often had
occasion to express our opinion on the right and
expediency of transporting criminals to Western
Australia, The right, in the abstract, we hold to
be clear. Except upon the theory of the Monroe
Doctrine—a theory which, as applied to Australia,
the Anti-Transportation League of Victoria have
expressly disclaimed—no colony can possibly be
entitled to control the relations of the mother
country with another colony. To maintain the con-
trary would be to claim for a dependency higher
privileges of sovereignty than belong to an inde-
pendent Power, for no Europen State would pre..
sume to require a neighbouring State to keep its
convict establishments at a distance from the Iron-

tier. Legal right, however, is an unsafe and inade.
quate guide in difficulties of this kind. If the free
colonies of Australia are materially, though inci-
dentally, injured by the limited transportation to
Western Australia,, there is no class or party in
Great Britain that would refuse to take their com-
plaints into account. What, then, is the fact P We
believe, in the first place, that there is a law in
the colony of Victoria prohibiting the immigration
of any criminal, unless his sentence has expired at
least three years. It is not easy to reconcile this
with the article of the Victorian Constitution which
confers a vote.on " expirees," and even on those who
have receiveil a conditional pardon, being otherwise
duly qualified. However this may be we should have
thought the Exclusion Act, if enforced by an effi-
cient police, ought to be an ample safeguard against
the overflow of convicts from Western Australia,
and we find that, in fact, it is so regarded at Port
Adelaide, where no such law exists, and where the
Legislature is urged to pass one exactly similar.
Still, we are positively assured that in spite of all
precautions many convicts do find their way to Port
Phillip, and commit atrocious crimes there, and there
seems no doubt that bushranging has revived on
an alarming scale. Whether the " panic " produced
by this danger in Australia, or the " panic " pro-
duced by garotting in Eagland, be the more reason-
able, or the more ignoble, and whether either panic
has had anything to do with the conflict between
the Colonial Office and the Victorian Government,
we need not here discuss. It is enough for us that
a fixed belief exists in that colony that a vital
injury is inflicted on it by transportation to Wes-
tern Australia, and that the belief is at least not
altogether unfounded. Unlike the older Australian
settlements this flourishing province reaped, as it
were, that which it had not sown, and from the first
obtained a sufficient supply of labour without hav-
ing to petition for convicts. Colonial memories are
short, and probably no Victorian politician remem-
bers or would care to recall the resolutions passed
but twenty-five years ago by the Legislative Council
of New South Wales, deprecating any change in
the practice of assigning criminals as domestic ser-
vants, and recording their opinion that no other
system of penal discipline would be found "so
cheap, so effective, and so reformatory." The Mel-
bourne Cabinet takes its stand on the present inte-
rests of Victoria alone, and it has a right to do so.
The other colonies have still to speak for themselves
on the point now submitted to them, and we are
quite sure that any grievances which they may
allege will receive calm and impartial consideration
from Mr Cardwell. We do not envy him the task
of reconciling the prerogatives of the Crown with
the pretensions of Sir Charles Darling's "respons-
ible" advisers; but he will possess one inestimable
advantage. He represents a client who has no
other desire or object than to do what is just to all,
neither more nor less, and who will gladly endorse
any settlement of the question, cost what it may,
that does not involve the sacrifice of a higher duty
than conciliation.

POST.—To-day a bazaar will be opened at Liver-
pool in aid of a fund recently established in this
country for the relief of those Confederate soldiers
who have been made prisoners of war, and who,
but for the assistants furnished them by their
friends, would be exposed in all their severity to
those privations which are inseparable from cap-
tivity in an enemy's hands. In the Northern States
a similar fund exists for the relief of Federal pris
soners, and in the one case, as in the other, the dis-
tribution of the proceeds thus raised is entrusted to
the Government which is unavoidably compelled to
eeprive those who are the objects of the charity of
their freedom. The civil war now raging in
America has worked so many social changes in the
condition of the population, it has awakened such
apparently inextinguishable hatred between men
previously united by all the bonds of a common
Citizenship, and glorying in all the greatness and
prosperity of a common State, and has, unhappily,
left to be recorded on the page of history deeds
which posterity may well hesitate to believe were
committed by a Christian people, that it is with un-
feigned gratification that one turns to the contena%
plation of acts which prove that war, even in its

bitterest and most relentless form, cannot entirely.
counteract the humanising influences of religion ang,
civilisation. As belligerents, the North and South,
' meet on the battlefield ; the exigencies of warfare
require that they shoul I respectively employ every
means in their power to secure victory, even tbough
it must be purchased with thousands of lives; but
when the battle is over, when the last shot has
been fired, when the vanquished, despite all their
valour, have been compelled to retire, and When
the victors find, thickly strewn amongst the slain
over the hard-won field, men who have fallen dis-
abled fighting no less valiantly than themselvesl
and who may yet live again to draw the aver'
under happier circumstances in defence of their
State, then it is when the more kindly feelings
of human nature reassert themselves, and the
captors and the captured are fain to acknowledge
that they belong to one great family, and are knit
together by ties which mortal strife can neve.,
entirely dissolve. The progress of civilisation has
never been more strikingly marked than by the
manner in which, from time to time, the asperities
of warfare have been tempered, and so deeply jute-
rested is the entire human race in these ameliora:
lions that nothing serves to excite more universal.:
odium than any apparent retrocession on the Par''
of a belligerent in the mode of conducting War'
Savages slay their captives on the field of battles
or reserve them for cruel tortures. Civilised men
give quarter, and content themselves with depriv-
ing those who fall into their hands of the meal'
of doing further injury by retaining them in car
tivity till the conclusion of hostilities. It is, bog'
ever, a further step when the conquerors express
their willingness to distribute amongst their prise'
ners such necessaries as their friends may thing
proper to supply them with. The opening '3li
the bazaar in aid of Southern Soldiers' Relief Fan'
reminds us that the Governments of both sections
of the former American Republic have generously_
co-operated in carrying into effect the wishes of the
friends of those prisoners who have fallen into
their hands, and we take the present opportunity
of noticing a circumstance which is as creditable to
the one as it is to the other. It is certainly 110 t
surprising that an effort should be made in Liver-
pool to aid those who, in supporting the Confede•
rate cause, have fallen into the hands of their foes;
and who, wounded and sick, are, notwithstanding
the humanity of the Federal Government, neces;
eerily deprived of every little comfort which cosh'
make their thraldom endurable. Lancashire owes
her wealth and her prosperity mainly to the
Southern States of America; and, although sbe
has suffered in common with those other States
through the present war, still she cannot but en'
tertain a sympathy for those to whom she is
debted for so much, and may well afford, on LIT
occasion like the present, to evince that sympatual
in a substantial form. It is scarcely necessary to
say that however desirous a belligerent PoWBr
may be of alleviating the miseries of those Who
are made prisoners of war, it is compelled le
withhold from them almost everything whichis not
a necessary of life. The population of the Northern
States, recognising this fact, have from their 0°,14
paratively boundless resources with ease obtain"'
and transmitted to the South fpr distribution
amongst the Federal prisoners large quantities
medical stores, wine, clothing, books, &c.
people of the South are differently situated. The,':
territories have supplied for nearly four years t'!"
battle-ground for the contending armies, their
country has been ravaged and devasted, their ports
blockaded, their commerce extinguished, and Oa`
energies and resources taxed to the utmost in order
to enable them to cope successfully with the giga."
tic armies launched against them by a population
not only five times more nnmerous than their oWn,
but, with an open seaboard, enabled to recruit these
armies from every quarter of the globe. The Con'
federate Government willingly act as almoners for
those who are desirous of befriending the prisoners
whom theyaire compelled to detain, but the straits
in which their own people are placed preclude them
from furnishing the same ample opportunities t°
the Government at Washington of performing 6
reciprocal office. It is more blessed to give than the
receive, and perhaps there are no occasions on whir
the truth of this saying is more apparent than is
the performance of what we may be permitted to
call acts of international kindness and benevolence;
States have begun to lose that isolated character cu
which in former times they seemed never capable
of divesting themselves, and at length acknowledge
the connection which subsists between them. The
sympathies of mankind have ceased to be confine'
within the spheres of those who acknowledge the
same Sovereign or live within the limits of the same
State. The calamity which strikes down one people
is, for that very reason, considered as specially cite
culated to awaken the benevolence of those Who
have escaped the blow ; and hence it has happened
that, despite difference of race and of creed, nations
have (more especially during the past few years)
gladly—indeed we might say eagerly—seized ever!
opportunity of furnishing mutual assistance.
Turkey, notwithstanding the crippled state of her
resources, a short time since generously lent a heir'
ing hand in alleviating distress in this country,
and England, in her turn, raised a fond to aid the
Turkish Government in diminishing the horrors
which attended the Circassian exodus. Notwit"
standing the prejudice entertained against Urea',
Britain by the population of the Federal States,
they chartered a magnificent vessel and loaded be;
to the bulwarks with stores to be distributed
amongst the operatives of Lancashire who had been
thrown out of employment by the suspension of the
Southern cotton trade, The Southern Confederal
is for the present cut off from the rest of the world;
it cannot give, and it is almost equally precluded
from receiving. It would therefore be a moat fitting
and suitable mode of manifesting sympathy, Wit"
out at the same time infringing that neutrality
which should be observed between the belligerentigt
if those who have benefited so much in past times
by the Southern trade, and who look with eager'
ness for its re-establishment, should now contribute
to a fund which is intended solely to alleviate the
hard lot of men whom the fortune of war has sepir
rated from those to whom they were a solace, an"
in a large majority of cases, a support.