The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-13 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER.

GENTLEMANLY AMUSEMENT.—Mr Sidney Vare Alston
and LioZ. Rutherford, of the Royal Marino Barracks,
damagingW o i Woolwich, ,t
hwee chargedni
n: o f a before
HackneylV Tr D ay m a
carriage,rf
the propeity
of Mr. Henry Townsen,;/, cab-proprietor. with wilfully
Thomas Weather, cab-driver, NO. 3, St. George's-road,
said that about 5 o'clock that morning he was hired by the
prisoners to go to Sussex-street, Ph:alio°. Another gentle-
man and two females entered the cab. Ho had got as far as
the corner of Warwick, street with them when they all
were about to leave. Upon the prisoner coming out of the
cab witness obseri-ed the lining of the roof hanging down.
He called the prisoners' attention to the lining, when one
of the females said that it was cut by Alston. He gave the
prisoner into custody. The females and the other man ran
away. Witness offered to tako a sovereign for the damage.
Alston offered 55., which witness refused to accept. The
other prisoner was insensibly drunk.
Dlr Dayman—What did Alston say to the charge

Witness—He said that the lining was torn when he got
in the cab. But the cab had only been relined about a fort •
night. I received no fare,

Mr. Townsend, 2, Itegent•strect, Westminster, stated
that the damage to the cab and the cost of repairing it
would be about 22g.

The prisoner Alston was fined 225., Rutherford was
discharged, and tho cabwan wth: allowed 10s,

THAMES.

SINGULAR ANNOYANCE—KNOCKING UP A. RELIEVING
OFFICER.—JuIia Donovan, an Irish midwife, about 60
years of age, and dwelling at No. 18, St. Dunstan's-place,
Ratcliffe, was brought before Mr Fllgct,
and unlawfully knocking at his door. charged with wil-
fully disturbing Mr John Wright at at unseasonable hour
Mr John Wright, relieving officer of the Hamlet of Stat:
cliff, in the Stepney Union, stated that a quarter past b
o'clock this morning he was disturbed by a loud knocking
at the door ,of his house, No. 11, York-square, Stepney.
He leaped from his bed, and before he could open the door
of his room the knocking was repeated. He partially dressed
himself and went to the street door. The knocking never
ceased until he:opened:the door. He'saw.the prisoner holding
on by the knocker and very much intoxicated. He asked her
what she wanted, and she said, " What about that case of
Ansell, on Monday ?" He told her his office hours at the
Ratcliff Workhouse were from 10 to 12 in the day, and she
must coma then if she had any business with him. She
said she was debilitated, and wanted to go home. He told
her ho had no water for her, and that she must go home.
She refused to leave. A. police-constable made his appear-
ance, and he gave the prisoner into custody. On the 9th of
a induced use
of.
the
April list she knocked him up at half-past 3in the morn-
ing, and said she wanted an order for the doctor of the
Union to attend a poor woman in labour. He gave her an
d
Inpr i answers o:
er to to
make
Al
such unseasonable calls, Mr Wright said the prisoner
Mr
Pagetrer
as to the she
called upon him some time ago, and said she was in great
distress. He relieved hor With bread and
oatmeal and went
' which
h ic
motive never
Which
made
to her dwelling-house. There were no indications of dis-
tress, her husband could afford bacon for his breakfast and
roast mutton for his dinner. He refused, of course, to re-
lieve her any more, and she
adopted this system of annoy-
ance.

he prisoner, in defence, said she was exceedingly de-
bilitated this morning:

Paget—Yea. You were debilitated, as you term it,
from drink. You were intoxicated at 15 minutes past three
this morning.
The prisoner—No, I was no.
I have lived in the hamlet
of Radcliff since 1820.
Mr Paget said the prisoner Was an exceedingly bad cha-
racter, and wanted to live on the industry and hard earn-
ings of the ratepayers. He fined her 10s., and in default
rection,
imprisonment in the House of Cor.
of payment 14 days'

Charges of Murder and Executions.
_____

Y to Parliament was
issued,es a variety of
tegridvaiyugmorning a return
particulars respecting
charges of murder in the JJ
"ited Kingdom within
the last seven years, from 1867
to 1863 inclusive.
In Ea m
g o
691 persons have
been their trial, and 246 tic-
q d. la nm
Fiftydit dteud ring this
put
on period
were acquitted ui t t
ec and
as insane, and 30
,
were found insane on arraignment.
One hundred
and fifty-three persons were Convicted of murder
hof
tnansliughter and
85 inety-six Have been
executed. the
concealment seven There
e y
u werefa
birth.r;
more 127
chargesseeu ofye a
rms
,ii murder
.witted suicide on the t
uf i n
here s
---:\
sinevleBn6m2
othreanexiencauntionyosthlaesrt eaoyftrho v
than is the others.
Of 29 persons convicted of murder last year 22 were
executed. In 1862, 15 were executed ;16 were
condemned, but one committed
morn-
ing of his intended execution.

In Scotland, of 257 persons committed for trial
on charges of murder from 1857 to 1863, 149 were
put on trial, 43 acquitted, 9 acquitted on the ground
of insanity, 2 found insane on a,rraignmeat, 17 con-
victed of murder, 48 of n1111331:11° horoicille or man-
slaughter, 29 of concealment Of Pregnancy (being
cexhaecrgateedda. lternately with child murder) and 5 only
Between 1857 and 1863 inclusive, 15 rersons have
beauhung
inortrial lreland
on for
the
murdert 543 have been
committed chargee; ground of in.
of' murder, of
whom 384 were put on their trial, and 174 ac-
o
sanity,quit t e d
a;
nldlBwe
foundre i
li acquittedsa tlenarraignment;
on h
30 were
of
convicted of murder, 148 manslaughter, and 45
of concealment of birth.

TIIE EMPEROR NAPOLEON AND THE IRISH
EXHIBITION.—A proof of the great interest felt by the
Emperor of the French in Industrial Exhibitions is afforded
in the fact that his Majesty has specially commissioned M.
Fauqueville, Auditor of the Council of Stare, to visit the
Exhibition in Kildare-street, and furnish z report on the
subject. The commission has been carried out. M. Fau-
queville has visited the Exhibition, througi which he was
econductedomitte. and w
e byMre W
are a
gladlker to le
, the secretary retary tt the managing
mthat
be has expressed
great interest and pleasure in minutely examining its
various features. He subsequently expressed a desire to
be introduced to the Lord Mayor, and wis introduced to
his lordship at the Mansion liouse,--I.l4bin.Dai/yExposs,

American Affairs,

A writer in the Times says—The progress of the
campaign verifies the opinions which have been ex-
pressed in your columns. No Northern general has
, equalled Grant in perseverance and recklessness of
life, but in military judgment, the most essential of
all qualities in a commander, he seems below the
level of most of his discarded predecessors. No two
men could be/ fouud who had more signally proved
their sanitary incompetence than Butler and Siegel.
These were the subordinates he approved. A third,
whose miserable failure in South Carolina gave him
some claim to compete wit`.ll them in imbecility, was
Hamer, and he of course was tire nest appointment.
['he judgment displayed in these arrangonerus has
been carried out in hisoperations in the field. Mal-
out one exception Grant has failed in every movernnt
of the campaign. He failed to get between Lee and
Richmond, his object when he crossed the Rapidan ;
tie failed to reacb. Spottsylvania before him, or to
break him there, or to pierce his lines at Cold
Harbour. Ho failed to seize Fort Darling, or to
surprise Petersburg, or to enter Gordonsville, or to
reach Lynchburg. He has indeed succeeded in
tearing up rails at several points, putting the Rich-
mond Government to the trouble of replacing them,
which is usually done within 24 hours by a gang
of ,men kept on the alert. With the Spring wasted,
and a loss of 80,000 men, he occupies to.day a posi-
tion twice as far from Richmond as Malvern-hill,
where iris transports might have placed him on the
Ist of March without his burning a cartridge. The
siege of Richmond has miserably come down to that
of Petersburg, and the general who undertook to
surround the capital is unable to invest so much as
half of the southern side of a little county town.
When, after .his terrible repulse at Cold Harbour,
it became necesbary for Grant to find some other
point of attack, Malvern-hill at once presented
these advantages. It was within 10 miles of Rich-

mond, with no di&culty on the way,'; it was clear of

the swamp, and the James river brought supplies
right up to it. It could be made impregnable
against attack in front, Lind there could be no enemy
in the rear. Discarding all these considerations,
with rare obtuseness of judgment, Grant decided to

take the south side of the James river, which pre-
sented the following requirements,— first, to take
Petersburg, which could not be left in his rear ; then

to cross the Appomattox; then to force back the
enemy over more than 20
_miles and several strong
positions; then to take Fort Darling, which could
not be left on his right flank; then to besiege the
suburb of Richmond, which is south of the James
river. Having effected all this, he would find an
impassable river between himself and the city, and
not only does an attack from the south involve two
sieges instead of one, but the main city, standing
on high ground, commands the southern bank of
the river, which would be untenable if it were ever
gained. It is true some shells might be thrown into
the city, but they would be returned, and Richmond
is no more to be terrified by Greek fire than
Charleston.

It would seem as if Grant had directed his choice
by studying, not the art of war, but the New York
papers, whose pet scheme of starvation he evidently
adopted. Into Richmond there run not only four
principal lines of railway, but also a canal of no-
-1 ut:ua magnitude, end a river flowing for 150 miles
through a region untouched by the war. It is a
very hopeless project to starve a city so situated,
and whieh it was impossible to invest. Bat if this
were the design the measures taken were singularly
ill-judged. Instead of withdrawing a corps from
Butler, ho should have been strengthened so as to
overthrow Beauregard and seize the Sauthern
lines, while Grant, holding on to his intrenched
position, detained Lee in his own front. It was
clear, that if he himself moved, Lee would be
free to respond with the advantage of an inner
line, probably it was hoped that the fleet might
render assistance, as at Vicksburg, when the opera.
tions were connected with the river. If this was
the idea, it is a curious result that Grant should
order vessels to be sunk to protect his own fleet from
the enemy. A New York paper of June 29, when
deploring the uselessness of the navy, observes, " It
has been discovered that God Almighty had not
made the James river to fit the Federal gunboats.'

Sherman's position is even less enviable than that
of Grant. After a long pause he has suffered a disc
estrous repulse, and failed to carry any point of
Johnbun's position. If carried, his next march
would brivg him to Cle Chattohoochee, a formidable
river to cross, And beyond it Atlanta would be found
gust as strongly fo,-tifiLd as Lynchburg proved to be.
It m;t;:ht have been wise had Johnson drawn him
further 1110 the State. A.q it is, Sherman's position
is full of pdil. Sturgiss, moving to his aid from
Memphis with a column of 8,000 men, suffered the
most thorough defeat since Bull Run, none of his
infantry escaping except as fugitives. Forrest,
atter this victory on his road, will soon be heard of
in Sherman's rear, and part of the force no longer
needed beyond the Mississippi is now pressing on
to Georgia. It appears a choice for Sherman whether

to make re disastrous retreat or to hold on and be

hemmed in by Armies in front and rear.

Meantime another'
enemy is in the field of whom
been warned in vain.
the Federals have long

Bankruptcy approaches with b:_eady step, and no

"flank movement" or "change of t,,:se" will atop

it. Mr. Chase has set at defiance ever] rule of

finance and every dictate of prudence. He has

ingeniously contrived a system of compound inflo
tion. Not content with the effect of his green•
backs, he has contrived to swell the currency by

means of his funded stocks. By creating what are
called "National Banks," he made his stocks the
basis of another mode of augmenting the cur-
rency. For the time he thus produced an artifi.
cial market for his securities, well knowing the
ultimate consequence. It was "Let us eat and
drink, for to-morrow we die." The machine might

as well take its chance of a crash at t he bottom of
the hill as be upset at once in the attempt to control

it. There are, however, some things that will read
badly on the page of future history. The Ft dersi
Government has invented a number of crimes un-
heard of before. It is now a crime for a New York

merchant to buy or sell gold on the public exchange,
he may be sent to gaol for it. It is a crime fur him

Co buy a bill of dAuLungc, ana pay tor it by a cheek

on hi; banker; he may be sent to gaol for this sin. It
is a crime to do what prudence often demands—that
is, to contract for exchange to be delivered when a
remittance will have_to be made; he may be sent to

gaol for this wickedness. Was there ever in the re-
cords of China or Japan a law in which the rights of
persons, property, liberty, are so ignominiously de-
based ? And merchants of the city of New York

submit to have such laws as these made for them
To make the matter worse, there is the silliness of

such things. Gold was at 95 when this Act was
passed to depress it, and a few days afterwards it
was at 145 premium. The ostrich that thinks to
become invisible by sticking its head in the sand is
about es near the mark as the legislators who

imagine they can arrest the depreciation of an in.
flated currency by such means as these.
The good people of Germany continue to buy
Federal Stocks. With terrible loss on. what they

have bought, they propose to mend the matter by
going on. Mr, Chase's last loan may be bought
today to pay 14 per cent. interest or more. With
gold at 258, the Lincoln dollar is worth is Bd, which
looks tempting. But these German Federals might
do well to inquire how the Union paid a similar
debt—that of the Revolutionary war. That debt
was trifling for the population and resources of the

day when contrasted with the present sum total.

Yet when the excitement of the war ceased, though

the war was entirely successful, it was found im-
practicable to pay, and the settlement that was

made by no means amounted to so much as twos

pence in the dollar all round. Hence even from is

8d there is very considerable room to tumble.
Assuming that the utter failure of the Federal
operations cannot now be far distant, the question
that arises of chief interest to Europe is whether

the event will end the War. Undoubtedly it is

difficult to imagine how such financial- machinery
can revolve m►nch longer, for prices rise in response
to gold, and the enormous expenditure of the Go•
vernment increases daily. Its issues of paper in
one form or other mist, therefore, grow more pro-

fuse. But the stock of belief in the most credalouf.

of all civilised people is not to be exhausted in a day.