The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-26 00:00:00

THAMES.

TOWER-lIILL TlllEVES.—Williain Thornton, a well-
known character, who belongs to a gang of thieves who are
constantly preying on emigrants and other strangers on
Tower-hill, was brought before Mr Partridge, charged with
stealing a gold pin from the person of Thomas Crolston, a
young man.

The prosecutor, a gentleman's servant out of place, and
a stranger in the east, was in Thames-street yesterday
evening when he was accosted by the prisoner and another
man, who asked him if he wanted a lodging. He said, in
reply, that he was in quest of one, and they took him to a
publichouse on Tower-hill, where the prisoner called for a
pint of beer, and asked prosecutor what sort of a lodging
be required. The prosecutor said it must be a cheap oneas
he had not much money. Tho prisoner said I will take
you to a house where you can get a lodging for 3d. The
prisoner's companion said if you are short of money you
can sell that pin, and pointed to a gold one in my scarf.
The prosecutor said, if you can get 7s. 6d. for it I will sell
it. Ihe prisoner's companion then, "as quick as lightning"
took the gold pin from the prosecutor and lett the
house with it. The prosecutor was about to follow
him, but the prisoner would not allow him to do so,
and detained him. The prosecutor ultimately left the
house with the prisoner and gave him into the
custody of a City police-constable, named Thos. Hooper,
No. 602. The:prisoner said he would find the man who
had the pin, and took the constable to a barber's shop in
Back Church-lane, St. George-in-the-East, where he
asked for Macarthy. The barber replied he is in White-
chapel. Tho prisoner's companion could not be found. The
prisoner gave an address which was unknown.
It was stated that many similar robberies had been com-
mitted. The policeman Hooper had been the prisoner on
Tower-hill and about the Ilercantile Marine Office for some
time,

Mr Partridge remanded the prisoner for a week.

MARKETS—This Day.

MARK-LANE.

The supply of home•-brown wheat on sale at Mark-lane
to-day was moderate, and the quality of the produce was
good. On the whole the trade ruled steady, at 1%11 quota-
tions.
With most descriptions of foreign wheat the market was
well supplied. Compared with Monday no charge took
place in prices, and most qualities changed bands to a
moderate extent.

Floating cargoes of grain were in fair demand, at full
currencies.

The supply of barley on sale was vEry moderate. On
the whole the trade ruled steady, at late quotations.
Malt was in fair average request at late rates.
The market was well supplied with oats, nevertheless, the
trade ruled somewhat active at very fall prices.
For beans and peas the trade ruled firm at quite previous
rates.
The flour trade was steady and prices ruled firm.
ARRIVALS THIS WEEK.
Wheat. Barley. Malt. Oats. Flour.
English 1,550 130 1,310 1,960 1,130
Irish .. 1,220
Foreign 1,210 670 31,480 260 eke.
1,340 brls.

The Negro under Federal Rule.

The Index publishes the following letter :--
"New Orleans, Louisiana, July 30.
"Sir,—That a boon ill-bestowed may become a curse
rather than a blessing to the receiver is a fact of common ex-
perience. The boon in itself may be one of unmixed good,
but the good to be derived from it must depend upon the
Irne, manner, and conditi3ns of the bestowal, and the
ability and desire of the recipient to make the most of his
opportunity. It cannot be denied that in many philan-
thropic schemes zeal outruns discretion ; and. my own ob-
aervation in Louisiana has taught me that there is a mad,
fanatical, hate-engendered philanthropy which works its
will regardless of consequences. Ido not intend to discuss

the question of slavery or the wisdom of emancipation—not
even to expi ess an opinion on these points—but simply to
speak of things as they are, deriving my facts solely from
official documents or from my own observation.
" The boon of freedom to the slave has turned to ashes
in the first year of his emancipation, if we may trust the
declarations of Federal efficials, those who lured him from
his bondage with visions of liberty and social independence,
and who now leave him to perish by the Dead Sea of dis-
appointment, to eat of its ashy fruit, to drink deep of its
bitter waters, and to die. I said my facts were derived
from observation and official documents. I have, however,
concluded to rely solely upon the latter in this letter. I
have now before me a copy of an official report from a
special agent of the Plantation Bureau' of the Treasury
Department, who was directed to examine and report the
condition ef ' all abandoned plantations, or these worked by
the Government in the parish of Iberville.' Let us hear
what this Government agent has to say upon this subject,
and then let the honest Abolitionists of England pronounce
judgment upon the spurious philanthropy of their American
brethren—' On visiting these places I found them in the
most deplorable condition. On every plantation worked by
the Government, or represented to be in possession of the
Government, I found there had not been one day's work
performed since the time of their occupation by Lieutenant
Hanks's orders in June last to the day of my visit, with the
single exception of the White Castle or Vaughan plantation.
. . Not another will be able to turn out one hogshead
of sugar or any other produce. In fact, I honestly declare
that the management—if we can with propriety use that
word—has been of the most reckless and abandoned cha-
racter, with a perfect indifference to the interests of the un-
fortunate negro, as well as the interest of the general Go-
vernment which, we have been told, sought the amelioration
of those people. In fact it does appear that the agents or
overseers placed in charge by Hanks considered they had
no other duty to perform than to draw the rations for the
dead as well as the living negroes, and their own salaries,
and leave everything to run to ruin.' The agent goes on
to say that ho returned sooner than he should have done,
because he could not go on and complete his report
with such desolation around me.' He found the sugar
cane covered with the vine and other rank vegetation.'
But let us hear what he says about the condition of the
freed men.' The mortality that has taken place in these
Government plantations is truly appalling. On the White
Castle plantation, out of 300 placed there by Lieut. Hanks
or Capt. Miller, there remained in Jan. last but 47 souls to
tell the tale of woe. On the Belle Grove plantation there
were placed by the same parties 325 negroes in June last
(1863), 202 of these have died. On the Magnolia planta-
tion 250 Degrees were placed, of these 117 have died up to
this date.'

" The date of this report is omitted in my copy, but I
know the agent made his inspection of these plantations in
the spring of this year.
" On the Richland plantation there were placed, as near
as I can remember, 460. Of the number that died I could
obtain no satisfactory information. I found only 192 in
the place. On the Grove-place, Bayou Plaquemine, there
were placed 300 negroes ; the mortality was so great that
they had to be buried in trenches, and without coffins.
On the Manocaux plantation 150 were placed, 100 have
died. On the Old Hickory prantation there were placed, in
June last, 413 negroes; of this number, up to the 11th
inst., 343 have died ; of the remaining number 88 are
lying sick in their quarters and 23 are in the hospital, no
care being taken of them. On entering the hospital I
found the number stated. In their midst lay the corpse
of a woman who had died at three o'clock p.m. the day be-
fore. There were no Government overseer there, and had
not been for three weeks bJore. The man Ely, who had
been placed in charge by Lieut. Hanks, hadleft. He said
he was going to New Orleans on business, and would be
back in four days. He persuaded the negroes to let him
have what little money they had to make purchases for
them—he went off with three to four hundred dollars, and
never returned.

" ' The corpse of the woman lay on the bare floor, with a
block of wood under her head, but no covering over her.
The body bad begun to decompose, as the weather was ex-
ceedingly hot Humanity shudders when we
think that in this room, and at the foot of the corpse, lay a
woman who had been confined two days before. The child
had died, and she herself was in the last stage of a fever of
the most contagious character—two children with measles
—a poor wretch breathing his last with typhoid fever, and
in the next room a woman chained with an ox chain to the
bars of the window, by her own eon, to prevent her from
killing others about the place. On entering' the pesthouse
the first salutation I heard was, Please, masse, for God'a
sake, give me a drop of water I Ah, masse, we're dying,
and not'ody to care for us.' I inquired if there had been no
doctor to see them. The reply was that the doctor had
been there two weeks before, and for the first time had left
medicine, but as there was nobody there who could read
(the prescription) it had not been given.'
fi' There have been placed on the Miles Taylor plantation
1100 negroes in all, of whom but 278 remain. The
numerous graves here disclose the last resting-place of the
poor negro. You will perceive by the annexed document
that I have made out a list of articles stolen, as well as of
those carried off by order of some one unknown. You will
also perceive that I prefer charges against the agents for
drawing rations, clothing, wages, &c., for negroes long since
dead. The Ventriss planation wag the last visited. I found
no overseer there. Of the (38 negroes placed ;there by
Lieut. Hanks only 112 are living. This place is a perfect
wreck. There has never been any one in charge of the
negroes, who have died without the least care, and after
death been taken to the fields and left there—food for buz-
zards. Their skeletons prove the fact.
" One of the stock phrases of the A merican press is,
Comment is unnecessary.' In this instance comment is
certainly unnecessary, and I shall attempt none. But,
perhaps, the readers would like to know whether this
report has yet been made public cu this side, and whether
any action has been had upon it. This report yet sleeps
in some pigeon-hole of the ' Plantation Bureau' of the
Treasury department, and the agent who made it has.
resigned his office in despair, as I understand, of any ame-
lioration of the wretched condition of these ' free Jrnen
and women,' and in disgust at the utter callousness of his
superior officers.
"A CITIZEN OF NEW ORLEANS."

F1ti,..5F1 FROM THE SOUTH.—On the 31st October
last Captai.l Hubbard, of the 89th United States
coloured troops, resident in this county, was caught by a
prowling band near 1,...,t0n itouge in Louisiana. Nothing
. and he has been mourned as
was ever learned of his fao.when he presented hire_
dead, until Tuesday evening
e, having just accom-
self to astonished acquaintances he:
terrible captivity,
plished his escape from a nine months:
Georgia
11e was imprisoned for several months in C:anawbi, Ala..
barna, but in May was transferred to Macon,
whence he escaped on the 15th of last month (July). Con-
cerning the state of feeling in the South, the testimony ~'f
ono who has observed with a keen intelligence recognis-
able by any who converse with him, is worth having, lie
says that the masses of the Southern people have lost
not one jot of heart, hope, confidence, or resolution. If
anything, they are more sanguine of success than ever.
They regard their independence as already achieved, and do
not dream of peace exbept upon its recognition. The great
rock upon which they lean is the expectation of Lincoln's
defeat in the coming election. They look for that as the
end of their struggle. They are possessed with the idea that
it is Lincoln who is tyrannically determined upon forcing
them back into the Union, and not the people of the North,
and that they have only to hold out through Lincoln's
term to be secure of their independence—believing that the
peace party is greatly in the majority, and that Lincoln is
sure to be defeated. That is the common and inspiring feel_
leg, as Captain Hubbard found, everywhere ; although he
reports more Unionism still existing in the South, manifest-
ing itself in kindness to prisoners and in help towards their
liberation, than is generally suspected.—.Bufalo Express.
THE WEATHER IN NoRTHUAIBERLAND.—A storm
warning reached the Northumberland seaport on
Tuesday evening that a gale might be expected from the
northward, but for two days before there had been a heavy
sea upon the coast, with the wind from the N.E. Oa Tues-
day night the wind blew half a gale from the N.E., and some
heavy showers of rain fell ; but on Wednesday, though the
air was cold, the weather was improving, and in the even-
ing the herring boats were getting ready to proceed to sea.
So far the herring tithing has been moderate off the coast
of Northumberland, some beats paying well, others doing
nothing. The harvest on the coast of Northumberland is
going on briskly, reaping machines being very much in re-
quest this year. The wheat crop looks like an average.
But the farmers will suffor a great deal from the burnt-up
condition of the pastures and the comparative failure of the
turnip crop.
THE MURDER IN MAYO.—REPRIEVE OF THE
CONVICT.—DUBLIN, Thursday.—At the last Mayo
Assizes Michael Monism was indicted with Michael Clark
for the wilful murder of Lawrence Conlan, at Castlebar, in
July of the previous year. The deceased was a member of
the constabulary, and was returning home from the house
of a friend in Castlebar on the 22d of July, 1863, when he
was overtaken by the prisoners, who brutally and wantonly
murdered him by kicking him iu the street and stabbing him
in the neck with a knife. Morrison was found guilty, with
a recommendation to mercy, but Baron Deasy sentenced
him to be hanged this day. The recommendation with
which the jury accompanied their verdict has been favou-
rably considered by the Castle authorities, and the result is
that the convict has bear ordered to be rtprie'yed,