The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, SEPFE'MBER 8, 1863.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS—Sept. 7.

(Before Mr. Payne.)
At the sitting of the Court considerable delay was occa-
sioned in consequence of the numerous excuses being offered
by persons who had beet summoned as traverse jurymen,
principally upon the ground of being upwards of 60 years
of age, which, of course, formed a legal ground of exemp-
tion. Out of a panel of 60 persons summoned at this sea •
sion only 30 could be found qualified as jurymen, and this
is the case nearly every session.
Mr. Payne commented with some severity on the way in
which persons over 60 years of age were summoned to act
as jurors, whose names ought not to be on the list.
The summoning officer said the whole fault lay with the
overseers, and from the defective way in which the lists
were made out. In many cases the names of persons were
sent in as qualified to act as jurors who had been dead four
or five years, had gone away, or were otherwise disqualified,
but the sheriff in issuing his precept had no means of ascer-
taining these facts.

In the present instance the jurors were summoned from
the parish of St. Pancras.

John Brown was indicted for assaulting John Michael
Connor, a constable of the Metropolitan Police, in the exe-
cution of his duty.

Mr. Cooper (instructed by the Treasury) prosecuted ;
Mr. Ribton defended.

John M Connor, 56 E, said, on the 20th July, at about
half-past 12 o'clock at night, he was on duty at hlarylebone-
street, where he saw the prisoner,two other men,and a woman.
The prisoner and the two men were talking together at the
corner of a street. He knew the prisoner from having seen
him hundreds of times in the street, although he did not
know his name. While they ware talking a young man passed
by and accidentally touched one of the men who was with
the prisoner, who upon that began abusing the young man,
and using the foulest language. Witness spoke to this man
and told him that he ought not to insult people at that
hour in the morning, and that it would be the
best plan to go home, as it was then getting very late. The
men said they would do so. Witness went on about three
yards, when one of the men who was in the company of the
prisoner said, "You I will settle you." He returned
and asked him what he said, but he did not repeat the word.
Witness said, " You must go home now," and put his hand
on his shoulder and pushed him into the street. That was
not the prisoner, but one of his companions. This man put
himself into fighting attitude, when the prisoner came up
and struck witness a violent blow in the mouth with his fist,
and in consequence of that blow he fell backwards and his
head came in contact with the curbstone. It was a violent
blow and it knocked out one of his teeth. The next morn-
ing he found himself in the hospital, and was there for 13
days. He remained insensible the whole of that night and
part of the next day. He was examined before his discharge
by the hospital surgeon, and afterwards by Mr. Ross, the
divisional surgeon.

Cross-examined by Mr. Ribton_There was no particular
disturbance that night, as Sunday is usually a quiet night.
Witness had not spoken to the man more than two minutes
before he was knocked down.
Peter Frampton, an undertaker, said at half-past 12
o'clock on the night of the 19th of July he was in Maryle-
bone•street, He saw the prisoner and two men standing
talking, and he touched one of them accidenta)ly in passing.
Witness saw a friend home whom he was with, and re-
turned the same way. When he came back the policeman
was speaking to the men, advising them to go home. He
ordered them off, and then he (witness) went away. One
of the men made use of bad language, to the effect that he
would finish him.

Mr. Ribton—You being an undertaker, that would just
have suited you. (Laughter.)
Witness—And it would have suited for you. I should
be happy to oblige you at any time. (A laugh.)
Mr. Ribton—Not at present, I thank you, (Renewed
laughter.)

Witness continued—The prosecutor pushed the man
into the street, when the prisoner came up behind him
suddenly and knocked the ppoliceman down. no struck him
in the mouth, which rendered him insensible. All three
men then went away. Witness was sure the prisoner was
the man, as he was not more than four feet from him when
this oc•urred.

Mr. Tyer, house Burgeon at Middlesex Hospital, said the
constable Connor was brought in on the morning of July
20th in a state of unconsciousness.. He had a contused scalp
wound and a concussion of the brain.
Mr. G. Ross, surgeon to the G division of police, said he
saw Connor on his discharge from the hospital. He was
still suffering under great debility, and had been under his
care ever since. He was still unfit for duty.
John Rogers, police-constable 47 E, said he took the pri-
soner into custody on the 11ih ult. He told him he should
take him into custody for an assault on a police-constable
in Marylebone-street, at the corner of Ogle-street, on the
20th of July. He said it was not he,
as he was put to bed
drunk that night gt 11 o'clock.

This witness was cross-examined at great length by Mr.
Ribton as to whether he had not stated before the magis •
trate that the prisoner had said he was not the man. For
some time he did not answer the question, upon which Mr.
Ribton asked to have the depositions before the magistrate
read. In these it appeared that the witness had stated that
the prisoner had denied that he was the man.
The witness having acknowledged that the depositions
were read over to him, and that he had signed them, in ex-
planation of his omission said he had forgotten it.
Mr. Ribton, at great length, addressed the jury on behalf
of the defendant, and said he should call witnesses who
would positively establish the fact that this was not the man
who struck the Wow, and unless they should believe that
they came forward to commit wilful and corrupt perjury,
they would give justice and acquit the prisoner.
Four witnesses were called, two of teem stating that at
11 o'clock on the 19th of July, they saw the defendant
Brown lying drunk in front of the house where he lodged ;
that they assisted in putting him to bed, and they could
positively assert that he never left the house during that
night. The other two witnesses swore that they were pre-
sent in Marylebone-street, and saw the assault committed
upon the prosecutor, but it was not by the defendant at the
bar. They were positive that it was not the prisoner who
struck the blow, as the man who did commit the offence
was much shorter and altogether unlike him in appearance.
Within a few days they had seen the man who really com-
mitted the offence.
In cross-examination by Mr. Cooper, the two latter wit-
nesses said they were in attendance at the police-office for
the purpose of giving evidence, but the magistrate asking if
there were any more witnesses on behalf of the prisoner, the
policeman said, " They are all of the Ogle-street gang," and
they were not called. They were asked by the policeman to
speak to the identity of the man Brown as the person who
committed the assault, but they denied that h© was so, and
they were not examined.
Mr. Cooper replied upon the evidence given on the part
of the prisoner, and contended that the persons who had
some forward had been called to prop up the case for the
prisoner, and it was at least very strange that as they knew
the man who really committed the assault, and knew also
that an innocent man was in custody, charged with the
offence, they had taken no steps to bring the real offender to
justice. The witnesses who had been called.on the part of
the prosecution were most respectable persons, and as the
jury had seen their demeanour and the way in which they
had given their evidence, he saw no reason why their testi-
monywhy they should, under the
come forward to commit per-
jury
senset
oos
fhserve
dl
solemn
ae
mn a n obligation, doubted,
who o
wr
was almost a stranger to them.
He believed the case had been fully made out, and he called
upon the jury to return a verdict against the prisoner.
Mr. Payne minutely summed up the evidence.
The jury, after a long consultation, returned a verdict of
not guilty. _

Wm. Parker, 23, barman, was indicted for stealing 6s and
other moneys, the property of Tom Surridge, his master.
The prisoner pleaded Guilty.
Mr. Sleigh appeared for the prosecution ; Mr. M. Wil-
liams for the prisoner.
Mr. Sleigh said he appeared on the part of the prosecution
in this matter, and he was atraid that the Court would be of
opinion that it was one of the worst of its class, for although
the prisoner was charged in the indictment with only steal-
ing 65., yet Mr. Surridge had lost altogether upwards of
£BOO, and since the prisoner had been in custody, his tak-
ings had been plus £lO per week. That systematic plunder
had been carried on was made manifest from the fact that
the prisoner had a bag which ha secreted in a hole in the
floor, and covered it over with a carpet. Mr. Surridge, hav-
ing his suspicions, put himself in communication with Ser-
geant Joy, of the C division, who found the money in the
hole increase from time to time, and among it some of the
money that had previously been marked by Mr, Surridge.
He was then taken into custody, under the advice of Mr. M.
Williams, he had pleaded guilty, but he (Mr, Sleigh) would
have been guilty of dereliction of duty if he had not stated
these facts, and Mr. Surridge, in justice to the body of
licensed victuallers to which he belonged, as well as to him-
self, felt bound to institute these proceedings.
Mr. M. Williams, for the prisoner, said there was nothing
against his previous character, and he believed his former
master with whom he served was willing again to take him
into his service. He asked for the mercy of the Court on
account of his youth, and of his having yielded to a tempta-
tion that he had not strength of mind to resist.
Mr. Sleigh said that Mr. Surridge was present if his
lordship wished to ask him any question. He had paid the
prisoner £25 a year, he had his board and lodging, and was
treated as one of the family.
Mr. Payne deferred passing sentence until Friday.
George Thallman, prosecuted at the last sessions of this
Court by the Associate Institution for Improving and En-
forcing the Laws for the Protection of Women, and con-
victed of indecently exposing himself on the top of a house,
was again brought up.
It will be remembered that an objection was taken at the
trial by Mr. Best, the prisoner's counsel, that the top of a
house which could not be seen from the public thoroughfare,
although it might be seen by the inmates from the back
Part of it, was not such a public place as could bring the
prisoner within the operation of the act.
Mr. Payne said the point raised by Mr. Best was one of
considerable importance, and it ought to be settled by a
superior court. He should therefore remand the prisoner
until November, and in the meantime a case would be sub-
mitted for the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal. He
would allow the prisoner to give bail for his appearance when
he might be required, himself in the sum at £BO, and two
sureties of £25 each, and 24 hours' notice I.f them to be gives
to the prosecutors.

SPIRIT OF THE PITBLIO JOURNALS.

TnetEs.—lt may possibly have been observed that
our Indian intelligence of yesterday comprised cer-
tain authentic reports from the kingdom or country
of Affghanistan. The recent demise of the Crown
in that happy State has been followed by consider-
able dissension in the Royal family, and "three
parties," we are told, have already declared them-
selves. One of these interesting factions is headed
by Shere Ali Khan, and Mahomed Sherif Khan, a
second is led by Futteh Mahomed Khan Jullaloo-
deen Khan, awl a third obeys the command of Ma-
homedAzimKhan, Mahomed Asian Khan, and Ma-
homed Osman Khan. The reader may very naturally
anticipate that we propose to explain the pedigrees
of these princes, the relations subsisting between
them, and the hopes or desires by which each may
be animated in commencing a family quarrel and a
civil war. We propose nothing of the kind. On
the contrary, we devotedly trust that every one of
these names may remain for ever as utterly strange
and barbarous to English ears as it is at present.
Never may it fall to our lot to introduce such char-
acters upon the political stage. It is solely for the
purpose of depreciating any concern whatever in
the subject that we refer to it this morning. The
feuds of this precious family did once cost us sacri-
fices so terrible that we cannot look back without
a shudder. We took it upon ourselves to conclude,
some twenty years ago, that it would be a judicious
thing for us to pull down one Khan and set up
another for the sake of establishing a species of
influence in this savage wilderness. The result was
one of the most shocking disasters were sustained
by the Brith h arms. We lost an army, and almost
lost an empire. The " Affghan expedition " plunged
India into debt and difficulty for years, and left
behind it memories which we should think could
never be effaced. Yet we actually read in our in-
telligence that "an army of observation" is ex-
pected to assemble at Peshawar, on the Affghan
frontier, in the ensuing cold weather, and that " it
is more than probable that these forces will have
something to do." We can only say that if, after
the lesson we have received, we meddle again
with the affairs of Affghanistan, it will be the very
extravagance of folly. " Disturbances," it is added,
" seem almost unavoidable in Cabul." We have not
the least doubt of it. Bloodshed seems almost un-
avoidable in Dahomey, and the two prospects con-
cern us in about an equal degree. There has never
been a time, we suppose, when the Princes of the
l)ooranee family were not at war among themselves,
except when they were controlled by some excep-
tionally powerfully chief. It is only by an abuse of
terms that the country can be called a monarchy.
Its provinces are governed by members of the reign-
ing House whose independence has been commonly
complete, though seldom allowed. The new Ameer
of Caul, titular successor of Dust Mahomed, will,
no doubt, find hie title contested by a dozen others.
Dost Mahomed himself had first to seize his place
and then to maintain it. Nothing is the world is
more likely or natural than that every one of the
Khans whose titles we have specified should set
himself up in some city or other, and do his best to
acquire, first independence, and then supremacy.
Every Prince in the family will undoubtedly attempt
to avoid obeying anybody himself, and to make
everybody else obey him. In this contest, too, they
will all resort to intrigue, and endeavour to secure
the support of allies, " The Persians," we are in-
formed, will add " a fourth element to the coming
struggle." That is as probable as anything can be.
We do but repeat our most anxious hope that a filth
" element" may not be supplied from British terri
tory. Hardly, even with a map before him, could
any reader be brought to comprehend the madness
which possessed us in 1839. Of course nobody,
even then, ventured to assert that the affairs of
AffL,Phanistan, considered in themselves, could import
anything to the interests of British India. It was
not suggested, either, that Persia was a State in
whose policy we need take much concern. We had
to stride across the barbarous wilds of those two
realms, and reach the frontier of a very different
Power, before we could discover the real source of
alarm. If Russia had not bordered on Persia as
Persia bordered on Affghanistan, we should never
have persuaded ourselves that any danger loomed
in the distance. What we were induced to fancy
was that Russia might set Persia in motion, that
the Persians might fall upon the Affghans, and
that, when the road had thus been levelled for the
advance, the hosts of the Czsr might begin their
march from the shores of the Caspian to the banks
of the Indus. We resolved, therefore, to snap the
chain in its nearest link, and to set up in Cabul a
Power cspcble of resisting, in our interest, the an-
ticipated attack of the Persians. These people did
cross their own frontier, and did lay siege to the
border town of Herat, but they had forsaken the
enterprise and retired to their own territories even
before we commenced our expedition intoAffghanis-
tan. If we had not been utterly bland, we should
have seen that, as far as the relief of our misgiv-
ings went, whatever the most successful war could
do had been already done. At the present time,
however, there exists no such sprit as was allowed
to set all this machinery in motion five-and-twenty
years ago. We are no longer afraid of a Russian in-
vasion of India. We do not imagine that any such
project is contemplated, and still less that the pre-
sent period would be selected for putting it into
esecu!ion. We know also from experience that if
Persia gave us any cause of offence she should be
brought to reason far more speedily by a squadron
off Bushire than by any army in Aifghanistan. We
are reduced, therefore, to Affghanistan itself for a
cause of intervention. If we again interfere be-
tween these kites and crows, it must be simply be-
cause we prefer crows to kites, and for no other
reason. We cannot dignify the proceeding with
the lofty and mysterious character which we gave to
it h quarter of a century since. We cannot pretend
to entertain apprehensions of Russia, still less of
Persia. We have learnt, to our cost, that our
Empire of the East is far more likely to be en—
dangered by ill-judged armaments and insolvent
treasuries than by a hostile force from the countries
beyond the Indus. The Affghans can never harm
us except by inducing us to invade their territo-
ries. That one of the contending Princes would
do this if he could is exceedingly probable, but
we should be madmen to give him the chance.
Let us repeat once more that it cannot by_i!ioscseis-
bility signify to us which one of these n
P
reign in Cabal. Of course a quiet neighbour
bet-
ter than a troublesome one, but no trouble is
that an
Ameer of Cabul could give us would amount to a
hundredth part of the trouble which we should
incur in making an Ameer of Cabul for ourselves.
The Affghans may settle their own quarrels as they
please, without affecting us. It is just possible that
one of the competitors for power may think to gain
favour with his people by an attack upon our pos-
sessions. Peshawar, with its territory, which we
conquered from the Sikhs, the Sikhs had conquered
in former days from the Affghans, and the recovery
of the province has often been talked of at the Court
of Cabal. So far, therefore, and as a precaution
against a possible onslaught, there is nothing in-
judicious in oar maintaining a good garrison in
Peshawur. We wish we could think that the specu-
lations of the Indian press meant no more than this ;
but the truth is that, in a society so purely military
as that of British India, war is never an unwelcome
topic. It is not in the least improbable that even a
second "Affghan expedition" would be popular with
the Indian Army. Let us trust, however, that
Indian statesmen may be wise enough to extirpate
the delusion, and preserve a proper horror of a policy
which might once more convert prosperity into em-
barrassment, and productive peace into calamitous
war. So long as we keep to our own territories,
the repulse of a few marauders is the hardest work
that can await us, but nobody can measure the diffi-
culties which might follow from another occupation
of Cabal.

DAILY NEWS.—People generally hug themselves
in the belief that, however much their bread and
other articles of manufactured food may be adul-
terated, their meat is at any rate free from any
foreign element, and may be eaten without the fear
of poisoning. Our beef and mutton, we fondly
imagine, are free from vitiation. We may cut and
come again safely at the sirloin or the saddle. We
have only to go to a first-class butcher, and pay the
best prices (two things, however, which a large
number of persons cannot do), and we are beyond
the reach of harm in that direction. The reliance is
more pleasing than well grounded. We seem
doomed to impurity and filthiness in the food thatwe
consume. In vain do we fly from bread made of mag-
gotty yeast to the flesh of oxen, sheep, and swine.
A large amount of the meat that come to our tables
is adulterated by disease. No doubt this is less
likely to be the case when a good price is paid ; but
butchers are mere men, and sometimes sell inferior
commodities while charging the highest terms, Mr.
Simon's last annual report to the Privy Council on
our sanitary condition opens the eyes of the public
to the disagreeable fact that so much as a fifth of
the meat purchased for food in this country is dis-
eased. Some investigations into the subject have
been made, at Mr. Simon's request, by Mr. CTamgee,
Principal and Professor of the Edinburgh new
Veterinary College, and from these it appears that
a good deal of the mischief is found in connexion
with the pork we get from Ireland. From forty to
is
land
are thousand of tne pigs reared in the sister
are measly, and the greater number of these come to
Great Britain for consumption. That such meat
should ho taken into the human stomach is some-
thing more than a disgusting idea; it is the source
of serious disease. Mr. Gamgee calculates that for
every measly pig in the kingdom there is at least
one human being with tapeworms. When meat is
cooked the action of the fire probably destroys the
germs of these parasites ; but it should not be for-
gotten that a large amount of pig's flesh is eaten

raw by the lower classes. In Italy raw ham is con-
sidered a delicacy ; in England working men fre-
quently indulge in uncooked bawl:
and sometimes
pan. etmes
in pork sausages that are innocent of i.}le m
The danger of the practice is made stareelinglY ap-
parent when we learn that the muscular flesh of
swine is sometimes brought into so poisonous a state
by the ravages of a minute species of threadwor.mt
invisible except by the aid of the microscope, that a
small quantity eaten raw will destroy life. Pork
and bacon are purchased by our poorer classes per-
haps to a greater extent than any other meat, and
the prevalence of measles and the various forms of
hydatid disease amongst those classes may doubt-
less be attributed in a considerable degree to their
large consumption of swine's flesh. Sausages are
especially perilous, for it is well known that
the less reputable sausage makers think no meat
too bad to make up in this deceptive form, pro-
vided the nastiness can be disguised by spices and
condiments. One is almost tempted, after the
revelations we have had of late years, to follow
the example of the Jews, and vote the pig an un-
clean animal hopelessly and for ever. Much as
we have done for him in the way of cleanliness, be
still continues as great a source of disease to the
human subject as he was in the time of Moses under
the burning sun of the East. The propagation of
parasitical ova from impure animals is effected,
mcreover, in many ways besides the direct one, and
sometimes, according to Mr. Simon's report, by a
route that would never have been suspected by the
unlearned. For, "by means of dogs and other ani-
mals eating the raw offal of slaughter-houses, the
eggs of the tapeworm may, and must often, find
their way into sources of drinking water, or on to
various low-growing vegetables or fruits, which are
consumed in an uncooked state by man, and, being
swallowed, the egg is hatched." The development
of entozoa is, indeed, extremely subtle, and very
difficult to be guarded against; but infected food is
undoubtedly one of the means by which the evil is
introduced into the human system. The question
is of serious importance; for, according to the esti-
mate of Mr. Gamgee, disease of one kind or another
is fatal every year in the three kingdoms to about
375,000 cattle (nearly five per cent. of the whole
number), while in the case of sheep and pigs the
proportion is, respectively, as far as can be ascer-
tained, four per cent. and three per cent. It is
very certain that a large number of these animals
are sold for food ; and even of those beasts that are
slaughtered many are already in a state of disease,
and would probably die of their ailments if the
butcher's knife did not anticipate the result. It
has been found in a large convict establishment that
an epidemic of boils and carbuncles followed the use
of meat from cattle afflicted with lung disease.
Milk from unhealthy cows is also chargeable with
some of the maladies which human beings have to
endure. We may, in fact,.be said to live over again
the lives of those animals from which we draw our
sustenance, and to be healthy or diseased in pro-
portion to the bodily condition of The creatures we
rear for food. It was a quaint expression, but not
an untruthful or ludicrous thought, on the part of
old mystical Sir Thomas Browne, when he said
that all the flesh of our bodies has at one time
been upon our platters. We have, therefore, the
deepest interest in seeing that what comes to our plat-
ters is in a fit state to be converted into its higher
form. How is the mischief to be prevented ? Mr.
Gamgee is of opinion that sufficient precautions are
not taken against infection from foreign cattle ;
that there is a great deal of dietetic mismanage-
ment ; and that animals often contract disease from
the malaria of fenny lands. The first of these
sources of depreciation might perhaps be guarded
against by some species of quarantine; the second by
increased knowledge amongst graziers and farmers;
the last by the conversion of marsh lands into well-
drained meadows. We are only just waking to the
conviction that excessive fat is not a healthy sign
in man or beast. The corpulent oxen, sheep, and
pigs that are exhibited every Christmas at the Prize
Cattle Show are animals in a state of disease, how-
ever much it may please our festal mood to make
pets of them; end, although there has lately been
a movement in favour of a more rational mode of
feeding, the old absurdity has not yet died out.
This and other errors can only be corrected by time.
In the meanwhile we must protect ourselves to the
best of our ability ; and we have a right to demand
how it is that, with a system of inspection, so much
bad meat should find its way to the tables of the
community. Every now and then, in some exces-
sive instance, we hear of a seizure being made; but
when we find that nearly 50,000 measly pigs are
cut up for human provender, with tainted oxen and
sheep in proportion—that, in short, one-fifth part
of our animal food is corrupt—it is very evident
that the present system of inspection is a farce.
Without suggesting that the examiners are open to
persuasion, it is probable that they are not men of
sufficient education to detect the aubtie poison that
sometimes lurks in seemingly healthy carcases. In
some of the worst cases the symptoms of disease
may be such as to escape the eye of any Out the
man of science. Skilled veterinary surgeons s.re the
persons to whose scrutiny the meat we are destined
to consume should be submitted. A little expensb
is nothing compared with the preservation of the
national health, and the avoidance of evils which
are sickening to contemplate and grievous to suffer.

POST.—The numerical inequality of the contest between
the Confederates and the Federals appears likely to be re-
dressed in a somewhat unexpected manner. It has been
obvious, from the beginning of the war, that the former
possessed a latent element of strength which the rigour of
their own prejudices, and the difficulty attending its deve-
lopment, would prevent them from calling into action, ex-
cept under the pressure of a great emergency. The great
slaveholding aristocracy of the South have been very un-
willing to confer upon the black population what a superior
nation seems intuitively to deem the dignity of bearing
arms, but have hitherto entertained the same prejudice as
that felt by the Turks towards their subordinate rayah
races. To a certain extent, indeed, the Confederates have
already made the experiment of forming and equipping
negro regiments. But this was tried only on the most in-
significant scale. Events meanwhile have thickened. The
great superiority of the North in point of numbers has at
length begun to tell upon the fortunes of a campaign in
which the heroism and martial character of the South had
at first seemed likely to prove invincible. The inequality
between a nation of some six millions and a nation of above
twenty millions, has necessarily become more manifest, now
that increasing armies have been required on either side,
and great losses have been so frequently sustained on both.
By degrees, the sources of recruiting have diminished
among the whites in the South; while the tide of emigra-
tion from Europe to the North, which even the warfare of
the day has not wholly arrested, has been swelling the
numbers at the disposal of a Northern conscription. The
President of the Confederate States has therefore, it appears,
resolved, in concurrence with the governors of the indivi-
dual States, to call out an army of half a million of slaves.
This giant resolution is onlyin proportion to the emergency
of the hour. Of course it was impossible to apply the com-
pulsion which has been exercised on both sides among the
dominant rase. The negroes therefore are offered a substan-
tial incentive. In all probability it is one which will prove
sufficient. They are promised their liberty, and a grant of 50
acres of land on the termination of the war, as a reward of their
present services in the field. Independently of the obvious
importance of such a measure in directly strengthening the
hands of the Confederate commanders, there are many other
considerations which combine to render the present resolu •
tion a masterpiece of policy. In the first place, it involves
a vast inroad on the part of the Southerners themselves
upon the principle of slavery. Such a measure, therefore,
must revive the sympathies of Europe with the Southern
cause, by lessening, or even abolishing, the only counter-
acting influence to its general popularity on this side of the
Atlantic. Again, it has long seemed to be a slur upon the
domestic institutions of the South that the nation were, to
all appearance, afraid of arming their slaves. One argu-
ment of the Southern States, in defence of slavery, has
long been that slaves under good masters were quite as well
off and as content as free labourers under good employers.
But the taunt, nevertheless, remained in the mouth of every
Pennsylvanian or Lancashire abolitionist, that, in spite of
the alleged well-being of the slave, his master was afraid to
trust him with arms in his own service, If the slaves were
really not otherwise than attached to their lords, the lords
would combine them with themselves for the defence of
their country. By the present resolution, however, the
Confederate authorities are ready to trust the use of arms
to a body of men whom they have already in the field of
their own countrymen. Nor is this all. The spectacle of
negro regiments being raised by the North to fight against
the South, while no adequate counter-demonstration
existed, served to strike Europe with the notion that the
slaveholders were the natural enemies of the negroes, and
the North their natural friends. Illusory as this conclusion
really was, it still remained plausible. Moreover, there
remained a danger that the appearance of Northern black
regiments on the fields of Southern battle might lead the
slaves of the Confederate States, if still engaged merely in
agricultural occupations, to a natural affinity of feeling with
them. This danger has, in fact, become a very great one,
Besides, whatever were really the spirit in which the en-
slaved negro of the South looked upon the dominant popu-
lation around him, the placing of confidence in him was likely
to strengthen;the ties:between him and his master. In this
consideration also there was a moral victory at stake, as
between South and North. The Washington Government
has long threatened to play a decisive card by calling upon
the whole of this slave population to revolt against the
whites, and thus to carry carnage and rapine into every
hearth, That 14Ir. Lincoln has not actually taken this
course is probably to be ascribed less to his concern for the
atrocity of such a transaction than to his consciousness of
his inability to carry out the threat. But his declaration,
nevertheless, stands on record as a boast of the Washington
Government that they could at any time terminate the re-
bellion by raising a servile war. When Feargus O'Connor
brought together his 100,000 ruffians on Kennington-com-
mon, and was unexpectedly met by double the number of
special constables on the other side of the bridges, it was
said that his demonstration was reversed. The same result,

on an incomparably wider scale, seems likely to take place,
in regard to the negro population, as between the two rival
Presidents. It appears that shortly before the beginning of
the war the whole black community in the United States,
slave and free, amounted to about 3,650,000. It is not easy

to compute the present number of slaves in the Confederate.
territory with precision, but it may be assumed that they
form about two-thirds of that number. The area of all the
slave States combined is 844,000 square miles, so that the
2'5,000,000 of acres which the half-million of slaves are
offert2d, if they take the field, will be readily set apart from
the landholdings of the whites. Meanwhile it is believed
that there wi:11 be no great difficulty or delay experienced in
finding arms for' this vast host of men. The "runners"
under the nominal blo,:kades of the Northern fleets have
probably supplied an itnn:ense store to the Southern ports.
The great experiment on wh ch the Confederate Government
has now resolved is doubtless not one free from difficulty.
But, if the slaves had been gwerally unfriendly to their
masters, they would probably haw; found many opportu-
nities for revolt while the strength and flower of the Euro-
pean race were drawn away into distaff fields of battle.
This resolve of the Richmond Government may possibly
prove conclusive of the issue of the war, both by reason of
the immense reinforcements which it may place at the dui..
posal of Lee and Beauregard, and through the advallta
moral impression which it will, on so many grounds, exer-
cise on the views and policy of Europe. geous

MURDEROUS ASSAULT BY BRIGANDS.

The Indipendente of Naples relates the following atroci-
ous crime committed by a party of brigands in the district
of Bisa.ecia On the 24th ult. seven armed men knocked
at a farm house about midnight, asked for provisions, and
then went away, taking by force the servant, a fine strong
girl, 23 years of age, with them into the forest. There she
found herself in the midst of the whole band, consisting of
30 men, and was compelled to yield to their desires. At
daybreak they consulted with each other as to what WO
to be done with her ; upon which she earnestly begged with
tears to be allowed to go home ; but they replied that would
not do, since she might reveal their hiding-place. At
length a brigand, named Sacchitiello, stepped forward,
and in a tone of protection engaged to accompany her
to the end of the forest by a peculiar path. They had
not gone far, however, before he suddenly stabbed her in
the neck, and twice in the abdomen. The poor girl fell,
but seeing she was not dead, he fired his musket at her,
but only wounded her slightly in the hip. He reloaded his
musket, put the muzzle to her breast, and fired ; but by 11.
convulsive movement his victim pushed the weapon away
with her arm, and the ball penetrated into her body in a
slanting direction without killing her. A third time the
assassin loaded his gun, and fired at her three steps off--
the ball penetrated under the right arm-pit, went along the
ribs, and came out at the abdomen. The miscreant thinking
he had despatched her for certain, then went away, but,
strange to say, the poor creature had only swooned, and on
recovering managed to draw her mangled body to a neigh-
bouring hut, which however proved to be deserted, and ts
she was sinking with thirst, and could ind no water, she
lay down to die. Meanwhile a company of grenadiers had
been approaching the forest, and taking measures for aseer'
taining the whereabouts of the brigands. Two of their
scouts had been creeping along the bushes for some time,
when they perceived two brigands who were looking for the
body of the girl, but becoming suddenly aware of the Pre"
Bence of the grenadiers, they took to flight. The soldiers
immediately after found the girl weltering in her blood,
and carried her to their camp. The officer in command en'
deavoured to induce some peasants to convey her to the
nearest hospital, offering them payment, but they refused
under various pretexts, which showed that they were rather
favourable to the brigands than otherwise. ,At length three
grenadiers undertook the duty, and she was taken to AO'
lonio, where, strange to say, the surgeon expressed a hope
of her recovery."—Galignani.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

GLOUCESTER-SEPT. 5.

The show of English wheat to-day was fair. The wet
weather imparted firmness to the trade. Fine qualities
were is per qr higher. Foreign wheat was in moderate,
demand, and may be quoted at the extreme prices of las '
week. Grinding barley in limited quantity, and fully as
dear. Beans, and oats were dull.