The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-23 00:00:00

tHE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 23, 1863.

RAILWA:Y INTELLIGENCE.

`SCOTTISH CENTRAL.

Tho half•yc:t+.rly meeting was held at Perth on Friday,
Mr. Bruce ilithe chair.
The report. was held as read.

The CH, RMAN, in moving its adoption, stated that there
was an increase of £5,853 in the capital account, chiefly
occasioned by works at Larbert. The directors had entered
into a contract with Messrs. Neilson and Co. for six power-
ful goods engines and tenders at a cost of £16,386. It had
been found necessary to renew the bridge over the Forth at
Stirling, and instead of renewing it of timber, it had been
replaced with iron upon stone piers. The cost would be
charged partly to capital and partly to revenue, by half-
yearly payments. The passenger traffic had suffered con-
liiderably by the International Exhibition. A. great many
passengers had passed southward last autumn, but compa-
ratively few tourists had come north. There was, notwith-
standing, an increase of revenue of £478. The revenue of
the half-year amounted to £93,291, and the revenue ex-
penses and charges t0£60,934, leaving a balance of £32,357.
The directors proposed to pay a dividend at the rate of 6
per cent., and carry over a balance of £1,007 to the surplus
fund, which now amounted to £11,342. The Caledonian
directors had, for unexplained and unaccountable reasons,
petitioned against the amalgamation of the Central with
the Dundee and Perth. They professed to be animated by
no unfriendly feelings, but he considered their conduct
quite the contrary. Their other ally, the Edinburgh and
Glasgow, had acted very differently, and had sent a strong
remonstrance to the Caledonian Board. If the Caledonian
did not withdraw their opposition, the Central directors
would ask their shareholders to relieve them from the obli-
gation of supporting the amalgamation with that com-
pany. The directors had given their support to the
Bill introduced into Parliament by the Dundee and Perth
Company for improving the Newtyle line, but had re-
solved to oppose the Scottish North-Eastern Company in
their attempt to lease the Dundee and Arbroath line. The
North British Bill for a railway from Edinburgh to Perth
the directors had agreed vigorously to oppose.
Mr. MAcDIJFF seconded the report, which was unani-
mously adopted; and on the motion of the CHAIRMA:sT,
seconded by Mr. TultrusuLt, the directors were empowered
to declare the agreement of November, 1859, at an end in
the event of the Caledonian continuing their opposition to
the lease of the Dundee and Perth.

GREAT NORTH OF SCOTLAND.
The report of the directors states that the revenue for the
half-year ending the 31st December, including £2,623, the
balance from the preceding account, amounted to £53,694,
and the expenditure to £18,615, including £976 for interest
and £325 for rent of Old Meldrum Junction Railway, leav-
ing a balance of £35,079. Of this sum the dividend on the
new 4i per cent, shares would absorb£lo,B46, the new 4} per
cent, preference shares £1,326, the proposed dividend on the
preference stock at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum
£lO,lBB, and the proposed divicknd on the original stock at
the rate of 7 per cent, per annum £9,690, making together
£32,049, and leaving a balance of £3,030. The working ex-
penses amounted to 361 per cent, of the gross receipts as
compared with 38 per cent, for the corresponding half-year.
A bill had been introduced by the company in the present
session for a ;junction with the Scottish North-Eastern
Railway at Aberdeen, The company were joint promoters
with the Formantine and Buchan Companyfor an extension
to Fra.serburgh (16 miles); with the Banff, Portsoy, and
Strathisla of a bill for an extension line along the coast to
Buckle and Portgordon (14 miles), for acquiring preference
shares in their original undertaking, and for confirming a
working agreement on terms mutually advantageous; and
with the Banff, Macduff, and Turiff Extension for the con-
struction of a branch to Macduff Harbour (one mile in
length), to confirm a working agreement, and for other
purposes to enable the undertaking to be completed.
Those measures would not only secure a considerable ac-
cession of traffic to the main line, but would supply the
district with railway communication where required. The
capital account showed that £1,455,756 had been expended,
including £428,687, on ten other railway undertakings. The
revenue account for the half-year ending Dec. 31 showed
that £40,871 had been received, and £17,638 expended,
leaving a balance of £33,233.

PERTH, ALMOND VALLEY, AND METIIVEN.
A special meeting was held at Perth on Tuesday; the
Earl of Mansfield in the chair. The proposed lease of this
line to the Scottish North-Eastern, on condition of being
guaranteed a preferential dividend of 4 per cent., was una-
nimously agreed to.

MIDLAND GREAT WESTERN.
The report of the directors stated that the receipts on the
company's line from Dublin to Athlone and the Longord
and Cavan branches amounted to £i5,599, against £91,434
for the corresponding half of 1861, showing a decrease of
£5,835. The receipts from the incorporated railway and
canal were £104,657, and the disbursements, including
£6,670 for interest on loans, £53,381, leaving £51,276. To
this was added £3,346, the surplus from the preceding half
yearOnakine a diaponahlaMl2ol of 854,622, out of which the
directors recommended a dividend at the rate of 5 per cent.
per annum, free of income tax, amounting to £51,583, leav-
ing a balance of £3,039. The accounts of the extension
from Athlone to Galway showed a deficiency on the gross
receipts of £2,557 as compared with the corresponding half
of 1861, owing to which there was a debit against the baro-
nies of £2,700 on this account. The net receipts from the
Royal Canal were £1,049 in excess of the corresponding
period of last year. The line from Longford to Sligo was
opened on Dec. 3, and the directors had every confidence
that the traffic from this extension would prove most remu-
nerative. The Streamstown and Clara line would be
opened for traffic on April 1. The directors regretted that
the traffic on the Athenry and Tuam branch continued to
show a decrease on the working. The Great Northern and
Western Company opened a section of their line from Clare-
morris to Castlebar, a distance of 15 miles, on the 16th of
December, thus oompleting the whole of the undertaking to
which the Midland Company were contributors. The capi-
tal expended on the main lino and extensions amounted to
£3,317,014, and in shares of other companies to £116,267,
together £3,433,281.

SCINDE.
The directors state in their report that at the McLeod-
road station at Kurrachee, more than 100 waggons,convey-
big 600 tone of merchandise, are unloaded daily, and addi-
tional sidings are being laid. The buildings at Joongshaie
the central station on the line, have been finished. At
Kotree, the upper terminus, the length of the river frontage
now available for boats, flats, and. steamers is 2,000 feet.
The higher level lines have been laid for the convenience of
the Indus Steam Flotilla and the Commissariat Depart-
ment, and the station has been brought up to the level
of the rails, affording great facilities to the through traffic.
The stock of locomotives is 20, and of passenger carriages
27. There are now 372 waggons of different sorts. Mr.
M'lNTeill states, "Over 100 waggons laden with cotton,wool,
oil-seeds, indigo, &c., are now brought into Kurrachee sta-
tion every day," and adds, " It will be interesting to know
that we are now receiving machine-pressed bales of cotton
and hemp from up-river. Yesterday (sth of January last)
a consignment of 411 bales of cotton and 330 bales of hemp
were received here at Ferozepore for shipment to England.
This is the first consignment of pressed bales that has come
down the Indus. It will be a great matter for Indian rail-
way
companies when the cotton and similar traffic they now
convey is all pressed. At present, with every care and at-
tention, we can only load from 12 to 17 loose bales on a
truck, averaging,--say, two and a half to three tons, or about
half the weight which the waggon is intended to carry;
besides, there is the great obstruction which waggons laden
with bales-of loose cotton or wool present to the progress of
a train, the tear and wear of tarpaulins and ropes ; and,
above all, the great risk of fire, all of which, in the case of
waggons laden with pressed bales, must necessarily be very
much decreased. A statement of the quantity of cotton
conveyed during the year 1862 from Kotree to Kurrachee
by the Scinde Railway shows that 12,285 bales had been con-
veyed by steam flotilla and 48,425 bales by native boats,
making the total 60,710. These contained 17,138,9601 b. of
cotton, and it is estimated that 150,000 bales will be ex-
ported during the current year. Cotton is finding its way in
large quantities from places south of Delhi to Umritsir, for
transport to Kurrachee. For the half-year ending Dec. 31,
1861, the receipts on the railway amounted to £12,299 ; for
the half year ending June 30, 1862, to £23,493, including
£17,363 for goods; and for the half-year ending Dec. 31,
1862, to £35,934, including £29,457 for goods, The directors
congratulate the proprietors on this steady increase of traffic
which is limited only by the supply of waggons. The re-
sults of the trade of Scinde since the commencement of the
current official year are most satisfactory, and prove how
expansive are the resources of the provinces of the Indus,
the value of the trade of the first nine months being 31,
millions darling, and the remaining three months, the '
busiest, are expect to raise the amount of the entire year
to 5 millions. It is expected that to complete the railway
and construct permanent stations, as well as to provide the
necessary rolling stock for the rapidly, augmenting traffic,
additional capital will be
required during the current year.
The financial statement shows from the commencement the
sum of £1,480,234 has been received, and that £1,574,803
has been expended. The amount overdrawn, as well as the
current expenditure, has been met by the payments on ac-
count of the third issue of shares, and by an arrangement
with the Secretary of State for Indiain Council. The ezen.
dal statement of the company's steam flotilla on the Indus
shows that £332,905 had been received, and £291,835 ex-
pended, leaving a balance of £41,070.

P UNJAUB.
The report of the directors states that the number of pas:
sengers carried on the section between Lahore and ijmntsir
from the opening of tho lino to the public on April 10 to
Dec, 31, 1862, amounted to 284,806, and yielded a gross re-
turn of about £l,OOO per month, The goods traffic was
commenced in August last. The central station at Lahore,
which is on an extensive scale, is not yet finished. The
supply of ballast by the contractors on the fast 110 miles of
the section from Lahore to Mooltan, and by the company's
engineers on the following 56 miles, has been satisfactory.
The permanent way has been laid for a considerable distance
at both the Mooltan and Lahore ends of the line. The por-
tion of the line below 3looltan to Sher Shah Ghat, on the
Chonab, 14 miles in length, is new probably open for Lraffic..

From the impossibility of obtaining sufficient supplies of
sleepers and ballast, the completion of the section from La-
hore to Mooltan has been unavoidably delayed. But by
the use of Greave's patent iron sleepers the directors have
every expectation of the line being opened throughout be-
fore the end of 1864. The financial statement shows that
from the commencement £1,339,080 had been received and
£1,245,081 expended, leaving £64,150 in the agent's hands,
and £31,669 available,

DELHI.
The directors state in their report that since the last meet-
ing the direction of the line has bees determined by the route
already indicated, as far as Umballa, passing by Jullunder,
PhiliGor, and Loodianah. The Government of India have
suggested a deviation from Umballa via Seharunpore and
Meerut, instead of proceeding through Kurnaul and Panee-
put to Delhi. This diversion of the route the directors con-
sider a decided improvement, as the railway would then tra-
verse some of the richest and most denselypeopled portions
of the Doab ; but they have at the same time urged the pecu •
liar claims of the proprietors to independent access to the
city of Delhi, over their own rails and without interruption,
by whiehever route maybe settled. The direct Tti contemplate
while their chief agency will be at Lahore that there should
be a sub-agent at Delhi. Delhi is the chief emporium in
Hindostan, and although it has not recovered from the
effects of the mutiny, its trade in 1860 amounted in value to
£4,000,000. The attention of the agent at Lahore is directed
to the measures required in India for proceeding with the
construction of the section of the railway between Umritsir
and Umballa. The receipts on capital account amounted to
£912,558, and the expenses to £1,823. The available ba-
lance amounts to £910,555.

the building was stoned and many of the win-
dows were immediately smashed. The ring-
leaders evidently desired the mob to spare Mr,
Brierly's propertys and on several hands being held
up in different parts the throwing was at once
discontinued, and a cry raised, "Now for Dyson's."
Mr. Dyson keeps an eating-house opposite Mr.
Brierley's and next the Post-office, and is a
prominent employe of the committee, and from
this fact much prejudice exists against him. The
mob at once turned on Dyson's shop, and in two or
three minutes every visible pane of glass was
smashed. They then repaired to the police-office,
en route to the residence of Mr. Ralph Bates, hono-
rary secretary of the relief committee. The shop-
keepers in Market-street were now busily engaged
in putting up their shutters, everybody being afraid
that the infuriated mob would next turn on their
premises. Bat the whole of the animus was directed
at the more prominent members of the relief com-
mittee, who seemed to be regarded by them as their
more than arch enemies. At the police-office and
adjoining
offices many windows were smashed, but
the appearance of the mayor (R. Hopwood, Esq.),
D. Harrison, Esq., deputy lieutenant, A. Hall, Esq.,
and George Taylor, Esq., town clerk, who came
forth from the town hall into the street, seemed to
have some effect in subduing the violence of the
mob, but the great bulk immediately rushed up
Cockerhill to Mr. Bates's house. Here the mob got
fresh supplies of stones, and a complete shower of
such missiles was hurled at the capacious windows.
Lasses in their blue Garibaldi jackets cheered on
the wild Irish lads who took the most prominent
part in this most disgraceful proceeding, and often
the young women aimed a stone at the windows
with telling effect. They spoke of the wanton de-
struction in high glee, and declared often enough,
amidst the loudest jeering and laughter, what a rare
thing it would be for the glaziers. Many valuable
pieces of furniture weredestroyed in addition to the
windows at Mr. Bates's residence, and the interior
afterwards presented the appearance of a signal
wreck of malicious destruction. An empty house
fronting Cockerhill Chapel, which is said to be-
long to Mr. Bates, was also stoned and most
of the windows smashed. Having completed
the work of destruction on Cockerhill, the
mob again turned their faces to the town,
and proceeded, some along Market-street, others by
Melbourne-street and Castle-street, and Caroline-
street. Many of the youths could not resist having
a last throw at the police ocffie windows as they
passed, and they did, of course, without molesta-
tion. From the outbreak of this popular indigna-
tion, to the arrival of the military, mob-law may be
said to have reigned supreme, and the town was in
the hands of this most disgraceful mob of excited
beings. A vast concourse assembled opposite the
Central Committee Rooms in Melbourne-street, and
smashed every window about the place. Mr.
Emmett's, the photographer, whose shop is next
door, did not escape unscathed, many windows
being broken on his premises. Some of the young
fellows, from a mere wanton desire, hurled stones
through windows as they passed along the street,
without any fear of molestation. The town was in
their hands, and they did what they liked. In
Caroline-street they proceeded to the shop of Mr.
Ashton, another gentleman of the relief committee,
and the precaution of closing up the shop, which
other people had by this time followed, was not
taken here. The large plate-glass windows were
smashed in a moment, and bottles of pickles, canis-
ters, packages, and groceries of every description,
were thrown about and destroyed in a savage man-
ner. They:also commenced an onslaught on the
co-operative stores, seemingly at first believing that
it was Mr. Ashton's shop, but on finding oat their
mistake they desisted. Two of the adjoining shops
are used as stores for men's and women's clothing,
and on these stores the mob now turned their atten-
tion. Both shops were quickly broken open, and now
commenced a proceeding even more disgraceful and
barbarous than any we have yet recounted. It was
now about five o'clock. In these stores were piled
up heaps of moleskin jackets, trousers, waistcoats,
stockings, calico and linen under-clothing for
females, besides large quantities of moleskin and
other clothes for making up into garments. As
fast as u score of lads and lassies could pick the
goods up were these useful things hurled out
of the upper windows to the people in the
street. Complete showers of jackets would fall on
the unlifted hands of hundreds of people in the street,
followed by bundles of stockings, or waistcoats, or
flannel, or skirts, or chemises. People kept con-
tinually leaving the crowd with armfulls of all kinds
of olothing amidst the jeers of many, but there were
not a few who expressed their utter abhorrence of
such plunder, but who were at the same time care-
ful to express themselves with a prudent reticence.
One man told a youth who came up with a bundle
of clothing which he could scarcely carry, to convey
them into a house near at hand by the back way,
and to return as quickly as possible. The young
fellow did as he was told, and was on the spot again
immediately afterwards, eager for further plunder.
Women concealed things about them in the street,
and many left with bundles of every description of
wearing apparel. The young fellows who were
throwing the goods into the street continued with
unabated energy at their work for at least half an
hour, end we noticed the sweat rolling down their
cheeks pretty freely. A cry was got up that the
soldiers were coming, but amidst much laughter the
mob declared it was only a woman in a red cloak,
and no further notice was taken of it. In the store
where the linen goods had been kept several things
were wantonly set on fire, but it did not extend to
any dangerous point. This work of destruction
continued until a little after half-past five o'clock,
when a company of the 14th Hussars from the
Ashton Barracks, under the command of Captain
Chapman, appeared in sight. A loud cry of " the sol-
diers are coming" was raised from one end of the
street to the other, and the hussars galloped along.
Every one now looked after his or her personal
safety, and fled from off the street immediately.
Those in the stores prepared to beat a hasty retreat,
but just at the entrance several fell, and those be-
hind were thrown down, and we should say they
were at least five or six deep, male and female,
in the doorway when the soldiers galloped up, The
police were almost as soon as the hussars on the
spot, and some of those who had created much havoc
in the clothing stores were easily captured. The
troops were preceded on horseback by the mayor
and Mr. Harrison. The whole of them were re-
ceived by the mob with hooting and yelling, and
amidst such discordant noises Mr. Harrison read
the Riot Act to the populace. No missiles, how-
ever, of any description were thrown either at the
police or the troops. After the Riot Act had been
read the troops commenced to clear the streets, and
proceeded up and down driving the people before
them. The police were now engaged in capturing
those who had stolen things from the stores, great
quantities having been conveyed into the Irish
people's dwellings contiguous to the spot. In some
of the houses the people commenced burning the
clothing in order to escape detection ; others threw
it into the canal, and various articles of wearing
apparel might be seen floating on the water for some
time. One large bundle of moleskin could only
have been carried away by a very strong person,
and bundles of stockings and other clothing were
continually turning up at some unexpected corner,
and conveyed to the stores. Vast quantities, how-
ever, are missing. From the arrival of the military
there was no other riotous proceedings further than
vast crowds perambulating the streets. Most of
those who had been prominent in hurling stones
and creating the sad havoc we have above detailed,
were chiefly young men and lads, the great bulk
being low Irish lads, who appeared to be exceed-
ingly excited and irritated, though these were fol-
lowed by mobs of older people of both sexes. Many
girls mixed in the crowds, and hooted and shouted
and threw stones with as much gusto as the lads
themselves.

In the evening the following magistrates met
and swore in special constables—Messrs. Hopwood
(Mayor), J. Cheetham, W. Milburn, J. Pearson, and
J. Maraland, Mr. Little, deputy chief constable of
the Cheshire county constabulary, had just arrived,
having made arrangements for the calling in of 50
of the Cheshire police force, should their services be
required. As the military paraded the streets they
were tullowedby large crowds of men, women, and
children, and it was consequently judged:advisable

by the justices that they had better retire a short
distance out of the town, and hold themselves in
44
readinesseehotAld they he called upon. mt-, was
done, a few only being left to parade in front of the
demolished stores in Caroline-street. Several of the
policemen are much hurt, and had to take refuge
from the stones and other missiles which were thrown
at them. Inspector Wright Broadbent, when oppo-
site Messrs. Hall, Bates, and Co.'s mill, where the
mob was smashing windows, was thrown down, and
kicked severely, the ankle-bone of the left leg being
broken. He was injured that he had to be carried
to bed, where Mr. Pearson, surgeon, attended upon
him. The police, under the protection of the sol-
diers, visited Sampson's-court, Woolley's-yard, and
other placed inhabited principally by Irish people,
where they found large quantities of the clothing
which had been stolen from the relief stores. Large
numbers were taken into custody with the clothes
on their backs. On it becoming known that the
houses were being searched many persons were
caught hiding the stolen property is all manner of
places. One man was found storing a suit away in
a swill tub. Some were found in entries, privies,
&c., and a vast lot of new things were thrown into
the canal and the river Tame; in fact, the streets
in the above vicinity were strewn with wearing ap-
parel of all kinds. There were upwards of 60 per-
sons taken into custody. A great proportion of
the persons apprehended were females, who, along
with many of the male prisoners, were caught
with the stolen property in their possession. The
dancing and singing of the women in the cells,
and the continued " thunging" of the men, made
the place appear as a very Bedlam.
At ten o'clock the military were called off, and the
town is left to the guardianship of the police and
special constables, all being quiet ; but the magi-
strates still remain at the Town Hall, along with
several other influential gentlemen.
To-day the magistrates sat in the Town Hall to
examine the prisoners, and the facts elicited went
to prove what is above stated. In the Castle-street
mills the real rioting first commenced among the
low Irish, those who had been kindly received into
that school by Mr. Bates, after their own (St.
Peter's) was, for some reason or other, broken up.
Indeed, if it had not been for the disaffected Irish
there would have been no riot and no disgrace at-
taching to the town, as Mr. J. Cheetham, one of the
magistrates, wisely remarked; and it is a pleasing
thing to reflect that no Englishman was connected
with it.

The magistrates committed Pat Spellman, James
.M'Cabe, James Riley, J. Manning, Jas. Shearne,
Pat Beattie, J. Hayes, E. Moran, Jas. Moran,
Michael Conley, J. Leonard, Jas. Maloney, J.
MWermott, John Coggin, Jas. Coggin, Christopher
Toolan, and Michael Loge.n, to take their trial at
the next Cheshire assizes for riot ; and Jas.
M'Donald, Jas. Cassidy, Michael Lee, J. Harman,
E. Buckley, H. Crossley, J. Cooney,-,P. Hearne,
Thomas Oats, I. Timson, J. Hopkins, and W. H.
Carter, to take their trials at the same assizes, for
riot and feloniously breaking into the stores of the
relief committee. All the female prisoners were
discharged, as were 11 men, amongst whom the evi-
dence was so slight as to render it doubtful whether
they could have been convicted, although, as the ma-
gistrates said, there could be no doubt that they had
taken part in the disturbance. Mr. John Cheetham
said that he hoped the committal of the men
above named would act as a warning to the rest, for
he could assure them that whatever form the
riotous proceedings might take, they would be
effectually put down, let the cost of putting down
such disgraceful proceedings be what it may.
This warning, like all warnings, had but little
effect upon the populace, if indeed it had any, for
almost immediately after news was brought to the
magistrates that another attack was about being
made upon Mr. Bates's mill, in Castle-street. This
was about 1.15 p.m., and the magistrates ordered
the troops to be called out forthwith, and a strong
body of police-officers and special constables were
dispatched to protect the mill. On arriving at the
mill the police almost immediately returned to the
Town Hall, after having first ascertained that no
breach of the peace was imminent as alleged. The
rumour had arisen through the mob hooting Mr.
Bates as he went to and from the mill. But from
this time strong bodies of police patrolled the
streets.

Why the people here should have such an an-
tipathy against Mr. Bates can in no way be
accounted for, seeing that although he is a com-
paratively young man he is, and ever has been,
notable for his kind and humane disposition. In-
deed no better proof of this could be adduced than
the fact of his having received into his school in the
mill in Castle-street those who had previously at-
tended the St. Peter's Catholic School, and the fact
that of all the 356 attending Mr. Bates's school not
more than 50 of the number were his own work-
people. I am told that on Friday afternoon the
infuriated mob attacked Mr. Bates's mother, near
the Town Hall, and well nigh tore her clothes off
her back. Whether she was much injured person-
ally I am unable to say.
Later on this afternoon, as it became known that
the 23 men above named would be sent to Chester
Castle, many thousands of men, women and youths,
assembled in front of the Town Hall and along Stam-
ford-street, which leads to Ashton. At that end
of Stamford-street, nearest the Town Hall, a troop
of the 14th Hussars, under Captain Chapman, were
drawn up, and the square immediately in front of
the Town Hall and Police-office was kept clear by a
large body of police. At the door of the Town.hall
stood two omnibuses, with the horses' heads turned
in the direction of Stamford-street—a ruse to induce
the people to believe that the prisoners would be
taken along that street, while it was all along in-
tended to take them round the Police•office and
Market-street to the railway station. The trick was
a clever one, and it succeeded admirably. Directly
the prisoners were placed in the omnibuses, amidst
the hootings and cheers of the mob, the horses'
heads were turned, and rounding the Police-office
they drove along Cocker-hill into Market-street, and
straight along thence as rapidly as possible to the
station. So soon as the mob in Stamford-street eaw
that they had been tricked hundreds of them dashed
across gardens, over walls, and along alleys towards
the station, but to find the approach thereto blocked
most effectually by Mr. J. Cheetham, another
magistrate and a few policemen. By-and-bye the
/ omnibuses drove up escorted by the hussars with
drawn sabres. The excitement at this moment was
so great that it beggars all description. The moment
the omnibuses emerged from under the railway arch
to proceed up the approach to the station, hats, caps,
and handkerchiefs were waved, and then followed,
amid cheers and hootings, a shower of stones, which
wore intended for the police on the omnibuses, &c.
They fell almost as thick as hail, and one had the
misfortune to be so well directed that it struck
police-sergeant John Shelton, a fine young athletic
fellow, on the right ear, and knocked, to all
appearance, the life out of him, for he
fell senseless into the arms of a brother
officer who was sitting by his side on the
to of the omnibus. He was taken into the railway
station, and Dr. Hopwood, the surgeon, was
promptly in attendance upon him. Several other
persons were struck with stones, and more serious
things would have been done but for the timely pre-
cautions of Mr. J. Cheetham. Indeed, it is just
probable that an attempt at rescue would have been
made. The hussars and police succeeded in forcing
the mob out of the street, and it made its way into
the town. Many persons, however, preferring to
stand on the hill overlooking the railway to witness
the departure of the prisoners at 4.50 for Chester.
There was great excitement during the evening,
and it was feared that a further attempt at riot
would be made, consequently the troops and the
police continued to patrol the streets till a late hour.
At 10.30 to-night another troop or two of the 14th
Hussars were despatched from Manchester, to re-
lieve and strengthen those quartered in the town.
The soldiers and the populace seem to be on excel-
lent terms ; but not so the latter and the police.
The amount of damage done is great; I am told
between two and three thousand pounds. Mr. B.
Ashton's damages alone is estimated at £300;
Bates must have suffered to more than double that
amount; and £5OO or £6OO worth of clothing, &C.,
must have been destroyed, or stolen from the Re-
liet Stores.

Mr. Commissioner Farnall visited the town yes-

terday, and had an excellent opportunity of wit-
nessing the half-shown excitement of a Lance-Che-
shire mob.

STALYBRIDGE, Sunday.
riotous conduct on the
Last night therm *an
such
part of the mob, who deliberately walken
shops as they saw open—such as bakers 4 and provi-
sion shops, and seized vvhatever they could lay their
hands on. Several parties were apprehended.
Today all is quiet, but much excitement prevails.

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

SAIURDAY RETIEW.—It was one of the fanciful
caprices of the tryanny of the Emperor Nicholas to
order thousands of persons on the borders of Poland
and Russia Proper to join the Greek Church, and to
compel a powerful sect, that had long hovered be-
tween the claims of the Churches of Rome and
Bysantium, to renounce all communion andinter-
course with the Pope. This mantle of compulsory
Greek orthodoxy has long been worn with silent
discontent, and now the time has come when its
wearers are beginning to dare to throw it off. They
become at once Catholics and insurgents, and fight
for a cause which has even a stronger hold over a
semi-barbarous population than the ties of nation-
ality. Mr. Kinglake, in his history, warns
his readers that they must not judge of
the enthusiasm and power which religion
imparts to warriors by the languid indifference
of the West. Catholicism is to a Pole what
the Orthodox Church and the blessing of St. Ser-
gius are to the Russian, or the prospect of houris
and a cool green Paradise were to the followers of
the Mahometan Caliphs. It is the em'eodiment of
all those aspirations and hopes which make him feel
better and higher than the beasts of the forest
among which he lies down. It is the link by which
he is bound to his forefathers—the title by which he
expects one day to rejoin the dear ones from whom
death or exile, inflicted by the oppressor, has sepa-
rated him. The half-savage Pole who joins Gene-
ral Langiewicz literally thinks he is making the
best of both worlds, and this combination of induce-
ments is the most powerful spring of human action.
The voice of public opinion in behalf of
Poland has again been loudly raised during
the past week in France and England.
Prince Napoleon has played his accustomed part,
and has given voice to the generous imprudence of
which the Emperor likes to have the credit, and
which there is every reason to believe have a real
abiding place in some corner of his mind. As usual
the Government orator has been ordered to make
things safe, to unsay all that the Prince has said,
and to leave the general impression that very likely
the Prince is right after all. The French Senate
is a body composed of men as little desirous of war
in the abstract as any in Europe. But the French
Senate feels too sensibly the pressure of the enthu-
siasm of France to be wholly dumb and purely
submissive when the fate of Poland is the topic of
discussion, The meeting at the Guildhall appears to
have been as successful as such a meeting could be.
It was attended by politicians and men of influence
and station, and soared tar above the kind of
gatherings for which Mr. Seward is grateful, and
at which all England is discovered to be enamoured
of the Federal cause. It also expressed strongly
what the English nation feels strongly, and its
leaders had perfectly good grounds for asserting
their expectation of its leading to a practical issue.
It is quite untrue that we can do nothing unless we
are prepared to go to war. If Russia could easily
put down the insurrection, and if Russia were of
one mind, sending diplomatic remonstrances against
tyranny would be like whistling against the wind.
But if the Poles make anything like a success-
ful stand, it will be a great support to them,
and a great discouragement to the Russians,
that England and France pronounce the cause of
Poland good, and the cause of Russia execrably
bad. In Russia itself, too, there is apparently a
diversity of opinion. It seems that the officers cannot
rely on their troops, and the troops cannot rely on
their officers. The strength of Russia no longer
moves, as under the Emperor Nicholas, like a vast
machine, impelled hither and thither at the will of
a single man. Western thought has penetrated
Russia, and Western thought teaches the Russians
whom it influences to quail before the moral rebuke
of England and France.
LONDON REVIEW.—That the volunteers require
further aid may be taken as admitted. The cap-
tain of a corps in the rich suburban district about
Harrow, and one commander of a country corps in
Sussex, whose affairs seem to have been managed
with unusual judgment and economy, told the Com.
mission that they could do without it. But these
are exceptional cases ; and if such corps as these
will not be the better for the aid proposed, they
will scarcely be the worse for it. On the other
hand, the evidence was overwhelming to show
that, without aid, especially in clothing, very great
efforts would be necessary everywhere to keep the
force at all on its present footing, and that many of
its most valuable portions, as for instance the arti-
san corps of Glasgow and other places, must infal-
libly fall to pieces. The country has scarcely a
right to call on volunteer officers for such efforts as
in some places they are making, for what is, after
all, a national purpose, even were it likely that
such efforts could continue. In one great English
town, it is said, the method of obtaining new uni-
forms is as follows. The volunteer, when he finds
his uniform getting shabby, absents himself from
drill. On remonstrance from his captain, he in-
forms him that he regrets his inability to attend,
but that his uniform is not fit to appear in; upon
which the captain writes back to say that if the
volunteer will call at a certain tailor's, he will
be measured and supplied with a new uniform, of
course at the captain's expense. This state of things
is scarcely desirable, and must soon end. On the
other hand, the proposed extra vote of £200,000 for
volunteers, a mere drop in the ocean of the army
estimates, will relieve many zealous supporters of
the movement, and will be felt as a burden by no-
body. The volunteers of the war against Napoleon
were regularly paid as soldiers are, whenever they
assembled for drill and training. Moreover, the
existing act gave exemption from the hair-powder
tax, then a real exemption from a tax of over £1
a year certainly to many, and probably to all
volunteers; and exemption from the Militia bal-
lot, then an important privilege, now a dead let-
ter. The only public privilege the modern volun-
teer enjoys is that of passing a toll-gate when
in uniform for nothing. Besides these exemptions,
and their pay when called out, it appears from a
War Office return appended to the Blue-book, that
the old volunteers received a free outfit, a clothing
allowance of £1 per man every three years, and
Os. Bd. per head per annum for repair of arms; and
that their average cost per man per annum was £4,
exclusive of arms and ammunition. In view of
these advantages enjoyed by the old volunteers,
some of the witnesses before the commission sug-
gested that some really valuable exemptions should
be extended to the volunteers of the present day ;
that the horse-tax or the dog-tax should be remitted
to an effective volunteer, and that they should be
exempted from serving on juries. But are the volun-
teers worth all this expenditure? Adam Smith
somewhere says that for a people to be untrained tc
arms is as disgraceful as for a man to be effeminate
or emasculate. And surely in modern, as in ancient
times, it may well be thought the duty of the State
to promote the physical as well as the moral train-
ing of its inhabitants. It is no small thing to have,
in case of invasion, 160,000 men well-armed, tole-
rably trained, subject to martial law, and organised
in companies and battalions. But whatever would
be the worth of the volunteers if called on to face
an enemy, at least they have given confidence, pre-
vented panic, taken away our reproach as a shop-
keeping nation, utilised in some degree for war-
like purposes those sturdy and laborious classes
whom, otherwise, nothing but the conscription or
the Militia ballot could ever have touched. Rifle
shooting steadily extends and improves. We have,
and as long as volunteering continues we are sure
to have, the best rifle instructors and shots in the
world,; and our schools of musketry have been raised
from mere army into national institutions. We
have lately seen what the volunteers are as part of
a great national pageant or festivity. Again, the
effect of volunteering upon the habits of all classes
has been excellent ; a sergeant in the London
Scottish, himself a jobbing workman, acactuallydeclared, in his evidence hefore the Commission,
he considers "that a man who is a volunteer
is
worth, in money value, 3s. a week more to a jobbing
master than a man who is not." The proportion of
town to country population every day grows larger;
and if the volunteer movement can be consolidated
by Government help, the town corps, admitted to be
the most valuable, should year by year steadilyin-
crease. Every great centre of population, where
wealth most tempts invasion, would have its own
citizen army, which, if invasion th. reatt-Ao(d, could
meet and train in brigades and divisions without
deserting their usual occupations. Bristol, Liver-
pool, Brighton, London," can concentrate with ease
their 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, or 20,000 men ; and
what is done now for purposes of mere amusement
and holiday making, is but a small measure of what
would surely be accomplished, if patriotism called
for it and the countryt really needed it.
SPECTATOR.—There is a curious episode in the
early life of the present Emperor of the French,
of
ek
uponnown inhits h te
country,hsaraer,andstrangely which throws
a flood
light connects
him with the history of modern Poland. Having
fought in the revolt of the Carbonari, fled, under
the guidance of his mother and with the help of an
English passport, through France into Great Britain
and back again to Switzerland, Louis Napoleon
arrived at Arenenberg at the beginning of August,
1831, He had not been many days at tho quiet

chateau, and was just beginning to settle down to
his military studies, when he was interrupted by the
arrival of two foreign gentlemen, who announced
themselves as deputies of the National Government
of Poland. Their cards bore the names of General
Knaizewicz and Count Platen, and they
stated themselves authorised to offer to
LOW.* Napoleon the crown of Poland, under condi-
tion that he wou;,: join immediately the insurrection-
ary forces, taking the eomm4:ld-in-chief and super-
seding General Skrzynecki. As proof of their man-
date they handed to the Prince a long letter', signed
by the Marshal of the Polish Diet, Count Ladis:."
Ostrowski, and several of the leading members, the
concluding paragraph of which was as follows 1---
"We cannot trust the final direction of our enter-
prise into better hands than those of the nephew of
the greatest captain who ever lived. The mere
appearance on the territory of Poland of a young
Napoleon Bonaparte, carrying aloft the Imperial
tricolour, would be sufficient to raise the national
enthusiasm to the highest pitch, and produce a
moral effect the consequence of which would be in-
calculable. Do not hesitate, then, we entreat you,
to follow the call of a whole people ; but come to us
at once, confiding the fortunes of Caesar, and, what
is more, the fate of liberty to a gracious Providence.
The love and gratitude of the Polish nation, and
the admiration of the universe, await you, Prince."
The reading of this manifesto made a profound im-
pression upon Louis Nap Aeon. With his Italian
dream of glory fresh upon his mind, the prospector
a crown] of power and fame, wildly excited his
imagination, making him ready to follow on the
instant the messengers from Poland. But his
mother at once checked these exuberant aspirations.
Having but a few months before seen her eldesr
son die in the struggle of the Carbonari, ex-Queen
Hortense had lost all faith in revolutions and in-
surrections, and looked upon the deputies from
Warsaw as birds of ill omen, come to entice her only
remaining child into perdition. She opposed their
errand by all the means in her power, not forgetting
to cast doubt upon their ambassadorial character.
All the arguments brought forward fell dead upon hPr
ear, and seeing that. Count Platen and his colleague
were gaining an immense ascendancy over her son,
she at last sternly forbad them further stay within
the chateau. The Polish noblemen thereupon
quitted Arenenberg ; but only to take up their quar-
ters at the neighbouring town of Frauenfel en, the
capital of the canton of Thurgovia. Here they had
daily interviews with the Prince, which ended in
the latter promising to go to Poland, even without
the consent of his mother. All the necessary pre-
parations were made in the greatest secrecy, and
when the Duchess of St. Leu entered the room of
her son on the morning of Sunday, the 4th of Sep-
tember, she was horror-struck on finding that he
had left her—gone, as expressed in a note, " a la
recherche d'une couronne." The chateau of Are-
nenberg at that time counted among its inmates a
very notable personage, an old friend of Hortense
Beauharnais, Dr. Henry Conneau. On discovering
the flight of her son on the morning of the 4th of
September, Hortense immediately sought Dr. Con -
neau, bidding him to follow in the traces of the lost
one. At Augsburg, Dr. Conneau, attracted by the
sound of French voices, entered the ancient hostelry
of the " Three Moors." The first person who met
his eyes was Prince Louis Napoleon, sitting at a
table and reading a German newspaper. In large
letters, on the top of the first paragraph, was a
despatch from Poland, announcing " Order reigns
at Warsaw." His Excellency Field-marshal Prince
Paskevitch had forestalled his Imperial Highness
Prince Louis Napoleon. Threw days after Louis
Napoleon was again at Arenenberg, and at the end
of a fortnight entered himsele"as a student at the
military school of Thun, his mind devoted to artil-
lery—still dreamily engaged " a la recherche dune
couronne."

EXAMINER.—Of all the commodities consumed
by man, air and water excepted, tobacco stands
foremost, a position it owes to its narcotic quality,
and to the facility with which it is produced over
a geographical surface embracing fifty degrees on
each side of the equator. We ourselves consume of
it yearly—and we are very far from being the
greatest consumers—about 16,000 tons, and if the
rest of the world does but as much, the consumption
of mankind will amount to from six to seven mil-
lions of tons, which is more than the entire mer-
cantile navy of the United Kingdom and its colonies
would carry. Ail this is the creation of about two
centuries and a half, and has ccme by imitation from
the savages of America, in whose country alone the
plant was a native. It was all in vain that our
Scottish James blew his counter- blast, and his
equally foolish contemporaries, the Great. Mogul
and the Emperor of Japan, issued their decrees
against it. The fascination of the ,eed has over-
come all opposition. The Mahomedans, who at
first strained against coffee, lest it might by possi-
bility contain alcohol, embraced the tobacco-pipe
without a scruple. The Hindus have done the
same, and the Chinese and J=apanese, who had no
scruples to overcome, have become, perhaps of all
people, the most general consumers of tobacc .
Savages take to the weed very kindly, and the
Maories of New Zealand snd naked blacks of Aus•
tralia smoke as industriously as the dandies of Lon-
don and Paris. On Thursday the Chancellor of the
Exchequer's new Tobacco Duties Bill passed through
committee. The existing rates of duty are excessive,
and hence tobacco, an article that bears rough
handling without detriment, is the main subject of
the smuggling trade, the onerous duty being, of
course,a perpetual temptation to defraud the State and
the fair trader. Mr. Gladstone's measure is not com-
prehensive, and indeed, considering the vast sum he
must risk, we do not see how it could well be so. As
far as it goes, however, it is judicious, and founded on
principle. As our readers know, our financiers—
and they are right—consider tobacco as a mere in-
strument of taxation. With this view, the culture
of the plant at home is interdicted, a matter of no
hardship, since in our climate we cannot produce it
either cheap or good. Hence the whole revenue
derived from it is collected by the levy of a custom
duty on the foreign article. On leaf or unmanu-
factured Tobacco the present rate of duty is nearly
3s. 2d a pound, which at the valuation of 10d. a
pound—that of the tables of the Board of Trade—
will give a tax on the value of 380 per cent. On
the manufactured article, in the shape of snuff, the
duty is 6s. 3d., and at ls. a pound, the price of the
Board of Trade, the tax is here an ad valorem one
of 415 per cent. The duty on cigars is 9s. 6d.
nearly, and on the Board of Trade price of ls. a
pound, the tax comes here to one on the value of
950 per cent. All these duties are so excessive as
to make tobacco the main object of smuggling, and
this more especially on the manufactured article.
Mr. Gladstone, leaving the duty on the uumanufac-
lured article as it stands, or simply taking off the
odd 2d. a pound, reduces the duty on foreign high-
dried snuff to 4s. 6d., and on cigars to ss. a pound.
The home manufacturer had a protecting duty of
3s. ld. on every pound of snuff, and of no less than
6s. 4d. on every pound of cigars, and has still one
on snuff of 3d. and on cigars of ls. 6d., and yet
he complains, through the throats of Messrs. Roe-
buck and Ayrton, for monopolists are never to be
satisfied. It is to be hoped that these ameliorations
may produce some increase of revenue and diminu-
tion of smuggling, but we confess that our expecta-
tions are not very sanguine. At present the gross
amount of the tobacco duty, in round numbers
£5,500,000, is respectable, equalling that on tea,
sugar, and malt. Were it safe to make a large pre-
sent sacrifice of revenue, by a sweeping reduction
of all the duties on the article, we do not doubt but
that the suppression of the contraband trade in it,
and ultimately a large increase of revenue, would be
the result.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD CIRCUIT—STAFFORD, March 20.

(Before Mr. Baron Channel].)

Mary Ann Barlow (on bail), was charged with
feloniously by letter threatening to accuse the Rev.
Jobn Tyson, on the 29th December, 1862, at Wol-
stanton, of an attempt to commit a rape on her
person, with a view to extort money.
The indictment contained eight counts, of which
the first three were framed upon section 46 of
the recent Criminal Law Consolidation Act.
The first charged the prisoner with sending
a letter to the prosecutor, accusing him of having
attempted and endeavoured to commit a rape upon
her, with the intent thereby to extort money,
setting out the letter as hereinafter appearing. The
second count was in like form, but setting out part
of the letter containing the accusation. The third
count was in similar terms, but omitting to set out
the letter or any part thereof. The next set of
counts were framed upon section 44 of the Act. The
fourth count was for sending a letter demanding
money from the prosecutor by menaces and without
any reasonable or probable cause, and setting out
the letter. The fifth and sixth were the last, the
one setting out part of the letter, and the other
omitting it altogether. The seventh and eighth
counts proved to be immaterial.
Mr. Huddleston, Q.C., Mr. Kenealy, and Mr.
Holroyd appeared for the prosecution ; the prisoner
was defended by Mr. Matthews.
The nature of the case will be best gathered from
the following evidence:—
Betsy Miller, the wife of the sexton of Wolstan-
ton, proved that on Monday, December 29, the pri
soner came to her (witness's) house, and asked for
her husband, who was from home. She then gave
witness a letter, and requested that it might be
given to witness's husband to take to Mr. Tyson,
which was accordingly done.
William Miller, sexton of Wolstanton, proved the
delivery of the letter to Mr. Tyson, and that he
waited in the kitchen until the letter was delivered.

'etter to take 'back to
. Prisms asked
Mr. Tyson gave witness a
Mrs. Barlow, which witness did
if witness had seen Mr. Tyson, N which replied
in the affirmative.
Cross-examined by Mr. Matthews—Mr. Bentley
(Mr. Tyson's nephew), asked w fitness if he knew
what Mrs. Barlow meant by sen, ling such a letter.
Witness said he was not aware that the letter was
objectionable, and Mr. Bentley then read it to wit-
ness. The letter was put into an envelope imme-
diately after it was read, anA deliver ed to witness to
take back to prisoner. Witinss (-tin 'id not repeat
the letter.
Rc-examined—Mr. Bentley read the letter to
wit„,:ss once. Remembered that parc v. f the letter
2ner said she would have wrirt,an before,
where pr :.
ould stop Mr. Tyson's to her
;'
but feared it N;
mother. Reeolleets: she said she must be pa id, and
that Mr. Tyson's conduta was very base.
Robert Bentley—l am nepew of the 116”,. John
Tyson, and am an undergraduate of Cambrides, 9.
was present when Miller brought the letter toi the
Vicarage. It was brought into the room by the cookl/4
and handed it to Mr. Tyson, who opened and read it'.
He then handed it to his wife, who was present. T
went with the letter to Miller, and called him into
another room and read it aloud to him, in Mr. Ty-
son's presence. I took it back to the dining-loom,
and Mr. Tyson enclosed it in an envelope and sent
it back. The letter was in these terms,—" Rea'.
Sir,—The secret sin must come out. I should have
written to you after the second offence, but did not
wish to prevent your visits to mother. Your in-
gretitude to me has been base after my putting up
with it so long. Oh ! the happy days when I could
receive the sacrament with an inward and spiritual
grace. I must be paid and receive compensation for
the loss of my peace of mind." The letter was signed
" Mary Ann Barlow." Those were, in substance,
the words used. Mrs. Barlow came to the Vicarage
afterwards, and I was presen7 when she came. T
went with Mr. Tyson to his solicitor, Mr. Lichfield.
She came to the Vicarage en the Friday following,
about 8 o'clock iu the morning. Mr Lichfield and
myself were in the drawing-room, and she was shown
in to us. Mr. Tyson had then left the loom by Mr.-
Lichfield's direction. She said she wished to see Mr.
Tyson. I said she would Eee no one in the house but
Mr. Lichfield and myself. Mr. Lichfield asked her
whether it was not an unfounded charge she had
made against Mr. Tyson. She said she did not wish
to hurt Mr. Tyson's feelings. The question was
repeated, and she then asked whether, if she an-
swered it, would the matter be settled that night ?
Mr. Lichfield said he should hold out no hopes of
such a thing. She said if she could see Mr. Tyson.
she would confess all. The servant aad been sent for
three times to show her out; prisoner showed great
hesitation in leaving, but left on the third occasion.
Cross-examined—She showed a strong desire to
see Mr. Tyson. I have stated the words of the letter
to the best of my ability and recollection. I read
the letter before I left the room, when Mr. Tyson
received it, and afterwards again. The words were
" I should have written to you." The words " secret
sin must come out" were part, I think, only of a
sentence, but I cannot supply the remainder. There
were some words between this part of the letter and
the part which appears next, as I recollect it, but I
cannot furnish them. I cannot pledge myself as to
the accuracy of the order of the words and sentences
I have given. Perhaps I may at one time have trans-
posed portions of the letter. I don't remember any-
thing in it about" consolation,"nor the word "repaid."
I don't think they were in the letter " what does she
mean ?" This was when he handed the otter to Mrs.
Tyson. There was nothing in the letter which was
obscure or unintelligible, and no allusions to any-
thing which had passed between the writer and
Mr. Tyson further than what appeared in the letter
itself. I asked Miller if he knew what were the con-
tents of the letter, to which he answered " No." I
then read it to him that he might know the con-
tents. I read it because I thought it right he should
know them. I made a note of the words of the letter
the next morning, which I left in a writing-case,
and have not seen it since. The writing-case is one
which is placed on the table for genera: use. The
note I made is not here. (The witness here, at the
request of counsel, again repeated the letter, trans-
posing those passages commencing "Oh! the happy
days," and " I must be paid.") I was before the
magistrates the Saturday after. I don't think the
words about ingratitude were " your ingrati-
tude after putting up with it has been base"
(omitting the words "so long" after "it"), but will
not pledge my oath those were not the words; nor
will speak positively as to the precise arrangement
and co location of the words of the letter in general.
Mr. Tyson first read the letter ; then Mrs. Tyson,
wit,' read it out ; and I read the whole of it to Mil-
ler afterwards.
Reexamined—l have not looked at the note I
made of it because I did not think it necessary.
There was nothit.g to qualify or alter the sense of
the words as I have given it ; had there been such
I should have remembered it. There were some
words which followed the words " the secret sin
must come out," but nothing which altered the
seuse. I understood by the letter that it accused
Mr. Tyson of having attempted improper inter-
course with the prisoner, and that she intended to
divulge it. I understood by the word. "I must be
paid," that she wanted and 'demanded money.
Mr. Matthews having addressed the jury for the
prisoner,
His Lordship carefully summed up, explaining to
the jury the technical difficulties which rendered
the two sets of counts necessary, and pointing out
that before they could enter upon the questions
arising upon the two branches of the case they must
first be satisfied that the letter was really one of a
threatening nature. They would, therefore, have
first to say whether, in the absence of the letter
itself, which had been imprudently parted with by
the prosecutor, they were of opinion they could
rely with safety on the recollection of the witnesses
under whose observation it had come as to the ex-
pressions it contained and the object of the writer.
The jury, after a brief consultation, acquitted the
prisoner, the foreman observing that in the absence
of the letter itself they were of opinion that they
could not safely convict.