The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-20 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
BALTIMORE, Aug. 7.

Whoever would wish to sum up at one glance all
the miseries inflicted upon the United States by the
' more than civil war" now raging, should come for
a few days to Baltimore, for the impression wrought
upon the mind by a society in a state of rapid de-
composition is all the more painful, as Baltimore, by
its lively aspect, pleasant site, lovely women, and
the mild, courteous, and cordial manners of its in-
habitants, is apt to wind itself round the stranger's
heart, and incline him to give it the preference over
most other American residences.
I left Washington on Tuesday evening, shaking
its dust from my shoes at the station—the dust that
buries that dead city, now hot and desolate as Sahara,
with nothing astir in it, save only its scattered
gangs of Bedouin-like Union soldiers, kicking up
mercilessly urge on their worn-
huge clouds, as they
outkVirginian nags at a sorry canter, patrolling the
lonely streets like uneasy spirits without apparent
errand or object, The contrast between that stag-
nant, stifling, murderous atmosphere (where no less
than seven persons are reported to have dropped
down dead ofaunstrokes in one day, on Monday), and
the still burning-hot but breezy and elastic air of
this well-watered " City of the Monuments," affords

immediate relief; and the intercourse with the better
classes of its inhabitants, full as they are of their
grievances, sets your heart all the harder against
the dogged, and sullen, and ruthless determination
of the Union men you have left behind at the seat
of Government, and enlists your sympathies in be-
half of the weaker side, to such an extent that you
must summon up all your sternness to be on your
guard against your own " milk of human nature,"
and look upon matters with that calm, unbiassed
judgment which befits your office as an impartial
observer.

A man fresh from the old countries of Europe is
not, alas, unacquainted with the import of such
words as " state of siege," "martial law," and the
like. He has seen or heard of despotic and arbitrary
government all his lifetime, has heard of Spielberg,
Castle St. Angelo, Piombi, and Pozzi ; he is familiar
with the most refined and cunning engines of
tyranny. But in Austria, in Poland, at Modena, or
Naples, all these were old and long-tried contri-
vances. The police in France, in Venice, in Russia
is, or was, a strongly and thoroughly organised
system, a crushing and killing but soulless and
passionless machinery, doing its work with dull, un-
relenting steadfastness of purpose, going straight to
its goal, but actuated by no political and only very
moderate official zeal, actuated by no wanton animo-
sity agaitist its hapless victims. The Buongoverno at
Milan or Venice had every patriot under its thumb

as completely as the metropolitan police knows the
whereabouts of every London pickpocket. It pro-
ceeded against them by order, free from rancour or
vindictiveness, and its agents, mere professionals,
were ns ready to serve under a green, red, and white
as under a yellow and black banner. They were
the passive servants of every Government de facto,
which could be induced to accept their co-operation.
Fonche's machine in Paris, like the guillotine,
Would be as active under an Emperor as under a
Bourbon King, a constitutional Orleans, or a sepal).
lie—a keen-edged but mere mechanical instrument.
But the United States had to improvise a police as
they had to extemporise an army. For their want
of skill and practice they had to make up by pas•
Edon. They made of the police a party business ;
they set the Union men against the Seceders; they
waged war against the rebels in the city by the same
means that they employed against them in the field.
Maryland and Baltimore had before the war a
perfectly organised efficient police. Its commis-
sioners were removed as " disloyal" men; the force
was disbanded ; the whole of the State and city
executive was re-established at the free will and
pleasure of the Central Government at Washington.
Yet even that new set of magistrates and agents of
its own creation, even those juries of its own pack-
ing, were slack in working out the Government's
will, and the military were invested with full
powers to wage war against "disloyalty."
For nearly two months Baltimore has been one
vast prison. On the first tidings of Lee's advance
across the Potomac Maryland was turned into a
camp, the city was beset with barricades, and none
of the citizens were allowed to quit the town—at this
hot season, when the whole population would have
rushed to the springs—unless he satisfied General
Schenck of his loyalty by taking " the oath of alle-
giance." The barricades were pulled down 10 days
ago, and the citizens' movements were no longer in-
terfered with; so that a great rush ensued to the
springs, to the country houses—anywhere out of
town, out of reach of Schenck, of the Provost-
Marshal, of Giimore-house, Fort M'llenry, Fort
Warren, and the other sorrowful places where
"loyalty" is taught at so many months' imprison-
ment a lesson, and from which there is no escape
except at the price of " an oath of allegiance.'
" Loyalty" in this country is, of course, understood
to mean attachment to the Northern or Federal
cause. Now, Maryland and Baltimore are naturally
disposed to uphold the principles of Secession. The
world knows it ; the President and his Cabinent at
Washington are folly aware of the fact. Their Go-
vernment had only a small and not very reputable
party among this Marylandian population; it con-
sisted of those " Know-nothings'' who went by the
quainter names of "Plngsuglies," Blood -tubs,""Black
Snakes," &e. Gen. Schenck and his soldiers are
placed here to give if possible an emphatic denial to
the fact, to destroy it if practicable. They have
established a pretty reign of terror. They have not
the proper means,not the crafty machinery by which
such a work can be achieved. But they have given
political passion full swing; they have organised a
party into a police, a clumsy and blundering one,
indeed, as may be expected, but vicious, headlong,
fall of petty malice, vexatious, unbearable. Take a
few instances.

A gentleman gives a friendly dinner to six guests.
The party has no sooner broken up than the host is
called upon by the police to give in a list of his
Quests, as one of the number is " suspected of dis-
lnyaity." On the ground of the real or supposed
disaffection of this individual, the dinner-giver is
thrown into .
prison, from which he will only emerge
by taking the oath of allegiance.
A re!.
pro gentleman is called upon to pay taxes for
some
property he owns in Virginia beyond the rebel
lines.
onstrates, and is instantly grabbed
for " disloyEri
by taking ~
4,ntignage," not to be released except
`" Oath.
burg. A "
Confederate an are brought in from Gettys-
of
the lower classes steps out upon
screen her
her balcony to look atthe men as they pass, and, to
she was knittin eyes from thehelisun, she lifts up a stocking
to the captive rgebels.
; iibeen waving that "fig"
acked off beyond thehn:
linseherself a retel, and is
p i
steps further, another
who
woman othf a better class takes
Virginia. A few
pity on the thirsty wretches
are made to stand
have
tater, h
and offers
still at her door. She brings
„t
it first to the Union soldiers who
t h oerisoners
p
in charge, then by their permission to
themselves. The police revoke the prisoners
granted by the humane soldiers; the golloenrMlSSi°n ,
womanis taken up, and conveyed beyond the lines to Vir-
ginia.
- - - - - -

An inoffensive British subject is accosted in the
h
bar of his hotel by a Union soldier, who asks himt -t„-
treat him to some drink. The Britisher finds the
proposal "rather cool ;" the Yankee bids him "re-
spect his uniform." " A fig for your uniform !" says
impatient John Bull ; whereupon he instantly finds
himself in qucd for disloyalty, and is only released
four days afterwards by the into: cession of Mr.
Bernal, the British Consul, who claims him from
the authorities, when the unwitting offender had
already been " disposed of and dismissed from their
memory."

A gentleman walks into the Eutaw-house, hie
hotel, where Ger. Schenck has his head. quarters.
One of the Staff officers of high rank asks hint " How
he dares to wear the rebel colours 9" " Rebel colours!
What do you mean r "Mean I Now, tell you."
A couple of orderlies are summoned. The luckless
wight is brought into the dread presence of Gen.
Schenck. "That man," says the accuser, "comes
to display rebel colours under our very noses." Tho
man is at a loss to understand What all this is about,

till Gen. Schenck, poking him betwee a the raf,,
calls his attention to two roses in his button-hol,e.
It was a red and a yellow rose; but in the dusk the
latter looked white, and the " disloyalty" was thus
manifest. The political General then asks his; pri-
soner where he got the flowers. " 'They Teet:e put
into his button-hole by a lady." Just so," says
Schenck, "that is another of your el-_— Secesh
women." " The lady is my niece, the prisoner
answers with some warmth. " She is a lady, a
young lady of 14, and no Secesh we man." "Per-
haps you would have no objection to take an oath
of allegiance to the best of Govern' ments," says the
General, by way of closing the er ,nversation. The
gentleman seas no reason why 'ne should take an
oath on compulsion, and is wa Iked away to the
Prevost-Marshal's, the obnoxicir,s flowers being left
in the hands of his captors.
These are merely the coma c, kl episodes of a suffi-
ciently mournful play. Ncw fen- some of the pathetic
touches. I was yesterday in a house to which a lady
had just in that moment been brought back from
one of the hospitals near Gettysburg. Her son, who,
like so many of the Maryland youths, was in the
Confederate army, was slightly wounded in one of
the great battles in the early days of July,aonfdsh
she
had gone to tend him. Most of the surgeons
Bal-
timore and many ladies have been going upon
same humane errand, and they have been backwards
t
and forwards all this last month.Tihn-weFielideargaalisnastt
the camps, I believe, harbour no
twhoeuirndreebdelispgrriseoant earns,dbtuhte thdeisodridsterresins
the ofshoo rap
hospitals
appalling.
Gettysburg,
w
ith he
atsl
stench
from eyewitnesses,
tainted
of ill-buried 'human bodies and the remnants of
For
miles
the
i s
carcasses of horses. The youth I speak of died, not
of his wound, but of hospital fever, in his mother's
arms, and the mother brought back to her home the
same fever, of which she is dying. The, reader may
judge whether this is likely to be a solitary ease.
These are the inevitable horrors of war, and it is only
a pity that nations unused to such things should
aggravate its evils by reckless improvidence and
mismanagement. Another case, however, is less
excusable :—A Confederate officer, who had fallen
gloriously at Gettysburg, was conveyed, a corpse, to
his Maryland home, where he was embalmed, and
intended for the honour if a solemn burial. All
this had been done with the full permission of the
military authorities at Gettysburg. The father of
the deceased, his kinsfolk, and a great number of
his friends attended the ceremony, which was per-
formed by a Methodist Minister at the Greenmount
Cemetery. The funeral rite was just performed,
when the attendants-19 in number (for the
greater number of them were able to effect an
escape)—were arrested and conveyed to the Provost-
Marshal's, at Gilmore-house.. The offence, it .ap-
pears, consisted in this,—that the body had been
given to the earth in the Confederate uniform the
hero had on when he fell, Some of the prisoners,
as well-known Union men, were released on the
following day; but the greater number were only
discharged the day before yesterday, after vain
efforts on the part of the authorities to extort from
them an oath of allegiance.
Acts of more arbitrary severity remain to be re-
corded. Two barns were burnt to the ground in
this vicinity, probably by incendiaries. An assess-
ment was made on the inhabitants of the neigh-
bourhood to make good the damages. The assess-
ment fell unequally on different individuals, accord-
ing to the reputation they had for disloyalty. I
could name one gentleman who had to pay for his
own ehare no less than 472 dols. For another house
that was burnt the tax extended over al), the people
for six miles round the spot, but the fire in this se-
cond instance fell with a weight proportionate to
the proximity of the inhabitants to the scene of the
offence.

A certain amount of awkward harshness and
bluntness will always and everywhere be observed
wherever the administration of justice falls into
military hands. Civilians at Fort Warren were
confined in the company of Confederate prisoners
taken in battle. But, by a strange professional par-
tiality it may be supposed, these latter were allowed
the free run of the tort on parole, while the civilians
members of the State Legislature of Maryland, and
other persons of high res pectability,w hose alleged of
fence was at the utmost that of sympathising with the
cause of the South—an offence, be it remembered,
which was never proved, so that they had in the
end to be discharged, without even obtaining from
them the oath of allegiance—these gentlemen were
kept in durance vile in their cells, and subjected to
a harsher treatment than those who had stood up
fer that same cause sword in hand. I say nothing
of the filthy state of those State prisons—the ver-
min, the odour, the horrors of the want of bed, food,
and other accommodation, for this was probably
owing rather to want of experience ard proper pre-
paration than to mere fiendish malice, though it is
not easy to bring the poor victims and their friends
to view the matter in that light. But what are we
to think of the puerile precaution of Gen. Schenck
(who, by the way, was neither born nor bred a sol-
dier, but who is a mere " political General "), who
allows his convalescent prisoners only the most in-
dispensable underclothing, that in the event of their
meditating their flight they should not be able to
accomplish it otherwise than in the scantiest dis-
habille. No hats, jackets, shoes, or trousers a:lowed
to any of them

But I feel humbled in my own eyes in coming be-
fore the reader as the mere chronicler of such small
matters. These mere pricks of the needle, with
which the endurance of the Marylandians is so con-
stantly tested, however bitterly they may harass
and aggravate them, are not so subversive of their
social order as the lance thrusts which are aimed at
the very life of all the Southern States.
It is now more than 16 months since General
Foster, on his way to his Southern command,
taunted the Baltimorians with the threat that
" they were going to make a St. Domingo of the
South, and that the Marylandians might then
join the niggers if they had a mind," The rulers
at Washington talk as if they meant to carry
that threat into immediate execution. I have
already told you how in the South-west the con-
querors settle on the lands of the vanquished,
manumit the slaves, and hiring them as free
labourers compel them to cultivate the land for
their own—tne conquerors'—benEfit. A gentleman
high in the Government at Washington told me,
with great glee, how a Northern soldier of fortune
took possession of a deserted plantation, found the
crops standing nnreaped on the ground, with the
negroes idle in their huts enjoying the first
fruits lyingftheir blessed emancipation, how the 'cute
Yankee bade them be up and doing, promised to
feed and pay them, and so plied them with gentle
and strong measures that he induced them to bring
the harvest home—a harvest which he conveyed to
and
sold in New Orleans, realising for himself the
net sum of 17,000 dols. Now, most of the land of
Fields, houses
Southern States occupied by the Federals lies in
a more or less helpless condition.

and live stock of all kinds are at the discretion of

any man who may have a wish for them, and there
is no lack of adventurers in the Northern army ready
to help themselves to anything that may fall in
' their way. There is hardly an officer, hardly a
soldier on his way back to the North, who does not
bring home a manumitted " contraband" with him.
Wherever the victorious legions appear not only
emancipation but confiscation ensues, and nothing
elect evidently is contemplated than the downright
dissolution of the whole social order, the re-coloni-
zation of the Southern land. This is the avowed
object, the preser_t task of the out and cut Aboli-
tionists of the Washington Government. Should
the undertaking
thee more practicable, less desperate
s
than it appear! bquestion would arise, how are
these frontier State
poecb.eldealt with ?—these States
—this Maryland especially,
t
open war with the central Itriv' which wes never at
v
in vernraent,and to which
the best assurances were g
respected in all their rights ofe that they should be
eml2l3.erty, and that
canswetc.tipation without
I they should be submitted
vtrobne
adequate compensation!
and the Maryland
5 readily made.
At the time of Lee's late invasion, when
was supposed to be in danger,
was given in Baltimore of the approach of the rebel
cavalry,a great number of negroes were pressed to
work in
the trenches to place tlr city in a state of
defence. Negroes were pressed in town and cone-

;ry, whether tree paeu or slaytz, field-lauds or

domestic servants. When their labours were ended,
all efforts were made to induce these blacks to en-
Hat; not a few accepted the proffered bounty, and
are off to the various coloured regiments now in the
field; some came back either dressed in the United
States uniform, or waving the star spangled banner
in their masters' faces, and are now idling about
town and country, daring their former owners to
claim them if they can. Any slave running for
refuge here at the Provost Marshal's, or at any of
the military stations scattered all over the State,
may consider himself as safe as a malefactor used to
be in a sanctuary of the good olden times; and the
slave owner who might be ill advised enough to
lodge a complaint for the recovery of his property,
would sooner incur the risk of losing his own liberty
than be allowed to dispute that of his former bonds-
man. A cry would be raised against him es a
disloyal citizen, an anti-Abolitionist, a man of
Southern " proclivitie9," and he could hardly get
himself out of trouble by submitting to the indignity
of that eternal oath of allegiance.
It is thus that emancipation has been carried on
in the State of Maryland. In the city of Baltimore
you would look in vain for a single male slave. In
the country, only those for whom freedom had no
attraction abide with their owners, or those who,
after a first expelment in the bush, have found
their cage more to their taste, and have voluntarily
gone back to their thraldom. No man need be a
stave here who has no fancy to be, and the negroes
as property are utterly valueless.
Now this may seem a great gain for the cause of
humanity; and, for what concerns Maryland itself,
it may imply no irreparable evil. But some justice
ought to be done to the slave-owner no less than to
the slave; and i❑ more Southern States this sudden
breach in all domestic relations, this wholesale, all-
sweeping spoliation and confiscation, will prove
equally ruinous to maser and servant. The most
ruthless Union men have no compunction about it,
and theyd well with complacency on littleless than the
extirpation of the whole Southern race, and the sub-
etitution of Northern colonists in their stead. The
scheme would be coo monstrous if it were practicable.
When the Franks took two-thirds of the lands of
the vanquished Gauls, or the Lombards shared the
land, slaves, and cattle of the prostrate Latins, they
did nothing so barbaric as the cold-blooded politi-
cians of the Northern Republic now contemplate.
Granted that slavery was a great evil—the greatest
of evils—it may be questioned whether the remedy
is not a thousand times more grievous and iniquitous

than the evil itself; it may be questioned whether

the remedy will cure, or only a thousand times ag-
gravate the evil. Granted that the Southern peo-
were " rebels and traitors," it may be questioned
whether they were all equally guilty, or whether
many of them were guilty at all; yet the punish-
ment must needs falls indiscriminately on the whole
race; granted even that they all deserve the same
punishment, was there ever a case of mutiny by
land or by sea in which a whole regiment was shot
or a whole crew hanged ? Surely it was always
considered an act of utmost severity to decimate the
offenders. It is only your frantic and savage abo-
litionist that puts no limits to his bigotry, and ap-
plies his theory without reserve or exception.
Meanwhile, strange to say, in the midst of their
grievous afflictions, nothing can have power to
subdue the spirit of these Marylandians, or bring
them to despair of their sinking cause. " Lee is
still unbroken," they say ; " he may yet come forth
and smite the Northerners a third time. No doubt
the contest has been unequal from the beginning,
and the South begins to feel the exhaustion of its
own efforts. But no one can foresee what the chap-
ter of accidents may bring forth. Come what may,
the restoration of the Union is an impossibility.
The South may be overrun, prostrated, annihilated,
but not recorciled to its destroyer."
It is not difficult to find men equally confident,
equally determined, on the other aide. The re-
establishment of the Union is matter of unshaken
faith with the Republicans, and they are ready to
sacrifice to this ?heir idol, not only the whole
Southern race, white and coloured, but themselves,
their prosperity, and, what is more, their liberty—
that liberty which, it might seem, gave that Union
elk its value. The tendency in the North is towards
a concentration of all powers in the hands of the
Washington Government, with an utter disregard
of the independent life of the States as sanctioned
by the Constitution. It is on that account that.
General Schenck and other military rulers are so
anxious to wrench from their p-isoners an "oath of
allegiance." The oath administered to public
following—." I, A B,
functionaries in this state, for instance, was the
do swear, or affirm, that I
will support the Constitution of the United States,
and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance
to the State of Maryland, and support the Consti-
tution and laws thereof." By the transfer el this
allegiance from the individual State to the Federal
Government, a reform is contemplated in the whole
Union, the tendency of which will be the extinction
of all local freedom. May be, this encroachment of
the Central Power may sooner or later raise strong
opposition in the North no less than in the South;
but, in the meanwhile, the basis of strong military
I government is everywhere laid, and the President,
at the head of a million of combatants, will not be
visited with impunity, particularly if, after the ex-
piration of the present adrcinistratiou, Mr. Lincoln
were superseded by such a lawyer-soldier as Gene-
ral Butler, General Schenck, or any of his present
champions and instruments. No doubt the day
will come when the Republicans themselves will
fret at the yoke they have so eagerly taken on their
neck ; but will they be able to shake it off ?
Yesterday was Thanksgiving-day here by order.
The Marylanders were bidden to give praise for the
victories which have coat them so much of their
hest blood, which have damaged a cause to which
two-thirds of their population are so strongly at-
tached. Most of the shops were shut, and a very
few of the churches were opened. A. very scanty
display of flags was made from the top window;
but the town was quite empty, most of the citizens
having disappeared for the day. The Whole of the
Catholic and most of the Episcopal clergy, with the
exception of the Yankee Bishop, are Secessionists
at heart, and they refused to officiate. Decidedly
had a stranger beard nothing of the festivity, he
would have been struck with nothing besides the
utter desolation and silence of the holiday-making
city.

From the various battle-fields there is no news.
From the Rappahannock nothing but unmeaning
skirmishes. At Charleston no progress. In the
south-west no important movement. The heat
everywhere overpowering, yet with less fatal re-
sults to the belligerent parties than might have
been anticipated.

aatt
eAO
wine.mCompiegne,pTah n emd
uh
A "FRENCH MURDERER.—A man named Lefevre
e
fcmoi
murderer
r eurt havingdexpected
accompanied
jrmusatncuontidrtergone the extreme penalty of the law
(Oise),
tmh
the pretence
r pd
tore
erfite
end
ndac
ae farmersoufrn o namedf
rom Vilcoq,
in his cellar, where Lefevra had
beio,e placed it in they buthatnhdes farmero f a
lawyer had a
to 1,400 f. in the house
purchasinglplv,e2sidgOoar
iJmyfes e..
Not finding money onlyCaofme
sold to a barber at Lon:ueil Lefevre took a razor, which he
this led to his arrest and
conviction, as the murdered 2
man'sthe handle. On the morning
name was
.scratched on
g, of the execution, being
brought from Beauvais to ccicgue'
ho ascended the
scaffold with great calmness, and at
once gave himself up
moment to the executioners. The next meat all was over.—
Gali:gn an i.
AnvrwrisEMENT.l—AvoidtnEdicitv's: they always
rate chronic complaints, but Du Barry's Delicious
Health
Restoring Revalenta Ard,bica Food, which saves fifty times
its cost in other remedies, invariably cures there, restoring
perfect digestion. strong nerves, sound lungs, healthy liver
pure blood, refreshing sleep, functional regularity, and energy
t,, the most disordered or enfeebled. We extract a few out
of 60,000 Cures :—Cure No. 53,216 of the Marchioness de
Brehan, Paris, of a liver complaint, wasting away for seven
years, debility, with a nervous palpitation all over, bad
digestion, constant sieeplessn ess, the most intolerable nervous
agitation, and dreadfully low spirited.—Cure No. 1,771. Lora
Stuart de Decies, Lord Lieut. of Waterford, of many years'
dyspepsia.—No. 99,832. "Fifty years' indescribable asony
from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation,
flatulency, spasms, sickness, and vomiting.—Maria Jolly."
—Cure No. 16,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of
thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of biood, liver derange•
meat, and partial deafness.—Cure No. 47,121. Miss Elizabeth
Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, low
spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure No. 54,816. The Rev. Jas.
T. Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, "of indigestion and torpi-
tyor the liver, which had reszste ' all medical treatment.'
In
40ti.ns, lb., es. Od. ; 21b., 4s. 6d ; 51b., 1 is. ; 121 b., ,2s. ; 418
aljiarrY liarry and Co., No 77 Ren•e t -saec 4•
so rortnum• , o , London
and Mason , and al GrOCerti and Chu/14U in
every town of the tinned

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

-
NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LIVERPOOL, AIM. 19.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Blackburn.)
Benjamin Thomas, aged 24, a powerful, sullen-looking
Welshman, was indicted for the wilful murder of Mary
Rowlands, at Liverpool, on the Bth of May hut.
Mr. Bolton and Mr. Littler appeared for the prosecution ;
Mr. Pope defended the prisoner.
During the trial the conduct of the prisoner in the dock
was so extremely violent that his Lordship was obliged to
order him to be pinioned, and on two or three occasions it
took all the strength of several police-officers to overpower
him and to place him under restraint. When he was hand-
cuffed and guarded, so as to make any further outbreak
almost impossible, he hung down his head and appeared to
pay little or no attention to what was going on. His Lord-
ship deemed it necessary, along with the question of the
prisoner's guilt or innocence, to leave to the jury the ques-
tion whether the prisoner was insane, or only simulating
madness. It was preyed upon the part of the prosecution
that the deceased Mrs. Rowlands, wife of a master in the
mercantile marine, kept a seaman's boarding-house in
Brook-street, Liverpool. The prisoner lodged with her for
Bor 10 days, and was to some extent in her debt. He en-
gaged to go to sea in a ship for which a man named Cross-
thwaite was acting as shipping-master, and in consequence
of that engagement received an advance note, which he
lodged with the deceased as a security for the money he
owed her. He afterwards expressed an unwillingness to go
to sea in the ship, and Mrs. Rowlands, who was aware that
in the event of his failure to go on board at the appointed
time the advance note would become worthless, made re-
peated attempts to overcome this unwillingness, and told him
distinctly that if he did not join the ship he would be sent to
prison for 3 months. On the 12th of May she was reason-
ing with him in the Welsh language, when the prisoner
suddenly rose,went into the cellar,and called to the deceased
to come after him. She followed him immediately, and there
is no doubt that while she was in the cellar with him he
attacked her with a heavy wooden instrument, called a
"potato-masher," and beat her about the head until she was
dead. No struggle was heard, but when the prisoner came
upstairs again he had the potato-masher in his hand. With-
out saying a word, hut grinding his teeth in a wild and
savage manner, he made a ferocious attack with the formid-
able weapon on a young woman named Elizabeth Benbow,
who was sitting quietly in the parlour. When he had given
her half a dozen blows, an old woman named Evans ap-
peared, and then the prisoner left Benbow and assaulted
Evans. He followed her into the emit and beat her very
severely, and when the neighbours came upon the spot he
threw the potato-masher over the wall and went away laugh-
ing. He was followed and given into custody.
The evidence of the surgeon and one of the warders of
the gaol was put forward by the prosecution in support of
the theory of the prisoner's sanity.
It was now urged in his behalf, by Mr. Pope, that when
he committed all these outrages ho was so far mentally de-
ranged as not to be morally responsible for his acts. The
learned counsel relied on the absence of all reasonable mo-
tive, on the hideous ferocity of the murder, and of the
savage and unprovoked assault by which it was immediately
followed; on the untimely mirth which the prisoner had
displayed in laughing as he lett the place ; on the "grin-
ning" which had been spoken of by Benbow, and on the ad-
mission of one of the witnesses that the prisoner had ap-
peared before the day of the murder despondent, moody, and
out of spirits—as placing the insanity of the prisoner beyond
all reasonable doubt.
The Jury found that the prisoner was sane, and on the
facts found him Guilty of murder.
His Lordship, having assumed the black cap, then in a
most impressive manner passed upon the prisoner the awful
sentence of death in the usual form.
The prisoner was then removed, saying it was " a geed
job."

Ann Hughes,
was indicted for the wilful murder of Mary
n
his wife, at Liverpool, on the 28th April last.
Mr. Simon appeared for the prosecution ; Mr, Littler de-
fended the prisoner.
ah but
ns limt
shaadlepide pniecertnaesreedeendut
sot
the
habitsat
accustomed
the
to
oilfl prisoner-iuner
ill-use,
,mawpbeaursssean,csaehn, odds mtuhrari kne
threaten
e bywhich
ht
the
teerhadhee,
continuedshti
rsuwe ki f wife
e,
r ,his refusedanede
inst
course
edeg
he
eve: ‘
intemperancer ho
ui ml d a
bney hanged more
a nmd foreociankl
sl
ee-hedyude.
de-
ceased, who was a sober, industrious woman, and conducted
greengrocery business for the support of her hus-
band and herself. The prisoner had been drinking exces-
sively for several days prior to the 26th of April last, when
ill-usage
va
eygarl- lees
several
He then
oovt
uehd:nelsadnel.
ceased daily up to the morning of April 28, when he struck
tihoerero.n tHhee btahceknof her neck while she was asleep. He struck
her a second blow, which threw her off the bed on to the
times severely. Ainincl'‘Pveads cnapllecnd hine,ranandddekci
lying Cu the epot where the blow bad felled her, completely
paralysed. She lingered until April 30th, when she died.
Upon a post raortem examination it was found that the fifth
cervical vertebrm had been dislocated and fractured, caus-
ing pressure upon the spinal cord, from which paralysis en-
sued. These were contusions and other marks of injury on
having Mr. Lb ietetnl e rd, 1
ifoenrk
it
nh
g fdefence,orsom
the deceased from the prisoner's viotenee.
ectoinnit
oe
,n d:ls
in
that tchhe
ap rsitssotne eorf,
excitement that he had no deliberate intention to inflict the
injuries he bad done; and that the evidence of the manner
of his violence was not satisfactorily established.
Mr. Justice Blackburn having summed up, the jury, after
a short deliberation, returned a verdict of guilty, upon
which the prisoner fainted. Sentence of death was passed
upon him in the usual form.
Mr. Price, Q.C., has been sitting trying prisoners as a
Commissioner all day, in aid of the judges.

LOSS OF THE STEAMER PARIS.

OFFICIAL REPORT.

G POLICE•COURT, Aug. 15, 1883.
My Lords ln compliance with your lordships' diree-
'ons, and with the assistance of Capts. Harris and Baker,
appointed to act as nautical assessors, I have made inquiry
regarding the loss of the paddle steamship Paris, of the port
of Newhaven, on the morning of the 28th of July last, on
her passage from St. Malo to Jersey. The Paris was an
of f Newhaven
March, i n
iron vessel of 132 14-100 tons burthen, built at Port Glas-
gow in 1852, and owned by Henry P. Maples, of Arthur-
street East, in the city of London, pt Tradelheeyelds l
aennd theo
of
Channel island
and employed
before the Com-
ee
c
county of Sussex, and St. Male in France, and commanded
station, running rausntenri,nbg beareitnwgeden atethe
8i
w
certifi-
catelB 5s
.o f
An
inquirypeten
Yhas already taken p
Com-
mittee t
tHeeenoryf
HarboursPHiesmainnidngs,h
o holds
of the
eri
a.
Board
States m
Jersey, in reference to the conduct of Peter John Pe la
Court, who held:a pilot's certificate, granted by the com-
mittee, and was considered to be in charge of the ship at
the time of her loss. His coneuct has been censured by
that committee, and his pilot's certificate cancelled. She
had on board at the time of her loss a crew of 23 persons,
all told, 50 passengers, and a quantity of cargo. The pilot
above named was engaged to act in that capacity under the
peculiar circumstances hereinafter mentioned. The Paris
left St. Maio for Jersey at 6.30 a.m. of Tuesday, the 28th of
July last, and a short time after another steamer, called the
Wonder, followed her. also bound for Jersey, and there ap-
pears to have been a competition betweenthe two ships. At
8.30 a.m. the Paris was about midway between the Min-
quier Rocks and Jersey, about seven or eight miles from the
latter place; the weather was calm and clear, and the speed
of the vessel about 12 knots an hour. In approaching Jersey
from St. Maio there are two channels that may be taken,
the Middle Channel and the Sellette Passage, of which
the former is the more direct, wider, and in every respect
preferable, and generally used. Between these two channels
lies a cluster of rugged rocks, called Le Grunot, partially
exposed at low water spring tide; but passable by vessels of
light burthen at certain times of tide and in ealm weather.
In making for Middle Channel a N.B. N. course would
clear the Grunot and open the Mid Channel. The same
course would suit for the Sallette Passage up t o a point dis-
tant about three-quarters of a mile from the Grunot, when,
in order to keep to the westward of these rocks, the course
would require to be altered more to the northward. The
marks for the Middle Channel are St. Saviour's Church a
sail's breadth open to the S.E. of St. Helier's Church, snd
for the Sallette Gros Roque, on with the western Martello
Tower. These marks aro clearly discernible in daylight
and fair weather, and with a proper lookout, at sufficient
distance to prevent damage from the Grunot. At 8.30,
when, as before stated, the Paris was about seven or eight
miles from Jersey, the master gave directions to steer a
N.E. N. course, which would serve for either channel.
He then went below for a short time, leaving the pilot upon
the bridge, and in charge (as he considered) as pilot of the
ship. In abet], 13 minutes ho again came on deck, and he
and the pilot both remained on the bridge till the ship
struck on the Grunot, about 9 15 a.m., and after grating
heavily over the rock, sunk in about seven minutes' time
in fire fathoms water. That some one was grossly in fault
for this result there can be no doubt ; and the question is,
upon which of the two, the pilot or master, or whether
partly upon both, the blame ought to rest. To determine
this question we must first look to their respective state-
mente, and see how far they arc supported by
the circum-
stances or by the statements of the other witnesses. To
begin with the master's statement, which is in substance to
the effect following :—He says that when he had given the
order to steer a N,E. z N. course at 8.30 he considered he
had no further charge of the ship, which was from that
time under charge of the pilot; that he himself gave no
farther orders, nor did he interfere in any way, except that
when the pilot asked him which channel he should take, he
replied he did not care which so that it was for the best,
meaning thereby that he wished to keep ahead of the
other steamer. He says further that the pilot told him he
should take the Sellette Passage, to which he (the master)
made no objection, and that he had no idea but that the pilot
was doing so till he saw the ship close to the Grunot just
before she struck. Oa the other hand, the pilot's statement
taken before as an oath, is to the effect following :—That
though he considered the ship was underlie charge his orders
were not attended to ; that he never said he intended to take
the Sellette Passage, nor did he intend it, but oa the con-
trary, when the master said he wished to do what was best,
or (as he expresses it) " cut it short," he told him that it
Lad all, alai; been. his inteution to take that chain], awl the

master must have known that was so; that when he found
he was opening out the marks for the Middle Channel, and
too far to the northward, he gave the order to keep more to
the south; that the master did not comply with that order,
but ordered the ship to be steered in the direction of the Ro-
mandiere, and by so doing brought her on the Grunot Rock;
and that if the order to go to the southward had been obeyed,
even to half the ship's length, she would have gone clear.
Between these statements, so contradictory, and with little
confirmation of the one snore than the other, it would
perhaps be hard wholly to deny the master the benefit of his
plea, that the ship was under the charge of the pilot and not
under his charge, so as to make him responsible for the loss.
At the same time, supposing this plea to be admitted, his
1 inattention to the dangerous course of the ship can scarcely
admit of an excuse. He was on the bridge for some time
before she struck, but ho does not appear to have ob-
served the proper marks of either channel, and yet he suf-
fered the ship to proceed at the rate of 12 knots, when he
ought to have known of the near approach to danger. All
things considered, it seems not unreasonable to conjecture
that the master's desire to "cut it short" had made him
inattentive to the caution that was necessary, it it did not
(as the pilot alleges) actually make him countermand the
order given by the pilot, to keep the ship more to the south-
ward just before she struck. I have been thus particular on
this part of the care because it is with much hesitation that
we have brought ourselves to a conclusion so favourable to
the master. But, in coming to this conclusion, we must
not omit to notice the manner in which the pilot laws have
been evaded in this case. It appears that the pilot, De la
Cour, was hired at 355, per week on board the Paris.
The object of this is alleged to be to save time in looking
out for pilots in coming into and going out of Jersey: But
it appears that it has been the practice of Captain Hem-
mings, for the last five months at least, if not much longer,
never to take a Jersey pilot, but to pilot his ship himself,
although he has no licence for that purpose, and could not
obtain one, not being a native of Jersey. Even so little did
he look upon De la Cour in the character of a pilot, that he
did not avail himself of his services, though he was on
board on the passage from Jersey to St. Maio. The em-
ployment of De la Cour is clearly an evasion of the pilot
regulations of Jersey. But there is a worse mischief still,
as would appear in this case, viz., that by thus employing
a man who, as is admitted, was intended to be entered on
the ship's articles as second mate, it is quite clear that,
when the occasion occurs tor his acting as pilot, he cannot
have properly the authority nor feel the responsibility of
that office; and at the same time, white it does not prevent
the master from exercising his natural authority as master
over his subordinate officer, it leaves him the oppartunity of
screening himself for his own neglect or default under the
plea that the second mate has charge of the ship as pilot,
and that the master and owners are not responsible for loss
or damage. There is little doubt that the master looked on
De la Cour, and treated him, as one of his crew, and merely
a substitute for a pilot, in order to save expense, and that,
therefore, he was bound to see to the navigation of his ship
just as much as if there was no pilot on board. Though, for
the reasons stated, we have felt bound to allow of the master's
defence and have returned his certificate—more, it is true,
upon technical than substantial grounds—we have thought
it our duty to express our strong disapproval of this mode
of employing a pilot, as highly irregular, and likely to lead
to very serious and dangerous consequences. I beg to for-
ward with this report the depositions of the several witnesses
taken before me during this inquiry,—l have, I:c.,

JAMES TRAILL,

We concur in the above report,
lIENny HARRIS,)
Nautical Assessors.
IL BAKER,
The Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade.