The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-14 00:00:00

'as yet seen any very encouraging indication, and
the question naturally arises, how long will the
Turkish Government continue to avail itself of the
undee facility which has been afforded to it of effect-
ing such considerable loans, every successive one of
which must plunge the country into gieater diffi-
culty and necessite the imposition of frt sh burdens,
which the impoverished state of the labouring
classes can so ill support ? If any of these sums had
been used for the development of the resources of
the empire—the construction of road, for instance,
of which the country is entirely destitute, some
good would have been attained ; but in this respect
there is nothing to show, and, with the exception of
the loan of 1862, a portion of which was devoted to
the withdrawal of the paper currency, nothing is
known of the employment of these fabulous sums,
excepting that they have been expended.
A measure which has long been in contemplation,
connected with the provincial administration, is
about to be put into execution. It is the establish-
ment of a commission, the members of which are to
proceed immediately to the different provinces. The
declared object of this measure is to obtain through
the medium of the commissioners information as to
the real position of the provinces with the view to
their improvement. The commissioners are to be
invested with considerable powers over the local
governors, whose proceedings and administration it
is their mission strictly and impartially to investi-
gate and report upon. They are, moreover, to point
out defects in the present system of government, and
to suggest such measures as may be considered best
to he adopted towards the improvement of their
condition. Such a scheme, if properly carried out,
would indeed confer enormous advantages upon the
country. Nothing can be more iniquitous and
more corrupt than the present system of provincial
government, and it is no wonder that the pro-
vinces should have fallen to such a low pitch of
degradation and decadence. Here, indeed, is a
wide field for improvement; but it is to be feared
that the proper means for effecting it are not at
command. Admitting the determination to be
honest and sincere, the difficulty would be to find
men in the governing class more worthy than those
who have hitherto infested the provinces and left a
blight upon their fertile plains.
The same difficulty and uncertainty attend the
selection of the Commissioners who may be charged
with such missions. There is nothing, as a general
rule, that the country people dread more than a
Commission of this sort. In most cases they have
to satisfy the rapacity of two men instead of one,
for it is not unfrequent that the Commissioner joins
with the Pasha to share the spoil, which, of neces-
sity, must be increased in proportion. It is but just
to say that in this instance two of the officials so
selected are reputed honest and trustworthy, and
will repair to their posts with a serious determina-
tion to discharge faithfully the mission with which
they have been intrusted. It is to be hoped that any
disclosure or representation they may make will not
be hushed up in the same manner as in the case
of the frequent inquiries which are instituted on the
corrupt practiced of Pashas in the capital, and which
never lead to any result.
There is one subject which at this moment forms
the the me of general conversation here, and some
apprehension, to which it would be desirable
that the berious attention of the Sultan and of
his Government should be directed. It is the
insolence and insubordinaticn of the soldiery
in the capital. Although lam willing to make
allowances for a certain amount of exaggeration
which always attend a rumour of this sort, and
makes it degenerate into a panic, yet the matter
has come so often and so strikingly under my own
observation that I cannot help thinking it may
assume serious proportions if not checked in time.
In one of the first letters which I addressed to
you from here, I alluded to the insolent and offen-
sive " swagger" of the soldiers, which strongly
reminded one of the Janissaries of old. Since that
time the spirit of intolerance and provocation has
increased tenfold, and not one day passes by with-
out some serious complaints of unprovoked insult
and ill-usage of Europeans in the streets of Pera
and Stamboul. The misfortune in this country is
that the attempt to raise the military spirit of the
people provokes a revival of the fanaticism which
was so fast disappearing under the week, but tolerant
and mild rule of the late Sultan Abdul Medjid.

The Sanitary Condition of Barracks and
Military Hospitals.

The first report of the commissioners for inquiring
into the health of large towns and populous dis-
tricts was published in the year 1844. It collected
and circulated most valuable information on the
laws of life, and led to a special investigation of the
state of barracks. The parliamentary paper now
before us is an appendix to former reports which
have been noticed in these columns. The public
mind is now sufficiently awakened to the import-
ance of reform, and pretty well familiarised with
the deadly effects of defective diainage, imperfect
ventilation, scanty supplies of water, atmospheric
impurities, and want of personal cleanliness. All
these evils generate, either collectively or separately,
acute, chronic, and ultimately organic disease, espe-
cially scr fulous affections and consumption, in ad-
dition to fever and other forms of disease. It was
a wise remark of Dr. Southwood Smith, one of the
most eminent among the sanitary commissioners
on the health of towns, that the fever tax was a
heavier impost than any levied by Parliament.
Now, one of the most fruitful sources of this tax
is overcrowding, whether in towns or in private
dwellings. The aggregate density of the popu-
lation to the square mile may be approxi-
mately computed in England and Wales at
275 persons to the equate mile; but if we confine
ourselves to 21 of the principal towns the average
ratio rises to 5,045 persons to the square mile. The
rate, however, becomes vastly higher when it is
limited to the builded area. Thus in Leeds, it is
87,256 ; in Manchester township, 100,000 ; in Liver-
pool parish, 138,224. If we take the metropolis,
which has a very extensive range of outskirt, the
population falls to 50,000 to the square mile ; but if
we select a portion of London, it may be stated on
the authority of Mr. Farr that in the East and West
London Unions the inhabitants number 243,000
persons to a geographical square mile, which he
considers the greatest density attained to in the
heart of any English city. However, Dr. Duncan,
of Liverpool, cites a still more remarkable case of
agglomeration in that famous seaport, for he speaks
of a population of 12,0(10 crowded together on a sur-
tace of 105,000 square yards, which gives a ratio of
460,000 inhabitants to the geographical square mile.
We have placed the subject in this general point of
view that we may the better consider the condition
of barracks in which soldiers are pressed together
into a narrow space without any proper regard to
those laws of life on the careful observance of which
their health essentially depends. It is to overcrowd.
anding
that train of consequences attendant on
the Long
highit
lrate of. mortality is due, and it was
the
the knowledge of this fact that induced the inspec-
tors of prisons in England to recommend "not less
than 1,000 cubic feet of air for every prisoner as
being essential to health and ventilation." This
allowance is large, though it is a venial fault to err
on the sii.e of excess; however it is safe to affirm
that a daily supply of 600 feet of pure air is abso-
lutely essential to maintain the healthy composition
of the blood.

The report commences with an account of bar-
racks in the London district, and it appears that
those of New Kensington, the Tower, Wellington,
and St. John's Wood, though recently built, are
very defective in structural arrangement. The
sites of those known as St. George's, Knights-
bridge, and Portman-street, are surrounded by lofty
buildings,which deprive them of the free circulation
of air ; and it is complained that all in the metropo-
litan district are scanty in window space, for which
there seems to be no excnee, as in buildings of solid
conetruction window space costs less than the ma-
sonry of the wall. The staircases are described as
too narrow, while the " ablution rooms, bath:rooms,
and kitchens are defectively planned and con-
structed." In the New Kensington cavalry barracks,
the most recently built in the London district, the
rooms of the men are placed. over the stables—an
arrangement which must be severely condemned.
In six of the principal and largest barracks the

rated with moisture ; and, as to the baths, there are
but five in the Wellington Barracks for 1,500 men,
so that while ;cleanliness is proclaimed as a virtue
its practice is really denied. The libraries recently
introduced are favourably spoken of, being con-
ducted with care and attention, although the venti-
lation and lighting might be improved. To this same
defect the school-rooms are exposed. What is re-
markable and most discreditable is the want of day
rooms—there is not a single one in all the London
barracks, if we except a disused riding school at the
Portman and St. John's Wood buildings. The ac-
commodation set apart for married soldiers and
non-commissioned officers is very inadequate, and
generally not well ventilated. '[he atmosphere of
many of the rooms is foul, several of the divisions
having no excess to the external air. In Portman-
street they are described as " unfit for human habi-
tations." The laundries in all the London barracks
inspected by the commissioners are washhouses,
without any drying apparatus, and the soldier is
frequently exposed to the danger of wearing damp
linen. We are sorry to pursue this course of censure.
It is like travelling from Dan to Beersheba, and
finding it all barren—but unless truth is recorded
there is no chance of remedies being applied. We
enter the kitchens, and find them without space
or light, the utensils scanty, the cooking bad,
and it is asserted that " the meals of the soldier can
be but mere sustenance, if, in their vapid sameness
and moderate quantity, they are even that." Here
is a general description—" Steam smoke, blackness,
filth, and disorder are the moral conditions of these
places in some of the barracks we have visited."
This is the more condemned by the commissioners
because, in their judgment, there would be no diffi-
culty in erecting suitable apparatus for baking,
roasting, and boiling.
We now come to a small oasis in this desert. The
London barracks are well supplied with good water
except the Tower. Government has bored some
artesian wells. The Tower receives 2,000 gallons a-
day—partly by Thames water, which is not fit to
drink ; the remainder is drawn from the Mint arte-
sian well. What is worse than all, the hospital
kitchen used to be supplied from the Thames, but
that nuisance has been recently abated.
The report then enters into a minute criticism of
each of the London barracks under a separate
heading, and from that survey the commissioners
direct attention to the provinces. Into the details
of the country barracks our space forbids us to
enter, and indeed we should have to repeat most of
the evils already pointed out, of course under
various degrees of modification in the several loca-
lities, We propose, however, to notice some of the
principal.

Edinburgh Castle barracks cover an area of 11
acres of irregular surface at an elevation of from
350 to 431 feet above the level of the sea. The
buildings belong to very different eras, some being
ancient, others modern. The situation, though
exposed, is healthy, and there can be no external
stagnation of air; still the mortality has been great
by comparison. At Edinburgh Castle the deaths
from chest diseases and fever are put down at 10
per 1,000 strength. At Piershill barracks, about
two miles distant, at under 3 per 1,000; and at
Leith Fort, about 21- per 1,000. The difference is
very remarkable considering the airiness of the site,
and it is accounted for by bad construction in the
building, which deprives the interior of ventilation,
and further by overcrowding. The greater number
of the troops are lodged in the new barracks,
which show a very faulty system of architecture.
The passages and corridors are gloomy; the win.
dow space is much too limited ; the overcrowding is
excessive. There are 447 men under one roof. By
one of the returns of the barrack-master there is
only 181 cubic feet per man in one of the rooms;

in another but 302, which last is the maximum.
The total regulation in men is 447; at 600 cubic
feet of air per man it would be only 270, so that
the deficiency in air is 177. This is a fatal excess
of overcrowding. It is further observed that the
attics and basement are hardly fit for occupation,
and that no part of the building is ventilated. In
the old barracks 134 men are crowded into a space
only suited to 93, to give them the proper quantity
of air. Now, surely the state of the Edinburgh
Castle barracks is highly discreditable to the autho-
rities, for nature has:given a highly salubrious situa-
tion, which man his vitiated.

The Royal Barracks of Dublin are built on ground
sloping from Arbour-hill towards the River Liffey.
The main structures are ranged in three squares,
and the space being covered with lofty buildings,
there are great impediments to light and air. In
many respects the laws of health are violated in the
architecture, the connecting passages being badly
ventilated. The accommodation for the men is de-
ficient by 30 per cent., taking 600 cubic feet of air
as the standard, for 1,917 men are alloted to a space
only sufficient for 1,288. These buildings have a
fine external appearance, but it furnishes a very
delusive test of the interior. There is a great want
of window space.

The general report closes with vitrious accounts
of cooking apparatus in barracks and hospitals.
The culinary departments appear to be very unsa-
tisfactory. In some places where gas is used, the
cooks do not know how to regulate its use, and use I
too much. In others, the meat is too much done on
the outside, and raw within. Complaints are made
of great loss by excess of heat, and a case is shown
of 2311 b. being taken out at 151 b. The new
boilers in the Wellington Barracks have proved a
failure ; four were broken in three weeks, and
nearly 'all at Aldershot, owing to the expansion
and contraction of the iron. The public have heard
much of Captain Grant's stove from debates in
Parliament, but the report remarks that his oven
does not heat properly or regularly, that the meat
has constantly to be shifted, and that it is not large
enough. "The two boilers nearest the oven do
not cook, only make the water warm." Captain
Grant's stove has been used in the kitchens at
Aldershot, and a minute statement is given of its
performances. It appears to be a very dirty con-
trivance, owing to the soot on the boilers which
falls on the plates. On the use of gas for cooking in
barracks the report speaks unfavourably. A cook
mast be very skilled in regulating temperature to
roast by it. It requires gas of good quality. Those
who are curious in the processes of the culinary art
may derive instruction or amusement from the
closing pages of the report, which describe the
various kitchens of the metropolitan hospitals. At
Guy's they appear to make the most of everything,
for the condensed steam is used in the laboratory
for 'medical purposes, and, on analysis, is found to
be pure. At the Colney Hatch Asylum a singlel/4.
gas oven holds 144 large pies.
The general conclusion to be arrived at from the

(Before Mr. Baron Hughes-and MDr.rßßLarloNn,
sFaittzurgderaayl.d.)
A respectable-looking man named Joseph Harcourt was
indicted for having, on the 16th of February last, pro-
posed to William Smith to kill and murder Isaac Wight-
man Dickinson, Esq., of Ashgrove, near Newry. He was
also indicted for having made a similar proposition to a
man named William Graham on the same occasion.
Mr. Serjeant Sullivan, Mr. Barry, Q.C., and Mr. Bey .
tagh, instructed by Mr. Anderson, Crown solicitor, pro-
secuted on the part of the Crown; Mr. Sidney, Q.C., and
Mr. Curran, instructed by Mr. Charles Fitzgerald, senior,
appeared for the prisoner.
Mr. Serjeant Sullivan briefly stated the case for the
prosecution.
William Smith, examined by Mr. Barry, Q.C., de-
posed,—l reside in 4, Fownes• street, where I have lived
for about two months. lam now six weeks out of em-
ployment. I had been an assistant draper in 47, Capel-
street. I know the prisoner for the last ten years, during
which I saw him about twice a year. I had resided at
one time in the same house with prisoner, where I got
acquainted with him—in 16, Upper Erne-street. He
only lived there a couple of months. He afterwards
resided in Newry, or about it. When he was in Dublin
he was employed on " Slater's Directory," and I knew,him
to attend lectures in Trinity College. I saw prisoner at
my lodgings at Fownes-street, on the night of the 14th
of February. I had not seen him for six months pre-
vious. I was sitting in the room with the landlady
when he was brought in, accompanied by a man named
William J. English, at about 12 o'clock. English said,
" Allow me to introduce a man you don't know, an old
member of T.C.D." That was said as a joke, for he was
aware I knew the man before. I shook hands with him,
and the three of us went out together to Mr. Gorman's beer
shop in Crown-alley, where we had some porter and sand-
wiches. We then went down to Mr. Barbe's beer-shop in
Temple-bar, where we remained until two o'clock: I was
not tipsy. I left them behind me in the shop. I remember
that in Gorman's the prisoner mentioned something about
shooting. I did not understand him at the time, and I have
no recollection what he said in reply to the question as to
what, he alluded to. Before I left he invited me to meet
him at Walsh's Hotel in the morning to breakfast with
him, and I agreed to go. I saw him again in the morning,
he having called at my lodgings about nine o'clock, and he
told me he was going out and would meet me at the hotel
in half an hour. I went to the hotel, and not finding the
prisoner there, I went to Mr. Graham's at 2, Foster-place,
where I knew he visited, and found him there. We re-
mained there till ten o'clock, and then went back to Walsh's
and had breakfast. When a stranger left, who had been at
breakfast with us, prisoner told me he had come to Dublin
on a certain business, and that he might as well put a job in
my way as in anybody else's, and that I might as well lave
a few pounds in my pocket as not, as I was out of a situation.
He addressed me by the name of Moses, which is a nick-
name 1 go by. (Laughter.) He said I might go to America
on the money. I asked him what was to be done, and he
said there was a party living outside Newry who did not
live on amicable terms with his wife, and that it was the
wonder of the country that he " was not popped long
ago :" that, if he was once popped, it would soon blow
over, as he was so much disliked no one would take
any trouble in finding it out. He mentioned that Mr. and
Mrs. Dickinson slept in separate beds in the one room,
and that, when she was asleep, he went down to the
servant. He said he had had a conversation with the lady
on the afternoon of the day previous to his coming down to
Dublin, and that he told her he would try to get a person
here to do the job. He said that she took her purse out of
her pocket, and told him to take what amount he liked out
of it, and that he only took two sovereigns. He did not
mention any sum as the price of the deed, but he said the
lady had £B,OOO in her own right. He said he would come
up to Dublin in the course of the following week, and that
he and I could practise shooting at Rigby's. He said I
could go down and stop about Newry for a week, until I
would learn the geography
of the place ; and that he was
on such terms with Mr. Dickinson that he would have him
placed playing chess opposite the window in such a posi-
tion that I could put the bullet through his forehead. It
was to be done with a double-barrelled gun, so that if one
missed the other could be " slapped" at him. He asked
good plan. Graham said " Young
Graham if I was a good shot, and he said he did not know.
Harcourt said he thought that if I would go down to Newry
for a week it would be a
strikes me you are only te) ing to get the man out of the
man, you had better be very cautious of what you do, for it
way, to marry his widow, and enjoy his property." Har-
court said, "Not at all," that he wanted to go to America.
I had no further conversation with him.

Cress-examined by Mr. Sidney—l have been out of
employment about six weeks, having been in the last
situation for four months.
Previous to that I was upwards
of a year out of employment.
I was living at home part of
the time with my mother,
supported by her. I cannot say
who christened me e' Moses," but I have the name for
about twenty years. English introduced the prisoner to
me in the way of a joke, as he knew that we had met be-
fore. I was perfectly sober when I met them, but not so
when I went home. I could not recollect what was going on.
I never before was in Gornian's beershop. What was said in
the shop about shooting was. not spoken loud enough for
English to hear. Prisoner did not mention any ill-treat-
mentu
hsbanpd, arteixceuelpartltyhatthatht
e 3; slept in separate beds, and that
rs. Dickinson received from her
sheiag
iweaeds itiol-treated. roe attoe dn gb. Iywns sober at breakfast next morning.
'$
to practise shooting. I did not
ague to learn the geography of the place. I told him that
as soon as he brought the money it would be all right.
What are your terms for murder—have you a scale
do not deal in that way at all.
Did you fix the sum for doing the job never agreed
to do the job at all. When I said that when he brought
the money it would be all right, I did not mean to say I
would do the job, but I led him to understand that I would
do so for a certain purpose—to get evidence to have him
arrested. I might have taken the money and had him
taken too.

Did you mean to say that, while the men were playing
chess at the table opposite the window, you were to slap
at Mr. Dickinson, you being hid in the shrubbery at some
distance ?—I was not to be there at all, according to my own
idea.

But according to the plan ?—Yes. I did not encourage
him to do it. I could not tell whether the man was in
earnest or not, his character had been so good previously.
I wanted to see if he was in earnest when I said it would be
"all right." I listened to whatever he told me, but I did
not say " all right" to everything. I used the expression
—" He is running in the cannon's mouth." Mr. Miller
took my information before Mr. Wyse.
Did you ever swear, since you were questioned about this
case, that, in reply to everything said to you by Harcourt,
you said "All right ?" No answer.
Are you in the police force yourself—are you any sort of
constable ?—I was at one time.

And it did not
?—Special constables never are paid.
I was so in '4B. _ _ _

John Graham, sworn and examined by Mr. Beytagh—l
am housekeeper at the Hibernian Gas Company's house in
Foster-place, and live there. I have known prisoner for 12
or 13 years. I saw him at my place at 9 o'clock on the
morning of the 15th February. Ile told me he had invited
Smith to breakfast at Walsh's Hotel. Smith came in shortly
after, and they both went away. They returned, and stayed
from 12 till two.o'clock, after which we went to Walsh's
hotel. We got some drink brought to us to his bedroom, in
which we sat. Prisoner, addressing himself to me, told me
that there was a party living in Newry who was not living
on good terms with his wife—that it was the wonder of the
country he was not shot long ago. He asked if Smith was
a good shot, and I said I did not know. Prisoner then said
that if Smith would go down to Newry for a week or so, as
he was hard up, he could get a few pounds, and the party
could be put out of the way at once. I don't know whether
any name was mentioned then. I told him to be very cau-
tious, as my impress on was that he first intended to get
the men out of the way, and then to marry his widow.
Smith did sot refuse to go, After three o'clock, the same
day, I was talking to him in tha yard of my house, and he
asked if Smith could be depended upon to do this job for
him. I said decidedly not, that he only wanted to get all
the information he could, and then have him arrested. I
told him that 1 knew nothing about Mr. Diokinson,out that
he was a man of some means, and that it would be better for
his wife to come to some agreement —to have a divorce—and
let her be allowed £3OO or £4OO a year, but not to have the
man murdered. I gave him that advice. He said that Mrs.
Dickinson wished to be free. He told me he had been at
Rigby's practising
With a rifled revolver for an hour. When
I told him that Smith could not be depended on, he said-1

Mr. John Donnelly, a medical student employed in the
establishment of Mr. M'Bride, of Newry, deposed that a
day or two before Christmas prisoner asked him to pro-
cure him some prussic acid. Witness said, " Sure you
could get it yourself at some of the shops." Prisoner re-
plied that if he went to any shop they would kick up a fuss
about it, and would ask questions, and would likely keep a
record of the transaction. He said he wanted it to poison
rats, and that he would give it to them in milk. Wit-
ness said be would get some for him. The prisoner
called at Mr. M'Bride's establishment. Witness was
behind the counter in the shop, and gave him
some in a phial. The quantify was something less than a
drachm.

Mr. George Henderson, of Newry, deposed to having had
a conversation with the prisoner on the 2d March, on which
occasion prisoner called Mr, Dickinson an infernal scoun-
drel for his conduct to his wife.

Mr. James Conville, apothecary, Newry, deposed that
the prisoner called at his establishment shortly before
Christmas, and asked for some strychnine, which witness
refused to give him.

Wm. Nesbitt examined—Deposed that the prisoner and
he had a conversation, some time in August, in reference to
Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson. He expressed sympathy for the
treatment she was receiving from her husband. He added
that Mr. Dickinson was one of his best friends. On the
next occasion the prisoner stated to me that he had been in-
timate with the lady. He said Mr. Dickinson was a " ruf-
fian," and that it would be no harm if he were put out of
the way. I said to him that any person that would, directly
or indirectly, be the means of taking away any one's life,
would never be happy here or hereafter. I took him by
the hand and said, " Harcourt, for God's sake, give up
this." " Oh, my dear fellow," he replied, " you quite
mistake me; a hair of Dickinson's head shall never fall,
directly or indirectly, by me." He never after that men-
tioned the subject, but often expressed sympathy for Mrs.
Dickenson for the treatment she was receiving from her
husband, and I think any feeling person would do the same.
He said he would have nothing to do with it.
To Mr Sidney—Prisoner had a loan of a revolver of mine.
He borrowed it of me years before Mr. Dickinson came to
that part of the country. The prisoner's mother has been
insane for a number of years, and when his mother saw the
revolver on the table it used some way or other to tran-
quillise her. Some short time ago I asked him for my re-
volver, and he returned it to me, and I believe he got
another.

Head-constable Kenneth deposed to having seen the
prisoner on the night of the 28th of February in the de-
mesne of Ashgrove. It was about 9 o'clock. Witness was
concealed in the garden. Saw the prisoner enter the garden
through the gate, and go towards the house. On seeing
witness, he said it was a fine night, and turned back and
left the garden. He walked away till he had got to the
corner, and then ran towards his own house.
Patrick Bowen, a man in the employment of Mr. Rigby,
Dublin, deposed that prisoner had called at Mr. Rigby's
shooting gallery in February last, and fired six shots with
a pistol.

Mr. Corry, resident magistrate, was examined, and proved
the handwriting of Mr. Dickinson to a marriage settlement,
securing to Mrs. Dickinson a sum of £4,500 in the event of
her surviving her husband, in addition to her own marriage
fortune, Proved also two letters in Mrs, Dickinson's writing
which were found in prisoner's lodgings.
Mr. Sidney objected to the production of the letters, but
the objection was overruled by the Court. They were as
follows :

4i Sunday Evening.
"I have finished reading the accompanying chapters of
Colenso. You said something of rebinding them. Do not
take the trouble for me, for I dare not keep the book in my
possession, but if you will keep it yourself as a little me-
mento of one whose sorrows have outweighed her faults—
(the rest is immaterial.)
The next letter was as follows :

"Dear Mr. Harcourt:—The boys, as at present advised,
intend going to Cooley to-morrow, with their father and
uncle, so that it will be unnecessary for you to resume at-
tendance on them to-morrow. Mr. D. has not desired me
to write this note; so, perhaps, he will speak to you him-
self. If you are out about ten, or half-past ten to-morrow,
I may see you.—Yours faithfully,
" C. DroluNsoN."

Mr. Sidney then addressed the jury on behalf of the pri-
soner, and commented with great severity on the con-
duct of Mr. Dickinson, which, he said, raised the pri-
soner's indignation, but he contended that the prisoner
had never any intention to injure him. The prisoner had,
to some extent, inherited the mental malady with which his
mother was affected, and was in the habit of using strong
language, much stronger than he really intended. At the
conclusion of Mr. Sidney's address to the jury there was
applause in court for its ability.
Several witnesses were then examined, who had known
the prisoner for years, and all gave him an unimpeachable
character.
Mr. Baron Hughes charged the jury, who, after twenty
minutes' consideration, returned into court with a verdict
of guilty.
Mr. Baron Hughes, in sentencing the prisener, com-
mented on the enormity of the offence of which he had been
convicted, and sentenced him to the full punishment allowed
by law-10 years' penal servitude.
One of the jurors said that they were desirous of recom-
mending the prisoner to mercy on account of his previous
good character, but another juror stated that they were not
unanimous in the recommendation.
His lordship said that even had the recommendation been
unanimous he would not attend to it, as previous character
was no ground for mercy in a case of the kind.

NATIONAL GALLERY.—The vote proposed this
Session for the National Gallery is £16,028, an in-
crease of £4,075 over that of last year. In the purchase of
pictures more than £10,009 was expended last year. The
most expensive purchase made was an altar-piece in three
compartments, painted by Carlo Crivelli, representing in
the centre the Madonna and Child ; on the right of the
spectator St. Sebastian, dressed as a warrior ; on the left
St. Jerome, as a cardinal The predella contains, in the
centre, the Nativity; on the right, the martyrdom of St.
Sebastian; on the left, St. Jerome doing penance. On the
pedestal of the column of the frame, on the right, is a small
figure of St. George ; on the corresponding pedestal, on the
left, St. Catherine. Among the other purchases of the
year are a landscape by Hobbema, £1,575; a land-
scape by the late James Ward, R.A., with cattle of life
size, £1,500; and portraits by Gainsborough of Mrs bid-
dens and Dr. Schomberg, £l,OOO each. A portrait of an
astronomer, by Ferdinand 801, 1662, was presented
to the nation last year by Miss E. A. Bennett
The late Dr. Darling bequeathed to the nation Hayden's
" Punch, or Mayday," and four pictures were bequeathed
by Lieut.-General Sir W. G. Moore, K.C. B.,—namely, St,
Hugo, St. Catherine," Ecce Homo," and the Madonna
and Child. The number of visitors to the National Gallery
in Trafalgar-square in 1862 reached 904,892, of whom
154,806 came in July and 151,449 in August; at South
Kensington the number doubled that of the previous year
and reached 1,241,360.

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TlMES.—There appears to be all the usual curie
sity as to the Budget of Thursday next. We cannot
ourselves pretend to know what is coming, and if
we did happen to know we should certainly have
been sworn to secrecy. While our financial mea-
sures, however, are founded on inquiries which take
the form of " Returns," it is impossible to prevent
a good deal of leakage. The results of that leakage
were stated in a letter under the head of our City
Intelligence yesterday. As the writer of that letter
states the rumoured alterations with the express
view of showing that we are not yet justified in
making them, it is possible that his objections have
already had due weight in the proper quarter. It
is also very possible that he takes a merely probable
anticipation. As we are reducing our war expendi-
ture, it is likely enough that we shall also reduce
our war taxes, viz,,—the income-tax, and the exist-
ing duties on tea. Our financers have assumed for
some time that if a direct tax is to be reduced there
must also be a similar boon to the larger class of
British consumers. So, probably, this rule will be
observed now. But our thrifty and judicious cor-
respondent interposes the remark that we are hardly
in a condition to be throwing away millions with
the right hand and with the left. He says there
has been no actual increase of revenue to speak of
during the.last financial year. That increase looked
at first sight nearly a million; but more than three
quarters of it were a mere matter of account, which
had no right to appear as revenue at all. It occurred
in the Miscellaneous Receipts, and was the payment
of three-quarters of a million by the Indian to the
Imperial Government on the transfer of the Indian
army to the British Crown. With that exception
we are much as we were ; and with Lancashire
in its present state, with the American Civil War
raging, and several other wars imminent nearer
home, we are not in a condition either to expect a
very improving revenue or to reduce our defences to
the old peace scale. However, we are promised, by
estimate, a reduction of two millions, which, with
the real increase of revenue, makes two millions and
a quarter to be dealt with. According to our cor-
respondent, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
is falling into the common error of spending money
twice over. A reduction of 2d. in the pound on
the income tax will be a sacrifice of two millions
and a half, and, of course, will only have an indirect
and remote tendency to recover itself. The reduc-
tion of sd. a pound in the duty on tea will be a
sacrifice of more than a million, and will only re-
cover itself when the British public consumes half
again as much tea as they do now. So there comes
the very natural question whether we can spare, on
those two heads alone, not far from four millions.
But there are some other alterations, or rather
retractations, anticipated, which involve a sacrifice
of that which to a Chancellor of the Exchequer may
well be dearer than millions. Mr. Gladstone is an
ingenious and experimental financier. He has in-
vented or adopted various plans for making taxa-
tion either perfectly equitable and proportionate, or
perfectly uniform and insensible. if you know that
you are paying just what you ought to pay, or if you
don't reflect that you are paying at all, then the
result equally answers the purpose of the financier.
The new stamp duties upon all sorts of mercantile
transactions were expected to come under the latter
head. Instead, however, of the tax falling on the
mercantile public like flakes of snow, each almost
impalpable, though accumulating into a vast and
ponderous heap, these duties have from the begin-
ning been a serious annoyance. It is rumoured that
Mr. Gladstone thinks the time favourable for aban-
doning his own pet progeny, and so getting out of
his little quarrel with the mercantile public. So
much for one piece of ingenuity. But another is now
said to be doomed in the form of the elaborate scale
of sugar duties. The attempt to adjust the duty
upon sugar in exact proportion to its value, its
strength;
and the labour spent upon it has led to a
world of evasions and bad commercial practices. Of
course, a duty upon goodness, whether of quality or
manufactire, is a premium upon badness and bad
manufactUre. It has produced the importation of an
immense quantity of sugar purposely inferior, or in
a low state of preparation. A fair assessment of the
ditty requires a uniform test, which in the nature of
things is impossible, seeing that it would require one
man to be alway s present at every examination. They
who know the world well say that where fairness is
impossible there are people who will profit by that
impossibility, and know how to make the best of
it. It is now proposed, we are told, to abolish all
these distinctions of colour, weight, and grain, and
to substitute the two broad classes of refined and un-
refined. One other alteration is mentioned, which,
like the rest, tells tales of the struggles constantly
waged between the Chancellor of the Exchequer
and the foes of his peace and revenue. The duty on
chicory is to be raised, it is said, to equal that on
coffee, which even then will suffer great disadvan-
tage in the fraudulent competition. Should the
aathors of these speculations and anticipations upon
the budget prove to be correct, it will only illus-
trate the inevitable roughness and hard.less of
finance. After all, taxation is nothing better than
a kind of black mail, which repudiates nice distinc-
tions, and has no other test of fairness than the diffi-
culty of successful resistance. The financier comes
with his scales and weights, his measures, his tests,
his gauges, his thermometers, hygrometers, and all
sorts of clever devices for extracting taxes under
chloroform. All the attempts to make the burden
either fair or unfelt are sure to fail. It is,;a burden
still, do what you will with it. Force, and force
alone, reconciles men to part with a large share of
their incomes or their earnings to the Rob Roy of
Whitehall. His followers must be fed ; they are
able to take what they want, and will not be denied.
Necessity concludes all argument. If you once be-
gin to reason, or to attempt scrupulous fairness with
the taxpayer, if you once descend to a morbid sym-
pathy with his feelings, you are in a false position,
and will have to back out of it before long. There
are complaints in which the patient quarrels with
everybody and everything, thinks his doctor a mur-
derer, and every draught or pill a device to worry
or insult him. The only way to dtal with him is
to be sharp, for he will yield to command, though
not to reason or kindness. That is the course which
ali financiers come to at last. Like the youthful
Nero, they shed tears at first when they have to
sign an order for a great spoliation. But as they
grow older they see this is real kindness, for all
bear well what they cannot help. Make a tax
fair, challenge scrutiny for its justice, and ten thou-
sand taxpayers will claim your pity with tears. Tell
them it must be paid, and that in a good round sum,
without any demur or evasion, and they will feel
as happy as the shepherd who has just escaped
with his life from a wild beast by the sacrifice of
one of his flock.

POST.—If the Russian Government intended to
keep faith with the Polish insurgents, and if the
latter could be expected to place confidence in the
promises of the former, the general amnesty just
granted by the Czar might not improbably bring
the insurrection to a close. As regards the mani-
festo itself, it is to be observed that, except in refe-
rence to the amnesty, it deals in the vaguest gene-
ralities. All Poles who shall lay down their arms
before the 13th of May shall be fully pardoned.
Exceptions are made in the cases of persons guilty
of ordinary crimes, and who have taken part in
"offences committed by the army." It is not very
clear what offences are here referred to ; but we will
presume that it is the intention of the Government
to pardon all offences directly flowing from the in-
surrectionary movement, It is, however, in its
reference to the future administration of Poland
that the Imperial manifesto is especially obscure.
The necessity of guarding Poland from a recurrence
of disorders similar to the present is fully recognised,
as is also the propriety of establishing a system of
self-government; but no means are indicated by
which these ends are to be attained. "The obli
gation rests with us to preserve the country from
the return of disorders, and to open a new epoch of
political life based upon the rational organisation
of administrative local autonomy." This is precisely
what the Polish nation has been for years struggling
to obtain; but which, notwithstanding repea.ed
promises, has been hitherto kept from it. Institu-
)tions based upon " the rational organisation of ad-
ministrative local autonomy" have been promised
to Poland ; nay, if we are to trust the language of
this manifesto, have been actually granted to her
although it certainly shakes one's faith in their
efficacy when theynlenwtpuer
rpondo
icunhcgeo, sf
tuphcoehirietfiocarel resultsito fae
tht
iseh emt
oporbde
ee-
osbepynetwneehidvicihlwwtehaera.‘r‘ e surprised to find no other means
suggested than the further adoption of existing in-
stitutions. "We have already laid the foundations
of this autonomy in the institutions which have
been granted, but whose Efficacy has not yet been
put to the test. It is our desire to maintain these
institutions, while reserving to ourselves the right
of proceeding with their future- development accord-
ing to the requirements of the age and of the coun-
try." If, however, under the institutions already
granted to Poland it was lawful for the Government
to seize upon whom they pleased, and without con-
viction of any offence, deport Polish citizens to the
uttermost extremities of the Russian empire, it
neededmight twitho
be justicerem odbeel urgedremodelled.
I that
however,these thoseinstitutions
insti-
tutions were radically good, and satisfied the de-
mands of the Polish nation, surely there is a bitter
irony in saying that their "efficacy has not yet been
put to the test," because they have been habitually
ignored by the authorities at Warsaw. The truth
is that if the institutions alleged to have been
granted to Poland had been respected, we never
would have heard of the present revolt. And this
brings us back to the point from which we started,
namely, the bad faith kept by the Russian Govern-
ment with the Polish nation. The reference which