The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-11 00:00:00

WM SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 11, 1863.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT WESTERN.

The adjourned special general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the Paddington station to receive the
report of the scrutineers on the question of electing 17 di-
rectors to represent the interests of the Great Western pro-
prietors at the Board of the amalgamated company. The
Right Hon. S. Walpole, M.P., the chairman, presided.
It appeared that the poll closed at 12 o'clock, and that the
scrutineers were not prepared with a report as to the result
at three o'clock, being the time appointed for receiving it.
The CHAIRMAN inquired of the scrutineers when it was
probable they would be in a position to make their report to
the adjourned meeting, as he thought it was necessary the
decision should be come to within the month from the
passing of the Amalgamation Act.
Mr. ADAMS, one of the scrutineers, said there were so
many proxies to examine that it would take a considerable
time to go through the whole of them in the manner he
deemed requisite.
Another scrutineer thought the scrutiny could be finished
by Wednesday.
Mr. ADAMS said he would do all he could to facilitate the
scrutiny, and even work all night for the purpose, but there
were between 2,500 and 3,000 proxies to be examined.
After some conversation it was agreed to adjourn the
meeting to Thursday, at five o'clock, to receive the final
report of the scrutineers.

Thanks were voted to the chairman, and the meeting ad-
journed.

NORTH-EASTERN.

The directors report that there is an increase for the past
half-year of £63,112 over the corresponding period of 1862.
A considerable portion of the increase may be attributable
to the opening of new lines and to the construction of new
works to develops the trade of the district. The statement
of receipts and expenditure shows that the revenue of the
past half year has not reached the amount received in the
corresponding half of 1861 by £24,312, although since that
time 27 miles of new line have been opened. On those lines
and other wc:ks there has been expended between January,
1861, and January, 1863, the sum of £1,040,704. Some of
these works are still unfinished, and therefore are unpro-
ductive, but the greater part has been spent on lines, roll-
ing stock, warehouses, &c., which have been in use, and
have contributed to the revenue of the past half-year, so that
the general result of the half-year's working shows that,
with the addition of new lines and with increased facilities
for traffic in all departments, the depression still existing in
some branches of trade has been such as not only to stop
the usual progressive increase, but to keep the receipts at a
lower point than they were in 1861. The necessary issue of
new capital has caused an increase in the preference divi-
dends and interest of about £12,000 compared with 1862,
and the additional train mileage (314,440 miles) consequent
on the opening of new branches and the partial revival of
trade has materially added to the working expenses of the
half-year. In addition to this increased expenditure, the
altered mode of treating the cost of renewal of way has ope-
rated for the first time in the past half-year, it having been
resolved to charge a part of the renewal to the first half-
year, instead of wholly to the second, and accordingly the
sum of £11,293 has been charged in the half-year ending
June 30. The gross receipts of the half-year are £1,060,623,
and the gross expenditure £491,505, leaving a balance for
dividends of £569,118. These on the revenue accounts of
the different sections are available as follows :—On the Ber-
wick account, £160,722; on the Thirsk and Malton, £1,575;
on the York, £52,107; on the Leeds, £13,703; and on the
Carlisle, £36,785. Out of these sums the directors recom-
mend dividends at the following rates:--On the Berwick
ordinary stock at the rate of 41 per cent. per annum, leaving
£5,083 ; on the Thirsk and Malton, 4 per cent. per annum,
leaving £575 ; on the York at the rata of 3 per cent, per
annum, carrying forward £3,822; on the Leeds, 14 per
cent. per annum, carrying forward £635, and on the Car-
lisle 6 per cent. per annum, with 2 per cent. to make the
dividend on the 4 per cent. preference equal to the ordinary
dividend, carrying forward £635. The Malton and Driffield
section receives no dividend, but, en the contrary, shows a
loss upon the half-year of £1,503, the total debt being now
£30,120. The directors congratulate the shareholders upon
the amalgamation with the Stockton and Darlington Rail-
way Company for the management of the district of this
company. The former beard, with two North-Eastern di-
rectors, are to form a separate committee. The revenue ac-
count prepared by the Darlington committee shows a dis-
posable balance of £53,342, out of which is recommended a
dividend at the rate of 7i per cent, per annum, leaving
£1,902. Owing to the amalgamation with the Darlington
Company the proportions of the joint net receipts will in
fature be as follows :—Berwick, 44'10 per cent. ; York, 25.41
per cent. ; Leeds, 7'72 per cent. ; Malton, 0.29 per cent.;
Carlisle, 8.58 per cent.; and Darlington, 13'90 per cent.

muted to £39,995, and for the corresponding half of 1862
to £42,206, showing a decrease in the receipts of £2,211, and
the expenditure, including interest on loans, to £23,929,
against £19,901, showing an increase in the expenditure of
£4,028, leaving the net balance £16,066, against £22,305,
showing a decrease of £6,239, as compared with the corres-
ponding half of 1862. The directors regretted that those
accounts continued to show an unfavourable result. The
main cause of the deficiency was the continued decrease in
the mineral traffic, arising from the depressed state of the
iron and coal trades. The directors proposed a dividend of
41 per cent. per annum to the holders of the Consolidated
Stock. The reserve fund amounted to £4,082. The revenue
account showed that £39,905 had been received for the past
half-year, and £19,844 expended in working, £4,084 for
interest on loans—leaving a balance of £16,066. The
capital account showed that £917,728 had been expended.

sion with one another ; but they may be called upon to re-
sist extraordinary strains at any moment ; and when this
test is brought to bear upon a train, the difference of strength
in the carriages is frequently one of life or death to the pas-
sengers who ride in them. It may be well to observe that
the axles of No. 51 (the carriage which was first thrown off
the line) are lower than those of the other carriages, and
that this circumstance appears to have caused that carriage
to leave the line. The engine and tender passed over the
bullock with no other injury than the fracture of one of the
feed-pipes and a bulge to the ash pan, and it remained be-
tween the wheels of the three first carriages as they passed
on it. The two axles of the fourth carriage appear (from the
marks on them) to have struck it one after the other, and
it afterwards got outside of the rails to the west of the line,
as is evident from the marks on the remaining car-
riages. The fencing at the sides of this line consists, in
parts, of a post-and-rail fence, with four rails about three
feet six inches high, and with a small ditch to prevent
cattle from rubbing against it; in other parts, of a ditch
from 5 feet 6 inches to 14 feet wide, from 3 feet to 5 feet 6
inches deep; in some places dry, and in others containing
water from a few inches to 3 feet deep. The ditch usually
has a low rail on the inside of it, but in some places there
is no rail, and in others there are two rails. The new fence
which is being constructed by the company consists of seven
wires, supported on iron strung posts and intermediate wood
posts, and Is an excellent one. The lowest part of the fence
opposite Mr. Bloomfield's occupation appears to be 11 feet
wide at the top by 3 feet deep, with a rail 9t inches high on
the inside. The sides of the ditch are not sufficiently clean
and steep. The wire fence which the company are now put-
ting up on this part of the line will make it perfectly safe.
The gate referred to by Mr. Royston as that one which he
saw a cow jump is 3 feet 5a inches high in the lowest part,
measured on the outside, and the cow jumped slightly up-
hill. As the cattle will jump such gates, it would be well
either to have them higher or to place a bar over them, so
as to give them a minimum height of 4 feet. I consider my-
self, and it appears to have been the opinion of those gentle-
men who accompanied me, that a ditch 10 or 12 feet wide
and 4 feet deep, with 2 feet water in it, with steep sides and
in good condition, is a sufficient fence to keep out sheep and
cattle. But when the ditch is dry and the sides in bad order
one low rail on the inside is not sufficient protection. The
ditches generally require cleaning out, and in many places
where the water is low, or the banks low or sloping, some
extra protection is required. The present appears to be
a very dry season, and the fences may be considered to
be even at their worst; and I think that, taking the above
dimensions as the minimum of what a sufficient fence
ought to be, it would be desirable to add a second rail on
the inside of the ditches, or to afford other equally satis-
factory protection in all cases in which these dimensions
are not reached. The quicks which were put in during
the construction of the line are now nearly covered with
grass and weeds, and should be properly cultivated. I
observe that the gate fastenings require to be improved
in some places, and it does not appear that padlocks have
yet been supplied to the farmers, though chains and hooks
have been placed upon most of the gates. It appears to be
only since the water in the ditches had fallen or dried up that
complaints have been made of cattle getting on the line ;
and it is probable that if the ditches had been deepened when
these complaints were made, enough water would have
found its way into them to protect the line, and no accident
would have occurred. It would be a wise precaution now
to adopt that measure, and to place men in the meantime at
various portions of the line as are not sufficiently protected
during dark or after dark to prevent the possibility of cattle
straying upon the line at such places."
Mr. Pitcher said that Mr. Billing had been to the station
and seen the carriage No. 51, which was not the one in
which the poor people were killed.
Mr. Edwards by no means admitted that any person knew
which was the carriage. Nobody knew till it was found out
that No. 279 was slightly rotten.
Mr. Pitcher—It was clearly in No. 279 that these unfor-
tunate people were killed.
Mr. Charles Miller said—Mrs. Brown was lying under
the carriage next to that in which I was, but she might
have been thrown there.
Capt. Tyler, by Mr. Edwards—There is no doubt that the
seven-wire fence is a perfect fence. There are differences
of opinion as to whether it is the best. It is dearest at first
but the cheapest in the long run. No. 51 is a weak car-
riage. Such carriages as those of which the rest of the train
is composed are such as are used generally. The wood in
carriage No. 279 referred to is very rotten.
Alan Henry Swatman— I am agent for Mr. Hamond.
I have had communication with the solicitors for the line,
Messrs. Partridge and Edwards ; the engineer, Mr.
Valentine, and the contractor, Mr. Simpson—the latter
said this plan was off the line, and he had nothing to
do with it. I visited the line in April or May, with a
view to examine the state of the fences along the line.
The longitudinal wood of the crossing was wholly deficient.
The crossing at Marsh line was too near the gate and wing
rails. I communicated the result to the engineer and con-
tractor, and nothing was done. 1 told the solicitors Mr.
Hamond should not execute the conveyance until the terms
of the agreement were complied with, and it never has been
executed.

Mr. Edwards then, with the permission of the coroner,
made a _lengthened address to the jury on behalf of the
Great Eastern Railway, concluding in the most earneet
manner by ccpressing the sympathy which the Great
Eastern Compa:ly, as well as himself, felt with the poor
creatures; and he expressed the willingness of the company
to afford all the re Lief which they possibly could. They
came with tears in their eyes and gifts in their hands, and
hoped he would not turn them away.
The Coroner then summ.9d up the evidence, his remarks
extending over more than half an hour, after which the
jury retired to reconsider the ve:dict.

The jury unhesitatingly found a verdict to the effect that
the deceased were accidentally killed ; that the cause of the
accident was a bullock straying on the Lynn and Hunstan-
ston Railway between Wootton and Gaywood ; that the
bullock was able to get upon the line in consequence of the
gross negligence of the Great Eastern Railway Company
and their officers—first, by not putting the fence in that
state which the public safety required; secondly, by not
putting the bullock off the line where the accident occurred;
thirdly, by the disgraceful state of the carriages which were
used for the conveyance of those unfortunate persons who
were killed. The jury also found that the Government in-
spector was deserving of censure in having passed a line
which was so inadequately fenced,
The inquiry on the body of John Dennis, shipowner, was
resumed at the Town Hall at 10 o'clock, and adjourned till
Wednesday at 10 o'clock.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The Federal debt is a genuine American
article. Its growth is like that of our most recent
importations from that land of high magnitudes,
the Wellingtonia gigas. The stem of this tree is
vouched to become in course of time 450 feet high,
and so far there is every indication that the pro-
mise is no idle boast. It is as straight as a church
spire, and the foliage, consisting of straight lines
with the slightest possible curve, makes a perfect
cone. The wood is so spongy as to be useless; not
a band-box could be made out of a whole tree; and
the bark is worth about as much as the skin of a
crocodile. When the tree has attained its full
height, and is only stopped growing by the winds
or the clouds, it falls at last, and, if the inside is
allowed to rot, in a few centuries you will have a
capital bowling-alley. We will not be so hard on
the Federals as to put one final liquidation of their
huge debt at that value. Nobody knows what may
turn up, but it is impossible to prevent the intru-
sion of a few odd thoughts as one runs over Mr.
Chase's financial speculations and achievements.
To think of such a man having his fall swing in
America, after not yet two years and a half, and
such a debt really inspiring no sense of distrust or
discomfort in a nation which, till the other day,
owed nothing but to hate one another and the rest
of the world ! They are now as proud of their na-
tional debt as the man who boasted that having
commenced business without a farthing he had suc-
ceeded, after only two years, in owing half a mil-
lion dollars. But with a debt which would crush
any State in the Old World except England, and
perhaps France, Mr. Chase still exhibits all the dis-
tinctive features of a splendid, increasing, and per-
manent prosperity. He has a large stock of bullion,
so large as to keep in hand all the speculators in
gold. Should they venture to buy gold faster than
he wishes, he can immediately buy up millions of
paper, and make them complete their purchase in
a dear market. He has powers to issue paper,
and inconvertible "greenbacks," to an extent which
it is almost needless to state in figures, because it
really means an infinite power. He has also
a surplus—yes, a golden surplus—a difference
of more than 20,000,000 dollars between the actual
debt and the estimated debt; proving that the de-
mands of the War have been more than provided for,
and have been even exaggerated by the cautious
financier. Gladstone, hide your diminished head ;
even you would hardly have done as much. We,
indeed, can do a good deal in this country. We
spent a hundred millions on the Russian war, and
yet could show a surplus. We can reconstruct our
navy and ordnance, and yet stow a surplus.
We
can snend several millions a year on fortifications,
and yet show a large surplus. We can increase
almost every item of our expenditure, and yet re-
duce taxation. The Conservative spies, indeed,
sometimes raise an alarm, and proclaim the surplus
a mere cooking of the accounts to make things plea-
san'e for the House of Commons. So we must not
repudiate our American cousins and their clever
ways without a thought of ourselves. No doubt,
there is a strong family likeness. But children have
been occasionally bad likenesses of their fathers, and
worse imitators. We see in Mr. Chase's injurious
bits of prosperity and confidence only the customary
devices of habitual insolvents. A nobleman who
owed a million and a half always managed, even at
the most usurious interest, to have twenty £l,OOO
notes in his secretaire. Others, in the like case, have
taken care to keep a balance at their banker's what-
ever that balance might represent. This is but the
cork jacket which a man keeps within reach when

a shipwreck is imminent, Mr. Chase's real power
is not in his bullion, nor yet in his surplus of esti-
mate over expenditure, but in his credit,—that vast,
illimitable credit reposed in him by the Congress, bq
the army, by the contractors, and the whole Ameri-
can people. There never was such a credit. It is a
power to issue any amount of paper, some bearing
interest, some not. It is also a power to pay no
debts, to keep the soldier without his pay till he
disappears, and to give the contractors Certfi-
cates of Indebtedness. As to the soldier, the
policy is sound, for as soon as he gets his pay
he deserts. He is faithful, because unpaid.
Much the same may be said of the contractors.
They get promises, which they can sell or raise
money upon. Meanwhile it is not the policy of the
contractors to weaken Government or destroy its
credit. Much less is it their policy to quarrel with
Government. They have opened large factories ;
they have built and bought largely ; they have
entered into engagements ; they are in the same
case as the Government and their cause. To stop is
to be ruined. They must go on or fall. There is no
such thing as standing still in their case. You
might as well attempt to stand still in the mid
traffic of Ludgate-hill. You must go either for-
wards or backwards. Indeed, it is questionable
whether there is any retreat possible in the case
under question. The Federal Government appears
to feel that it must go on, and that an attempt to
stop would be trying to stop a ship in a storm.
True it is that you can often keep your footing more
easily while in rapid movement than standing still
or walking cautiously. If you try to stand on a
sloping glacier, or walk across it, picking your
steps, you may soon find yourself performing a
terrible glissade. Your only way is to run across
with your utmost speed, and that is the feat which
the Federal Treasury is now attempting. It used
to be thought that the want of money must stop the
war at last. Some trifles were overlooked in this
anticipation. The necessity of having to pay im-
-mensely more than you can possibly pay at the end
of an operation which you have the power of con •
tinuing will always be a great inducement to con-
tinue it, however ruinous in its final results. An
embarrassed merchant " keeps up the war," as the
phrase is, as long as he can, and allows no mark of
poverty to crop out. He keeps up his establishment,
gives entertainments, and lives just as usual, be-
cause he knows that as soon as he makes an altera-
tion his creditors will flock in. But the stimulus to
perseverance is more cogent and direct in America.
With peace cones the settlement. Credit then
must cease. The Secretary of the Treasury will
no longer be empowered to raise " greenbacks,"
and put off contractors with bills. Then there
will come the great question of questions, how
is the interest of the debt ever to be raised ?
By the time the war is ended, that interest,
on the most favourable supposition, will be twenty
millions sterling of our money, to be found, by
hook or by crook, every year. It is in vain that we
run over the items of our own revenue to find the
answer to this question. Will American Excise,
will Assessed Taxes and Stamps, will Income-Tax,
will Succession Duties, will the Post-office, will
even the Miscellaneous receipts, do much to meet
this immense annual demand? The only item that
promises at all is that on which the Americans have
long leaned as their only resource, even in their
pmilrniest days. That one resource is the customs.
Even we in this sea-girt empire, without a mile of
land frontier to be guarded, without a river to be
watched, and with a population much larger than
that of the Federal States, do not venture to raise
more than about £20,000,000 a year on our customs.
Neither the temper of the nation nor circumstances
will permit larger receipts from this one source.
But how are the Federals ever raise the sum,
when their northern and southern frontiers will
each be thousands of miles ? Nor are the people in
a state to consume foreign produce and manufac-
tures sufficient to produce such a revenue. But the
truth appears to be admitted. The tariff does not
work. In truth, Mr. Chase's Budget, besides being
a war Budget, besides having only to do with
various forms of extravagant borrowing and extra-
vagant expenditure, puts revenue out of the ques-
tion altogether. It is the grand balance-sheet of a
speculator who knows his profits are not even worth
recognition, and that the affair before him is a pitched
battle between liabilities and assets. When a
speculator is in this case he commonly fights as long
as he has a leg to stand upon. He only staves off
as long as he can the evil day, when he intends to
draw his last £5OO from the bank, and put himself
on board a Folkestone steamer. So when people
ask how long the war will last, we can only answer,
"As long as credit lasts ;" and that credit it is
undoubtedly the interest of the wealthiest people
and the most powerful classes to sustain as long as
substitutes for the draughting cost, say, less than
a thousand dollars.

POST.—The inquiry into the circumstances which
occasioned the recent accident on the Lynn and
Hunstanton Railway has resulted in showing what
the large majority of similar investigations prove,
namely, that by the exhibition of a very little
care a sacrifice of human life might have been
avoided. So long as railways exist, and carriages
are whirled across the country at speeds varying
between thirty and sixty miles an hour, so long
we must expect to hear of accidents which entail
destruction upon large numbers of those who adopt
that mode of travelling. In the course of events
occasional incidents are inevitable, and to their oc-
currence we must reconcile ourselves as best we can.
When, however, a mishap occurs which might with
ease have been guarded against and foreseen, we
have a right to complain that those precautions
were oot taken which would have prevented its oc-
currence. Now, to this class of accidents we think
the recent cu:tastrophe on the Lynn and Hunstanton
Railway is fairi; referable. The mode by which
of a train proceeding at
some two or three etriagee
an average speed were 0. nset and five persons killed,
unparalleled ; and any
, ere the accident
though unusual, was not
person who was acquainted wi:11 the nature of the
fences on the line near the spot wel
happened might with tolerable certain +v have pre-
dicted that it would have taken place. Mary years
since, when a Parliamentary committee was ap-
pointed to inquire and report upon the proposed
scheme of employing steam as a locomotive agent,
Robert Stephenson was asked what would be the
result if a train, whilst in motion, came in collision
with a cow which chanced to stray upon the line of
rails. The great engineer is reported to have
answered, " It would be a bad thing for the cow."
The question and the reply are, however, important
as indicating that before a single rail was laid down
an accident similar to that which happened a few
days since was foreseen. A few years back, some-
where in the North of England, a train was overset
in precisely the same manner as that on the Lynn
Railway, and several lives lost. Unusual, there-
fore, though the recent accident is, it is not unex-
ampled, and the evidence which was given on the
inquest places it beyond a doubt that, had anything
approaching to a careful supervision of this state of
the Lynn and Hunstanton Railway been main-
tained, the casualty which rendered that inquest
necessary would never have happened. In this,
however, as in so many previous instances, the rail-
way company and the public are wise after the event.
Into much of the evidence which was adduced
upon the inquest it is not necessary to enter. No
blame appears to be attributable to the railway
company so far as regards the management of the
train to which this accident happened. The dis-
tanca betweenHunstanton and Lynn is about fifteen
miles, and on Monday evening, August 3, two trains
were despatched from the former to the latter place
at an interval of twenty minutes. The first reached
its destination without mishap, but the latter hav-
ing come in contact with a bullock which had
strayed upon the line, several of the carriages were
thrown off the rail and broken by the force of the
collision, and five persons killed and many others
severely injured. Tne verdict returned by the
jury is extremely comprehensive,and well deserves
the attention both of the public and of the Legisla-
lature. It embraces four distinct conclusions. The
railway company are convicted of gross negligence,
first for not making their fences sufficiently high
and strong to prevent cattle straying on the rail-
way from the adjoining pastures ; and secondly,
for not having in the late instance driven off the
line the bullock which occasioned the accident.
They are also blamed for the disgraceful condition
of the carriages which received the greatest amount
of injury when the collision took place; and
finally, the Government inspectors are pronounced
deserving of censure for having sanctioned with
their approval a line of railway so inadequately
fenced as that of the Great Eastern Company be-
tween Lynn and Hunstanton. In every particular
of this verdict we entirely concur.
HERALD.—The choice of Sir James Wilde as the
successor of Sir Cresswell Cresswell will not at first
be understood or appreciated by the public at large.
There were no special reasons, perhaps, why the
preference should have been accorded to him ;
and yet it is believed on all hands that his
performance of the duties attaching to the Probate
and Divorce Court will be satisfactory at once to
the bar and to suitors. Extravagant reports have
been current with regard to this particular judge-
ship. There was a talk—very irrational and yet
popular—about Chief Justice Erle receiving a
peerage upon condition that he should descend the
judicial ladder and become the lictor of matrimonial
life in Westminster Hall. This idea, we should
say, had its origin in America, where a favourite
novelist touchingly depicts an English peer of the
realm, in a barrister's robes, retained for the defence
of a prisoner upon an indictment for felony. Rae.,
ing to an opposite extreme, our well-informed co
te con-
"enabled
thea b lye
adetaon
t state"
bench; that
17-
but D
t.
turnsP h i .
Iteimmoproerawraiesstowemroeucii
out that this early information was only too good,

and that a Baron of the Exchequer has become
Chief Judge in Ordinary of the Court of Probate
and Divorce. We desire to believe that the selec-
tion has been made deliberately, after the ful:cst
consideration of the exceptional circumstances con-
nected with this particular appointment, and we
feel no difficulty whatever in regarding Sir James
Wilde as a man who would not have accepted the
post had he not been thoroughly confident of lyis
ability to hold it with honour and conduct its duties
with success. But the institution of a country for
the administration of justice being among the most
delicate and important of all its establishments, end
coming more frequently and closely into content
with individual right, comfort, and prosperity than
the political constitution itself, and this new court
being still an experiment, with extraordinary func-
tions and powers, the successor of Sir Cresswell
will be watched by the public with a cri-
tical eye, and the responsibility of the position he
occupies will not be diminished by the fact that, In
the general estimation, the deceased judge left en
arena in which many were qualified to debate, but
scarcely one, excepting himself, to decide. And even
he, at the outset, had a mountain of prejudices and
p)pular fears to climb. The Court of Probate and Dl'
vorce began its sittings before the community was
altogether reconciled to the strange authority it pro-
fessed to wield. There were no precedents ; there was
no body of practice ; the cases heard were often re-
volting, and always painful. Sir C. Cresswell,
indeed, descended into the horrid depths of family
discord, marital cruelty, feminine infidelity, the
wranglings of relatives—all the vices, weaknesses,
vulgarities, and domestic abominations, which, until
then, had been hidden or only occasionally revealed
by a costly process in the High Court of the Peers
of Great Britain. He had to construe a law which.
as Chief Justice Hale expressed it, ,4 Had not
abidden the test of time ;" he had, in the language
of the same jurist, " to employ a vast circumspec-
tion" in dealing with the petitions laid before him ;
and how he triumphed over the perplexities, embar-
rassments, and intricate novelties of his situation
the world already knows. In succeeding him, Sir
James Wilde—who was often his colleague on the
bench of the Divorce-and Probate Court—inherits
his experience, though not possibly the special and
laborious acquisitions upon which it was founded.
Every point in the career of Sir James Wilde as a
lawyer and a judge is favourable to the chance of
his successful presidency over the new court at
Westminster. But, certainly, few human responsibi-
lities could be greater. He is the judge of families,
of firesides, and of deathbeds. He breaks the bonds
of the Church, when villany or immorality have
polluted them ; he destroys by a decree all that con-
stitute a home ; he takes the son from his father, and
the daughter from her mother; he annuls the con-
tract of marriage ; he peers into the remotest secrets
of domestic life—all its happiness, all its sorrow, all
its eccentricities, and all the anguish suffered when
it withers away. He—with the juries aiding him—"
interprets the last wills and testaments, and even
the latest coherent utterances and thoughts of the
dying. Such a judge, presiding over such a tribunal►.
should be a man utterly dispassionate, placid, or,
unwearied memory, of lucid and logical mind, 01
infinite tact and acumen, of quick and yet orderly
intellect, and, above everything else, strictly faithful
to the law he administers. All this was Sir Cress'
weal Cresswell. He made no effort to conceal the
loathing with which he was inspired by 3),r'
Smethurst, the reputed poisoner of Richman"'
and yet he rendered to that man ungrudging
justice. We trust that, in course of time, the
same merit may be ascribed to his successor upon
11
the Probate and Divorce Bench. But he himself
must feel that the task is not an easy one—net +7,
whit the easier because juries in that court have
be so constantly checked in their displays either °_
sympathy or of indignation. They look upon the
child in a state of moral orphanhood, and they for
get what the decrees of the old consistory were, aZn
are eager to give the verdict of 12 paladins.
1r
addition to this, legislation has not yet simplified °
reconciled all the jurisdictions which bear cP.°L,. ,
marriage and will causes. Our modern matrimony!:
law has still in a great degree to be create& an
partly by the new Judge in Ordinary hilmee.;
f•
Therefore, while welcoming Sir Jas. Wilde heartily
to his inheritance of great toils which may crown
.
him with brilliant honours, we have a right tc? ex
press an anxious hope that the judicial in
which which has worked so well during the last five. years
may work with equal success under the guidance
of a judge whose leading qualification, of Course'
must be that he comprehends, and is prepared ,
carry out, the system of his predecessor.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

y.-_

GLOUCESTER—Auo. 8.
The show of English wheat to-day was very good, but
the sales were slow; and foreign wheat was in limited de"
wand, with prices the turn cheaper. In barley there WO
no alteration. Oats dull.

COLCHESTER—AuG. 8.
There was a small supply of wheat to-day, and a air
proportion was this year's growth, prices of which varY
from 46s to 525, condition and quality very fine. SPri"
corn very dull.
23a
Wheat, white 46s 56s Beans, Mazagan.. 30s -
42s
red 42s 52s middle & 5ma11.358
Barley
Oats
—s —s Peas, white ...... gg:

C exchangeH E L M S Ft?.
to-
Re
aDy
At this corn
ante, and numerous samples of new wheat were i)
—thAeurea.w7as.
market, although the prices obtained were lower than those
secured last week, 528 per qr being about the highest figure:.
Old wheat as last quoted. Spring corn at the prices ol
last week. New dun peas is cheaper.
Wheat, old white 30s 52s teas partridge'. • • 37s 400
new t , 38 40s
48s 52s Waite ..........
old red 36s 478 Boiling ......... 40s 43s
new —s —s Dun ............ 33s 360
Barley 28s 36s Ditto new ......_8 .---s
a fai;oautgthent attend-
At
28a 40s Beans, Tick, old ..34s 390
Grinding
61s
ss
67s
ss new..—B --S
Malt ..
Harrow Tic
Chevalier ... 64s 69s w
Oats 2os 28s Mazagan .. 30s 38s
nkes. .......35: 40$
.

KIRKCALDY GRAIN--Au G 8.
To-day we had very small supplies of barley and oats,
but a good supply of wheat. Sales slow, at fully previous
rates.

Wheat. Barley. Oats.
First....36s Od I 25s 6d I 24s Od
Second ..40s Od 30s 6d 25s Od
Third.... —s Od —s Od —s Od

COAL IV
Prim; of Coal per Ton a
s. d.
Buddle'sWest Hartley 17 0
Carway and Dufiryn
Malting l2 0
Walker Primrose 12 9
Tar.field Moor l3 0
Tanfield Moor Butes l3 0
Davison's West Hart-i7l 0
ley
Lambert's West Hart-
-16 9
ley
Holywell 17 0
Wylam 17 0
Eden Main 16 0
West Hartley 17 0

ARKET.
the olose of the market.
S.

Walls End.
Hetton lB 09
Braddyll's Hetton 17 ,
Hartlepool 17 U
South Hartlepool 16 6
East Hartlepool 17 9,
Trimdon Hartlepool 17 %
South Kelloe l7 „u
8e1m0nt...., ..16 ;
Russel's Hetton 17 u
Haswell.... lB 0
K elloe
South Hetton ..18 g
Framwellgate.. ...... 16 t',.
Tunstall
Heugh Hall ..........17 0v
Caradoc ...........••i7
, 121 ; sold. 102.