The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-09 00:00:00

THE HARVEST.

The country papers of Saturday supply the subjoined
intelligence :
A very considerable portion of the wheat and barley
crops were secured on the first four days of last week
and the three last in the preceding one, and a large
breadth of mown barley, with some wheat (northward
of this city), would have been carted and stacked this
week, if the weather had been propitious ; but for the
last seven days there has been, unfortunately, more or
less rain, to prolong the harvest. This day (Friday) a
favourable change took place.—Norfolk Chronicle.
The harvest in this county (Nottingham) is progress-
ing but slowly, in consequence of the quantity of rain
which has fallen ; during the intermission of fine weather
the reapers are actively engaged, but the weather re-
mains gloomy and unsettled, and fears are entertained
lest the crops should be injured. Nearly every news-
paper we have received refers to the effects of the wea-

Cher upon the crops, with forebodings rather dismal,
although the organs of the agriculturalists still maintain
that the crops promise abundance. The long-continued
showers have laid the crops not yet cut, and we are of
opinion that the result cl the harvest will be far from a
plentiful yield.—Nottingham Review.
The weather in this neighbourhood, since our last
publication, has been much broken and unsettled ; and
a considerable quantity of rain has fallen. This un-
favourable circutnstance has caused a cessation in
harvest operations ; and it is to be feared that con-
siderable injury will have to be sustained in
several localities, particularly on the lower description
of soils. The barley, in some situations, where
it was impossible to remove it from the swathe,
has sprouted to some extent ; and further injury will be
occasioned unless the weather suddenly clears up. It
has also been found impossible to lead that portion of
the wheat crop which has been cut and placed in ricks,
in consequence of the unfavourable state of the weather.
Nor, we regret to add, at the time we are writing, are
there any indications presented of a favourable change.
—Doncaster Gazelle.

About one-third of the grain is gathered in this
county (Salop), and in moderate condition ; the harvest
has been dilatory in consequence of rain, but no fatal
mischief has yet been sustained. With respect to tbe
produce of wheat, we differ from those extravagant ac-
counts which have been published in some newspapers,
and hazard an opinion that the wheat crop will not
turn out an average one in England and Wales. Sti-
mulated by the price, farmers have, no doubt, culti-
vated more wheat this year than usual, but many
acres have been destroyed by floods—many, being laid
down by storms, the heads of the wheat have no grains
in them, and in many instances the beads are light, and
the grains will be shrivelled. About 40 bushels of new

Wheat were offered for sale at Wellington yesterday
week, and some were offered on Saturday in this town
—the prices asked were from 102. to 102.
Shrewsbury Chronicle.
In Cardiganshire,carried
Merionethshire, and some parts of Montgomeryshire,
little progress has been made. In the upper part of
been ; but
in
the eairnte ntrhioe r ose
f a
the coast,
county, wheat
andhia in
Montgomeryshire the hay is nearly cleared. The corn
crops look very good. In the neighbourhood of New-
town, and the lower part of the county, a great portion
is down, but not much housed. The wet weather dur-
ing the past week has seriously retarded the harvest.

•
MORTON, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.—We have
here a literary novelty of great interest. It might, with-
out impropriety, have been called the History of a Genius.
The Atlas characterizes it as " An extremely clever work,
detailing the freaks and fortunes of a youthful genius,
spoiled by the admiration of relatives, excessive self-con-
ceit, and supposed superiority of intellect to the personages
among whom his destiny has thrown him. It is so
vivid—so photogenic—a portrait of an ardent, flighty,
ambitious book-worm, ignorant of the world, of the real
business of life, of the inadequacy of his own capacity to
the fulfilment of his designs, and of the talents of those
with whom he has to contend for eminence, that we would
wish to see it in the hands of every ',genius' in the three
kingdoms."

At an inquest held on Friday, in Cromer-street,
before Mr. Wakley, M. P., on the body of Catherine
Moore, aged 72, who died of complicated disease, and
who, although very poor and infirm, had never applied to
the parish authorities for medical aid, the Coroner re-
marked that it was strange that the husband of the deceased
had never solicited medical relief from the parish doctor,
and inquired whether the parish (St. Pancras) was under
the government of the New Poor-law Amendment Act?
Foreman—No, Sir, we are under Hobhouse's Act. Hap-
pily we defeated the Poor-law Commissioners in this
parish. Coroner—l am afraid you will not be able to pre-
vent their intermeddling with you, now that the Poor-law
Continuance Bill and the Parochial Assessments Bill are
passed. Foreman—We'll try our best to keep them en.
tirely out of this parish. Coroner—
How are the affairs
of your parish now managed? Foreman—Excellently;
and with reference to the subject of this inquiry, she might
have had good and prompt and medical relief, bad she ap.
plied for it. Coroner—l think it is a great pity that,
when the affairs of the parish are well regulated under
local acts, the Poor-law Commissioners should interfere.
Well enough ought to be left alone. The Hon. Gentle•
man mentioned several parishes that were now heavily
rated to the poor, which formerly had not a single pauper
on the parish books; amongst others, a parish near Bed-
ford in which, before the passing of the Poor-law A mend-
ment Act, there was not a single parish pauper ever
known; the labourers were well paid, and when ill or dis-
abled a voluntary subscription was raised sufficient for their
support. Verdict—Natural Death, with a censure on
the husband for not having applied to the parish for
medical aid.

ATHENS, Aue. 19.—Things are getting worse and
worse every day here. The capital has been lately wit-
ness of one of the most disgraceful scenes which was ever,
perhaps, performed in it, even during the time of Turkish
supremacy. Two notorious characters, who had long
committed a series of murders, robberies, arson, and
other crimes, had at length, through the vigilance of the
gendarmerie, fallen into the hands of justice,and sufficient
proof of their guilt being brought against them, they
were sentenced by the criminal court, composed of an
impartial jury, to suffer death by the guillotine.
The day tar the execution was fixed for Saturday
week, and the day before the executioner arrived from
iEgina, who was himself a mauvais sijet, and who
only escaped punishment himself for some robberies
which he had committed, by accepting the office. He
was still under surveillance, hut on his arrival at the
Pyrmus, the gendarmes having left the house
for a few minutes to get some refreshments, on
their return found him murdered ! This is the
second instance of an executioner having been murdered
on the eve of an expected execution. The prisoners were
respited for the moment till another man could be found
to undertake the office ; for so strong is the prejudice
of the Greeks against death by guillotine that for a
long time no one was tempted by the large reward
offered by Government to become Jack Ketch in
ordinary to the King. At length a young man
was found, and the day for the execution again
fixed. A requisition was sent from the Al inis-
ter of Justice to the War-office, to ask for a body
of troops to preserve order, and also workmen to put
up the guillotine. Mi.:, happened the day before the
execution. The I‘l4tister of War gave orders to the
Commandant de Place to do the needful. He therefore
immediately made inquiries where the guillotine was, but,
to his surprise, no one could inform him. lie sent to the
civil authorities—the Minister for the Interior referred
him to the Governor of the Province—the Governor to the
Demarch of Athens—the Dernteveli to the police—
the police to the Governor of the }.-rison, but could
obtain no information. At length, at A late hour in
the evening, the guillotine was discovered itt R. warehouse
at the Pyrieus ; and the Commandant scat a body of
workmen to put it up on an open spot near the road
from the Pyriens to Athens, during the night.
The execution was to take place at five o'clock in the
morning ; at the hour appointed the malefactors arrived,
escorted by a strong body of gendarmerie, whilst a
body of troops, which loaded arms, marched down to
preserve order, and took up their position at a little
distance. A large crowd bad assembled to witness
' the execution, among whom were a great many sailors
and marines belonginr, to the United States line-
of-battle ship Ohio, and the other foreign ships of war '
in the harbour. Every thing being so far ready, they
looked in vain for the Procureur du Roi, whose duty it
was, according to law, to read publicly to the prisoners
the sentence of the Court ; but no Procureur was
there I An express was sent up to Athens, but he
was not to be found. At length the Minister of Jus-
tice sent a lad with the sentence, the only person
he could find that would undertake the task, and expose
himself to the anger of the populace. This poor lad
eras so overcome by his feelings that he could scarcely
read it in an audible manner, so great was his agitation.
After a delay of more than an hour had taken place,
during which the two unhappy criminals were standing
at the foot of the guillotine, orders were given 1
to proceed with the execution, and the temporary
executioner commenced operations. Having bound
them, and placed their heads under the fall, he at-
tempted to pull the string, but the instrument woad
not drop, and after bungling about it for a quarter of an
hour, he declared that he could not do it, and left the
spot. A cry of " Shame, shame," ran through the as-
sembled crowd ; and one can imagine the feelings of the
wretched criminals at being kept so long in a state of
suspense. In their aeon/ of mind they called out to the
gendarmes to shoot them, and thus put them out of their
misery, and even offered to shoot each other if they
would give theta pistols!
This horrible state of things lasted for more than an
hour, when Major Hane, who commanded the troops,
sent up an officer immediately to make a report to the
Commandant, Colonel Hess, who immediately went to
the King, and commenting strongly on the unwarrant-
able neglect of taking proper
.measures on the part of
the department of Justice, and representing to his
Majesty that the delinquents had actually suffered more
than death, he obtained a Royal reprieve.
There is but one opinion on this melancholy subject,
and that is a mixture of anger and disgust at the con-
duct of the Greek civil authorities 'for the unheard-of
cruelty, and unwarrantable neglect of the proper
precautionary measures. It was generally expected
that Paikos, the Minister of Justice, would .be instantly
dismissed, as well as the Procureur du Roi, and the
others, through whose extraordinary conduct this
indecent and painful scene vi as brought about ; but
owing to the King's apathy and want of energy,
hitherto nothing has been done, which has caused a great
deal of excitement and some bad feeling towards him ;
and the Greeks sigh loudly as they exclaim " Oh ! when
will a change of things for the better take place, for
under Cape dlstria, and even under the Turks, things
were much better conducted in unhappy Greece than
they are at present." The discontent is becoming ge-
neral, and is only kept down by the awe inspired by
the military. Such is the state of Greece !