The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-07 00:00:00

SOUTHWARK.

WHOLESALE SMUGGLING ON BOARD A FOREIGN STEAM-
SHIP.—The first and second engineer and three firemen,
of the Schwalbe steamship, trading between Bremen and
the Port of London, 'was brought before Mr. Woolrych on
information, charged with having concealed in the engine-
room of that vessel upwards of forty pounds in weight of
foreign manufactured cigars and tobacco, such not having
been paid the duty for, thereby rendering the ship liable
to be forfeited to the Crown, and the prisoners to a £lOO
penalty each, or six months' imprisonment.
Mr. Beasley, assistant solicitor to the Customs, attended
to prosecute.
Mr. John Edwin Bent, surveyor to her Majesty's Cus-
toms in the port of London, said that on the previous day,
from information he received, he sent on board the
Schwalbe, and entered the engine-room. In one of the
oil tanks he discovered sixty-eight pounds of tobacco and
nineteen boxes of cigars, all of foreign manufacture. lie
communicated with the captain, and the prisoners were
sent for and given into custody. Witness, however, did
not think that the engineers know of the concealment.
Mr. Graves, one of the brokers to the ship, interpreted
the evidence to the prisoners, when
Mr. George Hewsmas, the captain of the vessel, was
called, and he stated that the two engineers were respect-
able men, and would not have risked their reputation by
smuggling tobacco, or the engine man. In fact he was sure
they knew nothing about it. As for the other man em-

ployed in the engine-room, he was fined at this court on
Monday for smuggling, and on Tuesday he directed the
engineers to make a strict search in the engine-room for
contraband goods. There was an unused oil tank in the
engine-room, and on carefully searching that they dis-
covered the tobacco and cigars produced. Witness in-
stantly communicated with the Customs' authorities, and
hence the apprehension of the prisoner. He, however,
trusted his worship would release the engineers, as his
vessel loft the port to-day, and he would not be able to ob-
tain other engineers in time.

A consultation then took place among the authorities,
when Mr. Beasley consented to the release of the engineers
on the captain's security to attend on Monday week.

The other prisoners were fined £lOO each or six months
imprisonment.

The Cattle Plague.

DEPUTATION TO THE GOVERNMENT
(THIS DAY).

A deputation waited upon Lord Granville and Sir Geo.
C.rey, this day, at the Privy Council-office, from the Royal
Agricultural Society of England, with reference to the
existing cattle plague.

There were present—Lord Tredegar, Lord Faversham,
Lord Walsingham, the Hon. General Hood, Colonel Kings-
cote, Hon. A. Vernon, Professor Simons, Mr. Holland,
M.P., Mr. Arland, M.P., Mr. H. S. Thompson, Mr. Bran-
dreth Gibbs, Mr. Randell, Mr. Bathroop, and other well-
known gentlemen. _

Air. IL DARE, the secretary, submitted a string of reso-
lutions that had been agreed to by the society for arresting
the plague.

fadGRANVILLE and Sir GEORGE GREY expressed an
opinion that the orders in Council already issued were
sufficient to meet the case, but said they would further con-
sider the deputation's prop osals.
The proceedings then terminated.

AMERICA.

(RE UT ER'S EXPRESS.)
NEW YORK, Nov. 25 (Noon).

Governor Humphreys of Mississippi has sent a message
to the Legislature of that State, recommending as a plea-
sure of vital importance, and as a means of relieving the
State •of -national troops, the passage of laws admittjng
negro testimony in the courts, affording the freedmen pro-
tectiedidell their rights, giving encouragement to their
industry, assisting in the education of their children, and
taxing them for the support of their own vagrants and
helpless persong.

President Johnson has replied to Governor Humphrey's
request that the national troops be 'withdrawn from the
State, that they will be withdrawn as soon as it becomes
manifest that peace and order can be maintained without
them.

The Legislature of Alabama met at Montgomery on the
22d inst. Governor. Parson's message was read to the
body. It recommends the ratification of the anti-slavery
amendment to the national constitution, the passage of
laws for the protection of negroes in their person and pro-
perty, and for the punishment of vagrants, black or white.
Several of the agents of the Freedmen's Bureau have
officially called attention to the fact that great suffering
will probably exist among the negroes during the approach-
ing winter, and that the mortality among them is fearful
and increasing. In one district 100 died out of a body of
less than 4,000 within six months. The mortality among
the children and the aged is particularly great. There
have been no further developments in regard to the ru-
moured tendency towards insurrection on the part of the
blacks, but in Louisiana all negroes arrested are generally
found to be armed. It was apprehended that they might
become troublesome about Christmas.

An order was issued yesterday from the War Depart-
ment by direction of the President, notifying all claimants
for the rewards offered by Government for the apprehen-
sion of Jefferson Davis and the assassination conspirators,
that they must file their claims at the Adjutant-General's
office before the Ist of January next, and also announcing
the revocation of the rewards offered for the arrest of Jacob
Thompson, Beverley Tucker, George N. Sanders, and
William C. Cleary, Confederate agents in Canada, and
John H. Surratt, suspected of complicity in the murder of
President Lincoln.

Jameis IL Seddon, ex-Confederate Secretary of War ;
ex-Governor Magrath, of South Carolina ; and ex-Gover-
nor Lubbock, of Texas, have been released on parole.
The Secretary of the Interior informed the Commis-
sioner of Patents that he has been instructed by the Presi-
dent that no patent rights are to be granted to residents of
the lately insurgent States unless applicants furnish good
proof their loyalty.

The President has approved the sentence of death passed
by court-martial in Georgia upon two white soldiers for the
murder of a coloured woman.

The Rev. George B. Cheever, one of the most prominent
abolition clergymen in the country, at a lecture in his
church in this city last Thursday evening, made a most
violent assault upon the course adopted by President
Johnson, n ith whom he declared the Northern people
were greatly dissatisfied, and who was acting as though ho
owned the country and could do with its inhabitants as he
pleased. The speaker further declared that Mr. Johnson
acted more like a counsel for the rebels than Pregident of
the United States, and that public opinion, which had long
been suppressed, would soon be heard against him.
Sir Frederick Bruce has consented to act as umpire of
the commission appointed for the settlement of the claims
of the United States against New Grenada, growing out
of the riots at Panama in 1856.

The Prussian Minister at Washington has, in behalf of
his Government, preferred charges against the authorities
of the State of Massachusetts for having, by fraud and
compulsion, induced Prussian emigrants to enter military
service to fill the quota of that State. A military commis-
sion, composed`of Major-Generals Hitchcock, Mott, and
Williams, has been appointed to investigate the charges.
The news from Mexico is even more than usually con-
tradictory. The recent report that the Imperialists had
abandoned the Northern States and were concentrating at
Mexico; Vera Cruz, and San Luis Potosi, to await the
arrival of reinforcements, is effectually contradicted. Vera
Cruz dates to the 13th inst. state that Michoacan and
Oajaca had been cleared of Republicans and guerillas, and
that a force of 600, under General Guzman, had been cap-
tured, and the leader shot in accordance with the recent
decree by Maximilian. The Emperor had appointed Gen.
J. B. Magruder, late of the Confederate Army, Surveyor-
General of Colony Lands.
El Paso advices to the 20th October state that Juarez
and his Cabinet were still there, but would soon leave,
as two French columns were moving upon the place. The
inhabitants of the region around El Paso were very
heavily taxed, having to defray the entire expenses of
the Juarez Government. General Mijia held Matamoras
on the 15th November. The Republicans were, however,
still menacing the place, though not in formidable force.
It is rumoured, by way of New Orleans, that Federal Gene
ral Weitzel had refused to deliver to Mejia a steamer cap-
tured by the Juarists above Matamoras, and that the Re-
publicans had suddenly raised the siege of Matamoras in
consequence of the approach of a large French force.

TBE FENIAN TRIALS.

DUBLIN, Wednesday.

O'Leary was found guilty to-day on all the counts,
and was sentenced to 20 years' penal servitude. He
made an address. The Government, he said, had
found no difficulty in getting a jury to convict. He
accused Mr. Barry, Q.C,, of morally assisting him,
pointing to h;ln as that " miserable man." Judge
Keogh had said that informers' were easily bought
by the Government with money, but agitators
"made the best bargain." A traitor had been
placed by Dante in the lowest hell ; but it was the
traitor who betrayed king, country, friends, and
benefactors. He was no traitor, England was not
his counfry, and he had betrayed no friends or bene-
factors. .

O'Donovan (Rossa) was put forward, but certain
documents having been withdrawn from him by the
governor of the gaol which were necessary to his
defence, the trial was postponed. Moore, the black-
smith who made the "rods," was then arraigned.

THE RUBY.—The most valuable of all jewels is
the ruby. This precious stone depends upon its
colour, as we have said before, for its value. The ruby,
sapphire, and oriental topaz are composed of identically the
same materials ; the red sapphire is a ruby, the blue ruby
a sapphire, the yellow ruby a topaz. They are all termed
corundums, an Indian name. The ruby is the next
hardest thing in nature after the diamond. The finest
rubies are found in the kingdom of Ava, and in Siam; they
are also found in Ceylon and in many parts or Europe.
The King of Burmah takes one of his titles from it, that
of " Lord of the Rubies." In Burmah they are a royal
monopoly, and none of any value aro allowed to leave the
kingdom. The finding of a fine ruby is made a state
event, and a procession of grandees, with ' soldiers and
elephants, are sent out to meet it. The colour varies
from pale rose to deep red, but the tint that is most
highly valued is that of the " pigeon's blood."—Onco a
Week.

BOILING DOWN DISEASED CATTLE.—A meeting
of the inhabitants of Hatcham was held last evening,
for the purpose of getting the suppression of a nuisance
which now exists at the Hatcham Mills by boiling down
diseased cattle. Several vestrymen of Camberwell were
present. A number of speakers, principally working men,
addressed the meeting, describing the injury they had
suffered from the smells from the mills, and a medical gen-
tleman stated that the effluvia front the boilers would be
likely to cause much disease and fatality in the neighbour-
hood. Ultimately a deputation, consisting of working
men, was appointed to wait upon the Privy Council, to ask
redress.

The Earl of Lonsdale has left his residence on
Carlton-house-terrace for Ventnor, Isle of Wight.

Sir David Brewster on Patent Rights.

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In opening the session of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, on Monday night, Sir David Brewster
stoutly defended patent rights. In the course of
his address he said—The present raid against the
patent laws is the direct and acknowledged result of
the ungenerous influence of trade. The shortness of
the tenure of patent rights, and the heavy- tax levied
from inventors, are expressly maintained in order to
diminish the number of patents ; and the avowed
reason for thus diminishing them is, that from their
number and frivolity they interfere with the opera-
tions of tradesmen and manufacturers, by exposing
them to actions for infringement. That there are
many patents not remunerating, and not immedi-
ately beneficial, is painfully true, when we consider
how much they have cost the sanguine inventor.
That there are any patents really frivolous or use-
less, in the true sense of these terms, can be main-
tained only by ignorant or interested parties. There
is no patent that does not contain a proposal to do
something that is new, or to make some improve-
ment upon what is old; and there are many
examples of apparently useless patents containing
the germs of future and valuable inventions. There
are cases even in which the invention stigmatised
as useless has proved to be an essential element
in a future patent, where the new patentee has
piratically used it, and dared to complain
that he had been prosecuted for infringement.
But there is a still more intelligible reason why no
patent can be called useless. In bringing it into
the market workmen are employed and materials
purchased ; and even if the process, instrument, or
machine thus offered to the public has no sale and
no useful application, the hapless patentee has
given liberal fees to several functionaries of the
State, and contributed nobly to the patent fund.
That any patent is frivolous and injurious,
in -the sense of interfering with the func-
tions of honest traders, is simply untrue. ,jf an in-
vention which has been patented at the cost of
£175, and produced nothing in return, is a neces-
sary part of an important invention subsequently
patented, it is a positive proof that patents appa-
rently frivolous may be truly valuable. The first
invention is, therefore, neither an obstacle to im-
provements nor a ground for litigation. It has, on
the contrary, led to a greater invention ; and whe-
ther the second patentee has used it ignorantly or ad-
visedly, he ought to pay for the use of it, instead of
pleading in a court of law, as he generally and dis-
honestly does, that the original specification is de-
fective. But even if the cases of interfering with pa-
tents were more numerous than they are, and
more fertile in litigatian, is is the lawgiver, and not
the inventor, that is to blame. If Parliament, in
its wisdom, cannot reconcile the interests of paten-
tees and honest tradesmen but by robbing the for-
mer, they overlook the fundamental law in social
economy, that no great improvement can be made in
the arts of life, and no true reform in our institutions,
without interfering with a variety of interests. In
proposing to abolish patent rights, its promoters seem
to have wholly overlooked the international interests
that are at stake. If we .have no patent law, we
deprive every foreigner of his existing right to a
British patent. Foreign Governments may there-
fore adopt a policy of retaliation, and refuse to our
countrymen the patent rights which they now so
freely enjoy ; or, what is more probable, they may
hold out additional privileges to our ingenious arti-
sans, and thus obtain the first fruits of their skill.
Inventors will follow their inventions, and in the
exodus to foreign countries—to the United States,
especially, with its cheap and judicious patent laws—
we shall lose, more rapidly than we have yet done,
the most ingenious of our inventors, and the most
useful of our citizens. A policy like this, so Boeotian
in its character, and-so injudicious in its results, is
as politically unsafe as it is socially unwise and per-
sonally unjust. Rights that have been firmly estab-
lished and long enjoyed are not readily abandoned.
Illiberal and oppressive as the patent laws are, they
are still the Magna Charta of the commonwealth of
inventors, and in an age tending to democracy they
will not be surrendered without a struggle. Rights
hitherto unquestioned, and not more sacred, may
be exposed to the same scrutiny, and social interests
endangered with all classes have been accustomed
to respect and defend. If these views of patent
rights be just, and if, as movable property-, they are
as sacred as copyrights, there can be no just reason
why they should not be granted equally cheap, given
to every applicant, and enjoyed during at least the
life of the patentee.

Wages in the Carpet Trade.

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A short time back reference was made to the
annual meeting of the Power-loom Brussels Carpet
Manufacturers' Association, which was held at
Shrewsbury on the Ist of last month. A deputation
on the part of the weavers attended that meeting,
on the invitation of their employers, and trade
questions were entered upon in a manner so tempe-
rate as to inspire the men with confidence in the as-
sociation. The leading subject which came under
discussion was the regulation of the supply of labour
to the carpet power-looms in a manner such as
would fairly meet the wants of a growing trade, with
its increased need of weavers. It appears that hitherto
no one has been allowed to take a loom till 21 years
of age. The " creel" boys employed in the carpet
mills have consequently, when about 17 or 18, been
induced to look elsewhere for higher wages, the de-
mand of the labour market being met by absorbing
the old hand-loom weavers of the locality, and ad-
mitting those who had been creel" boys after they
had passed their 21st year, if they were then in-
clined to resume work in a carpet manufactory. The
hand-loom weavers have now been almost entirely
brought into the power-loom trade, and it is there-
fore becoming necessary to make some arrangement
for the admission of those who, growing up in the
subordinate branches of the work, may reasonably
look for employment at the looms as years pass on.
After some discussion and explanations as to the
apprenticeship system in other trades, the
weavers then present intimated that an ad-
vance of their wages would be acceptable, and upon
this the manufacturers determined to consider both
these subjects fully. A committee of six power-
loom firms, appointed at that meeting, have since
gone carefully into these questions, and their report
has had the cordial and unanimous assent of the
other members of the Association. As a result of
this a meeting was held at Kidderminster, on Fri-
day evening, when the manufacturers present were
met by a corresponding number of their workmen.
The chairman (Mr. Brinton) announcecl, to the
weavers that, upon a fair and candid r6View. of the
wages -question, and the question of the labour
supply, the manufacturers had decided to make such
alterations as the state of the trade and due regard
for the claims of the weavers allowed. The altera-
tions would embrace an entire revision of the prices
now paid, and an advance in most of those paid for
special widths and qualities of power-loom work,
and for loom changes, and particular alterations:-
the object of the association being to place the
weavers' remuneration for special kinds of work on
a just footing with the ordinary sorts, and also to
constitute a uniformity of payments, as far as pos-
sible, throughout the entire Brussels power-loom
trade. It was further stated that a general advance
of a farthing per yard, equal to 12i per cent. upon
the present list, would be given on all qualities of
work from the Ist of January. The alterations
also include the introduction to the trade of such a
moderate number of apprentices and of adult hands
as might be necessary, and, in the judgment of
the Association, fair and reasonable. A printed list,
drawn up under the supervision of the committee of
the association (whose labours the weavers present
gratefully acknowledged) will be issued in a few
days, and will contain the new prices and regula-
tions which come into force at the beginning of the
new year. On the following day the weavers of Kid-
derminster set the bells ringing in honour of what
had occurred, and the inhabitants generally seem
gratified, as well as surprised, at the way in which
the manufacturers have dealt with their workpeoplo.
—Birmingham Post.

DEATH OF SIR CHARLES SULLIVAN.—The death
of Sir Charles Sullivan took place on Sunday last at his
residence in Montcomb-street, Belgrave-square. The late
baronet was born in 1820, and succeeded his father as
fourth baronet in 1862. 'His brother, Edmund %kart, suc-
ceeds him in the baronetcy.