The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-05 00:00:00

A Scotch Whig Job.

the trir has been respectively 14, 15, 10, 9,5, 13, 1-3—, '6‘.

5, and 8. There are 98 new men in the field sinco
1854, all of them now practising at the bar, in addition
to the large number of seniors called before that
date ; and yet the Lord-Advocate has passed them all
over to appoint his own son, being one of the five
new entrants in 1863 ! Such a disgraceful-piece of family

jobbery we believe to be unmatched. It would certainly
lead to a Parliamentary inquiry if made respecting any
equally important office in England. It is no wonder that
the doings of the Whig Government in Scotland stink in
the nostrils of so many good men and true in all parts of
the kingdom.
It is worthy of note, too, that not more than five or six
members of the bar voted against the Lord Advocate at the
recent election, and that many of those whom he thus in-
sulted by passing them over in favour of his stripling son
canvassed for him from door to door for weeks together—
yet this is the reward for their labours! Another matter
intimately connected with this discreditable appointment
is the position of the other three Advocate-Deputes. They
are, as we find from the almanac, Alex. Moncreiff, G. H.
Thom; and J. A. Crichton. Any one who looks over the
rolls of the court, in which the names of counsel engaged
in cases are always given, will find that Mr. Alex. Mon-
creiff has considerable practice in other cases, and therefore
it may be fairly presumed that he is perfectly qualified for
the office in question ; but as respects the other three, Mr.
G. H. Thom; Mr. J. A. Crichton, and James Moncreiff, the
rolls of the Council tell a very different tale respecting
their experience. We ask, then, on what principle the pre-
sent appointment can be defended ? Had all the other Ad-
vocate-Deputes been experienced men, in large practice,
the present job would not have been so outrageous ; but
when it is considered that the responsibility devolves on
these men of deciding what cases are to be tried and what
cases are not to be tried, and that they have themselves to
conduct all the prosecution; the public are entitled to
ask whether these prosecutors have been appointed in the
interest of the criminals so as to give them a good chance
of escape when defended by counsel of experience. We
hope Sir G. Grey, who is responsible to Parliament for all
Scotch appointments, will take steps to cancel this job ; or
if not, that some independent member will bring the sub-
ject before Parliament.—Caledonian Mercury.

Foreign Mail Packet List.

MAILS DUE.

Australia and New Zealand, via Southampton Sept. 18.
Ditto, via Marseilles Sept. 12.
Brazil and Cape Verds, by British packet ...... Oct. 4.
Ditto, by French packet Sept. 22.
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena Sept. 21.
China, Penang. and Singapore, via Soul hamp ton—Sept. 18
Ditto, via Marseilles
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Eept. 8
Ditto, via Marseilles
India (Bombay), via Southampton. Sept. 10.
Ditto, via Marseilles Sept. 4.
Mauritius, via Southampton
Ditto, via MarseiLe 3. Sept. 4.
Newfoundland
.„ Sept. 11.
Portugal Sept. 4.
Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon
United States and British North America, by Bri-
tish packet
Sept. 7.
Ditto, by United States packet, via Southamp-
ton
Ditto, via Cork
Ditto, by Canadian packet, via Londonderry Sept. 8.
West Coast of Africa. Madeira, and Tencriffe Sept. 10.
West Indies and Pacific (except Bahamas, Cuba,
and Mexico Sept. 13
Bahamas, via New York. Sept. 13
Bermuda, ditto Sept. 27.
Cuba and Mexico Sept. 28.

THE lIORRIBLE CASE OF STARVATION AND NE-
GLECT AT SPITALFIELDS.--Yesterday afternoon, at
four o'clock, Mr. John Humphreys, the coroner for Mid-
dlesex, resumed the inquiry at Mr. Burner's, the Com-
mercial Tavern, Commercial-road, Spitalfields, respecting
the death of Joseph Stack, aged Three weeks, who died
from gross neglect. The additional evidence having been
given, the coroner summed up the whole of the facts ad-
duced, which ho said disclosed a shocking state of affairs.
The cause of death was inanition from the want of proper
food and nourishment. The father, it had been proved,
covered the child up when ho left, and it would seen:
from the injunction he left with the little boy, that if he
showed tho child to any one he would kill him—that would
show that he intended the child to die in his absence out.
The question for the consideration of the jury was, whether
the evidence showed that the deceased died from the gross
and wilful negligence of the parents—if so it would amount
to wilful murder. The jury, atter a brief consultation,
returned a verdict of " Wilful murder against Edward and
Ann Stack, for feloniously killing and slaying their infant
child, Joseph Stack." The coroner then made out his
warrant for their committal to Newgate for trial.
CRYSTAL PALACE.—Queen Emma of the Sand-
wich Islands, with Lady Franklin and a party,
visited the Crystal Palace yesterday. A late afternoon
fite, with a great display of fireworks and illuminated
fountains, will take place to-morrow. The Palace will be
lighted up for an evening promenade after the fireworks,
which will terminate about 9 o'clock. Extra late return
trains will be run. One Shilling Day, Monday, Sept. 4.
.Admissions on payment, 11,896 ; ditto by season tickets,
I,2sB—total visitors, 13,154.

, TRAFFIC AND DIVIDENDS.—On the whole the
' dividends of the past half-year are satisfactory, and
, better than the general estimates. This, oouplod with the
very satisfactory traffic, has induced a greater feeling of
confidence in railway property, and it has suddenly become
manifest to speculators that railway shares are at much too
low a price, and therefore there has been a rapid and con-
' siderable advance in their values. It would seem that
money is not likely to command more than 4 per cont. in
the discount market for soma time to come, instead of the
higher rates so generally and strongly prophesied by those
deemed competent authorities; and, with this prospect, it
is unlikely that railways, generally improving and sound
as investments, should command over 5 per cent. to those
who invest in them. A short time since some of the best
stocks, such as London and South Western, Midland,
and North Eastern, could be bought to pay 51 per cent.
They will now pay nearly sf, and there is every reason to
expect that they will shortly further advance in price, and
yield percentages similar to those of two or three years
ago, before financial and limited liability companies
came into existence to disturb the values of properties
quoted in the Stock Exchange list generally—say from 4i
to 5 per cent., or on an average 41. The traffic returns
for the week again show fair increases. The Great
Northern, among the larger lines, and Metropolitan, among
the lesser ones, maintain the lead. Last week the traffic
on the Metropolitan was interfered with by a stoppage for
a few hours on Thursday morning, and also by the heavy
rains. The Great Northern traffic of all desciiptidns is very
good, and the line, as a first-class passenger line, is in
greater favour than ever. The London and North-Western
traffic continues to show a fair per-tentage of increase, and
this lino has benefited (largely by the great traffic to and
from Ireland this summer, in addition to a larger traffic
than usual with Scotland. The Midland traffic continues
to keep fairly ahead of the high figures of last year. Of the
Northern lines, the Sheffield has proportionately by far the
largest increase. It speaks well for Mr. Watkin and his
subordinates that the line should at this time be doing so
well, and, with the prospect :of the independent line to
Liverpool being speedily made, induces very hopeful feel-
ings as to the future of this company. The Lancashire and
Yorkshire receipts are at last beginning to fairly show the
progress made by the cotton trade ; and although the stock
is at a high figure compared with past dividends and traf-
fics, it is really only in accordance with what may be ex-
pected from the development and full occupation of the busy
district occupied by this company. Before the end of the
half year the receipts of this line will probably be the best
of any of the large lines. The North-Eastern line is really
in a thriving condition. Its increases, though moderate, are
steady and certain, and the returns compare favourably with
the very high figures last year. The new furnaces in the Cleve-
land district are fast coming into blast, and with them, and
the great development of iron-making going forward, the
North-Eastern is benefiting vastly, and this in the face of
considerable reductions on rates arising through the'recent
amalgamation with the West Hartlepool and other lines.
We did not anticipate that the extraordinary traffic increases
of 12 months ago would be maintained. It therefore speaks
well for the present and future of railway property that the
mileage receipts have generally shown a decided improve-
ment, and we cannot but think that as the half-year
.pro-
grosses, they will maintain that improvement. dway

News.
iiss2aib.2ortpleirpxerlmistellrelipz, andon
the short The quotation of
egoolnd
comparing
these rates with the English Mint price of £3
Londonat rms
u7s. 104 d. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
nearly 2-ICths per cent. dearer in London than in Paris.
The course of exchange at New York on London for bills at
60 days' sight is 109 to 109 per cent. At these rates there is
no profit on the importation of go'd from the United States.
By advicss from Hamburg the price of gold is 428 per marl
and the short exchange on Loudon is 13.7 i per £1 stErlin .
Standard gold at the English Mint price is, therefore, about
3-lochs per cent. dearer in London than in liamburg.

The public have often been disgusted, and the Liberal
Government greatly damaged, by the jobbing of the Lord-
Advocate in filling up Scotch offices to which he has prac-
tically the right to nominate. Perhaps the most scandalous
appointment ever made in Scotland by any Lord-Advocate,
Whig or Tory, is that made within the last few days by the
present Lord-Advocate—namely, the appointment of hie
own son, Mr. H. J. Moncreiff, to be one of the Deputy-Ad-
vocates for Scotland. Mr. H. J. Moncreiff was called to the
bar only two years ago, as we find from the official list in
the "Edinburgh Almanac," and he is therefore a mere
stripling, without any experience whatever fitting him for
the discharge of such important duties. Parliament allows
the liberal:sum of £5OO a-year to each of four Depute-Advo-
cates, in order to secure the services of men of talent and
experience to undertake the office of public prosecutors ;
and there is a very long list of able men from which proper
selections could easily be made, and this list is constantly
increasing. Take, for example, each of the last ten
years. In this period the number of now men called to