The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-01 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS.

The week -week opened with a showery and dull day,
anal_ in some near localities rain fell heavily in the
afternoon and also at night. Monday was a close,
warm
day, after the rain in the previous night.
Wind ranged from N.E. to W. ' • thermometer 72
degrees, barometer 30.20 inches. Tuesday was a
hot, forcing day ; windN
to E • thermometer
75 degrees ; barometer rising, already. 30.30 inches;
with early barley, oats, and- Tdavera wheat going
on cuffing in all forward districts. Our advices
from the West Riding of Yorkshire of that date
state :—" Since Friday the weather has been close
and sultry, with but little rain in this neighbourhood.
continue to advance favourably
The crops generally
towards maturity, and the cutting of oats will be
soon commenced among the poor, thin soils, for
which the showers came too late. Barley, too, on
the hilly ground, is changing• colour in patches.
Beans continue to look well, and if corned in pro-
portion to early peas will prove a fair crop in this
district." Another account says :—" Since I wrote
you on Friday night, the weather has been very close
and forcing, with plenty of sun, and now and then
a few showers. Several fields of oats are now cut-
ting round us, and some fields of barley will be.
ready on Monday. Wheat is not so forward, and
will not be ready for the reapers before Monday week,
and then only in the early districts." From Norfolk
—" The weather to-day is hot and forcing ; on Sa-
turday we had a heavy rain. Harvest will be gene-
ral in from seven to ten days." From Lancashire it
was remarked—" With fine hot, forcing weather, in
succession to the rains of last week, grain crops press
on to an immediate maturity. In many districts par-
tial cutting of oats and barley has commenced, and
ten days or a fortnight hence will probably sec us in
the midst of wheat harvest. There are complaints
of the laying of wheat and barley by heavy rains

and storm; but should the weather henceforth prove
favourable, quality will be obtained this season,
however the quantity as a whole may prove. Our
previous accounts of a short yield in France are
fully confirmed this week ; and those from America
are of a less favourable character in some extensive
districts as regards the wheat crop ; prices as well
as rates of freight having simultaneously advanced,
I so as to render the execution of British orders for
the moment impracticable." From the East Riding
of Yorkshire it was : " The weather still continues
very hot, and harvest is now rapidly approaching ;
with a continuance, reaping will commence in this
district in about a week from this present time on
some of the earlier patches, but in the southern
counties farmers are already 'at harvest work."
From Lynn : " The weather to-day is hot and
forcing; on Saturday we had a heavy rain. Harvest
will be general in from seven to ten days." From
Newcastle : " The weather was wet on Tuesday
night, and on Wednesday_ afternoon some more rain
fell ; since then it has been fine and hot. Wind
south and south-west ; to-day north-east." From
Liverpool : " In the early part of the week we had
some rough weather, with occasional heavy rains,
yet these have been considered more beneficial than
otherwise to the grain and root crops generally.
Brilliant weather is the reason of small operations
to-day." Wednesday was a splendid day—hot and
very forcing. Wind, N.E. ; thermometer, 75 de-
grees ; barometer, 30.50 inches. Further advices
state : " Through West Lancashire and West
Cheihire the farmers are busy cutting oats, barley,
and wheat—rather early for us." From Glouces-
tershire our advices say : " The weather is all that
can be desired for the growing crops. Wheat cut-
ting has commenced, and will be very general in the
district by the, end of the week." The weather on
the east and west coast of Scotland was re-
reported to be remarkably. fine for the
crops, which were progressing favourably.
Two or three samples of new wheat appeared at
at Bury St. Edmund's, but from the incessant rains
of Friday and Saturday last, followed by the intense
heat of the past three days, they appeared to be
much injured in colour. On that day it was re-
marked from Nottinghamshire :—" The weather
during the past week has been hot and forcing, and
the growing crops are being pushed on rapidly to
maturity. Reports respecting the wheat crops are
for the most part satisfactory ; indeed, upon the
heavy soils it is looking very well, while on thelight
and thin soil it varies. Barley is coining on exceed-
ingly well and will soon be ready to cut. Oats will not
produce an average. Beaus and peas are very well
spoken of. The root crops and pastures have been
greatly benefited by the late rains." Tuesday was a
hot sultry day, the thermometer at one time regis-
tered 80 degs. in the shade—was thick and threaten-
ing ; but towards the evening a little wind sprang
up, and blowing from the north it becalm cooler and
clearer. Most probably a storm had been experienced
at no great distance, of which, however, we have not
seen any account. From the east part of Berkshire
our information runs—" The harvest progressing
favourably with this splendid weather, and now I
give you what I consider a fairstatement of the crops.
Wheat nearly an average quality variable. Several
pieces have ripened too quickly, and consequently will
be thin and hard. Barley a fair crop, but of very
inferior quality. Spring oats very bad, but winter
oats good. Beans and peas good. Mangel-wurzel
fair. Swedes have been much eaten by the grub and
other insects, consequently theplantis thin. Turnips
promise fairly." Friday was a fine day, not so hot ;
wind N.W., thermometer 74 deg., barometer 30.20 in.
From the W est Riding it was observed, " Since Tues-
day the weather has continued dry, but the tempe-
rature is much lower to-day. Reaping of oats has
commenced where the crops are light, and will soon
be followed by the cutting of barley and wheat, if
the weather keep dry and sunny." From Devonshire
it was observed :—" Harvest is progressing favour-
ably ; cutting corn is general} and in another week,
with settled weather, cutting will be general. It will
require another week or two to speak with confi-
dence as to the yield and quality ; but I am inclined
to think it will be fair, if not heavy." Saturday was
a very fine harvest day, and on the Whole during
this week much -work leas' been accoulplished, -whit°
new grain may be expected to appear as soon as the
farmers can spare time to thrash it out, and the
machines will forthwith be in great requisition.—
Mark-lane Kipre.v.

The Execution of Mrs. Surratt.

(Frwn the Times Corespondent.)

PH I LADELPHIA, July 17.

Nothing at present excites deeper interest in
Ainezica than the case of Mrs. Surratt, who was
hanged for alleged complicity in Mr. Lincoln's
assassination. The people almost universally are
approaching the belief that she was innocent, and
the weight of testimony in her favour is so strong
that Secretary Stanton and his advisers, who urged
her speedy execution, and President Johnson, who
permitted it, must before this have felt the deep
responsibility that rests upon them. Even Welch-
man, the principal Government witness against her,
the man who was permitted, with the knowledge of
the War Department, to remain in her house, and
watch the gradual unfoldings of the plot which he
says was concocted there, without making an effort
to save the President, has printed a statement, for
the purpose of exonerating himself, in which he says
he had no positive knowledge of Mrs. Surratt's
guilt, that he only judged by circumstances, and
that he thinks what he heard in the house will at
least bear him out in proving Mrs. Surratt's con-
nexion with the plot to abduct the President, if she
had nothing to do with the murder. In a matter
of life and death, had the trial been in a civil court,
such testimony as this never could have convicted
Mrs. Surratt. John P. Brophy, a resident of Wash-
ington, has made an affidavit impeaching Welch-
man's testimony at the trial ; hinting that he was
paid for it, and that he coloured it in order to save
his place in the War Department, and detailing
many circumstances showing Weichman's tendency
to falsify matters. Payne, just before he was hanged,
told the Catholic clergymen who attended Mrs. Sur-
ratt that she was an innocent woman, and General
Hartrauft, who had charge of the prisoners, wrote
to the President a short time before the execution :
" The prisoner Payne has just told me that Mrs. Sur-
ratt is entirely innocent of the assassination of President
Lincoln, and of any knowledge thereof. He also states that
she had no knowledge whatever of the abduction plot, that
nothing was ever said to her about it, and her name was
never mentioned by the parties connected therewith. I be-
lieve that Payne has told the truth in this matter."

This letter, with a similar one written by one of
the Catholic priests, was sent to the president by a
messenger on the morning of the execution, but it
did no good. During all the time between the pro-
mulgation of the sentence of the Court and the exe-
cution, Mrs. Surratt declared herself innocent to
every person who visited her. No less than ten dif-
ferent persons who saw her make statements to this
effect. Her confessor on the scaffold says she wished
to tell the people she was innocent, but it would
have been useless, and her last words to him were,
" I am innocent, but God's holy will be done." Mrs.
Surratt was but an ordinary woman, and had the
crime' charged against her been an ordinary one, she
levryhtl
e
Nvould have left the earth with scarce a pitying tear;
but so enormous is the offence laid on her shoulders
that
niiiitgheeopnansseicethesd with itthhe hour
case
r inte-
rest. ev
ura is of
e sh
e
will gone
will most probably be.,found an innocent woman,
the victim of the exe
ll.ieenriebnt of the times, turned
with full fury against
those in power. It is
stated that Secretary Stantony would not permit
spiritual advisers to attend her until they promised
they would not on the scaffold proclaim their belief
in her innocence, and the clergymen have prepared
affidavits to that effect. One of these statements is
that the Rev. Father Walter went to the War-office
to procure a pass to see Mrs. Surratt, but the Sec-
retary being out General „ Thrdie, an assistant adju-
tant-general, promised to send it to Father Walter's
house. It was accordingly sent, being signed "by
order of the Secretary of War" by General Hardie .
In the course of conversation with the messenger
who brought it the Father happened to say he be-
lieved Mrs. Surratt innocent. The statement then
continues :

"In half or perhaps an hour afterwards, General Hardie
himself called at thezesidence of Father Walter, and after
some irrelevant conversation, said—' Father Walter, you

made quite an impression on the mind of my messenger in
regard to the execution of Mrs. Surratt; to which Father
Walter remarked that he was firmly impressed with her
entire innocence. Gen. Hardie then said, 'Father Walter,
the pass you have will not admit you to the military prison
to-morrow, because it is not signed by the Secretary of
War. I want you to make mo a promise to say nothing of
Mrs. Surratt's innocence, and I will give you the necessary
pass.' Father Walter, naturally indignant, immediately re-
fused to accede to Gen. Hardie's demand, giving him to
understand, in the plainest kind of language, that no offi-
cial, civil or military, could enforce his silence on this point;
and remarking that he knew under whose authority he
(Gen. Hardie) was acting. Gen. Hardie, a converted Ca-
tholic, by the way, then said, patronisingly, that as yet
there were no charges lodged against him (Father W.) at
the War Department, to which the latter rejoined that he
might tell his master, Stanton, that he conscientiously be-
lieved Mrs. Surratt guiltless ; that he should proclaim his
belief, and that the War Department might hang him if it
thought proper. Gen. Hardie was about to go without
giving Father W. the pass, when the latter said, General
Hardie, I cannot suffer Mrs. Surratt to die without admi-
nistering the sacrament. I say ' Yes' to your proposition
—give me the pass.' Gen. Hardie then drew from his
pocket a pass duly filled up, and signed by Edwin M.
Stanton, admitting him (Father W.) to the prison until
after the execution."

The great trial as it passes into history of course
gives rise to many a capital romance, and in all
parts of the country novel writers are hard at work
constructing plots upon it. The first book of the
kind is announced in Baltimore in the following
astounding style :--
"Ready, Tuesday, Julyll.—Attention is called to a work
entitled ' The Parricides, or the Doom of the Assassins, the
Authors of a Nation's Loss.' By E. Z. C. Judson, alias
Ned Buntline. It is a complete history of the conspiracy to
assassinate the President, introducing all the assassins and
conspirators. The death sceno, Booth's antecedents, love,
desperation, and death; the militai y execution of Harold,
Payne, Atzorott, and Mrs. Mary E. Surratt. Truthful,
wild, and fearfully exciting. It will be road by everybody.
For sale by Henry Taylor and Co., Sun Iron Building,
Baltimore."

SUMMER ASSIZES.

----
HOME CIRCUIT.-CROYDON, July 31,

The commission for the county of Surrey was opened
to-day in this town. The gaol calendar is not heavy.
Thero are about 20 persons for trial, and with the excep-
tion of two charges of manslaughter, the cases do not ap-
pear to be of a serious character. The cause list will not
be published until to-morrow (Tuesday) morning, but
although, as is usual at the Surrey Summer Assizes, there
will, no doubt, be a great many causes entered, the great
majority of them will eventually be either withdrawn or
settled. At the assizes at this place in 1863 the courts sat
more than four weeks, but it is anticipated that on the pre-
sent occasion the business will not last more than a fortnight.