The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDOII, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 23, 1862.

the Huguenots on that day by the Church of Rome
and CHARLES IX. will be, we may presume, but
lightly noticed. The theme will be the one on
which we have already had many public lectures in
London itself, as well as throughout the country,
and on which also a sort of "Bicentuary" literature
of tracts and larger volumes has begun to appear.
It is perfectly natural that Dissenters should

thus do honour to the memory of their forefathers.
The attempt to prove that they are not the founders
of modern dissent, is historically, an unworthy and
futile course. Dissenters have advanced on the
notions of their ancestors, as we all have, we may
hope, on the notions held two hundred years ago.
But they have advanced at least logically and con-
sistently. The 2,000 refused the service and church
created by the State ; they did not perceive it at the
time, but assuredly the only consistent consequence
of such an act is to deny the right of the State to
prescribe a service and church system.
Thisally
inevitable consequence soon became both logically
and practically apparent to them, and they natu-
rallytateChurchmen.
became not
I‘,
only,
Methodists,
Nonconformistshedis
ta, en
the but
contrary,A nti
Anti-
State
were not turned out. They began with supple-
menting what they held tobeC
ahusrcbhut a
defiscuiepnpclee.
supple-
ment to the C
s,
and they still regard themselves
of
England.o
Probablyr
to
w be
learned from the
B a
of 1662 is the folly of Acts of
Uniformity great
t
lesson
coercion in matters of religion.
The he the Church
s.d:fy ea
Episcopal party of that day got the
upperhand,
and
and improved it by passing an Act,
of, which its chief promoter said " we will make
them knaves if they conform." Most of what all now
generally regard as the deformities of the Prayer-
book are due to this purpose. The result is ever-
lasting scruples of conscience and secessions from
the Church on the part of good men, like-minded
with ,the 2,000, and in the end the existence of a
powerful body numerically as strong as the Church,
and hostile to it. Could the bishops of that day
have foreseen all, they would have let the 2,000
die out in their livings, and concocted a Prayer.
book of a simple character, one, at least, more free
from the Popish element; while a large amount
of freedom would have been preferred to a
childishly minute, yet tyrannically rigid uni-
formity.

The result of.the coroner's inquest yesterday upon
the bodies of Mr. BARRETT and his two young
daughters, who were suffocated on the morning of
the 15th instant during the lamentable fire which
then broke out in Mr. BARRETT'S dwelling-house
near the Marble Arch, must be regarded—as but
too often happens with reference to coroner's inquests
—as in the highest degree unsatisfactory. After a
very careful and lengthened investigation abso-
lutely nothing whatever comes of it. Witnesses
are examined in abundance. All particulars that
can in any way bear upon the calamity, either directly
or indirectly, are collected together as to a focus—in
order to throw as much light as possible upon what
was previously dark or doubtful in respect to this
melancholy occurrence. The newly elected Coroner,
Dr. LANKESTER, shows himself more conspicuously
if possible than he has ever before done, to be a
man singularly fitted to occupy that responsible
post as Mr. WAKLEY'S successor : and this almost
equally by reason of his particular aptitude and of
his general intelligence. The Jury are patient and
watchful throughout the proceedings. Policemen,
firemen, escape conductors, insurance agents, do-
mestic servants, and " medical practitioners" es
they are called, meaning the surgeon (Mr.
ARCHER), and the physician (Dr. SPURGIN), who
were, at the time of the calamity, summoned to
the assistance of the deceased—one after another
all these various individuals are subjected to avery
deliberate and scrupulous examination. And—yet
as the upshot of it all—what is the verdict? The
value of it is just simply nil. "Accidental death
by fire and suffocation, but how and by what
means the fire originated there was no evidence to
show." Not a syllable more—not one word of ap-
propriate comment or timely advice ! Not a hint of
blame to anyone—though one or two, if not more,
must, in honest truth, be pronounced to have been
most blameable ! That the cause of any fire is not
to be discovered in any given instance cannot, of
course, be deemed in any way a matter of surprise.
It would at any rate be most unfair to take it as a
plea for our reprehending of any man. But when
the origin of a catastrophe, like the one now referred
to, remains to the last utterly undiscernible, some
wholesome moral, some practical result in the way
of warning for the future, might at least be de-
duced from the circumstances of the occurrence.

The unfortunate gentleman who perished so
miserably with two of his children upon this
melancholy occasion—the elder of these children
being but " ten," the younger not yet " four"—
quite manifestly owed his own death and those of
his little daughters to the total loss of what is
termed presence of mind. Every reasonable pre-
caution against fire was seemingly there to guard
the household. It was a household to all appear-
ance singularly orderly in its arrangements. The
members of this household had assembled at ten
o'clock, according to custom, on the 14th inst., at
family prayers. By eleven they had all retired to
rest—not, however, until the master of the house
had (again according to custom) gone his rounds
to see that all was safe. There was a stone
staircase, connecting all the floors of the mansion
from garret to basement. There were means of
escape—through the trap-door in the roof, along the
leads and over a parapet. Fire-escapes were there,
moreover, within a very few moments after the
first alarm was given. According to the evidence
of the policeman who gave that alarm scarcely four
minutes could have elapsed before Mr. BARRETT,
the master of the house, came to the door in answer
to the summons. Twice the unfortunate deceased
appeared there—at the open street door—once in
answer to the policeman, once in answer to the
summons of a neighbour—and yet, after all, he and
his two children were allowed to perish. Simply
because in his confusion (probably to prevent the
draft from fanning the conflagration in to greater fury)
he had, by a grievous blunder, looked the street door
again on the inside. Close to that door his dead
body is found, and with it the body of his eldest child
—the latter still breathing. They are so close to the
door when they are discovered that their bodies
have to be moved before the door can be opened.
Entrance being first made to effect this movement
by the crashing away of one of the panels of the
door with a hatchet ! .A means of access to them—
from the first—within the reach of the firemen.
Yet a means only resorted to when too late, when
utterly useless. It is idle to say that the danger of
the sufferers was unknown to those outside. The
evidence clearly establishing the fact that their
all which, the
screams for help were distinctly audible. Besides
:ariecussttruPesda:inalbsYin:dnieoa in
fie
jo,efmthaen to descend from
deceased gentlemen and his eldest
fdoaru
tghhetierr
for the loss of which the escape it now appears had yet another chance
con-
ductor would almost
heThhoeuysernaid's
appear to be to a certain extent
(the father and daughter) were
younger children were being as-
fire
escape. sleeping Yet
telos room,etcaweeheaunr theby
the window
455444110 e by means
throughna emean
tthheat
fire
ope....close
to

of the hatchet, plied only when too late, against
the panel of the street door--the father and the
child were allowed to perish ! Something more
satisfactory, in the way of a conclusion, might
surely have come from the Coroner's in-
quest yesterday, after a dispassionate con-
sideration of all these facts—something more
satisfactory than the utterly valueless verdict ar-
rived at by the jury. To that verdict, at any
rate, a recommendation might reasonably have
been appended, enforcing the necessity of
a readier use of their hatchets by the
firemen, particularly upon the panneliing of doors
within which screams are clearly audible—and
for the exercise of yet greater promptitude and
vigilance on the part of the fire escape conductors
in regard to those actually within the range of their
sight and hearing, in the very room against the
window-ledge of which their " escape" is actually
resting. Had either precautionary means been
more vigorously adopted on the morning of the
fifteenth instant, Mr. BARRETT and his eldest
daughter might still have been in existence.

The Prince Zagiell has arrived at Maurigy's
Hotel, from Edinburgh.

The Duke of St. Albans has arrived at Long's
Hotel.

The Duke and Duchess de Galliera, accom-
panied by their son, have arrived at Brown's Hotel.

His Excellency the Count Piperno has left the
Brunswick Hotel, Jormyn-street, for Switzerland.

His Excellency M. A. De Clerey, accompanied
by M. C. L. David and M. Kindelan, has arrived at
Maurigy's Hotel, from Paris,
General Le Comte and Madame Milochevitch
have arrived at the Brunswick Hotel, from the Isle of
Wight.

Count M. van Limburg Stirum, aide-do-camp to
his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, has arrived at
Brown's Hotel.

The Countess and Madlle. De I'lsle and Madame
Bouranoff have arrived at the Brunswick Hotel, Jermyn-
street, from. Paris.

L. le President Turkutt, accompanied by M.
Venceslas Preszyuski and M. Ortowaki, have arrived at
Maurigy's Hotel, from Paris.
THE BIRTH OF THE LAST PRUSSIAN PRINCE.—
The _Bourse Gazette of Berlin says :—" The delivery of the
Princess Royal took place with extraordinary rapidity.
Baron de Schleinitz, Minister of the King's Household,who
has held himself in readiness for the last fortnight to pro-
ceed to Potsdam to certify as to the birth, onlyarrived when
all was over. It was the same with Lord Loftus, the Eng
lish Ambassador, although he has taken up his residence at
Potsdam."

We understand that Brevet-Major T. C. Dunbar,
of the 75th Regiment, is likely to be selected for the office
of Assistant-Inspector of Army Clothing under Colonel
Daubeney,— Army and Navy Gazette.
ILLNESS OF THE JUDGES AT THE LIVERPOOL
ASSIZES.-Mr. Baron Wilde, who since the commencement
of the Liverpool assizes has evidently been very unwell, and
has been obliged to close the court on several occasions very
early in the day, did not appear at all yesterday in the
Crown Court. It had been arranged that the Ashton mur-
der case should be tried in the morning, but at half-past 9
it was announced that his lordship had found himself unable
to attend to business, and had gone to London, and the
Ashton case was therefore postponed until Monday. Mr.
Justice Mellor, who has been sitting in the nisi prius court,
was also very unwell yesterday, and did not take his seat on
the bench until 10 o'clock, though he had arranged to open
the business at 9.

THE REPRESENTATION OF STOKE,—The death of
Mr. Ricardo has created a vacancy in the representation of
the borough of Stoke-on-Trent. On Thursday an invita-
tion was sent to the Hon. Leveson Gower, formerly mem-
ber for Stoke, but now member for Bodmin, and who was
defeated at the last election by Mr. Copeland. When our
information left Stoke no answer had been received. If Mr.
Gower consents to stand there is no probability of any con-
test. If he declines it is probable that Mr. Sergeant Shee
will offer himself in the Liberal interest.—Birmingham
Daily Post.
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.—The attend-
ance on the high-priced days now begins to show a tendency
to fall off. For the last two or three weeks the numbers on
every Friday and Saturday have been going steadily lower,
and premise to become still more attenuated as the season
advances and visitors leave town. Yesterday the total was
only 23,615, of which 5,998 were by season tickets, and
17,617 by payment. After all that has been said on the
subject of opening the building on Saturday for a shilling,
and the certainty of the beneficial results that would ac-
crue to the Commissioners' exchequer from such a course,
it has at last been decided that no alteration will be made.
To the close, therefore, Saturday will remain as now a half-
crown day, though another month is certain to reduce the
payments on such occcasions to a very nominal sum in-
deed.

The London and North-Western Railway Com-
pany have issued a notice that they are now prepared to
make arrangements for the conveyance of bodies of work-
men and their wives and children, in numbers of not less
than 250, to London and back from all parts of their line
for a sum as small as Os., and for ss. when the parties are
not less than 300. These excursions will be conveyed in
special trains, and will be allowed to return on any one day
that may be agreed upon, within one week from the date
of the ticket. The company will only treat with the heads
of firms or persons delegated by them, and will require a
certificate that the parties availing themselves of these
arrangements are bona fide employed in one establishment,
or ara members of the families of workmen employed by the
firm.

THE DUBLIN AND MEATH RAILWAY.—On Thurs-
day the Duke of Leinster and Earl Russell and party tra-
velled by special train over the Dublin and Meath Railway
between Dunboyne and Bective stations, returning in the
evening from Bective to Dunboyne en route for the Duke of
Leinster's seat near Maynooth. The train throughout the
two journeys travelled at the rate of 40 miles an hour, and
both the Duke and Earl expressed their gratification with
the journey. They were accompanied by Richard Bolton,
Esq., a director of the company, and Mr. J. Broughton,
the general manager. It is fully expected the line will
be open for public traffic by the 29th instant.—. Freeman's
Journal,
COLLISION ON THE LONDON AND NORTH-
WESTERN RAILWAY.—On Thursday evening the express
train which leaves London for Manchester at 2.45 p.m.,
ran into a train of empty carriages, immediately after
passing through the Bletchley station. The empty car-
riages were being shunted at the time. Fortunately, the
driver and guard saw the obstacle in front of them and
immediately applied the braaks. This had the effect of
checking the speed of the passenger train, and proportion-
ately lessened the force of the collision. As it was, several
of the passengers sustained some severe cuts about the
head, and were so much shaken and injured as to necessi-
tate their being left behind. An eye-witness describes the
escape as almost miraculous, and due, in a great measure,
to the prompt action of the driver and his assistant and the
guard. The train was detained for two hours.
A CHILD CRUSHED TO DEATH ON THE CHAIRING-
CROSS RAlLWAY.—Yesterday afternoon Mr. Payne held
an inquest at Guy's Hospital on the body of George Web-
ster, a child eight years of age, who was crashed to death
on the Charing. cross Railway. From the evidence of Mrs.
Bird, of Jane-street, Gravel-lane, Southwark, it appeared
that at half-past two o'clock on Wednesday afternoon she
was passing the works of the Charing-cross Railway Com-
pany, near Gravel-lane,when she heard a scream from seve-
ral children. She went to the place, and there saw the de-
ceased child fall from between the " bumpers," or wooden
projectors, of two railway trucks that were used for the
purpose of bringing bricks and other materials on the line,
but at the time these trucks were empty. The jury re-
turned a verdict of " Accidental death."

RUNNING TIIE BLOCKADE.—The following is
an instance of shrewdness on the part of the blockade•run-
ning captain, from the New York low nal of Commerce
" I have received information that the British steamer
Minho, 800 tons, arrived at Nassau from Charleston, S.C.,
having entered that port with a valuable cargo, intended
chiefly for the defence of that city, of which the following
memorandum has been furnished me :-5,000 Enfield rifles,
100 tons best water-proof English powder,flve(2oopounders)
rifle Whitworth cannon (ordered expressly for the defence
of Charleston), a stock of medicine which cost in London
£B,OOO, with other cargo of various classes of munitions,
Sec., besides which she took from Nassau, " freight free,"
for the Confederate Government, 50,000 pairs of blankets
and a large lot of soldiers' shoes. The Minho, which be •
longs to an English house, is said to have cleared this voy
age (including 550 bales of cotton, delivered in Nassau on
return voyage,and already shipped in London),near 600,000
dollars.

THE CASE OF SHOOTING AT ISLEWORTII—On
Monday week George Messenger was examined before the
magistrates at Breutford, on a charge of causing the death
of a young woman named Annie Barnham, by shooting her
through the head at Isleworth, Ihe prisoner was proved
by the witnesses not to be the man who committed the
murder, and suspicion fell on Robert Cooper, alias Baker,
alias Charles Copeland, alias Bailey, alias George Barn-
ham, the reputed husband of the deceased, and a deserter.
from various regiments. As ho had absconded a reward
of £lOO was offered for his apprehension by Government
He was captured last night, between 10 and 11 o'clock, by
the police, under the direction of Inspector Foulger, in
the Isle of Dogs, where he had been employed as a labourer,
and was immediately forwarded to Isleworth for examina-
tion. The prisoner was brought before the magistrates
this morning, and after sQWQ evidence load been gil'OP,
reunadcd,

LATEST NEWS.

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA

Iye, Times, have received the following telegram
from our own correspondent at Cork, dated August

22, 6 15 p.m.:-

(PEA AUSTRALIAN.)
NEW YORK, AUG. 13.

General Stonewall Jackson, in command of the
Confederate forces in the Valley of the Shenandoah,
attacked on Saturday evening last the advanced
guard of General Pope's army, under the command
of Gen. Banks, at Culpepper Court-house. General
Banks held his ground until reinforced by the main
army under General Pope. The loss was severe on
both sides, amounting to about 3,000 killed and
wounded and I,COO prisoners. Both parties claim
a victory, but it was at the best a drawn battle,
leaving the Confederates in the best position to re-
new the conflict when it suited them.
The New York ,Journal exclaims against General
Pope for suffering himself to be taken unawares.
Pope himself and his staff narrowly escaped cap-
ture.

General Pope reports that Stonewall Jackson
retreated yesterday across the Rapidan.

The Confederate ram Arkansas, in attempting to
run down the Mississippi from Vicksburg, past
Baton Rouge, was attacked by the Federal flotilla.
She suffered considerable damage in her machinery
and was obliged to run ashore. To save her from
capture she was blown up and abandoned by her
officers.

Baton Rouge was captured.by the Confederates
under General Breckinridge.
The guerilla warfare continues in the Border
States.
The Canadian Parliament is summoned to meet
on the 28th inst.

Gold continues at 14 per cent. premium.
The Treasury postage currency for se. (21d.) is
to be ready at the end of the week..

QUEENSTOWN, AUG. 22.

The Royal Mail steamer Australasian, from New
York on the 13th inst., arrived here at 3 40 p,m.,
with 34 passengers and 389,616 in specie.

She landed 83 sacks of mails and five passengers,
and proceeded for Liverpool at 355 p.m.; all well.

(Per Australasian, via Roche's" Point.)
NEW YORK, AUG. 13, MORNING.
The Confederates show no signs of attacking
Gen. M'Clellan ; they are moving large forces to
the south side of the James River.
Nothing later from the Virginia Valley since the
report of General Jackson retreating across the
Rapidan.
Rumours are current at Fort Monroe concerning
the safety of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Portsmouth.
The Confederates have captured independence,
Missouri, with a large quantity' f mility stores.
Morgan's guerillas have captured Gallatin, Ten-
nessee.
The Southern papers report that the Confederates
under Breckinridge had taken Batten Rouge on the
6th, after defeating the Federal forces and cap-
turing their camp equipage and stores.
The Federal General Williams was killed.
General Breckinridge afterwards retired to Col-
lett's River, 10 miles from Baton Rouge, there being
n o water between that point and the Mississippi.
Southern journals also claim a victory at Taze-
well, near Cumberland Gap, where the Federals
were repulsed with heavy slaughter.
The Federal General Phelps has resigned at New
Orleans, because General Butler refused to supply
arms for equipping negroes.
The Confederates have again emphatically re-
fused the inhabitants of Louisiana permission to
trade with New Orleans,
The British prize steamer Ladona has arrived at
Philadelphia.
The Scotia, City of Baltimore, and Bavaria have
arrived out.

PARIS, AUG. 22.

The Paris journals of this evening say, orders
have been sent to the squadron of evolution in the
Mediterranean to return to Toulon, where it will
remain at the dispoaiticn of the Government.
The reason for this order is the state of affairs in
Italy.
The Constitutionne/of this evening, in an article
signed by its chief editor, M. Limayrac, maintains
that the pressing interest of Italy is to subdue
extreme revolution. "The possession of Rome, or
even of Venice," continues the article, " would not
restore tranquillity, and it is the duty of Italian
statesmen to persist in the energetic policy they
have adopted.

TURIN, AUG. 22.

The Official Gazette of to-day publishes the fol-
lowing report, addressed by the Ministry to the

King :

" General Garibaldi has raised the standard of
rebellion. Your Majesty's name and that of Italy
serve only to veil the intentions of European
demagogy. The cries of Rome or Death !' are
senseless insults to our glorious ally, and retard the
only possible accomplishment of our unanimous
wishes. As General Garibaldi remains deaf to your
voice, and unmoved by the thought of lighting up
civil war, energetic action has become necessary.
The rebellion of Garibaldi imposes upon us the ne-
cessity of treating the country occupied by volun-
teers as a country occupied or threatened by an
enemy. We, therefore, advise ycur Majesty to
proclaim a state of siege. The Ministry accept the
responsibility of this measure."

The Discussiotze of to-day says :
" Some Italian cruisers have captured in Cata-
nian waters a foreign vessel laden with arms. The
Royal troops have assembled in considerable force
near Catania."

TURIN, AUG. 22.

The Turin papers of to-day state that a military
force consisting of 60 battalions of infantry, 11 bat-
teries of artillery, and three regiments of cavalry,
will shortly be assembled in Sicily, under the com-
mand of General Cialdini.