The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-11 00:00:00

TRADE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

The annual report transmitted to the Foreign- office in
May by the British Consul at Philadelphia, Mr. Kortright,
states that the trade and commerce of that city have suffered
considerably since the civil war began, but, notwithstanding
the general derangement of business, the trade with the
interior has been maintained duriag the past year at an
unexpectedly high standard, the roads to Philadelphia being
crowded to their utmost capacity with agricultural produce
and other heavy freight. The main cause of the decline of
general trade at Philadelphia, once the first commercial city
of the Union, is that its capital has been chiefly directed to
manufacturing interests ; it has assumed the rank of the
largest manufacturing city in the States. Its population is
now at least 600,000, and above 100,000 adults are engaged
strictly in manufactures. Taking from its total produc-
tion every article of consumption, there are goods made
and distributed to all parts of the States and of the
world to the value of £20,000,000. Pennsylvania pro-
duces every agricultural crop and cereal grain of the
temperate zone. The average product of wheat is pro-
bably 15 bushels an acre, but on the best farms 50 bushels
are a common yield, at about 601 b. per bushel. The
State comprises 47,000 square miles, and had a popula-
tion in 1860 of 2,913,041; Scotland, two-thirds of the size,
has a rather larger population. The public debt of the
State is 1,15,666,000, the t ,tal valuation of real estate and
personal property taxable for State purposes was
t 113,810,000 ; last year the tax upon the same was £295,875
and the number of taxables, 642,462. The most noticeable
product just now is petroleum. The wild regions from Lake
Erie to the Ohio are being made vast fields of industry by
the procure' sof this oil. The yield is so great that the
refineries are totally inadequate to the calls upon them, and
large quantities of the oil are shipped to distant markets
both in the States and in Europe in its crude state, but in
this condition it is very inflammable and explosive. In the
oairle 1: numerous. In one of these casualties 15 per-
sons were killed instantly, and some 13 very severely
severely wounded. The cost of the oil at the wells is about
xgtrernell
a halfpenny a gallon; when barrelled, refined, and trans-
ported, about £2 per barrel of 33 gallons. The process of
obtaining the oil is very simple; the explorer digs a well
and places a pump in it, and in many instances a steam en-
gine is erected over it. The deeper the wells are sunk, up
to 1,500 feet, the greater the supply of oil. The supply in
Oil Creek, the chief field, is stated to be 75,000 barrels a
month, but the entire oil districts would doubtless furnish
200,000 barrels a week. The amount shipped from the
Federal States in the first quarter of 1862 was 73,282 barrels,
of which 15,700 barrels went from Philadelphia.

FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT AT THE NEW LAMBETH-.
BRIDOE.—This morning an accident occurred at the works
at present going on at the new Lambeth• bridge, by which
it is feared two lads have met their death. The cause of the
accident was the falling of a scaffolding erected underneath
one of the arches,, by which unfortunate circumstance a
number of workmen were precipitated into the river and
c scaffoldingvEL L lobefore e i t
Ronly rescued after very great exertion. The two lads miss-
ing, and who it is feared have been drowned, were last seen
alive
non E theS.—Under the
influence of modern picturesque writers, we look, for the
most part, on the men who signed the death-warrant of
Charles I. as a set of iron enthusiasts, glorying in what
they did, and incapable of resorting to any defence which
would admit their conduct to be eriminal. This impression
is cor firmed as to some of them by the reports of their trials,
but not as to the majority. Gen. Harrison behaved with
Ithe most unflinching audacity, avowing and justifying all
that he had done. Scroop and Carew also behaved with
great courage ; but Cook, who had acted as eounsel against
the king, resorted to every sort of quibble in his defence,
land went so far as to say, " I acted as a counsellor in my
own particular for my fee ; it was avaritia, but not onalitta,
falso, nor malttiose, nor p oditorie." Hugh Peters, who
Ihad preached fanatically violent sermons against the king,
equivocated, begged for mercy, and quibbled about unim-
portant details in a very pitiful manner. Axtell also, who
commandod the guard during the trial, and, according to
the direct testimony of several eye-witnesses, forced his
soldiers, by beating them with his cane, to cry out for jus-
tice and afterwards for execution, denied that he had done
so, and declared he struck them to keep them quiet, saying,
" I will justice, I will execution you." The differences in
the behaviour of these men are evidence that it was only in
a few instances that the enthusiasm of the times carried
those whom it affected out of the ordinary range of charac-
ter any feeling. Several of the actors in this the
_roe:at
memorable incident in our history seem to have.
thoroughly common-place view of it, and Cook
lar argued the whole subject as if he had be.aeln
the Counsel
any point of law. The readiness withe
struck into
on the other side, and the judges onetttic.
It is remarkable
the same view, is highly eharaostefriailed to show the most
that hardly any of the prisoners
where all of them
an
p :eon;
perfect courage at their No doubt the trial
than the execution, where
• was a far harder test of courage k
ht 88Y 'you'll ma o
any difference. At
avowed and justified their
no hing that they trig-
take than
ore at 13 a. an execution, and
a trial there is
pworturtity for acting,--CotnhiU MagaZia
there is less P
for SoPtcall"r• e:oencluct.