The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-31 00:00:00

families who &sire to keep servants and live pri-
vately, after the; fashion of the houses of Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Parif 3, and Vienna, the speculation would
not only confer a public benefit, but prove highly
remunerative both now and hereafter to the capi-
talists who should invest their money in it. Specu-
lation, however, does not take this turn at present.
The holders of real estate are alarmed at the pro-
spect of being eaten up with taxes, general and
local, and have no spirit to entertain the idea
of new enterprises. The consequence threatens
to be that Manhattan Island, which is only half
covered with buildings, and which, to the north of
the central-park, presents the appearance of a newly
planned city in the wilderness thinly dotted with
buildings, will be left unfinished, and that the ad-
joining towns and villages, separated from it by the
Hudson and the East River, and the beautiful Bay
of New York, will profit by the greediness or neglect
of the property-holders of the metropolis. A much
better house can be hired in London for £lOO per
annum than can be procured in New York for £3OO.
Yet building speculation is dead unless, as before
stated, for the conversion of dwelling-houses into ware=
houses and stables. Rich and poor suffer alike from
this state of affairs, but the poor, of course, the most
grievously. The rich suffered onlyinconvenience, the
poor suffer from malaria and fever, the consequences
of filth and overcrowding, and a new generation
rising up among them is either carried prematurely
to the grave, or grows up to adolescence and ma-
turity amid all the demoralising and degrading in-
fluences so well understood in the Old World by all
who have ever devoted a thought to the subject of
the dwellings of the people.
The authoritative announcement that Lord Lyons
is not to return to America has been received with
much regret in this city, and with more in Washing-
ton. It is amusing, however, to note the manner in
which the notification that. Sir Frederick Bruce has
been appointed to succeed him has been received by
the principal journals. Much respect has been ex-
pressed for the character and services of Lord Lyons,
not unmingled with a mock regret that he should
have had so hard a time of it as to be compelled to
write more than a folio per week in consequence,
not of his own cacoethes scribendi, but of that of the
versatile and many-sided Secretary of State ; but,
although the matter is somewhat jocularly treated,
there is a real feeling of disappointment that Great
Britain has not thought fit to compliment the
great Republic, in its hour of apparent triumph,
by sending as its representative a man of higher
rank than a mere knight, or even a baronet.
When after "Mr." Crampton's expulsion, the
Court of St. James's heaped coals of fire upon the
head of the Federal Government, and retaliated an
insult by sending it a " Lord," the pride of the
Americans was tickled. Lord Napier was a great
success—not because he was a gentleman, a scholar,
and a man of the world, but because he was a
" Lord." His successor was acceptable for the
same reason, and Lord Lyons, though not so for-
tunate as Lord Napier in having a lady to ingra-
tiate herself with the fashionable society of Wash-
ington, and preside over the elegant hospitalities
of the embassy, was highly esteemed on account of
personal qualities that seemed all the more bril-
liant in Democratic eyes, because they were
allied with a title of nobility. If the British
Government had but sent a Duke—the Duke of
Argyll, for instance—instead of Sir Frederick
Bruce, the choice of an envoy of such high rank
would have been accepted as a proof that England
was at last, and not too early, convinced of the
policy of cultivating the friendship of " our great
country, sir ;" and of establishing an entente cordiale,
of which England would reap all the solid advan-
tages, and America nothing but the placid satisfac-
tion of knowing that her resources were appreciated
and her power feared by the only country in the
world of which Americans entertain anyreal jealousy.
There is, however, another class of people and poli-
ticians who affect to despise rank and title, and who
object to the appointment of Sir Frederick Bruce,
not because he is neither earl, nor marquis, nor duke,
but because he has never been known to them to ex-
press sentiments in any way favourable to America
or to Republican institutions. "If," say some of these
public instructors, " the British Government had
sent either Mr. Cobden or Mr. Bright to represent
it at Washington, the American people would have
known for a certainty that England desired to be
their friend, that it repented of its neglect, to use
a mild word, in having permitted the Florida and
Alabama to escape from its ports and prey upon the
commerce of America, and that in due time it
would pay the little bill for the same without mak-,
ing unpleasant remonstrances, or forcing Mr. Lin-
coln- to invade Ireland, bombard Portsmouth, or
blockade the mouth of the Thames to obtain the
money." In this respect all that need be said is
that Mr. Cobden has been in America, knows the
country, and would have little to learn or unlearn
by a residence at Washington ; but that Mr. Bright
has not enjoyed such advantage. Could the peace-
ful and humble member for the town of swords and
guns take to diplomacy; teach his tongue, as a diplo-
matist should, to conceal at least some of his
thoughts ; not persist in always calling a spade a
spade; become reticent and observant; and accept
the mission to the Federal capital, if Earl Russell
or Lord Palmerston would entrust him with it, there
is little hazard in predicting that after two or three
years of careful study of the working of American
institutions, he would return to his own country a
good patriot, a true Englishman, and a promising
candidate for a high place in the next Conservative
Administration.

MARCH 18.

Two remarkable pronunciamentos are published
this morning—one a message from Mr. President
Davis to the Confederate Congress, the other a speech
by Mr. Lincoln to a crowd in front of the National
Hotel at Washington. Mr. Davis conceals nothing
from the people. He admits candidly that Richmond
was never in such danger from the armies of the
North as at this moment, and earnestly repeats that
courage, perseverance, self-denial, and abiding faith
in th 6 ultimate triumph of the cause are absolutely
necessary to retrieve the fallen, but not yet broken,
fortunes of the South. He breathes no word of sur-
render, but at the same time gives the people and
their representatives to understand that they must
yet make many sacrifices, not only of wealth and
life, but even of their liberty for awhile, if they would
establish their independence beyond the power of
the North, or of any other enemy to overthrow or
impair it. Mr. Lincoln's speech takes no such lofty
or heroic ground ; nor was it necessary that he
should. He nevertheless speaks sensibly and to the
purpose; declares the end of the rebellion to be close
at hand from the exhaustion of the South in men
and means; and administers a caustic rub on the
dislocated back of slavery, by declaring that if one-
fourth of the Southern slaves fight and are willing
to fight for the prolonged enslavement of the other
three-fourths, slavery as an institution will find its
best justification in so strange and abnormal a fact.
gphatv,
iasn, d resumed this
after delivering
mThornereinwg,erteharttlmmreurs.
Jefferson
his message to Congress, had resigned the Presi-
dency, and had been succeeded as General Lee, as
Dictator, amid the acclamati▪
ons of Congress and
people. people. It has not been possi▪ ble to trace the report
to any trustworthy source, though from many indi-
cations derived from the South itis not improbable
that they may prove the forerunners or prefigure..
ment of an event that has not yet happened. The
Northern people have got it into their minds that
General Lee would be more likely to agree to terms
of submission than Mr. Davis, and hence the
rumour has had the effect of greatly increasing the
public confidence that the war is near its close, and
of sending down the premium of gold. The friends
of the South in this city incline to a different
opinion, and insist that the investiture of General
Lee with supreme power would invigorate and en-
courage all classes in the South, fill up the armies,
and indefinitely prolong the struggle.

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ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

WESTERN CIRCUIT—Tm-Tax, March 30.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Crompton) _ .

Henry Fisher was indicted for the wilful murder of Mary
Fisher, his wife, at Bath, on the 6th of January.

Mr. T. W. Saunders and Mr. Murch were counsel for the
prosecution ; Mr. Prideaux defended the prisoner.
The facts were extremely simple. The prisoner was a
journeyman shoemaker, living with his wife at 2, North-
ampton-street, Bath. He had been married 14 yearn, and
he and his wife had always lived together on the, most
comfortable and affectionate terms. They had had one
child, which happily had died some years since. He was
a very well-conducted hard-working man, bearing an ex-
cellent character. It would seem that his mind became
tainted with a melancholy notion that things were coming
to a bad end with him, and that the introduction of machi-
nery in his trade would bring him and his wife to a state
of destitution, poverty, and want. This morbid feeling of
distress and misery he communicated to his wife. They
pondered over it, and one became as much distressed as the
other. They came to a resolution to end their woes by
putting an end to their existence, and the deceased was
heard to say that she should not mind if they could die
together. It did not transpire who was the first to suggest
it, but they determined to take poison, and a quantity of
laudanum was procured at different times and at different
shops.
On Friday, the 6th of January, the prisoner's stepmother,
Mrs. Fisher, called at their lodgings and knocked at the
door of their room, but not obtaining any answer she went
away. She called again in a later part cf the day, but with
the same result. She went again in the evening, and
knocked at the door until a faint voice answered, and
then the prisoner opened the door. She asked him what
was the matter. He replied "I could not help it. She is
not dead, but dying." A light was procured. Mrs. Fisher
said "What have you been about ?" The prisoner replied
"We have taken laudanum by mutual consent. We
worked each other up to it. We have each taken seven
teaspoonful of laudanum." The woman was lying on the
bed in a state of insensibility. Mr. Massey, a surgeon, was
sent for, but the woman never rallied. She lingered from
the Friday to the Sunday, and then she died. The prisoner
was taken to the Bath Hospital, and by great care and skill
was recovered.

The learned Judge, in summing up, observed that it
might be to be regretted that there were not different
punishments for different degrees of murder, but the law
was clear that in such a case as this the offence was that of
murder. If two parties agreed to commit suicide and one
only died, the survivor was guilty of murder.
The jury retired for some time, and on their return into
court gave a verdict of Guilty according to law, but recom-
mended him most strongly to mercy.
The Judge said he agreed in their verdict, and he should
join in the recommendation to mercy ; but still the law re-
quired that he should pass the sentence of death.
The prisoner said he had no feeling of revenge or malice ;
it was their weak minds, not trusting in Providence, as
they ought to have done. Whatever might bo his fate, he
hoped it would be a warning to others.
His Lordship having put on the black cap, sentenced the
prisoner to death with all the usual formalities.
The prisoner looked the picture of misery and despon-
dency.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—LEEDS, March 30.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Willes.)

Dennis Carr, Edward Hall, and Henry Smith were in-
dicted for a garotte robbery upon Mr. Matthew Coulson
Burnby, at Sheffield, on the 23d of December.
Mr. V. Blackburn and Mr. Gully appeared for the prose-
cution ; Mr. Shepherd defended Carr; Mr. Campbell Foster
appeared for Hall ; and Mr. Fitzjames Stephen represented
Smith.

The prosecutor is mineral agent for Earl Fitzwilliam, and
before the occurrence in question had been for some time
in the habit of carrying home from his place of business in
Sheffield to his residence in Victoria-road, Broomhall-park,
in a satchel the money he had taken in the course of the
day, and which generally amounted to from £lOO to £2OO.
On the day in question the strap of the satchel had broken,
and, contrary to his usual custom, Mr. Burnby, when he
set out to go home between 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening,
took no money with him except the loose cash he happened
to have in his pockets. He had got within 200 or 300
yards from his house when he was pulled back from behind
and swung round. He then found himself in the presence
of two men, while a third, who in height and appearance
resembled the prisoner Smith, was watching at a distance.
Of the two men who stood nearest to him, one struck Mr.
Burnby twice on the side of the head with some blunt in-
strument, which Mr. Burnby believed to be a " knuckle-
duster." The other man seized him by the throat and held
him while the first man struck him several blows upon and
below the ribs. Mr. Burnby then became insensible, and
was found shortly afterwards lying on the road. He was
removed to his house, but remained in a dangerous state
for some time, and was not yet recovered from the ill-
treatment ho had received. Upon examination it was dis-
covered that £2 or £3 in silver which Mr. Burnby had in
his pocket, a silver watch, and a gold pin set with an
amethyst had been taken.

The evidence connecting the prisoners with the robbery
was chiefly that of a man naloed Martin Cooper, a watch-
maker, who stated that on tho night in question, between 7
and 8 o'clock, the prisoners Hall and Carr came to his house,
which was about three quarters of a mile distant from the
scene of the robbery. Hall produced a silver watch bearing
the same name and number as that taken from Mr. Burnby,
and Carr a gold pin with an amethyst in it, which he
handed to the witness, saying, "By - ! be careful with
it, for there's 20 years and a good flogging for it." Cooper
then, by Hall and Carr's directions, broke up the pin and
erased the name and number from tho watch, washing it over
with aqua fortis to give the scratches the appearance of
age. The men then asked Cooper if he would give 30s. for
the watch, which he agreed to do. On the following even-
ing Hall and Carr came again, and were shortly joined by
Smith, and subsequently by a man named Skinner. While
Smith was out of the room Hall said to Cooper, iu the pre-
sence of Carr, "Can you pay me for that watch and pin ?"
Cooper then gave Hall the 305., and Hall having given Carr
10s. said, " It's a fine lot for five of us to be in. We expected
to get £100." The next morning Cooper saw an account of
the robbery in the papers, and, taking the watch to Smith,
asked him to hide it. Smith did so, and kept it for some
days, until Cooper went to him again, and having obtained
the watch, laid it in a hedge bottom. He then went to the
police and gave information which led to the apprehension
of the prisoners.

Upon cross-examination Cooper admitted that he had been
charged with a burglary at Mr. Myers's at Sheffield, when
£5,000 of jewellery was stolen, but was acquitted. In last
January he was apprehended along with two other men
named Silvester and Jones, having been caught in Mr. Fur-
ness's grounds as they were about to attempt a burglary
but he stated that he had himself given the information
which led to the capture and had borne testimony against
the other two when they were convicted. He said that,
finding himself getting more and more deeply implicated
with Hall and Carr, and men of a similar character, his
conscience pricked him, and he had resolved to give infor-
mation. He denied that he had himself taken any part in
the attack upon Mr. Burnby.

This witness was corroborated in some of the particulars
Of his account byhis wife and his brother-in-law, who were
present at one or other of the conversations between Cooper
and Hall and Carr. In consequence of Cooper's revelations
Carr was apprehended, when a knuckle-duster was found
upon him. Hall was also taken after a desperate resistance,
and in his possession was found another knuckle-duster
and a life-preserver.
At the close of the prosecution,
The learned Counsel for the defence contended that
there was no evidence against the men for whom they re-
spectively appeared, except the uncorroborated testimony
of accomplices, and Mr. Campbell Foster cited a case of
" The King against Neale," in the 7th volume of " Car-
rington and Payne's Reports," in which Mr. Justice Parke
is reported to have held that the testimony of the wife of
an accomplice is no confirmation of the evidence of the
husband, and that when there is no other corroborative
evidence the prisoner ought to be acquitted.
His Lordship observed that this was contrary to all his
notions. He did not think that because a wife knew that
her husband had stolen property in her house and did not
at once go and give information to the police she was not
to be believed upon her oath. He must suppose that the
case referred to had been misreported. Moreover, he was
of opinion that in this case there was corroborative evidence
independent of that given by Cooper's wife and brother-
in-law.

For the defence it was contended on behalf of Hall and
Carr that they had nothing to do with the robbery, that
Cooper could not be credited, and that his evidence was not
sufficiently corroborated to make it safe for the jury to rely
upon it.

For Smith, against whom the case, so far as it depended
on Cooper's evidence, was weaker, witnesses were called
for the purpose of establishing an alibi.
Tho trial was not concluded till 4 o'clock, when the jury
retired to consider their verdict. After an absence of 25
minutes they returned into court and found Carr and Hall
guilty of the robbery, and Smith guilty of receiving the
goods knowing them to have been stolen.
All the prisoners have been previously convicted.
Carr was sentenced to penal servitude for life, Hall for
20, and Smith for five years.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LivEnrooL, March 30.
CROWN SIDE.
(Before Mr. Justice Mellor.)
Henry Dapper Grey, Henry Webb Channon, and David
James were yesterday charged, the two former with having
burglariously broken and entered the dwellinghouse of
William Critchley, and stolen therefrom a great quantity
of watches, rings, chains, and other articles of jewelry to
the value in all of £1,800; and the latter with having re-
ceived the property knowing it to be stolen. A man called
Augustus Douglas was also in custody charged with being
concerned in the burglary, but there not being sufficient
evidence against him he was not put upon his trial, and he
was discharged on the conclusion of the case.
Mr. Aspinail, Q.C., and Mr. W. C. Gully were the counsel