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

AGRICULITIRAL PRO3PECTS.

The week opened with a showery and dull clay,
will in some near localities rain fell heavily in the
afternoon and L L
also at, nigut, Monday was a close,
warm day, after the rain in the previous night.
Wind ranged from 1•1. E. -to W. ; thermometer 72
degrees, barometer 30.20 inches. Tuesday was a
hot, forcing day ; wind N.E.
to E. ;thermometer
75 degrees ; barometer rising, already 30.30 inches;
with early barley, oats, and Talavera
wheatgoing
on cutting in all forward districts.
Our advice,
from the West Riding of Yorkshire of that date
state :—" Since Friday the weather has been close
and sultry, with but li ale rain in this neighbourhood.
The crops generally continue to advance favourably
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 rea,ly for the reapers before Monday week,
and then only in the early district." 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 see 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 he 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 ; rrices as well
as rates of freight having simultaneously advanced,
so as to render the execution of British orders for
the moment impracticable." From the East Biding
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
Cheshire the farmers are bus; 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 genera/ in the
district by the end of the week." The weather on
the cast 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 wh6at 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 trOm 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 mithelight
and thin soil it varies. Barley is coming on exceed-
ingly well and will soon be ready to cut. Oats will not
produce an average. Beans and peas arc 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 Begs. in the shade—was thick and threaten-
ing ; but towards the evening a little wind sprang
Up, and blowing from the north it became 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'quiekly, 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 tilt:plant is thin. Turnips
promise fairly." Friday was a fine day, not so hot;
wind N. W. , thermometer 74 deg., barometer3o.2o ia.
From the West Ridingit was obser Ved, Sin ce
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 .yiela and quality ; am inclined
to think it will be fair, if not heavy." Saturday was
a very fine harvest day, and on the whole (luring
this IVC:*1111W11 work its ht_ it accomplished, while

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.—

I At

The Execution of Mrs. ~',urraft,

(Prom IL; Ti

w'I(:1;(!1

Puti.ADELviti,k, July 17.

Nothing presmt cxcitc..; deeper interest ill
America 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 Weich-
man, the principal Government witness against her,
the man Avila 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 Weich-
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 Wcichman'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
llartrauft, 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. if,: 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 there With. 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 her Self innocent to
every person who visited her. No less than ten dif-
ferent persons who saw her make statements to this
effect. Herconfessor 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
wbiottul socl have left the earth with scarce a pitying tear;
It
enormous
s the offence laid on her shoulders
that everything connected
0 "withtiw hourherc are goneaseisof
she
inte-
rest. When the passions
will most probably be found an innocent woman,
the victim of the excitement of the times, turned
with full fury against her by those in power. It is
stated that Secretary Stanton 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 there statements is
that t!,Rev. Father IVikiler Went to the War-office
to procure a pass to see Mrs.
irr
aantta;,sbsitsttilticS crotary being out General Hari
adju-
tant-general, promised to send it to Father Waiter'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 the residence 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 tho execution of Mrs. Surratt,' to which Father
Walter remarked that ho 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 me 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 know 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 ho conscientiously be-
lieved Mrs. Surratt guiltless ; that he should proclaim his
belief, and that the War Department might hang him if it
thought proper. Gon. 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 mo 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, Julyl.l.—Attention is called to a work
entitled The Parricides, or the Doom of the Assassins, the
Authors of a Nation's Loss.' By E. C. Judson, alias
Ned Buntline. It is a complete history of tho conspiracy to
assassinate the President, introducing all the assassins and
conspirators. The death scene, Booth's antecedents, love,
desperation, and death; the military execution of Harold,
Payne, Atzerott, 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.—CRoYDaN, July 31,

. _ .
The commission for the county of Surrey was opened
to-day in this town. The gaol calendar is not heavy.
There 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.

NORFOLK CIRCUIT.-01131131tIDGE, July 31.

Her Majesty's judges of assize came from Huntingdon
on Saturday, and the Lord Chief Baron opened the com-
mission. There are 15 prisoners fox trial and seven cause;
of which three are to be decided by special juries.

enowN Coma.
(Before the Lord Chief Baron.)
George Cox, a shepherd, was charged with stealing 20
sheep, the property of his master, 'William W. Asplen, of
Cherry Hintoh.
Mr. Naylor appeared for the prosecution ; Mr. Cockerell
defended the prisoner.
The prisoner was to have been tried at the last quarter
sessions, but upon the motion of his counsel the trial was
postponed. At the Spring assizes held at Huntingdon this
year, the prisoner was tried for stealing 20 sheep, the pro-
perty of a Mr. Reynolds, and acqUitted. Tho facts of the
case really are that the sheep the subject of that indict-
ment
were used to replace 20 sheep missed from Mr.
Asplen's flock, for on Mr. Reynolds selecting and identify-
ing the sheep it was found that 20 of Mr. Asplen's were
missing. The defence upon that Occasion was that the
sheep being in fields near Mr. Asplen's farm had got mixed
with his flock. What had become of the twenty missing
was a mYstery. Since the former trial inquiries have
been Made, and to-day witnesses were called who bought
of the prisoner in November last four sheep, and another
witness proved buying five of him in December. This
leaves 11 unaccounted for, and as the master, Mr. Asplon,
swore that the nine sheep were sold without.his knowledge
or authority, and that he was .mfver told of the sale, the
case for the prosecution was that they formed part of the
20 stolen from him. The prisoner contrived to get rid of
three of the sheep by driving 13 to market instead of 10, as
ordered by his master. One of the sheep he sold was dis-
eased, and the man who bought it on cross-examination
said he bought it cheap, and sent it to Newgate,maiket for
side. The usual price, he said, for good mutton was Bd.
.per lb., but for this he could only get 6d.
After hearing the summing up of the learned judge, the
tit) CUL, TC:Cd

Sarah 'Timm.;, a resretable-looking woman, 65 years of
ago, was eltargid with feloniously setting fire to the dwel-
ling-house of Jane lirimley, at Whittlesea, in the Isle of
Ely, on the 12th April last.
Mr. O'Malley, Q.C., and Mr. Markby appeared fur the
prosecution; Mr. Naylor defended the prisoner.
The fire took place about half-past 4 in the afternoon,
and was .discovered by some children at play. Smoke was
s-cn issuing from the roof of the cottage- in the occupation
of the prosecutrix, and the mother of the children who gave.
the alarm took seine water, threw it on the burning thatch,
and at once put out the fire. Pulling out a piece of the
thatch a knife and a piece of old rag fell to the ground, rind
in the rag some red hot cinders were found. The rag was
smouldering and was immediately put in water, by which
means the pattern on the rag was preserved. That the fire
was caused. by the cinders and rag was unquestionable, and
the police endeavoured at once to find who had such rag.
After visiting several cottages they came to the prisoner's,
and in a box in a back room they found some correspond-
ing; exactly in pattern, texture, &e., as they conceived with
that taken from the burning thatch. The case rested en-
tirely upon this circumstance and the identification of the
rag, and after several witnesses had been called the learned
judge said he did not think any person ought to be eon-
. vieted upon such bare evidence. 11e then directed the jury
to acquit the prisoner.

NISI PILIUS.
(Botor() Lord Chief Justice Edo.)
Thu first caso tried was by a common jury.
MARSHALL 11171:1tELL.

Mr. W. Cooper and Mr. Cockerell were for the plaintiff ;
Mr. O'Malley, 44.0., and Mr. Markby for the defendant.
Tile case presented no feature of interest, and was simply
a question as to whether the defendant owed anything for
limo supplied to him by the plaintiff. The defendant's case
was that the plaintiff had the use of the kilns on condition
that ho supplied him with what limo ho required. Wit-
nesses were called on both sides, who contradicted each
other, and ultimately the jury found i verdict for tho de-
fendant.

FITZJOIIS V. DRIDGE.—ACTION Fon SLANDER.

Mr. Keane and Mr. Metcalfe were for tho plaintiff, and
Mr. O'Malley, Q.C., and Mr. Murewether for the defendant.
The slander imputed misconduct and felony to the plain-
tiff, a butcher in Whittlosea, where the defendant was also
living, and in the same lino of business.
After the examination of the plaintiff his lordship suEr,-
gusted that a jaw- should be withdrawn, a course at once
acceded to by the counsel for the defendant, who also with-
drew all imputations, and apologised fully.

WESTERN CIRCUIT—EXETER, July 31.
(Before Mr: Justice Willes.)

Robert HenryMl(4les was indicted for the manslaughter
of Mr. Phillimore, at Slapton, on the Bth April. Mr. Kars-
lake, Q.C., and Mr. lloldsworth prosecuted ; Mr. Cox de-
fended yhe prisoner. The prisoner bad been arraigned for
wilful murder, but tho grand jury had ignored the bill, and
found ono for manslaughter. The deceased had lived at
Slapton, near Knightsbridge, South Devon, for nearly eight
years. Ile was the owner of the Good Intent, and had a
share in the Ranter, two fishing smacks. The prisoner was
one of the hands who were to work the nets. The prisoner
did not go out with the Ranter on April 8, and on his com-
ing into Mr. Phillimore's house in the evening his master
asked him the reason. Prisoner replied, " Because I did not
feel disposed to go." Mr. Phillimore told him he was nothing
but an idleA and refused prisoner some cider which he had
asked for. As Knowles was leaving, deceased rose and fol-
lowed him to the back door. Knowles turned and struck
deceased a blow, which was returned. A man, named Cob,
put prisoner out of the house, but he returned, and had a
scuffle with Cob, prisoner stabbing him with a knife in his
leg, which laid him up six weeks. The deceased came to
Cob's assistance, and the prisoner stabbed him in the thigh
so severely that he died that night from the loss of blood.
Mr. Cox ably addressed the jury for the prisoner, but the
jury found him Gnilty, and his lordship sentenced him to
15 years' penal servitude.