The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-28 00:00:00

THE SUN LONDON, MOND V EVENING, AMY 28, 1862.

Even the " rowdyism" of the streets seems to have
been exhausted, and no longer offers itself as food
for powder, or as the substratum on which is to be
rebuilt the shattered portico of the Union. The
soldiers of fortune—the Irish, the Germans, the
Norwegians, and all the non-American element who
dreamt of conquering the South in order to divide
the estates of the cotton planters among themselves
—have lost faith in the realisation of their hope.
The public mind is bewildered with the sudden
change, and asks the reason. " The reason is,"
reply the Abolitionists, " that the Government is
not in earnest in the war. It tries to conciliate the
slave power. It tampers with the rebellion, and
will not use the means which ' God and nature'
have put into his hands. It will not even employ
the black Unionists to do the digging and the
trenching and other hard work of the camp, and
sacrifices its white soldiers in the unwholesome
swamps of Virginia in doing what negroes would
do much better. The Government turns a deaf ear
to the cry of the Abolitionists, and is supported by
the great bulk of the Northern people. The next
question that presents itself is, what is to be done
in the emergency ? " Stir up the great cities," says
the Executive to the Governors of the Northern
States. And the great cities are stirred up accord-
ingly. Mass meetings are everywhere summoned
by daylight and by torchlight. Cities, towns, and
villages, from Maine to Maryland and from New
York to Kansas, organise demonstrations to sup-
port the Government. The young men are advised
and implored to volunteer. They are told that the
State requires their aidb:Tni
thtuhoesiy,snaa
avas
re
e fewt h e
daremindedy s Union,th e
that
hawti
receiveill
tch
wh yh oeunt rbotolhuthemselves
yisa nllost.
sta
well as pay in ad-
vance, but that if they delay for a few weeks, or
even days, the Government will be reduced to such
peril that a conscription will be necessary, in which
case there will be no bounty, and every ablebodied
man between the ages of 18 and 45, on whom the
lot falls, will be compelled to serve or pay for a
substitute. These arguments are strong, but they
do not produce the effect anticipated. The speakers
are earnest and eloquent, but they fail to lash up
the public mind to the excitement of bygone days,
or to roll the little snowball into an avalanche. The
crowd applauds the " bunkum" that is spoken, goes
quietly home, and leaves no perceptible percentage
of the listeners to swell the depleted army. The
speakers themselves, with rare exception, do not
offer to incur the personal sacrifices which they
urge upon others—perhaps, like Mr. Everett, be-
cause they are too old to wield the rifle or brave the
hardships and the malaria of the battlefield; or per-
haps, like others almost as eloquent as he, because
they imagine they can serve their country better
with their purses than with their right hands. But
whatever be the reason, there is a palpable lack of
enthusiasm in every other shape than that of talk.
The Government is painfully aware of the fact, and
striving to postpone the disagreeable necessityofarm
ing the negroes, which might help it out of one diffi-
cultyto plunge it into another fargreater,has reduced
the term of enlistment from three years to one,
leaving the bounty money as before, with the view
of securing the services of young men with families
and others who object to the longer period. Per-
haps even this concession may fail of its effect. If
it do, there must either be a conscription, an arming
of the negroes, or an abrupt termination of the war.
In the meantime the Government is doing its best
to carry on hostilities upon the old principle, and
the great cities are lending it all the support in
their power.

A mass meeting, which was confidently cal.
culated to prove one of the most numerous ever
held in this city, took place this afternoon, at
four o'clock, in Union-square, a large open space at
the up-town extremity of Broadway, under the
auspices of the Mayor and committees of the prin-
cipal inhabitants of all shades of politics except the
democratics. Every nerve was strained to make it
effective. The banks, warehouses, and public offices
were closed at three o'clock to enable the working
and professional youth of the city to be present.
The result was a miserable failure. The corporation
of New York and the Government navy-yard at
Brooklyn are able between them to command the
presence of 6,000 people at any celebration or
gathering which they have determined to make suc-
cessful. They so determined in this instance. The
carpenters and sailors of the navy-yard—one-third,
or perhaps one-half, of the latter being British sub-
jects—marched in procession up Broadway to the
number of 1,500 ; and the street-cleaners, scaven-
gers, and lamp-lighters, and everybody else who
could be induced to be present by the potent per-
suasions of the Mayor and civic authorities, took
their places at the appointed hour at the place of
meeting. But, with all these aids and appliances,
there were at no time so many as 6,000 people pre-
sent. It was not a large public meeting such as
we see in England, in which one man's voice could
ring over the whole assembly, but a collection of small
public meetings. There were four or five stands, and
four or five different sets of speakers; and although
the newspapers of to-morrow that sympathise with
the Government may represent it as "crowded" and
" enthusiastic," I can report of it, as the result of
my own observation, that there was no crowd and
no enthusiasm ; that I walked from one stand to the
other with as much freedom from pressure as I
could walk down Regent-street or the Strand any
day in the week, and that the general opinion of
the public—expressed from man to man among the
spectators—was, that the whole affair was what the
Americans call a " fizze" and the Italians afiaBco.
Guns were fired, and groups of people sang the
" Star-spangled Banner," and a few abolition
speeches were delivered from the booths or rostra
that were not heard by 20 people in a hundred, and
that was all. How long the performances might
have lasted, and what new life might have been in-
fused into them by more eloquent speakers, it is
impossible to say, because at six o'clock, when the
real business was, perhaps, about to commence, a
violent storm of wind, rain, and lightning broke
over the city. In less than 10 minutes Union-square
was left to its normal quietude, and the great de-
monstration came to an untimely end. This meeting,
as reported in the newspapers, may or may not
arouse the enthusiasm of the young men of New
York to the fighting point, if there be any left, to
whom the life of the camp and 50c. a day offer any
attractions. The probabilities are that it will fail,
for if the " almighty dollar" (40 almighty dollars
down on the nail) do not produce the men de-
manded, eloquence, however splendid, and logic,
however persausive, are still more likely to be un-
successful. The cities of New England that, per-
haps, appreciate tae power of the dollar more fully
than New York, or the Yankee character is belied,
add to the inducements held out by the Govern-
ment a supplementary bribe of their own, many of
them having determined to offer each volunteer

75 dole, (West Cambridge, near Boston, offers as

much as 125 dols.) over and above the Federal

gratuity. Whatever the result may be in places
like these, where the old and the rich are so willing
to pay the young and the poor to fight for them,
my own impression, from all I see and hear, is
that not above half the 300,000 called for will
be ready within the 60 days of which 15 have
already passed, and that ultimately the Government

will be compelled, against its will, to order a con-
scription. That the South should have recourse to

such a system, for the establishment of its indepen-
dence and the defence of its invaded soil, against an

enemy who commands the sea and the great rivers,
is natural; but it the North, with its territory un-
invaded, its liberties unthreatened, its indepen-
dence unattacked, and with double the population
?f the South, should adopt this method of replenish-
ing its armies, it will inflict a fatal blow on its own
raesputation, and make such a confession of weakness
is to raise
will. go further than any event of the war to
that
convince the world that it cannot complete its
To shout that the " country is in danger',
work.
a war cry that stirs the hearts of men in
Union is in
all ages, but
daii;esay, as the North does, that the
with which to Nver;kiB to utter too weak a charn-
tiabehantments. The North
knows fully well
iendUnion might perish and
leave the liberty and the
is
thornerearll hands except
efprendenee of the people
as safe as they were before
impels the South to action,powerless to
desperation ration suck as
rouse
ou theirse
itsow own
e; andopl e
ttohea cry
pitch 0 f
and makes
that which

the women and the old men as warlike and as
patriotic as the young.
But, if the conscription be deemed unwise or
dangerous, there remain the free negroes and the
runaway slaves to aid the now veteran armies of
M'Clellan and Pope. The President and his
advisers seem to lack the courage to employ them.
The pride of race and caste is so strong that
millions of people who love the Union are ready to
see it fall rather than fight its enemies with the:assist-
ance of black men. The President is not per-
sonally of this opinion, but yields to it, every now
and then giving an unmistakeable indication that
that the day may speedily come when he will throw
himself more heartily on the side of the Aboli-
tionists, The longer the war lasts the more
powerful these become. At every defeat of the
Federal arms their voices are heard above the
tumul, crying aloud, " Arm the negroes, and your
reverses will be changed into victories ; your
humiliations into glories."
The mishaps of M'Clellan at Richmond have
brought them many converts, who admit at the last
moment, what Mr. Wendell Philipps and other
leaders of the party have all along proclaimed,
" that either slavery or the Union must perish,"
and who, if the matter were left to their decision,
would lot the Union go as the easier alternative.
Though this party has failed to persuade the Go-
vernment to proclaim the freedom of the slaves, or
to arm the blacks, it has been powerful enough in
Congress to introduce a series of Confiscation Bills,
which all aim at those results. So many of these
bilk were introduced by individual members on
their own responsibility that they were submitted
some weeks ago to a joint committee of both houses,
which, after due deliberation, consolidated them all
into one sweeping measure, which was passed in the
House of Representatives on Friday by a majority
of 82 to 44, and by the Senate on Saturday by a
majority of 27 to 13. It is so severe and vindictive
as to justify the supposition that the North has at
last relinquished all hope of conciliating the South,
if not the Border States, and that it is preparing to
deal with the Cotton States as William the Con-
queror and his barons dealt with Saxon England.
The measure has not yet received the signature of
the President, and the representative of the Border
States, most of whom voted in the minority in both
houses, are understood to be using their utmost in-
fluence to induce him to veto some of the most Bra-
conic of its provisions. The measure provides that
the President shall immediately issue a proclama-
tion offering an amnesty to all who within sixty
days shall return to their allegiance. After the ex-
piration of that term, he is is empowered to seize
the property of all rebels, and confiscate it to the
use of the Government and the army, with the ex-
ception of the slaves, who are to be set free. The
punishment of treason, in addition to confiscation,
is to be death, or, at the opion of the President,
imprisonment for five years, with a fine of 10,000
dollars. No runaway slave is to be delivered to
any one claiming to be his owner, unless the latter
can prove that he never aided or abetted the rebel-
lion, and is prepared to take the oath of allegiance.
Furthermore, the President is authorised to employ
the negroes, and use them for the suppression of
the rebellion in any manner he may deem
expedient. It needs but little knowledge of the
South to foretell that, should this measure receive
the Presidential sanction, it will act like oil upon
flame, and harden the hearts of the whole people
into fiercer hostility. As if the President were him-
self of opinion that all future conciliation of the
Cotton States was impossible or unadvisable, and
deeply impressed with the importance of weaning
the Border States from the affection which they still
entertain towards the South, he invited the whole
of the Border delegation on Saturday to a confer-
ence at the White House. At this interview he
presented them with the draught of a bill whichhe
forwarded to Congress yesterday, imploring them
to study it attentively, and telling them, morse suo,
that the time had come when they must make up
their minds whether they would or would not sup •
port,the Administration in its scheme for the gra •
dual emancipation of the slaves in their respective
States, and " that they must either catch fish, cut
bait, or go ashore." From the temper displayed by
these gentlemen it looks as if they would prefer to
go ashore, and leave the Presidential boat altoge-
ther, with all its fish, present and prospective. The
President's bill contains nothing new, and is merely
the legal setting forth of the idea contained in his
previous proclamation, promising the aid of the
Federal Government to purchase and set free the
slaves in any State in which the Legislature may
constitutionally vote the emancipation, with this
difference, which may perhaps prove essential, that
he he no longer proposes to pay them in hard money
but in Mr. Chase's " green-backs."
There was much alarm in New York as well as
in Washington, to learn that the President was
again about to deliver himself on the negro ques-
tion, but it subsided as soon as the publication of
the bill made it clear that no new measure was in-
tended, and that slavery was still to be left to the
action of the States, which alone have a right under
the Constitution to meddle with it.
It is a favourite theory with many influential
talkers and writers, that the bulk of the people
of the South really love the Union, and would re-
turn to it with joy and gratitude if the tyrannical
pressure exercised upon them by a few leading
traitors were removed. The courtly Mr. Everett
has more especially taken pains to promulgate this
notion. In a recent oration at Boston he declared
that the whole country would be at peace and har-
money if a few disturbing Robespierres were re-
moved. Facts do not confirm the philosopher's
theory. The Irish labourers at New Orleans em-
ployed in clearing the streets by General Butler at
a dollar and a half per diem—about as much as they
could have earned at a similar job in a week in the
old country—have taken the oath of allegiance ; but
all the members of the municipal Government re-
signed their offices rather than comply, and almost
every one in the city, above the social status of a
day labourer or a negro, refused to take the oath.
The city clergy continue obdurate, no prayers are
offered up for the Union except in the Federal bar-
racks or camp; and the women, if they no longer
insult the soldiers in the streets for fear of the
Calaboose, contrive to show their hatred by a thou-
sand little expedients of spite and malice, which not
even the legal subtlety of General Butler can con-
strue into punishable offences, though they wound
the sensibility of his " gallant" officers to the quick.
Wherever the Northern armies have penetrated in
the South the same feelings prevail, and are em-
bittered every day. Every battle that is fought,
whatever may be its result, widens the gulf that has
separated the North and South into two irreconcil-
able nations. The hatred between Frenchmen and
Englishmen, and the social antipathies that kept
them apart for centuries, were never so strong—not
even during the wars with Bonaparte—as the hatred
that the South entertains towards the Yankees. As
yet the hatred is not mutual, for the Yankees are
rather proud of the pluck that the Southerners
have displayed in the struggle, and boast that
none but Americans could have acted with such
heroism ; but on the part of the South it is
too intense for the good-natured people of the
North to understand or appreciate. One reason,
in addition to that afforded by the great question
of slavery, is that the South are one people and the
North are many. The Southerners are, in the
main, of British stock. The Northerners are not

British, either in sympathy or in descent, in any-
thing like the same degree. They are a composite
or cosmepoli,:an multitude ; and, With the excep-
tion of a few old families in New England and else-
where who boast of their descent from the Pilgrim
Fathers, or other early settlers, they have no bond
of social or political union, and neither sympathy
with nor kr oR hdge of any part of Europe.
Twenty -five years ago, when South Carolina
raised the question of nullification, under the in-
spiration. of Mr. Calhoun, and when the seeds of
secessim., long before planted, first assumed vitality,
the wh,Dle population of the Union, North and
South, was 13,000,000. The South has now about
10,000,000, including the slaves, and the North
about 20,000,000 including the free blacks ; so that
the increase of Population in the quarter of the
century has been 17,000,000. The South has onzy
increased. at the natural ratio, having received little
or no aid, from iranigration. The North and Weat

have increased-enormously and not in the natural
ratio. The Northern 'people are not prolific, and
social causes are in operation in New York and in
religious New England, which medical men are
fully aware of, which place the naturakincrease only
on a par with that of France, where the same re-
sults flow from the same causes ; so that the great
bulk of the extraordinary Northern increase is due
to immigration. Comparatively few Englishmen
and Scotchmen have s 4•ollen the stream that has set
steadily towards the North, but immense numbers
of Irishmen, Germans, Swedes, and Norwegians
have annually poured into New York and Boston,
and then spread over the great West. From the
ranks of these people the bulk of the Federal armies
have been recruited ; and if the fight between the
North and South had, by mutual consent, been
fought out by native-born Americans only it is all
but certain that the North would have been beaten
long ago. These Irishmen, Germans, and Swedes,
and their children born on American soil, have no
knowledge of the South, which is as unfamiliar to
them es Japan or Kamschatka. Neither have they
any sympathy with England. They have, in fact,
nothing in common with Englishmen except the
language, which they are doing their utmost to
deteriorate ; while the South, with blood less
mixed, with purpose more defined, and with sym-
pathies with the Mother Country that may have
been wounded, but that have never been extin-
guished, would rather vote itself back into the
condition of a British colony than resume a
place in the Unioa on any other terms than com-
plete mastery of the republic. The North has yet
much to learn in this matter, and the Federal troops
who now occupy Southern cities will have strange
tales to tell when they return of the settled ani-
mosity of the people among whom their lot has
been cast—hatred that cannot be conciliated, and
that would make the restoration of the Union, were
it politically possible, the one result which the
North, if it valued its own liberty and prosperity,
would, above all things, endeavour to avoid; but
the Union is a foreign, not a domestic question.
Were the Union restored at any cost, America could
be dictatorial to England and to all Europe. If it
remain broken, the North must learn to be a little
more humble in her diplomacy. That is the sore
point, and the South is quite aware of it.
The North continues to look to Richmond as the
One great pivot on which the destinies of the Re-
public are to •turn. The South, I have reason to
believe, is not of the same mind. It meditates the
recapture of New Orleans, and has the means to
'effect it. It also meditates a raid into Kentucky,
the mere whisper of which has alarmed the great
city of Cincinnati and the whole of Ohio, and which
may yet alarm the Federal Government for other
places in which defeat would be still more disas-
trous.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, July 2&
Both 3ourts were opened this morning at ten
o'clock, Mr. Baron Martin presiding on the Civil
Side, and Mr. Baron Bramwell in the Crown Court.
There are 29 causes entered for trial, of which
nine are to be tried by special juries.
CROWN COURT.
Mr. Baron Bramwell in his charge to the grand
jury, of whom Viscount Marsham was foreman,
said that the calendar was rather heavy, but it was
gratifying to see that although there were undoubt-
edly a great many very bad offences contained in
it, still that there were none of those atrocious
charges of personal violence and outrage that were
to be found in the calendars of some other counties;
and he might also say that the county of Kent was
not responsible for the whole of the crime that was
represented in the calendar, inasmuch as out of the
86 prisoner who were to be tried 27 were soldiers,
who might be looked upon as strangers to the
county. There were two charges of wilful murder,
and the first of them was against two prisoners who
were charged with the murder of a gamekeeper.
It appeared that the keeper was out on the watch
with some other persons, and that they met the
prisoners and several others, and the evidence ap-
peared to leave no doubt that they were engaged in
an act which was known to the law by the name of
night poaching, and that, at all events, they were
guilty of that offence. A conflict took place, and a
gun was fired and the keeper was killed, and there
appeared to be some evidence that the person who
discharged the gun was one of the prisoners.
It was right, however, that he should tell
them that if there should be any difficulty as
to the person by, whom the gun was fired
—if they should be of opinion from the evi-
dence that the gun was fired by any one of
the party, and that they were all actuated by
one common object, and determined to resist the
keepers to the last extremity, they would in that
case all be guilty in the eyes of the law of the crime
of murder, although the gun was only fired by one
of them. There was some evidence of a common
intention being entertained by all the party from
the fact that it appeared that during the struggle
one of them called out to the keeper and his com-
panions that if they came on they would shoot, and
another was heard to say " Shoot him" before the
gun was fired. He also believed that in night-
poaching expeditions a gun was not required, so
that it would seem the only object of having such
an instrument was to resist the keepers if it became
necessary to do so. It appeared that during the fatal
affray the unhappy keeper who lost his life struck
one of the poachers with a flail, and he thought it
was very probable that the man who was so struck
was the man who fired the gun; and it this should
turn out to be the case in his opinion it would reduce
the crime from murder to manslaughter. The
keeper had no right to strike the poacher with the
flail, and if he did so it was an unlawful act; and
although it would not justify the poacher in shoot-
ing him, it would, undoubtedly in his opinion, re-
duce the crime to manslaughter, on the ground that
the act was committed in the heat of blood arising
from the blow the prisoner had received. The other
charge of murder was a very singular one. There
was very good evidence to show that the person
accused of the offence wilfully set fire to a barn that
contained a quantity of straw, and the flames spread
rapidly, and an unhappy man who had gone to the
barn to sleep could not get away and was burned to
death. Under these circumstances the prisoner was
charged with the crime of wilful murder ; and the
law undoubtedly was that if a man committed a
felony, and in the course of committing that felony
I
took away another person's life, he was guilty of
murder. There was an o'..d case upon the point
where a man shot at some fowls with the in-
tention to steal them, and killed a man, and
this was declared to ba murder. If, therefore,
they should be of opinion that the prisoner I
wilfully set fire to this barn, and that the de-
ceased lost his life in consequence of this act,
it would be their duty to return a true bill for mur-
der against him. The learned judge then said that
in the course of his address to the grand jury he had
alluded to the fact that a considerable number of
the prisoners in the calendar were soldiers, and he
thought it was only due to the county to state this
to show that it was not responsible, if he might use
the :expression, for the production of the whole
number of prisoners ; but he thought he ought at
the same time also to say, that in his opinion it
ought not to be taken as an indication that the army
had a disorganising effect upon those who entered
it. A military life had attractions to many young
men who did not possess steady feeling and habits,
and, having once entered it, they were compelled to
remain until their bad propensities dropped out;
and it should also be remembered that soldiers had
a great deal of leisnre time, and that this was a
circumstance very likely to lead them into mischief;
and it appeared to him that this showed the neces-
sity of continuing those exertions that had already,
been commenced to provide some rational occupa-
tion for the soldier, which would undoubtedly have
the effect of improving his habits and condition.
His lordship concluded by expressing his regret at
finding by the calendar that 74 of the prisoners who
were to be tried were unable either to read or write,
or were only able to read or write in an imperfect
manner, and out of the whole number only one was
stated to be able to read and write well. He said
he considered this a very lamentable thing, and he
hoped that something would be done to improve
the condition of the lower classes as regarded edu-
cation, as one of the most effectual means for the
prevention of crime.
Francis Girnber, 33, labourer, was charged with
stealing a mare, the property of John Gardner.
Mr. Russell prosecuted, and the prisoner was de-
fended by Mr. Ribton.
It appeared that the offence imputed to the pri-
soner was committed so long ago as the year 1857,
and he was subsequenlly tried at the Central Cri-
minal Court for stealing another horse, and the
judge was informed of the present charge, and the
prisoner was sentenced to four years' penal servi-
tude. Upon his discharge he was taken into cus-
tody for the offence of which he was now accused.
The jury having returned a verdict of guilty,
Mr. Baron Bramwell said he believed that on the
former occasion the Court had virtually punished
the prisoner for the offence of which he was now
convicted, and he had undergone the sentence. He
should, therefore, on the present occasion only order

- -
him to be further imprisoned for the space of one
week.

Henry Rollins, 28, Thomas Skirrett, 20, David
Ashett, 28, and James Salisbury, 22, four private
soldiers, were charged with a violence upon Richard
Williams.
Mr. Barrow prosecuted.
The prosecutor in this case is a labouring man
residing at Ripple, near Dover, and it appeared
that on the night of the 9th of June he was awoke
by the window of his cottage being broken. He
went down and found the prisoners and some
other soldiers outside his cottage, and on his
inquiring what they wanted they attacked him,
beat him with their belts, and, according to the
prosecutor's statement, one of the party put his
hand into his pocket and robbed him of 6s. 11d.
The defence set up by the prisoners was that
what had occurred was merely a drunken row, and
they had no intention to commit a robbery.
The jury, after some deliberation, returned a
verdict of not guilty.
The prisoners Salisbury and Skirrett were then
charged upon another indictment with a robbery,
accompanied by violence, upon Richard Jones.
Salisbury was also charged with assaulting Charles
Freed, one of the county constables while in the
execution of his duty.
This robbery, it appeared, was committed on the
same night of the former occurrence. The prose-
cutor is the landlord of the Plough public-house
at Ripple, and the prisoners and some soldiers went
there and created a disturbance, and when he in-
terfered the prisoners attacked him with their
belts, and knocked him down, and while he was
upon the ground he was robbed of all the
money that was in his pocket. The prisoners got
away, but they were followed by the police shortly
afterwards, and when Freed, the constable, was
assisting to secure them they beat him in a most
brutal manner, and the prisoner Salisbury struck
him repeatedly with the buckle of his belt.
The Jury found the prisoners guilty of the rob
bery, and Salisbury was also found guilty of the
assault upon the police-constable, with intent to do
grievous bodily harm.
Mr. Baron Bramwell, in passing sentence, said it
was most intolerable that soldiers, who were well
provided for by the public, and whose duty it was
to protect the public, should be guilty of these out-
rages, and he was determined to do all in his
power to put a stop to such proceedings. He then
sentenced Salisbury to three years' penal servitude
for the robbery, and one week's imprisonment for
the assault, observing at the same time that he
should have passed the same sentence of penal
servitude if he had only been convicted of the lat-
ter offence, as he considered it a very aggravating
circumstance that he should have made use of his
belt, which was a most dangerous instrument. The
other prisoner, Skirrett, was sentenced to 12 months'
hal d labour.
As the prisoners were leaving the bar, Salisbury
addressed his lordship and said, "All I have to say
is that I hope you may sit there till I come back."
Thomas Goss, 23, soldier, Henry Starr, 25, sol-
dier, Isaac Smith, 18, soldier, and Amos Walker,
24, marine, were charged with burglary.
Mr. Russell conducted the prosecution.
It appeared that the prosecutor was the landlord
of a beershop at Sheerness, and on the night of the
10th of July the house was broken open and various
articles stolen from the bar.
The jury acquitted Smith and found the other
prisoners guilty.
It was stated that they had said when they were
taken into custody that they committed the offence
in order that they might escape from "
and avoid going to India, where their regiment was
to have been sent.
They were sentenced to 12 months' hard labour.
CIVIL SIDE.
(Before Mr. Baron Martin and a Common Jury.)
CANDY V. SPENCER.
This was an action brought by the plaintiff to
recover the sum of £9l 7s. Bd., being the value of
certain goods which were alleged to have been
stolen by the negligence of the defendant.
Mr. M. Chambers, Q.C., and Mr. C. Pollock were
for the plaintiff; Mr. Lush, Q.C., and Mr. Jacob
for the defendant.
This case involved a question of some considerable
importance to innkeepers and the public. The
plaintiff is a silk warehouseman, carrying on busi-
ness in Watling-street, and the defendant and his
family have for a great many years carried on the
business of the Mitre Hotel, in this town. On
the 12th of May last, which is Maidstone fair
day, it appeared that Mr. Ferman one of
the plaintiff's travellers, went to the Mitre
in the course of his journey, having with him
several packages of goods as samples, and one
among them contained a quantity of valuable silk
for ladies' dresses, and which was represented to be
worth the sum claimed by the present action. All
the parcels were handed to the boots, and he, it
appeared, placed them in the lobby or entrance of
the hotel, and in the course of the day the parcel
containing the silk was stolen. The present action
was therefore brought to recover its value, it being
contended, on behalf of the plaintiff, that there was
negligence on the part of the defendant's servant in
placing a small article, containing valuable pro-
perty, in such an exposed position, and that the
defendant as the innkeeper was consequently liable.
Witnesses were called on behalf'of the defendant,
whose evidence went to show that the custom at
the hotel was never to leave any packages in the
lobby except large and heavy ones that could not
easily be removed, and that shelves were placed in
the commercial room for the special purpose of small
packages being placed in them; and it was also
proved that Mr. Ferman had himself told the
boots to place the small package with the others, and
but for this direction it was said that the parcel in
question would have been carried into the commer-
cial room, where it would have been perfectly safe.
Mr. Baron Martin, at the close of the examination
of the defendant's witnesses, said he really could not
see that their evidence had in any way touched the
case that had been established for the plaintiff, or
what question he had to leave to the jury.
Mr. Lush submitted that the question ought to be
left to the jury whether the loss would have oc-
curred if the plaintiff's traveller had exercised pro-
per care and caution.
Mr. Baron Martin said it appeared to him that the
point suggested by the learned counsel had nothing
whatever to do with the case. The only question, as
it seemed to him, was, did the defendant receive and
take charge of the goods of the plaintiff? And the
evidence for the defendant appeared to have made out
the plaintiff's case as far as this went. The servant
received the goods, and it was his duty to have taken
care of them, and if they were lost his master, the
innkeeper, was liable. If any one went into an inn,
and gave the servant his portmanteau, and he took
charge of it,.the master was responsible if he lost it.
Mr. Lush reminded his lordship that there was
evidence that the plaintiff's traveller had directed
the boots to place the package in a dangerous posi-
tion, and that the usual course was to have placed
such an article in the commercial room.
Mr. Baron Martin said he did not think this
made any difference.
Mr. Lush said he should certainly except to his
lordship's ruling, and he contended that it was
clearly a question for the jury whether the plain-
tiff's traveller by his own negligence had not con-
tributed to the loss of the property.
Mr. Baron Martin said the learned counsel was
quite at liberty to address the jury on this point,
although he himself thought there was nothing
in it.

Mr. Lush consequently addressed the jury, and
he contended that there had been no negligence
established against the defendant, who appeared to
have done everything that could reasonably be ex-
pected from a person in his position to protect the
property of his guests. He also argued that the
loss had arisen in consequence of the traveller order-
ing the boots to place the package in question in
an exposed situation, and that the loss, therefore,
arose in consequence of his act, and not through any
negligence on the part of the defendant. He sub-
mitted to the jury that the servants at an hotel
were bound to obey the orders of the guests, and
that it might as well be said that an innkeeper was
responsible if a quest ordered the servant to place
his luggage in the street, as to say that he was so
in a case like the present.
Mr. Baron Martin, in summing up, said that the
jury must act upon the law as they found it to be,
and although it might appear a hardship to make
an innkeeper liable under such circumstances, still
they were bound to act according to the law. A per-
son in the position of an innkeeper had the duty cast
upon him of protecting the goods and property
that were brought into his house by his guest,
and when once the goods were placed in his charge
he was bound to keep them safely.
.As to what
had been said about th© traveller ordering the boots
to place the package in the hall, he thought it had
nothing to do with the case. A traveller had a
perfect right to tell an inn servant to place his lug-
gage, or any portion of it, in any particular place,
and if it was wrong or dangerous to do so, the ser-
vant should say so to him, and t appeared to him
that the present case was the very one in which the
law considered an innkeeper to ne responsible. His
lordship concluded by stating that the only ques-
tions for the jury to consider were, whether the
goods had remained in the charge of the plaintiff's
traveller, or whether he had been guilty of such
negligence as had occasioned the loss of them,
The Jury,
after a short deliberation, found a ver-
diet for the plaintiff, but at the same time said they
thought he ought only to have the actual value of
the silk, which it was arranged should be taken at
£7O. They at the same time said they thought the

plaintiff's traveller might have exercised more care
in the transaction.
DAVISON V. WILDE.
This was an action for false imprisonment an d
assault.

Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., and Mr Prentice were coun-
sel for the plaintiff; Mr. Denman, Q.C., and Mr. •
Wood were for the defendant.
The plaintiff in this action is a merchant in the
City, and the defendant is the proprietor of the
Cafe de l'Europe in the Haymarket. The transac-
tion that w:-s the subject of inquiry took place
on the Derby night, and it appeared that the
plaintiff and some of his , friends, who had been
enjoying that great holiday, went to sup at the de-
fendant's establishment. A Frenchman and some
other gentlemen were also supping, and it appeared
that a dispute arose between the defendant and the
Frenchman upon the subject of the charges, and
some angry words passed, and there was a threat
that the Frenchman should be locked up. Tha
plaintiff and his friends, thinking that the French-
man had been aggrieved, interfered, and said they
would see him righted, and this increased the dis-
turbance. The Frenchman eventually left, and
upon a policeman, who had been sent for by the de-
fendant, arriving, the plaintiff was given into his
charge for creating a disturbance, but on the matter
being investigated on the foilo wing morning by
Mr. Knox, the magistrate at Marlborough-street
Police-court, the charge was at once dismissed, and
the present action was then brought by the plaintiff.
At the close of the plainttff's case the learned
counsel on both sides had a conference together,
and Mr. Denman then addressed his lordship and
said that he was happy to inform him that it
would not be necessary to proceed any further with
the inquiry, as it had been arranged that the de-
fendant would express his regret at what had hap-
pened, and he would consent to a verdict to be taken
against him and five guineas damages, and pay all
costs. The affair occurred on the Derby night,
when, no doubt, all the parties were a little excited;
but the defendant wished it to be understood that all
imputations upon the character of the plaintiff were
withdrawn, and he admitted that, being annoyed
at what the Frenchman said, he had acted hastily,
and he now regretted having done so.
Mr. Hawkins said that the plaintiff never had
any desire to put money into his pocket, and his
only object was to vindicate his character.
Mr. Baron Martin s?id the course taken by the
defendant was a very proper one, and it was satis-
factory to all parties.
A verdict was then taken for the plaintiff.
It has been arranged that the remainder of the
common jury cases shall be taken in their order, at
ten o'clock this (Monday) morning.

COUNTRY BILL ,3.

...

YORK-SATURDAY.

There was a fair show of wheat to-day, and last week's
prices were supported. Since last week the weather has
been decidedly more favourable, and the wheat plant looks
better. Oats and beans promise well. Barley has also im-
proved, although still backward.
Wheat, red 56s to 60s 1 Oats.... 22s to 26s
White do .60s to 64s i Beans 40- to 44s
Barley .32s to 33s 1 Peas ....—s to —s
Malt, 64s to 66s per qr. ; rye. 345 per qr ; flour, 40s
to 42s per sack.

LE ICE STER—SATURDAY.
The supply of wheat to-day at market was moderate,
and, the prices of last week were exceeded by 2s to 3s
—White wheat, 60s to 65s ; red, 57s to 61s per 36 st.;
old red, —s to —s per 36 stone. Barley was in limited de-
mand—grinding, 30s to 32s ; malting, 36s to 40s per qr.;
oats, 25s to 30s per 24 stone. Beans were a quiet sale—
new, —s to —s ; old, 40s to 42s per 38 stone.

NORWICH—SATURDAY.
The supply of wheat to-day was scarcely so large, and
millers not being free buyers prices were about the same
as last week. Flour easier. There was scarcely anything
passing in other articles.
White wheat 69s to 62 I Red wheat 56s to 58s
Malting barley....4os to 41s 1 Chevalier barley 37s to 40s
New d 0...... ....—s to —s 1 Oats.. 25= to 30s
Flour, 39s 6d to —s Od per sack from the miller.