The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-01 00:00:00

BIRMINGHAM CATTLE AND POULTRY

SHOW.

BIRMINGHAM, SATURDAY EVENING.
This year's exhibition of cattle, sheep, and poultry, at
Bingley-hall, will be opened on Monday to what is called
the "private view." The show has gained so gradually
upon that of Smithfield, that so far from being merely
second to that time-honoured exhibition, this is at least on
a par with it; and this year's show is in every respect
equal, and in some rather superior to any which have pre-
ceded it. For instance, the number of entries for cattle is
131, which is, we believe, the largest, with one exception,
in any year since the show was eats blished.
Since last year an important change has taken place in the
arrangements at Bingley-hall ; spacious as the area of the
building is, it has been found inadequate, and especially
so since the determination of the council to admit agricul-
tural implements. Last year a small space was devoted to
that purpose, but the applications for it being much larger
than could possibly be spared, the council determined to in-
crease their space by the erection of a gallery at one end of
the building. This has been done with grand effect, and it
is this year filled with a fine collection of roots of excellent
growth for the season, especially as regards the mangolds,
of which there are some very magnificent specimens.
The alteration to which reference has been made has left
such a space to be set apart for the implement department
Hias,eointwoga
prrdoduce a very fine collection, the principal exhibitors
Messrs.and s
an
,of
Bedfordand
Sims,
ie a
roaf.
Clayton, Ipswich;
Shuttle-
worth, u t t
l Messrs.e.
worth, and Co., of Lincoln; Messrs. Garrett and Sons, of
Saxmundhem ; Messrs. Hornby and Sons, of Grantham ;
LtMoaehwsyser,,s. Richmond and Chandle, of Manchester ; Mr.
thanwilla hadiuwhaiticubhet
01 8 u Bury St. St . Edmunds;and
sev
e r
al Messrs,
believe
thatand
the applications for Birmingham,ace in this others,department ent were larger
tural implements
ectnaonuenaeloactrullsapted upon, and the rent for allotments
eluded at future e'
: hcy:
bTiiseosoe.
may There
with are
oil
roem some
proprietyarticles
bexhi-
bited
ex
..
be classed amongst " agricul-
In another respect the pursuits.
pa
anrdt the
far space
articles
moreoccupied
closely b e
efaornnmeoctreed
ments of previous years. council have altered the arrange-
doubt, it resolved to
admit
theVith the very best intentions,no
soon after three o'clock this
that time in the midst of their
their
duties
;
than
of persons in closer
proximity to those gentlemen
e,
thews
aa
rs
dt
perhaps
eoeri
iiirsea spuds l
quiteuttwi was s
tcon-
venient
poerrfocromns.isteAnirt.wjletrhemthiae
to keep the judges free
causeh referred to, and
I.lr.eorms oafltlheemcohuanrrcailaadmideutthefrirambetshte
esaatrisefacytory one; a modifi-
no means certain
probablytheuwewitharsrauuccgeesms
e;nt buts we
cation of the rule for future years niayurender it so.
heifers
bul-
locks show itself is a great success ;
awPilt)hr °P r ia
agriculturalt e: ia:ienn it
sya,
doubt there have
been occasional instances in which a betters animal has been
shown in a Hereford class than is now to bese
hall ; but as a class entire, it is the opinionenofinthi3ingleY-
that there never was a finer display, The Ilerefe Judges
locks are splendid animals, and the short-horn
near perlection as possible. The prize in class 1 is as areas
specimen of the Hereford breed ; its girth behind the shoul-
ders
is 9 feet 4 inches ; the exhibitor, who its also the breeder,
is Mr. John Hatcher, of Marwood Grange, near Bristol
This animal also took Mr, ha'. prize. The Hereford after,

which took the first prize in class 2 also obtained the Pre-
sident's prize for the best animal, shown by an exhibitor
who was also the breeder. This was Mr. George Pitt,
Chadnor-court, Dilwyn, near Leominster. In class 3 (cows)
to the animal which gained the first prize was also awarded
the £2O, as the best Hereford in the yard. Class 7, for
short-horn cows, was a very fine class, not an inferior ani-
mal in it ; the winner of the first prize was also awarded
the £2O extra as the best short-horn exhibited, and the gold
medal. For this distinction there was a formidable compe-
titor in Mr. Swinnerton's short-horn ox, which obtained
the first prize in class 5, and which gained a prize in
I3ingley-hall last year, and was also the second best ani-
mal exhibited on that occasii,n. Class S, short-horn heifers
—No lees than 16 animals were shown, Mr. Robert Ten-
nant, of Scarcroft, near Leeds, taking the first prize. The
Devon classes were rather better filled than usual. To the
winner of the first prize for animals exceeding three years
and three months old was also awarded the extra £2O; the
exhibitor was Mr. W. Smith, of Southernhay, near Exeter.
In the class for Devon steers not exceeding three years and
three months old the second prize was awarded to an animal
exhibited by Major-Gen. the Hon. A. N. Hood, his late
Royal Highness the Prince Consort being the breeder. In
the class for Devon cows the first prize was withheld. In class
~16, for pure breeds (except Scotch and Welsh) and cross
breeds, the prize and gold medal, as the beet animal in the
yard, was awarded to Mr. James Stewart, of New Market,
Aberdeen, to whom was also awarded the prize of the Inn-
keepers' Cup. •
The Scotch breeds were well represented. The first prize
in class 18 (oxen or steers) was awarded to Mr. James
Stewart, of New Market, Aberdeen. To this animal was
also awarded the extra £2O the best Scotch breed shown,
but there was a very fermi • ' for this; a hei-
fersfiewn by Major enton
ton, which obtained the prize in class 19. The Welsh breeds
were poorly represented as to numbers, and in the extra
classes there was no entry. The competition in all the
classes was very great, as was evidenced by the number of
times the judges had the animals out; also by the lateness
of the hour—past seven o'clock—before the labours of the
judges of cattle had concluded. The commendations wore
numerous.

The sheep pens were well filled. Of Shropahires and long
wools the display was probably the finest ever seen at this
exhibition. South Downs were not quite so good as usual.
The pigs will bear comparison with any previous exhi-
bition here, and it has always been first rate in that depart.
ment. The Berkshire breed maintained its ascendancy.
Of poultry there is a magnificent display, every species of
domestic fowl being represented. There is also a good col-
lection of pigeons.

711 E SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.

(From the Times Correspondent.)

RICHMOND, Nov. 5.
It is very obvious that the next 30 days are to be
momentously eventful in the history of this war.
It is probable that the last and most desperate effort
of the North, made simultaneously by an army
somewhere in the neighbourhood of the position
now occupied by Gen. M'Ctellan, by another ad-
vancing from Suffolk, by another under Gen. Rose-
crans in the West, by another advancing along the
Mississippi River, and finally sustained by naval
attacks upon Vicksburg, Charleston, and Mobile,
and, perhaps, elsewhere, will fall like an avalanche
upon the Southern States and strain every joint in
their harness. They are fully alive to the danger,
and confidently prepared to meet it. It is idle to
expect that they will not meet with reverses ; but
one thing alone may be incontrovertibly asserted,
they will never be subdued and never brought back
into the Union. It is of very little moment to assert
that Richmond will never fall, although such is my
confident belief; but no man with eyes and ears
open can doubt that the fall of Richmond will bring
Mr. Lincoln not one whit nearer to the restoration
of his supremacy over the 800,000 square miles
which are lust to him s.nd his successors for ever.
Gen, Lee is in Richmond, and has been here for
the last three days, but returns to-day to his post.
A portion of his army is falling back towards Gor-
donsville, in the neighbourhood of which place Gen,
Longstreet's corps d'armee is already posted, having
crossed over to the east of the Blue Ridge. General
Jackson and a considerable force still protect Win-
chester and the valley behind it; but the whole
hoacncadsitoonbdeermaapeiddl.y cTonh-e
caer
danger is (as has long been expected)from the South.
nratyraitsedon R sufficientlyiehmheenl
dd iinf
A very considerable force of Federals is assembling
at Suffolk. They already number from 30,000 to
40,000, and are constantly being increased. Their
obvious design is to seize Weldon, and thus inter-
cept Richmond from its chief link of connection
with the South, and then to advance upon it from
the South, while M'Clellan makes a simultaneous
attack from the North. Gee. Lee's difficulties are
obvious. If Richmond was off his shoulders he
would soon give Gen, IVPClellan and his army
enough to do on the Potomac, but with the im-
mense facilities of water carriage commanded by
the North, an enormous Federal force can at any
moment be thrown into Suffolk, and before any-
thing like an equal force can be assembled to meet
them the railroad can be cut at Weldon, Richmond
isolated from Charleston, and an attempt made to
turn the flank of Drewry's Bluff and attack from
the southern side. Gen. Lee must keep his large
and finely appointed army-_I mean finely appointed
in comparison with its condition on many previous
occasions—within reach of Richmond, and can ven-
ture upon no aggressive operations against Gen.
appearder in:lmn
M'Clellan's army (which under other circumstances
maytthe
e F
eal troops would be greatly relished both by Gen. Lee and
his inferiors), because of the prc section which he is
forced to extend to Richmond.
The
entht,rbouwtndiinmtionisshuefs.
Nine-tenths danger
of
rapidly as the true state of affairs is considered.
Suf-
folk are green recruits, and the experience of this
war has reversed such precedents as Waterloo, and
shown that en the Federal side raw recruits are
worthless. There is good reason to think, if well
officered, they would fight decently, but the raw
officers have always set the most pernicious example
to their troops. There have of course been indivi-
dual exceptions, but generally speaking the officers,
as soon as they are brought under fire, have been
the very first to throw down their arms and demo-
ralise their inexperienced troops by setting an ex-
ample of flight. There is not much danger to
Richmond from twice 40,000 of such troops, unless
Gen. M'Clellan reinforces them with some more
experienced officers and men, who
will raise their
tone. If he does this he will greatly weaken his
own army and set Gen. Lee free to act entirely
against the assailants of Richmond from the South,
while Gen. Jackson will be fully a match for Gen.
M'Clellan in the North. Again, in reference to the
attacks upon Charleston and Mobile, it may confi-
dently be asserted that General Butler's reign at
New Orleans will make the resistance at every
other seaboard city savagely desperate, and that,
instead of inspiring terror, as be has hoped and in-
tended, he has inspired only such loathing and
aversion as have not been known on earth since the
days of the Duke of Alva. And these are the people
among whom the Union—a Union not only of
interest but of affection—is to arise again ! And
these are the people whom Mr. Cassius M. Clay and
other Northern !spokesmen believe would combine
with their oppressors and join heart and soul in
a war against unoffending Eng:and, which has
earnestly striven to offend neither and to tread the
difficult path of justice towards each. It shows how
little the true state of the South is as yet known
and appreciated by the North.
It is interesting to observe how much more reti-
cent and
guarded the Southern press, wholly acre-
strained by censorship or supervision, is than the
muzzled and stifled journals of the North. General
Lee has been in this town for thiee days, and every-
body in the streets has known it; not a word to
that effect has appeared in print. Possibly it might
be useful to General M'Clellan to be aware of this
fact, and the instinct of a people whose affections are
in their cause is a truer guide to discerning where
silence is desirable than the surveillance of Mr.
Stanton and his myrmidons. In the annals of civi•
lized warfare such harmony in support of a war has
never been approached. The women are a never-
failing source of wonder and admiration to the
stranger, and next to the women in earnestness are

society of President Davis, and any faith in the
restoration of the Union nominally survived, the
only inference would be that the Union was either
knave or fool, In a former letter from the North I
expressed the opinion that Mr. Davis was the ablest
living American ; that impression is more than con-
firmed by intercourse with him. The President is
one of those calm, firm, undemonstrative men, in-
clining to reticence, but if interested easily led on
to animated conversation, who belong to a type
which, strange to say, seems to abound in the South,
and is at variance with the imputed impulsiveness
of these children of the sun. In many interviews
with Northern men of rank it has never been my
fortune to encounter one whose mind was not made
in the same mould with that of his fellows, who had
not travelled along the same macadamised road of
learning along which, though pursuing it to diffe-
rent lengths, the 20,000,000 of the North undeviat-
ingly advance. An interview with President Davis
reveals to you an American with striking originality,
whose mind has made its own road as it journeyed,
who has thoughtfully profited by its own experi-
ences,and got beyond the set phrases and the primers
which circumscribe vigour and reach of thought.
Each word is slow, weighty, and luminous, the coun-
tenance and voice agreeable and convincing, the
mouth one of the firmest that ever were set in mor-
tal head. The President looks spare and worn, but
speaks cheerfully of his health. There is nothing
to justify the repeated allegations of Northern
papers that he is physically at his last gasp.
A month in the Confederacy has taught me what
a tremendous power, beyond the unanimous resis-
tance of the inhabitants, the North is contending
against in the vast dimensions of the area it is
striving to subdue. I have hitherto but grazed the
edges of the great State of Virginia, but in order to
do this day after day has been spent in the saddle,
hundreds of miles have been ridden, and a notion of
the difficulty of advancing an army has been gained
from the experience of a single horseman seeking
food and shelter for his horse and himself. From
Gen. Lee's advanced posts four days (three in the
saddle and one on the railroad) are required for the
journey to Richmond, though the distance is less
than 200 miles. But the rocky roads of the Blue
Ridge make 30 miles on horseback a good day's
journey. As for food and forage, it is almost as
difficult to procure as in Central Africa. It is into
this country, rendered additionally inaccessible by
the destruction of the railroad from Harper's Ferry
to Winchester, and of more than 30 miles of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railway, that the clamour of
the North will probably compel Gen. M'Clellan,
keeping open vastly extended lines of communica-
tion, to advance upon an enemy which will fall back
as he approaches, and fight him exactly in the posi-
tion which best suits the views of Gen. Lee. If an
advance had been made by General M'Clellan any
time during the last month, there is excellent
reason to think that it would have immediately
been countered by a corresponding advance of
General Lee into Maryland. But now that the
Potomac is daily rising, and the fords are,
generally speaking, impassable for artillery,
fresh tactics are required, and General M'Clel-
lan's advance will be responded to, not by a corre-
sponding advance into Maryland, but by a retreat
into the heart of Virginia. The confidence gene-
rally entertained here that if General M'Clellan
should advance it will be to his ruin is based upon
the fact that no such army as that now commanded
by General Lee has ever been in the field to oppose
him since the birth of the Confederacy. Whenever
the history of this war is fully written, the world
will be aghast at the disparity of forces with which
battle after battle has been won by Southern gene-
rals, and especially by General Jackson. Perhaps
no greater instance of daring is recorded in civi-
lised warfare than that exhibited when, at the end
of last August, General Jackson threw himself at
the head of 18,000 men behind General Pope's vast
host, and gained decided successes, to be converted,
when General Longstreet joined General Jackson,
into headlong routs. The same confident self-re-
liance was displayed when General Lee, at the head
of not more than 35,000 men, preferred to fight the
battle of Sharpsburg rather than retreat without a
battle, as he might have done. The best commen-
tary upon the Maryland campaign is found in the
two facts that Harper's Ferry, with 12,000 men
and an untold number of guns and abundant muni-
tions of war, fell almost without costing a life into
the hands of its assailants, and that seven weeks
have this day elapsed since the battle of Sharps-
burg without any serious attempt being made by
General M'Clellan to provoke another battle.
Perhaps there is no spot in the Valley of Virginia
which tells its tale of the desolations of war more
forcibly than the junction of the two forks of the
Shenandoah river, in the immediate neighbourhood
of Front Royal. The beautiful and abounding
river, of which one branch runs along either side of
the bluff mountain of Massanutten, until the two
come together at its north-eastern base, rushes
rapidly over the limestone rocks of its channel and
was once traversed by three bridges, whereof one
carried the Manassas Gap Railroad over the trunk
stream, and the other two spanned the two forks
before their junction, and carried the mountain road
from Front Royal to Winchester. The forlorn and
mutilated piers in the centre of the stream are
now the sole relics of what once must have been
noble bridges. Everywhere along this mountain
road the ravages of war are more clearly perceptible
than between Staunton and Winchester. Every
farmer has his story of horses and kine stolen by
the Yankees, and cornfields and forage devoured by
both armies. But such is the wealth of nature here
that after two brief years of peace the whole face of
the valley would smile as of yore, and little visiblel
evidence of the shock of men would remain to tell
the tale. In a short time the two forks of the ,i
nandoah will scarcely be forlahlo, and
th
by toads
the forces at Winchester mnst he sustain
General
higher up the valley. Reports
representtic at Berlin and
com-
munication between the forces at Gordonesd,
M'Clellan as threatening to
aiddevaof the Blue Ridge.
Lovettsville, on the eastern s
s even though the
It will be obviously dangerpoen
Potomacwestwestern
slope !n a
I. deep, for him to have
ileand
o
E B. Stuart on the
General Jackson and Generalßidge ; but in any case
be ever sos.P2_.
from Lovettsville to
he will find it " a far cry"f
this quarter would be
Richmond. Any advance rom.
it not simultaneously
laughed at in this city were
Suffolk sustained by a threatened advance from and
Petersburg.
It would appear that the campaign in Kentucky %
the Blue

it is difficult to say. Perhaps the greatest satisfac-
tion would be felt if General Joe Johnston were ap-
pointed in General Bragg's place, but, although
General Johnston is here, and appears to have won
derfudy recovered from his wounds, it is doubtful
if his health is strong enough yet to enable him to
take the field. The presence of so many of the
leading generals in Richmond at this moment is
significant. In reference to Kentucky it is idle
to deny that there has been more disappointment
here at her disloyalty to the South than at the
apathy of Maryland. It is considered incredible
that a State whose interests and senti-
ments all gravitate southwards should still
cling to the Union, when the Union is hopeless
and discredited, and should, in a vain effort after
neutrality, subject her fields to devastation at the
hands of both armies. The condition of Kentucky,
if the war lasts next year, will be appalling. on t,
other hand, if she had heartily thrown in her
this autumn with the South it is doubtful wb (14
any attempt to carry the war farther woul,'•VLia
been made by the North. But in Xiiituely and
Maryland material ccnsideratioas, wealth and com-
fort, have outweighed all other influences. In the
first it will be seen whether a less shortsighted
policy, though more hazardous at the outset, would
not eventually have proved much safer; in the
second it must be remembered that scarce enough
encouragement was extended to the first effort of
the Confederacy in Maryland's behalf to justify any
similar attempt in the future. It is hard to expect
that a State which, like Virginia, has borne the
heat and burden of the war, which has laid bare
her bosom to the smiter and submitted to sacrifices
hardly paralleled on earth, should look with patience
upon the lukewarm zeal of other rioh and powerful
States, and accept their lip service as equal to her
heart's blood. In the annals of the Old Dominion
there will be no loftier page than that which tells
how month after month the war which established
the independence of the South was fought on her
willing soil, how Lee and Jackson and Stuart and a
hundred others were among her chosen sons, and
how upon every battlefield rivers of the best blood
of Virginia were freely shed rather than abandon
the title to independence which finds its expression
in her fierce motto of " Sac Semper Tyrannis."
But if, as is asserted, the efforts of Gen. Bragg in
Kentucky have resulted only in the capture of a
large amount of plunder, it is believed that his
army, now falling back into Tennessee, will be able
to give a good account of Nashville, and to rescue
that unhappy city from the miseries of Federal do-
mination, of which it has drained the cup to the
dregs. For a long time past it has been the policy
of the Confederates to intercept all supplies from
entering the city, and thus to starve out the Fede-
ral garrison, consisting, it is said, of 7,000 men.
This policy has been met by foraging parties on the
part of the Federals, thrown out on every side of
Nashville, by which every living animal and every-
thing of value has been ruthlessly seized, and
Southern exasperation has been bitterly kindled
against the Yankees of Nashville, who, in addition
to seizing all manner of supplies, are said to have
possessed themselves of jewels, ornaments, and silk
dresses to an enormous extent. All these incidents
have grievously inflamed the Confederates against
them, and it seems probable that, although baffled
in Kentucky, General Bragg's army or a small por-
tion of it will make short work with the garrison at
Nashville, and either compel them to a surrender,
such as took place at Harper's Ferry, or to a pre-
cipitate flight. It is strange it should be fancied that
heightr
thea c
e a
gt
of
the tenure of such cities as Nashville and New Or-
leans by tyrants like Butler should be calculated to
awaken sentiments of affection in hearts estranged.
Upon a recent day, no less than 15,000 persons went
to a place in New Orleans, appointed by General
Butler, and solemnly swore that they were enemies
to the United States, and registered their property
for him to work his will upon.
In one respect there need be little anxiety enter-
tained in Europe about the pompous proclamation
in which President Lincoln announces that after the
Ist of January next all slaves in the states then in
rebellion shall be set free. From the very first
dawn of this war that proclamation has been prao-
tically enforced. There remains no power to en-
force it in January, 1863, which was not invoked
and employed in January, 1862. Wherever the
United States' forces have been quartered during
this war the eager desire of officers and men ap-
pears to have been to " run off" the slave popula-
tion. Again and again rations have been served out
to large bodies of runaway negroes ; for instance there
were 2,000 runaways lately assembled and fed by
the Federal Government at Harper's Ferry. This
circumstance only renders more certain the original
impression entertained with respect to this procla-
mation, that it was esteemed as of no importance
on this continent, and was put forth only to catch
English and French approbation. But in the South
such is the exasperation against the Yankee, so
low is the estimate of his acts and intentions
that it is almost universally believed that the un-
fortunate African runaway will be secretly sold by
the Federal Government in Cuba. In confirmation
of this theory it is remarked that a crippled, or aged,
or useless negro is never tempted into freedom by
the Federal troops. But it must be confessed that
the very lowest estimates of Yankee morality are
justified by the experiences of this war. As an
amusing instance of the popular Southern creed as
to the mingled canting hypocrisy and knavery of
the Yankee, it is asserted that in the wallet of a
Federal soldier recently killed in the
Poca-
taligo, near Charleston, was discovered the 70th
Psalm, neatly written out in the soldiers own
fight at
hand, and wrapped in a five-dollar Confederate
note, which proved to be counterfeit.
It is remarked, after the experience of eighteen.
months of warfare, that the smooth bore rifil6esstgenhe-
rally preferred by the Southern
believe in long shots, and seldom
fire
At this dis-
tance hundred yards of their enernyifie
• d musket is to
tance the constant tendency of ther
assertede
that in the
Enfield or Springfield The Confederatessiduinetil dwooithntiont
throw its ball too high. It
iessof the musket balls
battles around this town
from 6ft. to Oft.
of from 3ft. to Oft. above reeaunnda,vewrahgereehaesigthhet
Federal bullets range at a
a question that the vast majority of the
andsir e tdo
bi life in
Southerni n the
There is not a high above their opponents'
fired by the Confederates
Federal bullets g
Southerner from his earliest boyhood
The
heads. t exception, been accustomed to
has, almost without
saddle. The
value of these two accomplishments cannot be over-
estimated in such a war as this. At this moment
rumours have reached us that Gen. M'Clellan is to
) way to Gen. Hooker. That such may bo the
give
Generals.
Gen. Hooker is known to be brave aid rash,
qualities which were also possessed by Gen. Pope.
With such an army as that of Gen. M'Clellan rash-
ness is almost portain to lead to crushing disaster.
It is most creditable to the Confederacy to remark
how, under all the pressure of their circumstances,
public liberty hay never been sacrilied, the
Habeas Corpus Act never suspended. As an ctalisee "isse of
f ardently firearms
de
in-
stance, I may mention that there are two journals
published daily in this town, which animadvert
upon the President and his Cabinet, and upon the
Governor of Virginia, in language which could
scarcely be surpassed by the New York Herald. It
has been held better to put up with the inconve-
nience of their strictures, and with the apparent
manifestations of dissension thus exhibited to the
North, than to suppress or interfere with the free-
idom of the press. Bat one effect of this tolerance

yet transpired as to the
opening of this line of railway. The repeated delays
and postponements which have taken place in the
matter have led to some very unfavourable com-
ments as to the condition of the line. Mr. Fowler,
the engineer, in his last report to the directors,.
stated most confidently that everything wculd he
ready for the opening by the Ist of October lest.
The bursting of the Fleet Sewer was assigned as a
cause of delay, and when all the damage occasioned
by this accident had been repaired, a further cause
for postponeMent was found in the necessity for
arranging or adapting the system of working the
signals. 'Then it was found that the earrieges which
had been buili. for the railway were too wide, end
that the (lours could not in consequence he opened
in the tunnel. They were, in fact, made some ten
inches wider than the ordinary carriages of the
Great Western Railway. This blunder has, we be-
lieve, been now rectified by reducing the width of
the carriages. One reason for not opening the line
was, however, put forward, which, unlike any of
those already mentioned, had really no foundation,
viz., that the delay was occasioned by difficulties in-
terposed by the Great Western Railway, who had
undertaken to work the line. So far from this being
the case, the Great Western Company have been
prepared at, any time, within the last three months,
~dertake the working of the railway, and no
•t-- whatever can be attributed to them in this
respect. The Great Wesi;lrn Company are prepared
to abide by, and to carry out the working arrange-
ments in the fairest and most ht pourable manner.
Among the rumours which have been current dur-
ing the last week, as to the cause of delay, are some
of a very grave nature. It was stated that the
works connected with the new Fleet sewer were
not sufficiently strong, that a very large portion of
the bank of the cutting near the Sessions House,
Clerkenwel, had given way, and that the recon-
struction of a large part of the retaining wall in
some other parts near the line of the sewer would
be necessary. This last report, we are glad to learn,
has been considerably exaggerated. There is a
portion of the line between the station and the mouth
of the Coppice-row tunnel, the retaining wall of
which had not been built up in brickwork. It was
a part at which the branch line to run under Smith-
field was to diverge, and here the bank was kept up
only by a short wall and some piling. A portion of
the earth slipped, but it was only to a trifling extent,
and scarcely sufficient to interfere with the lifie on
the permanent way. There are other reports of an
unsatisfactory nature as to the coneition of some
part of the brickwork in the tunnel, but we are un-
able to ascertain whether there is any fouridation
for this report. It is impossible to say with cer-
tainty when the line will be opened for traffic, No
day for the official inspection has yet been named.
The directors of the Great Western Company have
done all in their power to complete the arrange-
ments, the station masters and guards and porters
are appointed, and the answer now given to all in-
quiries on the subject is that the opening day will
not be delayed beyond the middle of the month.

CHARGE OF MURDER TN THE VIC 7 ORM

DOCK-ROAD.

____,__________
A considerable degree of excitement has prevailed
during the last few days in the vicinity of the Vic-
toria Docks, in consequence of a report Sf a
brutal murder on the person of Arthur Merton,
aged 21 years. a porter at the Tidal Basin Station
of the North Woolwich line of the Great Eastern
Railway, by a number of mariners alleged to be-
long to the screw collier steam-ship James Dixon,
the property of Messrs. Cory and Sons, coal merch-
ants. It appeared that the deceased went into the
Victoria Dock Hotel on Monday night last, and after
leaving that place he was attacked by a number of
sailors in a drunken condition, who maltreated him
and his companion, whom they kicked, and after
leaving deceased in an insensible state, he was dis-
covered by the police, who removed him ; but de-
ceased never rallied, and died on the following morn-
ing at eleven o'clock.
The Coroner for the district, Mr. C. C. Lewis,
opened an inquiry at the Victoria Dock Hotel, Vic-
toria Dock-road, Essex, u on the body of deceased,
and after the identity was proved on Wednesday
the proceedings were adjourned until Saturday
morning at eleven o'clock, when the following im-
portant evidence was adduced :
Edward Lowe stated that be knew the deceased,
and he went to the Dock House Tavern on the
night in question with Thomas Dyson. They re-
mained there until half-past eleven o'clock, when
they left. Dyson and witness walked on, when
they saw Mitchell and other sailors, who struck him
and Dyson. He then saw Mitchell run after Dyson,
exclaiming, " I have done for one, and I will do for
another." Mitchell then approached witness and
struck him. Witness saw the deceased lying on the
ground and heard a man named Hewett say, " Go
it George, give it to the —." At the police sta-
tion Mitchell offered witness money not to appear to
press the charge.
Thomas Dyson, railway porter, deposed that he
and deceased left duty at five minutes to ten o'clock
that night, and repaired to the Dock House Tavern,
and, after remaining there until 20 minutes to 12,
they proceeded on their way home ; but just
after they left Mitchell struck witness, exclaiming,
" I know you." Witness replied, " If you do know
me you need not strike me." Shortly afterwards he
saw deceased lying on the ground. The police were
called, and deceased was taken home. Witness re-
mained with him all night, but he never recovered
his senses or his speech, and expired next morning.
James Wallis, a police-officer in the service of the
Great Eastern Railway Company, said that on Mon-
day night, shortly before 11 o'clock, he was alarmed
by a cry of " Police !" He proceeded to the spot
from whence the sound issued, and found deceased
upon the ground lying by the side of a lamp-post.
Mitchell was by the deceased, and witness distinctly
saw him kick the deceased twice on the head as he
lay upon the ground. Witness was only about 10 or
12 yards from him, and clearly saw Mitchell use his
foot. When Mitchell was in the act of kicking de-
ceased, the man Hewett said, " Let the have it,
George." When witness reached deceased he was
quite insensible. Witness assisted in carrying de-
ceased home, and he was quite insensible until death.
Mr. J. Morris, surgeon, stated that he was called
to the deceased, and made a post mortem examina-
tion of the body, in conjunction with Dr. Mugliston.
The immediate cause of death was effusion of blood
on the surface of the brain, produced by fracture of
the skull and rupture of the bloodvessels of the
brain, which must have been produced by a violent
fall or blow. He did not believe the injuries were
received accidentally.
After some remarks from the learned coroner he
suggested another adjournment, as several important
witnesses were absent on board the James Dixon,
which would be in the docks again in a week's
time.
The proceedings were accordingly adjourned.
The two men, Mitchell and Hewett, were brought
up at Ilford Petty Sessions, on Saturday, before a
full bench of county magistrates, on the charge of
causing the deceased's death; but after the exami-
nation of several witnesses, the prisoners were re-
manded for a week, and were again conveyed to Il-
ford Gaol.

THE LONDON COAL TRADE.—A scheme by which
it is proposed to substitute the present drops of the Great
Northern Railway, with a much more advantageous plan
for sacking, is now engaging the attention of the leading
colliery owners of South Yorkshire, inasmuch as its adop-
tion would be at tended with many advantages to them. By
the authority of the directors of the South Yorkshire Rail-
way a model of the plan has been exhibited at their offices,
Hallgate, Doncaster, and on Saturday last several of the
directors and the officials inspected it. Mr. Plimsoll, a
gentleman intimately connected with the coal trade, ex-
plained its working, and it seems that the fall of coatis from
the waggons is now so great as to cause a deterioration in
value in some kinds of coal of at least 14 or 15 per cent.,
but the proposal now made would reduce it to only three or
four, and in the case of other descriptions still lower. It is
intended that each quality shall occupy a particular line of
railway, and the delivery will he direct from the trucks to
the sacks down a screen separated in the middle, by which
means the filling will take place in two sacks at once. As
each truck is emptied it will, by means of an easily revolv-
ing turntable, run under a shed to a line set apart for empty
waggons, and thus much of the inconvenience that now
arises would be obviated. The delivery could go on from
waggons on each line, and when emptied be readily re-'
moved. The colliery managers and proprietors have ex-
pressed their approval of the scheme, one of the chief ad-
vantages of which would be that waggons would not be de-
tained in London by a fluctuating demand, but could be
emptied and sent off,and all kinds of coal would be almost
delivered to the consumer in the same state as when loaded
the breakage which occurs at all the
at the pits,railway
depots in London being avoided.