The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-29 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1853.

If the _
reports received by electric telegraph,
which we copied from the Moniteur of the pre-
ceding day into our impression of yesterday, be
correct, blood has already been shed on the
Danube. It is said that " two Russian steamers
and eight gun-boats forced the passage of the
Danube, on Sunday (the 23d instant), and were
encountered by a smart fire from the Turkish
fort of Isactcha, between Reni and Ismail," that
"the Russians had a lieutenant-colonel, three offi-
cars, and twelve men killed, and fifty wounded."
It is also said, " they (the Russians) pretend to
have sA fire to the fortress of Isactcha." The
account appears to have been credited in some
degree on the Stock Exchange, where it produced
a fall of about i per cent. in Consols. We would,
however, once more impr3ss upon our friends, and
the communii y in general, the propriety of re-
ceiving all such rumours with considerable hesita-
-ton, if not doubt. It is very rossibie that there
may have been some slight foundation for the re-
port, but by no means sufficient to warrant the in,
ferences that have been drawn therefrom, or to show
that there has been an attempt on the part of the
invading army to carry the war into the Turkish

provinces beyond the Danube, which would most
probably occasion a decisive battle between the
opposing armies. It is scarcely necessary to re-
peat the cautions as to the zeal and energy of the
"Bears," coupled with an unbending resolution to
avail themselves of any points that can by a pos-
sibility depress the quotations of Stocks and
Shares —to exaggerate the current rumours,
and, if necessary, to invent new reports. That they
are active in their vocation is unfortunately but
too well known, and that they have exercised an
extraordinary influence over the intelligence con-
veyed by the electric telegraph—changing and
alternating its accounts to suit their purposes—
has been more than hinted on many occasions.
It is by no means improbable that there may
have been some interference on the part of
their agents on the present occasion, and
the statement just made may be based on a
rumour which has been circulating for several
days respecting the death of a Russian officer of
Engineers, who was taking soundings of the river,
and, having continued to do so after ample warn-
ing, was fired on from the Turkish shore. This
we believe will prove to have been the foundation
of the dispatch above referred to. Of course we
cannot as yet speak with any degree of certainty
on the point. The strange coincidence between
the rumours will, however, prove the necessity of
caution before the later and more important one
can be received with implicit credence, or persons
be induced to sacrifice their property at inadequate
prices on the strength thereof.
The last account would seem to imply that the
Russians had attempted further aggression—
that they had actually attempted the passage
of the river, with a view of making good
their footing on the Turkish bank, and
that they had partially succeeded in the attempt,
having effected a landing and destroyed a Turkish
fortress. This would show that the instructions
from the CZAR were of a very decided and
peremptory character, and that he had made up
his mind to a " war to the knife," which was
to be carried out without further delay or
respite. On the other hand, it was merely
a casual encounter with a surveying party ; the
casualty could not materially enhance the difficul-
ties of the case, or prevent an ultimate arrange-
ment between the belligerents. We still believe,
for the reasons assigned in our leading article of
yesterday, that the latter view of the case will
prove to be the most accurate, and that Prince
GORTSCHAKOFF will pursue a Fabian policy, while
OMER PACHA, on the other hand, will resort to every
means within his power to bring about an imme-
diate collision, and, if possible, to rescue his
adopted country from the stigma of being occupied
by an invading army.

Whatever opinion, however, may turn out to be
most in accordance with the facts, is in our judg-
ment a matter of comparatively trivial import-
ance. We believe that a collision is inevitable.
Not a mere affair of outposts, but a regular
pitched battle between the main bodies of the
opposing armies. We have invariably ab imitio
stated our impression that no permanent peace
could be established until such an encounter had
taken place, which would serve as a basis for fresh
negotiations—negotiations that would be entered
into under very different auspices from those that
have already taken place. NICHOLAS is now un-
deceived. His eyes have been partially opened
to the imprudence—to use no stronger term—of
his own precipitation. He has at length discovered
that France and England are resolute in their
determination to prevent the carrying out of his
nefarious projects, and that neither his servile
admirers in the Cabinet nor the Press can control
the Parliament or people of the United Kingdom ;
that he has, in fact, as we yesterday stated, " en-
deavoured to pluck the pear ere it was yet ripe."
He would gladly, then, snatch at any opportunity
of retreating if he could do so without injury to
his indomitable pride or amour propre. The
sacrifice of a few thousand lives would be
as nothing in the scale when compared with
his private feelings. If punctilio similar to that
which animated the duellist of the last century,
if his troops obtained an advantage on the first
contest, he could make an exhibition of spurious
magnanimity by permitting the matter to be de-
cided in accordance with the views of the arbi-
trating Powers, and accepting terms which he had
refused before achieving a victory. This, although
a very Brummagem imitation of the real article,
would pass current with his servile adulators,
and enable him to obtain the incense of flat-
tery, so dear to his soul. On the other hand,
if defeated, other excuses may be found to save
his pride from any very severe injury. An ardu-
ous contest may prove the forerunner of peace,
and, therefore, while doubting the rumours that
have been so extensively circulated, and on which
such extensive operations have been founded, we
would regard the intelligence of a real battle be-
tween the opposing armies as the best that could
be received, and the most likely to tend to a
pacific solution of the great Eastern problem.

NATHANIEL MOBBS, the wretched man who,
after cutting his wife's throat, had attempted
suicide, was on Thursday capitally convicted at
the Central Criminal Court for the wilful and
deliberate murder of his unfortunate wife. The
Jury could have arrived at no other conclusion.
Not all the ingenuity of counsel could find the
slightest loop-hole for escape, or the slightest
foundation for reducing the offence to that of man-
slaughter. The twelve gentlemen, on whose ver-
dict the earthly fate of the miserable culprit de-
pended, had a painful duty to discharge, but they
did so firmly and honourably, in accordance with
the solemn obligation they had previously taken.
Their attention was necessarily limited to the de-
tails of the fatal transaction for which the prisoner
had been arraigned. They had no legal knowledge
of his former misconduct towards his miserable
victim, or of the habitual ill-treatment for which
hueAhyNadAua:c,quired the soubriquet of . General
The Learned Judge very properly
rejected all evidence not relating to the facts at
issue, and, therefore, no proof of previous violence
could be adduced. Sufficient, however, appeared
to establish his legal guilt beyond the possibility
of doubt, and also to exhibit in the strongest light
the well-founded apprehensions enterteaftnhedshbeyhad
the
death deceased. The night preceding her
taken refuge in the room of a neighbour, and re-
mained from midnight until the following morn-
ing with a compassionate woman named " ANG-
LING," and two young females. There she re-
mained until her husband came to seek far her at
between four and five o'clock. On discovering
her, he desired that she should fetch some beer,
which she refused, adding that she was "going
before the Lord Mayor for proof that he should not
murder her'—a significant declaration, showing
how great was the alarm she entertained at the
moment—an alarm which speedily proved to have
but too much foundation. The moment, however,
that she announced her intention of claiming the
protection of the law, the prisoner laid hold of
her and dragged her out of the room ; he then
pulled her along the court and flung her into the
uronolmesssilehad
house where they resided. She refused to go upstairs
spentaccompanied theb y
night,tl ie
tneighbouruukin g ,
that the presence even of helpless i aperwhhaopsse,
have, in some degree, mightrestraaittedhi.mfemdualreing
first ebullition of his wrath. She -
i tlie
had, however,
scarcely left the room when she heard screams,
and her wretched companion calling out, that " if
lie did not let her alone, she would jump out of
the window." These things occurred in the

morning, but it was not until between two and
three o'clock in the afternoon that he worked
himself up to the reckless state of desperation
which induced him to lay violent hands on the
woman whom, in the temple of the living Gon, he
had solemnly vowed to love and cherish.
During the entire interval, some eight or nine
hours, he continued in his moody and desperate
state. There was not, during that entire time, a
sympathising neighbour to interfere, or to invoke
the assistance of a policeman. It was not until a
box had been drawn against the door to prevent the
approach of help, and earnest cries of " Murder"
were heard, that tardy aid was afforded. The mis-
chief bad, however, been perpetrated. One murder
was completed, and another, that of the miserable
man himself, nearly accomplished before the door
was opened. At the time of the fatal occurrence
he was not even intoxicated. It was in the in-
dulgence of the long-continued system of brutality
that lie brought his mind to the bloodthirsty de-
termination which he carried into execution.

It is not for the purpose of exulting over the
wretched convict, of enhancing the bitterness cf
his sufferings, or increasing the public wrath
against him that we have entered into this very
painful narrative. It is not our custom on any
occasion, and most assuredly is not our desire to
do so in the present instance. The wretched
man must fearfully expiate his offence. The
majesty of the law will be fully vindicated, and
we earnestly hope that he may receive the conso-
lation and strength which he so urgently requires
from an all-merciful CREATOR. It is only in the
hope that, from the melancholy and heart-rending
example, some benefit may be derived to the
community in general that we allude to the case,
that we cite it as a powerful corroboration of
the views we have repeatedly put forward
as to the imperative necessity for legislative in-
terference, and for the speedy enactment of some
more efficient remedies against the brutal out-
rages that, if unchecked, eventually lead to the
death of the victim and the capital Conviction of
the oppressor. The Learned Judge, while passing
sentence, commented on " the unmanly conduct
which was continued, until probably the brutal
violence of the convict excited him to the com-
mission of the fatal act which terminated her
career and his own." He was right ; such malig-
nant and evil passions gather strength by indul-
gence, until extremities are gone to, at which the
perpetrator would himself have shuddered a short
time previously. Had MORES been soundly
scourged when he first earned for himself the un-
enviable appellation—had he been taught that on
each successive instance of violence his brutality
would have met with a similar punishment —the
fatal act would never have been committed that
has brought his name so prominently before the
public, and left him in his present painful and
humiliating condition. We trust that from his
deplorable case we may take warning to interpose
in other cases ere it is too late.