The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-19 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

MANCHESTER TUESDAY.—The dark and threatening
appearance of political affairs of the continent generally,
and particularly the renewal of disturbances in Paris,
with the increasing prospect of intervention by France
in reference to the affairs of Italy and Poland, have ex-
ercised an injurious effect upon our market to day. There
has scarcely been a transaction for any part of the con-
tinent of Europe; and, although the home trade conti-
nues good, the absence of demand for markets which,
under ordinary circumstances absorb so large a propor-
tion of the entire production of this district, is neces-
sarily felt in the gradual accumulation of stocks and the
continued decline of prices. The little business done
has been at irregular rates, and, in many cases, at a slight
concession from the prices of last week.
From what we have heard upon the subject, we are
inclined to believe that goods and yarns are scarce, and
decidedly wanted, in some of the continental markets;
but the difficulties of negotiating aro so great as to pre-
sent almost insuperable obstacles to mercantile enter-
prise. In most of the commercial cities of Germany,
we believe, it is almost impossible to make purchases or
to procure foreign credits, excepting by means of specie,
or short dated paper, with good English acceptances.
And such is the want of confidence in the stability of
governments and institutions on the continent, that it
seems probable that, for some time to come, payments
even between cities comparatively near each other, will
be generally made by bills on England. Before that can
be accomplished, foreign bankers will have to provide
funds here to cover their drafts; and we have reason to
believe that large sums, in specie and in bills drawn
against shipments of produce, have been placed in the
hands of London bankers for that purpose.
We are glad to learn, that although the cotton trade is
suffering under so severe a depression, the silk trade,
which is carried on to a large extent in this neighbour-
' hood, is in a comparatively prosperous condition. The
very low price of the raw material, the former prudence
of the manufacturer in limiting their production to the
wants of the trade, sad the prostrate condition of the silk
manufacture in France, have concurred in causing a very
active demand both for broad silks and for mixed goods;
and the workpeople engaged in the manufacture are
fully and beneficially employed. We learn too, that the
that the fine weather has been decidedly advantageous
to the muslin printers, and other parties engaged in the
production of articles suited to the finer branches of the
home trade, who aro generally well employed. For the
same reason, and also on account of a rather extensive
inquiry for India, the muslin manufacturers at Glasgow
have experienced an improved demand for their fabrics,
and are in a much better condition than they were in a
few weeks ago.
ROCIIDA.LE, MONDAY.— There was some slight im-
provement in the demand for flannels to-day, and rather
more pieces sold than last week, but the prices given
were very low. In wool, the demand is fiat, and the sales
limited, without any change in price.
HALIFAX, SATURDAY.—A little more is doing in light
fancy goods for trouaerings, but not so much as might
be expected at this season, and in other sorts there is
no improvement. The state of the continent prevents
all exports of yarn, with the exception of the demand
for the Russian market, and the deepest depression in
consequence exists. In wool, scarcely any sales are
effected. The stock in the market continues light, and
little is coming forward. If there be any alteration in
price, it is in favour of the buyer.
HUDDERSFIELD, TUESDAY.—There has not been much
doing, either i❑ the Cloth Hall or warehouses, although
several buyers have attended to-day's market. In good
fancy woollens, there is a complaint of great scarcity;
and the uncertainty of the result of the wool sales now
on, has had a tendency to prevent the production of
new stocks.

LEEDS, TUESDAY.—We have no alteration to report
respecting this days market. The attendance has been
as usual, but very few goods changed hands, and prices
ruled very low, although not lower than goods can be
replaced by the manufacturers at the present depressed
raw material, which may be bought on easier terms than
for many years past.—Manchester Guardian.

THE CONVICTS ANNETTE MEYERS AND MARY
ANN HUNT.--The governor of Newgate has been re-
lieved of the custody of these two wretched criminals,
who have been so long confined under respited sentences
of death within the walls of that prison. Yesterday Mr.
Cope received from the Secretary of State for the Home
Department a communication informing him of the com-
muted sentence which it had been determined to inflict
up m both convicts. This sentence is two years' im-
prisonment in the Westminster Brideweli, and, at the
expiration of that period, transportation for life to a
penal settlement. In accordance with this order, the
prisoners were yesterday removed to Tothill Fields
Prison, where it has been directed they are to undergo
the first portion of their sentence.

Franconi's celebrated equestrian troupe of per-
formers terminated their engagement at Drury-lane
Theatre on Tuesday night, and yesterday morning em-
barked at St. Katherine's -wharf, on board the General
Steam Navigation Company's steam-ship Wilberforce,
from Havre, en route to Paris.

FINE ARTS.
HERBERT'S GREAT PICTURE.

THE ACQUITTAL of the SEVEN BISTIOPS.
Painted by J. R. Iferbert,
Those who visited the exhibition of the Royal
Academy in 1843 will not have forgotten the extra-
ordinary work of art which elevated the name of
Mr. Herbert to the first class among contemporary
artists. The elaboration of the design, the multitude
of the figures, the greatness of the subject, the ex-
quisite combination of the colouring, the correctness
of the costume, were all too remarkable to fade upon
the recollection. It was a picture to be seen once to be
remembered always. In its production Mr. Herbert
ambitioned much, and his ambition was very far from
being disappointed. He consumed in its production
three whole years, and those three whole years were
not lost, for they enabled him to complete a great
historical painting worthy of the daring of his theme,
and almost worthy of his own genius. Among those
who, in 1848, will stand before his scriptural com-
position of " Herod and Herodias," in the Royal
Academy Exhibition, and especially
among those
who, in 1847, paused before his noble representation
of the " Holy Family," there will be very few
indeed who will not be solicitous to examine again
his celebrated picture of " The Acquittal of
the Seven Bishops." From time to time cir-
cumstances have revived the curiosity of those
who have not been fortunate enough to
see the production itself. One while the
Reverend Hugh M`Neile delivers a discourse
illustrative of its merits, at another the
.Rev.
Hugh Stowell pronounces a similar eulogium.
At the same time it is generally known that the
engraving of the picture is progressing steadily
in the atelier of Mr. S. W. Reynolds, and that
the original has received many master touches from
it
s
last hand of Mr. Herbert since the period of
last public exhibition. We had the gratification of
ourselves witnessing the admirable finish of this
work of art when we visited, the other morning, the
picture gallery at No. 25, Cockspur-street. To analyse
the
painting anew would be superfluous, but
it will not be superfluous to remark that its excel-
lence grows upon the mind the longer and the oftener
it is seen. Assisted in a great measure by the strik-
ing character of the costume of the seventeenth cen-
tury, the artist has diffused a peculiar splendour over
the canvass ; and, while the eye is successively at-
tracted to the jury-box in the centre of the back-
ground, to the judges on the right hand side, to th.
e
young law students on the left, to the spectators
the body of the hall and in the gallery, unity and
concentration is imparted to the picture by the pro-
minence of the seven accused prelates seated in the
middle of the foreground. This is the more remark-
able inasmuch as the necessity of preserving the cos-
tumes as accurately as possible compelled, the artist
to delineate a row of seven bishops clad in.a monoto-
nous white--the prelates being, of course, the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, Sancroft; the Bishop of Bris-
tol, Trelavvney ; the Bishop of St. Asaph, Lloyd; the
Bishop of Chichester, Lake ; the Bishop of Peterborough,
White ; the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Kenn ; and
the Bishop of Ely, Turner. In these, and altogether
in nearly twenti eight instances, the likenesses have
been preserved with the most scrupulous attention—
s circumstance which enhances the value of the com-
position a hundredfold. Among these portraitures
there is very considerable power in the visages of the
four judges—Sir Robert Wright, the Lord Chief
Justice of England; Justice Powell; Justice Hol-
loway ; and Sir Richard Allibone. Sir Roger
Langley, Bart., the foreman of the jury of twelve
good men and true, is just delivering in the memor-
able verdict of " Not Guilty ;" and a youth is pro-
claiming the glad intelligence to the crowd assembled
in Westminster Hall. One face and one figure,
however, have an interest to us paramount to all the
rest. It is the face of a young man—handsome—in-
telligent—nonchalant. It is the figure of a junior
barrister. He has already delivered his speech as the
last of the counsel of the accused, and although his
maiden speech, his oration has profoundly influenced
the verdict. The young barrister afterwards be-
came Lord High Chancellor of England. It is
the celebrated Lord Somers—" an illustrious states-
man, of consummate abilities and irreproachable
integrity." There is much genius—genius of a
peculiar character in Mr. Herbert's delineation of
Lord Somers, then Mr. Somers. He is represented
as looking at the Lord Chief Justice, who is inter-
rupting Sir Roger Langley with an objection—and
the physiogomy of the future Chancellor is expressive
of his perfect conviction of the futility of such inter-
ruptions, and his confidence in the result of the cause
he has himself defended with so much eloquence.
As indicative of his placidity in that moment of inde-
scribable anxiety, he is calmly extracting a pinch of
snuff from his snuff-box. We might unquestionably
enumerate a variety of blemishes in the production ;
we might condemn the feebleness of the back- ground,
the want of serial perspective, the over-minuteness of
some parts, such as the very weaving together of the
threads in the Brussels carpet, we might cavil at the
introduction of a lap-dog into a subject so infinitely
austere in its moral—but we cannot but feel that,
with the counterpoise of so many extraordinary merits
as are perceptible at the first glance, such an enumer-
ation would be little better than hypercritical. It is
an honourable fact—a fact worthy of remembrance in
the records of art—that the idea of this great picture
was suggested by a provincial publisher, Mr. Thomas
Agnew, of Manchester, and that to the munificence
of Mr. Agnew is attributable, in the first instance,
the encouragement of the artistic genius of John
Rogers Herbert.

ART-UNION JOURNAL.
Another admirable number of the Art-Union
Journal has just been published, illustrated by a
beautiful engraving of the " Grape Gatherer of
Capri," from the original painting by Rodolph
Leh-
mann. Mrs. Hall's serial of " Pilgrimages to Eng-
lish Shrines" continues to be among the most
attractive features of the periodical; the present
instalment of the series being descriptive of the
Residence of Dr. Isaac Watts. Some of the original
designs for domestic purposes are really exquisite—
instance the coffee-cup and tea-cup at page 146, by
Henry Fitz-Cook. Mary Thornycroft's Statuette
of the Princess Alice, as Spring, is prettily repre-
sented by E. Corbould ; and Mr. Collins's picture of
" Crossing the Sands " is excellently engraved by
Radclyffe. Most of the miscellaneous notices and
criticisms evince considerable intelligence.

COURT CIRCULAR.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent visited the
Queen yesterday morning at Buckingham Palace.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by Col.
the Hon. C. B. Phipps, and Captain the lion. Alexander
Gordon, went yesterday morning to inspect the model
lodging-house.
Her Majesty, accompanied by the Prince of Wales
and the Princess Royal, and attended by the Hon. Ma-
tilda Paget, took an airing in an open carriage and four,
yesterday afternoon. The Hon. Colonel Grey, Equerry
in Waiting, attended on horseback.
Prince Alfred, the Princess Helena, and the Princess
Louisa, were taken a drive in a carriage and four yester-
day, accompanied by the Dowager Lady Lyttelton.
The Princess Alice took an airing in the garden of the
Palace.
Her Majesty and Prince Albert, attended by the
Countess of Charletnont, Earl of Morton, Colonel the
Hon. Charles Grey, and Captain the Hon. Alexander
Gordon, honoured the performance at her MaiestY's
Theatre with their presence last evening. Her Rnyal
Highness the Duchess of Kent, attended by Lady Au-
gusts Bruce, and his Royal Highness the Prince of
Prussia, also honoured the performance yesterday even-
ing, with their presence. resented to
Major Hagart, of the 7th Hussars, was p
the Queen by the Marquis of Anglesey, on Wednesday,
at the Levee.

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interview with Sir George Grey yesterday, at the Home-
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The Rev. William 11. Biederman had an interview on
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Mr. Cunard, Mr. M‘Cartlay, glad Mr. Wyse had in-
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terview yesterday with Sir George Grey.
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England had Et
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vinces.
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with Sir George Grey, at the Home-office.
-..............-----

DESPERATE STRUGGLE IR A RAILWAY CARRIAGE,
—ln connexion with the increasing necessity for com-
munications in emergency between the passengers and
guards of a train, the Ilirmingham Journal narrates a
singular and desperate encounter between an officer and
three thieves, whom he was taking to Warwick gaol by
railway. When the train had passed stitchterd the
fellows suddenly sprang upon the constable, and at-
tempted to force him out of the window. The officer,
named Pearson, struggled against his opponents and
cried aloud for help. His cries
they would
and,
overpowered by the desperadoes, they would probably
clip this
his r
handcuffs,e a d ful st r u
have accomplished their purpose but for the smallness of
the aperture through which they endeavoured to thrust
him. Failing in this, he was pinioned to the floor of the
carriage, while two of the villains pressed their knees
on his chest with such force at the blood gushed from
and,e zet-
one
tohfetohffie ctehrie'svemsoucothn
ting out of the window, threw himself off the —•
tram
and succeeded in escaping, as no trace of him bas since'
been discovered. On the arrival of the train at Marston
Green, Pearson apprised then uard of what had occurred)
and one of the railway cotables was placed in
.triiireduritnog
nth
carriage as an additional security, and accompanied the
prisoners to Warwick, where they were safely lodged in
gaol.

..ii,i'J:~~~