The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-05 00:00:00

plainant, saying he would not mind giving a sovereign s
for that purpose.
The MAGISTRATE said the parties had better consult
together for a short time.
The parties then retired, but the offer made by the
defendant being unsatisfactory, the magistrate ordered
the case to proceed, when a Mrs. Arkwright, a lady who
was with them, denied that either of the defendants
committed the assaults in the first instance. Her evi-
dence, however, was considered immaterial, as it appeared
she was frightened, and in a swoon the greater portion
of the time.
Mr. SECIIER said he should feel it his duty to send the
case before a jury.
The defendants were accordingly committed, and sure-
ties were entered into for their appearance at the next
sessions.

THAMES.
ALLEGED MORTALITY AND CRUELTY ON BOARD A
MERCHANT Slim—George Harris Quinton, master of
the ship Regina, from Hong-Kong, now lying in the
West India Docks, was summoned before Mr. Ballan-
tine by five of his crew, on three separate and distinct
charges, which will be better understood from the fol-
lowing particulars :
The first charge was for neglecting to furnish his crew
with lime juice and sugar, which is strictly provided
should be done by Act of Parliament.
Mr. Pelham, who appeared for the several complain-
ants, said the humane provisions of the Legislature had
been entirely disregarded by Captain Quinton, and, in
consequence, sickness and dt•ath had occurred to an
extent which was truly frightful to think of. On sailing
from Hong-Kong the crew consisted of twenty-seven
Manilla inn, subjects of Spain, and thirteen Europeans.
Through the neglect of the captain three men died on
the passage, and eighteen others were now in the Dread-
nought in a dreadful state of disease and suffering.
When the vessel arrived in the Downs, another crew
was employed to work the ship up the river in conse-
quence of the sickness on board.
Mr. Cullen, the ship's surgeon, confirmed this state
ment, and said that limes abounded in China, so that the
captain might have provided for the necessities of his
seamen. In extenuation it was urged that no lime juice
had been placed on board the vessel, so that the master
could not serve out that which he had not on board. It
was also urged that neither lime nor lemon juice could
be procured in China.
The magistrate regretted there was an obscurity in

the Act, Which made it impossible for him to convict.
The owner was liable to a penalty of 201. for neglecting
to provide lime juice, &c., and the master would be sub-
ject to a penalty of 51. per day if he neglected to serve it
out. In this case no lime juice was put on board, so
that he was compelled, although reluctantly, to dismiss
the summons. At the same time, he felt bound to say
that the men had been greatly neglected by their captain.
The second charge against the master was for admi-
nistering one-third less provisions than agreed upon in
the articles between the owner and crew, which was ac-
counted for by a statement that several persons were
sent on board off the island of Ascension ; but the ma-
gistrate said the captain was bound to provide extra
food for the extra passengers, so that the captain agreed
to pay all hands fourpence each per day, for every day
they had been so kept upon short provisions.
The third and last charge was for having flogged the
cook of the vessel with a cat-o'-nine-tails, on the ground
of his having spoilt some soup, and also that he was
filthy and insolent, contrary, as was alleged, to the
present custom of the merchant service, which service
never adopted that mode of punishment.
The MAGISTRATE thought that no man ought to be
flogged on board a merchant ship except in cases of very
great necessity, such as mutiny ; and that no punilh-
ment should take place till alt the officers were con-
sulted, and the offender called upon for his defence. If
the man was a bad cook, and incompetent to do his duty,
it would be a reason to reduce his wages ; but to flog a
man because he spoiled a dinner was, in his opinion,
an abuse of authority not to be tolerated. He should
send this case before a jury, and he called upon the de-
fendant to find bail himself in 301., and two sureties of

01. each, to answer the charge at the sessions.
LAMBETH.

Will;am Ratelift; an auctioneer, carrying on business
in the New Cut, Lambeth, and Rickard Miller, a youth
of 19, who has been in his employment, were brought
up for final examination, on a charge of stealing two
decanters, of the value of six shillings, the property of
Mr. Wolf, a glass and chinaman in the London-road.
The brief facts of the case are these :—Ratcliff had
been engaged by Mr. Wolf to sell off by auction the
whole of the stock in his shop, and on the 23d of last
month he and his man called at the prosecutor's shop to
make preparations for the sale. They were left alone
in the shop for a few minutes, and during this time Rat-
cliff told the other prisoner to take the pair of decanters
off the shelf and carry them to his house. He did so,
and almost immediately after Mr. Wolf missed the pro-
perty. Having some suspicions, from seeing the de-
canters with one other, which was left on the shelf a few
moments before, Mr. Wolf proceeded to the shop of Rat-
cliff, and there found the missinc, decanters. Ratcliff
admitted they belonged to Mr. Wolf, but said they had
been taken away merely to show Mr. Wolf how easily
he could be robbed, and added that, before the arrival of
Mr. Wolf, at his house, he had told the other prisoner to
take the property back to Mr. Wolf, and tell him how
easily he could be robbed. The prisoner Miller denied
this ; on the contrary, he declared he was ordered by
his master, in the first instance, to take the decanters, and
it was not until after the property had been found that
he heard Mr. Ratcliff say anything about returning.
An attorney's clerk said he should not disguise the fact
that the defence which was intended to be set up was that
the taking away of the decanters from the shop of the
prosecutor was the sole act of Miller ; and that when
Ratcliff found them at his house he directed Miller at
once to take them back,
Mr. NORTON observed that this was the very worst
part of the case, as there could not be a shadow of doubt
upon the mind of any person who heard the evidence,
and the statement of the youth Miller, that he had been
made the instrument of his master in the commission of
the felony ; and the attempt, therefore, to shift the guilt
from the shoulders of him who was the most guilty, to
another who was the mere instrument, and actually
coerced into the offence, was, to say the least of it, not
manly or creditable. His (Mr. Norton's) opinion was
that the youth Miller had been actually forced into the
commission of the offence by his master, Ratcliff ; and he
should therefore direct his statement to be taken down,
and should forward it with the depositions to the Central
Criminal Court.
The statement of Miller was then taken down in
writing, and it is very probable, as the magistrate ob-
served, that he will be admitted as a witness against Rat-
cliff at the sessions.
The attorney's clerk applied that Ratcliff might be ad-
mitted to bail, saying that sureties to any amount would
be put in.
Mr. NORTON refused to accept bail, observing, that it

was his opinion that his doing so would impede the ends
of justice. He, however, accepted bail for the youth
Miller.

GRAND ENTERTAINMENT AT THE MANSION-
HousE.—On Friday the Lord Mayor gave a splendid en-
tertainment in the Egyptian•hall of the Mansion-house.
Three hundred and thirty. five sat down at six o'clock to
one of the most magnificent treats ever produced by the
skill of Messrs. Ring and Brymer, of Cornhill. Amongst
the company we observed Sir Hesketh Fleetwood, M.P.,
Admiral Deans Dundas, M.P., Lieutenant-Colonel 11.
Dundas Campbell, Mr. Thomas Wilson (formerly one
of the representatives of the city of London), Mr. James
Harmer, Mr: W. Evans, Mr. John Wood, Mr. Seeger,
Mr. Ferguson, Captain Rouse, Captain Kincaid, Lieu-
tenant W. Scrimgeour, Mr. G. Lees, Mr. 'l'. P. Austin,
Aldermen Farebrother, Sir Wm. Magnay, Hughes
Hughes, Musgrove; the Rev. Mr. Jennings, the Master,
Wardens, Court of Assistants, and Livery of the Spec-
tacle-makers' Company; the Master, Wardens, Court of
Assistants, and Livery of the Distillers' Company; the
Master, Wardens, Court of Assistants, and Livery of the
Woolmen's Company; the Master, Wardens, Court of
Assistants, and Livery of the Fanmakers' Company;
Mr. John Dillon, Mr. France, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Charles
Palmer, Mr. Vessey, the Rev. Charles Farebrother, the
Lord Mayor's Chaplain; Mr. Bagally, Mr. Frederick
Salmon, Mr. G. Brown, Mr. Hide, Mr. J. C. Hale, Mr.
Dignam, Mr. Dollond, Mr. Browning, Mr. John Web-
ster, Mr. S. Smith, Mr. J. Smith, &e.
AFFAIRS OF EGYPT,—ALEXANDRIA, SEPT. 19,
FIVE O'CLOCK, P.M.—The Peninsular and Oriental
Company's steamer Iberia came into port this day with
the Indian mail of the 7th of September, and thirty-five
passengers. Her Majesty's steamer Ardent is I) ing in
the new port with her steam up ready to start for Trieste
on the arrival of Waghorn's India dispatches, which are
to come down by express from Suez. This is to be the
first of Waghorn's experimental trips by way of Trieste.
Up to this hour no intelligence has been received of the
Bombay steamer. Mehemet Ali has been during the
last ten days living in a villa on the banks of the canal;
his Highness talks of proceeding to Cairo in a few days.
Ibrahim Pacha is gone to the upper country to look
after his sugar plantations. His Majesty King Louis
Philippe has just sent a magnificent present to his High
ness the Viceroy, consisting of a clock beautifully mounter
in Sevres porcelain. The French state its value to be
2,5001. sterling.

THE POTATO DISEASE.—At the meeting of the Bo-
tanical Society of London, held on Friday evening at the
Society's Rooms, 20, Bedford-street, Strand, E. Double-
day, Esq., V.P., in the chair, Dr. Scott communicated a
paper ‘• On the Potato Disease." The author suggested
—First, that a portion of ground be sown with diseased
potatoes exclusively, every sound one being carefully
avoided. Second, that a portion of ground, which has
this year yielded diseased potatoes, be left entirely uii
cultivated ; if, however, there app.ar to be any mixture
of sound potatoes, that these be as far as possible re-
moved. Third, that a portion of ground be sown in the
usual manner with the best potatoes that can be pro.
cured. Fourth, that these sound portions of ground be
kept perfectly distinct, because, if the disease be con-
tagious, it may possibly be communicated from one plot
of ground to another, and thus the experiment be frus-
trated. Fifth, that a few diseased tubers be sown it:
pots. Sixth, that the results of the experiment be faith.
fully transmitted to some accredited person or society,
with a minute description of the details, which shall be
published, in order that each individual interested may
form an independent opinion.
MELANCHOLY SUICIDE OF ROBERT SCUItrIELD,
ESQ.—On Tuesday evening this gentleman, well known
as a must extensive shipowner and very wealthy inhabi-
tant of Sunderland, committed suicide by hanging him-
self. Having retired to rest rather earlier than usual
he was discovered in his bed-room, about 10 o'clock, by,
Mrs. Scurfield, who immediately, with great presence of
mind and firmness, cut him down. He was, however,
quite dead. The melancholy event is attributed to ,
long-
continued depression of spirits arising from the loss of a
favourite daughter, who died about two years ago.—
[Another statement, however, assigns the fatal act to a
morbid apprehension of poverty, which, notwithstand-
ing his great wealth, 'had recently haunted his imagi-
ustaoutica-.llu.rham arniolc,