The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-31 00:00:00

FLANDERS MAIL.

BRUSSELS, OCT. 27.—The average price of wheat
during the week ending 24th Oct. was 25E 24c., and
that of rye, 19f. 59c. This is a further rise since the
preceding week of 61 centimes in rye per hectolitre.
We cannot but applaud the resolution taken by the
Municipal Council, on Saturday, to form a committee to
inquire into the causes of the high prices of the most
necessary provisions, and propose means to remedy the
evil. Full of confidence in the zeal and judgment of the
members of this committee, we.have reason to believe
that its investigations will give rise to measures with
which everybody, especially the working classes, will
have reason to be satisfied. We have mentioned ex-
periments on the manufacture of bread which hare been
made at Verviers. We shall not say any more of them. '
They cannot fail to attract the attention of the com-
mittee. But there is one point which, on account
of its importance, we would recommend to its most seri-
ous consideration. We mean visits to inspect the stock
of the bakers, which are authorised by the law, but
which seem to have fallen into disuse. A report made
this year to the provincial authorities by M. Van de
Weyer, proves that the examination of the weights and
measures is wholly illusory. The unhappy workman,
whose chief article of food is bread, is not only very
frequently cheated in the weight, but still more in the
quality. There is probably no place where the adultera-
tion of bread is-so general as in the districts of Brussels.
The faet has become almost proverbial.
A book on the adulteration of food has lately appeared
in France, which, speakinc, of the adulteration of
bread by sulphate of copper,' says that it originated in
Belgium, and that it is still chiefly practised in that
country. If we are not mistaken in believing that
this scandalous fraud, and some others have
become notorious, it becomes the honest bakers, of
whom we do not doubt there are great numbers at Brus-
sels, to give the magistrates every information which
may enable them to suppress this scandalous abuse.
The Journal du Commerce d'Anvers confirms, from a
letter from Cologne, the disagreeable news which we
have mentioned respecting the measures adopted by the
Zollverein. I think I can assure you that the resolutions
modifying the present tariff of the Zollverein will be
published in November next. They will affect several
articies, especially thread mid manufactures of linen and
cotton. Belgium will not be exempted from the measure.
notwithstanding all the remonstrances of our diplomacy,
which is justly alarmed. Nothing less is constemplated
in the higher circles than the establishment of the sys-
tem of differential duties, which is considered the first
step towards constituting the marine of the Zollverein.
The author of tho pamphlet, which is called " Testa-
ment Politique," which lately appeared, is spoken of as
one of the principal promoters of the kstitution ; the idea
is said to have been suggested to him during the
long residence which he made at Brussels as Ambassa-
dor from the Cabinet at Berlin.

SUICIDE FRONI DlSEASE.—Thursday an inquest
was held before Mr. Bedford, at the White Swan, Vaux
hall Bridge-road, on the body of John Burton, aged 40.
The deceased, a carpenter, living at 4, Gulston Cottages,
had led a very intemperate life, producing disease of the
brain and chest, which of late had left him in such a state
of debility as to render him unaccountable for his actions.
On Tuesday morning last his wife had occasion to leave
the room, and on returning, in less thnn three minutes,
she found him on the floor in a sitting position, bleed
ing from a wound in the throat, which he had inflicted
with a razor. Mr. Atkinson, surgeon, was called in,
and sewed up the wound, but he expired the same night
from the effects of- the injury. Verdict, " Temporary
insanity."
HURRICANE IN THE NORTH CHANNEL, a.-sn7Loss
or VESSELS.—On Wednesday night last, at ten o'clock,
it commenced to blow fresh from the north-west, and
before an hour after increased to a perfect hurricane,
with incessant rain, which swept the Western Ocean as
far as the eye could reach, and along the North
Channel with fearful violence, making the water rise
in the air in vast clouds. At daylight on Thursday
Dimling a large steamer and brig were observed
scudding before it under bare poles, the sea
appearing from the shore to make a clean passage
over their decks. Shortly after this a large brig was
observed to go on shore in Church Bay, in the island of
Rathlin, opposite Ballycastle, supposed to he timber
laden ; and as planks, logs of timber, and a variety of
articles hare come on shore at different parts of the coast,
it is concluded that several vessels have perished in this
gale, which continued until Friday morning, when it
abated. The interior of the country was so deluged
with rain, that the largest floods ever before known were
in the rivers, and several bridges, in consequence, gave
way, besides two on the new coast road leading to Glen-
arm.—Belfast Chronicle.
Tam FIRST FOG.—The first fog of the season
made its premature appearance on Wednesday—a few days
before the month prescribed for such visitations, No-
vember. It was unusually dense, and much incon-
venience, with a few fatal casualities, were the con-
sequence. The trains on nearly every railway arrived
behind time, in consequence of the slow rate it was
necessary to travel to prevent accidents. Most of the
steam-boats on the river did not ply at all whilst the
fog was at the thickest, and very little business could
be done at the wharfs. The departure of several vessels
from the docks was delayed, and many on their way to
the Pool were unable to proceed to their destination. The
Greenwich and Woolwich and above- bridge steamers
were laid up for several hours, and the passengers who
generally proceed daily by those vessels were compelled
to travel by land. The fog extended below Gravesend,
and several of the continental steamers were unable to
enter the river. At an early hour in the morning a
barge heavily laden with coal was being towed up the
Pool, when it was struck by a collier brig ; the force of
the blow capsized the barge, and from the darkness which
prevailed it was impossible to render any assistance to
its crew, three in number. One, named Henry Wil-
kinson managed to swim to the shore ; the other
two are supposed to have perished.--In the streets
a long list of accidents has been reported to us,
from which we select the following:—A young woman,
whilst crossing Cheapside, was knocked down and run
over by an omnibus. Both wheels passed over her legs,
and she was picked up to all appearance dead. She was
crioontveyed in a cab to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and is
expected to survive.—Shortly afterwards, in the
City-road, Frederick Williams, a lad about eight years
of age, was run over a butcher's cart: his arm and
collar-bone were broken,
and his skull was fractured.—
About five o'clock one of the Paddington omnibuses, in
the eastern portion of Oxford street, ran with a fearful
crash against another, throwing passenger violently to
the ground from the top.
injuries sustained were
of such a nature that but little hopes are entertained of
his recovery.
ground trday, while
ROMAN REMAINS IN THE CITT. Yes
cflueLittle St.
some men were excavating the
an
nreninen-s.treet,
Thomas Apostle, adjoining the house 9,
Cheapside, for the purpose of forming
sewer, they discovered a beautiful specimen of th:'lionto a
sesselated pavement in perfect condition. It was namaent
with at a depth from the street of about six feet, and is
supposed to be the border of a pavement of some extent.
We understand that the Earl of Stair has got the
Green Ribbon of the most ancient Order of the Thistle,
vacant by the death of the Marquis of itilsa.—Caledonian
Mercury.