The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-01 00:00:00

oatmeal, is their food. It is true, there are small trouts,
or something like them, in some of the little rivers, which
continue in holes among the rockswhich are always full of
water when the stream has quite ceased for want of rain;
these might be a help to them in this starving season ;
but I have had so littla notion in all my journeys that
they made those fish a part of their diet, that I never
once thought of them as such till this moment. It is
likely they cannot catch them for want of proper tackle,
but I am sure they cannot be without them for want of
leisure. What may seem strange is, that they do not
Introduce roots among them (as potatoes, for the pur-
pose) ; but the land they occupy is so very little, they
think they cannot spare any part of it from their corn,
and the landlord's demand of rent in kind is another ob-
jection. You will perceive lam speaking only of the
poor people in the interior parts of the mountains ; for
near the coast, all around them, there are few confined to
such diminutive farms, and the most necessitous of all
may share, upon occasion, the benefit of various kinds of
shell-fish, only for seeking and fetching.
" Their cattle are much weakened by want of sufficient
food in the preceding winter, and this immoderate bleed-
ing reduces them to so low a plight that in the morning
they cannot rise from the ground, and several of the
inhabitants join together to help up each other's
cows, &c.
" In summer the people remove to the hills, and dwell
in much worse huts than those they leave below ; these
are near the spots of grazing, and are called shealings,
scattered from one another as occasion requires. Every
one has his particular space of pasture, for which, if it
be not a part of his farm, he pays.
" When the grazing fails, the Highlanders return to
their former habitations, and the cattle to pick up their
sustenance among the heath as before. At other times
the children share the milk with the calves, lambs, and
kids; for they milk the dams of them all, which keeps
their young so lean that when sold in the low-country
they are chiefly used, as they tell me, to make soups
withal; and when a side of one of these kinds hangs up
in our market of Inverness the least disagreeable sight
is the trasparency of the ribs.
" About the latter end of August, or the beginning of
September, the cattle are brought into good order by
their summer feed, and the beef is extremely sweet and
succulent, which, I suppose, is owing, in good part, to
their being reduced to such poverty in the spring, and
made up again with new flesh. Now, the drovers col-
lect their herds, and drive them to fairs and markets on
the borders of the Lowlands, and sometimes to the
north of England ; and in their passage they pay a cer-
tain tribute, proportionable to the number of cattle, to
the owner of the territory they pass through, which is in
lieu of all reckoning for grazing.
" But nothing is more deplorable than the state of
these people in time of winter. They are in that season
often confined to their glens by swollen rivers, snow, or
ice in the paths on the sides of the hills, which is accu-
mulated by drippings from the springs above, and so by
little and little, formed into knobs like a stick of sugar
candy, only the parts are not angular like those, but so
uneven and slippery that no foot can pass. They have
no diversions to amuse them, but sit brooding in the
smoke over the fire till their legs and thighs are scorched
to an extraordinary degree, and many have sore eyes,
and some are quite blind. This long continuance in the
smoke makes them almost as black as chimney-
sweepers ; and when the huts are not watertight, which
' is often the case, the rain that comes through the roof
and mixes with the sootiness of the inside, where all the
sticks look like charcoal, falls in drops like ink."
There is a touch of the fastidious Englishman—nay,
of the Cockney—in this picture of the horrors of winter.
Much comfort has been enjoyed in a Highland bothy
even in the depth of a snow-fall or the severity of a
black-frost. The little township had its occasional days
of merriment and nights of festivity, when the scattered
groups were collected together from the different huts,
and rejoiced over the simple cheer of the glen, inter-
mixed with song and legend. The painting, however,
in its general features, is too true, and it still holds good
of a large portion of the crofters.
" Still, they tread the same rough way,
The present's still a cloudy day."

THE HIGHLANDS BEFORE THE
ERA OF POTATOES.
(From the Inverness Courier).
The most correct, and certainly the most lively and
interesting account of the Highlands, prior to the re-
bellion of 1745, is contained in the " Letters from the
North of Scotland," understood to be written by Cap-
tain Burt, an English officer of engineers, who was sent
to Inverness in 1726, and resided here for some years as
a superintendent or contractor in the formationhis regret of the
military roads. This gentleman expresses
that the potato had not been introduced to the north.
Desirous to know the probable period of its introduction
and the general condition of the people before it was
known amongst them, we have
his
consulted our old towns-
man, John Maclean, now inhundredth year. John
was a tailor, often employed in town and country, in
working for families at sixpence a day ; and the infor-
mationwhich, in his youth, he could not fail to acquire,
his tenacious memory still retains. Tailors, according
to Charles Lamb's humourous essay on the profession,
seldom take that light and cheerful every day-interest
in the affairs and goings-on of the world which
makes the barber such delightful company. The
country tailor, however, must be considered an
exception from his sedentary brethern in the town,
especially when he was wont to perform his circuit round
the country-side, and gather news in hall and cottage.
Like most old men, our venerable chronicler thinks the
present race has sadly degenerated. The people, he
says, lived much better, were healthier, and attained to
a greater age in former times than they do now. Sea-
sons of famine and suffering no doubt sometimes oc-
curred, and were very severe ; but in ordinary years
the people had more command of the necessaries of life,
and, in their homely way, were more comfortable and
contented. Potatoes, John says, were first planted and
raised here about the year 1756, by " William and San-
ders Dawson, the gardeners." They did well in the
orchard grounds, and some of the neighbours (John
Maclean's father amongst the rest) began to plant a
few. It was long, however, before the potato became
general. "We did not plant many," said John; "it
was a rare thing to have the last of them for dinner on
Christmas day • and before that only one or two diets
of them would fee taken in the week. They were mostly
kept in a corner of the Muckle hist, and when they
were done the people seemed nowise disappointed."
The daily food of the common people consisted of oat-
meal porridge, with milk or beer, for breakfast. For
dinner they had sowens (which we may inform our
English friends is a sort of pudding, very palatable, made
of the fine flour remaining among the seeds of oatmeal)
or kail, with bannocks of barley end peasemeal, and
sometimes fish. The supper was always formed of
porridge and milk. On Sundays there was generally
something extra ; butcher-meat was then cheap, and
seldom sold by weight as it is now. The "big pot"
with the broth was put on the fire in good time on Sa-
turday. as all manner of cooking was strictly avoided on
the Sabbath. A bare or black-cock could always be had
in winter. Nothing was sent out of the country but the
cattle which the drovers took south. Everything was
cheap. " How could it be otherwise, "said John, " when
Donald Cameron and his wife, one Friday forenoon, at
the market, bought a leg of mutton, a peck of meal, and
a cart of peats, all for elevenpence, and to make up the
shilling he and the euidwife had a gill of Hollands for
the other penny." Salmon was generally plentiful in
the season, and could be had at about a penny a-pound.
A similar statement is made by Captain Burt, who men-
tions that he had often seen above a hundred large
salmon taken out of the Ness at one haul. He adds—
" The meanest servants, who are not at boord-wages,
will not make a meal upon salmon if they can get any-
thing else to eat. I have been told it here, as a very
good jest, that a Highland gentleman, who went to
London by sea, soon after his landing, passed by a tavern
where the larder appeared to the street, and operated so
strongly upon his appetite that he went in—that there
were among other things a rump of beef and some sal-
mon : of the beef he ordered a steak for himself, ' but,"
says !"-- `?et Duncan have some salmon.' To be short,
the cook Ntl: , attended him humoured the jest, and the
me ster's eating was eightpence, and Duncan's came to
almost as many shillings."
Jobe Maclean states that little or no whisky was in
his early days drank by the townspeople, who preferred
good ale, which they had at threepence the Scotch pint.
The usquebaugh would appear. however, to have been
common in the country ; for Burt mentions that some
of the Highland gentlemen—the tacksmen or duinhe-
wassals—drank it to excess. Old John recollects dis-
tinctly the first time that he participated in the luxury
of drinking tea. The Magistrates were much against
the introduction of tea, as they derived a revenue from
the sale of ale in. the burgh ; but the forbidden beve
rage crept into use among the ladies, and from them
descended to the common people. John was invited to
a rustic party, at which a number of women were as-
sembled. They sat round the ingle, and handed about
the tea in a wooden coy, and the " tailor laddie " on the
" creepy stool " got his share of the rare drink, though
he was far from relishing it. "It had a wild, harsh
taste," he says, " for it was just boiled in a pot, the
same as hail or other herbs ; there was not a kettle in
the whole neighbourhood, excepting one that Mrs. Ogil-
vie had." The towns-people of that day acted strictly
on the maxim of " early to bed and early to rise."
Dy nine o'clock in the evening almost every light was THE COAL AND IRON TRADE OF
exiinguishedi and they were all at work again by shreigh AMERICA.
of day. To the old man's recollection—though in such (From The Weekly Liverpool News).
matters the memory is apt to be treacherous, and to RESOURCES OF PENNSYLVANIA.
dwell only on the pleasant parts of the picture—the Two great elements of a nation's manufacturing great-
people then had more kindliness and confidence in their ness—coal and iron—are found in the greatest abundance
intercourse with each other than is the case at present. in the United States. The iron district, which spreads
Business was mostly transacted mad bargains made by through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, andl
" word of mouth," or " thumb to thumb" (touching each Western Virginia, traverses regions exuberant with
other's thumbs, as we see men now shake hands on coal, and abounding in water power ; and, travelling
closing a bargain). lie recollects horses and cattle being further west, we find in Ohio, Kentucky, and pariicu-
bought and sold thumb to thumb, and the terms of sale lsrly in Missouri, immense stores of metalliferous wealth,
were always faithfully attended to at the appointed time. adjacent to the most fertile agricultural districts. It is
The one or two lawyers in the town were but poorly em- to Pennsylvania, however, we must chiefly direct our at-
ployed, and backers' bills were never thought of by or- tention, where two-fifths of all the iron in the United
dinary persons. There was only one baner here, States is made. The United States contain 80,000
end while he attended to his other business (which square miles of coal, which is about sixteen times as great
he considered more important than the bank as the coal measures of Europe. A single one of these
matters), his lad was left to act as cashier, gigantic masses runs from Pennsylvania to Alabama,
teller, and accountant. "Changed times now !" said and must embrace, itself, 50,000 square miles. Out of
John ; "but though the folk were rotor then, they were fifty-four counties of Pennsylvania, no less than thirty
better off than they are now. They were more contented have coal and iron in them ; and, out of the 46,000
and not so pinched. There were fewer of them, for I square miles of Pennsylvania, which form its superficies,
knew every man in the town, and their dogs too." It is there are 10,000 miles of coal and iron ; while all Great
amusing to contrast John's reminiscences with the de- Britain and Ireland have only 2,000—50 that Pennsyl-
scriptions of Captain Burt. To his English tastes and 'lassie alone, has an area of coal and iron five times as
ideas ofson3fort, the people here seemed steeped in hope- great as that of Great Britain. The qualityof the
less poverty—idle, dirty, ill clad, destitute of trade, their coal and iron is as rich as that of Great Britain,
houses, furniture, and implements of all kinds of the most and they have the advantage of lying near the water
wretched sort ; the servants oppressed by the masters, level ; while those of the latter country are sometimes
and the lower classes generally not half-fed, and pos- more than 1,000 feet below the surface, and are excava-
sessing neither spirit nor emulation. We are disposed, ted through subterranean passages.
however, to believe with old John, that at least The four mining districts into which the southern coal
among the frugal and thrifty of tho poor, there field of Pennsylvania is divided, are the Lehigh, the
was less actual want, eighty or ninety years since, Schuylkill, the Swatara, and the Susquehanna • the for-
than is now to be found. There was not such a crowd- suer of which is owned by the Lehigh Coal and Naviga-
ing and struggling for the bare means of subsistence. tion Company. The summit mines, which are situated
Their standard of comfort was humble enough, but on a high ridge, at a place called the Mauch Chunk
they seldom fell far below it. The natural products of Landings, possess remarkable advantages for mining,
the river, the wood, and the moor, were not so jealously which has long been extensively prosecuted here. The
guarded, nor the rights of property so rigidly upheld. coal bed that is worked at this place is somewhat extra-
The subdivision of labour caused by increasing civilise- ordinary in its character, consisting of a mass, lying in
tion and refinement of taste, the invention of machinery, a horizontal position, about 50 feet thick, and appearing
and the greatly enhanced value of land, have cut off to be constituted by the junction of numerous veins.
manyrude
sources of livelihood and support which, in a more This bed is worked by removing a mass of earth and and primitive state of society with a scantier po- loose stones, to the depth of about 20 feet, whun the
relation were open to all classes. surface of the bed appears, and the coal is quarried, not
In the country, the condition of the Highland crofter in subterranean darkness and with a lamp, but by the
and labourer was always a precarious one. Of course, light of day. The northern or Wyoming and Lack-
when clanship was in full vigour, much depended on the awana coal field is about 60 miles in length, and from
character of the chief, who was regarded with Oriental one to six in breadth. Beds of coal, varying from one to
submission, and more than Oriental fidelity and attach- thirty feet thick, which are exposed among the hills by
deepthat channels and ravines, are worked, almost entirel
by individual enterprise. It has been estimated
diffused for the successful cultivation of the soil. When
the system of clanship declined, and the chief had no these three fields of anthracite coal embrace about 975
ambition for a large " following," the tacksman or square miles, and as each cubic yard of coal in the ground
a ton when mined, w© can hardly estimate the
middleman became of more importance. The Gartnaore yields
manuscript, written in 1747, and first published by Sir enormous quantity of this useful product which is em-
Walter Scott, describes the state of the Highlands, after bedded in the soil. The actual amount of coal recently
the Rebellion, as wretched and disorderly in the ex- mined may be ascertained from statistical data. It ap-
treme. A crengh, or foraging expedition, was a common pears that the coal trade is yet in its infancy, for in 1820
occurrence, and black-mail was regularly levied on the only 365 tons were sent to market; in 1830, 174,737
4. The quantity prodbeed
borders and low country. There was no employment tons ; and in 1840, 865,14
for the people, and they were driven to desperate from each of the mining districts during each year now
courses. The agriculture, the pasturage, the fishery, exceeds 1,000,000 tons, more than 800,000 of which are
and all the manufactures in the country could be mill- conveyed to other states.
ciently managed, this writer states, by one-half of the Another of the most prominent enterprise 'of Penn-
population :
sylvania is the mining and manufacture of iron. It is,
" The ov p erty of the people is occasioned and conti- doubtless, well known that this is the great iron State
nedby
ti ust9m that is presently in use, and hath long
me-
continueduthat country, viz , the practice of letten- of the Union, and its soil yields that most valuable tallic product in abundance. The iron ores which are
g
many farms to one man, who again subsets them to a
scattered over its surface are various in quality. For
much greater number than they can maintain, and example, the reagnectic oxide of iron found in the. south
mueh higher rent than they can afford to pay." at
a
0 mountain between the Delaware and Susquehanna,
The rent was often paid in kind or in labour, so that yields from 60 to 70 per cent. metallic iron, while brown'
the tacksman had the business of his own farm p er_ and yellowish argillaceous, or hermatite and pipe ores,
formed—his corn reaped and ground, his hay lands which are extensively worked along the borders of most
cleared, and his fuel prepared, by his sub- tenants, 'be- of the limestone valleys, contain from 45 to 60 per cent.
sides sometimes, from their payments, sitting rent ,'xee The fossilliferous orelthat is excavated near Danville, in
himself. One paid in money, another was bound to the county of Columbia, and in other places in the Union,
shear a given number of stooks, another to lead seawa re, Juniate, Huntington, Bedford, and other parts of the
or spread Rents, or make hay, while some widow or aged State, contains from 40 to 60 per cent. of metallic iron.
cotter furnished a certain number of hens and egt,;. The iron ores are else most extensively found in the
There was room for both good and evil in this systera, anthracite and bituminous coal region, and of the same
but it was a bar to agricultural improvement. The tacka- character with the clay iron-stone that is used for the
man sat easy and had no motive for exertion. He was manufacture of iron both in England and Wales. It
generally of a good family, allied to the chief, usi yields from 30 to 50 per cent. ; and from the fact that it
possessing his confidence. The crofter had enough to tie,is produced in very large quantities in those parts of the
to scrape up a subsistence. His scanty crop of oats or bat- State where the other iron is not found, it has become
ley was often destroyed by frost and mildew, which hying highly prised. That species termed bog iron ore, is
about the undrained lands like a perpetual pestilence. 1 Tis excavated in almost every county of the state, and its
servitude to the tacksman, or the pursuit of illicit distill x,. best species are found to yield from 40 to 50 per cent.
tion, occupied much of his time, and hence the managrena ant of metallic iron.
The great abundance of iron and coal, which are scat-
of his croft frequently devolved on the females of Ile
family- Many of the young men entered the army, . • aid tend throughout the soil of Pennsylvania, has naturally
in their native regiments bproved as brave soldiers as induced the construction
ever charged an enemy. 'me people were genes ail
g as before remarked, iron is one of the great staples of the
congregated in small town;, or townships each 4 -.. state. Almost every county in the state possesses its
osed of a number of tenants who were' sometimes furnaces, forges, foundries, and smitheries, where iron is
ound jointly and - 11 -1 the' •
severa yor pa3ment of thew hole' wrought from a crude state heel bars and pigs, and
resnanutilopfsth.che dosistrict. They held the land in commc h, in moulded into steam-engines, as well as the numerous
the pre,er t i- and it was not without difficulty that smaller sorts of manufactured implements, such as
system of irdppend,nt holdings, each , semi- scythes, nails, cutlery, and the various kinds of utensils
pier having hie ow -
established over the direct from the preprietor was of husbandry. It has, indeed, been estimated that the
account Ore;lnconntry. Captain Burt gig veil a value of iron produced throughout the state, and the ad-
graphicreared in Invernesa-shsl of these rural towns as the )7 atp- ditional value given to it by its manufacture, amounts to
"A highland to ire about the year 1730 : nearly 822.000,000 dollars annually, and that there is
dings,with wn, composed of a few huts fort lie, 1- consumed in this manufacture during each year about
a more diminutive size than the. former
both the latter a. ra of 188,000 tons of anthracite end bituminous coal. It has
placed, some one way, some another
lance, look like so many heaps of dirt' and, at any dij ,- are employed in the various branches of the manufacture
glens and straths, which are the t these are built I a of iron throughout the state 20,000 to 30,000 workmen,
rivers corn.
rivers and rivulets, and also on the sides coofuntries, nee r and that a population of 120,000 to 130,000 persons are
there is some arable land for the support of the whei e here depending for their support upon the different de-
tants; but lam now to speak of the manner ciniuwhe i-
payments of the iron business. A considerable portion
the lower order of the Highlanders live, and shall b l'
h of the iron that is used by the cupola furnaces of Phila-
with the spring of the year. es in delphia, besides that which is produced by the state, is
" This is a bad season with them, for then ils e" •
the iron of New Jersey and other states, while the roll-
provision of oatmeal begins to fail, and, for a supply, ii
to
elyr ifnrogmm(li lhsioof Pittsburgh work large quantities of blooms
and Virginia. It has been esti-
bleed their cattle, and boil the blood into cakes, Nvh ich mated that the averageue37' amount of iron yielded by ore in
together with 4 little milk and a short 11of the furnace is
a owa: acv

ton of metal to two and two-thirds of a ton of ore. To
yield 190,000 tons of iron, which is the estimated annual
product of the state, requires 506,666 tons of iron ore.
The largest amount of iron produced is in the counties
of Northampton, Lehigh, Berks, Lancaster, York, Cum-
berland, Franklin, Bedford, Huntingdon, Centre, Co-
lumbia, Armstrong, Clarion, and Venango' although,
in other counties, a considerable quantity of this metal
is yielded from furnace and forges. There are air and
cupola furnaces, rolling mills, steam engine factories,
nail factories, scythe and sickle factories, axe and edge-
tool factories, cutlery factories, factories for shovels,
spades, and forks; gun factories, car, carriage, and wag-
gon factories, plough factories, and sheet iron factories.
According to the census taken in 1840, Pennsylvania
had 213 furnaces for the manufacture of pig iron and
castings, which produced 100,000 tons; 169 forges,
bloomeries, and rolling mills, which annually manufac-
tured 87,254 tons of bar, rod, sheet, and boiler iron,
and nail plates. The capital invested in iron works is
about eight millions, employing 12,000 persons, who,
with their families, would number about 100,000. It
will thus be seen that Pennsylvania possesses within
itself a fund of mineral wealth nearly as great as that of
the whole of Europe: which time, capital and enterprise
will in all probability speedily develope. But mining
operations are not confined to the state of Pennsylvania
alone. Last year there were 13,000 tons of bar iron
made in the state of New York,* chiefly in Essex and
Clinton counties. Near Baltimore city, 20 furnaces are
in operation, giving 20,000 tons per annum; and so
great has been the impetus given to the iron trade, that
in every direction new furnaces are being constructed.
In the vicinity of Danville 40,000 or 50,000 tons of coal
have illumined the hearths of the furnaces in that region
last year. The Montour Iron Company have three of
the largest furnaces in the country, the product of which
is about 4,000 tons, each, per annum.
In Massachusetts, manufactures in iron are carried on
to a considerable extent, as will be seen from the follow-
ing abstract of a statistical statement prepared for the
Legislature, showing the manufacturing position of the
State in 1845 :
Articles. Val. in duffs. Cap. invstd. Hands.
Anchors, chain cables, &c 538,966 377,685 422
Axes* and other edge tools 94,441 48,225 94
Brass articles 331,890 167,600 145

Britannia ware
Buttons, metal

, .
Butts or hinges
Cannon

Coal, mineral, and iron ore. 21,669 .7
Cutlery

Engines and boilers, steam 208,546 127,000 22
Fire arms

Hollow ware and castings,
other than pig iron
Iron, pig 148,761 155,000 23i
Iron railing, fences and safes 129,300 53,000 87
Jewellery, including watches
&c.
Latches and door handles 3,200 750 10
Locks

Machinery 2,022,648 1,103,850 2,421
Pens, steel _ 15,000 5,000 12

Ploughs and agricultural
tools
Rolled and slit iron & nails 2,738,300 1,906,400 1,729
Scythes
Shovels, -spades &c. 275,212 123,950 259
Tacks and brads
Tin ware 793,624 343,710 719
It will thus be apparent that the spirit of commercial
and manufacturing enterprise is not alone confined to
one locality. In other manufactures, such as lamps,
stoves, balances, umbrellas, &c., the State of Massachu-
setts is making rapid advances. Hats and caps give
work to more than 1,000 persons ; boots and shoes to
45,877 ; and many of the other branches of industry,
common to all countries, in similar proportions. Glass
also forms a prominent feature in their manufactures,
the capital invested in this branch alone, in this State,
being upwards of 700,200 dollars, employing nearly 700
hands. It may be interesting to mention here that in
the United States there are 19 glass manufactories, hav-
ing a capital of 2,000,000 dollars, and giving employ-
ment to several thousand workpeople.
In Virginia, valuable mines of coal and iron are found,
many of which are regularly worked. The coal fields
stretch over an extent of land, with short intervals, for
more than thirty-five miles, and in some places the seam
is upwards of forty feet in thickness. In Spottsylvania,
in this state, there are seven iron mines in full operation,
with the necessary furnaces, &c., and others are being
erected to develope more fully the mineral treasures
which lie near the surface, and are easily attainable, al-
though generally at some distance from the coal.
There are many of the districts in the United States
teeming with mineral productions, which the enterprise
of the capitalist has not yet reached, but which could be
readily made available. These, therefore, possess but a
minor degree of interest, although ultimately, when that
system of internal communication by railroad and canal,
which is at the present moment being carried out by the
Government, as well as by individual exertion, shall be
perfected, these districts will form no insignificant rivals
to their older but not more fertile competitors in the
more favoured States.
From all the information we can obtain, we believe
the following to be nearly a correct statement of the
whole product of the United States :-540 blast furnaces,
yielding 486,000 tons pig iron ; 954 bloomeries, forges,
rolling and slitting mills, &c., yielding 291,600 tons
bar, hoop, and sheet, boiler, and other wrought iron ;
30,000 tons blooms, and 121,500 tons castings, such as
machinery and stove plates, hollow wares, &e. The
consumption of iron in nearly a crude state, including
that imported, which on an average of five years is about
100,000 tons, approximate to 42,000,000 dollars per
annum—an immense quantity, when it is remembered
that the Continental manufacturers, including those of
France, Russia, and Sweden, produce no more than
700,000 tons per annum.

The poverty, the smoky huts, the want of cleanliness
and steady industry, and the suffering of the spring
season, in too many instances, yet remain. The intro-
duction of the potato effected no real improvement. It
increased the amount of available food, but being so
easily produced, it discouraged industry, and the popula-
tion multiplying still more rapidly, the general mass was
reduced to that state in which they depended solely on
potatoes for subsistence. The conversion of large tracts
of land into sheep-walks also contracted the demand for
labour and the means of support, so that, although above
sixty thousand persons, of the crofter and cotter classes,
have emigrated from the Highlands since the period of
the American war, the population is still felt $o be too
numerous. The remedy is—cultivate the waste lands,
drain, trench, and improve, and thus create both food and
labour. We have already made vast progress in render-
ing the land productive and the bills valuable, but we
have been indifferent as to the condition of the people.
Let the upper classes now bestir themselves, and make
what seems a great calamity in the rural calendar of the
north, a landmark from which we may date a new course
of advancement.

THE SUN, LONAION, TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 1, 1846

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BEIVCII, Nov. 28.
THE QUEEN V. LONG.

In this case a mandamus had been obtained calling
upon the defendant, one of the magistrates of Maryle-
bone Police-court, to issue a distress warrant on
the property of a person named Bird, who is the
owner of several houses in Southampton-terrace,
Kentish Town, at the instance of the Kentish
Town Paving Commissioners, for paving-rates of the
amount of 31. 9s. 10d. The defendant, in his return to
the writ, stated that Bird denied the right of the
Commissioners to levy the rate, and therefore the
question now came before the Court for trial
on the issue. One of the houses, No. 15,
projected some feet from the others, and of course pre-
vented the carrying of a pavement on a line with the
other fourteen houses, which were railed in, the outline
of the rails being on a level with the projecting house.
A public footway had existed along the road for many
years, which had been repaired from time to time by those
who had occasion to use it. Shortly after the Commis-
sioners obtained their Act they laid a pavement alone
the road, and immediately outside the railings. Bird
denied their right to sue him, on the ground that
the pavement was a portion of the carriage-way. The
right of the Commissioners to leery rates for pavements
constructed in accordance with their Act was clearly
made out, as also was the existence of a footway; but
there was a great difference of opinion as to its exact
position, some saying that it was in the position where
the pavement was laid, and others that Bird had enclosed
it. The question for the jury to decide was, whether there
was a foot-way, and if there was, whether it was distinct
from the carriage-way, or merely a segregation from it
—the Learned Judge telling them that, in the one case
they should find for the plaintiff, and in the other for the
defendant. _ _ _

the attack, Pearson was on one side of him and Smith
on the other. _

The jury considered that there was a footway, and
accordingly found for the plaintiff.

After hearing the evidence of another witness,
The, ury returned a verdict of Guilty.
Previous convictions against both of them were
proved, and
Tke RECORDER sentenced each of the prisoners to be
transported for twenty years.
Elvina Cheetham, who had been tried with Elvina
Bentley, her daughter, and convicted of stealing two
silver candlesticks, from her master, Mr. Boughey Hep-
worth, after having been twenty- five years in his ser-
vice, was brought up for sentence, but as the prosecutor
was not in attendance, it was deferred till the next
sessions. _ _

This closed the business of the sessions, and the jury
were dismissed with the thanks of the Court.

NEW COURT.

EXCHEQUER CHAMBER, Nov. 30.
(THIS DAY.)
BREACH OF PRIVILEGE—HOWARD V. GOSSETT.
The judgment in the Court of Queen's Bench, given
for the plaintiff, some time since, came before their
Lordships on a writ of error.
Mr. PETERSDORFF was heard on behalf of the plaintiff.
His arguments were not brought to a conclusion at the
rising of the Court, having occupied the attention of the
1 Court during the whole of the day.

BURGLARY.—WiIIiam Edwa-ds and William Baker
were indicted with burglariously entering the dwelling-
house of Mr. Thomas Morris, in Turner-street, Bethnal-
green, and stealing therefrom various articles of wear-
ing apparel, and other property.
It appeared that on Sunday, the 15th of the present
month, the prosecutor and his wife went out about three
o'clock P.M., leaving an elderly lady, named West. and her
daughter, who were lodgers, in the house ; Mrs. West
and her daughter also left shortly afterwards. On the
prosecutor's return, about six o'clock, upon endeavour-
ing to open the door he discovered that it was bolted
inside, and upon going round to the back part of the
house he discovered the prisoner Baker getting over the
wall and Edwards below. The property stolen was on
the ground outside the wall, in a bag. The prisoner
Baker was immediately taken into custody, and Ed-
wards was secured after a short chase. _

COURT OF EXCHEQUER, Nov. 28.

CUSTOMS' FRAUDS.--ATTORNEY-GENERAL V. SCRINES.

This was an information filed by the Attorney-Gene-
ral against the defendant, an officer in the Customs, for
having participated and connived at the perpetration of
a fraud on the Customs, by the falsification of a delivery
order.

The Attorney• General, the Solicitor General, Mr.
Watson, and Mr. Wilde appeared for the Crown; Mr.
Wordsworth for the defendant.

Mr. Huddlestone conducted the case for the prosecu-
tion, and Mr. Payne and Mr. Ellis were counsel for the
prisoners.
The, ury found both prisoners Guilty, and
Mr. Commissioner BULLOCK sentenced Edwards to
ten years' transportation and Baker to seven years.

The evidence brought forward in support of the case
for the Crown related chiefly to the practice of passing
goods upon entry, which had been pursued in the pre-
sent case. As concerned the warrant itself, it apFeared
that a large quantity of pepper had been imported by a
merchant of the name of Fennell, and that, on the 31st
of July, 1845, a warrant and two duplicates were sent
through the departments of the long-room of the
Custom-house in the usual manner, and that in pass-
ing through the various stages between the warrant and
the delivery, in which the defendant had been employed,
his duties lay in the transaction of business between
these stages. The witness set forth that 761 pounds of
pepper, upon which the duty payable was at the rate of
6d. per pound, and was computed at 191. I9s. 6d., which
sum was paid by the importer. The delivery order pre-
sented at the docks, however, contained an order for the
liberation, not of 761 pounds of pepper, but of 3,761, and
purported that an. amount of duty had been paid, not is
the sum of 191. 195. 6d., but of 791. 19s. 6d. If the
quantity of pepper had been correct, even then the
duty would have come to as much as 981. 'l4s. 6d.
In the register-book of the Customs' offices an alteration
had been made in one of the entries relating to the quan
tity of pepper, the subject of the present information.
The numbers upon the dock warrant and delivery order,
which should correspond to the same number in the
ledgers of the office, instead of doing so, had refer-
ence to another vessel altogether, from Algoa Bay,
the cargo of which, instead of being pepper, was goat-
skins.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE,
MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

Edward O'Brien was placed at the bar, charged with
being found on the premises of Mr. Wilcox, for the pur-
pose of committing a felony.
Thomas Wilcox, licensed victualler, Bear-street, Lei-
cester-square, said the lodger next door came into his
house about half-past eleven o'clock on Saturday night,
and said he heard the cries of some men on his premises,
as if calling out for help, and he supposed he must be
in complainant's chimney. Complainant got out on the
leads, and looked down one of the flues, and there cer-
tainly he saw the man at the bar, who had evidently
dropped in, with his hands helplessly extended above his
head, and in that position he had sunk till he could get
no further.

The prisoner said he had been drinking and was
tipsy, and fell into the flue.
Police-constable 52 C said he went to the top of the
house and took the prisoner out of the flue. He was not
drunk at the time, nor did he appear to have been
drinking.
Police constable 27 C knew the prisoner as the asso-
ciate of thieves. He had been committed for two
months to prison for stealing a copper.
Mr. HARDWICK committed the prisoner for two
months to the House of Correction, for being on the
premises for an unlawful purpose.
CLERKENWELL.

A very respectable-looking young man, named
Thomas Joyce, was charged with indecently assaulting
Ellen Vinell, under the following circumstances :—The
prisoner and two companions were walking along the
old St. Pancras-road, when they overtook the com-
plainant and three other females, with whom they en-
deavoured to enter into conversation, but were repulsed,
and at a lonely part of the road the prisoner laid hold of
Miss Vinell's arms, and committed the assault com
plained of. The prosecutrix called a policeman, but the
prisoner being determined to have the advantage of
making the first accusation, made a charge against her
of having attempted to pick his pocket.
Mr. GREENWOOD, after hearing all the evidence
which occupied nearly two hours, said he considered the
charge to be fully established, and that the mode taken
by the prisoner to rebut it was disgraceful. He should
fine him 51., and in default, ordered him to be committed
for two months to the House of Correction, with bard
labour.

Mr. WORDOWORTII, on the part of the defendant, con
tended that there was no evidence to fix his client. I

was quite true that some fraud had been committed, but
it was quite another question to say that the defendant
had been guilty of those frauds. The period at which
the fraud was committed was an unusually busy period,
in consequence of a resolution of the House of Commons
during the passage of the New Tariff Bills to admit
coffee and other articles at the reduced rate of
duty contemplated by the Act, and the deli-
very order might have been filled up by a mere error,
in consequence of the press of business; then this order
was countersigned by the defendant, but his name was
nearly, if not the last which was affixed to the document.
The defendant, therefore, had not been proved to be the
person who committed the fraud, and it was the duty of
the Crown to have brought forward some evidence rela-
tive to the earlier history of the transaction. Mr.
Fennell, the owner of the pepper, should have been
called, and some other officers who had been
dismissed lately for misconduct. The Crown had failed
to make out the case, for the issue to be made out was
clearly whether or not the defendant had committed the
fraud in:question. In conclusion, he stated that, although
the name of the defendant had been mixed up with
former prosecutions, and he had been suspended from his
office, still that fact should not be allowed to operate
against him in the present case.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL replied at some length.

The LORD CHIEF BARON Slimmed up, and the jury
returned a verdict for the Crown—Damages, 202/.lBs.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Nov. 28.
VARNEY V. HICKMAN-A WAGER CASE.

This was an action brought to recover Hick-
man, licensed victualler, in Cl?rkenwell, a sum of 201.
which had been deposited in his hands by the plaintiff,
to abide the result of a race.
Mr. Sergeant Talfourd and Mr. Phinn appeared for
the-plaintiff, Mr. Parry and Mr. Joyce appeared for the
defence.
From the statement of the case it appeared, that on
the 18th of April last, a cab-contractor was at the house
of the defendant, where be met with a Jew of the name
of Isaacs, a dust-contractor. A wager was made be-
tween them of the following character ; namely, that
the calf-proprietor should ruin one of his horses with a
light chaise-cart attached to it, against a horse of the
defendant's, harnessed in a dust cart, each to carry ten
cwt. The stakes, 401. were handed to the landlord to
abide the issue of this novel race, but on the day of
trial it appeared that the cabman was non est inventus,
and the dust-contractor had the field to himself. In
consequence Isaacs claimed the
.stakes from Mr. Hick-
man, and, after some hesitation on the part of the
latter, ho delivered the money over on receiving an
indemUity. The result was the bringing of
the present action to recover the 201. depo-
sited by Varney on the ground that the wager was
conflicting
g character, one
side the money was
given tb the defendant before he paid it over to Isaacs,
illegal and void, and that he had served a notice on
Hickman not to deliver up the money to Isaacs before
the time that the former bad paid it over. The evi-
dence
proving
adduced
that verywtahseonfotleeto withhold
the other side that it was after.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE summed up in favour of
the plaintiff, and the jury immediately returned a verdict
for the whole amount claimed.

FA.DIJEIHLE V. HOLROYD.--GAMING DEBTS.
This was an action brought by Mr. Fadeuihle, a wine
merchant, doing business in the City, against Mr. Hol-
royd, a cloth worker, of Leeds, the indorser of a note,
accepted by Mr. Hanks, of London, formerly a grocer,
but now a bankrupt. The defendant pleaded that the
bill was given without legal consideration, having been
passed to plaintiff for a gaming debt contracted on the
last Derby day.
Mr Sergeant Wilkins and Mr; James appeared for the
plaintiff; Mr. Sergeant Byles and Mr. Matthews for the
defence.

The promissory note was drawn by the defend-
ant, and endorsed to Mr. Hanks. It appeared that,
on the last Derby day, Mr. Fadeuihle had a party at
his house who had been with him at the races, composed
of Mr. Hanks and two gentlemen from Yorkshire, and,
after dinner, they proceeded to play at whist. In the
course of the evening Hanks lost 281. to the plaintiff, for
which he gave an I 0 U, on the understanding that it
should be given up when the money was paid. Subse-
quently the bill in question was endorsed by
Hanks, and paid to the plaintiff, receiving the
balance, in cash, which, it appeared, was also lost in
gaming. Hanks about this time became a bankrupt,
and hence the present action. At the time the bill was
given to the plaintiff it was alleged, on behalf of the
latter, that the defendant owed a debt for wine, and that
the bill was given not for the gaming debt, but for that.
This was denied by Hanks, who declared positively that
the bill was given for the gaming debt alone, and had
nothing whatever to do with the wine.
After the examination of a number of witnesses on
both sides, the evidence of which was strongly in favour
of the defence,
The jury returned a verdict for the defendant.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
OLD COURT.
(Before the RECORDER.)
William Smith, aged 20, carrier, and George Pearson,
aged 24, fender maker, were indicted fur stealing a hat
and other articles, worth 10s., and the sum of 30s. in
money, from William Turner, on the night of the Bth
November last, and doing him serious bodily harm.
Pulice-constable 164 M apprehended the prisoner
Pearson at the time the circumstance occurred.
Watkins, another police-constable,
who had appre-
hended Smith, produced a hat, which the prosecutor
said he believed to be his, though he could not swear
to it.

Thomas Shepherd, one of the detective force' stated
that he had seen the prisoner at the public-house in
Blackman-street, in the Borough, on the night in ques-
tion after the robbery, when he held a hat in his hand,
whereas an hour before he had seen him with a cap in
his hand.

The prosecutor said that about twelve o'clock on the
night of the Bth he was in Blackman-street, when,
at a certain part of the street, he saw about fourteen
or fifteen persons on the pavement, who, as he approached
then opened a lane for him, as h© thought, to pass. He
had not gone far, however, before his hands were
seized and held behind him, and immediately afterwards
he had all his money taken from his pockets. He
called out for the police, and was directly struck on the
side of the head two or three times. The blows, how-
ever. did not stun him, and he still continued to call out.
At the same time he was struck on the face, and his lip
was laid open. He was confident, that at the time of