The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-30 00:00:00

WHITECHAPEL.

The supplies of meat are moderate, and the demand ie
steady, as follows :
Beef, from 3s 4d to 4s 6d; mutton, 3s 8d to 5s La;
lamb, Gs Od to 6s 8d ; veal, 4s Od to 4s 10d ; pork, 3s 5d to
5s Od per 81bs.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE.—YESTERDAY.
Amsterdam
Ditto
Rotterdam — 11 161 11 161
Antwerp
Brussels — 2.5 30 25 35
flamturgh
Paris
Ditto
Marseilles — 25 35 25 40
Frankfort on Maine — 1171 1171
Vienna
'Trieste
Petersburgh — 34$ 34
Madrid
Cadiz 49
Leghorn — 30 40 30 45
Milan — 25 40 25 45
Genoa — 25 40 25 45
Naples
• •
Palermo — • •

Messina
Lisbon
Oporto
Rio Janeiro
New York ••
Foreign Gold in Bars (Standard), ...per oz. £3 17 9
Mexican Dollars •.. „ 0 5 2}
Silver in Bars (Standard) „ 0 5 la
South American Doublons

52 521
524 521

nre JEER .1"1' 7Ru'.

What is her Majesty's pleasure as to crimina.
lunatics ? This is a question which probably many
people have asked themselves with that vague kind
of wonder which melts in to a general and indefinite
belief, that, no doubt, it is reasonable enough. It is,
however, a question for which we are particularly
interested in obtaining a satisfactory solution now
that legislation impends. An excellent little
pamphlet, recently published by Dr. Hood, fur-
nishes the materials for an answer. Some of those
who ale thus sentenced to indefinite detention are
guilty of slight offences, while others have corn-
Mittes the gravest crimes—even murder. But
the verdict of insanity card& with it the sentence
of prolonged imprisonment, whatever be the
offence of the defendant. Hence lately, in
the case of a certain Thos. Johnson, charged before
Baron Martin with an offence punishable by one
month's imprisonment, but who pleaded insanity,
only the humane interposition of the judge pre-
vented a sentence which might probably have led
to imprisonment for life, by suggesting the with-
drawal of the plea of insanity. In these cases not
only is justice violated by a cruel and exaggerated
punishment, but the State is charged unnecessarily
with the support for life of one who should contri-
bute his share to the resources rather than to the
burthens of the country. Dr. Hood suggests as
a remedy, that whenever insanity is set up as
a defence, the trial of the prisoner for the
offence of which he is charged should be post-
poned, at whatever stage it may have arrived,
until the state of the patient's mind be ascer-
tained before an ordinary jury, whose verdict
of insanity shall be recorded by the court as
an answer to the previous indictment. These
cases are at present tried hurriedly before juries as-
sembled for trifling criminal causes, and often dis-
posed of without any previous notice of the intended
defence being given to the prosecutor. Even if
such verdicts be correctly given, another evil often
follows in the existing state of things. A villain
of the worst character, being acquitted on the score
of insanity, and ordered for confinement in a lunatic
asylum, recovers from his mental aberration, and
remains all his life a vicious and violent inmate of
a medical institution, where none of the arrange-
ments are calculated to punish his crime or to sub-
due his propensities, and is a constant source of
anxiety to those who have charge of him. It is
surely desirable that power should be given for duly
trying after recovery prisoners found insane upon
arraignment. These considerations should be
urged in the subsequent settlement of the Law of
Lunacy.—The Lancet.

THE RIFLE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT AT BIRMIN G-
HAM.—A review of the first eight companies of the Bir-
mingham battalion of Rifle Volunteers took place, in cele-
bration of her Majesty's birthday, on Monday. The corps
assembled in Bingley-hall at 9 o'clock, and afterwards
marched thence, preceded by their band, to Calthorpe-park,
where a very large concourse of spectators was collected, the
ground being kept by the ninth and tenth companies, as-
sisted by a body of police. Under the command of Lieut.=
Colonel Saunders, the for ce went through a variety of evo-
lutions in a steady, precise, and soldierlike manner, four of
' the companies in addition practising with blank cartridges,
and eliciting the cordial approbation of well qualified judges
for the closeness of their volleys and the quickness of their
file firing. At the conclusion of the proceedings, which
occupied about four hours, the whole of 'the battalion was
formed in quarter distance column, and addressed by the
Hon. C. G. Scott, the lieutenant-colonel commandant, who
complimented them very highly upon the manner in which
they had acquitted themselves. In the afternoon about 500
of the non• commissioned officers and privates were con-
veyed by special tra'n to Aston-hall, and dined together in
the spacious glass pavilion adjoining the edifice. The Mayor
(Mr. Thomas Lloyd) captain of the fourth company, pre-
sided, in his capacity of chief magistrate of the borough,
and the occasion was honoured by the presence of the Hon.
Col. Scott and the majority of the officers. The chairman,
in proposing the toast of " Success to the Volunteer Rifle
Corps Movement," said it was a source of pleasure to him
to remember that he was one of the first volunteers to enrol
himself, and he congratulated the audience that although
Birmingham was at first slow to move in the matter, the
town could now boast that it possessed an efficient force
of 1,200 members
GREAT CIIESS MATCH AT BRADFORD.-011 Fri-
day night Herr Harwitz, the eminent chess player, entered
into a contest, blindfolded, with six members of the Brad •
ford Chess Club—namely, Dr. Macnish, M. Ammelburg,
M. Landolphe, Mr. Petty, Mr. J. Barker, and Mr Knowles.
The six games proceeded simultaneously—Herr Ilarwitz
not having a sight of the boards. There was a large num-
ber of members and friends present during the evening.
Tho contest, which began at half-past seven o'clock, pro-
ceeded slowly and cautiously on the part of some of his
opponents, but they were all ultimately vanquished one
after another. His last opponent, Mr. James Barker, did
not relinquish tha contest till two o'clock on Saturday
morning.—Manekester Guardian.
The bar silver brought by the West India packet
has been sold at 61ad. per oz., showing no alteration, and
the Mexican dollars at 621-d., being an advance of id. on
the rate realised for those by the preceding Mexican packet,
but a decline of id, from the price obtained for come recent
arrivals,