The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-01 00:00:00

rudders, one at the stem, another at the stern.
Each boat is 75 tons burden, carries one rifled 30-
pounder, and draws five feet water. The boiler
weighs six tons and a half. For eight days past
the French blue jackets have been busy landing
these boats, and yet two are lying disjointed as 1
they came out of the ship.
The officers who com-
, while the third has
seven pieces joined together
mand them have done all that energy and skill
could devise, and the men have worked with a will.
But it is one thing to make experiments in a dock-
yard with everything at hand, another to work in a
deserted bay on the coast of China. At Toulon the
boats are put together in 36 hours. Not one of
them will be completed here under a fortnight, if

are quiet and well-disposed, there is no ',lack of dis-
guised Government agents and disrobed Braves in
the adjacent villages. A party of us lately accom-
panied Mr. Wade, the Chinese Secretary to the
Mission, in an excursion to a neighbouring hamlet.
We were as usual surrounded by all the men, and
barked at by all the dogs, the fair sex peering
through their lattices at the bearde 1 barbarians. Mr.
Wade remarked that one or two of the men with whom
he talked spoke a perfectly different dialect from
that of Shantung which prevails here, and he was
satisfied they were Government spies. " How is
trade ?" he asked one of them. " Oh, trade is alto-
gether suspended since your majest,i,eysnuarrnhvaendd.'s'
" What are you ?" " A fisherman.„
are not browned, your face is not taenuntt. Wyehnaat is
the use of lying ? I know what y
in the pay of the Government."
enAjenydedsoiliiies unques-
tionably was, for the villagers
discom-
fiture as he threw up his hands and vainly pro-
tested against Mr. Wade's inferences. He will pro-
baby to-morrow. forward a despatch to Pekin, at
I the rate of 60011 a-day, announcing the departure of
the barbarian expedition.
A sad accident occurred on the 11th inst., which
resulted in the death of Lieut. Gordon, Madras En-
-1 gineers. The day was wild and squally, the wind
from the north-west, and coming down in sudden
and violent gusts over Sampson Peak. Lieut. Lums-
den, Deputy-Assistant-Quarter-Master-General to
the Second Division, encamped at Hard Bay, having
business to transact at Victoria Bay, crossed over in
a boat belonging to the steam transport Imperatrice.
The boat was commanded by Mr. Graham, third
officer of the ship, with two seamen to manage the
sails, and Mr. Lumsden was accompanied by Lieut.
Gordon. They were returning in the afternoon,
when, about 5 p.m., a sudden squall struck the boat,
when about half-way across, and three or four miles
from the shore. She turned bottom upwards, with
her stern completely under water, and her bows
just above. The whole party clung to the boat, and
made signals of distress by holding a coat at the
end of an oar. They hoped to attract the attention
of those on board the signal' gunboat, stationed at
no great distance from them. After an hour spent
in anxious watching, Mr. Lumsden volunteered to
swim for the shore, and Mr, Graham for the gun-
boat, as night was fast coming on, and they all
felt they could not hold on until morning. They
both returned after a few minutes, Mr. Graham
unable to make way against the strong tide,
Mr. Lumsden despairing of !reaching the shore.
Half an hour afterwards Mr. Graham pushed off on
an oar with one of the sailors, and Mr. Lumsden
again swam for the land, leaving Mr. Gordon and
the remaining sailor hanging to the boat. This
man was picked up by a ship's boat about 8, and
states that soon after Mr. Lumsden's departure Mr.
Gordon struck out for the land. He was a bad
swimmer, and returned immediately, caught him
by the trousers, and after holding on two or three
minutes threw up his arms, and sank ! Mr. Graham
and the sailor were picked up by the same boat.
Mr. Lumsden, after remaining in the water six
hours, sometimes floating sometimes swimming,
reached the shore shortly before midnight, com-
pletely exhausted. Every search has been made for
Mr. Gordon's body, unfortunately without success,
though boats are still daily employed for the pur-
pose. At 1 o'clock on the 13th, John Dallinger,
the marine who shot at Lieut. Hudson and the se-
cond master of the Leven, paid the penalty of his
crimes. Punctually at that hour a boat from every
vessel in the fleet assembled about the flagship, the
Leven being moored just astern. A large open
space was kept, and at a signal from the admiral
the boats approached the Leven in two equal divi-
sions. A rope was extended on either side, to
which the boats were strung after all the bowmen
had gone on board. The rigging of every ship was
then manned by all hands to witness the execution.
Punctually :at half-past one the prisoner was
brought out, stripped of his uniform. He was
deadly pale, bat his step was firm, and he walked
without support. A rope was passed round his
neck, the signal given, and in two seconds the
bowmen had run him up to the foreyardarm.
There a loop was loosed and the body fell with a
tremendous jerk, at least six feet, A couple of
struggles and all was 9ver. There is no doubt
he was astonished at his sentence, for as neither
of his intended victims had died he expected
to escape with seven years' transportation. He
fully deserved his fate, for his crime was attended
with most aggravating circumstances. He joined
the Leven about five months ago from the Marine
Battalion with a bad character, the corner of his
certificate being cut off. Lieut. Hudson, in the hope
of enabling him to re-establish his character, took
him as his own servant. On the Bth inst. Lieut.
Hudson missed some brandy and wine from his
cabin, charged Dalliger with the theft, and told
him he should be punished. Next morning, as he
lay en the safa after breakfast, Dalliger stole round
and shot him in the back of his neck, after which
he shot the second master. Before being executed
he made a statement confessing his crime, for which
he was heartily sorry, regarding his death as only
too little punishment, and " begging pardon of those
two whom he had so nearly destroyed in his anger."
Lieut. Hudson is going on satisfactorily, and leaves
by this mail en route for England; and the second
master is nearly cured. He had a narrow escape.
The ball cut off the tip of his ear, and passed into
his shoulder, whence it was extracted without great
difficulty.
I paid a visit to Che-fow last week, and remained
four days: On the morning of the 16th Lord Elgia
started in the Feroze, and anchored under the stern
of the Duchayla, about 4in the afternoon. Che-fow
stands on tile north side of the promontory of Shan-
tung, about 60 miles from its point. The harbour
is formed by a long neck of land running parallel to
the main, to which it is unitedby a low slip of sand,
some three miles long. The entrance lies between
this point and a group of islands which shelter
themismile
en
rharbour
quarteraton wd aa r
hdi
nsa l f the
wide,
width.idee, as t. It is about a
a nThe
running harbour
E .itselfs .E .
six miles long. The average depth of water in six
fathoms, the bottom mud and shingle, and the
anchorage good. The province of Shantung con-
tains 30,000,000 inhabitants and 65,000 square
miles. It is famous as the birthplace of Confucius
and of his disciple, Mencius. The tomb of the
former, who died B. C. 497, at Kiuh-fan, no great
distance hence, is a gigantic monument surrounded
by a forest of oaks, beneath whose shade the body
of the great Chinese philosopher reposes. Che-fow
is the only good; port in this district, and was in-
tended to be opened to trade by the treaty of Tien-
tsin. Tangchau, however, is the port named in the
treaty, as its harbour was known, having been
visited by Lord Macartney in 1793 and by Captain
Elliott in 1840. It is, however, inferior to Che-fow
in every respect, and can only be entered at high
tide, while at Che-fow there is at all times abun-
dance of water for large ships. This will be set
right in the new treaty. We count 39 French ships
inwopoortthr
,essome of them transports of the largest
size.t The Dryade, the Entreprenants, and cne or
frigates,
and
,were originally intended for large
then cut and lengthened. They
brought 900 and 1,000 soldiers each, and lost very
few men on the voyage. The Rhone, Loire, Rhin,
&c., are steamers of another class, built expressly
for the service, and not excelled by any transports
afloat. The Rhone carried 950 men, with provisions
for six months. She is upwards of seven feet high
between decks,and admirably fitted in every particu-
lar. But the transport service is not popular with
the officers of the French navy, who naturally de-
sire to take a part in the more active service of
their profession.inthebay, They are
arebut the only French
vessels despatch gun
boats
vessels that can cross the bar of the Peiho. On
shore the scene is busy and bustling. Large shears
have been set up close to the water, and the crews
of the different men-of-war are busily engaged in
landing and putting together the three iron gun-
boats which came out in the Weser. Fifteen .
of
gunboats have been sent from France in differentese
1
ships, but three only have arrived. The Chinese
question will, therefore, be settled one way or other
before the missing boats reach their destination.
These gunboats are made of iron, and sent out in
15 pieces. The bow and stern pieces form two
compartments, the remainder of the vessel a third.
They are 78 feet long, and 18 feet beam, with two

ever they could lay hands on. As soma as the sol-
diers were embarked, Sir Hope Grant requested the
"notables" of the nearest village to assess the
damage which had been done to their property by
the six regiments which had just left the ground.
They made a careful survey, and presented a claim
for 180 dollars, about £4O of our money. This mo-
dest demand bears uncuestionable testimony to the
good conduct of the men and to the honesty of the
country people. In fact, looting up here has been
all but unknown. The bay presents a magnificent
sight, with nearly 200 vessels moored between the
two flagships. They start early to-morrow morn-
ing, and every ship will be towed out to sea. The
Admiral has issued most precise instructions, and
directed that all vessels are to pass north of the
Miatan islands, and on ao pretence whatever take
the passages between them. A vessel will be an-
chored off Shalutien Island, carrying a red ensign
at the main, and a white ensign at the fore with
lights at night, and no vessel is to pass between
her and the island. The Cruiser is stationed at the
point of rendezvous, about 20 miles from the Peiho,
and the English fleet will be anchored to the north
of her, leaving the south side clear for the French.
The vessels are to move at single anchor in seven
lines, a mile and a half in width, and they will
probably reach their destination by the 28th inst.
In a few days we may hope to see the landing
effected, and I trust that my next letter will an-
nounce the destruction of the Taku forts and the
occupation of Tien-tsin.

then. It was not without considerable cost that Great

Britain discovered ordinary iron vessels to be un
suited for war, and I do not believe these gunboats
will prove an exception to the rule. A single shot
might sink them, and as the fifteen pieces are only
fastened together with screws and rivets, they
would be in great danger of breaking their backs
either in a sea or in taking the ground.
On the 17th two batteries of Artillery were
paraded. Lord Elgin accompanied General Mont-
auban and:Staff. Twelve rifled guns, with waggons
and equipage complete, were on the ground, horsed
by four Japanese ponies to a gun. This was the
tenth day these ponies had been at work, and the
way they did their work reflected great credit on the
officers who had trained them. There was no firing.
The guns were canons rayes, brass four-pounders
bored up to eight, and had made the Italian cam-
paign. Most of the officers had shared the triumphs
of that eventful summer, and wore the medal. The
carriages are oak and wonderfully light, as four
small ponies drag the gun without extraordinary
exertion. After parade we visited the market.
Here were several hundreds of Chinamen with a
plentiful supply of sheep, goats, pigs, poultry, eggs,
vegetables, and fruit brought in from the neigh-
bouring villages. Perfect order prevailed and the
almighty dollar was readily taken. From the rela-
tions existing between the natives and the French,
it is clear that the Chinese have been as well treated
at Che-fow as at Tah-lien-hwan.
In every direction is abundant evidence of the
wealth and comfort of the inhabitants of this dis-
trict. General Montauban's head-quarters are in a
large building just finished, intended for a sort
of hotel de rille, with offices and dwelling roomsit-
tached. It is built round two hollow squares, about
30 or 40 yards in extent. The town-hall itself is
about 50 feet long and 20 wide. The roof is sup-
ported on large substantial beams, each fitted into
the other, not a nail having been used in its con-
struction. The floor is of excellent asphalte, and
the windows of oiled paper do not exclude the
light. The rooms surrounding this room are airy
and lofty, and the whole is built of good bricks and
the best blue mortar. The roof is of tiles made in
the neatest moulds, and the whole place is in every
respect most creditable both to architect and builder.
The French have made a garden in the inner court-
yard, which contains large magnolias, besides a
banana and a fair palm tree. In the afternoon we
rode through the town and suburbs into the adja-
cent country. Outside the town are villas with
large gardens, in which we saw vines and pome-
granates, a clear proof that the winter here cannot
ba very severe. The soil is richer than in our
Manchurian camp, and the cultivation equally
good. Not an inch of ground that is not enriched
in a way to satisfy Mr. Mechi.
6, Time was, 'tis said, ere England's griefs began,
When every rood of ground maintained its man;
But things are changed indeed, for now 'tis found
That every man maintains his rood of uound."
This is literally true here. There are no fences ;
few wide roads. A footpath leads from the villages
to the harbour, so that no space is lost. We see
small ditches for irrigation, and the crops are most
abundant. We,ascend a height and look over a
plain some 30 miles in extent, with the sea on one
side, and a fine range of hills on the other. Beyond
these hills is plain after plain, the inhabitants of
which desire nothing better than to barter their
produce for English manufactures. The junks we
took for our commissariat were full of Manchester
goods, brought up from the South, and an enormous
trade with North of China awaits the re-establish-
ment of pacific relations. Descending through
large orchards of apple, pear, and plum trees we
ride along a lane with high green banks on either
side. The apples are " hanging fine on the trees,"
wild flowers scent the air, the cuckoo is heard in
distance, bees, butterflies, and dragon flies are hum-
ming and circling round our heads, and transport
us back to the lanes and orchards of Devonshire or
Gloucestershire. But the sun is hot, and we are not
sorry to return on board ship and get back to this
cooler climate.
It seems quite clear that the Chinese will resist
to the utmost at the Peiho. The French took four
prisoners during their late reconnoissance. These
were fishermen from the Peiho— one from Pehtang.
They state that large camps are formed on either
side the river, and that the numerous cavalry has
been turned loose on the adjacent crops. They fired
on French when reconnoitring last week, and no
doubt Sang-ho•lin-sin will do his best. He and
Hang-fuh, Governor-General of Chih-li, lately
moved the Emperor to superannuate the act:.ng
Tsung-ping, or general commanding that division
of the Chinese army of Chih-li, distinguished as
the Tung-yung.
"That high officer the Tsung-ping (say they), as the
leader in chief of all the battalions in a division, responsible
as he is for the discipline and drill thereof, is the incumbent
of an important and fully occupied office, requiring more
strength and vigour than ever when the defence of the coast
is a pressing consideration. Li-Chih-ho, the present in-
cumbent, has seen a great deal of service, has been wounded
13 times, but is past 70 years of age, and has of late been
seriously indisposed. The present is a critical moment.
The defence of the coast makes it no ordinav routine duty.
It doubles the importance of the Tsung-ping's position,
which it is inexpedient should be longer filled by an ailing
body clinging fondly twits place of abode, and loth to be.
turned out."
They, therefore, recommend that the old man
should be allowed to retire with full rank, and that
the vacancy should be filled by Hai-Shan, who is
"very vigilant, equal to fatigue, and of consider-
able experience."
The good health of the troops continues. Less
than four and a half per cent. are on the sick list,
including therein all the men who have cut their
feet with oyster shells while bathing. There are
not more than one per cent. of serious cases. One
regiment, the 99th, is 598 strong, and has but two
men absent from duty. The hospital ships are
models of comfort, and even luxury. No want of
" medical comforts' here. Whatever the patient
requires is at hand, from champagne and sherry
to sago and arrowroot. The consequence is
that
mdhieetainlotnhf Siroier as
st
reHutr
though
aoipelueega
hi
as Gat
rrti
tachhnte
ety
at
Peiho,hhwaoemsr
e e
imtnaTbkha
ea rens k
he
gd l,
of
orr
from
edmiwe con-
-194
shipped on the 23d, and I went over to the bay to
witness the sight. The transports were anchored
in the bay, and paddle-ox boats, rafts, and horse-
bfrooamt s
the wee r;.l ao all
ei e
nr enqeui. s iTtiwo no.
ofThh best e
re
paddle-box devi ccamee
boats
were boarded over and carried 32 horses at a time.
aTnhde r
ee
owu
natsenr
-oo
rcdr oe
rws di n .
Theg n ,
aor
rcaonngfeums ieount,
snohad
or
a dbdeeeros
carefully made, were properly carried out, and re-
flected the greatest credit on Colonel Mackenzie,
Colonel Walker, and the Quartermaster-General's
Staff, as well as on Lord John Hay and the naval
officers. 2,000 cavalry and artillery horses and
nearly 3,000 ponies and baggage horses were em-
barked without a single accident. As each trans-
port was filled, a saucy little gunboat walked up
to her—a pigmy beside a giant—hooked her on and
carried her whither she listed. There is nothing
afloat like these English gunboats. They turn,
within their own length, poke their noses into
every creek along the coast, and are the school in
which some of the best men in our navy have been
trained. Sherard Osborn, Commerell, Bythesea,
Corbet, Dew, and many like them received their
training in a forty or an eighty, and the whole
fleet of pigmies may be brought round the Cape
without one single mishap.
Tldhe infantry embarked on the 24th, and in the
ahfatderbneooeovnne,nlasnwd atlkheed over the ground occupied for a
month by the First Division. The trenches and
fie
markedch
itnhaems
epno t
were where
huntingeach a
regiment
for bottles, old boots, bones, firewood, and wrautt

IRE NAVY.

A letter from Valletta, dated Sept. 24, says:—
"Her Majesty's ship St. Jean d'Acre returned into

port on the afternoon of the 22d inst., from a cruise
off the island, and her Majesty's corvette Argus ar-
rived on the following day from Messina, Catania,
and Syracuse, bringing 37 officers and men (inva-
lids, &c.) from the squadron. At the last date the
citadel of Messina was still in the hands of the

ACCOMMODATION BILLS.

The Royal Radnor Rifles, Major L. H. Peel com-
manding, are under orders to assemble at Prestigne
on Tuesday, the 30th October next, for 27 days'
training.

THE FA CTS OF MESSRS. S7REAT-

FEILD AND CO.'S STOPPAGE.

Royal troops. The Argus also brought down a
seaman of her Majesty's corvette Scylla, who has
been condemned to death by court-martial at Naples
for knocking down a Marine officer. On Saturday
arrived the Turkish steamer Meuludia, from Tri-

poli (Barbary). By her we learn of the death of
the Austrian Consul, Mr. A. G. Francovich. An
Austrian steam corvette, the Lucia, Lieut. Eberan
de Eberhorest, arrived here on the 23d inst. from
Gaeta, which place she left on the 20th inst., bound
for Trieste, all the Austrian vessels of war in the

Mediterranean, including those on the coast of
Syria, having been recalled to that port, owing to
the state of affairs in Italy. The Dutch transport
barque Heldin left Malta on the 22d inst., with
stores and provisions for the Dutch squadron in the
Levant. She proceeds first to Alexandria, and
thence to Beyrout. The Russian steam frigate
Gromoboi left on the 23d inst. also for the coast of

Syria, and two ,other Russian vessels of war are
expected shortly for the same destination. The
Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer Messi-
na with the overland portion of the outward Bombay
mail, arrived 4.45 p.m. on the 22d inst. from Mar-
seilles, and left the same day at 11 for Alexandria.
She brought as passengers for Malta Lieut.-Col. B ul-
wer and Capt. Arkwright. The Euxine and
Ceylon, also of the same ccmpany, having on board
the China and Calcutta mails, have just arrived
from Alexandria. The former leaves at 10 o'clock
to-night for Marseilles, the latter a few hours
afterwards for Southampton."
The Ariel, 9, screw corvette, Commander Alex-
ander, fitting for foreign service at Portsmouth, has
been again placed in dock, and opened up on her
port side amidships for examination, it haying
been suspected, from a circumstance that occurred
in repairing one of her midship ports, that some of
her timbers must be in a defectivestate. The pluck-
ing has been stripped off from her port gangway
to her fore rigging to below her water line, and
eight of her timbers are found to have been de-
stroyed from the effects of dry rot. Workmen are
employed in removing them, and new timbers are
being prepared for her. She is expected to be out
of dock again and complete in her repairs in about
eight days' time.
The Excellent (late Queen Charlotte) fitting in
the steam basin at Portsmouth, as the gunnery ship
at the port, is nearly complete in her fittings, and
has been berthed at the north wall of the steam
basin in readiness to receive the armament and
store from the old Excellent, which will be
placed alongside the dock for that purpose.
Her Majesty's paddlewheel steam sloop Spiteful,
recently commissioned by Commander Wilson,
sailed on Saturday from Woolwich for Greenhithe,
to be adjusted for sea. Commander Hawker, doing
duty in the absence of Commodore Drummond,
superintendent of the yard, proceeded down the
river on board the Spiteful to witness the tri.l of
her machinery, and as soon as the ship was under
way, he mustered and inspected the crew, and giv-
ing them the advantage of existing regulations in
reference to an advance of wages, but which have
merged from the present date, Oct. 1, into the new
system, he directed two months' pay to be given to
the crew, and issued similar instructions for the pay-
ment of the Landrail gun vessel, about to sail from
Greenhithe.
Several of the crew of the screw sloop Mars, 80,
Capt. J. Strange, at Plymouth, are still absent with-
out leave. She is ordered to prepare for sea, and has
embarked men for passage to the Mediterranean.
The gunboat Hind, tender to the Russell, 60, at
Falmouth, arrived at Plymouth on Saturday to
collect coastguard volunteers for conveyance to Fal-
mouth to attend drill.
His Netherland Majesty's paddle steamer Cycloop,
Capt. Toewater, having been supplied with 200 tons
of coal and with water, sailed from Falmouth on
Friday for Gibraltar and Malta, en route to join the
Dutch squadron in the upper part of the Mediter-
ranean.
The Enterprise, 4, ore of the exploring ships of
the Arctic expedition, now laid up in ordinary at
Chatham, has been selected by the Admiralty to
proceed to the coast of Scotland, where she is to be
used as a coal depot for the lighthouse at Oban.
As soon as she has undergone the necessary fitments
and alterations at Chatham, she will be towed to
her destination.
The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :—Lieut. Thomas W. Oliver,
to the Cornwallis; Adolphus Andrews, acting third
class assist..engineer, to the Caradoc ; George W.
Hancock, acting third class assist.-engineer, to the
Blenheim, for service in the Violet ; John B. Palmer,
George S. Brodie, Thomas H. Smith, R. H. M.
Maxwell and George Alexander Broad, masters'
assistants, additional to the Marlborough ; Miles S.
S. Bree, master's assistant, to the Aboukir ; Her-
bert G. T. Packer, master's-assistant, to the Diadem;
Nathaniel Child, master's-assistant, to the Cen-
turion ; Edgar C. Baker, master's-assistant addi-
tional, to the Victory for the Rolla; George G.
M‘E wen, master's-assistant, to the Tartar ; John A.
Jones, master's-assistant additional, to the Britannia
for the Sealark ; H. J. Nash, clerk, to the Illustrious;
and G. R. Johnson, assist.-clerk, supernumerary, to
the Victory.

various buildings and organising the medical staff because it would be plainly detrimental to this end expectation of being able to pay. And, whenever
of officers for the new establishment. were the public attention to be diverted from the• this could be made clear to the satisfaction of a
The Rev. T. Molesworth, one of the chaplains at generallybroad questions at issue into matters suggested by jury, then the parties would be deemed
Chatham arrison has received orders to proceed to
personalietof pique or private animosity. The pro- to have received punishment enough in the anxiety
gs
abani Nl'. granting assistance. upon special and
.
pain attendant on such an investigation
China, and the Rev. C. A. A. Craven to Aldershot. Psercuties to
a customer in difficulties is un- Advertiser.
The Rev. H. E. Maskew at Aldershot is appointed doubted, provided there be a reasonable prospt et
chaplain at Chatham. . of those difficulties proving merely temporary. This
In consequence of the numerous complaints axis- was the nature of the statement laid before Messrs.
ing from the pestiferous miasma produced by the
Overend and Co. Many months before, Messrs. 1
slaughtering and deposit of diseased carcases in the
Streatfeild submitted an application of a similar
character to the Bank of England, who acceded to
Plumstead marsh adjoining the Royal Arsenal at it. When Messrs. Streatfeild stopped, the Bank
'Woolwich, a deputation from the local Board of
of England, like Messrs. Overend and Co., were
limn have waited on Sir B. Hawes, Under Sec- found to be, to a certain extent covered by special
retary of State for War, being introduced by Mr.
W. AugPrstein, one of the members for Greenwich. England has not been impugned, and we have
The deputation was most courteously received, Sir upon a former occasion shown that it was not open
B. Hawes informing them that the subject was one
of great consideration, and promising them that the
nuisance should be remedied without delay. securities. Yet the management of the Bank of
to blame in the matter.

TEE PRISONERS OF THE IRISH
BRIGADE.

The Morning News of this day prints the first in-
telligence which up to the present has reached Ire-
land from any of the Irish prisoners taken by the
Piedmontese at Perugia or Spoleto. The commu-

nication is from a young man named Brophy, a
native of Dublin, who, says the News,

" Had been charged to distribute among the men
checks on the National Bank, obtained for them

from the bank of Plowden, Cholmeley, and Co.,
by a kind friend in Rome. This money was part
of their bounty, which the faithful Celts—the
same in heart all over the world, in America,
India, Australia, or Italy—were about to remit to
the parent, the sister,or mother athome in Ireland.
Sergeant Brophy was intrusted with this duty, and
undertook to .make out and return to Dublin a list

Two or three of our contemporaries have lately
been puzzling their heads over the difficult question
of " Accommodation Bills," and have striven hard
with very ltttle effect, to arrive at some definite
conclusion. In sober truth, the question is not an
easy one; and none of the writers of the articles to
which we are alluding, seemed able to find an
answer to the preliminary inquiry, " What is an
accommodation-bill ?" And for this reason we feel
(From the Money Market Review.) inclined to join in the discussion, and to endeavour
The statements made upon the occasion of the to advance, if possible, the investigation a step or
examination of Mr. Thomas Laurence, of the firm , two.
of Streatfeild, Laurence, and Mortimore, in the Strictly speaking, every bill is an accommodation-
Court of Bankruptcy, on the 18th inst., have re- bill. More especially is this the case with what
called public attention to the events which occurred are termed " commercial bills." For these arise
immediately prior to the stoppage of that great from the purchase and sales of goods, which the
house. It stands recorded in Mr. Laurence's evi- buyer prefers to pay for three months hence,
deuce that a few days previously he solicited assis- rather than now. The goods are handed over,
tance from a great Lombard-street house with but the money is not ready, and the seller says,
which he had for many years carried on extensive olf it will be any accommodation to you I will
transactions, and that he then obtained an advance draw upon you at three months from the present
of £20,000 upon special security. This transaction day." This boon is accepted, and the practice be-
has formed the occasion of a series of attacks upon comes so universal, that now buyers generally
the moneyed firm referred to, who have been expect "to be drawn upon," and quite lose sight
accused of secretly supporting an unsound system of the fact, that this three months' bill is concocted
of trading, after they had obtained a full know- merely for their accommodation.
ledge of its unsoundness. They have been charged So unquestionable is this, that we could point
—not generally, but in quarters where an expres- out many great houses, within a quarter of a mile
sion of good opinion carries weight—with an un- of St. Paul's, the heads of which are too proud to
scrupulous disregard of the interests of the trading accept bills. If they purchase goods on which
community in general, and of the other creditors they are entitled to three months' credit, they tell
of Messrs. Streatfeild and Co. in particular. These the sellers, " You may come for the money this day
charges have obtained a wide publicity, and have three months ; or, it you prefer it, you may take
attracted a proportionate share of public discus- off three months' discount, and have the cheque
sion. We have been at some pains to make our- now ; but we do not choose to accept bills." We
selves acquainted with the facts of the case, and heard a principal of this class, thank God, not long
with commercial opinion thereupon. In the judg- since, that "he had never put his name to a bill yet,"
ment of most impartial men of business Messrs. and expressed his hope that he never should. And
Overend, Gurney, and Co. are exonerated from this, simply, because, in his eyes, all bills were ac-
the accusations which have been made in the commodation-bills.
present instance. We have less hesitation Equally clear is it, that every bank-note is an
in placing this opinion upon record, because accommodation-bill, and possesses one of the worst
upon previous occasions we have not been features of the paper system. We all understand,
slow to comment upon the want of caution which that the usual meaning attached to the term is, a
is proved by the revelations in the leather trade to bill not resting on a commercial transaction, such
have characterised the operations both of banks as the purchase and sale of goods ; but one concocted
and of discount houses in the City of London. for the mere purpose of raising money. We all
There has been far too keen a competition for know, too, that it is a vice of the bill system that
commercial bills, and too lax a scrutiny of them; an accommodution-bill is not generally paid off and
and it is through' the undue facilities of accom- annihilated, but is replaced by another which
modation thereby presented that the insolvent made in its room.
houses in the leather trade have contrived to And all this is true of a Bank of England note.
prolong a system which, in the interest of the When the Bank issues a dozen notes for £lOO
public, ought to have been stopped long ago. each, it does not give these notes for articles of
Where there is any blame, however, it should at merchandise, but lends them to people who want
least be apportioned fairly. It is absurd to lay capital. And when it has issued to the value of
the evil of the system at the door of any one twenty millions of such notes, each of which bears
house in particular. The amount of Messrs. the words "I promise to pay,"—it does not really
Streatfeild's paper held by the great firm in Lom- mean to pay them off, and cancel them ; but simply
bard-street, whose name has been so freely called to replace them by new notes made in their room.
in question, was almost exactly the same as that If those who have left deposits in the Bank, and
held by the London Joint-Stock bank ; and next those who hold its "promises to pay," were all to
on the list of creditors come several other joint- go for their money, the Bank itself, though solvent,
stock banks whose management has acquired a would have to stop payment. And this because it
character for caution. Let us be just. These has issued an immense number of notes which " pro-
facts attest the difficulty of discriminating be- raise to pay," without at all meaning to pay those
tween sound and unsound commercial paper. notes, but with a trust that will be able to send new
The means of diminishing that difficulty may form ones afloat as fast as the old ones come in. And
a proper subject of discussion hereafter. For the this is precisely the course which is followed by all
moment, we would offer a narrative of the circum- fabricators of "accommodation bills."
stances which immediately preceded Messrs. Streat- Here, then, are two different classes of paper
feild and Co.'s stoppage. which may strictly be called "accommodation
The announcement that the house could not bills," and yet neither of them receives any blame
meet its engagements was made definitively on or condemnation from the public voice. For the
Monday, the 2d July. On the evening of the pre- criminal and objectionable accommodation-paper we
vious Wednesday (the 27th June) Mr. Thomas must look elsewhere.
Laurence, as he correctly stated in his evidence, And, in our search after this, we come upon ano-
made his appearance after business hours at the ther sort of paper which has little moral blame
private residence of one of the partners in the firm connected with it. We shall speak of facts which
of Overend,
.Gurney, and Co., called him away come under most men's observation; and facts which
from the dining table, and addressed to him an are common in every part of every great city. A
earnest appeal for assistance. We may be quite and Bare two friends, and B has a good balance at
sure that Mr. Laurence did not go on this errand his banker's ; while A,: to purchase the lease of his
with a view to declaring that he was insolvent, house, or for some other legitimate end, wants,
or even inextricably embarrassed. Had this been just now, rather more money than he has got
the case, he had better have saved himself the by him. He therefore says to B, " Can you
trouble, and issued a circular to his creditors inti- lend me a few hundreds for half a year or
mating a suspension of payment. He declared that so ?" The other assents and draws a cheque for
his difficulties were merely temporary, and that all £3OO, and says to A, " For how long shall you
he wanted, therefore, was temporary assistance, or want it ?" A replies, " Oh, for six months, or
otherwise he must stop. Perhaps, if charitably in- perhaps a little more." B, perhaps, dislikes mere
_dined, we may hope that he uttered merely what I 0 U's, and therefore takes a stamp and draws a
he thought to be truth : this is not an extravagant bill for £307 10s. (the £3OO with interest), which
idea, considering that Mr. Laurence declares A accepts. This bill is put awap, and not bent into
solemnly in the Bankruptcy Court that he believed circulation. It is merely an acknowledgment that
his firm to have been really in possession of a sur- A has borrowed £3OO, and that it is to be paid on
plus of about £300,000, instead of showing a defi- a certain day. It has none of the objectionable
c'ency of 15s. in the pound. If a banker, ap- features of what are commonly styled " accommo-
pealed to under such circumstances by an old cus- dation bills." Yet it is-unquestionably true that B
tomer, were to exclaim, as Mr. D. W. Chapman has accommodated A with a loan of money, and
did, as a result of a hurried ten minutes' converse- that this bill represents that transaction.
tion, " Oh, you must not stop. Come to me to- The six months run out, and A finds it eonveni-
morrow, and we will see what can be done," the ent to ask for a little longer use of the money. He
remark would be just what we might expect. mentions it to B, wbo makes no objection, but
Accordingly, on the following morning Mr. recollects that a month before, in making a large
Laurence attended in Lombard-street, gave an ex- purchase, he paid away this bill, having then only
planation of what he considered to be his position, a few weeks to run, to a merchant in the City. He
and pressed again for immediate assistance, as ur- tells A, therefore, hat the bill must be regularly
gent liabilities had to be met without delay. It paid w hen presented, but he adds, "If it will be
was under these circumstances that Messrs.Overend any convenience to you, I will draw a new bill two
and Co. granted a loan of £20,000 upon the special days before the cld one becomes due, and give you
security of certain title-deeds. We do not see that a cheque for it ; and then you will be able, without
the transaction entails upon them any culpability taxing your own resources, to pay the first bill
whatever. Similar arrangements are not unfre- when presented, and afterwards you may burn it,
quently made between bankers and temporarily if you like."
embarrassed customers, without the world know- Here, then, we have at last just what the com-
ing anything about them. To whom else is the 1 mercial world agree to call "an accommodation-
customer to have recourse in time of strait ? To 1 bill." It is a bill drawn merely to be discounted,
suppose that Messrs. Overend and Co. could make I in order to raise funds to meet an acceptance which
themselves masters, upon the instant, of a far- is falling due. Such are the bills which have re-
reaching chain of facts, which it has taken some of 1 cently come to light in the eases of "Streatfeild
the most skilful accountants in the City many 1 and Co." and many others in the leather trade,
weeks to unravel, would be simply ridiculous. I and which have conducted so many firms into the
Without wishing to be the apologist of any firm, Bankruptcy Court.
we say that any banker under similar circum- And yet, after all, in the case above described,
stances might have acted without
_reproach, pre- I may it not be asked, " Where is the guilt ?" May
cisely as Messrs. Overend and Co. did upon the I not one friend lend another a few hundreds when
occasion. ' the latter wants it, and the first has it to spare ?
The £20,000 was handed over. The stoppage of May not the loan be acknowledged in a simple note
one or two houses, which depended on Messrs. of hand, or acceptance, promising to pay it by a
Streatfeild, was thereby obviated. There was time 1 certain day ? And when the borrower wishes to
to breathe, and to inquire more deliberately into retain the money a few months longer, and the
their position. Mr. Laurence persisted in declaring lender is willing that he should do so, where is the
that accommodation to the extent of £OO,OOO for a objection to the making of a new bill and the tear-
few months was all that he required to enable ing up the old one, in order to extend the time
him to recover himself. Upon the discovery, how- for the repayment ? It is clear that we cannot ob-
eyer, of the extent of Messrs. Streatfeild's open ject to these things, except we mean to object to all
discount accounts in other quarters, Messrs. Over- borrowing and all lending.
end and Co. felt that, if any further help was -Where, then, does the "accommodation bill" sys-
to be granted, it must be granted in conjunction tem begin ; and where does criminality first show
with, and upon the recommendation of, the other itself ? In our view it begins, to a moderate ex-
large creditors. The next step was to convene a tent, when the party professing to lend has not
private meeting of the representatives of the really got the money wherewith to assist his friend,
joint-stock banks and discount establishments in- but means to raise it by discounting the bill at his
terested, in order that the position of the firm might banker's or elsewhere. If B has got the money to
be laid before them,and that it might be ascertained lend to A, who has any right to object to bis lend-
whether it was such that its suspension could legiti- ing it ? He may give it him if he pleases. Nor
mately be averted. The meetings in question took can we attach the least blame to the mere act of
place on the Friday and Saturday (the 29th and taking an acknowledgment of the debt on a stamped
30th of June), and comprised representatives of the piece of paper.
firm of Overend and Co., the London Joint-Stock It is when neither A nor B have got the money,
Bank, the City Bank, the National Bank, &c. It but when they agree to concoct a bill between them,
is important to remark that even up to the Satur- to be discounted at a bank or at a bill broker's, for
day night, pending the investigation which was the purpose of raising the money—it is then that
going forward, and in which Mr. Turquand, the the "accommodation bill system" really begins.
accountant, was called in to render assistance, all The amount of criminality, however, varies ex-
the principal bill-holders fully concurred in the ceedingly, and is seldom the same in any two
advisability of Messrs. Streatfeld continuing their cases. Great bankers have been charged with
payments. There appears, therefore, to be no issuing large amounts of bills, at times, for special
ground whatever for the insinuation that they were purposes ; but no one ever imputed much blame
enabled by one house to make unfair preferences. to them, because no one doubted their ability to
Meanwhilerumoursof the embarrassmentsof Messrs. pay the whole amount. And in like manner if two
Streatfeild had oozed out, but so strangely high had merchants, each possessed of a large capital over
their credit stood, even up to the last,moment, that and above his debts, choose to issue half a dozen
the general impression was that their difficulties bills of £5OO each, for some commercial purpose,
were merely temporary, and would be surmounted. there never will be any blame attached to them,
By the comparatively few persons who were par- for the bills will be paid without difficulty or hesi-
tially aware of the ramifications (though not of the tation ; and no one will have any opportunity to
rottenness) of the system of which Messrs. Street- call either of them to account.
feild were the head, the result of the meeting was The essence of the real criminality, when any
awaited with the most painful suspense. The exists, must be the issuing bills, " promising to
meeting of the principal 15'ill-holders heard not a pay," when both draiver and acceptor are conscious
tithe of the revelations which have since been that they could not really pay if called upon. And,
brought to light ; but, upon Mr. Turquand's report, whenever this fact could be made clear, the trans-
they were obliged to come to the conclusion that, action would be, in reality, a raising money on
however lamentable might be the effect of Messrs. false pretences, and_ it should be punishable as a
Streatfeild's stoppage upon the leather trade and kind of fraud. So that, after all, the incurring
upon commerce generally, it could not be averted. debts without a reasonable probability of being
The affair was immediately delivered over to the able to pay them is the real crime, or immorality;
professional accountants, Messrs. Coleman, Tur- and we feel strongly, that every man who can be
quand, Youngs, and Co., and the circulars announc- reasonably charged with this offence' ought to ba
ing Messrs. Streatfeild's stoppage were sent out on placed upon his trial, and ought to have the pri-
the Monday afternoon. vilege of a defence, and of appealing to a jury. For
This is a plain statement of facts,
and we are not we believe that there have been cases, even within
aware that they can be controverted in any parti- the last few months, in which the hue and cry of
cular. We allude to them thus in detail, because " accommodation-bills" has called down a heavy
we retain a hope that the crash in the leather trade censure from the. Bankruptcy Commissioner; when
will lead to changes in the practice of our great it might have been clearly shown, on a strict in-
banks and moneyedestablishmente in a sense favour-I vestigation, that no bill had been given or accepted
able to the interests of the community at large,and ' whi h
--cm the parties concerned had not a reasonable

COUNTRY MABRETS.

or inventory of the cheques of his own company.
He appears to have distributed the cheques and
made out the list, when suddenly the treacherous
onslaught of the Piedmontese invaders (which we
thus perceive was utterly unexpected) burst upon
Perugia."
The following is the brief message, written on a
crumpled bit of paper :
" Near Livorno, en route to Genoa, Sept. 20.
" Sir,—You will perceive by the enclosed that I
have faithfully carried out the instructions of
to me respecting the cheques intrusted to my
charge at Perugia for our company, but unfortu-
nately I had not time to post it before the siege
opened on us. I send here the schedule I made
out ; do with it as is best now.
66 You will surely excuse this sort of a note, re-
membering, as you see, that now we are prisoners.
I need say no more.
" I have not room, if I dared, to tell you all. I
wish you could know all about our capture.
" Poor Allmall (Allman ?), whom you knew, fell
dead by my side, shot through the heart. He never
spoke. Instantly I myself was struck down. My
gun was shattered out of my hand, and as I lay on
the ground I was hit again by a ball in the left
hip, my trousers torn to atoms, my wound but a
trifle. But our company escaped wonderfully,
considering it might have been destroyed.
" We are here after three days' dreadful march:
Our poor fellows are used awful. You would see
the blood oozing out through our shoes and over
at the ankles, from streaming down inside our
clothes from our wounds—still made to go fearful
marches. But our spirits are the same as ever.
"We are going, they say, to Genoa. I have of
course given every man his check, except five or
six,_ which I keep awaiting instructions. I suppose
no letters can reach us, but try.
" Dear Sir, send word to my mother of my fate;
she lives at No. —, —, Dublin. It is no use her
writing, as I might not get it.—Your obedient ser-
vent, " T. W. BROPHY."
Is
L