The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-27 00:00:00

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

DARING STREET ROBBERY.—DEFENCE OF MISTAKEN
IDENTITY.—john Sherringtono. respectably-dressed young
man, residing in Vine-street, Lambeth, et clerk, was
charged with stealing, from the person of Mrs. Fennell,
of 12, Devonport-street, Hyde-park, a purse containing 98.,
in the following manner :
Mrs. Fennell said she was crossing Great Cumberland-
street on Friday afternoon, with her little boy, having her
purse in her hand at the time, when a snatch was made at

it from behind. At first she held her purse very firmly,
but afterwards thinking it might be her husband who had
followed her, she allowed it to go. She turned round and
saw a person whom she believed to be the prisoner. Her

little boy called " Stop thief I" ,and the prisoner then ran
down Park-lane. She only lost sight of the prisoner for a
moment, and she firmly believed he was the person.
Mr. Charles Platt, barrister-at-law, 59, Portland-place,
was walking down Oxford-street on Friday afternoon, and
when at the east end of Cumberland-street saw the prisoner
snatch at the lady's purse. He called " Stop thief." He
then ran across the road under the horses' heads down
Park-lane, he (witness) following. On meeting a gentleman
coming up the lane he told him what had occurred, and he
went after the prisoner and brought him back.

Mr. James Gilder, a clerk in the War-office, proved
going after the prisoner and bringing him back.

A constable proved seeing a number of persons running
down Park-lane—the prisoner being in front at the time.
In answer to Mr. Lewis, of Great Marlborough-street,
the constable said the prisoner gave a correct address, and,
from appearances, he believed him to be respectable.
Mr. Lewis addressed the magistrate at some length, co/17
tending that it was a case of mistaken identity. There was
no doubt she had lost the purse, but he was instructed
that the accused was incapable of such an action. He had
mpectable persons present to speak to the prsisoner's
character.

Mr. Thomas Taylor, of 72, St. Andrew's-road, proprietor
of the Home Magazine, &c., gave the prisoner a very high
character for general honesty, having entrusted him with
large sums of money.

Mr. Bingham said the case must go to a jury, but at
present he should remand him.

THAMES.

SCANDALOUS CONDUCT OF PAUPERS.—AN ABUSE OF
PUBLIC CHARITY.—Three sturdy able-bodied paupers,
named James Banks, Phillip Goodfellow, and Michael
Tobin were brought before Mr. Yardley, charged with
being disorderly in Ratcliff Workhouse, and assaulting
William Morris, a lad, who is also a pauper there, Henry
Snelling, the porter of the house, and several constables of
the K division.

It appeared that the prisoners were indulged with a holi-
day on Christmas .day, and came back to the workhouse at
two o'clock, all the worse for liquor. Banks received his
dinner from the lad Morris, and was dissatisfied
with it, and began swearing and making a disturb-
ance, and struck Morris a violent blow on the eye.
Morris attempted to turn him out, and the other prisoner
came up and attacked Morris, and beat him till ho was
nearly senseless. A serious disturbance then took place,
and several police constables who were called to quell the
row were struck by the prisoners, and Snelling, the porter,
a very well conducted man, was also violently assaulted and
his trousers torn to pieces.
Inspector Griffin, of the K division, said that Tobin was
like an infuriated wild beast, and was brought to the
station-house on a stretcher.

Snelling, in answer to questions by Mr. Yardley, said the
prisoners had been in prison or in the workhouse for
eighteen months on and off. They had spent as much time
in prison as in the workhouse. Two of the prisoners re-
ceived two months' imprisonment each for stealing clothes
from the workhouse, and their sentences expired on the Ist
of December. . . .

Mr. Yardley—l suppose. the inmates of the workhouse
had some extra fare on Christmas day.
&lolling—They had as good a dinner on Christmas day
as any tradesman and his family would wish to eat. They
had roast beef, plum pudding, plenty of vegetables, whole-
some bread and strong beer.
Mr. Yardley had no hesitation in saying it was an abuse
of public charity to support the prisoners at all out of the
poor-rates. They were idle, disorderly, ruffians and ought
not to be admitted into the workhouse again. He sen-
tenced the prisoners to 40 days' imprisonment and hard
labour.

BURNS' CENTENARY.—It is worthy of notice, at
the present time especially, that Burns, writing to his
earliest patron, Gavin Hamilton, in 1786, thus expresses
himself :—" For my own affairs, I am in a fair way of be-
coming as eminent as Thomas a Kempis or John Bunyan ;
and you may expect, henceforth, to see my birthday in-
scribed among the wonderful events, in the Poor Robin
and Aderdetn Alma,nacks, along with the Black Monday,
and the Battle of Bothwell Bridge."—See Lockhart's
" Life of Burns," p. 110.—Notes and Queries.
The new maitre de ballet at the Grand Opera is
an Italian named Rota. He is to bring forward immedi-
ately a ballet ifom Byron's " Don Juan," the music of
which is by Count Gabrielli, who has already been success-
Ad La ballet ratteic at the Operai—Court Tornal.

"The bark Oregon arrived here to-day, havint
on board Lieutenant White, of the cutter McLel-
land, who was taken to sea by the Filibuster Susan.
Lieutenant White reports that he left the Susan
250 miles out, bound for Greytown. Her com-
mander, Maury, put the lieutenant on board the'
Oregon last Thursday. White says when he found
the Susan under way he ordered her to anchor, but
his orders were not heeded."
The journals to hand by this arrival are full of
indignant remarks about the boarding of the Wash-
ington steamer by British officers at San Juan. The
fact that Sir W. G. Ouseley was in the neighbour-
hood at the time, and must have cognisance of the
transaction, added much to the bitter feeling which
prevailed. The Washington Union, referring to the
subject, says :
" It is to be hoped that our own naval vessels
may yet succed in intercepting the fugitive Susan,
bringing her back to our ports, and preserving
this Filibuster question still longer as a purely
domestic one in our policy. Upon the vigilance:of
our officers in the waters of the Gulf may depend
in a great measure the peace of the world."
A correspondent of the New York Tribune writes
from Lake Nicaragua, on the 23d of Nevember, as
follows. His statement will of course be received
with great suspicion :
" The small steamer Catharine Maria was soon
ready, and, taking the agents of the companies
interested in the transit, and such passengers from
San Juan del Norte as were known in the interior,
and your correspondent, we left just at night for
the ports on the Lake. After proceeding some
miles up the river, the steamer, which draws much
more water than she should for this navigation,
struck a sandbar, and it was found impossible to
proceed in her. We were obliged to return to San
Juan, and, going outside the harbour, made for the
Colerado branch of the San Juan. The night was
dark, with rain and a heavy swell; it was a good
deal like going to sea in a bowl, and it was nearly
daylight before we passed the bar and found our-
selves on the river. I should have mentioned
earlier that we left the Valorous at San Juan with
Sir George Ouseley and family on board, and that
the other English steamers had gone to sea almost
upon the arrival of the Washington. As we passed
the bar of the Colorado we saw in the dim morning
a large steamer, apparently bound for San Juan.
We immediately concluded it was the Commodore,
in the Roanoke, then expected, but after we had
got a few miles in the river, stopping to regulate
some of our machinery, we saw men-of-war boats in
haste rowing up the river to overtake us. Thinking
them the boats of the Roanoke, we prepared our
mouths for a good laugh at our countrymen for
mistaking our little craft, with 20 people on
board, for a Filibuster, when, to our surprise,
they hoisted the cross of St. George, and the
first boat coming near us, we were hailed
by the English captain of the Leopard. He
had seen his mistake ; he had a cheerful smile
on his face and wished us " Good morning."
They were pulling up the river "to shoot," and see
what it was like,—would take news for us, &e. As
we had said our last farewell in Greytown, we did
not write any letters, but looked with wonder at
the captain of an English. frigate, in a large boat,
full of men, supplied with water and provisions,
and armed with muskets and cutlasses, followed by
two larger boats crowded with armed marines, row-
ing up the Colorado on a hot rainy day, taking ob-
servations and shooting alligators and turkey-
buzzards.

A correspondent of the New York Times, writing
on the 23d of December, states that Flag-officer
M'lntosh, of the Roanoke, on his arrival at San
Juan,

" Addressed a temperate, but firm, decided, and
well written letter to Sir W. C. Aldham, the cap-
tain of the Valorous, calling him strictly to account
for such an unwarrantable proceeding, as well as
the gross departure from the recent assurances and
understanding between their respective Govern-
ments upon the subject of the right of visiting or
searching vessels bearing the flag of our nation ;
and stating, in the strongest terms, that if such
visits' were renewed it would assuredly bring the
vessels of the United States' home squadron and
those of her Britannic Majesty on this station into
Collision, for he (M'lntosh) would not allow such
belligerent proceedings on the part of her Britan-
nic Majesty's vessels ; and that if the peace of the
two countries was thus jeopardised it would be
entirely owing to the persistance of British officers
in endeavouring to enforce this British 'right of
search' or visit' on vessels sailing under our flag,
after repeated warnings had been given that it
would be resisted and promptly met by our Govern-
ment ; and, further, that his instructions were per-
emptory that it should not be permitted under any
circumstances. He (M'lntosh) and the United States
vessels were there alone to examine into and decide
upon the character of vessels sailing under our flag,
and entering the ports of this country; and that
the visit' or search' of our vessels by British
officers, should it again occur, would be resisted
by him at every hazard with the force under his
command. I understand that a reply from Capain
Aldham to Flag-officer M'lntosh's communication
was sent on board the Roanoake early on the morn-
ing of the 29th ult., and that Capt. Aldham therein
claimed the right to visit our merchant vessels and
institute an examination into their character, upon
the old and oft-disputed grounds that the coast and
harbours of the Mosquito kingdom were under the
protection of Great Britain. You are well aware
that under the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty that preten-
sion was thought to be entirely exploded; yet it
now appears that the British Government clings
to its protectorate over the Mosquito coast, not-
withstanding its treaty obligations with the United
States not to assume' or ' exercise any dominion'
over that or any other part of Central America,
which, of course, includes the Mosquito coast. The
afternoon of the same day (29th)
Flag-officer
M'lntosh's secretary, Mr. Zantzniger,
visited the
Valorous, bearing the second communication for
Capt. Aldham, and remained on board that vessel a ;
considerable length of time. Mr. Zantzniger did not
come on shore, and I therefore did not see him ; but I
learnt from an officer of the SaYouctit that Mr.

A correspondent of the New York Tribune,
writing from nn board the frigate Niagara, which
had returned to New York from Monrovia, after
landing the negroes captured on board the slaver
Echo, says :—" A French ship arrived at Monrovia
from France before we left the frontier port ; and,
as suspicions of her legitimacy were entertained,
some Libernian officials, accompanied by an officer
of her Britannic Majesty's steam frigate Alecto,
boarded the Frenchman and demanded his papers.
A naval officer in French uniform assured his Eng-

lish contemporary that' all was right;' notwith-
standing which search was instituted, which re-

suited in the discovery of a free negro (among se-
veral who were on board), but as that individual
did not seem to object very strongly to his new
quarters, the matter was allowed to remain.in statu
quo until an official council will -be convened be-
tween French and Liberian authorities. The
suspected slaver, however, left Monrovia bound for
a more northern port."
At Havannah on the 10th inst. sugars were firm.
No. 12, 91 to 91 reels. Stock at Havannah and
Matanzas, 40,000 boxes. There was nothing new
in molasses. Exchange on London, 121 to 13 per
cent. prem.
Advices from Mexico confirm the reported defeat
of Zuloaga by Degollado at the Bridge of loto-
The Spanish Consul had expressed himself pleased
witn Governor Corso's satisfactory explanation to
the American, French, and Spanish Consuls, where-
in he denies the statement published by the ex-
pelled Zuloagan Government, but intimates that he
has deemed it his duty to make a requisition upon
the Captain-General of Cuba, for a vessel of war,
not for any hostile purpose, but to remain in port
with the exclusive object of protecting her Catholic
Majesty's subjects in case it should be necessary.
General Artheaga had completely defeated the
troops commanded by Col. Puclas in the neighbour-
hood of Guanajuato. Artheaga had not entered the
city, preferring to keep up his communication with
Degollado. Col. Puelas, after his defeat, went to
the city of Mexico, where he arrived on the 26th
ult. Several rich houses in the city of Mexico re-
fused to pay the contributions demanded by Zuloaga.
BY TELEGRAPH, VIA HALIFAX.
WASHINGTON, DEc. 16.
The explanation of the British officers in regard to
the boarding of the steamship Washington, at San
Juan, Nicaragua, on suspicion that she was engaged
in a Filibustering enterprise, is said to be quite
satisfactory to the United States' Government. The
treaties recently negotiated between this country,
and China and Japan, have been officially confirmed
by the Senate. The appointment of Mr. Preston, of
Kentucky, as United States' Minister to Spain, and.
of Mr. J. Glancy Jones, of Pennsylvania, as Minis-
ter to Austria, have likewise been confirmed by the
Senate.

HALIFAX, DEC. 17.
Lord Bury recently addressed a large meeting
here in advocacy of the projected Intercolonial
Railway. Resolutions were adopted eulogistic of
the zeal displayed by his Lordship in the enterprise.
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

At New York, on the 13th, a further advance took place
in foreign exchange, bankers demanding 109/ to 1091 for 60
days' bills, and 1101 for short sight. The official averages
of the banks in the city of New York for the week ending
Saturday, Dec. 11, present in the aggregate the following
changes from the previous weekly statement of Dec. 4 :
Dollars.
Increase in loans
Decrease in specie 212,205
Decreasa in circulation 88,351
Increase in gross deposits 16,309
Decrease in undrawn deposits 559,207
The stock market had been unfavourably affected by the
more complicated form of the Nicaragua question. The
following were the latest quotations :—United States' Fives,
1873-4, 104.4 ; Missouri Sixes, 881 f ; New Yook Central
shares, 83/ ; New York and Erie shares, 171; Reading
Railroad shares, 51k; Michigan Central shares, 510 ; Michi-
gan Southern shares, 201 ; Cleveland and Toledo shares,
311; Panamaßailroad shares, 117 t ; Illinois Central shares,
72k; Illinois Central bonds, 91 ; Chicago and Rock Is
and
landshares, 611 i Milwauki and Mississippi, 13, Galena
Chicago, 721 ; Pennsylvania Coal, 801 ; Pacific
Mail
Steamship Company, 881.
Cotton was weak at 1• c. for middling uplands.

SOUTHERN MARKETS.
CHARLESTON, Dec. 13.—Cotton firm—sales to-day 1,100
bales.
SAVANNAH, Dec. 43.—Cotton—Sales to-day, 168 bales,
at 101 to 111.
MOBILE, Dec. 13.—The Persia's ads ices had an unfavour-
able effect on our cotton market, ceasing less firmness, with
light sales; sales to-day, 1,300 bales; middling, 1 lAc.
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 13.—The advices per steamer Per-
sia bad no effect upon our market, and prices remain un-
changed. Sales to-day, 5,000 bales; middling, nao. to
114 c. Sugar, dull and declining, Ac. Sterling exchange,
1080 to 108 c., dull.
NEW YORK, Dec. 16, Evening.—Our cotton market is
firm, with slight sales during the past two days of 2,500
bales. Middling Orleans is quoted at 12e. per lb. Flour
is steady, at about the prices advised by mail. Wheat is
dull, and Indian corn exhibits a declining tendency, allqua-
lities being quoted slightly lower. Pork is heavy, and
slightly cheaper. Lard is heavy, at a decline of lc. per lb.
On the Stock Exchange a firm tone prevails, and prices
are well supported,