The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-17 00:00:00

vince, compiled from information obtained by the
police. This is the first paPer in the series of what
are really the vital statistics of Ireland. The
number of acres under other crops and the number
of live stock will soon be ready for publication, and
we shall probably have a foretaste of them as
usual at the annual banquet of the Royal Agricultu-
ral Society. From this return we learn that the flax
crop covers 253,105 acres this year. Last year it
covered 263,507 acres. There is a decrease, there-
fore, to the extent of 10,402 acres in the area devoted
to the crop throughout Ireland. From a closer exa-
mination of the figures it appears that the falling off
has been almost entirely in Ulster. The number of
acres of flax in that province in 1866 was 215,356,
while this year it is only 231,491, showing a defi-
ciency of 10,865 acres. In the prov:nca of Munster
the numbers sand thus: —ln 1866 there were 4,170
acres; in 1867 there are 3,250, being 920 less. In
Leinster and Connaught, on the other han 1, there
has been a slight increase. In 1866 the crop covered
7,262 acres; this year it covers 8,050 acres ; an
increase of 788 acres. In Connaught the number
of acres under it last year was 6,719, while this year
it is 7,314, showing an increase of 595 acres. In
Ulster there are 1,393 scutch mills, in Munster 39,
in Leinster 19, and in Connaught 32. If we go
back for some years we find extraordinary fluc-
tuations in the crop. Beginning at 1851 we
have 140,536 acres under cultivation ; in 1852,
137,008; 1853, 174,579 ; 1854, 151;403 ; 1855, a
descent to 97,075 ; 1856, a slight advance to 106,311;
1857, another fall to 97,721 ; 1858, to 91,646; 1859,
a reaction, and the figure rose to 136,282 ; 1860,
128,595 ; IS6I, 147,957 ; 1862, 150,070 ; 1863,
214,099 ; 1864, 301,693 ; 1865, 251,433 ; 1866,
263,507 ; 1867, 253,105. It will be seen from the
above figures that the decrease this year, though it
may seem large at the first view, is comparatively
very small, and when it is remembered that during
the American war an extraordinary impetus was
given to the linen trade of Ulster, there will be less
occasion for wonder that the extent of the staple
crop has to any extent diminished than that the
trade has sustained so large a share of permanent
advantage, and that its stability has been so little
affected by the sudden collapse of the civil war. The
fact is, that by the energetic perseverance and enter-
prise of the Ulster manufacturers, new outlets for
the surplus stock have been opened, and the trade
has continued steadily to prosper. The slight im-
provement in the acreage of Connaught and Leinster
is also a hopeful sign, but the want of scutch mills
and of markets is sadly felt.
Lord Hastings, son of the Earl of Huntingdon,
has strengthened the ties which bind him to Ireland
by a matrimonial alliance with a daughter of the soil,
Mary Ann Wilmot, only child of the Hon. Col. and
Mrs. Westenra, of Shanavogue, King's county. The
ceremony was performed yesterday in presence of a
distinguished assembly at Ettagh Church, Roscrea.
There was of course a splendid dejeuner and a ball
in the evening.

11IR JUSTICE SIIEE ON ELECTION

RIOTS.

At the opening of Gloucester assizes, the charge
to the grand jury was delivered by Mr. Justice Ghee,
who referred to three men and a boy committed for
taking part in the riot at Dursley on the day of the
declaration of the poll for West GlouceStershire.
His lordship said : " The case renders but few ob-
servations on my part necessary. It is a charge of
riot and assault against four persons on the 31st of
last month, the day of the declaration of the poll
at Dursley for the last election for this county.
Now, gentlemen, I need not tell you that a riot
is a tumultuous disturbance of the peace by
three persons or more assembling together
on their cwn authority, with an intent
mutually to assist one another against any one
who shall oppose them in the execution of some
enterprise of a private nature, and afterwards
actually executing the same in a violent or turbulent
manner, to the terror of the people. Whether the
acts alleged in this case were lawful or unlawful, the
assembly was lawful. But yet, if three or more
persons, being thus lawfully assembled, did con-
spire and confederate together to do some act of
a_private nature, to effect some private object,
or enterprise, in a violent and tumultuous manner,
no doubt they would be guilty of a riot if they
carried that conspiracy and confederacy into
effect. Now, the private object and enterprise
which the prisoners in this case are alleged to
have had in view was the object of insulting,
annoying, and assaulting two gentlemen of position
in this country. It was an object unhappily dis-
gracefully extended in a brutal and most offensive
manner to the ladies of the family of one of those
gentlemen in question. Intending to assault the
two gentlemen in question—for some reason or
other, of which I have not the smallest idea, and
which I do not care to inquire about—who were
unpopular in that crowd, the refuse of recently
slaughtered animals and a quantity of eggs
and stones were thrown at them. The police
officers say that what was done by the four per-
sons was calculated to excite uproar and alarm.
That, of course, we know would be a necessary
ingredient of the offence of riot. Whether they
thought more of what occurred before their eyes on
account of the great respect which they entertained
for the persons who were assaulted, or not, it will
be for you to determine. At general elections a
good deal of license does take place, which rarely
ends in indictments for riots, though certainly vio-
lence is often exercised upon persons in somewhat
inferior stations. The position of those on whom it
was exercised in this case may in some degree ac-
count for persons taking an active part in bringing
the offenders to trial. Probably if a little more time
had elapsed it might not have been thought neces-
sary to prefer these indictments for riot. I cannot
help saying that it would have been as well if, as in
one case on the same occasion, the magistrates had
inflicted a fine on the persons who were guilty of
the assault. However, all these matters are for
your consideration. The great advantage of a
grand 'jury is, that they are in a position, by rea-
son of their station and the respect and confidence
which they enjoy in a county, to mediate be-
tween the parties, particularly during the
heat and excitement and license of a contested
election. The legal difficulty seems to me that
the acts were done in so short a time ; there was
hardly time for persons who were undoubtedly as-
sembled upon a lawful occasion to conspire and
confederate together to commit the assault upon
the two gentlemen who were attacked. It is rather
to be regretted that so soon after a contested elec-
tion a matter of this kind should come before a
judge and grand jury; and I cannot help saying
that it would have been as well if the matter could
have been deferred to the next assizes,
parties would have had time to cool." when all

CRUELTY TO TO CHILDREN.—At th© Truro Board
of Guardians on Thursday the Rev. J. Perry brought
before the notice of the Guardians the caso of a woman,
with five children, living in tho parish of Perranzabuloe.
It appears that about three years ago the woman's hus-
band died, leaving her with four children unprovided for,
and up to about two months ago she had been in receipt
of Cs. a week from the Union. At that time, however, she
gave birth to an illegitimate child, upon which there lief
was stopped, and the woman was offered the workhouse.
She refused to enter the house, and went out daily to
work, leaving her children locked up iu a room without
any furniture, and having one old shawl as the only article
of Clothing among them. The eldest child was eighty ears
old. They were frequently without food all day, unless
the neighbours, who were themselves very pocr, took
compassion on them. The Guardians decided that the
woman should again be
"offered the house," and if she
refused it she should be brought before the magistrates on
a charge of cruelty to her children.
UICIDE IN WINDSOR GREAT PARIC—A domestic
S just occurred in Windsor 6rreat Park.
tragedy has
An old soldier named Wm. Wells, aged 65, lived with his
wife in the village of Spital, near Windsor. The couple,
it would appear, had many disagreements, and lived some-
what unhappily. Wells, too, had frequently threater ed his
wife, and for one of these offences was committed to pri-
son for a year, in 1864, in default of finding sureties for
his good behaviour for tht period. On Tuesday his wife
pplied to the magistrates'a clerk, and Mr. Inspector Reeve,
a
of the Barks constabulary, with a view of obtaining some
protection from her husband. Whether
ut h Wellalf-ps beacame 3
o'clock
aware
of this has not been elicited, but abost
on the afternoon his body was in a ditch in the
Groat Park, near a small bridge four, m which it had, it is
said, dropped, the handkerchief with which the deceased
had hung himself from the rail having given way.