The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-18 00:00:00

FRANCE.

BOURSE, June 16.—Two o'Clock.—The list of
" discounts " to-day comprises 226,500 f. Three per
Cents., 102,500 f. Italian Fives, 2,175 Credit Mobilier
Shares, 625 Comptoir d'Escompte, &c. English
Consols are telegraphed with an advance of but
the market here is much depressed, and quotations
show a general decline. Threes, for the Account,
are at 62f. 65c., a fall of 35c., taking into account
the quarterly coupon bearing 75c. interest, which
is detached to-day. Italian Fives are above one
per cent. lower, viz., at 37f. 50c. Credit Mobilier
Shares lose 11f. 25c. at 477 f. 50c., and Credit Fon-
cier 15f., at I,loof. Comptoir d'Escompte Shares
have declined Bf. 75c., to 670 f. A similar move-
ment is taking place in the Railway Department,
Northern Shares having declined Bf. 75c., to 1,053 f
75c. ; Lyons Shares 5f., to 782 f. 50c. ; Austrian
5f., to 285 f. ; and Lombard 6f. 25c., to 265 f. The
downward current continues on Mexican Bonds,
which have fallen to-day to 142 f. 50c., whilst the
old Loan has declined to 18.
Three o'clock --The market left off at the fol
lowing quotations:-
4i per Cents 92 30

Do. end month

Bank Shares 3440
Italian Loan 3B 70
Do. end month 37 55
Mexican Loan
Do. Bonds 142 50
Spanish Threes
Home Debt —
Deferred
-AYS.

3 per Cents. 62 85

D. end month 62 50

Credit Mobilier ... 485
Do. end month ... 476 25

Credit Foncier —
Do. end month 1105

For Account,
Orleans
Northern
Lyons and Mediterranean 7Bl 25
Southern 512 50
Western —

Eastern 4BB 75
Sardinian

Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa
Ditto to Barcelona
Roman

283 75
266 25
80 -
110 -

How Stephens Escaped.

In one of his late speeches in the United States,
Stephens, in answer to the charge of being a British
spy, gave the following account of his escape from
the Dublin gaol. He said that while in Richmond
Prison he had time to reflect, and it struck him that
he had better escape. After turning the matter over
in his mind, he concluded that he should gain more
pristige by escaping than by remaining in quod. So
he commenced laying his plans.
On the following day one of the very men he had
intended to make an agent in effecting his escape
came to him and said his escape had been planned

men who had the matter in hand, he determined on
letting them carry it out. Some days passed, when
he finally heard that he was to leave the prison on
the morning of the 24th of November. His
friends outsidd had keys made to open the six
or seven doors between his cell and the
prison wall, which was twenty-feet high. On
the evening of the 23d he went to bed at
the usual hour—eight o'clock. He was very drowsy,
and it required all his efforts to keep awake.
About midnight he arose and dressed himself very
quietly. He then turned up the bedclothes and lay
down on the outside of the bed in his clothes to
await the arrival of his friend. Shortly after the
clock struck two he heard a slight noise at a con-
siderable distance, which he at once knew to be the
sound produced by opening the first gate. Soon
afterwards he heard a similar noise, and so until the
key turned in his cell door. This grated so noisily
that it had to be drawn open with the utmost
caution. The night was similar to the one on which
Oliver Cromwell died, when the dreadful and de-
structive storm which swept over England caused
the Cavaliers to say that all the devils in hell had
broken loose to carry his soul to his last home. The
high wind, heavy ,rain, and intense darkness of the
night were air favourable for his escape. His friend
pressed himself against the door to prevent its
creaking, and a revolver was instantly placed in his
hand. They then passed in the same manner
through all the doors of the prison until they reached
the open air, when the outer wall obstructed their
further progress. It must remain a mystery how
he ascended that wall, but the manner in which he
descended it was as follows :—He had been given
to understand that he must leap from the top of
the wall into a garden at the other side. Be-
fore doing so, however, he felt along the top
of the wall, and his hand came in contact
[ with a metal funnel or stove pipe, at which he
pulled to see if it were firm enough to descend by.
Finding it quite firm, lie let himself down by it for
some eight or ten feet,when he found himself on the
roof of a shed, down which he slid to a path which
ran by its site. In that way no trace of his descent
was left, and hence the mystification of the detec-
tives. Following the route laid down for him, he
went along the walk to the end of the garden ; then
turning at right angles he passed along to a point
previously indicated, where he was to have thrown
a stone over the outer wall as a signal for his friends
to throw a rope over to him. The night was in-
tensely dark, and he was unable to find a stone,
and therefore picked up a handful of gravel from
the path, which he flung over the wall, and a rope
was immediately thrown to him. He seized therope
with some anxiety, asking himself, " Have they
thought of putting knots on it ?" He found they
had done so, and he began to draw himself up by
it. The first help he received was by catching his
feet against a protuberance, and at the second lift
his feet lodged in a hole in the wall. The third
brought him to the top. On looking down he saw
his friends in a group below. They placed them-
selves against the wall, with bonded backs, and he
dropped from the top of the wall, while one stal-
wart man held up his arms to break the fall. • No
sooner was he down than he told his friends to dis-
perse immediately and go home. Two only remained
with him. They proceeded about 300 yards, when
one of the two remaining friends also left, and he
then proceeded to the house at which he had deter-
mined to take refuge. Six different houses were
ready to receive him that night, and every one of
the six owners remained up all night anticipating
his arrival. No one saw him enter the house in
which he took refuge, and from his windows could
be seen the prison in which he had been confined.

FENIAN PRISONERS IN IRELAND.—A return dated
in April states that since September last 583 persons have
been arrested in Ireland upon ordinary informations on
charges of Fenianism, and 631 persons been arrested or
detained. by virtue of warrants of the Lord-Lieutenant
issued under the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act.
In many instances the same persons aro included in both
numbers.

On Saturday evening a very clever dramatic
adaptation of Mr. Charles Dickens's tale, " Our
Mutual Friend," entitled, " The Golden Dustman,"
was produced here with complete and deserved suc-
cess. It would be a needless waste of both time and
space to give even a brief outline of the plot, be-
cause the original work itself is so very widely
known and generally appreciated. It has been
said we cannot have too much of a good
thing, but in adaptation has proved to the contrary,
because in his desire to embrace as much as possible
of the original work he has made his play nearly a
couple of hours too long, and thus the piece which
would give incessant pleasure, if conveyed in a close
and compact form, becomes wearing when it is
spread over four hours and a half. However,
the length of a play is a very easy fault
to be remedied ; the adapter, doubtless,
was present on Saturday evening, and with
the experience he then gained, aided by the stage
manager, a great deal of unnecessary dialogue,
which only impedes the action, can be at once
omitted, and the. " go" of the piece will be greatly
improved. The " cast" was a very good one, and
in most instances the performers thoroughly iden-
tified themselves with the wonderful creations of
the Arch Enchanter, and the result was, as we have
already stated, a great success. The part of John
Harmon was confided to Mr. Swinbourne, and,
although it did not present many opportunities
for display, yet it was performed with a care and
judgment that calls for the highest praise. Mr. Bar-
rett, as Mr. Boffins, also went in for honours, and
came off most triumphantly. Mr. G. Belmore, as
Wegg, the sneaking and treacherous friend of Old
Boffins, gave another of those vivid representations
of character which have secured for him so promi-
nent a position in the profession. Mr. M'lntyre
earned very cordial praise for his powerfully
delineated impersonation of Rogue Itiderhood.
The part of Lizzie Hexbam was most charmingly
sustained by Miss Ada Dyas ; there was a natural
grace infused into the whole performance that ren-
dered it one of the great features of the piece. Miss
Fanny Gwynne as Pelter Wilfer also achieved a
great success ; and with a compliment to Miss Ada
Harland for her impersonation of Larry Wilfer, we
take leave of the performers.
The scenery merits the highest praise, the Sailors'
Home at Wapping and the Lock on the Thames
more especially calling for special commendation.
The dresses and appointments were quite up to the
mark ; in fact, the piece was put upon the stage in
the most perfect and complete manner, and we con-
gratulate the management on the success that has
attended their labours.

The Capital amishm3nt of Females.
--C,

When the Government bill on capital punishment
comes down from the Upper to the Lower HOMO we
understand that Mr. William Ewart will move the
total abolition of the capital punishment of females,
His motion is based upon the following yeasons :-
1. The peculiarly disgusting and revolting nature
of the cold-blooded strangulation of females in a
Christian age and country.
2. The special hindrances to the carrying out of
the law (both as to verdict and execution) which
have to be encountered in almost every instance
where a woman is charged capitally.

3. The peculiar liability of women to influences of
sudden, unexpected, or previously latent, violent in-
sanity arising from puerperal causes or other sexual
and physiological conditions.
2. The now practically and recognised precedent
of the Home Office that no execution of a-woman
shall be carried into effect if, between her sentence
and the timed fixed for its execution, she be found
to be pregnant, as in the case of Charlotte Harris,
sentenced to death at the Somerset assizes, in 1849.
but subsequently found pregnant, and respited on
that accopt. After the birth of the child their ap-
peared some probability of her execution being car-
ried into effect, whereupon nearly forty thousand
women appealed to the Queen in a memorial for
mercy. Eventually the fatal sentence was commuted,
and since that period there have been other commu-
tations in similar cases.

But it is an anomaly in the administraticr.
taidts WlllibU women capitally condemned are thus
commuted if found pregnant after sentence, yet
that if found pregnant before sentence they may
be detained from trial till after childbirth and
then hanged. As a case in point we may cite
that of Alice Holt, who, in June, 1863, was com-
mitted for trial to Chester for murder. Being
found pregnant, her trial was postponed till the
winter assizes. In the interval she was lelivered
of a child. She was then tried, sentenced, and
finally hanged, notwithstanding earnest local peti-
tions to the contrary. In Mr. Dymond's " Law on
its Trial" it is recorded of this execution :
"The scene upon the scaffold was more than
usually distressing. The wretched woman, weak
and faint, was kept several minutes waiting for the
drop to fall, owing to some difficulty with the bolt.
Meantime her cries to the hangman to ' Make haste'
excited the pity and sympathy of the crowd who
had come to witness the revolting spectacle."
5. There arises from the capital punishment of
females a certain degree of danger of sacrificing in-
nocent life with the guilty, through the execution
of women who may be really pregnant, though de-
clared not to be so. This horrible occurrence is not
very likely to happen, but there is a reasonable pos-
sibility of it, as the following tolerably recent in-
stances prove :—At the Norwich Spring Assizes,
March, 1833, Mary Wright, the daughter of an
insane mother, was tried for murder, and, in spite
of strong evidence of her own insanity, was sen-
tenced to death. Through the vigilance of Mr.
Sydney Taylor, a plea of pregnancy was immedi-
ately adduced, whereupon a jury of 12 matrons was
empanelled who, after more than:an hour's absence,
returned a verdict in the usual form—that they
" did not find the prisoner pregnant of a quick
child." At the earnest solicitation of Mr. Taylor a
further examination of the prisoner by three medi-
cal gentlemen took place, and, in consequence of
their representation, execution was stayed. Shortly
before the next assizes Mary Wright was delivered
of a daughter. Through the benevolent exertions
of Mr. Joseph John Gurney and other gentlemen
abundant proof of the prisoner's insanity, down to
the very day of her crime, was obtained and for-
warded to the Home-office, and this led to a com-
mutation of the sentence.
A more recent instance of a similar error was ad-
duced before the late Royal Commission on Capital
Punishment by Mr. Sergeant Parry. In 1847 Mary
Ann Hunt was convicted of murder at the Central
Criminal Court. Pregnancy being alleged, she was
examined by a jury of matrons, who declared her
not pregnant. Subsequently medical men arrived
at an opposite conclusion, which was eventually
proved correct by the birth of a son.
6. The peculiar liability of females to temptation
and crime through their circumstances of weakness
and of frequently compelled submission to the
violence of male ruffians. A striking instance is
mentioned in the " Judicial Statistics " for 1863. In
that year a commutation of the capital sentence was
extended to one Elizabeth Benyon, condemned to
death at Liverpool. Her age was only seventeen.
She had murdered her child of one year old by
drowning it in a canal. Her own father had com-
pelled her to horrible and unnatural immorality, and
had afterwards turned her and her child into the
streets.

These illustrations of the peculiar and unavoid-
able evils connected with the capital punishment of
females are in themselves sufficient to justify the
prompt abolition of exhibitions so revolting as the
judicial strangulation of women.

PARIS EXHIBITION OF 1867.—A meeting of the
Special Committee of her Majesty's Commissioners for the
Paris Exhibition of 1867 on Navigation was held on Satur-
day afternoon, at half-past two-oclock, at the South Ken-
sington Museum. The Right Hon. Sir John Pakintlion,
M.P., presided. There were present the Marquis of
Drogheda, Lord Vane, Mr. John Fowler, Mr. I. D. A.
Samuda, M.P., Rear-Admiral Ryder, Mr. J. White, Mr.
Isaac Watts, Captain M. C. Close, of the Trinity-house,
Mr. J. 11. Richio, and Mr. J. M'Giregor. Mr H. Cole,
C. 8., the secretary of the Commission, attended.
WHO 8 YOOIt DOCTOR 3410R150N.6 MU.

HER TrIAJL ST Y.

BALMORAL, Saturday.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Helena,
drove out yesterday morning.
In the afternoon her Majesty went out, attended
by the Duchess Dowager of Athole and Miss
Macgregor.
Princess Helena and Princess Louise drove out,
attended by the Hon. Emily Cathcart.