The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 24, 1866.

votes more than their speeches. He congratulated the
working men of Northampton and elsewhere on the ad-
mirable good temper they had shown duriug the present
struggle. It showed that the working men knew well that
the surest way to rivet their own chains and to lose the
friendship of all good men would be to show any disregard
for the laws. He would not go into the question whether
the measure of Reform advocated by the League, or the
measure advocated by Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright,would
be the bettor one; but one thing he did know, and that was
that no measure likely to be introduced during the next
twenty years by any Ministry would go as far as he
would wish to go on the question. (Cheers.) The last
bill was only a compromise, and though John Bright sup-
ported it, he believed that he was heartily glad when it
was defeated. Since the rejection of that measure, so re-
markable for its extreme moderation, he had met many men,
both Whigs and Tories, who in their hearts regretted that
they had not supported the very moderate measure of last
session. A great deal had been said about the conduct
and language of a very prominent member of the House
of Commons, Mr. Lowe: (Groans.) He never joined in
the outcry against Mr. Lowe. Mr. Lowe was an able
man, a man who had done good service in his time. When
at the head of the Education Board he had both effected a
great saving in expense and had also raised the character of
the education given to the people. They ought also to be
thankful to him for the service he had done to reform by
his famous speech. (Laughter, and a cry of "No thanks to
him.") It was not worth thepeople's while to attack a single
politician. (Cheers.) One of the things that particularly
struck him about the manner in which the recent campaign
against reform was conducted was the cheering, jocular
manner in which some of the opponents of the bill devoted
themselves to the task night after night of trying to worry
Gladstone and to bully Bright. Some half dozen gentlemen
made themselves particularly conspicuous, and he thought
that they could have sung in chorus—

"We six,*
Magnificent bricks,
Have made up our minds for a spree."
(Laughter.) The hon. gentleman then referred to a squib
about Lord Elcho that appeared in the Owl, and said that
that nobleman was no doubt a very excellent shot, but a
very bad politician. Lord Elcho had stated in a recent
speech that the presentconstitution worked very well. The
answer to that was that it did work very well for lords.
(Cheers.) He could not of course predict what course the
Tories would take, but he believed they would bring in a
bill, and if they brought in a bill worth having the Libe-
rals would accept it at their hands. (Cheers.) But the bill
should be scanned with a jealous eye. An effort might be
made to give the people rights with one hand and take
them away with another. The Government may, for in-
stance, bring in a bill largely extending the suffrage, but
that alone would not meet the just demands of the people.
Unless a Reform Bill provided properly for the redistribu-
tion of seats the people ought never to accept it. It was a
shameful anomaly that in Great Britain there were 27
boroughs with 200,664 inhabitants, and 27 other boroughs
with only 4,864. The apologists for these small boroughs
said that they returned men of ability, men who could not
get in for large constituencies. Now he would take
one of the very smallest constituencies--say Andover, for
example. He would ask who was there in that room that
know who was the member for Andover ? Who was there
that did not know who was the member for Birmingham ?
(Loud cheers.) Mr. Bright had of late been attacked with
increased virulence, if that were possible, and amongst other
slanders circulated against him was one to the effect that
he wished to plunge the nation in civil warfare ; and this
charge was attempted to be backed up by distorting recent
speeches of that gentleman's. It was well known that the
religious principles which Mr. Bright held in common with
himself and the chairman forbade him to have recourse to
violence to further political objects. Making such absurd
charges against Mr. Bright showed that that great man's
enemies, though they watched him with the eyes of lynxes,
could discover nothing on which to found a charge having
the semblance of truth in it. (Cheers.) As to the question
of the ballot, it was plain that the Times did not want the
ballot, the Tories did not want the ballot, some of the
Whigs did not want it, but the people did want it, and they
would get it. (Loud cheers.) He cared not what name they
called it by ; let them give the people some Security to pro-
tect them in exercising their votes. The hon. gentleman,
alluding to the recent outrages at Sheffield and Nottingham
said that it was as unfair to charge against the entire body
of artisans the crimes of a few individuals as it would be to
do the same in the case of the middle or upper classes. At
the same time, working men ought to do all in their power
to discourage any attempt to infringe the liberty of their
fellow labourers, for, unfortunately, it was too true that
working men too often forget to extend to others the liberty
they claimed for themselves, and ceased to remember that
Bright, Mill, Gladstone, Cobden, and every enlightened
friend of labour held that every man had a right to sell his
labour to whom, at what price, and in what market he
thought proper. After a few further remarks, the hon.
gentleman concluded his speech amidst loud applause, and
the proceedings soon after terminated.
The several resolutions were carried with great cheering.

The Investigation in the British Tumull of

the Yorkshire Wolds.

After the opening in the sepulchral mounds of the pro-
historic tribes remaining on -the Sherburn and Ganton
Wolds, near Scarborough, the Rev. W. Green well, of
Durham, and with him Sir John Lubbock, Sir Tatton
Sykes, the Rev. Frederick Porter, of Yedingliam, the Rev.
John Mason, of Sherburn, and several other gentlemen in-
terested in archaeological matters, spent last week in investi-
gating the structure and contents of three round barrowson
the estates of Sir Tatton Sykes, on the summit of the mid-
wold range above Weaverthorpe, East Riding. The openings
already reported were of a peculiarly rude and poor people,
but at Weaverthorpo the barrows proved to be, although of
the neolithie period, of a people far more advanced in the
art of fashioning flint into weapons, but still belonging to
the stone age. With many of the burials highly-wrought
flints were found, but not a single trace of metal of any kind
was met with.

The first houe opened was 18 yirds diameter, and now
of two feet altitude (having been much reduced in height
by tillage), and formed of soil mixed with lumps of chalk.
Four yards south of the centre, upon the natural surface
of the ground, a small piece of a British urn was found, and
near it the body of a child, so much decayed that the posi-
tion of burial was not ascertainable. At three yards S.W.
of centre the body of another child was found, also en-
tirely gone to decay. This body was in an oval hollow
sunk into the chalk, lft. 6in. by lft., and Bin. deep. Just
to the N. W. of the burial an urn was laid on its side with
the mouth or aperture to the N.E., and placed round this
urn were several skeletons of the common water rat, all
seated on their haunches. The bones of this animal were
also found strewed in various parts of the houe—mingled,
in fact, with the materials forming it. Charcoal was also
met with here and there, and scattered in the materials of
the mound were several clippings and flakes of flint. The
true centre yielded nothing.

The second barrow was of a much richer description.
This was 23 yards in diameter, and ploughed down to an
altitude of 4ft. It was remarkable for having very few
flints strewn among the materials, only one " thumb-flint"
being casually met with, with a few chippings. Features of
an unusual nature attended the opening, and continued
throughout. The first surprise was a novel shaped urn,
found fiveyards S.W. by S. of centre, 2ft. above the natural
surface. This urn was in pieces from pressure. The ware
was perfectly plain—the type of pottery found with the
dolicho-cephalic people, but the bottom was circular, or
apsidal, consequently the urn could not stand upright. It
was also peculiar in being well-baked and of a redder colour
than usual. Nearly below this, and upon the natural sur-
face, fragments of another urn, of precisely the same manu-
facture, were found. These urns did not seem to have at
any time had reference to any special interment. Two yards
to the west of them, however, and on the natural surface,
three yards south of the centre, an unburnt body was found,
laid on its right side, the body contracted, knees to the
elbows, and hands up to the chin, the right hand crossed
over and clasping the left. The type of the skull could not
then be ascertained. From before the face a flint flake was
taken. One yard east of the urn before named, and on the
same level, the body of a very small child was found, tho-
roughly decayed. About four yards south-west of the
centre the body of another child was found, also totally
decayed. It is noteworthy that these two burials of children
were both on the same level as the urn. Three yards south
of the centre a single fragment of a human skull and with
it a flint flake was found, but nothing more of the body.
Just south of the centre, laid on the right side, the body of
an adult was found. The body was doubled up in the usual
way and the hands were up to the head. Behind the
skull a round stone was placed, a long, water-worn pebble
from the seashore, bearing marks of use at one end as if of
a pounder or hammer. Behind the neck was deposited a
flint flake knife, wrought carefully along one edge. Almost
below this body, but slightly to the south, and about one
yard south of the centre, a cist, of an oval shape, sunk
into the chalk-6ft. Bin. by 4ft. Gin., and 2ft. deep
—was discovered, This cist was east and west, and
among the soil it contained were numerous bones of
animals, split longitudinally to obtain the marrow. Mixed
with these were several human bones, also broken, and
many pieces of skull. Quite at the bottom, and at the
west end of the cist, a body was found on the right side,
contracted, the head to the west, the left hand on the
lower part of the abdomen, and the right hand on the left
elbow. Behind the neck of this body was a large flake of
flint. This interment, although the lowest of the series,
seems to have been a secondary one, tho barruw when in
section showing a cut through from the top, which had de-
stroyed the upper part of a body interred at a higher level
just as at the Gunton Wold barrows. The stray bones of
this disturbed burial might have been those found in the
cist. On the north-east side, seven yards from the cist, a
much decayed body of a very tall man was found doubled
up. The stature of this man must have been extraordinary.
This interment was about 2ft. above natural surface. At
about the same level, and two yards west of centre, a red
deer horn was found. Great quantities of charcoal near the
centre and south of it, and broken up animal bones were
found scattered in various parts of the boue.
The third barrow was of a surprising richness, surpas-
sing all the investigations yet made on the Wolds. This

was not a great distance from the last (on an adjoining
farm, in fact), but the contents were varied and interesting
in the extreme. The barrow was 13 yards in diameter, and
now about Oft high, but ploughed down. Thematerial was
earth, with not much chalk and some charcoal, and char-
coal was found throughout on the natural surface on the
ground. Although a comparatively small barrow the
burials were numerous—far exceeding those previously
opened, but not massed together, as in the Ganton barrows.
Seven yards south of the centre, and on the plane of the
mound, a fragment of an urn was met with. Of this urn,
and also of soma others, many pieces shown as shards
were found among the materials composing the houe.
Close by the first piece of urn found was a spindle whorl of
clay, 19in. in diameter, indicating the people to have had a
knowledge of spinning. Six yards south of centre an urn
standing upright was found. This was of the "food-ves-
sel" type, and had four impierced ears. Five yards south
of the centre the first body was found, laid on its right side,
contracted, the hands up to the face, left hand over right'
and head to the west. Above the knees, and placed between
the knees and the chin, was a thong-marked urn of a very
unusual type, having an apsidal bottom and four feet. This
body and the accompanying urn were interred about one
foot above the natural surface. This is only the second
example of the four-footed urn found in the district, the
first having been found many years ago by Mr. Pycock, of
Malton. Five yards east-south-east of centre a child's body,
totally decayed, was found, one foot above natural ground.
Two yards S.W. of centre and 2ift. above the natural
ground a body was found, laid on the left side, with the
head to the west, contracted in the usual way. Behind the
head were two finely and peculiarly wrought flints—one a
large knife, 3in. long by nearly 2in. wide, leaf or pear
shaped, and elaborately chipped on both edges ; the other a
portion (apparently) of a triangular scraper, nearly 3in. long
—a peculiar implement of novel type, and remarkably well
wrought. The under side was flat and smooth, having been
struck from the core at one blow. The body with which
these fine implements were buried had the left hand over
the right, and both up to the face. The head was to the
east. On removing the body below the knees a long flake
scraper of flint was found, showing many signs of use.
Three yards W.S.W. of centre, and lift. above natural
surface, was a child's body, completely decayed. Three
yards east of centre, on the plane, was a body on the right
side, with head to east. Behind the head was a rough flint
scraper. The jaws of this body were greatly diseased.
The teeth presented a most peculiar appearance, being re-
duced to the smallest proportions, and half hidden in the
eroded jaws. As before the knees were drawn up and the
hands were up to the head. One yard E.S.E. of centre, a
contracted body was found on its left side, lying 2ft. above
natural surface, with head to the west. The hands were up
to the face, and on them was laid a beautifully worked long
flint scraper, finely chipped over the whole surface. Above
this, and also resting upon the hands, was a very peculiar
urn, of a globular form, covered with point markings of
bone or wood; and strangely, about his body, but especially
near the head, were strewn the bones of a burnt body—a
curious mixture of cremation and inhumation. Three yards
E.N.E. from centre, and 2ft. above the plane, a body on its
left side, with head to the east, was found. The body was
contracted like the rest, the hands, left over right, being up
to the face. Five yards E.N.E. of centre the contracted
body of a child, on left side, was found, lft. above natural
surface. On the same level the body of another child was
found, totally decayed, six yards N.N.E. of centre.
Three yards N.W. of centre, 2ft. above surface, another
child was found, on its right side, and also much decayed ;
and four yards N.E. of centre yet another child, on its
right side, also decayed, but position distinguishable to
show the head to the west. At the actual centre was a deep
cist into the chalk, an irregular square, sft. deep and Bft.
across. About 40 years ago the centre of this house had
been dug into, the then tenant of the land (Mr. Anderson)
found the central interment, the skull of which he replaced.
This was again discovered, but consequent on its disturb..
ance the position of the burial could not be told. With this
skull—a very capacious, brachy-cephalous head of mature
years and robust make—was a large flint flake knife, 31in.
by lain., wrought on the edge, and a large rough flint
scraper, not wrought, except on the conchoidal bulb. This
was undoubtedly the primary burial. All the other skulls
are much crushed, and until rebuilt their type cannot be
told. A very beautiful willow leaf shaped arrow head of
flint, 2iin. by 5-Bths, was found 4ft. S.S.W. of centre, and
with. it a thumb flint and small piece of urn. Quantities
of chippings and three fine thumb flints, and the left-
handed scraper were found among the materials of the hone.
The implements throughout were superb. Tho chalk taken
from the cist formed a cairn which reached to the surface.
The next investigations will be near Beverley.

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

(From the Registrar-General's I?eturn)

The following is the weekly return of the Regis-
trar General of births and deaths in London and in
12 other large towns of the United Kingdom :
Somerset-house, Oct. 22.

In the week ending Saturday, Oct. 20, the births
registered in London and 12 other large towns of
the United Kingdom were 4,018"; the deaths regis-
tered, 3,180. The annual rate of mortality was 27
per 1,000 persons living.

In London the births of 1,035 boys and 929 girls,
in all 1,964 children, were legistered in the week.
In the corresponding weeks of ten years 1856-65
the average number, corrected for increase of popu-
lation, was 1,982.

The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,464. It was the 42d week of the year, and
the average number of deaths for that week is, with
a correction for increase of population, 1,227. The
present return exhibits an excess of 237 deaths
above the computed number. The increase of the
total deaths is partly due to bronchitis.
144 deaths were registered from cholera and 55
from diarrhcea, making 199 in the aggregate. The
deathS from cholera and diarrhcea in the last six
weeks were 292, 248, 244, 251, 254, 199.
The health of London depends much upon the
inflow of pure water and the outflow of impure sew-
age. The nine water companies have, according to
their returns, supplied 100,864,971 gallons daily on
an average in the London area during the month
of September.
South London received from its three water com-
panies 30,186,822 gallons daily during the month,
and Mr. Bazalgette has, upon being applied to,
supplied a return of the sewage discharged daily in
September at the southern outfall works, Crossness;
it amounted to 46,229,675 gallons, including the
yield of the streams of land drainage, which varies
from week to week. The sewage discharged daily
was 43,976,300, 37,443,771,
and 43,319,041 gal-
lons in the three weeks ending October 20.

The northern outfall sewer does not yet carry
down to Barking-creek the sewage of the low level
region north of the Thames ; and Mr. Bazalgette
fears that " it will be quite a year and a half before
we shall get the whole of the northern sewage dis-
charged through the outfall sewer, because parts of
the low level have to be constructed in the line of
the proposed Chelsea embankment of the Metropo-
litan Railway." Such is the present state of the
Lon don sewage.
The quality of the water supply in September has
been tested as usual by Dr. Frankland. He gives
a remarkable instance of the effects of filtration
through animal charcoal of the East London Com-
pany's water, supplied to the tenants of Miss Coutts
in Columbia-square. The organic matter was re-
duced to the minutest quantity ; the hardness from
20 degs. to 7 degs. The filtration of the water
supply for 700 people is here performed without the
least difficulty.
The Medical Health officers of London have been
requested to favour the Registrar-General with a
weekly return of what is done in their respective dis-
tricts for extinguishing epidemic cholera. Dr. Bal-
lard has fully described the measures which are em-
ployed in Islington. It is by scrupulous attention
to such details, and by purifying the water, that the
plague can be stayed.
The annual rate of mortality last week was 25 per
1,000 in London, 30 in Edinburgh, and 45 in Dub-
lin ; 25 in Bristol, 20 in Birmingham, 35 in Liver-
pool, 29 in Manchester, 24 in Salford, 20in Sheffield,
26 in Leeds, 27 in Hull, 34 in Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, and 27 in Glasgow. The rate in Vienna
was 73 per 1,000 during the week ending the 13th
inst., when the temperature was 3.3 deg. Fahrenheit
lower than in the same week in London, where the
rate was 23 per 1,000.
The deaths from cholera in Liverpool continue to
decline steadily, the numbers in the-past three weeks
having been respectively 99,
53, and 38. In Dublin,
however, the disease is still increasing in fatality,
and the deaths, which in the two previous weeks
had been 81 and 98, further rose to 118. During
the week ending the 13th inst., of 779 deaths re-
corded in Vienna, 453 were referred to cholera,
showing, however, a considerable decline upon the
week ending the 29th ult., when the fatal cases
were 672, in a total of 1,007 deaths.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 24-92 in.
The barometer reading decreased from 30-08 in. on
Tuesday to 29-73 in. by 3 p.m. on Thursday, and by
9 a.m. on Saturday the former maximum reading of

30.1 in. was again reached. The mean temperature
of the air in the week was 49.6 deg., which is 0.2
below the average of the same week in 50 years (as
determined by Mr. Glaisher). The mean daily tempe-
rature was below the average on the first five days of
the week, and on the last two days it was from 7
deg. to 8 deg. above. The highest day temperature
was 63.5 deg. on Friday. The lowest night tempe-
rature was 33.0 deg. on Tuesday. The range in the
week was therefore 30.5 deg. The difference between
the mean dew-point temperature and air temperature
was 3.2 deg. The mean degree of humidity of the
air was 89, complete saturation being represented by
100, which point was actually attained on Thursday.
The direction of the wind was variable. The rain-
fall in the week was 0.85 in., of which 0.72 fell on
Thursday, when rain fell continuously from 7 a.m.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

- -

TIMES.—The exchange of national hospitalities
in which the Belgians have now left us so deeply in
debt is one of the fruits of a movement which has
gone through singular changes, and led to unfore-
seen developments. It is still only a very few years
since England opened its eyes to the discovery, or
at least to a very strong impression, that it had
trusted too much to its wooden walls, that its sol-
diers were few against many, that the privates did
not know how to handle the musket, the officers
how to command, the Generals how to manoeuvre,
or the civil departments to equip and supply. It
was a minor, but still a serious affair that we had
neither artillery nor small arms, except of the sort
that our neighbours had long discarded. We relied
on our regimental system, our inexhaustible fund
of patriotism, our all-powerful credit, and the Pro-
vidence that had raised up a succession of great
soldiers and sailors to make the best of the worst
materials. But the prospect was not satisfactory to
sensible men, particularly as we were extending our
front and scattering our forces all over the world,
and not certain any moment that the sun might not
be setting on some disaster to our arms. A pinch
had actually come, and we had felt the want of men.
In this uneasy state of things the idea of the rifle,
to be handled by Volunteers, flashed as it were into
the national mind. We had a regular army which
beats those of all the world when the spontaneous
character of its formation is taken into account.
We had yeomanry and militia that could be easily
embodied, and no doubt developed. But the com-
position of all these services, supposing them in their
fullest growth and highest perfection, left out an
immense class that we are accustomed to call the
peculiar strength and pride of England. Where
was the middle class, where the mercantile, the pro-
fessional, and the vast accessions created by the rail
and the other new industries of the age ? It was
true that out of this vast middle class men might
sink to the ranks of the military service, or aspire
to commissions ; but, once in harness, a middle-class
man whatever his personal prowess, his strength,
on his skill, could pretend to no real share in the
defence of his country. It might almost be said that
the whole of this class volunteered, or is ready to
volunteer, as far as is possible or prudent. But the
idea has grown with the numerical growth. The
Volunteer of to-day is not merely the sharpshooter
of the supposed Tyrolese model ; he is not the man
supposed to be useful on a mountain, or in a wood,
or in the defence of a town. He is a well-trained
soldier, fit for any service in any battle-field. But
he is pre-eminently the soldier of the people, the
defender of his country, and the champion of inde-
pendence. No dream of conquest, no vision of
glory, throws its dangerous light over his path. His
mdtive is duty, and his triumph freedom. This is
the source and reason of that sympathy England
feels with the Continental States that rest content
with constitutional freedom, desire to govern them-
selves, and neither to conquer nor to be conquered.
Under very different circumstances, and certainly
in closer proximity with the most threatening dan-
gers, the Belgians have in all ages of history asserted
and re-asserted a sturdy independence, only suc-
cumbing for a time to the most overwhelming neces-
sity. Their name is only associated with their own
soil, for they have aspired to nothing more. Wide
rivers, reclaimed marshes, estuaries, and sandbanks
stretching many miles into the sea, with only here
and there a circuitous channel, gives Belgium
almost the advantages of an insular position. It
has seldom failed to obtain from one neighbour the
assistance it might want against another, while the
certainty of having to bear the brunt of the colli-
sion has kept Belgium always armed. The only
danger of the country lay in the possible failure of
patriotism as an incentive to military virtue and
genius. Such a danger is not only possible ; it is
even assumed as a matter of course by States of
an imperial and aggressive character. They have
always deemed it impossible to hold their own with-
out advancing, and have thought a standstill
only a sort of accidental equilibrium between
Powers straining every nerve to cross their boun-
daries. The theory of empire is the law of the
stronger, and it has never quite reconciled itself to
the exceptional fact of a strength absolutely suffi-
cient for the occasion, desirous to keep its own and
to leave others to do the same. But geographical
circumstances and a certain stubbornness of charac-
ter to which we know no beginning have made the
Belgians perform a part more like our own than
could be found elsewhere iu Europe. This has been
in spite of a great difference of race and in spite of
occasional subjections, from which they have largely
profited, without the iron ever entering into their
soul. Besides conquest, the arts of peace have been
tried upon them, without weakening them or cor-
rupting their independence. The civilisations of
Italy, Germany, Spain, and France have passed
over them, leaving special and abiding traces ; but,
nationally and politically, the Belgium of to-day
is the same as the Belgium of ancient and mediaeval
story. Such are the people from whom our Volun-
teers have received hospitalities almost without ex-
ample in the intercourse of nations, but most intel-
ligible and most natural when we take into account
the old community of interest and feeling. Belgium
wishes to be at peace with all the world, and has
nothing to gain by the interruption of it, or by di-
plomacy of an aggressive character. This is also
our good fortune, and it is with us, therefore, that
the Belgian Government must feel the most sym-
pathy. Her relations with her immediate neigh-
bours are equally peaceful and hopeful. She can-
not but remember, indeed, that the tide of war has
often rolled forwards and backwards over her soil,
and that it is impossible for her to escape being car-
ried away or whirled in that vortex. All that she
can do is to renew continually and to press upon
every new occasion the assurances of friendship,
and her desire to interchange peaceful services.
This duty to her own immediate neighbours she has,
with happy tact, combined with the discharge of a
special debt acknowledged by herself to this coun-
try. Nothing was ever better done, and our Vo-
lunteers will bring home and carry far and wide to
many a quiet home a tale of Royal splendour, of
public kindness, and of international harmony new
to the homely insular mind. "All this," we seem
to hear often exclaimed, " in a country only three
or four hours from our shores !" Often as our
tourists have been told that they can go further and
fare worse than in the old Belgian cities, they will
now allow there is something to be said for the sug-
gestion.

POST—The trial of Risk Allah Bey, which com-
menced on Monday at Brussels, will probably take
a high rank amongst causes c&bres. For many
months past the journals of France, Belgium, and
even of Germany, have been discussing, with more
or less reserve, the circumstances under which the
accused is now called upon to answer the two
separate charges of murder and forgery ; whilst the
fact of the prisoner being not only a naturalised
Englishman, but well known in London, will neces-
sarily invest the present proceedings with more than
ordinary interest in this country. Arrested in the
course of last spring in Paris, the Bey was, on the
demand of the Belgian Government, delivered up to
them, in conformity with the provisions of an ex-
tradition treaty, and since that time they had been
busily engaged in procuring evidence of the crimes
of which he is accused. According to Continental
custom, the prisoner has been submitted to a series
of inquisitorial examinations. The services of the
London, the Parisian, and the Turkish police have
been made available with the view of ascertaining
his antecedents and the history of his life ; his papers
and correspondence have been seized and closely
scrutinised ; and, in fine, no effort has been spared
on the part of the prosecution to substantiate, if
possible, the accusations which have been made.
On the other hand, the Bey has been enabled to
make ample preparation for his defence. Being
wealthy, he has not only been in a position to
command adequate professional advice, but has
even secured the assistance of the ablest advocate
practising at the French criminal bar. According
to the Belgian law, a person indicted criminally
may be defended either by a relative, a friend, or
a Belgia❑ advocate, aud, as no inquiries are made
into the precise nature of a supposed friendship,
the assistance of a foreign advocate may be
obtained under the colour of an evident fiction.
Thus it happens that Risk Allah Bey is de-
fended at Brussels by the French advocate M.
Lachaud. 'lime trial was thought of sufficient im-
portance by the Government to be entrusted to a
special commission composed of three judges. It
may not be out of place, perhaps, to state that the
trial is by a jury of twelve, and that the verdict
need not be unanimous. It is determined by the
voice of the majority. If the jurymen are equally
divided in opinion the accused is considered ac-
quitted ; if seven find for a conviction against five

for an acquittal, the verdict is referred to the
judges, who vote as jurymen, but if eight pronounce
against a prisoner he is condemned. The acte
d'accusation, or indictment, which will be found
elsewhere in our columns, sets forth at length not
only the offences with which Risk Allah is charged,
but an abstract of the evidence to be given by the
prosecution. From this it appears that Risk Allah
is accused of having murdered, at Antwerp, on the
30th of March, 1865, a young man named Charles
Readly, and also of having been the accomplice of
one Joseph Ruscovitch in a fraud committed at
Brussels by him in forging two cheques drawn on
the National Bank of London. Ruscovitch, who
has not been apprehended, is also indicted (though
not present) for having committed this forgery,
and for having endorsed the cheques so forged to
a Belgian banker. For the present we will confine
ourselves to the circumstances under which the
alleged murder was committed at Antwerp, and
the manner in which the Procureur-General seeks
to connect Risk Allah with its commission. Risk
Allah, or, as he is styled in the acte d'accusation,
George Habeeb Risk Allah, is a native of the Lebanon,
and when a young man came to this country, where
he studied medicine and obtained a diploma from the
College of Surgeons. During the Crimean war his
services were accepted by the Turkish Government,
and on his return to England 'he was appointed
honorary medical a ttache to the Ottoman Embassy in
London, was decorated by the Sultan with the Order
of the Medjidie, and received the title of Bey. In the
year 1857 he married a widow named Lewis, whose
husband had died in the preceding year, leaving her a
fortune of about £25,000. By the marriage settle-
ment a power of appointment by will was reserved
to her in respect to this property, but in default of
appointment the reversion fell to Risk Allah. She
died at Cologne, after having made a will bequeath-
ing all her property to her husband, with the excep-
tion of the sum of £5,000, which was given him in
trust for a young man named Readly on his attain-
ing the age of twenty-one years, but in the event of
his dying in his minority the £5,000 were left abso-
lutely to her husband. This young man, though
styled her nephew, was in fact a natural child, but
of whom it is not known. The prosecution allege '
that he was born in July, 1844, at Greenwich, and
was the son of James Macklin and Rosamond Reade.
In the early part of 1865, Readly, whilst at Spa, in
Belgium, made the acquaintance of a young Eng-
lish lady, made her a proposal of marriage, and re-
ferred the lady's friends to his guardian, Risk Allah
Bey, at that time resident in London. Whilst at
Spa, however, Readly was seized with a sudden and
severe illness ; and on inquiries being made of the
Bey in London, the latter admitted that the young
man had been subject from his infancy to epileptic
fits. Precisely at this time Readly left Spa to meet
his guardian, Risk Allah, at Antwerp, and when in
that town he received a letter from the mother of
the young lady, stating that in consequence of his
ill health she could not consent to his marriage with
her daughter. This was about the middle of March.
In replying to this intimation Readly stated that he
would only accept a refusal from the young lady
herself. A few days later the daughter wrote to
nits saying that the marriage could not take place.
Immediately afterwards Readly wrote again to
the mother, reproaching her with preventing his
marriage with her daughter, and consoling himself
with the reflection that there were many opportuni-
ties of finding " a speedy and honourable death."
On the night of the 29th of March, whilst Readly
and Risk Allah were stopping at the Rhine Hotel,
at Antwerp, the former was seized with a fit, and
it would seem that the Bey remained at the bed-
side of the young man till an advanced hour of
the night. At 7 o'clock in the morning Readly was
sleeping quietly in his bed. Half an hour after-
wards the Bey, according to his own story, came
down stairs from the room which he occupied on
the same floor with that of his ward, took some
breakfast, and walked about till 9 o'clock. At that
hour, finding the young man's room door locked, he
gave an alarm, and, in company with several of the
servants in the hotel, entered Readly's room by a
door which communicated with another room. The
unfortunate young man was then found lying dead
in his bed under the circumstances stated in the acte
d'accusation, the body still warm, a fowling-piece
recently discharged lying by his side, and a piece of
paper on the dressing table, containing, in the de-
ceased's handwriting, the words, " I have done it."
The police having been sent for Risk Allah was
arrested, but after the lapse of three days was set at
liberty, the authorities having come to the conclu-
sion that Readly had shot himself. Some months
later, however, they ascertained that Readly was on
the point of attaining his majority when he died at
Antwerp, and also the fact that Risk Allah suc-
ceeded to his property. They also discovered that
the Bey had insured his ward's life for the sum of
£l,OOO to cover certain advances made during his
minority, and that this sum had been paid to him
by the insurznce company. The interest which
Risk Allah had in Readly's death supplied a strong
motive for murdering him, and, on a more close
examination of the circumstances attending the
death, the Belgian authorities were led to disbelieve
in the possibility of suicide. They next proceeded
to make inquiries into the Bey's manner of life, his
antecedents, and the character of his associates. In
doing so they discovered that from the time when
the death of Readly took place the Bey had lived in
the closest intimacy with a man named Joseph
Ruscovitch, who had on more than one occasion
been convicted of felony. This brings us to the
second act in this strange drama. Whilst postpon-
ing the continuation of this singular story, it is only
just to the Bey to state that his acquaintanceship
with Ruscovitch at Antwerp, immediately after
Readly's death, admits of explanation.

- -
Colchester Oyster Feast-

On Monday the annual corporation oyster banquet
was given at Colchester with the usual ceremony, in
the large room of the Town-hall. The staple of the
feast was an abundant supply of "real natives," in
fine condition and flavour, presented by the Colne
Fishery Company, which, with the accompaniments
of rolls and butter and stout, followed by sherry and
dessert, was greatly relished by about 100 guests.
The worshipful the mayor (Mr. C. H. Hawkins),
as donor of the feast, presided, supported by the
members for North Essex, Mr. Du Cane and Sir
Thomas Western, Bart., Mr. Gurdon Rebow, M.P.
for Colchester, Col. Tidy, C. 8., commanding Col-
chester garrison, the members of the corporation,
borough magistrates, officials, Colne Fishery Com-
pany, Sce.

_ -
Mr. Du CANE, in responding to the toast of " The
Borough Members," said he would not upon that
occasion go into the subject of general politics, or
allude to the circumstances and the incidents that
had recently led to a change of Government, but as
he had the honour to hold a subordinate position in
that Government, perhaps they would allow him to
say, without offending any one or any political
party, that they considered they stood at the present
moment before the country entitled to ask and to
claim a fair trial—(hear)—and they hoped to gain
by their measures and their policy the approbation
and the confidence both of Parliament and of the
country. It was a truism that might be taken al-
most as an axiom, that it was perfectly impossible
to please everybody, and he was afraid her Majes-
ty's Government could expect to enjoy no immunity
from that general rule. They must be prepared,
like their Colchester natives, to encounter some occa-
sional assaults of steel, vinegar, and pepper from the
hands of their assailants, only let him hope that the
simile would not be further carried out, and that
they would not be swallowed up altogether and dis-
appear from the scene of action with such extraor-
dinary rapidity as he had witnessed on the present
occasion. (Cheers and laughter.) He thought that
in the coming session of Parliament more than one
grave question would come before them, and
he colld cordially endorse the language ut-
tered a few days since by a member of the late Go-
vernment, Mr. Cardwell, who, speaking at Oxford,
expressed his sincere and earnest desire that when
the time of action came round they might address
themselves to those grave questions in no narrow
or party spirit, but in a broad and patriotic spirit,
conscious of its vast importance, and with a desire
to arrive at conclusions which might satisfy the
public expectation and strengthen the institutions of
the country.
Sir THOMAS WESTERN, Bart., and Mr. GURDON
REBOW also alluded to some portion of their Parlia-
mentary duties in the late session in reference to the
bill which deeply affected the Colne and other pri-
vate oyster companies in this kingdom.

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the application of the ointment to the malady thus dis-
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Nature's acknowledged laws.

An Extraordinary Horse.
(From the Fifeshire Journal).
The following unembellished facts are not without in-
terest to those with whom the horse is a favourite animal.
They relate to a full-bred hunter, now in his tenth year,
whose lot is at present cast on one of the sweetest bits of
turf in the country. "Jack," who used to do his nine
miles, with a dOg-cart behind, to the neighbouring city ill
forty minutes without turning a hair, is how regarded by
his mistress as wounded, a wicked stable boy having struck
him a bad blow on one of his legs,and, therefore his days
are spent in wandering about at his own sweet will. It i°,
his custom, in these circumstances, to do all sorts of odd
things for a horse. Once or twice, or sometimes oftener ill
a day, it is his habit to come to the front door of the man"
sion and ring the bell, his object being to get some of the
special bites which may be going inside. If before the
bell is answered it is asked, " Who's there ?" " Jack" rt,
plies with that sort of noise which in a man would b:
called a chuckle, but which in his case is called a" nicker.
If he be asked whether he be quite well, " Jack," u' be
makes the most of his limited means of speech, replies in
the same way. The tete-a-tete " Jack" regards as spoiled
altogether if the pet greyhound, always on the watch for
his visits, as be seems to think, gets more than he conceive;
is his fair share of the good things on the plate, and
is not slow, with sundry movements of head and foot, t°
mark his displeasure of the dog's conduct. It is, brivi-,
ever, for his management of the gates and wickets that
"Jack" is most especially to be noticed. Indeed, so far as
he is concerned, there are no such things. He has managed
every sneck, check, or lock about the place, save that on
the garden door, which is snibbed in the inside. It is hi;
fashion to take a walk daily, and for that purpose he open!
a big gate leading to the main road and into the fields, an
roams hither or whither his fancy impels. That it is il!!
for the love of the stroll and nothing more he goes
proved by the fact that though all summer and auttulle
he had the right of entrée, as they say in theatres, to the
corn-fields in these walks of his, he has never been korai
to touch a stalk. Unfortunately, though "Jack" may' be
said to laugh at locksmiths, so far as their art is put forth
on gates and wickets, he either seems unable, or otherwise
does not care to shut the doors behind him. These be
leaves invariably open, so that his movements are to
traced by this, the only unmannerly part of his conduc"
When rain falls he departs from the sward to the Wet
yard, entrance to which is had by a door, which he Opel°
with the greatest ease, as he does all the other doors'
These wet days have depressed him, as others, and his
stay under cover has been distasteful to him. By waY
wititS
amusement on these occasions, he takes a bit of a
to himself round a pole which supports the roof, just of
if he had been trained to a circus, inside
one of which he never was in his life. yen
3
the rain passes out he comes, either to resume his habit
of opening lock-fast places and take a stroll, or t°
nibble the rich green herbage which fronts the roansieli.
To nothing living does "Jack" bear enmity, save to :th.e,
watch-dog, over which and its house he frequently loot'
temper, and one of the feathered tribe in the barn-Yllrci'
which in respect that it is ugly and a foreigner, he chaff;
,
and punishes wherever and whenever he sees it. And tb'
this wonderfully-intelligent beast passes his days away,..ie
the smiles and caresses of his mistress, who, between 1117
and the greyhound, which Sir Walter would have adored,
has a sad time of it, dividing her affections.