The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-25 00:00:00

THE `SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY E VENING, OCTOBER 25, 1861.

The Duke of Somerset has been appointed Lord
Lieutenant of Devonshire.

Telegraphic communications between Malta and

Sicily have been interrupted since the 14th. A similar in-
terruption occurred about the same time last year, from
tempestuous weather.

DEATH OF MR. LESLIE COPELAND.—The Times
of India, Sept. 23, thus records the death of the son of Mr.
Alderman Copeland :—Amalgamation has claimed its first
victim from this place in the person of Leslie Copeland,
Esq., C.S., who died yesterday at Mundissore, on the road
to Mhow, and who will be buried here this evening. The
unfortunate gentleman was sent up here at the beginning
of the monsoon (the heaviest mcnsoon known for years) to
swear in such men as volunteered for general service. He
returned to Dhoolia safely, but Government must needs
send him up a second time, through 300 miles of the worst
road in India, to swear in such men as had changed their
minds, and no doubt they would have sent him up a third
time if necessary, but he is now beyond their summons.
PROPOSED FURTHER EXTENSION OF THE LIVER-
POOL Docxs.—At the meeting of the Mersey Dock Board
yesterday considerable discussion took place relative to a
proposal to purchase some land north of the present dock
works from the Earl of Derby, and to build a sea wall in
front of it. Until required, it is proposed to deposit on the
land the excavations from the steam and other docks net
yet completed. The cost of the land was estimated at
£30,000, and that of the sea wall at £70,000. Mr. Eyre
Evans and other members were of opinion that Lord Derby
had no title to the land, and that the right of the foreshore
had been purchased from the Duchy of Lancaster for £BOO.
It was, however, resolved to open negotiations with Lord
Derby on the subject.
A WOMAN SMOTHERED IN SOOT.—On Wednes-
day morning, between 4 and 5 o'clock, a woman named
Anne King, aged 25, was found smothered in a cellar of
soot, at the house, No. 10, Parker-street, Drury-lane,
which is in the occupation of a sweep. It appears that on
the previous day the deceased had visited another woman,
and the two drank somewhat freely. The deceased on
leaving promised to return to tea, and it is supposed on
coming back she mistook the house, and walking into No.
10 pitched headlong into the cellar of soot. She had been
dead some time when found. The remains were conveyed
by Sergeant Aspinshaw, 2 F, and other constables, to St.
Giles's Workhouse.
HIGHWAY ROBBERY BY POACHERS, NEAR
BLACKBl7llll.—Between four and five o'clock on Tuesday

morning, a daring highway robbery was committed on
Rishton Moor, near Blackburn. James Ratcliffe, carrier,
of Great Harwood, was proceeding to Preston, and when
near the Rishton reservoir he was set upon by a body of
men supposed to be poachers, who roughly demanded
all the money he had upon him, threatening to maltreat
him if he did not "turn all up." Ratcliffe handed over to
&em 4s. which was all he had in his pocket, though a short
time previously he had secreted a sum of money in his cart,
fearing he would be molested on the road. The robbers
were loath to believe that 4s.;was all the money he had upon
him, but finding that it was so, they pocketed it and de-
camped. Some of them had their faces bedaubed with clay.
They have not yet been apprehended.
THE STREET TRAMWAY INDICTMENT.—Last night
an excited special meeting of the representative vestry of
the parish of Lambeth took place at the Horns Tavern,
Kennington. The rector of the parish having been called
to the chair, stated the object of the meeting to be for the
purpose of taking into consideration the legal proceedings
taken against certain members of that vestry and the sur-
veyor to the vestry in respect to the tramway laid down by
Mr. Train from Westminster-bridge to Kennington-park,
in compliance with the resolution of the vestry. Mr. F.
Doulton moved and Mr. Fowler seconded the fol-
lowing resolution :—" That inasmuch as the tram-
way from Kennington-park to Westminster-bridge was
constructed in accordance with the • resolution of this
vestry passed on the 17th January, 1861, and in virtue of
an agreement with Mr. Train, dated 28th February, 1861,
to which agreement the seal of this vestry has been affixed,
and by the 42d section of the Metropolis Local Manage-
ment Act this vestry has been constituted a corporation,
with a common seal, to sue and be sued, this vestry re-
solves to take all measures necessary for vindicating their
rights, and the indemnification and protection of the sur-
veyor, and those individual persons who have been made
defendants in the indictment now pending for an act done
by the vestry in its corporate capacity." The resolution was
supported and adopted with but two dissentients. A peti-
tion was presented in favour of Mr. Train's street tramway,
signed by 11,500 persons, and a letter from Mr. Train and
five other directors of the line was submitted, holding the
vestrymen harmless individually and collectively against
any such legal proceedings, which was received with loud
end prolonged cheering.
FINANCES OF EGYPT.—Advices from Alexandria
state that the means of affording the financial assistance
required by the Viceroy of Egypt to overcome his imme.
diate difficulties and to enable him to place the future re-
venue of the country on a sound basis seemed likely to be
obtained, but that the arrangement had been defeated by
the interference of the French Consul. This account tends
to confirm the wisdom of the anticipations expressed, that
the loan accorded to the "Viceroy some time back by the
Comptoir d'Escompte of Paris, and the onerens terms of

which are now made use of for purposes of coercion, was

intended from the first to be a means of bringing the Vice-
roy into total subjection ; and, according to various reports,
the conduct of the French Consul on the present occasion
has been characterised by an undisguised system of dicta-
tion, which is likely to excite some scandal. It remains to
be seen, however, if he will be cpenly supported by the
Emperor. Should such be the case the position of Said
Pasha will be henceforja one of undisguised dependence.
With respect to the recent inundations, these letters state
that, beyond the fact that the Nile is gradually falling,
nothing new is known. The communications with the
interior are so completely destroyed that there had been no
steamer, even from Cairo, since the Calcutta passengers
came through. The accoanbwof the damage done are most
contradictory; but, although there is no doubt that a large
quantity of cotten is lost, it is thought that the injury will
not prove so great as has been represented. A consider-
able portion of the Delta is still under water, and in one
village among others 60 persons are believed to have pe-
rished. Some districts also have lost the whole of their
stores of grain, and it is certain that a portion of the popu-
lation will have to be supplied by Government both with
food and with seed for the ensuing winter crops. The
cotton districts, however, which are beyond the eastern
branch of the Nile, will, it is expected, be found to have
suffered less.

THE SALMON FISHERIES.—An influential meet-
ing of the owners of river frontage on the Derwent and its
tributaries, and others interested in the preservation of
salmon,Was held at Cookermouth on Wednesday, to consider
what measures should be taken for the purpose of enforcing
the provisions of the new act relating to the protec-
tion of salmon, and for generally improving the Derwent
and its tributaries. The Hon. Percy Wyndham, M.P.,
presided, and in opening the proceedings said that he was
one of those who believed that all that scientific men had
said about salmon was true if they only gave it fair play—
that, as he saw the other day, the salmon was almost the
best a nimal they could make a bargain with, for he
took nothing from them and gave himself in return. If
once they placed salmon in the state nature intended it to
be they would have it in great quantities. In reply to Mr.
John Steel, M.P., it was stated that three years ago an
angling association was formed, and they had met with
every support from the landowners. Lord Naas, M.P., re-
marked that the interest of the upper proprietors would
now be much increased, and perhaps they would be likely
to combine to preserve the river. A long conversation took
place, in the course of which the Hon. Percy Wyndham
stated that there was only one weir which would require
the erection of a fish ladder. A letter was read from MM
W. Lawson, M.P., in which he expressed himself in favour
of the system of rating the proprietors, though he was
doubtful how such a system would answer in this part of
the country. After considerable discussion a committee
was appointed to consider what steps should be adopted for
the preservation of the fish in the Derwent and its tributa-
ries, and the best means for taking advantage of the
new Act.

MILITARY ATTACHES.--A practice is spriNging
up of app•inting, under the name of " military attaches" to
embassies, officers of high rank, who are not to share in the
ordinary work of the mission, but to attend to what isgoing
on abroad in military and naval affairs, and report to the
Ambassador, and through him to the home Government.
Such an officer is attached to our embassy at Paris, and
another to the mission at Berlin, and at Paris there is also
a naval attache. Col. Cadogan, who was military commis-
sioner in Piedmont, made a report to Earl Russell last year
in favour of a more complete foreign military correspond-
ence system for supplying correct information to the Bri-
tish Government, and he suggested that it wasworth consi-
deration whether the cost of military information as at pre-
sent collected, by means of the secret service fund, does not
alone exceed the :expense that would be incurred by the main-
tenance of military attachOs at all the necessary points of
Europe, setting such an establishment at the rate of from
£6,000 to £lO,OOO a year. France, Russia, Austria, Prus-
sia. and Sardinia, are all taking the course thus indicated.
Earl Russell, however, in his evidence before the Commons'
Committee on the Diplomatic Service, in June, said that he
doubted whether it was desirable for this country to increase
these appointments, so as to make them more a part of a
regular system, because "we do not form part of the mili-
tary system of the continent." Mr. Hammond, the Under
Secretary of State Tor Foreign Affairs, was asked a question
respecting the precedence of these officers, and he remarked
that, considering their high professional position, it would
be bad taste in an attache to raise any question of precedence
with them ; but no rule had been laid down. On a subsoi-
quent day, howeyer, Earl Russell stated that he had now
made a regulation that a military attache above the rank of
colonel should rank next to the Minister.

The Birmingham Daily Post states that Shak-
spere's garden, at Stratford, has been purchased and pre-
sented to the Corporation of the town. " The names of those
who have assisted Mr. Halliwell are not yet known; but the
site has been secured, and will be thrown open freely to the
public for ever. It is intended that it shall be preserved as
a garden only ; for unhappily no vestige of the house in
which the poet lived and died relit:mins.",