The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-30 00:00:00

NEWGATE AND LEADENHALL.

The supplies of meat here is-day are tolerably extensive
and the trade generally ruled heavy, as follows:

Per Blbs. by the Carcass.

s. d. s. .d. s d.
Inferior Beef 2 10 to 3 0 Infr. Mutton. 3 2to 3 6
Mid. d 0.... 3 2to 3 6 Mid. do .... 3 Bto 4 0
Pm.largedo. 3 Bto 3 10 ( Prime do. 4 2to 4 4
Do. small do. 4 oto 4 2' Veal 3 6to 4 4
Large pork.. 3 4to 3 8 Small pork .. 4 2to 4 10

DISCOUNTERS TO THIEVES.

A number of thieves, and two discounters of
bank notes to such persons, were brought before the
magistrates at Manchester yesterday, under the fol-
lowing circumstances. On Friday night, a man
named Griffiths was proceeding on his way home
from Manchester to Cheetham-hill, when he was
accosted by the female prisoner, Ann M'Kinsey, in
Bradshaw-street. He endeavoured to put ber away,
but she told him a tale of distress, and he took her
to a gin vault, where he paid threepence for a glass
of spirits for her, taking none himself, but giving
her the change out of a shilling. He then left her
and proceeded homewards, but on his way up
Cheetham-hill he found she was again following
him. He remonstrated with her, and whilst doing
so two men jostled against him, and one of them
asked him what he was doing with that woman ?
The two men (prisoners) and the woman then ran
away together, and Griffiths missed a pocket-book
containing three Bank of England notes, one for
£lOO, one for £5O, and one for £2O, together with
a cheque for £226 13s. Ire gave information to
the police, and the consequence was that Inspeetor
Taylor went to Liverpool, and on Wednesday ap-
prehended the prisoners Ann and Robert M'Kinsey,
in whose possession between £l3 and £l4 in money
and some new clothing were found. On the way to
Manchester, Robert M'Kinsey made a statement,
which, during the succeeding night, led to the P -
prehension of the other prisoners, John Sparll -ml)-
Walmsley, and Brian M'Ginnis. A: I, the hearing
of the case, Robert M‘Kinse: was admitted as a
witness, and made the. :o-llowing statement. He
said that on Satur..',ay night he and Ann M'Kinsey
and John Sparks were together, and that Ann
M'Kinsey anoosted the prosecutor, who took her to
a 'lila% 'fault. Witness and Sparks watched them,
and afterwards followed them up Cheetham-hill, to
the place where the robbery was committed. They
afterwards went to a cellar kept by Sparks, where
the female prisoner handed the pocket-book over to
Sparks. At that time it contained only the £5O '
and the £2O notes and some papers. The pocket-
book and papers were put into the fire, and witness
then went with Sparks to a beer-shop, kipt by the
prisoner Walmsley, in Charter-street. Walmsley
gave them 35 sovereigns for the £5O note. They
next went to the house of the other prisoner, Brian
M'Ginnis, and he gave them 15 sovereigns for the '
£2O note. On returning to the cellar of Sparks to
divide the money, Ann M'Kinsey produced the £lOO
note, and they then returned to M'Ginnis with that,
and Sparks asked what he would give for it. He
agreed to give 60 sovereigns for it, if they would
leave it till Sunday, which they did. , On Sunday
morning they called and got the money, M'Ginnis
telling them he had had to go to London with the
note to get it changed. After some further evi-
dence the magistrates were about to commit, but
on the application of Mr. Stead, solicitor, a remand
till Wednesday next was granted.

HISTORY OF A LETTER IN ITS
TRAVELS THROUGH 2HE POST.

When Mary Jane, your intelligent maid-servant,
takes your letter, a ddressed to yonr aunt at Bol-
ton, in Lancashire, her powers of reading and dis-
crimination are exercised at the grocer's shop
round the corner, where she finds two upright
letter-slips. in the 'door-post, one marked " Lon-
don and twelve miles round;' and the other "In-
land and colonial mails." She first of all has to
consider whether Bolton comes within the range of
" twelve miles round London," and when she has
decided this geographical point in the negative,
either singly or by the help of the receiving-house
attendant, she then drops the letter into the com-
partment devoted to the colonial and country post.
After a short repose it is taken by a couple of faded
gaudy drivers, in a more faded scarlet, hard-worked,
dog-cart-looking vehicle, to St. Martin's-le-Grand.
Herb it will be bundled into a large hall, called the
General Sorting office, not unlike Exeter-hall, fur-
nished with long rows of tables, desks, and shelves,
at which are seated' a number of active, -earnest-
looking, time-begrudging beings, every one engaged
as if legerdemain had been his sole occupation from
the cradle, and as if he had a certain task to per-
form, with only another hour to live. Taskmasters
are passing to and fro directing and inspecting the
work, but the chief taskmaster of all is a large
clear-faced clock, which watches the hurrying
crowd with the calm steady look of a sphinx, and
which is glanced at in its turn by some of the
labourers as the conductor of an orchestra is glanced
at by timid performers. Your aunt's letter is at once
turned out of the bag on to the top of a large table
amongst a heap of other letters—a fortuitous con-
course of atoms—mixed and entangled' as only a
mound of letters can be entangled and mixed. Some 50
men attack them immediately, like eager bone-
pickers at a virgin dust-heap, or, rather, consider-
ing their playing-card shape and appearance, like
maniac gamblers at a scramble -when the police are
knocking at the outer gate. All this activity has
no other object than to " face" them, to put, those
troublesome letters on their backs, which are obsti-
nately lying on their faces, and to turn those other
letters round upon their legs which are at that mo-
ment standing on their heads. As fast as a pack
that makes a full handful is scratched into order, it
is transferred to another table, where the letters
undergo another process of stamping. This process
has to obliterate the postage heads, so that they can
never be taken off and used again, and also to stamp
the letter with a circular impression, containing the
date and the name of London—the town from which
the letter is about to be despatched. This task is
confided to a nimble-fingered gentleman, who seems
inclined to back himself against any steam-engine
under the roof, past, present, or to come. Placing a
number of letters before him in an upright position
with the postage head in the upper right corner,
he strokes them down gently but rapidly, one by
one, under his right hand, which holds the stamping
die, and comes down with unerring precision and
bewildering rapidity full upon the label. A hun-
dred heads are damaged in a minute by this skilful
operator, who requires a new die every evening ;
and the only partial break that occurs in his labour
is when a letter either wants a head, or contains it
in the lower left hand instead of the upper right-
hand corner. Dipping the die on to the ink-brush,
or stamping a paper at intervals that stands at his
side, to keep a rough record in twenties or fifties of
the letters passing through the office for that
night's mails, are eccentric diversions of the head-
blotter's duty.—Leisure Hour.

Returns just published show that the imports of
specie this year up to the end of last month have amounted
to £26,702,568, against £19,926,278 during the correspond-
ing eight months of 1858. This increase has been conse-
quent chiefly on an augmentation M the arrivals of silver
to meet the demand for India in the London market, the
gold receipts being but slightly in excess of those of last
year. The proportion of silver has been £10,948,693,
while in 1848 it was only. £4,534,894. Such is the extent
to which the Continent is being drained that from France
alone we have absorbed £5,099,180 of that metal, and from
Belgium £1,191,216. The United States have likewise
sent us £984,550, while the proportion from Mexico and
South America has been £2,190,274, which is about the
same as last year. The quantity of gold imported hag
beeii £15,753,875 against £15,391,384 up to the same
period of 1858. Of - this sum £5,597,595 has been
contributed by America, showing an increase of
£2,088,086 over last year. £1,997,881 was from
Russia, which is also a large increase. But the
receipts from Australia have amounted only to £4,970,669
against £5,561,619 in 1858, and those from Mexico and
South America only to £1,388,375 against 3,509,609. The
registered exports of gold and silver within the eight months
have been £26,397,033, or within £305,535 of the imports.
Of this sum £12,876,169 consisted of silver nearly all sent to
India and China. To Paris we have sent during the eight
months £11,845,824 in gold, partly to pay for silver and
partly for mercantile balances—the latter fact being suffi-
cient to account for the rapid increase in the stock held by
the Bank of France.

THE LOSS OF THE NEPTUNE.—In reporting the
wreck of the Neptune in the Bay of Bengal, Major Charles
Swaffield, who commanded the troops on board, says :
" On the morning of the Ist of August we parted from our
anchor and drifted on to a reef. The ship first struck at
about 12 o'clock noon, and continued to strike and drift
with the tide and sea till about 2 o'clock the next morning.
We expected every moment that she would go to pieces.
She flhally settled at a place, I believe, about 18 miles north-
west of Akyab. On the morning of the 2d there was a very
heavy sea and surf, and a raft could not be constructed.
We were about two miles and a half from shore, and con-
sequently had no hope of saving life, not having an available
boat. It was evident that at high water her decks would
be swept. We were at prayers, and had given up. all hope,
when the joyous sound was heard of a ' steamer in sight 1'
She proved to be the Nemesis, Captain Goodwin, come out
to search for us from Akyab, where our guns had been
heard. Shortly after coming to an anchor her boats were
sent, and continued to ply between the two ships until every
soul was taken out of the Neptune and put on board the
Nemesis. An officer's wife, a soldier's widow, and the
sick were first lowered into the boats, and then'the men slid
down into the boats by a rope from the forecastle, and lat-
terly (the ship having sunk deeper or the tide risen) stepped
into them from the fore chains. The behaviour of the
troops was most admirable. They were stationed on the
poops until the sea washed over that part of the ship, and
came forward as their names were called, There was not
the'slightest symptom of a disposition to run, or even to
rush to the boat, though it was perfectly evident that the
ship was in momentary danger of going to pieces, and before
the last of the troops left the sea washed over every part of
the vessel."

ACTION AGAINST THE BANK OF ENGLAND.—
A very curious case affecting the Bank of England was tried
in Newcastle county court on Wednesday. A mariner, on
the eve of proceeding on a ten months' voyage, deposited £B3
in the branch bank of the Bank of England in Newcastle, at
the suggestion of his brother-in-law, who is a cashier in the
establishment. During his absence the wife obtained £4O of
the money, through the influence of her relative, the cashier,
The mariner on his return repudiated the act of his wife,
and called upon the bank to refund the money. The bank,
endorsing the act of the cashier, refused to entertain the
application, and set up a plea of ratification on the part of
the mariner. The judge commented in somewhat severe
terms upon the conduct of the cashier and the proceedings
of the bank, and expressed his opinion that the mariner
had never ratified the wife's act. The jury returned a ver-
dict for the plaintiff,

LONDON GAZE2'T.E-( THIS .VENING)

BOARD OF TRADE, WHITEHALL, SEPT. 30.
The Right Hon. the Lords of the Committee of Priiy
Council for Trade and Plantations have received, through
the Secretary of State for Foreign A.atirs, a copy ofl a
despatch from her Majesty's Consul at Lisbon, enclosiag
copy of a notice issued by the Board of Health at that
capital, declaring the port of Havana, and all the other
ports in the Island of Cuba, to be considered infected with
yellow fever.

WAR-OFFICE, PALL-MALL, SEPT. 30.
Royal Horse Guards—Lieutenant-Colonel and Brevet-
Colonel W. Fordyce-Buchan, from half-pay Unattached,
to be Lieutenant-Colonel, vice Brevet-Colonel the Hon.
G. C. Weld Forester, who exchanges, recetving the dif-
fence between Infantry and Cavalry ; Major and Brevet-
Colonel Richard Henry R. Howard, Vvse to be Lieute
rant-Colonel, by purchases vie.- Goarge W, Fordyce-
Buchan, who retiresl CaPbtn and Brevet-Major Hugh
Smith 13aillie to be Mto^-e, by purchase, with the rank of
Lieutenants(Mal on
Lieutenant 11% 'in the Army, vice Howard Vyse ;
reach Keighly Peach to be Captain, by
tior,,_l"l"' Baillie ; Cornet Richard George Bomford
to lie Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Keighly
each ; Frederick Gustavus Burnaby, Gent., to be
Cornet, by purchase, vice Bolton.
Ist Dragoons—Charles Downes Manning, Gent., to be
Cornet; by purchase, vice Dawn, who retires.
sth Light Dragoons—Captain John Xing Rendall,from the
16th Foot, to be Captain, paying the difference between
Infantry and Cavalry, vice Andrew Gammell, who ex-
changes, receiving the same.
10th Light Dragoons—Lieutenant John Gore to he Cap-
tain, by purchase, vice Mayne, who retires; Cornet Ed-
ward Alexander Wood to be Lieutenant, by purchase,
vice Gore.
12th Light Dragoons--Captain C. Jefferys Watson Allen,
from the 15th Foot, to be Captain, paying the difference
between Infantry and Cavalry, vice White, who ex-
changes, receiving the same.
Ist Regiment of Foot—Lieutenant Richard Abraham
Manners to be Captain, without purchase, vice McKenna,
killed in action; Ensign John Richard Wheeler to be
Lieutenant, without purchase, vice Manners.
2d Foot—Henry William Pollard, Gent., to be Ensign,
without purchase, vice William Hamliton Mulloy, who
has been superseded for being absent without leave.
3d Foot—Ensign Frederick Taylor Hobson to be Lieu-
tenant, by purchase, vice Bruce, who retires.
sth Foot—Surgeon Francis Reid, 111.D.' from the Staff, to
be Surgeon, vice M'Nab, appointed to the Staff.
6th Foot—Theodosius Wm. Poulden, Gent., to be Ensign,
without purchase, vice Moriarty, promoted.
9th Foot—Lieut. James Trevenen, from half-pay, 2d West
India Regiment to be Lieutenant, vice John M'Queen,
promoted, without purchase, to an Unattached Company;
Ensign Francis Edward Eccles to be Lieutenant, by pur-
chase, vice Trevenen, who retires.
15th Foot—Captain Augustus Barton White, from the 12th
Light Dragoons; to be Captain, vice Allen, who exchanges,
receiving difference between Infantry and Cavalry.
16th Foot—Captain Andrew Gammell, from the sth Light
Dragoons, to be Captain, vice John King Rendall, who
exchanges, receiving difference between Infantry and
Cavalry ; Captain Cuthbert A. Baines, from half-pay
Unattached, to be Captain, vice George Studdert, who
exchanges ; Lieut. Lewis Stevens Rooke, to be Captain,
vice Baines, who retires; Ensign Cecil Godwin to be
Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Rooke.
17th Foot—Charles Forbes Leith, Gent., to be Ensign, by
purchase, vice Burnett, promoted.
22d Foot—Captain John Wm. Trevor, from the 55th Foot,
to be Captain, vice Rowland, who exchanges ; Ensign
Alfred Geo. Drake Pocock to be Lieutenant, by purchase,
vice Mather, who retires.
25th • Foot—Lieutenant Thomas Winter. Sheppard to be
Captain, by purchase, vice Layton, who retires; Ensign
Henry Martin Cornwall Legh to be Lieutenant, by pur-
chase, vice Sheppard.
32d Foot—Lieutenant Edmund Lakin to be instructor of
Musketry.
33d Foot—Ensign Edwin Jervis, from the 14th Foot, to
be Ensign, vice Boyd, promoted.
46th Foot—Henry Watley Estridge, Gent., to be Ensign,
by purchase, vice Speke, promoted.
55th Foot—Captain Wm. Hodnett, Rolland, from the 22d
Foot, to be Captain, vice Trevor, who exchanges.
60th Foot—Ensign Julius Lovell to be Lieutenant, by pur-
chase, vice King-Harman, who retires.
63d Foot—John Thacker, Gent., to be Ensign, without
purchase, vice Knowles, promoted.
78th Foot—Lieut.-Colonel and Brevet-Colonel John A.
Ewart, C. 8., from the 93d Foot, to bo Lieut.-Colonel,
vice Brevet-Colonel Stisted, C. 8., who exchanges.
86th Foot—Ensign Chas. Henry Jackson to .be Instructor
of Musketry.
92d Foot—Ensign R. James Salter Carruthers to be Lieu-
tenant, by purchase, vice Gordon; promoted.
93d Foot—Lieut.-Colonel and Brevet-Colonel Henry Wm.
Stisted, C. 8., from the 78th Foot, to be Lieut.-Colonel,
vice Brevet-Colonel Ewart, C. 8., who exchanges.
94th Foot—Walter Gregory Buller, Gent., to be Ensign,
without purchase, vice French, promoted.
Ist West India Regiment—Lieut. Wm. James Miss to be
Captain, without purchase, vice Brevet-Major Pratt, de-
ceased ; Ensign Wm. Ormsby to be Lieutenant,' without
purchase, vice Ross ; Ensign William Perceval Gilborne
to be Lieutenant, without purchase, vice Molony, de-
ceased ; Sergeant-Major John Atkisson, from the 2d
West India Regiment, to be Ensign, without purchase,
vice Ormsby; Charles Francis Barry, Gent., to beEn-
sign, without purchase, vice Gilborne.
2d West India Regiment—Captain Henry John Davies,
from half-pay 51st Foot, to be Captain, vice D. A. Pat-
terson, appointed Paymaster, Royal Astillery ; Lieut.
William Cooke O' Shaughnessy to be Captain, by pur-
chase, vice Davies, who retires.
HOSPITAL STAFF.

Surgeon Robert M'Nab, M.D., from the sth Foot, to be
Surgeon, vice Reid, appointed to the sth Foot ; Assistant-
Surgeon William Langworthy Bake; from the 10th Foot,
to be Assistant-Surgeon, vice Taylor, deceased.
To be Assistant-Surgeons—James Africanus Beale Hor-
ton, M.D., vice Abbott, promoted on the Staff; William
Broughtan Davies, M.D.