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

TEE SCOTCH IRON TRADE.

(From the Quarterly Circular of Mr. Thomas Thorburn.)

On the issue of my last quarterly report a degree
of sensitiveness arose in the market, and extensive
purchases were made at from 495. to 50s. cash, and
51s. open three months. Immediately thereafter,
the declaration of an armistice between France and
Austria, coupled with a reduction of duty of about
20s. per ton on the import of iron into Russia,
created an intense excitement, and large buying
ensued, particularly on Continental account, which
communicated a considerable impulse to the trade
—the price fluctuating between 51s. 6d. and 545.,
according as the currf nt of political intelligence
confirmed or contradicted the expectations of a
speedy close of the war, or its indefinite extension.
The average price in July was Ms. Bd. ; August,
525. 10d. ; September, 51s. 9d. • against, 535., 555.
id., and Ms. 4d., in these months respectively last
year.
Meanwhile, those prices, proving unremunera-
tive to the producers, have tended to curtail the
production, there being now ten furnaces less in
blast than at the beginning of the year. It is im-
portant to observe that the returns since June,
1837, have regularly shown an increase in the
stocks, but, for the first time, a decrease has now
to be noted. This unexpected feature is owing to
the total deliveries exceeding the supply by 15,000
tons.

The malleable iron works and foundries in the
district have continued actively employed, and
shipbuilding on a large scale is going on at our
various building yards, whilst there is an increas-
ing demand for all kinds of machinery. The ele-
ment of labour, in connection with manufacturing
industry, is assuming an importance which cannot
be over-estimated; and in no branch is this of
greater consequence than in the manufacture of
iron, the cost to a large extent consists of wages.
Already the sale coalmasters have been compelled
to advance the pay of their men 6d. per day, and
apprehensions prevail that the strike which con-
tinues so obstinately at certain of the works will
eventually lead to a general demand for the restora-
tion of the deduction previously submitted to.

ORIGIN OF THE JUDGES' BLACK CAP.—The prac-
tice of our judges in putting on a black cap when they con-
demn a criminal to death will be found, on consideration, to
have a deep and sad significance. Covering the head was
in ancient days a sign of mourning. " Haman hastened to
his house, mourning and having his head covered." (Esther
vi. 12.) In like manner Demosthenes, when insulted by
the populace, went home with his head covered. " And
David • . . wept as he wentup, and had his head covered ;
. . . and all the people that was with him covered every
man his head, and they went.up, weeping as they went up."
(2d Samuel, xv., 30.) Darius, too, covered his head on
learning the death of his Queen. But among ourselves
we find traces of a similar mode of expressing grief at
funerals. The mourners had the hood " drawn forward
over the head." (Fosbroke, " Encyc. of Antiq.," p. 951.)
Indeed, the hood drawn forward thus over the head
is still part of the mourning habiliment of women when
they follow the corpse. And with this it should be borne
in mind that, as far back as the time of Chaucer, the most
usual colour of mourning was black. Atropos also, who
held the fatal scissors which cut short the life of man, was
clothed in black. When, therefore, the judge puts on the
black cap, it is a very significant as well as solemn proce-
dure. He puts on mourning, for he is about to pronounce
the forfeit of a life. And, accordingly, the act itself, the
putting on of the black cap, is generally understood to be
significant. It intimates that the judge is about to pro-
nounce no merely registered or supposititious sentence ; in
the very formula of condemnation he has put himself in
mourning for the convicted culprit as for a dead man. The
criminal is then left for execution, and, unless mercy exert
its sovereign prerogative, suffers the sentence of the law.
The mourning cap expressively indicates his doom.-IVotes
and Queries.

CHANNELS JUNCTION RAILWAYS.—A few weeks
since we ventured some remarks on the progress of the great
national scheme from Burnham, in the Bristol, to the port
of Poole, in the English, Channels. The Somerset Central
extends from Burnham to Bruton; it is there met by the
Dorset Central, which has its terminus at Poole. In fur-
therance of this great object the directors of the two com-
panies met at Yeovil on Saturday last with their respective
officials, and though the meeting was private, we are assured
that but one feeling animated all—namely, the speedy com-
pletion of the entire line. For eighteen long years the bring-
ing the Channels within two hours of each other has been
developing. The remarks of Lord Palmerston at B roadlands
a few days since, on turning the sod of a broad g A.uge lead-
ing to Southampton, are appropriate to the perseverance
and policy displayed in this scheme. The Bristol and
Exeter, we learn, will put a third line (to accommodate the
narrow gauge) from Highlsridge to Bristol, there falling into
the Midland Railway—a company composed (#f directors
who have long seen and known how to appreciate a narrow
gauge continuation from- Bristol westward. Nlothing so
important for the west has yet been accomplished ; but sc•
complished it will now be.—Sherborne Journal.

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