The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-09 00:00:00

LONDON, THURS'DAY, APRIL 9, 1857.

was arsenic." A tolerably distinct and explicit
admission ! In spite of which, however, in de-
fiance of the apparently incontrovertible facts
that ALUMS bread was poisoned, and that the
poison with which it was poisoned was arsenic—
there comes that other and still more astounding
fact, the fact that the Verdict of the Jury was a
Verdict of Acquittal ! Not, let us acknowledge it
at once, but that we do really conceive ALUM the
Baker to have acted no otherwise than as an innocent
man would have acted under the circumstances !
Insomuch so that had we ourselves been on the
Jury at his trial, we should have yearned for the
old Scottish privilege in such cases—that of
bringing in a verdict of " Not Prcven" rather
than one of Not Guilty ! For while the
evidence brought into court did not, in
any way directly implicate ALUM in the transac-
tion, there was clearly and undeniably (as the
Daily News itself admits) poison in ALuat's bread,
and that poison clearly and undeniably was
arsenic !

The Chinese War of 1857 is being illustrated
by a variety of curious little episodical incidents.
The Celestial EMPEROR is at one moment stated to
have evidenced an eager sr,licitude to make peace
upon any terms with the English, and at another
is declared to have pronounced, if possibly more
energetically, his fixed resolution, at all cost, to
take vengeance upon those outer-barbarians. The
former statement, however, is as clearly authentic
as the latter is unquestionably apocryphal. There
can be little doubt that YETI has found his pro-
ceedings at Canton formally repudiated by his
Imperial Master—the preposterous despatch given
simply as "a matter of curiosity" in The Sun
of yesterday, pm-pouting to be a communication
addressed to the Viceroy of the Cantonese by the
Chief of the Nuy-ko, or State Council, of Pekin,
is from first to last an outrige—ms and ridiculous
fabrication. "YEE, I hive serious news to an-
nounce to you !" saith the ghostly apparition of
Tseou-TcHIN-YoNo, in this sonorous and resonant
proclamation—the great news referred to, being
a war of extermination ! The sanguinary Sem-
blance of the Head of the Nuy-ko continuing in
the genuine Fe-Fi-Fo-Fiun strain—" I smelt the
blood of an Englishmau"—thus : ." YETI, you are
to carry on a war of extermination avainst the
foreign barbarians who have attacked you ; they
must receive from you an exemplary chastise-
ment." And so forth ! All very fine, Mr. FER-
GITSSON—or rather TSAOI7-TCHIN-YONG ! But that
the whole of this raw-head-and-bloody-bones
Despatch happens to be a cqnard—" bosh"—a
pleasant little fantastic bit of oriental penny-a-
lining I The‘truth of the matter being all the
while that the Brother of the Sun, the cousin of
the Moon, and the -Nephew of the Stars happens
to be of a very different mind : reprehends YETl—
discountenances all his recent acts in regard to
the lorcha—evinces the utmost possible degree of
anxiety to conciliate the British, and so come to
terms with them as speedily as may be, and as
satisfactorily.

Meanwhile the incidents connected with the
prosecution of the Chinese War of 1857 are not
by any means exclusively remote incidents—re-
mote either in time or situation. There is the
extraordinary casualty which occurred in relation
to it at no greater distance than Portsmouth, and
no further off than yesterday ! The casualty of
the screw troopship the Transit, bound for Hong
Kong with some 800 officers and men of the 59th
and 90th Regiments, returning to Spithead in a
nearly sinking condition—we need hardly say
quite unexpectedly ! It appears that, getting into a
fog, sounding seven fathoms, and at last anchoring
off the shore of Hants, near Lymington—the
Transit was deemed (even by the local pilots who
came off to her) to be in a capital position. All
goes merrily, the troops turn in and make them-
selves comfortable, and the night advances without

any feeling of disquietude, or apparent cause
for it among those on board—when towards day-
break, lo and behold, the vessel is found to be
making water fast—with five feet of water already
in her hold ! The anchor being weighed is dis-
covered, directly it is sighted, to have had half of
its stock mapped off—the ship then proving to
have driven a hole in her bottom by drifting
upon her own anchor ! With nine feet of
water in her hold, and more fl)oding in, the
Transit makes the best of her way back to Spit-
head. And so, in this wholly unlooked-for man-
ner, comes a delay in part of our Chinese Expedi-
tion.

and to bring ruin and misery on their innocent
countrymen by their thirst for unhallowed gains I
Never did the " Auri sacra fames" assume a more
portentous aspect, and never was there a more
pressing necessity for remedial measures, and
those, too, of no stinted or meagre character.

Other illustrative incidents might be enume-
rated, but these are assuredly sufficient—suffi-
cient to prove, as plainly as that two and two
make four, a greater need than ever (just at this
moment, in regard to the Chinese) of prompti-
tude, of energy, and of determination on the part
of our Executive.

The electors of Flintshire have completed the
confusion of the Aberdeenites. In vain has Mr.
GLADSTONE displayed all his blandishments. In
vain has the deserted general exhausted his
energies in seeking their suffrages on behalf of
his alter ego, his dearly-loved brother-in-law
—Sir STEIIIEN GLYNNE. The sturdy Welsh-
men have not listened to the voice of the
charmer, although he practised all the arts
of a paid canvasser, and endeavoured to obtain
even a single follower ! King LEAR did not
plead more earnestly for but one knight than did
the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer for his friend.
Despite, however, this indefatigable activity,
despite all the influences brought into operation,
the Government candidate, the Hon. T. E. L.
MOSTYN, was returned by a decisive majority,
and the once popular GLADSTONE is left to wan-
der alone through the halls of the Imperial
Palace at Westminster, save so far as the doubt-
ful aid of his rather slippery coadjutor, " the
gentle JAMIE frae Carlisle," is concerned.
In truth, the policy that " starved the war" in
its earlier stages—that proclaimed that the whole
expenses should be provided for out of the
annual revenue of the country—and that no dis-
tinction should be recognised between permanent
and precarious revenue for fiscal purposes—
has been unequivocally repudiated throughout the
length and breadth of the land. The avenging
NEMESIS has promptly vindicated the political
offences perpetrated by the scanty remnant of a
once powerful party. " Peelism," or rather
" Aberdeenism," is virtually defunct, and GLAD-
STONE and GRAHAM, the sole survivors, must
hang themselves on to some other party which
may be induced to open its ranks for the 'unat-
tached leaders. It is certainly a remarkable
change—one that may hereafter serve " to point
a moral and adorn a tale ; " but never was exem-
plary punishment more completely merited. The
Right Hon. Member for Oxford was courted
by all parties. Without his co-operation Lord
DERBY would not venture to form an Administra-
tion, and it was vainly imagined that his seces-
sion would send Lord PALMERSTON to the right
about. In 1853 he was allowed to dictate
to the entire Legislature, and to his
perverse obstinacy alone may be attributed the
continuance of the Income Tax in its present op-
pressive and inequitable form, after the Ministe-
rial Leaders of the Lords and Commons had noti-
fied a contemplated change. He might have said,
as he did on another point—
" Me, me, adsum qui fed., in me convertite ferrum ;
Mere fraus omnis."
It was he who concocted the " valuable financial
demonstration" of denuding the Exchequer of its
balances when a terrible struggle was impending,
and the Russian war was palpably "looming
in the future." For all these he has been
severely punished, if not by the proper per-
sons, by means of the "whipping-boys" who
have been made to bear the weight of his delin-
quencies. He may still quibble and prate in the
House, but ho has no one to back him. The
CARDWELLS, PALMERS, PHILLIMORES, 'et hoc genus
omne, are extinguished so far as the House of
Commons is concerned. Not even a GLYNNE has
been obtained ; and GLADSTONE must either lower
his flag, or he must beat about for new re-
cruits, if any bo foolish enough to accept " the
shilling" and volunteer for such a dangerous—
we may almost say desperate—service.

A further increase in the rate of discount to a
minimum charge of 7 per cent, is this day anti-
cipated. It is generally supposed that the an-
nouncement will be made at the breaking up of
the Meeting in the Bank Parlour ! It is, more-
over, stated that the object of the Directors is to
check, if they cannot altogether prevent, any
dabbling by English speculators in the Russian
Railway Scheme to which we have so recently
directed public attention. This is another tiles_
sing for which we are indebted to the Cabinet of
St. Petersburg. The trading and manufacturing
interests must bo seriously and, in many in-
stances, irreparably damaged, because an at-
tempt is made to abstract the precious metals
from the United Kingdom, for the purpose of en-
abling the AUTOCRAT to carry out the traditional
policy of the empire in a manner befitting a suc•
cessor of PETER I.

If the motive really be such, it may offer some
extenuation of the act of the last week. But it
places the impolicy of the existing monetary code
even in a stronger 'light than any in which it has as
yet been exhibited. What would be said to the
corporation of a borough if, when it was known
that evil-disposed men were abroad, and that
designs were entertained by burglars and
garotters against the purses of the com-
munity, they should, in place cf affording
the requisite protection, merely anticipate the
predatory horde, by themselves plundering the
intended victims? They would certainly be con-
sidered as entirely unfitted for the position in
which they were placed, being by their own acts
proved to be incapable of discharging the im-
portant duties confided to their charge. Qais
enstodiet ipsos eustodes would be heard on every
side, and protection against the pretended friends
and guardians would be eagerly sought for.
The fact, however, that the attempt, while it
deeply injures the victims, must prove abortive,
renders the grievance more glaring. If the fre-
quenters of Capel-court can be bamboozled by the
Muscovite scheme, one or two per cent, addi-
tional in the rate of discount will not induce
them to avoid nibbling at the bait. Their game
will be merely to turn over the shares, which,
like the "raz3re" of the tale, are made for sale,
not for use, and to realise trifling premiums in the
process. A daring gambler thinks but little of
the price that he may be compelled to pay for the
stake which he imagines will be largely increased
by his operations. A trifling difficulty will not
deter him from the speculative game on which he
has determined. He will, under any circum-
" stand the hazard of the die," and

stance,

will find a Consolation in the knowledge that
other innocent persons are involved in one com-
mon ruin with himself. He has the experience
of past bubbles, and if they should prove insuf-
ficient, a minimum late of even ten per cent, will
not suffice to save him from the ruin which he so
recklessly invites.

Then there is the supposed poisoning of the
bread with Alum at Hong Kong ! No—not with
Alum, rather we should have said by ALUM—only
that we are so accustJmed here in London to the
former atrocity in the way of systematic adulter,-
tion in what our neighbours the French call
panification ! Well, then--to speak more • cor-
rectly—we repeat, There is the supposed poisoning
of the bread by ALUM, the baker of Hong Tiong:l
That is one of the most remarkable episodes in the
whole history of this collision between the British
and the Chinese authorities ! Oat of the pre-
sumed infamy of this occurrence has grown up
portentously a very notable Trial, the Trial of
ALUM and his supposed Accomplices—a Trial con-
ducted with no inconsiderable ability by Mr.
Attorney-General ANSTEY, ex-Member for Youghal
—a Trial lasting through five days in succession
—a Trial, according to English usage, in the pre-
sence of Judge and Jury—a Trial, wonderful to
relate, ending in the acquittal of the prisoners,
although the bread supplied by ALu:u on the
occasion referred to was notoriously and unde-
niably poisoned ! Why—in conclusive testimony
of the irrefragable nature of the evidence adduced
upon the last-mentioned point, viz., the point as
to whether the bread was or was not poisoned—
the Daily News itself (the Self-constituted Special
Pleader for the Chinese) says distinctly and ex-
plicitly in its impression of this very morning—
Mark every syllable in the following sentence—
" We do not, of course, mean to deny the fact that
there was poison in the bread, and that the poison I

There is but one mode by which these evils can
be averted, and that is, by supplying a circulating
medium suited for internal transactions, viz., a
really National Note, and making those requir-
ing bullion, either for transrpitting abroad ow
hoarding, for it according to its actual
vaolaurde.ingE paynglishmen should surely be enabled to
compete with foreigners in their own markets.
We should be enabled to retain the gold that has
found its way to our markets, despite the machi-
nations of those who desire to insinuate their
hands into our pockets. At present we are ren-
dered perfectly helpless by the unjust and impo-
litic enactments which it is proposed to renew
—without change or modification—for a further
term of ten years. It may be fortunate for the
nation if the existing pressure and
the imperative
necessity of obtaining protection for the internal
commerce of Great Britain should open the eyes
of the Legislature, while there is yet time, and
before the evil has reached its full magnitude. It
is clear that circumstances have arisen, not con-
templated by the enactments of 1844, and against
which they do not afford adequate protection. Other
measures are clearly required, and the most urgent
claim on the new Parliament will be to render the
monetary legislation as complete as possible, so as
to prevent the welfare and prosperity of the
United Kingdom from being placed at the mercy
of any foreign Power that can put forward
schemes sufficiently tempting to induce the specu-
ators of Capel Court to touch the unclean thing,

rtiE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 9, 1857.

The bar silver brought by the la,t %Veit India :steamer
was sold yesterday at 61/d., showing no alteration.
The 40,0001. brought by the Africa is undentood to
be for the Bank of France.

This specie arrivals yesterday were 17,0001.,—
namely, 5,0001. by the African mail, 5,0001. by the
Etna, and 7,0001. by the Indus from the Mediterranean.
THE HON. JOHN PARSONS.—The Hon. John Parsons,
second son of the Earl and Countess of Rinse, is alarm-
ingly ill, at Parsonstown. It it said that his life has
been despaired of.
EAST INDIA Housr,.—Yesterday a Court of Directors
was held at the East India House, when the thanks of
the Court were voted unanimously to Colons]. William
H. Sykes, M P., chairman, and Mr. Ross Donnelly
Mangles, M.P., deputy-chairman, for their great Ewa- ,
cation and attention to the affairs of the East India
Company during the past year.
TEE ELEC nos DISTURBANCIS AT SHEFFIELD.—DE ATEI
OF A POLICEMAN.—We regret to state that one of the
officers engaged in the preservation of the peace ou Sa-
turday wen, died en Thursday morning, in consequence
of injuries which he received by a stone which was thrown
by some of the mob who had assembled in front of the
Angel Hotel.
GREENWICH FAIR.—The owner of the last portion of
ground on which this fair was allowable has acceded to
the wish of the police authorities. Greenwich Fair,
therefore, will not take place—in any manner otherwise
than what the London public may make for thews, Ives.
It is understood that the park will be open as u,ual for
the present, to the serious annoyance of the inhabitants
residing in the vicinity.
An extraordinary discovery of ore has just taken place
at the Welsh Potosi Mine, Cardiganshire. At the 10
fathom level the miners have found a rich course of ore,
averaging 18 inches wide solid, and the same has been
found to extend 30 fathoms in length. They are now
sinking upon the lode, and the ore holds down, and is
expected to continue to the 20 and 30 fathom levels.
Should this be the case, this mine will again rank as one
of the most productive in Wales.
THE ROYAL BRITISH BANE—Yesterday the vile of
the South Sea-house, Thteadneedle street, lately occu-
pied as the chief office of the Royal British Bank, took
place at the Auction Mart, by Messrs. Haclaria and
Buckland, by direction of the assignees of the estate,
when there was a very full attendance of merchants and
others, among whom there was an active competition, for
the property. A bidding of 10,0001. was made, and
• eventually the property was knacked down to Mr.
Elder, of the City-road, for 11,0001., which will go to-
, wards liquidating the debt of the bankrupts.
BUSINESS OF THE COURT OF CHANCERY.—The tots
number of notices, petitions, causes, pleas, demurrers,
claims, and appeals heard by the L ird Chancellor," the
Lords Justices, the Master of the Rolls, and the three
Vice-Chancellors, amounted from the 2d Nov., 1852, to
the 2d Nor., 1853, to 8,619 ; in 1853-54, to 10,141 ; in
1854 55. to 10,276 ;in 1855-66, to 10,502. The total
remands in the courts of equity were during the same
period 401, 419, 426, 506, and 379.
THE AMERICAN MAILS.—SOUTHAMPTON, April 8.—
The United States' Mail steamship Fulton, Capt. Wot-
ton, left Havre yesterday and Cows. tc-cay, with the
English, French, and German mails for New York, 120
passengers, 40,0001. in specie, and a full general cargo.
ADDITIONAL MAIL TO JAVA.—lnformation has been
received from the Government of the Netherlands that

so long as the additional communication which has just
been established between Point de Gallo and China, via
Singapore, shall be maintained, a corresponding commu-
nication will be kept up between Singapore and Batavia.
Mails for Java will accordingly be in future made up in
London, and forwarded by each despatch of the overland
Indian mail. By command of the Postmaster-General.
Rowland Hill, Secretary. General Post-office, April 6.
LIVERPOOL, April S.—This morning the Liverpool

and Pndadelphia Steamship Company's screw steamer
City of Washington sailed hence for New York, with a
ship's mail, a fair cargo, and upwards of 100 cabin pas-
sengers. The Royal mail steamer America will ail for
Halifax and Boston on Saturday ; and the Montreal
Ocean Steamship Company's steamer Indian on Wednes-
day, the 221 inst., for Quebec and Montreal, with the
Canadian mails, resuming the fortnightly sailing,s for the
season.

CLELIKENIVELL INCUMBENCY.—Notwithstanding the
decision given in favour of the Rev. R. Maguire, Mr.
Jones, senior churchwarden, has again issued a caveat to
his induction by declaring the election ilegal. Accord-
ingly, on Tuesday a deputation of the most respectable
inbabitnntii waited on the Bishop of London, and com-
municated to him the result of the election. They were
most gracious'y received by his lordship, who expressed
lss desire to assi,t the deputation by granting his licence
to the Rev. R, Maguire to officiate as incumbent of the
pariah, if the law would allow him to do so, and said he
would obtain the opinion of his legal adviser on the
matter. The deputation thanked his lordship for the
courtesy with which they had been received, and re-
tired.

MIRDER.—DEATH OF MR. SCOTT.—Yesterday
morning, at an early hour, Mr. Jas. Scott, of Freeling-
street, Caledonian-road, Islington, who was stabbed
with a sword in his house by Robt. Robinson Tripp,
and severely wounded, expired at his residence, through
its effects. The prisoner Tripp is a surveyor, and was
formerly foreman in the employ of Mr. Cubitt,
the eminent builder, of Gray's-inn-road, and in conse-
qoence of his peculiar eccentricities, he was discharged
a few years ago, and allowed a pension. He has fre-
quently figured at the Clerkenwell Police Courts for
assaults, and been committed to prison. He is a single
man. Information was forwarded to Mr. Wael-ey, the
coroner, and au inquest will be held upon the body of
Mr. Scott.
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE COOKBURN.—SOUTHAMPTON,
Wednesday.—The Lord Chief Justice of the Court of
Common Pleas and Mr. B. M. Willcox have accepted
the invitation of the Chamber of Commerce at this port
to a public banquet, in acknov,ledgrnent of the many
valuable services rendered by those gentlemen to the
commercial intereete of this town during the 10 years
they represented Southampton in the House of Commons.
An invitation has also been given to Mr. Weguelin, the
present colleague of Mr. Willcox, who succeeded Sir
Alexander Cockburn on his deserved elevation to the
beech. The day for the banquet is not yet fixed.
THE, SHEEPSHANKS COLLECTION.—A copy of the deed
of gift by Mr. John Sheepshanks of his collection of
pictures and drawings has just been published, by order
of the late Parliament. A minute of the Privy Council
of Trade, of the 6th of February, accepts, with much
gratification, the trusteeship created by this deed of gift,
acknowledges the great value of Mr. She,epelineks'
splendid collection, exrreeses admiration of the liberal
spirit in which it has been made, and announces tbat
orders have been given for the erection of a gallery for
the reception of the collection, as desired by the donor,
in some airy situation near the Gardens or Parks at
Kensington. The other conditions of the deed of gift
are already known to the public. The new gallery will
he attached to the Schools of Art in connection with. the
Departments of Science and Art now established there.
The collection includes 233 oil paintings, the works of
British artists, and 103 drawings and sketches,ithe works
of native draughtsmee.
NEW CODE OF MARINE SIGNALS —The committee
aepointed by the Board of Trade to inquire into the sub-
ject of a code of signals to be used at sea have reported
the result of that inquiry. The existing codes are all
based on the numeral system, which is objected to as
insufficient. Only one other method was known to the
committee for obtaining the object in view. It was that
of taking a number of signs (or flags), and by their
transposition effecting a certain number of permutations,
each different combination of two or more of the signs
so taken forming a signal distinct in itself, and having a
particular signification. A table is subjoined, showing
the number of distinct signals which 10 or more flags are
eapeble of by permutation, andlorrning in hoists of two to
four signs at a time in one place. It shows that 18 flags
will be requisite to give the number of signals necessary
—i.e., 70,000, with power of extension to 78,642, each
signal consisting of a minimum hoist of four flags. In
conformity with the resolutions of the committee a signal
book has been prepared, and accompanies the present
report.
MR. COBDEN.—A Liverpool paper says:—" We have
been favoured by the inspection of a letter addressed by
Mr. Cobden to a gentleman in Liverpool, in which he
alludes to his own defeat at Huddersfield, and more
especially to the rejection by Manchester of Mr. Bright.
Mr. Cobden is in a delicate state of health, and states
that his own exclusion from Parliament will be a positive
relief to him ; but he feels acutely the course which has
been pursued at Manchester, and declares his belief that
political ingratitude was never before carried to such an
extent, inasmuch as Mr. Bright's intellect, which is of a
commanding character, has been shattered by too faith-
fully serving his constituency in the House of Commons,
and he now finds himself dismissed with less delicacy
than is usually accorded to a menial in a private family.
The publication of this letter at the present time would
excite interest, but, although it treats exclusively of pub-
lic matters, Mr. Cobden has marked it "Private," a
feeling which his correspondent respects. In addition to
the indifferent state of his own health, Mr. Cobden's hap-
piness is considerably inured by the illness which pre-
vails in his family."
GAROTTE ROBBERY AT BRIGHTON.—On Monday even-
ing, about eight o'clock, John Bimpson, a middle-aged
the Old Shoreham-road, towards Hove-place, arm in-arm
residing at Brighton, was walking along
man, a smith,
with a woman named Elizabeth Parker. It was foggy,
but not quite dark, when two men met them, one of
whom seized Bimpson by the neckerchief, threw him down,
and attempted to throttle him, while the other knocked'
down the woman and then assisted his companion in
holding Bimpson down. They kept him on the ground
about eight minutes, rifling his, pockets, from which they
took about ten shillings. The woman's screams of
murder were bringing some persons to Bimpson's assis-
tance, when the two ruffians, and a third man who had
joined them, ran away. Three men are in custody
charged with this daring robbery. They were yesterday
examined before a Brighton magistrate, and remanded
for a week.—Brighton Gazette.
EXPLOSION ON SHIPBOARD.—HARTLEPOOL, April 7.
—Yesterday afternoon a violent explosion occurred on
board the iron screw collier _Hutton Chaytor, Capt. J.
Jefferson, lying in the Victoria Dock, by which two of
the crew were seriously injured, though, fortunately, not
dangerously. The flattonChaytor was loaded with Thorn-
ley gas coals, and had been lying in her berth since
Saturday waiting for a sea tide. Two of the crew—the
second mate and another—went down into the fore-hatch
on some necessary business, carryleg a lantern with them.
On getting below the candle was removed out of the lan-
tern, and an explosion instantly took piece. The scuttle-
hatch had fortunately been taken off during the forenoon,
for the purpose of ventilation, or the injury would have
been much more serious than it was. The fore hatches
were blown off, and the second mate was severely burnt
about the head, face, breast, and hands. The other
man's injuries were less severe, being confined to the
back of the head. Mr. Edger, surgeon, was speedily in
attendance upon the poor fellows, and both are progress-
ing favourably. ,