The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-31 00:00:00

OBSERVER.

PORTSMOUTH, DEC. 29.—Commander C. J. P.
Newton, from the Steam Laboratory, at the Lock-yard,
Woolwich, who commissioned the Lily, on Monday, the
23d inst., succeeded in two days in volunteering fifty
picked able seamen and petty officers, This fine brig of
16 guns, and 130 men, is still in waist of a few ss-amen
to complete her complement.
STATE OF TRADE.—The market, both for cloth
and yarn, has been quite as active as is generally the
ease at this period of the year. Indeed, where parties
have been disposed to meet the demand, stocks of both
cloth and yarn are quite cleared out; many in fact are
working under contract. Some, however, refuse to sell,
except at an advance, choosing rather to wait the de-
mand for the spring trade. The year closes upon the
commercial interests with a prospect of good things to
come; which nothing indeed but some untoward event,
as a failure of the harvest, or a war, can blight. Money,
the sinews of all business, is plentiful and cheap; so also
is cotton, the staple, almost as essential as corn itself.
Then the condition of the labouring classes is greatly
ameliorated, the demand for labour and wages having
alike improved. We should think, also, the Government
will be constrained early to lighten the oppressive bur-
dens of the people by a total repeal or a considerable re-
duction of those fiscal imposts which press mainly on the
industrious classess. On the whole, is e may congratu-
late the trading community on the wide fields of enter-
prise which have opened on them in the East, and which
have greatly tended to the improved state of business;
as also on the far more profitable results of their trade
in the latter compared with the former period of the
year, when unwarrantable speculations in cotton totally
overcast our dawning advancement; and we have but
to express a hope that the ensuing may be a year
gratefully remembered alike by master and operative.
—Manchester Times.
SurrosEn MURDER.—Yesterday, at the conclusion
of the general business at Worship-street, several re-
spectable-looking persons attended before Mr. Brough-
ton, the sitting Magistrate, to make a statement touch-
ing the mysterious disappearance of Mr. William May,
a silk-manufacturer on a minor scale, resident in New.
Ring-street, near Bonner's Hall, Bethnal-green, who had
been missing since the 9th instant under circumstances
which induced his friends to believe that he had been
murdered. A large printed bill, offering ten guineas
reward for discovery, and which had already been ex-
tensively circulated in the district, was handed to the
Magistrate. In this it was stated that Mr. May was last
seen on the night of the 9th instant, between the hours
of ten and eleven, near the police-station in Chapel-yard,
Spitaltields, by some person who knew him, and the fol-
lowing morning his hat and handkerchief were found in a
field near the Twig Folly-bridge, near the Angel and
Crown, at Twig Folly. From that time nothing fur-
ther could be ascertained respecting him, and it was
added, that he was therefore supposed to have been mur-
dered. He was described as about 44 years of age, 5 feet
3 inches high, of fair complexion, marked with the small-
pox, was dressed in a brown Taglioni coat, black satin
waistcoat, black trousers, with black satin stock, and
his linen walked .` W. M.," and he had about him 61.
. and a pair of blue steel spectacles in green case, mounted
, with silver.
CYTAternra.—ln anticipation of an increased de-
mand for railway iron, Mr. William Crawshay has de-
cided upon the erection of an extensive steam rail-mill,
capable, if necessary, of the completion of 2,500 tons of
rails per month. The estimated cost of the extensive
project
is about 25,0001, while it is ill be the means of
affording employment to 300 persons, in addition to the
large number already employed in this gentleman's im-
. mense establishment.—Cambrian.

SUPPLY OF CoaLs.—We are glad to report, on un-
doubted authority, that the directory of the London and
Birmingham Railway have determined, to carry coals at
Id. per mile per ton. The waggons and earriagaa for
the conveyance of those Naluable commodities arc in
progress, and will shortly he ready for use. Our para-
graph last week on the subject has elicited this informa-
tion, which our numerous friends will be glad to receive.
,—Bedford Mercury.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Member for Dorsetshire is a public man of
business, a man of weight with his party, and even
has pretensions to statesmanship; yet how does he
meet a serious charge—a universal belief? By show-
ing a possible foundation in accident, interest, and
malice. Yet the facts were before his face, and under
his very feet. A numerous body of labourers had
just been rewarded, and at that moment were being
feasted in the same house ; a numerous body
of gentlemen and clergymen were in the room.
Here was a host of competent witnesses. All
the circumstances of the scene were as favourable for
the impartial development of the truth, as for the
favourable reception of Mr, Bankes's singularly in-
' sufficient apology. Here is the county Member, a
leading man of his party, at an agricultural dinner;
excuse the comparison—a cock on his own dunghill.
On rising to speak "he was received," as became his
station and character, " with loud and protracted
cheers." He was addressing " a large and influential
portion of the constituency," and had, as he expressed
it, the peculiar pleasure of "making one in this room
with the large portion of the agriculturists of this
county here assembled, mingled as it is this
evening with so many belonging to this opu-
lent and influential town, who are engaged
in other pursuits, trades, and occupations." What a
noble opportunity of eliciting and declaring to the
deluded kingdom the facts of the ease ! Why not
out at once with the rates of wages, summer and
winter, a description of the cottages, and fare, and
other plain realities ? The successful candidates for
the labourers' prizes had each received " a neat and
pretty testimonial, expensively framed and glazed,
to hang up in his cottage !" How complete the
scene would have been if " a neat and pretty "
landlords' testimonial could have been added to the
series !

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

GLOBE.—It was predicted by Peter Plymley,
about 1807, that " we shall live to see the Hampstead
Protestant (Mr. Perceval) pronouncing such extrava-
gant panegyrics upon holy water, and paying
such fulsome compliments to the thumbs and
toes of departed saints, that parties will change
sentiments, and Lord Henry Petty and Sam
Whitbread take a spell at No Popery." Part
of this prophecy we witness at present some-
thing like the fulfilment of. The Times last week
appeared to have had its cue from the Foreign-office
to put forth a feeler on the subject of instituting
diplomatic relations with the Court of Rome, with a
view to obtaining Papal mediation between the Irish
Roman Catholic hierarchy and the Government. Now
we have no objection whatever to friendly relations
with the Court of Rome, nor to the use of its media-
tion in conciliating the Irish Roman Catholic priest-
hood to the civil power. It will be a mistake, how •
ever, in our Government to exaggerate to itself the
effect thereby attainable. The most advantageous
introduction of parties (public or private) to each
other, has little effect, unless their feelings and objects
shall harmonise afterwards. We appreciate the influ-
ence of the See of Rome over its conscientious ad-
herents ; an acknowledged authority is a great matter
to have to point to, on one side or other; and we
have no doubt that this Government would be as
successful as any other in enlisting that authority
on the side of its own just requirements. But we
must not exaggerate the real extent of any ex-
clusively spiritual influence. The Pope's -name
may be a tower of strength ; but the fate of the
tower depends, after all, on the garrison. The Papal
authority will be all-powerful with a local clergy, so
long as it is exerted in accordance with their own
feelings and prospects. But no authority on earth
can produce action contrary to class-instincts. The
University of Oxford declared the duty of passive
obedience, only a year or two before, with the rest of
the Church, it commenced resistance to James the
Second. The advanced guard of Puseyism pro-
claims the sin of schism from the Roman Church
now—but takes it extremely unkind to have the con-
sequent duty urged on it of instant reunion. The
logic of facts, and actual circumstances, is stronger
than that of words. The Times says :
" We shall not attempt to explain by what means in
the present absurd state of the law any intercourse
between the British Government and the Court of
Rome may have taken place. But it is notorious that
such intercourse has taken place at various times ;
and, although the indirect mode in which it must hale
been carried on was unbecoming the great interests
affected by such negotiations, the interests of peace
and conciliation have been no losers by these transac-
tions. We allude to the consent of Rome to the veto,
which was subsequently defeated by the Irish Roman Ca-
tholic laity ; to the influence of the Pope in calming the
excitement of the Canadian insurgents and in proscribing
the slave trade ; and more recently to the sanction which
is understood to have been given to the important
measure just promulgated in Ireland. On these occa-
sions it has been found that the good order and welfare
of the Roman Catholic Church presented no obstacles,
but rather a powerful assistance, to a wise and tolerant
policy in civil government ; and since the laws of this
country have ceased to persecute the Roman Catholics
and to deny their civil existence, there is no secure or
tenable resting-place between that state of things, which
is now passed away, and the recognition of those authori-
ties, to which the Roman Catholic clergy and laity
ascribe a controlling power in the direction of their
spiritual concerr s."
It must be observed, with reference to the above
statement, that if " the interests of peace and concilia-
tion have been no losers" by such transactions as
our Government has hitherto had with the Court
of Rome, neither does it, as yet, clearly appear
that they have b: en any gainers. The Veto [of
Government on the appointment of Irish Roman
Catholic Bishops] was not carried—the revolt of
French Roman Catholic Canada was not prevented.
We do not contend that Papal intervention is of no
use in any such cases, or that (in the existing state of
political powers) it is likely to he used on any side but
on that of order. We only suggest something more
as wanting to the conciliation, by such means, of third
parties—something addressed more directly to the
business and bosoms of those parties themselves. The
Morning chronicle examines, as follows, the ex-
amples of Austria and France, which the Times had
cited :

Practical men always make the best of their way
to the facts of a question. however it may have
been originally started, they try to bring truth out of
it. The truth is the only thing that can really set
it at rest. Few discussions arise out of the love of
truth in the first instance. Inferior motives will take
the lead, and mix themselves with the whole course
of the inquiry. A wise man casts them aside, and
searches for fats. It is but a feminine mode of
debate to descend from a question of fact to a question
of motive, and merely perpetuate a miserable war of
personal recriminations. If it were a sufficient
answer to any considerable statement that there are
interested or malicious reasons for propounding or
believing it, there is an end to all human certainty,
and all exactness of knowledge, for there are few
statements which are not in that predicament.
But, after all, why should we not accept informa-
tion at rival, or even at hostile hands? An external
observer can generally add something to the know-
ledge even of the most experienced men. They
who have lived in a system are, of course, assi-
milated to it. They are reconciled to abuses,
they recognise pretensions, they acquiesce in
seeming impossibilities, they admit apologies, they
yield to partialities, all perhaps grossly at variance
with truth and justice ; and from which a stranger
to the system, without their more practical experi-
ence, is happily exempt. Everybody is keenly alive
to the virtues of his own craft, and the vices of others ;
and so invincible is the bigotry of cast and circum-
stances, that we cannot be too thankful for the light
occasionally communicated by caste to caste, and one
sphere to another. Lord Ashley sees the factory
system with a more bird's-eye view, and to some ex-
tent with a truer view, than the millowners; and
they, on the other hand, can form a judgment on the
agricultural system truer in some important respects
than what the Members for Dorsetshire are likely to
have fallen into.
And if there be something like retaliation, so long
as human nature remains what it is, that is inevitable.
We can only learn to take it easy, and make the best
of it. If Cobden and Co. had begun with agitating
for the labourers of Dorset, sending down commis-
sions, corresponding with the Dorchester unionists,
demanding better pay and better houses, sending an
army of inspectors to pry and peep everywhere, and
stand by on Saturday night, when the labourers were
paid their wages, lugging the names of every town
and village, and every landowner and farmer before
the House of Commons night after night, with no
end of black images, dark apprehensions, and solemn
appeals, it is not unlikely that Mr. Bankes and his
colleague would have made some attempt to transfer
the war of agitation to their enemies' country, and
given the Lancashire gentlemen just a taste of the
evils they were suffering.
Nay, truth itself requires these retaliations. If
one employer charges on another the ill-condition
of his servants, it is quite necessary to inquire,
" How do you manage ?" If a parent censures the
excessive strictness of another's domestic menage,
it is obvious and inevitable to reply, " But 3 our
children are ill-bred." The manufacturer is
charged with working his servants too young, too
much, too carelessly, and so forth. He cannot but
inquire, " How do you contrive to give a sufficiency
of wages to your servants without these acknowledged
evils? You are lavish of your precepts. Show me
your example. now do you actually get over the
difficulties under which the great bulk of mankind are
sentenced to earn their bread ?" Let Mr. Bankes
just for a moment quit the charmed circle of his castle,
his tenantry, and his agricultural meeting, and put
himself in the place of a Manchester manufacturer,
and he will learn to make allowances, and to take
truth even at the mouth of a rival ; at least, to meet
assertions with facts.

" The influence of the Courts of the Tuileries and of
Vienna over their upper clergy does not depend upon
the power of choosing, or forbh!cling to be chosen,
obnoxious persons ; it consists in the Court connexion
with the prelates, generally of noble and courtly families,
in the power of the Governments of France and
Austria at Rome itself—in short, in a host of things
and of patronage to which an English Government
must remain a stranger. We doubt, then, that a
formal alliance or concordat with Rome can convey
to an English Minister an hundredth part of that su-
premacy over the Church, its spirit, and its nomina-
tions, which has been derived apparently from Rome,
and which is wielded by the Catholic Monarchs of Aus-
tria and France. Neither c:oes an English Minister
want that minute power which must be wielded by a
Prussian Minister, who, as yet, has no assistance, from
public opinion in his system of ruling, and who must have
a bridle in every mouth, and that bridle tight drawn, ere
he can feel that he governs at all."

started like lightning, his tail quivering; and now
and then lashing the water into foam, he dashed
at the middle of the seaward belt, which instantly re-
doubled in clamour and in diving, while all from above
harbour came down in full cry. The shark plunged
and then rose, shooting in the violence of action his
whole length above the surface, which glittered like
a flash of silver in the sloping sun. Down again he
went, darting along the line, to the deepest side,
under Fort Amsterdam ; but here the crowd and
noise, the beating of the water with sculls and bars,
was most intense. He came up again, turned
towards the upper harbour, floundered, un-
certain of his purpose, and then started
again, with rapidity to the side where we stood.
Here he nearly grounded, but he fought off; his
speed, however, was exhausted ; he ran a short
way upward, and then, in rather a lubberly way,
came on shore on our side, at a little distance off,
and hardly moved a fin before an axe was lifted, and
his tail cut off. This was the signal for a univer-
sal shout of triumph. He was by no means one of
the largest, measuring something less than 11 feet
in length, but was a true squalus carcharias, or raging
shark, most dreaded by seamen. With all his vora-
city and fierceness, this shark is a real coward, as I
had long before witnessed at Dominica. A
drunken man, floating on the water, was about
to be devoured by one of great size one morn-
ing, while our people were washing the decks, when
four men sprang overboard, and scared him away,
towing the drunken fellow on shore, where they gave
him a sound thrashing by way of caution for the
future. Boats or punts must be kept on shore during
the battle with a shark, because in the violent exer-
tions used, their oars and bottoms might strike the
swimmers or protect the fish.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, Dec. 30.

IN RE ALEXANDER DIRTWIIISTLE BLACRIE.

This insolvent, who has been before the Court se-
veral times, appeared to-day for final judgment. Ile
had been connected with Mr. Stead, the patentee of
wood pavement, and a question was raised on the
character of those relations, himself claiming to have
been licensee of Mr. Stead, and the latter gentleman
asserting that the insolvent was only his agent, and a
debtor to him.

The whole matter had been referred to the Exa-
miner of the Court, who had held numerous meetings,
but had not been able to arrive at anything like a
conclusion. It was then agreed that the insolvent
should give an undertaking to attend before the
Examiner after the release.

Another opposition was gone into, but being merely
an inquiry into accounts, was not, as may easily be
conceived, of the remotest interest to the public.
The insolvent was then discharged.

Ve repeat, we do not undervalue the importance
of enlisting spiritual authority on the side of public
order. It is good fur this at least, if for nothing
more—it deprives disturbers of order of that autho-
rity ; turns it against them, instead of enabling them
to appeal to it in their favour. But no authority,
empty-handed, is really powerful with bodies of men,
unless exercised in coincidence with their own sub-
stantial interests and conditions of existence. The
Court of Rome has had time to learn this, in its long
years of experienced feebleness ; the Court of England
will find it out, if it expects from Rome permanent
opiates for Ireland.

DORSETSHIRE • LABOURERS.
(From the Times.)

A SHARK HUNT AT CURACOA.
The reader will understand the scene which oc-
curred one evening a short time after I had witnessed
a large troop of sable nymphs gamboling in their
favaurite element, and playing their national game
" bob my neighbour's head." This can be
played at only by swimmers, such as they are, who
verily surpass the otter in familiarity with the water.
The joke appears to consist in making a kind of so-
merset dive, so that the heels come up in sight, and
strike the surface forcibly; and the skill of the game
is to time and aim the manoeuvre so dexterously that
they hit the head and neck of another swimmer, who
may, that moment, have just emerged from a plunge,
and is then forcibly, and before breath can be taken,
ducked down again. This feat is sure to raise loud
shouts of laughter from the other porpoises, who are
seen tumbling about, with their tawny soles flickering
above water, in all directions. In a land where cloth•
ing is very scanty, and the sensations produced by
cold water are pleasant, spectators in thousands being
close to the scene, it is no wonder, where all are ex-
pert, that 150 or 200 are excited to plunge in and
partake of the sport. After witnessing from the
balcony the scene just described, I had gone in to
dress, when old Mynheer Van Starkenburg, the
fiscal, or chief justice of the island, came in, request-
ing my company in his boat, to go up the harbour to
his country house, called Buitenzorgh, where I had
not yet been. I was just going to ask for some ex-
planation, when a sudden yelllarose, such a confusion
of shouts and screams, as made me instantly start up
and grasp my sword, intending to rush down and turn
out the guard; for there evidently was some terrible
disaster in occurrence. Before I reached the ante-
chamber, forgetful of the worthy fiscal, I met his
orderly (garde de chasse), a mulatto, adorned with
sword and belt. " Het is een Haayvisch, mynheer,"
said he, taking off his hat, and speaking Dutch, the
official language of Curacoa, the vernacular being
Papiemento, a kind of broken Spanish—" Het is een
Haayvisch" (it is a shark). " Ja," interrupted
Markus, the fiscal's waiting-boy, "een Haayvisch,
oudu de vrouvi en" (a shark among the women).
" The devil," quoth I; " Mr. Fiscal, what can be
done to save these poor girls?" I wondered at the
quiet gravity of my good-natured friend, on this, to
my mind, dangerous occasion. He smiled, and said,
" Oh ! captain, don't be uneasy; but go and see, for
it will be a scene you shall never forget!" and with
these words he came with me to the head of the bal-
cony stairs. It was certainly an exciting moment;
not a man or woman was to be seen on shore ; all
were in the water; all were vociferating and utter-.
ing the most discordant noises imaginable. The
punts were already run on shore, in order to enable
the scullers to partake of the sport; the harbour was
everywhere studded with human heads above water,
forming a kind of shoal ; and a whole dense line of
swimmers barred the entrance from the fort to oppo-
site my house, chiefly and most numerous :ini the
deepest water, which they beat with their hands, and
incessantly diving and plunging, presented a tu-
multuous belt from shore to shore. Some negro
boys and girls attempting to enter, were driven
back by the others, and it was some time before
the real object of excitement could be made out.
I had asked repeatedly, " 'Where is he ?" " Wagt
een heetge, mynheer" (wait a little), was the re-
ply ; and I now perceived, as the fiscal pointed to
the spot, another belt of human swimmers, who had
been roused on the first cry to take the water, and
still more violently engaged. Advancing from the
upper end of the harbour, they prevented the monster
reaching the great ',lagoon, where he would infallibly
have escaped, and drove him down within the narrow
space between the houses. There were troops of vocifer-
ous swimmers divided into bands, advancing and pur-
suing, until my eye caught sight of the great dorsal
fin of the fish, which, it was now evident, was in
utter dismay, shooting rapidly from space to space, en-
deavouring to swim low beneath the surface ; but
even eight or nine fathoms of depth left him no pas-
sage. Men and women, in whole masses, darted
down in the deep and scared him upward. Once he
made a dash to pass under the piles of Mr. Basden's
wharf, and got entangled. I could see him struggle
to get free, and effect it ; but, furious in his rage, it
was visible that he was blown. He now made
no further efforts under water, swimming half his
back high above the surface ; once or twice he lay
motionless, his snout and eyes quite visible, and
seemingly deliberating upon a fierce resolve. But
500 n he was roused by a troop coming on him; he

Mr. Bankes seems resolved that the condition-of-
the-labourer controversy shall not close for the season
without leaving a nest-egg for future discussions.
On Saturday week the Blandford Agricultural
Society held their annual meeting, and reviewed the
agricultural year in some speeches marked, on the
whole, by good sense awl good feeling. The speakers
appeared to be practical men, with no other object
than to improve land, increase produce, and better the
landlord, tenant, and labourer. Mr. Bankes was the
only exception to the practical tone of the meeting.
Either relying on the unassailable strength of his
cause, or buoyed up by those peculiar encouragements
which are sure to meet a wealthy landlord and in-
fluential man in his own neighbourhood, he under-
took to account for the disagreeable circumstance of
Dorsetshire having just now rather a bad name in the
kingdom at large.
That it has a bad name is not disputed. Other
counties possess claims to notice, but Dorsetshire ap-
pears to receive it. Notwithstanding the fires of
Suffolk, the occasional riots of Wales, the strikes of
Durham, the overwork of Lancashire, and the con-
centrated miseries of the metropolis, yet destitution
and degradation cannot be mentioned without the
min'l naturally turning to Dorsetshire. The Dorset-
shire labourer, Dorsetshire wages, Dorsetshire cot-
tages, Dorsetshire parish houses, Dorsetshire bed-
rooms, Dorsetshire &populations, are becoming almost
household words. We have Cheshire cheese, Devon-
shire cream, Norfolk turkeys, Essex calves, Wiltshire
bacon, and other provincial delicacies. But for
large families, existing on Bs., or even 7s. a week
for undrained mud floors for a dozen or more of all
sexes and ages in one bedi-rw.m, for every other form
of squalid brutish degradation, we go to Dorsetshire.
The opinion may be absolutely unfounded, but still it
is universal. Dorsetshire, justly or unjustly, has fur-
nished a type of agricultural misery. There is a
poetry in the human mind which naturally leans to
locality and circumstance. We are slow to conceive
and rt.member what we have not invested with familiar
place and form. So it is with the greatest facility
that the popular intellect has imbibed the idea of that
almost dramatic character, a Dorsetshire labourer.

To this opinion Mr. Bankes addressed himself at
Blandford last Saturday, and proceeded—not to
confute it—not to deny any one of the allegations
on which it was maintained--not to advance a single
fact of a contrary char icter; but to point out how
such an opinion might possibly have spread, and that
its prevalence did not necessarily involve its truth.
" The Dorset labourer his obtained a very pro-
minent situation in the public eye. Whether
we grieve cr rejoice as; it, such is the fact, and
it does not become us to shrink from it. The
reason for the peculiar notoriety of the Dorset
labourer, I believe, may he just7y attributed to some
public transactions which I will slightly allude to.
They are transactions which convey no discredit to
this county ; two transactions, in particular, I refer
to." The first of.these is the prosecution of some
Dursetshire labourers twelve or fourteen years since
for illegal combination ; and the other is one of more
recent date, which, as far as it goes, we agree with
Mr. Bankes in considering very honourable to the
county—viz , the prominent part taken by Lord
Ashley in th© factory question
:
"I have conscientiously given my support to the
Noble Lord, and, as a humble supporter of him, I am
sure we had no idea of making an attack upon any
one, or accusing any one of cruelty and harshness.
We did consider, on full consideration of this very
delicate question, that some interposition might be
safely applied, but without the remotest idea of in-
flicting any injury on any other interest, and without
the slightest intention of casting any slur upon any
member of a different class. We sustained that
question, and. shall sustain it still; but it is from that
cause that the Dorsetshire labourer is brought for-
ward, and his case stated to be one of peculiar hard-
ship, peculiar neglect, and peculi it abuse, contrary,
I'll venture to say, to the facts of the case, and, I be-
lieva, contrary to the knowledge of those who thus
venture to state them."

rint SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVEN .NG, DECEMBER 31, 1344.

in this manner. He should commit the prisoner for one
month to hard labour.—Committed accordingly.

G'LERKEN WELL.

Caroline Sullivan, of No 1, George's-yard, St.
Luke's, was fined 251., or three months' imprisonment,
for hawking spirits without a license.
_Elizabeth Philips, a comely looking person, aged
eighteen, who described herself as a silkwinder, was
charged with stealing a watch, the property of a re-
spectable tradesman living in Clerkenwell, named
Fenwick.

Mr. Fenwick deposed that on Friday night last, he
with his wife went to Sadler's Wells Theatre, and
whilst standing at the door waiting for admission the
prisoner came up, and two or three times pushed
against him.
Prisoner (crying, and with great earnestness)-
-You are mistaken. Sir. I declare solemnly you are
mistaken. I was at home the whole of that night.
The proAecutor, however, was positive as to her
identity, and went on to say, that when he went into
the theatre he misses] his watch. Last night he saw
her at the door of the theatre again, and she seemed
anxious to avoid him ;he gave h-r into c ustody.
Mrs. Fenwick corroborated her husband's testimony.
Prisoner—Why, my God ! several peodle will come
forward to prove I was at home all Friday evening.
At the tims this gentleman and lady speak of I was
fetching a pint of beer for my father from the Swan
public-house, in li:rate-etre-A. Send for Mr. Flyer,
the landlord. Oh, do pray, Sir, do, for I a•n innocent.
Police-sergeant Allen said that the girl who was
al prehended at the door of the theatre on Saturday
evening was searched at the stati'n-house, hut nothing
was found on her. She begged of Mr. Fenwick not
to press the charge.
Prisoner—l did ask him, for I never was locked up
before, and I was frightened. There is a witness at
the door.

A decent-looking man, named Smith, was called
in, whom the girl said would swear she was at home
the whole of Friday evening. lie was not examined.
The girl was remanded until past tw o'clock for
the attendalice of Reynolds, the constable of the
theatre, but when that officer came he said he never
saw her before. The police knew nothing to her
prejudice, and said she had lived with her father in
th! same place for the last seven years.
Mr. GaßuswooD discharged the girl, telling her to
be cautious how she visited theatres in future.

STATE OF THE COTTON TRADE

(From the Liverpool Albion of yesterday.)

The annual circulars of the cotton-brokers, showing
the import:, &c., during the year commencing on the
Ist of January and ending on the 21st of December,
will be made up tomorrow. It may be useful,
meanwhile, to extract from their circulars the amount
of the business transacted in the staple up to the 27th
instant, four days only within the close of the cur-
rent year.
IMPORT.—The returns of the import of cotton from
the Ist of January to the 27th of December instant,
show, as compared with the import in the corre-
spondent period of 1843, a decrease to the extent of
, 74,290 bales, the amount in the respective years being
' 1,477,537 bales this, against 1,551,827 bales last year.
In 1843, up to the 22d of December, there was an
increase in the import beyond that of the preceding
year of 322,024 bales.
EXPORT.—The export of cotton has increased by
4,870 bales as compared with the years 1842 and
1843, between which there was but an extremely
slight difference. Up to the 27th instant the export
amounted to 67,060 bales, against, same date last year,
62,190 bales.
TAKEN FOR CONSUMPTION.—The large increase on
this head in the years 1842 and 1843 has again been
experienced, though, certainly, not by any means to
the same extent. Spinners generally, however, have
held back until lately. On Saturday week and Mon-
day last the sales were enormously large, amounting
to not less than 15,000 bales each day, showing an
extraordinary activity in manufactures at this, which
is generally the dullest season of the year. The re-
turns for 1842 showed an increase of 57,500 bales,
those for fifty-one weeks of 1843 an increase of
185,100 bales, and now there is again an in-
crease, in the period between the Ist of January and
the 27th instant, as compared with the correspondent
period of last year, of 25,700 bales, the figures being
1,330,400 bales this, against 1,313,700 bales last year.
The average weekly consumption, of course, also
shows an increase, being, this year, about '26,000
bales, while, last year, it was about 25,147 bales.
STOCK.—With a decrease in the import of 74,290
bales, an increase in the exports of 4,870 bales, and
an increase in the quantity taken for consumption
of 25,700 bales, making a total drain, as we may
term it, upon the stock here of 104,860 bales,
there was, on the 27th of December instant, the
large increase on the head of stock of 101,000
bales as compared with the correspondent period in
1843, the stock being, on the 27th instant, 725,100
bales, against 624,100 bales on the same date last
year. This is accounted for by the fact that we com-
menced the present year with a much larger stock
than in the previous year.
FORWARDED UNSOLD.—This head shows a de-
crease, this year, of 42,240 bales, the quantity for-
warded unsold this year being 24,060 bales, against
76,300 bales last year.
TAKEN ON SPECULATION...--AS compared with last
year, the operations of speculators show a decrease of
13,600 bales. Up to the 27th instant they had taken
476,600 bales, against, up to the same date, 490,200
bales.
PRlCES.—Prices have been low.

RIOTS IN MONTREAL-ANOTHER
MAN SHOT.

(From a Montreal Paper.)
We briefly announced in our last number the death
of one man (Finnell) from the effects of a pistol-shot
received on Friday night. Great excitement pre
vailed on Saturday and Sunday, in the immediate
neighbourhood of his residence, and the municipal
elections on Monday appear to have increased it
throughout the city. After recording the circum-
stances attending the death of Finnell, the Gazette of
Tuesday gives the following account of the proceed-
ings on Monday, which corroborates our own Cor-
respondent's letter :
" The next day (Monday) was the day of the mu-
nicipal elections, and that event did not tend to allay
the excitement. We may as well observe that all the
interest of the day centred in the Queen's Ward. In
the St. Lawrence Ward Mr. Glennon was returned ;
in St. Mary's' Mr. Garrie ; in Centre, Mr. Footner ;
in West, Mr. Lyman—all on the Conservative inte-
rest, and with little or no opposition ; and in East
Ward, Mr. Perrin on the other interest. In Queen's
Ward, Mr. Routh was the Conservative candidate,
and was opposed by Mr. J. E. Mills. The diturb-
ance commenced almost as soon as the poll was
opened. A body of Irish labourers took possession
of the front of the polling place, which was merely a
window in a house. They were charged by a num-
ber of the other party on horseback and on foot, and
driven back. Some severe injuries were received on
both sides. But two or three shots, some say more,
were fired into the streets and from windows of
houses in the neighbourhood. By these one man
was wounded rather severely, but it is hoped not
dangerously, in the neck, and one or two others it is
said, but of that we are not so sure, slightly.
This was, as nearly as we can make out, about
ten o'clock ; and a detachment of artillery having
been called out and stationed near the poll, every-
thing went on pretty quietly, and the polling was
rapid, Mr. Mills leading.
About one O'clock Mr. Routh's voters mustered
strong, and Mr. Mills's seemed exhausted, for, in the
course of the next hour the former shot rapidly a-head,
and continued to do so until the close of the poll, when
we believe his majority was 101.
It was towards three o'clock, we believe, that a
most shocking affair occurred. We had quitted the
polling place at two, after giving our own vote,
without any obstacle except the presence of a not
at all ill-humoured crowd of persons with the
same object. No one could have the least suspicion
of the terrible scene about to take place. After some
experience of election riots and of the difficul-
ties of giving a consistent account of them, we must
say that we never met with one in which the accounts
were so conflicting and at variance in material facts.
To write a party account, a mere one-sided invention,
would be very easy, but to state the mere truth and
nothing more is a very difficult matter. So far as
we can learn, an opinion prevailed that a house, occu-
pied by a person named Brennan, and from which it
was said shots had been fired, contained persons
pledged, and armed for the purpose, to take " blood
for blood" for the death of Finnell. In this excited
state of feeling shots were fired from that house, and
one near it, on the Constitutional party, and two of
these took effect, one wounding a young gentleman
very severely in the back. This led to an attack on the
houses, which were defended by a numerous body of
men, principally, we are informed, canallers, and armed
with fire. arms. Several shots were fired, one of which
took fatal effect on the person of a young man named
Johnson, son of Mr. Johnson, cabinet-maker, Great
St. James's-street. He was shot with two balls,
which entered each side of the chest, and killed him
almost instantaneously. The noise of the conflict
brought the military to the spot, and the persons
within continuing to fire, several volleys of musketry
were fired into the two houses, and the soldiers
charging took prisoners all who occupied them. These
having taken their post in the cellar had escaped
the musket balls. We are told (though for this fact
we do not vouch, but we state it as it comes to us
from a credible source), that among them are several
of the witnesses on the inquest on Finnell and a near
relation. _ _ _ _ _

" With this sad affair the day closed. Mr. Johnson
has left a widow and three children. Finnell has also
left a widow and young family. A grate question
arises—what is to be done ? It is impossible that
such a state of s ,ciety as now exists in Montreal can
continue."

A private letter from Montreal says :
"Never did I witness such a scene as yesterday
presented, and, for the credit of my country, I pray
never to see the like again. The municipal election
for Queen's Ward was going on, and hundreds of
canallers abandoned their works and came into town
to carry the election of their candidate, J. E. Mills,
by force. They were well armed with fire-
arms, bludgeons, and stones, and took possession
of the polls. The several L.P.S.' associations came
down, both horse and foot, and drove them, after a
desperate fight, from the ground, and along the
neighbouring streets. I heard pistol shots firing in
all directions, and the S.'s,' on returning,
showed marks of the deadly nature of the struggle.
I saw a fine young man, a son of It Griffin, Esq.,
notary public, most awfully injured by blows on the
face and head, and another poor fellow was shot
through the neck, and has since died. A youth, of
the name of Johnston, was fired at from a house, and
killed on the spot ; and when the 93d attacked this
building, its inmates had the hardihood to fire upon
them. They were all taken prisoners, and although
none were killed, some showed most ghastly tokens
of the rough handling the enraged troops gave them."

ORDER RESTORED AT
MOGADORE.

Our attention has been called by the gentleman
who supplied us with our previous intelligence from
Mogadore, to an official communication which has
been received from her Majesty's Consul-General at
Tangier, an.l published in the Gibraltar Chronicle of
the 6th December.

The new Governor of Mogadore, El Arby Terms,
writes thus, under date of 22d November :
" Praise be to God. There is no force or power
but in God. We have received your letter, and
understood its contents ; and the European merchant,
William Grace, your agent, in the port of Sweera
(Nlogadore), and its vicinity, has arrived.
"He (Mr. Grace) has found that the town is
inhabited, and that the market is plentiful and well
supplied from all the vicinity, and the government is
restored as it was before, and better; and that ships
are beginning to come to the happpy and prosperous
port. May God prosper it, and increase its welfare !
Amen."

Mr. Grace had been able to confirm the above
welcome intelligence. The Governor had preceded
him by a few days, and restored order. The re-
establishment of the British flag was hailed with
satisfaction by many, who had not been content to
remain, without the assurance so given that tran-
quillity was to be depended upon. Mr. G. writes—
" The Sultan is proceeding slowly, but surely, in
arresting those of the authorities of the town and
provinces, who either had a hand in the plunder, or
did net attempt to stop the ravages at the time of the
bombardment, and in punishing the tribes who, by
that conduct and plunder of their brethren, placed
themselves without the pale of Islamism.
" The native Jew merchants had not yet returned
from Morocco (city), but were daily expetted ; the
market was well attended, and most of the Moorish
inhabitants had come back."
The accounts in our last number were dated Oc-
tober, fully one month earlier. It is understood to
have been the indirect character of the reports hitherto
received, the uncertainty as to whether Mogadore
was yet re-inhabited, and the difficulty of obtaining
favourable opportunities of freight, which prevented
an earlier transmission of the aid collected here. A
large quantity of rice, and clothing materials for both
sexes, have been prepared for sending.—Voice of
Jacob.

MITIGATION OF THE RUSSO-
POLISH CONSCRIPTION.