The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-05 00:00:00

DUTCH MAIL.

THE HAGUE, JULY I.—His Majesty, by a resolution of
the 16th of last month, has given the necessary authority to
the War Department to call into active service, by the Ist
September next, the militia of the levies of 1841 and 1842,
who are at their respective homes on indefinite furloughs, to
attend the autumnal exercise for one month.

VENLOO, JUNE 30.—The inhabitants of Maestricht have
no hopes of obtaining a railway to Aix-la-Chapelle, with a
branch to Kerkrade. A company is ready to undertake the
work at its own expense, if the Government will grant it the
coal mine of Kerkrade for a certain number of years. If it
is true, as is affirmed, that these coal mines cause more loss
than gain to the State every year, why not give them up,
and thus obtain an iron railway, which may be of great im-
portance to Maestricht and the province of Limburg.
A deputation from the Chamber of Commerce of Antwerp
has waited on the King, at Brussels, and presented to his Ma-
jesty, on the 30th of June, an address, requesting that on the
project of law on the differential duties the following items
may be suppressed :-
1. The regulation which prohibits ships from touching at
Cowes.

2. That relative to the privilege granted to Holland to
import seven million pounds of Java coffee.
3. That which raises the duty on coffee to 25 francs,
instead of 15 francs, as asked by the Chamber of Commerce
of Antwerp.
In case these three paragraphs should be retained, the
deputation expressed a wish that the project of law might
not receive the royal sanction.
The King seemed much, struck with the arguments pro-
duced, and promised that the address should be maturely
considered by him, and then laid before the Council of
Ministers.

VISIT 01' HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT
TO THE SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.--His Royal
Highness Prince Albert, accompanied by Col. Bouverie,
visited these gardens yesterday, expressly to see the
grand model of " London in the Olden Time," with
which his Royal Highness was extremely delighted, and
condescendingly remarked to the proprietor that it was
perfect. After visiting the collection of animals his
Royal Highness left, expressing his intention of a speedy
renewal of his visit.
The Bishop of Cashel and family, the Rev. J. West-
brecht and family, Major Bond, and Sir Joseph de
Conray La ffar embarked yesterday morning on board
the General gteam Navigation Company's steam-ship
Soho, for Antwerp.
COURT or COMMON COUNClL.—Yesterday a Court
was held for the dispatch of public business. Mr. R.
Taylor rose to state, that the subject of opening letters
at the Post-office having been referred to a Committee
of the House of Commons, there no longer existed any
occasion for the interference of the Corporation, by pe-
tition, relative to a matter of such public importance. If
that course had not been adopted, the question would
certainly have been brought on in that Court.—(Hear,
hear.) Mr. King was glad,that gentlemen had been so
prudent as to drop the thought of petitioning on the
subject. Mr. Ashurst hoped that the Committee would
be, not a private, but a public Committee.---(Cries of.
"Hear, hear,"and "No, no.") Mr. Wire was surprised to
hear any one express a negative on a question so deeply
affecting the commercial community.
It was stated on Wedriesday, among parties interested
in the new and important trade in Guano, that the chemical
secret of Dalmas relates to a substitute for that powerful
fertilizer, and that it has been purchased by a leading firm
the guano line.
LOCAL NEGLECT IN WALES.—(From a Cor-
respondent.)—Whenever anything is proposed having a
practical bearing upon the good of the community in
the principality of Wales, it is sure to be opposed
be some of the local magistrates. The pretence ge-
nerally put forward is either a wish to serve the
poor, or to save the county purse. The factious
opposition made to the honest working of the new
poor-law-is an instance of the former, and the resist-
ance that has been offered in the counties of Carnarvon
and Anglesey to the erection of a lunatic asylum for
North Wales is an instance of the later. The expense
has been made the ground of not appointing a
keeper to a new lockrup house at Bangor, and the
state of the old one is as follows :—lt is composed of
two rooms on the ground floor, each eight feet long,
six feet wide, and seven feet high ; in one corner
of each there is a hole, without any covering, used as
• privy by the prisoners, as well as by the man who
keeps it, his wife, a grown up son, an adult lunatic, and
two pauper children. For nearly twelve months pre-
ceding the sth of last April, the straw put for prisoners
to lie on had not been changed. The situation of the
building is at the side of a steep-hill ;in wet weather
the water oozes through the walls, and makes the straw
as wet as dung. During the last two months of dry
weather no water ran through the sinks or privies, and
the collection of human excrement produced stench
unbearable.

LAUGHABLE MISTAKE.—A carrier in this neigh-
bourhood recently had to convey a barrel of Roman ce-
ment to a gentleman, and a barrel of guano to a farmer,
each of which he delivered to the wrong party. A plas-
terer commenced preparing the guano, which was given
to him as Roman cement, and, after much difficulty,
owing to the bad smell, he succeeded in plastering a few
yards of the gentleman's house, but the stench becoming
past his endurance, he called out to the gentleman, and
said, " I am very sorry, but I must beg of you to get
some other person to finish this job, for I never met with
such Roman cement before. I am quite sick. and the
smell will poison me if I go on ; besides (continued the
plasterer), did you ever see Roman cement so ?"
The gentleman said there must be some mistake, for it
'evidently was not cement, and accompanied the plasterer
to the carrier's, where they found the farmer complain-
ing about the barrel of stuff that he had got. It was like
sand, but when mixed with water, it turned into stone,
and would flag his field instead of making the grass grow
almost as quick as winking, as he was told this new ma-
nure would do. His man had mixed water with some of
it and spread it out, and on returning a short time after-
wards, he found the stuff as hard as a flag, and came to
him-in breathless haste, saying, " mestur, I nevvur seed
sitch muck in aw my loife as yon new gunno muck, for I
mixt sum on't whe whattur, un its torned into a flag ;
hin hittle mak' Bras gro hittle mak' out gro." " Oh ! (ex-
claimed the plasterer), that must be the Roman cement,
and I have been mixing up your guano instead of it."
The mistake of the carrier was rectified, and the parties
returned home.—Boltou Free Press.

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CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.—I have heard some
very extraordinary cases of murder tried. I remember,
in one where I was counsel, for a long time the evidence
did not appear to touch the prisoner at all, and he
looked about him with the most perfect unconcern,
seeming to think himself quite safe. At last the surgeon
was called, who stated deceased had been killed by a
shot, a gun-shot, in the head, and he produced the
matted hair and sniff cat from and taken out of the
wound. It was all hardened with blood. A basin of

warm water was brought into court, aud, as the blood
was gradually softened, a piece of printed paper ap-
peared—the wadding of the gun, which proved to be
half of a ballad. The other half had been found in the
man's pocket when he was taken. lie was hanged.—
Lord Eldon's Note Book, quoted in. the Quarterly.