The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-28 00:00:00

..,,, L03.4Y1:6i4, SATURDAY EVEN NG, DECEMBER 2B 1344.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM Till iIIoRNING perrriS F THIS DAt.

CITY, FRIDAY EVENING.

TIMES.—We have received a communication from
Messrs. Rogers, Olding, Co., stating that the night fol-
lowing the robbery committed oti their premises, Mr.
Hobler dispatched his prititipal clerk to the Continent,
to stop the circulation of the stolen notes, and that that
gentleman has just returned, after having visited the
chief commercial cities of France, Belgium, Holland, and
Germany, in all of which the various bankers, money-
changers, tavern-keepers, and traders have been served
with notices, legally authenticated, so as to render any
one of them " who," as it is said, " might unfortunately
change a note " personally liable for the loss of the
amount. The communication concludes by adding—
" Independent of this, the assistance of the British Con-
sulates and police of each town has been readily and
extensively given in furtherance of the object." The
gentleman who undertook this task must have had a
very arduous duty to perform, and the only wonder is,
how, in the course of so short a time, he was able to
surmount all difficulties, and get the entire communities
of the places he visited so securely within the grasp of
the law as the statement above alluded to would lead us
to suppose. It therefore appears that no clue to the
robbery or the disposal of the proceeds has at present
been traced. One thing is commonly noticed in respect
to this matter, which has afforded much room for com-
ment, and that is, that little or nothing is heard of the
activity of the Forresters in the business.
Annexed are seine remarks made by a correspondent
on the new Royal Exchange, which, aa they refer to an
inconvenience capable of a very simple and easy remedy,
will no doubt have attention paid to them :
" On a visit to the Royal Exchange I was astonished
to find the entrances were without doors, and that a
sharp current of air must be produced even on a calm
day.
It is true the old building had four entrances in the
same position, but they were protected by doors, which
were occasionally shut, and Sweeting's-alley and Castle-
court have vanished into open space.
" Pray call the attention of the authorities and the
public to this evil, and I am sure its cure will save the
lives of many."
The returns of the circulation of the private and joint-
stock banks in England and Wales for the four weeks
ending Nov. 16, 23, and 30, and Dec. 7, as published in the
Gazettes, when added together, form the aggregate cir-
culation of the month ending the 7th December instant,
and give an average circulation as follows :
Private Banks £4,437,557
Joint-stock banks

Total average of private notes in Eng-
land and Wales
On a comparison with the return for the month ending
the 9th of November, this shows—
A decrease in the notes of private banks of £197,484
A decrease in the notes of joint stock banks of 141,611

Total decrease last month £339,095
And as compared with the month ending the 9th of
December, 1843, it shows—
A decrease in the notes •f private banks of £95,491
A decrease in the notes of joint-stack banks of 82,473
Total decrease as compared with the
same period last year ...
The fixed issue allowed by law to the private and
joint-stock banks in England and Wales, as given in the
Banking Almanack for 1845, is as follows ;
Private banks allowed to issue £5,153,407
Joint-stock banks allowed to issue

Total £8,648,853
From a comparison of this statement with the above
monthly averages, it appears that the
Private banks are below their allowed issue £715,850
Joint-stock banks below their allowed issue 416,886

Total below the fixed issue £1,132,736
A few banks hare made arrangements for issuing
Bank of England notes since the publication of their
fixed issue in the Gazettes, and this causes the fixed
amount as quoted monthly in the Bankerb' Magazine to
be somewhat under the limit above stated.
HERALD.—Money continues in great abundance in
proportion to the demand, and first, and oven a good
deal of what is usually considered second-class paper,
is discounted daily below the Bank of England rate.
The consequence is, that all descriptions of solid secu-
rities are buoyant, and, as customary in such a state
of things, speculators take the advantage, and extend
the stimulus to many that hare no solid foundation
whatever.

CHRONICLE.—An opinion is entertained amongst
those interested in the proposed lines of railway, that the
Government intends to issue a Crown commission, for
the purpose of instituting an investigation, by commis
sioners possessed of adequate practical knowledge of rail-
way science, into the merits of each line, including the
probable cost of construction, taking into view the loca-
lities through which they would pass, the public advan-
tages which would result from their formation, the in-
fluence which they would produce on capital invested in
the competing lines, the reduction in fares, and all rela-
tive contingencies. The adoption of such a step would be
tantamount to a supersedence of the functions of the Rail-
way Department of the Board of Trade, and would be
attended with an inconvenient delay and suspension of
railway business in Parliament, as the various Commit.-
tees, to whom the immense mass of applications for new
lines must be referred, could not usefully proceed
with their labours until such time as the report of
the supposed commission was placed before them.
The appointment of such a commission has,
probably, been suggested by the apprehensions
entertained respecting the fitness and qualifications
of the gentlemen forming the railway department of the
Board of Trade, to discharge with efficiency the im-
portant duties confided to them. The reasons which
have caused so much anxiety in the public mind on this
subject are now familiar to those interested. As they
do not take due evidence, nor can be supposed to have
examined personally the districts through which the new
lines are to be made, it is to be feared that a report
emanating from such sources cannot be the groundwork
for solid and impartial legislation. These objections are
not without weight. A report from the Board of Trade
hostile to any of the numerous competing lines, either
as respects the sufficiency of the estimates, the engineering
difficulties or other points, adopted without personal exa-
mination, and based upon no other evidence than the plans
and sections, or other voluntary information given by its
promoters, may be attended with much injustice. A fa-
vourable report upon any particular line, grounded upon
such incomplete materials, may be also equally unjust,
and it is not enough to know that such injustice or de-
fects in the report of the Board of Trade may be reme-
died before a Committee of the House of Commons. The
parties concerned have that tribunal open to them, it
is true, but they would appear before it in a disabled
state, and would incur much labour and expense in re-
covering their position. But the railway department of
the Board of Trade are; no doubt; perfectly aware of all
this, and will make it their study to avoi4 any statement
in their report which is not based upon corroborative
facts. They must set furth in the preamble of their
report, or in att appendix; a succinct account of the data
on which it is drawn up, and should it appear that their
conclusions are not warranted by the premises, full oppor-
tunity will be afforded to those who may have reason to
complain, to take steps in order to get the obnoxious
passages expunged.
It would be premature to condemn the powers granted
to the board of Trade with respect to railways,
before we have seen how they perform their work.
That they are entrusted With extraordinary powers,
and that immense interests are intolted in the stakes
which they have in their hands; is a truth well known,
and must hate impressed those who hold the scales with
a deep sthse Of the responsibility which attaches to their
office. There is every reason to suppose that.they are
fully alite to its importance; and we shall therefore ab-
stain from pre-judging the manner in which they may
execute the duties entrusted to their keeping. If no such
tribunal had been established; had no preliiiiinary forms,
at least in the shape of provisional registration and de-
posits on shares, been enforced by Parliament, it is very
plain that; during the prevailing thirst for speculation
whiCh hits ekisted for sothe tithe past; thilltitudes of vi-
sionary schemes and bubble companies would have been
set on foot, and a monetary crisis, accompanied by the
usual disastrousrevulsions; would have been experienced,
which has been pretented j and fot this escape from
panic the public is much indebted to the stringent action
of the Legislature; through the authority assigned to the
Board of Trade Di the last session of Parliament.

ABUSED PORTUGAL.
TO THE EDITOR OP THE SUN.

SlR,—Although an Englishman, conceding to no
one a greater love of his country than I am proud to
cherish, I have resided one half of my life in Portu-
gal, from whence I have but lately returned; and I
hate been much surprised to observe how much of
fallacy and misrepresentation, in respect of the affairs
of Portugal, finds its way into the newspapers, which
I ascribe to the proneness of correspondents to disre-
gard the golden rule of " the Duke," which enjoins
that no one meddle with subjects that he does not
understand.

Considering that long experience of the commerce
of Portugal may exempt me from the danger of any
undue meddling, I venture to addre•is you on the sub-
ject of that trade, in respect of which, above all other
trades, it appears to me that the British public has
been most grossly abused; and I am induced so to
address you by the strange assertions of the City
Article of The Sun of Tuesday last.
That article complains that the Queen of Portugal,
in the recent speech closing the Cortes at Lisbon, said
not one word on the subject of any alteration in the
tariff duties, as affecting: British manufactures ; and
further pretends that " Great Britain bas made con-
cessions in favour of the wines and other produce of
Portugal, whose Government seems doggedly disposed
to make no return."

As to concessions in favour of the wines of Portu-
gal, the only one ever made was in the year 1703,
when in return for the admission to consumption in
Portugal of British woollens, the wines of Portugal
were favoured by a reduction of one-third from the
rate of duty paid on the wines of France.
But no further concession was made in favour of
Portugal wines by the treaty of 1810, which opened
the vast market of Brazil to British commerce at a
time that the " Continental system" gave a tenfold
value to any new market for our manufactures, which
were admitted then, for the first time, into Brazil at
the low duty of 15 per cent. ad valorem, while 30 per
cent. was levied on the manufactures of all other
countries.

By that treaty Great Britain enjoyed for a con-
siderable number of years a monopoly of the Portugal
and Brazilian markets, which she knew not how to
appreciate, but became enamoured of a restless theory,
professing, and only professing, the principles of free
trade, which her practice broadly contradicts, from a
want of courage to fellow out those great principles.
In 1831 the partial advantage formerly conceded
to Portugal wines was wholly rescinded, when those
of France were allowed to enter at nominally the
same rate of duty ; but this apparent equalisation of
the duty has the effect of a most onerous differential
duty on the wines of Portugal.
The present impost of ss. 9d. per gallon is only
45 per cent. on the value of the wines :of France, the
consumption of which is confined to the rich and the
luxurious ; while it amounts to 150 per cent. on the
value of Portugal wines, which are chiefly consumed
by the industrious middling classes, who appreciate
the invigorating quality of the generous wines of
Oporto, which in spite of all the caprice of fashion,
and the suggestions of prejudice, are still acknow-
ledged to be the best tonic and restorative for the sick.
Thus it will be seen that Portugal wines, so far
from enjoying any favour, are actually charged with
more than treble the amount of duty paid on the
wines of France, on a comparison of their respective
market value! Notwithstanding this crying injus-
tice, Portugal still admits at feasible rates of duty
not only the produce of the British fisheries, of which
she imports 12,000 tons annually from Newfoundland,
but almost every article, from the rudest to the most
finished of our manufactures; while France, on the
contrary, almost confines her importations to the
very first conversions of our industry, such as linen,
yarns, cotton-twist, pig-iron, cake-copper, and coals,
so indispensable to her own manufactures, and klarge
amount of our invaluable machinery.
The great increase of our exports to France, con-
sisting chiefly of such articles as I have enumerated, so
far from being a subject of gratulation, only proves
her gigantic progress in the march of competition,
which in competition with the Zollverem threatens to
exclude us from the markets of Europe; while the
growing industry of the United States is already un-
dermining our commerce in the Pacific and Eastern
Oceans.
After this statement, the accuracy of which I am
prepared to demonstrate, I would ask, where is the
justice or the policy of these unceasing attempts to
excite in the public mind a prejudice against Por-
tugal, whose trade with us is pining for want of
those reciprocal modifications of tariffs which were
stipulated for by the treaty of 1842 ?
Do the markets of Portugal become less important
to us, in proportion as hostile competition is extending
itself on every hand ; or, will her harbours be less
valuable to our naval interests and security, when
prostrate Spain shall have closed her ports, and the
Mediterranean be converted into a French lake?
I would desire to meddle with nothing beyond my
province, and to confine myself to the mere question
of trade ; but the correspondent of The Sun bas
made a sickly appeal to the " sympathy due to an
Old Ally, who at a vast expense of blood and treasure
defended the interests of Portugal."
1 shall only reply to such puling remarks by re-
ferring to the Treaty of Alliance, offensive and defen-
sive, which still subsists between England and Por-
tugal ; and without ascribing the magnitude of our
efforts in Portugal to the obligations of that treaty,
I would ask, whether any other theatre could have
been found, more favourable than the Peninsula,
whereon to enact at a distance from our own shores,
the horrors of war, in defence of British interests,
against the overwhelming influence of Napoleon ?
I would presume to ask " the Duke," whose love
of manly truth is so well known, and who can best
answer whether our allies of Portugal then proved
faithless ; or, whether the generous bands that tra-
versed her mountains to co-operate in the rescue of
the Peninsula failed to contribute to his triumphs on
the plains of Salamanca and Vittoria?
Let him say, who so long suffering under every
privation as the Portuguese soldier ; who so docile
under foreign command, and so enduring under the
rigour of an unwonted discipline, which might have
been considered the more intolerable as being foreign ;
who braver than they whose generous emulation so
largely contributed to that devotion and efficiency of
the allied army, which enabled the Duke to say " he
could go anywhere and do anything with such an
army," with which at length he dissipated the op-
pressors of the Peninsula I
Finally, I would presume to ask his Grace calmly
to reconsider the claims of Portugal to a more
equitable regulation of her commerce with England,
and to inspire his colleagues with the desire to do
justice to such claims, with more of generosity rather
than of neglect, in proportion as the claimant is
thought to be weak and powerless.
The Government of Portugal has made every effort
to meet the claims of her foreign creditors, while her
domestic creditors, the unhappy holders of the Go-
vernment paper-money, which formerly constituted
one-half of the circulation of Portugal, receive neither
principal nor interest upon an enormous amount of
that paper-money, which was withdrawn from circu-
lation in 1833, upon a promise of redemption which
has never been fulfilled.
It requires only better information, and a more
dispassionate consideration of the conduct and affairs
of Portugal, to ;arrive at a conviction of her good
faith towards England, as evinced by the preceding
statement, which should be viewed in contrast with
the conduct of the repudiating States, before we exact
from suffering and abused Portugal the full penalty
of our bond. MERCATOR.
London, Dec. 26, 1844.

QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE.
IMPORTANT DECISION RELATING TO THE
ROYAL RESIDENCE AT WINDSOR.
WINDSOR, FRIDAY EVENING.—For a period of up-
wards of four hundred iyears, persons residing within the
precincts of Windsor Castle have not only been consi-
dered to be privileged from arrest for debt, but their
goods and chattels have also been considered quite as i
secure as their persons from civil process. From a
knowlcdge of this fact, many "gentlemen in difficulties,"
acid ladies too, are constantly in the habit of taking
houses or securing lodgings within the privileged circle.
A short time since, however, a gentleman who resided
in the Regent's Park took up his abode at one of the
military knight's houses, and about a fortnight ago be
*as visited by one of the officers of the Sheriff of Berks,
and arrested (notwithstanding the privilege he claimed
as a resident within the Royal precincts) for a judgment
debt amounting to between 3,000/. and 4,0001. The
officer immediately conveyed his prisoner to the county
gaol at Heading. This was considered to be an ex-
ceedingly bold step on the part of the officer, and in the
very teeth, too, of a rule which had been observed in
similar cases for centuries before. We understand,
however, that the sheriff was indemnified from all
consequences which might result from it. The
defendant, immediately after his arrest, acting upon
the advice of his solicitor, took out a summons calling
upon the plaintiff and the sheriff to show cause,
before one of the Barons of the Exchequer, in which
Court the proceedings were taken, why he should not,
be discharged out of custocy, upon the ground of the
arrest having been illegal, the defendant having been
captured within the (privileged) precincts of a royal pa-
lace. The case was heard by Mr. Baron Rolfe, in cham-
bers, on Friday, the 20th inst., Mr. Carrington and Mr.
J. J. Williams appearing as counsel for the defendant,
in support of the summons, and Mr. Taprel as counsel
for the plaintiff. The sheriff 'appeared by his attorney.
An immense number of authorities were cited by coun-
sel on both sides, in support of the cases of their respec-
tive clients. The arguments lasted nearly the whole day.
At their conclusion, the Learned Baron desired to have
handed to him the authorities referred to and affidavits
sworn on both side's, and also the summons, stating that
he should deliver his judgment on the following Monday.
On Monday last the whole of the parties attended at
Mr. Baron Rolle's chambers, when the Learned Baron
stated- that he had examined all the authorities which
had been referred to by the Learned Counsel for tle
plaintiff and defendant, and also the affidavits which
have been put in,'and that his decision was that the sum-
' mons be discharged.

POLISH FRONTIER, DEt. 14.—Sotne time ago a
report was spread iii the. German . newspapers of
arrests which were said to have taken place in the
kingdotti of Poland, and of an extensive conspiracy
there. A letter which we have just received, from a
quartet to he depended on, gates satisfactory accounts
on this stibject. It states that Russian Commissioners
are engaged at VeySeb, a ittissian Polish frontier
town, in endeavouring to trace a revolutionary asso-
ciation among the inferior Polish nobility. This
association is stated to have ramification even in Cau-
caSia; IthiCh trOhld COnfifm and account for the state-
ment lately given in a German parer, that a &Milder-
able number of Poles had embarked in an Italian
port, with the intention to proceed to Circassia. The
Russian authorities describe the Matter as follows :
Two Polish noblemen, P--- and A--, living as
fugitives, tinder false nettle,
oh the frontier of
Russia and Poland, were engaged in smuggling
foreign books into Poland. M. Von Suchorzewiski,
a landowner on the frontier, had received from Paris
three packets, which these noblemen thought of
smuggling into Poland. They arrived at Peysen, the
town above-mentioned, opposite the Prussian frontier
town of Witzemburg, on the 20th of October, at two
in the afternoon. They remained there in company
of the frontier officers till midnight. They were
certtinate iti reaching the Polish town of
Landeck, where they breakfasted, and were enjoying,
their cigars, when an inspector of the excise came in,
and, smelling the cigars, said to himself, " These are
Prussian cigars," and immediately caused search to
be made in the carriage of the two noblemen. The
result was, that the three packets of books and
pamphlets were discovered, and the carriage, with its
contents, the horses, and the coachman, were taken.
The two noblemen escaped, and it is not known
whither they have fled. Many noblemen have been
arrested and carried in chains to different parts. It
is said that noblemen in the Prussian territory are
implicated.
We regret to learn that his Grace the Duke of
Beaufort has been seriously indisposed during the last
few days with an attack of gout. The Noble Duke. has
been obliged to remain at Hampton Court Palace since
Monday last, the day on which his lamented relative,
Lady Anne Culling Smith, was interred at Egham.

The defendant (who, it is stated, intends to bring the
whole matter before the full Court, next term) conse-
quently still remains in Reading gaol.
Mr. Baton decision of Monday last has caused
great consternation on the minds of those persons who
had previously fondly imagined that they were living in
a state of privileged security. The royal residence at
Windsor is no longer privileged from the intrusion of an
officer of the Sheriff of the county.

THE CHURCH.
TO THE EDITOR OF TEE SUN.

Sis,—Thanks are dtieio-yoiifor keeping the
Church question constantly before the public, and for
the zeal and moderation with which you have
written. The intense interest I take in the subject
forces me to write to you, although I am aware that
the reading of past years has faded from my memory,
and that I have not at my command any leisure for
research. Longing as I do, not for the destruction
of the Church, but for its thorough reform and con-
sequent extension, I cannot keep silence at a time
when the imbecility of some, and the tyranny of
others are encouraging the enemies of the Church to
raise the cry " Delenda est Carthago."
The controversy which now agitates the country,
and which must before long rend the Church, is not
a mere rag question, it is not a contest for black or
white gowns, otherwise it might easily be settled by
one of two compromises—the grey or the magpie. It
is not a question of candles nor candlesticks. The
question does not concern the points of the compass,
nor is it one that can be solved by the nautical skill
of Blomfield. The question is What is the Rule
of Faith?" and before this question is answered it
will become plain to all men that what we at present
in courtesy call the Church of England is not in any
intelligible sense an Ecclesia. Should the bishops
meet, summoned by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
any decision of theirs will be no more binding upon
us laymen than one made by the assembled sextons.
The Church at present has neither head, hand, or
voice, to think, to act, or even to speak.
Each of the two contending parties can prove that
their views are those of the Church by print, either
red or black. History would explain this, and show
that the unamalgamating materials of the unfinished
work were derived from places which yield only arti-
cles of antagonistic qualities. We have taken the
right of private judgment from Geneva, and the au-
thcrity of the priests from Rome. You, Sir, cannot
deny that the Evangelical party are sustained by the
Thirty-nine Articles. Lord Chatham long since de-
clared what was nearly tantamount in the House of
Lords. It cannot be necessary to write a line in
proof of the fact, that the Thirty-nine Articles are in
favour of the views of the Evangelical and popular
party.
But it is of great importance to show that the
Church of England supports the claims of those who
would lord it over us as priests. It i , essential to
every one who would judge correctly on this point
to pay attention to this mischievous and ambiguous
word, whereby they tamper with us in a double sense.
Priest is our translation of " hiereus" and of presbyter.
Heathenism had its hiereus—Judaism had its hiereus;
but no Protestant Church can allow that any of its
ministers are hiereus.* It is not justice to the igno-
rant to call them priests, although this word is often
taken as a translation of "presbyteri." I will now add
a few remarks to show that those clergymen who call
upon us to obey them as hiereus are justified by the
Church of England.
In confirmation of the assertion, let me call your
attention to the absolutions which cannot be given by
any clergyman who is not a priest. In unison with
the claims of priestly power are the views of the
Lord's supper taught by the Church, that' "the body
and blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and
received by the faithful." In unison with the claims
of the hiereus is the whole of the rubric in the Com-
munion service. Duport, in his Greek translation of
the Prayer-book published in 1665, translates the
word priest by hiereus. The hiereus consecrates the
elements, lays his hand upon all the bread to be used,
and upon the vessels containing the wine to be used.
If more is required a new consecration. If any con-
secrated bread or wine is left it must not be taken
away, but reverently consumed by the hiereus and
the communicants. No wonder the communicants
kneel at such a supper.
To multiply proofs that the Church of England
presents to the people all her clergymen who are in
full orders, not only as presbyteri, but also as hiereus,
is surely needless ; but it is very painful to dwell on
matters where we are tempted by frauds and decep-
tions to speak with levity on topics associated with
the memory of Jesus, and with " the glad tidings for
the poor."
There has too long existed in our Established
Church a compromise between two great but opposite
principles, and I will conclude what I have to say on
the subject, by expressing a wish that issue may be
joined, and that the year 1845 may witness the down-
fall of priestly power in our establishment, and that
the Church may become a Church not in name, but
in reality—not as some would have it the lergy
solely, but the people also united in faith and love,
and zealous for good works.
There are two other questions ccnnected with the
Church on which I should be glad to write to you,
but I must delay until the present controversy has
prepared the minds of men for Church Reform.
In the mean time, I beg you, Sir, to call upon
Lord John Russell. We have not in this country
what is so mush needed, a minister for the affairs of
instruction. His Lordship is now out of office, but
enjoys the confidence of moderate men of all parties.
He would earn the gratitude of his countrymen
throughout all generations, and bless our vast colo-
nies as well as our native land, if, without party poli-
tics, he would devote himself to the infinitely im-
portant questions of the Church and the school.
Sir, your obedient servant,
AN ENGLISH MECHANIC.

* The word " hiereus" does not occur in any one of
St. Paul's Epistles.

DARTMOUTH ELECTION.

DARTMOUTH, FRIDAY, FIVE O'CLOCK.—This election
has terminated in the return of Mr. Somes. The re-
turning officer made the official declaration immediately
after the close of the poll, when the numbers were—
Mr. Somes 125
Mr. Moffatt

Majority for Mr. Somes ...

THE GUANO TRADE.—Advices received in the
City to-day, from Ichaboe, state that previous to the
23d of October, several vessels unable to procure cargoes
had left for India. Ships were paying 1L a-ton for
guano, taking their turn with the other vessels in load-
ing, and their own crews employed in shipping it.
Arrivals still continued. The following is a list of some
of them which arrived previous to the 18th of October:
—'The Tom Cringle, of London ; Fifteen, barque Hope,
and schooner Hope, of Liverpool ; Hampton, of Wick-
low; Millman, of Belfast; Ferris, Butterford; Claremont,
Tremayne, and Panay, --.
Fiats AT BRAINTREE.—The itihabitants of Brain-
tree and Bucking were greatly alarmed on Tuesday
night, about nine o'clock, by the cry of " Fire," it being
discovered that a thatched barn, situate in Panfield-lane,
in the parish of Bocking, and very near to the back
premises of Mr. Smee, coach-builder, and the Horse and
Groom public-house, was in flames. The engines were
promptly conveyed to the spot, and with a good
supply of water from a pond near, and pumps on the
neighbouring premises, they were most efficiently
worked, but by eleven o'clock the barn and its con-
tents—a quantity .of straw—were reduced to ashes,
and all apprehension of an extension of the damage
ceased. At one time fears were entertained that the
flames would communicate with Mr. Smee's premises,
but most providentially the wind lay in a direction to
carry them from that quarter, and no other buildings
were near enough to be in any danger. A small wheat
stack, only a few yards from the barn, was preserved
by a plentiful discharge of water from the engine and
the indefatigable exertions of those present. The building
destroyed was the property of the late Mr. English's
trustees, and is insured in the Sun-office ' • it was in the
occupation of Mr. Durrant, of the White Hart Inn, who
is insured in the Essex Equitable. There is every reason
to believe that the fire was occasioned by an incendiary.
.—Chelms ford Chronicle. . .

A burglary of a most daring character was com-
mitted a few days ago, in the residence of Miss Cham-
bers, of Radway, near Kineton, on the borders of War-
wickshire and Worcestershire. The villains, who were
three in number, with blackened faces, and armed with
pistols, having made a forcible entrance into the house,
two of them proceeded to Miss Chambers's apartment,
whilst the third kept watch at the stair-foot door, leading
to the apartments of the servants, who were disturbed,
and whose brains he threatened to blow out if they made
any noise. The same threat was made to Miss Chambers
by the two men who entered her room ; they then pro-
ceeded to rifle the house, and carried off cash, plate, and
other property to a considerable amount. A reward of
201. has been offered for the apprehensionu and conviction
of the offenders.—Ten Towns Messenger.
pOGREAT STEEPLE-CUASE FOR ONE HUNDRED
UNDS.—On Thursday a very large concourse of per-
sons assembled at the race-ground of the Rosemary
Branch, Peckam, to witness the race between the two
celebrated steeple-chase horses, Moonraker and Robin
Hood, the former belonging to Mr. Griffin, and the
latter to Mr. Ball. Large sums of money were specu-
lated on the race. The distance to be ran over was one
mile, and to clear five gates, four feet high. At the start
Robin Hood took the lead, and cleared the first gate in
an admirable manner, closely followed by his opponent.
They ran nearly together till nearing the third gate,
when they increased the speed, and Robin Hood, in
taking a flying leap at this gate, fell with great violence.
The jockey of Moonraker availed himself of this advan-
tage, went ahead, and rode in the winner in a canter.
The backers of Robin Hood appeared much disappointed
at such an unsatisfactory termination of the race..
The Marquis of Lansdowne is recovering from
his recent accident to his foot, and from the attack of
gout with which the Noble Marquis has been troubled.
His Lordship is entertaining a family circle at Bowood
during the holidays, including the Countess of Kerry and
her youthful daughter, the Lady Mary Fitzmaurice. The
Earl and Countess of Shelburne are staying at Lans-
downe House.