The Express. — London, England, 1847-05-25 00:00:00

Efts ef:prefai. Kale. • aras tor mop, wit OltrYYe beggar ode ume=7•7643ttredis'. spd utirslis tie Set See& den Tam Damen'. Land, and Pew leg le made up es Om emedep et Sella May. The Wee dila mi. get Enk Hawkins, and M Ilmenmeh, be made op ma the mendeget the and June. Memel Ow MI6 Nara Asaistra. Hyde, end the United edit" trill be made up ea Ibe ~ft ignite Ad hat. /he mumbeel be Ofteeltee Illeine,Oreece, the Icelan lelande, ZitneeineeoPlon. A Caine, Southaeoptce, mem iv ea tie ememligettle June. The mei Pm ea armak i l .. 6 . •lber Rote, Monte Video, Penns. ~MY^ awl Lyrae, mill be made al, on the _sae.4ll The dosed ite, vie Illareeibto, to Um Methterratmen, =Ad" (f s, lasiMe UM Yea& *Ay mill be made up ou the ot the 7th AMC. TO CORRESPONDENTS. w e e Advertiaemeats Weeded for Me //spren, London moles paper, sing be at the glike by Two o'clock o the day of publication. HIGH WATER AT LONDON.BRIDGE. DAT —lllOllll2ll. 33 nilm pet o , Afternoon. 5 min. re 11. Te-Iteakor —Montag, 34 rain. p.m 11; Afternoon, 0 min. mon 0. LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 25. OUR columns of Saturday contained the text of a bill, which, if not of the very highest importance, combines several merits not often to be found in attempts at modern legislation. In the first place the enacting part of the bill is contained in one sentence ; in a sentence which is tolerably grammatical, quite intelligible, and swelled by verbiage and common forms to an amount not exceeding by above two or three times its natural bulk. Nor is the matter of the bill unworthy of the excellence of its construction. It injures no party or section of the community; it ap plies an easy remedy to an undeniable evil, and, as it refers to county elections, the introduction of it at the present moment is judiciously timed. We hope that, even though it has been brought in by a private member, it will be allowed to pass during the present session. There are some innovations to which even the timidity of an expiring parliament may string its serves; and if Mr. FsewaN's reform should be adopted before the prorogation, several of its sup porters will be rewarded for their boldness by a saving at the election, which, collectively, may amount to some thousands of pounds. The bill of which we speak proposes to limit the duration of the poll in county elections to a single day —a measure which will greatly reduce the expense of contests, and materiall7 diminish the abuses of bribery, treating, and intimidation. There was no single enactment of the Reform Bill which was so universally approved, or which offered such un mixed advantages as the reduction of the time allowed for contested elections. Since the substitution of two days far fifteen an the time for keeping the poll open, there has been no example of the insane expenditure of twenty, fifty, or eighty thousand pounds, by which in former years candidates so often ruined their families, at the sometime that they demo. ralised constituencies. There has been, and there is, much bribery, direct and indirect; but the most die graceful and profligate part of the election system has Feen partly amended and partly removed from sight. It is not merely that the duration of the period appointed for drinking and bribing has been short ened ; but that neither electors nor electioneerers arrive in two days at the same pitch of desperation as in a fortnight. Nemo repente fuit turpissimut. The experience of the two or three years which fol lowed the Reform Bill led to the further improvement of confining the polling time in boroughs to a single day. We have never heard of any inconvenience which has resulted from the change; and we see no valid reason against extending the benefit of the same limi tation to counties. The only distinction in the cases consists in the right of non-residents to vote in coun ties, and in the comparative frequency of a plurality of county votes in the possession of the same indivi dual. It is evident, however, that both cases, even in county constituencies, form exceptions to the general rule. By far the greater number of county voters are resident, and of those who live at a distance, many are mere faggot voters, whose presence it is desirable to discourage. The eases in which one person votes in se veral places are too few to make it necessary to provide for them. Such voters generally possess influence which is more effectual than their individual voices. The persons who determine the result of a county election seldom form more than a small numerical fraction of the constituency. In all cases, moreover, it must be remembered that where railroads exist, non-resident voters enjoy far greater facilities for exercising their franchise than those which existed at the time of the Reform Bill. If the objections to a limitation of the time allowed for county contests are immaterial, the arguments in favour of the change are grave and numerous. In the first place, the redaction of expense is not inconsiderable. Poll clerks, booths, and constables, agents and messengers, not to speak of tap-reoms and other contraband sources of expenditure, will only be required for half the time. One of the present election days will be restored to honest and lawful occupation, and the successful or defeated candidate may begin twenty-four hours earlier to count his cost and find it smaller. It is not necessary to argue how greatly the public is interested in re ducing the cost of election contests. It constantly • happens that an unpopular and unqualified candidate is selected by a party to fight its battle, for no as signed or assignable reason but because he can afford to pay the estimated sum. The difference between two thousand pounds and one thousand in the coat of an election often involves the exclusion of every suit able candidate in the county. There may be a dozen persons of the requisite local position, some of them honest and intelligent, who would be responsible for the smaller sum, where only one—perhaps a clown or a blockhead—can venture to double the risk. Unfortunately the expense of elections is only one of the many evils which are connected with them, and which ought to have as short a time as possible to display themselves in, consistently with the main object of ascertaining the choice of the constituency. We know no more painful or depressing spectacle than an election. Brawling and faction in public, private sycophancy and private slander, the diplomacy of the corrupters and the corrupted, the propagation and wilful reception of falsehood are too universally mixed up with the conflict to make it other than a necessary evil. A timid politician would consider it a miracle that a constitutian which rests upon such a basis could panels the conditions of good govern ment— It forte and falsehood break not Heaven's &atm Wby then a Borgia or a Paine/ The fact seems to be that the evil influences on oppo- site sides to some extent neutralise one another, and leave the field open for the honest convictions of the electors. It is satisfactory to know that the evils of elections are on the whole diminishing, as the country becomes more civilised. It is not, however, simply by shortening the dura tion of the expenditure and other evils of elections, that the limitation of the poll to a single day would diminish their magnitude. It is well known that the most demoralising, and frequently the moat expensive, part of an election is the interval between the first and second day. The bulk of the coaseAteestey almost always vote on the first day ; and if 001111 skis is dui dedly the stronger, the election is then virtsally decided, and the form of keeping the poll open for tie second day involves no evil beyond a useless ex pense. But when parties are more equally matched, and the result depends on the votes of the unpolled minority, the night between the polling days is the principal period of corruption. Every residuary vote in of importance, and the price of every dishonest v -ter is at its maximum. Those who have firmness t "held on" to the last may, it is true, be disap pointed by being dispensed with; but they often make a profitable speculation. In boroughs it often happened that a body of voters reserved themselves, on principle, for the end of the second day's poll ; and we have known cases where they outataid their market, by allowing one side to obtain a majority which their collective number was insufficient to outweigh. In a smaller degree we know that the same speculation is practised in counties, and that votes for which at first a little flattery would be thought a suffi cient price, have commanded round sums in money after the first day's returns have shown a nicely ba lanced constituency. Nor are the opportunities for bribery alone increased by a prolongation of the elec tion. All the influences of cajolery, of promisee, and of threats, are for the same reason applied with in creased vigour to thews who remain unpolled. The only motives which derive no new tome from delay are those of reason and principle and public spirit. The honest and independent elector is not likely to re:eive new light between the first day and the mooed, or to determine hie vote by considering the I numbers of those who hays already voted. If the House of Commons will not attend to thaws considerations, or °epeeist to remove even so unde sirable and unattractive a grievaaoe u that which the r bills intended to remedy, it is satisfactory to= ed k that many of its members will in a few months be taxed heavily for their timidity or in difference. WE have received a paper of objections from Leeds against the Highway and Health of Towns Bilis, with the signatures of four persons on behalf of the road surveyors of that town. The sum and substance of the main objections to both bills is that they take certain powers from the ratepayers and traisfer them to the commissioners appointed by government. The opposition to both proceeds from the same indistinct and exaggerated notions on the subject of self-government which are at the bottom of previous remonstrances from other places against the Health of Towns Bill singly. That surveyors should feel some prejudice against a measure which supersedes them is naturaL But the same fact should make us cautious in giving too ready a belief to their representations of the ill effects likely to follow on a change. They are averse to any control of commissioners being introduced into a department where everything has hitherto been done by local authorities. All has been well done in Leeds under the old system, they assert, and therefore Leeds should be exempt from the bill. But the very principle of the bill supplies an answer to this objection. The roads throughout the country have, ander the regulation of numberless local bodies, been managed at once badly and expensively. The bill aims at introducing greater economy and regularity, as well as frreater efficiency, into road management, by uniting to these local administrations, which the bill preserves, a central iwectaial control, interfering in some points with local authority, but in no respect superseding it. If the roads of Leeds be perfectly managed the commissioners will have nothing to do. The surveyors, who have resisted the tendencies to lavish expenditure and jobbing which have proved so irresistible in other places, will continue to do so under their new title of waywardens. It is only when the local agents are incompetent or profligate that the power of the commissioners to inspect and check will be put in motion for the benefit of the rate payers, who will elect their waywardens just as much as they now elect their surveyors. Mere local knowledge, we must repeat, in no way implies peculiar fitness to judge of and decide upon local improvements. In roads, as well as in sewers, the country often wants more knowledge and a freer expenditure than the wisdom of the neighbourhood will either supply or sanction. It is here that the commissioners will step in —not, as is generally re presented, to speak, like the ancient oracles, from a distance, with a supernatural knowledge in London of what is wanted in Leeds or Birmingham ; but on the information of thoroughly skilled inspectors, who will know all the Leeds or Birmingham surveyor knows, at least, and judge on the data on which the Leeds or Birmingham surveyor . jud without the disturbing influences of local 'pi or diquery, and with a far more potent sense of responsibility, as being subject first to the jealous scrutiny of the local functionaries, and next to the approval of a board directly amenable to parliament, through the head of its department. As a general rule, a popular govern ment like that of this country may be said to repro tent the average intelligence of the nation on a par ticular point, and to carry its will on this point into execution. But a very different view of this relation of the government and the country will follow accord ing to the mode in which we gauge the national in telligence, and determine what is the national will. When we use these terms we do not mean the in- telligence or will, merely, of the numerical majority. It is clear that they have no adequately formed intel lieence, and no definitely expressed wilL Sound:go vernment measures are directed, not in obedience to the knowledge or will of the mass, but strive to en lighten the former and create the latter. Neither is the national intelligence and will, as ap plied, for example, to sanitary regulations, the intelli gence or will of those who have hitherto had to do with matters on which sanitary regulation touches and trenches. The minister does not take the suffrages of surveyors, or commissioners of paving boards, or sewers, or of water companies or vestries, or beadles, or nightmen, before he ventures to interfere with roads, sewers, water, or filth. He is guided i by very different exponents of the national intelligence in such matters. That intelligence is to be found in the men who have devoted the most cultivated understandings, the moat benevolent hearts, and the clearest beads to the subject of public health and national msonomy. The national intelligence on the subject of fever, for example, is the intelligence of Dr. SOUTH WOOD SMITH, and not that of Sir PETER LAURIE or Mr. DANIELL. The government which at this day ventures upon a health of towns bill, does not under stand the step it is taking, if it is not prepared to en counter and resist much parochial opposition. Much depends, in determining the national will, upon the question at issue. The demand for reform was a popular demand. It had reached that point of uni versality and determination at which governments have no choice but to submit. So with the cry for catholic emancipation and free trade. It was agita tion which turned these demands from the concep tions of a few to the will of many. In matters which touch political change, or commercial policy, among a people essentially self-governing and commercial, it is possible that this conversion of theories of the closet into demands of the crowd, may be brought about rapidly ; though, till a systematic agitation com mences, they may lie dormant, or awake only here and there, for centuries before they are abroad among the nation. Sanitary legislation is in a different position. The mischiefs which result from the neglect of it are felt by all, but traceable only by few. Impatient under the misery which this neglect has a great share in , 1 producing, ignorant men refer their sufferings to every cause but the right one, to political exclusion or social injustice. In one sense they are right. That the poor man is unhappy, is filthy, unhealthy, without a comfortable home, without education, is the result of political and social ceases. But they are not M. political and social causes which he thinks they are. A wider representation would not relieve him unless it was one of better-instructed representatives. A division of property and profits would not help him unless the duties of, property were better understood and more largely practised. But he is virtually better represented when his representative has a better knowledge of the evils which the repre sented suffer from, and the remedies of them, and helps to legislate with the view of removing the former by introducing the latter. This is just what a government does in introducing, and a parliament in passing, a Health of Towns Bill. It strikes at the root of a palpable, prominent, and meet active mischief, to which the very sufferers from it are in sufficiently alive from want of special Maisie, to detect the connexion of cause and effect between filth and disease, and again between disease and poverty, pauperism and crime. The common class of pariah officials are as mach in the dark upon the subject as those they . are placed to relieve and benefit. Government acts wisely in avail ing itself of wider knowledge and a keener foresight than they can be expected to have. The objections to the Health of. Towns Bill from the Leeds surveyors illustrate what we have written above. But we must remark, before adverting to them, that we do not mean to say that Leeds does not furnish men perfectly instructed upon sanitary points and able to co-operate in carrying out sanitary laws. Only we apprehend, they will he found not amongst the opponents, but the most zealous advocates, of Lord Moneern's bill. Bat let na take Leeds as a specimen of the places which object to the measure. Inat the condition of the poor and helpless in the place, the population which does not possess and, there ore, has no representation in virtue of propprty ? We refer to the report of a practical man, Mr. Sierra, of Dean don, for a humiliating answer: The general arrangement of the streets and alleys of Leeds is in the older parts very much, as in all old towns, some what irregular and narrow ; but, fortunately for Leeds, the main street is of ample width, ahem, as I was told, from • practice of the olden time, of haAng gardens in front of the houses, the errs of which US in later times been added to the street. The row of streets running parallel to the river is, however, narrow, crooked, and Irregular Streets more recently formed are more ample In wails and there are many viry cheerful o p en streets where the better classes reside. The lower dames here, as elearbere, inhabit the hoe oomfortable and lees healthy localities along both sides of the Addle Beck, a stream which Intersects the einem division of the town, and which is obstructed by essay wars and bridges of limited openings, and by the encroach- THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 25, 1847. meat of buildings ea Its bed. A gnat number al dye *wog Massa and mantidastories are mooted on the margin, and. with ,a n InZadprellings, which has with • snag 6Mrt the = at thia *Maillinid walk the front dui Make, of man g. Bat i by most unh g localities of Leeds are elLose equate of laresee, or yards, meths" are milled which have bees amend fee the accommodatial of working people. . leer eof thee% &suit situated in companuively high ground, are airless from the enclosed ateacture, and being wholly unprovided with any form of under drainage, or convenience, or arrangements for eloaasine, are one ma $ of damp and filth. In some instances I Sound cellos, or under-rooms, with from two to six inches of water standing over the floors, and putrid from its stagnation in one case, from receiving the soakage of the slop water standing in pools in the street adjoining. The ashes, garbage, and filth of all kinds are thrown from the doors and windows of the houses upon the surface of the streets and courts; end in some cases where a gallery of entrance hes been erected for the ioh ,- Wants of the second flair, the wh de of the slops and filth era thrown over the gallery in front of the hours beneath, end as the ground is often sloping towards the deers of the lawn dwellings, they are inundated with water and filth, sad the poor inhabitants placed in a miserable nod uuhralthy condition. The privies, as usual in such situations, are few Is properaloa to the number of inhabitants. Thee are open to elawlliala to front andreer, are invariably in '91114 condition, sod oft= swab without the removal of any portion of the filth, for stet mmMhe. The feelings of the people ace blunted to all savadog essasfy, and, from the constantly contami nated state ef the stmappbere, a vast amount of illlitalth prevails, leading 00 Balessness, and inducing a desire for spirits and opiates ; the combined influence of the whole condition causing much It, of time, increasing poverty, and terminating the existenee of many in premature death. Mr. Baker, a medical practitioner of Leeds, end for many year. one of the council, published, a few years ago, • treatitc on the vital statistics of Leeds, going very fully into this sub ject ; and he has demonstrated very clearly and undeniably, from facts observed during • long residents, the evil effects of bad ventilation, bad drainage, and deficient supplies of water. Many of the streets, alleys, and courts are unpaved, and some paved in a very imperfect manner. They are full of ruts and hollows holang water and filth. All vacant spans ef buildinreground are left undrained and uoenclosed, and with uneven Gurnee+, and in many cases the slop water from the neighbouring dwellings drains into them, creatiug ex-' tensive ponds of filthy water. All ants of rubbish and filth are thrown upon throe vacant spates, and they become I a wide field of effluvia end deleterious emanations. Pigsties are frequently erected upon them, and they ere used as depots for dung by the muck-gatherers. No cognisance is taken of their condition by the polies. The main sewerage of the town is imperfect. There are sewers in a few of the principal seems, but in the greater number of streets and alleys there is no provision whatever for drainage or sewerage. The main sewers are defective in position and defective in structure • they discharg e . either tato the river or into the Addle Be ck. The water as often set back into the sewers by 11:nds, and the gross matter in the water, sinking and aludmog by the sides of the river, forms sources of much annoyance, and contaminates the atmosphere. Immediately after the passing of the late improvement act for Leeds, steps were taken by the mayor and council for having a general survey made relative to the sewerage, which was ably executed by Capt. Vetch, of the Royal Engineers ; and a plan was furnished by him or a superior character, providing for the complete sewerage of all the streets, alleys, and courts, and carrying the main sewer clear of the river. Provision was made for carrying the accumulated water into a main covered sewer to a distance from the town, where it was proposed to use it for agricul tural purposes. An attempt was made to execute a part of this plan under Me resident surveyor, who, at the start, committed a blunder amounting to two feet in the level of the first sewer he attempted, which caused an extensive stay nation of the water. The council of the burnish, under wham he acted, became alarmed at the want of suave, and stopped further procedure. Some time after, with a new council, a proposal was made to follow out Captain Vetch's plan. I was present for nearly six hours listening to the debate on this important subject, and much was said to satisfy me that such court acting alone was most incompe tent for judging and determining on such matters. The chief theme of the speakers, in opposition to the adoption of the plan of Captain Vetch, related to what they vary erro neously supposed to be the means of saving the pockets of the ratepayers, with very little regard to sanitary rniults. The mover and secoader were the only parties who sup ported the motion. A counter motion was made and car ried to consider a plan by their own surveyor, which plan wee more calculated to save outlay than to insure efficiency. Until, however, the localities of the abodes of the working slimes are rendered more approachable to the higher classes , of their fellow-citisens by the removal of the many disgust ing objects of sight and smell which abound in every quar ter, it is in vain to expect that any useful intercourse can be maintained. I learned that a few clergymen and rids. aionaries, and occasionally some benevolent females of the middle classes, made transient visits to the abodes of the sick and the wretched; but I could not find that any general in tercourse was any where maintained, or that any heed was given by those benevolent visitors to any attempt at the amendment of the deplorable association of filth and malaria in which the poor people were left, It seems that they im variably rushed from the disagreeable and disgusting lo cality as soon as their labours of charity were completed. The renewal of the surrounding disorder they deemed as not in their province ; though in reality even the evils they ease to mitigate might, in a great measure, have been pre vented by a timely attention to the removal of the primary causes. After reading these passages, will our readers be astonished that we persist in refusing to allow to the advocates of the present system, under which such results have been produced, any great weight in the objections urged by them against a change, chiefly because it will impair such self-government as this ? Oar correspondence and the Paris journals of Sunday have reached us. Various petitions directed to social reforms engaged the attention of the Cham ber of Deputies on Saturday. Among these were reform in the public charities, the care and treatment of foundlings, the mendicity laws, the Mont de Piste, and the labour of children in factories. The discussion in which the scandalous abuses of colonial slavery were lately brought under public attention has compelled the government to break through its standing rule of inaction, and M. Ouizot has accordingly laid before the chamber a project of law for the reform of criminal courts in the colonies. A committee of the chamber has been appointed to report on the project of law introduced by M. Cremieux, to exclude railway directors from seats in the chamber. There is, however, no probability of any measure of this kind being adopted by the chamber. Advice@ from Madrid of the 18th inst. bring intel ligence which indicates au approaching crisis to the domestic dimensions which have so long prevailed in the palace. The ministers had come from Aranjuez and assembled in council, the subject of their deli beration being the present unfortunate situation of the Queen in relation to the King Consort. His Majesty was still at the royal residence of the Pardo, and no persuasion could move him to join the Queen at Aranjuez. M. Salamanca had waited os the King, and intimated the opinion of the council of ministers on the propriety of his residing under the same roof with the Queen, but without effect. El E4warmol affirms that at e cabinet council held on the 16th several venerable prelates were called on to give their opinion upon an important canonical question, the exact nature of which it cannot with propriety state. El Tiempo says that the subject discussed by the council was a question connected with the interior of the palace, of the highest importance to the public interests and to the interests of the crown. _ _ _ ___..............„... Another cabinet council was held on the 18th, at which all the ministers attended. A special m-ssen ger was sent is the morning to the Pardo, to ask the king to name a time at which he could receive the ministers. At 10 o'clock all the ministers left for the Pardo, and were with the King at the moment of the departure of the maiL It was reported to be the object of the cabinet to induce the King to return to Madrid, where the Queen intended also to come, in order that they may cease to present to the public the diecreditable spectacle of a personal separation. Her Majesty was expected in. Madrid on the 19th. At a splendid banquet given at Aranjuez by the Queen, the Minister of War gave the health of her Majesty, to which the Queen replied by giving " The Spanish army." On this occasion the Queen announced her intention of holding a grand review of the troops of the . garrison at Madrid, on her return to that capital. Private letters say that her Majesty will, on this occasion, appear on horseback, in a gene ral's uniform, a PAnkszone. The announcement was received with acclamation by the military officers prese M. nt. Olozaga had left for Aranjnez, to take leave of Ithe Queen, on his departure to visit his family at Lagrone. ITALY. —NAPLES, MAT 7. DISCOVERY or A COAL MINE IX THE ADRUZZL-11. coal mine has been dis covered near Teremo, the capital of the Abruzzi. The quality is said to be equal to that of Newcastle. The mine is 240 :eat below the surface of the earth, and promises to be a rich one. It to to be worked by the government. HOLLAND. THE HAGUE, MAY 21. THE Caors.—The accounts from Holland are of the most favour able description, not only with reference to the preoperous appearance of the growing grain crepe, but also of the fruits and vegetables. The season not being so precocious, it is ob served, ea in former years, there was no longer cause to fear that the flowering and vegetation would be followed by that cold and rainy weather which so often deceived the hope of the cultivators. The early potatoes were showing well, sad already selling in the markets. The grass lands presenter) a splendid aspect • PORTUGAL, The Peninsular and Oriental Company's! steamer Iberia, Captain John Bowen, brings news So the fol iating datam: Gibraltar, May 16th ; Catlin, 17th, Lisbon, 19th; Oporto, 20th; and Vigo, 21st. From the latter place we learn that the fortified town of Vamp. in the Minim, held by a body of the queen's troops, about 580 in number, had been invested by a tame wider the command of Baron d'Almargem. This force numbered about 400 men, with six 42- ponders, artillery of siege. With these the forces of the Junta commenced bombarding the town, on the 19th, it havin4 then but eight days' provision. A body of troops had left Oporto on the 18th, to rein force Baron d'Almargem. The bombardment still continued on the 21st, and was distinctly heard out side the town of Vigo. For the Lisbon and remaining news we refer to oar correspondent's letter. LISBON, MAY 19, Faun p.n. On Monday, the 17th instant, notification of the termivatiin of the armistice was sent to Count Vichaes, by Viscount de sa, and at the same time the latter communi rated the circumstance to the British minister here, his letter being conveyed by Lieut. Butler, of H.M.S. Phcenix, which ham been stationed eluting the last three weeks at St. Übea. As soon as Sir H. S eymour _ received the notification he deepetched a note to Viscount de SA, enjoining him not to commence hostilities until he had received a communication which would be conveyed to him by H.M.S. Sidon, and ac cordingly early in the morning of Tuesday, May 18, this vessel left the Tagus for St. Übe., where she arrived about one o'clock p.m. The Viscount de Si had so far conformed to the ri quest mule by Sir H. Seymour, as to abstain from commencing hostilities, but the steam of two of the vessels (Mindell, and Porto) was up, and they were preparing to start fur Oporto when the Sidon arrived. The proximate cause of the sudden and somewhat unex pected termination of the armistice is stated broadly and openly to be the bed faith observed by Vishnu, who, ever since the suspension has been in force, has been daily and nightly strengthening his tuition, and erecting batteries and redoubts, whilst battering cannon and ammunition have b..en sent over from Lisbon to his army, all of which are un deniable breaches of the mutual agreement entered into between him and Sit not to pursue any works in progress during the armistice. Not being disposed to take this state ment entirely at the credit of those who informed me, I made inquiries in various impartial and disinterested quar ters, and I have every reason to believe that the imputation upon Vinhae, is quite correct, and that he hoe erected several redoubts during the interval of the suspension. What the result of this fresh act of interference on the part of our squadron betweea the two armies in presence will be, it is impossible to say. Certain it is, that if the rilicy of Englund is a non-intervention policy, these several and repeated acts savour strongly of a desire to overawe and to intimidate the popular, and, as it would appear to be, the national, forces, and to throw the whole force of regal, minis , tsrial, diplomatic, and even parliamentary, sanction and ?realism into the scale where Donna Maria 's crown I hew lies Winced against the people's rights and dos con.fitution of Portugal. The Sidon returned early this morning from St. Übes, bringing letters from the Viscount de Si to Sir H. Seymour. When she left the bay, the steamers Mindello and Porto were still there. Mr. Salter was to take the command of this little squadron, if so it can be termed. The object is view in cording it to Oporto is, I believe, to bring some more troops te reinforce Viscount de Sa's army. Col. Wylde returned hest night from Oporto, bringing the ultimatum of the Sep tambr.sM with him. By the Jackal war steamer, which let Oporto for England on the 10th inst., the terms and con ditions upon which the Junta arc willing to accede to the le off-red by Donna Maria, at the instigation of 3.P land, will have been conveyed to our minister. They do not differ in the slightest degree from those which stated in my former letter on this subject to be the sine qua non of the Septembrist party, but as they have been formulated and somewhat amplified, it may, perhaps, be interesting if I repeat them again in detail, in order that the reasonableness of the junta's ultimatum may be fairly judged of. The additional articles are nine in number, viz.: 1. That the Miguelite officers who have joined the national cause be confirmed in their military grades.-2. That the debts in curred by the junta be guaranteed, on accounts being fur nished to the Cortes.-3. That the election, (of the Cortes) be direct.-4. That all military and civil ranks and honours granted by the junta be con. firmed.-6. Vett the military forces, under the mm mend of the junta, shall be maintained on foot, occupy ing Lisbon and Oporto until the Corte, shall assemble.-6. That the military commandants throughout the provinces shall not be drawn from those employed under the ministry of the 6th October (the revolution of the palace).--7. That the king shall resign the command of the army, and re nounce it for the future, his holding that office being con trary to the constitutional charter.—S. That the queen shall nominate officers of her royal household according to the will of the ministry.-9. That the junta on these several con ditions being fulfilled, will then dissolve. I have already in my preceding communication abstained from offering any comments on these terms, inasmuch as their reasonableness or exigence is a subject not within my province. But as it is important towards thorough comms hension of the present state of affairs that some elucidation should be offered of the manner in which the negotiation was carried on between Colonel Wylde and the commission ers of the junta, inasmuch as its suXele or failure depended in a great measure upon the confidence in our agent's good faith and impartiality which the junta and its partisans felt. Towards this object it is necessary to advert to the past, and to hold in recollection the falsification of Colonel Wylde's sentiments, of which Saldanha was confessedly guilty in the month of November last ; and which avowed and notorious falsification was never publicly refuted. The Junta natu rally conceived a mistrust of an agent who would permit his acme to be used in the manner that Saldenha ventured to put forward that of Prince Albert's aide-de-camp, and this mistrust was very materially increased when the imputations cast upon Col. Wylibt's proceedings at St. Übe's by Viscount de Si became known at Oporto. It was concluded there that the British commissioner, who could BO far forget his position as to hold out tne threats which the siseount states him to have done, must in some way or other have compromised his character for impartiality, and as such, ' must be treated with in the most rigorous and distrustful manner. Nor was this feeling diminished in the slightest degree by the publication of the colonel's correspondence with Vitamin, which corroborated in all its main features the *mustiest made by Si, in his letter of May 3, and copies of which I transmitte i in my last. Toe sentiment. excited by this correspondence in the minds of the popular chichi may be gathered from the following letter of the Viscount de Si, which I find printed in the Spectre of yesterday. TO Tan ERROR Or TRZ "mom." Pia, —A parer has been profusely diatrlbuled throughout Lisbon which the edevoies of the nstimal muse to be a faithful traagstice of a letter written by COL WTNs se tne ootnnender of the forces of the Lisbon government on the south Ala of the Vogue, and the (Adria (Gazette) dues not hesitate as pgalish kr a how went. giving it the utmost credit, in en artists of the lath Yining Notwitbossultng the falsity of this suAscietd trigulotfre. the Dias* mains seedless. as Use strength of It, wash albeit he sash • passer the verde, gems as well as my own bower, Wet 1 ewilt set to delay any Webber the refutation of tide snook; the which, by tbs absesse at °Jowl Wyk* I ass awe alio as pre sent any hear haft him asyteg the mirk et the Wow eorrvspondsins. Those saw Wee yelWa wW piettederly domed a prompt denial. He seateh, firs, gm it was I who tegrehwel the ess pe.ioll of hostilities. La sager la grass the Mgr of ON awnsdom. t eudiees to quote a letter *gag the lot hut, agirawial by as le tbe mid colonel, a cagy ot whisk I amen. :Fawns elleetalY. as Wept:wed is memo Ur meaty. tha tble ft will be eeadtat fur me to stale lbw bogwyte wltidi 1 la Wend Wylie. ant to the two saaNwfwimes who cewe beet lialrblWny Ma& erganesert; request sae to suspend Istddies, was that Weltevw =Om wind mates/ might tear amongst foreign nauons, In it lauded entirety the idea of pardon —a word that could an certainly be applied so a whole nation, which had risen in order to tuna the istreetiens of the Mutilation attempted by the coun seling oldie esown, and which had dons nothing more than make nee of ile ladefeedble right, end drt Is no for r pasta or &manly was euncerned, the was only mffeable to the peens' who had adesapted to subvertsu the feadearm.. tal bier of the kiagdotm—l beg you to Mont this your meet number. (Slimed) Oa ea 8a1m... At. Übes, May IS, 1117. Extent trout a letter to Colonel Wylde from the Viscount de Si, dated May 1, St. Übe's: I have received, by Captain Weleverty, the oval indtetlon which yon sent me to ma,e n y Ore, and to suspend hostilities. An kern as I received it I gave orders to are no more ; but it no necessary to state to you that the objets of my sortie hate been accomplished, and that the bed, ry oonstructed by the enemy hr been destroyed. I have also even under. that the Are le to be ressoad wherever the enemy dull adeione towed. our positions. With respect to the cenatiOn of head lines, I have already shown my desire to dominate die struggle none. ably in my rep, to Mr. Bultrer's letter, having ceased during the apace of two days to make any attack. hot the enemy during that time constructed a battery opposite to this town, and, as je ,,,,, e ,opke of the forma, I ordered it to be detrupe., which has been door. The seasons which I stated yesterday to you prevent me Irmo enterine into a convention, but I are willing to Attain from settee inottities, provided the enemy does so, and that be amts nut attempt to ree..nstruCt the battery I have destroyed, or begin any others; or I nay, march aide ional fence. loosen too town. In order that the boaddiesoease likewne at 0r,., it es neeemery that the mo ttoes ships abstain from all seta on the offensive. Whoever reads tins coo reepoudencis will at once see the grounds which the junta and the popular party had for the mistrust with which they regarded Colonel Wylde, and, as the Viscount de Si Ism thrown • doubt over the authen ticity of the correspundeoce which I sent in my last, I ttink it necessary to state, that with the exceptiou of one word, " amnesty," substituted for " armistice," the letters are true copies of those which passed between Vinttats and Col. Wylde. Haying now laid the main facts before you, it may be necessary to advert to the state of pu , lic opinion here, with regard to an armed intervention bring offered on the part of England and Spain. There is no doubt that such a termina tion of this domestic and purely national struggle has been most anxiously desired from the very beginning, lint the qui scion e by whom has it bean thawed? If my own obser ration be not nit tether illusive, I must reply, by the court, the d7;oletire, the placonten, and, in short, by that fraction of the Pottugucse nation who are dependent in some way or other upon the favour of the reigning dynasty. The vast mass of toe people utterly abhor the idea of a foreign power stepping in to decide the question of domestic institutions, elections, and constitutional govern ment; nor tan 1 bring my mind to a belief tort England, or her parliament, could sauctMn any step so utterly subversive of her p -t policy as the armed intervention so much desired, the eli et of which would be to place Portugal again in lead ing aril p. and to saddle our already overburt h. ned treasury with the expense of maintaining 8,000 or 10,000 men hero for an indefinite period, the withdrawal of a hum at any moment would be the signal for an outbreak ten times more significant and universal than that wttich is now about to be quenched by such inatrumentality as that which I have above described. These are considerations which affect net a patty but I INg r e thit , t ia tbeteoig h " mul bs tun bil:fee " bibievaillktalb. g l inTeattt •:11Illattla' alio neetsaddialarY the a t as kil y o'wl ish i l: V eth icto e.reurut ritt bap the I. b a • • Ns . the whole 'abject, and that the reasonablenem of the Junta's inta: &Mail will not be tried ley the rules and maxims which posseow. Much care was bestowed in aftemki " 18 4 govern a nation so orderly and loyal as our own, but that the clinches.' of** seam of coal, which was observed anitt the eireametances under which those stipulations ware different I . 4 6Cage beside the portion already mentioned L e' : and the whole of the antecedents of Donne Mena posed on the beffiehl 411 haring the wale dip and !teet ; and her *hisses from 1886 down to the present time, will be similar degree of thickness. The depth of water ' im munised Slid weighed, in emir theta correct appreciation the bay will az:Ow of steam Ti of moderate drau g h t of the can el the " Pertu t puso nation VITSIO Regina may of water to permed cieee in shore; suppo s i ng the g s be had. H• thickness to be about terothirds of that asert4in:cl, the With respect to IlliThOf twit*, 1 have little or nothing t o seam of coal in the bay would yield nearly 700 tn., shi c h say. The retreat of Bann Vinhaes (brother of the Comet) mi g ht, we ere metered, be worked b y the least experienced into Spain, rid Brogans", and the dissnnment of hie foree Persona. Several bills were made or the mei ; it to gep er . (480 men), by the Spanish authorities, appear to be ally reported that the beat and Some were cousl to New. confirmed castle coal, but was consumed in lee time. We m a y ren ter } P.S. I bave omitted to mention above that Mr. Southern left that the direction of the .coal on the island of Lobelia Lisbon yesterday mefaing sot Madrid, where he purposes to is nearly at right angles to that found on the main land remain for a few weeks. His premises at the Spanish capital of Borneo Proper. dituated na at the ha:s above msetionse may exercise a most beneficial influence upon the opinions of vim a great number sf camphor trees which are described whatever ministry may be formed, as he as thoroughly yarned being of the first kind. There w.-+ also found large quad,, in the Portuguese character, end carries with him also a pro. ties of seen in its native state. D .iring the time the Wolf found kno sledge of the causes out of which the existing was stationed at Lehman the sickn <l4 on lewd did not et. difficulties spring. cued the avenge of a sea voyage, an cal in some eases Toe Polyphemus war steamer is to go to St. Übe's, tore- little below it. The mil of the island is described to be airs% place Phone:, ordered here on repair. yellow clay. The Viscount de Si has spool to a fresh suspension of arms, which Its het the four Esp. FRANCE.—Pastbs, MAT 23.—0 n Saturday the Commission d'lnstrucNion of the Court of Peers took down the declatatiens, as witness, of M. Leg-rand, Under Secretary of State in the department of the Ministry of Public Works. General Cubism was then examined on different points, re sulting either from the declarations of the witnesses or from the examinations undergone by MM. Parmentier and Pellaprat. The turn this affair is taking will make it not unlikely that the poisons implicated will be confronted with each other. The Chancellor has issued a writ against M. Pellaprat, binding him over to appear when callod upon, which prevents him from appearing as a witness, in which capacity hie name was Stet brought forward. The commis sion was to meet again on Sunday. SPAIN.—MADRID, MAY 17.—A letter from Madrid of the above data ,quoted in the De bats) says: " The mem bers of the municipal council of Seville have all tendered their resignation to the captain-general of Andalusia, in con. sequence of the late bread-riots at that city. The captain general having declined accepting their renimations, they reasoned their functions and convoked a meeting of different capitalists, with the object of obtaining an advance of funds to enable them to purchase grain f.,r the capitalof Andalusia. The sum of 30.000 piastres (6,0001.) was immediately ad vanced.—The state of siege of Seville has been raised. GERM ANY.—Bemuu, MAY 21.—The proceedings in the chamber of the three represented estates or the 17th inst., in so far as they are reported in this day's official journal, present no hulloes, of importance. They record, however, the success is a skilful stroke of parliamentary tactics on the part of the liberal leaders. If. can Vincke embraced the opportunity presented by the marshal of the three estates calling upon the deputies to state whether they had any criticisms to offer on the minutes of the preceding . meeting, to offer some remarks on the manner in which the declaration of the liberal members had been treated between the marshah of the two chambers. In the course of his remarks, with a view to explain them fully, he begged permission to have the de claratioo and the petition which accompanied it read to the assembly. This was granted by the marshal, on the under standing that no debate was to take place upon it • and these documents, along with the names of the subscriignA depu• , ice, were accordingly read aloud. At the close of . Von Vincks's remarks upon the conduct of the marshals, the marshal of the three estates vindicated his own. Several members indicating a wish to speak, M. Von Ouerswald asked whether a debate on the subject would be allowed ? Toe marshal replying that any member might express his sentiments, but that there could be no vote taken, M. Von Ouerewald moved the termination of a discussion which could lead to no practical result, but might excite angry feeliags. This proposal being affirmed by a large majority, one of the 137 asked whether the declaration would find a place in the official short-hand reports; and the ques tion being answered in the a ffi rmative, moved that the names of the members signing it should be printed also. This was conceded, and the consequence is that the official journal of the government has promulgated the declaration —brought it to the knowledge of every Prussian, and has also, by giving publicity to the names of the parties who signed it, drawn the bonds of party more tightly round them.- The liberal leaders in the Prussian diet are with wary skill laying broad and deep the foundations of a con stitutional opposition which may one day become a constitu tional ministry. CORN DISTURBANCES.—The riots in the grand duchy of Posen still continue. On the 12th of May, a riot Wok place in the town of Witkowo. On the 9th, at Gamin, the mob plundered about thirty shops, notwithstanding that a battalion of infantry was garrisoned in the place ; on the same day a similar outrage was committed at the town of Irsemissino, two miles from (loosen. Rogow° and Czarnigewo were the scene* of the like outrages. In the villages for two miles round, the mob, provided with clubs and sacks, tame into Wilkowo as early as four in the morning into the market place. A general riot being feared, fifty burghers were ordered out to maintain the peace. But when they saw a crowd of nearly one thousand persons aseembled, they thought it prudent to withdraw. A scene of p'under then commenced ; amidst the shouts of the populace, a number of carts contain. ing potatoes were surrounded and pillaged, as well as several baker's-shops. The police did all in their power to appease the tumult, but for a long time without success. They did so at last, and troops having come to their assistance, several arrests were made. Disturbances have also taken place at Marienwerder. _ . . CULTIVATION OF SUGAR IN' BRAZIL. In the twenty-float part of Mr. Mackr.'egur'is " Com. eternal Tariffs" (just issued), we find the Gill, twine interests fang notice of the engenhot, er sugar plantatione it Pennons baco, drawn up by M. A. de Mornay, and transt, lined to oar government by the British consul t " In the provineeof Pernambuco, the sugar engnmhot e re situated almost altogether along the coast ; and in eis tar. prised, in travelling through the country to aced such a met plate chain of them, not only clung the main road., or Pother tracks, but along numberless cross trucks, which c..t Ike land in all directions, and extend as far as twenty or thi r ty a - flee inland. Immediately behind the land occupied t, the iies genhos, is a strip of land, varying very much in width, ane raging about ten leagues, or thirty mile.. The soil L similar to that of the sugar districts, and it is con red with a luxuriant forest of tine timber trees. Behind this, again, is the country called the Sertao, or Catinya, where the cotta is grown, and which supplies all the cattle and horse, for the use of the engenhea. and for general coneumptiett slang the coasts. There are, however, but two nature diet isms in tie soil and climate of the province. The land which lies along the coast, together with the forest lend, forms one division; sad the other is the Sertao, which comprisee the whsle of the interior. The soil of the former is a rich clay, or fine loam, exceedingly fertile, abounding in small rivulets and springs, and refreshed with rain at intervals during the dry arson, and, where it has not been cut away for culovation, densely covered with wood. The soil of the latter is coat. pact and sandy, and the climate very dry, the trees appear stunted, and are very thinly scattered over the ground: it is, however, very productive after the heavy rains of winter have fallen. " The Sertanejne chit fly plant Indian corn, and a kind of kidney bean, which form their principal food. It some- Bowe happens in the sertao that a winter passes without rain falling, and sometimes two or three dry years follow each other, to which case the inhabitants suffer gristly h ew hunger and thirst, and whole families die of starvation ; and sometimes in procuring food in the wood, they die of eating immepoisonous root, and this is not of unfrequene occurrence. Three secrets are said to occur once in about ten years. The riven always dry up is the summer, and fora wet during that stains they depend upon the rains of winter, which are collected in large artificial ponds; sr, if is the neighbourhood of a considerable river, they dig wells in the dry bed. The population man be said to be divided into two distinct bodies and the distinction is not elude between the white and black, but between the days population and the free ; very little distinction being made en account of colour. The reason probably is that there at* few families who are not tainted more or lees with a mixture of negro blood. The free population of the sugar district 6 divided into three classes, the Senhor d'Enge ho, the Lavrador, and the Morador. The Senhor d'Engenho is the owner of the land, the mill, &c., and he is also the saw manufacturer ' • he plants the chief part of the am himself, but as he can always make more sugar than hi. own plants. Lions will produce, he invites agriculturists who have a few slaves, to live on the lands of the engenho, for the purpose of planting cane, to be ground at the mill and made hint at= Lavrador, of which is delivered over to the Lavdor, the being kept as his own share. There are also Serthoree d'Ha genho, who do not possess the land ; they erect the dwellings house, mill, etc., and work the land for a certain number of years, generally eight to twelve ; at the end of that time all the buildings, works, &c., belong to the owner of tne and they are considered sufficiently remunerated fir the me of the soil. The Lavrador is the cane-planter who live on the land of the Senhor d'Engenho, land and houses rent free. As well as cane, he is allowed to pleat mandioca, and anything far his own consumption. He delivers his cane at the mill, and there rewires his moiety of the sugar. That of Lavrador is COM cidered quite a gentlemanly employment, and men of good family, who do not possess, or who have not the means of working an engenho, think it no degradation to fellow it. There are, however, Levradores of an grader, in colour tad respectability; some plant very extensively their plantations, producing as much as filty tons of sugar yearly, while these of others will produce no more than one or two tons. " The Morador is a kind of tenant at will, he also pays nee rent, but builds his own hut or shed. Beth the Lanais and the Moraine are so tar dependent on the Seabee d'Engenho, that in the elections they are completely con trolled by him; but on those estates where the owner has some government appointment (generally in the police), ar has acquired a power independent of the governmest, by allowing to live on his estates, and protecting &wins and other bad characters, the Morador, if one of these eito tested criminals, is completely in the power of the Stabs d'Engenho, and ready to obey him in everything, even is the commission of the most atrocious crime. "The social condition of the population in the sugar die trict is very peculiar, for with a very liberal constitution, its actual state makes it appear to be governed on the feudal system. With all the machinery of the law apparently in force, it is in reality very little respected by the majority, the lower orders only fearing the Senhor d'Engenho on wham estate they live, and the Senhor d'Engenho only fearing oae more powerful than himself. It is usual fur a man act committing a murder to go to a Senhor d'Engenho sad bag his protecuon, and, unless he has private reasons for wit doing so, be is always ready to padrinhar, 'godfather' ths criminal, thus adding to his power. " A rough estimate of the number of engeehes is the province gives about 600, and they occupy about an equal number of square leagues, or one square league seek engenho. One square league of land is ample for feet engeahos, so that this belt of land now occupied by sager establishments is capable of receiving time times its pretest number ' • and if the whole of the land suitable to the growth of cane were put under cultivation, eight times the number might very well exist. Each eogeuho produces on an average fifty-five easel of cloyed sugar an. Dually, fifty of white, and five of brown or line covado, which are equal to forty-two tons of white. and that and one quarter tens of brown, or 24,800 tone of white, sad 2,550 tons of brown, for the entire produce of the penises (this is a very low estimate). Each engenho, with suffieiset hands, and with their present rude mode of cultivatioa, might produce, at the very least, thrice as much as at mw sent ; and if the whole of the land suitable to the growth al the sugar-cane were put under cultivation, the previa* would yield sixteen times what it does at present, or 396,800 tons of white, and 40,800 tons of Muscovado. The number of el ives is various on different engenhon lid the average may be taken at thirty for field blacks, and his for house and other blacks, sad the average number ef blacks belonging to the Lavradores about twelve. making fifty-two, the average number on each engenho, or 31,200 far the entire black population in the sugar district, not aided log those in the capital or villages, To work an torah° effectively near the capital, forty slaves are considered a hit number ; but far in the country, if the land be well woadelis twenty-five blacks will produce an equal effect, OD amain of the facility of procuring fuel and wood for fencing,sad the land being more productive. There are e in the virgin feints with as few as fifteen field= and even less; the soil there is so exceedingly In ductive, hence the possibility of working an ears& with so few hands. There are some few impetus with es many as 150 slaves, but the quantity of auger they make is not in proportion to the number a hands, they are, ever, kept in much better order, and the slaves are in seek better condition. The greater number of engenhos are earl deficient in slaves, and the consequence is, that muck efedh not of immediate necessity for the production of quantity of sugar, is left undone, or wry bully dons,ar else the slaves are very much over-worked. Then" spirit of emulation among the Set:thorn d'Engenho to make a large quantity of goes, with a small number of blob, bat instead of accomplishing this by the economisation of Blew and good management, it is eenerally done by driving the slaves at their work to the very extent of their MO" and even beyond it. This tuned work they cannot midmost years ; they become thin and languid, their skin dry . 66, laurel, and of a dark elate colour, instead of the pdegiea black of a healthy negro ; and in those engenhos when the slaves are in this state, there are always several who WM what is called the' vicio,' or vice of eating earth. it i s : generally received opinion that this vice or desire to earth is wilful on the part of the slave, and persated fa x is spite of severe floggings, for the purpose of putting as sad to his already nearly worn-out existence ; it is, hero". more probably the consequence of a state of health bole on by over-work, bad food, and general in-treatment. appearance of a slave who eats earth is a yellow aids, a white fur on the tongue, and a dropsical appearance. yes' titularly about the eyes ; and the vice of retitle earth Xs lar effect, and not the cause of the disease. This dimes' 6so confined altogether to the slave population ; free ifdna among the poorer clogs are frequently met with ~ .° sneg from the same malady. A child who eats earth is considered a reprealt Wa family, and he is said to be instigated by the devil; all Po . sible mesas are tried to prevent his getting at any • ,_ substance, but all their care avails nothing, he contiaem the same state, the devil, aa they say, always finding se to supply him; he will sometimes eat the earthern wear= The hours of field-labour during the season that s e i n . ge a n t hos nig a h re t, n a e n t d at at w ro or o t, t about the establishment before that hour in the stereos, as.: after it at night ; this work they call kinginggon. length of the kinginggoo • vanes according to , h af▪ r; tion of the master ; it very commonly continues fees six in the morning,. and from six to ten at night, ait.r. some occasions until midnight. During the season et treengfemehmaesilthienythgie:°trningbeze svnun't F six in the evening, they are divided into two ero sides p, th wh ei i r chlasla ( d re a m y I S a e bo p u te r m , frober.totiiyeib,,nithary. mmorningwork in the mill during the night, one g g weekf4 from six until midnight, and the other from Dunk" until sin in the morning ; half an hour i s la. TUKKEY.—Mosam., APRIL 16.—A serious en gagement between the Arab tribes Atwell end Hagheilas, took place not far from Mould. The former is a wander ing, plundering tribe; the latter a dependent on the govern ment. The fight lasted a long time, but the Anezis were superior in number, and defeated the ethers with a loss of five killed and eight wounded. They carried off some 7,000 sheep, and all their horses. When Eased Pacha beard of this engagement be sent avistance to the Hagheilate, but it arrived too late—the aggressors had flea with their booty. MirriterrE, APRIL 30.—0 n the 24th a boat laden with wheat wu attacked in the Gulf of Catania, by a pirate boat with 16 oars, and plundered of ell it had lon board. When the Fuchs heard of the occurrence he sent the cutter on the station in pursuit of the robbers. Another vessel has been plundered near Pygri, and the muter and one of the crew mortally wounded. COCHIN CHINA.—The Straits Times (Singa pore) of 27th March mentions a remour put in circulation by the nekodah of a native vessel that the King of Cochin China had died about the beginning of thy month. The report was credited. Mopes were expressed by some that under a new reign a more liberal commercial system might be adopted in that kingdom; apprehensions by others that the Siamese or Chinese might avail themselves of the opportu nity to renew their claims to the territory, and thus create disturbances. From the Java journals we learn that on the Bth of March there arrived in the roads of Cheribon a small, open Cochin Chinese vessel, on board of which were 28 persons, via., two French Roman catholic misOonarks, named Chamaison and Dousi, dressed as Cochin Chinese, 17 Cochin Chinese Christian., and nine Cochin Chinese sailors. After being carried by stormy weather and currents under the island of Stilton, they had abandoned the hope of reaching Singapore with their miserably equipped craft, and then trusting to providence, steered their course fur Java, in consequence of which, without knowing where they were, they fortunately reached Cheribon. Monsieur " Chit- maison" had intended to travel rid Singapore and Poloepi. sang to France, while Monsieur Douai had obtained leave of absence for a year, for the benefit of his health, and meant to remain for that period at Poloepinang. Of the abovemen tioned 17 Cochin Chinese Christians there are 16 youths of from 14 to 18 years of age, destined to be educated is a Roman catholic college at Poloepinang, while the seventeenth person, together with a Cochin Chinese christian who speaks Latin, is destined to assist the French Roman catholic mis sionaries of Cochin China at Singapore. COLONIAL SINGAPORE.—From the following statement in the Straits Times, of March 24, it would appear that scarcity of food and consequent disturbances are not con- ' fined to Europe I Many of the Chinese have, n conse quence of the prevailing distress, become desperate, and have resorted to the fouled practices with the view of procuring the means to obtain food. The causes by which the distress has been brought about are obvious the chief article of food, is now almost doable the price it was about a year since; to which must be aided the melancholy feet that ' Gambier, the principal article of culture by Chinese, is fully one third lower in price, and difficult of sale, owing to the want of tonnage to England. The great demand that existed in England last year for Gam bier—which for its high astringent qualities is now more extiosively employed for tanning than any other article —the facility which a great number of vessels offered for ex portation, induced many thousand Chilese to embark in its cultivation and manufacture; the augmented demand for Gambier, and the price at which it for some time remained (averaging 1 dollar and 60 cents.), enabled them to procure rice ; but now that the latter has become dearer, and the de mud and rotes for Gambier less, the poor wretches are driven to violent measures to procure food. Hun dreds, who, by industrial occupations, obtained a livelihood, have mow become manna and vagabonds. Two instances have within the last few days, been brought to the notice of the police of Chinese meditating inceeddrissa, with the view of taking advantage of public consternation to perpetrate rob beries. So recent as Friday last, a Chinese threw a firebrand tato the eked of Idr. Sadenoch, ship-builder, river side, where was a large quantity of shavings. This occurred at 7 o'clock in the evening. Fortunately the fire was put out tiresomely —the villain effected his escape. In • godowa adjoining were large quantities of sulphur, saltpetre, and dimmer ; so that, had a conflagration ensued, its progress would ha,. been extremely difficult to arrest LABUAN.—COat--Intelligence from this settle ment down to the,2oth of March, has been received aid Singapore. Whilst Wolf (relieved by the Columbine about that time) was stationed at Labuan, advantage was taken by her commander (Lieut. Heath, R.N.) and - Lieut. F. E. Forbes, R.N., to ascertain something relative to the products of the island. Their researches have been successful diecovering a large seam of coal, commencing at what may be termed Captain 'Bethune's out-crop, and extending across the island in the directions E.N.E. and W.B. W. The thick ems of the seam was ascertained to be ten feet one inch ; the dip 22 deg. N.N.W., and the extent about one and three , quarter nide. A path has been cut to the nearest portion of the seam, which is stated to be 334 yards from the beach, and I distant about S miles from Point Pule,. Bat what is not