The Sun. — London, England, 1841-12-30 00:00:00

THE LATE ACCIDENT ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. ( From the Times.) In the evidence on the subject of the late dreadful accident on the Great Western Railway, Mr. Brunel mentions that " the reason for putting the passenger trucks next to the engine, arises from the danger to which a luggage train is considered most liable--namely, its being overtaken by another train, in consequence of its being slower, and unavoidably less punctual than passenger trains." Mr. Saunders also, another employe of the railroad, giving evidence in de fence of the Company, makes a statement to the same effect. He informed the Jury, that " the gene ral opinion of scientific and practical men, and even of the Inspector-General, was that the best place for passengers in luggage trains was next to the engine. Some trains went at the speed of forty miles as hour. while others proceeded only at the rate of eighteen or twenty ; and it wes impossible, where there were so many cuttings and curves, to prevent a quick train from sometimes running into a slow one, notwith• standing every precaution. Accidents have been avoided in consequence of placing the passengers in front." And this obviously is the only excuse that can be made for the an angement which has been the cause of this miserable accident. Further, both these gentle men imply that, if left to themselves, they would make ro change in that pert of the railroad arrangements. "If the control remained in his (Mr. Saunders's) hands, he should undoubtedly adhere to the practice of placing the passenger-trucks in luggage-trains in front." " The passenger truck," Mr. Brunel tells us, "was put in the middle of the train on the Friday evening by my order, merely as a concession to an opinion which I knew had been frequently expressed." We thought it better to place the passenger truck ' in the middle, lest it should be considered a mere act of obstinacy if we adhered to the former practice." We may suppose, therefore, that this prac tice will not be discontinued for any longer period than is neceseary to avoid the imputation of obstinacy ; that after such a " concession" as may seem to quiet the tongues of the public, the system which is thought most advisable by the authorities on the railroad will be re sumed. It becomes, then, not a little important to put the justification brought forward by these gentlemen in its proper light. Now, it is to be observed, that we are not now inquiring what is the safest of two untried courses ; we are not engaged in adding one additional precaution to a set of arrangements already supposed to be sufficient for all purposes of security ; a series of distressing accidents have occurred on different railways, and every one has remarked—we ourselves have observed, in print, long ago—that it is in the carriages next the engine that the fatal accidents almost invariably occur. Nos before people have over and over again made this observation, comes the present frightful catastrophe. The passengers are still crowded next the tender ; and now, at last, the dreadful result is something throwing into the shade all that has yet occurred. After all this experience, the engineers come forward, and quietly (Mr. Brunel almost contemptuously) tell us that they are quite persuaded that the passengers would be even in greater danger behind, and that if they had their way, no alteration should be made. " Every precaution that could be thought of," says Mr. Saunders, " to insure punctu ality and safety, bad been adopted by the Directors ; and if the control remained in his hands, he should un doubtedly adhere to the practice of placing the passen gers' trucks in luggage trains in front." Let their opinion stand as true—let it be the case that, if passengers had been usually placed behind, the sacrifice of human life would have been yet more frightful—let it be true that the Directors have adopted every precaution they could think of to insure punctuality and safety—what follows, or seems to follow, according to these witnesses? Simply this— that we are quietly to sit down and resign ourselves to the periodic occurrence of such catastrophes as this, more or less. No admission is made that any thorough change of system is desirable—that the times of start ing or the relative velocities of trains should be altered, is order to obviate the necessity of these collisions, which, it is said, if the passengers were placed behind, would have even more tremendous consequences thau the present catastrophe—no suggestion of the ob vious and simple remedy recommended by ourselves amongst others, a day or two since, that without placing passengers " behind," yet still they should- in no case be allowed to travel without at least one, or, if necessary to preserve human life, two or three, or half-a-dozen empty carriages between themselves and the tender. No. If the control remained in Mr. Saunders's hands, he would still " place them in front ;" and Mr. Brunel, the evening after the accident, orders the passengers' truck into the middle, only, as he says almost in so many words, by way of Jetting the prejediced public have its will for once. This will not do. The plain common sense of the public is not to be put down by the " Pooh ! pooh !" of an cue:Meer, however able he may be in his profession ; lives must be looked after. These sacrifices to convenience of locomotion cannot, and must not, be taken quite so easily here as on the other side of the Atlantic. Least of all can they he disregard©d when there is any appearance treat the poor are being sacri ficed to secure comfort and expedition to the rich. And let us tell the Directors that there is such an appearance at present. We do not at all deny the right of those who manage a railway to proportion the comfort gieen to the price paid. 01 course we do net call on them to make the lower classes so comfortable as to draw passengers from the higher, though even here Mr. Crawshay's proposed infusion of chimney sweeps, and the arbitrary rules which seem madie to inflict inconvenience on tho cheaper class of travel lers, are rather more than we can stomach. It is one thing to give to each passenger as much, and not more convenienc e than his payment may fairly claim, and quite another to nave recourse to a sys tem of deliberate, wanton, and insulting persecu tion—for the meaning of Mr. Crawshay's proposal is nothing else—of those who only pay what they can. But this worst of these petty means of annoyance arc as nothing when compared with that carelessness of the actual personal safoty of either class of travellers which is implied in the alternative which Mr. Brunel coolly leaves for them, of being - crushed by the luggage or by the first class train. And this commeutary might be extended to the surveyor's instructions, who is bound only to see that all is safe and clear for the six o'clock (feet) , train ; when a visit paid but half an hour earlier would have done, the same good office for those who have so dreadfully suffered from the want of it. The ageets of the Railroad Company ore anxious to show that there is no negligence in the particular case. So much the worse ; the fault then must be in the system. if under the present system no precautions could have avoided the accident, no pre cautions can avoid it for the future, none at least that the managers can imagine. A pretty avowL,l for those to whose right management time lives of so many thou xands are from time to time intrusted. By seine change or other they must be prevented, and if this cannot be effected hy smell changes, it must be by great, even though she nerchaleat Mr. Brunei's engines have to travel five miles an hour slower, ur Mr. Brunei's em ployers to start twoeraina per diem the less, for it. The managers of the Great Western deserve great credit for a large part of their arrangements. Th e i r s p ee d, their punctuality, the comfort of their first-class car riages, the env! of their motion, are all the result of able management and well Judged expenditure. But all these things put together may be rated too dear, and they are rated very much too de ar , when they ~ are brought into competition %vita the lives of our fellow- Creatures. We need not, however, fatigue ourselves with mere w e erds; whet) the eoore effectual remedy o legislation may be so soca expectersle_ NITIONAL MERCANTILE uy,„ ASSURANCE SOCIETY. • The Anniversary Dinner of the cow merc ia l Duo,. • men. connected with- this Institution took place at th e London Coffee-house, on last, Robert Currey, Esq., in the Chair-. After the usual loyal toasts were given, the CIIAIR MAN said he was about to propose a toast that came home to the interests of all .present ; and it was to him a source of high gratiiicatton to be enabled to assure the meeting that the National Mercantile Life Assurance Society was a safe, prwperous, and flourishing Instita tion. He was gratified in being surrounded by so nemo rous an assembly of commercial men, within whose means and ability it Ras to render the Society one of the first class and linpo.tance. The present moment was neither the time nor place to enter into the details of the financial progress of the Society ; but at,a proper time it would be submitted to the Proprietors, and would doubtless be highly satisfactory. After some judicious remarks on the advatitages and progress of I the sci e n ce o f Life Assurance, the Chairman conc l u d e d by proposing " Prosperity to the National Mercantile Life Assurance Society. "The Health of the Chairman," " The Board of Di rectors," " The Actuary," " The Medical and other Offi cers of the lustitution," followed, and the meeting separated. . • We are requested to state, that that fashionable " Lady's Magazine," is about to be pal)lished for the ne.v year,- with additional charms, and en'isiderably enlargei ; am], a, tll 1; is the season jewhen the publi c are sc-kiu for the best and - cheapest monthly yorics, the - propric:ors of the "Lady's Black .lla;azine of F:tsii and Literature" are deter mined to tazie the lead, and publish a work whose pages Hill be replete. with vigour and taste, calculated to enrich the female mind, and to blend treasure's of information with amusement. The embellishments are to be of the first order of excellelice, and each number will contain from three to four plates of the newest Parisian fashions, a fine steel engraving of "Belgian scenery," and nearly 200 royal Svo. pages of letter-press, equal to four other magazines for its brilliant literature and fashions. The subscription is 2s. monthly, and the work is supplied by all booksellers in the United Kingdom. LEICESTER-SQUARE.--The enclosure of this square is, and has long been, •in a most shamefully ne glected state. • There are at- the present' moment the bodies of several dead dogs and of at least a dozen dead cats (skinned by some adept in the art, the bodies being - tied neck. and. Deis. together), lying within a foot or two of the square railings. The state of the foot pavement next the rails is ialscOeft: at 4 i sgusting cw l ( l 4ion. ' • - • • MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS. FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY. POST.—In taking the course we felt it our duty to do from the moment the metropolis and moneyed inte rest at large were first astounded by the admitted for geries of Beaumont Smith and his confederates, we carefully drew the distinction that appeared to be just, as between innocence and guilt. Tbis will be acknow ledged, upon a dispassionate review of our statements on the subject, strongly as they have been assailed in particular quarters. We have unquestionably taken a little pains to put individuals on their guard against the delusive expectation held out to them by some of our Contemporaries, of it ready indemnification of their losses in this business being afforded at the hands of Go vernment. There would, we considered, have been a cruelty in the adoptiou by us, as impartial writers, of any other policy. It would have been unfeeling in the last degree towards the sufferers themselves, though there was yet another consideration, the in fluence of which has operated forcibly upon our minds. Let it be imagined that we, like the rest of the public journals, at least a great number of them, had given out to the world that indemnification could not, and would not, be withheld, and jcined in the un patriotic recommendation, that conspiracies of Exche quer bill holders should be foraned for the purpose of coercing the Executive into the mersure by the refusal of further renewals. The consequence of such a pro ceeding would, we may assume, have been that of setting on foot a fresh system of speculation, the effect of which must be to involve in the fraud another class of victims. A host of credulous and unthinking per sons would have been found but too ready to deal in the Exchequer forgeries ; and, among the almost innu merable bubbles to be seen in the lists of the Stock Exchange, it would have become necessary, in order to afford a faithful report of the daily transactions there, to include the quotation of " spurious Exche quer bills." WIDe we have done our best to lead the public to a right conclusion on the head of indemnification, we have failci not to impress upon the innocent Exchequer bill holders the expediency of meeting, ef consulting together, and of forming a Committee of inquiry. Such a mode of dealing with the case would, we conceived, be most useful, whatever might prove the result. In a matter of such deep importance it was not likely that the Executive could take upon itself the responsibility which it has been required to do.. Cases of grievous hardship are heard of; and it cermet be supposed that we would wantonly, and without the smallest provoca tion, step between innocent people unfortunately im plicated in them and justice. ADVE RTISE R.—We have much pleasure in being enabled to state that the emin sat East India firm of Boggs, Taylor, and Company, vrhich suspended pay ment a week or two back, will res ume again to-morrow, with the view of winding up. Its assets will be suffi cient to pay in full ; and but far delay in the arrival of remittances from India, the necessity for the untoward stoppage would not have arisen. For some time past there hav e been frequent and serious complaints of the disposition of certain officia!s connected with a certain rails; my to enter into very extensive Bear transactions, or, in plainer terms, to depreciate the value of the shar as, in order to derive a profit from such depreciation. These matters it is always delicate to allude to; his t, in the present in stance, the subject, as a matter o f conversation, has be come so notorious in the City, t hat we consider it to be our duty as faithful chronicl, rs to advise the public of them, and at the same time t , afford an opportunity for contradiction if the statemeri It is unfounded. For the security of parties investing- capital in such un dertakings it ie of the first new., ssity that no kind of jobbing, at least among parties a 3gnizant with, or en gaged in, the administration of affairs of this kind, should for one moment be toler. ated. The Bank of England effectually provides again st such jobbing, and why not Railway Companies also. CHRONICLE.—The holds rs of Pennsylvania State Bonds will receive much satisfaction from cc rusing the subjoined communication , which emanates from a highly influential quarter, and a aay be safely looked upon as official : " Nov. 30, 1841. " In reply to yours of the 29 . 3 I instant, it gives me pleasure to state as my firm bell e f that the interest on our public debt, due on the Ist •of February next, will be promptly paid without rec nurse to loans. The balance in the Treasury this da3 ris 1,109,922d01. 24c., of which the sum of at least 7 ,50,000de1. is available. The two heaviest months of ret eipts are yet to come before the interest is payable ;; and the receipts for three months, I think, may be sit; fely estimated at from 400,000d01. to .500,000d01. Int n therefore of opinion that the resources of the Treasur: y will not only be suf ficient to pay the interest, but th a t all ordinary demands of our Government will likewise be met. " But to guard against an y contingency that might occur to injure the present pros pect, the Governor has made a requisition upon the ban As, under resolution of the sth of May last, to make up any deficit if such there should be. Under all then w circumstances, there cannot for a moment remain adi subs as to the interest being punctually paid." The assurance thus given 6; it the interest due on Ist February will be punctually p aid cannot fail to tran quillize the fears of the English creditors of the State of Pennsylvania ; and the explar action which the above letter also affords of the cause of the further requisition upon the hanks shows that, in se ead of looking with alarm upon that step, they shauki feel greater confi dence from it, as it has been a dop ted, solely for their benefit, to guard against any coating -encies. Si; N.—The Stock Markets are Et !ady to-day, and the quotations generally were fully set pported, in the ab sence, however, of any extensive trai asactions. Consols for the opening were 88ii to 89i, en d for Money, 90. PAeliequer Bills were 12s. to 14s. 'a :em. ; Bark Stock was steady at 1651 to 1651; and lic duced Three-and-a half per Cents. brought 99 to 99 i . The Foreign Market evinc e d m t animation for any security but the Mexican Bonds, vi ich were dealt in, both the Active and 2)efermci, at'roved rates. It is supposed the Oividend will be forth. u ming. The Actives were 24 to 27, and the _Deferred, :8 . • to 8- 1 - Brazil Old Bonds were at 64, and dull. Sp aaish Actives were steady at 24,+, to 24i, and Russi a t at 114. There is very little disposition apparently to - -spemlate in Penin sular Stocks. The recent accidents on the Rai. h 1 - ays have not had the effect of checking the improvetn !ir Lt in Shares, and there was again to-day a good deal di AI icr. The nearest rates were these : —G rea t W estern, 21 'to 21z ; New Ditto, 10 ; London end Birmiughan I, 8 0 ; the Quarter, 20 ; and the York and North Itidd land, 42 rem. Brighton Shares were 10; ; Mane est it and Leeds, 1 ; Midland Counties, 15 ; and South E ar ;tern and Dover, 21 : 1 E dis. London Joint Stock Bank SI t r ires were 2 pram. THE ROYAL EXCI IANGE. The Gresham Committee met on 1 Friday last, for. tl.e purpose of receiving the Report of ti le Sub-Committee appointed to make the requisite ar rangement for the grand ceremony of laying the first stone of the New Royal Exchange ; Mr. R. L am b er t J Vries in the Chair. We believ e the following particular: ; i o be correct : Tne ceremony is to take place on A 2 ( inday, the 17th of January, that day having been ; sp; pointed by his Royal Highness Prince Albert, wb o, upon being ae plied to, graciously, and without her ei tat .ion, consented to lay the first stone of the building. The site appointed by the Comrrsi•tf;ea is the founda• tion of one of the columns of the a icr chants' area on the north side of the ambulatory, tb e p 'ticular column being the one which is to be west 0 4 , t he ee.sntre opening or interval. This spot has been lir e d upon, as being relatively the seine as that adopted whe n Charles the Second laid the' first stone of the old Exelnange, and is, in point of fact, very near the actual si te. Round the stone the architect ha s constructed an amphitheatre which will contain seats r 0 r 1,200 visitors. These seats will rise from a platform, 4 0 feet diameter, of a circular folio, to increase by ten Co acentric rows of sittings to the diameter of 100 feet. 7 'he whole of this larg e space will he roofed and decorate, I, so as to ap pear like an enormous tent, the roof bei og supported by a pillar in the centre. The access to the arena will be fro' n Cornhill, by a !'"gfted way, descending gradually ;i .ous the level of the str eet to the level of the platform. Th c ompany are to a sse rr:ole bete') :en the hours of twelve and. t wo. Prince Albert, it is expected, ve;ii I arrive at two o'clock, at the Guildhall, where hit Royal Highness will be met by the Lord Mayor andt Aldermen, and will thence proceed with the Greyt it la Committee in procession to th e building, 'which h e • Cornhill. • will enter at The Lord Mayor will. g i ve a S ` boo banquet in the present, besides P rince. pert, all her evening, at the Mansion-gorse At of the occa sioo ; 400 cards n have been al, •eady issued, a i‘ n ia d ie t s h t e y r ,s e i b st e ere, the Judges, Oi Beers: o f State, and others. The card of admission to the cer •emon ] •of laying the first stope of the Royal Exchange s i s w ant as a work of art. It contains at the head of the n suet words of introduction a view of the New E zebra g e, surrounded by a bold embossed border, having ;it tb ee top the arms of Prince Albeit, Sir Thomas Gre: ;haul nd the shield of the Corporation of London, n,d the Me/ eel s' Company. Prince Albert is to use a silver gilt t ;row oh, which is to be manufactured by Deputy Brook, th, e Poultry, and will, it is expected, he a splendid spew :imen of chasing and workmanship. - - --- tine latest DUEL ON FOOT,—At Natcbtz ,at ,c ow. advices, a duel between Judge Tenn e y and -L - N• - • was t o lake ley, 'Esq., was in train of preparal 2 , oll . It place on the 6th i ns t., on the Ari, car t ss s shore, opposite, to Princetown. E ac h o f the pe,ncip „ t nd a bowie k nife. al: i was to be armed with a rifle, a p a i r o f duelling ' thirty The rifles to be di sc h arge d a,. thirty pl ices distance , then to advance at ple asure to " the fall c i. one or both. The . cause of the duel is said to be a decis' is l nof Judge TenneY:y, at the last Circuit Court in Concordi a , affecting Rowley's property. Quite an improvement o n the usual tardy course of appeal. Should the Jud , e r e ceive a rifle ball through the heart, we presume it 7a iii be held that his decision was wrong, and ought to b e se v aside. Oa the other hand, should his Honour succee d is plunging a bowie kr'c'e list deep into the thor am a Mr. Rowley, then the 1 . -- 7 of the Judge will stand a g and the equity of his decisio n be unquestioned.— _G u i c ,•aa Gazette. SECOND EDITION ____."........_ THE FUNDS-(CLOSING PRICES) BRITISH FUNDS. Bank Stock 1654 India Stock —.. 3 per Cent Red. 89;1 Ditto Bonds 3 per Cent Cons — ;Ditto Old Annuities ... 3i per Cent Red 99A- ;Ditto New Annuities... New 3:i per Cent Ex. Bills, 1,000/....21d 12 pm New 5 per Cent ; Ditto 500/ Long Annuities toexpire ' Ditto Small. 14 pm Jan 11860 Oct 1859 lndia Stock f0r:Acct....245 Jan. 1860. FOREIGN FUNDS. Austrian, 5 per cent Portuguese, 5 per cent. 55 Belgian, 5 per cent — 'Ditto, New Ditto 33* Brazilian 80nd5.......... 'Prussian, 5 per cent ;— Buenos Ayres, 6 per cet Russian, 5 per cent — Chilian, 6 per cert..... 'Ditto, Metallic — Colombian, 6 per cent.. 'Spanish, 5 per cent 95 71 Ditto, 1824. 2li Ditto, DefeiTed ... 12i Danish, 3 per cent ,French, 5 pe: cent. —f. —c. Greek, 18%5, 5 per cent — 'Exchange —f. —c. Mexican, 5 per cent.... 27i 'French, 3 percent 7Bf. —c Ditto, 6 per cent, 1837 'Dutch, 2i per cent Peruvian, 1825, 6 per ct. 14h. ;Ditto, 5 per cent. SHARES. Cheltenham and Great Western (72! ! paid) 20 Eastern Counties Railway (23 raid) ... — Ditto Debentures ( paid) .... ....... . ...10/ 11 s 8d Great Western Railway( 65 paid) B7 Ditto New Shares (50 pain) ... 61 ' Ditto Fifth (4 paid) London and Brignton (50 paid) 39 London and Blackwall r=ailway (25 paid)... 12 Ditto New Shares ( paid) London and Birmingham (90) ......... ... Ditto New Shares ( 2 paid) ... ........ Manchester and Leeds (70 paid) ... .. 71 Ditto New Shares (30 paid) Midland Counties Railway (100 paid) Ditto Quarter Shares ( lb paid) 27i Northern and Eastern (35 paid) ...... .... 29. South Eastern and Dover (43 paid)... Ditto New Shares ( 5 paid) SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY. GLOBE.—There has been from time to time con siderable speculation as to the course that the Govern ment will pursue with regard to the forged Exchequer bills ; and much has been said on the hardship of the position in which " innocent holders" will be placed, should the Treasury repudiate any liability to meet such of the documents as are found to be fraudulent. It has been, of course, a matter of much deliberation in official quarters, what plan shall be pursued ; for while it is felt that the parties who have given value for their bills would have great reason to complain if they should be made to suffer by the malsractices carried on by a servaat of the Government, it would be no less unfair towards the Treasury to be called on to discharge in full the claims of those who could not but have known, by the terms on which they took their bills, that some irregularity must have attached to them. We have every reason to believe that the Government has at length resolved to meet the question upon equitable grounds, and, taking for granted its non-liability in a legal sense, it has determined to state to the House of Commons the facts of the case, leaving it to that body to deal with it. The Chancellor of the Exchequer will pro bably bring the matter forward, and, without deny ing the laxity that has hitherto been allowed to prevail in the Exchequer bill department, will propose that the parties who have really taken the forged documents under circumstances showing no ground for believing that they could have suspected fraud, shall be indem nified to the full amount of their fictitious securities. It will, however, be urged that persons who gave only 8001. for bills which, if they were genuine, were worth 2,0001., and if not were of no value at all, must be considered to have been merely gambling on the chance of the documents turning out good or bad, and that, the latter being the case, the stake so improperly played for should be regarded as sacrificed. It is clear that there are no funds out of which the for geries can be paid, and the House of Commons must therefore be resorted to in the existing difficulty,— though the Government will propose the plan for getting out of it. The liabilities to the public, presuming them to be equitable and not legal, may be adjusted with greater facility than the question which will arise be tween the Bank and the Treasury, which in official quarters is now creating considerable perplexity. STAND ARD.—Lord Melbourne is more interested than any other man in proving that the country which he has governed for seven years is not suffering from the ill effect of contemporary Government, or even from the influence of preceding errors, which, during .seven years, he surely might have repaired ; hence his unwilling ness to see the actual distress exaggerated. But Lord Melbourne, true to his party practice, has still a reserve of fallacy ; he talks of " lessons for the future," as if there were something to condemn in the system which has brought Great Britain to her present state, Now this must not be suffered to pass without a re mark. During 50 years the population of England has doubled ; her territory has multiplied fourfold, and her wealth, probably tenfold ; concurrently with a war, in which she has had to battle for the liberty of the human race, and has battled triumphantly. Does the system, under which so much has been effected, present results that are to be read as lessons as to what we ought to shun ? Do not the effects of such a system, on the other hand, point out in striking characters the danger of every deviation ? If temporary distress is the result of sueh a system—a fact which we do not dispute—a great progressive prosperity is no less certainly. We have again and again shown that temporary distress is the necessary attendant upon rapid progress. This is the lesson to be learned ; and if Lord Melbourne and his colleagues had studied this lesson, they would not have ensured by their New Poor-law that every temporary dis tress shall be exasperated into misery and torture, nor at tempted by their budget measures that that would stay the national progress, and cause it soon rapidly to retrogade. We repeat it once more, that you can not have progress without occasional distress ; but that under the old Poor-law distress was so effectually miti gated as to threaten no danger to the community. Prosperity causes the accumulation of capital—capital becomes the competitor of labour, and for a time it must prove the successful competitor ; but during the interval that passes before labour can right itself, by the opening of new markets, there must be distress. These are plain propositions, a priori, and the evidence of ex perience warrants their soundness. COURIER.—Few are the manifestations, and scanty the measures of popular sympathy evoked by the downfal of the Whig cabinet. A kind of sulky silence seemed to have taken possession even of that portion of the public supposed to be most favourable to the views of Whig policy, which, being rightly inter preted, meant to say that in being cashiered from office the Whigs had only met with their deserts. This, we repeat, is the inference which we have drawn from the indifference evinced towards the leading members of the Melbourne Ministry by the country at large; their offi cial extinction appears to have inspired no regret ; the change which has transmitted subtle, glozing courtiers, into jealous and watchful, we will not add factious, op positionists, seems to have excited no hopes. In vain they preach to the miserable remnant that still adheres to them the virtue and magic potency of union—in vain they labour to enforce the stale truism by references to the achievements of their party in 1834 5. The temper of the times has wonderfully changed since then ; at that period the first indications of the ebb were only given ; ever since the reflux has been rapid and steady, and therefore to appeal to what Whig-Radicalism was then enabled to effect as an illustration of what it might, if similarly directed, be now able to achieve, is to betray I a total inappreciation of intermediate occurrences—is to confound vigour with debility, and the confidence of an ticipated victory with the discouragement of certain defeat. EVENING SUN THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, DIICRMBER 30, 1841. THE CHIRK MURDER. APPREHENSION AND EXAMINATION OF THE MURDERERS AT SHREWSBUY. SHREWSBURY, DEC. 29.—Tne murderers were taken at Coventry on Christmas-day, and were brc•ught into Shrewsbury yesterday evening, in a post-ehaise, and lodged in the gaol. The greatest praise is slue to the county police-force, under the direction of the Deputy Chief Constable M'Michael, for their exer tions in tracing out the suspected villains. The Viscount Dungannon has been unceasing in urging a rigid investigation into all the circumstances con nected with this inhuman and bloody deed. The Magistrates of the county offered a reward of 201. for the apprehension of the perpetrators of this atrocious murder, and, through Lord Dungannon's intercession, a further reward of 1001. was immediately offered by the Secretary - of State, and strong hopes were entertained of their being soon taken, especially as they were such well-known characters. Their names, as has already been stated, are Williams and Slawson. The general opinion, both from report and a close and vigilant look out on the part of the police, led the au thorities into a belief that the fellows lay concealed either in the town or immediate neighbourhood of Wrex ham, and the efforts of the constables were directed ac cordingly, but without avail. C.Tp to Monday no doubt was entertained as to their being still harboured about thcir native place, on which day a letter was received et the Chief Constable's Office, in Shrewsbury, with in formation that two men answering the description given of the suspected murderers were taken by the Coventry police, in which city it appears that they had offered tor sale at a silversmith's 11 silver spoon=-marked E. E , and he, having heard of the murder and robbery at lironygarth, gave information to the police. Air. *Michael left Shrewsbury on Monday in order to convey them here. The prisoners came to Wolver hampton by railway, and from thence to Atcham by the Salopian coach. At nine o'clock yesterday evening they arrived in this town, a chaise having been pre viously sent to meet them at the village of Atcham, three miles distant. John Williams is a stout young man, aged 22 years, a native of Cornwall,•but has resided at Wrexham from his infancy. He had been in custody three years ago, at Ruthin, under the Vagrant Act, and was in the same prison a year ago for an assault, where he under went nine months' confinement. The other prisoner, Slawson, is about 21 years of age, has rather a boyish look, and far from a ferocious appearance. When at Coventry, Williams assumed the name of Jones, and Slawson that of Halley. They reached Coventry on Wednesday evening, on their way from the scene of the murder. Slawson, who is a tailor, worked at his trade in that city, and earned from Wednesday to the Friday 83. 4d. The examination took place this day in the Guildhall, before the Hon. Thos. Kenyon (Chairman of the Quarter Sessions), the Hon. and Rev. R. H. Hill, T. C. Eyton, Esq., Sir B. Leighton, Bart., H. Jus tice, Esq., E. Jeffreys, Esq., Major Bayley, and other magistrates. The witnesses examined were T. S. Mac ntichael, Superintendent of the Shropshire Rural Po ; Thomas Henry Prosser, chief constable of Co ventry ; and Mr. Moss Fridland, watchmaker and sil - of Fleet-street, in the same city, to whom the spoons were offered for sale by the prisoner Wil hurls. Mr. Prosser, on searching Williams, discovered in his inner pocket in his waistcoat a half sheet of paper, with the following directions written upon it by some companion in crime :7 " You must make the best of your way through South Wales to the Bristol Channel, and cross over to Corn wall, and inquire at Tregonna for some of the Beards, if you are lucky enough to get there." The Court was crowded to excess, and the examina tion created the most intense interest ; but the late hour at which it concluded renders it impossible for us to send any part of it by post. Both prisoners were remanded till Friday next, when they will loe committed. THE MURDER at SEVERN STOKE. (From the IVorcestershire Chronicle.) The adjourned inquest on view of the body of the ill fated Richard Kenton, was held on Thursday, on suspi cion of murdering whom, W. Tippin (the men who was in custody) has been committed on the Coroner's warrant, to take his trial. The only fresh circumstance of import ance which transpired at ti:e adjourned inquest was the fact that two peculiarly situated nails had disappeared from one of the prisoner's boots, but which he positively denied having drawn. Contrary to what has been pub licly stated, Tippin has invariably denied ail knowledge of the crime, declaring again and again, that he knew nothing of poor Kenton's death till he arose on the Sunday morning. His conduct in the inquest-room was certainly far from decorous, and his levity continued after the inquiry closed, for on his way to Upton, the police cart passed an Italian carrying a board of images on his head, upon which he burst out into a loud laugh and said—" I was serving the masons once, and as such a fellow as that passed under me, I pitched a brick-end upon his board, and broke half of them I" Being re monstrated with upon his ill-timed merriment, he be came more quiet during the rest of his journey. Be remained at. Upton 01 about three o'clock on Friday, shortly before which time Superintendent Craig re ceived a warrant (which he had been anxiously expecting) directing his removal to the county gaol. After receiving this authority, the Superin tendent lost no time in starting with his prisoner, and as several policemen were in attendance, the order of the town was not in the least disturbed on removal from the lock-up. Before Tippin left Upton he conferred with a gentleman of the legal profession, with a view of preparing for his defence. Since he has been in the county gaol his conduct has been very be coming, but so far from admitting his guilt, or any par ticipation in the crime with which he is charged, he strenuously asserts his innocence. Stanton, Powell, and Anthews, the other men in custody, were liberated. EXPLOSION ON THE BRISTOL RAILWAY. THE INQUEST.— Tuesday, the inquest was held be fore the County Coroner, at the New Inn, Wickwar. On proceeding to the stable a sickening sight pre sented itself. There lay the remains of the two who were killed instantly. Jones was completely naked except his boots ; one side of his face and the iower part of his body had been blown away, which gave rise to the telief that he had the barrel of pow der in his arm when it exploded. The head of Stephens was a shapeless mass, and he was other wise much injured. Bennett's body lay in a back kitchen, and was dreadfully injured. The first witness called was John Stephens, who said—l nave been employed as a foreman under Mr. Brunel for nearly fifteen years, ' but am at present a sub-contractor under Mr. Nowell. The injured men worked for me. On Friday evening, after work, I told James Jones, one of the men killed, who had charge of the powder, to put it in the black smith's shop, and take it out again on Monday morn ing before the men came to work ; we have put it there frequently before on Saturday nights, for safety ; on Monday morning I went down to the blacksmith's shop and had gone about thirty-four yards, when I heard the explosion ; it did not appear to me louder than the re port of a fowling-piece. I turned and saw some thing like a bundle of burning rags coming in the air towards me, and in about a secon d after, a quantity of timber and stones fell around, but nothing struck me ; at that instant I heard the cries of tire poor fellows who were hurt, and after wards found it was the body of Jones that had fallen by my' side ; there were nearly one hundred men at the spot in five minutes, and we rendered all the assistance in our power; we found that two were dead, and another died about two hours after. We brought them all here, and Mr. Riberts, the surgeon, attended them immediately. The only way I can ac count for the accident is, that Jones must have gone to work behind time, and that he was in the act of tak ing out the powder when it caught. Two other witnesses were called, but nothing further was elicited, all who were present in the shop having been either killed or taken to the infirmary. The inquest was then adjourned till Thursday ,week, when it was hoped some of them would be sufficiently recovered to attend. The names of those dead are—Matthew Stephens, 27, single mar l ; James Bennett, 29, wifo near her confinement ; and James Jones, 27, single. Sir James Graham is expected in town this evening from a visit to his constituents at Dorchester. HOUSE OF LoRDs.---(From a Correspondent.) direction of the Earl of Lincoln, First Commis , sioner of Woods and Forests, workmen are busily en gaged in decorating the interior of the House of Lords. The old dark-coli';ured block paper has been removed from the wails, and they are now painted a light buff colour, which greatly improves the appearance of the House. The seats of Peers are ordered to be re-covered with scarlet cloth, and the other alterations in progress will add materially to the splendour of their Lordships' house. It is generally thought that his Majesty the King of Prussia, the King of the Belgians, and many dis tinguished foreigners, will be present at the opening of the ensuing Session of Parliament on the 3d of Febru ary next. • MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.--We have heard that her Majesty* - 'early announced to the proper authorities that it , itention to open the ensuing Session of Parliament in person with a Speech from the Throne ; and it is generally expected, from the altera ,tion's and embellishments now going forward in the Ifouse of Lords, that our beloved Sovereign will be ac companied on that important and interesting occasion by all the Royal and distinguished foreigners invited to wit ness the christening of the infant Prince of Wales. HORRIBLE BA RBARITY. ARISTOCRATIC AMUSEMENT.—A correspondent has supplied us with a detailed account of one of the most atrocious outrages, committed on a poor helpless creature by a party of aristocrats, that we have ever heard of, and which re sulted in the death of the miserable creature in ques tion. We can scarcely believe that the circumstances our correspondent relates can be true yet he details tliedi so circumstantially, and authenticates them so strongly, that we fear there must be seine foundation for his statement. To elicit information, therefore, on the subjtcr, we supply the following leading statements:—lt appears that a party of gentlemen —most of then English ulL..crs—were last week on a visit at a gentleman's house in the neighbourhood of Philipstown, King's County, when one evening they gave their host some opiutn, and, in sport, proceeded to practise their horrible cruelties upon a pooridiot boy who found an asulum about the house. They first extracted all his teeth, and then be daubted him over with oil and turpentine—set fire to his clothes to make bins run, when, horrible to relate the poor creature was burned to death ! Our Corre spondent states that a sort of inquest was held, but that the greatest exertions were made to hush the matter up, and conceal the real facts of the case. We refrain at present from going more into details, but shall be happy to receive additional information on the subject, properly authenticated, and which we shah re gard as strictly confidential. If the facts are as they have been stated to us, nothing shall be' wanting on our part to bring the miscreants to justice.—Dublin Monitor. [We hope this will prove to be ass exaggeration—if it be not wholly an invention.] CHELTENHAM, WEDNESDAY. 'SO great is the feeling in this town become against railway travel ling, that this morning a lady offered five pounds for an inside place to London by one of the coaches, which was booked full, and no one felt inclined to relinquish their place for that sum. TOTAL REPEAL OF THE BREAD• I'AL—A public meeting of the inhabitants of Manchester will be held in the Town Hall, King-street, on new year's day, for the purpose of petitioning Parliament in favour of the total and immediate ropes,' of the Bread and Provision taxes, and of recommending to the House of Commons the appointment of a Committee to ascertain the best mode of compensating the injured bread-eaters of Great Britain and Ireland fur the great misery, privation, and loss sustained by them from the operation of the Corn and Provision-laws. Mr. Alderman Brooks will take the chair. A DISCRIMINATING PRECEPTOR.—A SCIIOOI - in Cornwall, advertising his establishment, says, " Every boarder must be supplied with a Bible and a Prayer-book, a knife and fork, three towels, and a silver dessert spoon ; all of which, except the books, become the proprietor's perq u i s it e on t h e pupil's quitting school." POLICE INTELLIGENCE. UNION-HALL. James Atkinson, alias Aldridge, was charged with being at large in this country after having been transported for lite. It appeared that the prisoner was tried and con victed of house-breaking at the Surrey Assizes of 1828. Sentence of death was recorded against him, which was subsequently converted into banishment for lire, and he was conveyed on board the convict ship at Chatham, from which, however, it is now suspected he made his escape. The apprehension of the prisoner on the present charge arose out of a quarrel that occurred between him and his brother, in the height of which the latter sent to the station-house, and gave such information as led to his being taken into custody. When the prisoner was secured there was evidence of his not having forgotten his old practices; for there was found in his possession a complete set of ingeniously-constructed skeleton keys for opening locks of all descriptions. When brought before the Magistrate, the prisoner de-, Glared that the policemen were wrong in his identity, and that he was not, the man alluded to, and that he was never tried l'ur any offence, much less transported for life, Burridge, the chief usher, referred to the minute-book of charges taken at the Court in 1828, and found it con tain the committal of James Atkinson for burglary in 182 S, to the Surrey Assizes. One of the turnkeys of the county gaol identified the prisoner as the man who was convicted and sentenced to transportation for life, at the Surrey Assizes in the above year. The witness added, that he accompanied the van of convicts, amongst which was the prisoner, from the county gaol to Chatham, and that although it was so many years ago, still he had a perfect recollection of him. The prisoner was then committed. GI?EEN WICH POLICE. Yesterday Mr. Walford, the medical attendant of Mrs. Maria Robinson, attended before Mr. Jeremy, agreeably to the Magistrate's desire, to give evidence in the charge made against TV. Rob tison of having administered poison to his wife. The prisoner was not placed at the bar, the Magistrate remanding the case until Monday, but in consequence of the low state jr. which Mrs. Robinson was described to be, Mr. Jeremy proceeded to the house of the unfortunate woman, in North Pole-place, Greenwich. In answer to the question of the Magistrate, she stated that her hus band had made her some gin and water on the Sunday, telling her it would compose her. He boiled the water in a saucepan on the lire, and put the gin in afterwards. As soon as she tasted it she discovered a singular taste in the mixture, which caused her to inquire, " What is this ?" The prisoner made no answer, but shortly left the room, when she contrived to got up and lock the liquid in a drawer. It was afterwards shown by her sister to Mr. Riches. Mr. JEREMY inquired who took the cup to Mr. Riches. Mrs. IZobinson. liho answered with great difficulty, replied that Mr. Whotherhall, the landlord of the house, emptied the contents of the saucepan into a cup, and sent his daughter with it to Mr. Riches. Mrs. Robinson further declared, that she believed she should not recover from her illness, and with this con viction upon her mind, and the knowledge that she must soon appear before God, she could affirm with truth that what she had stated of the matter was correct. Mr. JEREMY told her he did not wish unnecessarily to distress he-. but it would be necessary for the ends of justice that ahe should swear to the truth of her state ment in the presence of the prisoner. The Magistrate then left the ;louse, postponing the further examination of the case PritP Monday. FRENCH RAILWAYS. We have procured the Ministerial Report, or pream ble to the project of law, about to be presented to the French Chambers respecting railways. The document commences by a comparison, showing the inferiority of France in these great enterprises. " Belgium," it says, " has 82 leagues of railroad exe cuted and open, out of 141 leagues projected ; Eng land has 1,398 miles out of 2,187 projected ; Germany has 180 leagues out of 1,800 ; whilst France, out of 540 leagues of railway necessary, has but a few leagues, not worth noting." It is only the Royal roads and great lines of corn munioation that are at the charge of Government. Go vernment, therefore, need only turn its attention to the railways that are to run in the line of Royal roads, con necting north and south, east and west, the ocean and the Mediterranean. These are the great lines, and the system of the Government is limited to them, leaving all embranebment lines to private speculation. Paris must ba the centre of the great system, which comprehends the following lines : 1. From Paris to Belgium and the Channel, by Lille or Valenciennes, Calais or Boulogne. 2. From Paris to the Mediterranean, by Lions and Marseilles. 3. Paris to the ocean, by Tours and Nantes. 4. Paris to the ocean, by Bordeaux and Bayonne. 5. Paris to the Getman frontier, by Strasburg. The sixth great line from Paris to Havre need not be mentioned, as a Company is already executing it.* Three of the above lines exist merely in an inchoate state, and it would be impossible to estimate their cost ; they must. therefore be deferred. The Anglo-Belgian line comes first. The surveys and studies for it can be finished before the end of 1842, as they are already completed as far as Creel. It is the most important in a political and commercial sense, and therefore ought to be the first railroad un dertaken. The line from Paris to Marseilles is surveyed merely from Paris to Dijon, by Chalons-sur-Saone, and from Marseilles to the Rhone. Untl the resources of the Treasury permit the execution of the whole line, these portions of it may he first executed, they moreover being connected together by the steamers which navi gate the Rhone and Saone. The difficulty of finding a sufficient number of skilful engineers is also a reason for not commencing five great lines at once. Government, therefore, confines its demands to credits for the following lines :- 1. For the Anglo-Belgian line. 2. For the line between Marseilles and the Rhone. 3. For the line from Paris to Chalons-sur•Saone, by Dijon. A million of francs, over and above, will be &- mended, in order to complete, before the end of 1843, the surveys of the three other lines. The report and preamble then proceeds to consider the best mode of execution, and the legislative measures necessary for the realization of the gratuitous cession of the land required. In 1837 the Government proposed to cede several railway lines to Companies. The Chamber decided that, for moral and political reasons, these great ways of communication ought not to be entrusted to private Companies. Accordingly, in 1838, the Government brought forward a vast pri jest, by which the State was to execute the principal lines ; but the Chamber had changed its mind. As many objections were now found against the tardiness and prodigality of the Adminis tration undertaking these lines, as the year before against the insecurity of private Companies ; and the result was, the cession of two great lines to two Com panies, formed part of the financial notabilities of the ea , pital. The first of these Companies was forced to abandon its task ; the second had recourse three times to the Chambers, and even when supported by the credit of the State, it has not been able to keep its shares up to par. Bearing these facts in mind, the pre sen t Mi n i s t er of Public Works now proposes a mixed system, to ob viate, first, the evil of entrusting such vast operations to Companies and individuals not equal to the task ; and, secondly, the evil of overburdening the Treasury with an expenditure so much exceeding its nominal limits. The Government will itself undertake to execute, or get executed, the great lines, abandoning embranch meets to private industry, without now examining in what proportion private industry may be aided. The localities interested must furnish the value of the ground required. The State will execute the em bankments, excavations, works of art, bridges, stations, &c. ; and then private Companies will be called to undertake the laying down of rails and preparing the roads fOr the duties of public conveyance, according to a certain tariff. According to calculation, this plan will divide the expense into two equal parts, the State getting rid of one-half of it, and thus meeting the objcetion of over burdening the Treasury. The basis for the repartition between the depart ments of the land to be furnished, or its value, must be the length of the line. But for communes, or pa rishes, their interest in the line is to be considered ; for poor and merely agricultural localities cannot derive the same benefit from it as rich and commercial ones. The pr2prietors of ground are not to be treated with iso latedly. This would open the door to arbitrary deci sions. The departmental association must bargain and decide on these pointi. The plan of each line throughout the whole depart ment will be st:bjected to the procedure laid down in th e law of March, 1841. A judgment of expropria tion will be demanded for the whole line, and a jury in each district convoked to fix the quota of indemnity. All cession or purchase of lands shall be effected judi cially, and some by private bargain. Mortgages are to be met in the usual way. The total of the sums awarded by the juries of each district will be levied on the whole department. The Consul-General of the department will partition out the sums between the districts, and each Consul of district between the communes or parishes. The sums will be levied on the four branches of di rect contributions. The great project of Railroads presented by the French Government ir. 183 S mentioned nine great lincs, or which Paris to Toulouse by Orleans was one, Bor deaux to Marseilles another. MRS. GORE'S NEW NOVEL, «THE MAN OF FonTuNE."—Mrs. Go re 's reput a tion h as b een l ong established as one of the cleverest imaginative writers of the day. Her krowledge of society, inure especially of the " World of Fashion," has never perhaps been ex ceeded by any novelist. Like all the rest of her admirable productions. "The Man of Fortune" has been eagerly looked for by the novel reading world, and in its perusal no one we venture to say, will be disap pointed of the amusement expected to be derived from its pages. Of all the various stories we have had the gratification of perusing from Mrs. Gore's pen, we have hardly met with one so thoroughly pleasing and inter esting as " The Man of Fortune "—a circumstance arising probably from the entirely original manner in which she has treated her subject—pourtraying with singular vbility and humour, the struggles of a young man entering upon life with almost unbounded wealth to make himself a star in the West, exclusively by the influ en:q, of his fortune. The present tale must undoubtedly ratoi as one of Mrs. Gore's best fictions. PRICES OF FOOD AT HOME AND ABROAD. Many thousands of the industrious inhabitants of cur metropolis arc now prevented, by the artificial enhance ment of the price of food, from par taking in the festivi• ties of Christmas. When, to gratify the selfish and short sighted policy of the wealthiest class of the community, every poor man is made to pay B,'- r d. for a loaf that ought not to cost him more than 4Ad. ; when, for the same purpose, every poor man is made to pay Bd. for a pound of beef, which, if the importa tion of foreign cattle were not prohibited, would not cost more than thl.; when, in short, every article of general consumption is extravagantly taxed, while pro perty is allowed to escape taxation altogether, or nearly so, it is not matter for wonder that famine and disease should be the inmates of thousands and thousands of humble dwellings where festivity would now have been presiding at the board, had the councils of this country been guided by wiser and less partial maxims. Not only the two most necessary articles of food, bread and meat, are thus extravagantly taxed, to swell the revenues, not of the state, but of a class, but every article that may be counted among the luxuries of the poor is dealt with in a similar manner. 'fea, coffee, sugar, wine, and tobacco are all of them articles of which the prime cost is comparatively trifling, and from which even the humblest of our mechanics would not be obliged to abstain, if the cost were not so extravagantly enhanced by exorbitant duties. Ordinary hyson tea, in bond, may be bought at less than 2s. u pound, and the best bohea at Is. Bd. a pound ; but before they can be offered for sale to the consumer, a duty of 2s. Id. a pound must be paid on them, making a charge of 125 per cent. upon the one description, and 104 per cent. upon the other. To the poor consumer, however, the charge is, in reality, much greater ; for the dealer must have an extra profit to indemnify him for the advance of his capital. On the finer descrip tions of tea Oho duty is the same ; the finest young hyson, which costs ss. 3d. a pound, being only liable to the same duty as the commonest bohea. The working of this system, however, is attended by great injustice to the poor man, who pays a duty of 125 per cent. on the tea which he consumes, while the rich man pays a duty of only 39 per cent. on the superior article. The best Java coffee may be bought, in bond, at 58s per cwt. The duty upon this is 84s. per cwt., or 144 per cent. The best St. Domingo coffee may be bought in bond at 42s per cwt. Upon this the duty is 140 s per cat. or 333 per cent. These enormous duties are charged with a view to the protection of our own colonies; but without stopping to discuss the propriety of such a protection, may we not ask whether the duty of 56s per cwt. upon the coffee grown in English colonies is not already a most extravagant tax upon the Brit;sh consumer ? At all events, the manner of imposing the duty operates in the same unfair manner as with respect to tea, for while the duty on ordinary Jamaica coffee amounts to more than 100 per cent., the superior descriptions, which run up to 144 e. per cwt., are liable only to a duty of 33 per cent. A hundred gallons of good Teneriffe wine may be bought in the London Docks for 141. or 151. Upon this the duty amounts to 271. 10s., or 183 per cent. Teneriffe wine, if subject to a duty of only 25 per cent., might be retailed in London at twelve-pence a bottle, but it is true, if our workmen were to accustom them selves to drink wine, as workmen do in most other countries, there would be a great falling off in the con sumption of gin, from which so large a revenue is now derived. Of tobacco, there are few descriptions that cost more in the London links than 6d. a pound. The duty is 35., or 600 per cent. on the cost of the article, added to the expense of conveying it to this country.—Chronicle. EVENING SUN " TOWER HAMLETS. (PROM A CORRESPONDENT.) A requisition, very numerously end most respectably si g •n e d, was, on 'l'hursiay last, the 23d instant, pre sented to the Commissioners of the Court of Requests, then in agent:a:leo at the Court-house, Osborn•street , Whitechapel, for the use of the Court-house to hold a meeting for the purpose of publicly congratulating her Majesty on the birth of a son—tha Prince of Wales, &c. The Commissioners promptly refused to anew such meeting to be held in the Court-house, and be haved with the greatest rudeness to the gentlemen who presented the requisition. The requisition con tained the signature of one, if not more, of the Magill' trates of Middimx, together with some of the most resi,ectahle inhabitant householders of the Tower Hamlets : yet they refused the Court-house, although a great number of their brother Commissioners signed the ri quisition to them for the use of the large Nom. Will those. respectal:le Commissioners neglect to be present on the first day the Court will be holden after the holidays, when the same requisition will be agate presented to the Commissioners ; or will they put OP with such insults to their Quern, their neighbours, and themselves? Ile signature© to the'requisition, on various sheet', number more than 256 ; and will, when proseP ted again, have many more attached, though men of on n " mon sense can require no more on such a subject, un der existing circumstances. FROM THE FRENCH PAPERS' n On the 28th ult , says th e J ourna l d e Valogne, a al °° f with a crew of fo ur men wen t as h ore, near S ain t A r aa s " but got off again without a rudder, and almost withou sails, and attempted to reach the }longue. SOOll ate% wards the wind changed, a n d th e sea ran d rea dfully' Vg h h o The crew threw out an ancho r , b ut it gave way, ar%aa sloop was driven at the mercy of the waves. Sh e perceived by a vessel from Harfleur, and an atteraPt, "' as made to reach her, but as n o men were seen on boar d attempt was abandoned, as it could only be continu ed , a the risk of life. Nothing m ore was h ear d o f the sil t until a few days ago, and it was consequently supP° . that the crew had peri s h e d. A l e t ter , h oweve r, has been received from New Haven in England, stating that aftr c ; being beaten ab ou t f or some days the sloop had arr i i ii safely in an English p or t. The crew, having only If single loaf and a bottle of brandy on board, were b s dead with hunger when they arrived. The Journal de Maine-et-Loire gives the folleaci l i extraordinary account of the p er il ous s it u ations % escape, a few days ago, of t wo s p or t smen , whose boa upset in the meadows of Brioll a y, w hi c h we re overflow to a depth of from twel ve t o fif teen f eet , on their mints from duck-shooting in th e even i ng . O n l y on e Of the'.,„, being able to swim, he caught hold of his comps both and struggled with him for some time, until, as u e o f were nearly exhausted, the former perceived the top,_ a tree, which was a short distance out of the climbed up and dragged his companion, but even in this position, position, although they had a resting-place for their r eir in the trunk of the tree, they were nearly I. I P t ° t t shoulders in water. The most exhausted of th° -vb t ~„d no must have been drowned, if his companion ,„„ per t tied him to the branches of the tree with his '"" *dl water, . } , i ' i u s a 1, 2 1 chief. Their dog also was taken into the tr ee a s il e 'd the on the branches. In this horrible state they Pas 'clock whole night, and were not perceived until eigh t '`) in the mornin, when a boat cam e a nd took them ° lo As a lady and so her son were ret u rning bone b o ns nights ago in a carriag e f rom a party i n the neigh. th , hood, to their residence at St. Andre sur w hich Seine Inferieure, they c ame t o th e f err y a t Lore} , s f t he they must necesaarily p ass , th e r i ver i n that part 0 oil Valley of the Eure being still without a bridg, e f us ed account of the river being fl oo d e d th e ferrymenl t he to Lake in the carriage, and the lady, her son, a ) wit h footman embarked, leaving the coachman behind b o at the carriage. When in th e m iddl e o f th e stream the J.' d driv e ' was carried away by th e f orce o f th e cu rrent, an t t he with such violence ag a inst th e t run k of a tree that lady was thrown overboard, and must have been dr°, i i en e but for the exertions of he r s o n , who was an exeu or swimmer, and saved not only his mother but the 10 ° 0. 1 ' ° - -t an old and faithful servant, who, without reflecting he could not swim at all, had plunged in after his m y ta i t e r rre ,. The Rouen papers state that three men of St• t he en-Pert, on the coast of Normandy, went down tU urer shore a few days ago, to collect sea- weed for In:" but a storm coming on, they to o k shelter in a coassing lowed out by the waves. While waiting for the lf e ll iii of the gale the whole of the super i ncum bent sot or upon them , and covered theta with an immense °I: t h e . chalk and flints. The accident being made kne w ' an d inhabitants of the commune l a b oure d for two daoYfatheir nights in the hop e o f r ecover i n g the bodi es moss friends. At the end of the above time anoth ee rdo yed in in, and seriously injured three of the men e m y r e d by an the charitable work. This being shortly other fall, the people became so alarmed teraain buried: to r sisted, and left the unfortunate men was where they were. ed man Two days ago the body of a well-dr e t s h s ere being " taken out of the Canal St. Martin, and' identified, was papers about him whereby he c o uld . b ted to in carried to the Morgue. His death is attri ne• and in toxication, as in his right hand was a clay Pi.r 16ofr. the pocket of his pantaloons a purse containing nd About two hours afterwards another body ,was near the same spot, and soon recognised to be that Of w young journeyman, who had been married just 1 01 1 they de enough to become a father. For some time the you* couple, it appears, folla t had lived happily, nor, indeed, w as th e tranquillity of the wife disturbed until the lifeless corpse of her husband was brought home, when the shock wO so sudden and unexpected that her reason has been placed in danger. Two months ago the husband 'aa s . thrown out of work, and. being unable to procur? then lived ploymeet, first exhausted all his former savings, add t , l „. lived upon credit until he could obtain no more. puny; the whole of this time he concealed his distress fronmdlhte wife, till at last it grew too heavy for him to bear , a committed suicide. 1, fore the Another case of a deserted orphan came a . 112 _ 0p Correctional Tribunal a few days ago. Emilie Killer or a child scarcely ten years old, without either fatLaug_, mother, was under the care of a woman named t of e her but, in a fit of anger, she either turned her oi . l tie gi rl house, or so ill-treated her, that the poor little was absconded, was found starving in the streets, a,. the taken up as a vagabond. On being broughtber,ed Tribunal, the woman Lange, who had been cited, Mrt',. n that she had never ill-treated the child, but that she t r: away because she was about to be put apprentiee the maker of artificial flowers. She stated further that _ A • father of Emilie, when a widower, lodged in her house, a nd there died, leaving his c hild u p on her hands- Doubts a to the truth of her representations being entertilaro_l, upwards of sixty person s , some of them ladies e t_ r t' s " o and wealth, came forward on learning the p arti F to f the case from the papers, and offered to take ehaT te 0 00 , the girl,*.insuring her an ample provision. AnaonFiidiatis was one in behalf of the here Supe r i e ure of the r a e c :pd, and charitable institution in the Rue de ti r e s id e nt called Le Bon Pasteur, to whose care the ou/ wing deijprmined to commit the child. On his sn e d this decision, a man named Lambert, who tlec' iar he said self to be the maternal uncle of Emilie, of whotouffered to he was very fond, made his appearance, and he was tako her home, but the President informed him life (he too late in his application, and from his station " .. . ie . is a journeyman baker) could not render her any se" [ADvERTIsEmENT.]—NEwYEAR's GirT!"' The present season is hallowed by one of the most de lightful offices of friendship an d aff ection ; the intei change of gifts, as remembrances of the donors, tokens of their esteem for the receivers. While large 0°1: are expended upon the most costly baubles and elegan" trifles, we would remind our readers that no more arll ls° :. priate present can be made at this season of the Y cL. than a package of Rowland's Macassar Oil, or Nalydor, combining, as both these articles do, the most sterling utility with elegance and luxury. The non-arrival of the Montrose Pen insular mail steamer with the mails due last week is now e c " counted By letters received overland from Gibraltaf: dated the 15th instant, it appears that the Great Lira pool steamer, with the Indian mail and passencrerstAileta, leaving Gibraltar bay, on the 10th instant,'for in ery and Alexandria, met with an accident to her mac w hich which compelled her to return. The Montrose,:vcd td was then at Gibraltar, was therefore d es p te" Malta and Alexandria with the mails and P assenge b „ t As the Montrose is a vessel of 250-hors e pow e o r f e t little delay may be apprehended in the c ourse outward or homeward India m a il. , h • SILVER TEA SERVICES.—A. B. ' , A — , 1,0 and Suns, Alanufacturing Silversmith, No. 14, Cora& f t he (lon, opposite the Bank of England. submit the prices °,The following SILVER TEA and COFFEE sERVICS S : e isod Cottage Pattern is plain, standing on shell feet , th e `,tirg's coffee-pots with a flower ornament on the lids. T b° Q snip e Pattern is richly embossed with flowers and scrolls. of either is new and elegant : CO'II'AGU PATTERN. XING'S PATTER N ' y. s. 0 St rong Silver Tea-p0t.....12 0 Strong Silver Teapot ...... i; ic , Ditto Sugar Basin 616 Ditto Sogarß asin blO Di t t o Milk Ewe r . 41 0 Di tto CreaolEpter. 0 Ditto Coffee-p o t. 15 0 Di tto Coffee - p ot 0 Complete ......... —£3B 6 Complete ... . ..... £4O es _ wr A variety of upwards of flay Tea and Coff ee Services be seen in the Show-rooms, where may be selected e ver y p a blate of Silver req u i s i te f or the sideboard or p l a te .chest. Pa of prices, ill ustrate d with sketches of t h e va rious article:-IPtiA! and forwarded postage free to any pa rt of the king dom ' os' te 11. SAVORY and SONS, No. 9 C o ruhill, London, ()pr the Bank of England. On the 23d in d s a t u . , i t i l t t e e r pca ,orbodurfol, On the E :. . 5 ) ( 6 I n a s g t d . a, wßifleßefTWllilSliarn Henry Cara, ES+ 01 Russell-square, us' On t 28 th • in ll. einst., Meeklenburgh.square, the lady 0 Weston, Esq., of a son. ell-square, the lady of George On the 29th inst., in Upper GI t lace, the lady of Gloucester-plac e, er-p Captain Thornton, RN • ~ of a son. MARRIED. On the 28th inst., at Kegworth, Leicestershire, Henry James Wallace, of Weston-street, Pentonville London , t ° Frances, second (laughter of Mr. John Roper, of 'Kegworth. On the 29th inst., at St. Pancras Church, William Thacker, s Charlesq,, otE Parbury, uston-sg Esq., o Euston-square, s el e e y n m , oyuoru.npgste. daughter late of th e F D On the 26th of July last, lE at D. Sydney, New South Wo l ' Eliza Jane, (laughter of F. Parbury, Esq., aged .ct of the late On the 25th inst., at Northampton, 3li Mary, re W. Kerr, M. D., aged 88. On the 26th inst., Mary Ann, the wife of Mr. J. E. Killiek* - - - - --- London: Printed and Published by MU RDO YOUNU! No. 112. Strand. at The Sum. Office, No. 112 . Strand, i n the County of Aliddlesex, Thursday, December 30,1841• PARISIAN STATISTICS. On Thursday last M. de Rarnbuteau, Prefect of the Seine, presided at the Electoral Assembly, which had been convoked for the purpose of re-electing a cer tain number of members of the Chamber of Com merce of Paris. The Prefect opened the proceedings by a speech, in which he first directed the particular at tention of the assembly to several questions f. total in terest, which demanded a prompt adjustment de next placed before them a statement of the financial and commercial situation of Paris during the first 11 months of 1841. The proceeds of the octroi or tolls in that interval amounted to 28,000,0001., or upwards of 1,000,0001., more than in the corresponding period of 1840. The consumption of meat had experienced a diminution of 3,083 oxen, 5,058 calves, and 2,419 sheep, which was partly compensated by an increase of 1,319 cows, and of 107,343 kilogrammes of pork. The Parisian trade continued in a most flourishing condition. The number of failures had decreased. The investments in the savings' banks, which, from the Ist of December, 1839, VI the 30th of November, had been 31,839,000 francs, amounted, for 1841, to 83,900,000, and the reimbursements, which rose in 1840 to 35,766,000 francs, did not exceed 25,020,000 francs ; and 32,000 additional pass books were delivered n 1841. There occurred in this last year a great diminution in the number of articles pawned in the Mont de Piete, viz., 100,000 articles, or 1,000,000 of francs less, than in 1840. The goods exported from Paris during 1841 amounted to 138,177,806 francs, which is an increase of 15,856,852 francs as compared with 1840. In 1832 those exports did not exceed 66,911,055 francs, and previous to 1830 they never went beyond 80,000,000. The export of articles of Persian manufacture had in creased in the proportion of 52 per cent. Notwithstanding the alterations made in the tariffs of the United States, that country had received from Paris articles far an amount of 9,500,000 francs more than in 1840. The exports to Great Britain and the German Customs Union had likewise increased. Tho Prefect then communicated to the assembly the result of the last census, from which it appears that Paris now contains, exclusive of the garrison, 912,000 souls, and the rural districts of the department of the Seine 238,696 ; total, 1,150,729 souls. Since 1833 the sums expended by the city on the hospitals amounted to nearly 50,000.000 francs. The primary schools, which in 1832 did not exceed 50, and only cost 184,000 francs per annum, are now 106 in number. They receive 37,831 pupils, and figure in the municipal budget for a sum of 934,547 francs. M. de Hambuteau afterwards presented to the Chamber kd Commerce an expose of the works completed or in progress of execution during the last eight years. The buildings intended for the embellishments of Paris had cost the city in that interval, independently of the funds voted for the same purpose by the Chambers, a sum of 26,000,000 f.; 22,000,000 f. were besides expended in widening the streets, 5,916,000 f. in opening quays and establishing wharves; 7,000,000 f. in improving the roads of the department, 1,500,000 f. in cleaning and em banking the small river of Bievre, 1,500,000 f. in orna menting the Place de la Concorde, &c. Notwithstand ing all these expenditures the City was enabled to pay off prior debts to an amount of 21,000,000 f., thereby reducing the debt of the capital from 65,709,2481. to 44,596,577 f„ which latter will be entirely cleared i❑ 1851 WEST INDIA STEAM PACKETS. POST-OFFICE NOTICE. The following important notice was posted up yester day at the General Post-office, St. Martin's-le-Grand, and the branch receiving -houses, Verc-street, Oxiord street, Charing-cross, Borough, and Lombard-street. " General Post-office, Dec. 29. " On and from the Ist of January next, the mails be tween the United Kingdom and the West Indies, Mexico, Cuba. Scc. which have hitherto been conveyed by her Majesty's j ackets, will be forwarded twice in &ery month the contract steam vessels of the Royal Mail Steam packet Company. "These mails will be made up in London on the Ist and 15th of every mouth, and will be forwarded from Falmouth. " In addition to the places for which it has been the practice to make up Mails under the existing arrange nients, it is intended that in future branch packets shall touch with Mails at the following ports, namely, Para taaric (Surinam), St. Juan de Nicaragua, Maracaibo, and Bahia-Honda. " Newspapers to and from the two first places will be liable to a charge of two-pence each ; and those to and from Maracaibo and Bahia-Honda will be forwarded free of postage. " The steam-packets will also touch at New Orleans, Savannah, Charleston, New York, Halifax, and Nova Scotia ; but no letters or newspapers will be forwarded from tha United Kingdom for those pl aces , un l ess spe cially addressed, By West India steam-packets.' " On the letters addressed to any part of South Ame rica, Mexico, Havannah, and other islands not British possessions, the postage must be pre-paid, or they can not be forwarded. " On the return voyage the packets will touch at Ber muda and at Fayal, and a branch packet will proceed twice in every month from Fayal to Madeira. " The 'ray steam-packet, for the West India and !lexico Mails of the Ist of January. 1842. " The Thames steam-packet, for the Mails of the Ist of January, 1842, touching at Surinam, Demerara, Ber bice, and Tobago, via Falmouth. " The Mails for Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, the lonian Islands, Egypt, and India, by the Oriental steamer, via Falmouth, will be made up on Friday next, the 31st instant (to-morrow), and for Egypt and India, by the Overland Mail, via Marseilles, on 4fi t t, January,e th oi4lfet;liii\ainaudueriyra 813118,a4z2n..5 " Her Majesty's brit; Pigeon, and Buenos Ayres —, via Falmouth. " The Britannia steamer, for the North American Mail of the 3d of January, 1842, via Liverpool." DI S TRESS AT CHAPEL•EN-LE•FRIT IL —W e are sorry to say, that the only cotton-factory that was working; at Chapel-en - le - Frith stopped last week. Thi s factory to Messrs. Ashton and Co., of Hyde, who, through depression of trade and other inconve niences, stopped all their works, both at Hyde and Chapel-en-le-Frith : consequently, upwards of 150 hands have been thrown out of employment at Chapel en-le-Frith, who were altogether depending upon Messrs. Ashton for support. This is a heavy blow for the industrious poor of Chapel-en-le-Frith at this incle ment season of the year.—Derby Reporter PI 'da b e •+. ihl " aft ate bt,:. -4 (4 t* *'' •,t; ref Gi me efi • $Ol ' Po thi or( Or its i Cif titt ' Vt t.: ; snit Jt•pro • . , • . 's J 1 this . ' PIN tem Par] Earn . • betti land Ord any are t 'Ong Sch 4 Char in ti and the c *the] tions .the 1 to hi race] 110 el at ti have of su Ailed of th arid eight an~i the Offi c Polio ' any ti BCH I, ' 414 4 4 ,.. i 1e0rs arti ) 4attli Geor€ Giles, Mary, Mary k arY, Gi l ?leer vorty. TITR] r The eorisis worke 1 . 4 ing so i ' the award terfee Y the t tre Se ePpeai cured the sr ellau g lever, tittle a :Ore fr . !t!g an voted letters' Wel Admix obse r , °re ach to btth stag` at Goborr; hes, . de °t ' the mo : when s, tn°, 4 in tons or Faint, OUnter Cor,„!iti. Uavrea'Messr c 44. Alba ei ght in kl4 ` r en al et ' Y at attralan, 7 . kt l -41I tt" A - 4.pw ,t, I TOI he To t TO - I