The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-17 00:00:00

ARRIVAL OF THE OVERLAND MAIL.

The papers and letters in advance of the overland
mail have come to hand.

No intelligence of the slightest interest had been
received from the Persian Gulf since the departure
of the fleet from Bombay ; but it was believed that
it would meet with more resistance than, perhaps, its
numerical strength might be enabled to overcome;
for it was stated that a force of 40,000 Persians
was collected in the vicinity of Bushire, with orders
from the Shah to dispute the landing of the British
troops.
The expeditionary force under Brigadier Chamber-
layne was within a few marches of Cabul. Sir John
Lawrence was with the troops. Lost Mahomed was
said to be just on the frontier waiting an interview.
The principal motive for the match is believed to
have been to ascertain the fact whether or not a route
might be found into the Cabul districts without the
necessity of penetrating the Khyber Pass, and the
affirmative, it is said, has been satisfactorily deter-
mined.

There was a talk of troops mustering at Peshawur
with a view to an advance on Candahar.

There had been sDme disturbances in the Madras
Presidency, but, on the whole, tranquillity prevailed
throughout the British dominions in India.

From China we have four days' later ne*s. The
American commodore attacked the Barrier For►.s,
CIA would appear CO have been remanned by the
Chinese, and bombarded them for an entire day.
The Chinese had fired upon some American boats'
crews. It was ;hoped that the affair would be satis-
factori'y settled.
Admiral Seymour had carried out no further
operations beyond blowing up the Bogue forts.
The Factories were being put in a state of defence.
Despatches had arrived from Yel► to Sir John
Bowring, but their contents had not transpired.

Intelligence from Madrid, Jan. 13th, states :
An official account fro•n the Philippine Islands states
that 15,9 x► houses have been destroyed there by a hurri•
cane. Considerable damage has also been done at
Manilla.

The Osservatore Triestino confirme the news of
the Triest Zeitung relative to the occupation of the
islands on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea.

The Grand Duke Constantine arrived at Berlin on
the 12th, anti left the next day f9r Hanover.

Intelligence from Con,tantinople, Jan. oth, stales
that the Shah of Persia is said to insist on the con-
tinuation of thou war with England. General Chesney
has received a concession for the construction of the
Fuphrates Valley Railroad.

The Paris papers of Thursday contain nothing of
political importance.
Verges' appeal to the Court of Cessation has been
rejected.
The revenue return for 1856 shows an amount of
1,028,207,000 E, being an increase of 7,:.328,000f. on
that of 1855,

THE PRESS.

Bnio Star wag reported at Portsmouth on
Wednesday night as having been dismasted in the
chops of the Channel. A steamer was sent in search
of her.

THE CREW OF THE STEAMER Briton, bound to
Seville were picked up at Rea on Sunday night, the
Briton, having foundered off Cape Ushant.

TRIAL AND CONVICTION OF REDPATH.
Mr. RETWATII was put upon his trial, yesterday, at
the Old Bailey.

The first indictment charged him with forging and
uttering a certain transfer—deed No. 3,623.
Mr. Sergeant BALLANTINE addressed the jury for
the prosecution ; and the evidecce of Mr. Henry
Atterbury, the audit•clerk of the Great Northern
Railway Company, having been given in support of
the learned counsel's statement,
Mr. Sergeant PARRY closely cross-examined Atter-
bury with respect to the signatures to the transfer
being in Redpath's hand. Witness had no hesita-
tion in swearing to Redpath's signature. This wit-
ness further admitted that he had borrowed, and not
repaid, 15/. of Redpath. He did not know that Mr.
Reynolds, the accountant, had borrowed 12,000!. of
Redpath. Neither did he know that Mr. Denison,
the chairman, held shares in Reynolds's name.
Mr. Runty then proceeded to reply on the
defence :

In themselves railways were splendid and beneficent
works ; bat they had engendered a spirit of gambling that
had been the ruin of thousands of fatuities, and would pro-
bably he the ruin of the gentleman at the bar. It was
clear that a most extensive and improper system of specu-
lation had been carried on by the responsible persons be-
longing to this company, and the prisoner appeared to
have only done the same as the others. The prosecution
had carefully kept back every witness who could give them
genuine information of what had been done by the direc-
tors of this company ; and, although the secretary was pre•
sent, they dare not put him into the witness-box. It was
admitted that some of the directors had stock on the books
of the company in false names, and he submitted that this
was done for the purpose of cheating the public, and pre-
venting them from being aware that the stock they pur-
chased was the property of the company and not of the
parties who were represented to be disposing of it; and if
the prisoner should be convicted, he would owe that result
to his having unfortunately been placed in such an atmo-
sphere of speculation and fraud.
The prisoner had been in the company's service about
eight years, haviog entered it at a moderate salary, when
he found, as had been proved by the reluctant testimony of
Atterhury, a system of speculation and dealing with shares,
if not under fictitious and fraudulent names, under names
that did not belong to the real owners of the stock, and be
would say again that if the prisoner were found guilty
upon the charge preferred against him, he would have been
led into it by the unfortunate circumstance of his being
a clerk in the registration-office of the Great Northern
Railway.
The jury would have seen that he ( Mr. Sergeant Parry)
had had great difficulty in eliciting facts from Atterbury,
hut he thought he had elicited sufficient to warrant him in
saying, that whatever might be the consciences of railway
directors, such a mode of doing business as that adopted
by the Great Northern Railway was a wicked and deli-
berate fraud upon the general community, because if the
directors dealt in shares in their own names their stock
would have been depreciated on the Stock Exchange.
Mr. Justice WILLEs summed up with great care,
printing out that the question of signature was the
only point for the jury to consider, and explaining
(hat the forgery of a fictitious name was in the eye
of the law a forgery to all intent.
The jury retired, and, after a short absence,
returned into court, and gave a verdict of " Guilty."
Leopold Redpath and Charles James Comyn
Kent were then arraigned for feloniously forging and
uttering a transfer to George Sidney, with intent to
defraud.

he particulars of this case were similar to the
last; and as the facts are so fresh in the recollec
tion of the public, it is unnecessary now to repeat
them.

After the examination Gf a number of witnesses,
the jury found a verdict of "Guilty" against Redpath,
and Acquitted Kent. (Applause.)
Mr. Justice WILLES then delivered judgment, sen-
tencing Redpath to TRANSPORTATION FOR LIFE.
The other indictments against the prisoners were
withdrawn.