The Express.
London, England, 1852-09-03 00:00:00

THE GREAT GOLD-DUST ROBBERY ON

BOARD THE NELSON.

By the arrival of the ship Vanguard yestarday is
the HIM, from Melbourne, we hays been rvillsaudigemeasien
of the detail of the trial of the parties in the
eztnesilisary piratical bearding of the Ship else% bewail
to sad the robbery newly PO, aof geld dust,
seedgui to the Australian Beak, Austiabless.
The leaden of the "paroled party" wen anseine
Lades thieves, arsenates, sad swell nehnesa, whir had
be tioasented to the ;sissy, sad hang yenned by
eine awn gnats of leave, wen ambled ispdaMpsle
at 1:x
sad annit this dartag roll The
wen erwrigni ea the shairgias.k, man were Saha
Isnea alias Mena, /wan sod Isms Dann
They WIN Wined,
the
wish Wag pbralisally Undid
a mien nod amid the Mink beingin Seuleurert a
Gleagow, sad stereßag thssetraa COO named dam;
secondly, with having wounded the chief (Henry
Draper), with latent to murder him. The AnesepOneral
fee tie cormitsua resents& bar the wows. The trial was a
ems, saddle evidene Wend was exceed-
= fun
velunisaus, but the saigened narrative will be found
to contain** sans _

—The Nelsen was a tetras, 900 tone berths., hair ging
to Messrs. Potter sad Caw, meehanta, otOlaeow. Oa her
arrival at Gee. the Warr. Noble endea-
voured to persuade the sea l• ten by the j, and to
astir in discharging her. El offers, however, were fruit-
ier. For weeks and weeks the ship continued deserted,
the master unable to get hands to work at any cost.
By great inducements and high rate of wages he at
length got seven men to join, with which, and the
aid of his officers, he got the vessel cleared cut, and obtain-
ing a freight, amongst which was 8,600 ounces of gold dust,
consigned to an Australian bank, in Auetinfriars. .He sailed
from Geelong in the latter end of March, and brought up in
• day or so in Hobson's Bay, off Melbourne, for the pu-
pae, of seeking hands to complete the number of the ship's
company. It should be observed that she wee fifteen short
of her number. The gold dust was in twenty-three boxes.
On its being received on board it was placid in the
after hold of the ship, but it was subsequently removed,
and placed in a locker in the lazaretto, and well pro-
' tented by bags of bread and other articles placed round
and over it, so as to conceal it from view. The captain
placed it there one night, for hater security, the first
and second officers who assisted him being the only
persons in the vessel who wore cognisant of its attest
whereabouts. The piracy was committed on the night
of the 2nd of April. The muter, Mr. Wright, was proved
to have been ashore at the time, at the shipping office in the
town, endeavouring to persuade men to join and com-
plete the number of his crew. The mate, Mr. Henry
Draper, was left in charge of the vessel ; and besides the
second mate and seven hands, there was a mate of another
vessel (the Royal George), then lying in the harbour, on
lizard, who had, it seemed, been on friendly terms with the
first mate, and lied spent the evening with him. At about
eleven o'clock all hands turned in, except the second mate,
whose watch it was on desk, when, between twelve and one
o'clock, he observed a boat full of men being rowed off
from the shore, but had no suspicion of their intention till
it was alongside, when he was " thunderstruck " by
their jumping on board ; in another moment he ,
was secured, and lashed hands and feet. The '
night, however, enabled him to sec the features of

Nivea! at the fellows. There were about ten of them, all
exhidritieg fire-arms, and some cutlasses. They were not a
dam of men accustomed to laborious work. They were
well dressed, but some wore disguises, such as crape over
emir fame. and wearing large cloaks to conceal their
undiredress. The hand' forward were all seised at the
rim moment, the men levelling their pieces at their
braes, and with horrible threats vowed every soul shou'd
be mamaczed if they dared to thwart them in their pur-
pose. Having lashed the whole of the crew similar to
the amend mate, excepting the cook, wbo by some stra-
tagem escaped their observation, they entered. the cuddy,
and the prisoners addressing Mr. Draper, the chief mate,
said, "We want your gold; where is it? out with
it." The mate; after being subjected to great brutality,
pointed it out. The locker was instantly torn open, and
the boxes of gold taken out and handed up one after ano-
ther to the fellows in the cabin, and by them to others at
the gangway and in the boats. Clearing the locker of its
contents, they commenced ransacking other parts of the
ship, imagining there was more booty to be load ; and the
mate, observing them breaking open the captain's drawers
and tearing up his papers, attempted to expostulate with
them, and said, " Who is your chief? It's no use your de-
stroying the captain's things. He's got no gold "—one of
them (Morgan) turned round, and levelling a pistol at him,
exclaimed, We'll show who our chief is ; take that," at
the same moment discharging the pistol, the contents of
which passed through the fieshy part of his leg, and lodged
in the partition of the cabin. Satisfying themselves tha. they
had obtained the whole of the precious metal, and in order
to prevent the crew of the Nelson making any effort to fol-
low them, or raise an alarm, they dragged them to the
cabin, lashed as they were, and with the mates and that
of the Royal George, forced them into the secret place
where gold had been deposited. The fellows then closed
the imp upon them, and after fastening them down and
piling a quantity of heavy goods on the top, so as to render
the escape of the crew less likely, they fled from the ship.
The cook, who, as previously observed, secreted himself in
the fore part of the vessel, and so escaped the notice of the
robbms, on perceiving them leave the ship and get far away,
emerged from his hiding place, and, going aft, discovered
where his incarnates were imprisoned. Ile imimedi itely
set about to release them, a tame of no ordinary difficulty,
but he eventual y succeeded in rescuing the poor fellows.
As has already been reported, the mate took the most
prompt steps to apprise the authorities at Melbourne I
of the robbery ; and although the coast was spee-
dily scoured, no clue of the delinquents could be disco-
vered. The boat with which they had gone off and efficted
the plunder with had been stolen from a wharf in the her-
hour'; awl alongside a road near the beach, where they
had landed, some of the boxes that had contained
the gold were found, of course emptied of their contents. '
Weeks elapsed and no trace could be obtained of the
depredators. At length one morning, the mate of the Royal
George, who, it will be recollected, was on board the Nelson
at the time of the rubbery, happened to be in his boat
alongside the quay, at Williamston, when his attention was
drawn to a well-dressed man carrying a carpet-bag and
cloak, on the quay side. He instantly recognised him to
be ono of the leaders of the gang who plundered the ship—
the prisoner Morgan. Watching him into a boat, he saw
him row to a schooner lying iu the harbour' and which
was about to proceed to Sydney. He was at once token
into custody on board the ship after being identified by the
mate, and some 201. In gold and a draft bill for 501. was
found iu his possession, and in the carpet-bag, which he had
with him, among other articles, the identical disguises which
sonic of the men had on when they boarded the Nelson.
He could give no explanation as to how he became possessed
of them, and on being brought ashore he was identified as
having been a convict, who had served part of his time,
and an associate of thieves. About this time the police had
received information of the other prisoners' also convicts,
who had recently opened an account at the Union Bank at
Geelong, and their conduct had excited the suspicion of the
bank clerks.
Corroborative evidence was adduced in supporting the
guilt of tl e prison.,, and that they were the principal
actors in the robbery was satisfactorily established.
The jury, after a short deliberation, found the prisoners
guilty, and on the following day they were sentenced to be
transported for the term of their natural lives. There were
five other prisoners to be tried for being concerned in the
act of plunder. The amount of gold found on the whale
prisoners did not exceed 7,0001. ; consequently, there is
upwards of 20,0001. yet to be recovered of the stolen
treasure.

A SECOND WARNING TO " LA PRESSE."

The honest indignation of M. Girardin against she
Bonapartist calumniator of France has brought down
a second warning on La Press.. The following mis-
sive reached the office of that paper on Wednesday
evening:

The Minister of General Polies having examined the
article published by the journal La Freese on the 31st of
August, commencing with the words "you summon this
morning," and ending with the words "you calumniate
and lie," and considering that this article contains calum-
nious insinuations against the acts of the government,
orders, in virtue pf Article 31 of the organic decree on the
press, dated Feb. 17, 1852, as follows:
Art. 1. In the terms of the organic decree on the press
dated 17th February, 1852, a second warning is given to
the journal La Prose, in the person of M. Emile de
Guardia, editor, and M. H. Itony, publisher, of that
journal.
Art. 2. The Prefect of Police is charged with the execu-
tion of this order.

Pans, &pt. 1, 1852.
Marrac, Minister of Police.
PISTRI, Prefect of Police.
The article which has brought down the power of
the French government upon La Prase, was epito-
mMed yesterday in our Paris letter. The following
is a literal version:—

UNIVPIIDAL PILLAOZ AND MURDER.
To Monsieur Oranier de Casiagnac.
You this morning summon (in the Pays) the government
of December 2nd before the trib,=al of morality and
meson. Such is the aim which you profess in the title of a
series of articles of which that of this morning is the
second. I not leis than you am opposed to the separation
of power into two rival branches, the executive and the
, legislative, but under the express reserve that that wild*
Is collective shall be separated from that which la
Individual. Yes, there should henceforth be but one soda
power—the power executive ; but on condition thes
this revocable power shall be narrowly shut up to the man-
agement of public affair', and shall never restrain private
liberty which is the inviolable right dell and the legiti-
mate property of each. To justify what you call the
thunder-bolt "of December 2, you say. " Considerablyimlbehled in 1816, moderated in 1830, and having, notwitir
shading this, led the way to two revolutions, the principle
of the initiative of assemblies expanded itself triumphane
to the constitutionof 1848. To what did it bring Franco&
two yeas ? To a system of universal pillage and murders
the organisation of which was prepared, and the used d'ardes
given, when France was awakened at the verge of the
dim by the thunder-bolt of the 2nd of December." Wan
W:yeen you the right, Monsieur, to say that the elections
9, 1852, would have been universal murder and pla-
t Is, then, the French nation a race of cut-throats and
? Rita nationofeowards ? Say that all the ex-
=S the transported, all the interMs after the god of
, to the number of 10,000 or thereabouts, were
eat-threats and robbers, were there not, ou the other side,
10,000,000 alesters who would not have submitted quietly
to robbery sad murder What could ten thousand have
dose against tea 11111110na ? But it is a gratuitous and un-
Itrarjust makes robbers and marderen of the
tivediThrirre transported and expelled, in which num-
her are the four generals, Bedean, Changarnier, Lamori-
, dere, end Lefio. I speak not of Victor Hugo, to whom you
ewe le much. But you are not content with insulting
10,000 isilow•citisens. You insult also, in counting them
far nought, the 21000 men who compose our gendarmerie.
and the 400,000 who form the army. Was not this a force
eadielent to maintain the law ? If it was sufficient on the
Sled elDessmber, 1851, when a universal or partial refusal
etjedleiod or administrative support was to be foreseen and
leased, how should it not be reckoned more than sufficient
en the 9th of May, 1852, when all that was to be performed
was scrupulous observance of the constitution ? In what
e could the danger have been greater in May, 1852,
rwitre tconstitution, law, and magistracy, all in one's favour
(Louis Napoleon's), than in December, 1861, when Lo had
against him the constitution and the law, and might justly
fear the judges who bad sat at Bowles and at Versailles,
where they had condemned Harbin and Blanqui, Ouinard
and Ledru Rain ?

You who to-day sit on the legislative benches and at the
table of the council general, you say,—you have the audacity
to say,—that the constitution of 1818 had conducted France
to &system of pillage and murder. You he, monsieur, and
this I say not of myself ; it is the election of December 10,
1848, which took place in virtue of the constitution voted
by a constituent assembly ; it is the election of May 13,
1819, equally prescribed by that constitution, which speaks.
In April, 1848, in December, 1818, in May, 1849, in De-
cember, 18.51, in February, 1852, the exercise of universal
suffrage before and after the constitution of November,
1818—before and after that of January, 1852, show us a
single fact like pillage or murder.
And who are you then, monsieur, that thus stigmatises
universal suffrage I—must I remind you that it has made
you what you are 1 Must I urge that if you area deputy
and member of a council general you arc there only by um-
versal suffrage ? Must I tell you that if the nephew of
the Emperor returned to France in 1848, and is in 1352 the
chief of the state, this is only die to universal suffrage—in
other words to the will and wishes of the people whom you
bold up before Europe as a nation of plunderers and cut-
throats ? Shame that the journal which calling itself theTelys,
can thus calumniate France. No, no. a thousand times
no ; the elections of May 9 would not have been pillage
nor murder. First, because France is not a nation of plan-
deren and murderers. Secondly, bscause the immense ma-
jority of electors had the greatest interest in maintain-
ing order and upholding the republic. Thirdly, because it
would have been the honour of the Elect of De-
cember 10 intrepidly to defend public order and
universal suffrage If they had been attacked. Fourthly,
because in every commune the gendarmerie would
have dorm its duty, and no peril would have been
too great for its courage. Fifthly and lastly, because the
army has shown to what point it carries the spirit of mili-
tary discipline and the practice of passive obedience.
Army, gendarmerie, president, administration, magistracy,
suffrage universal, electoral body, reckoning more than
10,000,000 voters, all units to tell you that when you write
"the elections of Mal, 9, 1852, would have been universal
robbery and, murder, ' you calumniate and You lie !
Extras de 0111J8DIN.

OE COWL
THE QUEENS PROGRESS TO SCOTLAND.

The royal party arrived at Cupar Angus at ten
minutes past eleven o'clock OR Wednesday, where they
partook of some refreshment in the station. They then
took carriage•, and proceeded by the Spittal of Glenshee,
where luncheon was served. They arrived safely at
Balmoral in the evening. •

The FArl and Countess of Derby left Longmhaw.
lodge, the seat of the Duke of Itutland, yesterday for
Knowsley, Lancashire.
Mr, Deedes, M.l'., Mr. I'erey Henry Crutchley, and
Mr. Ormsby Fiore had interviews yesterday with Mr.
Secretary Walpole at the Home•ofice.

Archdeacon Bethune, Mr. Baillie Cochrane and
family, Mrs. Thanes and family, were among the paset•n-
gers who emb irked on board the General &con Navigation
Company's steam ship, Ravensbourne, yesterday morning,
at the St. Kettarine'i Wharf, for Antwerp, en route to the
Rhine.