The Express.
London, England, 1852-08-04 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAMBERS.

Ez[A summary of the following appeared in yesterday's
Zrms]:
The Oriental Oompany's steam-packet Madrid,
Captain Weeks, arrived at Southampton yesterday
forenoon, and landed her mails under the charge of
Lieut. Ellerman, R.N., Admiralty agent. The
Madrid brings 67 passengers and three packages of
specie. Her dates are—Gibraltar, 26th July ; Cadiz,
26th; Lisbon, 29th ; Oporto, 30th; Vigo, 80th.
The Duke and Duchess of Montpensier passed
Vigo on the 29th ult. without landing, much to the
disappointment of the inhabitants, who bad made
preparations to receive them.
The Cortes were dissolved on the 28th, under the
circumstances detailed in the following letter of our
correspondent
:
LISBON, JULY 29.
My last letter will have prepared your readers
for one of the several contingencies I then men-
tioned; that which has taken place is the dissolution
of the Chambers (which had only on the 20th had
its sittings prolonged to the 6th of August), resulting
fr the vote upon the acts of the dictatorship; the
deM upon which turned upon the decree of the
3rd of Dumber, and occupied 14 days. The debate
was more conspicuously maintained by Benham
Jose Edema°, Canal Itibeiro, Fontes Pereira de Mello,
minister of finance; Avila and Cunha Saito Major,
teen violent Cabialistas; Carlos Bento; Jose Maria
Orandi, Faustian de Game, Ferrer, a Rodriguista;
and many others. 1 had already acquainted you
that the committee of finance had presented a rub-
etimation, and that malty others wens presented
by various speakers during the debate; but
on Thursday the 22nd, Saldanha declared the
deesee a ministerial question and threatened resig-
nation should it not be approved by the chamber ;
the chamber, however, bore out the character my
(ember letters have given of it, that it was neither to
be bed nor trifled with, and on the 23rd came to the
vets in a truly coescientioue and independent manner,
considering alone their character as repreeentatives
of the pm*, and disregarding their personal in-
Zit.; tea giving an example to other national
aseseablies, which will reflect
hew ier rlar pliaertheiortugaese Chamber of Deputies of
1862 (a sheet cortes of only one erasion.) The voting
ttok &min the following manner :—The project of
law, for the confirmation of the acts of the dictator-
ship was approved, save the exceptions proposed by
certain deputies ;theme exceptions being then approved,
the decree of the 3rd of December was rejected, in
so far as relates to the capitalisatioo, by 80 votes
agelnst 38.
The substitution of the commission of finance was
afterwards put to the vote, and rejected by 71 against
47. All the other substitutions which had been pre-
sented during the debate were subsequently rejected.
It was then mooted that as nothing was approved
relative to the question which had been at issue, •
proposition should revert to the committee of finance
to concoct a pplan, the feeling of the chamber having
been decidedly manifested during the debate in favoar
of amortisation—rather than capitalisation ; but as
the committee was defunct, it was left to the chamber
to resolve as they might think proper upon the no-
mination of another committee. In the meanwhile
the decree for its dissolution stops all further toil,
otherwise the consideration of the indemnities to the
tobacco contract would have been their next subject,
and which promieed as important a result as thatof the
capitalisation has had. Mansters,however,arenow left
to themselves, and a short time will determine
whether they intend to renew the obnoxious decree
or adopt a plan for the amortisation of the debt in
question, which appears in the Minister of Finance's
list as amounting to 9,000,000,000 Ms.
The decree dissolving the Chamber, was transmit-
ted to it by the Minister of the Interior, and read at
the eittieg on the 28th, when the Chamber imme-
diately broke op. The following is a copy :
- - • - _

Using the faculty conferred on me by the constitutional
charter of tne =marshy, in article 74, see. 4, it is my will
and pleasure, having beard the Conseil of State, according
AO article 110 of the said charter, to dissolve the actual
Chamber of Gentlemen Deputies of the Portuguese nation,l
and *velar a new election, avreeably to instructions which
shall be isniEdiately framed according to the disposition of
the additi act (reform of the charter), sanctioned by the
law of the of July of the current year, and to convoke
the general Cortes tor the first of December now next ensu-
ing. The ministers and secretaries of state of the several
departments will thus undentand and cause it to be exe-
cuted. Peace of Necruidedes, the 24th of July, 1862.
&guild by the Queen and all the ministers.

It will now, therefore, be seen that the govern-
ment must of necessity reassume the dictatorship;
one reason is because (although the charter has been
reformed) there is no electoral law, and an electoral
decree will be necessary, upon the basis of which the
elections must be made, and which, as they are to be
direct elections, will probably be made under a de-
cree similar to that of the Palinen& government in
1846. It the elections be therefore free and uninter-
fered with by governmental intrigue or military force,
i a still more ndependent chamber may be expected
than that which has just ceased to be, which
will produce an opportunity on the part of the go-
vernment of showing that aversion topopularrepresen-
tation which is known to exist in the minds of more
than one member of its body (when Saldanha threat-
ened to resign if the decree should not be approved,
&ober Iloltreman advised the chamber not to re-
gard it, for dissolution would take place, which is
entirely attributed to the penchant of tho Minister of
the interior).
Another reason is that, as the government only
received power from the Cortes to proceed to the
aremenent and collection of the taxes during theses-
sion (as the ways and means had not been voted),
and as the session has terminated by dissolution, the
government must publish a decree continuing to it-
self that power; many important corollaries upon
the dissolution may therefore be expected. It is said
the Cabrelistas have hopes, and have received tome
consoling assurances from their chief. The govern-
ment seems to be :turning many things in their fa-
vour; the Minister of the Interior has lately ap-
pointed Lopez de Vaseoneelles civil governor of
Coimbra, an outrageous oppositionist of Saldanha,


and a furious Cabralista, who would have appre-
hended the regenerating chief, and rendered his
movement abortive, had the pr resists. not gone
to his aid, and secured his triumph; the Coimbrenses
are a'ready up and s• irring upon this point.
The Queen is immeasurably annoyed at the pro-
ceedings of the Miguelitts (specially by the pro-
ceedings of a deputation which left Lisbon some
little time since, to present a crown to Don
Miguel, who is about to form quite a little court
around him), and has actually signed a decree prohi-
biting passports to return being given to those who
are gone fur two years. Whether this decree sill be
published, or only transmitted confidentially to the
representatives abroad, time alone will show ; at all
events, the decree will have the effect of a sentence
of banishment (for the period named), which is an
unprecedented stretch of power, in a country allure
the rights of the citizen are protected by constitu-
tional forms.

'Me Janus came in from Gibraltar on the 20th and
sailed on the 22nd,on which day the Vulcan steamer
entered the Tagus to coal and repair damages ; she is
bound to the Cape of Good Hope with troops on
board from Cork.

AMERICA.
ARRIVAL OF THE ATLANTIC.

The American Mail steamer Atlantic, Captain
West (Collins's line), arrived at Liverpool yesterday
afternoon, having passed Holyhead at 12.30 noon.
The Atlantic left New York on the 2ith ult., and
besides a large mail had 123 passengers and 284,000
dollars in specie on freight. She passed the Baltic,
which sailed hence on the 14th, and is of the same
service, when about 80 miles from New York, on the
evening of the 24th.
The matter of the protection of our cod fisheries,
or, as some of the New York papers designate it, the
fishing or fighting question, was exciting very great
attention in the States, and it was said that a sloop-
of-war (the Albany) was ordered to prepare to sail to
the Bay of Fundy without delay.
In the United States Senate the Hon. J. M. Mason,
of Virginia, chairman of the Committee on Foreign
Relations, made a flaming speech on a resolution
calling upon the President for information in rela-
tion to the Newfoundland fisheries. He contended
that the British government had not only committed
a breach of national courtesy, but had insulted the
whole American people, by sending a fleet of armed
vessels upon the banks of Newfoundland. to enforce
their peculiar construction of the treaty of 1818. He
mid the President's answer to the resolution ought
to be, that he had ordered the whole naval force of
the country into the waters bordering the British
provinces, to protect the rights of American fisher-
men against British cannon. Mr. Mason's voice ap-
pears to be for war. Mr. Cass and Mr. Seaward,
and, in fact, nearly all the senators, present, had a
word to say in condemnation of the coarse pursued
by the British government in relation to the fisheries.
The resolution passed unanimously.
A letter, dated Boston, July 22, says:
Important despatches were sent by Mr. Webster to lion.
Abbot Lawrence, the American minister at London, by
the Canada yesterday. They are supposed to relate to the
fishery difficulties.
The House of Representatives, on the 23rd, took up
the bill granting 200,000 acres of the public lands to
Michigan, to aid in constructing a railroad from
Pontiac to Lake Michigan, and disposed of it by
laying it upon the table; after which the considera-
tion of the River and Harbour Bill was resumed.

A memorial to the President of the United States
is in circulation in Boston, praying that the Presi-
dent send a naval force to the Bntish North Ame-
rican mess, sufficient to protect the fishermen of the
United States from molestation while pursuing their
lawful occupation. The memorial represents that
2,100 vessels and 30,000 seamen are now engaged in
those fisheries.

The weather seems to have been hotter in New
York than ever on this aide the Atlantic. The
Honed says:
We have had the hottest day. It is not very probable
that we shall experience a warmer day than Thursday
during the remainder of the season. The mercury rose to
194*. degrees in the shade, and, for nearly six boors, it re-
roamed above 90 degrees.
The government of the United States, determined
to maintain in all honour the treaty between this
country and England, have issued instructions to J.
Prescott Hall, Frq. U.S. district attorney, to co-
operate with Charles Edwards, Esq., as counsel for
the British government, in the case of the extradition
of Thomas Keine.

A very large sympathy meeting was held on
Thursday night, at Tammany-hall, on the subject of
Koine, claimed under the extradition treaty. Greeley
and the prisoner's counsel were the chief speakers,
and all professed to throw aside party feelings, in the
pursuit of a revision of the judgment and the law.
Great enthusiasm reigned.
The Georgia Union Convention met at Klledge-
ville, on Thursday, and, after a stormy discussion, a
proposition was made to nominate Mr. Webster as
the third candidate for the presidency, which
Ailed. An attempt was also made to nominate Mr.
Fillmore, which was under discussion when the
meeting adjourned for the day. Oa Friday morn-
ing the convention again met, but harmony and
conciliation did not meet with them. After various
fruitless attempts to harmonise, one-half the dele-
gates seceded, and organised into a separate body,
which recommended the calling of another conven-
tion, at Macon, ostensibly to nominate Daniel Web-
ster,for the presidency. The seceders were all whigs.
The original convention also remained in session,
and nominated a Pierce and King electoral ticket,
and passed a series of resolutions approving the ad-
ministration of Mr. Fillmcce.

It is said that the resolution of the Georgia Conven-
tion has blighted the hopes of Mr. Webster, and that
his friends are confident he will not accept the nomi-
nation front a fragment of that body. He had anti-
cipated, it is said, a cordial feeling on the part of the
Unionists of Georgia, in tendering him the nomina-
tion for the prosidenc7; but when he finds them =-
harmonious, and divided in sentiment and feeling
towards him, he will not consent to be the leader of
a faction.
The Halifax papers give the list of British vessels
of war which are to be employed for the protection
of the cod fisheries. They number nineteen vessels,
carrying upwards of 130 guns. A pretty formidable
naval force to be brought against fishing smacks.
We learn from St. John, N. 8., that destructive
taloa have visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence. An
English barque was wrecked off Gaspe., by which
eighteen persons lost their lives; and it was reported
that the armed schooner Alliance was lost near St.
Paul's Island, with all on board. Fifteen schooners
had been lost, and twenty-two pilots drowned.
A very destructive fire occurred on the 18th at
Albany, in the extensive drug and oil store of
McClure and Co., in State-street, the flames from
which burst forth so suddenly and with such rapi-
dity, that two persons, named James McClure, a
clerk in the establishment, and Wm. Bamber, em-
ployed in the Attorney-General's office, were fright-
fully burned before they could make their escape.
One of these unfortunate individuals was reported
lest night to have died. The building was entirely
destroyed.
There has been another and later important ar-
rival from California. It is announced as the shortest
pssage ever made between San Francisco and New
York,—twenty-four days from city to city. The
Golden Gate left San Francisco at 8 o'clock on the
morning of the 28th ult., and the United States,with
her passengers, arrived at this port at 8 o'clock on
the 22nd.
The accounts brought by the United States are ten
day. later. There ere only three striking points in
the news : Ist, the serious fire in Sonora, laying that'
' town in ashes ; 2nd, the fact that over five millions
of dollars in gold dust had been shipped from San'
, Francisco in the single month of June; and 3rd, that
Queen Pomare had returned to power at Tahiti,
under the protection of the French vessels-of-war.
The following details of the dreadful fire at Sonora
are from the San I.).asscioco

This morning about half-past one o'clock we were
startled by the cry ot flre, which was found issuing from the
bar room of the lintel de Prance, kept by M. Leadreau, at
the southern end of the row of buildings in the miudle of
the Plaza. Soon after the rust building was enveloped in
names, and in a moment more the entire block was in a
blase. The last building in the range was large and com-
modious, two stories high, the lower part occupied as a
court-room and an office for the county clerk. The records
had scarcely been taken out beior.. the building fell with a
crash and scattered in every vicinity sheets of flime and
combustible matter. The fire was thus communicated to
both sides of the Plaza, end went raging on in its work of
devastation. The Masonic-hall, an elegantly-constructed

adobe building, next fell a prey to the flames, and in sa
instant was completely gutted, leaviag nothing but bar,
I walls remaining. This pr. bably WO* the handsomest
I structure in Senores, and cost the society over 7.000 do!,
The Harmony theatre, Judge Tuttle's' reeidence, and Mayo,
Dodge's premises, follasseo alter on the sight aide of m.
Plass. while on the left the tam r went e %roc-ping con, like
; a huge serpent, licking and hissing, taking the large met,
cantile house of Theall, Firkins and Co., bath lieuse c,
, rug
store, the Eagle, and the Eureka, in their train.
The El Dorado sod Empire, both lire proof buildings,
Plump's confectionary, the Repubticen, &e.,clear to Adams
and C.o.'s Experts, shared the same fate. The large Kern
bIMg saloon, the Lenz Turn, Ifoleten'e hotel, all the beak•
ing homes in town, Minte,i's, Toad's, Adams's Taney.;
and Ilammond's, were awe pt away like chaff 'hefuee the
wind, and still on rolled the entailing II inns. The Gem,
Polka, Lace Star, United States hotc I, Exchange, Timm
&e., next fed the wroth of the fir-fiend.
At five o'cliel the preens- of the lire was checked in the
lower part of the city, in • building ea'led the Barnum
House. Daylight soon told us the damage of the night.
Before us lay the city of Sonora, a mass of charcoal and
mouldering ruins, while around us the hills were tenanted
by the houseless sail !minden.. -here gathering a tattered
remnant of clothing, end 11, ro a scream deeptaident and
weeping over the wreck of their earthly all.
The city, from the Philadelphia Reataiirant to the Bar.
num Howse, a distance of full three-I-mirth. of a mile, 1,4
been almost entirely swept awes. On Main nr
ton-streets not • single building remains. (:apt. Alonre
Green is the heaviiat loser by title lire. So far, be has ae,
certained a loss of 40,000 dollars, Theall, Perkin., and Cy,
34,000 dots., and tinoherit 30,000 dohs.
lint the must heart-rending calamity is the death of
Francois Mother,. Ile perished in the flame., and the
morning his bones were gathered from the mina, sad t,
cently interred. It is supposed by many 'hat tio. eia,„.
tunate young man caused the fire by rending in 3rd
candle, and falling to sleep, the flame was rommiceeat,
the bed (godliest. Other rancour. ore 'act, who, 14 Iwo a
tendency toward. inn adianam, and others OIL! lA,a
rumours that the fatal match was ignited by the impre.
deuce of a lady.
No previous lire in California has so derv/dud the hie
face el a city as this has Sonora. We arc all burnt up-62
vestiges remain, but a few wooden houses and tents.
It would he impossible to give • full list of the *Oki".
The streets are almost impassable, and it is hard to get lb.
sum each individual loses.
Her Majesty's sloop of-war Arrogant was at San
Juan on the 13th ult., with sickness among the crew,
From Mexico there arc dates to the 9th instant.
The Mexican government are reported to be opposed
to culling an extra session of Giugress. for the pup.
pose of re-considering the Tehuantepec affair, ani the
treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo.
The Indians were ravaging the frontiers, and the
Mexicans are forming for a campaign to expel them
from New Leon.
From Tahiti we have intelligence that Queen Po.
mare had returned to power under the protection of
the French vessels of war.