The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-17 00:00:00

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solidatioa of the genera 011btet -r.t%
carriers, so bog TeCOMMentled by him. or; d
official (*petition, this measure, was adopted by the
Post-office before Mr. limes * appointment, and the
absurdity of having two letter-earners knocking At
the same door, at the same mirtute—the one with
general and the other with district letters—already
numbers among the things of the past.
This measure has also accelerated the delivery et
general post letters, particularly in the suburbs ; but •
groat reform has still to be accomplished in the general
delivery of metropolitan letters. The collections of let-
ters has still tobe made more frequent, and the deliveries
more
rapid. This is only to be done by dividing the
overgrown metropolis into districts,and establishing •
working post-office m each. The principle is alry
in operation in the suburbs. At present a letter
posted in Piccadilly to be delivered in Half-moon-
street, is made to travel two miles and a half to St.
Martin's-le-Grand and back again the same distant*.
though its destinatioa was within a furlong of the
post-office which received it! The result is that at
beast two hours and a half must.elapse between the
posting and delivery. We speak by the card. The
experiment of eending a letter this morning, posted
at 10, at the south-end of St. James's-street, showed
that it reached the Opera Arcade at a quarter to 1, is
two hours and three-quarters. Beyond the threes
mile circle, this time is extended to three hours and
three-quarters at the very least. Establish district
offices, where letters should be sorted and despite-had,
and there would be no practical difficulties against
accomplishing the delivery of the majority of metro.
politan letters within an hour of their being posted;
for it is a singular fact, that take any given receiving
post-office, say at Cornhill or Charing-cross, and it
will be found that the proportions of the letters posted
there bear a precise ratio to the distance of their a•i-
tination : the greater number will have to be delivered
nearest the post-office, say within a mile ; the fewest
the farthest off, say beyond ten miles. In the first
instance we will 130 content with a delivery every-
hour from eight to eight. When this is done and
found, as it will be, to be most profitable, for
every increased facility has hitherto amply remune-
rated its outlay, we may ask for such a diminution
of time in the delivery of letters as shall entirely
supersede the necessity to employ private messengers
foe the sake of economy of time. Such a change al
this obviously involves mccl dt t ill, and it would be
impatient to expect it to be eal!s.sl in less than throe
months.
But there is another proposition of Mr. HILL'S
respecting the district letters, not only of London,
but of all post towns, which wants nothing
but a Treasury minute to determine it at
once. Lord CLANRICARDE and the Chincellor
of the Exchequer, could settle it in a morn-
ing. This is to increase the scale ff weight
of local letters, allowing at least two ounces to
a penny ; and to abolish the limit of weight not only
on district but all letters whatever. In the item of
weiglit, as respects district ktters, the penny post
actually curtailed the facilities. Before its establish-
ment, twopence carried a packet of less weight than
a quarter of a pound. The penny post has advanced
the price to eightpenee—a result totally antagonistic
to its principle of increasing accommodation. Now
then especially is the opportunity to make this
change, when parcel mails and parcel posts are
attempting to compete for the business, which they
will get, unless the ost-office is sharp enough to out-
bid them with offers of superior accommodation. It
would certainly be a source of great profit to the
Poet-office, and is the more to be desired, because not
only London, but the whole of the kingdom,would par-
ticipate in the advantage. It would be ominous to all
the country, that Itowtssin 1111.0 s due influence was
beginning to bear fruit. The same Treasury minute
should likewiseabolish the restriction of weight which
at present attaches to parcels under sixteen ounces
weight. and give the public the option of sending par-
cels of any weight they please at the rate of twopence
an ounce. We can see no sense or justice in giving
lawyers only the privilege of overstepping the boun-
dary. At present legal deeds, provided tho parch-
ment ends reveal their nature, are permitted to go by
the post without limit of weight. The Post-office, no
doubt, dislike pare( Is. It is not, acording to these
authorities, " the legitimate correspondence of the
country." We would make it so. Official opposition,
if it. still exist, is very idle. It is inimical, too, to the
interest of the Post-oifice revenue, because every one
must see that it must cost much less to receive, sort,
send and deliver one packet for fifty pence
than fifty separate reeeivings, sortings, sendings,
and deliveries of SS many individual letters.
We doubt not the officialn will contend that St. Mar-
tin's-le-Grand would not be big enough for the forte-
don of these odious awkward parcels. Perhaps not,
when the public has become quite alive to the advan-
tages of the privilege, though there cau be no reason-
able dread that the Peet-office will be often burthened
to carry a hundredweight, at the charge of nearly
lot., as the penny rate of a penny the half ounce
would in fact impose. But, in the mean time, whilst
this profitable traffic was increasing, arrangements
would doubtless be making to establish district
offices, especially at or in the immediate neighbour-
hood of the great railway termini, and thus the
pressure on the inland office at St. Martin's-lc-Grand
would be relieved as soon as it was felt.
object

FRANCE.—ANOTITER MURDER DISCOVERED DT
CIRCUMSTANTIAL ETI DE N Cla —Some months ago, a shephoel
tending • dock in a wood near the village of Corneilles
(Seine-et-Oise), UM a piece of blue printed cotton on the
ground, and taking hold of it, met with a resistance which
induced him to rake up the earth, on doing which he found
part of the body of. a female, which had been buried. The
aut orities were apprised hy him of what he had discovered,
and the body, which was in an advanced state of decomposi-
tion' was taken up,and examined by some medical men, who
declared that it was the remains of a female of about 17 or 18
years of age. As a girl of that age, named Hoyer, was
missing, and it was known that she had been last seen with a
young man, named Hronart, he was arrested on a charge of
murder, and thrown into prison, where he remained far some
time, until, fortunately fur him and the cause of justice, the
girl, who was not deed but ha I removed to another part of
the country, came forward, and he was set a liberty. As •
mistake had taken place in the identity !if the body, the po-
lice began to inquire whether any other female was miming,
farm,
companyne between
f 2.001 t
hh au.:
man,e
.300 satufeer franc,
Lbe
h.a do.
and ascertained that a woman named Catherine, who had
been living as a servant at a farm in the neighbourhood.
iiwujrylietantedre
tshahteerthhidrsamvisaceevedin
had lured her away under pretext of having procured her a
better place, and had himself quitted his service, and that
part of the country. This woman had not since been heard
of. Several persons who had known her swore to the dress,
in which she was found, and near the spot bad been found
other articles of dress, the contents of the bundle which she
carried when she left the farm. The only circumstance
which would warrant any doubt as to her identity was the
evidence of the medical men, who had examined the body.
auto. cinnerme wan.
This, however, they explained, by stating that the boils of
itoimbitticoneigrerralmost an idiot, would
,to•
extent as
present the sante physical character as that of a female of
half that age possessed of teutid intellect. On the other
hand, the charges against Quenneville, who was arrested al-
most as soon as the body bad been identified, were very
strong. It was proved on the examination before the exa-
mining magistrates, that he had told his fellow-servants
that he would one day get hold of the savings of Catherine
by pretending to find a place for her, and, on her accompany-
ing him, getting her money and quitting her. They left the
farm together, Quenneville carryiug one of her bundles. He
was traced from piaci. to place, spending much more
sport
where he could account for ; his knite was found near he spot
where the body was buried. It was proved that he had dropped,
near that spot, and quite out of the road which he pretend-
ed to have taken, a certificate of service which he had re-
turned to claim, The death of the female was caused by
he view of
strangulation. It appeared thatQuenneville had in the first
instance hanged her to a branch of a tree, with
having it supposed that she had committed suicidt •' but'
when some days had elapsed, and he knew that the body
Lad not being discovered, he returned and buried it. 111 order
to procure, without exciting sespicion, the tools required for
this purpose, he pretended that he was about to go to work
with some paviors, and purchased a epode, pickaxe, &c., for
ten francs. The night after this purchase he was seen near
the wood, and on the following day he sold the tools fur one-
halt the sum that he had paid far them, snd.,left the neigh-
hood for good. He could not on his examination account
for the way in which he had p ssed the night on which,
according to the indictment, he had interred his victim, .
except by stating that he had slept under a ha) -
stack. As he had mouey in his pocket, however, and
had been at two puolic-houses in the course of the same
evening, at either of which he could have had a bed, this
explanation was not at all satisfactory. The prisoner was
brought to trial on the 10th before the Court of Assize for
the department, and the trial, from the immense number of
witnesses called, lasted three days. In his deter.ce Quentrae-
vine denied that he had ever expressed an intention of rob-
bing Catherine of her money, and attempted to account for
his having spent more than he was known to resew), by
stating that he had saved Mfr., which he had concealed in
a sta'ale until be quitted his service. He admitted that he
had told a falsehood in saying to the poor woman that be had
obtained a place for her, but asserted that he had only ac-
companied her a short distance, when they had a dispute and
separated. This defence, agtii.st a host of strung circumstan-
tial evidence, was of no avail, and the jury brought in • ver-
dict of guilty without extenuating circumstances. Ile wee
consequently sentenced to death.
A Rlct'

about fifty
left his r-

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lently sentenced to destn.
Lice LEGACY.—A young tailor, named Lebon,
Ity Tears ago, when just out of his apprenticeship,
native town, Rhodes in the Aveyron, to court his tor-