The Express.
London, England, 1847-11-12 00:00:00

gbt Cow.

WINDtOR, THURSDAY.—The Queen and Prince
Albert walked this morning in the Little-park. Prince
Albert hunted this morning, attended by Earl Spencer and
the Equerries in Waiting, Lord A. Paget and Captain the
Ron. A. Gordon. The royal dinner party at the Cattle this
evening will include the Duchess of Kent, the Earl and
Countess Spencer, Baroness de Speth, Sir R. and Lady Gar-
diner, the Rev. Dr. Philpott (Vice-Chancellor of Cam-
bridge), and the Rev. Dr. Hodgson (Provost of Et m).

The Duke of Cambridge returned to his residence
at Kew yesterday, from the Royal Military College at
Sandhurst.
A deputation, consisting of Mr. Mayers, agent for
Barbados, Mr. Nugent, agent for Antigua, Mr. Colquhoun,
agent for St. Christopher, Mr. Hanley, agent for Jamaica,
and Mr. Marryatt, agent for Grenada, had an interview with
Earl Grey yesterday at the Colonial-office.
Mr. T. W. Webster, representing the Edinburgh
and Northern Railway Company, and Mr. Grahame, for the
lames of the Holbeach Tramway, had an interview with
the Riaht Hoe. E. Strutt yesterday, at the office of the
Commissioners of Railways in the Board of Trade.
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England had
a general meeting yesterday, at their office in Whitehall-
place.
Mr. Morton had an interview yesterday with Earl
Grey at the Colonial-office. Mr. Wyse had an interview
with the !tight lion. R. Labouchere yesterday, at the office
of the Board of Trade.

THE GAS MONOPOLY IN MARYLEBONE.—Yester-
day a meeting of the committee appointed by the vestry
of St. Marylebone, to consider the subject of the supply of
gas, and the application of the Western Gas Light Company
to lay their mains down throughout the parish, took place
at the Court-house.—A deputation front the Western Gas
Light Company, Kensall-green, stated that they would be
prepared to lay down the pipes of the Western Company,
and light the entire of Merylebone, in three or four years.
Their charge for the public lights would not be cheaper in
price than was paid at present, but as the gas to be sup-
plied would be 75 per cent. stronger than that now used,
a vast saving would hence be effected. The private con-
sumers, on account of the purity and high illuminating
power of the gas they proposed to give, would reap a benefit
of at least from 33 to 40 per cent. They would euarantee not
to compromise with any existing company. Mr. Bell wished
to know how it was that the deputation now made a diffe-
rent statement with regard to price to what they did when
they first came before the vestry. He certainly understood
that they were not only prepared to give a stronger and
purer RSA, but at least at two-thirds less in price than was at
present paid. That was, instead of their paying 7s, they
would only have to pay 4s. 6d. or ss. per thousand feet.—
Mr. Taylor ,said Mr. Bell was mistaken : they considered
their gas would be cheaper consequent on its high illumi-
nating power and other advantages. After some delibera-
tion the deputation expressed their readiness to contract for
the public lights of Marylebone at the termination of the
present contract with the Imperial Company in 1849, at the
rate of 31. Ills. each public light per annum, being one shil-
ling less in each lamp than the price now paid.—The deputa-
tion having withdrawn, Mr. Bell expressed hie want of con-
fidence in the new company, on the ground that they had
shifted about with regard to price. Ultimately a resolution
was rdopted, recommending the vestry to allow the Western
Gas Company to lay their mains throughout Marylebone,
upon giving full security to the satisfaction of the vestry
within such period as the vestry shall require.
THE BUILDERS' BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION.—
Yesterday evening a meeting of the committee and mem-
bers of the above ,institution for giving relief and granting
pensions to decayed members of the various branches of the
building trade, their widows, and orphans, and to afford tem-
porary relief to workmen in cases of accident, was held at the
Freemasons' Tavern. The report congratulated the sup-
porters of the charity on the great success which, consider-
ing the shortness of time it has been established, the com
mittee had met with, the treasurer reporting that he hail
paid into the hands of the bankers on account of the relief
fund 21.51. 9i. 10d., and on account of the building fund,
1631. Ils. 6d., making a total of 4091. Is. 4d. The report
concluded with expressing a hope that it was only necessary
to announce to the masters of the different branches of the
building trade that such an institution exists to ensure
supTport.
im SAILORS' Holt E.—Yesterday a meeting of the
directors of the above institution was held in the board-room,
in Wells-street, near the London Docks. This institution
has for its objects the providing a receptacle for seamen paid
off in the port of London, or out of employ, where they may
be boarded and lodged at as low a charge as possible, and
their moral condition attended to by religious instructors,
dec. The establishment will contain 300 men, each of whom
has a separate cabin or sleeping-berth. During last year
4,567 boarders were received. '22,4801. bad been received,
and paid on the private accounts of the seamen, of which
4,1901. had been sent to themselves or to their families at
their own homes. In the savings bank, 2,2881. stood to the
credit of the boarders. The Scriptures in various languages
ate provided, besides an excellent library of useful and
interesting works. Lectures are also delivered at stated
periods, on practical philosophy, the steam-engine, d.c. A
schoolmaster gives instruction in navigation, writing, and
arithmetic, both to adults and apprentices. Lest year's
expenditure left a balance in hand of nearly 7001.
SUCH IS THE DEMAND FOR MILITARY STORES,
in consequence of the great increase in the number of
guns and carriages required for the coast defences
and the advanced ships preparing for commission, that
orders have been received for the entry of more than one
hundred m,chanics and labourers for the royal carriage de-
partment of the Hayti Arsenal. The establishment now
employs more men than it did during the war of 1824. The
buildings, which are of an unusual size, are now inadequate to
the accommodation of so I a body of workmen, and the
department is to be enlarged.
INTERCOURSE WITH THE CONTINENT. The
passengers between England and Boulogne during the week
ending the 6th instant amounted to 1,157 (in the corre-
sponding week of 1846 they were 1,081); the passengers
between England and Calais to 173 (280 in the correspond-
ing week of 1816). Of the Boulogne passengers there were
36.5 from Folkestone, 13 front Dover, and 88 from London
—in all 466 from England ; and 495 to Folkestone, 59 to
Dover, and 137 to London—in all 691 to England.
A NEW KIND OF FIRE-ARM has been brought
under public notice within the last week by Dr. E. Jaeger,
of Vienna, This novelty has two leading features. Dr.
Jaeger dispenses altogether with loose priming and perms-
lion caps, for his cartridge carries its own priming into
the chamber of the gun-breach, where it is ignited by the
hammer of the lock penetrating into the chamber, and
nothing short of this will igaite the cartridge. Thus the
operation of musketry or of field shooting is reduced to'
three movements, namely the insertion of the cartridge,
ramming it home, and then the firing off the gun ; no biting
the cartridge or priming or fixing a cap on the nipple
being requisite. To men of peaceful habits and pursuits
the advantages of all these improvements may not at first be
apparent, but to those bent on slaughter of whatever kind
it is probable that Dr. Jaeger's invention will be acceptable,
and that he will at ones he petrenised by them, if it be
proved that the operation of ramming home the cartridge
primed with detonating powder is safe. It is understood
that the committee of the Ordinance Board has examined
the invention, and recommended its trial for field sports,
previous to its being rendered available for the purposes of
MR. HENRY SCOTT, THE TRAINER Of Ascot Heath,
was found dead in his sitting room on Tuesday morning.
THE FORMATION OF THE PEARL.—The fishing
being over for the day, the boats are discharged, and the
oysters allowed to remain in heaps until they become per-
fectly putrid, at which time the shell is easily opened,
without injuring the pearl. With regard to the nature of
the pearl many opinions have been eatertained ; the
most poetical, but, at the same time, the most absurd of
which wan, that the fish rose to the surface every morning,
and opened its shell to catch the dew, which entered in a
small globule, and became fixed by a chemical action; no
one has, however, we believe, ever yet seen an oyster
upon the surface of the water. It has been now decided
that it is a disease of the fish, and it has been supposed by
M. Resumur, of the French academy, that they were
caused by a particle of sand or some other rough sub-
stance entering with the food, the friction of which being
disagreeable, the animal covered it with a glutinous matter,
which, being continually secreted, eventually became what
is known by the name of a pearl. This is rendered more
probable from the fact that these oyster beds are always
found upon sand banks, from which slight particles would
be constantly imbibed by the fish in the act of eating their
food. That pearls are formed by something which enters
into the body of the oyster may be further proved by the
fact, that they are found in all parts of the animal, which
would he the case if we conceive the particle of sand to be
indissoluble, and carried through all parts which the blood
penetrates, until its passage became obstructed; and being
then a source of considerable uneasiness to the fish, ft
would be covered with the gluten, and thus form the foun-
dation
of a pearl.—Five Years in the East, by R. N. Hutton.
PREVENTION OF IRISH MURDER.—Sir,—Perhaps'
if the following suggestion, which I beg to make, were acted
on, the Irish peasantry, might, in many instances, be less
callous whey a murder is committed, and less prone to
shelter the meamin. It is merely, that whenever a landlord,
or his agent, or bailiff be murdered, that the executive
should issue an order for the immediate recovery of all
rents and stream due by his tenantry. This would have a

gloater effect than orreries a reward, for then/ ire very few
estates in Ireland on which there are not large arrears, and
thit+teisure would, therefore, have the effect of binding
Siretber the interest of the tenantry with the life of the
hafted. I will venture to say that very few murders are
isimitud in Ireland without the tenantry being well aware
who was the eteepetrator.—A Seasearnes.—Noe. 9, 1847.
IbteltleTtl, YESTERDAT.—ALLEGED MATRICIDE--
Before Mr. W. Baker, for the third time, at the Dolphin
Tavern, Mare-street, Hackney, concerning the death of Mrs.
Frames Sheridan, aged 70, the widow of an officer in the
army, lately residing in Mire-street, who died from the
effects of arsenic administered to her. Her son, William
Sheridan, an excise officer, was taken into custody by the
direction of the coroner on Monday list, and he has beea
remanded on the charge of poisoning his mother till Tues-
day.—Martha Billings stated that she was employed in the
house as charwoman on Thursday, the 28th alt. The de-
ceased
appeared asensible the whole day, end never spoke
to any person. In the evening • quantity of brandy was ad-
ministered to her by the youngest daughter Mrs. John-
sen, the eldest daughter, who has parted from her husband
in consequence of her intemperate habits, came in much
intoxicated, and was ejected from the room by her brother.
The decessed was unable to swallow the brandy, and
appeared very sleepy. About eleven o'clock the same night
Catherine Sheridan, the youngest daughter, while writing a
letter, said " her mother had not made her will, and it was
too late now." Witness slept in the same bed with the de-
ceased, and was desired by the son, if his mother was worse,
to call him. Witness thought it was very strange that he did
not remain up to watch his mother, knowing that she was
exceedingly ill. About three o'cluk the following morning
witness found the deceased dead. Mrs. Johnson remained
in the streets during the night, and several times knocked at
the door; but her brother would not allow it to be opened.
—Frances Johnson, aged about ten, stated that the deceased
was her grandmother. On Sunday fortnight, before the
death of the deceased, witness procured some spirits, and
after the deceased had swallowed a portico of it she became
very sick and appeared ill. Witness left her uncle, W.
Sheridan, In the mem with the deceased, and went to school.
Two or
,three days before the death of the deceased witness
heard her mother say to W. Sheridan. " Who has given the
dose 1" He made no reply, and witness considered her
mother intoxicated.—Evans, the summoning officer, said the
mother of tiniest witness could give very material evidence,
for she had charged her brother repeatedly with having ad-
ministered poison to the deceased, and he had never denied
it.—The Coroner considered it *de1...61e for the in-
quiry to be adjourned until after the examination
at the police mutt —Adjourned until Wednesday next.—
CHARGE AGAINST A CHEYIST.—By Mr. Carter (by
adjournment), at the Hampton-court F'alace public-house,
Frances-street, Newington, touching the death of Harriet
Cloak, the infant daughter of a watchmaker. On the eight
of Sunday week the parents took the deceased, an infant of
seven weeks old, to the shop of Mr. Bellamy, a chemist in
Newington-causeway, who gave them a powder, to be admi-
nistered that night, and said he should send a mixture on
the following day. The mixture was sent, with directions
that one tea-spoon full should be given two or three times
day. Only one spoon-full a day was given to it, and on the
third day the infant died, as Mr. Prior, a medical gentleman
called in, deposed to, from the effects of narcotic poison.
It was the opinion of Mr. Prior that the mixture wee strongly
tinctured with opium, and that the small quantity adminis-
tered had evidently mired death.—The parents of the
deceased admitted, in reply to questions put by Mr. Bellamy,
that it had been taken to %Vestminster Abbey on the Friday
preceding, and that they thought it had been seized by the
cold there, and also that it was subject to griping.—Mr.
Bellamy complained that he had not been apprised of the
inquest on the former day, so that he might have attended
and explained the matter, so as to prevent the publication of
• report which was calculated to do him serious injury. The
mixture produced was made up according to a formula
published by Dr. Charles Butler, of Dublin, and the quan-
tity taken by the deceased, or three times u much, was not
sufficient to poison the infant.—The inquiry was adjourned
to give time for a post mortem examination