The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-02 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

PLYMOUTH, AUGUST 1.

The ship Nelson, Captain Fraser, of Glasgow, has
arrived off here from Melbourne in 106 days, having
on board about 25,000 ounces cf gold and 50 pas-
sengers, some of whom landed here, with the master,
on his bringing a bag of letters on shore.

CANADA.

IORONTO, der 18.
The coroner's inquest on the ten men killed during
the °mini riot, at Montreal, has just ended, and,
as everybody expected, the jury have not been able
to agree on a verdict. This inquest has lasted nearly
a month, and a large mass of evidence has been
taken and published; some of it of the most conflict-
ing character, and revealing the most frightful per-
jury, not on mere details but on the main facts of
the ease.
Tim jury divided into two portions, protestant and
Romanist, and each of these signed a different and
contradictory finding. The protestant portion found
that one man (Walsh) was shot while forming part
of a mob which attacked a church, in which
Gavazzi was lecturing, and that the killing was
justifiable. The protestant portion of the jury fur-
ther found that the nine persons shot by the soldiers
were in the Queen's peace, and that the firing was
upon a peaceable crowd, who were returning from
the lecture to their homes. They also found that the
soldiers did not fire from the regular military com-
mand of their officers, but in consequence of the
orders of the Mayor. I must say that my reading of
the evidence--and I have read it very carefully—
justifies this view of the case. The Romanist
portion of the jury found the firing to I
be " unnecessary ;" but that a riot existed ;1
and they classed the killing of Walsh'
in the same category with the killing of the nine by
the soldiers. The protestant jurors charged the
Mayor and several other witnesses with perjury,
which the Romanist. denied. The protestants also
cast a stigma on the soldiers for want of discipline,
which the Romanists refused to endorse.
With reference to the soldiers, I must add a few
words. They were a company of the 66th Regt.,
Cameron., under Col. Hogarth. The officers swore
most positively that they did not give the order to
fire. The soldiers and non-commissioned officers,
equally positive, swore they did. The correlative
evidence was in favour of that of the officers, and so
the protestant jurors found. But, be this as it may,
it cannot be concealed that this firing is a dis-
grace to the British service. It would be so if
the order had been given by the officers; and
equally so, if through lax discipline (which it is
likely was the case), the soldiers had fired from the
command of a stranger to them. An investigation
on this point is now going on, by order of the Com-
mander of the Forces in Canada.
As to the origin of the riot, there has been enough
said of that—it was an ebullition of religious
intolerance, which unhappily is not confined to
Canada.
This inquest has been the topic of principal
interest for some time back. In colonial politics little
has transpired worthy of notice since I last wrote to
you. Dinners are being given to various members of
the ministry, in different parts of Upper Canada.
The threatening. of war in Europe are looked
upon with fear, as, should war in Europe take place,
it would matt rlafly check the rapid insult of Canada
in improvement.
The crops in Upper Canada are not likely to be
very full this year; but from the best advices that I
have been able to gather, the wheat-ear is very well
develop< and the quality promises to be very good.
Prices are not steady, andi are affected by the late
news from Europe, so I will not send any quotations
in this letter. We have had very fine weather.