The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-16 00:00:00

SIIAKSPEARE'S_ HOUSE.

Shakespeare's house was sold this day at the Auc-
tion Mart, and purchased by the committee for
3,00 W.

We yesterday announced the receipt of intelligence
from Lisbon to the 9th instant, and gave an outline
of the news, details of which the following letter will
supply :
LISBON, Sere. 9.
Although no public event during the entire period
of the late troteiles has caused more interest than the ru-
moured recall of Costa Cabral to Portugal; jet, perhaps, no
single occurrence has parted off mote quietly, or with so
little sensation, than the actual return of the droaded ex-
minister to Lisbon. Demonstrations by the troops, military
music, fireworks and illuminations, and a brilliant public re-
ception by his political partisans—all bad been looked for;
instead of which the court favourite quietly proceeded to his
own house, without parade of any kind, thus balking all
prophesying, and disappointing all expectations. All parties
rave are flatly occupied to election preparations, and in the
usual contentions and squabbling' c .nnectod with registra-
tion. In reference to this very important matter a fact of
great interest has just appeared, being the emit of
the deliberations of the high royalist (Miguelite) chiefs,
at a meeting of their principal leaders, convened by
the Marquis of Bella., Don Joao de Castello Branco, Mon-
senhor Joze Maria do Cunha (a high church dignitary),
and Joze Pereira Palha de Faria Guise,. The reunion took
place on the tith inst,. at the Palace of Ayres de Se Nogueira.
The useenblage was moat brilliant. embracing nearly the
entire nobility of the country, and, after brief discussion, it
was unanimously resolved to support the popular cause with
their whole force at the coming elections. Since his arrival
Costa Cabral has addressed a letter to the editor of the Estan-
darte, the organ not so much of his party as of his family (the
paper being the property of the brothers). In this docu-
ment he endeavours to show that the political creed of his
sect, and the measures they propose for adoption, are the
ouly ones capable of meeting the present emergencies of the
state and the financial crisis in which the country is involved.
The address in tone is most conciliatory. A recent event at
Oporto, for n time, thrtatened a fresh outbreak of the citi-
zens. On the 30th of List month some slight disturbances
occurred in Oporto, occasioned by the violent conduct of a
portion of the non-commissioned officers of its garrison, and,
on the following day, the Ist of September, at about 5 o'clock
in the afternoon, a 'bodyy, of these people, in number 13,
after breaking the windows and smashing in the doorways
of the liberal Deputy Jute Passes, and of other
indivi lush of popular opinions, proceeded to the °tinting-
office of the Nocionalothe organ of the liberals, and, having
brutally beaten the compositors and other workmen of the
establishment, sacked the premises, and destroyed the type,
they departed, but returned shortly after, armed with ham-
mers, when they commeoced demoliehing the whole place.
This brought up the civic guard, who, instead of falling upon
and capturing the ruffians, made a prisoner only of M.
J. G. Basto, the unfortunate editor and proprietor of the
journal, new a rained maa, and carried him off to gaol, as
the originator of the outrage, by his style of writing, die
tasteful to the military, and particularly obnoxious to the
brutal banditti by whom he had been &railed. The mili-
tary governor, Count Casal, highly applauded the conduct of
the soldiery, and up to this present time retains the unfor-
terote editor a close prisoner in the town gaol. The prin-
cipal outrage of which M. Basto is accused is his having
forcibly denounc-d the inicmitous system being pursued by.
the government with a view to carry the election", eogile gut
to•ei. Wherever it it impossible in a parish or polling district
so to monufecture the registry as to leave a certain majority for
the court, creatures, a strong detachment of soldiery, some- '
times a whole battalion, are marched off to the place, and
there their names are inscribed as entitled to votes; therefore,
with such an agency at their disposal, and the hutting" en-
circled with such electors, you mty safely prophecy an as-
tounding majority to the Queen's ministers. But, in the
meantime, the court faction are somewhat divided amongst
themselves, as the Duke of Saldanha has put himself at
the head of a sort of rival chartist election committee, I
in opposition to that presided over and guided by Costa
Cabral; and this little split, therefore, if not at once put an
end to, may have an effect adverse to the complete success
of the party when the hour for the struggle arrives. But
little doubt exists but that Costa Cabral will easily smooth
down opposition in this quarter, and rumour even goes so far
as to say that the noble Duke of Terceira's price is to be the
post of commander-in-chief of the army, which the Queen's
husband is now desirous of relinteakibMgO ffhibilSaldanha le
to be shelved by being named ambassador at Madrid. From
Angola we have letters up to June 22, upon which day the
Portuguese brig of war Audit left, and arrived in the Tagus
last week. The news from the colony is of an extraordinary de-
scription, and most painful. it would appear that th e ToffesVe-
dras prisoners, victims to the barbarous revenge of the Queen
and her husband, had been treated with brutal severity, and
that the Count of Bowfin, the prisoner of most importance,
together with his two sons, had been separated from their
companions in exile, and sent off to the noxious and horrible
locality of Moesamcdas on the coast south of Luanda, where,
however, they did not remain long, for the inhabitants,
uniting with the small military force there, effected a revo-
lution, and gave liberty to the captives, and the Queen's
governor and some four or live others were in their turn
placed under restraint, while the political prisoners, in all
forty-three, embarked on boar* a small Portuguese war-
vessel at anchor there, with the intention of escaping to
St. Helena. Before, however, their preparations fur de-
parture were quite completed, Count Bombs, with a chival-
rous feeling, released the governor, with his three or four
companions, upon parole; and baselywas the indulgence taken
advantage of, for immediately following there appeared off
the coast the English cruiser the Flying Fish, Commander
Bike. The goy, rent immediately communicated with Cap-
tam Dyke, who made an attack upon the little Portuguese
vessel with armed boats, and captured her and the unfor-
tunate noblemen and gentlemen on board, and then taking
fresh instrucuons from the governor, transferred them to his
own vessel, and delivered them over to the governor
of Leanda. Count Bomfio, before being delivered
up to the dungeous of Lunde, presented a paper to
Captain Dyke, indignantly protesting, on behalf of himself
and fellow captive., against this flagrant outrage, demanding
the authority for the act, and claiming the protection of the
British flag : the remonstrance being sneered at, the count,
sageneral officer, and a peer of Portugal, was immediately
given up to the authorities to be confined in an African pri-
son. The account has been received here with general
indignation.
The Vidigueira assassinations of the parish clergyman
and the two ladies ('arneiro, have not been suffered to pose
with impunity : impunity from legal consequences the iustie
gator of these murders may escape but the whole funs of
the tragedy are now bared, and before the public. It ap-
pears that .political motives had nothing to do with the
horrible deed, but the features of the ease are such as to
render them difficult of credence even in a semi-civilised
land. A rela'ive of Costa Cabral, who bad been a waiter at'.
a wine-shop, was, upon his cousin's advent to power, nomi-
nated to the chief appointment of the district, " admi-
' nistrador "—a sort of minor magistrate—and upon his
altered fortunes married a decent young woman of
the neighbourhood; and a near connexion of the
murdered ladies. By their death a valuable inheri-
tance was upon the point of falling in to the wife
of the administrador who was next in succession : but
as the deceased would have had the power of disposing
of the property by will, this cruel man got up the
tragic affair, and, availing himself of the passions of a
drunken patrol, contrived the catastrophe. The accused is
found guilty, but being a Cabral, small hopes areentertained
that justice will be allowed to take its course. The scattered
soldiery, too, are pursuing their work of murder and pillage
without the least chock. The last act of notoriety has been
the murder of one Frenchman, and the frightfully wounding
of another, his companion, by bayonet thrusts, and the rob-
bery of both. Messrs. Pierre Viecent and Fiol, French
commercial travellers, having occasion to leave Tavira
(Algarve) for Faro, were stopped when they reached Con-
teicao by the guard at the place, composed of four soldiers.
The first named was shot through the body and fell dead;
the other was bayoneted, but escaped with life, and was
enabled to crawl away, after being robbed of I,Boof. which
he had on hi. person. Without money, nearly naked, dying
with hunger, M. Fiol contrived to reach Lisbon, where the
French consul had him immediately placed in the hospital ;
he has since quitted it, but with the loss of all use of one
arm, which was repeatedly pierced by the bayonets of these
Algarve troops. M. de I. &rennet has bad the case in hand,
and we shall see the result. From all parts of the country
account. come teeming in of similar barbarities.
The English sailors here on liberty have of late been cresO-
iaa mach disturbance on the quays and in the streets it is
?tally painful and humiliating to see groups of them at every
earner in a helpless state of intoxication, fighting amongst
themselves, and quarrelling with every pewee by. Such a
state of things is no: without results . there arc 7 men of the
fleet missing ;2 have been drowned, and three nights ago one
poor wretch paned along in a litter, covered with blood,
having been stabbed in about a dozen places in some street
ilow. It is greatly to be lamented that the precaution is not
instituted of having a strong body of marines on shore with
officers to uace upon and send on board every one of these
excitable fellows, the moment he was seen in the street to be
put taking care of himself. The missing seven of course have
been made away with after being plundered.
Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Napier was to sail on the 10th
lawsuit train the Tagus with the British squadron for a cruise,
leaving the America off Lisbon.
I° commerce there is nothing new. Bank notes are
slightly but slowly recovering ; the discount from 1920 has
fallen to 1680, an improvement, though trifling. Our gas
company is hard at work, and we are promised a brilliant
&Lionization ere long.