The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-21 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 21, 1849.

r.GORDON insisted ow the state dour gaols in India be-
ing inquired Into, is oas of which ha had found the mortality
sizty-iz per cent. (Hear, hoar.) The hon. proprietor
complained that since be bai qualified himself he bad not
beta able to obtain a oopy of the bye-laws of this com-
pan The
ye CHAIBMAN.—We will give you ans. (Laughter.)
After acme obeervatkes from Mr. Clarke and other hon.

ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY OF LONDON.

The 'Mad exhibition, for this seism, of plants
and flowers took place yesterday in the gardens of the society,
Regent's-park, and was characterised hy at least an average
amount of excellence. Indeed, it would be difficult to 'tar-
ps/I the splendid show of pi largoniutu, and the beautiful
variet7, in flower and form, of the heaths—towards which
then was a constant flow of ardent admirers throughout the
day. The dieplar of rues and sztlias likewise drew forth
many warm exclamations of praise ; while the prolific
flowering of soma seedlieg ranunculusa, a few pretty pinks,
and some specimens of the pansy, did not pus unnoticed.
The gardens became crowded not lug after they were
opened. The day was bright and warm ; the crowd was
brilliant and gay ; the shrubs, and flowery, and
gram-plots seemed, after the recent rain, more
than usually blooming, odorous, and verdant; and
superadded to these the music from the bands of the
Royal Horse Guards (Blue) and the lot and 2a4 Life Guyds,
it would be difficult to form a combination more worth in
every respect of the title of afl tricultural file. At so' ock
there was still a stream of fashionable visitors ct:reing into
had not yet un. The
the gardens, while the departures
nest exhibition (which will include fruit) will oa the
4th of July.
The following is a list of the successful competitors for the
first prizes for the chief collection—the prizes bang gold and
silver medals . .

proprietors,
The CHAIRMAN declared the spurt to be adjourned.

For 30 stove and greenhouse plants, to Mr. May, gardener
to Mee. Lawrence; for 20 ditto, to Mr. Green, gardener to
Sir E. Antrobut ; for 10 ditto, to Mr. T. Williams, gardener
to Dims Trail ; for • specimen plant, to Mr. T. Williams
and Mr. Cole, gardeners to M. Collyer, E.q. ; fer 6 tall cacti,
to Mr. Green; for rare °rebid', to Mr. Mylato, gardener to
S. Rucker, Eeq. ; for rare plants in bl torn, to Messrs. Veitch ;
for plants of economical interest, to Messrs. Veitch ; for 12
alpine plants, to Mr. Smith, gardener to J. Anderson, E.q ;
for Cape pelargoniums, to Mr. Parker; forls heaths, to Mr.
Mylam ; for 12 ditto, to Mr. Epps, Maidstone; for 6 ditto,
to Mr. T. Williams ; for 4 aril's, to Mr. Green ; for 25
orchids, to Mr. Mylmn ; for 15 ditto, to Mr. Plant, gardener
to J. 11. Sondes, ; for 6 ditto, to Mr. Dalkon, gar-
dener to Mr. Bec k ; for exotic ferns, to Mr. Williams, gar-
demur to C. P. Warner, E.q. ; for 30 British ferns, to Mr.
Williams, gardener to C. P. Warner, Esq. ; for 12 pelanw
nium., in 8-inch pots, to Mr. Cock, Chiswick ; for 12 ditto,
to Mr. Dobson; for 6 ditto, in 11-inch pots, to Mr. Parker;
for 6 fancy ditto, to R. Mostly, Esq., Pine-apele-place ; for 6
ditto, to Mr. Amb;ose, Battersea; for seedling ditto, to
Mr. Holder ; for 12 pinks, to Mr. Turner, Slough; for 24
pansies, to Mr. Turner, Slough; for 6 calccol aim, to Mr.
Ilendersoo, Pine-apple-place; foe 6 fuchsias, to Mr. Robin-
son, gardener ti J. Simpson, Esq. ; fer 12 roses, iu pots.
to Alvan. Lane and Son ; for 8 detto, tr Mr. Terry, gardener
to L .d/ Pollen ; for G yellow ditto, in rots, to Messrs. Dine
and Son ; for 100 roses, to Mews. Paul and Sous; for 50
ditto, to A. Rowland, Rey., Ls alsbas, and Mr. Terry ; for
12 new roses, to Men,. lone and Bons.

LAUNCH OF THE BRITANNIA BRIDGE.

MENAI STRAITS, WIDNESDAT.
Though the tube was floated an unforeseen mis-
hap prevented the immediate completion et tee cep:rim:lit.
The fixing of the ponderous mass in the position it is to
occupy was not accomplished on the first trial in consequence
of the breaking Gf • capstan.
The excitement herr, and indeed throughout the county, is
greater than ever. Despite the unavoidable procrastination
that has taken place, thousands still remain at Bangor, where
beds go as high as a guinea. Mr. S epheuson, who has not
left the works since Monday, holds hourly conferences with
Capt. Claxton, Capt. llooraom, and his engineering sta.
The great experiment would unquestionably have been com-
pleted Let evening had it not been for the untoward inad-
vertence of the great capstan breaking. This, it is said, arose
from no insufficiency of strength in the capstan itself,
,but from the fact of the shore lashings behind
I the tube not hosing heed cut away or detacaed
from the tube, and, as a natural conseauence, while
the capstan was employed in thawing the tuhe out into the
stream, the shore lashings detained it, and the capstan failing
to overcome the resistance, strained and broke. On the an-
nouncement of this result, which was immediately c•ritinu-
nic eted from point to point along the strait', the vast multi-
tude dispersed in a state of great disspimintment. It was
announced far and wide that the floating would take pleat at
7 o'clock this morning, and even at an earlier hour vast
numbers had assembled, but were again deo ned to disap.
I pnintment, the capstan, on the renewed attempt, again
' failing, and Captain Cialtoa receiving some fall or it•jury.
• Renewed attempts a e 'main fixed for S o'clock this evening,
when the tide will be 18ft. 11 inch. Two boats emplosed en
I conveying the tackle have been sunk to-day.
The Ch,ster Uuusaibt gives the following particulars :
" The particular spot at which the llr,tsnnta brithee creases
the Menai Straits ts exactly a mile newer to Carnarvon
than the suspension bridge; the railway, after leaving the
end of the bridge, passing close under the Anglesey column.
The shores are of the same precipitous and sheivifig cha-
racter at both places, but the stream is wider here than at
the Suspeesbu bridge, being about eleven hundred feet
serene at high water. It is divided nearly exactly in the
middle by the Britanniarock, which at high water is covered
to a depth of ten feet. The rise and fall of the tide is ordi-
eerily twenty-feet, and its velocity very great, often as much
as eight miles and a quarter an hour. It is (rem the Bri-
tannia rock that the bridge takes its name, the centre pier
being based upon it. It and the Anglesey shore consist of
chlorite schist, a very hard and intractable kind of rock,
worked with great difficulty ; from this and the circum-
stance that no coffer-dam was used, and therefore few hours
I only could be ccruccutivtly spent on the rock, some months
were pant din laying the bottom course of the tower. It
was commenced in May, 1846, the first stone being laid
without ceremony by Frank Forster, Esq., acting engi-
neer of the portion of the railway between Conway and
Efolyhesd, and of the masonry, 'raffia& 3gs, &c., art tie
Britannia-bridge.
" The stone of which the towers are built Is a bard car-
bottherou, liar stone, or marble, called Anglesey marble; it
abounds in fossils, and is cepable of receiving a very high
polish. Some specimens of it are very handsome. It is
obtained from quarries expreeely opened fur the purpose on
the sea-shore at Penmen, at the northern extremity of the
island, where it occurs in great abundance and in convenient
strata of every thickness, from three or fear feet downwards.
The stones are split off with great dexterity by iron wedge.,
and wrought into shape with heavy steel picks. Some
of the stones in the work are no leis than twenty tett
in leegth, and others weign from twelve to fourteen tons.
A gr at portion of the interior masonry, however, is built
of red eandstone, from Runcorn, in Cheshire. This is a
very soft stone, and easily worked, but at the same time
very durable, especially when net exposed. The stones
the towers are all left with a rough or quarry face, except at
the angles, and in the recenee, end tae entablature at the
top. This circumstance, coupled with their immense size
and height, gives the towers a truly noble appearance. The
approaches to the bridge are ornamented on each side by
colossal statues of lions, in the Egyptisn style. They are
each composed of eleven pieces of limestone, and, although
in a touchant attitude, are twelve feet in height. Their
length is twenty-five bet, and their weight shout thirty
tons. lifting associated with so many other large objects,
Their real meals not apparent. They were sculptured by
Mr. Thomas, elf the new houses of parliament. It was once
cnntemplated to surmount the centre tower with a figure of
Britannia, in stone, sixty feet in height, by the same artist ;
but the Id. •is fee the present abandoned. The deeia..l for
the masonry, both for this and the Conway Tubular Bridge,
were furnished by F. Themps.n, Esq , of London.
" When the whole structure is completed, it will consist of
two immense wrought-iron tunnels or tubes, each consider-
ably upwards of a quarter of a mile in length, placed side
by side, through which the up and down trains respectively
will pass. The ends of these tubes rest on abutments, the
intermediate poetises being supported across the Straits by
three massive and lofty stone towers. The centre tower, as
has been lust observed, stands on a rock, which is covered
' by the tide at high water. The side towers stand on the
opposite shores, each at a clear distance of tour hundred and
sixty feet from the centre tower. The abutments are situated
inland, at a distance of two hundred and thirty feet from the
side towers."

BECTAL ASSAULT ON A FEMALE BY A GAME-
meas.—At York Castle last week a man named John Signe,
a gamekeeper in the perish of Wheldrake, was charged before
the magistrates with baying violently assaulted ai.d beaten
a woman named Ann Bawling'. Complainant said elle was
the wife of John Rawlings of Knapton, who dealt in nuts,
timber, and other things. On Wednesday, the 6th instant,
she accompanied her hus`iand to the place where he went to
se* about the purchase of some timber of a Mr Loft-
house, of that place Mr. Lofthoust, her hut.
band, and herself, then went into some fields
h. longing to • Mr. Robinson, to view the wool,
ahem they left her. Whilst her husband was absent from
her she missed her deg. Just shout this time au heard a
gun fired. and defendant showy afterwards made hie
appearance from the place where the report ap .eared to
come from. The man instantly went up to h r ard de-
manded " what was she doing there ?" She replied. " seek-
ing her dog," and secured him of haying shot It. He made
answer, "le had not," and when the charge was repeated,
he exclaimed, with an oath, "Yee, and I'll shoot you too
If you arn't off." Some more words passed, and at length.
as the woman refused to leave the field until she had
found her dog, the keeper said, "he would fetch a laddi'
which would do for her," and cut a stick from the hedge,
with which be struck the woman over the head and
bee, breaking the edge of her bonnet and blackening her
eye. [The female appeared in court with her bonnet
broken, and her eye much discoloured. She was far ad-
vanced in pregnancy.]—Tbe husband returned by an ad-
joining highway. and lomplaitiant told him what her as-
gallant bed done, whereupon he pulled off his coat, and
asked him to fight the matter out. The keeper declined
this, and the parties separated. The dog was found shot
Defendant admitted striking her, but not to the ex'ent com-
plained of. Having finished his contradictory statement, he
asked " what was to pay ? as he would pay it and have done
with it." He then produced a witness to prove that he
never struck the woman at all. The bench thought it wee
clearly a case of assault, but not so bad as the female r pre-
!tented, and inflicted a fine of Is. and costa, amountirg in all
to 11. ls.— Yorkslaremats.
RITTLIND TESTIMOWIAL.—A meeting wan held at
Leicester, on Saturday, for the purpose of aorering to in
address to be presented to the Duke of Rutland, on attaining
the fiftieth year of his lieutenancy of Leicester-,hire ; and f r
t'.e purpose of deciding on the appropriation ef upoonooll ef
1.4001., which had been subscribed for a " Ruslind Test:-
monisl." A eoneratulatory address having been arreed On,
it wee further resolved, " That a bronze etatne of the Duke
of Rutland, on a granite pedestal, be erected in th
formet-
ket-place, Leicester, provided a tire can be procured the
tame."