The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-11 00:00:00

SCOTLAND.

EDINBURGH, SEPT. 9.
The election of Scotch peers yesterday finished too
near post time to admit of anything in the way of
remark. The Edinburgh public do not acquiesce in
the slight so distinctly cast on the gallant veteran in
whose case much of the interest of the day centred.
Glancing along the narrow crimson table of the picture
chamber, no one sat there who will live on the page
of history save the Earl of Dundonald. Had there
been only two or three Scotch peers elected their
lordships might have been excused for overlooking
the claims of any given party ; but when sixteen
' have to be
.selected out of thirty-nine hereditary
barons, it is abundantly obvious that a sprinkling
of nobodies must be chosen, and that, in consequence,
no great difficulty could have been experienced in
setting the claims of one such nobleman aside, and
inserting in his place another who stands so much
in need of national compliment. Were the
Earl of Dundonald's rejection the result of
calm inquiry into his history the feeling of regret
might be mitigated, but it is much to be feared that
the Scotch peers have taken a hasty and conventional
view of the chequered life of Lord Cochrane. Many
of them are grey-haired men, and with their associa-
tions they may not precisely be the parties to unravel
with a steady hand the entangled records of the
doings of an ingenious, but ardent mind, bold to
recklessness, new above the water, now below it, now
a declamatory candidate for Westminster, side by side
with Sir Francis Burdett, then implicated in a stock
exchange fraud, sentenced to the pillory, expelled
the House of Commons, imprisoned in the King's
Bench, stripped of his knighthood ; then a fugitive
from prison, another fine; out of prison, and again in
parliament with a Spitalfields petition of 21,000 sig-
natures, praying for universal suffrage, when it was
little better than felony to speak of parliamentary
reform. No matter that Ellen borough was his judge,
that his fine was paid by penny subscription, that he
commanded the Chilian expedition, and fought for
Greece, or that William IV. restoied his naval
honours. He has been under a cloud, and those so cir-
cumstanced must look to posterity, not their contem-
poraries. Rumour also has it that he did not stand
in time for a representative peerage, and willing to re-
ceive all apologies for an act not graceful, let due
weight be attached to this explanation by those who
can do so.

The Glasgow Courier supplies some additional in-
formation regarding the recent failures:
The stoppage of Mows. Deans and Co., to wbkh we alluded In
our last, lute been corthrmed. this house, which has long held a
respectable position in the grain trade, is said to hold largely
the acceptance. of Leaky ketander and Co., of London. The re-
sponsibilities Bare estimated at 112,0004, and the meets at 73,0001.
Another respectable firm--tke Bothwell-strect Stunning Oxithany, of
which Mr. Manbew Tendon is the sole partner—has also come down
to the amount, it la read, of upwards of 30,000 t. They waning im-
mediately after the stoppage of Gernmill, Brother, and Gray and
liotherghs in Greenock, hare caused considerable depression and
gloom in business.
The same paper adds, that, as might be expected in
times of such critical commerce, wicked rumours are
circulated against parties of undoubted stability, and
that, to stop them, legal proceedings are in several
cases threatened. In Leith, we are glad to say, the
merchants are all keeping firm.
As an instance of the extreme drought of the
season, it may be mentioned that the Tay, which
pouts more water into the sea than any other river
in Scotland, is just now lower than it ever was known
to be before. Only about half an inch of rain has
fallen in the vicinity of its basin since July. Most
of its smaller tributaries are dry, and as mill-power
cannot be got oftener than an hour or two a day, the
proverbial equanimity of the jolly millers has been
somewhat disturbed. _

As affording some prospect of diminishing marine
disaster, it is worthy of notice that since the institu-
tion by the Board of Trade of a board of examiners at
Leith, for masters and mates, in the merchant service,
eight persons have passed voluntary examinations
with great credit. Should their diplomas enable
them to receive superior situations, examination will
in time prove the rule, not the exception.

Posts or Wiorowie AND DVMFRIES.—The Lords Com-
missioner' of the Treasury appoint, by the Gazette of last '
evening, new boundaries to the ports of Wigtown and Duos-
fries, " in that part of the United Kingdom called Scot-
land." The limas of the port of Wigtown are to commence
at the eouth side of Gillespie Burn-foot, the bottom of the
bay ef Glenluce, in Wigtownihire, and from thence to Bur-
rowhead, in the said county, and from Burrowhead in a
supposed direct line to the burn or rivulet called Kirk An-
drew's Burn, which discharges itself into Kirk Andrew's 1
Bev, in the county of Kirkcudbright, including the whole of
Wigtown Bay to the north-west of such supposed direct
line, with Wigtown. Creetown, and Gatehouse. The limits
of the port of Dumfries will commence at the burn or rivulet '
called Kirk Andrew's Burn, and continue thence along the
coast to Southerners Point, and from Southerners Point up I
the middle of Solway Firth, to the entrance of the river or
water of Sark. The commissioners further declare that the '
limits, seaward of the said ports, shall extend to a distance
of three miles from low-water mark out to sea, and shall in-
chide all bays, harbours, rivers, and creeks within the same
respectively. All the former limits of the ports of Dumfries ,
and Wigtown are annulled.
Taos TWO GINTLIMEN TorND DEAD. We have I
already noticed that two gentlemen were found dead in
Lochaber. Since then we have learned the following par-
ticulars :—The spot where they were found dead lies half-
way between Kinlochleven, distant fourteen miles, and La- I
rochmore, 9 miles from Fort William. They were discovered
about day-break by a shepherd lad, who had been during the 1
whole of the preceding evening and night herding sheep in
the immediate vicinity of the spot, passing it several tame"
during the night within a few hundred yards, but who, not ,
withstanding, neither saw nor heard anything to attract his
attention till he discovered them. The bodies lay quite close ,
to each other in a very exposed situation, in a wet, spongy
moss, about four yards below the road. They were dressed
as travellers, each having a small knapsack on his back. A ,
small pocket spirit-flask, quite empty, a cep, and a Mackin- .
seeh cape, were found near them. There was not the
slightest signs of violence on their persons, or of struggling ,
on the ground ; and the appearance and expression of their
countenances was so placid and serene, that at first the j
shepherd thought they were merely asleep, but, on
examination, he found they slept the sleep of death.
The shepherd having communicated the mournful intel-
ligence to his master, who joined him shortly after dawn,
Information was sent to Fort William, and the bodies were
carefully removed to the inn at Lirochraore, where they
were taken in charge by the authorities, and conveyed to ,
Fort William. On Friday an inspection was made by Dea I
Kennedy and Crichton, who were of opinion that the soar-
tunate gentlemen met their deaths from exhisostiem nod
cold, having apparently fallen asleep on the imemateht I
during the previous boisterous night. An investigation was
immediately set on foot by the sheriff and procurator fiscal,
from which, as well as from documents found on the perms
of the unfortunate gentlemen, we learn that the follow-
tag facts were elicited: The elder gentleman, Mr.
W. H. Whitburn, brewer in Esher, Sarrey, left Lon-
don by the Royal Victoria steamer, from St. Katharine's
dock, on Wednesday, the 25th ult., and on the 27th arrived
in Edinburgh. On the 30th he proceeded to Stirling and
Callender, visiting the Troaachs, Loch Catrine, and L,ochlo-
mond, whence he proceeded by coach to Tyndrum and
Oban, where he arrived in the afternoon of the following
day. The younger gentleman, Mr. W. Stericker, jun., of
Fenchurch-street, London, left the Euston-square tation on
Saturday, the 28th ult., arriving in Edinburgh on the fol-
lowing afternoon. On Monday, the 30th, he proceeded to
Oben by Lochlomond and Tyndrum, and on Tuesday visited
Staffs and lona. On Wednesday, the Ist inst., be left Oban
for Glencoe by the Culloden steamer ; and it was on board
of this vessel that the two ill-fated gentlemen seemed to
have formed soluaintance. The day was wild and tempes-
tuous. The rain fell in torrents, and the wind blew a per-
fect hurricane. Notwithstanding the inclemency of the
weather, the enthusiastic travellers, having landed at
Ballachulish about eleven o'clock a.m., proceeded up
Glencoe. Alter exploring this wild valley, they arrived
at Allnafeidh, a small inn at the top, about two o'clock,
p.m., having then walked a distance of 13 miles. They
were wet, but apparently quite fresh and lively. Having
refreshed themselves with a little spirits, of which the land.-
lord partook, and some oatcake, they started for Fort Wil-
liam, notwithstanding the expostulations of their host, by the
old military road, across the wildest and mit mountainous
part of that killy region. After having mod the moun-
tain known for its wildness by the signalkinat Imo of " The
Devil's Staircase;" they were seen about six p.m. passing
Einlochl.ren, Irian they were speaking and joking with a

t servant girl, apparently in a high state of animal spirits.
This was the last that was seen of them till their bodies were
found next morning within two miles of that place.
There are several extraordinary circumstances connected
with the tragical deaths of them two gentlemen.
: I. They could not have crossed a burn, which runs about
210 yards from when they were found, during daylight
without having been seen by the shepherd and his master,
who were till dark engaged in crossing over the sheep, which
at last defied them. They had two hours of daylight after
passing Kiolocb, and there they did not seem in the lent
fatigued ; and the supposition that they lingered on the
road in such a wild evening is out of the question. It is ex-
traordinary where they could have been during daylight,
unless, indeed, it can be supposed that they wandered from
the road, which is not very probable. 2. It would not be
• matter of very great surprise if one of these
gentlemen, unaccustomed to endure fatigue, should, from
the length of the journey, and the it.e,emeney of the
weather, have become exhausted; but it strikes one as very
strange, that the two should, at the same time, in the same
place, and so near one another, have been so much ex-
hausted that neither of them could return for succour
to the farm-house of Kinlochleven, which, having passed,
they must have known was no great distance from them.
3. It is also difficult to understand how the shepherd lad,
who was all night in the immediate vicinity of the 'pot
where they were found, and who must have passed close to
them several timta, neither heard nor sow anything that
attracted his attention till he noticed them in the morning.
There are strange and apparently unaccountable facts con-
nected with the mournful business, but the only way of
arriving at a reasonable solution of the question of their
deaths appears to us to be that, having been fatigued, they
sat down to rest themselves, and after having partaken of
the contents of the spirit-flask, found on the road, they dozed
away; became benumbed with cold—which the shepherd
describes as so intense that he was more than once on the
point of seeking the shelter of the nearest habitation, and
leaving his dick to their fate—and slept to wak., n 3 more.
Such are the facts connected with this distressing event, an
event which has created a deeper serration throughout the
district of country in which it occurred than any other for a
long time past. But while we deeply feel on this OJCAtiOII, we
deem it our duty to hold out the distressing end of these
men as • beacon to other tourists, to warn them of their
danger. It has been too much the custom, of late years, for
gentlemen travellers, unaccustomed to fatigue, and unpre-
pared with suitable clothing, to undertake long and toilsome
Journeys across these wild and unfriquented region, without
refreshments and without guides, for no intelligible reason,
unless it be for the silly one of being afterwards able to boast
of such feats. But they are perilous feats ; and even this
season we have known one or two instances in which partit s
engaged in them barely escaped with their lives; and we
sincerely trust that if this awful visitation of Provident*
have no other effect, it will at least have the effect of putting ,
a stop to such mad undertakings in future.—Abridged from
the -N'ort/i British Mail.

PROVINCIAL,
SURREY.

THE BOROUGH ore:l.ll.D FORD.—On Thursday
evening the friends and supporters of Mr. T. Thurlow, the
unsuocesaful conservative candidate at the late election, en.
tertained that gentleman to dinner, at tho White Hart,
Guildford. Mr. S. Ilaydon in the chair. It appears that
shortly before the dissolution of the last parliament certain
persons of influence in the borough had quietly arranged
that there should be no contest, and that Messrs. Currie and
Mangles shonld be returned without opposition. The
electors, however, it would seem, did not choose to have
their privileges thus disposed of, and they applied to Mr.
Thurlow to come forward ; and although he was only in the
field two day. before the election took place, he polled 184
electors, and was only defeated by Mr. Mangles, the liberal
candidate, by a small majority. After the wind loyal toasts,
Mr. Thurlew said be believed this was the first time in the
annals of Guildford that a body of its electors had invited to
meet them a gentleman who had been a candidate for their
suffrages, and, above all, an unsuccessful one ; and it showed
that there was no rule without an exception ; and he assured
them he felt exceedingly proud that the exception war made
in his pensa. He did not, of course, assume it as a personal
compliment to himself, but he felt that the electors desired
to testify their feeling en favour of the principles upon which
he came forward—the cause of protestantism, and the free-
dom and independence of their borough. It had been
reported at the lout election that there was an intention
manifested to pocket the representation of their borough
—he hoped it was not true. In the beginning of
July he received a communication front an Influ-
ential elector of Guildford, requesting him to come Mr-
ward as a candidate ; but he at that tone declined, and be
adopted the same course upon a subsequent application, his
reasons for doing so being his belief that if he offered himself
it might endanger the return of Mr. Currie, whom he be-
lieved to be a gentleman holding the same political opinions
as himself. At this time he wu not at all aware that any
private arrangement had been made with regard to the elec-
tion, and the first intimation he received of each a thing was
from Mr. Rand, the town clerk, who acted as secretary to
the Currie and Mangles junction, who stated that it was the
wish of both parties that there should be no contest.
I After this he attended a meeting of the electors
when the circumstances connected with the proposed ar-
rangement were made known to him, and he was again
strongly urged to offer himself as a candidate, in order to
prevent, as one gentleman said, "the electors from being
soli like sheep at Smithfield market." Tnis strong ex-
pression induced him to consult his friends, and the result
war, that he came forward to solicit their suffrages. The
hon. gentleman then proceeded to state that be ad-
hered to the political opinions lee had propounded
in his address. He was an opponent of any fur-
ther endowment of the Roman catholic clergy, and also
of the principle of free trade without reciprocity; but he
said that, with regard to the recent alteration of the corn
law, be considered it would be contrary to the spirit of the
constitution not to give the new measure a fair trial; but if
he found it to work prejudicially either to the manufac-
turing or to the agricultural interest, he would be the first
to advocate an alteration. Mr. Thurlow concluded by
alluding to some matters of local interest ; and, after pledg.
ing himself to come forward as a candidate when the next
occasion presented itself, he concluded by heartily thanking
the electors for the honour they had dime him on the present
occaaion.

Inn ens.