The Express.
London, England, 1862-08-18 00:00:00

ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION.

On Thursday last a meeting was held at the
rooms of the Royal Mersey Y►cht Club, Tower-buildings,
Liverpool, to promote the formation of a local branch of
the Royal National Lifeboat Institution ; Mr. G. WILKINSON
Tgel.wr occupied the chair.
Mr. H. W. EDDIS, the honorary secretary, read a letter
received from the committee of the institution, expressing
their earnest hope that Liverpool would soon be enabled to
form a numerous and influential local committee to manage
that important branch of the institution. The letter
continued :—" It has now 122 lifeboats under its ma-
nagement, of which 40 are stationed on the shores of
the Irish Channel, affording great protection to the shipping
going to and from Liverpool. To keep each lifeboat station
in a state of efficiency requires from 401. to 501. a year.
Within the last 6ve or six years this institution has granted
5,764/. lera for saving 2,644 live* from shipwreck by life-
boats and other means. Altogether 12,272 lives have been
' saved by the same means since its formation, and it has
expended up to the present time nearly 60,0001. on lifeboat
establishment.. The committee feel enured, on your
kindly bringing these important facts before the merchants
and shipowners of Liverpool, they will not be backward in
lending a helping hand to an institution which has rendered
such signal service to the cause of humanity, and thus assist
it to pursue its career of usefulness with unabated vigour."
Letters were read from a number of influential gentle-
men, offering their services on the committee and giving
support to the project.
Some of the most influential residents in Liverpool were
afterwards elected members of the local committee.
There can be no doubt that this will be one of the most
important branches of the institution.
In the course of a conversation it was mentioned that the
inspector of lifeboats to the institution had strongly recom-
mended the erection of a station at the entrance of the
Mersey, anal that the committee of the institution, if a local
branch were formed at Liverpool, were prepared to carry
out the recommendation.
The meeting then adjourned.

THE FIRE AND LO OF LIFE NEAR HYDE PARK.
—lit Saturday Dr. Lankester, the coroner for the central
division of the eounty of Middle's; opened an inquest at
the St. Andrew Tavern, Baker-skeet, Portman-square, on
the respective bodies of Mr. Barrett and his two daughters,
who lost their lives at the fire in Cumberland-street, Hyde-
piu k. Some formal evidence having been taken, the learned
coroner said that the court was in possession of the iden-
tity of the doom's& He had fixed the inquest so early that
the bodies m*ht be sworn to ; and, that having been
duo., he thought the case was of too serious a character to
be hurried over. He was now enabled to grant
an order for their interment, and the jury would
be able to make au inspection with him of
the premises iu which the unfortunate creatures
perished. He would also endeavour to get a larger room
to hold the inquiry in. The coroner and jury then pro-
needed to view the ruins, and from the examination made,
and the way the tire hail travelled, there seems little, if
any, doubt but the misfortune commenced in the beck
room on the basement, and raiSidly extended up the massive
stone staircase leading from the hall to the drawing-room ;
and that while the father was endeavouring to pan his
daughter out of the door he met with an obstruction, as it
was bolted ; and while trying to unfasten it the flames en-
circled them, sod they both dropped on the floor and
perished. The inquiry was adjourned until Friday next.
A KrroTrY FuncT.—lu the course of the argu-
ment in the case of Williams v. Jones, on Friday last, the
question arose as to which was the right and which was the
left bank of a river. Mr. Forbes contended that this de-
pended upon the taste of the individual &writing the
stream. Hie honour, in accordance with geographers, argued
that the observer should be placed with has face towards
the mouth of the river, and moreover declared that Victoria
is situated on the left bank of the Murray. Mr. Forbes
believed that the Victorians considered themselves on the
right side of the Murray ; and moreover that, although his
honour's argument might bold good on the other side of the
globe, that we being at the Antipodes, the rule must be re-
versed ; and conadered, in fact, that if he were in &whoa,
his left hand would in all probability become his right. The
learned pundits did not settle the question.—Wapga Tragga
Express, 13th June.
THROWING • HEDGEHOG AT A RAILWAY ENGINE
ftrosza.—At the Sheriff's Court yesterday (Friday)—before
Sheriff Home—two young men named Sinai. and Duacan,
joiners at Hingseavfl, near Linlithgow, were sent to prison
foc tea days each for recklessly throwing a hedgehog oo •
railway engine in motion on the Edinburgh and Glasgow
Railway, near Linlithipiw, to the injury of the stoker on
the engine, who was struck on the breast. —Ediablirpfs
Courant.

TuaßoßAkinc 04itU(AIGENcr:

(szersa's nineasza.)
AMERICA.
(Per Asia, by telegraph to Halifax, and eid Queenstown.)
NEW YORK, AMISS 7.
The correspondent of the New York World says
that General Pope's order, for the army to subsist
on the country-, has caused imlisoriminate plunder-
ing all through the Virginia Valley. All the
houses are visited, and horses, clothing, food,
or anything of any nine, is stolen by
the Federal troops, and the occupants are
completely ruined. The troops also pass
among the population large quantities of forged
Confederate notes manufactured in Philadelphia.
The correspondent thinks that if the present policy
is punned it requires stricter orders to be leaned
against private plundering, or the discipline of the
army will be destroyed ; and when the enlistment
period has terminated, a den of thieves will be let
loose upon the ootrntry.
The Federal General Sherman, at Memphis, has
forbidden the purchase or sale of cotton for Trea-
sury nebsioregold either by Unionists or Secession-
ists, but purchases can be made on credit or note-
of-hand, payable after the termination of the war.
A fight bad occurred seven miles from Memphis
between 4,000 Federals and the Confederates under
Jefferson Thompson. The Confederates were driven
back with great loss. More fighting was antici-
pated.
The captain and crew of the American steamer
City of Madison, partially owned by Canadians,
have been arrested at Toronto for inducing British
soldien to desert. The steamer had conveyed
several soldiers of the 30th Regiment to Oswego
during the last four weeks.
A large war meeting was held at Washington
yesterday, at which President Lincoln made a
speech. He denied that there was any quarrel
between M'Clellan and the Secretary of War. The
attitude of 3COM= and the Secretary of War
was such that they could only wish to be success-
ful. If commanders in the field cannot be no-
nmetal, then the Secretary of War and the Presi-
dent, himself for the time being master of
them both, cannot but be failures. Sometimes
there was a dispute about how many men
M'Clellan had received. Those who wished
to disparage him, said that be bad received
a very large number, and those who wished to
disparage the Secretary of War insisted that he had
had a very small number. The basis for thisis that
there was always a wide difference between M'Clel-
lan's rolls and the men fit for duty. Those who
would disparage M'Clellan talk of the grand total
on paper, and those who would disparage the
Secretary of War talk of those at present fit for
duty. M'Clellan sometimes asked for things which
the Secretary of War could not give him. M'Clel-
lan was not to be blamed for asking, and the Secre-
tary of War was not to blame for not giving when
he bad none to give. He (the President) had no
aseumation to bring against the Secretary of War.
He believed him to be a brave and able man, and
be (the President) stood there, as justice required
him to do, to take upon himself what had been
sharged upon the Secretary of War.
Resolutions were passed, saying :
"We deliberately and solemnly declare that,
rather then witness an overthrow of the Union, we
would prosecute the present war until our towns
and cities should be desolated, and we and all that
are dear to us should have perished with our posses-
sions. Let the Union be preserved, or the country
be made a desert."
" That, if at the present time there is any hesi-
tation among the people of the loyal States in
devoting themselves and their property to the cause
of the country, it arises from the misgivings as to
the manner of prosecuting the war' and in the ap-
prehension that there is a want of readiness on the
part of those who direct the military operations,
whether in the cabinet or in the field, to employ at
once the full power of the nation, which all know
to be overwhelming.
" We, therefore, urge the President to take
means to assure the people that he is resolved to
prosecute the war on a scale limited only by the
resources of the country. We hail with joy the
recent order directing immediate draughts. We are
convinced that the leaders of the rebellion will
' never turn to their allegiance, and therefore they
should be regarded and treated ea irreclaimable
traitors, who are to be stripped of their possessions
and deprived of their lives or expelled from the
country.
" That Weslipgton is the place where treason
should be instantly denounced and punished ; and
that stringent measures should be adopted to dis-
cover and arrest all disloyal men and women in-
festing the district of Columbia.
"The Federal government must be sustained
under any circumstances."
Ex-Governor Bontwell, of Massachusetts, made
a speech in favour of the emancipation of slaves.
The drafting excitement continues. There is an
immense rush of people every day for exemption
papers, every possible reason being given to avoid
the draft.
Many persons are leaving for Canada. Volun-
teering is said to be better since the order for draft-
ing. Many of the States, it is said, will fill up
their quota under the first call for 300,000 volun-
teers.

The municipality of New York offer 50 dollars
additional bounty to recruits enlisting within 20
days. -

POLAND.

ANOTHER ATTEMPT ON THE LIFE OF THE
MARQUIS WIELOPOLSKI.

WARSAW, Alwyn 16.

Yesterday evening, as the Marquis Wielopolski
was driving out in an open carriage, a lithographic
printer named Jean Rjoutaa made a desperate at-
tempt to stab him with a poignard. The weapon, ,
however, only struck the lining of the carriage. It
is said the blade was poisoned.
Zarozinaki, the man who attempted to assassi-
nate the Grand Duke Constantine, has been con-
demned to be shot. The sentence has been sub-
mitted to the Emperor for approvaL
In the attempt made yesterday to assassinate
the Marquis Wielopolaki, the assassin was seized
by the marquis's second son. . .

M. Egmund Wielopolski has been appointed
Town President of Warsaw.

The trial of Zarokinaki for attempting to murder
the Grand Duke Constantine took place in public.

ITALY.

TURIN, Ammer 16.
The Monarchia Nazionale of to-day thinks that
he solution of the Sicilian crisis is near at hand.

The rojillisbpli lutviug surroauded the volsataers
upon all sides, tbt commanding officer is about to

=mon them to lay down their arms.

It is said that the Official Oa.-ettc of this evening
will publish decrees, concentrating all political
authority in Sicily in the hands of General Ongia,
and appointing General La ftlarmora to a similar
position in the Neapolitan provinces.

ti APL 313, Arouer 16.

A demonstration took place here yesterday, at I
which cries were raised of." Long live Garibaldi."
Many balconies were hung with flags. The royal
troops, on being called out, were received with cries
of " The army for ever." In the evening all was
quiet.