The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONIiON, MONDAY MORNING, MAY 17, 1847.

not entertain the fears by which the Irish landlords
have been haunted—we are convinced that so soon
as they adapt themselves to the altered circumstances
of the country—so soon as they take the neces-
sary steps for giving adequate employment to
the myriads of able•bodied labourers, whom they
must otherwise support in idleness, and convert
those who now are weighty burdens on the re-
sources of the nation, into producers of national
wealth, hard-working men, earning their daily bread
by the exercise of their own honest industry, they
will find themselves the greatest gainers by the
change. Had the limitation still continued, they
would not have made the necessary exertions. They
would have contented themselves with the vague hope,
that all the mischief that would have been occasioned by
their own neglect and apathy, would have induced
Parliament to suffer the law to die a natural death,
and perhaps to provide a portion of the expenditure
out of the National Exchequer, or, in other words, out
of the pockets of the English tax-payers. These hopes
are now taken away. They must rely on their own
activity and energy. They must meet the difficulty
by their own strenuous exertions. They will not be
unaided in their efforts; every reasonable assist-
ance will be afforded. British capital will
be applied to the improvement of their
properties, money will be advanced—repayable
by easy instalments—by the judicious application of
which their waste lands may be reclaimed, their fields
brought to the highest degree of cultivation and fer-
tility, their produce more than doubled, and all the
natural capabilities of the country fully developed.
If they do not take due advantage of the proffered
benefits, they will have themselves alone to blame,
they will become the first victims of their own
culpable folly and blindness, and cannot hope for
sympathy in the ruin which their wayward ob-
stinacy may occasion.
Although we have to congratulate the public on
the prudence thus manifested by their Lordships, we
regret to say that no effort was made to restore the
11 th clause, which was expunged from the Bill on
the motion of Lord STANLEY, or to get rid of the
clause declaring that the occupier of more than a
quarter of a statute acre shall not be considered as a
destitute poor person within the meaning of the Act,
and that it should net be lawful to afford relief to
any such person either in or out of the work-
house unless he shall have surrendered to his
immediate landlord whatever right he had to the
occupation of such land over and above the extent of
a quarter of an acre, at least ten days previous to his
application. On Wednesday we pointed out the
dangerous tendency of this enactment, that it enables
the landlords to gratify their clearing propensities, to
get rid altogether of ejectment proceedings, and,
by a more certain, although less apparent, modus
operandi, to banish the wretched cottiers from their
holdings. There would be no necessity for the overt
act, which would call forth the public indignation at
the inhumanity of the perpetrator. They have only
to refrain from taking steps for employing their
tenantry, and they will attain their object, while the
strongest inducement is held out by the absence of
the 11th clause to the landlords to bring their powers
into full force. The clause added to the Bill,
on the motion of Lord LIICAN, "That no
person shall be deemed to have been resi-
dent in an electoral division, unless he shall
have occupied some tenement, or usually slept within
such division for the period of thirty calendar months
out of the three years preceding the period of his re-
ceiving relief," although it may be of some slight
service, will by no means prove a sufficient substi-
tute. It introduces, too, the vexata quastio of
"settlement," which, it was understood should form
the subject of a separate enactment, and opens a wide
field for litigation. We trust that the representa-
tives of the people will fully consider the probable
results of these clauses before they finally sanction
the amendments introduced in the House of Lords.
If they omit doing so, we are thoroughly convinced
that ere long Parliament will have to legislate anew
on the question, and that many scenes of misery and
suffering will be enacted in the interim.

The Hydra of civil war is beginning to hide its
diminished heads in Portugal. Concessions are
taking the place of military reprisals, and negotiations
are proceeding in lieu of bombardments. However
much the Royalists may be solicitous to mince a
discreditable reality into a specious and flattering
fiction, it is undeniable that Queen MARIA DL GLORIA
has been driven to these measures of conciliation by
the valorous bearing of the insurgents, and that the
latter were originally incited to a popular movement
by the unconstitutional policyadopted by their deluded
SOVEREIGN. British mediation is, however, at length
proving successful. The propositions communicate
by Colonel WYLDE to the regal councils of Lisbon
have been ultimately accepted, and that Plenipoten-
tiary has consequently proceeded to the insurgent
forces for the purpose of preventing, if possible,
any further bloodshed. So far our last dis-
patches had already afforded us authentic in-
formation, but the intelligence which has just
arrived recounts the reception of the English
pacificator, and the questionable success of his chari-
table endeavours. Despite the distinct acquiescence
of the Portuguese Monarch in all the terms pro-
pounded by Lord PALMERSTON, there was manifestly
a disinclination on the part of the revolted officers to
yield so readily and peacefully to the offers of recon-
ciliation. The effect of this disinclination has, un•
fortunately, proved disastrous and sanguinary.
After shunning any definitive answer to the proposal
of Colonel WYLDE, SA DL BANDEIRA pushed forward
to St. Übes, where a murderous conflict with the
QUEEN'S troops resulted in the discomfiture of the
assailants, and the butchery of three hundred soldiers,
under the banners of the revolution. Those, how-
ever, who would asperse SA DA BANDEIRA, as having
wantonly provoked this slaughter, should remember
that the population of Portugal has received the
most startling lessons of inhumanity from the sup-
porters of MARIA DA GLORIA. They should remember
the brutalising spectacle of Torres Vedras and the
general savageness by which the Royalist soldiers have
latterly been so peculiarly characterised.
Subsequently to the engagement at St. Übes,
Colonel WYLDE, accompanied by the Marquis DE
ESPANA, proceeded ;o the head-quarters of the insur-
rection at Oporto. Through the moderation of the
Junta, and especially through the sagacity of the Com-
mander-in-Chief, Count DAS ANTAS, it is presumed
that the pacific anticipations of the Commissioners
will in the end be realised. Curiously enough, the
French representatives at Lisbon and Oporto have
taken no part whatever in these momentous negotia-
tions, so that the honour of having mediated effec-
tually between the people of Portugal and the SO-
VEREIGN of Portugal will belong almost as exclusively
to England as the odium of the original outbreak
is traceable to France. Whatever, indeed, may be
the consequence of the pending communications, it
will remain perpetually to the credit of the British
Government, that it interposed with its diplomacy for
the sole purpose of effecting a satisfactory compromise,
while the Government of the Tuileries has remained
designedly aloof from all conciliatory correspondence
with Portagal, after having been principally instru

mental in embroiling its inhabitants.
Inuendoes are prevalent that Queen MARIA will
evince her indignation at the recent battle of St.
IThes, by denying the benefit of the intended amnesty
to the popular chieftain, SA DA BANDEIRA. Heartily
do we trust that her MAJESTY may display no such
paltry or disgraceful inclination to gratify a revenge-
ful spleen. The conduct of Si DA BANDEIRA, though
by no means justifiable on the ground of humanity,
is certainly very conceivable in the then position of
affairs
in the Peninsula. He acted with the inflexible
decision of one who was guiding
.is insurgent coun-
rieays;cnesst
adherents
military adher
atrogtthe compensationi, of their many social and
The
oafcsrsujoeniti; es
thpeerpdetermatoecdratbiyc
brokenin the coapepeoi
itmla ?a, n wd MAuza had steeled
'where the prison of Li-
coexhconvicts liberated,
Intthrhpolitical
etn irehinot disturbancesw as
popular
rrehensible coam.
had inspired him with a veryp
I hence in the strength of the
! tardy but complete acceptance of the British;aie a n d the
tion by the SOVEREIGN, assured him that thenledtita-
r
was aware of her own weakness. Actuated by thesee
reflections, SA DA BANDEIRA was anxious to drive
matters to a triumphant consummation. Hence came
the battle in question. SA DA BANDEIRA was worsted, i
although not absolutely defeated, and rumours at
once became prevalent that the Royalists were about
to gratify their animosities to the insurgents generally

by wreaking vengeance upon their distinguished
leader. Call you this magnanimity ? Call you this,
indeed, common decency? It is assuredly not in
accordance with the generous character of a consti-
tutional monarchy.

Germany has a monument to GUTTENBUEG, why
should not England have some such commemorative
testimonial to WILLIAM CAXTON ? So has thought
Mr. H. H. MILMAN : and the suggestion arising from
that generous reflection has embodied itself in a letter
published by us on Saturday, and addressed to Viscount
MORPETH. The document to which we are thus
directing especial attention is most honourable to its
writer, and it is in itself a deserved tribute of homage
and gratitude to one of the noblest benefactors and
patriots of this our England—this " precious stone
set in the silver sea." Earnestly do we express our
obligations to Mr. MILMAN for the beautiful project
he has revealed to our fellow-countrymen, a project
which happily occurred to his imagination in those
cloisters from the vicinity of which the first beneficent
labours of the great innovator proceeded. Beyond all
question the grandest boon ever conferred upon this
island was the introduction of Christianity among our
idolatrous forefathers; and beyond all question the
most eminent benefaction after that religious blessing
ever performed towards this nation was the introduc-
tion of the sublime discovery of Printing. Ancus-
TINE and CAXTON are thereby entitled to lasting
reverence and distinguished commemoration. Surely
every one who can sympathise with the divine
generosity and ineffable beauties of civilization will
combine cordially and spontaneously in the erection
of the proposed monument. Excellent, however, as
is the suggestion of Mr. MILMAN, that the memory
of WILLIAM CAXTON should be honoured by England,
we cannot coincide with him as to the manner in
which our admiration for this immortal man should be
displayed. The hydraulic toys of Trafalgar-square
have shown the absurdity of anticipating either
elegance or splendour in the shape of a London
fountain. No : we should be loth indeed to insult
the illustrious memory of CAXTON by the erection of
a squirt and a lamp-post. Let the monument be chaste
in style, grand in proportion, durable in material, and
imposing in its general aspect; otherwise the wish
had better have remained unexpressed. A colossal
statue would be the most fitting memento to WILLIAM
CAXTON—accompanied, if you will, by a fountain of
" living water" by day, and lights burning upon
tripods or antique candelabra, by night. Such a
monument would be worthy of him ; not a piece of
misshapen masonry like the figure that once dis-
graced King's-cross, or the dumb-waiters that still
disfigure "the finest site in Europe."

It is one (and that one not the least) of the many
evils of the present dearth and famine with which it
has pleased Providence immediately to afflict Ireland,
and mediating, through the failure of the crops in that
unhappy country, this, comparatively speaking, more
favoured island of England, that the attention of the
Legislature and of the public has been so completely
absorbed in attempting to devise measures to
mitigate the horrors of this appalling affliction,
as to render it necessary to have unredressed and even
uninvestigated many abuses which call loudly for
reform, and which, had they occurred in times of
greater material prosperity, would have at once
deserved, and have obtained the immediate attention
of Parliament. Foremost among these, as placing in
jeopardy the personal liberty of every one of her
MAJESTY'S subjects, is the Law of Lunacy ; the neces •
sity for a sweeping reform in which is demonstrated
by a trial which took place in the Court of Queen' s
Benchin the course of last week. The case to which
we allude, is the case of " CUMMING v. INCE," which
was tried before Mr. Justice ERLE and a Common
Jury, a full report of which will be found in another
column.
The plaintiff was the unfortunate Mrs. CUMMING,
to whose case as an illustration of the necessity of an
alteration in the present state of the law we have, on
more than one occasion, directed the attention of the
readers of The Sun. The action was brought by Mrs.
CUMMINC to recover possession of certain title-deeds
detained by the defendants, in consequence of an
arrangement entered into not to prosecute a Com-
mission de Lunatico against the plaintiff; one of the
conditions of which arrangement was that the plain-
tiff should make a certain disposition of her pro-
perty in favour of the two. defendants. The circum-
stances of the case, as stated by Mr. COCKBURN, the
counsel for the plaintiffs, and admitted by Mr.
WATSON, the counsel for the defendants, were these :
" Mrs. Cumming, the :plaintiff, was a woman entitled to
certain freehold property. She was a person considerably
advanced in life, and was perhaps rather irascible and im-
patient. Between herself and her two daughters, the wives
of Messrs. Hooper and Ince, differences had arisen, and these
persons had thought fit to apply a commission of lunacy
against their mother. This commission issued on the 29th of
July; it lay for some time without execution, but towards
the middle of August the parties proceeded to put it into
execution. The plaintiff had been put into a lunatic asylum
as early as the 13th of May, and she was brought up from
that place to be examined under the commission. On the
29th of August the investigation began, before Mr. Barlow,
the Commissioner, and after continuing for four or five days,
an arrangement was entered into. In consequence of that
arrangement, the title-deeds of the plaintiff were delivered
up. It was to set aside this arrangement that the present
proceeding had been instituted."
She now sought to recover the possession of those
deeds, because the consent she had given to this ar-
rangement was not a free and voluntary consent.
She was under duress, while the existence of re-
straint and the fear of continued abode in a lunatic
asylum imposed upon her. Mr. Justice ERLE, in his
summing up, told the jury that an agreement derived
all its force from the mental consent of the party who
made it. It might be valid as to externals, and yet void
in law if the mind of the party making it had not gone
along with it when nude. Where there was an appa-
rent consent and an apparent execution, still if it was
shown that it was obtained under duress, and not by
the free will of the party, the agreement would be
void. His Lordship, therefore, put this question to
the jurors—whether the plaintiff's apparent consent
for Mr. PETERSDORFP to sign the agreement on her
behalf was obtained by the effect of the restraint she
was under, and without the exercise of her free will?
If the arrangement had not been made the inquiry
would have gone on. The jury was empanelled, and
the plaintiff knew that a verdict must be taken. If
the jurors now thought that the plaintiff had con-
sented to this agreement without any exercise of her
free will, they would find for the plaintiff; if they
thought she had consented of her own free will they
would find for the defendants. This question was ,
entirely for them.
Our readers will recollect that at the time the ar•
rangement was entered into, we expressed an opinion
that the arrangement was, upon the very face of it,
invalid, because if Mrs. CUMMING were insane, she
was incapable of executing any legal document ; and
if sane, the arrangement, as having been entered
under duress, was void, and it is with some gratifi-
cation that we find that opinion supported by so high
a legal authority as Mr. Justice ERLE. The jury re-
turned a verdict for the plaintiff; thus invalidating
the arrangement, and restoring to Mrs. CUMMING full
control over her property. Thus after a lapse of twelve
months; after an incarceration in an asylum o

four months ; after all the anxiety and all
expense attendant upon an action at law,

•
Mrs. CUMMING has obtained a tardy remedy,

but she would have escaped all this suffering
if the law rendered, as it ought to render, a public
preliminary inquiry into the sanity or insanity ef any
alleged lunatic necessary before authorising the de-
tention of such alleged lunatic in any asylum. We

shall be told again as we have been told before, that
the law renders; it necessary to have the certificates
of two medical men to authorise the keeping of a
lunatic, to detain any alleged lunatic, and that the
commissioners of lunacy are appointed to see that
this provision of the law is strictly complied with.
We have already demonstrated the utter worthless-

news of such certificates—certificates which may be

purchased in the market at the rate of 10s. each.

But is even this requisition always complied with ?
What is the evidence as to that point given in the

present case. We quote from the report of the

trial :

Mr. Justice Erie accordingly took from the statement of
Mr. Haines the following detail of the circumstances of the
case. The plaintiff was a person 69 years of age, the de-
fendants were her two daughters, and their two husbands.
Julyct
(ui en. ga it commissionwas jv o inn
ituhnea2cy2d
She was taken to a lunatic asylum on the 12th May, 1846.
On the 19th July the plaintiff's husband died. On the Ofth
/ to a madhouse on theopinion.mmedial "
clf one man.
This last sentence is cunningly and cautiously worded.•
lAyt taken
es
August.
out.
The
iNeaopl tiiamcie:onifff—euxo.
aers-
What does it mean—that there were the certificates
of two, but the opinion ofwoousnf

that she was received into the mad-house on the
authority of a single, and detained after her recep-
tion upon the authority of a second—or that she was
detained upon the authority of one certificate only ?
It may mean either of these. How comes it
that the Commissioners did not elicit by their
inquiries the fact that she was taken to
a madhouse on the opinion of one medical
man ? Is the law even less careful of the liberty of
the subject than we have hitherto supposed it to be ?
Does the law authorise a person to be taken to a
madhouse, upon the opinion of one medical man ? If
it does this, is it not more than ever necessary that such
law should be altered, and; that no alternative short of
a public preliminary inquiry previous to incarceration
can be satisfactory, is demonstrable from the fact of
this very important case, as we propose to prove on
some future day ?

Madrid Papers of the Bth May have arrived.
The KING lives in a perfect state of seclusion in
the Palace, where he is to be joined ere long by his
younger brothers and sisters. The QUEEN, with her
uncle and her sister-in-law, is at Aranjuez, and is
daily giving proofs of the energy and determination
of her character. Her MAJESTY is, it is said, in
favour of an immediate dissolution of the Cortes.
We find the following in the Tiempo on the subject
of the recent alleged attempt on the QUEEN'S life :
" On reaching the Palace after the detonations in the Al-
cala street, the Queen sent for the President of the Council,
and apprised him of the occurrence, expressing the suspi-
cion that two firearms had been discharged at her. This
suspicion was next day corroborated, when it was discovered
that the border of the bonnet she wore at the time was
slightly burnt. During the conversation the Queen e*iced
the same composure as at the moment the detonations took
place, seemingly caring but for the great alarm of her uncle
and cousin. It required most earnest entreaties to make
her go to the circus in a closed carriage and with an escort.
The inquiry into this affair has commenced, and the first re-
sult has been the arrest of M. Angel Lariva, an advocate and
journalist. All that is known of his character and life renders
the accusation a very improbable one. His conduct is re-
gular, his political opinions moderate, and he appears inac-
cessible to any sort of fanaticism. He enjoys, to the
highest degree, the esteem of all who are acquainted with
him, and they consider him utterly incapable of having de-
signed or executed the crime imputed to him. Yet some
fatal circumstances are said to be adduced against him. It
would result from the investigation that Lariva hal
hired, on Tuesday, the coach whence the detonations issued ;
that on the same day he fired some pistols at a shooting
gallery, that he caused two of those fire-arms to be loaded
with particular care; and that on his return from the shoot-
ing gallery, he stationed himself at the place where the de-
tonations took place. It is also said that a paper written by
him has been seized, filled with sinister and mournful pre-
dictions, though without any visible connexion with the at-
tempt. We know not what truth there may be in all these
and the other rumours current on the subject; public curio-
sity, the exaggeration natural to our southern character, the
very mystery of the affair, and the contradictory and irre-
cencileable circumstances between the fact and the presumed
author of it, everything is calculated to produce more or less
founded comments. Justice will no doubt get at the
truth, for this is a crime affecting the honour of a whole
nation."

The Senor LARIVA alluded to by the Tiempo is
the editor and proprietor of the Clamor Publico.
According to the Leo del Comercio, the Carlists are
gaining ground in Catalonia. BENET, the Carlist Chief,
has notified to the QUEEN'S officers that if any more
Carlist prisoners are shot he shall make reprisals.
The Foment° of Barcelona of the 3d inst. states
that the Mexican privateer Unico, mounted with one
gun, and armed by 33 men, had captured off Ivica,
and conducted to Barcelona, the three-masted ship
Carmelite, Captain Edwin, coming from Ponce and
laden with coffee for Trieste. The Unico had sailed
34 days before from Vera Cruz.

MADRID BotsA, MAY B.—The Three per Cents. were
done at 31% for cash ; the Five per Cents. at 1914 ; the
Debt without interest at ; and the• Coupons, at 16.

We have received the Paris papers of Thursday.
General TREZEL, the new Minister at War, was
sworn into office on Wednesday. M. JAYR arrived
in Paris the same day, but has not yet been sworn
in. He was at the Chamber of Deputies on
Wednesday, accompanied by M. DusioN, who pointed
out to him the principal Deputies of both sides of the
House, for M. JAYR is so completely a " Provincial"
that he knows not the leading political notabilities
even by sight.

M. LACAVE LAPLAGNE, who was a dead weight
on M. GurzoT while in office, seems likely out of
office to prove a thorn in the side of the Minister. In
the Chamber on Wednesday M. LECOUDRAIS brought
up the report from the Committee on the Budget
upon the Department of General Inspection of the
Finances. In this report it was stated that in several
recent instances the Exchequer had suffered in con-
sequence of the defalcation of the receivers of the re-
venue, and the reporter suggested a more stringent
supervision for the future. M. LACAVE LAPLAGNE,
construing this report into an attack by his former
colleagues (M. LECOUDRAIS, the reporter, is a de-
voted partisan of M. GuizoT), immediately rose, and
challenged M. LECOUDRAIS to produce a single
instance in which such an occurrence had taken
place. M. LECOUDRAIS was unable to do so, and
the Chamber referred back this Ministerial report to
the Committee for the purpose of having struck out
of it these calumnious accusations against the fallen
Minister.

The Patrie says—" This afternoon, at three o'clock,
an Aide-de-Camp of the KING went to the Chamber
of Deputies, and delivered to the ex-Minister of Fi-
nances, M. LACAVE LAPLAGNE, a letter inviting him
to go to the Palace at the close of the sitting."
The Courrier Francais says that the Count DE
JARNAC will go to Naples as Charge d'Affaires ad
interim.

The Committee of the Court of Peers on the im-
peachment of. General CuBIERES called before it on
Wednesday M. PARMENTIEnt who was under exa-
mination for more than four hours. At a quarter
past six o'clock, M. PARMENTIER, on the termination
of the examination, left the Luxembourg, although
the summons for his attendance was a warrant on
which he might have been detained a prisoner. The
Committee adjourned till to-morrow.

Bou MAZA, accompanied by Captain RICHARD,
has been received by the Duke DE NEMOURi. He
expressed to his Royal Highness how sensible he was
of the hospitality with which he had been received in
France.

Two of the sons of DENDRIZ, Prime Minister of
the Emperor of MOROCCO, had arrived at Marseilles,
on their return froth a pilgrimage to Mecca. The
Government had ordered a steamer to be placed at
their disposal to convey them to Gibraltar.

Thursday (Ascension) was a holiday on the
Bourse. The magnificence of the weather and the
races of Chantilly had drawn away most of the spe-
culators from Paris. One bargain only in the Three
per Cents. was done in the Passage de I'Opera that
day, and at a trifling improvement—namely, at 77f.
95c.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, MAY 14.
Dutch Rhenish, 3%—Namur and Liege, 4—West Flan-
ders, 33/4.

THE LORD-LIEUTENANT OF
IRELAND.
Dlll3Lnr, MAY 13.—This day's bulletin is as follows :
" His Excellency passed a quiet night, and feels somewhat
stronger this morning."

---
REPRESENTATION OF MARY-
LE BONE.
The following letter addressed by Admiral Sir Charles
Napier to C. Flood, Esq., the vestry clerk of Mary
lebone, was read at the meeting of the Marylebone
vestry on Saturday :

" May 15, 1847.
" My dear Sir—Will you be so good as to present my
compliments to the vestry, and say that it was my de-
termination to have attended to-day, and thank them
for their kindness since I have been the representative
of the borough of Marylebone, and to solicit their sup-
port at the next election—(Laughter)—but I am obliged
to go to Portsmouth and hoist my flag.
" C. Flood, Esq. " CHARLS NAPIER."

BOSJESMAN'S,
ATRICA.
OR BUSH PEOPLE, FROM SOUTHERN
specimens of a most extraordinary
race of hu —lnteresting
man beings have been landed in our port, they are
the Bojesmans, or Bush People from the interior of South
Africa, of which so much has been written by the Mission-
aries, and the few who have travelled to that far distant
rogion. They are natives of the country bordering the Great
Orange River, 1,200 or 1,400 miles from Cape Town. They
exhibit almost as striking an absence of the intellectual or
higher faculties as is observable in the scull of that mockery
of humanity, the Baboon, while the preponderance of the
animirl is almost equally as great. In every respect they are
calculated to excite the gmeatest astonishment, and to con-
firm with the full those "'Pales of Travellers" which we have
certainly been inclined to look upon with suspicion. We
could scarcely have credited that such a race could be in ex-
istence on the earth. That they are genuine AO one can
doubt, in proof of which we give the following extract from
a Cape Town Paper of the 24th of December, which we have
just received ;—" We understand the brig Fanny,' Captain
Wheeler, which recently left Table Bay for Liverpool, had on
board an unusual kind of exportation, viz., two males and
two females of the genuine Bushman species, they are in
charge of a Mr. J. G. R. Bishop, who has been at consider-
able trouble and expense in procuring them from the interior.
They are authentic specimens of this diminutive and rapidly
decreasing tribe of aborigines, found only in Southern Africa."
—Liverpool Standard.

THE UNITED STATES
AND 111 EXIC U.

LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY.
By an extra of the New York journals we have im
portant advices from Mexico:—
VERA CRUZ, APRIL 13.

An express has come down from General Twiggs to
the effect that Santa Anna was before him at Cerro
Gordo, with 15,000 men, as near as could be judged
from a reconnaissance made by Captain Hardy and other
officers of dragoons. Lieutenant-Colonel J. E. Johnson
had been severely, but not mortally wounded while
examining Santa Anna's works, which appeared to be a
succession of breastworks, on an eminence in the vicinity
of Cerro Gordo. Everything would go to show that
Santa Anna is determined to make a bold stand. A
dragoon, who had been sent down expressly by General
Twiggs, was yesterday found shot by the road-side,
just beyond this; his papers had not, been touched. The
Mexicans are playing a bloody, and at the same time a
bolder game than is usual for them, as it is thought they
have killed no less than fifty of our men within the last
three days on the road.

Major-General Patterson :left here with two brigades
of volunteers on Friday, and he has no doubt reached
the advance before this hour. General Twiggs had
between 2,500 and 2,700 men under his command, and
I entertain little fear for'his safety.
General Patterson marched with Shields' and Pillow's
brigades, and all the force except the garrisons of the
town; and Quitman's brigades are either at the scene of
action or on the road to it.

An intelligent Mexican told me to-night that there
would be no fight, rend that Santa Anna had with him
four prominent members of the National Congress, with
the aid of whom he hoped to negotiate a peace.

MONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS.
(From The Sun of Saturday Night.)
There was more activity in the Cotton market at Liverpool
yesterday, and it is a good sign that the trade were the
buyers, taking 7,000 bales, or nearly that quantity. We hope
this is the consequence of greater activity in the manufactur-
ing districts. The sales of the week were 28,290 bales, and
the decline in prices has, on the average, been 1/Bd. per lb.
The stock is 518,410 bales, against 781,430 bales at this time
last year. Railway Shares were rather flat.
Later accounts have again come to hand from the Cape of
Good Hope, viz., to March 20. Sir Henry Pottinger intended
to proceed from Graham's Town to Fort Peddie, in the Kafir
country, where he would be enabled to judge better for him-
self of the character of the natives.
The Australian advices to Jan. 9, from Sydney, and
Jan. 20, from Van Diemen's Land, state that the subject of
immigration and transportation still occupied a good deal of
attention. The want of shepherds was great, but still the
introduction of convicts was objected to. The production of
wool was increasing greatly every year.
The letters from America are calculated to allay entirely
any apprehension that might be felt upon two points. In the
first place we shall have liberal orders for our goods, and it
will not pay at 106 or 107 to send out specie. In the next
place, America can supply us with more food than we are
likely to want, seeing the surplus we may expect from Rus-
sia, &c.
The improvement in the affairs of the Bank of England is
steady, though gradual. The following are the leading alte-
rations in the weekly balance sheet to May 8, compared with
May 1 :

Notes issued ... £2:2,788,855
Increase ... ... 239,715
Public Deposits ... ... 2,870,109
Increase 570,955
Other Deposits, decrease ... 381,720
Other Securities, increase ... 199,105
Notes unemployed, increase ... 455,455
Bullion ... ... 9,588,769 •
Increase .. ... 251,043
Active circulation, decrease ... 173,185
Government Securities, decrease... 419,178
The English Funds have been rather dull this morning,
but there•is very little doing. Consols have realised 86% to
871/s for transfer on Tuesday, and 87 to 1/8 for Account. Ex-
chequer•bills have again been at a discount of Is., and range
from that to Is. premium. The New Three-and-a-Quarter
per Cents. have been 87i to 1,4. Bank Stock is 18911, to
1911 A. India Bonds are 2s. discount to 3s. premium.
The Foreign Bonds are quiet, but Mexican have improved
to 20% lA. Spanish Three per Cents, have realised 34 to
341%. Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cents. have been 57%
to 5734.
Shares are l ather flat again.
BIUTISIL FUNDS.

ONE
O'CLOCK.
Bank Stock •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 189%
Three per Cent. Reduced Annuities 86 85%
Three per Cent. Consols Annuities .. 86% 87%
New Three-and-a-Quarter per Cent. Anna. 87% 4
Long Annuities, Expire Jan. 5, 1860 .. • 8%
Ditto, 30 years, Jan. 5, 1860 .. • •
India Stock .. . 242 240
India Bonds, 1,0001. .. .. 3p 2 die
Ditto, under 1,000/. .. 2 dis
Consols for May 27 .. • • .. 81 87
Exchequer Bills. IN d.
1,0001.
5001. .
Ditto, Small

CLOSING
PRICES.
1894
85%
86%
874
8 15 i 0
9 3-16
240
2 dis
par

I p I dis
I 2 p
4 5p
ONE
O'CLOCK.
20104

FOREIGN FUNDS.
Mexican Bonds, 1846, 5 per Cent
Portuguese Bonds, 5 per Cent .. ..
Ditto, Four per Cent .. .. 34%
Russian Bonds •. .. • 108%
Spanish Bonds, 5 per Cent .. ..
Ditto, for the Account .. 23
Ditto, Three per Cent .. .. ..
Ditto. for the Account • • 34%
Dividends on the above payable in London.
Dutch Two-and-a-Halt per Cent .. 57% -% 57%
PRICES OF - BUSINESS •
CLOSING
RAILWAY SH PAID. DONE AT
ARES. RICES.
ONE O'CLOCK:
Aberdeen.. .. .. 30 .... 24 ....
Birming., Wolver., and Dudley •• • 6 ..........
Caledonian .. 30 .... ..........
Ditto, Half Shares .• .. 236....
Chester and Holyhead 273 .........
Eastern Counties .. .. 20 18% ......
Ditto, York Extension 6 • • •
East Lancashire .. .. • • .. 17 •• •• • • ••• • •
Ditto New .. .. • 5% • • • •
Ditto, ditto New Scrip .. 1% 1% ••. . • • • •
Edinburgh and Glasgow .. .. 50 .... ..........
Ditto, Quarter Shares .. .. 123 •• .. •
Ely and Huntingdon .. .. 15 .. 15 ..........
Great Northern 3% ..
Great Western .. 85 ....110 111 109%
Ditto, Half Shares .. .. 50 .... . .....
Ditto, Quarter Shares .. 123¢ .... 16% ..........
Ditto, Fifths .. .. 20 ....
Ditto, New .. .... 7 . .....
Huddersfield and Manchester .. lb .... .....
London and Blackwall .. 16/. 13s. 4d. 7%
Ditto, New. No. 2 .. .. 2/. 13s. 4d. p.. .......
London, Brighton, and S Coast.. 50 .... 51%14
London an North-Western ..100 ....171% 172 171..
Ditto, Quarters L. and B. 7 .. -- •• •
London and south. Western 411. 68. 10d... ..........
Ditto, New ConsoL'Eighths .. 40 ....
Ditto, Scrip.. • .. .. • • .. 5 .... 4% .. •.. . 436
Lynn and Ely .. 25 .. .......... 26%
Manchester, Buxton, & Matlock 425. • ... 34 dis. ....... % dis.
Manchester and Southampton 2 .... %.... • • ....
Midland .. :000 ....114 .......... 114
Ditto, New •. • • • • • • 36 •• • • 383{ 3$
NlDitto, Birmingham and Derby 100 .... 89 ...... • •
iDo., Consol. Bristol and Birm.
Six per Cent. ..100 ....1233{ 124 127
Newcastle and Berwick • . .. 20 • • 24 % 25 % • •
Ditto, New .. .. • • 5 •• • 636 ••••• • • • •
North British•
25
Ditto, Extensicni • • • • • 0% •• • • %••••• • • • • •
Ditto, Thirds .. 1 •• 2%
North Staffordshire .. 7% ..'• • 9%
Reading, Guildford, and Reigate 5 .... „
Scottish Central . • • 17% 22% „
Shrewsbury and Birmingham .. .......,
Shropshire Union .- 4 .... 2 1% ...• •
South Eastern and Dovor 33%
Do., New (do. 301.) ~ No. 3. 15 .... 14
1/0., New (do. 101.) .. No. 4. 5 .... ..........
South Wales 10 .... 7 1 ..........
South Yorkshire, Doncaster, and
Goole .. . .. 2 .... IM4 ........
West Riding Union . • .. .. 4/. 25..... p
York and Newcastle .. .. 25 .... • • 34
Ditto, Preference .. .. 4 .... : .
York sad North Midland .. .. 50 . . .... „
Ditto, Extension .. 25 .... 403 g, ........ • • 4014
Ditto. Preference ......2 .... 10% .. • . .. 10%
FOREIGN RAILWAYS.
MINES.

CLOSING
PRICES.

Ceylon ..

Real del Monte, Unrerlstered ..........

We understand that the Commissioners of Customs
have at present under their consideration some rather exten-
sive alterations in that department of the public service, with
a view to giving greater facilities to trade. It is said that one
of the first changes will be the earlier attendance of such in.
door officers and clerks as at present attend from ten to four,
summer and winter; while the officers connected with the
outdoor appartments attend from eight to four in summer
and from nine to four in winter (viz., from Ist Nov. to Ist
March). An addition to these hours was contemplated, but
is said to be abandoned, as were such carried into effect, the
time that would necessarily be required in the middle of the
day for dinner would so much interfere with business, par-
ticularly on the silk or examination. floors, where all the
fancy and high-duty goods are cleared, it hasbeen considered
that the facilities for passing entries, reporting and clearing
ships, two hours earlier than at present will meet the views
of those of the public more particularly interested—viz., the
wharfingers, who represent the mercantile community upon
the present occasion. This will prevent an addition to the bur-
dens of the country by an allowance to any more officers than
are necessarily required (for extra attendance); besides, the
present high prices of all descriptions of human food meet
preclude the possibility of the labouring classes from pur
aiming sustenance requisite to enable them to bea- up under
the extra fatigue lengthened hours would entail upon them.
Few persons unacquainted with the lock or wharf and quay
work can form the slightest conception of the dreadful
labour which the poor ill-clad, half-fed classes who are thus
employed have to endure—a visit to that great butter mart,
Brewer's Quay, Lower Thames-street, during the unlading of
a butter-laden ship, will convince any one, however obdurate
hie feelings may be, that in doing away with slavery in the
West Indies, we have left untouched the subject of white
slavery at home.—Herald.

CAUTION.—IRISH BANS BILLS.—It would be well
that the public should be extremely cautious in receiving
10/. Bank Bills, as a number of bills of that amount which
are supposed to be in circulation at present, have been stop-
ped at the Bank of Ireland, Dublin, under the following
circumstances, Some bills of that amount were lately is-
sued in favour of a person named M. S. Persse, but were
never received by him. Two of them, one of which had been
received by a gentleman residing near Ballinhassig, the other
by an establishment in the city, were cashed at the bank
here, but when sent up to the bank in Dublin, it was found
that they were already stopped there. These two notes
were indorsed in the name of Mr. Persse, their date is the Ist of
January last, and their numbers- 42,148 and 42,149. The
entire matter was made known before the magistrates on
Friday, by head constable Condon, in order that the public
might be cautioned against receiving them.—Cork Ex.
aminer

COURT CIRCULAR.
Their Excellencies the Austrian Arnbas=aclor and the
Sicilian Minister were prevented from attendirg the Queen's
Ball, in consequence of the death of his Imperial highness
the Arch Duke Charles of Austria, father of the Queen of
Naples and Sicily.
Me- Royal Highes the Duchess of Kent visited the Queen
and Prince Albert on Saturday.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert rode out on horseback
on Saturday, attended by the Hon. Captain Gordon,
The Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, accompanied
by the Dowager Lady Lyttelton, took an airing in an open
carriage and four on Saturday.
Prince Alfred, the Princess Alice, and the Princess
Helena, took their usual walks and rides on Saturday.
The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the Prince
of Leiningen, honoured her Majesty's Theatre with their
presence on Saturday evenirg. The Royal Suite consisted
of the Countess of Charlemont. Hon. Miss Dawson, Lord
Waterpark, Sir Edward Codrington, Lieutenant-Colonel
Hon. C. B. Phipps, and Captain the Hon. A. H. Gordon.
Her Royal Higness the Duchess of Kent, attended by Lady
Augusta Bruce, also honoured the performance with her
presence. -
Her Majesty and Prince Albert, the Duchess of Kent, the
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court, and the domestic house-
hold, attended divine service yesterday in the private Chapel
Buckingham Palace. The Hon. and Rev. C. Leslie Courte-
nay officiated.
Her Majesty the Queen Dowager attended divine service
yesterday in the Chapel Royal, St. James's. The Mar-
chioness of Ormonde and Earl Howe were in waiting on her
Majesty.
The Duke of Cambridge attended Divine service yester-
day morning in the chapel of the Foundling Hospital. Sir
William Davison and Major Stephens were in waiting on his
Royal Highness.
The Queen Dowager, attended by the Marchioness of Or-
monde and Earl Howe, honoured her Majesty's Theatre with
her presence on Saturday evening. The Duke and Duchess
of Cambridge, attended by Lady Augusta Cadogan and
Baron Knesebeck, also honoured the performance with their
presence.
The Duke of Cambridge and Prince George visited the
Queen Dowager on Saturday.
His Royal Highness Prince George had an interview with
Sir George Grey on Saturday at the Home Office.
A Cabinet Council was held at half-past two o'clock on
Saturday afternoon at the Foreign Office. It was attended
by Lord John Russell, the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of
Lansdowne, the Earl of Minto, Sir George Grey, Viscount
Palmerston, Earl Grey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
the Earl of Auckland, Sir John Hobhouse, Lord Campbell,
Viscount Morpeth, the Earl of Clarendon, the Marquis of
Clanricarde, the Right Hon. T. B. Macauley, and the Right
Hon. H. Labouchere.
The Council sat an hour and a half.
Major-General Sir Harry Smith had an interview with
Earl Grey, at the Colonial Office, on Saturday.
The following Members of the New Bishopricks Commission,
attended a meeting in Whitehall-place on Saturday : The
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord
John Russell, the Earl of Powis, the Bishops of Durham,
Winchester, Lincoln, and Chester, Sir George Grey, and the
Chancellor of the. Exchequer.
The Turkish Minister and Princess Callimaki, attended by
Osman Bey and M. Zohrab, had the honour of being present
at her Majesty's ball on Friday evening.
Captain Moreno, Military Attache to the Argentine Lega-
tion, had the honour to attend the Queen's state ball at
Buckingham Palace on Friday evening.
Higharn, Secretary and Comptroller-General to the
Commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt, and
Mr. Tidd Pratt, had an interview with the Chancellor of the
Exchequer on Saturday at his official residence in Downing-
street.

Dr. Paris had an interview with Sir George Grey on Satur-
day at the Home-office, and presented the annual report from
the National Vaccine Board.

Lord Kinnaird had an interview with Mr. Strutt on Sa-
turday. Viscount Duncan, M.P., had also an inter view
with the Ri2lit Hon. Gentleman at the office of the Commis-
sioners of Railways in Great George-street.
Lord John Russell had a dinner party, on Saturday, at his
residence in Chesham- place.
Dispatches were received, on Saturday, at the Colonial
office from the Governors of the North American Provinces,
and also from the Governors of New South Wales and New
Zealand.