The Sun.
London, England, 1832-07-17 00:00:00

who had retreated to Villa Nova, which place
was captured by 3,000 troops who had landed on
the other side of the river in steamers, of course
belonging to the expedition. This was the work
of Wednesday. If all this is true, it is certainly
immense doing for three days. We may ob-
serve, however, that though telegraphic commu-
nications go to Lisbon in twelve hours, and an
express in twenty-four, yet on the 9th instant, at
four o'clock, when the mail closed, his arrival on
the coast was known only as a report. Still he
might have anchored in the evening of the Bth ;
but that must have been at four or five miles'
distance from the shore, the coast happening to
be extremely difficult of access without expe-
rienced pilots. It is besides not possible to land
unless during high tide ; and having thirty-six
transports, and each furnishing a boat capable of
conveying fifty men, he could not disembark
more than 1,800 in one trip ; and experienced
mariners concur in stating that he could not
make more than one trip per day. When
Brazilian ships, of a large size, heavily loaded,
arrive off Oporto, the boats destined to land
their cargoes go out in the evening in order to
come back the next day, will only bring twenty
chests of sugar, or half a load, owing to the
dangers of the surf. This is known to every
British captain who has been at Oporto. The
landing of 7,500 men and the materiel of an
army at the point described, scarcely, therefore,
could be effected in a morning, or during one
tide. Matozinhos harbour is infinitely less easy
of access than Mondego Bay, where, as we have
before stated, it took a Wellington, with the aid
of a British Admiral, five days to land nearly
the same number; and would Don Pedro at-
tempt an operation of this kind without pilots,
or establishing his communications ashore, and
this the very morning after he anchored ? Ma-
tozinhos is a small inlet, defended by two forts
and a battery of twelve guns, and is three miles
north of the Douro. At the entrance of the latter
river the fortress of St. John de Foz, having
forty-eight heavy pieces, and in the intervening
distance between the latter and Matozinhos is a
strongly fortified elevation called Nabogilda ; and
would not these five fortifications have fired a
single gun ? It is besides curious to observe,
that not one of them is mentioned in the reports
arrived. The fort of De Foz must, however,
have surrendered, otherwise the steamers could
not have entered the river, and its capture would
have been more glorious than that of an open
town, and yet the name is not alluded to.
Colonel Martins is the Royalist Commander
of Oporto, one of the most spirited officers in
Portugal, and the division stationed there and in

the vicinity amounts to eight or ten thousand
men. And has this army dwindled into no-
thing ? Villa Nova, we are told, on the other
side of the river, was taken ; but had the 'noun-

taro of El Pilar, commanding Oporto and both
banks of the Douro, and which afforded our il-

lustrious Wellington a position that enabled him
to drive away Soult, disappeared ? The reports
on which we argue, it will be borne in mind, are
exclusively derived from the Pedrite party ; and
really if, till we receive more authentic particu-
lars, we withhold our belief in the whole of the

three days' doings, as stated in the accounts be-
fore us, we have the consolation to know that
some of our own most experienced officers, who
have trodden every inch of the ground, are
equally as incredulous as ourselves. For the
present we merely refer to our Lisbon letter of
this day.—Morning Post.

WICKLOW, TUESDAY.—Ourmuch respected
Under-Sberiff, W3I. MANIFOLD, has this moment been
buried, having died two hours since of decided cholera.
It was a most malignant case, and its victim is most deeply
and deservedly regretted. lie was quite well on Sunday,
and was only taken ill lite yesterday. The country is in
a frightful state.—Dublin Plain Dealer.

e regret to state that the cholera has broken
out very severely at the end of Drury-lane towards Hol-
born. There were eight cases carried into the cholera
hospital, George-street, during yesterday. The filthy state
of the avenues leading into Drury-lane is abominable,
and the whole atmosphere is impregnated with it. No
wonder that cholera or any other disease rages in the
neighbourhood. We should be glad to learn why the
parish authorities have neglected to attend and remove the
nuisance as far as possible.

MILITARY PUNISHMENT.—Friday the 3d
Battalion of the Ist Regiment of Grenadier Guards mus-
tered at the usual place of parade in the King's Mews
Barracks, when ROBERT HILTON, a private, was brought
from confinement, to hear the result of a Court Martial
read to the battalion. The prisoner was charged with
desertion and robbing his comrades. He was sentenced to
be drummed out of the regiment. This sentence was
immediately carried into effect. The non-commissioned
officers cut the lace and buttons off his jacket, and he was
;narched in the usual manner along the line to the gate of
the Mews, when his discharge was given to him, and he
was turned out of the barrack,, the drummers and fifers
during the ceremony playing " The Rogue's March."

THE BURNING CLIFF AT HOLWORTIL--
The last week has presented numerous parties boating
athwart the bay to Ho'worth Cliff, which is at least as
interesting as at any previous period since its first disco-
very ; many large fissures exhibit every indication of ex-
tensive ignited materials, and more particularly on the
summit of the cliff, which has heretofore not offered any
such external traits of ignition as now attract public at-
lpstion. The progress of the fire is unquestionably tend-
ing eastward, and, from the immense mass of pyritous
substances embedded in the soil, in a gradually decompos-
ing state, there is every evidence that this phenomenon will
vet for a long time continue to excite the notice of the
philosophic world.

THE PIKE.—The size the pike attains in
some situations is almost incredible. We have one upon
record, caught i❑ a pool near Newport, that weighed 170
pounds. I❑ Ireland, particularly in the Shannon and
Lough Corrib, they reach a great size, and are frequently
caught from 50 to 70 pounds each. Colonel THORNTON
took one at Loch Alva, in the Highlands of Scotland,
which weighed 48 pound., and gives us a pleasing ac-
count of his capture in his " Sporting Tour ;" adding,
with an incredulity we can well excuse in a fisherman,
" there may be larger pike, but I cannot readily credit the
account of such till I receive more authentic information."
New Sporting Magazine.

It is said that a representation is about to be
male to the LORD CHANCELLOR, on the subject of the
serious inconvenience resulting from the long period during
which the Court for Relief of Insolvent Debtors is closed
in the course of each year. The Commissioners make
two vacations of six weeks each, which they contrive to
bring so near each other as to afford some of those learned
persons three months holydays ; these, adled to the ad-
journments at Christma-r, Easter, and Whitsuntide, form
nearly four months, which is a pretty fair share of otium
cum dig. for fourltwyers to whom the public ply 4,5001.
a-year. The evil arising from the present mode is, that
prisoners are kept in confinement much longer than was
intended by the Legislature, and the prison-houses are
crowded at a time of year when it is especially desirable
that they should be thinly populated.— Times.

FATAL RUNNING MATCH.— Saturday an
inquest was held at the Queen's Head, Great Windmill-
street, on the body of Mr. LOBAN CooK, aced 30, a re-
spectable tradesman, of Cook's-court. On the 4th inst the
deceased and Jam BURN, the pugilist, were at White
Conduit House, when the former proposed to run JEat
fifty yards for a bottle of wine; they started in the garden,
and had proceeded about forty yards, JEM being in ad-
vance, when the deceased was tripped up by a stone ; he
fell, and his nose and face were cut by the gravel; b;s
wounds were waled, and no serious consequences were
apprehended, but the next day he was seized with a stiff-
ness in the lower jaw, which was speedily followed by tl e
usual symptoms attending a locked jaw, and on the fol-
lowing day he died in strong convulsions. In the opinion
of Mr. LameEwr a small artery had been divided in the
nose by the fall, which brought on the dreadful malady of
which he died. Verdict—Accidental death, produced by
a locked jaw.