The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-24 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, FRlDAY.—Prince Albert walked this
morning in the grounds adjacent to the Castle. His
Royal Highness rode out on horseback in the after-
noon, attended by Colonel Wylde, Equerry in
Waiting.
The Royal Family were taken their accustomed
airings in the pleasure-grounds and slopes of the
Castle in the forenoon, the Prince of Wales and the
Princess Royal on ponies. Their Royal High-
nesses the Prince of Wales and the Princess Alice
were taken a carriage drive in the afternoon, ac-
companied by the Dowager Lady Lyttelton. Her
Royal Highness the Princess Royal was also taken
an airing.
Sir Robert Peel arrived at the Castle at three
o'clock this afternoon, and had an audience of Prince
Albert. The Right Hon. Baronet afterwards took
his departure, returning to town by the five o'clock
train of the Great Western Railway.
her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent will dine
at the Castle this evening.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge, and the llereditary Grand Duke and
Duchess of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, arrived at Kew on
Thursday evening, from Alton Towers.
M. Dedel returned to town yesterday afternoon
from Nuneham Park, where his Excellency had been
invited by the Archbishop of York to meet the Prince
of Prussia.

Sir Robert Peel left town yesterday afternoon for
Windsor Castle, to have an audience of his Royal
Highness Prince Albert. The Right Hon. Baronet
returned to his residence in Whitehall-gardens last

evening.
M. Van de Weyer, the Belgian Minister, transacted
business yesterday at the Foreign-office.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.

ARRIVALS.

The Duke and Duchess of Argyll and Lady Emma
Campbell, in Connaught-place West, from Brighton ;
Major-General Wynyard, at Kensington Palace ; Lord
and Lady Claud llamilton, at Argyll House ; Barton,
Esq , and family, at the York Hotel, Albemarle-street ;
the Dowager Countess of Essex and Miss Johnstone, in
Belgrave-square, from a visit to the Archbishop of York,
at Nuneham ; the Marquis of Worcester, at Beaufort
House, Arlington-street, from Troy House, Monmouth-
shire ; Capt. and Mrs. Haselfoot and Miss Hill, at Nel-
son's Hotel, Portland-place, from Harrogate, en route to
Colchester, Essex ; J. Burgess, Esq., and Mrs. Burgess,
at ditto, from the Isle of Wight ; H. M. Morgan, Esq.,
at ditto, from Houghton Lodge, Stockbridge.
DEPARTURES. _

The Marquis and Marchioness of Douglas and suite,
from the Duke of Hamilton's, Portman-square, for the
north ; Hunloke, Esq., on a visit to the Earl and
Countess of Albemarle, at Quiddenham Hall, Norfolk ;
the Countess of Dunmore and Miss Talbot, for Lord
Shrewsbury's, Alton Towers ; Cox, Esq., from Gros-
venor-place, on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Rich-
mond, at ordon Castle, N.B. ;W. 11. Gregory, Esq.,
M.P., from Dover-street, for the German Spas ; Ran-
dall, Esq., and Mrs. Randall, from the Clarendon Hotel,
Bond-street, for the Continent ; Captain Blacklin (Ist
Royals), for Gibraltar ; Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Ormsby
Gore, on a visit to Sir J. T. Tyrell, Batt, M.l'., at
Boreham House, Essex ; Capel Lechmere, Esq., and
Mrs. Jones, from Nelson's Hotel, Portland-place, for
Cheltenham ; Edward Kinnersly, Esq., and family, from
ditto, for Hulmwalfield, Congleton.
CHANGES.

The Michas of Sutherland and Lady Caroline Love-
son Gower, at Trentham Hall, from a visit to the Earl
and Countess of Shrewsbury, at Alton .Towers ; Major
and Mrs. Kennedy, from Cheltenham, for the Continent ;
the Rev. Viscount Sidmouth, at Up Ottery, Devon, from
Sidmouth ; Lieutenant-General Sir E. Blakeney, at
Dublin, from a visit to the Earl of Bandon, at Castle
Bernard, and an official tour of the south-west district ;
the Marquis and Marchioness of Lorn, on a visit to the
Duchess of Sutherland, at Trentham Hall, from
Brighton ; the Marquis and Marchioness of Ormonde,
at Kilkenny Castle, from a tour; Lord Ebrington, for
the German Spas, from Brussels; Lady IL Forde, at
Hollymount, from Harrogate ; Colonel Rotton, on a
visit to the Duke and Duchess of Richmond, at Gordon
Castle; the Marquis and Marchioness of Blandford, from
Cowes, on a cruise in the Wave, cutter yacht.

BIRMINGHAM AND GLOUCESTER

RAILWAY.

BIRMINGHAM, FRIDAY EVENING.—A numerous and
important meeting of the proprietors of the Birmingham
and Gloucester Railway was held at Dee's Royal Hotel
to-day, for the purpose of transacting the usual half-
yearly business of the Company. There was consider-
able interest excited in consequence of a large number
of shares having been thrown upon the market, owing to
some unfavourable rumours which had been circulated
respecting the mode in which the recent transactions of
the Company had been managed. Indeed, it was expected
that there would be some strong debates, but such, how-
ever, was not the case, and the meeting was carried on
and terminated to the satisfaction of tho shareholders
present.
Samuel Bonley, Esq., of Gloucester, was called to the
chair, when,
Mr. SANDERS, the secretary, read the minutes of the
last meeting, after which he read the report of the
directors for the last half-year, from which it appeared,
that the receipts for the past half-year, ending the 30th
June, have been 53,2031. 4s. ld., and the total expendi-
ture, including interest, &c., has been 39,2611. 125.,
which, with the balance from last half-year, of 1111. 16s.
10d., now leaves at disposal 14,0531. Bs. I Id. ; from
which the directors recommend the payment of a divi-
dend of 255. per share (less income-tax), amounting to
13,7591. 12s. 10d., carrying forward the remaining sum
of 2931. 16s. Id. to the current half-year's account. This
amount of dividend is more than double what was paid in
the corresponding six months of 1843. The receipts
from the passenger traffic show an increase of 5,5901.25. Id.
over the corresponding half-year, although no ad-
vantage had been obtained prior to the 30th of June
from the completion of the Bristol line, which was not
opened till the Bth of July. The increase of the goods has
been much greater than that of the passenger traffic.
The CHAIRMAN then said that he was quite prepared
to enter into a full explanation of the whole of the trans-
actions and accounts of the Company, in addition to the
information supplied in the report. It appeared that
some persons, having been disappointed in the dividend,
had sold out rather extensively, although he could not
see any grounds for such alarm. The account which he
held in his hand of the amount of the traffic was cer-
tainly very satisfactory.
Mr. J. STURGE said he was glad to observe that there
was an evident disposition on the part of railway pro-
prietors to accommodate second and third-class passen-
gers, and he hoped that that feeling would become gene-
ral. He had heard that on some lines it was the practice
to compel second-class passengers, when changing to an-
other line, to go in first-class carriages.
CHARLES SnAw, Esq., said, the Birmingham and
Gloucester Company had three third-class trains run-
ning daily, at the rate of 17 miles an hour, and so far
they must be considered as having acted with liberality
towards the public.
The following resolution, declaratory of the divi-
dend, was then agreed to, after which the meeting
separated :
" That a dividend of 11. ss. per 1001. share, in 6s. 3d.
per quarter, dated Ist January, 1844 ; 4s. 2d. per quar-
ter share, dated Ist March ; 3s. Oid. per quarter share,
dated Ist April ; 2s. Old. per quarter share, dated May
1 ; Is. Old. per quarter share, dated Ist June (less in-
come-tax), amounting to 13,7591. 12s. 10d. be now de-
clared, and that it be payable on the 7th Sept. next."

(From Last Night's Gazette.)
Railway Department, Board of Trade,
Whitehall, Aug. 20, 1844.
Whereas, by a minute of the Lords of the Committee
of Privy Council for Trade, relative to the constitution
and mode of proceedings of the Railway Department,
dated Aug. 6, 1844, and presented to Parliament by her
Majesty's command, my Lords direct, that whenever the
department has formed an intention of examining into
any railway scheme or schemes, with a view to making a
minute or report thereon for presentation to Parliament,
notice shall be given of that intention in the Gazette, for
the information of those whom it may concern; in which
notice shall be stated, as near as may be, the points into
which inquiry is to be made in connection with the pro-
posed line of railway. In conformity with the said direc-
tion, the Board, constituted by that minute for the trans-
action of railway business, hereby give notice, that it is
their intention to examine into the following schemes,
with a view to the presentation to Parliament of minutes
or reports thereon, in the event of their becoming the
subjects of application to Parliament:—
I. The schemes proposed for connecting London and
York by a new line or lines of railway communication
to the eastward of the lines at present existing.
11. The schemes proposed for establishing east and
west lines of railway communication between Lincoln-
shire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
111. The schemes proposed for completing the railway
communication between Scotland and England.
IV. The schemes proposed for extending railway
communications to Newbury, and to the districts of
Wiltshire, Somersetshire, and Dorsetshire, which lie in-
termediate between the London and South-Western
Railway, and the Great Western and Bristol and Exeter
Railways.
V. The schemes proposed for completing the line of
southern coast communication between Chichester and
Portsmouth.
VL The schemes proposed for extending railway
communications from London to Gravesend, Chatham,
and North Kent.
VII. The schemes proposed for extending, railway
communications from Oxford to Rugby, and. to Eves-
ham, Worcester, and other districts intermediate between
the Great Western and London and Birmingham Rail-
ways.
VIII. The schemes proposed for establishing new and
more direct railway communication between Manchester
and Leeds, Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, and other
places in the districts adjoining to the Manchester and
lauds Railway, and intermediate between that.line and

the Manchester and Sheffield, and Leeds and Bradford
Railways.
The principal points into which inquiry will be made,
in connection with the above schemas, are as follow :

Ist. The ability and bona fide intention of the pro-
moters to prosecute their application to Parliament
next session for Bills to authorise the several under-

takings.
2d. The advantages to be obtained, in a national point
of view, in completing or extending important lines of
railway communication.
3d. The amount of local advantage afforded to the
towns and districts more immediately affgeted.
4th. The engineering circumstances of the line, so far
as may be necessary to form a general judgment of the
character of the undertaking.
sth. The estimates of cost of construction, and of
traffic and working expenses, so far as may be necessary
to judge of the probability of the line being completed
and efficiently worked in the event of its being sanctioned
by Parliament, and with a view to drawing a compari-
son between the merits of competing lines of railway.
The inquiry, in conformity with the recommendation
of the Fifth Report of the Select Committee on Railways,
will not embrace questions of private property or into •
rest, which will be reserved altogether for the conside-
ration of the Legislature.
(Signed) DALLIOUSIE.
C. W. PASLEY. G. R. PORTER.
D. O'BRIEN. S. LAING.

CITY OF LONDON GENERAL PENSION SOCIETY.—
Amongst the recent donations announced by the secre-
tary, Henry F. Richardson, Esq., are—The Duke of
Northumberland, 20/.;lLuke J. Hansard, Esq., 501. ; Mrs.
Thwaytes, 501. ; Trustees Cholmondeley Charities, 501.;
Lord Bristol, 251. ; Sir T. Baring, Bart., 20/. ; Thomas
Baring, Esq., 201. ; Hon. W. B. Baring, 151.
STATE OF TRADE.—LIVERPOOL.—For the last few
weeks there has been a downward tendency in this mar-
ket for all the important articles of consumption, and
although the rate of discount has continued at a very
low standard, and money exceedingly plentiful, yet
merchants hare had to endure the annoyance of submit-
ting to lower prices on each succeeding operation. Cot-
ton, the most important article in our trade, has caused
heavy losses in some quarters. Prices are now about
twenty-five per cent. lower than they were on the Ist of
March last, when we had a stock of 620,000 bales, of
which fully one-third had been taken by speculators in
the first two months of the year. This stock has gra-
dually gone on augmenting, and the difference in its
value on the prices of the Ist of March, and its present
worth in the market, may fairly be estimated at about
one million sterling, no mean sum to be divided among
the unfortunate holders, of whom a great proportion
were mere adventurers. We might make similar com-
parisons to the above, with respect to sugar, coffee, rum,
tobacco, some descriptions of oils, and other articles ;
and if the result was seen at one glance, the totallosses
occasioned by the depreciation in value on produce, since
the Ist of March, would be very much augmented. Not-
withstanding' the rapid fall in prices, there is no dis-
position to speculate.—Liverpool Mercury.
JUDGES' CHAMBERS.--Yesterday it was understood
at the Judges' Chambers that Mr. Justice Maule, the
only Judge in town during the vacation, had made about
300 orders for the discharge of persons who were con-
fined for debts not exceeding 201., and that daily appli-
cations are made ex parte for the liberation of debtors
incarcerated in the prisons of England and Wales. It
should be known that debtors detained on Courts of Re-
quests' warrants need not to wait until the Court out of
which the judgment was obtained should be opened, but
they can apply by affidavit to a Judge of one of the supe-
rior courts at chambers. A case was brought before Mr.
Justice )Mule on Thursday of a person who had been in
Wilton gaol, Somersetshire, for fifteen months, on a debt
of 2/. 6s. 71d., the law costs on which amounted to 51.
He was discharged under the new Act. By some strange
omission in the new Act the remands of insolvents for
debts under 201. have been rendered inoperative, and
other insolvents, whose cases were adjourned on ac-
count of gross misconduct, have got out of prison under
the new Act. Two cases of peculiar hardship have oc-
curred. An insolvent was remanded for six months for
a flagrant case of vexatiously defending an action for a
debt of 19/, and on his application to be discharged it
was urged that it would be a monstrous perversion of
justice to let suck a person escape. The Learned Judge,
however, made the order, leaving the party
to any re-
medy he might possess. In the other case an insolvent
refused to give up possession of some premises to the
landlord ; he, however, obtained his discharge under the
new Act, retaining possession of the property from the

owner.
DINNER TO CELEBRATE THE BIRTH-DAY OF THE
DUCHESS OF KENT.—WINDSOR, FRIDAY.—A public
dinner, to which upwards of fifty of the most influential
inhabitants of Old and New Windsor sat down, was
given at the Hope Inn, Frogmore, yesterday evening ;
splendid buck having been presented for the occasion
by her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, whose
birth-day the large party had assembled to celebrate.
The chair was filled by John Clode, jnn., Esq. The first
toast ;was " The Queen," which was drank with all the
honours, a royal salute being fired at the same time from
a battery erected in the gardens. The chairman, in
proposing the health of the Duchess of Kent, paid her
Royal Highness a well-deserved compliment for the
exercise of unbounded charity in the neighbourhood of
Windsor, since her Royal Highness had come to reside
amongst them ; thus following in the footsteps of her
revered relative, the late Princess Augusta. The toast
was drank with the greatest enthusiasm. The health of
" Prince Albert," " The Queen Dowager," " The Prince
of Wales, and the junior branches of the Royal Family,"
" The Duke of Cambrige, the High Steward of the
borough, and the remaining branches of the Royal
Family," " Sir George Couper, Comptroller of the
Duchess of Kent's Household," and several other toasts
having been drank, the company retired shortly after
nine o'clock. Sir George Couper arrived from Frog-
more House shortly before dinner was served, to inspect
the arrangements which had been made in the house
and grounds of the Hope Inn, to celebrate the auspicious
event.
A MODERATE APPETITE.—A few days ago Thomas
Ford, a spare looking man, in the garb of a keelman,
went into an eating-house in the Broad Chare, in this
town, and at his own request was supplied with three-
penny worth of cooked meat. After the lapse of an hour
the landlord's daughter looked in upon him, and she al-
most imagined the poor man was troubled with a stomach
complaint, as he appeared still to be labouring hard at
his original supply. Another hour nearly expired, when
Mr. Ford, having settled all demands, took his depar-
ture, but without exhibiting any improvement in his
physical condition. Immediately afterwards it was dis-
covered that a leg of lamb had disappeared, and a few
remains in the room, probably too large to swallow, left
no doubt that it was irrecoverably lost to its owner. A
short time afterwards Mr. Ford was discovered in a
neighbouring public-house washing down his dinner with
a pot of beer. Mr. Ford is at present confined for four-
teen days, not because the lamb did not agree with him,
but because the magistrates thought he had eaten too
much; but we have no doubt at the conclusion of that
time, he will be quite willing to convince any one of the
extent of his power who may doubt the truth of this
story.—Neweastle Advertiser.
Captain Bernal, M.P., is authorised, we see by the
Gazette of last night, to change his name on his
to mahrrat of
iage
with Miss Osborne, which has taken place, t
®sborne. Henceforth the gallant Member will, we pre-
sume, be known as Captain Osborne.
A Sheriff's officer (says a Scotch paper), on going
last week to execute a writ at some dye-works at Govan,
Glasgow, was thrown into a vat, and died in conse-
quence.—[Query, dyed in consequence ?]
REASONABLE CAUSES.—Lord Frankfort has no
music in his soul. Treasons, stratagems, and spoils en-
gage his thoughts to the entire exclusion of all sympathy
with Italian organs. The march in Norma raises his
lordly bile, and " Gently o'er my senses stealing" throws
him into a paroxysm of fury. At the Marylebone
police-office, on Saturday last, one of the vagrant min-
strels was charged with giving Lord Frankfort " ex-
cess of music," with the charitable intention of sur-
feiting an appetite that has already sickened and died.
The crime was established ; the boy—one Morangi—
continued his " eternal demnition grind," as Mr. Man-
tilini calls it, and refused to "move on" at any price.
The Magistrate, Mr. Rawlinson, declared the boy's con-
duct " very scandalous," and, searching the Police Act
for an adequate punishment, found that he might fine
him forty shillings if he refused to go away for any
" reasonable cause." But there was the rub. What was
reasonable? A Magistrate could not be supposed to
judge of such things ; we have every day evidence of
their embarrassment when appeals are made to the un-
derstanding. It is specified in the Act, by way of exam-
ple, that sickness in a house is a reasonable ground for
chasseeing itinerant musicians—but all the rest is left
to conjecture ; and magisterial conjecture is the most
absurd thing under Heaven that our Legislators could
trust to ; judge-made law is bad enough, but magiste-
rially-constructed punishment is a farce. Mr. Rawlin-
son declared that the boy's conduct was " scandalous"—
ergo, it was " reasonable" to expect him to desist, or be
punished for perseverance. But that would have been
too rational for the usages of the bench ; so the magis-
trate " discharged" the youth, and he may now repeat
his " very scandalous" behaviour with impunity, to the
intense annoyance of the music-hating Lord.—Atlus.
PILCHARD FISHERY.—PERRAN PORTIL—The Cob-
ler's sean, at this place, shot on Monday last, and in-
closed a fine shoal of pilchards ; but being unfortunately
short of hands, they were unable to draw the whole on
shore, and only fifty hogsheads were secured, which
were very fine fish.— West Briton.
IMPORTANT TO SOLICITORS.--In the Crown Court
at Wells, on Saturday week, the Hon. P. P. Bouverie,
foreman of the Grand Jury, complained that that body
had been detained both that day and the day before for
want of bills. Mr. Justice Patteson replied that he know
such to be the case, and had been given to understand
that it arose from the neglect of attornies sending in their
instructions. If he attended this circuit again, he would
make an order that if the bills were not prepared within
a certain time (when the delay originated with the attor-
nies), he would not allow them their expenses.—Somer-
set County Gazette.
LUCIFER MATCHES.—The Courrier de Lyon states
that on Thursday last, a man, living at Franconville, re-
turned to his home at night so much intoxicated that he
could not find his way to his bed, and laid himself on
the top of a table, where he probably would have slept
through the night, had he not, in turning from one side
to the other, crushed a bundle of chemical matches which
he had in his pocket, and set them alight. His clothes
caught fire, and although immediately awakened and
sobered by the flames, he was so much burnt before as-
sistance arrived that he expired next day.
ISLE OF WIGHT WAGGERY.—" Is this the way to
Hyde ?" said a traveller who was as ignorant of horse-
manship as he was of the place he was inquiring for.
The unsophisticated native to whom the query was ad-
dressed, after carefully surveying the equestrian artist,
naively replied, " Na, na thee turns Out thee teas too
much."--Isle of Wight Advertiser.