The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-05 00:00:00

We all know how much inconvenience, loss of pro-
perty, and even of life, and inadequate accommoda-
tioh, have ensued en some existing railroads from the
want of such forecast and pre-arrangement as we
desire to see established in these matters. It must
never be forgotten that of all errors of mechanical
P,ortstruction the most difficult and most expensive to
-epair are those which are framed in substantial oak
scantling, rivetted in iron, and imbedded, clamped,
and embanked in the soil, by the incessant labour of
hundreds of artisans, and at an outlay of hundreds of
thousands of pounds sterling !

COURT CIRCULAR.
WINDSOR, SUNDAY.—Her Majesty and Prince Albert, ac-
companied by her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, and
attsnded by Lord Charles Wellesley and Colonel Wylde, ar-
rived bet evening at the Castle from town, escorted by a
party of the Life Guards.
The Countess of Dunmore, Lady Caroline Cocks, Hon.
Miss Devereux, Viscount Hawarden, and the Hon. and Rev.
C. Leslie Courtenay, arrived from town by the Great Western
Railway yesterday afternoon.
The Royal party have remained in strict privacy, owing
to the bereavement sustained by his Royal Highness the
Pripce Consort.

The reception on the Throne, by the Queen, of the Ad-
dress of the House of Commons on Saturday afternoon, was
postponed, in consequence of the receipt at Buckingham
Palace of the melancholy and unexpected intelligence of the
death of his Royal Highness Ernest (reigning) Duke of Saxe-
Cobourg, Gotha, father of his Royal Highness Prince Albert.
The Right Honourable Earl Jermyn, M.P. Treasurer of
her Majesty's Household, attended at Buckingham Palace
.on Saturday afternoon.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge called at
Bdtkingham Palace on Saturday afternoon, to inquire after
Ms Royal Highness Prince Albert.
Lady Caroline Cocks and the Hon. Miss Frances Devereux,
Maids of Honour in Waiting on the Queen, left Buckingham
Palace at three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, for the terminus
43f the Gres) Western Railway, at Paddington. The Countess
of Dunmore, Lady in Waiting, and Viscount Hawarden also
arrived at the Paddington terminus. The Royal party took
their departure, via railway, for Windsor Castle.
Her Majesty and Prince Albert left Buckingham Palace
urdve o'clock on Saturday afternoon, in a carriage and four,
for Windsor Castle. Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal
'vas taken in the next carriage, and the Equerries in Wait-
Lord Charles Wellesley (Clerk Marshal) and Colonel
Wylde occupied another Royal carriage and four.
The Royal party quitted the Palace by the garden-gate,
antl travelled post to Windsor Castle, unattended by any es-
cort from town.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge visited her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester on Saturday.
Yesterday morning his Royal Highness left town for Kew.
The Messrs. Sarauda had an interview with Sir Robert Peel
en,Saturday at his official residence in Downing-street, rela-
tive to the Atmospheric Railway.

Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-office
hen the Governor of the Mauritius.
'Mr. Wickham, Chairman of the Stamps and Taxes, had an
interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Saturday.
.The Archbishop of Canterbury had an interview with Sir
R. Peel on Saturday.
Dispatches for Sir Charles Metcalfe, Governor of Canada,
and for the Governors of the other North American Colonies,
were sent off on Saturday, from the Colonial-office.
Sir Robert Peel had a Parliamentary dinner on Saturday,
at his residence, in Whitehall-gardens. The company in-
cluded Viscount Castlereagh, Viscount Mareham, Lord Cour-
terray, Lord Ashley, Lord Sandon, Lord Mahon, Hon. R.
Clive, Hon. W. Lascelles, Hon. H. Liddell,. Hon. S.
Wortley, Right Hon. Sir George Rose, Sir Thomas Acland,
Sir Howard Douglas, Sir C. Knightley, Sir Walter James,
Sir Charles Douglas, Sir C. Burrell, Lieutenant-Colonel Rice
Trevor, Mr. Thesiger, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Bodkin, Mr. W.
Beckett, Mr. G. Bankes, Mr. Bramston, Mr. Ireland Black-
burne, Mr. Alexander ampbell, Mr. Beckett Denison, Mr.
Escott, Mr. G. A. Hamilton, Mr. G. Harcourt, Mr. Lyall,
Mr. Maunsell, Mr. Masterman, Mr. Neeld, Mr. Gaily Knight,
Mr. Stafford O'Brien, Mr. Christopher, Mr. Pusey, Mr. Shaw,
Mr. B. Palmer, Mr. Brownrigg, and Mr. Tatton Egerton.
Sir Frederick Trench entertained his Royal Highness the
Duke of Cambridge and a select party at dinner on Saturday,
at his residence in Pall-mall.

Lord Stanley had a dinner party on Saturday, at his resi-
dence in St. James's-square.
• The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat on Sa-
turday. The Lords present were, the Master of the Rolls,
Lord Brougham, the Judge of the Admiralty Court, and the
Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall.
Messrs. Burge and John Stuart, Queen's Counsel, were
hoard for the appellant, on an appeal from the Supreme Court
AA' the Mauritius, " Heirs of Ribeiro 17. May."
Lord Brougham, after alluding to the circumstance of the
Court having to decide without the presence of both parties,
the respondent not having chosen to appear, gave judgment
on the part of their Lordships, reversing the decree of the
Court below, and also giving effectual judgment for the debt
and costs below.

Mr. Charles Buller was heard on an appeal from Madras,
" Xotiadry Valubha v. Valia Tamburah."

DEATH OF THE DUKE OF COBURG
On Saturday, at four o'clock in the morning, an ex-
press reached Buckingham Palace, announcing the de-
cease of his Serene Highness the Duke of Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha, the father of his Royal Highness Prince Al-
bert. The melancholy event was altogether unexpected,
for no previous information of his Serene Highness's in-
disposition had been received at Court. So early as
decorum would permit, this truly melancholy intelli-
gence was imparted to the Queen and his Royal High-
ness Prince Albert.
At ten o'clock a telegraphic dispatch was received at
the Admiralty announcing the same sad event.
It is considered as a most extraordinary circumstance
that no direct information relative to this important
event should have been received from Germany.
Ernest Anthony Charles Lewis, Duke of Saxe-
Coburg-Saalfeld, was born on the :2d of January, 1784,
and succeeded his father on the 9th of December, 1806.
The Duke had been twice married; first, to Dorothy
Louisa Paulina Charlotte Frederica Augusta, daughter
of Augustus, the last Duke but one of Saxe-Gotha-
Altenberg, from whom he separated on the 31st of
March, 1826. On the 23d of December, 1822, the Duke
married Antoinette Frederica Augusta Maria. Anne,
Princess of Wirtemberg. By the first marriage the
issue was Ernest Augustus Charles John Leopold
Alexander Edward, hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha, born on the 21st of June, 1818 ; and
Albert, the young bridegroom elect of Queen Victoria,
born on the 26th of August, 1819, and therefore not
of the legal age of twenty-one until August, 1840. The
Queen was born on the 24th of May, 1819, and is,
therefore, three months older than her husband.
When, during the war in Germany, which was ended
by the peace of Tilsit, Napoleon found that the here-
ditary Prince Ernest, now Duke of Coburg, was at the
Prussian head quarters, he issued a proclamation,
declaring him his particular enemy, and caused formal
possession to be taken of his territories. All the
property belonging to the ducal family was seized, and
a very heavy contribution imposed on the country,
which had already suffered by the passage of the
French army.
During this period of distress Prince Leopold re-
mained with his mother, who, but for him, would have
been entirely deserted, attentively watching over the in-
terests of his family.
It was not till the peace of Tilsit, that by a particular
stipulation, the house of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was re-
instated in its possessions. Duke Ernest, however, on
his return, found the finances dilapidated by the French
authorities, the institutions entirely ruined, and his
country to the last degree impoverished. Having re-
mained at Coburg time enough to put his affairs some-
,what in order, Duke Ernest went to Russia in 1808, and
resided there for some time, leaving his possessions to
the care of his brother Leopold, now King of the Bel-
gians.
On the 9th of December,lBo6, died the eccentric Duke
Frederic of Gotha-Altenberg, by which event his estates
'came into the possession of Duke Ernest, by virtue of
the Salic law, established by Ernest the Pious. He
'shared, at that time, the inheritance of Gotha-Altenberg
with his cousins the Dukes of Meinengen and Hildburg-
hausen, and left the duchy of Saalfield to the Duke of
. Meinengen. It was thus Duke Ernest exchanged
.the title of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld for that of Duke of
:Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
For some time after the demise of the sovereign Duke,
Gotha remained without any regular succession, the
:public administration being conducted in the name of
_ the widow, until, by a convention, dated the 12th Novem •
ber, 1826, it was agreed that the Duke Ernest of Saxe-
-Coburg-Saalfeld, brother to Prince Leopold of Coburg,
• should take possession of the principality for himself and
heirs. His Serene Highness, in consequence of that con-
. vention assumed the title of Duke of Saxe-Coburg and
Gotha, as such, and made his solemn entry into Gotha
• on the 25th of that month.

• For the last few days we have had pretty sharp
frosts, and yesterday morning a rather heavy fall of snow
came on, which continued most of the day, and so far
' blocked up the roads as considerably to impede vehicles on
common roads. It appears, also, from the same cause, the
traffic was retarded on the South-Eastern Railway, as the
• coaches from Folkestone to Dover did not arrive here in their
usual order. The morning papers, which usually reach
Dover by the railway about one o'clock, had not arrived here
at ten o'clock last night.—Dover Chronicle of Saturday.
. RIPON. —DEATH OF A CENTENARIAN.—On Mon-

day, 22d ult., George Wharton, the oldest man in Yorkshire,
' paid the last debt of nature, having attained the patriarchal
- age of 112 years. This venerable old man, having outlived
. his annuity, in September last, changed his abode at Laver-
, ton, near Ripon, for the house of his nephew, a respectable
farmer, on Masham Moor-heads, where he died, and from
whence, on Thursday last, his mortal remains were removed
for interment, according to his desire, in the parish church-
yard of Kirby Malzeard. Until within a few days of his
death he retained the use of his faculties. His vivacity of
spirits, the sprightliness of his
person, and, above all, the
piety of his mind, will long be remembered by those who had
- the happiness of paying old Georgevisitin his cot upon the
banks of the Laver.— York Court,
SIGN.-BOARD EXTRAORDINARY. An American
pa pe r publishes the following as a copy of the sign-board
, of an itinerant showman :—.et Rattel Snaic
bee
be Shoed.
—Thee histry off this snaick is as follors, e was ketcht
on tun mounting buy a poore man with a
mely being sicks yer ould and very wenumous he it large
nowfanin.
a hocks and cant hirt no boddy which is much better than
• too bee runnin wilde cause he don't want to eat nothun.
Admittance is sickpents for them what pleese to pay it, and
thrippents for them what dont, a libberall reduckshon for
fammelees for more particklelars pleese to cawl on Old Dick.
T.N.—Take notiiss it was the poore man and not the snaick
that had a large fammely
. REMOVAL OF CONVICTS.—Ninety-nine male and
three female convicts have been removed from Newgate to
the Penitentiary, preparatory to their embarkation for the co-
lonies. The terms of exile are—for life, five (of this number
is Captain Samuel Sidney Smith); for 15 years, four; for
14 years, four; for 10 years, thirty-six ; for seven years, 52.
Frederick Charles Burnham Blackwell, a person
respectably connected, was convicted of felony, at the January
session, 1843, and sentenced to transportation for ten years.
The matter has since undergone an investigation, the re-
sult of which was, that a free pardon arrived at Newgate last
week, and the young man was set at liberty.
WooLcomnEas.—We are sorry to say that the
patentees of the newly-invented wool-combing machine have
more orders than they can execute, though, on account of
the high price of the machine, every exertion is made to pre-
vent its coming into general use.—Leeds Times.