The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian Glamorgan Monmouth and Brecon Gazette

ifotfigu intelligence* I FRANCE.—On that important subject — rumours of the King's illness-the Paris journals of Saturday are nearly silent. Private letters state, that "it is admitted, by the volt-infonnou — n;ul j none other knowing any thing of the matter—that the King was in reality indisposed on Monday,' but that 'it was only a cold, of which he is better—indeed quite well.'—(iulignani's Messenger ol Saturday publishes the following rather strai.ge story: — ul$y a vessel which has just arrived from Marseilles, I we have received the following intelligence from the island of Bourbon. The Queen of Madagascar, having for some time past imposed onerous and unjust conditions upontheFrench and English residents at Tamatave, by which the trade with Bourbon and the Mauritius in a variety of articles of the first necessity was much impe-.lcd, three vessels, two French, viz., the Berceau and Zelee, and an English corvette, the name of which is not stated, were sent to receive on board the European residents, who were in great danger from the tyranny of the Queen. A hundred soldiers of the garrison of Hourbon formed part of the expetlitilll1. The three vessels landed at Tamataye 3.30 men, who made a hostile demonstration, but they received from a fort, the position of which tlwy werp not acquainted with, a shower of balls and grape-shot which committed great slaughter The French had 14 seamen and 3 officers killed; the English lost 3 seamen and an officer, and on hoth sides there were aboul 50 wounded. The combined force was, under these circum- stances, compelled to re-embark, talÜng their wounded with them. The dead were mutilated by the Owas, who stuck their heads upon pikes, on the spot where the English and. French had landed. On the following day, however, another landing was effected, aud the combined force succeeded in removing sume of the European residents, with such property as in the haste cauld be got together. They thPll set lire tù a part of the country, and, having done this, the vessels returned to Bourhon." TAHITI.—The Mor.itcur contains the following :—" Des- patches have arrived to Government from the Governor of the French establishments in Oceania, dated the 23rd of April last. Down to that period no fresh act of hostility had taken place at Tahiti on the part of the native population, a \,(lrtio'1 of which still continued to reside in the intrenched camps of Punavia anù Papenoo. At the Marquesas, a tribe of Noukahiva, irrita- ted at having been fined for the plunder of some cattle, and the only one which had not frankly submitted tù (Hlr authority, mur- dered five soldiers of the garrison on the 28th of January. A detachment of troops, sent to avenge their death, pursued and dispersed the culpable tribe, and were assisted in that operation by all the other natives of the island. The principal murderers were arrested their chief, Pakoko, was sentenced to death, amI was executed. The others were transported. Tranquillity had not 1wen since disturbed. The sanatory and material con- dition of the establishments of Taiohai and Yaitahu was most satisfactory." A Paris correspondent of the Times says, "With respect to Tahiti, couquereù so gloriously and protected' so admirably, I have received an assurance for which, perhaps, you are not un- prepared,—it will he abandoned." SPAIN. — Accounts from Madrid are to the 1st u!t. That city continued tranquil, and no disturhances hall taken place in the neighbouring provinces. In the Cal!e del Carmes, one of the principal streets, several shops were entirely open, others with the doors only half open, and many still rpmained closed. "The proprietors of those that are still open," says private cor- respondence, have recourse to every means to prevent people frum buying their goods. For instance, for a pair of shoes. the ordinary price of whidt might be 18 or 20 reals, 20:) ( £ 2) are asked; a pair of gloves, 100 reals; a pound of oil, GO reals and so on." THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO.—The advices from America brought by the Cambria, 011 Thursday week, put us in P')sscssiol1 of the fact that Mexico does intend to declare war against the United States in support of her right to the Texan territory. We doubt not the spirit of the Mexican Government to act up to its words; but a lion's heart in a dwarf's body does not make the dwarf one jot the more formidable to an antagonist who stands six ft. high. Mexico, in fact. left to her own resources, cannot carryon a war against the United States with the most dis- tant chance of success. She has no navy, no money and her army is nothing more than a crowd of ill-fed, ill-paid, ill-clothed, ill-appointed, and ill-disciplined mercenaries. The attempt is to be made, we see, to rouse the Mexican people, and make it a national struggle. There is no Mexican people, in the proper sense of the word, and. consequently, no national feding upon the subject. But, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, Mexico may tease, and harass, and annoy an enemy upon her own terri- tory, in a way that would prolong hostilities almost indefinitely, without once issuing in any decisive result; and the cost of such a war would fall a hundred-fold heavier upon the invaders than upon the invaded. It is a question, however, worthy of a mo- ment's consideration, whether, knowing her inherent weakness as a belligerent, she would have assumed the attitude of one, only, as it would seem, to realise her own hypothesis, and lose what she yet has by trying to recover what she has already lost, had she no reason to believe that aid would be afforded her from some quarter or other. Whether this be so, may appear hereafter. But there is another contingency upon which, per- haps, she has reckoned. It is hardly possible the war can pro- ceed, without leading to acts, upon the part of the United States, which may seriously compromise the maritime rights and com- mercial interests of powerful neutral governments, who may deny the validity of the casus belli as between America and Mexico and consequently deny the validity of all claims founded upon it, The annexation of Texas being, as it is, such a fla- grantly perfidious and dishonest proceeding, we can well believe, for example, that this country has formally and solemnly pro- tested against its being carried into execution, and reserved to herself a right of openly disclaiming it, in the event of a war between Mexico and the United States ensuing, in the carrying on of which our interests are in any way affected. In such a position of affairs, it is easy to see how soon England might be driven to declare herself the ally of Mexico, and abandon her neutrality. THE OVERLAND MAIL FROM BOMBAY—The usual express, in anticipation of the Overland Mail from Bombay, reached Loadon on Saturday afternoon, bringing advices from that Presidency of the 19th July, from Calcutta of the 10th July, and China of the 2Zd May. The news from Scinde is of some interest. The tract of country on the western bank of the Indus. recently cedell to the Governor by Meer AIi !\1ooraù, having been invaded and plundered by the neighhouring tribes, it had been deemed expeùient to sfnd a wing of the 18th Bom- bay Native Infantry for the purposp of chastising the marauders; and the non-arrival of news from this detachment had led to the iuÎerence that reinforceineuts would be wanted, and that the affair had been found to be more serious than was in the first instance anticipated. Our intelligence from Lahore comes down to the 25th June, and is of some importance. The cholera was considerably on the decline, the average number of deaths per day having dwindled down from 600 to from 20 to ;,0, This terrible disease, however,still continued itsravagesin other parts of the l'unjaub, and had occasioned a great mortality at the British station ofFerezopore, where several of the privates of her Majes- ty's S2d Regt- had fallen victims to it. By accounts from Affghan- istan, we learn that the notorious Akhbar Khan hoped to obtain a remission of Ins sms by a journey to Mecca; an arrangement of which the Dost, his father, altogether disapproved; seeing that the King of Bokhara had intimated his intention to invade and appropriate the territory of the Wullee of Khooloom- The cholera was still raging at Ghuzuee and Jellalabad. The Governor-general had issued a notification to the India General Steam Navigation Company, which will save them some thou- sands of rupees. It is, that he has taken off the import duties from machinery of all kinùs, as well as from iron plates em- ployed in the constiuction of steam-vessels. The impression that Sir Henry Hardinge will visit the Upper provinces so soon as the rains are over gains ground, although nothing certain is as yet known on the subject. Should he proceed on this tour he will be met at Agra by Sir Hugh Gough, who will leave Simla earlier than usual, in order to enable him so to do. In China, trade was rapidly improving, it appears that Keyeng, who had been degraded last year, had received a seat in the Cabinet, as Assistant Minister, the post formerly held by Keshen.

HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO GERMANY. The daily papers, from which we extract the following particulars, continue to furnish the most ample details respecting Her Majesty's progress:- SAXE GonIA, AVG. 29.—The preparations made to welcome the Queen and Prince Albert, (who arrived here last evening) were very general throughout the town. Almost every house was festooned or garlanded, and that in a very tasteful way. That they were not similar to those at Coburg seemed to show that they were in both places spontaneous offerings of welcome, and not suggested by the authorities. At the entrance of the city, from the side of Reinhardtsbrunn, a very elegant triumphal arch was erected, and the long street leading from this point to the palace in which the Queen was to take up her abode, was one long avenue of festoons and garlands suspended across the 0 road from the lines of trees on each side of the way. The street was lined by a body of the gensdarmes. As the hour at which the Royal party were expected came on, the population of Gotha and the neighbourhood began to throng the streets in multitudes. It was sur- prising how so comparatively small a place could yield so many people but, in fact,. it was a general holiday, and every man, woman and child came out to see the sight. And a most picturesque crowd they made. The peasant girls from the surrounding villages, many of them beauties of which any country might be proud, intermin- gled in the thiong with their antique and picturesque costumes, long since abandoned in the towns, but clung to by the villagers with rustic tenacity. We have nothing in our country like their headdresses. They are certainly more quaint and elaborate than graceful; but a pretty face defies all the caprices of fashion in dress. The head is surmounted by a tower of black velvet, silk, or stuff, according to the taste or means of the wearer, which is shaped like an infantry soldier's cap. This again is covered with short sable plumage slightly curled and from the top falls a shower of long black silk ribands reaching below the waist. A dozen or two of these women walking together reminded one of the top of a hearse. Others of the peasant women Wore less ambi- tious coiffures; but then they had large cloaks of various colours thrown over the left shoulder after the spanish fashion. The men, too, wore very characteristic dresses. Some stalked along in long black coats, like ptiests' soutans, and boots fitting tight to the leg Up t0 knee. The costume of the miners, too, was very peculiar. These odd costumes mingling in the throng, with the uniforms of the soldiery, huntsme^ postillions, and others who were there, produced a very pretty effect; nor were the gay colours in which the city damsels decked themselves without their use in keeping up the ever- changing variety. The great centre of attraction, and where the throng of people was most constant, was the triumphal arch already described. Here the chief municipal autborites of Gotha were assembled in a sort of tribune to receive the Royal visiters on their arrival within the boundary of the city. When the Queen's carriage came opposite the tribune, the chief magistrate stepped forward and delivered a speech, of which the following is a translation "Happy in the consciousness of the presence of your Majesty in our city, we lay our humblest and most heartfelt devotions at the feet of the Sovereign of the great British empire. Happy we are that the kind and natural sympathies of the mother and the wife have never lost their intensity amidst the splendours of the greatest throne in the world. To those sympathies we are indebted for the incomparable satisfaction we feel on this occasion. Welcome to the home of a beloved Prince of our house. Welcome as his consort, 0 mightiest, and at the same time most amiable of Queens! Little are we able to convey to your Majesty our unfeigned deep-felt Joy at welcoming such illustrious guests to our unpre- tending town. Still, however far we could have carried the outward showing of our attachment, it never could have equalled our desire to offer homage and best love to Yictoria Queen of Britain;" j Her Majesty bowed very graciously, and the cortege then passed on, amidst deafening cheers from the people, to the Palace of the Duchess of Saxe Coburg, where they arc to stay. Crowds of people lined the way, and filled the area opposite the Palace. After alighting, iler Ma- jesty came forward and bowed repeatedly to the people. Altogether this reception at Gotha was as good as any the Queen has met with on her various journeys, and exactly the same in form as most of them. There are to be several grand displays here during the next few days, which promise to be very characteristic of I the manners of the people, and new, in their way, to the Qneen. Both her Majesty and the Prince are in ex- cellent health. On the 2iJth there was a festivil resembling the old English game of shooting at the Popinjay, and also a fair, — with the usual amusements. The correspondent of the Times says: — The interior of the dancing saloon exhibited what you would in vaiu look for in England. The admission price was 6d. only, a sum which in Eng- land would imply the presence of people very little above the lowest, and amusements of not the most refined kind. But within the scene was far different: an immense dancing-room, brilliantly lit and handsomely decorated, was filled with young people of both sexes, theyonngla- dies (and they would have been recognized as such in any society in England) dressed for the most part in white, and the young men an in evening dress. An excellent band stationed in the gallery played the best waltz music, and as many as a hundred couples at a time were to be seen whirling round the room. Better dancing you would seldom witness. This was kept up till a late hour; and, although all were in the full tide of gaiety, and there was abundance of those refreshments which, in England, so often mar those pleasures, nothing could exceed the decorum of the whoie party. A more brilliant array of female beauty-not. mere prettiness, but symmetry of form, grace, and expression—could not be easily produced in any country, and, although our English girls may vie with all the world for beauty, it would be ridiculous to expect from the daughters and sisters ofthe same class of persons (a majority mechanics) the same combination of attraction. A rule prevails, that any gentleman may ask any lady to dance without introduction. All rely on the good conduct of ail. There is not the most dis- tant approach to indecorum, and if these manners and customs, so Foreign to English notions, be charged with having a tendency to immorality, then Vice must last night ha\e much more perfectly aped the aspect of Virtue than is at all consistent with the artlessness and simplicity oF the German character. And there is positively not one word of exaggeration in what has here been said of the superior order of persons (in mind and manners, if not in rank) who frequent what in England would be sneered at as a sixpenny hop, or as to the general stvle in which the thing was conducted." GOTHA, AUG. 31.- Y estPnlay there was a c/iasse on a grand scale for the entertainment of her Majesty and Prince Albert. The forests of the Duke of Coburg abound with deer, and although the game is usually hunted, as in the Highlands of Scotland, bv stalking, there is every autumn a grand t)attite, at which all the sportsmen of the district, assist, the object being to keep down the number of the game, which increases rapidly in the vast forests of Thuringia, some of the red deer being of enormous size. At the stated p riods of the year a large inclosure is prepared in the centre of the forest of several acres extent. It is surrounded by canvass to the height of ten or twelve feet, and one side of the square is left open for the purpose of driving in the (leer-tlie huntsmen and rangers are sent out early in the morning, and a cordon of some miles in extent is formed, gradually- narrowing as the inclosure is approached, till the herd, which sometimes numbers 200 or 300, is compelled to enter the inclosure, and a general battue, which thorough English sportsmen might designate a slaughter, ensues. The spot selected on the present occasion was an open space in the forest, four or five miles from Rheinhardts- brunn, and the Queen and the distinguished individuals who were invited to assist at the sylvan sport left Gotha in four carriages at half-past 9 yesterday morning. In the centre a rustic pavilion, tastefully ornamented with ever- greens and flowers, was prepared for her Majesty's accom- modation. The Queen and her suite, with the Duke of Coburg, having taken their seats, the signal was given by sound of horn to drive in the deer, and the spoits- men took up their positions about half way between the pavilion and the remote end of the enclosure. In the group were Prince Albert, the Duke of Cobur", the Prince of Leiningen, Mr. Anson, Colonel Anson, &c. A shout now arose from the immense body of spectators assembled on the hill side, and in rushed a herd of noble animals, sweeping furiously and panic stricken across the inclosure. Behind them followed a dense body of rangers, huntsmen and chasseurs, armedt with hunting- poles, rifles, and swords, cutting off all hope of escape from the hapless animals; and now the work of slaugh- ter commenced. The sportsmen, who were armed with double-barrelled rifles, loaded by attendants behind, singled out the leaders of the herd as they bounded past, and the sharp ring of the rifle was followed by a convulsive plunge of the noble animal in his death agony. Again a herd of upwards of a hundred, maddened and infuriated by the noise and uproar, would rush upon the rank of keepers, and attempt to force their way through the dense mass back to the forest; but the fall of two or three of the leaders would send them startled and be- wildered back again. The firing now became one con- tinued platoon, till the herd suddenly rushed upon the huntsmen, like an avalanche, and broke. (heir ranks, and escaped into the forest. The sport terminated at four o'clock, & the dead game was then collected from all parts of the inclosure, and laid in a row in front of the pavi- lion. The result of the battue was 48 deer, besides about ten which had escaped wounded to die in the forest. The Queen and her suite returned to G <!ha shortly after six o'clock. Although this mode of killing the deer has been from time immemorial practised in Germany, we do not think it will ever become popular in England. There is something revolting to the heart-of a true sportsman, in seeing thpSe noble animals driven in a pen like sheep, and brought down in scores without the siightest chance for their lives. Her Majesty attended Divine service in the chapel of the palace to-day. The townspeople are, however, de- termined to make a day of rejoicing after their own fashion, and there will be a concert and ball in the evening, on the same scale of splendour as that of I'riday evening.

RAILWAY SPECULATION. In a very useful paper on Saturday morning, the Times raises a note of warning against the dangerous excess of the speculation in railway affairs supplying some striking facts, which show that the real excess is even greater than it appears, more beyond the control of the discreetest arnong the speculators, and more menacing in its conse- quences. Although we have upon former occasions copied articles upon this subject from the Spectator, yet We do not scruple to give an abridgement of the obser- vations made by so important a coadjutor :— We have carefully- investigated the amount of capital em- barked in railways, the number of shares in the market, and the value of the premiums upon them. It appears that .11 compa- nies have been formed during the last twelve months; of which the total capital engaged is £ .;5,.r)10,000, the number of shares is 1,086,650, and the total value of the premiums on those shares as quoted is £3,559,000, "We find, further, that there are 58 companies, of which, although neither the number of shares, nor their nominal amount, nor the amount paid up is stated, yet the premiums Qf such as are quoted (and they are not many) give an average premium of X 6 per share: but, adopting as the basis of calcu- lation the facts which appear as to the 44 companies of which the details are before us, we may assume that the capital em- barked in these 58 companies is X46,490,000, the number of shares 1,413,000, and the value ofpremutma is £ 4,641,000. We know further, from the General Share List, that the rise in the price of shares in the 27 companies which have existed more than a year, amounts on the whole to £1:3,-191,000; the number of shares in such companies exceeding £9,100,000; the total result, then, is, that the number of railway shares which are the subject of speculation is as fullows- In 27 old companies 9,100,000 In 41 companies established within 12 months.. 1,086,650 In 58 new companies. 1,113,000 Making a total of shares of 11,599,650 The rise of price or premium on which amounts to £ tr>,y90,000. The capital required for the 102 companies in the second and third classes alone amounts to not less than X82,000,000 but in addition to this, which has reference only to railways in the United Kingdom, we are aware of the names of not less than 20 foreign railways, of which shares to the amount of £10,100,000 are in the London market alone. On account of these latter, remittances have already been made to the continent to an amount of £ 3,000,000 and it is impossible to estimate the pro- bable remittances in twelve months to come at less than £ 10,000,000 of money. It is difficult, indeed, to assign limits to the extent to which demands may be made here with reference to foreign railways for as the laws of Belgium prohibit the sale of any share in a railway until the works are completed and the operations on the railroad commenced, there is a manifest in- ducement to the speculator in that country to extend, by every possible means, transactions in this country which in his own are effectually prevented." The printed list returned to the House of Commons, of persons holding shares in the several railways submitted to Parliament to an amount exceeding £2,000, which includes women and subordinates in official situations, as subscribers for such enor- mous sums as £ 50,000 to £ 600,000, shows how few are pos- sessed of the means to realise their engagements. The list of subscribers under £2,0,00 would very likely prove to be equally nctitious and speculations in foreign railways stand in the same category. "From these facts two circumstances are evident first, that the demand for payments on shares of foreign railways must create at an early period a pressure o t'u. money-market of this country; and secondly, that, iad "ltly of sueh a drain for foreign remittance, the sums requ: the fulfilment of domestic engagements exco-sd the surplus -pital properly applicablo to si'slj purposes, and can only bo ;u ,plied, if sup- plied at all,' -i extensive sale of other so-iuitv Moreover, n the temporary absence of rcsin,j,ion occasioned by the postponement of the bill for regulating joint-stock banks in Scotland, advantage has been taken ii) establish in that country joint-stock banks on dangerous principles, the profits of which are mainly to depend upon advances to be made upon the security of railway shares." How far these facts differ from those recorded in the history of the South Sea bubble of 1720, excepting in the absence of encouragement from the Government, the reader may jud^e. Those even who deem themselves moderate in their speculations may be dragged into the vortex by the recklessness of others, who, without capital, exist upon the probability of an advance in prices and, in their efforts to promote that advance are hasten- ing the explosion. "If evidence of such results, taken from later times, be required, we may safely refer to the periods of 1825—6 and 1835 — 6. At both periods, inordinate speculations, by means of commercial companies in the one case, and by in- vestments in foreign securities in the other, led to disasters from which the country did not recover for some years after- wards." From such grievous disasters we believe that there is yet time to escape, if those who hold high stations in the commer- cial world will only decidedly discountenance this speculative gambling by not accepting as security fictitious railway stock, and by withholding their countenance as well as their credit bom those who Me CPgaged in such ha:ardous trsni?ftcti9n¥/*

General JiltguIUng. We are sorry to learn that the practice of sending threat- ening letters is again become prevalent. We had thought that the serious consequences entailed on the county and nunieious families by the liebeccaite disturbances, had taught people better. — Wei ■i/awr/i. Native silver ore of a very rich quality IIHS recently been discovered in the East Combe Siiver and Lead Mine in the parish of Stembiidje; and the prospects generally are very flattering.— liia'/i Jwiruui. Pine-apples have become so plentiful that they are re- tailed in bait penny slices in London 48,000 arrived a few days since from Nassau, new Providence. Pine ice should he now reduced in price, from Is. to (3.1. A novel feature is about to be given to the Abbey clock hy the addition of a hand designed to show the railway tiixe of Bath. A scaffolding is erected in front of the north transept in order to effect this improvement. By the I'lUail Debts Bill, the poor aud necessitous are privileged from having their bedding, wearing apparel, and implements of trade, to the extent of £ 3 seized, by any judgment creditor. Captain Manby has presented to his Royal Highness Prince Albert a geranium, raised from a cutting off one that was in Nelson's cabin, on board the Elephant, at the battle of Copenhagen. BATIIEUS, llEWAHE OF SHARKS!—The Pembroke Herald says that a shark, four feet long, was caught at Marloes, in that county, which had been seen prowling about near a young lady whilst she was bathing, but she got out of the water in time to escape. An election took place Monday for the judgeship of the Westminster Court of Requests. There were fourteen candidates, and the following were the numbers at the close:—Moylan frevising barrister), 44; Le Breton, 2t5 a Beckett,'io Keane, 20; Campbell, l-i; for the rest not a vote. MAKING THE MOST OF A TIIIXG. —The Morning Post of Ihursday week gives, in the same page, no fewer than four accounts of the one accident on the Leeds and Man Chester Railway on the previous Monday, with a promise to give a fifth, and somewhat enlarged report, when the investigation making by authority is completed. A young man has been killed at West Bromwich, in attempting to witness the performances of a stiollin" company without paying. A temporary theatre had been erected and five minutes after the curtain rose, the gallery, which was tilled with people, gave way: the audience were greatly terrified, but all escaped without serious injury. Under the rains, however, a man was found dead: he had crawled under the gallery to get a peep at the acting, and for that purpose had removed some of the supports of the erection which caused it to fall. SIMPLE MODE OF PLUIFYING WATER.—It is not so generally known as it ought to he, that pounded alum pos- sesses the property of purifying water. A table-spoonful of pulverised alum sprinkled into a hogshead of water (the water stirred at the time) will, after a lapse of a few hours, be precipitating to the bottom the impure articles, so purifying, that it will be found to possess nearly all the freshness and clearness of the finest spring water. A pailful, containing four gallons, may be purified by a single tea-spoonful. RAILWAY WITHOUT STEAM OR FIRE.—The proposed railway from Callao to Lima, in Peru, will neither re- quire the agency of steam, nor the aid of fire. The ground has a gradual and unbroken rise the whole way. Above Lima flows the river Rimac, which passes through a part of the city in its wav to the sea near Callao. This river, though not navigable, affords at all seasons of the year a hundred times the water power necessary to work any traffic that can possibly come upon the rail. The saving of the usual expense of fuel is thus effected and the cost of the steam-engines, and, what is no small item in railway expenditure, the charges for their after man- agement, are entirely avoided.— Times. MECHANICS AND TIIHIK WAGES. -The commencement of the various railway lines about the country, legalised during the recent session of Parliament, has given an ex- traordinary impetus to all branches of trade connected with their construction. They have nearly absorbed all the available mechanics about the country, so that minor speculations have been obliged either to stand still, or to accede to the demands of the workmen employed upon them. Last week several stone masons of this town. of average capability, have been sent for by parties engaged on a line in process of construction near Liverpool, and have been promised 7s. 6d. per day, a sum rather more than double that given for jobs in ordinary. —Carmarthen Journal. RAILWAY BILLS.—RAILWAYS.—Friday a return, ob- tained by Mr. Gibson Craig, was printed of all Bills of the late session for railways, with the amount of the esti- mates of the capital stock, and of .he sum allowed to be borrowed for each railway, and the total amount of the estimates, capital stock, and sums authorised to be borrowed for all such railways. It appears that the estimated expense of 52 railways set forth in the return is £43,339 325. The capital stock is s'ated at £.U,711,200. and the money authorised to be borrowed £ 14,872,326, Mr. MoiTatt, the new Member for Dartmouth, has also obtained a return (which was issued on Thursday) of the number of Acts which have passed in the session; the length of each line; the number of shares, and the amount ot capital subscribed for each the number of new shares that each line, is empowered to create; and the sum of money each line is empowered to borrow. The length of the lines are 2,74G m. 6 f. and 4 c. The number of shares subscribed for 18 723,8 H); the amount of capital subscribed £ 31,890,474; the nUluher of sharctJ empowered to be created, 927,07; and the money empowered to be bor- rowed £ 13,078,038. IKELtKd. -The Commissioner of the Times has con- tinued his letters on the condition of the people of Ireland." They go on with too much of the air of being made up", the materials being supplied in great part by the Blue Books on the subject, which are extensively quoted. One letter, the second, is devoted to showing that nearly all the crimes that are committed in Ire- land are agrarian that they are the outbreak of a strong pent-up feeling, which is almost universal, because ;'H> cause which produces it is almost universal—namely, want of employment, and consequent starvation and dis- content; and that this is at the bottom, and is tlie true cause of « Uibandism,' under whatever name it assumes." The next letter is devoted (0 showing the evils which arise from the manner in which the Irishman of the labourin" class depends for his subsistence on the direct occupation of the land a condition which lends the charm to O'Connell's promises of "fixity of tenure." All the matter of these letters is worn out, and is up to this point but little relieved with illustrations drawn by the writer on the spot. In a subsequent letter, the writer becomes more descriptive sketching the bad methods of farming in Ireland, the miserable way of life among the agricultural population, and the favourable contrast ntlbrded by the "Protestant," "Orange," or Saxon popu- lation descended from an English or Scotch stock for the terms are synonymous. All this is done in the most general way, and presents nothing very new or striking. MII.LBANK PRISON.—Oil Friday the second report of the Inspector of Millbank Prison, as presented to Parlia- ment in pursuance of the Act 6 and 7 Yictoria, c. 26, was issued. The prison is now used as a depot for pri- soners until they are transported or otherwise disposed of. Since the last report a large ward has been erected for boys who were too young to be sent to the Penton- ville Prison, and too old for Parkhurst, and when practic- able, they have the advantage of separate confinement they are instructed in religious and moral duties, trained to industrious habits, and taught trades calculated to render them useful servants in the colonies to which they are sent. It seems that of 2-12 boys who have been placed in the juvenile ward during the eight months which have elapsed since its commencement, but three have received corporeal punishment; a considerable number have never been reported for a single violation of the prison rules. Matrons have been appointed to con- >'ict ships, and materials for work are now supplied to the female prisoners during the voyages. Last year 4,140 prisoners were sent from the prison, who have been sen. tenced to transportation. There were 3,778 males, and 362 females; of the number 685 were sent to Norfolk Island, 2,241 to Van Diemen's Land, 150 to Bermuda, 10? to the invalid hulk at Woolwich, 239 to Pentonville, 361 to Parkhurst, and the females (362) to Van Diemen's Land. The inspectors report that the prisoners in Mill- bank have generally enjoyed good health, the mortality among them has been small, and the number of sick at no time in the year considerable. There were 17 deaths a less proportion than the average of former years— and three cases of insanity, one of which was disallowed, and the convict (Dalmas) transported. TEBRIFIC RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—Gloucester, Sundny, August 31.—A most. terrilic accident occurred yesterday evening, about ten o'clock, on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, near the Befford station, which is situated within 33 miles of Birmingham, and 20 of Glou- cester, by which Joseph Ward, a fireman, lost his life. Several persons were injured and scalded, two carriages burned, and two fine engines very nearly destroyed. From the impossibility of extracting information from the men employed at the station, the cause of the accident is not satisfactorily stated, but the following rests upon good authority:—A luggage train in the charge of Joseph W ard, engine-driver, left Gloucester at nine o'clock for Birmingham, and it is said that on arriving at Defford he ran into a heavy truck which had been most culpably left in his way. The shock was so great as not only to throw the truck on the opposite rails, but to cause the tender to project above the engine and fall upon it. Poor Ward was pressed against the engine rails by the tender, and twenty minutes elapsed e: e he was extricated, and not till life was extinct. He was conscious for a good many minutes of the effort which was making to save him. The truck, as already noticed, which caused the first accident, was thrown on the opposite rails, and whilst in that po- sition a train from Birmingham came dashing on. The driver jumped off and escaped, but the carriages were projected above each other, and two of them caught fire. Some of the passengers were scalded, and all were more or less iujured. About three o'clock this morning three of the company's servants arrived. One of them was con- veyed to the infirmary, but the others went home. A gentleman who left Birmingham this morning by the 1 a.m. mail tiain states that when the passengers lelt the station, nobody seemed to have heard of the accident. As they advanced, however, the pace slackened till it became a walk. This led to inquiry, and the passengers were told that an accident had occurred. On nearing the fatal spot the passengers were asked to leave the carriages, and walk across a field and regain the rails at another point. Our informant, however, went back, and saw waggon piled upon waggon, and one of them with the bottom burned out, and still on fire the tender was also lying upon the luggage engine. The passengers had all been removed by this time. Another account is, that the acci- dent was occasioned by the meeting of the trains, TATTERSALL'S. — THURSDAY EVENING, SIX O'CLOCK. — ST. LEcsn.-3!o 1 agst Miss Sarah; II to 2 a^st Weatherbit; 11 to I agst Mentor; 15 to I agst Old KuV- laId; 15 to 1 agst, The Pacha )(j to I agst Pantaea 16 to » agst Merry Monarch; 20 to I agst Red Robin; 25 to 1 agst The Baron; 25 to 1 agst Mid-Lothian; 50 to 1 agst CIe a r-1h e- W ay. The accounts from Algiers of the 15th inst., state that the erection of the country into a viceroyalty for the nuke d'Aumale was again taikedof, and believed to be intended to take place shortly after the return of Marshall Bug^au to 1'ranee. How well some parents do provide for'their chmiren. Conox SPINNERS.' RISE or WAGES.—We are informed on good authority that at a meeting of the master cotton spinners of Glasgow and neighbourhood, held here during the present week, it was resolve I, after some dis- cussion, to advance the wages of the workers from .) to 10 per cent, on their present r*tCf>.—fjlcrsgoiv Post- CELESTIAL PHENOMENON.—The planet Mars at pre- sent shines with a lustre considerably greater than it has exhibited for the last thirty yeais, owing to the circum- stance that, at the time of its present opposition to the sun (which occurred on Monday, the 18th August), this planct was very near its perihelion, and the earth near its aphelion consequently the distance of the two bodies the least possible. The great eccentricity of the orbit of Mars occasions this planet to exhibit more than live times the brilliance when the opposition happens in the month ot August that it does when the same pheno- menon occurs in February. ORMTHOLOGY. —THE GCLL.The gull is well known for its lo-acity, but we think the following proof of its svf maninsuig power, and great calibre or guliet, is not un- wer hy of being noticed it occurred in Easdale, and rafiT be reued on: 1 wo of these birds were a few dnsago seen in herce combat, when, by a desoerate effort, one of them got hold ol his antagonist by the head, actually swal- lowing it so far that it could not extricate itself. Wh«u in this plight they were rushed upon, taken, and actually pulled asunder.—Glasgow ISatioual- LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.—One of t'ue parlies to the petition praying that the cathedral of Lincoln might be thrown open to the public having forwarded the petition to Sir Robert Peel, has received a note IVoin the Premier, acknowledging the receipt of the memorial. Sir Robert concludes his letter with the following sentiment •—•" It will be gratifying to Sir Robert Peel if the Dean and Chapter ot Lincoln shall be enabled to give the same tacilities for free admission to the Cathedral which are given at Westminster and Durham." Lincoln Chronicle- ■ilLMcirAL Boitoiroiis.—An abstract of the statements of the accounts of the several municipal boroughs in England and Wulcsf from the 1st of September, 1843, to the 31st of August, 1844, inclusive, has been pre- sented to Partiament. Of some of the most impoitant boroughs, we subjoin the annual receipts or revenue, viz Bath, £ 21,481 Birmingham, £49,gi3; Bristol, £ 48,43t; Cardiff, £2,3:31 j Chester, £ 7,SSI Devizes, i-).0<)7; Exeter, £ 15,441 Gloucester, £7,lü3; He-eford, £.,9;)0; Hull, £ 3!,391; Leeds, £:?:{,:Z03; Liverpool, £:i!)i),779; Manchester, £;,)9,87G; N e weasi Ie-on-Ty ne, £5(;,157; Oxford, £ 6,09(>; Reading, £ 4,301 New Sarum, £:i,22U; Swansea, £28,270; Worcester, £3,577. At Stockton, «e\v Sarum, Shaftesbury, SouUiamptou, liihmond, f wm°Ull,Pleston' Purizallce' Pembroke,Newport (Isle ot Wight), Newport (Monmouthshire), Newcastle, Mon- mouth, Newark, Marden, Lkhlield, Lancaster, Kinffston- on-fnames, Kendal, Hereford, Hertford, Gateshead, Gloucester,Falmouth,Dover,Dorchester, Derby,Daventry, Colchester, Carlisle, Canterbury, Bristol, Buckingham, recon,Blai:dford, Banbury, and Aberystwith, the balance is on the wrong side of the account, the expenditure ex- ceeding the income, in a greater or less degree. Nor TO BE PUT OL-T.The Germ M postillion is a man not to be put out." In his own time and in his own way he does what he has to do-packing, strap- ping, harnessing, and driving; and no earthly power can quicken his motions—to retard them is inconceivable Ten minutes to lift a package on to his cumbrous vehicle, five minutes to fasten a buckle, a quarter of an hour to attach each horse—and then on the road a pace varying from tMee-and-a-half to four English miles an hour— these are the rates of that surest of chronometers the German postillion. They were his father's before him he caught them when a boy! and can no more vary from them, unless in a fever-fit, than a watch can whirl its minutc-hund twice round the dial in an hour, when no screw or pin is loose. And yet the Queen of England has accomplished nearly ten miles au hour in Germany How many Schwagers (brothers-in-law—the grade of relationship which the conventionalities of the German language have established between themselves and their postillions) have burst their wind and been rendered unable oi life to wind their bugles in consequence, is unknown. Schwagers of generations yet unborn will astonish the auditories ot their respective inn-yards with traditions of a young royal lady's impatience, and its woful effects.— Spectator. LAW REFORM CONVEVANCING.—The past session of Parliament was characterized by the unprecedented and undue preponderance of private business. Lord Brougham is almost the only non-olficial member who emancipated himself from the narrowiug and exhausting influence of Railway Committees, and effected comprehensive improve- ments in the general law, from which the whole public will derive benefit. Thetwoactsinparticutar by which improvement is to be carried into the practice of conveyancing are deeply interesting experiments. Perhaps there is no department of legallJraclice in which reform was more urgently required than the preparation of legal instruments by which the intention of private persons dealing with property is carried into effect. Want ot knowledge, or want of confidence in their own judg- ment, first led conveyancers to seek security for their clients in multiplying w-ords, covenants, and conditions. in tne simplest deeds for the transfer or burdening of real piopeity. The evil has been increased by the injudicious method of remunerating law practitioners, not in propor- tion to the labour, skill, and talent expended, but in proportion to the length of the instrument prepared. The least complicated mortgage or sale of land is spun out to an enormous length. In all subsequent transactions re- lating to the same property the original deeds are in- serted, not in substance but verbatim; iu every bill of every suit arising cut of previous simpler contracts, the whole of the lengthy compound document is quoted. The expense of copies is swollen to a fearful 'magnitude. It costs as much to convey one acre as a thousand. The expense of transferring or burdening lands comes to act as a check upon all such bargains; the increased expense of litigation makes men abstain from asserting their rights, or renders it necessary to maintain them at a ruinous cost and with every addition to the length of deeds increases the danger of formal er.ors that mav defeat claims the best-founded in justice. The most eminent members of the legal profession have long beea convinced that change was necessary; but the ovU baa gone on increasing, because professional interests are in- volved and because charges for conveyancing business are not, like charges relating to an action at law, reached by" taxing." The two Acts above referred to may be regarded as an experiment how far the redundant wordi- ness ot deeds may be avoided iu transactions of a simple nature. The trrst (8 et 9 Vict. cap. 119, An Act to f«ici- itate the Conveyance of Real Property,") provides a short and safe form of transfer in the case of sale by an abso- lute owner of freehold property to another in fee; the second, (8 et 9 Vict. cap. 124, « An Act to facilitate the Granting ot certain Leases,") a short and safe form of lease for dwelling-houses with their appurtenances. Par- ties to either class of transactions are left free to uso the present lengthy forms; but it is enacted that abbreviated forms, appended in schedules to the Acts, shall have the same effect as if all the tautologies of the others were embodied in them. In the schedule to the first Act is given a form,for a deed of sale as in actual use, prepared and approved by first-rate conveyancers, including every provision or covenant that is likely to occur, expressed in such length and detail as to give security that every ima- ginable contingency is provided for. In the. schedule 10 the second Act is contained a form of lease for a dwell- ing-house, constructed on the same principle. In parallel columns with these two forms-like marginal notes, as it were-are printed brief abstracts of the substance of each clause. And the Acts declare that deeds of sale or leases in which any or all of these abbreviated clauses are used shall be construed as if the pauios had inserted in the deeds the full form of words in the parallel column. By this process, 191 lines of a folio page taken up by the covenants in a deed of sale are reduced to 16, and 111 lines in the form of a lease to 19. A brief form of iu- denture is prefixed, into which all the covenants and pro- visions, or as many of them as are deemed necessary, may be inserted. The saving of expense which may be. ef- fected in the first instance by the adoption of the-Abridged forms is obvious. The saving of expense should Uti<r;i- tion arise, it would be difficult to estimate. And for this 'runiUlu cost immeasurably greater security is obtained. The abbreviated forms leave less room for errors in copy- ing or engrossing and as their comprehensiveness and power is hxed by statute, all risk of omissions or inade- quate expressions, the consequence of want of judgment in the conveyancer, is obviated. These Acts come into- operaiion on the 1st of October next. On and after la eveiy person who wishes to purchase or dispose ot real property to the value of £ <200 or £ 300, or let or hire a house, garden, and out-houses, by lease, eao. insist. upon his solicitor using the abbreviated forms. The greater economy-and equal if not greater secunty-with which such transactions can be accomplished, will increase their number and frequency. Tie solicitor, naturally and pardonably jealous of innov' ;S that threaten to dimi- nisn the prohts of a profession that requires a costly edil- cation, will find the increased amount of business to a) considerable extent compensate for the diminished gains on individual negociations. And, further to secure him. against loss, the Acts provide that, in taxing his accounts tor any deed prepared under them, the taxing-oiffcer shall estimate the fair charge for the transaction, not. as at present, by the length of the deed, but by the skill and abour employed and the responsibility incurred in fram- ing les0 Acts witi confer an important boon on the owners ot sma 1 properties m.l e i;-«i „ anil makers of n:tle savmcrs— "i* u'ass of society; and their success wil'i of 'e extens'011 °f the principle to simple c.ts'^S f, 0' raQre complicated methods ot" trans- T| { CX 1 oren-cctingsecuritvon real n«op ertv» us is no mere conjecturt»$the principle has alro-'iy re- ceived the sanction of high legal authorities. Tbe Lord Chancellor gave tbe bills a fair and candid auppoit lougbout; and the principle has been adopted in the biil ielating to leases in Ireland, of which notice was given by the Earl of Devon. The simplification of iv^ai insti uments will enabte all parties to comprelieiid more- thoroughly the nature of the rights they acquiroand ¡he obligations they incur, and, by obviating doubts 1S to tLe. intentions of contracting parties, diminish the frequency of litigations, and accelerate their termiaatWu Wten uu^- avoidable.—Spectator >