'rbe ffletropolts.

The failures in the corn-trade received a startling addition on Saturday, in the stoppage of the house of W. R. Robinson and Company. The liabili- ties having been estimated at sums varying from loo,oaoi. to 150,0001. But the excitement caused by the failure is ascribed mainly to the fact that the senior partner is Governor of the Bank of England. On this circumstance the Times observes- " The failure of a Governor of the Bank of England is unfortunately not an event so novel as to create the surprise which should properly be consequent upon it. Within the last eighteen years, if we recollect rightly, no less than six parties who have either been actual or past occupants of that position have fallen, not merely into insolvency, but in the majority of instances have exhibited in the subsequent winding up of their affairs a long-continued course of mismanagement, (to use no harsher term,) such as is rarely met with in the ordinary coarse of mercantile disasters. This frequency of discredit in one particular class of persons can scarcely be the result of accident; and the inquiry will now naturally arise as to the particular causes in which it may have its origin." LTbe writer pro- ceeds to call for the adoption of an entirely new system of appointment.] " One means of remedy would obviously consist in rendering the office permanent, and in conferring it won some party wholly unconnected with personal business, and

who might be fitted for the post by private station and recognized financial abilities." [Another remedy, he says, though probably less effectual, would be to abolish the existing system of self-election by means of " house-lists," and to leave all vacancies to be filled up by the body of proprietors.] Mr. James Morris is announced to be the gentleman recommended by the Directors of the Bank of England to succeed Mr. William,R. Robinson in the vacant Governorship.

A number of gentlemen interested in the preservation of Shakspere's house at Stratford-upon-Avon met at the Thatched House Tavern. on Thursday, to take measures for forming a Metropolitan Committee to pro- mote the subscription set on foot by the Royal Shakeperian Club of Strat- ford. Among those present were, Mr. Charles Knight, Mr. Charles Kemble, Mr. Rodd, and Professor Torn Taylor. The ()hair was taken by Mr. Payne Collier. Several resolutions were adopted for furthering the objects of the meeting; and Mr. Peter Cunningham read a list of the subscriptions already received. The contributions obtained by the Stratford Club alone amounted to 1,1931.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Saturday, William Sheen, the man who was tried nearly twenty years ago for cutting off his child's head, but escaped by a legal informality in the indictment, was charged with cutting and wounding Mary Anne Sullivan, a woman with whom he lived. He was found guilty of an aggravated assault; and was sentenced to be kept to hard labour for twelve months. It is said that since the convict's escape on the charge of murder, he has repeatedly been in custody for acts of violence.

On Monday, Henry Joseph Killerby, a compositor, in his eighteenth year, was indicted for sending a letter threatening to murder Elizabeth Spriggs. The par- ticulars of the case were mentioned in last week's paper. The only defence was, that the prisoner's mind had been perverted by reading trashy romances, so that he aspired to be considered a hero, or a very extraordinary person, of the stamp of those about whom he read, without any real intention to injure the people he threat- ened. He was found guilty. The prisoner's previous conviction was then proved. The Recorder remarked, that this was a very proper occasion to test the efficacy of the new law for repressing the mischievous propensities of such as the prisoner: he sentenced him to be kept to hard labour for twelve months, and to be once publicly whipped; so, said the Judge to the culprit, he would find all his fancied

ending in a whipping at the cart's tail.

John King was tried for delivering to Miss Elba Lynn a letter demanding Money, with menaces. Miss Lynn, in entering the reading-room of' the British Museum, on the 11th instant, was presented with a letter by King, an assistant in the department; the letter threatened, that unless 51. were left with King for " a poor family," the writer would divulge certain scandalous statements against the young lady, at the nature of which he hinted. Miss Lynn at once placed the letter in the hands of the authorities at the Museum. For the defence, Mr. Bak lantine admitted that the accusations in the letter were utterly false; but con tended, that the authorship of the letter had not been proved against him, and that the insinuations were not bad enough to constitute the degree of intimidation contemplated by the highly penal statute under which King was indicted. The Jury immediately convicted the prisoner. The Recorder commented on the base and unmanly nature of the offence; and highly complimented the courage shown by the young lady in repelling the charge: the same virtuous mind which would have made her revolt from the conduct falsely imputed to her, supplied her with the courage of innocence; and he had no doubt that many women would be pro- tected from similar injuries by the example which the case afforded. He sen- tenced King to be transported for seven years.

On Tuesday, William Humphreys and John Pheasant were indicted for a mis- demeanour, in having unlawfully preferred bills of indictment against a number of persons for the purpose of extorting money. It appeared from the evidence, that the accused had obtained true bills, clearly by perjury, against certain people for keeping brothels, inclading a real offender in each indictment with a number of innocent persons; when the bills had been obtained, it was attempted to frighten the respectable parties into paying money in order that the prosecution should. be abandoned. The men were found guilty. Humphreys was sentenced to be im- prisoned for eighteen months, to pay a fine of 501,, and to enter into his own re- cognizance to keep the peace for five years; Pheasant to be imprisoned for a year, and to be bound in his own recognizance for three years.

At Worship Street Police-office, on Saturday, Williams Rawlins was charged with having caused a most distressing alarm at the Britannia Theatre, in Heaton Old Town. On the preceding evening, the man with two others had been making a disturbance on the gallery-stairs; Rawlins went into the gallery, and shouted, "Fire, fire!" At this time there were some sixteen hundred people in the building, and all were seized with terror: a shocking struggle to escape from the theatre ensued, and many persons were much hurt in the confusion. Rawlins denied the charge; and he was remanded for more evidence.

John May Harris, a boy only eight years old, has lost his life, at Poplar, from having been compelled to minister to the brutal amusement of a mob. A num- ber of boys had been bathing in the river Lea; Newsom, a labourer, took up the jacket of George Auty, one of the boys, and said he should not have it unless be fought another boy; Anty chose Harris for an opponent; and as the latter did not wish to fight, Auty was promptedto strike him. The little fellows fought for half an hour, and then Harris gave in. A mob of some forty or fifty, not yet satisfied, gave Harris beer, and made him fight again. When he desisted, he was much exhausted. More beer was administered, and he was made to race with Auty round a field. The poor boy, carried home almost senseless, died next morning. At the inquest, Dr. Bain attributed death to congestion of the brain, caused by excitement and the beer forced on the boy. By Saturday, fear of the men en- gaged in the shameful pastime had been identified and apprehended.

Very early on Monday morning, a fire broke out in Mr. Walker's organ-factory, in Francis Street, Tottenham Court Road ; and the whole premises were destroyed, while the surrounding houses and factories were much damaged. The property consumed on Mr. Walker's factory—including fifty organs in various stages of construction—is estimated as high as 20,0001.; which the insurances will not nearly cover.

A Awful accident occurred yesterday morning about half-past nine o'clock, close to the steam-boat pier by the Fox-under-the-Hill, 'Hill, at the bottom of a passage run- ning from the Strand. The pier is used by "the halfpenny boats." The Cricket had taken on board from seventy to a hundred passengers, and was just moving from the pier, though other passengers were stall arriving; suddenly was heard a loud report, followed by the cracking and splitting of iron and timber, and the shrieks of human beings. The steamer, and a wide space around her, were in sternly enveloped in an enormous cloud of steam; and when it was driven aside, the vessel was seen to be shattered, numbers of persona floating in the water around. It being nearly low-water, the vessel did not sink far: after the first shock, many of the passengers were enabled to wade through the mud to the shore; others were rescued by the pier-man, by boats which quickly put off from the shore, and by the persons whom the accident had attracted to the spot. Many passengers jumped over the side in alarm; but those who happened to be in the bows of the vessel escaped with little injury. Very exaggerated rumours were emulated as to the loss of life. The actual deaths, however, at present ascer-

tained, amount to four, with twelve oases of very serious injury. The sufferers; were taken to the Charing Cress Hospital, where they reciaved prompt assistance. The explosion produced so violent a concussion as perceptibly to shake the houses in the neighbourhood: in some cases it was taken for an earthquake. The neighbourhood continued to be crowded by the curious up to a late hour last night; Waterloo and Hungerford Bridges, the piers and barges, and the ave- nues leading to the scene of the disaster, were thronged. Indeed it became neces- sary during the day to employ a special detachment of Police to prevent dangerous obstruction.

On the return of low-water it was ascertained that no bodies remained in or near the vessel; but it is feared that some have been carried down the river with the tide.

The Cricket is one of the three boats started by a company to run from the Strand to London Bridge at a fare of a halfpenny per head. These steamers, it is understood, were built expressly for their purpose; having both ends alike, with a tiller at each stem, so as to avoid the necessity of turning on leaving the piers. The engines were constructed on the high-pressure principle, with oscillat ing cylinders. The probability of some catastrophe to the engines of these very boats has been stated: in a little work on the steam-engine, published nearly a year ago, by Mr. Edward Portwiue, the following paragraph occurs- " Three vessels on the Thames, called the Ant, Bee, auderieket, are boats which pro- fess to be low-pressure condensing engines. The public are not aware that they are work- lug at 36 pounds on the square inch. The engines are by Joyce, two of 15-horse power; the fuel consumed is only about 2 cwt. 1 qr. ter hour. These are the halfpenny bostS plying from Hungerford to London Bridge, and working high-pressure : they may. when out of order, blow up their decks, and myriads of passengers they are burdened with."

During the day, Japhet Edwards, a stoker, who described himself as having been recently employed on board the Cricket, attended at Bow Street Police-office to volunteer some information as to the probable cause of the accident. He stated, that complaints having been made of the slow pace of the vessel, the engineer attached a cord to the extreme points of the levers regulating the safety-valves, and, pressing them downwards to prevent the escape of steam from the boiler, fastened the other end of the cord to a nail in the roof underneath, thereby maim. tubing a permanent pressure. As the boiler was vesy old, and this continual strain appeared likely to cause an explosion, Edwards made a complaint to the cap- tain, and represented the danger of such a system, especially as there was evidence of the stays of the boiler being already weakened sad defective: but his cautions were wholly disregarded; and he was eventually dismissed in consequence of the complaints so repeatedly made by him on this subject. The Magistrate said that he had no authority to interfere.