Ste Vrobiritts.

The election for Cheltenham is fixed for this day. Mr. Craven Berkeley has "boldly declared his intention" to get some trustworthy person to occupy the seat for the remainder of this session, under pledge to retire in his behalf at its end. Mr. Grenville Lennox Berkeley has come forward, on this understanding, as a Radical and Free-trader.

Leicester election was to take place yesterday. Mr. Harris and Mr Ellis were supported by the ousted candidates, Sir Joshua Walmsley and Mr. Gardner. Mr. Henry Paget, of Birstall, has come forward as a Whig, and is supported by the Conservatives.

Derby election takes place today. The candidates are, Mr. Bass, the great ale-brewer, and Mr. Heyworth, as Liberals, and Mr. Froshfield, the eminent London solicitor, and Mr. Lord, as Conservatives. A close con- test is expected.

The fate of the Ocean Monarch continues to attract attention, and more parti- culars have been added to last week's reports. We collect some gleanings.

"The Ocean Monarch went down at her anchors at half-past one o'clock on Friday morning. The weather was fine and calm. The captain of the steam-tug Liver, who was within thirty yards of the ship when she sank, says that, with the exception of the solid timbers about the stem, on which was the figure-head in an almost perfect state, the fire bad consumed the whole of her upper works to within a few inches of the water's edge. Indeed, so even was the work of destruc- tion round the sides of the ship, that it appeared to have been the work of car- penters. The water first made its way into the after-part of the ship. As she gradually settled herself into the bosom of the sea, large volumes of flames rushed forward with a hissing and crackling sound, till at length the water completely buried her; and the remains of this once noble vessel disappeared in about four- teen fathoms, causing a heavy swell for the moment." The precise number of lives lost, and the cause of the accident, are still uncer- tain. The Times gives the following table, framed from authentic sources, as probably exaet—steerage passengers, 322; first and second cabin, 32; captain and crew, 42; total, 896. Saved, per Affonso, Brazilian steam-frigate, 156; Queen of the Ocean yacht, 32; Prince of Wales, 17; smack, 13; total saved, 218; missing, 178; grand total, 396.

A committee has been formed at Liverpool, headed by the Mayor, to raise a re- lief fund. Various performances are announced to take place in all of this pur- pose; and the sum of 8001. has been already collected, exclusive of clothes, pro- visions, &c. The members of the Northern bar have also come forward freely: in a very short space of time, though many of the members had departed, they subscribed 1401.

The Times mentions two instances of noble generosity. "We have heard that the Prince de Joinville, when leaving a bop sum of money with Admiral Gran- fell, said,' Take this, Admiral, for-those prior people( it is that which we had in- tended to expend in a tour of pleasure, which after this it is impossible to enjoy.' "Yesterday (Monday) 1001. was received from the Chevalier Lisboa, the Bra- zilian Minister, for the drew of the Brazilian frigate Affonso. This was commu- nicated to them; when, to their honour be it spoken, they one and all refused to receive the money,'expressing a desire that it should be handed over for the bene- fit of the sufferers."

Another contribution has since been sent by the Prince de Joinville, with the

following letter— "Claremont, Aug. 28.

"Admiral—Excuse me for so frequently troubling you, but I seek by every means to be useful to the unfortunate people you have rescued. I have made from memory a little drawing representing the fearful accident of which we were witnesses. Presum- ingthat it gives a tolerable idea of that horrible scene, I thought it might be agreeable to Madame Grenfell to make a lottery of it for the benefit of the sufferers. 'Tis but a trifle, but you will excuse It in favour of the Intention. Again a thousand remem- brances. F. D'ORLELN8."

"This sketch," says the correspondent of the Times," an exceedingly graphic one, was exhibited in the Exchange Rooms today; and in the course of two hours 400 tickets at 5s. a piece were disposed of. This lottery, an unlimited one, will be closed on Saturday next."

The Queen has been pleased to direct that the sum of 501. should be paid to Frederick Jerome, from the Royal Bounty Fund, for his gallant conduct in saving the lives of so many of the passengers of the Ocean Monarch.

Some hasty condemnation of the conduct of the steamers Cambria and Orion baying appeared in print, Mr. Murdoch, of the lost vessel, published a letter in de- fence. "I believe these imputations were made under a misapprehension of the facts. I know that both vessels had passed me several miles before the fire was observed by them; and, against wind and tide, it would have taken an hour and a half for them to reach me; and being greatly crowded on their decks, as I un- derstood they were, by passengers, and seeing a large steamer and two other ves• sels close at hand, without knowing the emergency of the case from the great number of emigrants on board, they might fairly suppose that I should have re- ceived ample assistance before they could have rendered any service to us. I do not, therefore, attach blame to them."

Captain Hunter, of the Cambria, has also published a letter. On Thursday, Thomas Bethel and John Bennison, two Chester pilots, were brought before Mr. Rushton on a charge of robbing several unfortunate passengers and sailors of the Ocean Monarch, whom they took into their boat, the Pilot Queen. The pilot crew behaved in a most revolting manner. A Mr. Jones was robbed of his clothes, and compelled to give a valued watch that he kept round his neck, for a blanket, as his only covering during many hours' exposure. Mr. Jones and his companions, after being stripped of everything about them, were transferred to a fishing-smack which put them on shore. One passenger, how- ever, was left asleep in a berth of the pilot-boat—a respectable young man, who had mach money about him; and ibis surmised that he has been thrown over- board by the crew. The prisoners were remanded.

At the instance of the Crown, a bill of indictment has been preferred against Mr. Richard Fogg, manager of a factory at Preston, for the manslaughter of seven persons who were recently destroyed by a boiler explosion; and the Grand Jury nave found the bill a true one. The trial will take place at the March Assizes.

An inquest was held at Lancaster, on Monday, on the body of Mrs. Hannah Airey, who was killed by the collision at the Bay Horse station on the Preston and Lancaster Railway. Witnesses described the disaster as we related it last week. James Atherton, the driver of the train which was standing at the station, stated that when he first heard the whistle of the express-train, he thought the driver had sounded it merely in reference to the signal at Bay Horse bridge: when he saw the train approaching through the bndge, he apprehended danger; but a guard remarked, 'They [meaning the express] must stop till we are ready." As the express-train still approached, the guard told him to go on: he put the steam full on; but he had only made three strokes—a distance of about six yards— when the collision occurred. He did not think he would have had time to get out of the way had the guard given the order to go on when he first told him the express was approaching. It appeared from the evidence, that sometimes pieces of coal are used in the engines to get up more steam; the fact being elicited, ap- parently, to show that the smoke thus produced might have prevented the people m the express from seeing the Bay Horse signal distinctly. Roberts, Atherton's fireman, stated, that on the 11th August he had said in a joking manner to Mor- ris, the driver of the express-train, that he always was after them; and Morris replied, he was afraid to follow Roberts's train, more particularly on getting near the Bay Horse station: he was certain an accident would souse day happen at that place. Both Atherton and Roberts seemed to know very little about the time that trains should arrive at stations. Dickinson, a guard, corroborated the driver's statement of what he had said about the express-train's stopping for them; he was getting out luggage when he first heard the whistle. He thought the signal at the bridge a good one. A timekeeper, who had assisted in removing the remains of the carriages, admitted that the wood was decayed in part: yet "he should say it was in good condition." Richard Morris, the driver of the ex- press-train, said be saw the Preston train leave a little before four o'clock; be left at twenty-six minutes past; his time between Preston and Lancaster is thirty-four minutes. He did not attempt to make up for lost time: that is pro- hibited with express-trains. No flag was hoisted at Scorton station, or he would have been prepared to stop at Bay Horse station. The latter station was full of smoke and steam [this had been denied by other witnesses]; it was raining very hard, and he had to look under his steam to see the signal. "It is not a signal; it is neither use nor ornament, for it is put in a place where it cannot be seen. If we could see it a proper distance, I should call it a signal; but we cannot. Ibis nothing like the signals in use on other lines." His speed was greatly reduced when the collision took place; and if the other train had been moved thirty or forty yards, he should have been able to pull up. "I kept my place on the en- gine at the time of the collision, and scarcely felt the shock. It was like running into a lot of rotten sticks." Had the last carriage of the Preston train been a new one, he thought it would not have been broken. "It is an utter impossibility to work a line with one signal. On other lines they have a down and an up signal; but on the Lancaster and Preston they make one do for both up and down trains." He had complained of the signals on this line. The inquest was adjourned.

A calamitous accident has happened at Over Derwen, through the bursting of a "water lodge." The reservoir is about half a mile from the town, and at a considerable elevation above it; it is 150 feet across when full, 330 long, and 24 deep. It is supplied by a small stream at one end, and at the other the super- fluous water runs through an aperture in a stream to the town. The pool lies in a valley, being kept in at the end towards the town by a high em- bankment. Very early on the morning of Monday sennight, a violent thun- der-storm broke over the neighbourhood; a vast quantity of water poured into the lo3ge; the immense weight forced down the embankment; "and the water fell with tremendous force down a steep of from twenty to full forty feet, carrying away a mass of earth, stone, and sand, about sixty feet across, eighty feet long, and from forty feet deep. The torrent then rushed along the bed of the stream, which generally carried off the surplus water from the by- wash, and rose to a height of at least ten feet, carrying away hedges, trees, large stones, side-banks, and all such temporary impediments, in its course, and cover- ing places before high above the stream and green with grass to the depth of seve- ral feet with the gravel, stones, &c., usually found in the bed of a river." Culverts were torn up, walls washed away, and the flood rushed into the houses in the town. Some persons escaped narrowly, but no one was drowned till the water got to Bury Street. In ths street there were inhabited cellars, in which persons were ,sleeping at time; and twelve lost their lives. In one house, three men, two

• women, and two children perished: the only lodger saved was a young man who had got on a table and kept his face against the roof till he was dragged through a window. In another cellar, a woman and two children were drowned. Two children and an old woman perished in other places. While the people, roused from their beds in the night by this calamity, were striving to save the sufferers, the horror of the scene was increased by the fury of the storm, and the shrieks of the dying mingled with the roll of the thunder.

A fatal explosion of fire-damp occurred on Monday morning, in Messrs. Wood and Co.'s colliery, /Lindley Green, near Leigh. The men went to work with un- protected candles, though safety-lamps had been provided for their use. In half an hour there was a violent explosion. Two men and two boys were found dead; another boy died soon after—both his thighs had been broken, and a pick-handle had been blown into his body; five other miners were seriously hurt.

Dr. MDcatall, the Chartist leader, was tried at Liverpool on Monday, for sedi- tious speaking, presence at an illegal meeting, and riot. He was defended by Mr. Sergeant Wilkins and Mr. Pollock; was found guilty, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

Suspicions have arisen that May caused the death of other men besides the one for whose murder she was hanged. The body of Thomas Ham, a native of Wix, who died seventeen months ago, has been exhumed, a Coroner's Jury was empa- nelled, and a large quantity of arsenic was detected in the stomach by professor Taylor. May was intimate with Mrs. Ham, a dissolute woman; Ham died sud- denly, under suspicious circumstances; his wife, it is said, had previously coha- bited with one Southgate, and him she married directly after her husbands death. Ham was possessed of some property.