prevent its entrance into the tunnel so soon after the

first train had

extremity of the tunnel to know if the train had passed through. allow the system a fair trial. . The latter replied " Yes," meaning, of course, the first, or Ports.

tice of protecting the end of a train by an empty van or wag,gon)nninary examination. Of the 49 unsuccessful candidates, 39 were disqualified through their want of proficiency in analysis and were full of passengers, and then falling, crushed them and their

parsing of English; writing from dictation proved fatal to the miserable occupants into one mass of ruins, wounded, and dead. Not a single passenger in the last two compartments seems to have chances of 37 ; while insufficient knowledge of general geography survived ; while those in the next carriage who were not killed out- and arithmetic caused the failures of 31 and 4 respectively. Of the 23 who right were reserved for the worse fate of being scalded to death by passed, 11 were from the province of Leinster, 7 from Ulster, the water and steam from the engine. The darkness, the groans of the wounded, the escape of the scalding steam, and the panic terror from Durham, having been at a school near Dublin.ning.

the scene one of the most fearful that can possibly be imagined. The third visit to that city, having travelled from Gosport to olyhead passengers in the three or four carriages nearest to those destroyed were at an average rate of 39 miles an hour, and from Holyhead to to the extrication of the dead and dying from Ile wreck. exclusive use during her stay. On Friday, the Prince Consort Mr. Hawkins, the traffic manager of the line, has addressed the visited the Curragh Camp, where the Prince of Wales has been for following letter to the daily papers : some months attached for drill to the 1st battalion of Grenadier "London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway,

"Traffic Manager's-office, Brighton, Sunday, August 25. as captain of the ninth company, during an hour and a half's drill, the "Sir,-1 regret to have to inform you a very serious accident occurred in the Prince Consort returned to Dublin. Her Majesty and the Prince Clayton tunnel of this line this morning, by which twenty-three lives have been then visited the Exhibition of the Royal Dublin Society, which they lost and serious injuries inflicted 011 many of the passengers. honoured with a long examination. In accordance with her Majesty's "The accident occurred through the signal-man at the south end of the tunnel admitting a second train into it before a previous train, which was checked by enerally understood wish, all public and formal manifestations of signal, had got out of it. He ascribes this to a failure in the electric telegraph foyalty have been withheld; but on each appearance her Majesty has signals with which he was provided; but, of course, I need hardly say the whole been received with the most enthusiastic acclamations of the attend- circumstances will have the most rigid investigation, and that the company will ant crowds.

give every possible information in their power as to the causes. — The circulation of notes in the United Kingdom during last "The line is cleared and the ordinary traffic resumed. Nutt •— The act of last session for the establishment of Post-office

Savings Banks will come into operation on the 16th September, after

MONDAY, AUGUST 26TH. which date 300 money-order offices will be authorized to receive de- A RAILWA.Y accident happened yesterday on the London and posits of not. less than is. and not more than 30/. They will be open Brighton line which seems to exceed, both in the absolute destruc-

tion daily from 10 to 4, and in some cases from 9 to 6, with the exception

of human life and the peculiar horror of the circumstances, of Saturday, when they will not close until 8. The amount to be de- anything of the kind which has yet occurred in England. The usual posited by one person is limited to 301. in the course of the year, or Sunday excursion train from Portsmouth to London passed through 150/. in all. Interest will be allowed at the rate of id. per month Brighton at its appointed time, 8.5, and ought to have been fol- for every complete pound, or 2i- per cent., odd shillings not bearing lowed, after an interval of ten minutes, that is at 8.15, by the usual interest, and nothing less than is. will be received at all. On the Brighton excursion train for London. Both the above trains ran 31st of December in each year, the interest accumulated on each de.. throughto London without stopping. Fifteen minutes later, at half- posit during the year will be added to the principal and bear interest isast eight, the Parliamentary train, which stops at every station, also. Investments with a view to obtaining unlimited compound kaves Brighton. Both the first-mentioned trains appear to have interest are checked by the provision that when a deposit reaches. been very late, the 8.15 excursion train not leaving Brighton till 200/. through addition of interest no further interest shall be allowed. 8.25. On the appearance or the second of these trains (the 8.15 The whole of the money-order offices in the kingdom, which number at from Brighton) almost on the heels of the first, the signal-man at the present about 2500, will, by degrees, be opened as savings banks under mouth of the Clayton tunnel, which is about five miles from the above regulations. The list of the 300 offices which are to be Brighton, exhibited, as he thought, the danger signal, in order to opened immediately as savings

banks has been published, but it is

passed in on the same line of rails. However, in spite of the ot easy to see on what principle the selection has been made. The

e whole county of Norfolk, with its 713 parishes and its half-million of imaginary signal, the excursion train came up at full speed, and the inhabitants, is only to have one Post-office Savings Bank, while it signal-man discovered that the danger signal had not worked. He would seem that Cornwall and Devon were to be compensated for the accordingly waved a red flag as the train entered the tunnel, and the loss of their rotten boroughs in 1832 by an inundation of savings engine-driver, rightly understanding it to mean that the tunnel was banks—the latter county alone taking 21 of the 300. The only one not clear, immediately shut the steam off, and, as soon as the impetus of the principal London offices which is to have banking privileges. arising from the speed at which the train was moving had ceased, extended to it is that in the City-road, while the South Western reversed his engine. Very soon the Parliamentary train came in suburbs are to be favoured with banks at Twickenham, Mortlake, sight, and the signal-man telegraphed to the signal-man at the London Wimbledon, and Hampton. The present selection will certainly not

mouth train, whereupon the signal-man, thinking only of the second The system of Middle-Class Examinations has been introduced I train, exhibited the safety signal to the Parliamentary train, which into reland by the authorities of Queen's University, and local accordingly dashed into the tunnel at full speed. Of course it had examinations were held throughout the island for the first time on not gone far before it came into full collision with the Brighton train, June 11th : 87 candidates were entered, but only 72 underwent which the driver was slowly backing towards Brighton, with a view examination, of whom 23 only, or less than one third, passed. Of to ascertaining the meaning of the red flag which had stopped him. The the 45 in the senior division, 18, or two in five, passed ; the propor- engine of the Parliamentary train rose completely over the two last tion of juniors being only 5 out of 27. Nearly all the candidates carriages of the excursion train, which (contrary to the usual prac-

passed satisfactorily in these special subjects, but failed in the pre-. i

tice of protecting the end of a train by an empty van or wag,gon)nninary examination. Of the 49 unsuccessful candidates, 39 were disqualified through their want of proficiency in analysis and were full of passengers, and then falling, crushed them and their

parsing of English; writing from dictation proved fatal to the miserable occupants into one mass of ruins, wounded, and dead. Not a single passenger in the last two compartments seems to have chances of 37 ; while insufficient knowledge of general geography survived ; while those in the next carriage who were not killed out- and arithmetic caused the failures of 31 and 4 respectively. Of the 23 who right were reserved for the worse fate of being scalded to death by passed, 11 were from the province of Leinster, 7 from Ulster, 1 coming 3 from Connaught, and 1 from Munster, the remai that another train would soon dash into the ruins, combined to make — Her Majesty arrived in Dublin on Thursday evening on her H the scene one of the most fearful that can possibly be imagined. The third visit to that city, having travelled from Gosport to olyhead passengers in the three or four carriages nearest to those destroyed were at an average rate of 39 miles an hour, and from Holyhead to

hour. The all more or less severely injured, while the shock of the collision was Kingston at an average of more than 17 knots an felt to the furthest end of thc train, which consisted of nearly thirty weather was drizzly and damp, to an extent which formed a perfect carriages. A. number of medical men from Brighton were in attend_ contrast to what is usually known as "Queen's weather." Her awe as soon after as practicable, and, up to this morning, the dead Majesty was received at the pier at Kingstown by the Lord-Lieu- had been ascertained to number twenty-three, and the more or less tenant, Lord Gough, and Sir Robert Peel, attended by a brilliant injured upwards of one hundred. The latter were taken on to the staff, and immediately entered the state carriage of the royal train_ ' Hassock's-gate station in the front half of the train, which had On the arrival of the train at the Westland-row station, her Majesty escaped material injury. The railway officials from Brighton were and the royal party proceeded in open carriages through the rain to also on the spot, without loss of time, directing their utmost efforts the Vice-Regal Lodge, which has been given up for her Majesty's

to the extrication of the dead and dying from Ile wreck. exclusive use during her stay. On Friday, the Prince Consort Mr. Hawkins, the traffic manager of the line, has addressed the visited the Curragh Camp, where the Prince of Wales has been for following letter to the daily papers : some months attached for drill to the 1st battalion of Grenadier "London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, Guards. After watching his Royal Highness go through his duties

"Traffic Manager's-office, Brighton, Sunday, August 25. as captain of the ninth company, during an hour and a half's drill, the "Sir,-1 regret to have to inform you a very serious accident occurred in the Prince Consort returned to Dublin. Her Majesty and the Prince Clayton tunnel of this line this morning, by which twenty-three lives have been then visited the Exhibition of the Royal Dublin Society, which they admitting a second train into it before a previous train, which was checked by enerally understood wish, all public and formal manifestations of signal, had got out of it. He ascribes this to a failure in the electric telegraph foyalty have been withheld; but on each appearance her Majesty has signals with which he was provided; but, of course, I need hardly say the whole been received with the most enthusiastic acclamations of the attend- circumstances will have the most rigid investigation, and that the company will ant crowds.

"Yours obedie month was as follows ; the returns of the Bank of England, and ntly,

,

• June 29, 1861. July 27, 1861. Increase. Decrease.

X X X X Bank of England 19 399,794 20,202,800 803,006 — Private banks 3,008,977 3,030,202 21,225 — Joint-stock bank e 2,707,446 2,753,068 15,622 —

Total in England . . . .

25,146,217 25,986,070 839,853 — _ kotland 4,284,782 4,077,331 — 207,451 Ireland 5,819,566 5,617,044 — 202,522

United Kingdom . . . .

35,250,565 35,680,445 429,880 — The English private banks are below their fixed issue. . £1,317,706 The English joint-stock banks are below their fixed issue . 549,289 Total below fixed issue in England . . . . £1.866,995

The Scotch banks are above thew -fixed issue. . . . 1,328,060

The Irish banks are below their fixed issue. . . . 737,450

— The letter on cotton cultivation in India, addressed by Mr. Haywood, Secretary to the Cotton Supply Association, to Messrs. Mosley and Hurst, of Manchester, was forwarded by them to the Government of India, and Lord Canning has replied at some length to the suggestions contained in it. His Excellency observes, "that. no parallel can be drawn between the case of America and that of India. The one is a new country, possession-t' a breadth of fertile virgin land suitable to cotton, so vast as to be practically without limit, and for the most part unencumbered with any rights of owner- ship dating further back than the recent removal of the primeval forest. The other is an old country, where the extent of good avail- able land unappropriated by ancient occupants is very small, and where almost all the good and accessible land has been for ages in the hands of private proprietors, to whom it has descended fettered by an extraordinary variety of private rights and intricate tenures, which have grown out of the religious and social usages of centu- ries, and any general interference with which on the part of the Go- vernment would be not only most prejudicial to the security of pri- vate property, but harsh and hateful to our native fellow-subjects, and dangerous to contentment aud peace." With respect to the cultivation of cotton, his Excellency reminds the Association that. the natives of India have, according to the general testimony of the best qualified observers, American as well as English, little or nothing to learn in the details of the cultivation of cotton, and that it is only in the gathering, cleaning, and transport of cotton that much improve- ment can be expected, and in all these processes, the private enter- prise of the capitalist who lends money to, or buys the produce from, the cultivator, must be looked to for a better result. The only point in which Government can directly aid the object of the Association is by facilitating the transport of cotton, by the improvement of roads and means of internal communication, and, as far as the financial re- sources of the Government will admit, Lord Canning assures Mr. Hayward it shall not be neglected. His Excellency then repeats that the amount of unappropriated accessible land for the cultiva- tion of cotton at the immediate disposal of Government is so small as to:be of little practical importance in considering how the cotton pro- duce of India may be largely and rapidly increased. There are, however, vast tracts already appropriated suitable for the growth of cotton, and directly that the cultivators find that the cultivation of cotton pays better than that of grain or other produce, a largely in- creased growth will be the result.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27TEr.

— The review of the troops at the Curragh by her Majesty took place on Saturday amid almost incessant and heavy rain, and was unattended by any circumstances which call for especial remark.

The troops reviewed amounted to about 10,000 men of all arms, and were under the command of Sir George Brown. The Prince of

Wales went through the evolutions of the day as captain of his company in the Grenadier Guards. In the evening several of the chief officers at the Curragh had the honour of dining with her Majesty at the Vice-Regal Lodge. — Seventy men, women, and children left Easton-square terminus on Saturday morning for Liverpool, en mule for Utah, to join the Mormon community, a vessel having been chartered to convey 500 converts to the United States. They appeared to be all of the work- ing classes, and consisted of nearly equal proportions of the sexes. A conference has been recently held at Great Salt Lake City, and it appears from a report read on that occasion that the Mormon hierarchy is constituted as follows : First Presidency, 3; Apostles, 7 ; Seventies, 2086; High Priests, 715; Elders, 994; Priests, 514; Teachers, 475; Deacons, 227. Their missionary establishment consists of 331 missionaries stationed on various parts of the earth, and 156 more men were elected at the recent conference.

— On Sunday, a telegraphic message was forwarded direct from the offices of the Electric Telegraph Company in Telegraph-street to Taganrog in the Sea of Azoff, a distance of 2500 miles, being the greatest length of direct telegraphic communication ever yet achieved. ()wing to the difference of meridian between the two places, the signals, which were instantaneous, arrived at Taganrog about two hours and a quarter later than it left London. — An extraordinary case of obtaining money by fraudulent pretences, is now under investigation at the Marlborough-street police-court. Vincent Collucci, an Italian artist, residing at Brompton, was charged on Wednesday with having obtained 1900/. from Miss Frederica Johnstone, under the following strange circumstances. Miss John- stone, who is a lady of good position in society, met the prisoner about three years ago while staying with a nobleman, a near relative of hers. The prisoner offered to take her portrait, to which she assented. He then professed great affection for her, and she be- lieving him to be a man of honour, entered into correspondence with him, and actually advanced him, by loans and gifts at various times, the sum of 2000/. On the 10th of June last, the prisoner, who had previously been very urgent for still more money, addressed a letter to Miss Johnstone in which he categorically demanded that she should either many him, or settle a fixed income upon him, and in case of her refusal to do either, he threatened to leave England. She refused to decide immediately, whereupon he became perfectly furious, and during several subsequent interviews made use of most violent language towards her. Eventually, Miss Johnstone agreed to give him 2000/. more on his giving up all her letters, 1001. of which she paid him at the Baker-street Bazaar on the 30th of July, and arranged to meet him at the Pantheon on the fol- lowing Saturday, August 3rd, for the completion of the contract. They met there on the appointed day, and she handed over to him nineteen hundred-pound bank-notes, and received in exchange a parcel containing, as she supposed, and he asserted, all her letters. While on her return home in a cab, Miss Johnstone opened the parcel, and found it to consist simply of old newspapers, with one of her letters placed close underneath the cover, which was pur- posely torn, so as to show the handwriting of the direction. All the rest of the letters the prisoner retained, relying, no doubt, on Miss Johnstone's reluctance to come before the public, and e'xpecting to extort still more money before giving them up. She then confided the whole transaction to her guardian, Mr. Campbell Johnstone, who immediately wrote to Collueet, demanding delivery of all Miss John- stone's letters, and also a stamped receipt for the 19001., under a threat of legal proceedings, both of which demandsPhe refused, in the subjoined letter, to comply with, evidently not contemplating for a moment that the threat would be carried out.

I' August 16. " My Dearest,-1 have just received a letter which makes me laugh, and I think you will also laugh when you reedit.

" By G—, I think you have chosen a bad path, and I warn you, if you take another step not friendly, I will give your letters into the hands of a magistrate in order to demand my rights. "Miss J., with your hands you would rain me, and with your own hands yon shall save me from the precipice into whieh you have thrown me. You have de- stroyed my future, and you shall give it back to me. I swear it to you by my mother.

"Time idea makes me laugh much at steps against me. Do you mean to say you will make my conduct public? "But this is what I wish in order to justify myself before the society in which I live. Remember, you have not even a reason in your favour. The star in the ceiling of my studio, the star in your hair, the picture, the star in the little bottle received from you as a token of love, and your hair, would be sufficient proofs, without the letters, to condemn you. Know that if any one shall dam to force me, to be violent with me, it will cost their life—at the peril of their life. The letters are mine, and no one has a right to demand them, and I will not give them up, except when you—you shall wish it —Adieu.

".Remember that you will gain more by being friendly than by waging war against me, and that I did love you, and that you, as a reward, have ruined me.

" P.S. Come and see me as speedily as possible, and, if you like it, in company with the gentleman who wrote the letter, and I shall be very happy to make Ins acquaintance. "V. C."

The above facts were stated in evidence by Miss Johnstone on Mon- day, and the prisoner was remanded till Tuesday next.

— Mr. Black, M.P., lately wrote to the Chancellor of the Exche- quer, inquiring if he considered it would be justifiable in publishers who hold quantities of printed stock in sheet to export it, with the view of getting the drawback on the paper, and rennporting it after the duty was repealed, and he has just received the following answer : "Liverpool, August 17, 1861.—My dear Sir,—Being desirous to send an answer as clear and full as possible to your letter of the 5th August, I referred the subject of it to the Board of Inland Revenue, and I have this day received a reply. You are aware that neither the board nor I have any authority to interpret the law, but, while dis- claiming such authority, it is often the duty of a Minister of Finance or of a revenue department to give the best information in his or its power. On this occasion we are advised that books exported for the purpose of claiming the drawback of excise thereon, and with a view to reimportafion after the date when the paper duty ceases, are not exported as merchandise within the act 2nd and 3rd Viet., c. 23, and that consequently there is no title to drawback upon them. We arc further advised that any person having obtained the drawback under such circumstances might be compelled, by information in the Court of Exchequer, to refund it. I have only to add that I highly appre- ciate the motive which prompted your letter, and that you arc at fall liberty to make any use of this reply which you may think proper.— I remain, &c., W. GIADSTONE.—A. Black, Esq., M.P."

— Mr. Berkeley, of ballot notoriety, writes to the Daily Telegrapht on the support given to the retrogressionist party in this country by the Times, especially in making political capital out of the civil war in America. After some severe strictures on what he terms the "gyrations" of the Times, which would, if he attempted to follow them, "affect with sea-sickness Jim Crow himself," Mr. Berkeley proceeds :

"The stock in trade of the retrogressionist party, just now, is the misfortunes of the great republic of America and the civil war raging in -thud country. This, they aver, is entirely caused by democratic institutions and the vole by ballot. We are to be warned against any partiality for democracy, and persuaded into a deep admiration of aristocracy.

the throne and a State Church, and their sons and some rich men into a Lower Chamber to support their papas and friends in the Upper Chamber, and of course had recourse to election by open voting—then, indeed, even the slave would have gloried in his comfortable manacles, and the genius of freedom would not have disdained the land. Englishmen can assuredly duly appreciate these arguments, which do so much honour to the Times and the retrogressionist party. Meanwhile, there are some benighted people of such -obtuse intellect that they consider these arguments as mere dishonest flap-doodle. The Sardinian will abide by the ballot ; Italy adopts it; Belgium stands by it ; the Swiss cantons rejoice in it. Our free and fine colonies in the Southern hemisphere have tried and proved its efficacy; and, while there aro two hundred and twenty gentlemen in the House of Commons, representing the first and largest constituencies in England, who believe with me that the elector, to dis- charge his duty to his country and to vote as enjoined, freely and indifferently,' needs protection, I for one will demand it for him while I have health, strength, and the honour of a seat in the House of Commons.—! am, Sir, yours, &c., "Aug. 24." . "F. HENRY F. BERKELEY.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28TH.

— Lord Robtrt Montagu writes to the Times to complain of the article on his letter to Mr. Rawnsley on counts-out, which appeared

in that journal on Thursday last. He commences by commenting on

the "mean," "cowardly," "un-English," and "dastardly" proceed- ing of making an attack on a victim who is precluded from reply— a mysterious and irrelevant remark in the course of a letter which is

an exceedingly conspicuous and vehement, not to say rabid, reply. He accuses the writer of the article of having, in default of being

able to refute the assertions contained in his letter, resorted to the "argument= ad invidiam" by attributing his remarks on counts- out to private pique at having himself been desertedin the middle of his speech on the Danish succession. Lord Robert, on the other hand, wrote "simply and sincerely concerning a matter which seemed to touch the constitution in a vital point." lie explains the count- out in question by the remarkable statement that while Lord Pal- merston, "loving the darkness rather than the light, screened him- self behind a count-out," Lord Derby and "Disraeli" had expressly arranged a few days beforehand that he should be defeated by this paltry manceuvre. Lord Robert, after enlarging on the constitutional importance of the system of counts-out, gives the last polish to this rare model of political wisdom in the following terms : "And, above all, let every one remember that it is a crime of the most flagi- tious character for a citizen of a free country—for the inheritor of the great institutions of this people—for an heir to the bulwarks of British liberty, to sit down quietly and acquiesce in ignorance as to whether those grand institutions are being secretly sapped and mined at their foundations. Institutions which were sown in primitive wisdom, watered by blood, and maintained against the terrors of oppression and the artful seductions of cunning cabals—are these to be now abandoned in lazy indifference and careless love of personal ease to the safe- keeping of a Cabinet which, for the sake of ease, desires to acquire power, and from a fear of having to render up an account of its stewardship seeks to defraud its clients of that which they confided to its guardianship? He who does not trouble himself to investigate these matters for himself, and is careless about assuring himself upon this point, does not merit the name of Englishman. He is infected by the spirit of faction, perhaps, but he is not ennobled by the love of his country, and so he deserves to be tracked and haunted by the avenging spirits of his forefathers, until he finds a short respite in an inglorious tomb.—! remain, Sir, your obedient humble servant,

" ROBERT MONTAGU."

— Messrs. Henry Soper and Matthew Flower, the regular auditors of the Eastern Counties Railway Company, notice certain irregulari- ties in the accounts of that company which are likely to produce serious effects to the shareholders. Their report is as follows :

"To THE PROPRIETORS OF THE EASTERN COUNTIES RAII,WAY COMPANY.

"We have examined periodically the cash and other account books of the com- pany with the vouchers produced, and find them to be correct. In examining the books of the locomotive department at Stratford, we found stores to the value of 71,940/. 19s. Id., which ought to have been in stock, according to the inven- tory of stores in hand, had been placed on the fine without being debited to either capital or revenue, and therefore apparently still remaining in the com- pany's stores. The matter has been arranged by the board, in the accounts herewith forwarded to you, by carrying 20,9791. 3s. 11d, to the debit of capital, and treating the remainder, 50,961/. 15s. 2d., as representing locomotive stock reserved for future use. In certifying to the general accuracy of the accounts, we do so subject to the result of the points raised in the annexed important com- munication from the professional accountants, Messrs. Quilter, Ball, and Co., to which we refer the proprietors."

"HENRY SOPER, Marrnaw FLOWER, auditors."

The official auditors, Messrs. Quilter, Ball, and Co., enter into the details of the errors :

"These are large amounts hanging over the company's revenue account, and if they were properly adjusted according to our views of what is right to be done, snch adjustment would absorb a very large proportion, and perhaps the whole, of the balance of revenue now assumed to be available for dividend. Important as these questions intrinsically are, from the magnitude of the amounts which they involve, we have been influenced in arriving at our decision not to sign the accounts in their present state, less by the extent than by the character of the misstatements in the official inventories. Those misstatements imply a deliberate perversion of matters of fact, and in our judgment render absolutely necessary an extent of vigilant research, which it is impossible to apply within the period limited for completing the audit of the accounts.—We remain, &c., " QUILTER, BALL, JAY, and Co."

— A letter on the Cotton supply, signed "J. N. S.," appears in the city article of the Times to-day. The writer takes a far more hopeful view of the prospects of the trade than that generally enter- tained. He considers that the demand during the next year will be small compared with that for the last two years—the production of those years having been, in fact, far in excess of the demand. India, China, Australia, and, to a certain extent, the continent of Europe, are glutted with our goods, the demand in those markets is languid, and sales are only made at ruinous prices. The demand for the next year ought not, therefore, to be calculated at the same rate which absorbed the two enormous crops of 1858-59 and 1859-60. Instead of being the calamity it is usually supposed to be, "I. N. S." is of Opinion that the loss or holding back for a year of the American cotton crop will have beneficial effects, both on the cotton manufac- ture itself, and also as acting as a stimulus on our efforts to make

ourselves independent of the American monopoly. The consequent high prices of the raw material will act as a salutary check to the undue extension of the manufacture. With regard to the fears of a "cotton famine" which have been expres sed, "J. N. S." says :

"First of all, we have at this moment a stock of 950,000 bales, of which 680,000 bales are American. Then we have 300,000 bales of East India cotton at sea on the way here, in addition to which we may calculate on receiving

200,000 bales additional from there before the 1st of January, 1862. Some well- informed persons think it will be considerably more. Of Egyptian, Brazil, and

other cottons we received last year from now to the end of the year 70,000 bales, and under the stimulus of high prices, I feel justified in assuming an import of 100,000 bales by the 1st of January, 1862. This would make our total supply up to the 31st of December next 1,550,000 bales, from which deduct export, same as last year, 200,000 bales, leaves a supply available for home use of 1,400,000 bales. What will our wants be meanwhile?

"Our total consumption last year was 2,550,000 bales under the impulse of moderate prices, an enormous supply, and better markets for goods and yarns. Although our present tables show a consumption apparently as large as last year, or nearly so, this is accounted for by the fact that many spinners are heavily stocked—some until the end of the year. At the end of June the deliveries to spinners showed a falling off of nearly 4000 bales a week, being 43,774 bales per week in 1861 against 47,500 in 1860, and I think it fair to assume the real con- sumption as 3,000 bales per week, or 150,000 bales for the year, less than it was last year. Spinners have taken thus far 1,550,000 bales, and would therefore require 830,000 bales more to make up their supposed requirements of 2,400,000 bales. Our available supply being as above, 1,400,000 bales, this would leave as with a stock of 550,000 bales on the 1st of January next. Then as to next year. Should the present stimulus in the shape of high prices continue, there is every prospect of our import of Surat cotton reaching at least 1,200,000 bales between the 1st of January and the 1st of October next, if any dependence is to be placed on the statements of those who should best know the resources of the country. The same stimulus we may calculate upon increasing our supplies from all other quarters, which during the same time last year reached 190,000 bales, by at least one-third, or say 230,000 bales, giving a total supply of 2,000,000 bales up to the 1st of October. From this deduct export demand, which being matenally reduced, we may put down at 250,000 bales, leaving us 1,750,000 bales, or suffi- cient to supply a consumption of 40,000 bales a-week, and leave a stock of 200,000 bales on the 1st of October.

"This is little enough, and unless new sources of supply are opened, or the American difficulty settled, we should be merely postponing the evil day. But a year will be gained, and time is all that is wanted to supply ourselves from other sources than the Southern States. I therefore look forward with more cheerful- ness to the future of the cotton trade, and believe that without any violent strain upon the industry or resources of Lancashire we shall be enabled to break up the monopoly which the Southern States have so long enjoyed—! am, Sir, your obedient servant,

"Liverpool, Aug. 21." J. l, S.

— The Middle Class Examinations in connexion with the Uni- versity of Oxford have now been held for the fourth time, and exhibit satisfactory evidences of progress in every respect. The number of candidates who put down their names was 968 against 890 last year, and 937 in 1859. A considerably increased proportion, too, of those who put their names down, actually appeared for examination. The proportion of candidates who satisfied the examiners has increased from 51 per cent. in 1859, and 58 per cent. in 1860, to 64 per cent. in 1861, the "plucks" having diminished, not only proportionally, but in actual numbers. The great sign of real i progress involved n these results is that the improvement is prin- cipally owing to the better grounding of the candidates in the ele- mentary subjects comprehended in the preliminary examination. In 1859 the failures attributable to want of knowledge in these sub- ects were 34 per cent., in 1860, 36 per cent., while this year their number is reduced to 25 per cent. The proportion of can- didates who offered themselves for examination on religious sitb- ects was 62 per cent, of the whole number, against 59 per cent. in 1860, but their proficiency appears to have been considerably less i than n the two previous years, 35 per cent, only having passed against 41 per cent. in 1859, and 36 per cent. in 1860. — The difference in educational power of the various local counties is striking. Oxford and London, where candidates from all parts of the kingdom offer themselves for examination, and Ipswich, which did not afford a sufficient number to form a fair comparison from, being excepted, the proportion of passes and honours at the other centres was as follows :

— Pass Power. Maximum 100. Honour Power.* Maximum 100. Total.

Leeds 94 50 144 Liverpool . . . 84 58 142 Bath 70 51 121 Exeter . . . . . 79 38 117 f Bedford . . . .

ss

30 118 ' Nottingham . . . 78 35 113 Brighton . . . 80 20 100 Southampton . . 79 16 gs

f Birmingham . .

74 20 94

4 Manchester . . .

74 20 94 Gloucester . . . 60 15 75 • In calculating the honour power, an honour of the first rank (First Divi- sion) has been reckoned at twice the value of an honour of the second rank (Second Division).

An inquest was held at Coventry, on Monday and Tuesday, on the body of Betsy Beamish, a married woman of that city, who, together with one of her children, died suddenly under suspicious cir- cumstances. Williani Beamish, a weaver, husband of the deceased, Emma Statham, a girl who worked in the house, and Jane Stokes, a married woman, who was in attendance upon the deceased a short time before her death, have been appreh ended on suspicion of having poisoned the deceased with arsenic. It appeared, from evidence given at the inquest, that the deceased and her four children were all taken ill about a fortnight ago, vomiting regularly after every meal. The youngest child died on Thursday week, and the wife on Tuesday last. The body of the latter appeared to be in a perfern

healthy state, with the exception of the stomach, which was highly inflamed, and the inside of her mouth, which was much excoriated. Dr. Goate, a physician, after some hesitation, certified that the cause of her death was gastritis. It was proved at the inquest that the male prisoner had bought arsenic at several places for the alleged purpose of poisoning rats, and the medical evidence proved the presence of arsenic in the stomach of the deceased, and ascribed her death solely to the effects of that arsenic. It also appeared that whenever any one of the prisoners administered either food or medicine to the de- ceased, she immediately vomited. An improper intimacy between Beamish and the girl Statham was also hinted at. The following letter was taken out of the pocket of the deceased's dress after her death by tie two prisoners, Beamish and Stokes :

"For Jane Stoke.—Dear Sister,—If anything happens to me doo not let them blame any one but me, for, God forgive me, I did not know what I was doom; but the thought of losing my home, and to see how the poor lad was fretin to know wat to doo for the moment drove me mad, for to lose my home I could not bear the disgrace, after liven respectful so long; and doo not tell him if you can elp, for it will drive him made. Jane, see to the little one, for he is so fond of Lasey. God bless you all, and comfort my r lad.

"Bern. EASIMR, Wednesday, 14th Aug." It was proved, however, that the deceased could not write, and that she had not worn the dress in which the letter was found since the 14th, or before she was taken ill. The inquest was then adjourned till Monday next.

— The installation of Lord Palmerston as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports took place at Dover yesterday. Splendid weather, a gorgeous revival of mediteval pageantry, a sumptuous banquet, and two speeches from the new Lord Warden, combmed to make the day one of the most brilliant in the annals of the chief of the five ports. The last demonstration of a similar nature was twenty years ago, in honour of the Duke of Wellington, who was then Lord Warden. The town was thronged throughout the day with excursionists from all parts, and gaily decorated with triumphal arches, flags, and other tokens of rejoicing. Lord Palmerston rode over from Walmer about one o'clock, and was received by a force of about 1000 volunteers, consisting of the principal Kent and Sussex corps, who went through a series of manceuvres with much steadiness. Having lunched at the Castle, his Lordship left by the drawbridge for Bredenstone Hill, where he opened a Court of Shepway, in a tent within the Drop Re- doubt, with all the prescribed formalities and quaintly-phrased man- dates. The Seneschal (Mr. Knocker, Town Clerk of Dover) then read the writ summoning the five ports, the ancient towns, and their "limbs," to send representatives to the court. Returns to the writ were then made from fourteen of the fifteen corporations to which the writ was addressed, Fordwich, a decayed "limb" of Sandwich, with only 237 inhabitants, being the one exception. The fourteen corporations were respectively represented by their mayors and alder- men, or bailiffs and jurats. Lord Palmerston then announced that her Majesty had nominated him to the office of Constable of the Castle of Dover, Lord Warden, Admiral and Chancellor of the Cinque Ports, two ancient towns and their members, and requested the seneschal to read his patent of office. The seneschal then read the patent conferring on his Lordship the remnant of the ancient juris- diction attached to his office, together with the right to all wrecks of flotsam, jetsam, and lagen, or lost merchandise, and all things taken up, gotten, or recovered from the sea, either by himself, his deputies, or agents of all the ports or creeks as well by land as water, within the precincts and liberties of the Cinque Ports, the office to continue for life. Lord Palmerston then announced his ac-

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28TH.

ceptance of the office in a few words, which were followed by a salute of nineteen guns from the adjacent fort. Dr. Phillimore, Judge of the Admiralty Court of the Cinque Ports, then delivered a congratu- latory address to his Lordship. After alluding to the recent reforms by which the office has been deprived of its substantial emoluments, and the Cinque Ports of many of their privileges, and reminding the Lord Warden that though the Cinque Ports no longer took a per- manent part in maintaining the naval supremacy of England, no part of the country had furnished a better or more efficient quota of vo- lunteers, Dr. Phillimore concluded thus:

"To many persons, my Lord Warden, all traditionary customs and rights appear idle and useless, but I demur to their philosophy. I deny their states- manship. To you, my Lord Warden, we know that we shall not look in vain for respect for traditional usage, to conciliate progress with stability, to accept the spirit of the present, and to reverence that ot the past; to pursue a policy at once reforming and conservative is the high mission entrusted by the Crown and the people to your Lordship's hands, and with that mission the present cere- mony is not inconsistent. Indeed, my Lord Warden, the ceremony furnishes of itself no insignificant proof of your extraordinary:popularity, for lam informed by our Seneschal that the last public recorded installation was that of the Duke of Dorset in 1765. During that interval nearly a century has rolled away. And what a century What mighty names do I find on the muster-roll of Lord Wardens! For to pass by others, and even your immediate predecessor, the able and gifted Dalhousie, whose loss we have not yet ceased to lament, think of the names alone of Pitt and Wellington, both dear to this country for their many victories—victories of peace (tor such there are) and victories of war, but dearer still for the true English hearts which warmed their bosoms, for the genuine love which they bore to their country. And, my Lord Warden, permit me to say that it is not so much that your name has been associated for many years with every great political event in Europe—of all of which you have indeed been a great part—and by a happy fortune having been the chosen friend of the great Canning, you have lived to choose his illustrious son for the preservation of India ; not so much that you now are in possession of the highest object of ambition which a subject can attain ; not so much on these grounds, ample as they are, that you are received, here as elsewhere, by this hearty greeting, but because there is a general and deeply rooted conviction throughout the land that your

heart's desire is to promote the welfare of England. Fully sharing in this con- viction, we of the Cinque Ports heartily congratulate your Lordship on this accession to your other honours and we feel certain that our remaining rights and privileges are safe in your Lordship's hands." (Cheers.) Lord Palmerston replied briefly, saying in answer to Dr. Phillimore's remarks : " I quite concur with my learned friend that we ought to respect ancient tra- ditions, because, although they have a value which to a superficial observer may nob at first be apparent, yet if any one will look at the hearts of men and into his own feelings, be will be convinced that the knowledge that the town or the county, the corporation or the community, to which he belongs has been famous/ in history, has been loyal to the Sovereign and done good service to the country, —that sentiment in his mind is guarantee for good conduct in whatever circum- stances he may be placed, because, independently of his own sense of what is right and what is wrong, he would feel ashamed of' lowering the character of that community in connexion with which his ancestors for generations and centuries past have done credit to their country, and rendered themselves a- "••1 to the Crown and the State of which they formed part."

The members of the Court having done obeisance to his Lordship, it was then dissolved. In the evening the Lord Warden was present at a banquet given by the Mayor of Dover in the Maison-Dieu, which was formerly a religious house of the Knights Templars, and is now used as a Town-hall. The hall, which has been recently restored and decorated, presented a brilliant appearance. About 350 gentlemen sat down to dinner, while Lady Palmerston and many other ladies occu- pied seats in the gallery. After the usual loyal and patriotic toasts, in replying to the latter of which Sir J. Burgoyne, Lord C. Paget, and Colonel M`Murdo respectively asserted Lord Palmerston ought

to have been brought up as a soldier, a sailor, and enrolled as a volunteer, the chairman (the Mayor of Dover) proposed the Lord

Warden's health. The Lord Warden replied. After expressing his warm gratitude for the cordial reception he had met with all throughout the day, and explaining the temporary delay which took place in the filling up the office, his Lordship said :

" Gentlemen, I honour the people of the Cinque Ports for their attachment to this ancient constitution. There is nothing which more dignifies man than clinging to ancient and honourable traditions. Our patriotism, like our charity, ought to begin at home. A man should begin by loving his home and his family' he should then love his town and his district ; he should love his county, and then he will love his country. (Cheers.) So far from these local attachments narrowing the human mind or cramping and debasing its sympathies, they are the real, the true, and stable foundation for the enlarged and honourable feelings that bind men to the nation and country to which they belong. In former times, as has been well said, the Cinque Porta furnished materials for the defence of the realm. They were required to put afloat fifty-seven vessels and their crews when our shores were in danger. As my noble friend Lord Clarence Paget ob- served, you are now relieved from that special burden, and have only to pat your shoulders to the wheel in common with the rest of your fellow-countrymen. We have now as magnificent a fleet which, as my noble friend justly said, is equal and, I may say, superior to anything in the world. We have seen to-day that although you do not put sailors on board ship you put soldiers on the turf, and you still furnish as many men for the service of the State as formerly manned your ships. And there was this gratifying circumstance noticeable in the scene we witnessed to-day, that along with the red and grey coats of the infantry and the darker colours of the artillery, the blue jackets were seen performing field evolutions with as much regularity and precision as the land troops. We beheld the brave seamen and fishermen of the coast who have enrolled themselves for the service of their country, and qualifying themselves for any duty in defence of our shores should they ever be assailed by any enemy. (Hear.)' Colonel M'Murdo truly observed that the recent events in America should teach us a valuable lesson. The example of what has happened across the Atlantic shows that. you may collect thousands of men together and put uniforms on their back and muskets in their hands, but you do not thereby convert them into soldiers or into an army (hear, hear); there must be discipline. It is not enough that there should be individual bravery. Why, our cousins in America, as individual men, are as brave as any that tread the earth. They are of the same stock as ourselves, they are descended from the same parents, are animated by the same spirit, and prepared to encounter equal dangers. But when thousands of inen as personally courageous as any race in existence get together, each man wanting that confi- dence in his comrades which discipline and training can alone supply, they exhibited to the world that unfortunate rapidity of movement which took place at Bull's Run. (Laughter.) That, I say, is no disparagement to the valour of the Americans, but affords, I repeat, a lesson which we ourselves may usefully ponder and remember—viz, that discipline and organization are indispensable to make any army efficient in the field. But, gentlemen, although we may profit by the experience of others I do not think the lesson is specially needed by the volun- teers of England, because. those volunteers having by their sagacity submitted themselves to military instruction and training, are rapidly acquiring all that knowledge which is essential to military organization. Some months ago I heard Colonel Willard°, at a public dinner, at which we were both present, state that

either 30,000 or 40,000—I forget which—out of a force of 150,000 volunteers, were fitted to take part with troops of the line. Since that time 130,000 bars, I believe, mounted to 170,000, and there can be no doubt that if their services were needed, that number would be speedily increased to any extent to which arms, ammunition, and 4cers could be found for them. (Hear.) Gentlemen, I think the Volunteer movement is the most honourable even tre corded lathe history of any nation. If we had had—as was the case in former times—a large army and a great fleet collected on a neighbouring coast, threatening the invasion of this country, it was not surprising—indeed, it would have been surprising had the fact been other- wise—if hundreds and thousands of men should have started up and asked for instruction and organization as volunteers. But there was no such case in this instance. There was, however, a feeling on the part of the people of this

country—a kind of sagacious instinct—that our means of defence were not such

as they ought to be. There was a general indisposition to go beyond a certain standard in time of peace in regard to the numerical strength ot our standing

army, and a conviction that we could not expect to rival those Powers which

have hundreds of thousands of armed men constantly arrayed within their limits. The nation, on the other hand, felt that our regular army and militia, however excellent and efficient in themselves, were still short of what might by possibility

be required, and by a spontaneous and almost instantaneous effort not suggested by the Government, but emanating from the independent action and public spirit of the people, there sprang into life that magnificent force of which we have an

admirable sample to-day. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, I trust that that organi- zation is so engrained in the minds of Englishmen—has so entirely become one of the familiar sports and exercises of the nation, that no circumstances will ever induce them to give it up, and that no considerations, whether of economy or otherwise, will cause any Government to refuse the aid and encourage- ment necessary to give due effect to the movement. (Cheers.) We cannot, as I have said before, attempt to cope with those great States which main- tain hundreds of thousands of regular soldiers. We accept with frankness the right hand of friendship wherever it is tendered to us. We do not distrust

that proffered right hand, because we see the left hand grasping the hilt of the sword. But when that left plainly does so grasp the hilt of the sword It would be extreme folly in us to throw away our shield of defence. (Load cheers.) There are, gentlemen, two securities for peace. The one consists in a ,state of perfect insignificance, the other in a state of perfect defence. The security arising from perfect insignificance England, I think, will never enjoy. (Laughter and cheers.) The security for peace which arises from a perfect state of defence, unconnected with any notions of aggres- sion, not coupled with hostility towards any one, but confined solely to a manly determination to protect and maintain what we have, is a security which I trust this country will long continue to possess. (Cheers.) And so far from that being a reason why the most friendly relations should not be kept up with foreign Powers, in my opinion it is the only true, solid, and stable foundation upon which those friendly relations and the hope of a durable peace can permanently rest. (Cheers.) Mr. Mayor, my Lords, and Gentlemen, I beg to return you my most sincere and heartfelt thanks for the honour you have done me, and -I can assure you that I shall ever consider the day now drawing to a close one of the proudest in the whole course of my life." (Loud and prolonged cheers.)

Lord and. Lady Palmerston then left for Widmer, amid the enthu- siastic cheers of the crowd assembled to witness their departure, and the proceedings of the day terminated. — Her Majesty arrived at Killarney on Tuesday evening about six o'clock, the train which conveyed the Royal party having left Dublin at one. Lord Casticross had the honour of entertaining her Majesty on Tuesday night at Killarney House, which had been exquisitely and. lavishly decorated by its noble owner in honour of this Royal visit. Her Majesty's reception at Killarney station by the tenantry of Lord Castleross and Mr. Herbert, and all the farmers and peasantry for miles round, was most rapturous, and appeared to afford her Majesty considerable pleasure. — Ernest Tilley Ward, late chief cashier to Messrs. James Cootes, Beates, Dennant, and Russ, wholesale warehousemen of Alderman- bury, in whose service he had been for eighteen years, was charged at the Guildhall yesterday with the embezzlement of various sums, altogether amounting to 5000/., the property of his employers. Between 400,000/. and 500,000/. passed every year through the hands of the prisoner, whose salary was 3001. a year. It was a com- mon practice of the firm to make advances to customers, and the prisoner had been in the habit of entering loans in the cash-book which had never been made, and appropriating the sums entered. The largest amount embezzled at once in this way was obtained by making an entry of a loan of 500/. to a Mr. Weeks, which was in reality never granted. Mr. Wontner, for the prosecution, stated that fresh instances of a similar nature were coming to light every day. The prisoner was fully committed for trial. — The Bradford Liberal Registration Society, at their annual meeting on Tuesday night, passed the following resolution relative to the line recently taken in the House of Commons by Sir John Ramsden, one of the members for the West Riding :

"That this meeting, feeling strongly that Sir John William Ramsden's conduct in Parliament is a virtual abandonment of the principles he professed upon the hustings, requests the committee to draw up a resolution of censure, addressed to the right hon. baronet, and to forward the same in the most expressive manner they rimy deem fit, either by getting it signed by the members of the Registra- tion Society, or in any other way."

Mr. W. E. Forster, M. P. for Bradford, supported the resolution, though he acquitted Sir John Ramsden of having consciously broken his pledge ; they might have misunderstood him on the hustings, but they were certainly in a false position with him as their repre- sentative.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30TII.

— The inquest on the bodies of the victims of the accident on the London and Brighton Railway was opened on Monday by the coroner for the borough of Brighton, and adjourned from day to day throughout the week. The company were represented by their solicitor, Mr. Faithful, and the proceedings were watched by legal gentlemen on behalf of the families of several of the persons killed. On Monday, the jury having- been asked by the coroner whether any of them were in any way dependent upon, or interested in, the rail- way, and no answer having been returned, they were sworn, and the inquiry into the circumstances of the accident commenced. The bodies of twenty-two out of the twenty-three killed, were identified by their friends, and the jury proceeded to the scene of the disaster, accompanied by the officials of the company, who explained the .working of the signals to them. On Tuesday the inquest was resumed. Mr. Jacob Webley, superintendent of the Brighton station, was the first witness called. Nothing .material, however, was elicited, as he was not on duty on the &nday. Mr. J. C. Craven, the locomotive and carriage superintendent of the company, was then called, and gave evidence as to the gradients up to and through the Clayton tunnel. There is a uniform rise from Brighton all the way to the tunnel, amounting altogether to thirty-five yards in the five miles. From the mouth of the tunnel there is a fall all through, being at the rate of one in two hundred and thirty-seven for the first three-quarters of a mile, so that an up-train which had reached the tunnel would have no difficulty in going through, but would go through with its own velocity. The distance signal is put on by the flange of the wheels of the engine

or carriages acting on a lever, which also rings a bell in the signal. man's box. In clear weather the company run trains every day within five minutes of each other. Ifhey did not, witness did not believe they could get through their business at London-bridge. It was quite possible, and had, in fact, occurred, that one train pass- ing would not put on the signal, and a second passing directly after- wards would put it on. In hot weather, the long wire was apt to expand. If a red flag was shown at the mouth of the tunnel as a tram entered, it was the duty of the driver to stop in the tunnel and send -the guard back to ascertain the cause. Mr. Charles Legg, station master at Brighton, was then examined. He deposed that the Portsmouth train was 17 minutes late at Brighton, and the

Brighton excursion was 12 minutes late at starting. The drivers were not reprimanded for not keeping time. The guard makes the entries of time in a book kept for the purpose, and the witness did

not know of any cheek on their entries. Henry Kellick, the signal man at the Brignton end of the Clayton tunnel, was then called. It appeared. that there are two signal men at that end of the tunnel who take. turns of duty of twelve hours each. In reply, however, to Captain Tyler, the Government inspector, who was present from the Board of Trade, the witness stated that on alternate Sundays each signal man was on. duty for twenty-fours at a time. On being. eau,. tinned by the Coroner that he need not give any answer which he thought might criminate himself, the witness expressed his wish to tell the whole truth about the matter. He was then examined at great lengths both. by the Coroner and all the parties interested, and the account of the whole affair which he orginally gave remained un- shaken. "When I found the signal would not work, I tilled to put it right, but I could not put it on until the next train. ''That was two or three minutes after. I could not do so until after the driver had passed the distance signal. That is about 300 yards front me. I then took down the red flag, and showed it to the driver. The train was then about half-way between the signal and me. The driver at once turned off the steam. When the Portsmouth train entered the tunnel I telegraphed to the man at the other end. I re- ceived a return message directly. I gave him Train in,' and he answered it; and when the train was out, he gave me Train out.' The second train was then just going into the tunnel. When the second train came I showed the red flag. I had then succeeded in getting the signal to work. That would put on the danger signal. When the second train had been :in some time I asked my mate at the other end whether she was out ? When the second train entered the tunnel I gave the signal to the man at the other end. When he gave me Train out,' I gave him Train in,' again, as quick as lightning. The second train was passing by me and partly in the tunnel, when he gave me Train out.' I did not get any message back as to the second train till I asked my mate at the other end. I telegraphed Is she out?' and I got an answer directly, Yes.' When I telegraphed Train in' the second time I did not receive any answer, for I did. not wait. I went out directly to alter the signal for the train 'All right.' I thought the guard, when he saw the white flag, would go on. When I received the second message the danger signal was up, and I altered it. From the time I received the message Yes' as to the first train, four or five minutes bad elapsed before the other train entered. There was ample time, therefore, for the train to have passed through. At the same time that I asked him whether the train was out and received the answer Yes,' I saw the third train coming on about three-quarters of a mile off. I did not hear anything until the third train had got into the tunnel, and then I heard a noise and thought the boiler was bursting. I showed the red flag when the second train entered the tunnel, to stop them. I do not know whether by the rule they should go on or come back. They ought to stop, not in the tunnel but outside ; but he could. not stop the train soon enough. I thought the train would stop in the tunnel when they saw the red flag, and that the guard would come back." With regard to the self-acting signal, lie stated that it had failed to act when a train passed over seven or eight times during the last four or five years, generally, either in very cold weather from the wire being frozen to the ground, or very hot, from the expansion of the wire. The three trains all came up within seven minutes, and were all travelling at considerable speed. The signalman at the north end of the tunnel was then examined; his evidence corrobo- rating that of the former witness in every particular. The inquest was resumed again yesterday, and the principal witness examined was the driver of the Brighton excursion train.—James Scott : I am an engine-driver in the service of the London and Brighton Company-, and on Sunday morning last drove the Brighton excursion up. I have been in the company's service nine years. I noticed the time I started from Brighton ; it was 8.31. I took that time by my watch, which agrees with the clock in the yard, near the stores. There were seventeen carriages, but I did not take notice of the breaks. I should think it was about ten minutes to nine when we got to the Clayton tunnel. When I approached the distance signal I saw it was all right, and just as we were going into the tunnel he gave his red flag. I Immediately shut off the steam. I should think I had got about 250 yards into the tunnel before I succeeded in stopping the tram. I reversed the engine, and put the break on to stop as quick as possible. In reversing the engines the train might back twenty or thirty yards, but I did not back the engine at all. We were not going back when the collision took place ; we were standing still ; and had been for about two minutes. I had not time to send the guard back. I did not see anything of the other train coming till "lie hit her." The collision knocked me into the tender, but did not hurt me much. I got up, and went back and saw broken carriages and people lying hurt. The engine was standing nearly upright, resting nearly on the top of one of the carriages. I have never looked back to see whether the distance signal at Clayton has not acted when we have gone over it. I consider it quite clear by all means to stop as soon as possible after I see the red flag, even if shown at the month of a tunnel.—By Captain Tyler : I have been ,a driver since May last. My watch was right by the clock against the stores. I was going nearly thirty miles an hour. I shut the steam off just as we were going into the tunnel. I only saw the red flag about three yards before we got to the tunnel. I think by reversing the engine I could stop at 250 yards, although the gradient is down hill. When I brought the train to a stand-still I. looked over the hand-rail for a signal to start again from the guard. I could not see Mut; it was too dark ; nor anybody else. The engine might have moved back twenty or thirty yards, having the steam against her. I had not the steam on when the collision occurred, for 1 shut it off directly. The buffers were closed, and that caused the train to move back.-The driver and guard of the Portsmouth train were also examined, and the investigation was adjourned for the fourth time. - The Board of Trade tables for the past month were issued yes- terday. They show a falling off, compared with July, 1860, of 2,428,438k, or more than 19 per cent., on the duties and value of our exportations, a .result principally to be attributed to cessation of business with the United States, but to some extent to a decreased export trade to India and China. The total exports during the first seven months of the year have been 70,237,685/., showing a decrease of 6 per cent. on last year, and 5i per cent. on 1859.