16 JULY 1859, Page 9

331tortlInutuuL

An American has written to the Times a long account of his sufferings during the attack on Perugia. He was at the Hotel de France. Storti, the landlord, took no part in the political movement. He was killed, and his house plundered. The American and his family took refuge in a long hidden closet, but his servant being outside, to save his own life, discovered their retreat. They were dragged forth, and only escaped with life by giving up all they had, and by energetic appeals to their nation- ality. Twice again they were forced to retire into the closet, and here one of the soldiers stood their friend.

" On Tuesday, the 21st, the chaplain of the regiment passed the house. To him I related our sad situation, He assured me that all danger was past, and that we might seek shelter elsewhere. Accordingly, after fourteen hours of suspense, five of which were passed (at intervals of our four refuges) in the narrow stiffing closet, where, besides my family, and two servants, of seven, there were Madame Storti, her mother, and maidservant, making ten, and with the soldier eleven, we reached the Grande Bretagne (worthy name), the solid doors and grated windows of which had defied the efforts of the freebooters On Wednesday, accompanied by Madame Hoste and her mother, we started for Florence. The road was crowded with fugitives, and we could with difficulty procure post-horses for the diligence we had hired ; and on Thursday, the 23d, arrived at Florence without a change of raiment, but thankful to have escaped without loss of life."

The following letter was written by Mr. Cobden to Mr. S. D. Brad- ford, of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, just before he left Canada-

.' Quebec, June 18,1859.

" My dear Sir—Before stepping on board the Indian, I must thank you for your two letters, which have reached me here. I observed your expres- sion of regret that I had not attended one public meeting before I left the United States. But, on reflection, I think you will agree that I exercised a wise discretion in resisting every temptation to bring me into the field of politics, for to talk in public in your country would be, in my case, neces- sarily to talk politics. I have long entertained a strong opinion that the less England and America canvass each other's domestic politics, and the more they discuss their own, the better it will be for the friendship of the two nations, and for the improvement and stability of their institutions. Still, I cannot but lament the want of a public opportunity, before leaving this continent, of expressing my gratitude for the numberless courtesies and the touching acts of kindness which I have experienced in my travels in the United States. Everywhere I have found myself among friends, and the further I travelled into the interior the more did the hospitality and kindness of the people make me fancy myself at home. I shall ever remember this visit with feelings of pleasure and gratitude, and again thanking you for the friendly reception I met with at West Roxbury, believe me, yours very truly,—R. COBDEN."

t At Mr. Herbert Watkins's, where it was brought for the purpose of being photographed, we have had the opportunity of seeing a beruftifu little work in sculpture by a young American artist, whose name is new to us—Mr. William H. Rinehart, of Baltimore, Maryland, now in Rome. The work is a bas-relief, intended for a monument erected at Norwood by Mr. Benjamin Moran, the Assistant Secretary of the American Lega- tion, to the memory of his wife. It represents the figure of an angel, who is gently leading the departed soul to a better world. The compo- sition is exceedingly simple and beautiful. The expression of tender guardianship in the angel, and of the most perfect and affectionate resig- nation in the female figure, could not have been more sweetly pourtrayed. The name of the artist manifestly points to a German origin, but even without that aid it would be easy to recognize the countryman of Retzsch, in the graphic meaning and in the Teutonic character of the expression, as well as in the lineaments, and almost, it may be said, in the colour of the hair --the texture being so beautifully conveyed in the stone as to cheat the sense and suggest the idea of colour.

THE Vic-roma CROSS.

" The Queen has been graciouslypleased, by a warrant under her royal sign manual bearing date the 13th of December, 1858, to declare that non- military persons who, as volunteers, have borne arms against the muti- neers, both at Lucknow and elsewhere, during the late operations in India, shall be considered as eligible to receive the decoration of the Victoria Cross, subject to the rules and ordinances already made and ordained for the government thereof, provided that it be established in any case that the person was serving under the orders of a general or other officer in command of troops in the field, when he performed the act of bravery for which it is proposed to confer the decoration. Her Majesty has accordingly been pleased to signify her intention to confer this high distinction on the under- mentioned gentlemen, whose claims to the same have been submitted for her Majesty's approval, on account of acts of bravery performed by them in India, as recorded against their names, viz.— "Mr. Thomas Henry Kavanagh, Assistant-Commissioner in Oude.—On the 8th November, 1857, Mr. Kavanagh,. then serving under the orders of Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram, in Lucknow, volunteered on the dangerous duty of proceeding through the city to the camp of the Com- mander-in-Chief, for the purpose of guiding the relieving force to the be- leaguered garrison in the residency—a task which he performed with chi- valrous gallantry and devotion. " Mr. Ross Lewis Mangles, of the Bengal Civil Service, Assistant-Magis- trate at Patna.—Mr. Mangles volunteered and served with the force, con- sisting of detachments of her Majesty's 10th and 37th Regiments, and some native troops, despatched to the relief of Arrah, in July 1867, under the command of Captain Dunbar, of the 10th Regiment. The force fell into an ambuscade on the night of the 29th of July, 1857, and, during the retreat on the next morning, Mr. Mangles, with signal gallantry and self-devotion, and notwithstanding that he had himself been previously wounded, carried for several miles, out of action, a wounded soldier of her Majesty's 37th Regiment, after binding up his wounds under a murderous fire, which killed or wounded almost the whole detachment ; and he bore him in safety to the boats."—Gazette, July 8.

Oscar, King of Sweden, died on the 8th at Stockholm in the sixtieth year of his age. For a year he had taken no part in public affairs. He was the only son of Bernadotte, who, a lover of Ossian, named his son after one of the heroes in that shadowy poem. When Bernadotte became Crown Prince the young Oscar repaired to Sweden, became a Protestant and Duke of Su- dermania. He had some skill in music, and was something of a soldier. In 1844, on the death of his father, Oscar came to the throne. He was sup- posed to be a liberal, and he initiated some reforms. He is succeeded by his son Charles XIV., a prince born in 1826.

Dr. J. Bowen, Bishop of Sierra Leone, died there on the 28th May, from an attack of malignant yellow fever. He is the third prelate of that see who has died since it was founded in 1852.

Dr. Winterbottom, the father of the medical profession, his name being first in the new Medical Register, died at Westoe, near South Shields, on Friday, in the ninety-fifth year of his age.