Vibe ctrop ol 1.,m , :ton was agitated on Wednesday nigh; by

the report of an attempt

upon the life of the Queen. A greet veriety of rumours, many of them eeetradictory, were immediately circulated inn ceeversation, and in late editions of the evening papers. Some tidditheed fleets were stated on Thursday; and an investigation took place tit the !tome Office, from which the public and the reporters ibr the daily press were excluded. We have therefore no ellicia/ account of the effair, or any statement which can be relied upon in every particular ; but of the principal facts there is no doubt, and the following narrative of the circumstances connected with the crime may he received as substantially correct. At a quarter past six on Wednesday evening, the Queen, accompanied by Prince Albert, left Buckingham Palace, in a very low open phaeton drawn by four bays, to take their customary drive in Hyde Park before dinner; Colonel Buckley and Sir E-Iward Bowater at gelding as Equerries. It happened that tha Queen sat that evening on the left, not on the right

side of her husband, where slue usually that as they went up Con-

stitution Hill—the road leadieg feud: I iegluani Pabee to Hyde Park

Corner—her Majesty was next to the lute;; brick wall on the left side of the road, instead °Stile open railing oft he Green Park on the right. The carriage had proceeded a short distance up the road, when a young man, who had been standing with his back to the Green Park fence, ad- vanced to within a few yards of the carriage, and then deliberately fired pointing towards the Queen. The ball did not take effect ; and her Ma- jesty rose from her scat, but Was' instantly pulled down by Prince Albert. One account says that she uttered a loud seream : this is contradicted; it seems true that she turned deadly pale, and appeared excessively alarmed, but made no exclamation. The postilions paused for an in- stant ; but Prince Albert, in a loud voice, ordered them to drive on,—not, however, before the assassin, saying, " I have got another," discharged a second pistol, pointed towards the carriage ; which also, happily, proved harmless. The (lateen and Prince went as l'ar as Hyde Park Corner, and then turned to the Dutehess of Keet'e mensiou in Belgrave Square ; so that the Queen's mother heard of the attempted assassina- tion and the safety of her daughter at the scone moment.

Meanwhile, the assassin remained near the spud from which he dis- charged the pi-Iola, leenSee composedly :1:.;;iint the Park fence with the

weapons iu his Irina. Seeeral persons laid hold of ; and he was conveyed by two Policemen to the Gardener Lam.. Stetien-houee.

After staying a short time with the Dutcheee oi' Kent in Belgrave Square. the Queen and her hueband proceeded to Ile:le Park ; where an immense concourse of persons of all ranks and both sexes had congre- gated. The reception of the Royal pair was so enthusiastic as almost to overpower the self-possession of the Queen ; while Prince Albert's countenance, alternately pale and crimson, betrayed the strength of his emotions. They soon returned to Biteleiegham Palace, attended by a vast number of the nobility and gentry, in carriages and on horseback. A multitude of persons, collected at the entrance to the Palace, vehe- mently cheered the Queen ; who, though pale and agitated, kept re-• peatedly bowing and smiling in return. It is said that on reaching her

apartments the Queen found relief in a flood of tears, but she recovered herself so as to appear as usual at the dinner-table. Persons of dis- tinction flocked to the Palace to make inquiries ; and to all the gratify- ing assurance was given that no bad consequences to the Queen's health were likely to ensue from the shock.

Leaving the Queen and Prince Albert safe in the Palace, we proceed to mention some of the circumstances attending the capture of the as- sassin ; who was seized within a minute from the time when he fired the first pistol. A good deal of confusion pervades the statements of his capture. According to one account. a female held him by the skirts of his coat through the railing. This is contradicted ; and it is said that Mr. George Keich, a German courier, was the first person who laid hold of him, by the collar and trousers, until two Policemen came up. The persons who soon assembled on the spot exclaimed. " It's a fo- reigner !" and Mr. Keich was glad to make his escape. Another state- ment is, that a bricklayer was the first to seize him. A third attributes his capture to Mr. William Clayton, an artist of Princes Street, Leicester Square, and Mr. Low, speetaele-maker, of Copthall Court ; ho were immediately joined by Mr. Beckham, one of the Queen's Pages, and two Policemen. Sarah Brown, a young female living in Pimlico, saw him stoop down and load the pistols, a short time before the Queen's carriage came up. A Mr. Wright, of Hemel Hempstead, saw the prisoner dis- charge the first pistol, from the opposite side of the road, and sprang for- ward to seize him ; but was daunted when he raised the second pistol, and fell back. This Mr. Wright was taken into custody, but was soon re- leased on Mr. Beckham's statement of what he had actually done. An- other stranger in London, Mr. Pecks, a Dorsetshire man, who had gone to the Park to get a sight of lie Queen, saw the prisoner take his right hand from the left side of his coat, draw out a pistol, and fire it point- blank at the carriage ; and Mr. Pecks thought this " an act of rejoicing," till the second pistolcas fired ; w hen he became " stunned and stupified," and ran off to Covent Garden to tell a Police-constable what he had wit- nessed. These circumstances as to the assassin's capture are of secondary importance. There were several witnesses to the act of firing the pistols ; which the young man himself did not pretend to deny. He gave his real name to the Policemen—Edward Oxford : it was ascertained that he had lodged at No. es West Street, West Square, Lambeth ; and that his last employment was that of barman at a public .house, the Hog- in-the- Pound, Oxford Street, corner of South Melton Street. He is only seventeen or eighteen years old ; about five feet four inches in height, slightly made, of a light complexion, and not unprepossessing counte- nance. The landlord of the public-house spoke well of him ; but said he had discharged him a month ago, on account of a bad habit of laughing in customers' faces. It was also ascertained that he was a native of Birmingham,—which town, however, lie left eight or nine years ago : that his father was dead, but that his mother is alive, with two sisters ; one married to a Mr. Phelps, a baker, with whom he lived for some time. His father was a Mulatto, and a working-jeweller of Birming- ham—a titan of violent temper ; which the son inherits ; for on quar- relling with another young man, a barman like himself, at a public- house in Marylebone, he attempted to stab him with a knife. lie had been for sonic. time in the habit of carrying pistols, and bad practised firing in a shooting-gallery. He told-his mother that a gen- tleman named Spring offered to employ hint at Is. fid. a .day when he had learned to Av. He bought a pair of pistols at the shooting- gallery.

During Wednesday night, Oxfinel was confined in a cell at the Gar- dener Street Station-house, whither he was taken by the Police. lie made a joke of the eagerness with which, he said, the people flocked around him and seized different parts of his clothing, his collar, coat, or trousers, lie would answer no questions respecting his motives or accomplices ; but had sonic coffee, and went to bed. Two Policemen, who remained in the cell with him, say that he slept calmly and soundly from eleven at night to between seven and eight on Thursday morning, when he took a hearty breakfast. One of his sisters, a girl of sixteen, applied for permission to speak with hint at the Station-house; but it was refused. Mr. M'Cann, surgeon, of Parliament Street, examined him, to ascertain his sanity ; of which, he ::.rid, there appeared to be no doubt. On searching the prisoner's room in West Street, some dis- coverieswere made, which it is surmised may perhaps throw light on the criminal's motives, and lead to the knowledge of his instigators and ac- complices, if he had any. The Policeman found in a drawer a sword, and a quantity of powder and bullets—the bullets fitting the pistols taken

from Oxford ; "a black crape cap, with three satin bows, of a blood-red colour," attached to it ; a piece of paper with thirty signatures--fictitious names, such as " Oxonian" or " Ozonean " " I lannibal," and "Ernest."

Some letters also were found in which news from Hanover was relbrred to; and the members of the society of " Young England" were advised

to provide themselves with arms. These letters bore the signature of

" J. Smith." 'When the articles found in his room were shown to the prisoner, be admitted them to be his. He had only half-a-crown and

some pence in his pocket ; and as he had been oat of employment for

some time, it is conjectured that the money to buy the pistols must have been furnished by some person implicated in the projected assassi- nation. It is alleged that a man was seen to pass the prisoner and nod

to him, just before the Queen's carriage came up. Another story is, that a " middle-aged person, most respectably dressed," was heard to

give him the word to fire. A Policeman bus been sent to Birmingham, it was said, to ascertain it' any connexion can be traced between Ox- f a•el and the BIrmingliam Cl ;sr ists. On Thursday- morning, Oxffird was conveyed front the Gardener Lane Station-house to the Hittite Office, for examination. In order to avoid the crowd of people collected about the Station-house to get a glimpse of him, the following plan was adopted : " it was arranged that the prisoner should past , out as quickly as possible, turn to the left, and proceed the hack way through Downing Street passage to the Home Office : and this was so well managed, that scarcely those who were ad- mitted inside the Station-house saw him pass along. He did not wear handcuffs; and as soon as he got into flardeuer's Lane, he took to his heels as fast as he could, and was followed, as was preconcerted, by In- spectors Pierce and Hughes." The number of persons at the Home Office offering testimony to Mr. Fox Maisie was very great. The Under Secretary was literally be- sieged with entreaties from ladies and gentlemen to be allowed to state

what they saw. The testimony, however, as we have mentioned, was not made public ; as Mr. Mettle observed, that to admit the reporters would be " contrary to all rule." The examination was conducted by Lord Normanby, Mr. Mettle, Mr. Mark Phillips, and Mr. Hall of Bow Street. The Attorney-General, the Lord Chamberlain, and the Comptroller of the Household, were also present. The result of the examination was the prisoner's committal to Nuegate, to de tried fur high treason. He met his sister in a passage of the Home Office, and she embraced him affectionately. It is said that during his examination he could not refrain from his habit of laughing. He was privately re- moved front the Home Office, through a back-door leading into the Park, and conveyed to Newgate, whilst the crowd outside, who were waiting to see him, thought he was still under examination. An uncle of the prisoner, a publican living in the neighbourhood of Gracechurch Street, called at the Home Office, and said he wished to engage profes- sional assistance for his nephew. Mr. Mohler was applied to ; but he declined, having the prosecution of Gould and Courvoisier on his hands. One of " the bullets "—at least a bullet—is reported to have been found by a boy on Thursday afternoon ; buried in the earth just under

a place in the wall which appeared to have been chipped by recent bullet-marks. It was flattened on one side, and marked with red streaks, as though it had been fired against a brick. The Standard last night

denied that any bullet had been found. The Police certainly found none, though hours were spent in carefully sifting the earth near the wall.

It is said that "several Members of Parliament actually applied to Mr. M'Cann, the surgeon, for a small portion of the lock of hair which he cut off Oxford's head ; but they were disappointed of obtaining any, Mr. M'Cann having previously given it to several distinguished patients of his !"

It would be difficult to describe the state of loyal excitement into which the Metropolis has been thrown by this event. At the different Theatres, and at places where public dinners were held, as soon as the news transpired on Wednesday evening, "God save the Queen" was sung with loyal fervour. it happened that a grand concert was held at the Opera-house for the benefit of the New Musical Fund: it

was to have terminated with Mozart's Overture to Idomenco, but Sir George Smart, the Conductor, stepped forward, and having informed

the audience of the attempt on her Majesty's life, proposed to substitute the national anthem ; a proposal which of' course was received with cordial unanimity.

On Thursday, when the Queen and Prince Albert again took their drive in the phaeton, the crowd in and about Hyde Park was immense, and the cheering of the loudest. They were escorted, as it were, by a body-guard of hundreds on horseback. The line of carriages calling at Buckingham Palace extended a considerable way down the Mall.