The intelligence from the United States is not of
political interest. Two persons had been found guilty
in the Philadelphia Court, of enlisting recruits for
the British service; but the sentence was postponed.
The yellow fever was subsiding at Norfolk and
Portsmouth.

A striking case of Lynch Law has occurred in Illinois.
An Irish family named M'Lane had recently settled in
the state. M'Lane, the head of the family, had a son-
in-law named Coxen, a poor but industrious man, who
had scraped together some three or four hundred
dollars. This sum excited M'Lane's cupidity; he
waylaid Coxen in the woods, robbed him of his money, and
thought he had murdered him; but Coxen contrived to
crawl to the house of a neighbour, to whom be related
the circumstance. The news spread: M'Lane was
seized, brought before the magistrates, and examined in
the presence of an excited multitude. M'Lane
obstinately denied the charge; but the people loudly
declared their determination to lynch him if he did not
disclose where he had concealed the money. "Again
and again," says a spectator of the scene, "it was urged
on him to no purpose." At this juncture Judge A—
stepped up, confronted the prisoner, looked him full in
the eye, and in a loud, earnest tone, said:—"William
M'Lane, make now your last prayer, for in less than one
half-hour your soul will be in eternity. You will carry
with you the stain of a brother's blood; but do not, I
entreat you again, appear before your God with a lie
upon your lips. We have shielded you thus far from an
outraged and incensed people, but we can do so no
longer." This last fervid appeal brought the culprit to
a sense of his real situation. He turned deadly pale,
and then called for his wife, who advised him to keep
silent, which advice he determined to take. At this a
rush was made for the upper floor, the rope thrown
over his head, and then commenced a conflict which the
pen cannot describe. I had been accustomed to read of
lynching affairs, but never until now had I witnessed
such a scene. The struggle was between the people,
the officers, and the prisoner. While the strife was
raging within, the outer yard was thronged with spectators,
gazing up into the windows, to catch a glimpse of
the battle. Among the number of eager spectators I
observed many whose wrinkled brows and silvery
locks told plainly that they had long since passed the
meridian of life—some of whom, too, had been the
pillars of the church for a quarter of a century. Perhaps
this was the first time in their whole lives that they had
ever been called upon to sanction such a proceeding, and
in the atrocity of the crime committed they found their
justification. After a struggle of perhaps a quarter of
an hour, in which the prisoner had been several times
suspended by the neck, and as often released, to give
him a chance to tell of the money, he sued for pardon;
and as he stood gasping for breath and telling the spot
where the money was concealed, I saw the blood standing
on his neck, which had been wrung from it by the
rope. After a confession of his guilt and a delivery of
the money, the people were content to leave him in the
hands, of the law, and at the conclusion of the matter
they gave six hearty cheers for Judge Lynch.— M'Lane
is now lying in prison, awaiting his trial for attempted
murder and highway robbery."

A letter from San Francisco, dated Sept. 4, in the
Washington Intelligencer, gives the following description
of the present social condition of California:—
"Health and climate alone recommend this place. It
is almost impossible to conceive how one is rejuvenated
and invigorated by this truly delightful climate. But
as to the moral state of the country, it is horrible! One
of our papers gives us a monthly chronicle of deaths by
violence, principally by murder or lynching. From the
1st of January to the 1st of August this year, they were
322 in the state, including two lawfully hanged. Is not
this awful? Upwards of 20 were recently lynched in
one place for being concerned (or suspected) in some
wholesale robberies. Street encounters are so common
here that no one is surprised at their announcement in
the morning: papers. We look for fearful scenes
tomorrow, which is the day of election. Last year the
Know-Nothings kept things in order, and had it their
own way; but their reign is past, and the uprising of
the supposed defunct Whigs will convince you of this.
The preparations of the democrats for the election
tomorrow are vast and complete. I have the worst
apprehensions, and shall be most agreeably disappointed
if blood does not flow freely at the polls. Two years
since any man could make money in California; now it
is the reverse, and the scramble for office, from the first
to the lowest, is truly terrific. The sheriff's office, even
at the reduced fees, is worth at least 50,000 dols. per
annum, recorder of mortgages 20,000 dols., and so of
others. Think of the numerous aspirants and the
desperate means they are willing to employ in order to
ensure success. To-morrow is the grand day for the
shoulder strikers, the ballot stuffers, the rowdies, and
the bullies, and they will all be let loose and hounded
upon each other and the community by their respective
employers."

        NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART.

Signs of activity at last begin to show themselves in
the great book marts, but as yet it is only promise. The
last month has contributed even fewer publications than
its predecessor (excluding mere new editions) to the
common stock. Mr. Laurence Oliphant has republished
from Blackwood's Magazine some chapters on a
residence in Canada, under the title of Minnesota and the
Far West. Sir Henry Holland has greatly enlarged and
added to his Medical Notes and Reftections. A ninth
volume of the new edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica
has carried down the work to nearly the close of the letter
F. Mr. Heywood has published two more volumes full of
early College and University Statutes relating to
Cambridge. Mr. Wheeler has built up an imaginary biography
of the Life and Travels of Herodotus, for illustration of
the manners and social condition of the ancient nations in
the fifth century before Christ. M. Antonio Gallenga
has published a History of Piedmont in three volumes.
From Mr. George Giles Vincent we receive a treatise
on the Science of the Moral Nature; and from
Dr. Massy a volume of analytical ethnology on the
Mixed Tribes in Great Britain and Ireland, much in
favour of the Irish. A volume of Lectures to Ladies on
Practical Subjects, due to the benevolent activity of the
Rev. Mr. Maurice, has appeared; and to Mr. Evan
Hopkins, C.E., we are indebted for a small practical treatise
or Introduction to Geology and Magnetism. In the
way of travels, or observation in foreign countries, we
have had M. Herzen's Exile in Siberia, Mr. Edward
Sullivan's Beaten Paths from Boulogne to Babelmandeb,
Baron Haxthausen's Tribes of the Caucasus (with
an account of Schamyl), and Mr. Baker's Eight Years'
Wanderings in Ceylon. Mr. Bailey, the author of
'Festus,' has published the Mystic. Lord Napier has made
public his Notes on Modem Painting at Naples, and Mr.
Thomas Ballantyne has collected into one volume,
with a biographical memoir, Passages from the Writings
of T. Carlyle. The Rev. Robert Greig has collected a
series of religious discourses under the title of The Man
Christ Jesus, and Mr. Sanderson Robins has summed
up in an octavo volume The Whole Evidence against the
Claims of the Roman Church. In fiction there have
been published, a tale by the author of 'Lorenzo
Benoni' called Doctor Antonio; a novel called Simplicity
and Fascination, by Miss Beale; The Lances of
Lynwood, by the author of ' Heartsease;' and Millicent, by
the author of 'the Curate of Overton.'