ains greatly increases the combustion of
ignited matter with which it may be brought in contact, and that this
may evolve gases so rapidly as to cause an explosion.--The cholera is
prevailing with a good deal of fatality in some of the western cities.
In Cincinnati the number of deaths has averaged 20 to 35, and has been
as high as 65: in St. Louis it has been still higher, and in Nashville,
Tenn., it has been quite as large in proportion to the population. At
the latest advices it seemed to be diminishing. It has not made its
appearance in any of the eastern cities.--The case of Prof. WEBSTER,
convicted at Boston of the murder of Dr. PARKMAN, has been definitively
decided. Soon after the trial he sent in a petition for a full pardon,
on the ground of his entire innocence and ignorance of the whole matter,
solemnly asserting, and calling God to witness, that he knew nothing
whatever of the manner in which Dr. Parkman's remains came to be found
in his room. A few days afterward he sent in another petition, praying
for a commutation of his sentence. It was presented by the Rev. Dr.
PUTNAM, who had acted as his spiritual adviser, and who laid before the
Council a detailed confession, which he had received from Prof. Webster,
in which he confessed that he killed Dr. Parkman with a single blow from
a stick, but claimed that it was done without premeditation, in a moment
of great excitement caused by abusive language. He gave at length a
statement of the whole transaction. After considering the subject fully
and carefully, acting under the advice of the Council, Governor Briggs
decided against the application, and appointed Friday, the 30th day of
August, for the execution of the sentence of the Court. Upon that day,
therefore, Prof. Webster will undoubtedly be hung.--A good deal of
public interest has been enlisted in the performances of the new
American line of Transatlantic steamers, running between New York and
Liverpool. There are to be five steamers in the line, but only two of
them have as yet been finished. These two are the _Atlantic_ and the
_Pacific_, the former of which has made two trips, and the latter one,
each way. On the morning of Sunday, July 21st, the _Atlantic_ arrived at
New York at 3 o'clock, having left Liverpool on the 10th, at 11 o'clock
A.M.--making the passage in ten days and sixteen hours, the shortest by
several hours ever made between the two ports. Her passage out was also
very short. These trips