The Sun. — London, England, 1842-06-16 00:00:00

hoe , , ose' 41. roP t he ' ( 11 l ora c reso eo o' eftll ; be ej t to t. - 1 'be 5 e ' rt. t .ded t hey; Lol°lll't t or ; yob , f o f 'let' of ca bro i,e I rT1 tj, 14 ila fh t) t o 1 0 It 3 P g t°l . .l.) ( t); 0 to 0,41 rt Cl l 8 to , rinse left ly his P. Alphas° , C:ountrol Gr° l° Wain inQ Sir ler fl o i i• aim ADO, ;utherlio' w open to 081 eleVr Court, t'e 'I of t hl ueeu 112 ice H tulatiop to High,Y 2 yin at oi ptruller e iwar, es of gh yesteo k , board DAB Keg and 0 , $3, the e . 6 de r‘io p t U r to t after te ; 11 We' t ' t l o aroptoa, Id the „ 1.1 nourea lg. . br, eigo.• from as Coohv CE. Circuit °I under f to Frid+;,.:, r , t 1 anY tb' v .r;, an e e l ofd Su and et wag 9- o t earance , itor fo r ioc t, wo c t ,pf a cooro Trll* 51 aidir t; BattlY lill p , at h cote' Wap y Lytle/ i159(15, 40 lu ld c e, to be' xller) i g at(), 3 : 1 at tit as P .l l O e, %l l ' out', it gr a r e I"% p f ,ke ar t '. 0)11; of b, 3iie 030 ,0? be f o r. ccr The t it ;ht to to, er D , 10 ft' THE CURE OF BLINDNESS. .(From the Literary Gliztite of June 11.). ' It has often been the province of this journal, dur ing more than the quarter of a century of it exist ence, and during a - period of unparalleled cultivation • and p:ogress of almost every science, to lend its best influeace towards the knowledge and success of dis coveri•?s which promised to promote the well-being of mankind. Among other efforts of this description, the Cure for Stammering, by Mr. Hunt, obtained its warmest commendations ; and the result has at length arrived :When, after a very few years' struggle, amid all the conflicting .claims to mastery over this afflic tion, the simple and natural system of that gentle .. . man has been called into full practice ; and his pupils from every part of the kingdom can bear viva voce testimony to the entire efficacy of his instructions in --' • •• removing the impediments to perfect speech; To have a faculty improved or restored is of inap -.4i,• •lareciable value to man, and especially in all the prin ,4oo.,Pip4l :professions and pursuits of civilised life; but tab/-ev.en throughout all the grades of society the most " 3 &important events may hinge upon the possession or non-possession of some common human power. Thus, • the other•day, the very preservation of our young and . lilt i nteresting- Queen did, to a certain extent, depend on •tee;:-. the want of ready utterance in the boy Pearson, when • a• gitated by the threatened act of the assassin !* And this has offered a remarkable illustration of the nature ••:- ▪ "of the affection itself, and of the excellence of Mr. Font's practice. Young Pearson has attended his .lessons since the event alluded to ; and with such --effect,- that, when produced to give evidence on the of Francis, we have no doubt in saying he will he able to utter his testimony without the slightest • • hesitation of any kind, or remaining disorder in the ..Organs of speechl- A fact like this is preferable to volumes of testimo nials, however high, and of arguments, however well Vl PPorted ; but we have only adduced here for the esteof introducing to notice another momentous whic er h touching another sense, with experiments in we last week felt it to be our duty to make • - ourselves acquainted. • Three weeks ago (Literary Gazette, 1322), in a Notice to Correspondents, we mentioned that we had. heard of Mr. (Dr.) Turnbull's Cure of Blindness the Fumes of Prussic Acid, but had no perional knowledge of the process ;" which notice immediately Ptocttred us an invitation from Dr. Turnbull to wit .. • was the cases of several patients, from five or six to tee- twenty years of age, who were under his treat . trent for this sad calamity. We accordingly attended; • - and it is not easy to express our astonishment and gratification at what we saw. The various stages of cure, advanced in our presence, by the simple appli cation, .for about half a minute, or until a little warmth was felt by the patient, of the vapour of hydrocyanic acid, in a small phial, held up to the eye, with an aperture fitting the form of that organ ; the various natur e of the diseases so assailed—opacities of the • • t ° l'nea, inflammation, cataract, amaurosis, irritis, &c. • t; the various stages of relief which the patients ad reached, with sometimes one eye opened to sight and pleasurable to look upon, and the other left nearly 1 . 1 , 41 40 and in its pristine deformity, to show what had • "en achieved ; the various appearances of films re , 1116 vittg, cataracts breaking up and being gradually 'teP:bsorbed, pupils being redeveloped, and other alto rether extraordinary symptoms of remedy and rep . n eration filled us, we repeat, with wonder and de- One child had been totally blind from six days old; • dad bee n t aug h t to read on the ra i se d l etters b y t h e , •uateane system taught in the Blind School ; but it mould now see these letters, and it was a curious pile -- tnenon to behold—could equally read them by 'ttelt and by sight 1! The only difference was a . 81ligular alteration in the tone of voice and pronun ee'a!ion When rea di ng i n the two wa y s ; th a t b y th e e 4, Ye being far more natural, and like the usual reading to 4a.e we are accustomed, than the other, w hi c h as r aono - onous and with an air of diffi cu lty even • t i lie singular readiness acquired by this method. of ()dun- cases there were o f th e won d er f u l p ro d uc ti on • ' 4 'iL - "e Power of vision to th ose b orn bli n d ; b u t we Meet the ease o f a g i r l twenty-two years of age, and 1,) a ,erefor e : f u ll y capa b le to comprehend and to answer 4 , 1 ta te ',Y question p u t t o h er . I n u tt er d ar k ness f or n ir • T u years previously to her comming under Dr. - treatment, she now can see her way, and countenances disti nguish and colours. a more marked instance of the efficacy 1 -*l o c h cvotive p rocess was exhibited in a young man, ' fa arnth a u c worked for many years at bookbinding. In ': Sze i„ a ,rn , and subsequent eminent treatment, lancing •• tin; I D r endered him so totally blind, that for some, :ak t r and during the first two or three attend• .isv _eeS fo the application of the prussic acid vapour, he • oblig e d to be led. But he told us, that now he 4Ai • Sul d safely dispense with such aid, and readily discern Soon, we have little doubt, he will be re - A Cato his calling and to independence. pother mo s t interesting example of the value of '-aktfe 4.otiscovery was that of a gentleman from Canada. •1 51 had been afflicted in one eye with cataract and • . tiklness for ten years. His remark to us was, that A lv i h s : l l he - first came to England he could not, with the • -wi t. ,,a'sed eye, distinguish a cow from a horse. He now it could mark and recognise countenances, and u l 4 4 , ,,A ad appreciate the visible distinctions of a sovereign t h i l _ a shilling. This he did in our presence, but much '4, 1 , 1 ; t r readily after the vapour of the highly concen h'„4';ilf,„...e4 acid had dilated the pupil,.and, to a certain "e:ah - e 6l- ee, even in the short space of time occupied by th3.,action of the vapour, attenuated or dispersed the ~• I VY coats of the cataract. • lit y 4Vi ng witnessed and assured ourselves of the rea -40ur_ f these thi ngs , we soug ht th e rationale, the 13,...`,T of th e di scovery , and the causes of the effects. - ell T ur nbull's answer was, that the datum which had ,kgaheested the first experiments to him was the aid_ api th e afforded in all cases of death from poisoning 1114 t i r assic acid ; it was recorded, in every instance, tl ear ne eye of the corpse was observed for days a s . toe cc and lucid a s if st ill i n lif e . Thi s l e d hi m t o •,. 1„ ge that the acid exerted a specific action on the ;, 11, ae, h ::te argued that any medicament which produced ltktow, r ,. symptom after disease, must kossess certain c : over the livin g s ubj ec t ; a n d helentured upon 1)1E arse of investigation accordingly. The princi :''.4 somas sPeedily devel o ped. The ey e an d a ll aroun d . .-Ife ll dilated and reddened. It was evident that the VEii a -4 ,`etial blood rushed into the minutest fibres of the ''• tab oi ' and excited a strong action throughout the Paispf the capillary processes. Not the slightest - aro-• • . q-%fq 'e ; a sedative influence appeared to be exer tuati_on the nerves of sensation, and even, if inflam ,. 134,,:_n existed, it was rapidly removed. The eye, thkriltvel; Presented all the symptoms of violent in ' e• g, _ a tion, which is the truly natural curative pro , kattlr,)_etwithout the suffering of the struggle between • . and s r t and disease. The humours became quickly e kse w l gniarlY active; by degrees the seat of the dis veither as assaulted, and a healthful tendency created, • s uPPly deficiencies or to remove obstruc cce..ae•oe repeating th e a ppli ca ti ons th e cures were per - tio " 'first thought that suggested itself to us, having Ile ar o t‘e ; N or, Th r clear relative so heavily afflicted, was the on 11 girl . to the bl ess i ngs o f t h e f acu l ty o f v i s i on o f • labl e ‘:r y 11_ and much-belov e d P r i nce . P a i n f u l opera as, th :ve been t r i e d w i t h li tt l e or no success. H ere eo dis I n, a t reatment involving no suffering, entailing (4. 41t•- t ; ess ing consequenc e , endan ger i ng n o other 4 4 1 3 ,, eat u l at . but, .to our 'conviction, ensuring relief and t (34 - Why not at once make known this dis lv,lkswer, ° the Prin ce o f H anover ?" we exc l a i me d. I n a e ,l'evy tno w e were p l ease d to b e i n f orme d t h at on th a t h r ning four gentlemen had witnessed the treat ad been treat 'let "tiers of the equally with us, delighted with the 4 of th e ••. 1 0 cur e for thee hydrocyanic vapour, and with the hope illustrious scion of our Royal Family. Nr essed 1 7, 1 , personallv intimate with the King, had he h ad ohsies intention 'forthwith to communicate what Oe ' e rred to Prince George of Hanover. t i ght s , what the results might be on old or short • urnbull laughingly replied, that hydro lerleibd ttn ae p he leul , d soon supersede spectacles ; it so al do t c ou p Pea the vision in either case,, that no ~c e stor atio2 4 . ezist of its applicability to their relief and Be this as it may, we hesitate not strongly 41 1ind,end the wonderful discovery of the Cure for thi Ih al it t:t1:11:;t11?-nl°t been for the information conveyed from a l :4 2 ll . Pay rson to Sir Peter Laurie, and by him romunicated to the Court it is a fearful ro -41413i at the to ride o f e Queen would have perished. To p the •l e. • " e , ,equerries (Cols. Wylde and Arbuthnot), i s, Jest y , , side of the carriage so as to cover her Lle "derPer3on " the Monday, we firmly believe it s s nem Providence, owing that the nation have to 6 . 'en for the failuro of the assassin's blow.— . , t NlTh e _ ' ua ti I uhe erliettvoured to tell Sir Peter Laurie what 44 A fter P P e ned, he ipssonseould not utter a word ; and now, We • tutr,bling It itC, ii .. B : Q uehing ittve heard him repeat Mrs. 14 ; • the former attempt of Oxfotd, ut a single syllable.—Ed. L. G. , f•, G rand - 1. 11 50001. seasons) STAND AT A SCOT.—The receipts at a t „ 1. 1 %,:, ur . The ridenewhich has now been opened to the public 691. Vs was as followrecel7 during the ra-e week amounted to upwards of d for admission during the four • 46/. ; Thursda 3: —Tuesday, 521/. 10.. ; Weenesday, otfo.es, refre;huiag,gn7Z,Pn; y (the eu d tryea th e ; a n 1) - 3 Y), 1,397/. ; and Fritiay, :ne at h e iding f 2 30Arereived for 1 he k: o' l l. e • • —a nd was op enp d , o • •-a • !•-• ; the followi (in 1839) the receipts were B s. 'I h e ereeti n g Year, 2 ,369/. 155. ; and last year, "ver y NO shares of I was oum i leted at on outlay of Whalere from the °°l ' "aeb• Five shares are paid off year a (after ei t ie ' p d a p u n r c o d t 41 of I , e rt.,. moneys received, so that the ear 1859 e ha n t , tr s izti y a portior ) ), incr. a ,.. gi p? ' ftin,•;:tuearth to •sk b ' th: ) ' will be give su pra ad e d a to the rage und t hus e eipeoss lor e .t; iztm e the entriei of the very firsti i! o n horsespr z prizes t n t o he be ki r n u g n do f m or . 4 as iseet,'"lTC‘ltLE DlscovEßY.—ln Africa a discovery 1111 4, not fa witieh.7, 4 bY a s ingle arreTirato.thßoussissi, of an ancient bridr o ., e p r e h rr i e b e a : Man; 57erecauran•oofnst.he nisedicili rt0,..-s viol: • • " • -I ° l l with that comports, n of the cement used in its' ,g„ t a t found the rid, sof Ilippona, is Uzi" . "" utigetty of not 1 ea than thirteen or fourteen THE SUNT, LONDON, THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 16, 1842.1 LITERATURE. FATHER CONNELL. 3 Vcb. Newby London 1842. The chief interest of this story centres in Father Connell—an Irish Catholic priest, whose character Mr. Banim has unfolded with great minuteness and particularity, as though it were an especial favourite with - him. The worthy Father is represented as being all that a Christian pastor should he—meek, generous. lofty-minded, tolerant, courageous in the discharge of his duty, and ever ready to whisper the words of encouragement in the ears of those who have erred, but who have repented of their errors. It was difficult to pourtray such an exemplary character as this, and not throw an air of insipidity over it, arising out of its very perfection ; but Mr. Banim has suc ceeded in overcoming this difficulty, and produced a portrait full of spirit and interest. The introductory chapters, however, where the old man is first brought on the scene of action, are somewhat tame and formal; the descriptions of his every-day costume, of his chapel, of his private dwelling, and of his Twelfth night's merry-making therein, have the preciseness of an auctioneer's catalogue; and it is not till we become better acquainted with him, and his exalted worth developes itself, not by set descriptions, but by action, as in the drama, that he wins our admiration, and slides into our heart. In the earlier scenes we find him playing the part of friend and guardian to a fatherless boy, Edmund Fennell, for whom he obtains the means of earning a decent livelihood, and whom he marries at a fitting age to Helen Mac Neary, an affectionate, comely young girl, the petted daughter of a rough, but kind-hearted Protestant farmer. Un fortunately, the elder Mac Neary disapproves the match, and on learning that his opposition is fruitless, the parties having already been secretly united, he turns his child out of doors at midnight, in a paroxysm of rage, and forbids her ever again to enter his house. Driven thus an exile from her home, the hapless girl wanders away towards the parsonage of Father Connell, in the hopes of finding her husband there, who is about to start for Dublin on business of moment; but on her road she accidentally encounters a party of ruffians who have just perpetrated a murderous assault on a young beggar-woman, who, disgusted with her calling, has left her mendicant associates, and sought the protection of the good priest's roof. The bride is discovered and carried off by these ruffians ; and a few hours after, her husband, passing near the spot where the supposed murder has been committed, is taken up on suspicion, and com mitted for trial at the assizes. Perjured evidence having been adduced against him by the very parties who were theximelves the criminals, he is found guilty, and sentenced to*be hanged. Meanwhile his friends —Father Connell, in particular—are active in his behalf; the beggar-girl who was supposed to have been slain, is found to be still living, having been found weltering in blood by her own mother, and conveyed, while .in an insensible state, to a place of safety ; and Edmund Fennel is, in consequence, libe rated, and almost immediately afterwards, his young bride is restored to him, and her father being at length reconciled to the match, they are left at the close of the narrative, in a state of very ecstatic con nubial felicity, with but one drawback on their hap piness—namely, the death of Father Connell, who has expired at Dublin, on his way to seek an interview with the -Lord Lieutenant, on behalf of his young friend, Edmund Fennell. The story, in places, is told with uncommon vigour ; the description of the sup posed murder on the heath ; of old ?dac Neary's angry parting with his daughter; and of the last interview between the ruffians previous to the perpetration of the crime, is replete with sombre interest as pro found as that which pervades every volume of the author's master-piece « The Nowlans." We quote a passage which, we think, will fully warrant our assertion. While wandering at .midnight from her enraged father's house, Helen Mac. Neary. meets with this tragical adventure.:-- The next morning as the thought of the long, long night came upon her, she once more started up, and tot tered in the direction of the river. The noise of the falling water grew more distinct. The clouds had now almost entirely passed' away frOm the moon, which, quietly mounting higher and higher in the heavens, flung her almost perfect light over the open country ; and gaining a little courage, from this seemingly good omen, Helen, with increased pain and suffering, slowly proceeded on her course. She passed two fields, crossing their dividing fences with the utmost difficulty. She reached the summit of a third boundary ; the noise of the weir came with certainty upon her ear, and she was sure that she saw the moonbeams glittering and dancing upon the white foamy water which the barrier caused. She praised God again, and scrambled, and sometimes crawled forward, on hands and knees. One field only remained between her and the river -side, and that was a rapid descent. Suddenly men's voices, in angry discussion, fixed her attention, and the sound seemed to arise between her and the very point she had to attain. This was terrible ; instinctively, she looked round for a hiding-place. Above where she stood, was a little hollow on the hill side, partially screened by briars, and bushes. To it she crept, and down into it, again lacerating herself with thorns and broken branches ; and crouching among the bushes, listened with all her power of hearing, to the very voices that filled her with horror. She had lost, without attending to the loss, hor bundle, her bonnet, and even her cloak. The loud talking ceased, and there was but one man's voice now heard, but this one was fearfully harsh and abrupt. Then female tones, in prayer and expostulation, mingled with it ; then, female screams, shrill, long, and piercing, rang through the night air ; and then, Helen heard the noise of a heavy blow, and the long shrieks suddenly stopped, subsiding into a low, melancholy cry, followed by deep, deep means ; and a second blow, ac companied by a hissing sound, of the human breath, such as workmen utter, when they labour with the hatchet. Perfect silence ensued, for a short time, only interrupted by- the whispering.of the night breeze through the grass, and through the bushes, and by the gentle fall of-water, near at baud. Oh, that was a pause of thrilling horror to Helen 1 for, .above all her previous suffering, fear, and confusion, the conviction that she had overheard the doing of a murder, curdled her pure heart's blood, and made her very soul cower within her „ . hasty footsteps entered the little hollow, anl paused within a few feet of where she lay concealed. " This is the place that the ould distil bid us wait for him," said a hoarse, deep voice, but in cautious tones. " It is," answered another person—and the two words were spoken with a shudder. " That was a black act," continued the first voice. " Oh, it was a bloody deed ! Oh, the thought of this night will never lave my mind, never, never ! I would'nt wish for all the world's coin, if 'twas laid before me this moment, that I didn't stop the hand of that hell-bird ! Oh, she was a darlin', poor young crature ! Why didn't we save her, Paul ?" " That oath 1 that frightful oath 1" " I'd break fifty oaths if I had the power of savin' her over agen, or if I could bring buck the life to my poor beautiful ary—l would—l would," and the man whom his confreres called Molocth, or the wicked, suddenly stopped speaking, fer his throat filled up to suffocation, and a throe of very agony was labouring in his black bosom. SIR HENRY CAVENDISH'S DEBATES. . Part V. Longman, London, 1842. The Parliamentary debates reported in this Part are all of the session of 1770 ; and the first thing that will strke the reader on perusing them, is the ex traordinary zeal and activity displayed by Burke. Not a question of the slightest moment arises, but he figures among the prominent speakers. His tongue.. seems never still for an instant, and his observations —judging from the Ministerial replies—are evidently those which most rivet the attention of the House. Charles Fox, as yet but in his dawn, appears, com paratively speaking, but seldom on the to is ; and when he does get upon his legs, it is but for a short time, and his eloquence is by no means of that com manding character which it afterwards assumed. We know, from the statements of his contemporaries, that at this period Burke was the recognised leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, and we here find him on every question figuring as the great hero of the day; and never was a post so hardly won, and so gallantly maintained, in the face of a thousand difficulties ! Those who live in the present times, when the barriers that separate the aristocracy from the commonalty are considerably weakened, and in some respects broken down ; who are in the daily habit of seeing upstart wealth assume that position in society, which or old was occupied exclusively by the patrician classes ; anti who find distinguished literary and scientific men moving, as by right, and on terms of equality, in the highe3t circles, can have no idea of the difficulties that in the last century beset the path of the ambi tious adventurer who, like Burke, had nothing but his talents to rely on for success. The English aris tocracy was then the haughtiest, most jealous, and most bigoted in Europe, and the Rockingham, or old Whig section of it, was decidedly the worst in these respects. And it was among this inveterately preju diced portion of the nobility that Burke's lot in early life was thrown. Had he possessed manner, address, the graces of polished drawing-room conversation, or a weighty purse--such as the Peel family have always possessed—to back his pretensions, his course, though still a troublous and difficult one, would have been far smoother than it was ; but he possessed none of these requisites ; he was an abrupt, uncourtly scholar ; lie was embarrassed by an obnoxious, brogue ; he had not the slightest power of small talk ; and, what wai still more to his disadvantage, he had scarcely a sixpence in the world that he could ea 1 his own. Yet in the face of these multiplied and almost insuperable difficulties, he won his way, step :y step, to the loftiest eminence, showing—as he has himself told us with a generous pride, in his match less Letter to the Duke of Bedford—" his ticket at every toll-bar," and trusting to nothing but his own gigantic intellect and indomitable perseverance. To wards the close of his career, he became decidedly the most influential politician in Europe, for though he held .no official post, yet it was his writings and speeches that most of all tended to precipitate the =lies of the Allies on Revolutionary France, and his example that strengthened the hands of the Minis try, by breaking, up the unity of the Whig party. We do not say this by way of eulogium, for Burke's conduct from 1791, down to the close of his public life, was anything but commendable, or in accordance with the principles which he had till then maintained ; but we instance it, merely as a proof of the astonishing ascendancy he had gained over men's minds. And that ascendancy which he exercised when living, he still continues to exercise, through the medium of his works. Though the man himself has long since passed from among us, yet the better portions of him —his wisdom, his philosophy, his imagination, and his eloquence—still survive to delight, to instruct, and to elevate our minds. In the Part before us, his speeches are reported in a most meagre and unsatis fitetory manner ; but scanty as are the records, they nevertheless enable us to form a tolerably correct idea of the powers of the speaker. From the structure of the skeleton, we can judge of the strength and sta ture of the man. STANDARD NOVELS, No. 88. Bentley, London, 1842. In this number of the Standard Novels, we have a republication of the late Theodore Hook's clever tale of " All in the Wrong," complete in one volume. The work is embellished with two engravings, each illus trative of some remarkable incident in the story. LOCKING IN ON RAILROADS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE. Sir,—Since the letter upon railroads, which you were good enough to insert in your paper, I have had some conversation with two gentlemen officially con • nected with the Great Western. Though nothing could be more courteous than their manner, nor more intelligible than their arguments, I remain unshaken as to the necessity of keeping the doors open. There is, in the first place, the effect of imagination, the idea that all escape is impossible, that (let what will happen) you must sit quiet in first class No. 2, whe ther they are pounding you into a jam, or burning you into a cinder, or crumbling ycu into a human pow der. These excellent Directors, versant in wood and metal, seem to require that the imagination should be ) sent by some other conveyance, and that_ only loads of impassioned, unintellectual flesh and blood should be darted along on the Western rail ; whereas, the female homy is a screaming, parturient, interjec tional, hysterical animal, whose delicacy and timidity monopolists even (much as it may surprise them) ntust be taught to consult. The female, in all proba bility, never would jump-out ; but she thinks she may jump out when she pleases, and this is intensely comfortable. There arc two sorts of dangers which hang over railroads. The one retail dangers, where individuals only are concerned ; the other, wholesale dangers, where the whole train, or a considerable part of it, is put in jeopardy. For the first danger there is a re medy in the prudence of individuals ; for the second there is none. No man need be drunk, nor need he jump out when the carriage is in motion; but in the present state of science it is impossible to guard effectually against the fracture of the axletree or the explosion of the engine ; and if the safety of the one party cannot be,consulted but by the danger of the other, if the foolish cannot be restrained but by the unjust incarceration of the wise, the prior considera tion is due to those who have not the remedy for the evil in their own hands. But the truth is—and so (after a hundred mono polising experiments on public patience) the railroad Directors will find it—there can he no other depend ence for the safety of the public than the care which every human being is inclined to take of his own life and limbs. Everything beyond this is the mere lazy tyranny of monopoly, which makes no distinction be tween human beings and brown paper parcels. If riding were a monopoly, as travelling in carriages is now become, there are many gentlemen whom I see riding in the Park upon such false principles, that I am sure the cantering and galloping Directors would strap them, in the ardour of their affection, to the saddle, padlock them to the stirrups, or compel them to ride behind a policeman of the stable ; and nothing but a motion from O'Brien, or an order from Glad stone, could release them. Let the Company stick up all sorts of cautions and notices, within their carriages and without; but after that, no doors locked. If one door is allowed to be locked, the other will soon be so too : there is no other security to the public than absolute prohibition of the practice. The Directors and agents of the Great Western are indivi,!'atally excellent men; but the mo ment men meet in public boards they cease to be col.. lectively excellent. The friend of morality becomes less, as the individual contributors increase in num ber. I do not accuse such respectable men of any wilful violation of truth, but the memoirs which they are about to present will be, without the scrupulous cross-examination of a Committee of the House of Commons, mere waste paper. But the most absurd of all legislative enactments is this bemiplegian law—an Act of Parliament to pro tect one side of the body and not the other. If the wheel come off on the right, the open door is uppermost, and every one is saved. If from any sudden avalanche on the road the carriage is prostrated to the left, the locked door is uppermost, all escape is impossible, and the railroad martyrdom begins. Leave me to escape in the best way I can, as the fire-officers very kindly permit me to do. I know very well the danger of getting out on the off-side ; but escape is the affair of a moment ; suppose a train to have passed at that moment, I know lam safe from any other trains for twenty minutes or half an hour ; and if Ido get out on the off-side Ido not re main in the valley of death between the two trains, but am over to the opposite bank in an instant—only half roasted, or merely browned, certainly not done enough for the Great Western Directors. On Saturday morning, last the wheel of the public carriage in which a friend of mine was travelling be gan to smoke, but was pacified by several buckets of water, and proceeded. After five more miles the whole carriage was full of smoke, -the train was with difficulty stopped, and the flagrant vehicle removed. The axle was nearly in two, and in another mile would have been severed. Railroad travelling is a delightful improvement of human life. Man is become a bird; he can fly longer and quicker than a Solan goose. The mama rushes 60 miles in two hours to the aching finger of her conjugating and declining grammar boy. The early Scotchman scratches himself in the morning mists of the north, and has his porridge in Piccadilly before the setting sun. The Puseyite priest, after a rush of 100 miles, appears with his little volume of nonsense at the breakfast of his bookseller. Every thing is near, every thing is immediate—time, dis tance, and delay are abolished. But, though charm ing and fascinating as all this is, we must not shut our eyes to the price we shall have to pay for it. There will be every three or four years some dreadful massacre—whole trains will be hurled down a preci pice, and 200 or 300 persons will be killed on the spot. There will he every now and then a great com bustion of human bodies, as there has been at Pari§; then all the newspapers up in arms—a thousand regu lations, forgotten as soon as the Directors dare—lotid screams of the velocity whistle—monopoly locks and bolts, as before. The locking plea of Directors is philanthropy, and I admit that to guard men from the commission of moral evil is as philanthrophical as to prevent physical suffering. There is, I allow, a strong propensity in mankind to travel on railroads without paying, and to lock mankind in till they have completed their share of the contract is benevolent, because it guards the species from degrading and immoral conduct, but to burn or crush a whole train, merely to prevent a few immoral insides from not paying, is, I hope, a little more than Ripon or Gladstone will bear. We have been, up to this point, very careless of our railway regulations. The first person of rank who is killed will put everything in order, and produce a code of the most careful rules. I hope it will not be one of the bench of Bishops ; but should it be so des tined, let the burnt Bishop—the unwilling Latimer— remember that, however painful gradual concoction by fire may be, his death will produce unspeakable benefit to the public. Even Sodor and Man will be better than nothing. From that moment the bad effects of the monopoly are destroyed ; no more fatal deference to the Directors; no despotic incarceration; no barbarous inattention to the anatomy and physio logy of the human body ; no commitment to loco motive prisons without warrant. 'We shall then find it possible " Voyager libre sans mourir." SYDNEY SMITH. SCARCITY IN IRELAND.—For some time It has been a common thing to ship wheat from Liverpool to Ireland, but it is only very i ecently that any great quantity of meal and the other coarser descriptions of food have been so shipped. Within the last three weeks, however, many thousand loads have been sent there from Liverpool, a most distressing and alarming scarcity of the articles of food consumed by the bulk of the population, especially of meal and potatoes, existing in Ireland, especially in the south and west. This novel demand has already greatly raised the price of all the coarser descrip tions of food its Lancashire, and must have added much •to the sufferings of the poor, many of whom, after having forgotten the taste of good wheaten bread, will now find it difficult enough to obtain either potatoes or oatmeal.—Liverpool Times. DISTRESS AT NEWCASTLE.—It appears from the Tyne Mercury, that a meeting was held at the Newcastle Guildhall on Monday, to take into consideration the state of the numerous unemployed workmen in the adjoining districts. From the Report then read, it appeared tiii at although not one-; third of the district had been visited, the enumerators had al, ready taken clown the names of 1,156 unemployed workmen, who had 2,705 women and children depending upon them—: this being a total of 3,864 individuals. Rating the unvisited districts at a fair ratio, it was calculated that tit. total numbe. of unemployed, without any; means of subsistence, was 11,592. Subscriptiers were about to be resorted to. ILtvnr, JUNE 1 1 .—The agent of a Liverpool Steam-packet Company has been here inquiring into the port, and harbour dues for steam-vessels. The Liverpool Company is about to put on two vessels to run between Southampton and this port, in opposition to the South Western and South of England Companies, The consequence of the opposition ill he, that the fares will be reduced considerably. The Li verpo..l Company will also run a vessel between Southampton and the Channel Islands. AMERICAN PAPERS. A:DREADFUL ArrAIR.—A schoolmistress in Lynn, named Beckwith, we learn from a gentleman belong ing.to that town, tied a son of Mr. Meads up by the heels on Saturday, and whipped him, striking him several times on his head. When the School was out, the lad, who was about eight years old, went home and told his parents that he had been punished, and that his head ached ; but there being nothing in his appearance to excite alarm, little notice was taken of whathe said, and he went to bed; upon going into his room on Sunday morning, he was found lifeless upon his pillow.—Boston Post. A SHOCKING MURDER.--We learn from the Sparta (Tenn.) Gazette, that on Wednesday night, the 11th inst., as Mrs. Mary Hunter (relict of the late Joseph Hunter) was sitting by her fireside, a few miles from Sparta, in company with two other ladies, she was shot with a rifle ball through the head by some person unknown, out of doors, and expired in a few minutes. The perpetrator of this horrid deed fired in the dark through a window, and has thus far es caped detection. ASSASSINATION.—Mr. Petrich, the sculptor, was assassinated at his room in Washington, on Sunday evening, by'two men with blackened faces. No cause has been ascertained, nor are the culprits known. Mr. Petrich has been in the employ of the Govern ment for many years.—New York Paper. REPORTED MURDER OF JOE SMITH, THE MOR MON PROPHET.—The St. Louis Republican of the 19th inst., has the fohowing:—The Mormon Pro phet, Joseph Smith; is reported to have been killed in a recent affray in the vicinity of Nauvoo. We are without particulars. STEAM-BOAT DISASTER.—LIVESL OST.— We have to report the sad intelligence that the steamer Douglas, Capt. Riley, met with a di sa St rous acc id ent i n the Cana dian Roach, near the mouth of the Ohio, on the nightof the 16th inst. A letter from Mr. Montgomery, the clerk, which is before us now, says :—" About twelve o'clock the steam pipe burst from the cylinder, raking through the cabin floor and discharged its whole con . - tents in the cabin, carrying with it death and destruc tion." Dr. Hoffmann, lady and child severely scalded —child not expected to live. 'The Doctor's sister and child also severely scalded ; Mrs. Brown their servant, dangerously, not expected to recover; Mrs. Johnson and her two children ; my wife (Mrs. Montgomery) and three children; Nickey (his child) since dead; W. Foster and Mr. Marshall scalded severely and two others slightly. The three stewards were killed on the spot, and the cabin boy severely scalded. Neither Captain Riley, nor any other of the officers were hurt." The Douglas was not injured, and is.expected here on Tuesday. No blame is attached to any of the officers. MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.—We learn that an Irish man was killed on Monday afternoon, by jumping from behind one of the railroad cars, while the train was approaching the depot in this city. It is supposed that he got on to the car at one of the stopping places, The cars were going at tolerable speed, and the man struck his head violently upon the ground, and was almost instantly killed.—Lowell Courier. DEATH OF THE VENERABLE HENRY SOUTIIARD. —The fathers have nearly all left us. One only here and there remains to tell the story of our birth ; and we are called to-day to record the departure of one of the few who have been preserved to illustrate the vir tues of the heroic age of our country to the present generation. The venerable Henry Southard—the father of the present distinguished President of the United States Senate—died at his residence in Bas kenridge (Somerset Co.), in this State, on Sunday morning, the 2d inst., at the advanced age o,f 95 years, He had enjoyed good health, and the full possession of his mental faculties up to within a few days of his death, which occurred after only four or five days' illness, induced by fatigue from walking.—N ewar k Daily Advertiser. MUTINY.—We learn from Colonel Hatch, that a mutiny occurred at New Bedford on Monday, on board the whaling bark Jasper, Captain ;Joseph Bennett, jun. It will be recolle c t e d that this vessel put back a few days since in consequence of the small-pox having broken out onboard. As she was about to proceed to sea, nine of the crew refused to weigh anchor, alleging as a reason that they wished to go ashore first. The names of the mutineers are as follows :—John Oaff, John Marsh, James D. Wright, Henry Staunton, Edwin Barnes, Jose An tone, George I3urder, Benjamin Howard, and Henry Shipner. They were taken ashore by Deputy Mar shal Gordon, and committed to prison. They will probably be brought to this city for examination be fore Judge Sprague.— Transcript. CASE or KIDNAPPING.—A coloured woman, by the name of Mary Lowding, living at the United States Hotel, was yesterday :decoyed by a stranger, to gei with him to Baltimore, where he said he would give her a good situation and good wages. He put her in a store-room during the day, and between eleven and twelve o'clock last night he was seen in the neigh bourhood of Twelfth and Spruce-streets, in a carriage with the woman. Her screams attracted a crowd, among whom were some of her former acquaintances, who gave chase, and pursued as far as Gray's Ferry, but could not overtake the parties. Her husband was ignorant of any arrangement with his wife, al though similar motives of removal were held out to him to go to Baltim ore . Th e poor fellow is in great distress at this infamous abduction of his wife. — Philadelphia Journal. COL. MONROE EDWARDS.—The Philadelp h ia cor respondent of the New- York Jou rna l of ommerce writes as follows :—" The trial of Col. Monroe Ed wards, which is expected to come on in your city next week, excites considerable interest here. Ills bearing, during his arrest and examination, was of that cool and collected character, as to impress some with the idea that he was either an innocent man or a most accomplished scoundrel. His trunk, which since his arrest has been lying at the Bank of North America, was yesterday examined by a specially commissioned agent from your city, and found to contain sixty thousand dollars in gold and Treasury notes." A horse, which had been bitten by a rabid dog, at St. Louis, on the 16th, ran through the streets, foam ing at the mouth, and afterwards falling down, in great agony died. THE. NAVY YARD.—We understand that a. very large number of workmen have recently been dis charg,ed from work at the Navy Yord at Brooklyn, N. Y. The Secretary of the Navy has felt com pelled to do this, from the evident disposition of Con gress to cut down the Navy appropriations. The persons discharged, and those dependent on them, are put to great inconvenience by this sudden change of policy • and, in some insta nces , th ere 'i s severe dis tress.—Journal of Commerce. DEATH OF RICHARD ALSOP.—The Philadelphia papers of Monday mention the death of Richard Alsop, of that city, a gentleman extensively connected with the financial and other commercial interests of that city. EARTHQUAKE AT PONCE.—Capt. York, of schooner Independence, states, that on the 7th the shock of an earthquake was felt at Ponce. The houses rocked, and so great was the motion of the earth, that casks of sugar and molasses rolled about, making sad havoc. The inhabitants, in great terror, rushed into the streets, invoking their patron saints to save them from destruction. The shock was felt at 3 P.M., and I lasted about three minutes. RESCUE OF A SLAVE.—A Mrs. Burke, from New Orleans, arrived in this city last April, with a female slave. A few days since a writ of habeas corpus was granted by Judge Oakley, to show by what right the slave was held as property, and the girl was conveyed to Court yesterday morning, when, after a partial hearing, the case was adjourned until to-day. On her return from Court, the cab in which she was placed was stopped by a large number of bl ac k s and whites, and the girl carried off—whither, no one can have te beenarrested and l A number of the committed.persons engag e d i n t h e rescue DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN No_RWICII. —We learn that an extensive fire occurred at Grenville, a manufactur ing village near Norwich, on Thursday forenoon, in the extensive cotton factory o f Mr. Greene. The loss is estimated at 100,000 dols.—insured for 75,000 dots. TAKE WARNING.—The Philadelphia Evening Jour nal says that Captain A. Davis, of the ship Swatara, from Liverpool, has been arrested on a charge of hav ing brought over more passengers tha n the law allows, according to the tonnage of his ship. He was held to hail in the sum of 1,200 dols. to answer the charge. EMIGRANTS.—Three thousand eight hundred and fifty passengers have arrived at this city from foreign ports, during.the week ending 28th instant. ROYAL VISITER ExpEcTED.—Extract from a letter of an officer to his brother, in Cleveland, dated on bv t lrd U. S. ship Vincennes, of the U. S. Exploring Expedition :—" We have on board Vindoba, the King of the Fejee Islands, as prisoner, who killed and eat eleven of the crew of a Salem vessel, in 1835. I suppose he will be shown about like Black Hawk, and then be sent home. He says I am his best friend, and wishes to live with me when we reach the United States. How would you like to have him for a mess-mate ? He is a fine lookin g fellow, very tall, and wears his hair half a yard ion—. 8 - He would be worth 5,000 dols., to show about the country."— New Bedford Mercury. ENTERPRISE.—The St. Louis Journal says thatfour young men recently left independence for the Rocky Mountains, to capture wild animals for a menagerie. They expect to return next fall. COMMERCE OF THE LAKES.—There arrived at 13uffalo on the 23d inst., nine steame rs , four brigs and twenty-one schooners, principally from Cleve land, Ohio, all heavily laden with flour, pork, corn, oats, barley and lumber. THE FIRST NEW FLOUR.—The Fayeteville (N. C.) Observer says :—"Colonel William Han cock, of Munroe county, has sent us a sample of ne%% . ; flour, the first we have heard of this year. The r Leaf Was sown on the 18th of October, 1641, cut -outhe 18th of May, 1842, threshed on the 21st, ground on the 23d, and in the market on the 23d. SATISFACTORY DEFINITION.—A little girl asked her sister " what was chaos, that papa read about ?" Ihe older child replied. -" why-, it is a great pile of nothing, and no place to put it in." MEDFORD, MAY 21.—SHOCIUNG AFFAIR.-01IF usually quiet town was on Thursday thrown into great excitement by one of the mast hortible, yet singular transactions which we have ever known. It appears that a young man was - fishing early in the morn ing in the canal, when he discovered an infant lying in the water. He immediately informed the town autho rities, who took it out and conveyed it to a neighbouring shed, until they could summon the coroner, &c. In the meantime the news had spread through the town, and reached the ears of Mrs. T. who resides near the canal bank. Sh e immediately expressed a wish to go and see it, and asked a young woman in her employ if she would like to accompany her. She declined, and said she would stay at home and take care of Mrs. T.'s little boy. Mrs. T. then went out to see the child, and the moment she was gone, this girl (who it appears was the mother) went out of the back door, and threw herself from an adjoining wharf into the dock. She was seen walking on the capstan of the wharf by a Mr. James, who kept his eye on her, and the moment he saw her overboard he plunged in and brought her safe on shore ; yet so determined was she on self-destruction, that she caught hold of a stick of timber on the bottom of the dock, and it was some time before she could be made to loose her hold. It appears that the girl, up to the time of this transaction, had always borne a good character, and last Sunday night was admitted a member of a church in this town ; and so well had she concealed her case, that no one, not even the women of the house, suspected the truth. She laid in bed on Tuesday morning, and complained of sick ness, and, as she states, gave birth, unassisted, be • tween five and six o'clock that morning, to the infant, which she strangled and secreted. She rose after dinner, and went about her usual work, doing the ironing, &c., for the family, and as far as the evidence of the women of the house goes, they never suspected anything up to the morning the child was fbund ; but it appears almost impossible. After she was taken out of the water she remained insensible fur several hours, when she revived, and re lated the above, and stated that she made up her mind to the dreadful alternative, rather than bear the dis grace she must bring upon herself by exposing her situation.—Boston Post. SIIOCKING MURDER.—On Saturday, the body of Mr. West, a resident of Sandlake, Rensselaer county, a German, was found near that place, concealed in some brush or bushes. The deceased had been evi dently shot, and then bruised and mutilated in the head with a stone. Both the stone and the gun were found near the body, and it was ascertained that he had been robbed of money to the amount of between $lOO and $2OO. The murder was committed by William Miller, also a German, on Sunday forenoon, a week ago, and for no other cause than the money on his person. Miller is also a resident of Sandlake, is yet at large, and did not leave that place until Satur day last. The Governor has offered a reward of $4OO for his apprehension.—Albany Argus. • The Montreal Courier of March 28, gives the fol lowing account of a horrible murder and parricide committed in Genesee Coy., Batavia, on the 17th of that month :—A murder was yesterday committed in Byron, which, fbr its cold-blooded atrocity, is almost unparalleled. A young man by the name of Ben jamin T. White, having for several years past had a grudge against his father, on account of not being put in possession of a portion of his property, determined to satiate his revengeful feelings by murdering both his tither and step-mother. White came up to the house as his parent was entering the door ; he took hold of his caat collar, pulled him about so as to face ' 11;in, took out a pistol from his pocket, and shot him through, just under his shoulder. He then threw him down, and commenced beating , him with the butt of his pistol. The step-mother im • mediately ran to the assistance of her husband, and had the presence of mind to reach down and pick up the pistol (which had fallen in the affray) and was rising up when she perceived the murderer drawing another from his pocket, which he raised at her; and only escaped her husband's fate by throwing up her arm and diverting the aim of the pistol, which was fired, but without effect. The young man then made for tha woods, but was pursued by a number of citi zens, and arrested in three or four hours. In speaking of the murder to one of his captors he said, "I don't know whether I killed the old man ; but I meant to— I took good aiin." White is safely' (?) lodged in our miserable and .rickety old jail. THE JAGGERY POT. " May it please the Sahibs," said the Jaggery man, sidling up towards the revellers, " may it please their Lordships to grant the Ithinblest of their slaves, a mo ment's audience?" " Ilo! ho!" cried one of the matchlock-men, in a tone ()f derision, " who, in the Prophet's name, have we got here?" " 'Tis a Ghoul of the desert," said another, " willing to partake of our festivity, or Eblees himself, come to act as master of the revels." " Alas ! Sahib," said the stranger, " I know not the persons you mention, and who are, doubtless, your Lord ships' particular friends and acquaintances." ." So they are,, forester," said Hafix Bahauder, laugh ing. " There the infidel had the true believer on the hip, and merits a cup of Sendi for his waggery." May it please the Burra Sahib," said the woodman, ." wine is forbidden - to the poor Hindoo ; but nature has given . him instead a draught more pure than Poubun water, which Kartikeia * himself often sips when arm ing for the crash of battle." " By the honour of my five wives !" exclaimed Hafiz Buhauder, " I should like to taste that boasted beverage of thine, though, in general, I am not in the habit of mixing my liquor." " Your wishes shall he gratified, Sahib," said the stranger, " and for that purpose have I ventured to in trude on your Lordships. I'm all humble dweller of the forest, and it has seldom fallen to my lot to listen to such minstrelsy as I have this morning heard in this solitary place, compared 'to which the flute of Crishna himself is rude and discordant." " Ab.shailah ! praise to the prophet !" exclaimed one of the Affghans, " the savage really seems to have an ear for music." It was delightful," cried the forester, with enthusi asm, " and, in gratitude for the treat, I humbly beg your Lordships' acceptance of the only recompense in my power—the contents of my Jaggtry Pot, fresh and de licious from the tree." " Beshrew your hospitality," said another of the Affghans, " I like it not : neither can I brook with any patience the squinting of your single eye, which throws a damp upon my spirits as a cloud overshadows the sun. So, prithee, abscond, and leave us to enjoy our meal in peace." " Nay, nay," cried Bahauder Hafiz, interposing his voice potential, "you wrong him, Ali Khan, you wrong the hapless infidel, and belie your own manhood by dreading the influence of his evil eye.—What, though he may be wicked himself, the proverb cannot touch his Jaggery Pot, which I dare swear contains some right delectable tipple." • " Meddle not with it," exclaimed several voices at once. " Touch it not, flafiz but send the cooly b ac k t o his wilderness, lest his wick e d eye should lead us into peril and rnisadventure." I . " NOW by that ancient sage," cried Hafiz, piqued into obstinacy, "By that ancient sage who first expressed the nectar juice from the ruby grape, and showed us a short cut to happiness, I'll taste the beverage of this woodman, undaunted by his evil eye. He comes so like those jovial souls who hang their wine-kegs round their necks in laughter-loving Kaferisthaumf that, may I go an in fidel out or the world, but I'll hug his Jaggery Pot, even though he were the Ghoulee Beettbau,t or guardian demon, of this infernal wilderness." Then filling a crystal cup with the sparkling beverage, he drained it to the dregs, and swore, by his fathQr's soul, that the wine ordained to kiss the lips of the faithful in paradise was nothing to be compared to the celestial liquor he had just quaffed.—From " Savindroog," in the Metropolitan Magazine. 4" God of War. In Kaferisthaun the use of wine is so prevalent that every Kafer has a hhig, or leathern bottle of wine about his neck : th-v drink wine instead of rater.—Memoirs of Bober. f The Affghans believe each of the numerous solitudes and deserts of their country to be inhabited by a lonely demon, whom they call the " Ghoulee Beeabau," or spirit of the waste. —Elphina•tone's Caubul. CURIOUS CASE.—On the morning of the 9th inst., at five o'clock, about two miles from Kilkenny, on the Water ford road, a man of the name of Stephen Nash, by trade a baker, was arrested by Constable Kelly. It appears he had been transported twice for felony from the city of Waterford. He was first transported in the year 1833 for stealing a watch. Alter remaining four years in Sydney, he availed himself of a favourable opportunity, and swam to a vessel bound for Lon don. Pursuit was made, but so soon as he discovered his pursuers he swam to a rock, where he remained until after they hsd made their search for him in vain ; he then re turned to the vessel, and so escaped. Strange to say, he re turned to Waterford, where he again committed another act of felony, and was again sentenced to the same punishment. But, stranger still, he found means to escape nearly in the same manner as before, wh'•n he was only about four months beyond the seas. He has been about Waterford since October, 1839. Ile came lately to the neighbourhood of Kilkenny, and Sergeant Kelly, who got private information about his movements, was on the look-out for him, and made good his capture as we have noti,s.ed before, when Nash was in the act of flying to another part of the country. He at first denied that he was the object of Kelly's pursuit, and called himself James Power ; but afterwards made a full and true confession. —Kilkenny Journal. EXTRAORDINARY CLAINI.—A fruitful subject for conversation has been furnished the gossips of Truro and the lower part of the county of Cornwall, by the publication of a claim to "the whole of the Ends of the ancieat Curio Colyn Carewen Earl of Cornwall de Bodrugon Lord Fanhope, Duke of Exeter." The lady by whom this extensive claim is thus publicly set up, signs herself " Ann Pewees Fletcher Nee Gully and Coryn ;" d ates h er residence, "39, B rewer -street, itegent's-circus, London," and describes herself as Leing only daughter and executrix and administratril, and residu ary legatee to the will of the late William Slade Gully, Esq." —Cornish Paper. Arrangements are now making in the garrison at ("Lai ham, for a grand review and ; haat fight, to commemorate anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, on the 18th instant (next Saturday). BAD TRADE AMONGST SHOP litiEPERS AT MANCHESTER. Al A NCIJESTE R, MONDAY.—A very numerously attended preliminary meeting of the shopkeepers of Manchester has this evening been held at the Spread Eagle Hotel, Hanging Ditch, to take into consideration the depressed state of their trade, and, seeing no prospect of escape from the general im pending ruin which threatens nearly all classes in the district, to determine what steps should be taken in order to make known their present alarming and distressed condition. Mr. G. H. Winneft, wire-worker. Hanging Ditch, was then called to the chair, and opened the business in a long speech, composed of statements of distress, and decay of tradesmen, which had come under his personal observation. Mt. JAMES HA mrsow, grocer and provision dealer, then moved the following resolution :—" That this meeting has heard with the deepest concern the appalling statements of im pending ruin to the different branches of trade with which they are connected ; that the distress has been long attaining its pre sent fearful aspect, and is daily increasing; that we see no possibility of the slightest alleviation, much less improve ment, so long as the great mass of our population shall remain unemployed, or but partially employed at inade quate wages, whilst food is at a price which places it wholly beyond their reach, and reduces nine-tenths of those who should be our customers to a state of pauperism, and to the necessity of being maintained at our expense, instead of supporting themselves in an honourable independence by their nen energy and industry." In moving this resolution, Mr. Hampson said he was one of those who had signed the circular calling the meeting, and it was not a matter of choice, lits thought, whether parties should come forward and state the condition of things around them, but. a duty they owed to the public. He said it was a matter of notoriety that the shop keepers were getting worse daily. The only thing . which kept them from coming forward to make the confession publicly, was the fact that it was too true, and the fear that it should be turned to their prejudice, by bringing their creditors upon them. They must naturally be getting worse : the people were earning less wages, there was consequently less money to spend among the shopkeepers, and they must of necessity be thinned and sunk down into the class beneath them.—( Hear, hear.) One of the evils arising from this less spending of money by the working classes amongst them, was the spirit of competition it gave rise to amongst the shopkeepers for the remainder of the business left ; a man when he did less business reduced his profits and prices, in the hopes of doing more again, and keep up his receipts. This could not last; some of them must give way, and be (Mr. Hampson ) had seen shops day by day closing around him. He pointed to the condition of the working classes, who kept getting worse, and so long as that was the case, what could the shopkeeper hope? 'their interests were bound up with those of the working men, and with them they must stand or fall. Within the last three weeks ten or a dozen men in a party had come to his shop, anti demanded relief, his wife gladly avail lug herself of the opportunity to put her own hand into the till to relieve them. Contributions ma his neighbours through the street were levied at the same time, and in the same manner. Now, these were small beginnings; God knew where they would end ! It was madness to think of resisting them, and he had ms.'e up his mind he would gladly see his shop stripped, if it would lead to the relief of the people; for the poor were dying around him of starvation in all directions.—( Hear.) Mr. Nraex, a broker, seconded the resolution, and followed up the statement already made with some facts tending to prove the wide-spread destitution of the working classes, and the con sequent suffering of shopkeepers. He said that in his own trade people were bringing articles to pledge if they could but get a penny upon them, but a great number of brokers bad ac tually such increased stocks, and had so far expended their capital that they could take no mere. Mr. GROOM E, linen.draper, said that shopkeepers he knew had not one-fourth nor one-sixth of the business they used to have with the working classes; and instead of good Saturday nights' trade these nights were now often not equal to other nights. Where he used to have six customers of the working classes he had but one, and these, too, were of an nferior kind, spending their money not upon new clothing, but upon rem nants and pieces for the purpose of repairing. The number of persons who came in to solicit charity was past belief. There were no less than five shops in his immediate neighbourhood which had been obliged to close. One tradesman was at a rent of 801., and that roan had stated to him that when he first took the shop his receipts for twelve months averaged 1001. a week; before he left the shop they did not amount to 20/. a week.—( Hear. ) Mr. OWEN, a tradesman sending hawkers into the neigh bouring villages, gave an account of his own trade, which had suffered to a great extent, and described the houses of working people, with whom his hawkers had dealt for years, as being almost stripped of furniture, though they were people of sober and industrious habits. Mr. JOHN GADSBV, printer and publisher, said in his own business many articles could not be got off hand at all, and said he was now paying one-third less wages, from his hands being thrown out of employ. Air. JAMES LUKE, house agent and rent collector, gave a shocking account of distress among the working classes. He mentioned property which he could recollect letting so well that. they had so frequently twenty or thirty names down in advance for the chance of becoming tenants now eight of the hou'es on one side of th e s t ree t were empty , though reducticn of :2/. 10s. has taken place out of 151. He knew collectors who were actually afraid to meet their principals, so little money ha:l they been able to collect of the rents of property intrusted to their care. Mr. PEATE, tailor and draper, said it was no use with holding statements for fear Gt creditors being brought upon them ; they would be infinitely worse off soon if such state ments; were not made, so that relief might be forced. He would tell them that he was a Manchester man, bred and born, at,d had lived in it all his life, and had always been able till now to earn a respectable living, notwithstanding he had a heavy rent to pay, but he did not hesitate to say that he was now in a different position—his capital was wasting before his eyes, and he saw no hope of employing it to advantage. Mr. Cadsby talked of the book trade being bad ; he recollected the time when he used to read himself, but he could assure them the whole of his time and energies were consumed to earn food for the bodies of his tamily.—( Hear, hear.) Instead of em ploying assistants, as he used to do, he had to do their work himself, and was becoming an emaciated, worn-out man in earning a bare living.—( Hear, hear.) The resolution, after a number of other similar statements, was passed unanimously. Mr. ABEL Ilk:moon, in a clever speech, then moved— " 1 hat under these circumstances, and with a view to the full consideration of the subject, and the adoption of means for the attainment of immediate relief, we deem it advisable that a public meeting of shopkeepers be convened on Thursday even ing next, in the Town-hall, at seven o'clock." 111 r. BIRCH seconded the resolution in an eloquent address, when the resolution was carried unanimously. i tt OY IT. We extract the following from a letter received from Dr. Lat.at, ex-surgeon of the Pacha of Egypt, and dated from Suez : Since the measures adopted by Mehemet Ali for giving complete security to Europeans passing through Egypt, the Isthmus of Suez becomes more and more the high road; by which civilisation passes into Asia and the eastern sh o res of Af: ; the Red Sea formerly so inhospitable to Christians is tow open to the commerce and industry of all nations. At Suez, Kosseir, Gedda, Massouah, and Mocca, French and English Consuls are found vieing with each other in lending assistance to the travellers and commerce of the different European nations. The English steam-boats on the Red Sea ply as regularly as on the seas of Europe. They make the passage from Bombay to Suez, touching at Aden in twenty days, and that to Calcutta in a month. Both lines dis embark at Kosseir the travellers who are bound for Upper Egypt, by going down the Nile f r o m K ena t o C a i ro . T wo days' journey on a dromedary are sufficient to go from Kos seir to the river. Such passengers as continue their read to Su.z, find in this town English and French diligences which cross the desert to Cairo in 24 hours. Frbm this city to Alexandria, the English have established a line of steam boats, by means of which travellers can go down the Nile in a single day. When once arrived on the shores of the Mediterranean, there is a double line of correspondence, French and English, to Europe. A circumstance worthy of remark is, that thanks to the abolition of the quarantine at South • ampton, a person can arrive at London or Paris more quickly by that route than by landing directly at Marseilles. In fact, the English boats, which repair directly from Alexandria and Southampton make the passage in 15 or 18 days. On their arrival in that port, as a quarantine of only 24 hours is required, it is evident that a traveller can reach London or Paris more rapidly than by Marseilles, where a quarantine of 25 days is exacted. This practice, which is founded on ancient pre judices, does infinite injury to Marseilles. The period ought to be reduced to five days at most when there have been neither deaths nor illness on board during the passage. This excellent system of the English allows despatches from the far thest part of India to arrive in London in less than six weeks, whereas it would take four times the period in making the circuit of the Cape of Good Hope. If the plan of a similar correspondence between the Isle of Bourbon and Suez can be put into practice, the French will be as well off as the English As the port of Suez is the most important intermediate point of the line of communication with the Indian Ocean, it is de siruble that it may always remain in the power of a neutral Government like that of Mehemet Ali, this being the only means of leaving it easily aecesiible to all nations. At present the utmost harmony reign's' hetivehnJ the , English and French Consuls, and it is to be hoped that no , political incident will occur to trouble this state of things so profitable to the general came of civilization." FACTORY FORTIFICATIONS.—We see that it is stated in the pamphlet of William Dodd, illustrative of the Factory System, that the factories of Messrs. Strutt, of Derby, at Belper and Milford, form regular fortifications. " I have made (he says) a few trips to the large cotton factories of Messrs. Strut!, which present the most singular appearance of any establishment 1 have met with in the whole course of my travel This is the principal, if not the only firm carrying on tie cotton trade in this neighbourhood ; besides their large factories in Belper, they have one at Milford, about a mile and a half from the town. The factories here are surrounded by fcrtifications ; and I have beets told that the other is guarded in a similar manner. The whole length of the works is about one hundred yards, and they extend along both sides of the road. Connecting the factories is a gallery across the road, about thirteen feet wide, supported by three arches. In this gallery are loop-holes for cannon, small arms, &c , which com pletely command all the approaches to the mills by the road. One pat tof their works is made bomb-proof, with loop holes similar to the above. The opposite building is nearly sur rounded by water, over which a small bridge is thrown from the road, which, I was told, could he easily removed in ease of ' danger. The river is made to cover two sides of the works ; in addition to which there is a high wall nearly all round, m ith many hundred loop-holes, from which those within might fire upon any crowds assembled outside. There are also other means of protection, which are too numerous to mention in this letter." We are not aware of any manufacturing establishment either in Yorkshire or in Lancashire that has its " Fortifica tions ;" and we believe that those of Belper and Milfot d are in this respect, if correctly represented, perfectly unique.— Leeds Mercury. linit - wicx.—A large dead whale, of the finner kind, was lately fallen in with off the coast of Dunrossness, by a small fishing-boat, and after considerable trouble was ulti mately towed on shore. It is supposed to have died from the effects of a shot or shell fired into it by some vessel. Being what is called a royal fish, measuring seventy-two feet in length, it was of course claimed by the Vice-Admiral, and sold at the high price of 471. sterling, by auction ; the salvors, however, valued it at 1001., but it is not expected to render so much oil as will give an adequate return for the cost and ex pense of flinching, cutting, boiling, &c. The carcase will also be turned to good account in making manure, and for this purpose is of considerable value.— Inverness Herald. Mr. Chief Secretary Murdoch will, we understand, nrocced from this to England with his family, to resume the Citifies of his appointment in the Colonial-office. We are not surprised at the preference evinced by 31r. Murdoch in the honourable alternative placed at his disposal. We regret, in common with every admirer of energy and talent, the departure of this gentleman from a country where those qualities have so usefully tested. We have, however, the satisfaction to know, that they will continue to operate beneficially to Canada in the Colonial Department, and must more than realise the ex pectations already formed of them.—Montreal Gazelle. The following eminent members of the medical profession bad a long interview on Tuesday with Sir .1. Graham, at the Home Office:--Sir Henry Raiford, President of the eyal College of Physicians ; Dr. Hawkins, Dr. Seymour, Dr. abington, Dr. George Burrows, Dr. Copeland, and Dr. 1 rederick Farm =~•J rifS.ll:4V RIOT AT NEW ORLEA g. (Correspondence of the Cottrier find Enquit er.) Jti W ORLEANS, MAY•2O-12 M.--linos, Moe, Sze.-- You are probably aware that during the suspension of specie payments by the banks of this eity the tl!re-e - mu nicipalities issued, on their pledged faith, a large ameunt of bonds of various denominations under five dollars, for the purpose of supplying small change in the absence of specie. These i ssues are supposed to exceed over $1,000,000 of which more than a third has been put forth by the smallest and poorest of the corporations. The extreme suddenness of the resumption precluded the possibility of adopting immediate measures for the redemption of these municipal notes, while at the same time it rendered their rapid depreciation a matter of absolute certainty. The poor and humble classes, as is usually the ease, were the sufferers. Yesterday the butchers refused them save at a ruinous rate of discount, and thq went on falling in value hourly throughout the day, until this morning the issues of the third and poorest municipality are refused in foto , and only negotiable at a discount of 50 to 60 per cent., and those of the first and second municipalities re ceived at the rate of 75 cents to the dollar. In this state of things, with the minds of the disorderly and motley classes—which compose the mass of a great city—in an exasperated and excitoable condition, an immense number of labourers and loafers, consist ing of French, Spanish, and Irish, with but few Americans, made their way before the Council Hall of the first municipality, and appeared to con template an attack on the edifice. The Mayor—Mr. Denis Prieur, a man of extraordinary popularity with these very peAle—harangued them, entre-ating them to disperse, assume- ' them that proj ec t s were t h en i n for mation for the redemption of the municipal issues, and, in short, employing every means of persuasion in order to arrest that frightful spectacle in a great city—a reck less mob. His arguments and plausible statements had the edict of inducing - the rabble to leave the council hall unscathed. But a cry arose among them, " A bas les courtiers de change" (downwith the money brokers), and in a twinkling a tremendous concourse, numbering seve ral hundreds, were rushing their headlong way along Chartres, towards Canal street, where the first and se cond municipalities unite, and where the brokers' shops are principally stationed. Before the slightest resist ance could-be offered, end almost before the residents of that part of the city became aware of what was in con templation, four or five large brokers' establishments were assaulted, broken into, and, I understand, gutted. One firm I know lost Bor 10,000 dollars. By the lime this disorderly scene had been enacted, the citizens be gan to recover from their alarm, and the police rushing into the midst of the mob, arrested about a dozen of the ringleaders and carried them to prison. At this moment the city is toierably cok . hlow long it will con:lune so I have nu means of discovering ; but there exists a determination on the part of the citi zens to preserve peace and order at all hazards. Quarter-past One o'Clock. About twelve O'clock it was rumoured that an attempt would be made to liberate the rioters from gaol, and it no doubt would have been carried through, but the Gc vernor very properly ordered out the military, and whets the rabble got up to the seeond municpality hall, they e pand 200 muskets with ball cartridges ready to give them a warm reception. I have no fears of any more riotous assemblages during the day time, but should not be surprised if something of the kind wtis to occur to night. Business is at a stand to-day ; nearly all the stores in Camp -street are closed. The weather is intensely hot—thermometer at present 69 in the shade— just the very kind of temperature to convert the most peaceably disposed citizen into a down right savage. ,SMOTHER MADAME LAFARGE. At the Assizes of the Rhone, on the 6th inst., the wife of a workman, named•Pre, was tried for attempt ing to murder him by cutting his throat with a razor. The victim of her fury escaped, bleeding profusely, betbre she could consummate her crime by repeating the attack, and with skilful attention recover, d in less than a month. The motive assigned for this offence in the act of accusation was jealousy, but the evi dence left no doubt that the woman was at the time, and had long been, labouring under monomania. On the day of the attack, after some words with her hus band, she had requested him to kiss her, and, on hits refusing to do so, she seized a razor and drew it across his throat. In her defence she declared that she had acted under a momentary impulse, for which she could not account, a n d it was proved that she was at the time under an impression that she and her fonr children had been drinking something which would cause death, and that she had attempted to murder her husband in order that the whole family might go out of the world together. She was very indignant, however, on her trial at the attempt of her counsel and the medical witnesses to establish her in sanity, and her replies were intended to T.ertibv&this belief from the minds of the Jury, but therewereloc casional symptoms of incoherence which left no doubt of the fact, and the Jury consequently returned a verdict of acquittal, after which the President of the Court ordered that she should be placed in . fa- lu natic asylum. In the course of the pleading - isr her cottn3el, he cited several instances of monomania to show that the prisoner was really insane, and in il lustration of his argument, amongst other cases, re lated the following extraordinary anecdote:—Madame Adelaide, sister of the King, in 1836, took under her protection a young lady of family, placed her at tr boarding-school, and received her frequently on holi days at her own apartments in the - palace. Suddenly the protegee announced to the schoolmistress and her intimate friends that she was about to be married, under the auspices of-her patroness, to a young Lieu tenant-Colonel, to whom she had been introduced by her Royal Highness, and in evidence of the truth of her assertions produced letters on the subject with the seal of the Princess, and in a handwriting which all acquainted with that of Madame Adelaide believed to be hers. Subsequent letters wore also displayed, in which her Royal - Highness was made to state, first, that the intended husband was detained away by his regimental duties—then that he was dangerously ill, and ultimately that he was dead and buried. The young lady upon this gave herself up to such violent grief that fears were entertained for her own life. The only consolation she would listen to was a permission to put herself into the mourning of a widow, and go to weep over the tomb of her lost lover. The under' governess accompanied her to the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, and, at the gate, desired to have pointed out the place of interment of Lieutenant-Colonel Count M., who had died a week before, at the age of twenty five. The Concierge searched the register, and then assured the inquirers that it did not contain the entry of any such burial, which consequently must, he said, have taken place elsewhere. This answer increased the despair of the young lady, who prevailed upon her attendant to go with her to the other cemeteries of Paris, at each of which they met with the like dis appointment. It was night before they returned home, and the stricken pupil retired to rest in deeper despair than ever. The governess, the next day, telt it to be her duty to go to Madame Adelaide, and re late all these mournful circumstances, taking with her the letters announcing the events which had so en tirely destroyed the peace of her pupil. The asto nishment of the Princess on hearing the extraordinary narrative, and at seeing letters apparently in her own hand-writing, but which she had never written, and recognising impressions from a seal which did really belong to her, could not be described. No such per son as Lieutenant Count M. was known to her Royal ighness, consequently she never could have contem plated any such alliance ibr her pupil, nor have an nounced to her his illness and death. In fact, the young lady had been induced by a morbid imagina tion to invent the whole tale--to purloin one of her patroness's seals, imitate her handwriting, compose the fictitious letters, and, by bribing an old servant, indme her to put them into the post. Her mind, hov ever, was affected with the same grief, from her own deliberate invention, 'as if all the circumstances had really existed. DEATH OF THE EARL OF ERNE.-HiS Lordship expired at his residence in the neighbourhood of London, on the afternoon of Friday, and is succeeded in his tit!eand estates by * Colonel Crichton, of Crum Castle, in the county of Fer marlagh, Lord-Lieutenant of that county, and one of the best iind most improving resident landlords in Ireland. The family is descended from a branch of the Crichtons, Viscounts Freu draught, in North Britain, which title ceased with Lewis, Ilse fifth Viscount, about the year 1690. An ancestor of Lord Erne's commanded a regiment of foot at the battle of Aughrim in 1692. Another was celebrated for his gallant defy nce of the family seat of Crum Castle, against a large body of King James's army. Having repulsed the assailants, young Crichton—for he was a very youth—made a sally at the instant that a corps of Euniskilleners were approaching to the relief of the castle, which movement placed the besiegers between two fires, and caused dreadful slaughter. The enemy, attempting to accomplish his retreat across an arm of Lough Erne, nei& Crum , Castle, that spot became the scene of such carnage, that it Las ever since borne the name of the " Bloody Pass. A. SISTER SHOT BY HER BROTIIER. —On Thursday las' at Lelarit Downs, near St. Ives, Cornwall, a miner, named John Edwards, aged 19, told his sister that he had some per cussion caps which he was about to try. She carne oot of her / 00111 to look at him, and, net knowing that the gu m was l oa d ed, the brother discharged the piece, when the %hole of the con t en ts lodged in the temples of his u n f or t unate s i ster, who dropped life'ess on the floor. A Coronet's inque s t h as h ible e ci t '''''al brother i(l'i:l'dati. uponbeentlilelibqlL'uoduit.: girl was a b out 1 6 years of age, and and a verdi ct returned of " Acei e' frantic with grief ever since. SPECIAL COMMISSION. —The Government, we un derstand, has decided on issuing a Spec al Commission within a fortnight or so of the vonnneneement of the Assizes—for the trial of the prisoners now in custody of the gaolers of Tippe retry ; and, in order to give eclat to the proceeding, the two Chief Justices, Pennelather and Doherty, have been selected to preside at the trials. That Tipperary is, or rather was, in a most disorganised state notiody can deny ; but we question whether a Special Commission will do touch towards restoring it to pert*, et t ratiquillitv. —Dublin Pilot. LIGHT (ot,H.—Some tradesmen are still deduct tug 3d. for every pain deficient. This is evidently unjust. There are 2411) half-grains in a sovereign of the current weight, and as a sovereign is equal in value to 240 1 ence, the trades man who buys gold at a penny the half- g r a i n must ga i n five pence if h e c an buy a, many grains as amount in value to sovereign. A letter from Ilesdin, of the sth instant, in the Progres do Pas de Calais, states that the Canton du Pareq has for a fortnight been infested with a band of robbers, so numerous and bold, that the Alagistrates have not dared to take any measures to stop their depredations. They are maid to use threats of incendiarism, and lay the inhabitants under contribution to save themselves from this terrible infliction, ne, 0) er' ''