The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-11-21 00:00:00

Nov. 21,1848. Kfttrature. POETRY. THE GOLDEN BOUGH. (From Willmott's Poems.) The Dardan Wanderer, doom'd to flee Over the ocean-desert wide, Still pined his father's face to see; Still for his father's arms he sigh'd.* Long time he sigh'd, nor sigh'd in vain : And hark ! his anxious heart beats high ; Blest promise of the Sibyl strain — The lonely wood at last is nigh. In doubt and prayer he lingers—lo ! He sees a little shadow pass; Two doves in all their silver glow, Softly alight upon the grass. Dear messengers of hope from heaven! Before his watchful eyes they glide ; And look I the sacred bough is given; And see! his father at his side! Sweet tale in Fancy's colours drawn : And has Religion's hand of light, Fairer than rosy-finger'd dawn, No moral in that song to write? Have we no path of gloom to trace? No cave of terrors to descend? No brighter Bough death's cloud to chase? No holier Prophet for our friend? Have we no vanish'd face to seek? • No hand that dried our childish tear? No lip that loved our infant cheek? No voice that soothed our sickness here? Long faded now is Eden's rose I But ever in its flowering youth The Tree of heavenly Wisdom grows, In God's green 'Paradise of Truth. Oh pluck this Bough of Gold! and soon, By Dove of whiter beauty led, Thy prayer shall reap a richer boon, A tend'rer Father crown thy head. r * The visit of Aneas to the Sibyl's cave, and the plucking of the Golden Bough, which conducted him to the abode of his father, Anchises, are in the recollection of every reader. NOTICES. The Spirit of the Gospel contrasted with the Spirit of the Law; a Sermon by the Rev: W. Pollock. Liver pool: Newling. This is the substance of a sermon delivered by the respected incumbent of St. Mark's, in this town, on the sth instant, to justify the reverend gentlemen's omission of the form of prayer appointed to be read on that day. The author denies that the service comes to us on the authority of the Church at all," and asserts that it " rests simply and entirely on an order in council." He objects also to the service as a form of prayer, though he " de nies not that the deliverances which it commemorates are worthy of being commemorated." He questions whether several of the expressions in the service have any " ten dency to subdue our spirits, and chasten them for the work of prayer; or whether they lead us in a suitable and happy frame to the Holy Communion (for the cele bration of which the service provides), that feast of peace and love ;" and whether it falls in with the gospel precept 'of forgiveness of our enemies, and with the prayer in the Litany for such forgiveness. Whilst showing every deference to Mr. Pollock's scru ples, we do not think he has established his positions in his usual unanswerable style. The following extract from the sermon will, however, show that he is not by any means influenced in the views he has propounded to his numerous and attached flock by the sinful indifference which guides so many in the pre sent day : " I object not to the service upon the grounds on which it is frequently objected to. It is not that I have any sympathy with the spurious liberalism of the day, which ' calling good -evil, and evil good,' does but libel while it usurps the sacred name of charity. It is not that I will ever hesitate to bear wit ness, as God enables me, against the deadly corruptions of Romanism, those blasphemons fables and dangerous deceits.' It is not that I would draw a veil over the instructive story of the past. No I would have all men to read—yea, I would to God they did read —intelligcntly, calmly, and sorrowfully withal—the whole dark history of Papal enmity against the truth, remembering still, as they go along, that it is Rome's own loudest boast, that she is unchanged and unchangeable. But while I would thus ever warn myself, my Church, and my country; while I would cut off my right hand before I offered • any sanction to anti-social, anti-Christian Popery; while in public and private, wherever the fitting opportunity presents itself, I will never shrink, I trust, at whatever sacrifice, from lifting up my voice against it—still I must love the Romanist • as much as I hate his Romanism." VARIETIES. It is with narrow-souled people as with narrow-necked bottles ; the less they have in them, the more noise they make in pouring it out. A. CONTRAST.—The State Government of South Caro lina' where th er e are 34,000 slaves to 260,000 free people, costs 43 47,000, or SI 33c. per free head. Massachusetts governs 800,000 free people for 57 cents per head. Even in the drama, says Frederick Douglass (North Star), when the poet presents the Moor of Venice as an African, the refined sensibility of American taste can only admit him to be played white ! Louis Blanc has written to the London papers to com plain of his having been obliged to leave the Luxembourg without a centime. Let him console himself. It is the lot of great men to get " more kicks than halfpence." CONSECUTIVE CONUNDRUMS.—What does the Ban of Croatia most resemble ? The Pest(h) of Hungary.— What does the Pest of Hung(a)ry most resemble ? Union Relief.—And what is Union Relief most li Ice ? A Divorce Bill. EDITORIAL TROUBLES.—The Victoria (Texas) Advo cate, of July 27, apologises for a lack of matter, by say ing that the senior editor was shot and badly wounded, the junior editor had the chills and fever, and there had been no mails there for two weeks. AN OBVIOUS INFERENCE.—An lowa stump orator, wishing to describe his opponent as a soulless man, said, " I have heard some persons hold the opinion, that just at the precise moment after one human being dies another is born, and the soul enters and animates the new-born babe. Now, I have made particular and extensive in quiries concerning my opponent thar, and I find that for some hours before he drew breath nobody died. Fellow -citizens, I leave you to draw the inference !" CHIEF JUSTICE MANSFIELD.—This great lawyer, pro bably with a view to prolong his own days, was always anxious, when old witnesses were in court, to know their customary habits of life. It so happened that two very old men named Elm were one day the objects of his inquiry. " You are a very old man," said his lordship to the elder brother, " I suppose you have lived a very temperate life ?" " Never drink anything but water, my lord," said Elm. " Nor you neither, I suppose ;" said the judge, addressing himself to the younger brother. When I can get nothing else, my lord," was the reply. " I always took my glass with my friend." " Well, then," replied his lordship, " all that we can say is, an elm will flourish wet or dry." WHAT IS LIBERTY ?—The various nations of Europe are attempting to solve the question in various ways. In France, since February last, it has consisted in the plant ing of trees and the erection of barricades, in the as3ertion of the right to labour, and the practical stoppage of de mand. Berlin and Vienna, Hungary, Lombardy, and the German states, would return much the same answer to the question as Paris. Every man is to do what he likes, —is that it ? The definition would appear somewhat too large. Some men are for cutting throats, and others for retaining their throats uncut. A desires B's horses, his sideboard of plate, his realty, his chattels, his choses in action. B desires, very naturally, to retain them for him self. The definition must at once be narrowed. B must be shorn of his goods, or A of his liberty; there is no es cape from the dilemma. Why, then, stir up a nation to its depths by mooting questions of impossible solution ? Why not acquiesce in the inevitable ? Why suggest to the suffering, the labouring, and the poor, that their toil and their misery are but mistakes in a problem ? Let the industrious and unfortunate be rather taught that in obe dience to law, and the maintenance of order, lies their only safety. The fate of the poor in an opulent and orderly community is bad enough ; in a country vexed by civil broils, and despoiled of its commerce, it is the lowest con dition to which humanity can be reduced. Such ' how ever, has been the continental system of late. The Euro pean hierophants of liberty in the nineteenth century have but succeeded in spreading a table just out of arm's reach of the hungry TANTALUS. — Times. A LOG-HOUSE IN THE BACKWOODS.—The log-house consisted of two rooms separated from each other with boards so badly joined, that crevices were in many places observable. Each room, from thirty to forty square yards; beneath one of the rooms was a cellar; the walls of the house consisted of layers of strong blocks of timber, roughly squared and notched into each other at the cor ners; the joints filled with clay. The house had two doors, one of which was always closed in winter and open in sumner to cause a draught. The fire was on the floor at the end of the building, where a grotesque chimney had been constructed of stones gathered out of the land, and walled together with clay mud instead of cement. The house was roofed with thin oak boards, nailed upon each other, so as just to overreach. The floors of the house were covered with the same material, except a large piece near the fire, which was paved with small stones also ga thered from the land. There was no window to the house. My hostess observed, " Upon the whole it was as well without, for in winter the house was warmer, and in sum mer than any window ." It is quite common to see at least one bed in the same room as that in which the fire is kept. There was no chamber, only a sort of loft, con structed rather to make the house warmer than for addi tional room. Adjoining one side were a few boards nailed together in the form of a table, and supported principally by the timber in the wall. This was dignified by the name of the sideboard. In the centre of the room stood another small table. covered with a piece of coarse brown calico ; this was the dining table. The chairs, four in number, were the most respectable furniture in the house, having bark of hickory plaited round for bottoms. Besides these there were two stools and a bench for common use ; a candlestick made of an ear of Indian corn, two or three trenchers, and a few tin drinking vessels. One corner of the house was occupied with agricultural implements, con sisting of large hoes, axes, &e. for stubbing, flails, and wooden forks, all exhibiting specimens of workmanship rather homely. Various herbs were suspended from the roof, also two guns, one of them a rifle, several hams and sides of bacon smoked almost entirely black, two or three pieces of beef, &c. Under one of the beds were three or 'four large pots of honey, of which Mrs. P. was not a little lavish, as she used it to every meal along with coffee. The "furniture in the other room consisted of two beds and a land-loom, with which the family wove the greater part -of their own clothes. In the cellar I observed two or three large hewn tubs, full of lard, and a lump of tobacco, the produce of their own land, in appearance sufficient to serve an ordinary smoker for his life.— The Yorkshire Partner in itlinoie. STORY OF A GUTTER. (From " Warren's Duties of Attorneys.") I am strongly tempted to give you two cases in point here, one of which came under my notice professionally, the other happened to myself personally. Some years ago, a neat little school was erected by a few charitable individuals, under the superintendence of an experienced surveyor. The building, inclusive of the ground on which it stood, cost about £1,400. Adjoining, on each side, were some small tenements, behind which ran a long open ditch, into which they drained, and all of them be longed to one individual. Along the back of the school, and in the course of the ditch, was constructed, with great care, a large barrel drain, repeated application being made to the owner of the adjoining premises, to know whether what was done was satisfactory to him as such adjoining pro prietor. He maintained an ominous silence till about six months after the erection had been completed, when ac tions were brought against the trustees of the school, for an alleged obstruction to the drainage of the adjoining house, and to the issuing of the smoke from the chimney of a small washhouse adjoining the school wall. To pre vent litigation, a small sum was offered to the Plaintiff, without prejudice, and under protest that no injury what ever had been done to his property. His attorney, how ever, rejected the offer, insisting on a sum so preposterous in amount that the defendants resolved to resist the ac tions. The causes came on for trial in due course. Two gentlemen, one now on the bench, the other in the House of Lords, ed for the respective parties, with a formidable array of witnesses, models, and plans. The causes were referred to arbitration. After many meetings, and the examination of a host of witnesses, among whom were six of the most eminent surveyors of the metropolis, the arbi trator awarded in favour of the defendants on all the is sues ; but the plaintiff succeeded in setting aside the award for a technical defect. On this the causes came on again for trial; were again referred, but to a different ar bitrator ; and, after a still more protracted reference, the arbitrator again decided in favour of the defendants, giv ing them all the costs, which were swollen to an appalling amount. By this time, however, the plaintiff in his turn begged for mercy, lamenting that he had ever been in duced to embark in such extensive litigation. He and his attorney afterwards got, as the phrase is, to loggerheads; I believe each sued the other ; both had reason to regret the issue; and, as for the defendants, I forget whether they succeeded in recovering the costs from the plaintiff. There was really no pretence for bringing the actions ; and even had there been, the sum offered by way of pur chasing peace was abundantly sufficient to have obviated any conceivable injury or inconvenience to the plaintiff; but he preferred to take the chance of eighteen months' harassing and expensive litigation and see the result. And what intolerable injustice arid cruelty towards the defendants ! A few months previously, I was not a little annoyed by finding that a leaden gutter, running along the roof of the stables which were at the back of our little garden, having given way, let the water run down into the aforesaid garden. In rainy weather this caused a nui sance which I resolved to get rid of ; so I wrote to the owner of the stables, a gentleman of fortune, who took no notice of three letters, which led to the fourth, in pretty strong terms. This elicited a very offensive answer, which I had in my hands when a client of mine came into my chambers. That client was your present president; and into his confiding breast I poured my sorrows. I insisted on his instantly issuing a writ, in an action on the case, " to bring my gentleman to his senses." • " Pho ! pho !" said my friend, " I'll set it right for you." But I'll not be insulted with impunity." " I'll take care that you are not," quoth he, but with a smile which I did not like. " Upon my word," said I, " I believe you are going to repair that gutter yourself." " No, no,' he replied ; " I will really take care that the matter is satisfactorily settled, both to your feelings and your interests ; so you may start to-morrow for circuit in peace. The next thing I beard was, that he had got up a " case" for the opinion of my late friend, Mr. John William Smith, who took care to start such a series of ingenious and perplex ing doubts as to my right of action as not a little asto nished and irritated me. Under these circumstances, it was said that the thing had better stand over till my re turn, as it did ; but by that time there was a capital new zinc gutter running along the entire length of the stable, and a little packet of letters lying on my table, headed " in re the Gutter !" and this consisted of a little corre spondence between your president and a highly-respecta ble attorney of the proposed defendant, who was a magis trate for the county of Middlesex, but an irritable person. When, however, our two representatives met, they laughed heartily at their respective clients, and said that they would rather put up the gutter at their joint expense than suffer us to go to law about it. This, however, was not necessary. My friend's opponent represented the matter in its true light to his client ; we were, it turned out, both staunch supporters of the same political opi nions, and knew several of each other's friends ; and he not only put up a new gutter in the very completest style, but wrote me a letter, couched in the handsomest terms of courteous apology. When I inquired some time after wards what were the costs which I had to pay, your pre sident said " Pho !" And when I told my friend, Mr. John William Smith how the Gutter business bad ended, he laughed kpoor soul!) immoderately, and said that he had taken uncommon pains with his " Opinion !" Now, gentlemen, suppose my opponent and I had fallen into the hands of such persons as he who figured in the fore going anecdote ! What a God-send each would have seen in that same gutter ! What a conduit-pipe for turbid and expensive litigation. I trust, gentlemen, that you will re gard these two incidents as not devoid of interest, but as somewhat apt illustrations of the course of conduct on which I have so earnestly commented in a previous lec ture. What mortification and suffering are inflicted or averted by those who disregard or observe such injunc tions ! AMERICAN ENTHUSIASM.—An American editor prints the following appendage to a marriage advertisement : " We caught a refreshing glimpse of this interesting and lovely pair as they whirled through Rochester on their matrimonial tour to our great American Niagara Falls, in the fulness of a love called into being by his devotion to the cause of our despised people. We wish our friend Cadwell long life and unending fields of happiness." THE MOST FAVOURABLE STATES FOR AN ENGLISH EMIGRANT. — In Michigan there were 60,000 square miles, and the proportion of inhabitants was 5 3.10 ; just a man, woman, or child, for every 640 acres ; the state, at the same time, being capable of supporting sixteen millions of people without being any more crowded than England. Illinois contained 52,000 square miles, and the number of inhabitants was only 9 1.10 to the square mile. This state was more fertile throughout than England was. There were no high barren mountains like those of Wales, Westmorland, and Cumberland ; and there was no ridge or backbone like that which runs from Northumberland through Derbyshire to the midland counties. Almost every acre of the land was capable of cultivation. In this state also there was room for the whole population of England. The state of New York contained 45,000 square miles, being only one-fifth less than the size of England, and had only 52 7.10 inhabitants to the square mile. An erroneous notion was prevalent that all the places near the coast were filled up ; but in the state of New York itself there was a whole county that had never yet been surveyed, having no inhabitants but a few In dians—and bears. There was no doubt that a careful man, going out with a little money, would find just as good a bargain in land in that state as farther west ; with the advantage also of ready communication with the sea by the port of New York. Pennsylvania contained 40,000 square miles, with only 39 inhabita n t s t o th e m il e ; no bl e rivers and delightful valleys, and abundant natural facili ties for dairy produce, and it abounded in iron and coal. Ohio contained the same number of inhabitants to the square mile as Pennsylvania, and in the centre of the state there was a considerable amount of prairie land, which, however, would require to be drained before it could become productive and healthy. Indiana contained 37,000 square miles, and 18 5.10 inhabitants to the mile. The vast state of lowa, on the western bank of the Mis sissippi, contained only the fifth part of a man to the square mile. Wisconsin, another state of vast extent, which was thickly peopled in its southern part by German settlers, who sometimes arrived at the rate of a thousand a day, contained 100,000 square miles, and had only three-fifths of a man to the mile. It was advisable for skilled artizans not to pass the Atlantic towns without making a trial for employment. Workers in iron should visit New York, Boston, Lowell, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Steubenville, and Louisville, before going far ther west. Agricultural labourers, however, should not stop a day in New York, but go instantly west, where, if willing to work, they might earn 3s. and 4s. a day.— Prentice's Lecture. THE ATTORNEY AT THE DEATH-BED SlDE.—Speaking of the sudden emergencies which demand the energies of the legal man, Mr. Warren says :—" Take a case which I glanced at in a former lecture ; your being sent for in haste to prepare the will of some one suddenly seized with mortal illness, or who has suffered from some dreadful accident, hurrying him to a premature death-bed. It may be a person of great wealth, whose property, both real and personal, is in a complicated condition—whose business transactions are extensive and intricate—who has a large family to provide for. He is suddenly !Alen, by the Su preme Disposer of events, to turn his pale face to the wall. Haste ! haste ! life is ebbing fast away ; his family are weeping around him ; but be is waiting for—is thinking of—you, in his agony and alarm ; he has but an hour or two—it may be less time—to live ;—he has, with this fatal imprudence, delayed making his will till this terrible mo ment, and you are now suddenly summoned, as the near est professional man accessible. Writing materials are at hand ; the medical man has ominously whispered that you have not a moment to lose, and he leaves you for a while with his dying patient. As you look on him—as you lis ten to him—are you flustered and bewildered ? Does your ill-regulated, turbid mind fail to follow your unhappy client, so that you do not distinctly perceive his intentions and wishes—intelligible though they really are—for the disposition of his property ; do you feel a sickening con sciousness that you cannot carry them into effect ; or do you, perhaps, imagine that you can when you really can not ? You draw up, however, a document, professing to secure the interests of many tenderly-beloved children, and other dear afflicted beings dependent upon the testa tor, and their very sobbings may be audible to you. Hav ing caused that instrument to be executed, you quit the apartment, assuring your client almost at the last gasp, that as far as regards his worldly affairs, he may depart in peace, and you depart with his feeble thanks in your ears, the pressure of his feeble finger on yours ;—and yet, the instant that the will comes into operation, it explodes, as it were, like a shell ! shattering every interest which it touches ! It plunges every body and every thing into in extricable confusion ; involves those whom your poor client best loved, in ruinous and sometimes malignant and interminible litigation : your blunder is proclaimed, can vassed, and sought to be rectified in court after court of law and equity ; you are unable to bear the agonizing but unavailing reproaches of those on whom your ignorance or incapacity has entailed such lamentable evils. You dare not go near the grave of him whom you have so dreadfully deceived and wronged."—Warren on Attorneys and So licitors. etneval The Bentinck testimonial now exceeds £lOOO. A wheat stack that was built fourteen years since is now standing at Lanchester, in Durham. The Sheffield burgess roll exhibits the startling decrease of 1925 burgesses during the current municipal year. So many sprats were caught last week at Teignmouth, Devonshire, that a large basketful was sold at the rate of ld. The cholera amongst the convicts at Woolwich has greatly abated. The Times denounces the Polish ball, which was held on Thursday night, 'as " a bitter mockery upon the sufferings of the English poor." The Duke of Cambridge presided at the annual meet ing of the Governesses Benevolent Institution on Thurs day. A few days since a pear, which weighed alb., and mea sured 14 inches in length, and 10 inches in circumference, was gathered in a garden at Waresly, near Stourport. A woman died in London on Sunday last, from the ef fects of an overdose of laudanum, which she had taken for the purpose of lulling herself to sleep. THE EDINBURGH CHARTISTS. — The jury have acquit ted John Grant of sedition, and found Robert Hamilton and Henry Ranken 2he convict Barber, who was sentenced to transporta tion for life, for being an accessory to forging a will, has been granted a free pardon. Seven fine sheep, which had strayed on the North Bri tish Railway, near West Barns, were killed by a passing train on Sunday week. Last week a child, three years old, was choked to death at Sheffield, by a piece of raw turnip, which had been given it to eat. A fishing smack was wrecked at Cellardyke, Fifeshire, on Friday week, and the crew, eight in number, were drowned. The cold has brought immense shoals of herrings to the coast. At Brighton the nets enclosed in one day from eighty to ninety thousand. Professor Owen, of the College of Surgeons, has given his opinion that the " great sea serpent," respecting which so much has been said and written lately, is a seal. Charles Anthony Dean, the inventor of the diving ap paratus, committed suicide in London last week, by cut ting his throat with a razor. Intense study had turned his brain. The female Esquimaux, who recently arrived with her husband in this country, died on the 23d of June, whilst returning in a vessel to Davis Straits. She was interred with Christian burial at Frow Island. DANISH CATTLE.—The vessel Eider arrived at the Brunswick-wharf, Blackwall, from Tonningen, has brought the large number of 198 oxen and cows, consigned to order, the produce of Denmark. The Governor, the Chaplain, and the Wardswoman of the Hull gaol have been dismissed from their res pective offices, on the recommendation of Mr. Hill, her Majesty's inspector of prisons, for neglect of duty. Mr. Robt. Chambers, the writer and publisher, was proposed for Lord Provost of Edinburgh, but rejected by the electing body on account of peculiarities in his theolo gical opinions. A Scotch paper mentions that on Friday two fishermen belonging to a St. Andrews' fishing boat, who were indulg ing in some rough play while their craft was at sea, fell overboard and were drowned. ENORMOUS OTTER.—On Wednesday Jonas Jowett, a workman employed in the paper mill, Otlev, on the banks of the Wharfe, captured an otter, weighing no less than 26th, and measuring four feet two inches. JOSEPH ADY MADE SAFE.—Joseph is now an inmate of Tothill-fields prison, where he is confined for a debt due to the Postmaster-General for the postage of returned letters. A Staffordshire paper mentions that, on Tuesday week, a man who was carrying a sick girl upstairs to bed, at Bloxwich, accidentally slipped, and fell backwards with such violence that the patient immediately expired from the shock. On Thursday, a Sheffield table-knife grinder's grind stone, turned by steam, suddenly broke into several pieces, and one of the fragments striking his daughter, aged 12 years, who had just gone into the factory with her father's tea, killed her on the spot. On Saturday, notice was affixed to the entrance of the Royal Pavilion, at Brighton, announcing the intention of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to apply for power at the ensuing parliamentary session to dispose of the royal property and ground attached by public auction. A HAPPY COUNTY.—In the county of Pembroke, says the Principality, there is not a single policeman, and, notwithstanding their absence, the High-Sheriff was en abled at the last March assizes to present Justice Wil liams with a pair of white kid gloves. Mr. Thorneycroft, the new Mayor of Wolverhampton, has purchased the mace of that borough (which was ori ginally given to it by the Duke of Buckingham, in 1842, and afterwards returned to him), and has presented it again to the corporation of that place. In consequence of the reduction in the Bristol Dock Dues, a large Newport ship has just been ordered to the former port with a cargo from Quebec, instead of going to Newport; Bristol being now considered by her owner a cheaper port than Newport. THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM.—There has been a re markable movement in Rochdale respecting the sacra ment of baptism. Almost every Sunday there are adult baptisms in this church. There have been no less than forty from January last to the present month, and in pre vious years many others have occurred. THE MURDER AT STROOD.—OR Thursday evening the coroner's jury concluded their inquiry at the Guildhall, Rochester,.—The jury returned the following verdict : " That the deceased, Mary Abbott, died by suff.cation, having been murdered by Maria M'Gill, Thomas Gill and James M'Gill. CONSERVATIVE MAYORS.—After a lapse of twenty years, Durham has a conservative mayor in the person of W. Henderson, Esq., of whose fitness for the office it is enough to say that the majority of the Council are radical in politics. Norwich has also this year a conservative mayor, after a lapse of thirteen years. The Mining Journal notices a newly invented razor, with a guard which so effectually protects the skin from the cutting operation of the razor that the manipulator may shave upwards, downwards, and in every direction, as quickly as he pleases, without the slightest danger, or even possibility of injuring the skin. CRUELTY.- -At Southwark police office on Friday, a man, named Hanison, and his wife were committed on a charge of illusing their own daughter. The poor creature was in a state of starvation, and bore marks of severe chastisement, and was seen to eat ravenously potato peel ings and fish bones designed for an animal. A shepherd died a few days since in the Leeds Infirm ary, from the effects of a wound which he had received in his left thigh, while he was using a knife to dress the feet of a sheep. During the operation, the animal suddenly started, and came in such violent contact with the knife, that its blade was driven into his thigh, and penetrated the femoral artery. On Wednesday the Adelphi Theatre, Glasgow, was totally destroyed by fire. By a curious coincidence, at the time the flames were first discovered the performers were rehearsing the play of " The Ocean Monarch, or the Ship on Fire." The loss on the building will be above £2OOO, and the loss in furniture, dresses, &c., w ill b e very great , as no insurance was effected. In May, 1840, when an additional grant was applied for in the House of Commons in order to complete Mr. Bab bage's machine, Mr. Wakley inquired whether it was likely to be of any use to the public ? Upon this Sir Robert Peel felicitously replied that "the machine should be put to calculate the time at which it would be of any use." The machine is now in King Geo. lll's Museum at King's College, London. , A verdict of manslaughter has been returned against a midwife at Worcester, for alleged misconduct in attending a woman in her confinement. The surgeon who had been at length called in deposed that the child, on his arrival, was born up to the head, and had remained so for nine hours. It was dead, and had been so for several hours. The mother was sinking when he first saw her, and she died soon after. Mr. Padmore, the newly-elected mayor of Worcester is a dissenter, and has refused to comply with an imme morial custom of attending Divine service at the Cathe dral; nay more, his " conscientious scruples" were so constraining, that they compelled him to abrogate the " civil and religious liberty" of all the other members of the Corporation, and absolutely to prohibit them from attending the Cathedral "in form." __ . 62 instead of 65 is the reported number of cholera cases for the week in the metropolis. In Edinburgh the pesti lence still continues unabated, 642 being the total number of the last return from that town and neighbourhood ; of these 310 have been fatal. The whole number of cases in England and Scotland is stated at 1,015, of which 509 have been fatal, only 169 recovered, whilst in 337 instances the termination is not known. Mr. Price, of the Dolphin, Broad-street, Bath, received a letter by the post on Monday, bearing the Chippenham post-mark. Upon opening it an explosion took place, and blew one part of the letter to atoms ; and although luckily it only tore a small piece of skin from his face, it might have done him a very serious injury. In another part of the letter there was another portion of combustible matter that did not explode. One day last week, a gentleman who visited an inn at Taunton accidentally dropped a £lO note in the passage, and did not discover his loss until the following day, when he returned in order to make inquiries after the note. He then learned that on the previous day a dog had carr i e d into the bar a mangled note, which was secured by the landlord, who accidentally observed the value of th e paper, and which proved to be the missing £lO note. SINGULAR ACCIDENT.—On Saturday week, a little boy about four years of age, named James Hardcastle, and another boy were coming from school at Kirkburton, Wakefield, the former was trying to get on his compa nion's back, and in doing so fell to the ground upon his head. From the post mertem examination it appeared that death had been caused by water on the b ra i n , caused by the fall, and a verdict in accordance was returned. The Poor Law Board have appointed Lord Courtenay, M.P., to be an inspector of the unions in the count i es of Dorset, Southampton, and Wilts. Lord Courtenay's father is the owner of an estate worth £16,000 a-year in the county of Limerick, and one of £BOOO a-year in Devon. The poor rate in Ireland has eaten up both, and reduced Lord Courtenay's father's son to the condition of a pauper upon the out-door list. NEWSPAPER AFFAIRS.—The present year has witnessed greater changes'among the country newspaper press than any previous year of which we have knowledge. The mortality has been extraordinary. In Newcastle the Advertiser is dead. In Birmingham, the Advertiser, too, is gone. In York, the Courant has been discontinued. In Sheffield, the Iris and the Mercury are no more. In Manchester, a few weeks ago, the Advertiser was incor porated with the Times, and now the Times itself is amal gamated with the Examiner, the one paper bearing the names of the two. Profitable newspapers do not die. The owners of two paying concerns do not lay ihcir heads together to convert them. i nto one. THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. NEw MODE OF SHOPLIFTING.—SeveraI men combine; they fix upon a valuable article in a shop window and near the door ; then, crowding about the entrance, one of them feigning intoxication, asks for some trifling thing at the counter. On turning to go out he stumbles, in order to make a confusion, and the theft is committed by his col leagues. Two busts have been modelled of Lori George Ben tinck, one in miniature by Count D'Orsay, the other of life size by Mr. Matthew Wyatt. The eloquent testi mony of Mr. Disraeli to the felicitous skill with which Count D'Orsay has " reproduced the blended energy and beauty" of his noble and lamented friends physiognomy, and to " the living resemblance of George Bentinck " that this bust presents, renders other praise superfluous. SELLING HORSES BY WEIGHT.—On Thursday last Mr. Fickling, dealer, of Brandon, who attends that market, offered two young colts for sale for £l2, but finding no person willing to purchase at that price, he was offered ss. per stone for them, which he accepted. The colts were taken to Lakenheath next day, when the weight was found to be 65 stone, which, at ss. per stone, amounted to £l6 55., thus realizing a good profit to the seller.— Suffolk Herald. PRINCE ALBERT'S STOCK.—Prince Albert's annual sale of live stock has just taken place at Norfolk FArm. There was a large attendance of dealers, and the animals fetched good prices. The stock sold, independently of yearling fillies, included 73 fat Southdown ewes, 83 two-tooth ewes of the same breed, 11 short-horn barren cows, 4 Alderney cows in calf, 20 Welsh cows in calf, 13 Welsh heifers 31 shorn-born heifers, beside s h a lf-b re d Hereford heifers, and a very fine Hereford ox. At a meeting of the Andover Town Council, to choose a mayor, several gentlemen begged to decline accepting the office which was offered to them ; and, ultimately, six names were put into a hat, whence one was drawn. Mr. Mortimore, whose name came forth from this ballot, was forthwith declared the new mayor, but he immediately left tie council-chamber, saying that he would rather pay the fine than serve, though it is thought that when his irrita tion has cooled he will accept the office. REMARKABLE CIRCUMSTANCE.—The general failure of the potato crop in the neighbourhood of Kenchester, and Bishopstone, in this county, is pretty well known; but there is one most remarkable exemption which is worthy of record. Amidst the most universal wreck, the crop on the Bunshill estate has been gathered entirely in a sound state, and quite unaffected by the disease. The same was the case last year. It does not appear that any peculiar culture was resorted to to obtain this result.—Her9ford Journal. DESTRUCTION OF A VESSEL BY FIRE.—On Tuesday, a Scotch schooner, named the George, Mr. Mills, master, bound to Arbroath, which had sailed from Sunderland on the preceding evening, with a cargo of lime, was driven on Herd Sand, near Shields, where she beat heavily. The sea broke over her and got amongst the lime, which quickly heated and set the vessel on fire. As soon as practicable a large number of hands boarded the vessel and adopted every possible means to extinguish the fire, but ineffectu ally. The vessel burned the entire night, and on Wed nesday morning was a total wreck, being burned to the water's edge. She was insured to the amount of £7OO. REJOICINGS AT BRlSTOL.—Tuesday was kept as a pub lic holiday at Bristol, to celebrate the freedom of her port Early in the morning the whole of the shipping, from the Stone-bridge to Cumberland-basin, a distance of two miles, were dressed up in the flags of all nations. In the course of the day a procession took piece, unrivalled in the annals of the port —a procession of the trades, headed by the members for the city,,the mayor and corporation, ac companied by fifteen bands of music, and numbering over 16.000 persons in its ranks. It reached one mile and a half ; and as amidst the roaring of cannon and the ringing of bells it passed through the public streets the cheers of the congregated multitude rent the air. DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM.—On Tuesday, Mr. Car ruthers, a gentleman of fortune, residing at Dormount, Annan, lost his life from the incautious application of chloroform. It appears that the deceased was afflicted with asthma, and having found relief from inhaling the subtle vapour, had frequent recourse to it. On Tuesday he was found sitting at the table in the position in which his servant had left him on the preceding night, but it was soon discovered that the unfortunate gentleman was quite dead, and to all appearance life had been extinct for some hours. On the table was the evidence of the fatal occurrence—the handkerchief which he had used in applying the chloroform to his mouth.—Carlisle Patriot. MURDER AND RIOT IN CARDTFF.—On Sunday, an Irishman, named Conners, stabbed a Welshman with a knife, in consequence of a street row, which had its origin in the bad feeling that exists between the Welsh and Irish " navvies" in Cardiff. The man died, and his friends be came riotous. On Monday evening the excited and ex asperated populace attacked the dwellings of the Irish, broke their windows, burst open their doors, and burnt some of their furniture, and had it not been for the inter ference of the police a serious riot would have been the consequence. They also attacked the Catholic chapel, demolished the windows, and did considerable damage to the priest's house. NOMINATION OF SHERIFFS.—The nomination of she riffs of counties for the ensuing year took place on Monday last. We select the following from the list :—Yorkshire —Octavius Henry Cyril Venables Vernon Harcourt, of Swinton-park, Esq. ; Sir Henry Lowther, of Swillington, Leeds, Bart. ; and Andrew Montague, of Melton-on-the- Hill, near Doncaster, Esq. Cumberland—Andrew F. Huddlestone, of Hutton John, Esq. ' • Thomas Salkeld, of Holm-hall, Esq. ; and George Head Head, of Rickerby house, Esq. Cheshire—Thomas William Tattoo, of Withershaw, Esq. ; Sir Arthur Ingram Ashton, of Ashton, Bart. ; and Thomas Marsland. of Henbury, Esq. Durham —John Eden, of Beamish-park, Esq. ; Frederick Acklom Millbanke, of Hart, Esq. ; and Robert Hildyard, of Hors ley, Esq. (41 humberland—Wm. Hodgson Cadogan, of Brinkburn Priory, Esq. ; Sir Walter Claverley Trevelan, of Wallington, Bart. ; and John Hodgson Hinde, of Stel ling-hall, Esq. MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.—A painful event has happened in the family of Mr. Matthew Trickett, in the village of Carisbrooke, which has plunged into grief the relatives and friends of an amiable young lady, about eighteen years of age, who, in a moment of delirium, produced by wrong impressions, committed suicide. It appears that a disagreement had arisen beween her and other young members of the family, which so affected her mother, who was in poor health, that she fainted. Deceased, thinking her parent was dead, ran out of the house in a frantic state, and was not seen or heard of by her friends until Friday evening, when a rumour reached her home that her body had been washed up at Cowes. At the inquest the body was identified by a sister residing near. The body was found on the shore, about four miles from her home, and her footsteps were traced on the sand. The verdict was " Found Drowned." MURDER AT ST. LEONARD'S-ON SEA.—Great excite-• ment has prevailed at St. Leonard's since Sunday morn ing, in consequence of a robbery to a large amount having been committed, during service, in the house of Miss M. A. C. Moore, of Catharina-villa, above the Quadrangle, accompanied by a violent assault upon the cook, who has since died in consequence of the injuries inflicted on her by the thief. Among the articles stolen were a lady's gold watch, an old pinchbeck watch, two gold keys, a small French watch set with pearls. a bunch of seals, and several gold necklaces and rings. The cook, who was 60 years of age, and had lived in the family 25 years, was in sensible when found in the passage, and she never re covered her consciousness till the time of her death, which took place on Tuesday. John Pearson, who for merly lived as coachman in the family, and who had often quarrelled with the cook, is in custody, charged with the Jobbery and murder. HAS A CAT NINE LIVES ?—A most extraordinary circumstance lately occurred at Bedford, which has given rise to much discussion and speculation. It apperas that Mrs. Halfhead, of Harpur-place, had three kittens, and it was thought proper only one should be kept ; accordingly orders were given that two should be forthwith drowned, and two were drowned, says our informant. The dead kit tens were then buried in the garden. Six weeks after wards a kitten was seen to come out of the ground on the spot where the two unfortunates had been buried, and it was immediately recognised as one of those identical vic tims ! To remove all doubt about the matter, the ground was turned up, and only one dead kitten found in the hole. It is supposed that it was a case of suspended animation, and, if so, it is the most protracted case of the kind that has come to our knowledge. At all events the cat is alive and well, but much smaller than its brother, who did not go through the process of drowning and burying.—Bed fbrd Times. Trig BEGGING TRADE IN LONDON.--At the missionary meeting in Bristol, last week, the Rev. John Branch, of London, said that, two or three years ago, when engaged as a missionary, he went to a house in Westminster, in which lodged a large number of persons, the only test of whose characters consisted in their ability to pay 3d. per night for their beds. In one room of the house he found forty persons seated round a large fire, close by the side of which was a young woman, with a baby in her arms, not more than nine months old. From the hectic flush upon the poor infant's cheek , and its short hacking cough, he saw that it was fast dying. He asked the young mo ther if she was aware of that. She replied, " she knew her poor child was dying, and, God help her, she did not know what she should do when it was dead." He asked why ? " Because," she replied, " she begged with it ; and when it was dead she should have to give 9d. a day for another to beg with." This was a common practice in London. He had been in a shop where women were re gularly fitted out as widows, and where a stock of children were kept to be let out at 9d. a day each, to accompany professional beggars. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MACHINERY.—By the last arrivals from New York and Boston it appears that the iron-masters are becoming alarmed at the large importa. tions from this country during the present year. Although iron is very plentiful in different states, it is, generally speaking, of an inferior quality compared with British, in respect to ductility and tenacity, and, consequently, but ill-suited for shipbuilding and machinery. It is a singular fact that the boilers of the United States steam-packets, the Ocean, Washington, and Hermann, from New York to Bremen, have each become out of order during their trips, and obliged to undergo a repair before putting to sea aga'n, whilst those of the British North American royal mail packets from Liverpool, Halifax, Boston, and New York, have not yet experienced the slightest acci dent, either to boilers or machinery, which are of British manufacture. We do not make these remarks out of any prejudice, as we are aware that great improvements are being introduced in the manufacture of iron in the United States, but at present their metal, either wrought or cast, is not equal to that of England—for rails and chairs it may do, but for shipbuilding purposes and machinery it is not suited. As we stated in a former number, a company has been formed at New York for building six large transatlantic steamers, the engines and boilers of which, we understand,,are to be made of British metal. The French attempted a line of steam-packets last year be tween New York, Havre, and Cherbourg, which proved a failure, in consequence of the inferior quality of their machinery, which was made by French contractors.— ' Mining Journal.. DEATH OF A MISER. — An inquest was held on Thurs day, at Smithfield, London, touching the death of David Thomas, aged 75, formerly a solicitor, and late a money lender, well known in the commercial world as a man of immense wealth. The deceased lived in a room in a house in Smithfield, in the most penurious manner; he some times divided a herring for a meal, and almost denied himself the common necessaries of life. In his pocket was found a check for £lOO, and in his room were two boxes containing deeds and documents relating to cash affairs at his bankers. The cause of his death was stated to arise from exhaustion, occasioned by the want of proper food. A GASTRONOMICAL TRICK.—A curious experiment has been practised by some railway excavators on a woman at Swallow Nest, with whom they lodged, and whom they suspected of helping herself rather too freely with their victuals. Having procured a cat, they skinned and dressed it the same as they would have done a rabbit, and in this state took it to their lodgings, and gave it to the suspect ed pilferer to make a pie. She carefully obeyed their or ders, and having baked it, placed the dainty dish before her lodgers, who pretended that the crust was too rich for their stomachs, and made the woman a present of it. She gladly accepted the gift, and it being a delicacy which she was not accustomed to eat, she very much enjoyed it.— Sheffield paper. SINGULAR Loss TO THE CUSTOMS.—A curious custom house case was discovered en Wednesday, and made much merriment in the city. A merchant entered 700 foreign watches, apparently gold, for payment of duty, valuing them at £770, and at that rate offering to pass them for duty. The custom-house officers, conceiving them, in their wisdom, to be much undervalued, took the watches to account, and paid the merchant importer the £770, with the 10 per cent legally exigible and additional in such case. On Wednesday, the watches were, in the usual way, put up to auction at the Commercial Rooms, Mincing-lane, when for the first time it was discovered that the watches were of brass, tinselled over with gold, and not worth £7O. It remains to be seen whether the loss in this, as in other cases, will be charged to the trea sury, the profits, when such there are, being always taken to account of the customs fund.—London paper. MUNIFICENCE OF JENNY LIND.—We are informed that the net proceeds of the provincial tour of engage ments Madlle. Lind is at present fulfilling, calculated to amount to something near £6,000, she intends to trans mit to Stockholm for the completion of the hospital com menced under her auspices, and by funds raised at a con cert she gave in that city, when leaving home for England to take her place at her Majesty's Theatre last season. If we add to what has already been realised for this phi lanthropic object, the further sum she intends to devote, the £lBOO she cleared for the Brompton Hospital, the £5OO left by her and her companions in Dublin, the £2OO sent on her account to the Norwich Festival , the sum raised for the Covent Garden corps, the numerous small sums that have been scattered abroad by her in every direction, and count also upon the amount yet to be realised by her gratuitous concerts in Manchester, we think no one will deny that, though her remuneration as a vocalist and an actress may be high, her hand is liberal in dispensing what it receives, for the best purposes. PARTY JOBBING.—A contemporary says, " In Chelten ham, whenever any local office, however unimportant or unprofitable, becomes vacant, a movement is immediately made by the Liberal party to possess themselves of tile same. Through the supineness of the Conservatives, the Whigs have hitherto secured a monopoly of the local offices, at least nearly all of them which are worth having, either for emolument or honour." One instance, among others, of this is given in the election of two relieving officers. Two candidates were generally approved of as the most eligible, but being Conservatives, six ex-officio Whig guardians, rarely attending the meetings of the board, and knowing nothing of the merits of the compe titors, stepped in and turned the scale in favour of their opponent. In point of fact, this system of jobbery is now pervading all England, from the highest department of the state to the lowest parochial office. To be a Conser vative is, in the eyes of an oppressive ministry and their rapacious hangers-on, to be unworthy of trust, yet this is the sort of government that declared its intention to rule without patronage.—Hereford Journal. WELCH FLANNEL.—During the Queen's recent visit to the Highlands she happened to meet with a lady from Wales who was dressed in the national flannel. The Queen was much pleased with it, and obtained from her fair informant the name and address of t he humble weaver of the admired article. Her Majesty commanded that an order should be despatched to the weaver, who resides in Neath, for a large quantity of the same material. The honest Cambrian, not being used to receive epistles from such high quarters, could not understand what it was all about ; so he carefully folded up the letter and put it away, thinking that the safer course. The lady had by this time returned from her visit to the Highlands to the neighbourhood of Neath; and, thinking it not unlikely that the Queen might have ordered the man to be written to for the flannel, went to him, and asked him if he had had a letter from the Court ? Finding that he had, but had done nothing with it, she informed him of the real state of the case, and, selecting from the astonished weaver's stock such flannels as she thought would suit, immediately despatched them to her Majesty. The lady had scarcely done so, when a second letter from the Queen was left at the man's house, demanding why her Majesty's commends had not been attended to.—Cambrian. FRATERNITY.—At the dinner given by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion-house, on Thursday, at which most of the cabinet ministers were present, M. de Beaumont, the French Ambassador, spoke as follows :—" I hope I may be allowed to take first this opportunity of offering to you, and to all persons here present, the best thanks of my country for the cordial hospitality which has been of late so kindly bestowed on a great many of my countrymen, on their visit to this large metropolis. (Cheers.) The land of England is a land of liberty—(great cheering)— and of hospitality for all foreigners ; but it will be permit ted to me to say that it is, moreover, a land of friendship for Frenchmen. (Cheers.) England has opened her heart as well as her frontiers to Frenchmen. I dare say that she thought she did right in doing so. She did right for her own interest. A noble country like England, in order to be admired and blest, wants only to be known, The best answer that she can make to still existing, though every day vanishing prejudices, is to show herself to every eye. Let us, my lord, enjoy—let Europe, let all the people of Europe enjoy—the blessing and the benefit of that mutual good understanding which is, and will ever be, the best security of the maintenance of the peace of the world. We no mere entertain, neither in England nor in France, that false opinion, that the prosperity of one country is founded upon the misery of the other.—(Loud cheers.) SCREW PROPELLERS.—On Monday the Earl of Auck land, First Lord of the Admiralty, with Captain Ellice, Mr. Edye, and Mr. Lloyd, met Captain C a rpenter at the hall of the Polytechnic Institution, London, to see his model of a vessel worked, not by a single propeller placed in the " dead wood," but by two propellers, one under each quarter, each propeller being joined to a shaft out side the frame of the vessel. The invention, in its infancy, was described in these columns ten years ago, but the apparatus was then to be worked by manual labour at a windlass ; this is now to be superseded by steam, and Captain Carpenter states, as the result of a vast number of experiments which he has made, that greater speed can be attained, and more power effectually used, by means of two propellers thus placed, than by any other method that has been devised, whether with the screw or with the paddle-wheels. This mode of construction pro mises also other advantages, such as more stowage-room than with the dead-wood propeller and its shaft along the middle of the ship, less vibration, and greater facility of detaching the propellers when that is to be done. The propellers may have either flat blades or curved vanes, but Captain Carpenter seems to prefer the flat blades, of which Mr. Taylor is patentee. The model will remain at the Polytechnic. Institution. It was passed along the water by means of a common clock-spring wound up. Lord Auckland stayed for nearly an hour, and seemed to take a deep interest in the whole subject of screw pro pelling. LORD CARDIGAN AND CAPTAIN NOEL.—We find that not long after his liberation from the second arrest, Capt. Noel, not being exactly on the spot where at the moment he ought to have been, Lord Cardigan peremptorily called out to him, " Captain Noel, go to your troop, sir!' To which order the captain replied, " I am with my troop, sir ;" being immediately answered by his lordship, " You are not, sir ; none of your London manners here !" Hurt by the colonel's words, he asked for a private interview, at which he asked Lord Cardigan why insulting language had been applied to him on parade, in the presence of his troop ? The answer received was, " Get out of my room, sir ! ' Thereupon Captain Noel laid the whole matter before the Commander-in-chief, who, after a considerable correspondence with the parties, directed, through the Adjutant-General, that Captain Noel should apologise to Lord Cardigan, a direction with which Captain Noel, in the presence of the Adjutant-General, Lord Cardigan, and authorities, refused to comply. The Honourable Captain Noel is member for the county of Rutland ; his father, the Earl of Gainsborough, is a supporter of the go vernment,though the captain himself is a Conservative; his maternal uncle is Sir G. Grey, the Home Secretary, and his stepmother is lady of the bedchamber. Captain Noel writes to the commander-in-chief, expressing his wish to obey his grace's commands, but praying in the first in stance for a court of inquiry. The Duke of Wellington refuses the court of inquiry upon principle, and a court martial is impracticable, for before such tribunal Lord Cardigan must prefer his charge. Here the matter rests. DISTRESSING CASE.—Amongst the applicants for as sistance, on Thursday at Lambeth police-office, was the once celebrated Miss Ducrow, who some years ago had charmed the hearts of half the playgoing young men in the metropolis, by her extraordinary feats in horseman ship at the theatre of her brother, the late Andrew Du crow. From the statement of the poor creature it appear ed that 13 years ago she married Mr. Broadfoot, then her brother's prompter, who treated her with kindness until the death of her brother, but since that time his conduct towards her had been quite the reverse, and he ultimately left her to live with another woman. Owing to his deser tion, and her being unable to obtain anything to do in her profession, she was reduced to such an extremity as to be obliged to go Lambeth workhouse and became an inmate there for some time. She left the workhouse in the hope that her mother would allow her to live in her apartments, or give her shelter, out this she refused to do. She then applied to one of the relieving officers of Lam beth parish, for relief, but he refused to give her any, and she was at that moment in the greatest destitution. In reply to the question of the magistrate, the applicant said her brother had died possessed of considerable property, which he left to his wife, formerly Miss Woolford, and who, since his decease, again got married. He had, how ever, settled a weekly stipend on his mother of 305., and the sum was paid to her every Monday morning. The last time the applicant heard of her husband he was stage manager at a theatre in Glasgow, where he no doubt had a good salary. Mr. Norton directed that 10s. be at once given to the poor woman for her immediate relief, and that a communication should be made to the husband, with the view of compelling him to provide for her main tenance. CAUTION TO QUACKS. — Matthew Symes, baker and beerhouse-keeper, of Burstock, Dorset, has just been committed to Dorchester gaol to await his trial at the assizes for the offence of manslaughter. Symes had ino culated two of the children of John Hoare, a dairyman, though repeatedly admonished that he was acting illegally in inoculating children, which he appears to have been in the habit of doing. Both the children died, and it was proved on the inquest by a medical man that they had died from small pox, received through inoculation and not naturally. The coroner, Mr. Cory, called the attention of the jury to the 3rd and 4th Victoria, cap. 29, which makes inoculation illegal, and a jury of 18 respectable persons returned a verdict of " manslaughter" against Symes. INFLUENCE OF LEVEL ON ASIATIC CHOLERA. —Let us now ask ourselves this question—Why is it that there was such an immense majority of cases on the south side of the river ? I answer—On account of the low level, and the warm, damp atmosphere, and the scandalously bad drainage resulting therefrom ; to which I may also add the filthy river water consumed by the inhabitants. A river's bank implies a low level; and if that low level be increased in extent, it augments the difficulty of proper drainage, and encourages that stagnant, close, and moist atmosphere which diminishes the vital energies of the system, and predisposes to disease. I have ascertained the levels of most of the parishes ravaged by the cholera, and find that in all, except St. Giles's and Marylebone, the level is low, and is generally corresponding with the diffu sion of the epidemic. Extensive districts on the other side of the water are under high water mark : the Brick layers' Arms is 6 inches below that level, and the Obelisk in Blackfriars-road is only 5 inches above it. Lambeth is built upon a marsh. The parishes on the north bank are generally on a higher level than those on the south hank, though still very low. Chelsea Hospital is only 11 feet 7 inches above the level; other situations are much lower: the water in the park at St. James's is 5 feet 1 inch below the level ; Westminster next the river is universally low. Limehouse, Shadwell, Radcliff, all are low; the highest measurement that I have obtained, that of St. George's in-the-East, being 30 feet. Even the London Hospital, Whitechapel, nearly 14 mile from the river, is only 36 feet 4 inches above the level. The exempted parishes are on a high level, and pour the filth of their sewers into these low level districts, where it is kept in a state of suspension by the flow of the tide, and poisons the health of the in habitants.—llledical Times. HORRIBLE OCCURRENCE.—On Friday, as the 6 40 a.m. goods train from Elms was nearing the Barnes sta tion, on the Richmond line, the engine -driver perceived what he at first conceived to be a stuffed figure. to repre sent a man, leaning against the wooden fencing of the line, and about 120 yards from the station, and pointed it out to Waters, the guard, who ordered the immediate stoppage of the train. Upon going to the spot, they were horror-struck at finding a human being, surrounded by a pool of blood, and not only dead, but partly frozen. The blood was easily traced in a direct line to the up-rail, (and here it was evident the accident, whatever it was, had happened,) but that the unfortunate victim should, after its occurrence, have crawled to the spot where he was found in, considering the horrible injury he had re ceived, would have been considered impossible had it not been that the grass and weeds, which he had convulsively grasped and torn up in his struggle to get removed out of danger, fully confirmed that fact. The deceased, who was a man upwards of fifty years of age, had had his left foot all but severed, a tendon only uniting it to the leg, and, extraordinary as it may appear, the deceased, who had his open pocket-knife firmly grasped in his right hand, had cut away his leather gaiter prior, as is supposed, to his entire severance of the limb, when he sank from ex haustion, and literally died from loss of blood. He was subsequently ascertained to be John Sharp, a hawker of crockeryware, living in the Hammersmith-bridge-road. He had left Richmond by the seven o'clock up-train on the previous evening, and should have got out at the Barnes station. He had probably, however, fallen asleep, and waking up after the train had got in motion, rashly alighted. The carriage had probably no other passenger save the deceased, as no one had made any statement of a person leaving the train in such a manner. Another train had passed up subsequently, but nothing was seen of the deceased, and two trains passed downwards. The night was very dark, and the accident happening, as it did, on the common, was less likely to be noticed. WRECK OF TWO EMIGRANT SHIPS.—On Monday night two deplorable shipwrecks of German emigrant vessels, with between 300 and 400 passengers on board, took place on the long and Goodwin Sands. The unfortunate vessels were both from Bremen—one, the American built ship Burgundy, Mr. Hunt master, 500 tons burden, with 300 emigrants, for New Orleans ; the other, the barque Atlan tic, Mr. Foster, belonging to Bremen, bound for New York, also with passengers, the number not exactly known. The greater part of the day the weather was exceedingly boisterous. In consequence of hearing signal guns, several smacks, as well as her Majesty's revenue cutter Desmond. bore down in the direction to ascertain the cause. On nearing the centre bank of the sands in ques tion a large vessel was discovered completely on the shoal, almost engulfed in heavy breakers. She proved to be the Burgundy, having, it was reported, been carried on by the rapidity of the currents about ten o'clock. It was impracticable to get her off, and her destruction seemed inevitable. The crew of the surrounding vessels, on as certaining the great number of human beings on board, lost no time in arranging a plan for their rescue, which was providentially successful, for the whole of the poor creatures, numbering between 200 and 300, including the crew, were safely taken off the wreck. Their condition was truly deplorable. A large number had been taken by a French schooner, it is conjectured, to the French coast. The Long Sand has two lightships, one at each extremity of it, sufficient to warn the mariner of danger ; probably, however, the hazy state of the atmosphere obscured the lights. The wreck of the Atlantic was discovered the same morning on the Goodwin. She had got on the out side of the sands, and was fast settling down, when se veral hamsgate and Deal luggers came up to her succour. Although the weather was fine, a tremendous sea raged on the sands, sweeping over the ill-fated vessel every instant. Four lives had already been lost—the master, two passen gers, and a boy, who were swept overboard and not seen afterwards. With great difficulty the Deal boatmen suc ceeded in saving the crew and some of the passengers, while the remainder of the latter were taken off by several Ramsgate vessels, and conveyed to that port and those ad jacent. DARING ESCAPE FROM PRISON.—A most daring es cape was effected from Cardigan gaol at three o'clock on Tuesday by three prisoners of the names of William Davies, John Bradshaw, and John Clifford, the two for mer being under sentence of 20 years' transportation, and the latter of six months' hard labour. A breach was made in the west wall of the wheel-room (which is only 22 inches thick, and built with very small stones and poor mortar), by means of four iron bars, part of the railing in the same wheel-room. The deputy-governor's sus picions were first aroused by seeing John Clifford appa rently watching his movements ; this prisoner, upon seeing Mr. Evans approaching, ran and told the rest that he was coming, whereupon the two convicts, who were very powerful men, placed themselves between the deputy governor and the wheel-room door, to prevent him from seeing what was done. They were in the act of leaping forward at the deputy-governor, when the latter presented two loaded pistols at their heads ; this drove them back, but before the deputy-governor could get an ent rance th ey shut the door and calle upon those on the treadwheel to assist, which they quickly did. The deputy-governor then called upon Thomas Jenkins, a carpenter, to assist him in endeavouring to force the treadwheel door open, which they succeeded in doing, and found that the two convicts and another prisoner had escaped ; an immediate pursuit was made, when Clifford was apprehended two fields from the gaol. The carpenter soon came in sight of the convicts and followed them closely, and behind a bush found Bradshaw, whom he very soon dragged from Isis hiding-place. Upon seeing that the carpenter was alone, the convict made a desperate effort to thrust him into the water, but failed. The gallant carpenter, who is a little man, then knocked him into the water, and held him there until he was greatly exhausted ; he then allowed the convict to rise, and conveyed him back to gaol. He again returned to the field of action, and found the other convict secreted underneath a cliff by the side of the brook, not twenty yards from the former. This fugitive, being a very powerful man, endeavoured to release himself, upon which the latter called for assistance, and Captain Evans (the governor's son-in-law), who was close by, came and assisted the undaunted little carpenter in conveying his second prize to prison , where the delin quents were put in heavy irons. — WelAnzan. EFFORTS OF DISSENTERS.—Ir ,the midst of the Foreign Missionary Jubilee of the Church, the Home Missionary Society of the Dissenters has been holding its meetings; and at one of these, at Bristol, statements, well authenti cated, were made of the state of the large bodies of our native population, almost as appalling as anything we have heard of heathen lands. It was declared, for instance, that " Mr. Mathison had calculated there were in this country four millions of people destitute of the Gospel ;" and the object of the Society, the speaker added, " was to lift up this vast number of human beings from their state of spiritual degradation." Another speaker, himself a Home Missionary, stated that in London, w hi c h was the scene of his labours, "he had ascertained that in one street alone there were 480 children who obtained a living by pillaging, and in two districts visited there were no less than 600 unfortunate females, in the depth of misery and vice." This, indeed, we know from other sources, may be taken as a fair sample of some of the most densely popu lated streets and lanes of the metropolis of Christian Eng land ! Well might this missionary describe it as an "aw ful moral contagion," and declare that " no mere p u l p it labours could ever remove it !" The same speaker related another, and, if possible, still more dreadful instance of demoralization, which had come under his own observation. "He once," he said, " went into a room in a house in a low part of London, in which he saw assembled four or five young thieves, and three or four fe males, seated round what appeared to him to be a table covered with a long sheet, on which was placed some to bacco and pipes, some gin, a dice-box, and a greasy pack of cards. On entering the room he was sensible of an un pleasant smell, and asked one of the young men, who rose as he entered, what was the occasion of it. He said he supposed it was the body of poor dead Tom, which lay in the coffin. The coffin was covered by the sheet ; the man had died in the room, and over the corpse of their friend his companions had staked their money and played cards. People," he added, " might talk about evangelising the poor as much as they liked, but until scenes like those were explored, the disease which infected society would never be removed." It is impossible to deny this most reasonable conclusion. Scenes like those must be " explored"—cases like those must be administered to, if the dreadful evils of our social system are to be remo ved, and Christianity is to have its perfect way among us. "It might be asked," the Home Missionary added, " what could be done with persons like those we have mentioned ;" and his reply was, that " he had been able himself to test conversions among that very class,"—and he proceeded to relate several instances of conversions, of men whose lives had been spent in the practice of the most debasing vices."