The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-31 00:00:00

Etttraturt. NOTICES. " 17 - /th:peringsfor t 1 Deaf Ear." The poet rlo.psodizes on the fact, that Time is shot t: the moralist clothes the conviction with his choicest di dactics : the preacher urges the truth of the solemn pro position with the fittest energy of elocwien and manner; he appeals to the commonest conviction of his healers, and to the shortest and most limited range of experience; nay, a child has already reaped the golden sheaves of hours gone by for ever : but Heaven affirms its truth as the reason for its call upon all men to reflect upon the relation each individual beats to this universal fact. Do men therefore listen, and ponder their ways ? No. Do they desire to know it ? No. Why ? Because they are busy with the affirming of the very contrary! Deeds, not words, are always regarded as tests. lok around and see what thousands are busy in giving the practical lie to the statements of the above three classes of school masters. Ask no questions, but look at the busy idlers and the idly busy: look at the games, the loungings, the asking on all hands for some mode of killing time—the suicidal inquiry " for some new thing "—nay, the reward offered for a new game. But the culprit to be killed off hand for you is described, that you may hit him off. He always carries an hour-glass, and is bald-headed, except one lock on his forehead; and, like a bird, he has power ful wings for flight; and he carries, as an emblem of the warfare he is ever waging, an implement of husband, y. High rewards for any who shall invent another mode of pass-time—of kill-time ! The pauper has a mite to be stow, as well as the rich his gold, to remunerate the Thug of Time ! Some classes can never rid themselves quick encugh of their time • they are even kind enough to treat you with some of their burden ; and this night, the very last of the old year, will millions help each other most charitably with their burdens, by games, and folly, and dizzy pleasures—gilding the hours that they may dazzle their owners, and -begone the smoother and the faster ! Time 28 long, then, and the parties have joined issue ; and the evidence and pleadings are enrolled in the Courts of Heaven ! But the worldling has one merit— that of consistency ; for he practises what he believes, and be believes what he practises. If he deny that in this light he wears a merit, let him try himself by the invariable rule that the bel ef rules a man's conduct. Does he hear that his house is on fire, he acts upon it if he believes the fact, and he cannot help himself, be cause motives rule him : if he does not act, he does not believe it. But he believes that Time is short, and Eternity long ; for he joins in the rehearsal of these two propositions every Sabbatical service, but he does not act upon them, and the next hour puts in prac tice the opposite dogma of his life and practice. Where is he then ? Are his parrot lips or his truth-telling actions to be taken in evidence? If the former, he is a hypo crite, and the matter is made worse ; but he still hourly affirms the-lying proposition that time is long, and the converse of this—that eternity is short, or, perhaps, uncertain altogether—will be fairly established as his creed by his actions. No wonder, then, that the last day of the old year should prove to so many a very fid getty period. It would have been kind if the almanack had quietly dropped notice of it ; numbers would approve of this being always juggled in and out as a kind of allow ance for false reckoning—a leap-day sort of thing—only the sun will keep it himself—there's the bore !—and the ledger ogles it ; the ball drops at Greenwich to tell every body, too, when half the day is gone, just like any other day. Couldn't the Astronomer Royal manage it some how or other, to distribute its hours over the succeeding month ? Wages might be paid, and so might interest run on, and, in fact, discount granted, and " a holiday at all the public offices ;" but heaven's anointing angels will jot it down, unfortunately, because there are not a hundred such days granted to every one. Come, then, prepare, gentle reader, for taking account, as usual, of profit and loss! This is actually the last day of the year current—no thing more can be done now in 1844—but this very even ing to take stock of the past year's business. Has heaven balanced the good and evil of your past doings? Are you heaven's creditor in the account ? Is the Creator a deb tor in the books of the creature ? Or, what is more likely, are not you " a debtor to mercy" at this present moment ! If so, where then is the gratitude of the debtor? Does it accumulate at interest in the bank of heaven ? Probably nothing of the kind ! Well, then, you are insolvent ! A debtor all through your past life, and withal having no thing to pay off the score against you. You believe that to-morrow will come in the shape of January, first in a new year of grace—viz. : 1845. You believe this, and you act upon it in trust, or you are insane ; but it is not the more certain to dawn upon you because you believe it; and yet you wont pause, but kill the Time, perhaps waning for ever; the last sands must be running out for some—of this there can be no doubt, since every moment some souls depart for the other world,—but you hope you are not of the number of the fated ones ;—yet it is possi ble you may be the very one, nay, many chances may be against your life ! Yet you are for pastime—well, then, be merry to the last ! and treasure up food for remorse for ever, rather than by repentance, during Time, to turn the scale in your own favor—both here and hereafter. No ! you won't exactly and deliberately commit spiri tual suicide on 1814 opportunities • but you will let the old year quietly go by th e b oar d, an d sink into ocean of Time Past—there to be engulphed without recal until washed up again on the shore of Eternity—a wreck of your year 1844! The plank will have your own name in scribed on it in burning characters, and you will own it, in spite of yourself —your conscience will speak as loudly theta as your passions do now . What you would do then, do now before the day closes on your year. So I would, but I scarcely dare begin—l cannot rake over the whole ye ir's doings without pain and sadness and self humiliation ! No ; certainly not. But this would be wise, and this would be desirable ! Consider on, but do so, and repent you of your misdoings, and strive to live an angel life on earth—as a temple of the Holy Spirit !—dedicated to Jehovah Jesus—devoted to your neighbours—ready as a self-sacrifice on the altar of faith—with a will regulated by your heavenly Father's will—and Christ pillowed on your frail bark, ready to speak peace in every storm, and to bid the waters bear thee up, instead of engulphing thee. Yes! this would be to live a life of gain, or to die ready for the golden shores of bliss ! I will try to be such. To-morrow a new year will perhaps afford me a new starting-point. But how will you do this? Oh! by good resolutions in my best frame, and avoiding all temptations to the con trary path, I will keep myself from sin and folly, and reform my plan. We are glad you are come so far—we welcome you to the half-way-house on the road to your Father's mansion of bliss. But you are not there— you are only half wag / How is that ? Are we not told to turn and repent ? Yes ! it is indeed so enjoined in Scripture; but it is to be done in you, and through your will, but not by you. For Christ saith, " Without me you can do nothing." His Holy Spirit then must operate in you this great change, and to this alone source must you apply for help, or you will utterly fail. Could you change your own evil heart from dark ness to light, then would the glory be your own ; but all the glory of your purification, as well as your justification, must belong to the Triune Jehovah—though the eternal advantage is yours as fully as if the doxology of your own praise resounded incessantly in your own breast—even snore fully, immensely fuller, because then you share with the Head, as a member of His body, and you are filled with Ills fulness, instead of your own emptiness Empty yourselves, and present to the throne of grace but the wish, embodied in a prayer, to amend your life, to be taught the heavenly grace of repentance, and then the new heart will be given, gnd the sound root shall send forth fruitful branches ; but do not be misled by the Father of Lies, who delights in the threefold cord whereby he drags victims down to the lake which burneth, to wit : " Time is long"—the efficacy of mere good resolutions— and the mercifulness of the Judge, without the cross and without the dove. In such case and temper we wish you a happy new year; SELECTIONS. CHRISTMAS IN THE STREETS. (From Punch's Snapdragons for Christmas.) Up from lazy hearth-side and silent chamber! Up and forth into the busy places of the city ! Mark the soften ing influence of the merry time upon crowding, swarming men and women !---forth, and with Christmas in the heart, find Christmas in the streets. See how people throng admiringly round that butcher's shop. There's beef !—there's mutton ! A proud ox he ought to be who furnished forth that sirloin. How jollily it will smoke, amid its smaller compeats on the Christ mas table : a right down English dish. Talk of sirloins and barons of beef ; they should bt, promoted in the aris tocracy ; the " sir " made a " baron" and the baron a duke. Baron, loin, and duke of beef ! How the jolly butcher, too, is cutting—hacking away, till his face is as red as the lean of his meat. Many a Christmas dinner is he dispensing, lightening his labour with admiring criti cism on his tare. " Never was sich a ox killed, ma'am, as this here !" And he removes the bunch of evergreens, which appeared to grow out of it—like the shady sine on the hind quarters of Baron Munchausen's horse—and critically displays the fat, so white, and the lean, so ruddy. How the people buy ; and with less haggling and chaffering than usual ; for who would wrangle and get angry, about a halfpenny in the pound, at Christmas time ? And then the geese, and the turkeys : long rows of white victims, looking, if possible, fatter and plumper than the remains of their quadruped of the farm. Sheep and oxen, look to your laurels! You have done great things, but take care ; get fat and tender, or the feathered creatures will carry the day—cut you out at Christmas ! Such an array of two-legged animals, without feathers ! You ask whether there remains a pound in England, en livened by the padding of a single goose ; or a barn-yard, musical with the gobble-gobble of a single turkey. They seem all in London —Poor plucked victims of Christmas! ready to be served up, on its altars—darouzlt-covered table-cloths —by its high -priests—cooks. What dismal ideas of Christmas must be entertained in poultry-yards ! What fearful yearly visitation sweeps off the most promising of its inhabitants !—geese from whom so much was expected ; cocks and hens, so amiable in domestic life! But King Christmas is King Death to them, as he stalks over the land ; his merry songs sound their doleful dirges ; his wholesome breath is the pestilence of which they die ! Butchers' and poulterers' shops are great places in Christmas time ; but it is in the markets that their displays are most lavish. They are the very penetialia of the tem ples sacred to Christmas fare. There the meat looks big ger and fatter than ever—as if the world had turned ante diluvian, and steaks of mammoth and megathrion were commonly sold for beef and mutton. And there, also, thronging amid stalls, and through narrow passages, hum and cluster the admiring, enticing, buying, joking, laugh ing crowd. A confectioner's shop, too, is a thing to be looked at. That cake is quite imaginative. The ravines of coloured sugar are beautifully picturesque ; the temple upon the rock is of a peculiar order c t architecture ; not Corin thian, bat rather Twrlfih-Nightian ; and if the scarlet and gold men and women are . half the size of the moun tain, and decidedly Uiller than the temple, we ought to admire that fine imaginative genius, which hurt the bonds .of nature, and quite remodels and reforms the retrospec tive sizes of men and mountains. And how long pr,,c; ssions of charity boys and girls are defiling along the pavements. Muffin c , ps and yellow leathers are someway or other always on the move about Christmas time. The beadle you will observe shines with more than usual lustre of beadleduni ; he has mounted a new cocked hat, and his bearing is striking to behold. The children look happy too : the who:e line is one long giggle. Is there not to be a Christmas dinner ? To be sure there is; vague rumours have been in circu lation for a fortnight, touching the incredible quantity of roast beef in preparation, and whispers have been heard of ale. A boy of great resolution ventures to hint an in quiry to the beadle, who, wonderful to relate, does not tad him over the knuckles, but smiles with a pleasant mystery, and tells him to be a good boy, and he will see what he shall see. Evening is coming on. Blinds are drawn down sooner than usual, because everybody is anxious to begin the pleasant snug time of candlelight. Gas flares furiously in open shops and markets, bursting forth in small volcanoes, as if it were determined to cook the dainties which still main unpurchased, even should there be customer to cut them. Omnibuses going to the suburbs, where snug cottages and villas abound, are perfectly loaded with the invited to dinner porties; and on the roofs are deposited stores from the fruiterers or the fishmongers ; parcels of apples and nuts and barrels of oysters. And now there comes, as the darkness gradually closes, pleasantly stealing upon the nose a sense of the flavour of roasted goose. It increases—it becomes palpable— there can be no mistake about it. Forth from every third chimney-post comes the smoke of a Christmas din ner, and the flavour of the fare, until all London is per vaded with the smell of roast goose. See how people sniff it, and nod knowingly. They recognise the odour— sweeter than Sabrean spice, myrrh—the incense of the Christmas worship ! And with the incense the chant of the festive rites—the carol—the old well-remembered traditionary Christmas carol. Hark ! it is pealing from cbildren's ringing voices, s , unding shrilly over the low roar of the moving city • speaking of mirth and friendly greetings, and good wishes between man and man. PUNCH'S ALMANACK. The jokes, all brimful of mirth and merriment, are strewed about in reckless profusion, and are well worthy of the clever illustrations, so remarkable both for the healthy moral feeling inculcated by them, and the admir able manner in which they have been designed and exe,- cuted. We subjoin a few racy bits of rhodomontade from this medley of fun and humour : Clothworkers' Company present Sir R. Peel with the Livery. (Sir R. having turned his coat so often, the company thought he wanted a new one.) WICKED BUT INGENIOUS FRAUD.—A poor woman having sent a little child to the nearest public-house for the loan of a newspaper, the heartless landlord gave the infant the Morning Herald. The grasshopper is placed on the new Royal Exchange tower. Poor insect ! he won't find many green blades there. Numerous robberies of attorneys' chambers in Lincolns' Inn. The thieves claiming the property as next of kin. EXTRAORDINARY LONGEVITY.—There is at present a man at work at Hungerford bridge who, as a boy, wit nessed the laying of its first stone. He is in possession of all its faculties. THE HEBREW PERSU A SlON.—Twenty•eight Jewish weddings celebrated on the 7th of May. The Duke's statue erected at the Royal Exchange. Shame! that he who leathered so many should be allowed to go without a shoe to his foot. To BE S mo.-500,000 courteous readers, if they expect to find a joke here. REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF PRESENCE OF MIND. — A gentleman being pursued by Levi (the Jew Sheriff's officer), took refuge in a pork shop. In the Douse of Delegates at Tennessee, the members attack each other with chairs, and so break up their sittings. MELANCHOLY REVERSE OF FORTUNE.—George the Fourth taken down from the New-cross to macadamise the New-road. A MEETING CALLED TO ESTABLISH AN AGRICUL TURAL COLLEGE—SO that the Plough-boys may be as learned as the Harrow-boys, Two THOUSAND Two - HUNDRED AND FIFTY PHEA SANTS HATCHED BY FOWLS, AND TURNED INTO WINDSOR PARK.—Now, gentlemen, make your game. PERSEVERE.—Many of the blessings universally desired are frequently wanted, because most men, when they should 1 bour, content themselves to complain ; and ra ther linger in a state in which they cannot be at rest than improve their condition by vigour and resolution.— Rambler. HINTS FOR EVENING PARTIES.—Now convert old gossamer into opera hat, by doubling it up, and lay in small talk for approaching evening parties. Now practise the Polka with arm-chair, and rub up old imitations a la Joel of neighing horses, and sawing wood. Now read up familiar Joes, and learn new jokes for quadrilles. Now study in the looking-glass for comic song, and flour your postilion's wig for masked ball. Now compose speech to toast " The Ladies," and commit to memory a return thanks" when your health is proposed at supper.—Punch's Ahnanack. A writer in the Westminster Review, just published, in an article on the legislation of 1844 says, he has taken the trouble of making a rough estimate of the number of words contained in these statutes" (those of one year, in which there were considerably fewer acts passed than usual), and he found them amount to 762,000 ! " Now" says he, " the whole Bible is comprised in very few more words ; whilst the New Testament contains only about 198,000. Thus the entire code of Christian Law, with the history of its Author, is corn prised in about one-quarter of the words which the Imperial Parliament uses to express the laws it enacts in a single year." EDUCATION IN BOKHARA.—This, though of a very useless, not to say mischievous, character, is very labo riously carried on. From sunrise until late in the day are schoolboys kept plying their tasks under tutors un sparing of the rod. The children are tormented for suc cessive years in acquiring words whose sound awakens no idea in their minds, and the young men who pursue a life of study in their colleges are employed in disputations, in comparison with which the worst sophistry of our western schools, in the worst ages of European literature, was wisdom. What wonder that, under such teachers, the people are subject to every superstitious fancy, whe ther it be of Islam or Gheber origin. Ignorant and su perstitious, the Bokharians are also universally vicious. Though rude savages in alrthe arts and conveniences fa miliar to European civilization, they are immersed in all the debaucheries of low London or Parisian life, and visited by all the diseases which attend such a course. , A BROKER'S RIGHT OF LIEN.—Up to the middle of the last century it certainly was doubtful whether a factor had a lien, and could retain for the balance of his general account. About that time, however, a case occurred be fore Lord Hardwicke in which the question arose; and after argument thereon at the bar, his lordship adjourned the cause, and desired several merchants, who had been examined in the course of the proceedings, to attend in court, in order to be consulted by him with reference thereto. They attended accordingly, and after having asked them several questions upon the custom and usage of merchants relating to the matter in doubt, his lordship gave his opinion to the effect—that if there be a course of dealings, and a general account between the merchant and factor, and a balance be due to the factor, he may retain the ship and goods or produce, for such balance of the ge neral account, as well as for the charges, customs, &c., paid on account of the particular cargo. The same opi nion was afterwards confirmed by Lord Mansfield, and several other eminent judges; and at length the proposi tion, that a factor has a lien for his general balance, came to be considered as too well established to admit of dis pute.—Russell's Treatise. SENSE " AFTER DECAPITATION" ?—A most extra ordinary paper was read at the meeting of the Paris Aca demy of Sciences, containing an account of some re markable experiments on decapitated persons, by M. Bonnafont surgeon-major of the army. He stated that in Algiers he had read that in the head of a decapitated per son the sense of hearing retained its power for a minute and a half. At two executions M. Bonnafont himself tried the experiment. Assisted by the late Sub-Intendant de Falloy, he had a stool placed nett- the instrument of death, and upon it a vessel filled with pounded plaister. Immediately after the first execution, which was performed with remarkable celerity, the executiouer took the head and placed the bleeding part upon the plaister, so as to prevent the further flowing of blood. M. Bonnafont then placed his mouth to the ear of the decapitated Arab, and called him by name, while M. de Falloy watched the eyes. In vain they shouted for a minute and a half ; neither the eyes nor any of the features showed that the hearing re tained the slightest degree of sensibiLty. M. Bonnafont concluded by stating (as might be believed without his experiments) that after the complete separation of the head from the body there must be, if not instant death, so great a syncope that death arrives without any of the senses retaining the slightest degree of force. DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR AND BIRTH OF THE NEW. —The year was old that day. The patient year had lived through the reproaches and misuses of its slanderers, and faithfully performed its work. Spring, summer, autumn, winter. It had laboured through the destined round, and now laid down its weary head to die. Shut out itself from hope, high impulse, active happiness, but messenger of many joys to others, it made appeal in its decline to have its toiling days and patient hours remembered, and to die in peace. Trotty might have read a poor man's allegory in the fading year; but he was past that now. And only he ? Or has the like appeal been ever made, by seventy years at once upon an English labourer's head, and made in vain ? The streets were full of motion, and the shops were decked out gaily. The new year, like an infant heir to the whole world, was waited for with welcomes, pre sents, and rejoicings. There were books and toys for the new year, glittering trinkets for the new year, dresses for the new year, schemes of fortune for the new year, new inventions to beguile it. Its life was parcelled out in al manacs and pocket-books; the coming of its moons, and stars, and tides was known beforehand to the mo men t ; all the working of its seasons in their days and nights were calculated with as much precision as Mr. Filer could work sums in men and women. The new year, the new year. Everywhere the new year ! The old year was already looked upon as dead ; and its effects were selling cheap, like some drowned mariner's aboardship. Its patterns were last year's, and going at a sacrifice, before its breath was gone. Its treasures were mere dirt beside the riches of its unborn successor.—The Chimes. A PRISON IN BOKHARA.—The prison is called the Kana Khareh—a name which it has received from the swarms of ticks which infest the place, and are reared there on purpbse to plague the wretched prisoners. I have been told that, in the absence of the latter, some pounds of raw meat are thrown into the pit to keep the ticks alive. This institution of refined cruelty has, probably, given rise to the fable of the pit of scorpions, of which I have repeatedly heard accounts given at Orenhurg.— Tr•avels in Asia. BROKER AND PRINCIPAI..—If the factor or broker have notice of the bankruptcy of his principal prior to the time at which he gets possession of the property on which he claims his right of lien, this will in some instances di vest him of that right. Formerly, indeed, it was held that a trader could under no circumstances confer a right of lien on his factor after having committed even a secret act of bankruptcy ; and the reason assigned for this rule was, that after the bankruptcy the goods became the property of the assignees, so that, to have allowed the bankrupt to give his factor a hut thereon, would have been to permit the latter to claim that right on goods sent to him by a person to whom they did not belong. But the law on this subject has been recently very much altered by statute ; and it is presumed that a factor or broker would now be held entitled to his lien, if the goods or policy on which he claimed were shown to have conic to his posses sion before the date and issuing of the fiat against his prin cipal—provided, that is, he had, at the time they so came to his possession, no notice of any prior act of bank ruptcy having been committed by him ; and further that, in the case of a factor, even if he were to have notice of the bankruptcy of his principal whilst he was in the course of selling the goods, he would still have a right to proceed with the sale, to receive the money, and to hold it in payment of his ow❑ balance.—Russell's Treatise. EDUCATION.—At the recent assizes, Baron Alderson said—" The calendar before him, like the one for the county of Hants, which he had just left, showed that they could not look to education alone for the prevention of crime. In the county of Hants three-fourths of the per sons charged with criminal offences were able to read and write--in an imperfect manner certainly—but still able to read and to write, whilst only one quarter were incapable of reading and writing at all. Formerly they used to say, when they saw a number of persons in the calendar, most of whom could neither read nor write, that their inability to do so was the cause of their committing crime; now, however, as they found that the greater proportion of prisoners could read and write, they could not ascribe their criminality to that cause. It showed that to teach the people to read and write, was to give them a certain degree of power ; but to educate them properly was to show them how to exercise it, how to use it for the pub lic good and for their own individual advantage, and for their eternal salvation: that was the real education that ought to be given, and which anybody out of bedlam ought ever only to have dreamed of. In the calendar then before him, he found that 30 of the prisoners were imperfectly able to read and write, whilst 16 could do neither ; therefore the proportion of the imperfectly edu cated classes, over those totally uneducated, was in this county two to one; and in Hampshire, to which he had just alluded, three to one. 'When they said that ignorance was the cause of crime, they should give to the term igno rance its proper meaning. Man's ignorance of his moral and religious obligations was the cause of crime, and not only his mere ignorance of reading and writing. Pro bably very often the reverse of that was the case, when to the secular knowledge imparted was not added a know ledge of the higher responsibilities pertaining to the du ties in life in which each party was placed. The longer they lived, the more they came to the conclusion that unless they educated the people of this country in reli gious and moral, as well as useful learning, they would accomplish no great good by their education." A LABOURER'S SPEECH.—" Now gentlemen," said Will Fern, holding out his hands and flushing for an in stant i❑ his haggard face, " see how your laws are made to trap and hunt us when we're brought to this. I tries to live elsewhere, and I'm vagabond. To gaol with him ! I come back here. I goes a nutting in your woods, and breaks—who don't ?—a limber branch or two. To gaol with him ! One of your keepers sees me in the broad day, near my own patch of garden, with a gun. To gaol with him ! I has a nat'ral angry word with that man when I'm free again. To gaol with him ! I cuts a stick. To gaol with him ! I cats a rotten apple or a turnip. To gaol with him ! Its 20 mile away; and coming back I begs a trifle on the road. To gaol with him ! At last the con stable—the keeper—anybody—finds me anywhere, a doing anything. To gaol with him, for he's a vagrant and a gaolbird known; and gaol's the only home he's got." The Alderman nodded sagaciously, as he should say a very good home too ! " Do I say this to serve my cause !' cried Fern. " Who can give me back my liberty ; who can give me back my good name ; who can give me back my innocent niece? Not all the lords and ladies in wide England. But, gentlemen, gentlemen, dealing with other men like me, begin at the right end. Give us, in mercy, better homes when we are lying in our cradles ; give us better food when we're a-working for our lives; give us kinder laws to bring us back when we're a-going wrong ; and don't set gaol, gaol, gaol, afore us, everywhere we turn. There an't a condescension you can show the la bourer then that he won't take as ready and as grateful as a man can be ; for he has a patient, peaceful, willing heart. But you must put his rightful spirit in him first ; for whe ther he's a wreck an' ruin such as me, or is like one of them that stands here now, his spirit is divided from you at this time. Bring it back, gentlefolks! bring it back ; bring it back afore the day comes when even this Bible changes in his altered mind, and the words seem to him to read as they have sometimes read in my own eyes i❑ gaol—' Whither thou goest, I can not go; whither thou lodgest, I do not lodge ; thy people are not my people • nor thy God my God !' "—The Chimes. BOKIIARA.—A new work entitled " Bokhara ; its Amir and its People," (translated from the Russian,) gives some facts of painful interest relating to that Orien tal city, which has recently been associated with the trea cherous murder of two British officers. We extaact the following :—ln winter all intercourse between Bokhara, Cabul, and the neighbouring states is cut off by the snow, and in the spring " the clayey soil becomes so miry, that not only camels are prevented from passing it, but even horsemen are obliged to go over the ground with great caution." A Russian merchant will not spare his cattle to reach his market, but the author of the work before us says, that the agent of a large commercial house, with ample means to facilitate expedition at his disposal, re quired a whole fortnight to transport his merchandise from Kagatan to Bokhara, a distance of 46 miles. When such difficulties oppose the transit of commerce, it may appear strange that the name of Bokhara should stand so prominent in Oriental and Russian trading transactions. The geographical position of the town of Bokhara consti tut,s it the central point of all the commercial routes be tween Eastern and Western Asia, and through which the chief products of that part of the world are sent to Eu rope. It is also a convenient depot for all the states lying south of it on their way to the north, because from its very gates commence those vast steppes which form the Russian frontier. But the trade of Bokhara is in a very primitive state, for it is still carred on through the medium of fairs on certain fixed days, and not, great thoroughfare as it is, with a continuous flow. The territory, or as Kharitoff terms it, the Khanat of Bokhara, has only three branches of industry—agricultural, commercial, and that of handicraft; manufacturing industry does not exist, though there is one manufactory of articles in cast iron. The agriculture, properly so called, of Bokhara, is of the rudest and least efficient kind ; its horticulture, in which the inhabitants take delight, and which, in passing, we may observe, constitutes almost their only innocent pleasure, is somewhat better, but still far from being skilfully managed. They have great abundance and many varieties of grapes, but they make no good wine; they have most of the tropicid fruits, and might. in their cold climate, many of those which ordinarily flourish in the temperate zone, but they do not rear them with judg ment. Cotton is universally cultivated, but not to the profit it might be both as an article of domestic use and for exportation. But the fact is that the wretched Bok harians live in a state of grovelling vice, under the baneful tyranny of a rutbless yet wily despot and a profligate priesthood, in whose hands the civil administration of the country is held. " DANCING OVER THE DEAD. "— Such is the startling title given to a printed address by George Alfred Walker, Esq., surgeon, author of " Gatherings from the Grave yards," The Grave-yards of London," &c. ; and the subject matter is the notorious Enon Chapel, Clement's lane, Strand, the condition of which as a place of sepul ture is so painfully described in the work first named. It appears that a society of teetotallers are now the lessees of this bulding, and they have removed the pews and con verted the place into a Temperance Hall, in which occa sionally " plain and fancy dress balls " are held, " an effi cient band engaged," and " quadrilles, waltzes, country dances, galloppades, reels," &c. are danced. We do not find that the Polka has yet entered this Hall. Under these circumstances, the vaults for the dead still being in the loathsome state of rankness and corruption they were described as being in in 1810, Mr. Walker states, that here " has been established a regular round of dancing, and other similiar amusements ; and that, at this moment preparations are in progress for a grand ball,' and the usual saturnalia of Boxing night.' "—A person named Fitzpatrick occupies the house attached to the chapel, for merly the residence of Mr. Howse, the minister. The following statement by Mr. Walker is worth peruEal, though not very pleasant reading : " fhe man Fitzpatrick, desirous of deepening the kitchen of the house, the ceil ing being very low, employed John Mars, who proceeded with the work during several successive Sundays. The flags composing the floor, extending from back to front, and occupying the whole length of the house, were taken up, and a vast quantity of human bones were found, coy- e F •ii g the whole - of the floor of the kitchen. The labour although persisted in, was hopeless; for, after thrusting an enormous quantity of bones through a door made in the buck wall dividing the late burying-place from the kitchen, the man gave up the work in disgust and despair. Ile found the less destructible portions of this army of dead, although passive in their resistance, beyond his ' management.' Flavin dug upwards of two feet in depth, in various directions—having literally filled, as far as the space would permit, the cellar, and even the opening, with human bones—finding, after his utmost efforts, his labour mus t be interminable without actual removal of the enormous ;;;;;11;;;b;;VZheVa;sturotinded, —the man, although willing perhaps to fulfil his engage ment, yet failed to do so. It is proper to observe, that the door abose mentioned was made many years since, but was hidden from the view of persons attending the funer als of their deceased relatives or friends by a screen made principally of the same materials of v.hich the sides of . . .....-.. _ the font in the chapel are composed, viz., the wood of coffins. The foundations of the chapel, in consequence of repeated grave digging, are in a condition the most dangerous. The roof of the chapel, containing a heavy lantern, gave way some years since; and I declare my conviction that any violent shaking on the floor of the building (independent of the atrocious desecration in converting such a place into a dancing room) may pro duce consequencee that are fearful to contemplate." THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. EDUCATION.—Accustom a child as soon as it can speak to narrate his little experience, his chapter of acci dents, his griefs, his fears, his hopes ; to communicate what he has noticed in the world without, and what he feels struggling in the world within. Anxious to have something to narrate, he will be induced to give attention to objects around him, and what is passing in the sphere of his instruction, and to narrate and note events will be come one of his first pleasures; and this is the ground work of a thoughtful character.—Educational Magazine. POTATOE Beossoms.—Having followed your recom mendation, of taking off the flowers of the potatoe when in blossom, I wish to add my testimony to the advantage derived from doing so, by assuring you that the crop of potatoes far exceeded that of former years, both in size and quantity. I had the blossoms left on one row, and the crop was very inferior, both in size and quantity. I prevailed upon a poor neighbour to follow the plan, and the result was the same; and I hope next year to induce others to try it.—Gardener's Chronicle. CHRISTMAS-DAY AT THE ANTIPODES.—For some days before Christmas, in our drives near the town, we used to meet numbers of persons carrying bundles of a beautiful native shrub, to decorate the houses, in the same manner that we use holly and evergreens at home. Men; women, and children, white brown, and black, were in the trade; and sometimes a horse approached, so co vered with the bowery load he bore, that only his legs were visible, and led by a man nearly as much hidden ; carts heaped up with the green and blossomed boughs came noddingly along, with children running beside them decked out with sprays and garlands, laughing and shou'- ing in proper Christmas jollity. I liked to see this at tempt at the perpetuation of some of lur ancient homely poetry of life, in this new and generaly too prosaic co lony, where the cabalistic letters £ s d. and R U M ap pear too frequently the alphabet of existence. It seemed like a good healthy memory of home ; and I doubt not the decked-out windows and bouquet-filled chimney in many a tradesman's house gave a more home-like flavour to his beef or turkey, and aided in the remembrance of old days and old friends alike numbered w th the past. The shrub chosen as the Sydney " Christmas " is well worthy of the honour. It is a handsome verdant shrub, growing from two to twelve or fifteen feet high, with leaves in shape like these of the horse-chesnut, but only two or three inches broad, with a dark green, polished, upper surface, the under one being pale. The scent of its flowers when freshly gathered, is like that of new mown hay. The " Christmas dinner" truly seemed to me a most odd and anomalous affair. Instead of having won a seasonable appetite by a brisk walk over the crisp snow, well muffled in warm winter garments, I had passed a miserable morning, half dead with heat, on the sofa, attired in the coolest muslin dress I possessed, sipping lemonade or soda water, and endeavouring to remember all the enviable times when I had touched a lump of ice or grasped a snowball, and vainly watching the still, un ruffled curtains of the open window for the first symptom of the afternoon sea-breeze.—Sketches of New South Wales. THE VICTORIA OR HUNT'S BANK STATION, MAN CHESTER.—This very important junction-line commences near the original station of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, in the Oldham-road, Manchester, which is now converted into a goods station ; and, after passing for some distance alongside of the original line, proceeds— alternately on an embankment, in cutting, and on arches —to the new joint-station of the two companies at Hunt's Bank, near the confluence of the Irk and the Jr well ; being a distance of about 2,320 yards, in which length the line crosses the Irk three times. and is carried over seve ral streets. The junction line descends from the main line by a steep inclined plane, the inclination of the first part of which is 1 in 49, and of the remainder 1 in 60. This plane is worked by stationary engines and endless ropes, directions being conveyed from end to end by an electric telegraph ; and from its lower extremity to the Hunt's Bank, or, as it is now called, the Victoria station, is a rising gradient of 1 in 132, which is ascended by the impetus obtained in descending the inclined plane. and is descended by trains going towards Leeds by gravity alone. The remainder of the junction line, which belongs to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, is about 1,790 yards long, and joins the Liverpool line between the river Irwell and Ordsall-lane in Salford. It is suffi ciently level for the convenient use of locomotive engines, and is principally constructed upon arches, a length of about 230 yards, alongside of the viaduct of the Man chester and Bolton Railway, being supported by an iron colonnade of very bold and remarkable character, cover ing, longitudinally, one-half of the carriage -way of Upper Booth-street, and allowing free passage for waggons and other vehicles under its whole length, so as not to inter fere with the access to the various carriers' establishments and warehouses under the arches of the Bolton railway. The railway is supported here by strong iron girders, the interstices between which are filled up with arched ma sonry ; one end of each main girder being let into the stonework of the old viaduct, while the other is supported by one of a series of forty-five massive iron columns, each of which weighs from four-and-a-half to five tons, and is based upon a foundation of masonry sunk to the depth of 161 feet from the surface of the street, and resting on the solid rock. The main girders weigh six tons each, and the total quantity of iron in the erection is about 1,030 tons. The Victoria station is of extraordinary size, com prising five parallel lines of railway from end to end, with turn-tables and other conveniences, the portion roofed over being 700 feet long and about 114 feet wide, and containing nearly 80,000 square feet of iron roofing. The whole is lighted with gas; the pipes being so arranged that a single turn of a regulating valve will reduce all the lights to any required degree, or, on the approach or de parture of a train, turn on the fullest illuminating power i❑ the whole of the station, its offices, and approaches. There are also refreshment rooms and an hotel, under the management of Mr. Vantini, of the Euston-square and Fleetwood hotels. The station and the line from the Leeds railway were opened on the Ist of January, and the Liverpool extension on the 4th of May, 1844. The ex penditure of the two companies upon this junction line and station, as given in the first reports after the opening of each portion respectively, was little short of £370,000, although the total length of new line scarcely exceeds two miles and a quarter.—British Almanack for 1845. GENERAL MISCELLANY. On Saturday, at Leith, the Leith Candle Company's premises were totally consumed by an accidental fire. A reprieve has been received for the convict condemned at York for arson. His Grace the Duke of Wellington, Commander-in- Chief of the Army, has promoted several sergeant-majors to be comets in other regiments, without purchase. Thomas Staite, the game-keeper, who was so dreadfully beaten in an affray with poachers at Croome, on the 21st instant, has since died. Eight miners were killed on Monday last, in a colliery at Kingswinford, by the breaking of a rope by which they were descending. Wm. Howell, Walter Howell, and Israel Shipley, who lie under sentence of death, at Ipswich, for murder, have been respited till the 25th instant. A pension has been conferred upon Mr. Thomas Hood, the author of, amongst other things, " The Song of the Shirt." The Phoenix, steam-sloop, of about 800 tons, is now in ,he East India Dock, substituting a propeller screw for ,he paddles she has hitherto worked with. On Thursday week, a young man, 18 years of age, named Young, met his death, near Bristol, by his gun going off whilst he was drawing it through a hedge. On Sunday week, two stoves heated with charred-wood having been placed in the church at Pollokshaws, Ren frewshire, the fumes so overcame the congregation that about twenty of them fainted. The Black Boy Pit, near Bishop Auckland, fired on Monday ; there were upwards of 200 men and boys down at the time. They were all got out alive, but many of them very much burnt. Mr. Griffiths, bootmaker, of Chester, has received from Windsor Castle a check for £5, in payment of a pair of beautiful miniature boots, which he forwarded for the ac ceptance of the Prince of Wales. Lord Ashley has transmitted £llO to Scotlawl, to be distributed among th ose women who have been thrown out of employment by the operation of the Mines and Collieries Act. At Windsor Theatre, on Monday evening, Mrs. Hume, 63 years of age, the wife of a journeyman cutler, residing at Eton, met with her death by accidentally falling over the gallery into the pit. Wm. Oliver and his wife, who lived in a miserable cot tage at Ashford, near Staines, being reduced to a state of almost utt, r destitution, committed suicide on Tuesday morning last, by taking poison. THE HEROINE OF MATAGORDA.—The subscription for this deserving old woman now amounts to a sum suf ficient to secure her £3O a-year for life, with a few pounds over to set up house with. CONSERVATIVE TRIUMPH.—The nomination for the borough of Dartmouth took place on Thursday, when the show of hands was in favour of Mr. Somes, the con servative. At the close of the poll, on Friday. Mr. Somes was returned by a majority of seven, the numbers being for Mr. Somes, 125, Mr. Moffatt. 118. OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND THE POPE.—The Post of Thursday announces the following, in a leading article :—" We be lieve that, in fact, the official initiative has already been taken in regard to direct communication with the Council of his Holiness the Pope," There has been an enormous increase in the export of salt during the present year. The quantity exported du ring this year, at Liverpool, Hull, and Gloucester, it is said, will amount to six hundred thousand tons! The consumption of salt in London is estimated at five hun dred tons weekly. HORRIBLE ACCIDENT.—On the 11th instant, a mason was working upon the roof of the forge called the Glynn, near Hereford, when by some mishap he lost his balance, and fell through the roof, directly upon the fly-wheel, which turns round with a resistless velocity. The work of death was soon completed. A few days since, a brood sow entered the dwelling of a farmer near Dumfries, in the absence of the family, who had imprudently left the door open, and the beast before their return had seized an infant in the cradle, and so dreadfully lacerated it that the poor child's life is despaired of. THE IRON TRADE.—We are glad to perceive a marked and steady improvement in this branch of trade. We learn that the Great North of England Railway Com pany's contract for 6000 tons of rails was taken by the Bishopwearmouth Iron Company, at Sunderland, and Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan, of Middlesbro' Iron works, at £7 15s. per ton, which is a considerable advance on the late quotations.—Mining Journal. REMARKABLE OPERATION FOR THE CURE OF CON SU/sIPTION.—The Medical Gazette contains a long article from the pens of Dr. Hastings and Mr. Robert Storks, surgeon, descriptive of a remarkable operation for the cure of consumption, by the perforation of the cavity of the lungs through the walls of the chest. It consists in making an opening between the ribs into the cavity which forms in the lung during the latter stages of consumption. ALLEGED DEATH OF A CHILD FROM GRIEF.—On Tuesday evening Mr. Baker held an adjourned inquest at London, on the body of Elizabeth Sutton, aged ten years. About a week ago, her father, for whom she had a great affection, met with an accident, and was removed to the London Hospital. He kissed her upon being removed there, which circumstance, it was remarked, excited in her strong emotion, and from that time she complained of pains in her head and stomach. She was continually wishing to go to see them. DANGER OF LOADED FIRE-ARMS.—On Saturdayweek, at Kirkham, a respectable tradesman who had been amus ing himself shooting small birds, on returning home in advertantly laid down the gun loaded with small shot. Next morning his young shop boy took up the piece, and having previously found a cap fixed it on, " prevented" towards the window. The gun went off—to the great alarm of the poungster, who did not think it loaded—and demolished four large panes in the shop window, and seventeen in the window of the shop opposite. Luckily no one was passing:at the time, otherwise ,the consequen ces might have been fatal. FOG IN GLASGOW.—On Friday week Glasgow was visited by one of the densest fogs that had been known for many years. A frost had set in on the previous night, and it was scarcely possible to see across some of the streets. The traffic on the river was entirely suspended. Several vessels left the Bromielaw, but could make little or no progress. The larger vessels got aground near Go van. Three men were drowned at Port Dundas during the fog. Alexander Bontine, master of a vessel, fell into the canal, and was soon afterwards taken out dead. On the same evening Robert Maitland and Collin Campbell (men employed at a distillery at Port Dundas) fell into the canal, and were drowned. A SCENE.—At the Watlington petty sessions, on Sa turday. Jane Allen, a wretchedly distre ss ed-l oo ki ng wo man, with an infant at her breast, was charged with hav ing stolen, on the 25th of November, a small faggot of wood, of the value of " one penny." The bench more than once put it to the prosecutor as to whether he was determined to press the charge, and he said he was ; he had lost faggots before. He said, "The faggots were worth 6s. per hundred "—id. each. It was an affecting scene. From the prosecutor sternly pressing the charge, the mother, with the infant in her arms, was committed to Oxford gaol, to the said faggot, of the value of id. LONGEVITY.—Died, on Monday last, at the patriarchal age of 108, Mr. Morris Thurston, of Exeter. The de ceased, up to the last seven weeks, enjoyed excellent health and spirits. He lived for upwards of sixty years in the house in which he died, and never, till lately, allowed any one to go into it. He was an herbal doctor, and as such travelled through Devon, working marvellous cures. He followed his vocation till within the last two months, and such was his repute that the people applied to him for his advice, and received the nostrums, whilst on his death-bed. He was an alchyrnist, and an adept in astrology ; and it seems as if these ancient delusions lin gered with him alone.—Exeter Times. DANGEROUS FROLICKING.—A person one day last week, while viewing Wombwell's menagerie, at Bath, was foolish enough to tease one of the elephants. The sagacious animal afterwards watched for a favourable opportunity of retaliating, and when its tormenter was standing off his guard, within the grasp of its proboscis, to his great consternation he found himself suddenly clutched in a close embrace, and lifted as high as the head way of the booth would admit, and then brought to the ground again. Fortunately, however, the trunk of his formidable antagonist by this time had loosened its hold ; but such was the terror with which the man was affected by the animal's resentment, that he went home ill, and continued so for several days afterwards. We learn that it is contemplated by government to send out another expedition to the Arctic Regions, with the view of discovering the, or a North-west passage, between the Atlantic and Pacific ; and the council of the royal so ciety having been solicited to give their opinion as to the desirableness of such an expedition, have stated, that in dependent of the great object to be attained, the benefits that would accrue to the sciences of geography and ter restrial magnetism render such an expedition peculiarly desirable. It appears thut the Erebus and Terror, which were recently employed at the South Pole, under the command of Sir James Ross, have returned in such good order, as to be ready to be made immediately available for employment on any similar service.—Athenceum. STAMP OFFICE REDUCTION.—A circular has been issued from the stamp office to the District Distributors and Sub-distributors, directing a reduction in the charges for all blank forms for documents to which stamps are attached, to take place from and after the sth January, 1845. These reductions will be a source of great saving to professional and commercial men. For parchment, such skins as are now charged at Bd. will henceforth be 6d. ; those at Is. Bd., Is. ; those at 25., Is. 6d. ; those at 4s , 3s. 2d.; and the others in propo r ti on . For paper, folio post is reduced from 2s. to Is. 6d. and Is., accord ing to quality ; decoy paper from 2d. to id. per sheet ; and bonds, birs of 1 ding, marriage-licenses, transfers, and protests, fr, m lid. to id. and id. per sheet. IMPORTATION OF WHEAT.—A parliamentary return, which was pr , cured in September last, on the motion of Mr. Darby, the member for East Sussex, has just been printed. showing the quantity of wheat imported from the United States into Canada from the 11th October to the 31st July, 1844, both inclusive; also, the quantity of wheat and wheat flour imported from Canada into Great Britain and Ireland, distinguishing the quantity into each, from the same period to the same period. It ap pears that the quantity of wheat imported into Canada from the United States from the 11th October, 1843, to the sth July last, (to which day the returns received only extend,) was, by sea, 634 quarters, and by inland naviga tion or land carriage, 21,161 quarters. The quantities of wheat and flour, the produce of Canada, imported (for home consumption) from the same period to the same period, being the last period to which the returns have been received, were, into Great Britain, 18,199 quarters and 6 bushels of wheat, and 262,506 cwts. 1 qr. and 101bs. of flour; into Ireland, 4,007 cwts. 1 qr. and 101bs. of flour; making, in the total, 18,199 qrs. and 6 bushels of wheat, and 266,513 cwts. 2 qrs. and lllbs. of wheat and flour. TnE MALT TAX.—The Central Agricultural Society have refused to support the repeal of the malt tax. At a meeting of the farmers of the county of Norfolk, held a few days since, to take into consideration the repeal of the malt tax, a letter from the secretary of the above society, of which the following is an extract, was read, in consequence of which the meeting separated without coming to any resolutions on the subject of the tax : " I will at once state to you that with reference to the repeal of the malt tax, the committee, having had their attention called to it some time ago, came to the deter mination of not raising that question o❑ their own part, and of not recommending the agitation of it by any of the local protection societies. They felt that to begin to agitate for the repeal of the malt duties so soon after the formation of the society, on the virtual understanding that its object was the maintenance of tl•e present scale of protection to agriculture, under its existing burthens, would involve an aggressive policy for which they were not prepared. The prospects, too, of the property tax being soon deducted from the items of the revenue of the country, did not seem to justify the remission of so large a source of income as the malt duties, unless some sub stitute were proposed ; of the nature of which, however, no unanimity appeared to exist either in the committee or the country." EXTRAORDINARY EVEN T.—A most extraordinary cir c•smstance has just occurred at the Hawick toll-bar, which is kept by two old women. It appears that they had a sum of money in the house, and from some cause or other were extremely alarmed lest they should be robbed of it. Their fears prevailed to such an extent, that when a carrier whom they knew was passing by, they urgently requested him to remain with them all night, which, however, his duties would not permit him to do; but in consideration of the alarm of the women, he con sented to leave with them a large mastiff dog. When the carrier star ted the dog became violent, and would not stop, upon which one of the women ran after the man, who re turned and left his coat for the dog to watch, after which the dog remained quietly at the toll-house. In the night the women were disturbed by the uneasiness of the dog, and heard a noise apparently like an attempt to force an entrance into the premises, upon which they escaped by the back-door, and ran to a neighbouring-house, which happened to be a blacksmith's shop. They knocked at the door, and were answered from within by the smith's wife. She said her husband was absent, but that she was willing to accompany the terrified women to their home. This was agreed to, and on their reaching the house, they saw the body of a man hanging half in and half out of their little window, whom the dog had seized by the throat, and was still worrying. On examination, the man proved to be their neighbour the blacksmith, dreadfully torn about the throat, and quite dead.—Carlisle Patriot. PUBLIC SALARIES,—On Friday a Parliamentary paper was issued, giving an account of all salaries, &c., held by all persons between the sth of January, 1843, the total amount of which exceeded £l,OOO. The whole list em braces the names 754 persons. In the first branch of the return, civil officers, there are 250 names ; in the second, judicial officers, officers of courts of law, &c., there are 134, and 30 pensioners; in the third, consular and diplo- matic officers, there are 52, and 22 pensioners ; in the fourth, naval officers, there are 34 and 1 pensioner ; in the fifth department, military officers returned by the War-office, appears the names of 25 individuals ; in the sixth, ordnance and military officers not returned by the War-office, there are 30; in the seventh, officers in the colonies, there are 118; and in the eighth, branch officers of the House of Commons, only 10 ; making in the ag gregate 754 persons whose incomes from the public money exceed £l,OOO a-year. The highest sum in the list of civil officers is the allowance to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland of £20,000 and the next, two pensions to the Duke of Grafton, amounting to £10,584. In the list of judicial officers Lord Lyndhurst, as Lord Chancellor, is the highest, namely, £lO,OOO, which is exclusive of his salary as Speaker of the House of Lords. Among the military officers the Duke of Wellington receives the largest amount. His Grace had in the period mentioned £8,916 16s. 3d., consisting of £ 3 , 3 79 17s. 6d., as Colonel of the 13th Foot Guards ; £238 15s. 5d., as Colonel-in- Chief of the Rifle Brigade ; £992 3s. Bd. ' as Constable of the Tower of London ; £ 305 19 s. Bd., as Captain of Do ver Castle, £4,000 pension granted by act of Parliament. The noble duke succeeded Lord Hill as Commander-in- Chief in December, 1842, who, it appears by the return, received in the year as Commander-in-Chief £2,281 15s. 10d. The Speaker of the House of Commons has £5,000 a-year, and a house ; and Sir W. Gosset, the Sergeant at-Arms, £1,500, besides £320 12s. Ild., as a retired Colonel of Royal Engineers. Dec. 31, 1844. DREADFUL OCCURRENCE.—A few nights since Mr. Ross, of the Victoria Inn, Bunbury, and Mrs. Sim, the same village, (between whom it is said an Mire!!! intimacy existed), left the house of M r . Ross, for then pose of taking a walk in a field, in which:a draw-well lately been sunk. It is supposed that the two individu als had been groping along the side of th e wa ll, and in ce! l . sequence of the darkness of the night, they fell into well together and perished.--Hull Herlad. CONFESSION.—During the last few days, Win. drew, the murderer of Mr. Wrn. Inchbald, of Low -uar, sforth. near Boroughbridge, under th e i ns t ruc tions of the Rev. Thomas Sutton, the Chapl a i n o f Y or k C a stle, et exhibited a greater degree of penitence than might WI been expected after the indiff e r ence h e h as ma nifestel since his conviction. On Thursday last he made a verbs confession, of which the following is the purport. Il a stated that a fortnight before the murder, Mr. Inch bald had threatened to have him transported for p o aching', before the expiration of three m on th s , i n consequ ence 9' which, he (Kendrew) on the 28th of September, laid In wait for Mr. Inchbald, and having arrived at the place de ' scribed at the trial, he fired and hit him in the back. M r ; Inchbald then turned round, when Kendrew discharge d the second barrel, and wounded him i n th e l e ft ar m. Not being satisfied with this, he went up to the unfortuna te man whilst he was lying on the ground, and struck him on the head with the butt end of the gun. Mr. Inchbald then, although so seriously wounded, got up and followed Kendrew, who immediately went into the fields and 58 no more of the deceased. MAMMOTH STEAM ELECTRICAL MACHINE.----An hydro-electric machine of the mo s t ex t raor di nar y and unprecedented power is now bei ng construc t e d for tn e United States. It will be able to produce a spark of 3 6 inches, to cast 3500 feet of metallic surface, in a battery of 48 Leyden jars, of 2 feet high by 10 inches in diameter . This shock would kill a thousand men in an instant, if it were passed through such a chain ! This machine will be mere than four times as powerful as the one exhibited at the Polytechnic Institution in London, whose effects hale been witnessed by more than 300,000 persons within the last year, and is now by far the most powerful instrument in the world. The expense will be nearly 4500 dollars, with the apparatus for illustration. The name of this leviathan machine is to be the " Benjamin Franklin"; and, as it will not be shown at all in Europe, America will possess exclusively this magnificent unequalled in strument. It will leave the m anu f ac t ory f or t h e U n i te d States early in the year. The action of the hydro•electrie machine is in no degree influenced by the state of the weather, and the experiments are astounding in their nature, both on account of their novelty and grandeur...." Birmingham Journal. THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AND THE ARMY.,--"A correspondence has been published in the Watchman, which is highly characteristic of his grace's attention to everything which concerns the welfare of the army. The Rev. John Smith, a Wesleyan minister, addressed a letter to the duke, complaining that he had b een re f use d a d m is° sion to an hospital for the purpose of visiting a sergeant, one of the patients. Mr. Smith immediately received s communication from Sir John Macdonald, the Adjutant- General, by his grace's direction, distinctly explaining the regulations on this head. The letter expresses the duke S desire that soldiers should have the benefit of the spiritual assistance of clergymen of their own persuasion, whenever they might require it; and states the established rule to be, that every soldier is at liberty to choose its own pas' tor, with this simple understanding, that he shall notify his wish, through the regular channel to his commanding officer, who will give immediate directions for the admis sion of the clergyman whom the soldier may have chosen as his spiritual adviser. Sir J. Macdonald adds, that the Duke of Wellington had commanded him to enter into this explanation for Mr. Smith's future guidance, a nd tO prevent his being in future subjected to any disappoint .. ment. CHRISTMAS PANTOMIMES.—At this season of the year, custom has ordained the production of pantomimes as the chief feature of the theatrical representations, and an enumeration of those brought out in London may not prove unacceptable to the reader:—At Drury Lane, Puck's Pantomime, or Harlequin Robinson Crusoe, has been announced ; at Covent-Garden, Harlequin Crotchet and Quaver, or Music for the Million ; at the Haymar• ket, Graciosa and Percinet ; at the Adelphi, Cat's Cas tle, or Harlequin and the King of the Rats; at the Ly ceum, Valentine and Orson ; at the Princess's, Joe Mil ler and his Men ; at the Olympic, Old Bogie, or Harle quin Lazy Dick ; a t Astley's, Harlequin and Johnny Gilpin's Ride ; at the Surrey, £ s. d. or Harlequin Pounds, Shillings, and Pence ; at Sadler's Wells, Harle quin Robin Hood and Little John ; at the City of Lon don, Fairy Gnomes of the Golden Caves, or Harlequin and the lamp of the Golden Mountains; at the Pavilion, Harlequin Jack-of-all-T ra d es , an d the Fairy Busy Bee: at the Strand, the Chinese Exhibition, or the Feast of Lanterns ; at the Garrick, Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson, the Four Naughty B o y s , or H ar l equ i n an d Old Tiddy Kill at the bottom of the Thames ; at the Grecian Saloon, the Maid and the Magpie, or Harlequin and the Magic Spoon; at the Victoria, Harlequin and Hot Cod lies, or the Little Old Woman and the Demon of tli Metal Mines. HORRID MURDER.—On Saturday morning week the peaceful town of Ulverstone was excited by a rumour (which proved to be true) that an itinerant razor-grinder had brutally murdered his wife. His name is Donough, but it apperred that he resided with his wife and two children in Heart-street Ulverston. On Friday night week he returned home in a state of intoxication, and a quarrel ensued between him and his wife, which at length terminated in blows. The enraged man eventually seized the poker, and struck his wife a formidable blow with it on the head, which completely shattered her skull. and must, it is supposed, have produced instantaneous death. Not satisfied with what he had done, the enraged muderer commenced kicking the head of his victim, which he did with such violence as to force one of her jaws entirely from its place ; he then brutally kicked her on various parts of her body, which he dreadfully mutilated. Hav ing thus wreaked his savage vengeance upon his victim, he stripped the poor woman's dead body naked, and threw it down stairs, after which he burned the whole of her clothing. Having done this he left the house, and went to his wife's sister, and coolly told her that he was afraid that his wife was dead. In the meantime two children (a boy and a girl) awoke and witnessed the crime, and the neighbours, who had heard the noise, were first alarmed by the screams of the boy, who called out to them that his father had murdered his mother. The wretched man was secured. IMPORTATION OF CORN.—The Board of Customs har ing had under consideration a representation from one of the outports, with respect to certain post or second entries, which have been accepted for sundry quantities of corn► by which parties have been allowed to pay duty according to the rate chargeable at the time of passing the prime or first entry, instead of that payable at the time the second entry was passed, and also the reports of the practical officers at this port on the subject, and it appearing that a diversity of practice prevails in charging the duty oa foreign corn on prime and post entries and the board being of opinion that the duties payable upon foreign corn, under the provisions of the law, are regulated and governed by the aggregate average prices of British corn at the time of the entry for home consumption, have ordered that the duty due at the actual time of each entry of foreign corn for home use, whether prime or post, only be received of which the officers in London and at the several outports of the kingdom have had notice, with directions to govern themselves in future accordingly. This order is of con siderable importance to the importers of foreign corn, who are obliged in all cases of clearing the article direct from the importing vessel to pay a sum of duty, by pass ing a prime entry, in order to obtain the landing of the article, and as it is in almost every instance impracticable to give in the first entry the exact qu an tit y w hi c h w ill turn out, as it is termed, It of course becomes necessary' to pass a post or second entry for the remainder, fre quently several days after the passing of the original entry. HULL, BRISTOL, AND NEWCASTLE—The title to be considered the third port of the kingdom has been sup posed to lie between these ports. Bristol takes the lead in point of productiveness to the revenue, the amount of custom duties collected at that port during the year end ing January 5, ]844, being £326,750. The customs du ties of Hull during the same year were £525,418, the dif ference being accounted for by the fact, that the principle articles of export into Hull are not those on which the heavy duties are chargeable, such as timber, linseed, &C.. while Bristol contains a considerable portion of her West India trade, the duties on the sugars, coffee, rum, Sce.t which swell the revenue. We have reason to s uppose that the customs returns for the year ending Jan. 5,1845, will exhibit a less preponderating difference between the two ports in this respect, and will show larger contribu tions to the revenue from this port. In the number of ships and the amount of tonnage for the year ending 18431 Hull has a decided superiority—the number of our ships which entered our por't being 973 British and 945 foreign► or 1,918 in all; against 315 British and only 25 foreign , or 340 in all, which entered the port of Bristol in 1843• The difference in the total amount of tonnage is very strik ing, being, Hull, 307,793; Bristol, 83,609. The amount of customs duties collected at Newcastle during the year ending Jan. 5, 1844, is £494,524, being less than either Hull or Bristol. The number of ships and the a mount of tonnage exceed, however, either those of Bristol or Hull, being 1,676 British ships, and 1,148 foreign, total► 2,824, with a tonnage of 381,961.—Hu1l Herald. NEW MEA.CHANT SEAMEN'S ACT.—On `Wednesday (to. morrow) the New Merchant Seamen's Act will come into force. From the Ist proximo no seaman can be taken to sea without the requisite ticket, under a penalty of £lO. The act is "to amend and consolidate the laws relating te Merchant Seamen, and for Keeping a Register of Sea men." By the preamble it is declared that it is expedien t to promote the increase of the number of seamen, and to afford them encouragement and protection; and it is ther declared to be expedient to keep a register of seamen' Agreements are to be made in " writing between masters and seamen, stating the situation s , wages , an d l en gth,T , service of the men. Parish boys may be sent to sea with their consult, or boys soliciting alms. No se a man is . be discharged abroad, nor to be abandoned or left behin d ' without the sanction of the c o n su l of the pl ace , as grea t mischief has been caused by such proceedin gs —the poo r men having been reduced to great distress, and have, ac cording to the language of the act, been tempted to be come pirates. By the 64th section it is pro v id e d, that if any person being a Malay, Lascar, or native of the tern torities under the government of the East India Company; or if any Asiatic or African seaman, ha v i ng b een broug' l , l to the United Kingdom on board any ship, shall be Win; to be in the United Kingdom in distress for want of foe,t l ,l clothing, or other necessaries, the commissioners oft admiralty may supply assistance to ever y suc h person n c ' t seaman, and maintain him until he shall be sent on boar d some ship to be taken to th e pl ace f rom w hi c h h e s hiPPe The assistance render e d i s t o b ecome a d e b t, an d may /3 4 recovered from the owner or master o f the s hi p on bOs whereof such pe rson or seaman was b rought to t h e Unite Kingdom from Asia or Africa."