The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-30 00:00:00

iLtteraturc. POETRY: THE CHIEF OF WATERLOO. BY ROBERT STORY, ESQ. We will not—seed not —name him; Ills de ds shall live in fame When those that dare to blame him Have neither place nor name. But thinking. as we think him, To Britain's g:ory true. In flowing cups we'll drink him— The Chief of Water.oo t To fields of fame he led not Ambition's r.rathered might; His faithful legions bled not lint for his country's right. Her hirrh, devoted Inver, For that his blade he drew ; And stainless I,nrels c-ver The Chief of Watertu., 1 Like kin: unmatched on ocean, Ne son of the land, By ore re i thy's cevotion Left no work for his brand. But, happier than the seaman, He lives with honours due, The pride of every tree man, The thief of waterloo I THE DYING SPANIEL. [The following; very beautiful and touching verses are extracted fr m a recently-published volume of p , etry. by Dr. Muir, of Edinburgh, the" Delta," in Blackwood's Magazine.] Ord Oscar, Ir , w feel ly thou crawl'st to the door, Tbou who wert all beauty and vigour of yore; How slow is thy stagger the sunshine to find, And thy str w. pritiklcd pallet—how crippled and blind! But thy heart is s ill living—thou Nearest my voi . e And thy faint wagging tail says thou yet canst iejoice; Ah I how different art thou from the Oscar of old, The sleek and the gamesome, the swift and the bold ! At sunrise I wakened to hear thy proud back, With the coo of the Iviuse-dove. the lay of the lark; And out to the greet, fields 'twas ours to repair, When sunrise with glory empurpied the air; And the streamtet flowed down in its g Id to the sea And the night-dew like diamond spa, ks gleam'd from the tree And the sky o'er the earth in such purity glowed, As if angels, not men, on its surface abode! How then thou would'st g mhol. and start from my feet, To scare the wild birds from their sylvan retreat ; Or plunge in the smooth stream. and ring to my hand The twig or the wild-flower I threw from the land : On the moss-sprinkled stone it I sat for a space, Thou would'st crouch on the Bret nswdrd, anti gaze in my face. Then in wontonness pluck up the blooms in thy teeth, And toss them above thee, or tread them beneath. Then I was a schoolboy all thoughtless and free, And thou wort a e help lull of gambol and glee; Now dim is thine eyeball, a d grizzled thy hair, And I am a man, and of grief have my share ! Thou br tig'st to my mind ad the pleasures of youth. When Hope was the mi,tress. not handmaid of Truth; When Earth looked an den, when Joy's sunny hours Were cloudless, and every path glowing with flowers. Now Summer is waning; soon tempest and rain Shall harbinger des - late Winter again, And thou, all unable its gripe to withstand, Shalt die, when the snow-mantle garments the land: Then thy grave shall be dug 'neath the old cherry tree, Which in spring-time will shed down its blossoms on thee And, when a few fast-fleeting seasons re o'er. Thy faith and thy form shall be thought of no more ! Then all who caressed thee e n d loved, shall be laid, Life's pilgrimage o'er, in the tomb's dreary shade; Other steps shall be heard o these floors. and the past Be like yesterday's clouds from the memory cast : Improvements will follow ; old walls be throw n down, Old landmarks removed, when old masters are gone; And the garti'ner. when delving, will marvel to see WrAte bones where once blossomed the old cherry tree ! Frail things ! could we read but the objer•ts around, In the meanest some eep.lurking truth might be found, Some type of our trail! y. some warning to show How shifting the sands are we build on below ; Our fathers have passed, and have mixed with the mould— Year presses on year, till the young ecome old ; Time, though a st‘ rn teacher, is partial to none ; And the friend and the foe pass away one by one ! SELECTIONS. LORD ELDON'S EARLY DAYS. In the autumn of 1779 he did not go the circuit. He had burrowed money from William for so many of these journeys, and earned nothing by them, that he could not make up his mind to apply again : and on discovering why he had staid in town, William writes thus to their younger brother Henry :—" I heartily wish that business may brisken a little, or he will be utterly sick of his profession. I do all I can to keep up his spirits, but be is very gloomy." Meantime a certain solitary case which he had argued in the Rolls Court in 1778 was about who heard on appeal in the House of Lords. In that case he had urged a point not only not suggested in his brief, but entirely discoun tenanced by the solicitor. The Master of the Rolls de cided against him. His own client disapproved of the ap peal, which was the act of another party. Mr. Scott was desired to state at the bar of the House of Lords that his client " consented." He insisted on restating his point. The solicitor smiled, but allowed him to do so—it could not make things worse than they were already—he should, however, have no better fee than one guinea. Behold, Lord Thurlow listened very earnestly—took three days to consider—reversed the decree of the Rolls Court solely on Mr. Scott's argument ; and this decision of Lord Thurlow has regulated all similar questions since that day, March 4, 1780. Th's was the case of Ackroyd versus Smithson. Lord Eldon's account concludes thus:— " As I left the Hall a respectable solic;tor, of the name of Forster, came up and touched me on the shoulder, and said, Yount man, your bead and butter is cut for life.'" Nevertheless, matters were so little mended, that when about the Christmas of that year the recordership of New castle became vacant, arid his f iends procured him an offer of it, he signified la's acceptance of the situation. The salary was small, but he thought he should have a fair chance of some pro‘in ial business besides, and the temptation was irresistible. A house was taken for him at Newcastle—he was engaged in preparations for imme diate removal. This was the state of things when he went to bed on the night of the 13th of March, 1781. Next morning at six o'clock—thus "Lord Eldon told the story a few weeks before his death to one of his family:— " Mr. (afterwards Lord) Curzon, and four or five gen tlemen came to my door and awoke me, and when I in quired what they waited, they stated that the Clitheroe election case was to come on that morning at ten o'clock, before a committee of the House of Commons, that Mr. Cooper had written to say he was det-ained at Oxford by illness and could not arrive to 1 'ad the cause, and that Mr. Hardinee, the next connsel, refused to do so, because he was not prepared. Well, gentlemen,' said I, what do you expect me to do, that you are here ?' They answered, they did not know what to expect or to do, for the cause must come on at ten o'clock, and they were totally unpre pared, and had been recommended to me, as a youn g and promising counsel.' I answered, I wilt tell you what I can do. I can undertake to make a dry statement of facts, if that n ill content you, gentlemen, but more I cannot do, for I he ye no time to make myself acquainted with the law.' Ihey said that must du; so 1 begged they would 20 down stairs and let me get up, as fast as I could. Well, I did state the facts, and the cause went on for fifteen days. It found me poor enough, but I began to be rich before it was done: :hey left me fifty guineas at the beginning; then there were ten guineas every day, and five guineas every evening for a consultation—more money than I could count. But, better still, the length of the cause i gave me time to make myself thoroughly acqu nt!d with the law. . . . We were beaten in tile committee by one vote. . . After this speech, Mansfield, after wards Sir James Mansfield, came up to me in Westmin ster Hall, and sa'd he heard that I was going to leave Lon don, hut stninaly advised me to rea ain in London. I told him that I could not, that I had taken a house in Newcastle, that I had an increasing family, in short, that I was compelled to quit London. Afterwards Wilson came to me and pressed me in the same manner to remain in London, adding what was very kind, ' that be would ensure me £4OO the next year.' I gave him the same an swer as I had given Mansfield. However, I did remain in London, and lived to make Mansfield Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and Wilson a Puisne Judge." Lord Mansfield used to say he had known no interval between no business at all and £3OOO a-year. Mr. Scott's advance in the profession seems to have been hardly less rapid. By 1783, at the age of thirty-two, he had a silk gown, and was at the head of the Northern Circuit. Great and lucrative as his practice soon came to be, it must have been infinitely more gainful but for ae rare delicacy of his professional conscience. No fees had he from the ex tensive firm of " Snap, Gammon, and Quirk." Of one very rich branch of business, of which he might have en grossed the lion's share if he pleased, he had, after a very little while, next to nothing—the business of " answering questions." He would sign no opinion on a point of law without a thorou g h exam i na ti on o f au th or i t i es ; h e wou ld sign none b 8 to the pr o b a bl e i ssue o f a case se t b e f ore hi m, without sifting the facts so minutely, and suggesting the effect of so many possibly omitted particulars, that even solicitors of the higher class recoiled : it was as if, seek ing an advocate, they had stumbled in limine on a judge. At the bar itself he appears to have, from the first, acted on a system equally scrupulous. We find him at a very early period taking to task a friendly senior, in the full career of eminence, for some such laxity of forensic ethics as even Dr. Johnson has countenanced, and compelling the reluctant confession—" Master Scott, you have en sured me an uneasy pillow." He never could be brought to understand that it was consistent with the honour of a gentleman to misrepresent in the slightest degree either law to a judge or facts to a jury.—Life of Lord .Eldon. CHlNtat CIRCUMSPECTION.—Nothing that happens in this world ought to be looked upon as of no consequence ; let the affair 1 tr ifling or important, all ought to be con sidered essential , an d be treated with that careful attention, which to what I may call respect. It is with this revereneenttsha monarch ought to watch over his own person in his lei sure ts' moments, and that he ought to treat affairs as they a rrive , giving them the same attent i on at their conclusion th eir commencement. Ile should bear in mind that matt ers must remain for ever in the situation which he has arra nged ont t r i i e v m e to avoid ; by this unvarying consistency he will easil y faults. If he applies to business with this attention, this earnestness, and if to it he unites a heart divest of passion i like the head of a family in his own house, he will withoAi difficulty introduce good government into the • empi re . This is precisely what en ancient saga has said, " Self respect renders a man upright and pure." It is written in the first page of the Le-ke, "Be careful to be reverent.'; In this maxim alone the wise author of the work has found the means of concentrating the profoundest doctrine. STUPENDOUS CHINESE UNDERTAKING.—His pro ject was to make a great road, straight, broad, and level, from the town of Kieou-yuen, which is now Tcho-tcheou, about thirty-six miles from the town of Peking, to Yun yang, of the district of King-tcheou at the present time; which made a distance of 1800 les, or about 600 English miles. To make this road according to the emperor's wishes, it was necessary to pierce through mountains, fill up valleys, and throw a great number of bridges over tor rents and rivers, drain marshes, and plant trees the whole distance along the two sides ; it was to be like the prin cipal walk of a large garden for foot passengers, and to have in addition all the requisite conveniences for carriages and vehicles of every description. It is not easy to ima gine the number of men whom it is necessary to employ for a work of this description.—Captain Pidding's Chinese Olio. LONGEVITY OF PRESBYTERIANISM.—Long before Luther was born, Presbyterianism had become strong and mature. During the dark ages, when Popery ruled the world, Presbyterianism was living among the persecuted Waldenses. In the ages of primitive Christianity, Presbyterianism was the form of government and " the sect everywhere spoken against;" and before the birth of the babe of Bethlehem, in the synagogues of the Jews, Presbyterian elders ruled, and the Presbyterian discipline was maintained among the God-beloved descendants of Abraham. They were not afraid to bring their form of church government to the standard of the word of God. Talk to them of the flower of their English nobility ; why these men were the mushroom growth of yesterday com pared to Presbyterianism ! The poorest Presbyterian could boast a long line of ancestry, stretching away beyond the guessings of the catalogue. He was the seed of noble fathers ; he could give evidence of his genealogy, not merely by showing that the tree took root among the disciples in the sands at the time of Christ, but by exhi biting evidence of an unbroken genealogy for thousands of generations. That Presbyterianism which flourished in the days of th' Apostles was traceable down through all the time of tribulation to the present day and present hour.—Speech of the Rev. Dr. Edgar in Liverpool. MODE OF TEACHING GEOGRAPHY IN PRUSSIA.— Geography was taught principally by delineations on the blaek-board,—and here the skill in drawing of teacher and pupil was employed with admirable service. One of these lessons is described. The teacher, after looking his class into eager readiness, made on the board a series of those lines and shadings employed by map-engravers to represent a chain of mountains. Scarcely had the out lines become visible when the scholars began to cry out, Carpathian Mountains, Hungary ; Black Forest Moun tains, Wurtemburg, &c. But the remainder of this ani mated scene we must transcribe:—" In less than half a minute the ridge of that grand central elevation which separates the waters that flow North-west into the Ger man ocean, from those that flow North into the Baltic, and South-east into the Black Sea, was presented to view, —executed almost as beautifully as an engraving. A dozen strokes, made in the twinkling of an eye, represented the head-waters of the great rivers which flow in different directions from that mountainous range ; while the chii dren almost as eager and excited as though they had ac tually seen the torrents dashing down the mountain sides, cried out, Danube, Elbe, Vistula, Oder, &c. The next moment I heard a succession of mailer strokes or taps, so rapid as to be almost indistinguishable, and hardly had my eye time to discern a large number of dots made along the margins of the rivers, when the shout of Lintz, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, &c., struck my ear."—Chris tian Teacher. MOSQUES IN DAMASCUS.—The mosques in the city are numerous, and the principal ones are very fine; but they lose much of their effect from the confined space in which they stand. Christians are not allowed to visit their interior, nor is it safe for them to pause too long in passing before them. The great mosque was once the cathedral of St. John, and is said to be the largest and most splendid of all the churches erected by the early Christians in this country. The mosque of the durweeshes has the finest minarets in Damascus, and another is re markable for having its minarets, which are of a great height and grandeur, cased with enamelled tiles of a rich green colour: the reflection of the sunshine from this iridescent surface produces a splendid effect. Many of the mosques were built by the caliphs as mausoleums; they possess courts, porticos, and fountains, and some are overshadowed by a few green trees, among which sacred doves may be heard cooing. The great mosque stands on an elevated position nearly in the centre of the city. It was once surrounded by an open area, but this is now so encumbered with buildings that the gate can only be ap proached through a bazaar filling up an arcade of ancient columns, perhaps the remains of a stately entrance. The outer court, which is very spacious, is paved with marble ; it has a large fountain in the middle, and on three sides a cloister consisting of two tiers of pointed arches, sup ported by Corinthian columns. Mr. Buckingham, who enjoyed the rare privilege of inspecting the interior of the building, speaks of its vast dimensions as most imposing. —Library of Travel. - - PRAYER AND PENANCE BY PROXY.—Praying by proxy is not at all uncommon in Ireland. Thus, if a person has any urgent business or recreation on hand, preventive of going to mass and performing the proper number of Ayes and genuflexions, he or she hires a substitute, generally a mendicant, who, for a trifline recompense, goes through, with most conscientious punctuality, the vicarious duties of the holy service committed to their charge. The prayer by proxy is considered to be nearly as efficacious as that delivered up in propria persona. But the penance by proxy goes a step further, and shifts the burthen of actual suffering or punishment from the shoulders of the rich to those of the poor ! The following anecdote. abridged from the Rev. Mr. Otway's Ascent to Croagh Patrick. will illustrate the penance by proxy system : " A little puffy, barrel-bodied attorney, hired a guide to conduct him up the mountain. The little man grunted, groaned, panted, and perspired—' larding the lean moun tain,' as they ascended. The guide did his best to alleviate his difficulties, and at length they came to the well, where St. Patrick made his first stop, when proceeding to disen chant the mountain. Here the little tourist was in a pretty plight, like a tallow candle in a hot tavern ! Well,' says the guide to himself, this dacent man is certainly doing penance for some great sin, and the poor simple sowl doesn't know that I could put him out of pain for a few shillings ' • it is a wonder all out that some one, even if the priest hadn't the good nathur, would not tell him that there's many a one about here that would do th - e dhurrus for him. So its myself that'll have the innocent fellow out of his trouble in a jiffy.' So with that the guide came up to him where he sat wiping with his silk handkerchief his reeking, streaming head and neck. Why then, your honour, I wonder you'd be after thinking of going up yon mountain, and working tho' all its stations, when you know that i'll go up for you and do dhurrus with all the veins in my heart.' What do you mean ?' says the attorney. 'You go up for me!" Yes, plase your honour, and that I will, and you may sit there quietly until I come back, not a one I'll miss—look at my knees when I return, and see if they're not battered and bleed ing enough to place pees." Why what, honest man, do you mean ? can you see for me—can you admire for roe— can your going up enable me to say, when I go home, that I have been at the top of Croagh Patrick ?" Ah, then, says the guide, is that all that brings you to the Reek—myself thought ye were a religious man, and that gees were undher vows or orthers to perform stations here, and sure all the world knows that I could do all that for yees, and chape enough—ay chaper and just as well as ever Rob of the Reek did, rest be to his sowl, and the heavens his bed.' " Now, considering the state of Ire land—the destitution of the poor—and the want of em ployment—this proxy-prayer, and proxy-penance, seem to be useful items in the pipular practice of religion, as giving an occasional job, however painful, to the idle and starving pauper.—Dr. James Johnson's Tour in Ireland. A MISNOMER. Inaptly is the Captain named, As if all fitness scorning; For Warner, to be justly famed, Must strike, and give no warning. STATE OF LARGE TOWNS. The commissioners appointed by her majesty's letters patent dated May, 1843, for inquiring into the present state of large towns and populous d;stricts, have just pre sented their first report. The objects of the inquiry were very extensive. The commissioners were instructed to investigate the present state of large towns and populous districts " with reference to the causes of disease among the inhabitants, and into the best means of promoting and securing the public health under the operation of the laws and regulations now in force, and the usages at present prevailing with regard to the drainage of lands ; the erection, drainage, and ventilation of buildings, and the supply of water in such towns and districts, whether for purposes of health or for the better protection of property from fire ; and bow far the public health and the condition of the poorer classes of the people of this realm, and the salubrity and safety of their dwelling, may be promoted by the amendment of such laws, regulations and usages." —The commissioners are the Duke of Buccleuch ; the Earl of Lincoln ; R. A. Slaney ; Major Graham, the registrar general ; Sir Henry de la Beebe, the geologist ; Dr. Lyon Playfair, and Dr. D. B. Reid, chemists : Pro fessor Owen ; Captain W. T. Denison, royal engineers; J. R. Martin, surgeon ; Mr. J. Smith, of Deanston ; Robert Stephenson, jun., the engineer ; William Cubitt, the architect, and arvey Hobhouse, secretary. It will be perceived that the commission comprises men of con siderable eminence in their various spheres of know ledge, but it is remarkable that an inquiry into the state of the public health and its causes should be entrusted to a body containing among its members only one medical practitioner, the only member of the medical profession, except Mr. Martin, being Professor Owen. who is known principally as a comparative anatomist, and does not, we believe, practise either medicine or surgery. The commissioners appear, however, to have endeavoured to supply this very serious omission in the original con stitution of their body, by applications to numerous members of the profession for assistance and informa tion, which have been freely given and fully acknow ledged. it has been a matter of regret to many parties interested in this subject, that the commission did not report and recommend some legislative enactment to remedy the evils it has exposed at the beginning of the year, but have delayed till the end of the session to present the result of part of the inquiry only, without any recommendations whatever, This appears in the shape of a mass of evi dence, occupying 437 large folio pages, with an appen dix of 212 pages. The commissioners, however, have perhaps adopted the wisest course in not offering any re commendations, the subjects of inquiry having turned out much more extensive and complicated than could have been at first anticipated. Besides, in order to secure the sa t h un a py t p measuresothrte they may hereafter o p f u o b p l i i n c i s o h n o w .l h d ic b h e will be necessary to carry through , subjectd practicability naturallyi, divides s t the evils The two branches— hi convincedtere:, re r eoi o mnf p to o otv s h e a el , m i t a i s g n e i s t s u e d n e t i o a fl THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. sanatory and economical. On the first branch of the subject there are two propositions, of which the public should be fully convinced :—first, that a large amount of suffering, disease, and death, is produced by artificial causes; next, that those causes are susceptible of remo val, or at least very considerable alleviation, by proper sanatory regulations. The registration of deaths has established the fact (which was before very frequently denied) that the rate of mortality in towns is much higher than in the country. Now, as there is no reason for be lieving that the inhabitants of towns suffer more from want of sufficient food and clothing than those of the country, it follows that there must be something in town life itself which causes or predisposes to disease. Many inquirers have arrived at the conclusion that it is the em ployments of a town population, especially factory labour, to which the evil must be attributed. If their conclusion be correct, (and to a certain degree no doubt it is,) the evil is one to which we must submit. It is satisfactory, however, to believe that, without in any degree diminish ing the good arising from the full development of our manufacturing greatness, it is within our power, as it is certainly our duty, very materially to mitigate its evils. In the first place, we consider it proved that the factory system is not justly chargeable with the high rate of mor tality in towns; for a high rate of morality is found in large towns, whatever may be the employments of their population. For instance, in the average of the three years, 1840, 1, and 2, the rate of mortality in Liverpool was 3.5 per cent. ; in Manchester (proper 3.2), inclusive of Salford, Chorlton, Hulme, and Ardwick, about 2.9; in Hull 3; in Bristol 3.1. The above are examples of high states of mortality in towns principally trading or mercantile, while in others almost exclusively manufac turing the rate is not quite so high, as in Ashton and Oldham 2.7, in Birmingham 2 7, in Bolton 2.8, Bradford 2.4, Bury 2.7, Derby 2.6, Leeds 2.7, Nottingham 2.8, Preston 2.9, Rochdale 2.6, and similarly in several others ; while in some few the rate is less even than that of the average of the country ' • in Halifax and Kidderminster , for instance, it is only 2.1 per cent. We consider that the report before us shows that the idea of reducing the rate of mortality in all towns to the rate of Halifax is by no means chimerical. If this should be accomplislied. the annual deaths in Manchester alone would be diminished by more than three thousand. It has long been an acknowledged fact, that disease and death are much more rife among the poor than among those in comparatively easy circumstances. Many Has trations of this appear in the report, but the fact is so well established that we need not stop to quote them. The difference depends, in a great degree, but not entirely, upon circumstances quite beyond the reach of direct legis lation; upon the habits of the people, and the command they individually possess over the comforts and necessaries of life. But there are circumstances which law can regu late, powerfully influencing the health of the community. Our readers may, however, be little prepared for the striking illustrations of this, with which the report abounds. For example, we find in Mr. Holland's report for Chorlton-upon-Medlock, that among the inhabitants of what he calls first-class streets, (that is streets well paved and sewered, and wide enough to admit a free cir culation of air,) the rate of mortality during an average of five years has been 2.2. per cent., or 1 in 16 per annum, while in the third- , :lass streets, (those unpaved, unsewer ed, and narrow or obstructed,) it has been 3.7. per cent., or lin 27 per annum, or 68 per cent. greater. It is no doubt true that part of this excess is owing to the more easy circumstances of the inhabitants of the better condi tioned streets; but we are inclined to agree with Mr. Holland, that not above half of the difference is attributa ble to this. If so, it follows that we have it in our power to diminish the rate of mortality 20 or 30 per cent., by the simple expedient of putting our streets into a satisfactory condition. That this inference is probably correct is shown by another fact, ascertained by the same inquirer, namely, that the mortality in twenty streets which have been improved, has actually fallen from 3 1 per cent., or lin 32, to 2.53 per cent., or 1 in 31. The improvement in the streets in question has been but partial, being merely paving and sewering, (faults in ventilation of the houses, and over-crowding, remaining unabated,) and yet the result has been to diminish the deaths nearly one-sixth. If this small amount of improvement has been followed by results so gratifying, how much more may be reasonably expected from a complete reformation of faulty structural arrangements? It is evidently not at all ex travagant to estimate the number of lives which might be thus saved in Manchester alone at thousands annually. The experience of Leicester, though given in a dif ferent form, is exactly correspondent. It is found that young persons are the great sufferers from badly con ditioned habitations; probably because young constitu tions are more susceptible of these influences, and per haps also because the children, being almost constantly at home, are more exposed to them than the!" parents, who are out at work. Of course, it follows that when the children of a population are unusually unhealthy, more than the average number die young, and consequently the average age of death is low. The average age of death, therefore, though not a certain is a tolerably correct indi cation of the healthfulness of a community. In Leices ter it is found that the average age of death in streets which are completely culverted is 251 years ; in those partly culverted 21 years; in those not culverted at all 17 years. It is also found that the proportion of the deaths caused by epidemics is least in the better condi tioned streets. The proportion varies in each year, but is constantly least in the streets completely culverted, and generally only about half as great as in those where the drainage is totally neglected. Confirmatory evidence might easily be adduced from the experience of other places, especially from the excellent report by Dr. Dun can on the physical causes of the high rate of mortality in Liverpool, but we have already given a copious ab stract of this interesting document and we also previ ously published in the STANDARD several important and interesting letters from a professional gentleman in this town on the same subject. _ _ We believe the commissioners are fully borne out in the strong opinion they express, " that the information already elicited, offers the reasonable prospect that great improvements may be made to the general benefit of all, especially the poorer classes." But, in order that this cheering anticipation may be realized it is indispensable that the efforts which will be made by government to effect it, shall receive the cordial aid and ready sympathy of all classes. Nor can we doubt that they will do so ; for surely measures tending so powerfully to elevate the social and physical condition of our countrymen, will command the best exertions of every man who honours England and loves mankind. GENERAL MISCELLANY. EXTRAORDINARY DISPATCH.—The London morning papers now occasionally reach Brussels on the evening of the day of publication. Stanley Warner, a confidential clerk of the Birmingham Town and District Bank, absconded, on Thursday, with twelve £lOO Bank of England notes. About a thousand claims have already been prepared by the working men's committee in Birmingham, and will be put on the parliamentary registration list, under the four - shillings a-week rent decision, before the 20th of August. In the House of Commons, on Saturday week, Col. Wood boasted, that, in th?, poor-law union of which he was a guardian, a schoolmaster was employed in the work house, and that they gave him twenty pounds a-year. Pine apples are now exposed in barrows, and hawked through the streets for sale, in the same mode as it is cus tomary to see cherries, with the extraordinary cry of " pine apples, a penny a slice."—London paper. DANGEROUS AMUSEMENTS.—On Friday week, the servant of a respectable tradesman of Greenock, while swinging in the garden with a child, was flung to the ground by the breaking of the rope, and the child was so bruised and injured that it died on Saturday morning. WHIMSICAL ALTERATION.—At the Lincoln Assizes, last week, an action of ejectment was tried, in which the plaintiff was styled Lemuel Gulliver, as being a euphonious improvement upon the old John Doe, who, we presume, is supposed to have had law enough. MAN KILLED BY LIGHTNING.—During a storm of thunder and lightning which passed over the neighbour hood of Gloucester on Thursday afternoon week, an old labouring man, named John Lane, seventy-one years of age, who was working in a potato field at Churchdown, was struck by the lightning and killed instantly. On Saturday last, as the bellman was parading the streets of Huddersfield, announcing to the inhabitants that, in consequence of the continued drought and scarcity of water, they would, in future, be limited to two days' supply per week, the rain fell in torrents, and literally drenched the poor bellman.—Leeds Times. The Tablet (R. C. Paper,) in a long article, acknow ledges the advantages which literature has derived from Protestantism ; and bewails the inferiority of Roman Catholic translations from Scripture, when compared with the acknowledged correct and sublime passages in the English Bible and Prayer-book. At the sale of Bibles and Testaments of the late Duke of Sussex, the number of lots was 2074, and the number of Bibles 1009 ; of these 294 were English, 259 Latin, 79 French, 26 Greek, 80 German and Flemish, and 176 in various languages. The number of New Testaments dis posed of was 610; of these 227 were Greek, 73 English, 61 French, 51 Latin, and 198 in various languages. THE LATE FATAL AFFRAY AT BRADFORD.—The sen tence of the five men who stand convicted of the man slaughter of Benjamin Gott, at Bradford, in May last, has been postponed. An objection has been taken on the part of two of the prisoners, that the indictment as con cerns them was insufficient, and the judge has fixed to hear the arguments on the point in London. LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP.—On Wednesday morning a fine young salmon, weighing between 81b. and 91b., was gambolling in the Severn, a little above the English bridge, Shrewsbury, and happening to indulge in an extra flourish without ascertaining where he was, he fell plump into a boat, and, after several violent efforts to regain his native element, he became a passive captive in the hands of a labourer. INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.—The grow ing importance of this body is not generally understood. At the Selby anniversary last week, where Dr. Hook of Leeds preached, himself a brother and warm friend of the order, it was s t a t e d a ft er di nner , i n hi s p rese nce and with his concurrence, that the funds of the order consisted of upwards of one m illi on of mone y !—the supposedin come £230,000. The increase of members for the last year had been 25,000! MORTALITY OF TAILORS.—In the registered causes of death of 233 persons, entered during 1843, in the eastern and western unions of the metropolis, under the general head of "Tailor," no less than 123 are registered as hav ing died of diseases of the respitatory organs, of which 92 were of consumption ; 16 diseases of the nervous system, of which 8 were of a p op l exy ; 16 o f ep id em i c or co ntagious diseases, of whom 11 died of typhus ; 23 of diseases of oil certain seat, of whom 13 were victims of dropsy, 8 of di seases of the digestive organs, and 6 of heart disease, whilst of the whole only 29 died of old age. THE COLLIERS' STRIKE.—The strike among the col liers of this district still continues without prospect of its terminating speedily. indeed there seems no reasonable hope that the old pitmen will ever resume work in the places where they have turned out, as they are daily being superseded by others, brought from a dis tance, many of whom are now introduced into a mine for the first time in their lives.—Newcastle Journal. ATTEMPTED MURDERS.—A few weeks since we gave the particulars of a murderous attack which was made by William Markham on Jacob Gainsley, the keeper of the Kennickthorne toll-gate, and his son. The prisoner, after shooting at the former and missing him, shot at and hit the latter, and otherwise behaved with moat brutal vio lence. After his escape from the toll-house he cut his .throat. He was tried, on Tuesday week, before Justice Coltman, at Lincoln, and found guilty. Evidence of in sanity was offered. Sentence was deferred, and it is be lieved he will be transported for life. IRON STEAM-SHIPS.—Two steam ships are now build ing for the Fleetwood and Ardrossan Steam-ship Com pany. These ships will be launched in a few days. They admeasure about 700 tons, and are divided into five water tight compartments with iron bulk-heads. Their cabin and saloon accommodations are very extensive, and each vessel will accommodate 120 cabin passengers. The ob ject of the proprietors is to convey passengers between London and Glasgow in 24 hours, and that, by booking at Euston station, London, direct for Glasgow, no further trouble or,expense will be incurred. The route will be— railway to Fleetwood, steamer to Ardrossan, and railway to Glasgow, one company taking charge of all. THE LATE THEATRE-ROYAL, MANCHESTER.*---011 Wednesday last, the proprietors of the late Manchester Theatre-Royal, who are holders of the Royal patent for that town, held a meeting when it was made known that a settlement had been effected with the insurance offices and the money paid over. It was resolved, that the land and remaining warehouses and buildings be forthwith offered for sale, by private contract or by auction. If a beneficial sale cannot be effected, it is said the proprietors will erect a new theatre, on a smaller scale than the last. If this course be not taken, the proprietors are prepared to dispose of their patent right to any new body of pro prietors who may be disposed to erect a Theatre-Royal. MODEST ASSURANCE l—Sir Robert Peel lately in the House of Commons narrated the following facts in con nexion with a most aggravated case of murder, which occurred during the time the Right Hon. Baronet was connected with the Irish government. A man of the name of Baker was the victim : the person who engaged the parties to commit this crime was the individual who subsequently came forward and gave the principal evi dence in the cast. This man did not fire the shot. A reward was offered for the conviction of the murderer, provided the party giving evidence did not actually fire the shot. A villain who had instigated the murder, came forward, gave his evidence, and convicted the prisoner, and received the £2,000 reward which had been offered. This fellow had the assurance to bring an action against the government for not giving him more ! ARSON.—At Ipswich, Ann, the wife of Benjamin Man ning. aged 32, was indicted for feloniously setting fire to a dwelling house, in her own occupation, the property of James Ruthven, at Wangford, on the 25th of June last. The prisoner is the wife of a labouring man in the parish of Wangford, who, at the time of the commission of the offence, was a prisoner on the treadmill, under the game laws. Just before the commission of the crime for which she stood indicted, her landlord (the prosecutor) had dis trained on her goods, and swept the cottage in which she lived of everything on which the law could take hold, and she was in a state of great destitution and misery. She was found guilty. A memorial was presented in her favour, and Baron Alderson took time to consider the verdict. RURAL AFFAIRS IN THE FYLDE.—The hay harvest is being busily proceeded with, though some few farmers have not yet commenced mowing. The weather has been generally very favourable for making hay, and securing it in good condition, but the crop on most lands will scarcely be half an usual average. The weather on the whole has been much too dry for vegetation, the rain of the 13th instant and two succeeding days, having been dried up. Pastures in some places, are again becoming quite parched for want of moisture, and the second cop of clover, the after grass, potatoes, and turnips grow but slowly. Wheat is likely to be well fed; that on the marshes in the southern part of this district is, in general, likely to be a heavy crop ; a lot now growing on Newton marsh, having recently been sold for £25 an acre, of eight yards to the rod. ACCIDENTS ON THE THAMES.—On Sunday week, no fewer than four fatal accidents occurred on the Thames. A cutter in which were five persons was run into, at 11 at night, by a steamer, and the whole party were thrown info the water, by which a Mr. Thwaites and his son were drowned. About the !_iame hour, and at a short distance from the same spot, a skiff with seven persons got too near to a barge, when one of the party, in endea vouring to push her off, fell into the water and was drowned ; and another who attempted to save him nar rowly escaped. The third accident was to a little girl, named Clarke, on board a Woolwich steamer, who, while playing in presence of her parents, fell overboard from the gangway, and sank before assistance could be ren dered. Same night, the mate of a collier, in going on board, missed his hold, fell into the water, and, being dragged by the tide under some barges, was not after wards seen. Another man also lost his life under some what similar circumstances. THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE.—This boasted method of providing religious instruction for the people is not always so productive as the dissenters represent it. In proof of this, there is an appeal in the Patriot of Thurs day, the 18th instant, signed " J. Drew, pastor," of the Baptist chapel at Welchpool, Montgomeryshire, in which he says—" We are £3OO in debt. Last year we had 1,000 circulars printed, and addressed to our churches [dissent ing congregations,] containing a plain statement of our affairs; the case was represented by eight ministers of the first standing; and was sent out to 1,500 churches. Besides these we have written and forwarded to ministers upwards of 2,000 letters, and appealed to the friends of Christ by advertisement ; and the result of all has been responses to the amount of about one hundred pounds, exclusive of expenses, which, on account of printing and postage and advertisements, will be a considerable deduc tion." By the time the expenses are paid, the balance will most likely be on the wrong side of the account. A WATER SPOUT.—On Wednesday a most extraordi nary event was witnessed at Sandwich. About noon a whirlwind arose attended by what is called a " water spout" which passed within half a mile of the town. It came over a nay marsh, where some men had just commenced stack ing the hay. A cart standing close by was carried the distance of three or four rods, and some of the hay as far as three miles, towards Minster. Some boys who were in the Marsh were taken off their legs, and thrown to the ground with great violence and covered with hay. The haymakers. who were sitting quietly at dinner, were, of course, greatly surprised and alarmed; and still more so when one of their baskets was borne off like a parachute to a considerable distance, and lodged in the river. The water. spout in its course, sucked up every pond, and in crossing the river the water rushed up like a fountain. The phenomenon was exceedingly alarming, and we expect to hear of the terror created at Minster, where it appa rently burst.—Kentish Observer. SOUTH SEA COMPANY.—A correspondence has just been published between this company and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, containing the propositions which will be submitted to the general meeting of the latter on the 31st instant, and clearly showing the intentions of the government. The substance of the matter is this : The government will make goad the guarantee fund by the transfer to the company of £610,464 three per cents., and by this they will get from the company £3,720 customs, being the compensation for South Sea duties, all the un. claimed dividends on the South Sea Annuities (not stock), with the exception of £lO,OOO, and £13,764, the unclaimed residue of certain capital stock, long since paid off, and which goes by the technical name of the " annihilations." The expense of managing the public debt by the South Sea Company is by the present system £5,000 per annum, which will be reduced to £3,100, by making the charge the same as that of the Bank of England, or £3OO per £1,000,000, and this is all that the company will receive from the government. On Monday, Major-General Sir Robert Sale, the equally heroic Lady Sale, and their widowed daughter, Mrs. Sturt, and child, arrived at Swann's Bank-house Hotel, in Lyme Regis, accompanied by Sir Francis Ford, E.I.C.S. ; Captain Scober, ditto; Captain Ainslie, 21st Fusileers ; Mr. Robinson, 7th Dragoon Guards ; Mr. Remington, sth Bombay Cavalry. The gallant general and family and friends were landed by a Cowes pilot-boat, the True Briton, Indiaman, being wind-bound in the channel. As soon as their presence became known, the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood, and the inhabi tants of Lyme, vied with each other in offering their congratulations, while the church bells poured forth their merriest strains of harmony to welcome the gallant vete ran and his truly courageous lady to their native land, after so many gallant actions and " hair-breadth 'stapes by flood and field." They left for London on Tuesday morning, amid the cheers of a great number of persons who assembled to witness their departure. DREADFUL ACCIDENT ON THE THAMES.—On Mon day evening last, a most melancholy accident. attended with the loss of several lives, happened by the breaking down of the floating pier belonging to the waterman's steam boats, moored upon the east side of Blackfriar's bridge. A crowd of men, women, and children had con gregated upon the pier for the purpose of witnessing the great heat of the Bankside boat race, when suddenly the temporary bride gave way, and precipitated not fewer than twenty persons into the water, which was then about ten feet deep, on the Middlesex side. The confusion was at once indescribable—a dense mass of human beings strug gling together, each clasping the other, and many of them sinking to rise no more. With all possible speed drags were procured, amd four persons were after much diffi culty rescued, and restored to their families and friends. About eight o'clock the bodies of two children, Benjamin Breadcot, aged about four years, and his sister, about fourteen years, were brought ashore, quite dead. Later in the evening, the bodies of their sister, Mary Ann Bread cot, aged eighteen, and Maria Bulstead, aged twenty three, were discovered, quite dead. Mr. Bradcot, the father of the three children lost, is a cheesernonger, in Newgate-street. The inquiries for others missing were very numerous during the evening ; but owing to the darkness, no further search could be made. The floating pier extended nearly 100 feet into the river, being formed of old craft, covered with deal planks, a kind of gangway uniting one barge with the other. Upcn this gangway about 50 persons, despite the efforts of the men eb o e s in d at the pier, collected, and it is supposed the wood a wei weight, rotten, and not of sufficient strength to bear such of le d i :An a gave ues La y y, , r ( r ) t r i n zt e t e h ( Zs landlord of the Mundy, aged 12 years, daughter of t e Lamb and Lark, Printing-house-square, was recovered. Altogether seven lives have been lost. if n e o tahbhe°: above victim,eta THE STA DE DUES.—This question has, at length, been settled between England and the King of Hanover. " The principle established by this convention," says the Times, " will substitute a uniform and moderate tariff of dues for those numerous, excessive, and ill-regulated charges which have so long been a serious burden on British shipping in the principal commercial outlet of Northern Germany ; and we trust that this arrangement will terminate, or at least reduce to their just limits, those restrictions which have so long frustrated the intentions of the treaty of Vi enna, and interfered with the navigation of the Elbe. We believe that a reduction of not less than one-third has been effected in the duties on the most important articles, and that the settlement of the Stade fees and charges has been embodied in a general treaty of commerce and navi gation with the kingdom of Hanover." FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Friday last, as the half-past three o'clock train from Bolton to Manchester, on the line of railway from those towns, was approaching the tunnel between the Moses Gate and the Stoneclough sta tions, Cooke, the guard, applied the break in order to slacken the speed of the train, as is usual, when the train is proceeding very rapidly, just before entering the tunnel. For some cause or other, he put his head out at the right hand side of the carriage; the passengers supposed that he was looking to see whether the break operated ; but, unfortunately, the train at that moment passed under the bridge by which the Kearsley and Ringley road is carried over the line ; this bridge is supported on wooden pillars ; and the head of the deceased came violently in contact with one of those pillars. The concussion was such as to deprive him at once of life. His body was drawn into the carriage by the passengers, who at first supposed that he was only insensible ; but on the train stopping at Stone clough, he was removed, and it was found that life was extinct. CLOSE OF THE SESSION.—It is expected that the regu lar business of Parliament will have been disposed of by the end of the first week in August. The parliament will not, however, be then prorogued ; but the session will be continued by adjournment to the 25th of August. The purpose of this arrangement is to afford time for receiving the reports of the judges, and making up the judgment of the House of Lords upon the writ of error brought by Mr. O'Connell and his fellow-prisoners.—Ministerial paper.—The Standard, of Saturday evening, says, •' The judges will not be in town until Friday, the 23d of August. Their lordships shortly afterwards will have a meeting to consider the questions propounded to them by the House of Lords, and it is generally expected that judgment in the case of Mr. D. O'Connell and the other traversers will be given either on Thursday, the 29th, or Friday, the 30th of August. Whenthe public business of Parliament is brought to a close, both houses will adjourn from time to time until the judgment on the writ of error is pronounced. There will be no formal prorogation until that question is decided. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.—At Chelmsford, William Saxby, an urchin of nine years old was convicted of set ting tire to a barn at Ramsey, with a lucifer match, by which damage was done to the amount of £4OOO. The sentence was deferred.—Henry Herbert, aged 52, was convicted of a felonious assault on his own daughter, a child of fourteen, and sentenced to two years' imprison ment.—At Huntingdon, Samuel Baxter, a boy of ten was convicted of firing four straw stacks, and sentenced to transportation for 15 years.—At Oxford, Fanny Ruth erford, aged 15, was convicted of arson, and sentenced to 15 years' transportation.—At Lincoln, Eliza Joyce. aged 31, who was tried at the last assizes for the murder of one of her own children, by poison, and acquitted, on ac count of some legal flaw, was convicted, on her own con fession, of the murder of one of her own children, and of two children of her husband by a former marriage, and sentenced to death.—At Cambridge, Mr. John Garland, a surgeon, aged 60, was convicted of manslaughter, for having by negligence or want of skill, occasioned the death of Mary Dent, a married woman, whom he was at tending during child-birth. He was sentenced to one month's imprisonment. MANSLAUGHTER BY A. BOATMAN. —On Wednesday, r.n inquest was held before the borough coroner of Man chester, touching the death of Thomas O'Donnell, a boy about 11 years of age, son of a labourer residing in Wood's-buildings, Oxford-road. It appeared that on Tuesday morning, while the deceased and some other boys were bathing in the Rochdale canal, near the Ox ford-road lock, a boatman, named Edward Maylett, brought his boat into the lock, and after opening one pannel of the lock, he was proceeding to open the other, when the deceased met him on the lock, and Maylett laid hold of his arm and threw him into the water above the lock. Deceased sank, was drawn through a hole at the bottom, and was not found till fifteen minutes afterwards, when he was quite dead. Maylett tried to find him with a boat-hook, but the body was not found till the lock was drawn off. The prisoner said he had no intention of drowning the boy, but the jury brought in a verdict of rnartslaughter, and he was committed for trial. It was with some difficulty that the police could prevent the crowds assembled round the ccurt from inflicting sum mary vengeance upon the prisoner. ASCENT OF ANOTHER MONSTER BALLOON..--011 Mon day evening last Mr. Hampton, the aeronaut, who, it will be recollected, about five years since made perilous de scents in a parachute at Chelsea and Cheltenham, ascend el from the Vauxhall Gardens, Birmingham, in a stupen dous new balloon. The machine, which is the sole inven tion of Mr. Hampton, has been constructed in an entirely novel manner, both with respect to the valve, shape, and car, the silk of which it is composed amounting to several thousand yards, being manufactured by Spitalfields wea vers. It is nearly the size of the great Nassau balloon, being 67 feet in height, 124 feet in circumference, calcu lated to contain about 24,000 cubic feet of gas, and the car, which is capable of holding six persons, being five feet in diameter and of a circular form. Considerable disappoint ment was caused as the time drew nigh for its inflation, for, by that period, the machine was found not to be one third inflated, and the gas of so inferior a description that it soon became apparent that it had only ascending power enough to take up the aeronaut by himself. Every en deavour was made to further its inflation, but to no effect, and at seven o'clock, being liberated from the earth, it rose almost perpendicularly from the gardens. The at mosphere being very clear, the ascent was beautiful in the extreme, and after the aeronaut had gained an altitude of two miles, he effected a safe descent at Shear's-hill, near Wolverhampton. THE KING OF SAXONY AT KESWICk.-His Majesty the King of Saxony has everywhere evinced a strong de sire to witness whatever may be novel to him, and as he approached the town of Keswick a wish was expressed by his Majesty to witness the process of pencil-making, for which that town has been so long famed. He was ac cordingly conducted to the black-lead pencil manufactory of Messrs. Banks, Foster, and Co., who, since the visit of Queen Adelaide to Keswick in the year 1840 have en joyed the distinguished honour of her Majesty's patronage. The King and his suite were met at the manufactory by Mr. Banks, who had the honour of showing his Majesty every operation or process in the construction of a pencil, from the act of cutting the scantlings of wood of which the pencil is made, out of the under plank to its comple tion at the stamping engine. They consequently witnessed the whole of the simple but effective machinery of that establishment in operation, which, during the summer months, is annually seen and admired by hundreds of tourists, but by none more perhaps than by royalty itself. It was astonishing with what quickness his Majesty, in a mechanical point of view, entered into the merits of the different operations, and particularly expressed his ad miration at the simplicity, yet efficiency of the grooving engine, bet most if all the stamping engine, and at the rapidity with which that operation is performed. Stamp ing the name upon the pencils appeared to amuse the royal suite, and on his Majesty again expressing his ad miration and astonishment at tile manner in which the operation is performed, he was solicited to try the opera tion, which the royal visiter at once agreed to; and on a dozen pure lead pencils being placed in his hands his Ma jesty passed them through the engine with an expertness and tact that would have done credit to a more experienced workman. The royal suite gazed with admiration upon the handiwork of their sovereign, and whilst thus examin ing the pencils on which his Majesty had performed the finishing operation Mr. Banks begged as a favour that the royal visiter would do the company the further honour to accept the pencils which he had placed through the finishing engine. His Majesty was graciously pleased to accept of the present. and judging from the evident pleasure with which they were examined by the royal p arty we may venture to state that an infinitely higher price is placed upon them than they would realize even in the hands of the best salesman. ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOClETY.—Theie.ms_rteie.. noblemenmstmore Tnoghr, ee a anprsnaraanueinrtsdatyeil present particularly odlnta e ,dhd e r reeli t . yrynd ing of this society took place last week at Southampton. On Wednesday, not only Southampton, but all the neigh bouring villages, were filled with guests, many of them highly distinguished. The Duke of Cambridge arrived on Wednesday morning, and was received with a royal salute from the battery. One of the principal features in the proceedings was a meeting for the purpose of es tablishing an agricultural college. It was stated, that the project had been taken up by i: many inno rtdhoeAf course t foh h oubr e runsre l ot e oto a hnf d i a i nh n ng g i d.B agriculturists, not only in the immediate district in which it was intended to establish the college, but in other and distant counties. Lord Bathurst had, in addition to pro viding a suitable farm, of four hundred acres, on which the college and other buildings were to be erected, ad vanced £2,000 in furtherance of the object. The Duke of Richmond proposed the first resolution, which was to the effect, that schools of agriculture are much wanted in this country, in which a knowledge of the science now ad mitted to be essential to the successful pursuit of agricul ture.l may be learned, in connection with the practica e working of a farm on the most approved principles. He said them mm the et advantagesregr etthat of fhethire earlyknowledge At the The college is to be established near Cir t e l n e The toast , "The ioofn ha d c m e e s n were pre. Pro fessors che mistry, as practically adapted:to agriculturalterrposes. councilficialspeech,m gentry. aodonfi observed, ss n raece e rri r :ve , enbadcub:to:ti Spencerwmf oat presided. ofrr proposedek s h i iga u dnu n edad d n. i ow e , d hbTeoy g hx, guano. agai n . ues seasonn e n n od sent , enormous o hhu including aissd b strataeobservation n a l i a n r g et almosth number fatal teaaal to ohe 0, el o xoc f pga responded to by Dr. Buc that they ha'd all heard mu y c e h ar o , f baeretni osHHGon makingenuoe , aney ntn h beotaerrreeecnax; f otep p bnex r eudv e tr tii , ntmyi e hcfe n eee anm t tdr r ht : seo a tyfwo t efi wouldi d ot: huas those found Iwduoi wonderful n e nteado w t eotacr h othfp o auleaaelayk h t pe:aoeffhdanree,neeindttt year e. o a n r only yy ornti putgu ought tt t manure in the world. It would never be : ithg o saiesn c w h i e t a h p upon the ground in wet weather. He hoped y that next tt n oh o e t r , epp h re o eas w ti e dt v eh e re, r t , e wx experiment es r i expectm, most eo t n h s year they would all manure with guano, and they would t t e th the effectenthusiasticallyneexf t guano s ea son t . o re l . a re s eh t iev m ehd o e r a; e than Earl Spencer, in returning thanks, said he was overpowered by by the reception he had received. Numerous other toasts were given and responded to. The cattle-show and grand pavilion dinner took place on Thursday. July 30, 1844. INCENDIARY FIRE AT COLCHESTER.—Between 12 and 1 o'clock on Wednesday morning, an incendiary fire broke out at the extensive homestead of Mr. W.D. Green, of Greenstead-hall, Colchester, farmer and poor-lair guardian. The fire originated in a stack of hay, and the flames, driven by the wind, communicated with two others, (containing in all about 90 tons,) and thence to a barn and granary, containing SO quarters of wheat, 100 coombs of beans, some oats, &c., and these, with the sta bles, a new waggon, and outhouses, were all consumed. The engines came promptly from Hythe, but all efforts to preserve the property were ineffectual, saving the dwell ing -house and some other buildings. A number of heart less wretches from the fair were about, and many of than seemed to enjoy the blaze. The windows were broken by them and the beer cellar ransacked. The farm labourers, however, behaved well. Mr. Green. was insured. The premises, the property. of Earl De Grey, was not insured• The damage is estimated at £2,000. Mr. Green is said to be an excellent master, and highly respected by his ma and neighbours. THE ROMANISTS AND THE DISSENTERS' CHAPELS BILL.—Sir Robert Peel thinks that the Dissenters' Cha pels Bill legalizes our present holding as intruders into Roman Catholic endowments. Mr. Sheil knows better than that. And we are convinced that he does so, fro 9 his assertion that the Romanists supported the Dissenters Chapels Bill to a man. We are further convinced of the better knowledge of Mr. Sheil and his party from Mr. O'Connell's visit to London simply to give his vote in favour of the same fatal bill. The reason is obvious. The Queen has now signed the Dissenters' Chapels Bill, and as soon as O'Connell regains his liberty he will agitate for making Popery the church of Ireland, on the plea that the principle of his motion is already conceded to him ill the Dissenters' Chapels Bill—as it is—thus : Poperf under Henry Plantagenet, and Adrian, and Alexander , intruded itself into Ireland. It occupied and improved the church secularities. It found itself, and continued for many years, unchallenged as an intrusionist. Never theless, as an intruder, Popery was at length ejected. Bat this same Popery having never been since then for twentP five years together silent as to its claim to recover its holdings—and Protestantism, moreover, having constantly been made sensible by the Pope, the Pretender, the battle of the Boyne, Cie Irish rebellion, Guy Faux, and O'Con nell, cum multis aliis, that Popish claims were alive and energetic—it would be unavailing for Protestantism to plead twenty-five years quiet and undisturbed possession in Ireland since the Reformation.—Church and Slate Gazelle. belonging to ALARMING FIRE AT BOLTON.-011 Tuesday afternoon, about half-past fou r o ' c l oc k, an a l arm i ng f i re broke out i n t t o h e Messrs.s cu t hi n B g room, oili ng. at Almost t the Coronation instantaneously Mill, room was in a blaze, and the flames rushed through the windows, creating the utmost terror and alarm through out the neighbourhood. The blowing room, the scutch ing room, and the mixing room, are all above the boiler house, and the staircase of the mill adjoins them. Into this staircase the flames tushed, and filled the mill with a suffocating smoke, and the means of egress being cut off by the fire, the situation of the hands was, for a time, most critical, and the cries of the women and children truly heart-rending. At the end of the building next the street (being the farthest from the fire), the men broke the windows on both sides of the mill, and having fastened a number of driving straps together, they des cended by them, fortunately without any accident taking place. The women and children were all fortunately rescued with no further injury than the fright they had sustained. The fire engines were promptly on the spot. Part of the building in which the fire originated being fire-proof, the progress of the flames was not so rapid as might have been expected. The flames having been extinguished, the work-people commenced throwing the smouldering cotton through the windows into the yard, whilst one of the engines played upon it, and at eight o'clock all apprehension of further damage was removed. A quantity of cotton has been destroyed, but the damage will not be heavy. ATTEMPTED CHILD MURDER..-011 Friday morning, it young woman named Eliza Daly was taken into custody by the Manchester police, charged with attempting to destroy her infant child, and also with concealing the birth ; and her mother of the same name was afterwards apprehended charged as an accessory to the crime. About three months ago the prisoners and a brother of the younger one arrived in Manchester from Cork, and took lodging with a woman named Evans, in Bedale-street, Hulme. The daughter worked at needle work, and the son was employed in a warehouse. On Friday morning a night-soil man discovered in a dust hole, in an entry, at the back of the house where they lived, an old dress so curiously wrapped up that he examined it, and found it to contain a newly-born infant. The face was uncovered by the cloth and in the fall into the hole was slightly bruized, but the child was alive, and a woman in the neighbourhood took it into her care. Inspector Lipsitt, hearing of the circumstances, made enquiries, and learn ing that Eliza Daly, the daughter, was suspected by the neighbours to be pregnant, he went to the house. The daughter denied having given birth to a cbiid, or having been pregnant. The inspector, however, found in the house and yard indubitable traces of recent child-birth, and took her into custoa s j, when a surgeon certified to the fact, and also to her delicate state in consequence, reconv.' mendinc , her to be taken into the hospital of the Nor Bailey f or' three or four days—to which she was taken. On the way she acknowledged that she had given birth to a child Mrs. Evans with whom she and her mother lodged was afterwards questioned, and it appeared that she had on the night previous to the discovery heard i l child cry, and suspecting what had happened went into t h e daughter's room to ascertain, but was forcibly ejected bl the mother, but not till after she saw the daughter sitting in a chair, with something " hutched up" in her arms. The old dress in which the child (a fine boy, now doing well in the workhouse) was found is, it is said, identified to be the property of tile elder prisoner. The case up to Saturday had not been judicially investigated. THE QUARTERLY TABLE OF MORTALITY. The quarterly table of the mortality in one hundred and fifteen of the districts (including the principal towns) of England has just been published, showing the number of deaths in the five springs, 1838-42; and the number of deaths in the spring quarter ending June 30, 1844. A considerable diminution is exhibited in the number of deaths in this town during the last quarter. The quarterly average of the number of deaths during the last five years is 1875; the quarterly average during five springs, 174 4 ► and the quarterly average of the last swing, only 15 47 • The District of West Derby shows an increase, in the average of five years, being 509, of five springs 455, and of the last spring quarter, 526. We extract the following from the remarks on the general return : The Quarterly Returns are obtained from 115 districts, sub-divided into 576 sub-districts. Thirty-four districts are placed under the metropolis, and the remaining 81 districts comprise, with some agricultural districts, the principal towns and cities of England. The population was 6,578,912 in 1841. The deaths registered in the last quarter (enclitic , June 30th) amounted to 38,925, which is less by 7.116 than the deaths in the previous quarter, and 1,283 less than the average of the corresponding spring quarter in the 5 years, (1838-42.) Allowing for the increase of the toga population, the mortality was 10 per cent. below the average of the season. The reduction in the mortality has been unequally dis tributed over the kingdom ; but. as a general rule, it has been most remarkable in the large manufacturing dis tricts. Average of five previous Deaths in the Spring Quarters, Quarter ending 838-42. June M 3B. 1844. lan ... Salford.. 519 .. 417 Ashton and Oldham 1,377 .. 993 Leeds Sheffield 577 .. 464 Stockport 630 .. 418 Liverp001..... Birmingham remained the same ; and in a few of the other manufacturing districts, to be shortly mentioned, the mortality was above their average. Districts in which the Mortality was higher than the average Mortality of the Spring Quarter in the same dis tricts.—The south districts of the metropolis, Portsea Island. Northampton, Bedford, Clifton, Stroud, Here ford, Kidderminster, West Derby, Wigan, Bradford Merthyr- Tydfyl. _ Districts in „ which the Mortality was lower than the average Mortality of the Spring Quarter in the same Districts.—Brighton, Oxford, Norwich, Dorchester, Bristol, Worcester, Wolverhampton, Stockport, Mac clesfield, Great Broughton, (C heste r, ) Liverpool, Preston, Bury, Bolton, Prescot, Manchester, Salford, Ashton, Sheffield, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Sunderland, Tyne mouth, Newcastle. on-Tyne, Pontypool, Newtown, An glesey. The following are the notes transmitted by the regis trars of the several districts : Great Howard-street. —l have registered 20 deaths from small pox, 18 not vaccinated, and 2 after vaccination, one of which was vaccinated two days after it was taken ill. Dale-street. —The deaths in my district are fewer by 83 in the general number than the previous quarter, the dis trict, I conceive, being in a very healthy condition. Still, there is an increase of 10 deaths more than the last quar ter in the disease of small-pox, without previous vacci nation. Thomas.-The deaths this quarter are 80 less than the last, and 25 below the spring quarter of 1843: this is the smallest quarter since the commencement of the Re gistration Act, which has now completed its seventh year; the number for the whole year is 40 less than the pre ceding year, and 57 under the year ending June, 1842. The principal diseases are, hydrocephalus 14 ; phthisis 379 bronchitis 16, pneumonia 22, diarrhoea, &c. 13, hooping cough 9, teethi ng 9 , dropsy 8, croup 5, measles 6, in quests 17, delirium tremens 2. Islington.---There is a decrease in my district of n deaths, as comparing with the corresponding quarter of last year. Saint George.-The number of deaths in my district this quarter is 42 less than the corresponding quarter of last year, and 71 less than the preceding quarter; conse quently, the district is remarkably healthy. of deaths Vest D er a b s y c . - 0 m T p h a e r r e e d i s w a i n t h increase s t o f q 2 o 7 a i r n t e t r h l y e n r u e I b r e t r . Particulars : teething 2, epilepsy 1, smallpox 3, s calding 1, decline 12, convulsions 15, bremorrhage from the nav,V , 1, dropsy 6, cancer of the womb 2, water on the brain 2 consumption 12, tubercular phthisis 1, decay of nature 07 , , palpitation of the heart 3, scarlatina 6, inflammation the lungs 5, paralysis 2, child birth 1, asthma 2, aP O Pr'l 1, measles 1, croup 5, liver complaint 3, hrernatemests hooping cough 3, inflammation of the chest 2, inflamma tion of the brain 2, inflammation of the bowels 2, ulc.. tion of the stomach 1, hydrocephalus acutus 1 , inq uests Great Crosby.-Little or no epidemic diseas e tc'' quarter. t presentTo.x quarter te i r T e r r k i . s-bTe below tthe mortality arag i o n . my district for