The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-10-17 00:00:00

s an are at small ended )f the are 3e has Igs UP lend" Oct. 17, 1848. t f tt r a turr. VARIETIES. INVITATION TO A FEVER.—He that tempts me to drink beyond my measure, civilly invites me to a fever. The Belfast Times states that at a recent horticultural show in that town, the judges decided that a bundle of white carrots were the best parsnips, and gave the prize accordingly. The following is a copy of a sign placed in the shop Window of a barber, near to the police-office, Yorkshire street, Rochdale, viz. :—" Look out ! clean shaved, and a cigar, or half an ounce of tobacco, for twopence." DISPUTES.—It is an excellent rule to be observed in all disputes, that men should give soft words and hard arguments ; that they should not so much strive to vex, as to convince an opponent. Lord Byron, who had a constant struggle against his better nature and nobler convictions, mournfully acknow ledged, " The Christian enjoys an advantage over the infidel in having an exalted hope through life." At a Baptist missionary meeting in Nottingham, Mr. W. Newbiggen said that in a country in South Africa, in order to save a certain " ornament,' consisting of knobs of clay fastened on the back of the head, the natives stick a wooden fork in the ground, and sleep all night with their neck between the prongs ! Almost as bad, he thought, as tight lacing. A HAPPY THOUGHT.—Among other ventures which were sent to Buenos Ayres, after the successes of the British forces, were a considerable number of hearth-rugs. ' For these, however, as there were no fire-places, no pur chasers could be found, until at length the supercargo of the vessel in which they were, hit upon the expedient of placing one of the most showy upon a horse as a sort of saddle. The hint was immediately taken, the rugs were soon sold off, and in a few days every horseman was in possession of a saddle. WRY LADIES CANNOT EDUCATE DOGS.—The fair sex, though possessing such unbounded and proper influence over us, notoriously has but little controul over their canine favourites. This, however, solely arises from their seldom enforcing obedience to the orders which they give them. If a lady takes a dog out for a walk she keeps 'constantly calling it, lest it should go astray and be lost. The result is, ere long, that the dog pays not the slightest 'attention to her, his own sagacity telling him that he need zot trouble himself by watching her, as she will be sure to look after him.—Col. Hutchinson on Dog-breaking. A MI SERLY MARQUIS.—A few days ago the furniture, sze. ' °f the chateau of the miserly Marquis d'Aligre , in the "liege of Chatou, between Paris and St. Germain, Was sold by auction. This old Marquis was the richest Man in France ; he possessed 300 houses in Paris and other towns, 50 estates in different parts of the kingdom, and upwards of £2,000,000 capital placed in the public funds of different countries ; and yet the furniture of his favourite chateau was old, dirty, wretched in the extreme, and would have disgraced a low lodging-house. There was not a decent picture, not a cushion or curtain or car pet that was not ragged, not a chair or table that was not ricketty, not a piece of crockery that was not cracked. NUTRIMENT IN VARIOUS KINDS OF FOOD.—In bread, every 1001 b. weight is found to contain 801 b. of nutritious matter ; butcher's meat, averaging the various sorts, con tains only 351 b. in the 100 lb. ; beans, 92 ; pease, 93 ; greens and turnips, which are the most aqueous of all vegetables used for domestic purposes, furnish only 81b. of solid nu tritious substance in 100 ; carrots, 141 b. ; and—what is very remarkable as being in opposition to the hitherto acknowledged theory-100lb. of potatoes only yield 251 b. of substance valuable as nutritious. One pound of good bread is e qua l t o 21 or 31b. of the best potatoes, and 751 b. of bread an d 301 b. o f meat are equal to 3001 b. of pota toes ; or to go more into detail, alb. of bread and 5 oz. of meat are equal to 31b. of potatoes ; but 11b. of rice, broad beans, or French beans (in grain), is equal to 31b. of potatoes. _ _ VEGETABLE LIFE.—The following is taken from a lec ture delivered in Exeter Hall, by the Rev. John Cumming, during the present year (1848) :—" Did I ever tell you of an illustrative incident recorded in the travels of Lord Lindsay ? He states that in the course of his wanderings amid the pyramids of the patriarchal and interesting land. (Egypt), he stumbled on a mummy, proved by its hiero glyphics to be at least 2000 years of age. In examining the mummy, after it was unwrapped, he found in one of its closed hands a tuberous or bulbous root. He was in terested in the question how vegetable life could last, and he therefore took that tuberous root from the mummy's !land, p heaven lanted i to descend u t in a sunny poni soit, l a and in the course of a llowed the rains and ews of ew Weeks, to his astonishment and joy, the root burst forth and bloomed into a beauteous dahlia." NECDOTE OF BISHOP BARRINGTON.—A young re lative apprised the bishop of his intention of taking holy orders ; not that he liked the church as a profession, but becau se from the bishop (as his near relative, and having 'ranch splendid preferment at his disposal) he might na turally expect a benefice. "In truth," returned the prelate, in reply to this frank avowal, " the expectation la not unreasonable. We are closely connected, and I have much in my gift. What would content you ?" " From you, my Lord," rejoined the young Ox onion, frankly, "nothing under a living of six hundred a-year." " You shall have that provision for life out of the church, not in it. That income shall be assigned you from my Private resources. God forbid that I should be accessory to any man's taking holy orders from sordid motives. The stipulated provision is yours ; but mark me, on this Condition, that you remain a layman.”—The Closing Scene. ANECDOTE OF FOOTS. — When in company with a num ber of gentlemen who were trying to outvie each other in marvellous statements, the conversation happened to turn upon a calamity which had not long previously occurred, the explosion of the powder-mills at Hounslow Heath. Many extraordinary stories were related, and amongst the number. one of the company declared that, as he sat having his hair dressed, his servant and himself were thrown out of the dining-room into the bedroom, where they broke a looking-glass to pieces. The story w as smiled at as a problematical one ; but Foote, who ha d hitherto listened with seeming atten tion, immediately said he was not at all surprised at the circumstance, as he himself was forced forty feet from the place where he sat at breakfast by the shock he received at the concussion. " Aye, sir," said a young gentleman, " that was very strange indeed." " Not at all, sir," replied the English Aristophanes, for on finding the room shake, I ran down stairs into the street to inquire what was the matter." SHOPPING, AND A SHOPMAN. — Shopping ? What a bore ! I grant you, shopping is at times a bore, especially if you go to shop with ladies. A man is never more out of his element than when be enters the haberdasher's. There you stand, perhaps, at the door shop, for the time, a discarded appendage —a mere fag-end of humanity— whilst your fair friends plunge into the mysteries of silks, satins, laces, and mouslin-de-laines, winding up with the purchase of a yard of bobbin or a penny-worth of pins. I have admired the patience of Job, but am astounded at the endurance of a shopman. And yet is patience his only virtue ? Verily, as Madame de Stael said of Bona parte, " He is a system, not a man ;" a regular combina tion of physical and moral excellencies. The labour of a Hercules, the winged heels of Mercury, the lying versa tility of Edipus, the eloquence of Cicero, the good looks O f Gannymede, the craft of Ulysses, the polish of a Paris " - all are mere items in the composition of a perfect shop num—Dublin University Magazine. A SMART DOG.—A shepherd once, to prove the quick ness of his dog, who was lying before the fire in the house Where we were talking, said to me in the middle of a sen tence concerning som ething else—" I'm thinking, sir, the Cow is in th e potatoes." Though he purposely laid no stress on these words, and said them in a quiet uncon cerned tone of voice, the dog, who appeared asleep, im neediately jumped up, and leaping through the open window, scrambled up to the turf roof of the house, from Which he could see the potato field. He then (not seeing the coiv there) ran and looked into the barn where she ,wasi and finding that all as right, came back to the nouse. After a short time met he shepherd said the same words again, and the dog repeated his look out ; but on the fals e alarm being a third time given, the dog got up, and, wagging his tail, looked his master in the face with 10 comical an expression of interrogation, that he could tot help laughing aloud at him, on which, with a slight g r owl, he laid himself down in his warm corner with an o ffended air, and as if determined not to be made a fool of again. —American paper. M.R. O'BRIEN DURING THE PASSING OF THE SEN TENCE.—Mr. Smith. O'Brien, true to the last, profaned the awful scene with an outbreak of temper which proved •as little his courage as it did his self-respect. He defied his Sovereign and his judges, and contumaciously repeated his offence, as far as words could do it, in a tone worthy of the most flagitious malefactors at the Old Bailey, or the wretched offenders familiar to the authorities of Bow- street. He still showed that utter want of meaning or consistency which has marked the whole of his career. When he recommended all Ireland to follow his example, did he mean that he had resisted arrest, or openly rebelled ? To urge a nation to avoid the police, to hide in the moun tains, and take up arms against a constable when pressed, is a ridiculous sort of suggestion for any sane man to make anywhere, much more one placed in Mr. O'Brien's awful position —on the very steps of the scaffold. On the other hand, if he seriously meant that his countrymen ought to rebel as be had done, he might at least have had the grace to acknowledge the fairness of his trial and the justice of Lis verdict. But his speech meant neither one thing nor the other. It was simply an act of vulgar bravado and Peevish persistence in crime ; and to all intelligent persons Will condemn the man, much more than an honest con fession would have done. Mr. O'Brien has added one more example to the great induction, that a causeless re bel i s generally a vain and foolish man.—Times. MILK FOR THE PEOPLE.—There exists on Long Island, near Brooklyn, several manufactories of milk—the process of which should be known. One of these dairies covers ! space of 600 feet front by 300 feet deep, carefully closed _t so as to be as private as possible—the business of the People being to drink the milk, not to know how it is rnade. In this enclosure 400 cows are kept all the year These cows are fed on the refuse slop of whisky distilleries, and it is given to them warm. Each barrel costs six cents, but being adulterated with water and cheap feed brings the price still less. Such is the fondness of the !ows for this vile compound, that after having fed upon it x° l * a week or more their appetites become so depraved t hat they w ill t a k e no other food. The result is, their Milk -producing organs are stimulated to a wonderful re ' de ;. they yield enormously, but soon become diseased ; e'r gums ulcerate, their teeth drop out, and their breath becomes fetid. Though thus diseased, they do not fall away in flesh, but on the contrary puff up and bloat to an 4,l.ppearance of great fatness ; their joints stiffen so that tPLeY cannot lie down, and rarely or never come out alive. .I_l6ad as this is, the milk is afterwards mixed with molasses -7,.a o t r er and whiting, and then sold to the people of New k for pure milk ! Any one may observe the thirty-six 'fas that carry it round every morning. It is of course -very injurious to children, who use it in much greater I _ n 4 1 isotities th an a d u l ts . S ome id ea may b e f orme d by corn tilting one b arre l o f s l op t o a cow , cos ti ng sixpence, and milk Produced being 80 cents.—New York paper. us for china costly 2;, and rn are The I and I ma- BIINYAN'S ESCAPES.—Bunyan had some providential escapes during his early life. Once he fell into a creek of the sea, once out of a boat into the river Ouse, near Bed ford, and each time he was narrowly saved from drown ing. One day, an adder crossed his path. He stunned it with a stick, then forced open its mouth with a stick and plucked out the tongue, which he supposed to be the sting, with his fingers ; " by which act," he says, " had not God been merciful unto me, I might, by my despe rateness, have brought myself to an end." If this, in deed, were an adder, and not a harmless snake, his escape from the fangs was more remarkable than he himself was aware of. A circumstance, which was likely to impress him more deeply occurred in the eighteenth year of his age, when, being a soldier in the Parliament% army, he was drawn to go to the siege of Leicester, in 1645. One of the same company wished to go in his stead ; Bunyan consented to exchange with him, and this volunteer sub stitute, standing sentinel one day at the siege, was shot through the head with a musket ball. " This risk," Sir Walter Scott observes, " was one somewhat resembling the escape of Sir Roger de Coverley, in an action at Worcester, who was saved from the slaughter of that ac tion by having been absent from the field."—Sout hey. FOLLY OF INFIDELITY. — The Times of Wednesday has the following remarks, which are of a character not often found in that journal :—" Man has for the most part mis conceived the use of the great facts which have been gra ciously placed within his reach through the instrumentality of science and research. In his fond conceit he would throw aside his allegiance to God, and, arrogating to him self the command of the very elements, would, from having learned to use, fool himself into the vain imagination that he could create the world afresh, and fashion it more in accordance with his finite understanding. To this end does the Age of Reason insidiously urge its victims ; nor are they few, for the plant is of rapid growth. Deadly though the poison is which lies concealed within the cap tivating exterior of this plant, we fear that there are few of its cultivators who have taken the trouble to analyze it and to test its properties with patient assiduity and an earnest desire to elicit the truth. Captivated by the per fumed atmosphere which ever floats around the object of their admiration, they are dead to all its inherent defects ; and pluming themselves on their own fancied superiority over those who acknowledge the trammels of loyalty, sub jection, faith, and allegiance to the Supreme, they on all sides spread their toils for the waverer and wanderer from the fold of the true Shepherd. Of these there is never any lack, and many there be who fall into the net thus laid for them, for the creed of the Freethinkers is, to minds untutored by education and moral culture, a most inviting study •, it can be be shuffled off or on, as the humour suits, with the slightest exertion of the wearer ; and, if it holds out no prospect of reward, it at least is silent as to punish ment. Little matter of wonder is it, then, that during the excitement of pursuit, and at a period when the life blood courses through man's veins and arteries with healthy rapidity, such notions as were professed by a Bo lingbroke, a Volney, or a Shelley appear in their holyday attire. If, however, we trace these men in their hiding places, and sift their secret thoughts in that fearful moment when the pulse flags, and the limbs refuse their office, while the restless soul, hanging between Heaven and Hell, can find no city of refuge, and compare their last hours with those of the meek but steadfast believer and the practical Christian, the tinsel will soon drop from off the worthless theory, and the doubting disciple of a creed which begins and ends in nothing will be rudely awakened to his danger, and fly for succour and protection from his own devices to the foot of his Saviour's cross." ECONOMY OF SANATORY EXPENDITURE. —We may now look forward with confidence to the time when Eng land shall possess real towns, approximating in complete ness of structural arrangement to the cities of old Rome, revelling in the wholesome beauty of running waters, open everywhere to the life-giving influences of sun and air, with perfect mechanical appliances for removing all things which can offend taste or endanger health, and conveying them, suspended in the waters of a mimic Nile, to the surrounding agricultural districts, where they will cover cultivated lands with unwonted verdure, and make desert sands and barren moors to blossom as the rose. In the Public Health Act there are the necessary powers for ac complishing this, and much more. Such things are, so to speak, latent in the letter of the act. But the spirit of the act—the idea that is striving for expression and develope ment—the broad generalization which has this for its first substantial embodiment—what is it but the divine wisdom which has clothed itself in the homely English proverb, PREVENTION better than CURE ? This is the spirit which animates those material forms, the Model Loging-house, the Bath and Washhouse , the Ragged Schoo d l, and all the mighty works of the New Philanthropy, mighty even now in accomplished good, mightier still in promise. The car nal eye sees in these model lodging-houses mere improve ments in structural arrangement ; but the spiritual vision discerns a series almost infinite of combinations and asso ciations for bringing about in sober seriousness all that is good or desirable in the benevolent schemes of Owen and Fourrier ; first of all, association for cheap and wholesome accommodation; next, association for economical con sumption ; and, lastly, perhaps, (but this is much less de sirable and much more difficult,) for cheap production. To what extent this principle may be carried out, and of what developments it is susceptible, no man living can form a just idea ; but every one must see the intimate bearing which a good sanitary bill must have upon it, in the large facilities which it affords for all structural improvements. In one point of view, to which we have already briefly re ferred, the bill is peculiarly important. In common with the Metropolitan Sewers' Commission Bill, it gives the necessary powers for dealing with those mines of liquid wealth, the guano streams of England. Their waters, rich in all the elements of fertility, can now be conveyed to the land for the production of food, and to the confu sion of face of all who hold to the dispiriting theory of the pressure of population on the means of subsistence. — Frazer. HAYDN'S EARLY LIFE.—Poor, freezing with cold in a miserable garrat, he studied by the side of his old broken harpsicord : the ardour of his genius alone left to animate him in contending with the difficulties of the way. At length, he was fortunate enough to obtain some lessons in Italian singing from his introduction to the family a Ve netian nobleman, Ambassador at Vienna. The famous Porpora was still retained in his household, and Haydn most eagerly sought his favour, in the hope of obtaining also his instruction. Humiliation, and many a " hope deferred," he had to endure ; for Porpora was ill tem pered beyond conception, and although poor Haydn rose early every morning to brush his coat and shoes, and ar range his whig in the nicest order, in expectation of pro pitiating him, he had seldom more than the polite epithet of " fool " bestowed on him for his pains. And this was to the future illustrious author of the " Creation." At the age of nineteen, his voice breaking, he was expelled from his class at the St. Stephen's Church, where he had sung eleven years, and his only asylum was in the house of a whig-maker named Keller. Unfortunately his residence there had a fatal influence on his after life ; for his host, too desirous seemingly of making ample provision for his young guest, proposed uniting him to one of his daugh ters, whilst Haydn engrossed in his studies, having no thoughts of love, made no objection ; and afterwards keeping his word with scrupulous honour, the union proved far from happy. On leaving the house of his friend Kel ler (we do not know for what reason), for six long years he endured a bitter conflict against penury so piercing, that often during winter he was compelled to lay in bed for want of fuel and other necessaries. An opportunity at last presented itself of improving his circumstances ; for by chance the Prince Esterhazy, a passionate amateur of music, was present at a concert which very opportunely commenced with ne of Haydn's pieces. The delight of the prince was unbounded, and he immediately appointed the composer sub-director of his own orchestra, and he demanded who he was. Haydn, in fear and trembling, advanced, when the Prince exclaimed, " What, is that the little Moor ?" (alluding to his complexion.) Then, ad dressing him, added, " Go and dress yourself as my cha pelmaster. You must never appear again in my pre sence in the plight you are now. You are too little, and have a pitiful looking face. Get a new coat and high heeled shoes, that your stature may correspond with your mind." Haydn was too happy at his appointment to feel much ehargrin at this equivocal style of compliment.— Ainsworth. ANCIENT MINING ON LAKE SUPERIOR.—The last Lake Superior news gives a farther account of the dis covery of evidences of the working of the copper mines of that region by a people now extinct, a notice of which was published some time since. It says the indication which led to the discovery is a sunken trench upon the line of vein, which being drifted into disclosed a mass of native copper lying in this vein, estimated to weigh about seven tons. The remains of large timbers were found, by which this had evidently been propped, and beneath it were se veral cart loads of ashes and cinders, showing that the miners had endeavoured to reduce the mass by fire. Se veral of the implements used in the mining operations were found, consisting of stone hammers, a chisel, and a gad of copper. The perfect state of the point of the latter seems to indicate that a process of hardening the metal was known, for the hammer end was most battered. With the copper of this were some large particles of silver. The chisel is ingeniously constructed, so as to admit a handle. No iron instrument was discovered. That the mining operations were conducted to a greater extent than is practised by any existing tribe of Indians is apparent from the fact that the trench sunk upon the vein extends more than a mile in :ength. The accumulation of earth in the trench concealed the depth of the workings, except in the small part reopened ; but here the depth was found to be twenty-four feet, and the width eight feet. Similar trenches exist in the neighbourhood, which were traced for several miles. Not the least interesting part of the discovery is the evidence of the great antiquity of the workings. Large trees were growing upon the earth that had accumulated in the diggings—one of which, directly over the large mass of copper, proved to be four hundred years old ! Beneath it were trunks of trees that had pre viously decayed or fallen in, and the whole depth of soil that by the process of time had accumulated upon this antique furnace was eighteen feet. This mine is about four miles east of the large mass of copper which was re moved from its place some years since, and is now in the national cabinet at Washington. These mementos of an cient aboriginal industry are deserving of more than a mere passing notice. They may be considered as adding to the proof that, before the discovery of America, a race existed on this continent among whom the arts had reached a higher grade than with the wandering tribes that have succeeded. The Indians now living in this region know nothing of the people by whom, or the time when, these operations were undertaken. They evince a concerted effort which does not now characterise their present feeble efforts in the arts. It is somewhat singular that among a people so observant and persevering the use of iron remained so wholly unknown, since some of the ores, which exist in vast abundance, and upon the surface, m the Carp river region. are found to be easily reduced to a valuable steel by the heat of a common forge. A knowledge of the use of iron might have changed the destiny of that people, as it may be said to have done that of the race who now triumph, in the pride of art and power, over their almost perished memorials.—Neut lark Commercial Advertiser. THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. LORD BROUGHAM'S LETTER ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Lord Brougham has addressed a public letter to Lord Lansdowne, the President of the Council, on the French Revolution. It is, in one sense, the letter of Burke, on the former revolution,—changing only the person and the time,—events being as it were identical. The comparison must, of course, be to the disadvantage of the noble lord ; but that is no fault of his ; for who can write like Burke Lord Brougham has seen the sort of political science that is found in the working classes of society, when appealed to as statesmen and rulers,— of which weakness and folly, all nations and times bear ample tes timony. The Athenians that ostracised Aristides,—the Red Republicans of Paris,—and the Chartists of Man chester and Birmingham, are all of the same generamen of circumstances—the gens ho2ninum. The letter is writ ten with great power of language and concentration of sentiment. We have now only room for a brief passage or two. HOW THE REVOLUTION WAS EFFECTED, Instead of attempting to reform the system by lawful means' or to change the ministers who had given offence, or to exact punishment by the course of justice for that offence, the indig nation of the multitude in Paris suddenly bursts forth, because the police threaten to stop a dinner and a procession ; an armed mob resists the authorities; an accident renews the conflict, after it had of itself died away; another accident occasions un necessary shedding of blood; the populace, further exaspera ted, march to the National Assembly,. and, without the assent of any regular body whatever, proclaims a republic, of which no one had dreamt an hour before, and nan.es as its chiefs some half-dozen men, of whom no one had dreamt at any time, as rulers of the state I Then this work of some half-dozen ar tisans met in a printing-office, and leading on two or three thousand in a capital of one million souls, and a nation of five and thirty, is at once perceived to have the very probable con sequence of uniting the ten or twelve thousand felons, chiefly discharged galley-slaves, who are always under watch of the police, but always hovering about, ready for any mischief; a national alarm is excited, that the monarchy having been de stroyed in one contest, all Paris may be subjected to another fire, pillage, masacre. So, by universal consent, the inhabi tants of that great capital submit to the absolute dominion of the dictators thus suddenly appointed by a handful of armed ruffians, headed by a shoemaker and sub-editor, and adopt, as if it had been their own work, the new government thus pro claimed by that most insignificant hand, without even affecting to ask the consent of any human being, or even to apprise any one beforehand of what they intended to do—nay, very possi bly without having five minutes before formed any precise in tention at all. Yes ! yes !—this is the truth—the terrible truth 1 The like of this was never before witnessed among men. I will not say men living in a state of civil society, but among any collection of rational beings, connected by the slightest tie, and joined together for the common purpose of their joint defence, or their joint operations of any kind whatever. That a total change in their social condition should be the sudden work of a moment— a change prepared by no preceding plan—prompted by no felt inconvenience—announced by no complaint—that all which had before been adopted by the approval more or less general, of the nation, at any rate submitted to in peace by all , should be instantaneously renounced, rejected, cast off, and every ves tige be swept away of what had existed with unusual acquies cence, and an entirely new order of things—an order in all particulars new, devised without the least deliberation, struck out a heat, created off-hand as quick as a ready speaker can off-hand utter half a dozen sentences unpremeditated—that a few minutes by the clock should intervene between the old, obsolete, annihilated, and the span-new, untried and even nn thought-of—truly this is a convulsion to which no former re volution ever known in the world offers the least parallel. — file following, on the benefits of agitating the masses, is true in all times, seasons, and countries : .. . . - The trade of the agitator, the professional mischief-maker, should in every possible way be discouraged. As long as every idle, good-for-little person can be assured that if he only de votes himself to stirring up the people on any ground, either as a canting preacher of grievances, or a quack distributor of re medies, he will both become a popular favourite and earn a "subsistence, rely upon it there will never be wanting many to follow this very easy and not very honest calling ? and many more to be the dupes of their nostrums. At no period was this abuse carried so far as during the last few years in England, but especially in Ireland. The repeal of the Union has been a livelihood to many; to one it was the source of great gains. Partly on the money it yielded in large sums, partly on the traffic which he drove with your government for places to his family and followers in purchase of their votes which he com manded, he contrived, during a considerable portion of his life, to live on the people, as a pensioner on the poor, with the name of a disinterested patriot. The Middlesex magistrates have declared war against racing sweeps. A SHIP AT CAMBRIDGE.—On Wednesday week, the sloop Mary Ann, a small sea-going vessel of about forty tons burden, arrived at Cambridge, with a cargo of coals. With the exception of the steamer which plied to Lynn some years since, we believe this is the only sea-going ves sel that has come up to Cambridge within memory. A singular but painful accident• lately happened to a gentleman named March, connected with the Russian Consulate. He was descending from the outside of an omnibus when his ring caught br.the hook of the side bar of the box seat as he was in the act of jumping off, and the sudden wrench that ensued ;actually tore of his little finger. He has been doing well-since. DOG STEALING.—At the Middlesex-sessions, on Satur day, three men were indicted for having taken six guineas as a reward for restoring three bloodhounds of the value of 300 guineas, belonging to Lord Alexander Russell, which had been stolen. Two of the prisoners pleaded guilty, but it appearing that some compromise had been made by his lordship's groom, the prisoners were discharged, on giving security to appear for sentence when called on. BOOTY LEFT BEHIND.---On Saturday night or early on Sunday morning a dwelling-house on the Marine-parade, Dover, in the occupation of Captain Sir Thomas Trigge, was forcibly entered without creating any alarm. The thieves succeeded in packing up valuables to the amount of £l,OOO in a hat, when, it is supposed, they were dis turbed, as they decamped, leaving their valuable booty behind, and taking only £7 in gold and some silver. EXTRAORDINARY DELIVERANCE.—Art account ap peared, a few months since, of a captain of a small vessel near Weymouth having, in a state of delirium, one night got into the boat and pushed off, leaving one man in the vessel, who used every means to discover him without success. He was, it appears, picked up by a vessel bound to America, whither he was carried, and has since re turned. _ THE T. Y. DESPATCH, OR THE TRAITOR'S REWARD. —Mr. Thomas Young, ex-private secretary to my Lord Melbourne, is now a secretary of the Post-office with a salary of £l,OOO ; while Mr. Joseph Parkes, his clever coadjutor, who was, at the time of. the Reform Bill, an obscure attorney at Birmingham,.but a Dissenter, is now a Chancery taxing-master with a salary of £2,000 a year ! Pretty fair rewards these for agitating for a revolution. DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTBY LUCIFER MATCHES. — On Tuesday, as a little boy was amusing himself by light ing Lucifer matches, near a stable on the premises of Mr. John Birdseye, of Kelvedon (Essex), some straw ignited, which instantly communicated with the stable, and being some distance from the dwelling-house, the whole was in flames before any assistance could be rendered. A valu able pony was burnt to death, and the harness, &c., en tirely destroyed. How LONG A MAN NAB LIVE AFTER HE IS WORN OUT.—There is now living in the parish of St. Philip, Bethnal-green, an old soldier of the name of Geo. Lewis, in the 94th year of his age, who was discharged from the Ist Regiment of Foot Guards, then commanded by his Royal Highness the late Duke of Gloucester, on the 20th of May, 1802, after a service of 26 years, and, as his dis charge expresses, because he was " very lame and worn out." DREADFUL DEATHS.—A few days since, two men employed in a pit at the Dee fields, repairing the brick work of the shaft, a chain attached to two pieces of strong wood across the shaft for the purpose of supporting the brickwork whilst they were underbuilding it, gave way about three feet, and the brickwork it supported, at which place the two men were employed at the time, fell in wards, and closed upon them. When extricated they were quite dead. Another murder arising out of disappointed love was committed near Leeds on Sunday night, by a young man, named Malkin, a wood-turner, aged only seven teen, who cut the throat of a carder in a flax mill at Hunslett, named Ingham, only sixteen years of age, because she had declined to continue an intimacy that had sprung up between them. This is the third murder we have recorded within the last month arising from the same cause, and by persons in similar stations of' life. THE LATE MAJOR WEMYSS.—This distinguished officer, whose late melancholy demise at Durham we re corded, as senior captain, led the final charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo, the result of which was the final over throw of the power of Napoleon. During the conflict, Captain Wemyss had no fewer than three horses shot under him. Though severely wounded in the arm, he bravely led his followers into the midst of the conflict, and so greatly signalised himself that he was promoted to the rank of major, and rewarded with a pension. The ironmasters quarterly meetings commenced on Tuesday, at Walsall, and naturally enough felt the influ ence of the panic prevalent, with renewed force with re gard to railway shares, in the city, on Saturday and Mon day. Letters from Glasgow communicate that the price of pig iron during the week, has had a downward ten dency, and may be quoted 445. tid. for No. 3, sellers. The market closed very inanimately at these rates. Un der these circumstances, it may be considered a settled point that prices will remain unaltered for the ensuing quarter. A VERY HARD CASE.—Mr. Charles Butler, once a well-known and highly respectable chemist in St. Paul's Church-yard, has forwarded us a statement of his unfor tunate case, and requested us to aid him in recovering his position in society. He was wrongfully convicted of felony, sent to the hulks, found to be innocent, set at liberty, pardoned, and—ruined ! The law, or its admi nistrators, had fallen into an error, and Mr. Butler was forgiven, or pardoned, his imputed felony ! The brand, however, was upon him, and there it will remain, until the public feel the injury done to him as to themselves, and make him reparation. SINGULAR CASE.—The Worcester Chronicle publishes a singular instance of mortality in the case of a shop keeper in that town, who, having had a bad finger, put a blister to it; soon after which it is said he handled a po tato that was diseased, and it is presumed that the effect was poisonous, for his finger and hand soon presented a serious aspect, and he went to the Infirmary, where mor tification ensued, and he died on Saturday. A post mor dent examination of the body has been made, and the in ternal appearances are said to be healthy, leading to the conclusion that death could only have been occasioned by the introduction of some poisonous matter to the system. SHOCKING ACCIDENT.—On Monday, at the village of Brynsiencyn, near Carnarvon, Elizabeth Jones, a char woman, brought from Carnarvon six pounds of gunpow der. As the evening was very wet the powder got damp, and when Mrs. Jones reached home she placed it before the fire to dry. There were four of her daughters sitting by the fireside at the time, and the powder having taken fire, a fearful explosion took place, the roof of the house was blown off, and the inmates dreadfully scorched. The poor sufferers were found with their clothes on fire, and their blackened skin and flesh hanging in rags from their bones. The youngest daughter died soon afterwards, and little hopes are entertained of the recovery of the others. A BANKRUPT CORPORATION.—The corporation of Exeter is in such straightened circumstances that there was much difficulty in getting any one to accept the mayoralty last November. It appears that his worship is often called on to advance money to pay the police, that their jailor's salary was in arrear, and that officer had been paying his turnkeys out of his own funds, that the expenses of witnesses and prosecutors were wofully be hind, and that the other day three witnesses from Abing don came all the way by train for payment, and were tuned away without it. Even the prisoners in jail are in rags, hitched together by string, because there are no funds to provide clothing. SERIOUS ACCIDENT TO A TOURIST IN WALES.—About four o'clock on Tuesday night, at Pont-y-Celyn, near Bettws. about five miles from Llanrwst, a gentleman named Evans, from London, was nearly killed. The un fortunate gentleman rode a very vicious pony ; he was met about a mile from the place, proceeding at a rapid rate. It is supposed that the animal must have suddenly shied at some object in the road, and pitched the unfortunate gentleman over a precipice nearly sixty feet deep. Some stunted bushes fortunately broke his fall, but he has, we are sorry to say, received a fracture of the right arm and several ribs of the same side, and a concussion of the brain. He was found in an insensible state about four hours after the accident. There is, we regret to say, no hope of his recovery.—Chester Courant. A TRAVELLED MAN.—There is at present residing in Perth a man named Thomas Maxton, who has been employed as a wright upon the Moncrieffe estate for the last thirty-five years, and who has during that period, with, we believe, only two exceptions, travelled three and-a-half miles out and three-and-a-half miles in and from his work every lawful day. Seven miles a day is forty-two miles a week, and 2184 miles a year; 2184 miles a year, for thirty-five years, is 76,440 miles, which this man has travelled in the pursuit of his daily avocation, besides the journeyings to and fro which he has been obliged to take from one place to another of the grounds and which, at a moderate calculation will amount to a fifth more—making in all a total of 91,728 miles which he_has gone over.—Perthshire Courier. HIGHWAY ROBBERY NEAR BROUGIL—On Monday night, as the daughter of Mr. John Dent, of the Blue Inn, Stainmore, and a young man, an acquaintance of her's, were returning together from Brough Hill Fair, they were overtaken by three men, strangers. The men, however, seemed to have a perfect knowledge 'of Miss Dent, called her by name, and made themselves very familiar, and, after they had proceeded on the road a short distance, announced their character, by demanding the purses of the lady and her companion, which being refused, they at once proceeded to use violent measures to accomplish their purpose, threw both of the parties down on the road, and took between three and four pounds from Miss Dent, and about thirty shillings and a silver watch from the young man. The night was so very dark, that we fear the rob bers cannot be recognised, if apprehended. DIABOLICAL OUTRAGE.—On Saturday John Lanham, of Maiden-lane, King's-cross, London, came home intoxi cated, and having had a quarrel with his wife, who was also the worse for liquor, he took down an old musket which hung over the mantelpiece, deliberately loaded it with powder and small shot, and fired at her. Several of the shots entered her jaw and lips, and her screams na turally attracted a number of persons to the spqt, who gave expression to their indignation. This proceeding excited the ire of Lanham, who reloaded his musket, and, coming out into the road in front of his cottage, fired indiscriminately amongst the people, and a woman, named Eliza Carter, and two boys were severely wounded. The miscreant (who is said to be 86 years of age) loaded his piece a third time, but it was wrested from him before he could fire it off. FEARFUL WOUNDS FROM ERYSIPELAS CURED BY HOLLOWAY'S OINTMENT AND P1LL61 i wp...41.-GeleS, for a.mtrwererbetwenr. five years in the employ of Mr. r, coach-maker, Twickenham, had been ill , . off on, fourteen years, and for the last seven was con ally under the care of one surgeon or the other sides being a patient for a consi derable time at o the hospitals for settled eysipelas, in both legs h discharged quantities of water,,and humour uing from several large wounds. lUs.ago being seventy-two it was expected that the complaint would kill him, and yet this poor man has beets perfectly cured in. sbx weeks by. Liolloway'e Ointment rad kills, A WIFE BOTHERED BY A NEW LAW.—A woman living in Ashley inquired last Sunday of one of the police if he could give her any tidings of her "mon" (meaning her husband), and said she wished " Parliament was fur enough for altering the laa," (alluding to the new act now in ope ration compelling publicans to keep their houses closed the whole of Sunday morning) : " she could always find her mon till the last Sunday or two, for he always got drunk in a morning, and was in bed the remainder of the day ; but now she know'd no more where to look for-him than the mon in the moon. But the Parliament folks cared nout what trouble they gee poor craturs."—Leicestershire Mercury. JENNY LIND'S VISIT TO A YORKSHIRE FARMER.— During her recent visit to this part of the country, the nightingale had expressed a great desire to see an English farm-house. Mr. George Simpson's, of Grafit-howe, near Hunmanby, was fixed upon to gratify her wishes. What her ideas of a substantial English farmer's dwelling may have been, it is not easy to say ; but her astonish ment was almostnnbounded, as she was successively shown from one room to , another ; the kitchens sitting-rooms, bed-rooms, larder, and dairies, each seemed equally to excite increased surprise ; being so unlike the inconvenient one-roomed buildings appropriated to the same purpose in her own country. She was attended by a travelling female companion, her secretary, and another individual. The different out-buildings were also visited, and afforded' as many subjects of wonder.—Hull Packet. BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.—On Saturday, in the Bloomsbury County Court, an action was brought by Ann Elliott, the daughter of a laundress residing in Hart-street, Chelsea, against a respectable solicitor of Camden Town, to recover the sum of £2O as compensation for a breach of promise of marriage, the circumstances of the plaintiff not being adequate to the expense of entering an action in a superior court. The defendant was one afternoon, during the summer of 1835, walking through the Lowther Arcade, when he accosted the plaintiff, to whom, after a little conversation, he made a proposal of marriage, and offered to allow her as pin-money :5,25 per annum. The plaintiff accepted the offer, but at the per suasion of the defendant consented, prior to the nuptials, to yield to his embraces. Subsequently, the defendant refused to perform his promise, and was united to,another female. His honour allowed the plaintiff the full amount claimed, with costs, at the same time expressing regret that a person, bred to the profession of a gentleman, should have so far digressed as to take a mean advantage of the plaintiff: THE CIVIL LIST.—The Times has a long article in re ply to a resolution of the " Financial Reform Associa tion," condemnatory of the expense of the Queen's civil list. No long article, however, is necessary. The Queen's civil list, is her property, her estate, by a derivative title as old as any in the country, if it is not indeed the oldest, except the title of the Church. The civil list is the equi valent received by the head of the Royal Family in ex change for the hereditary revenues enjoyed by the Royal Family from the Norman conquest. The exchange was effected shortly after the accession of George 111., and so good a bargain was it for the people, and so bad a bargain against the Royal Family, that the people have profited, and the Crown has lost by it more nzillions than we like to state without referring to the parliamentary return, but wo think that the millions amounted to about 90 some years ago, and the sum must now be greater. The civil list then being, by bargain, the Queen's estate, as the equi valent for a larger and better estate, what right has any man to question her Majesty's mode of disposing of it? Who that is not prepared to justify robbery can talk of diminishing it by a single shilling ? CONTEMPT OF THE PRESS.—At the recent public ban quet given at Cheltenham to Sir Chas. Napier, the usual compliment of a ticket was forwarded to the gentlemen of the press resident in the town. To the amazement of the latter, however, they were given to understand that whilst the banquet was to take place at six, they were not to be admitted till eight o'clock. Resenting, like men of education and spirit, this species of flunkeyism, or per mission to enter after their betters had feasted, the resi dent reporters returned the tickets, and hence the ac counts of the banquet which appear are given by stran gers, who submitted to the servile conditions. Among the anomalies of the age, nothing strikes us more forcibly than the power and influence attributed to the press of this country, and the little respect entertained for those connected with it. No doubt something of this is attri butable to ourselves, or rather to that spirit of competition which is necessary to our existence. Still, "if peace has her victories no less renowned than war"—if a man may serve his country as well or better with his brain and pen than with a sword—if honourable men—men of education and talent, are nature's nobility, and not unsuitable com pany for the highest, what degradation can it be to even the warrior glittering with honours and covered with scars, to sit down with a reporter ? A scandal which has attracted some notice in the world of art has been distinctly explained by the Athenceum. In the last exhibition of the Royal Academy was a pic ture entitled " Shipping, &c., off Hurst Castle, Isle of Wight," set down in the catalogue with the name of Mr. Reinagle, R.A., as the painter. The picture was selected by a £25 prize-holder in the Art-Union. It was recog nised, however, by the friends of a young artist, Mr. J. W. Yarnold, as his prodnction ; he had painted it and sold it to a dealer for a few shillings. The case was brought before the Royal Academy. The Academy called on Mr. Reinagle for an explanation. He denied the charge, and intimated that he would rather resign than submit to inquiry. Mr. Yarnold was then invited to substantiate his accusation by evidence. Mr. Reinagle no w modified his denial ; he said the picture had been re painted by him, so as to become actually the work of his hand. " A strict examination of the picture by the Academicians, who had in the mean time very properly refused to give it up to the demands of any other party, resulted, we understand, in so unsatisfactory a comment on this plea as to leave no doubt on their minds that the honour of the Academy had been stained ;" and they re ferred Mr. Reinagle, by resolution, to what be had said about resigning. He resigned. SINGULAR CASE OF SUCCESSFUL CONCEALMENT OF SEX.—On Saturday week there died at Macclesfield, a woman named Sophia Locke, who had for many years wandered about the country in male attire, professing the trade of a tinker and scissor grinder, under the name of John Smith ; the father, who was a gipsey-traveller, had several children besides 'deceased, who was born in a cave near Croker Wood, Sutton. It appeared that her true sex was known to the Biddulph Moor people, who, it is believed, are the descendants of a gypsey tribe, but they always kept it a profound secret. Mr. Bland, the medical officer of the Macclesfield Union, first suspected her sex, having received an order from the board to attend her previous to her death, but it was not until after that event that his suspicions were verified. About 14 years ago she became acquainted with a woman, whom she persuaded by a promise of maintenance to live with her, which she did till deceased died. They had travelled all over England. Last year they were in Worcestershire picking hops. They lived very happily together, and the deceased, who could earn half a guinea a day sometimes, used the wo man very well. The body was interred on Sunday last, at Christ Church, as John Smith, and from the numbers attending to witness the funeral, the case seemed to have excited considerable interest. SINGULAR AND FATAL FIRE IN LONDON.—An inquest was held on Wednesday at Muswell Hall, Hornsey, the residence of Mr. Walter Burdoe, on the body of his mo ther, aged 87, who was found dead in the house. Deceased was in the habit of having a rushlight burning in her bed room all night, and was so apprehensive of thieves that she always locked the door on the inside. On the sth instant she retired early to bed. In the course of the night Miss Burdoe (her daughter) was awakened by a smell of burning, and alarmed her father. He went to his mother's room door ; it was locked, and be saw no light. He spoke to her and roused her, but she declined having another candle, and, as she spoke collectedly, he retired, thinking all was safe. About five in the morning he was roused by a maid servant crying that there were thieves in the house. The noise was found to arise from the crack ling of the burning bedstead on which the old lady was lying. The door was burst open, and the combustion was so great that every object was darkened. She had got out of bed, and was found, sitting in her night dress behind the door, quite dead. The body was quite blackened by the flames. It appeared she had endeavoured to vanquish the flames of the curtains, &c. by putting the carpet upon the bed, and afterwards placing it under the bed for removal at daylight. There they had_gradually: smouldered, and burned a hole in the floor. Most likely, in seeking the door to unfasten it and raise an alarm, Mrs. Burdoe was overpowered with the intense heat and sank down.—The jury being assured that, at all events, the fire which caused the death of the deceased lady was purely accidental, re- turned a verdict to that effect. ADVERTISING FOR A WIFE.—An advertisement having appeared in one of the London journals. a week or two ago, for a wife possessed of £5OO, it was answered by a wag, stating he had three daughters, fine girls, from 20 to 26 years of age ; that the advertiser might have an in- terview for the purpose of selection ; and that if his ap pearance and character were found to be satisfactory, £l,OOO would be of no consequence. An appointment was made for him to inquire at the bar of a tavern in the City, at eight.o'clock on Friday evening last, for " Beta." The evening came—and, true as " Salisbury clock," so came our man of metal, dressed as neat as neat could be. He was met by a witty friend, who opened the proceed ings by a p . rivate interview in the bar parlour; while ano ther went in search of a " fair frail one" to personate the bride in perspective, and who was to assume the name of Jane Brown—her papa being obliged to leave town that morning ; and certainly a better actress could not be found, with her fancy bonnet and white veil. Jane was introduced to our money-hunting advertiser ; his eye quickly surveyed her as she sat in a retired part of the room, purposely darkened to aid the bashful modesty of . . Jane; he fairly chuckled with delight as he gallantly handed her papa's letter for recognition. To the ques tion, " Is that your papa's writing ? " Jane gave a bash ful nod of assent. The young man who played the part of Jane's cousin, and he who was the friend of the family, with genuine Irish wit described his respect for his old friend Brown, and the handful Jane's mother had with her in the measles, poor dear woman ! Our hero now drew forth a large bundle of letters, and said he had been all day going from place to place to answer them ; he gave the address of his uncle, J—n K—, Esq., Bed fordshire. Things seemed going on capitally till the waiter hinted the reckoning was 9s. Gd. for sundry glasses of " cold without," port negus. and cigars ; the cousin and the friend of the family of course could not be ex pected to tip," and our yokel " was minus " tin. The gas being about to be snuffed out, he came to the bar,, where as jolly a lot had assembled as " ever set the table in a roar." One offered his sister, another actually wished his mother so good-looking a husband, while Jane was escorted to the corner of the next street, having first been amply repaid for her part in this laughable plot. Our hero now began to " smell a rat." but he was so hemmed in he could not escape. While the waiter was requesting of him the score, another was charring a couple of corks, and in less than no time a change came o'er the spirit of his drear Abe carae.a perfect Adonis, End left a perfect Juba ACCOUNTS OF THE BOARD OF TRADE.—The returns of the Board of Trade for the month ending the sth of Sep tember, issued to the public yesterday morning, show a falling off of £539,331 in the exports as compared with the corresponding month of 1847, while on the other hand, the consumption of imported produce still continues large. The total decrease in the exports for the first eight months of the year is £5,286,969. In January and February there was an increase, but the next six months show a sad fall ing off, May and June together being above a million and a half. The decrease of the last month is, however, smaller than any of the six preceding. The decrease in declared value of the last months export was in the articles men tioned as follows :—Cotton manufactures, £51,662; hard ware and cutlery, £53,236 ; linen manufactures, £47,911; machinery, £61,823 ; metals, £64,936 ; silk manufactures, £64,899; woollen yarn, £40,500; woollen manufactures, £116,645 ; linen yarn, £31,600. MURDER AND HIGHWAY ROBBERY NEAR TEBAY, WESTMORELAND.—On Monday, the 2nd inst, a man, who is quite a stranger, was found on the road side, near Sun-. bigan Tarn, quite insensible, and much bruised about the head, from blows evidently inflicted by stones or some blunt instrument. He was removed to Orton, where he lingered till the 11th instant, when he died. It appears deceased was an Irishman, and had been employed to drive some cattle from Brouzh Hill fair to Tehay Station, on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, where he delivered them, and received Bs. 3d. for his services. He slept in& hay loft at the Cross Keys Inn, close to the station, along with two men dressed as " navvies," who were seen in company with him near the place where he was found, and are suspected. He was seldom sensible from the, time he was found, and speechless, or nearly so. All that could be ascertained from the deceased was, that he was an Irishman, named John Patrick, and that he had a wife and family. AN IRISH BLUNDER.—A short time ago, a servant of Messrs. Powley, of Thrimby Grange, was mowing grass in a field by the Shap and Penrith-road at Shap Beck, and having left his waistcoat in the field near the road side, it was presently picked up by a " nate green Erneralder." wi.o deposited his own Tipperary vest in its place, think ing. no doubt, that an exchange would be no robbery. The servant having occasion presently afterwards to return to the place, was rather astonished to perceive his span new red plush turned into a filthy grey rags, and surveying it cautiously for some time, at last took courage and ex amined it more minutely, when, to his agreeable surprise, he turned out from the pockets four precious " yellow boys." Paddy, however, had not travelled far before he recollected his blunder, and on returning found that his antiquated forsaken friend had been robbed of its glitter ing contents. He demanded the precious metals, but was refused ; and on being threatened with a prosecution for stealing the waistcoat, was obliged to decamp, screaming out whillileus, mingled with wild notes of distress and imprecations, which no one but a thoroughbred Irishman could pretend either to utter or interpret.— Westmoreland Gazette. FATAL ACCIDENT WITHIN SIGHT OF THE QUEEN.— On Monday about three o'clock, the Fairy, royal yacht, had arrived near the Spit buoy, from Osborne, on her course to Portsmouth, having on board, the Queen, Prince Albert, and the royal children, who were soon after landed. and went by railway for Windsor, when her majesty's trip was rendered peculiarly painful, from a deplorable accident which happened in sight of the royal yacht. A shore boat, with seven persons on board, proceeding to the Grampus frigate, lying at Spithead, had, in a sudden squall, unfortunately upset, when five women and two men were engulfed in a rough sea, with every prospect of certain death. The Gypsey, custom-house cutter, how ever, while returning from the Grampus, observed the accident, and a boat and two men immediately put off to the spot ; and after much beating about, on account of heavy sea and wind, picked up Locke, a waterman, and. saved his life. The accident having been perceived on board the royal yacht, she was, by her majesty's com mand, instantly stopped, her barge lowered and promptly steered to the scene of the disaster. Two individuals were taken on board, and immediately conveyed to Ports mouth, where medical assistance was afforded, and one woman named Moore recovered, but the other could not be resuscitated. Out of the seven, therefore, only three were brought ashore : it is feared that all the others have met a watery grave. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AND THE ARCTIC V OYAGERS...-. It is a week since only that we afforded our readers the last probable glimpse of the exploring party who have gone out in search of a solution of the mystery that hangs over the fate of Sir John Franklin, previously to their issuing again from the mysterious ground on which that solution is to be sought ; and now, for the first time since the missing adventurers were lost sight of, at the thresh old of that same ground, an indication of their wherea bouts has suddenly turned up. A. letter, just received by the Admiralty from the Chief Factor Macpherson, dated March 1, 1848, says :—` There is a report from Peel's River that the Esquimaux saw two large boats (query ships ?) to the east of the Mackenzie River, full of white men ; and they (the Esquimeaux) showed knives, files, &c., to the Peel's River Indians which they had received from these white men. Could these have been Franklin or Rae ?' Mr. Hargrave, of York Factory, to whom Mr. Macpherson's letter is addressed, says, in communicating this intelligence to the admiralty : ' It could not have been Rae in his last expedition, as his boats did not go beyond Committee Bay.' Mr. Hargrave adds that, ' But little credence can be given to Esquimeaux reports.' We do not see, however, any good reason for rejecting a ru mour so welcome, and we gladly give it publicity. Pre suming that the boats or ships seen were those of Frank lin's expedition, their position even east of the Mackenzie is good as regards success, and better still as respects safety, since they must have been very near the coast. It has been ascertained that open water exists during the summer season, from the Mackenzie River to Behring's Straits ; and we, therefore, dare venture to hope that the expedition may have effected the long-desired N.W. pas sage this summer, and that the gallant party may be even at this moment approaching our shores. The anxiety re specting the lost party had grown finally to be very great, and the public will cling eagerly to the hope so suddenly presented. A very short time must test its value. THE GREAT SEA SERPENT.—When the Daedalus fri gate, Capt. M'Quhae, which arrived at Plymouth on the 4th instant, was on her passage home from the East Indies, between the Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena, her captain, and most of her officers and crew, at four o'clock one afternoon, saw a sea serpent. The creature was 20 minutes in sight of the frigate, and passed under her quarter. Its head appeared to be about four feet out of the water, and there was about 60 feet of its body in a straight line on the surface. It is calculated that there must have been under water a length of 30 or 40 feet more, by which it propelled itself at the rate of 15 miles an hour. The diameter of the exposed part of the body was about 16 inches, and when it extended its jaws, which were full of large jagged teeth, they seemed sufficiently capacious to admit of a tall man standing upright between them. The ship was sailing north at the rate of eight miles an hour. The Daedalus left the Cape of Good Hope on the 30th of July, and reached St. Helena on the 16th of August. The captain of the Daedalus has written to the Admiralty and says—" On our attention being called to the object, it was discovered to be an enormous sea serpent, with head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the surface of the sea, and as nearly as we could approximate by comparing it with the length of what our maintopsail-yard would show in the water , there was at the very least sixty feet of the animal a fleur d' eau, no portion of which was, to our perception, used in pro pelling it through the water, either by vertical or hori zontal undulation. It passed rapidly, but so close under our lee quarter that had it been a man of my acquaintance I should easily have recognised his features with the naked eye ; and it did not, either in approaching the ship or after it had passed our wake, deviate in the slightest de gree from its course to the S.W., which it held on at the pace of from twelve to fifteen miles per hour, apparently on some determined purpose. The diameter of the ser pent was about fifteen or sixteen inches behind the head, which was, without any doubt, that of a snake, and never, during the twenty minutes that it continued in sight of our glasses, once below the surface of the water ; its colour a _dark brown, with yellowish white about the throat. It had no fins, but somethingmane of a horse, or rather a bunch of seaweed, washed about its back. It was seen by the quartermaster, the boatswain's mate, and the man at the wheel, in addition to myself and officers above-mentioned." PLAIN SPEAKING.—On Friday week a banquet in ho nour of Sir C. Napier, the hero of Scinde, took place at Cheltenham ; Lord Ellenborough in the chair. On Sir Charles's health being proposed by the chairman, he stated the honour done him was much enhanced by the eulogium pronounced by a gentleman whom the whole empire of India admired and worshipped. He (Sir C.) saw many _ _ officers around him whose intrepidity had gained him so much honour, and he should never forget their services. He was sorry Pool was not there ; he who had broke the enemy with so much slaughter. But he saw his gallant Welsh artilleryman, (Lloyd,) whose iron guns vomited forth death on the enemy. (Cheers.) He saw also another who fell wounded while cheering on my friend to battle ; and young M`Murdo, who gallantly threw himself sword in hand into the very midst of the enemy. (Cheers.) He then said, I feel utterly unable to express my feelings of obligation to those troops to whom, under Lord Ellen borough, and, after his departure, under Lord Hardinge, I owe whatever merit attaches to a zealous soldier who has tried to execute that portion of the duty which is assigned to military men, leaving the disposal of events to that great Power who, in the words of the poet, " binds Nature fast by Cheers. nonsensical G en Gen tlemen, n flanit longer wl"( my b y gabble. (Cheers.) I therefore drink all your good bealths ; e leaves wiu n fr t e d e oettahien you human any and I thank Lord Ellenborough for all his support of me, I may say, in the coarse language of military men, against a set of damned scoundrels, (laughter ;) and without whose support I should have been crushed by a rascally press and a rascally government. (Loud cheers.) In after wards proposing the toast of the " Army in India," he he said he served 54 years in the Queen's service, great part of the time in India, and might call himself a sepoy. He went to India an ignoramus in 1841, thinking that India might be invaded by the Russians, but my mind was changed in a very short time. I found 300,000 men in the Indian army equal to any contingency. (Cheers.) I found 300,000 men who had the same courage, the same discipline, all appointments necessary to carry on war as the British army—the accoutrements the same, the drill the same as ourselves ; their courage equal to our own, and if they are inferior in strength, not inferior in their determination ;—(hear)—and that is all in war, and that equal to ourselves. (Hear, and applause.) They were all officered by Britons, and instead, of idly resting on the banks of the Indus, they were capable of advancing to the Oxus, against all the armies of the west, and scattering them far and near, The Affghanistan affair was an error of the generals, and still more an error of the politicals. (Cheers.) It was an error of politics to go there ; and it was carried out with a multiplication of errors on the spot (cheers). I believe that it is impos sible to restrain the advance of civilization ; it is stronger than barbarism and will force its way on in spite of polifil tics in general. etntral gtisrellany. A vessel has arrived in London from Calcutta, with 800 sacks of flour. A verdict of the coroner's jury on the body of Mrs. Armitage attributed her• death to congestion of the lungs. The Sheffield Mercury has ceased to be published, and is incorporated with the Sheffield Times. The Surrey Theatre is in such a state of decadence that the scenery, " properties," costumes, decorations, &c., have been brought to the hammer. On Wednesday, Holland's extensive flour mills, situate at Stanley Bridge, Fulham, were totally destroyed by fire. The loss is estimated at £5OOO. A. vessel, named the Queen, has arrived in London, from Lisbon, with an entire cargo of grapes, comprising 1319 boxes. _ _ The city of London has voted an allowance of £5OO per annum, as the salary of the medical officer appointed to superintend the health of the metropolis. The sale at Stowe, which terminated on Saturday week, realised £75,495. What is to become of the mansion and estate still remains a problem. The splendid glass chandelier in the centre of the Sur rey theatre, which cost two hundred guineas, was sold on Wednesday for only twenty-two guineas. It is now said that £12,000 a year will be saved to the Duke of Buckingham out of his estates, and that the Marquis of Chandos will succeed to £30,000 a year. A Chartist, named Wynne, has been committed for trial, charged with attempting to shoot Policeman Cor nick, at Queenhithe. Five persons, who evidently caught the cholera in Hamburg, have died in Hull, but the pestilence has not broken out in any part of the town. No less than three women were, on Wednesday sen., brought before the Lord Mayor, at the Mansion-house, charged with attempts at self-destruction. A MAN TO BE PITIED.—The Rev. H. Butler, the in cumbent of Wantage, Berks, has forbid the Church Mis sionary Society to hold its auxiliary meetings in that town. A disease has appeared amongst swine in the neigh bourhood of Hull, which is attributed to the excessive quantity of diseased potatoes that have recently been given to them. THE CHOLERA IN ENGLAND.—The epidemic has ap peared in London, Woolwich, Hull, Sunderland, and Edinburgh. The greatest number of cases have occurred in London. On Friday night week the mansion of G. Pritchard, Esq., situate at Broseley, Shropshire, was broken into, and a large quantity of silver plate and other valuable pro perty stolen, amounting in value to upwards of £2OO. Nineteen acres of land, rather more than a mile from the town of Wisbech, were sold by auction on the sth inst. for the large sum of £2,260, being nearly £ll9 per acre. The copyright of the Musical Times was brought to the hammer on Friday, and was purchased for £1,710. The publication realizes a clear income, after paying all ex penses, of £l,OOO a-year. - The Oxford Chronicle mentions that terror was caused to the inhabitants of Folly Bridge, where Friar Bacon once studied, by the appearance of a ghost. A large party gave chase, but the apparition fled, jumped into a boat, and escaped down the Isis. A LAZY DEFENCE.—At the Plymouth Police Court last week, a boy, charged with playing pitch and toss on Sun day, said he was innocent, as he always lay in bed on Sundays. This defence was, on inquiry, found to be li terally true. A CHAIRMAN'S WEDDING.—On Tuesday one of the United Brotherhood of Wheel-chairmen entered the bonds of Hymen with the object of his affections. The "happy couple" went to church in two wheelchairs, and returned in one !—Gloucester Chronicle. MAN ON FIRE.—At Exeter. last week, a workman ac cidentally broke a bottle of turpentine in his trousers' pocket. Happening to come in contact with a light, his saturated clothes took fire, and he was so frightfully burned that he died shortly afterwards. THE TIMBER PLUNDERING IN THE NEW FOREST.— The inquiry is far from approaching a close, and a party most seriously implicated has absconded. The officers have found timber irregularly" obtained at the north ern yards and at Jersey. ENGLISH TOLL-GATES.--A CONTRAST.—From Wor cester to Bromyard Downs, a distance of fourteen miles, the charge for a horse and gig is two shillings—from Wor cester to Birmingham, twenty-six miles, it is only nine- pence ! The moderately careful and the courageous have no thing to fear from the closest contact with cholera pa tients. In Hamburg the cholera nurses are perhaps the only persons who never take cholera. They are familiar with it in all its stages, and are not afraid of it. On Sunday, two boys, named William and Thomas Dennis, the one aged eleven and the other sixteen years, sons of Thomas Dennis, tailor, Sheffield, fell into the river Dun, where it is crossed by the Wicker Viaduct, and were drowned. EXTRAORDINARY YlELD.—During the past summer Mr. George Parsons, Mount-pleasant, Redditch, gathered from one grain of wheat, planted in his garden, forty stalks, which yielded the enormous quantity of two thou sand two hundred and twenty grains of very fine red wheat. James M'Wheelan has been sentenced at the Ayr Circuit Court to death, for the murder and highway rob bery of one James Young, in the Blackhill-road in that county. The watch belonging to the deceased was found on the person of the prisoner the day after the murder, and his clothes were stained with blood. NOVEL APPLICATION OF SCIENCE TO THE ARTS.-- Abandoned females in London, and dexterous thieves, have adopted a novel mode of rob b ery. First forcibly e m bracing with their arms the destined victim, a hand kerchief imbued with chloroform is pressed against his nostrils ; and with his senses disappear also his valuables! Durnionix CASTLE.—N 9 less than 90 tons weight of superb furniture lately arrived at Dunrobin Castle, from London, and amongst other things, two carpets, ea c h o f w hich cost £5OO. These preparations are convincing proofs that her Majesty and Prince Albert purpose visiting Dunrobin next season. The accounts from Scotland, regarding all crops, in cluding potatoes, are most encouraging. The rapid ad vance of agricultural science in that country is well wor thy of imitation. The small decrease in the produce of the income-tax (£25,000) is a proof that the general trade of the country is not so very had. A few days since, an aged insolvent was discharged by an order of the judge of the Taunton county court, after he had been imprisoned during eight years at the suit of his own son, to whom he had given a note of hand for £5O, which he failed to pay, after he had assigned all his property, worth about £l,OOO, to his children. The National Guards of Havre have honoured the Mayor of Southampton with a French invitation—to come and dine with him. The offer was accepted, and the martial visitors having been forwarded by rail to London, ate roast beef at Mr. Douglas Jerrold's. chop-house,, where they Kaye as a toast, " the fratexalty. 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