The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-09 00:00:00

eturaturr. POETRY. LINES, MN AID OF THE POOR EMIGRANT SUFFERERS BY THE LATE MELANCHOLY COLLISION ON THE RIVER AIERSEY .BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE WANDERER." For the Li rpool Standard. " Yet in the midst of life we are in death. And Lite's own essence, still, is our own breath. Ave I very true, my friend ; h , If here is rotten ; But, ' whilst there's life there's hope.' Pray, what's the From the" Exchangearea price of cotto, 'Tis morning, and the sun o'er Connaught's waters Sheds down his beams to dance upon his bay : From Sligo's capital her sons and daughters In famine-stricken hundred's wend their way— A homeless multitude : no cheering ray Of hope to their sad hearts a v:sitant : Men, pale with grief, and women sob away Their Misery. Ah ! sorrow c)n implant itdeeper sting than hunger—in the emigrant. 'Tis noon upon the waters, and the way Of the deep labouring vessel through the sea Is clouded with a canopy of spray ; While hope's far star (•f glad expectancy Rises, and gleams a ray of fallacy That drit cs from saddened hearts their mind's alloy, And finds a home in each poor wanderer's eye. Then the starved mother clasps her infant hoy, And dreams of foreign lands with less of tear than joy. 'Tis night upon the waters, and the ship Still plunging nobly onward through the deep, Like some proud courser 'neath the smarting whip, That, panting, urges his impetuous sweep. Day's widowed bride, dark night ; the starry steep Of heavens enthroned on ; while the pearl-shed tear Silvers the dreamer's lids uneasy sleep, And the cold shudder, from some unknown tear, Creeps, as some pois'uous snake, o'er ea:.h chilled passenger, Who has not felt that feeling at the heart That oft forebodes the future ? when the soul Claims for itself its own immortal part, And from its present dwelling place wit roll The earth-bound clouds that darkly shade the whole; And then shrink in its prison -house again. Trembling at danger it cannot control, And, from its silent chamber In the brain, send forth that damp-cold awe that bodes of fear and pain Such were the tremblings thrilled each slumberer's frame Upon that vessel's breathing flesh-paved deck (Ali ! cannot charity respect her name, And this barbaric intermingling check ? Let human forms a human likeness take !) But time has forged his thunderbolts, wid sent Destruction up:in earth to bring down wreck; And death, as some grim wolf nn slaui.hter bent, Drives young and weeping pity into banishment. It comes ! it comes! Ah, why not pity near, To stay destruction's steam.propeling breath? Poor weeping pity sheds the silent tear, And flies the scene at the approach of death, Whose footsteps tread the waters underneath; While iron-fibbed leviathans turmoil, • And lash the billows to one foam-clad wreath. Then comes—as armed knights meet on battle's soil— The thunder of the shock ; the pause—of the recoil. The crash of the encounter, and the still And death-like awe around, o'er sea and sky, That drove the heart's blood backwards, co'd and chill, Is over; when the heart see cls forth on high That deep, sad, nameless, melancholy cry, Which petrifies the hearer; arid, around, Confusion, horror paints with deeper dye. 'Creation's monarch, pitying, hears the sound, And death (in mercy sent) the many sufferers found. The harrowing sight, why dwell upon ; the shore Received the stricken vessel on its strand; Where pity lingered, in their wounds to pour The balm of charity, with open hand; And ministers, of their own fatherland, Soothed with religious zeal their agony ; Bade the racked souls their wavering thoughts expand, And taught the slaughtered emigrant on h•gh 'o raise his dying breath, and God to deify, Life and twin sister death go hand in hand. The one of time, other—eternity, is eternity's command , sse: on dull life's calm sea, ed tr, buffet with futuri to its shore till serenii With a I's eternal tempests downwards pour, nd havoc dark oblivion sends, and—time's no more e not the v sisters sent To battle through this life's adversity. Here, in this world of mortal's banishment, We find wealth and her bondmaid poverty : The first, the hope in sad extremity To her poor starving sister, whose wan brow Proclaims the heart's core of her agony. Oh, wealth ! extend thy hand, be generous now, 0 here Britannia may Hibernia's claims allow. Liverpool, June 5, 1846. ARIETIES. The Saxons, as may be seen from some of the illumi nated Saxon manuscripts, actually powdered or dyed their hair and beards blue. " What right have you to be sick ?" said a schoolmas ter to the pupil ; " A constitutional right," was the reply. LONDON DOGS.—We knew one who was accustomed to go almost every day with a penny in his mouth to the baker's and buy a roll for his own consumption. One day the baker's man, in a joke, gave him a roll, hot as fire, just out of the oven, which he instantly dropped, seized his money cif the counter, and from that day changed his baker. He never would go back again to that shop, but spent his penny like a good steady customer with a bet ter-behaved tradesman.—Literary Gazelle. THE Use OF LATIN.—It happened that, soon after the Queen's late visit to Scotland, the town council of Dundee were met to discuss how they should dispose of a quantity of crimson cloth which had been used by them in deco rating the council-rooms, &c., on the occasion. One in dividual proposed that it should be sold, as they were not likely to require it again. " Sell it," indignantly ex claimed a little conceited body, " Sell it ! an' for ever bring a reproach on oorsels an' oor gude toon. No ! I say let's keep it as lang's ae thread hings to anither, as a ►nemento tnori o' the auspicious occasion." AMERICAN FORENSIC ORATORY.—An American bar rister recently commenced his reply to some pungent re marks of a professional brother as follows :—May it please the court : resting on the couch of republican equality as I do—covered by the blanket of constitutional panoply, as I am—and protected by the tegis of A merican liberty, that great preservative, political mosquito bar, under which a tiger can shelter, as I feel myself to be—l despise the buzzing of a professional insect who has just sat down, and defy his futile attempts to penetrate, with his puny sting, the interstices of my impervious covering." Laid CASTLEREAGll.—Castlereagh exhibited a cha racter of a totally different order, yet equally fitted for his Lime. An Irishman, he had the habitual intrepidity of his countrymen. Nobly connected, and placed high in public life by that connection, be showed himself capable of sus taining his ministerial rank by his personal capacity. Careless of style, be was yet an effective debater. But it was in the council that his value to the country was most acknowledged. His conception of the rights, the influ ence, and the servir the peri came for deciding on her rank in the presence of continental diplomacy, he was her chosen and her sof:- His natural place was among the cessful representativ councils of the camps, SN here sovereigns were the soldiers. The " march to Paris" was due to his courage ; and the first fall of Napoleon was effected by the ambassador of England.—Dr. Croly's Soldier and Statesman. MANUFACTGRF OF PLATE GLASS.—When the compo sition, or " metal," as it is usually called, is in a fit state for being cast, the pot containing it is hoisted out of the furnace be means of the crane, and suspended over one of the tables, which is carefully swept down, so that no edits of sand or dust may rest on its surface. Small same height as the thickness of the re re placed all around. The pot is ron slips, of t mired st then inverted, and the metal allowed to run gradually over the surface of the table, reaching no higher than the borders of iron. The heavy cylinder is then •olied over its to smooth it down into proper operation is conducted in per- grim attentive f Tkmen, gives a tear well as picturesque appearance to the scene. The glass, as the roller passes over its surface, displays, like the dy ing dolphin ,a great variety of brilliant colours. The process requires to be conducted mast carefully ; for, should any air-bubbles be produced they will cause blis- ter to appear on the sur sequently be cut across at the place where they are seen "The casting" usually takes place once each day, and the quantity cast daily at' Ravenhead is generally eieht tables, or about one thousand square feet of glaSs. The surface of the plate being left rough by the casting, it has to undergo various other processes before it can be used. After lying a sufficient time in the annealing ovens, and after the rough edges have been cut away. it is conveyed in large quantities, by means of a railway, to the grinding sheds. The appearance of these is entirely different from hat of the building where the casting process is per 'ormed. The casting.house is gloomy and silent; the :e, which Inns grinding-shed is full of light and noise. Plates of glass are here cemented to large stone-flags, which are placed on supports at regular intervals. Other plates are ce mented to frames above. The surfaces of the upper plates are paced o❑ the surfaces of those attached to the stone, and the frames are connected by an iron rod with machinery, which causes them to revolve. The one sur face of glass is thus made to grind the other. These frames are attended by boys, who throw fine sand mid water alternately on the surface of the lower piece of glass, and who chant a rude kind of song, to keep time with the screeching noise of the machinery and the grating of the plates of glass against the sand and each other. When one side of the plate has been ground enough, it is re versed, and the same process is adopted with the other side. The glass, on being removed from this shed. pre sents a dim, obscure appearance ; the surface is rough and scratched, and is not yet fit for use. It is then con veyed to another shed, where it undergoes a similar but finer process of grinding. Here the upper plates of glass ere fastened to a frame, which is mo%ed by women. If the plate is small, one woman only works at it ; but if large, two or more are necessary. The glass is then taken to he polished —one of the most delicate processes , o f all. This is done by small wooden blocks, covered with cloth where they come in contact with the glass, and working in frames, which push them backwards and for wards over the surface of the glass. By the constant ac tion of these polishers, the plate is at last brought to a beautifully smooth and transparent state, and is then quite fit for use.— C'hamber's Edinburgh Journal. THE SPIRIT OF ROMANISM We extract from the preface of " The Church and the Churches," by the Rev. Hugh M`Neile, the following truthful delineation of the spirit and objects of Roman ism, and the dangers to be apprehended from the machin ations of its votaries : " Our Romanist opponents are not merely that portion of our own population who are members of the Church of Rome—if this were so, the danger would be compara tively small—bat the whole organised system of that church, throughout the whole world, is against us. Uni versal supremacy is the claim of that system—a claim not admittin of abandonment, or even of modification. It is declared to be divine in its origin, and absolute in itself. To say that the subjects of the Papal Court aim at the es tablishm, nt of such a supremacy, is only to say that they are sincere and consistent. To say that they make use of all practicable means for the attainment of their object, is only to say that they are active and diligent. To say that they vary the means made use of, as the circumstances vary under which they are called to act, is only to say that they are sagacious and skillful, And to say that they act often as if they thought the end justifies the means — denying or asserting, and that on oath, as seems most ex pedient at the time—is only t) say that they treat some of their own principles practically. To allege, therefore, that they aim at the destruction of the British constituti on in Church and State, and the subjugation of England to the Papal crown; is not to accuse them of any derelic tion of duty. On the contrary, holding the principles which they hold, it woule be a great dereliction of duty on their part not to attempt such a consummation • which, in prostrating England, would prostrate the whole world at the feet of St. Peter's chair. All our colonies, east and west, would, as a matter of course, fall into the wake of the mother country. The Protestant communities on the continent of Europe would prove a still easier con quest; and no steady or combined resistance could be ex pected from the insulted and unorganised congregation of the Protestants in America. There would not remain on the face of the globe a single citadel unstormed ; not a voice of even remonstrance against the imprisonment, torture, or martyrdom of the last of the heretics. Illus trations of this abound. Madeira. Sardinia, Ancona, Ireland, supply living proofs that Romanism now, as in the days of Hildebrand, claims the world as her own ; and would make, if practicable, an unrelenting clearance of all obstinate non-conformists from the face of the earth. They are bound to make the attempt ; they are bound to persevere in the attempt ; however circumstances may, from time to time, lead them to restrain or modify their successive demands in this country. Whether it be the elective franchise in 1793; the establishment of May nooth College in 1795 ; admission to the Imperial Parlia ment and other offices of trust and power, in 1822; to the Municipal Corporations in 1834; whether it be the State endowments of Maynooth in 1845 ; the repeal of the Irish Union in 1847; or the formal national e.tablist of the Roman Church in Ireland in 1850; all have been, and would be, only instalments ; instalments, at no one stage supplying a level on which contentment and peace might be expected ; but in every instance serving as the steps of a ladder for gradual ascent, increasing the possi bility, and therefore animating the prospect, and stimu lating the ambition to reach the top. Were England's Church true to herself, Rome's ambition could never be gratified. Present appearances, however, are mournfully against us. Warning after warning has been disregarded. Even the declension of above half a hundred of our clergy, and I know not how many laity, through the " fa cilis descensus " of Tractarianism, down to the " lower deep" of prostrate and unquestioning superstition. does not appear to have produced the smallest practical alarm in our rulers. There is nothing new under the sun. In vain Cassandra raised her voice. In vain Laocoon hurled his spear. In vain the clang of hostile armour sounded from the bowels of treachery. Troy's temper was infatu ation, and the natural consequence was Troy's ruin." To MAKE WATER COLD FOR SUMMER.—The follow ing is a simple mode of rendering water almost as cold as ice :—Let the jar, pitcher, or vessel used for water be sur rounded with one or more folds of coarse cotton, to be constantly ‘set. The evapration of the water will carry off the heat from the inside, and reduce it to a freezing point. In India and other tropical regions, where ice cannot be procured, this is common. Let every mecha nic or labourer have at his place of employment two pit chers thus provided, and with lids or covers; the one to contain water for drinking, the other for evaporation, and he can always have a supply of cold water in warm wea ther. Any person can test this by dipping a finger in wa ter, and holding it in the air on a warm day ; after doing this three or four tin:es, he will find his finger uncomfort ably cold. WANT OF MORAL COURAGE IN DISTRESS.—III read ing of the incidents of the time, nothing strikes me ofrener, or more painfully, than the want of courage which is ma nifested by men, and which passes unrebuked and nudes pised (as cowardice), in an age when a certain degree of manliness is supposed indispensable, and is, in common speech, taken for granted. In almost every newspaper, we see advertisements itr ploring the return of some father, husband, son, who has absconded, in difficulty, or in the apprehension of it, leaving those he is bound to protect to struggle on in despair. "If A. B. would not break his wretched mother's heart"—" If C. D. would communi cate with his unhappy family"—and so on : and usually we find an intimation at the end, that all will be hushed up—that affairs can be arranged, and so on. Supposing one insane here and there, still, how many dastards there must be, running away from the consequences of their own conduct, and leaving F the innocent and helpless to suffer for them I.—PET/31e s Journal. AMOUNT OF A WORKING MAN'S INTEREST IN A. CHEAP LOAF.—II is of vast importance to the labouring population that the price of corn should be steady, be it high or be it low. The labourer where prices are low, has not the prudence or foresight to economise his earnings, and when the pendulum swings the other way he is too often plunged into a state of distress. If, however, the labourer's wages are to be reduced, he ought, I think, to have fairly stated the balance of advantage and disadvan tage to which he is about to be exposed under this system. Take the case of a man with a wife and family of three children in the manufacturing districts. I will make a large allowance, and suppose that they consume five quarters of wheat in the course of a year. I will assume that there is a permanent fall in the price of wheat. A di minution of Is. per week from the wages of any member of that family (and you can hardly suppose that any dimi nution would be less than that) more than counterbalances all the advantages he and his family could derive from a reduction of 50s. in the price of the five quarters of corn they consume.—Lord Stanley's Speech. SAGACITY OF THE IRISH WOLF HOUND.—A gentle man of an ancient family, whose name it is unnecessary to mention, from his having been engaged in the troubles which agitated Ireland about forty years since, went into a coffee room at Dublin during that period, accompanied by a noble wolf dog, supposed to be one of the last of the breed. There was only one other gentleman in the coffee room, who, on seeing the dog, went up to him, and began to notice him. His owner, in considerable alarm, begged him to desist, as the dog was fierce, and would never al low a stranger to touch him. The gentleman resumed his seat, when the dog came to him, allowed the greatest plea sure at being noticed, and allowed himself to be fondled. His owner could not disguise his astonishment. " You are the only person," he said, " whom that dog would ever allow to touch him without showing resentment. May I beg the favour of you to tell me your name ?" mentioning his own at the same time. The stranger an nounced it (he was the last of his race, one of the most ancient and noble in Ireland, and descended from one of its kings). "I do not wonder," said the owner of the 3 , dog, "at the homage this animal has paid you. He re- cognises in you the descendant of one of our most ancient race of gentlemen to whom this breed of dogs almost ex clusively belonged ; and the peculiar instinct he possesses has now been shown in a manner which cannot be mista ken by me, who am so well acquainted with the ferocity this dog has hitherto shown to all strangers.—Jesse's Anecdotes of Dogs. INCOME OF A LANCASHIRE GENTLEMAN IN THE 17TH CENTURY.—Thomas Norris, born in 1653, was returned to parliament, for Liverpool, in 1688, and represented the town until 1605, when marrying 'Magdalen, second daugh ter of Sir Willoughby Aston, Norris retired from public life. In the statement of his property at the time of the marriage, we have a curious insight into the small pecu niary means of a Lancashire gentleman of the first conse quence, in the seventeenth century. It may be premised that the Spoke estate was set down as worth £l;200 per annum, in the Royal Oak List, in 1660; and that about 1793, at the time of the :ale, the rental was £2,8:)0 per writes Mr. Norris, " I stand "The estate ibis estate, three hundred and fifty aert estimated to be worth £3OO per annum ; the mother's an nuity was £220 per annum ; the brothers had £lOO amongst them; and a debt of £2,000 would not take less than £lOO per annum ; leaving £2BO per annum for Mr. Norris, or rather, as the sums to the brothers, and the interest of the debt required coin, the squire does not ap pear to have had more than £loo per annum, of actual money ; the remainder coming under the head of " con veniences for housekeeping," as boons, gifts, rent, hens,&c. Upon these means Mr. Norris kept a liberal house, his mother living with him. He had six coach horses, worth £7 a piece; and receiving with Miss Aston £2,500, he settled on her £2OO per annum, and at his death, left his sisters £5O each, and made legacies to his servants.-211r. Thomas llPywood's Introduction to the Norris Papers. A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR THE EMPLOYED. — In Paris the master-manufacturers, &c.. having established what they call a Jury of Reward to their Workmen, the work men have also formed themselves into a Jury of Encour agement to Employers. As the masters propose to giye rewards for diligence and good behaviour, so the men pro pose to reward those. masters who distinguish themselves by kindness, fairness, and words to their workmen, by a public testimony of their approbation. " If," say they, " it ba true th a t goo d masters ma ke good men, then their position is unshakeable. At first view the whole appears a clever quiz —a .jeu-d'esprit, worthy of Punch. The workmen, however, appear serious enough, and there is something startling in this idea of the matter. It marks a new and elevated conception of the relative position of employers and employed. It reminds the former and the world that all alike are men, and entitled to adopt towards each othtr the same measures for marking and rewarding moral qualities. The rules are published in the French newspapers. The reward on the part of the men is to consist merely of an annual publication of the names of those masters whom at least half of their workmen shall join in testifying to be of good private life, who have anxi ously watched over the health of their workmen, and have not feared to be at some expense to make their shops healthy ; those whose workshops are regulated by a dis cipline emanating from the workmen themselves; those who have never gone to law with their workmen ; those who have not wished to drop wages, spite of the example, solicitations, or menaces, of their confederate fellow masters; and, lastly, those who, without infringing on the proper wages of their workmen, have admitted them to a share, however small, of the profits of the business.— lit*pler Journtsi. THE FALL OF ROME.-INSTRUCTION FOR ENGLAND. (From Blackwood's Magazine.) THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN ITS DECLINE, AND GREAT BRITAIN IN THE PRESENT DAY.—This constant ten dency of wealth, in the later periods of the Roman em pire, to accumulate in the hands of the great capitalists, accompanied by the progressive deterioration of the con dition of the middle and working classes, is amply proved and forcibly illustrated by Sismondi, in his admirable work on the Decline of the Roman Empire. " During the long peace," says he, " which followed the victories of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, those colossal fortunes were accumulated, which, according to Pliny, ruined Italy and the empire. A single proprietor, by degrees, came to buy up whole provinces, the conquest cf which had in former days furnished the occasion of many triumphs to the generals of the Republic. While this huge capitalist was amassing riches, wholly disproportioned to the capa city of man, the once numerous and respectable, but now beggarzd, middle class, disappeared from the face of the earth. In districts where so many brave and industrious citizens were to be seen in former times, alike ready to defend or cultivate their fields, were to be found nothing but slaves, who rapidly declined in number as the fields came to be exclusively devoted to pasturage. The fertile plains of Italy ceased to nourish its inhabitants ; Rome depended entirely for its subsistence on the harvests which its fleets brought it from Sicily, Africa, and Egypt. From the capital to the farthest extremity of the provinces, depopulation and mi,ery in the country coexisted will: enormous wealth in the towns. From this cause the im possibility of recruiting the legions with native Romans was experienced even in the time of Marcus Aurelius. In his war agaicst the Quadi and the Marcomanni, which had been preceded by a long I eace, he was obliged to re cruit the legions with the slaves and robbers of Rome." It is impossible to give a stronger proof of the extent to which this enormous evil of the vast fortunes accumulated in the towns, and the entire ruin of industry in the coun try, had gone on in the last days of the empire, than is to be found in the fact already mentioned, that when Rome was taken by Marie, in the year 404 after Christ, while Italy could furnish no force to resist the invaders, the ca pital itself contained seventeen hundred and sixty great families, many of them with incomes of £160,000 a-year, equal to £300,000 of our money, whose expenditure main tained an urban population of 1,200,000 souls. CONDITION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE ON THE EVE OF ITS FALL.—Such, on a nearer survey, was the condition of the Roman empire which preceded its fall. From it may be seen how widely the real causes of its decline dif fered from the vague generalities of Montesquieu, that the ruin of the empire was the necessary consequence of its extension ; or the still vaguer declamations of the scho lars; that it was the corruption incident to great and long continued wealth which enervated the people, and ren dered them incapable of defending themselves against the northern nations. In truth, both these causes did ope rate, and that too in a most powerful manner, in bringing about the ruin of the empire ; but they did so, not in the way supposed by these authors, but in an indirect way, by inducing a new set of evils, which destroyed industry in the most important of its provinces, by depriving the industrious of a market for their industry, and rendering the public burdens overwhelming, by changing the value of money. The operation of these causes can now be dis tinctly traced by us, because we feel them working among ourselves : their existence has not hitherto been suspected, or their effects traced by philosophers, because no state in modern Europe but our own, in recent times, had come within the sphere of its influence. And to see what these causes really were, it is only necessary to recal, in a few propositions, to the reader's mind, the general result of the foregoing deduction :-1. During the Republic, and till the commencement of the empire, agriculture was in the most flourishing state in Italy ; and it was in its stut dy, free cultivators, that the legions were recruited which con quered the world. 11. From the time of Tiberita, culti vation declined in the Italian and Grecian plains, and continued to do so to the fall of the empire. Pasturage came to supersede agriculture ; population disappeared in the fields ; the race of free cultivators, the strength of the legions, were ruined ; the flocks and herds were tended only by slaves ; the small proprietors became bankrupt, or fled the country ; and the whole land in the European provinces of the empire fell into the hands of a limited number of territorial magnates, who resided at Rome or Constantinople, and mainly upheld, by their profuse ex penditure, the prosperity of those capitals of the empire. 111. In the midst of the general decline of rural industry in all the provinces to the north of the Mediterranean, the wealth and prosperity of the great cities remained unde cayed. The small provincial towns were in great part ruined ; but the great cities, especially such as were on the sea-coast, continued flourishing, and received in their ample bounds all the refluent population from the coun try. Rural industry languished and expired, but com merce was undecayed ; the fortunes of the great capitalists were daily accumulating; and in no period in the history of mankind, were urban incomes so great as in the city of Rome, on the eve of its capture by the Goths. IV. While this was the state of matters to the north of the Mediterranean, that is, in the heart of the empire, the re moter agricultural provinces of Spain, Sicily, Lybia, and Egypt, were in the very highest state of prosperity ; they fed all the great cities of the Roman world by their im mense exportations of grain, and yet enough remained, down to their conquest by the Vandals under Genseric, to maintain a vast population at home, greater than has ever since existed in those countries, in a state of affluence and comfort. V. Taxation, from the tine of its first intro duction under Augustus, was at first chiefly indirect, and by no means oppressive. Gradually, however, the pin= duce of the indirect taxes failed, or became inadequate to the wants of the empire. and recourse was had to direct taxes, levied chiefly on landed property and successions. But these direct taxe s were at first light, and not a third part of those levied in Britain or France during the war ; and the public establishments of the Roman government were not a fourth, in proportion to the population, of those now maintained by the great European monarchies during peace. VI. In process of time, however, the re sources of the people, in the principal provinces of the empire, and especially those to the north of the Mediter ranean, declined to such a degree, that though the mili tary and naval establishments of the empire were reduced to a third of their former amount, and became inadequate to defend its frontiers against its enemies, the direct taxes required to be continually increased, till they became so oppressive as to destroy industry, and prove the imme diate cause of the depopulation and ruin of the empire. Such are the facts, as established by the unanimous and concurring testimony of ali the best-informed historians ; and now for the causes which produced these facts. They are set forth and supported by an equally clear and indis putable array of authorities. CONTttACTION OF THE CURRENCY ASSISTED THE FALL OF ROME.—The immense importation also of Afri can and Egyptian grain, which continued from the time of Tiberius to the very close of the empire, must have occa sioned a great additional abstraction of the precious me tals from the Roman world. It has already been shown that a very small proportion of the grain imported from these distant provinces was remitted in the shape of tri bute. By far the greater part, probably nineteen-twen tieths of the whole supply, was imported by private mer chants for sale, as it could be got from them cheaper than it could be raised at home. This imported corn, of course, required to be paid for in something. But the inhabitants of the countries from which it came—Spain, Sicily, Africa, and Egypt—for the most part slaves, blessed with a fine climate, requiring little covering, and nearly destitute of artificial wants, did not require, and could not consume, any considerable amount of Italian or Grecian fabrics Thus, by far the greatest part of the price of the imported grain was paid in gold and silver, for which there is a con stant demand in all countries, savage or civilised. A na tion which imports foreign grain largely, tnust in all ages export the precious metals as largely ; because the corn, of course, is brought from those countries where it is raised the cheapest—and the countries where this is the case, are those where labour is cheap, money scarce, and artificial wants unknown. Money is what these countries want, and money is what their surplus produce is nearly all exchanged for. And this explains how it happened, that in the decline of the empire, Spain, Africa, and Egypt, alone retained their flourishing aspect, and were the only provinces from which money and soldiers could he ob tained, while they required none. The whole commerce bqwet n them and Italy, or Greece, was one in which grain was exchanged for the precious metals ; and when they once got these, great part was hoarded, as it now is in the East, And very little ever returned. vices which occasioned the fall of the Roman empire, were the destruction of its domestic agriculture, by the importation of grain front its distant provinces, and the accumulation of debts and taxes, arising from the contraction of the currency. If these causes be at tentively considered, it will be found that they not only afford a perfect solution of its fall, hut explain how it hap= pened at the period it did, and bad not occurred at an ear, tier period. They show what it was which, slowly but steadily, wasting away the vitals of the empire, succes sively destroyed its rural population and agricultural in dustry, and at length crushed its property under the in creasing load of debts and taxes. They explain how it happened that the indirect taxes, which at first were suf. ficient, with a moderate imposition of five per cent. on inheritances, to support the large military and naval esta bli,hments of Augustus, became gradually unproductive, and were et length succeeded by direct taxes on land, of severe, a-id in the end destructive amount. They show what every page of contemporary history dem ons t rates, that it was neither the superior military power of the bar barians, nor the diminished skill and courage of the le gions, which occasioned the overthrow of the mighty fa bric, but the wasting away of its internal resources— which was the real cause of its decay. They tell us that it was not the timidity of the legions, but the inability of government to array them in sufficient strength, which rendered them unequal to the contest with an enemy whom, during the vigor of the state, they had so often re odled. They explain how it happened that Italy and Greece had become deserts in their rural districts, before one of the barbarians had crossed either the Alps or the firearms, and how Africa, Spain, and Egypt, alone of the provinces, retained their prosperity, when rural industry was wellnigh extinct in all the other parts of the empire. Lastly, they explain bow it happened, that while the ru ral districts of the north of the Mediterranean were so ge nerally relapsing into a state of desolation, the great ci ties of Greece and Italy long retained their prosperity, and the wealth of the capitalists and great proprietors who inhabited them, was continually increasing, while all other classes were ground to the earth under the weight of pub lic or private burdens. circum SALE OF WOMEN.—" Yesterday, (August 7, 1752) about 90 women of different kinds and ages, who bad sold themselves for four years to a captain bound to Philadel phia, were carried from the Bolt and Tun in Fleet-street, and put on board a lighter in Blackfriars, in order to be shipped for that colony.—Old Newspaper. TYNDALE'S ENGLISH VERSION OF THE NEW TRSTA- MENT.—At the commencement of the sixteenth Century there lived in the Manor-house of Little Sodbury, iii Gloucestershire, a worthy knight of the name of Sir John Walsh. His dwelling belonged to that class, of which a few relics may still be seen in the quiet country nooks of Old England, displaying, in pictureSque beauty, their fan tastic gables and twisted chimneys embbsomed among shrubs and trees. There was abiding in this mansion a humble priest, who filled the office of tutor in the family. He was a person of quiet and retired habits, devoted to study, and exemplary in his moral and religious character. But no one could look on him without perceiving at once that he was a man of no common stamp, for his expansive forehead indicated a comprehensive mind, his eyes beto kened quick and penetrating thoughts, his whole counte nance was expressive of extraordinary firmness, while round his lips there lurked something of quiet humour. He often mingled with the guests who gathered round the social board in the dining-ball of Sodbury, including the neighbouring ecclesiastics, and even some wealthy abbots; for Sir John was a hospitable man, and fond of company, a courtier, and a favourite with his prince. It happened sometimes, that the conversation of these parties turned upon theological topics, when our tutor was wont to ex press his opinion with some freedom. " As he waslearned and well practised in God's matters," says John Foxe, " so he spared not to show unto them simply and plainly his judgment; and when they at any time did vary from his opinions, he would show them in the book, and lay before them the manifest places of Scripture, to confute their errors, and to confirm his sayings." When he ac companied Sir John and his lady to the tables of these dignitaries, he scrupled not to talk with the same bold ness, till deep suspicion of his heterodoxy began to be felt by his ecclesiastical brethren. Even the knight himself, and his fair spouse, entertained some fears on the subject, and thought it right to expostulate with the tutor respect ing his sentiments. But he was not the man to yield any point which his judgment approved, and he firmly main tained his opinion. " Well," said Lady Walsh, " there was such a doctor there as may dispend a hundred pounds, and another two hundred, and another three hundred pounds ; and what were it reason, think you, that we should believe you before them ?" Her ladyship's logic was of a kind to which our tutor knew not how to reply, and he therefore politely held his tongue. But there were deep thoughts at work under that capacious brow, and mighty purposes springing up within that dauntless breast. On another occasion, a priest observed to him, " We are better without God's laws than the pope's." " I defy the Pope and all his laws," he replied ; and added, " If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause the boy who driveth the plough to know more of the Scriptures than you do." The man who thus valorously threw down the gauntlet at his holiness was William Tyndale, and such was the commencement of a work which has given immor tality to his name. A deep interest lingers around the remains of that old house in Gloucestershire, and we fully enter into the spirit of our author's remark after visiting the place :—" The balls of our colleges, wherever they stand, have never given birth to a design, so vitally im portant in its origin, so fraught with untold benefit to mil lions, and now so extensive in its range, as that which ri pened into a fixed and invincible purpose in the dining-hall of Little Sodbury manor-house.”—British Quarterly. FREE TRADE INJURIOUS TO THE FARMeR AND THE LABOURER MORE THAN TO THE LANDOWNER.—I am satisfied that never was there so great a delusion as that the loss caused by this measure will fall solely upon the aristocracy. A fall of 10s. per quarter on wheat is 40s. per acre on wheat land, and if that price is accompanied by a corresponding reduction in the price of other arti cles, it will eat up all the rent of the land. But the fact is, the loss will fall—and they know it will fall, on them, as they showed by their meeting the other day—the loss will fall mainly on the tenant-farmers. (Cheers.) And the first step they take will be to suspend improvement, to discharge their labourers, to reduce wages, and to force their population into the manufacturing districts, there to enter into hopeless competition with the population of those districts. They will carry their own wretchedness and misery into the manufacturing towns, and will press down the wages as well of the manufacturing districts as the agricultural. (Cheers ) I will assume the case of a landlord who is entirely encumbered, and free from debt. 1 don't know whether there are any such cases (a laugh), but I williassume there are. He discharges a certain por tion of this establishment, and turns upon the labour market those whom his fortune had formerly enabled him to employ. For it cannot be laid, I think, to the charge of the landed proprietors of this country, as a class, that they are given to accumulating and hoarding wealth. So far from that, I think they will be found to spend it at least as fast as they get it. (A laugh.) We are told bow their losses are to be made up to them, if they will only adopt the real principles of free trade. They are to dis charge their useless and unprofitable hands; they are to employ no labourers beyond what are absolutely required to make a profit to themselves. They are to have no con sideration for tenant farmers who have been on their es tates for fifty years. They are told it is more profitable to have one large farm than several small ones; so they must pull down the hous s of their present tenants and turn them adrift. Their tenants have no capital, they must let them go. There are 600,000 tenant farmers in the country under £2OO a-year,—at least there were in 1814. Turn them adrift, bring their successors from a distance—bring them from the Anti Corn-Law League —(hear)—encourage them to expend their capital, and then you will be able to recover from all the effects of the injury you have sustained from a reduction in the price of corn. Perhaps you might, but the law imposes the bur den upon you of maintaining all the poor of the manufac turing districts as well as their own. I have too good an opinion of the landlords to believe they will take this ad vice. They will go on giving employment to the poor on their estates, for they have to deal not with stocks and stones, but with men having the same affections and at tachments as themselves, and I won't believe they will adopt the cold, calculating, and selfish doctrines of poli tical economy and free trade. (Cheers.) But if you adopt these doctrines in England—•if you venture to re commend them in England—will you also dare to put them in execution into Ireland? In Ireland the bulk of the population are small farmers—hardly what we should call farmers in England ; the majority of the holdings are from 1 to 15 acres. They have no capital, and very little skill. I admit they exhaust the land ; they don't pay half the rent a large farmer could. Carry your political eco nomy into effect there, and see what would be the result. I think I have heard it advanced that the clearance sys tem is at the root of half the evils of Ireland. But free trade requires it, and you must a ake more money. Turn them out, and when the existing generation are starved off, you may, perhaps, see your system in successful ope ration. My lords, he must be a bold minister who would advise such an experiment to be made, but he must be a bold as well as a hard man who would act upon it. And then to tell me that this measure has been brought in for the relief of Ireland! (Cheers.) England is an import ing country ; it may be for her benefit, but I doubt whe ther it is in the long run. But Ireland is an agricultural country—an exporting, and not an importing country— and if you reduce her exports by £1,500,000, or £2,000,000 you do her the greatest is jury. —Lord Stanley's Speech. Mr. Finch, M.P., has informed his tenantry in Rut- I landshire that he shall not in future preserve the game on his estates, and that they have his permission to shoot on t heir respective farms. Such is the demand for warehouse room for grain im ports at Leith, that cargoes of foreign wheat and other descriptions of foreign produce, are being bonded at Granton, Fisherrow, and Edinburgh.—Scotsman, EXTRAORDINARY FECUNDITY.-Mr. John Bell, of College Hill Farm, Durham, had a sow farrowed the ex traordinary number of 25 on Tuesday last, 23 of which are living and likely to thrive. Mr. O'Connell's motion for two additional members for county Cork, and Mr. E. B. Denison's amendment that they be given to the West Riding, are amongst the motions deferred until after Whitsuntide. At a meeting of the principal Radical members of Par iment on Saturday it was resolved to oppose the Irish coercion bill which stood for a second reading last (Mon day) night, and to support Lord John Russell in an en deavor to extinguish the differential duties on sugar. As Mr. Chandler, grocer, of Devizes, was on Friday, the 29th ultimo, in the act of drawing the cork from a bottle of ginger beer, the glass burst, and struck him a violent blow in the eye, which has totally deprived him of sight. GOOD NEWS, IF TRUE.—The trustworthy meteorolo gical correspondent of the Times, who signs " H. P.," predicts a continuance of the present splendid weather, with occasional electric currents, with hail-storms and thunder. June bids fair to be a very fine month. A LUCKY SPECULATION.—Mrs. Jane Rutherford, of Sedgefield, holder of the registered receipt No. 16,547, for subscription to the Picioricd Times, had paid to her £3OOO on Monday week ; the above receipt being one of the fortunate numbers to which a prize was awarded. On Sunday week an accident of an appalling nature oc curred on board her Majesty's ship Caledonia, lying in Devonport harbour, by which three lives (those of sea men on board the ship) were lost by the falling of the main top-gallant mast. Eighty-three gentlemen entered the army during the past month, thirty-four of whom have purchased their commissions, varying from £1,260 to £l5O each, and amounting in the aggregate to no less a sum than £21,940. Last week a couple of birds, a pair of storm cocks, stole a female's cap, and scientifically entwined it round the in terior of their nest. The cap was in pieces, and put out to dry, and was missed for several days, when at last something like the stolen property was seen waving from the top of a sycamore tree, and hence the discovery. SUGAR.—From the 14th March, 1815, to the sth April last, the quantity of sugar admitted into this country under certificate as the produce of free labour was 91,692 cwt. ; the quantity admitted under the stipulations of treaty was 396 cwt. ; and the aggregate of the quantities admitted to home consumption was 92,088 cwt. As a man named Jenkins, a❑ itinerant bookseller and tea dealer, of Aberdare, Glamorgan, was walking on Sa turday from Hirwan to Rhigos, he put up his umbrella during a thunder storm. The brass point attracted the electric fluid, which passed through his head, and killed him on the spot. Several other bodies have been exhumed in Norfolk, and the opinion gains ground, that the wretched man, Balls, poisoned nearly twenty of his children, and grand children and then poisoned himself. He did not do it as if from sudden impulse, but gradually, his murders extend ing over twenty years. CRICKET.—The celebrated match in honour of Mr. Felix, which commenced on Monday, at Lord's termina ted on Wednesday evening in favour of Pilch's eleven, who won. after a hard contest, by 34 runs, they scoring 202 runs, while Mr. Felix's side scored 175. The play was excellent. _ A young woman, at the new spa, Croft, near Darling ton, was struck by the electric fluid, in a thunder storm there, on yesterday week, and was rendered quite blind and totally insensible for some time. Violent convul sions ensued ; but by the prompt application of remedial means, the girl was soon pronounced to be out of danger. The sailor, Reid, who was found secreted in the gardens of Buckingham Palace about three weeks ago, and was sent back to his ship, seems determined to imitate the boy Jones. He was again found concealed behind a tree in the gardens on Saturday, and this time more serious cog nizance is taken of the procedure. OUTRAGE AND RODDERT.—OD Wednesday, two men went into a draper's shop in London, and whilst the assistant was showing them some goods, one of them threw a quantity of Cayenne pepper into his eyes, so as to blind him, while the other snatched up a tin cash box, containing upwards of £6O, with which they made off. THE LORDS AND THE CORN BILL.—At the annual meeting of the corporation of the Bedford Level, held on Wednesday, at Ely, Earl Fitzwilliam was proposed as one of the conservators, and rejected on the ground of his support of the Corn Bill ; and the Duke of Bedford barely escaped being placed in the same predicament. Douglas Jerrold, in this week's Punch, gives the following " triple denial" to the statement that he is off Punch:— He is not off Punch, Has not been off Punch, He will not be off Punch. A portion of the squadron of evolution arrived at Cork on Thursday. It was thought that they would weigh anchor on Saturday, and proceed round the coast to Ban try and the Shannon, and be kept manoeuvring in the Atlantic for a fortnight or three weeks. They will return to Cove before the Ist of July, and it is expected that the fleet will then lie in Cork for a fortnight. MURDER AND SUICIDE.—On Wednesday, it was dis covered that a murder bad been perpetrated by a tailor of the name of John Townrey. upon his wife. living at 13, Widegate-street, Bishopsgate-street Without, London. The unfortunate woman it appears was strangled. It would seem that the husband immediately afterwards hung himself. He had just returned from transportation. ANOTHER DEATH FROM A BULL—Mr. MeggS, Nurseryman, of Cheltenham, was on Saturday week, killed by an Alderney bull, which was in a field near that town. It appears that he struck the animal with a small stick in order to drive it away, when the bull threw him down, and trampled upon his chest, from the effects of which death ensued in ten minutes after he was rescued. EXTRAORDINARY ROSE TREE.—A correspondent of a Manchester paper states that there is at present growing in Sale, a tree bearing 8,000 roses of a rare kind. It was planted in May, 1841, being then a small slip seven inches long, without roots. It now measures 69 feet in width, and 38 feet in height. One branch grew 12 feet 6 inches last year, and is now covered with roses. DEPRESSION OF THE COAL TRADE.—The best Walls end coals, which under the regulations of the coal trade were supplied at tbirty shillings and sixpence per New castle chaldron of two tons thirteen hundred weight, are now sold at twenty shillings and sixpence. When the coal owners have to freight ships to carry their coals either to London or any of the outports they almost invariably fail in obtaining even the above-named reduced price for this staple commodity of the North. So much for a free trade in coals! A singular robbery of wines has lately been brought to light at Birstall. H. Paget, Esq., left his house at that place to reside at Leicester. lie had then about 150 dozen of wines and liquors in his cellar, which he did not wish to remove, and therefore caused the door of the cellar to be built up with double bricks. Sending over a few days ago, it was discovered that nearly all had been stolen, the door being built up with bricks as before. The loss will amount to £250; but no trace of the perpetrators has yet been found. 1 A DESPERATE THIEF —Sergeant Corrrack, of Risca THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. GENERAL MISCELLANY. There were no fewer than 250 steam vessels engaged on the Thames in conveying passengers on Whit Monday. Washington Irving has just completed a " Life of Ma hornet." It is said that 17.000'sacks of sawdust are annually con sumed in London for stuffing dolls alone. There are living in West-sireet, in Bristol. in rotation, has just captured a very notorious and not less violent three persons named Head, Scull, and Brain. hou , ebreaker, from Bristol, named George Glover, alias The pedestrian, George Clarke, has completed his un dertaking of walking 1500 miles in 1000 successive hours, Williams, who had broken into the house of John Da vies, Monythusloyne. The capture was effected in water et Norwich. five feet deep, where the housebreaker knocked down the Last week, Mr. George Gibbs, commoner of Exeter officer two or three times, but at length the latter was College, Oxford, whilst bathing in the Isis, near Utley, enabled to master him, and keep him under the water for got out of his depth, and was drowned. a few minutes, sufficiently long to weaken him till assist- No fewer than fifteen pickpockets were apprehended at ance arrived.—Hereford Journal. Chester races. Their names have been forwarded to the On Tuesday, a trial at the Middlesex sessions was London police. stopped by a juryman, who informed the magistrates that A THOROUGH FREE-TRADER.—A tradesman in Exe- a person was improperly acting as a juror, and had ans ter, says the Western Times, had a child christened on wered to the name of another man. On investigation, Saturday in the name of " Arthur Cobden Peel —." this turned out to be correct. and a man named Smith was The present composing-room of an Elgin newspaper- taken into custody, and remanded until the magistrates office was the bedroom of Prince Charles, in passing could decide upon the punishment inflicted. His ma-ter, thr o ugh Elgin, in 174 G. 111 r. George Davis, who had directed him to attend the . .. —. - .. • - Mr. James Miliner, lately an innkeeper of Stourport, court in his stead, and personate him on the jury, was has been committed to take his trial for having absconded also summoned, and fined £lO. after he had been declared a bankrupt. The grand challenge cup, value 100 guineas, of the On Thursday week, a sturgeon, seven feet in length, Royal Thames Yacht Club, was won on Friday by the was caught in the Thames. The Lord Mayor purchased yacht Secret, the property of J. W. Smith, Eq., beating it for £5, and afterwards sent it as a present to the (I,teen. , The beaten yachts were only respectively six AN AGED 11 EN.—Mr. William Smith, farmer, Wood plumpton, has a hen eighteen years of age, with twenty- five others or seven minutes behind the victor. The start took place at twelve o'clock, off the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, to below Gravesend and back. The cup, which was first sailed for in 1810, has every year been won by a different yacht, and remains the property of the club until some fortunate boat obtains the prize in two consecutive years. three ducklings following her. A carri:r's waggon wag observed in Stamford, the other day, with a load consisting of gunpowder, oil of vitriol, and Lucifer matchei! The Leeds Times says that the'Rev. G. G. Beadon, rector of Axbridge, has refused to read the thanksgiving BIRMINGHAM A GREAT CENTRAL NI ILITARY DEPOT has been stated in Birmingham this week, in quarters likely to be well-informed, that Government intend to erect the military station there into a grand central depUt, and to remove to it the greater part of the troops now stationed at Veedon. The central position of Birming ham, communicating as it now does by railway with all the princip .1 ports. in England, has, it is thought, sug gested the propriety and ad, antage of making it the seat of a central depot, inasmuch as, at a moment's notice, troops might thence be despatched. and landed in a few hours in any part of Scotland, England. or Ireland. THE HYDROPATHIC SYSTEM.—On Friday, an inquest was held in Eastcheap, London, on the body of Mr. Richard Dresser, at No. 9, in the same street. The greatest interest was manifested on the occasion, because it had been generally reported that the deceased had died owing to improper treatment received at a hydropathic establishment. A paper was read, describing the cause of Mr. Dresser's death. The surgeon who had at tended Mr. Dresser, prior to his admittance as a cold water patient. deposed that he thought there had been congestion of the lungs when the wet cloths were applied, and tithe water were cold it would generally produce heat. In these ca , es there should be the application of hot flan nels and stimulants, so as to restore circulation. The in quest was adjourned. THE POTATO CROP.—The saason being now suffici ently far advanced to enable farmers to judge of the state of the potato crop, we have been enabled to obtain such information as goes to show that, although in some cis tricts a partial failure has taken place, the general aspect of the plant is of a promising character. In Warwick shire, where the disease was severely felt last year, there have been no blanks worth notice. In Derbyshire, there are no complaints, and in the potato districts of York shire, on which the London market chiefly depen d s fo r a supply of the esculent, the crop neve r wore a mere healthy appearance. From the accounts in the Scotch papers, it would seem that no trace of the disease has ma nifested itself, although it was feared that the seed was in some cases tolerably damaged. and put into the ground without much hope that it would spring freely.—Marning Chronicle. for our recent victories in India The Rev. David Lewis, Fellow of Jesus College, Ox ford, has conformed to Romanism. He was for some years curate to Dlr. Newman. Some serious disturbances took place last week en the Leeds and Thirsk railway amongst the workmen, and one man was killed in a fight, and his body found on a heap of stones. Another of the sections of the floating break-water has broken from its moorings at Brighton, and came ashore opposite Hove. Only one section—the middle one—now remains. FATAL. COACT] ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday as one of the Not i > coaches was passing the Sbakspere at Ardwick, a gentleman was jolted off the coach, and killed on the spot. Mr. J. Milner, a stock-broker, of Atkin's-road, Clap barn-park, lost his life, a few days ago, from burns on the head and face, occasioned by the reprehensible practice of reading in bed. Four steamers attached to the experimental equadron, the Cyclops, Retribution, Terrible, and Devastati(li, have been compelled by the severity of the weather in the channel to put into Plymouth for repairs. It has been found necessary to fix a notice on the doors of the parish church of Halifax, requesting that men would keep off their hats whilst within the walls of the church. TOE STI IKE OF THE MASONS.—The money which has been loolkhly and wickedly wasted, in this ill-advised struggle,t would have provided the means of education for thousands of their children.—The Builder. PINE APPI ES.—By advices from the Bahamas, it ap pears that, frcm the d►yness of the season, the crop of this delicious fruit for the present year is very early and most luxuriant, and nearly 10,000 are announced by the Tweed steamer, which is now due at Southampton. AWFULLY SUDDEN DEATH.—At the Marley Tunnel, South Devon, a few days ago, two " navvies" resolved to decide a quarrel by a stand-up fight. They were stripped and ready for the coinbat, when one of them fell down dead before a blow was struck. THE ASH AND THE OAE.-A correspondent who last gear anticipated a wet summer because the usual prognos ticator of such a season had appeared in the ash opening its leaf before the oak, expresses confidence in the preva lence of dry weather generally throughout the present summer, because he has this year (as on many similar oc casions) observed the oak to he considerably in advance of the ash. Last week an apprentice to Mr. Warner, ironmonger, of Thaxted, near Chelmsford, attempted to assassinate his master by firing at him, but the barrel of the gun burst, and the assassin's hand was so dreadfully shattered that two of his fingers had to be taken off. The appren tice had been discharged by his master, who declined to give him a good character. The youth has been remanded by the magistrates. A NOVEL TEAar.—A plan is in practice at Bampton, of drilling turnips between peas, the rows of peas having been planted rather wider than usual : we hear the plan is likely to become a general one, but a difficulty is expe rienced in using a horse with the drill on account of da maging the peas. This difficulty has been surmounted by our neighbour, Mr. Plummer ; he attaches two dogs to the drill' who have quite strength enough to perform the duty required, and do not damage the peas. This method is seen to work well and not to injure the dogs, as the draught of the drill is a very light one. Loss OF THREE CHILDREN.—On Wednesday, three young children belonging to a coal beaver, named White house, were amusing on the bank of a large sewer at Pim lico, by catching corks that came from a brewery close by, when they all fell in ; a poor little boy, only eight years of age, immediately jumped into the water, being about two feet deep, and succeeded in bringing one on shore, but not before life was extinct in the pour little sufferer; another of the sufferers was taken out in an exhausted state, and taken to the hospital, but with no hopes of recovery (since de,id). The body of the other has not yet been found. REMARKABLE CURE.—A rich farmer, labouring under hypochondriasis, was persuaded by his friends that he was bewitched. He accordingly consulted a physician, and gravely informed him that he bad seven devils in his body. " Only seven ?" " No, sir, only seven." The physician, perceiving the mental condition of his patient, promise& to cure him in seven days, and drive out a devil every morning for 20 francs a-piece. The farmer consented, and received a powerful shock from an electric apparatus. " There's one gone," exclaimed the physician. The next day the same plan was adopted, and so continued until the seven days were elapsed, when the bewitched patient declared himself cured, and willingly paid the fee, which was immediately bestowed in charity.—Globe. MESSRS. SIMMONDS AND WARD'S COLONIAL, Fo- REIGN, AND GENERAL MERCANTILE AGENCY, 6, BA RGE-YA RD, BUCKLERSDURY, LONDON.—Tne enter. prising and liberal arrangements of Messrs. Simmonds and Ward, for facilitating the course of foreign and colo nial mercantile and other information, and aiding in the transaction of business itself, are a feature of the present age. We recommend those interested in our colonies, or in foreign commerce, to inspect the circular of this firm. In the advertising and newspaper department especially, it is complete ; and parties emigrating, or desirous of having their business, or other views, advanced on their arrival in this country from foreign ports, will do well to avail themselves of the extensive experience which Messrs. Simmonds and Ward possess in all such matters. Their reading-room and library in Bucklersbury will be found a most useful resort for parties interested in our foreign or colonial trade. MAN KILLED nr YORK.—On Tuesday last, at the Guildhall, York, Alexander Swann was charged with having caused the death of Joseph Shepherd, a tailor, from Marston. Mr. Chalk stated that a number of per-. sons were dancing at the " Gate " beer-house, Middle' Water Lane on the previous night, between ten and ele ven o'clock, and among the rest was a female named Ann Barnard. She was without her shoes, when Shepherd got hold of one of them, and, whether in jest or otherwise, struck the female on the shoulder. She sat down by the side of the prisoner and related to him what had pawed, and he said he would give Shepherd it, or something to that effect. A few minutes afterwards he got up, and, as he (Mr. Chalk) understood, struck the deceased once on the side and once on the temple. and after that blow Shep herd never breathed again. He had informed the Coro der of what had taken place, and he now asked that the prisoner might be remanded till the inquiry before the coroner was concluded. The prisoner was remanded ac- cordingly. A royal sturgeon, of the extraordinary length of eighty feet six inches, girth three feet, and weight one hundred and eighty-two pounds, was, caught in the river Wye, near Hereford, last week. A fish of such dimensions was never caught so far up that river before, and a severe struggle took place between the fish and the man who cap tured it, for the victory. After a chase and struggle of half an hour, the man at last inflicted in succession two deep wound, with a pocket knife which be carried with him, but still the creature evinced no disposition to give in. During the struggle which took place in the ford, which was about knee deep, sometimes the man was up permost and sometimes the fish. The biped and inve terate foe, however, though no little astonished, inserted his hand into one of the gashes towards the tail, from which the crimson tide lowed copiously, and was at last enabled to land his prize, which did not finally give up the ghost for some hours after. SINGULAR DISCOVERY.—On removing the old oak stalls from the chancel of St. Mary's church, Notting ham, preparatory to the repairing of the roof, a sculptured tablet of marble was discovered, buried with its face downward, which probably has been lying there since the period of the Reformation. It is a spirited and well executed beta relief, consisting of eight figures, which re present the Pope seated on a canopied and elevated throne, inaugurating a bishop—probably the bishop of the diocese. Besides the Pope are two cardinals wearing their hats. The bishop is attended by his apparitor, bearing the cro zier, and three other attendant figures complete the group. The tablet is about two feet in height and one in width, and has been curiously painted and illuminated, the traces of which are still visible. The top part of the marble was unfortunately broken by the workmen, before they discovered what it was ; but the principal portion remains, and with the fragments (which have since been recovered) are now in the possession of the vicar. Several pieces of copper and silver coin were likewise discovered in the same part of the chancel, which are chiefly Hanse-town tokens, or were probably used for Peter's-pence.—Notts Guardian. SUICIDE AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.—The town of Newnham was thrown into much consternation on Wed nesday afternoon last, by a shocking and most unaccount able act of violence, which has resulted in the self-in flicted death of Mr. William Knowles, and in a very se rious injury to Mrs. Morse, the wife of Mr. Morse, post master of the above town. It appears that Mr. Knowles entered the shop of Mr. Morse, armed with a wooden mallet and a razor, and was accosted by Mrs. Morse, wbo offered him her hand to shake in a friendly manner, but instead of receiving it, he lifted the mallet and struck her a violent blow on the centre of the forehead, and she fell senseless on the floor. Knowles then opened the razor, and appeared to hesitate for a second or two, until some one ran into the shop to see what was the matter, when he drew the razor across his own throat and fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Both the parties were as soon as pos sible conveyed to bed, and medical assistance obtained. but Knowles died on Thursday. Mrs. Morse is lying in a dangerous state, but hopes are entertained of her reco very. The deceased was about 30 years of age, was a Se" spectable shopkeeper, and is supposed to have been i s ' bouring under temporary derangement.—Hereford Jou r " nal. s Ibra- ARRIVAL OF IBRAHIM PACHA.—His highness him Pacha has arrived in England. The French steamer enjoy a sieBla rhe party the Gomer reached Spitbead half-past six on Frid a y morning, and his highness landed in Portsmout h Dock yard at a quarter before nine. On his royal highness'tsuar rival he was presented by the macor wi th . a congra la tory address. The party took coffee at eleven, and after principal per sons—viz., Ibrahim Pacha , Soliman Dacha, Gener a l Ibra him Bey Side M. Oarabet Effendi, fir s t secretary ; Cap d tain M tistapha Effendi, A. D. C., C o l one l Bonfort, and Joubret, interpreter, with a nu merous t ra i n o f domes spm(t'kyiwnghoni l o a s n t de o d f consistedthemreti , , re fdth t e o following domes tics. The whole party that landed from the Gooier were dressed in Egyptian costume ; the two Paellas in dark blue Turkish vests, with diamond and silver decoration s on the breast, red Turkish caps with blue tassels; th e others were clothed in ligi t blue dresses, with plain de corations of silver, slippers, and white linen trousers. 0 ; 1 soon as they took up their quarters, a t th e G eorg e How': sentinels were placed before the door. High.street sca' crowded with all the fashion of the town and ne i g hbour' hood, and every person was gratified for two hours, ti le s two Pashas being seated at the centre hay window of the hotel, with the sashes thrown up, quietly smoking. Ibra him Pacha is a noble, sedate, but severe looking mast a long and bushy white beard and moustache. S O B limas Pacha is also a noble looking man ; the latter ', believe is of French extraction, and was, in 1815, aide .n s, camp to Marshal Ney. Whsn that General was execut s e e u r he went into the service of Mehemet Ali, and has since been the principal director of the discipline one ganisation of the Viceroy's troops. sSD ,THE SCREW PROPELLER AND TH E PADDLE.W.. .i , 00 STEAMERS.—The reports from th e exper i men t a l squat' s ' 0 . which have appeared, allude so f requen tly an d i n such ,7 6 .0 equivocal terms to the superio r ity o f th e R a ttler scl to ship over all the other steamers which were a ttacbe' a s. the squadron, that we think it right to call particule r ot t a r tentioti to the important results developed by her Pess ad combination of the steamer and sailing vessel. It 1 , are witted that the Rattler's powers under canvass 81 0 9" s o nearly, if not quite. equal to the fastest sailing ship Tor squadron—a qualification most essential to a inans ° oo der steamer ; but notwithstanding the many trials made se s till steam by the Rattler with other vessels, opinions r e r ate entertained that the screw will not produce so h igh on eeS• of speed as the paddle-wheel under similar circuri s . bo rne This may or may not be the case, but it should b e d has in mind that the Uattler is of 888 tons burdenr, y sr esorS , only 200-horse power, a fair comparison cannot, tS t ' i ` on af itlx be made in this respect by nutting her in compet t as s the such ships as the Retribution, Terrible, Gladiator' se of 0° rest of the steam squadron. Surely, then, in a Of the much importance to the strength and efficiencste mos t British navy, it behoves the Admiralty to adoPS the active measures with the view to determine thr te tr ial t 9 question, by ordering an immediate and "mP e'el of Mr be made between the Rattler and a paddle yes.' wa gs. poi P ans own class. It has been suggested that the w ine being on the point of joining the squadron of this this le e ; presents an excellent opportunity for effecting the Rattler sirable object, as that vessel corresponds with the T r ial s , as nearly as possible in model, power, and tonneo_sissbeis unde r of speed should be made between the tw on 7 s , 0 .'!„ steam alone in every possible position, e . . n tS: c ` onn ecn steam, under sail only, towing ships of the 1, 1 0 r oe e rett_u; and disconnecting machinery, &c.; e i d b y the scf::,A even a slightly interior speed being obtann e _ ss , ua linn_sz vessel, the advantages of remaining an . iwni sa sbron s hevi" period at sea without consuming fuel, side for guns, and the steam machinesy now line, are too obvious to require c,oraro.,ent‘ June 9, 1846.