The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-09-22 00:00:00

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL, Don Carlos has made his escape from Paris. The Earl of Elgin has been gazetted as Governor of Canada. Galianani says that a nephew of Abd-el-Kader, now at school at Pas,y, in the course of an examination, distin guished himself in the history of France.—His uncle has done the same. Luther's original letter to the Archbishop of Magde burgh, protesting against the sale of indulgences, has been discovered at Stockholm; it bears the date of October 31, 1517. The gamekeepers and noblemen of Germany have the right of firing at poachers, if the latter do not throw down their guns on tl - e first summons ; and two men have just been shot at Luneburg, in Hanover, under these circum stances. Dreadful havoc has been committed among the sheep flocks of Van Dieman's Land, by numbers of wild and ferocious dogs, which rush upon the animals like wolves, and immediately destroy them. One farmer has lost 1,000 sheep, and anbther 700. Toe principal streets and shops in Turin are now lighted at night by gas made from Newcastle coal, which is shipped to Genoa, and costs, including carriage to Turin, about three guineas a ton. At the beginning of October flex', the whole city will be illuminated by gas. THE EXPENSE TO THE FRENCH OF ALGERIA.—The sacr.fice of men is proved by some very correct statistical accounts which have been kindly communicated to me. I find that the average mortality during fifteen years is 100 men per day, in consequence of sickness or the fire of the enemy ; making an annual loss of 36,500 indivi duals ; consequently, during these fifteen years since the occupation, France must have lost 547,500 men.—Count St. Marie. The laws of intoxication are enforced with great rigour in Sweden. Whoever is seen drunk is fined, for the first offence three dollars; for the second, six; for the third and fourth, a still larger sum ; and is also deprived of the right of elections, and of being appointed a representa tive. He is, besides, publicly exposed in the parish church on the following Sunday. For repetitions of the same offence, the punishment is imprisonment with hard labour. A company has just been formed for the navigation of the Volga by steam. A Dutch engineer, named Rontgen, constructed an iron steamer, of 250-horse power, only drawing two feet and a half of water, and had it conveyed in pieces to Rybinsk, where it was joined together and launched. It has been called the Volga, and is employed in towing vessels of a peculiar construction to suit the The dis'ance. from Rybinsk to Samora was done in the first trip in te❑ days and a half, which formerly took between three and four months. Cape of Good Hope papers to the 24th of June inclusive have just arrived, which put us in possession of four days' later news from the scene of war. The information con veyed is brief, but important, as it shows that no more fighting had taken place at Fort Peddie or its neighbour hood. nor, indeed, was any serious engagement expected. Reinforcements were arriving, and the Governor-General was only waiting the concentration of all the Burgher forces, when he intended promptly to act on the offensive, the result of which, we trust, will be the complete sub jug4tion of the Kaffir tribe. The New York correspondent of the Morning Chronicle states that a very novel use of the magnetic telegraph has lately been made—no less than ,a marriage with the bride and bridegroom two hundred miles apart during the cere mony. A young gentleman is now i❑ England, on bui ness for one of the wealthiest merchants of Boston, who became the son-in-law of his employer the day before he sailed from New York under the following circumstances : —The business trip to England was contrived by the fa ther to separate the lovers, while a marriage with another gentleman should be forced upon the lady. The clerk who had won her heart chanced to be in New York on a temporary errand, when the orders were sent to him to embark for England without returning to Boston. The lady entered immediately into conversation with him by telegraph, and it was finally suggested and arranged that he should take his stand with a magistrate in the telegraph office at New York, and she with her confidential friend at the other end of the wire in Boston. This was done, and the marriage ceremony was duly performed by light ning. The bridegroom sailed, (a little over a month ago,) and the secret was kept until last week, when some fresh crowding of the rival lover on the lady's attention pro duced a disclosure. Measures are being taken to test the validity of the marriage. IRELAND. A deputation left Cork on Tuesday, for London, to solicit from the Treasury a loan of £50,000 for the Cork and 13,ndon Railway Company, who have 800 men em ployed on the line. - ASSEMBLING OF PARLIAMENT.—The Cork Reporter says that an announcement was made to the Mallow and Donneraile deputation, by the private secretary of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, that parliament was to be assembled in November, in order to remedy the defects in the Labour Rate Bill, and to provide other effectual measures for the relief of distress in Ireland. The Hey. Dr. Cooke, of Belfast, his lady and two daughters had a narrow escape of their lives last week near Whitehaven. They were travelling in a one horse phaeton when the horse ran away. The Doctor leaped out and escaped unhurt, and the infuriated animal could not be stopped until he art ived at a gate which was for tunately closed. and into which the shafts of the carriage entered and were so fastened that the animal could not move. The officials at the Dublin Castle, says the corre spondent of the Times, are literally borne down by the weight of business, occasioned by the vast number of communications pouring in from all parts of the kingdom relative to the growing pressure of distress, and soliciting government aid and advice. The Lord-Lieutenant has ap pointed two days in each week for coming into town, for the purpose of examining into the correspondence, and directing such necessary measures of relief as may seem suitable to meet each emergency. REPEAL ASSOCIATION.—The attendance at the meeting on Monday is described as " miserable." The chair was occupied by Mr. Edward Clements, barrister-at-law. Letters were read from several individuals, desiring their names to be struck off the roll of repealers. Amongst them was one from Mr. James Haughton, who considered the conduct of the committee of management, with refer ence to the Young Ireland party, as unjust and in opposition to the principle of the association. The speakers were Mr. John O'Connell,Mr. J. M. M'Donnell, and Capt. Broderick. The proceedings were very unin teresting. The rent of the week was announced to be £lO2 2s. Id. THE YOUNG IRELAND SCHISM.—The moral force repeaters of Belfast met on Monday night for the pur pose of passing a vote of unlimited confidence in Mr. Daniel O'Connell ; but the admirers of Mr. Smith O'Brien having mustered in considerable numbers, the place of mf eting was soon turned into a regular bear garden ; and recrimination, retort, and several set rows gave a pleasing variety to the evening's performances. The proceedings terminated in a bottle of smoke, the chairman having left the room in the possession of the physical force men, and without venturing to put the ori ginal resolution. Although a drawn battle, it must be confessed that Old Ireland came off second best. MOST SINGULAR CASE OF LONG LIFE IN A FATHER AND SON.—Mr. James Taggart, farmer, of Baronscourt, has now arrived at the wonderful age of one hundred and twenty-one, which, according to Keating's History of Ireland, is within one year of the age of St. Patrick when he died. More extraordinary still, in the month of August last he built his own turf•stack ; and on the 10th instant his eldest son, Mr. Michael Taggart, who resides at Omagh, was in this town as a commercial traveller, in which capacity he has acted for seventy years, and is now in the 99th year of his age. He has a beautiful head of hair, and not a white one appearing, and his sight is so strong that he can read the smallest print with as much ease as when he was twenty-five.—Fermanagh Reporter. Mae. 0 4 CONNELL.—In - his progress to lserryirane, the Liberator has been everywhere received with demonstra tion of popular enthusiasm. On his arrival at Nenagh, on. Thursday, he was met some distance from the town by a numerous and respectable procession, headed by the Town Commissioners in a carriage and four horses, and a large body of the Romish clergy. His entry into the town is described as a perfect triumph. He arrived at Limerick on Thursday evening, and on the following morning an address, previously agreed upon at a public meet ng of the inhabitants, was presented to him. In his reply to the address he said,—" My time here is short —my accounting day cannot be far distant, but the inter val between the present period and that shall be employed by my utmost endeavour to restore freedom and liberty to my native land (cheers) and to obtain that restoration by peaceable and moral means only, for by these alone can freedom be obtained and rendered secure." Mr. O'Con nell arrived at Darrynane Abbey on Saturday week, ac companied by several members of his family. THE COURT 4 FASHIONABLE WORLD. Her Majesty and the Prince Consort, attended by the royal suite, will arrive at Windsor Castle to-day about noon. It is not expected that the court will remain at the castle beyond the 30th instant. _ _ Lord Stanley has joined Lady Stanley and family at Knowsley Park, the Earl of Derby's seat in Lancashire, from Drummond Castle, Pethshire. The noble lord is to preside at the annual dinner of the Liverpool Agricultural Society on Thursday next. The Princess of Prussia honored Lloyd's with a visit on Friday. LAW INTELLIGENCE. In the City of London Registration Court, last week, an objection not having been substantiated, twenty shil lings costs were imposed. The barrister said it was the duty of the objecter to satisfy himself whether a voter lived within seven miles, and not to object at random, because the party was wrongly described, on the chance of his having gone beyond the PAWNBROKERS' SHOPS.—A new act for regulating pawnbrokers' shops directs that after the 29th of this month no pawnbroker shall take any pledge before eight o'clock in the morning, or after seven in :the evening, 'en September 29th and March 25th ; or before seven ,n the morning, or after eight in the evening, for the re mainder of the year. The former exceptions for Saturday nights and the eves of festivals are continued. CRIMINAL PCNISIINIENT FOR DEBT.—A Cab-driver. amed Rice" Homer, lately died in the House of Cor ,ath-fields, he having been sentenced to imprisonment there for 15 days, not having the means of peying 14s. due for one day's hire of a cab and h orses. The Jury, in their verdict, " Died of Suffocation," made some severe observations on Mr. Combe, the committing magistrate, and a strong opinion was expressed of the illegality of the commitment. rection, at t.o►c RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE. On the Glasgow and Greenock Railway, third class passengers pay only a farthing a mile. The Lancaster and Carlisle railway will be opened to day, as far as Kendal from Lancaster. A correspondent of the Times affirms that in Great Britain we are paying three times as high a railway fare as those of other countries. By the breaking of a crime at the Oxford Railway sta tion, on Saturday week, one man had his head completely smashed, and another had his neck and arm broken. An estimate has been made that for some years to come 200,000 labourers (navies) may find employment on railways. _ _ By the falling, on Saturday, of about fifty yards of the Mary tunnel, now in the course of construction near Ashburton, for the South Devon Railway, f, ur men lost their lives, and others were seriously injured. A van load of goods, worth £2OO, was destroyed by fire on the Great Western Railway on Wednesday. The van ignited by some live coals flying from the furnace of the engine There never was a season, we believe, in which the principal watering places in all parts of the icingdom were so full of company as at present, and this is chiefly accounted for by the cheapness of travelling and the other facilities that are given to visitors by railways. Stock to the amount of £18,095, was sold in the Bolton and Bury line. by auction, at the Clarendon-rooms, on Wednesday, Mr. Winstanley officiating. The company was not very lively, and the prices realized were all below those quoted in the lists of the day. The London and North Western Railway Company have, during the last three months, been testing a newly invented electric telegraph, at the London end of their line, and the experiments having proved satisfactory, they are making arrangement to lay it down along the whole of their line, from the metropolis to Lancashire. FACILITIES FOR THE PRESS.—A GOOD EXAMPLE. — At the meeting of the Maryport and Carlisle Railway Company on Wednesday week, "it was resolved that previous to every general meeting of the Company, the Secretary should forward to the repot ters to each of the Cumberland newspapers free tickets to pass along the line." JUVENILE RAILWAY EXCURSIONS.—On Monday week much interest was excited in Gloucester by the arrival of two monster trains, bringing no less than 4,000 Sun day-school children and 500 teachers and friends from Bristol. About half-past six o'clock they started for Bristol in one enormous train, consisting of fifty-eight carriages, drawn and propelled by seven engines. BIRKENHEAD AND MANCHESTER RAILWA Runcorn, men are now busily engaged in boring and c cavating for this line, and although many hundred men are at work, still there is a great demand for labourers, and large wages are offered, which has the effect of making men dissatisfied with the amount of wages they have been in the habit of receiving in and around the neighbour hood The " war" between allottees and provisional commit tee-men appears to be not yet completely concluded. The most " agreeable" mode of suing applicants for their proportion of expenses has been illustrated in a recent case. The old plan of threatening legal proceedings, with all consequent terrors, has been abandoned for the mild and persuasive call of a gentleman ` 4 connected with the profession," who, according to the history furnished by a correspondent, "beards the allottee at his very door," and after handing in a lithographed letter, asks, " when" he shall call again for the required amount. We had really hoped that, after the many flagrant exposures which have taken place, an end would have been put to this kind of proceeding. ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN THE LONDON AND YORK, THE SOUTH YORKSHIRE, AND THE MANCHESTER MIDLAND AND GREAT GRIMSBY RAILWAYS.—We are informed that the committee of management of the London and York and South Yorkshire Railways, met a commit tee of the Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Wakefield, and Goole, at Rotherham, on Monday last, and confirmed the contract entered into for the south end of the railway from Barnsley to Sheffield, by payment of the amount agreed upon ; and terms of arrangement were also pro posed for joining the line of the Manchester, Midland, and Great Grimsby, with the South Yorkshire. A direct communication by railway, from Sheffield and Rother ham to Doncaster, bas been long required, and these United Companies, we doubt not, will be enabled to ob tain in the next Session of Parliament, such lines as will serve the wants of this extensive and productive district. A. TRILATERAL RAlL.—Since the first introduction of wrought-iron rails for railways, by Birkenshaw, much ingenuity has been exerted to discover a form which, with a minimum of metal, should give a maximum of stability and strength. Cosiderable difference of opinion exists as to the best form of rail in use at the present day, each particular rail having its advocate. A rail has been patented by Mr. Wheeler, which bids fair to dispose of this question, its advantages being of so positive a charac ter as to establish its superiority in all those points so essential to the perfection of railways. The following substantial advantages are claimed for this form of rail over those heretofore employed. Great strength, and impossibility of the rail springing or curling at the end. Greater steadiness, from the character and position of its bearing upon the continuant sleeper, Increased safety, inasmuch as wheels with deeper flanges can advantageously be used on this rail. Greater durability, arising, firstly, from the form of the rail itself; secondly, from its having three bearing surfaces available in succession. While the alarmists are so loudly ipredicting a probable deficiency and greatly enhanced cost of iron, it is of no small import ance to manipulate that material into the most advan tageous form. Railway companies are also well aware that everything tending to Increase durability of their permanent way is of the utmost importance to their interests, and may, in the long run, prove a remedy for the depreciative consequences of rivalry and competition. —Mechanics' Magazine. ACCELERATION OF THE MAIL TO LIVERPOOL.—A de sire having been expressed that the mail-train between London and Liverpool (210 miles) should run in five hours, the London and Birmingham directors, on Friday afternoon, tested the capacity of the ordinary passenger engines for such a rapid journey. The train (a special one) consisted of six first-class carriages, left Euston Square at five minutes before five o'clock in the afternoon, and reached Birmingham at thirty-three minutes past seven o'clock, having been detained at Wolverton fourteen mi nutes. At Birmingham, an excess of stoppage amounting to nearly twelve minutes took place, and at Crewe, a si milar stoppage of five minutes occurred, notwithstanding which the train ran the 197 miles, from station to station, one minute within five hours. Deducting the excess of time occupied at Wolverton, Birmingham, and Crewe — viz., twenty-nine minutes, it will be seen that the 197 miles, inclusive of the time that would be lost if the train were running daily, were accomplished in four hours and a half, or at an average speed of nearly forty-four miles per hour. Liverpool is, however, thirteen miles further than Manchester, but at the average rate at which the trip of Friday was made, the twenty-nine minutes excess of stoppage would be equal to twenty-three miles, so that it appears the journey from London to Liverpool can, with six carriages, be made in something like ten or twelve mi nutes within the five hours. SPORTING IN TEL LI GENCB SIR TATTON SYKES THE WINNER OF THE FASTEST LEGER UPON RECORD.—The Doncaster St. Leger '46, is lost and won, The best horse in the race has fairly earned his laurels, and Sir Tatton Sykes has won the fastest Leger upon record. Twelve started. Tom Tulloch making play for his stable, went off with the lead as fast as his most questionable legs would carry him, Sir Tatton lying second, well up with him, and the others in a cluster close behind. Before they had gone half a mile Poynton was beaten, and wasvirtually—almost literally— dropped. The others went on in the same positions to the T.Y.C. post, where Sir Tatton, finding Tulloch's wind begin to fail, pushed the pace a bit, and at the Red House came up with, and passed him. From this point all the race was over. Sir Tatton kept his lead, defeating each horse that challenged him—first Fancy Boy, then Traverser, thirdly Brocardo, and lastly lago, who strug gled on as game as heart of horse could struggle, but never reached Sir Tatton, who went in a clever winner by a good half length. On Thursday the GREAT YORKSHIRE HANDICAP, of 25 sm. each, were won by Cranebrook, beating Mor peth, fby Elis, out of Morella, and eleven others. Won by a neck. Hemp jumped off with a lead, and was never approached until near the Red House. The running was then taken up by Ennui, followed by the Morella filly and Canebrook, and this trio held the leading places to the distance, where Cauebrook took a slight lead of the Morella filly, and they raced together to the stand. Morpeth then came up, and the three made a glorious finish, Morpeth in the last two strides beating the filly by a head, but never quite reaching Canebrook, who was landed the winner by a neck. Ennui was a bad fourth, Morocco lost start, and never caught his horses. Run in three minutes eighteen secs. In reply to the acceptance by the London watermen of the challenge to row for £3OO, Henry Clasper says, that the present state of his health will not permit him to un dertake the task for the present. A match, in which Mr. Giddins undertook to drive his pony (under twelve bands high) eighty miles, in harness, within ten hours, has been decided, at Sunbury Common, and the distance performed in nine hours and forty minutes trotting, winning the match easy. The following sale of blood stock took place on Tues day, at Doncaster, by Messrs. Tattersall :—A two-year old colt, by Sheet Anchor, out of Speedwell, 50 gs. ; Wynyard, 4 yrs, 95 gs. ; a grey mare, by young Phan tom, dam by Sorceror, 20 gs., her foal by The Provost, 30 gs. • Romaika, by Rowton, 130 gs. ; and bay colt by Jereed, out of Charlotte West, 130 gs. STEEPLE CHASE MATCH FOR ONE THOUSAND GUINEAS ASIDE.—A match exciting much interest in the sporting circles, and 'upon which heavy bets are pending, has lately been made between Captain William Peel and Mr. Hope Johnstone, for 1,000 guineas a side, 12 stone each, three miles, over a sporting country to be selected by Lord Maidstone. Worcester has been fixed on, and the event will come off there on the 4th of November. Captain Peel will ride Mr. Onsley Higgin's Pioneer, and Mr. Hope Johnstone will be mounted on one of Lord Waterford's celebrated steeple-chase horses. THE HARDEST HIT ON RECORD.—Our readers may have noticed a paragraph in which it was stated that Mr. S. Burgess, a well-known cricketer in Bedfordshire, in a match on Dunstable-downs, from one bit made fifteen runs, the ball requiring six men to throw it in. Some doubted the possibility of such a hit. Bentley, however, said it was nothing to a hit lie was once fortunate enough to see. To wit ; lie says he saw a ball " sent" four mires by a cricketer named Turner, in a match played on Ripley green, Surrey. " Use prix excessif I it was remarked. The fact was—just at the time Turner struck the ball the Portsmouth coach was passing, and it dropped among the luggage. The coachman, doubtless with the intention of giving Turner " a good run," did not stop the ball till it arrived at Cobham. THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD UNIVERSITY .5- CLERICAL NEWS. The expenses of the Rev. Mr. Shore in resisting the proceedings of the Bishop of Exeter in the Arches Court and Queen's Bench amount to £4OO. A subscription, which already amounts to £2OO, has been entered into for him. On the Bth instant, Sir John Gladstone laid the first stone of Trinity College, Glenalmond, Perthshire, in the presence of the Bishops of Aberdeen, Moray, Glasgow, and Brechin, the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, and a large number of gentlemen and ladies. The Rev. Charles Wordsworth is warden of the College, and he and the honourable baronet have been the greatest benefactors to the college. CHURCH EDUCATION SOCIETY FOR IRELAND.—Ser rnons in support of the above society were preached by the Right Rev. Robert Daly, Lord Bishop of Cashel, in Christ Church, Salford, on Wednesday evening, and on Sunday morning at St. Paul's. A sermon for the same object was also preached on Sunday morning by the Rev. H. Verschoyle, M.A., of Dublin, in the new church at Platt. A meeting of the friends of the above object was held in the Corn Exchange, Hanging-ditch, on Thursday evening. The meeting was numerously attended, and on the platform were, the Bishop of Cashel, the Rev. H. Verschoyle, the Rev. H. Stowell, &c. CHURCH PATRONAGE.—The Examiner publishes the case of the parish of Austrey, the history of which gives one an idea of the way in which Church patronage is made use of. It appears that the chaplain of the workhouse had applied to Sir R. Peel for the living, having officiated at Drayton, and knowing something of the ex-premier. The answer was to the effect that Sir R. Peel never inter fered with the patronage of Austrey, and to refer the applicant to the Lord Chancellor. Mr. did apply to the Lord Chancellor, and was informed that his lordship had already appointed a Mr. Dyott, on the nomination of Sir R. Peel. On seeking an explanation from the right hon. baronet, the latter defended his consistency by saying that at the time he wrote he never had interfered ! THE BISHOPS AND SPIRITUAL DESTITUTION.—We are cast upon the energies of individual churchmen, or must trust to the wisdom of the Episcopal bench to pro pound some general measures, and devise some new ex pedient for the expansion of our ecclesiastical system. From the latter quarter, since your Grace's views have been known, even sanguine men are ceasing to hope for much. Consultations at Lambeth, we fear, do not em brace questions on which I am touching. No rumour reaches our ears of anything intended, or even canvassed, beyond the favourite expedient of late years, begging hard in all possible quartersjfor sufficient funds to build churches, with a given proportion of free sittings, which the bulk of the neglected population in our large towns never occupy. We would not have one church less—we should like to hava a thousand more. But with reference to the men for whom I plead, those to whom Christianity has be come a strange thing, such an addition, as things are, would be just as worthless as schools of philoaophy to the grossest and most ignorant boor. The experiment has been tried, and the failure is complete. Not one work ing man in ten, anywhere, speaking of our large towns, and in many districts, not one in fifty, goes near a church once in the month. This is the fact which your lordship and the heads of the Church have to deal with. May r l ask, what are your remedies ? Have you any in hand ? Are you satisfied to let ten more years pass, or another generation go to their graves, without some manly, qaergetic effort to arrest the spreading evil? If they, who Mould be leaders, will not take their right ful place—if men, whom God has called to be rulers in the Church, produce nothing before the country from which it can be inferred that their eyes are open to see what thoughtful, earnest men are deploring as a national calamity.—at least, we might expect that they would thankfully accept what is offered them by others,—that the weight of their official character should not, all of it, be thrown into the adverse scale,—that something more might be heard from them, in times like these, than civil acknowledgments of well-intentioned zeal, and damaging censures of every enterprise that has the look of novelty.— Mr. Kingscote's Letter to the Archbishop of Canter- bury. - THE REV. DR. PARKINSON AND THE PRINCIPALSHIP OF ST. BEES.—We noticed a few weeks back, the appoint ment, by the Earl of Lonsdale, of the Rev. Canon Parkin son, B.D. to the office of principal of the College of St. Bees, Cumberland, in which institution he was one of the masters at the time of his election as a canon of Manches ter. Since his appointment, the rev. principal has had the degree of D.D. conferred upon him by the University of Oxford, his alma mater, and where he was H ulsean lec turer for two years. There is a benefice at St. Bees, which is usually conferred on the principal of the college, but his chief emoluments, besides the endowments, arise from a sum of £2O annually, paid in respect of each student. There have been as many as 160 students in the institu tion in some years, and we believe the emoluments vary from £2,000 to £3,000 a year. The institution is one to which the Bishop of Chester has usually recommended candidates for orders, at a later period of life than usual, and especially dissenting ministers, who having changed their religious opinions, seek to obtain holy orders in the established church. In such cases, a prescribed course of reading at St. Bees has been held sufficient, instead of a longer curriculum at Oxford or Cambridge; but clergy men receiving ordination after having studied a certain period at St. Bees, can only enter upon their mini'stry within the province of York. It is extremely probable, that the anticipated erection of the see of Manchester, will con siderably reduce the number of students at St. Bees. That . _ institution will cease to be within the see of Chester, or in that of Manchester, and will become, what it ought to be from geographical position, a portion of the -see of Carlisle,—consequently under other ecclesiastical jut isdic tion,—and it is not improbable that some seminary will be established within the see of Manchester for the objects which have hitherto been attained by the College of St. Bees; which has possessed since its foundation in 1819, by the late Bishop of Chester, a high reputation as a place of clerical education in connection with the Church of England.—Manchester Guardian. THRFREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.—The third report on the public accounts of the Free Church of Scotland is just published. It is impossible to withhold respect from the efforts and sacrifices disclosed in this remarkable do cument. Within the space of three years the inhabitants of the most frugal district of the British empire have volun tarily assessed themselves to the amount of a million ster ling, raised by annualcontributions of upwards of £300,000. They have not contented themselves with subscribing for the spiritual independence of their own burghs, hamlets, and families ; they have not limited their payments to the " sustentation" of ministers of discreet conformity to their wishes. The seceding body assumed at its birth all the functions and responsibilities of a matured establishment, and it is not wanting in some one or two, at least, of the notes of a chui•ch. Six-and-thirty months have sufficed to form a society ; with all the appliances of self-support, instruction, and proselytism. A body whose existence dates no farther back than 1843 pays £72,000 yearly to its appointed ministers, provides for its widows and or phans, expends £9,000 per annum on its home missions, and twice as much in building churches. It has a college with scholarships for poor students, and with professors and tutors receiving salaries amounting to £4,000 a-year. It has its normal and general schools, probationers, cate chists, and travellers. Not only does it walk alone so sturdily, but it extends its arms to others, and pays largely for the denunc . ation of Erastianism to Caffres and Hin doos. It has six missions in India, and six stations in Eastern Europe and Asia Minor for the conversion of the Jews. It has made grants, amounting altogether to nearly £2,000, to the Evangelical Societies of Switzerland and Belgium, the Bible Society of Toulouse, and the Gustavus- Adolphus Society of Germany. It has translated the Assembly's Catechism in the Armenian language, and has despatched a Portuguese catechist from Madeira to Bom bay. It provides a temporary support for Hebrew con verts in Hungary, and for Hindoo converts at Calcutta ; supports missionaries with insured lives in Southern Af rica. and has despatched a philosophical apparatus to the Great Fish River. A number of London thieves are said to have proceeded to Scotland for the purposes of plunder. On Saturday no less than seven well-known English thieves were ap prehended at Glasgow. It is said that the Roman Catholic establishment at Prior Park, Somersetshire, together with the colleges of St. Peter and St. Paul, will be shortly broken up, the man sions and grounds having been sold, and it is added that the colleges will be re-opened in Lancashire. RESPECTABLE FANATICS.—" Land and Hooker, Ken and Andrews, Keble and Pusey—men who, if they had been Catholics, would perhaps have been saints and heroes, could not rise above the level of a respectable fa naticism."—Tablet (Romish paper.) At the sale of Mr. Leonard Matons, of Collingbourne, Wilts, on 'I hursday last, the 10th instant, 1,000 sheep realised £3OOO, some ewes realized 50s. each, and 1,000 ewes and lambs averaged nearly 40s. each ; some rams fetched £2O, others £l5, down to £lO each. A Treasury warrant in Frid tv night's Gazette fixes the postage on letters between the United Kingdom and Den mark at a uniform rate of sixpence; newspapers, sent by packet boat, to be free ; by private ship, one penny. The alteration is to take effect on the Ist of October. IMPORTANT To BAKERS.—It is stated that the Great Western Railway have agreed with the Company formed in London, for providing a 41b. loaf for 4d., to bring that bread into the provincial towns on their line, at one farthing per loaf. THE MlLlTlA.—Nothing further is to be done with the militia till the next meeting of Parliament; vacancies are not to be filled up at present; and everything with regard to this force is to remain open for further consideration by the government. It is calculated that not fewer than forty thousand Irish reapers have entered Scotland rid Ardrossan and the Clyde. Supposing each of these to carry back 30s. of his earnings, a sum of not less than £60,000 will thus flow into the poorer districts of Ireland. On Thursday, the half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of the Rank of England was held. The affairs of the bank were stated to be in a prosperous state, and a dividend of three-and-a-half per cent. upon the half year, without deducting the income tax, was declared. In some parts of the neighbourhood of Whitehaven, where the potato plants had apparently been blighted, dis coloured, and all appearance of vegetation completely destroyed, the plants are beginning to throw out new shoots, and to manifest strong vegetative powers. CHURCH MARRIAGE WITHOUT BANNS.—It may not be generally known that persons may, by giving notice to the superintendent registrar of the district in which they reside, and obtaining a certificate from him, be married at the parish church without the publication of the banns. INCREASE OF SUICIDES.—During the first six months of this year the suicides, according to the return for the western districts of Middlesex, have more than doubled the suicides in those districts during the corresponding period of last year. Some mowers on a farm belonging to the Earl of Lonsdale cut off the head of a partridge while sitting on its nest. The eggs, fifteen in number, were wrapped in flannel and placed near the flue of a boiler, and on the following day thirteen of them produced very fine strong birds. The British Association, on Monday, selected the place of meeting for 1847. Applications were read and sup ported from Oxford, Swansea, Norwich, and Belfast; but ____ the choice ultimately fell to Oxford. The meeting was fixed for the month of June, and the president elect is Sir Inglis, Bart., M.P. . . Sunday - afternoon a sail boat, containing four persons, was upset in Erith Reach by a sudden squall, when the boat went down, and three persons perished—two young gentlemen, named Tracey and Graham, and Joseph Leo nard, a boatman and expert swimmer, who sank after having leaped from the boat, and swam for some distance. SUICIDE OF A YOUTH UNDER 16 YEARS OF AGE.-OD Tuesday, an inquest was held at Newmarket, on view of the body of Charles Jarvis, second son of Mr. Jarvis, of the Greyhound Inn, under 16 years of age, who was found hanging in a barn the day previous. No cause appeared for committing the rash act. The largest iron steamer ever built in Bristol, except the Great Britain, will be launched from the building yard of Messrs. George Lunell and Co., on Saturday. She is intended, by the Bristol General Steam Navigation Company, to run between Bristol and Cork, and is to be called the Juverna, the ancient name of Ireland. A HOMELY PARALLEL.—An elderly lady in Stock port, while canvassing the reason of the representative's (Mr. Cobden) absence from England, said the hon. member reminded her of an itinerant fiddler, who, for decency's sake, walked out of the dancing room while the collection was made. AN ANCIENT MEMBER.—The present representative of the Radnorshire Boroughs, Richard Price, Esq., who has now sat for the boroughs for half a century, having been first elected in 1796, has intimated his intention of retiring from public life, in consequence of the infirmities of age. MANSLAUGHTER.—On Wednesday, a coroner's jury, sitting at Stockport Little Moor, returned a verdict of man slaughter against Joel Bowden, of H azelG rove for having, in a drunken quarrel with Thomas Twip, on the sth inst., caused such injuries as to produce death, on Tuesday last. He was committed to Chester for trial. A young man, of gentlemanly appearance, paid eight sovereigns to a London grocer, on Saturday last, and ob ta;ned from him a cheque on his banker for the amount. Putting an " 0" to the £8 and a " y" to the eight in the body of the cheque, he cashed it and thereby made a profit of £72. FOREIGN STRAWRERRIES..—A vessel, named the Hannah, just arrived at Hull, from Memel, with a cargo of wood goods, had on board 16 casks of strawberries: the growth of Prussia. This is a novel article of importation, and whether with reference to "the place of growth, or the very late period of the season for the supply of the article, is a singular importation. PARTRIDGE SHOOTING. — On Thursday, Lord Has tings, Anthony Hammond, Esq., and Edwin James, Esq., killed, at Melton Constable, in Norfolk, seven and a half brace of birds; and on the previous Tuesday, his lordship, the Hon. F. Ashley, and Edwin James, Esq., killed forty-three brace, beating only one field of turnips and one field of clover. The public Baths and Wash-houses in Euston-square were opened for the first time on the 3rd of August, and up to the 29th of the same month, not fewer than 12,315 persons have made use of the baths, showing an average of 462 a day. During the same period 764 women have washed 18,783 articles of wearing apparel in the wash houses. In a hand-bill affixed to the Bow-lane Police Station, London, a reward is offered for the apprehension of one George Hummerston, absconded, and after a very parti cular personal description the notice concludes in the following odd and amusing style :—" He generally goes to a public house to smoke his pipe, and is very fond of talking of religion and horses .'" The Free Synod of Argyle, at their meetine on the 3rd instant, appointed Thursday, the Bth day of October next, to be observed by all the congregations within the bounds, as a day of humiliation, fasting, and confession of sin, in reference to the total and universal failure of the potato crop, and the great and increasing distress consequent upon this visitation of Divine Providence. On Tuesday week, as Mr. Graham, druggist, of Barnard Castle, was taking an article from a shelf in his shop, it slipped out of his band, and coming in contact with a bottle filled with vitriol, broke it, and the whole of the contents fell on his face and clothes ; the latter were literally burnt off his back, and his eyes and face are shockingly burnt. MESMERIC INFIRMARY.—An infirmary, (with the Earl Ducie as its president) is about to be established in the metropolis under this name. The treatment of the patients will be confined to the principles of mesmerism, under the influence of which it is said surgical operations can be performed without pain to the patient. Subscrip tions have already been commenced, and from £7OO to £l,OOO have been collected. The weather continues to be most favourable for harvest ,operations, which are now nearly, if not quite over in this neighbourhood. A Cloudless sun and a warm atmosphere prevail throughout the northern district. In short, we are experiencing one of the most delightful autumns ever remembered. The latest portions of the hay and grain harvest will be secured in the best possible condition, and all the aftermaths are as fresh and green as the most luxu riant summer pastures. " About forty years ago, a vessel laden with wine, &c., was lost in Lynn Deeps. Two bottles of this wine were found in the oyster net of a fishing-smack, a few days since while the men were dredging. The bottles were so covered with shelfish, which had adhered to them with the utmost tenacity, that the glass was hardly discernable." [A correspondent observes, that he has often heard of " drinking like a fish ;" but was never aware, till now, that fishes stuck so close to the bottle !] A brougham with silent wheels was seen in the park last week. The tire of the wheels consists of an elastic tubular ring, made of caoutchouc, inclosed in a leathern case, and inflated with air . to any degree of tightness desired. The motion of the carriage is exceedingly easy. It has now gone about a hundred miles, over roads of all sorts, and the outer leather casing is as sound and entire as at first, not exhibiting the slightest tendency to rupture.—Meehanies' Magazine. FORTITUDE OF A LAD.—A lad of about eighteen, em ployed on the Oxford andßugby railway, fell down, and a waggon passed over his arm and shattered it. On the night of the accident the arm was amputated near the shoulder. He walked quietly from the place to the inn, talked coolly while the amputation was going on, and requested the bone might be saved, so that he might have a tobacco-stopper made of it ! The lad had travelled from out of Dorset shire to near Banbury for work. That destructive insect, the locust, continues to be picked up, in considerable numbers, on various parts of the coasts of Northumberland and Durham, many of them being three and four inches long, and of propor tionate height. The unusual heat which has been expe rienced in our climate this year, is supposed to have di directed destructive visitors to our shores, where rigours of the approaching winter will probably extirpate such as escape capture in the interim by the hordes of naturalists and others who are now daily in, pursuit of them. REPENTING AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR.—Last week, at a village church not a hundred miles from Alstonfield, Derbyshire, a couple presented themselves before the priest with the intention of being united in the bonds of wedlock, all needful preparations having been made to ce lebrate the happy event. On the question being put, " Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife ?" &c•, the swain modestly rejoined, " Yes, if you please, sir." When, however, it came to the turn of the bride elect to respond to that momentous question, " Wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband ?" &c., she, struck, it is presumed, by some sudden misgiving, promptly rejoined, " No ! I'm sure I shanna have him !" The consternation of the expectant bridegroom, and the surprise of the priest and assembled people, may, as the phrase runs, " be bet ter conceived than described." Remonstrance was in vain; the fair one was immoveable, and of course the ce- remony could not be proceeded with.—Ten Towns' Mes senger. A correspondent of Bell's Weekly Messenger, in writing on the potato question, states that, as regards the saving of the present crop, we have no doubt that by far the best means of saving a large portion of it will be found in allowing the tubers to remain as late as possible in the ground. It was found to be the only means by which the diseased crop of 1845 was materially and profitably pre served in our own immediate circle of observations, in Essex and Kent, and we have heard of many instances in other districts proving the correctness of this conclusion. LIBERALISW AND POPERY.—In Mr. Cobden's speech at Paris, speaking of the progress of free-trade principles, he adds, " and now the Pope of Rome has added the sanction of his infallible testimony in favor of free-trade." As an instance of Liberalism shaking bands with Despo tism it is not unworthy of our notice, shewing how little Popery has to fear from the vaunted march of mind and expansion of intellect, which is idolized in the present day, and trusted to by many well-meaning men as all sufficient to stop the progress of that false and absurd religion. The proceedings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, were brought to a close on Wednesday, at Southampton. The report of the finan cial accounts of the present meeting shewed that. there had been 241 tickets issued to old life members, 10 to new life members, 39 to new annual subscribers, 67 to old annual subscribers, 268 to associates, 19 to foreigners, and 198 to ladies • making a total of 848. The t o t a l receipts of the week were £7lO, in addition to which a donation of £lOO had been received from his Royal Highness Prince Albert, which, with the amount received from the sale of books, made a total of £B2B. LUCIFER MATCHES KINDLED BY THE SUN.—A fire of a singular description occurred last week in Norwich, occasioned by a quantity of Lucifer matches lying in the sun in the window of Mr. Thwaites, on the Castle Meadow. The person who waits in the shop, which is fronting the south, was below at the time, taking his dinner, when the heat of the sun caused them to ignite. The fire speedily communicated with some cigar boxes, and several of these were consumed, and the cigars burned and spoiled. The man returned just in time to save the shop, which sustained no injury except in the paint, which was burnt off in places. A few minutes longer and the whole premises must have been on fire. This fact may, perhaps, help to solve the mystery of some of the fires which have lattely occurred. On Wednesday last, the labourers employed at Dray ton Manor, with their wives and children, amounting to about two hundred and thirty persons, partook of an excellent dinner provided for them by Sir Robert Peel. The men and their wives dined under a spacious tent erected at the manor, and the children at the White Lion Inn, in the village. After dinner they all assembled in front of the mansion, where the afternoon was spent in dancing, foot ;Jan, bowling, and other games, which were kept up with great spirit until the evening, when the party sat down to supper. The entertainment was furnished in the most liberal manner, and the party separated with feelings of the greatest pleasure and satisfaction. Sir Robert and Lady Peel, with two of their sons, (who joined heartily in the sports,) were present, and seemed to take great inte rest in the proceedings of the day. The magistrates of Norwich have for some days been occupied with a curious charge of forgery brought against a Mrs. Barber of that town, a person respectably con nected, but of eccentric manners, who presented to the East of England Bank, Norwich, ten £5 notes, seeming to be Bank of England notes, but which on examination were found to want both the signature and the watermark on the paper, as well as all the fives being imitations of the same note. Several other forged notes were found in the lady's residence, and it appeared that she had pro duced them by tracing the lines of a genuine £5 Bank of England note against the window. In the absence of parties connected with the Bank of England, the case has been still further 'remanded, the impression on the minds of the magistrates being that the accused was of unsound mind. THE " GLOBE" ON RELIGIOUS ENDOWMENTS.—The success of latitudinarianism at Derby and Edinburgh is naturally emboldening the Whig journalists. The Globe, which may be understood to be a ministerial organ, now unhesitatingly avows a " principle" on which it is to be feared the Whig government, will be prepared, if need be, next session to act. "We confess" says the editor, "we know of no other principle on which a religion could safely be established in any country than a regard to the belief of the majority." And the writer does not shrink from carrying out his " principle" to its utmost extent, decla ring that " Popery, Mahometanism, Hindooism, or any other faith or system of religion, must be looked in the face as an existing fact and dealt with accordingly." We wish the political Dissenters joy of the fruits of their late votes. TESTIMONIAL TO MISS CARNABT.—We observed to day, in Mr. Masson's (jeweller's) window, a very splendid silver tea service, bearing the following inscription, viz. : —" Presented to Miss Mary Carnaby, by a number of her friends and pupils in Inverness, as a mark of esteem for her exemplary life, and for her talents, zeal, and integrity, in the discharge of her duties as a teacher of youth. 1846. Nihil attigit sed ornavit." We are very happy to notice this mark of respect by our townsfolk, towards a lady who has taught amongst us, very successfully, for upwards of sixteen years, and who sustained throughout a most exem plary character. She has left us for Liverpool with the good wishes and esteem of many a family and friend who regret her absence. We are glad to think that such inde faticable exertions on her part for the well-being of her pupils, have been acknowledge) so very handsomely.— Inverness paper. ATTEMPTED SUICIDES FRUSTRATED.—A few days ago, a person named Richard Williams went into a barber's shop at Tenby, for the purpose of being shaved; the shaver being engaged, he asked for a razor,.and being fur nished with that instrument, he immediately drew it across his throat; luckily some person present observed it, and struck it out of his hand ; but the man still lies in a precarious state.—Last Sunda7 night, a woman named Sarah Wood, belonging to Droitwich, and who travels through the country as a hawker, was found in a brew house in Weaman-street, Birmingham, by Police-sergeant Taylor. She appeared to be greatly excited, and in an insane state ; and on being taken to the Staniforth-street Station, she was put in a cell by herself. About five minutes after she had been locked up, the sergeant went to visit the cell, when he found that in his almost mo mentary absence, she bad endeavoured to put an end to her existence. She was found suspended by her apron, which she bad fastened round her neck, and then attached to the bars of the aperture above the door, and getting on the top of a stool, she had flung herself off at the very moment the sergeant entered the cell. Fortunately, her intention was thus frustrated.—Worcester paper. NEW FURNITURE WOODS FROM THE .- COLONIES.— The increased use of furniture woods, consequent on the favourable position we are now in, as regards the duty and the introduction of many new kinds, afford grourrds for hoping that interior decoration may find new means of exercise. The resources of art, in this respect, have barely been examined ; the British colonies are rich in beautiful woods, applicable to all the purposes for which mahogany and rosewood are adapted. The Totarra wood of New Zealand surpasses any mahogany we have seen ; it has great variety of grain, and a beautiful mottled appearance. An elaborate sideboard, lately made of it for the King of Prussia, by Mr. J. M. Levien, has lately been exhibiting at New Zealand House, Broad-street-buildings. We hear, also, that Her Majesty has given orders for some articles. In other pieces of furniture, were specimens of six or eight kinds of wood, all of them of great beauty, and well adapted for this purpose. The ma* wood, of which a teapoy had been made,when cut in the direction of thegrain is ofayellow stone•colour, variegated in parts with dark brown of large pattern. Hino, of which the specimens were cut from the root, was of a dark brown colour. It veneers and polishes well, and can be had for £25 a ton, which seems to be a pretty general price. Amongst other kinds, were the primo, also beautiful, with a large mottled pattern ; the kattore, in all respects like ebony; the May, rather plain, with an app-arance varying from that of satin-wood to the lightest mahogany ; the kivverve, and specimens of many other kinds. Names have been given by the natives to all the different species, these included.—The Builder. COMMITTAL OF CAPTAIN RICA ARDSON FORFORGERY. —On Friday Captain William Richardson, late chairman of the Worcester, Tenbury, and Ludlow Railway, who, it will be remembered, was charged with forgery on the bankinz-house of Coutts, was brought up at the Mansion house, before the Lord Mayor. Mr. Ingleback, one of the clerks at Coutts' bank, stated, that when Captain Richardson saw the £5,000 draft he pointed to it and said it was a forgery. Witness asked if the signature was not his ? He said it was. Witness asked if the other signa tures were correct, and he said he believed they were, but the draft had been altered from £lO to £5,000. Witness said be did not think the house of Coutts responsible. He then went and informed Mr. Colthurst of tliis trans action. He afterwards returned to the prisoner, and put the question as to the signatures, in presence of Mr. Colt burst, and the prisoner replied that the signatures were genuine. He then stated that he had filled up the three drafts ett the same time, one for £2O, one for £lOO. and one for £lO ; the latter had been changed to £5,000. Mr. Colthurst said it was a frightful fraud. He afterwards told Mr. Richardson that the banking-house declined having anything to do with it. The prisoner said he had paid away the £lO to a person who had rendered the railway company some service. The prisoner was fully committed, and the witnesses were bound over to prose cute at the first Central Criminal Court sessions, which sit this week. RELIGIOUS INDIFFERENCE. — BeIIeath the shade of Westminster Abbey, there is a district which every man ought to explore for himself, who wishes to know what the worst parts of London are, and to understand the kind of work which is before us, if we propose to pour the light of Christian truth into all its dwellings. To one of the two parishes which comprise it, a Scripture-reader has lately been sent at the request of the Incumbent— one of the regulations of the society which employs him, requires a weekly return to be made to the clergyman, of the houses visited. To distinguish the religious profes sion of the several families who inhabit them, the reader is furnished with a paper divided into four columns. These are headed with the letters C, D, R, and N.—C standing for Churchman, D for Dissenter, R for Roman Catholic, and N for a person who owns no brother hood with any Christian community. Now, in the visits made by the Reader, in five successive days, the result is as follows :—On the first day, he visited families containing one hundred and fifty individuals : and of these, one hundred had no home in the Christian Church, no preference for any mode of Christian worship. On the second day, the proportion of these persons was yet larger, seventy being their complement to nineteen who owned a relation to one body of Christians or another. On the third day,—by far the best, it is just half-and-half. On the fourth, for thirteen Church-people and fourteen Dis senters, we have sixty-two with the black letter N, annexed : and the numbers on the fifth day are almost exactly the same. So in the metropolis of Christian England, out of five hundred and fifty persons visited and talked with in succession, three hundred and sixty, or two-thirds very nearly, had no such connexion with the church as to be assignable to any one religious hod arr. Kingscote's Letter lo the Archbishop of CanterbUry Sept. 22, 1846. ; SATISFACTORY PHILOSOPHY.—We observe a some-- ; what strange statement in the papers as to the result of discussion on the potato disease in the British Association at Southampton last Friday. It is said with singular phi , losophical gravity anti satisfaction that, "The general opinion was, that the cause was in the existence of some . atmospheric influence which at present defied investiga i lion, but which produced a remarkable effect on the cha t racter of the potato !" Was there ever a lame and impo , tent conclusion like this? If it be rivalled at all, it is in the same report of the same Ell, ject, the discussion of , which we are told was concluded by the Dean of West ; minster and Doctor Lyon Playfair, declaring that "at the conclusion of the inquiries of the government commission, they were actually possessed of less information than before the commencement of the inquiry !" A correspondent informs us that there is a labourer now employed upon the railway works at Ely who was once tried and convicted of highway robbery, and was sentenced to be hanged. The morning arrived for his execution ; he was placed under the fatal beam, and as the clergyman commenced his melancholy office, the poor fellow protested his innocence. Justas the executioner was about to " launch him into eternity," a man was per ceived at a distance gallopping furiously, holding up a piece of paper—it was a repreive! In ten minutes the horse died from exhaustion. The sentence was commuted to transportation for life. At the expiration of ten years and nine months, the prosecutor in the case being upon his death bed, sent for the Mayor of the town, and told the dreadful tale that at the time when he swore he had been robbed of a large sum by the man in question, be had the money in his own pocket, having been led to this atrocious crime by feelings of revenge! Shortly after this acknowledgment he died. The accused was sent for, a free pardo❑ granted him, and £l5 given him by Govern ment on his arrival at home. A person, the other day. asked him how he felt when he was under the gallows? he replied, " I did'nt care so very much about it because I knew I was innocent."—Bury and Norwich Post. BEET-ROOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR POTATOES.—Beet•roo cannot be too much recommended to the notice of man kind as a cheap and salubrious substitute for the now failing and diseased potato. Hitherto the red kind has been only used in England as a pickle, or as a garnish for salad; even the few who dress it generally boil it, by which process the rich saccat ine juice is in a great measure lost, and the root consequently rendered less nutricious by the quantity of water which it imbibes, as well as by parting with the native syrup of which it is thus forcibly deprived ; it is, therefore, strongly recommended to bake instead of boiling them, when they will be found to afford a delicious and wholesome food. This is not an untried novelty, for both red and white beet-root are extensively used on the Continent; in Italy particularly, they are carried about hot from the oven twice a-day, and sold publicly in the streets; thus they are purchased by all classes of people, and give to thousands, with bread, salt, pepper, and butter, a satisfactory meal. There are few purposes for which baked, or even roasted, or fried beet root would not be found preferable to boiled. If these roots were as universally cultivated in England for human food as they are on the Continent of Europe, and baked and sold as cheap as they might easily be, many a poor person would have a hearty and good meal who is now often obliged to go without one ; and now that the potatoe crop is again failing, the above information cannot but be of infinite service if generally known, for there is a good deal of beet in the country, although only planted or sown for the use of cattle.—Carmarthen Journal. SOMEWHAT SINGULAR.—O❑ the 24th of May, 1812, a lady died in her youth at Grasmere, after linger ng in con sumption for seven months, and the husband, to mark his sense of the loss he had sustained, had a monumental pedestal and urn, with suitable inscription, made in London, and this memorial duly arrived by trader at Lancaster, but most strange to say, never got any further. From some cause or other nobody ever came forward to pay the freight and claim the property, and from that time till within the past two or three weeks it has lain by in the corner of a warehouse on the quay. Our worthy towns man, Mr. Thomas Dewhurst, having, however, taken an interest in the matter, things have been put into train for the immediate erection of the monument. Mr_Dewhurst has kindly under taken the whole expense, and has had a personal interview with the rector of Grasmere, who has considerately consented to forego all charge. Mr. Dewhurst is now having the monument cleaned up, and will forth with have it conveyed to Grasmere, whither be means to accompany it in order to see the work completed under his own superintendence. The inscription on the pedestal is very flowery ; but no doubt justly describes the virtues of the deceased, who, we happen to know, was a member of one of the first families in the west of England. The singular part of the circumstance is the leneth of time— some three or four and thirty years—that has elapsed between the arrival of the monument in Lancaster and its final setting up in Grasmere, and that the consummation should be brought to pass by the kindness of a stranger. Lancaster Gazette. DISTRESS IN THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLANDS.—During the lest week we (Scottish Guardian) had an opportunity of witnessing, in some measure, the extent of the failure of the potato crop in the Western Highlands, and the result satisfied us that so far from the evil having been exaggerated, it is impossible for any one who has not seen its devastations to form adequate idea of its extent. The truth is, that throughout the Western Highlands and Islands the po tato is extinct. Some of the people are reduced to one meal a day of the coarsest fare. Others are living on shell-fish, and ekeing out their wretched meal with sea weed. Many are parting with their pigs, because they are unable to feed them ; and the pittance they receive for them is all that stands between them and want. Poor people are selling their cows for the same reason ; And some are reduced to the sad alterna ive of disrosing of their boats. In some of the islands disease has already appeared in the most afflictive forms, but too evidently resulting from inadequate or unwholesome food. In the island of Tiree, this is already the case to an alarming extent ; and there is no disguising the fact, that unless something be done immediately with the view of afford ing supplies of food to the inhabitants of the islands generally, consequences will inevitably and speedily en sue which it is revolting to every human mind to con template. The Free Church Synod of Argyll sent a deputation last week to the Lord advocate to urge upon his attention, and, through him, that of her Majesty's Government, the clamant state of the Highlands and Islands. THE SELF ACTING WATER-RAM.—Perhaps the most unpretending, simple, but useful of hydraulic powers for raising water, is the above valuable invention. Ito economy of space is also a striking recommendation, the ram not occupying more than three-quarters of a square yard. The principle upon which it acts, comprehends the raising of water thirty times the height of the fall by which it is worked. Having seen this clever apparatus, as in use at Peckforton, upon the property of J. Tollemache, Esq. M. P., we shall describe its powers, wl - ich will apply to, the self-acting ram in general, as patented by Amos and Easton, of London. Water being required for the building Peckforton Castle, which our readers will remember the spirited proprietor is now erecting on the summit of a high hill ; close to, and rivalling in elevation, the site of Beeston Castle. At the foot of this hill, a quarter of mile distant from the building, as the crow flies, is a beau tiful crystal spring, designated Horsley Bath. From this spring or bath a pipe conveys some of its water to a small reservoir about a yard square, distant one hundred and fifty yards. Into this reservoir is laid the mouth of the pipe which feeds the ram. The surplus water not required by the feeding pipe, which would otherwise overflow this small reservoir, is carried off by a drain to a lower level. From this reservoir to the spot where the ram is fixed, is a fall of about thirty feet. The other end of the feeding pipe before mentioned is inserted in the ram. Suppose the ram now at work : the water from the reservoir passing with great force down the feeding pipe, puts in operation the machinery in the interior of the ram ; and the beautiful result is,—that through another pipe of less diameter, fixed on the other side of th e ram, water is forced and delivered at the top of th e hill beforedescribed (320 feet higher than the ram) at the rate of three gallons per minute. Of course the ram can be made with greater powers. APPALLING DISCOVERY !—A few days since, a tall good-looking man, well dressed, and of gentlemanly de portment, was observed, after carefully looking around him for a few moments, to throw a parcel very hurriedly into the float. Curiosity was excited, a.boat immediately obtained, the mysterious parcel secured, and opened when, to the horror of the inspecting parties, it was found to contain a shirt with several boles in it, as if caused by stabs made with some sharp-pointed instrument, and sa turated with blood ; rolled up inside the shirt was a note written by a female, signed " Harriet," and directed T' gentleman well known in this city. The parcel contaio e'A 7 the shirt had been directed, but the add re s s was eras The contents of the note were as follow : " You cruel man._ prived me of ‘ :la Y e o d u ea r r e e n st " Obj j e ealo ctour ' my a nd affections. nla lice h l as •n d o e ; know all; the secret is out, and the murderer can n o longer escape justice ; the happy spirit of my loved Henry disclosed to me all, and told me where to find the bloody shirt which I now send you, which must make you shrink with horror. Prepare to meet the Police. ' 6 HARRIET." No doubt was entertained that an atrocious murder had been committed, and the parcel was at once conveyed to . the police station ; the cons t a bl es were spee dil y on t h e gut rive, a couple hastened to the residence of Mr. -, (the gentleman to whom the note was addre sse d,) an d t o his very great consternation received the intimation that he must " come along with them," upon a charge of murder. The amiable and humane individual, who could not find it in his heart to crush a fly, much less to murder a fellow creature, informed the officers that they had made a mis take. " Oh, no ; no mistake at all," was the reply. " Ain't you Mr. -, Esq. ?" "I am the party," was the answer, " then you're the gen'l'man as murdered the gal's sweethart." What could the fellows mean ? His first impulse was to kick them out of the house, and but for their wearing the police uniform be would have done so. They told him it was "no good his putting hisself in such a fiustration, as the letter and the shirt (producing the bundle,) would show that they were right." On the production of these articles, Mr. - could not forbear laughing heartily, and soon set the matter " all right," fully proving that no murder had been committed, and that the whole was th e tr i c k o f a very f acet i ous " crony ,' whose ruling passion was not subjected even by sickness, and who availed himself of the consequences of a leech bleeding to play a joke upon his friend. Having been bled with leeches, he packed up the shirt which he bad or at the time in a parcel to Mr. - ; ti cognised the handwriting of his friend o and having been " tricked once or twice again to be " done ;" so he erased the -- the parcel (without opening it) int o th e fl oa t, as we hav described, little dreaming thatil note inside ( with murdering some poor girl's lover, A I was instituted, and it appearing that the affa and threw barged hiva tie inquire vas really —Bristol a joke, of course g further was 2 lirror GENERAL MISCELLANY. FREE TRADE.—The Debuts French ministerial paper has declared in favor of Free Trade. The Mayor of Sunderland has commenced an action for libel against the proprietor of the Sunderland Times. Mrs. Edridge, wife of a Bristol alderman, committed suicide, during a short fit of temporary insanity, last week. The harvest being well over, ploughing and preparing the land for autumn seed time is progressing under the most favourable circumstances. CONTRACT FOR IRON. —On Thursday week a contract' for 20,000 tons of iron was adjudged to Sir John Guest. The price is £lO per ton. The aggregate density of the population of England and Wales is in the ratio of two hundred and seventy-five inhabitants to a square mile. The city of London authorities have abolished St. Bartholomew's fair, by raising the rents for stands enormously. SINGULAR FACT.—In the parish of Llanegwad, North Wales, there are three overseers of the poor, all of whom this year are widows. What are the bachelors about? A farmer near Challerton, lately pulled a single stem of oats, of the Tartary kind, on which there were 240 good seeds. The narrow slip of ground called the Burlington Ar cade, in Piccadilly, containing seventy-two houses, pro. duces an annual rental of £8,640. Upwards of three thousand baskets of Dutch gra p es have been imported from Hamburgh and Rott er d am within the last few days. A haddock was captured cif Whitehaven last week in the belly of which was found a considerable part of a joiner's two foot rule In London, on Thursday, there was a general rise of one halfpenny in the 41b loaf, bringing the seconds bread up to 7. 1 ,-d., and best to Sid., being as high as it has been any time this year. Mr. Thomas Manton, superintendent on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, sowed in his garden a single potatoe, in a handful of guano, and it has produced sixty two good and sound potatoes. Mr. Campbell Foster, the Times commissioner, is at present in Scotland, collecting information for a series of articles relative to the practical working and effects of the new Poor Law. At the Somerset Assizes, William Cattarell was sen tencedio seven years' imprisonment fur stealing a cheque. The Both Journal says that soon after his apprehension he became entitled to a bequest of £5,000 Mr. F. P. Smith, the talented inventor of the screw propellor, bas been appointed by the Admiralty to super.. intend at all their establishments the fitting of the screw machinery in all vessels fitted with the screw propeller Joseph —dy, of " something-to-advantage" notoriety, having been threatened by one of his lucky clients with a horsewhipping, applied to the magistrates in London, on Tuesday, to prevent a breach of the peace. On Friday week, Joseph Lovatt, 65 years of age was forced between the wall and the fly-wheel of an engine he was attending at the Whitebarn Colliery, Newcastle, and killed.