The Express.
London, England, 1857-03-14 00:00:00

WEST AFRICAN MAIL.

PLYMOUTH, Pamir.
The African Mail steamer Niger, Captain Corbet,
arrived here this morning. Fier dates are—Fer-
nando Po, Jan. 30; Bonny, Feb. 3; Lagoa, 7 ;
Accra, 9 ; Cape Coast, 10 ; Liberia, 15 ; Sierra
Leone, 20; Bathurst, 24; Goree, 25; Tencriffc,
March 3; and Madeira, 6.
She brings, besides the mails, 1,900 ounces of gold
dust, and a cargo of palm oil, ivory and cochineal,
gum and eamwood, and lti pa,sengers.
The Rev. Mr. West, a passenger from Cape Coast
Castle, died on the voyage home.
Captain Raby, R.N., Lieut. Smith, R.N., and
Licuts. Barger and 14evonport, of the 2nd West
India Regiment, from Sierra Leone, and Colonel
Greenwood, from Tenerilfe, arc amongst the pas-

angers.
Iler Majesty's ships Merlin, Bloodhound, and
Prometheus were at Fernando Po, as were also the
Guildford, Princess Royal, and Calabar, merchant
vessels.
Commander Rathbonc, of her Majesty's ship
Bloodhound, died at Lagos on the 22nd January.
The coast was generally healthy, and the trade
moderately brisk for the season.
The disturbances had been allayed, and the coast
was peaceable.

AUSTRALIA.

(room ova owa

SYDNEY, Dcc. 17.
I can report nothing favourable on the state of
trade here. On the contrary, the insolvency of seve-
ral firms has been reported within the last few days.
The schedule of Mr. Alfred Mitchell, merchant, has
been filed in the court ; the liabilities about 28,0001.,
and the assets (on paper) equal to about ss. in the I
pound. A foreign house is in the same predica-
ment for about the same sum, but (unlike the case
above alluded to) the liabilities are chiefly owing to
firms on the continent of Europe. The prospects in
our mercantile affairs are certainly far from cheer-
ing, and it is feared that before the end of the year
public confidence will be at a very low ebb.
The spacious works constructed at Balmain, on
the west side of Darling Harbour, by Mr. T. Mort,
for the examination and repair of shipping (called i
the Waterview Drydock), have been taken for five
years by the new Mail Ship Company, for whose
purposes they are admirably adapted, being of ample
space, with deep water to the margin of the basin.
the company intend, it is said, to have a depot there
for coals, and a large establishment of artificers andl
other workmen, which will greatiy tend to increase
that rising suburb of Sydney, and already has land
in that vicinity much increased in value.
A wealthy gold dealer of Sydney, who was last
Tear convicted of having used deficient weights in
baying gold from diggers, and was sentenced to
twelve months' imprisoment, was liberated a few
days ago, his term having expired. Instead of
shunning public observance, as might have been ex-
pected, he chose to celebrate the event by a proces-
sion through the streets with a band playing " See
the Conquering Hero comes."
On Tuesday last the sum of 7,0661., as the colo-
nial allowance for her Majesty's sea force (ships
Herald and Juno) serving within the limits of the
colony, was refused, on the ground that the expense
ought to be borne by England, so long as the colony
remained a dependency of the crown. On the fol-
lowing day the sum of 10,1031. was granted for the
military or land service ; 9,0041. for details of the
same service; and 70381/. for the Royal Artillery.
The sum of 4,184/. for volunteer corps, was refused.
It has excited some surprise that a naval force, the
best defence of the colony from hostile attack, should
be repudiated, and the military acknowledged;
which, in the case aforesaid, would, on our extensive
line of coast, be something like Mrs. Partington's mop
in keeping back the waves of the Atlantic.
The leading inhabitants of Sydney were invited to
a grand dinner,at Rose Bay, on Monday, to celebrate
the laying of the foundation stone of a splendid'
mansion to be erected there for Mr. Daniel Cooper,
Speaker of the House of Assembly. The Governor-
General performed the ceremony, and the Bishop of
Sydney said a prayer over the stone. The building
is to cost 100,0001., of which sum the arthiteetsf
Messrs. Hilly and Mansfield, will have a share of
10,0001. Many speeches were made and dozens of
champagne swallowed on the occasion.

TETE LAW OP Onoras.—Thers is in flowers 111 in
music, and as in geometry, a certain fixed law of unity and
harmony, wonderfully in accordance with what we know of
the laws of nature in wider spheres. " There is," says Mr.
Piero, " an octavo of odours like an octave in music; cer-
tain odour. coincide like the keys of en instrument. Such
as almond, heliotrope, vanilla, and orange-Norm blend to-
gether, each producing different 'degrees of a nearly demur
impression. Again, we have citron, lemon, orange, rue,
and verbena, forming a higher octave of smells, which
blend in a similar manner. The metaphor is com-
pleted by what we are pleased to call semi-odours, such
as rose and roee-geremurn for the half-noto ; petit
grain neroli a black key, followed by fie. d'orange.
Then we have patchouli, mantel wood, and vitivert, and
many other* running into each other. From the odours
already known we may produce, by uniting them in proper
the smell of almost any dower except jaamme."
then, the mystical Meru—the centre, the Delphi,
the Oneheles of the Bond world ? Is it the point of de-
partarie—the one unapproachable and indivisible unit
of frupeate I' Is jasmine the Iris of flowers,
with veiled face and covered feet, to be loved
of all, yet discovered by none ? Beautiful jasmine I If it be
so, the role ought to be dethroned, end the inimitable en-
throned queen in her stead. Revolutions and abdications
are exciting sports ; suppose we create a civil war among
the gardens, and crown the jasmine empress and queen of
all ? The art of perfumery, though in its use so mien-
tially frivolous, is of some importance nationally. British
India and Europe consume about one hundred and
fifty thousand gallons of handkerchief perfume
yearly; and the English revenue from Eau de
Cologne alone is about eight thousand a-year. Nine
thousand maven hundred and sixty-six pounds flowed into
Britannia's pocket in eighteen hundred and fifty-two, simply
from the duty on importeffeesential e ila,onehundred and ninety
five thousand three hundred and forty-nix pounds weight
of which landed on our shores. And the total revenue from
imported perfumes is estimated at about forty thousand pounds
per annum, including the spirits used for their home manufac-
ture. Sothat we need not sneer at the art as wholly frivolous; it
, has its noes, and its advantages as well. And, practically,
all things are better for a little adventitious perfume. Linen,
persons—all sic improved by a little scent •
Mir? cciarlntieople overdo the quantity, and distort what
was Intended for refinement into vulgarity, the fault is theirs,
not their rosterisL —Household Words.