The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-21 00:00:00

have no doubt that the public will thoroughly sym-
pathize with our suggestions. It is the noblest
and most honourable of all employments to wage
war with vice—to go on a mission of mercy to the
conventionally debased and fallen ones—to " speak
gently to the erring"—and endeavour to restore to
society and virtue, the yielding and unhappy
victim' of man's seduction, treachery, and ingrati-
tude :

" To weep with them that weep doth ease some deal,
But sorrows flouted at, is death."

MINISTERIAL MOVEMENTS.

It was rumoured in Paris on Wednesday that
Lord Aberdeen's administration was at an end.
Sir James Graham visited the Queen on Monday
at osl)orne.

The following is from our second edition of
yesterday :
The Herald says :—lt is as yet unknown whether
Sir George Grey has accepted the vacant Sec-
retaryship, but little doubt is expressed in political
circles on that head.

The Chronicle says it is supposed he will accept.
The Advertiser reports a difficulty in the way
because Sir G. Grey represents the borough of
Alorpeth, which only contains a constituency of
400, and consequently would be placed in the
category of Lord John Russell's small boroughs,
which it is proposed to extinguish. His
re-election could therefore scarcely be expected.
Amongst others now named for the office is Lord
Grey.

On the 20th September the shock of an earthquake was
felt at Hobart Town, Van Dieman's Land.
MILEAGE or RAlLWAYS.—According to a return just
issued, the mileage of railways in England is 5,288 miles,
5 furlongs, and 211 yards ; and in Wales 348 miles, 5 fur-
longs, and 203 yards.
ACREAGE rig ENGLAND AND WALES.—By a return yester-
day printed it appears that the acreage in England and
Wales of the parishes in the several counties is 9,177,190
acres, 8 roods, and 8 perches, out of which 65,047 acres and
6 perches are occupied by railways.

ROBBERY OF £l,OOO- WORTH OF JEWELLERY IN THE
STRAND.—On Monday evening, between five and six o'clock,
a glazed leather bag, containing a thousand pounds worth of
jewellery, was stolen from a cab standing at the door of
tradesman in the Strand. Not the slightest clue to the de-
tection of the thief has been yet discovered.
The Hamburg News says :—"Travellers from St. Peters-
burg state that in the shops of that city are sold maps of
Consta:Ainople, in which the Turkish capital is divided into
Russian police districts. A copy of this map, which was
brought to Vienna, produced a great sensation, as it is well
known that at St. Petersburg
.no person can sell maps or
engravings. without the authorisation of the Government."
FLOGGING IN THE NAVY, PRODUCING APOPLEXY AND
EPILEPSY.—In the Medical Times and Gazette of the 17th
instant, are reports, by Dr. Davidson, of the cases of two
men who were flogged on board one of her majesty's ships,
one of whom was removed from the gratings in a fit of
epilepsy, and the other had an apopletic attack. One was
rendered permanently unserviceable. Surely these facts
alone are sufficient to put an end to a practice which is a
disgrace to our country and our age.
THE WEATHER AND THE LONDON. PARKS.—On Monday
morning the marquees, and the different apparatus for the
recovery of persons who might become immersed whilst en-
joying the exercise of skaiting, were erected in the various
parks. Whilst the men were thus employed in the enclo-
sure of St. James's-park, a number of lads ventured upon
the ornamental water, when unfortunately the ice broke, and
six of the lads were immersed. They were all, however, got
out.

COAST DEFENCES. —Sixty heavy guns are to be mounted
at the battery now erecting at Sconce Point, on the Isle of
Wight, to guard Vie entrance of the Solent sea. Thirty
guns are mounted at Hurst Castle battery, opposite the Isle
of Wight, on the Hampshire coast. There is also to be
another battery erected about a mile-and-a-half distant
from Sconce P.int, at a place called Cliff-end. This battery
will be directly opposite that of Hurst Castle. These forti-
fications, when completed, will render the passage of the
Solent by a hostile fleet impossible.
PADDINGTON.—The village of Paddington, which was
once given to Westminster Abbey, and afterwards by Ed-
'Ward VI. to the Bishop of London and his successors, is now
one of the most remarkable portions of London. The story
of its growth sounds like a fable. In 1801 it contained 357
houses, and a population of 1,881 persons. In 1851 there
were 6519 houses, with 222 in progress, and a population of
46,306 persons. The rates were levied in that year en an
Nang,reditithoyiri 722 and in 1852 this had been in-

CHRISTMAS-DAY ON SUNDAY.-Although the last occur-
rence of the kind took place in 1842—eleven years ago—yet
the coincidence does often occur in briefer intervals, and
must happen four times in 28 years. Christmas-day was on
a Sunday in 1831, 1836, 1842, and in this year. It will
happen on a Sunday in 1859, 1864, 1870, 1881, 1887, 1892,
and 1898. The intervals between the years follow the order
of numbers 5,6, 11, 6. If it happen in leap-year, or the
year succeeding leap-year, the interval will be six years ; if
on the year preceding leap-year, the interval will be five
years, but if, as in 1842, it happens two years before leap-
year, the interval will be 11 years, as it is now. •
COMMITTAL OF FIFTY-THREE PERSONS FOR TRIAL.—
It appears that a dispute has been long contiuued as to the
right of the Menai fishermen to take oysters out of certain
beds in the Straits. A legal opinion having been obtained
in favour of the fishermen, they went last week to dredge
as usual in the river. arrants were therefore procured
against the whole body, fifty-three in number, at the in-
stance of Mr. Jonathan Russell, to whom the Bishop of
Bangor had leased the fishery, and on Tuesday they were all
committed for trial at the assizes for larcency under the act
of the 6th and 7th Geo. IV., c. 29. They were, however,
liberated on their own recognizances.—Carnarron Herald.
PERSIA.—The following is given by the Bombay Gazette
as the substance of a private Persian letter, dated Ispahan,
September 20 :—All Persia is thrown into a state of suspense
and anxiety by the disappearance of his majesty the King
of Persia from Teheran, with 30,000 cavalry, 1,000 pieces
of cannon, and 3,000 camels loaded with ammunition. We
are, completely at a loss to conjecture the object of the
expedition or the place of its destination. Some surmise
that his majesty has hastened to co-operate with Turkey
against the lawless aggressions of Russia ; whilst others,
with better reason, are of a- different opinion. Persia's
uniting with Russia in the present crisis would at once
excite the animosity of the Sonnees (as all the Turks belong
to that sect), and a religious war might be the upshot.
A WARNING ACCIDENT.—A sad accident occurred at
Milford junction on Saturday evening last. A respectably
dressed passenger, whose name could not be ascertained, had
arrived at. Milford from Hull, with the intention of pro-
ceeding to the south by the Great Northern train from
York. When this came up the unfortunate man, who was
but too evidently in a state of intoxication, imprudently
attempted to get into the train while it was in motion. In ,
doing this he slipped between the platform and the car-
riages, ten of which passed over one of his legs, which was
cut off just below the knee and dreadfully mangled. The
sufferer was taken up in a state of insensibility and removed
to the station, where medical assistance was procuild as
so 3n as possible. He still remains at Milford in a very Weak
and precarious state from the excessive hemorrhage he sus-
tained.
ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.—In addition to other attrac-
tions of his establishment, Mr. Pablo Fanque has engaged
for the present week Stoke's American Wonders, Miss Ella
and the Young Leon. We had last evening an opportunity
of witnessing the performances of those artistes, and they
are of the most extraordinary character, combining the most
reckless daring with artistic merit of a high class. Young
Leon is perhaps one of the most daring. horsemen we have
seen in an English circus, and the surprising feats which be
performs over hurdles and through fire balloons must be seen
to ,be appreciated. Miss Ella, however, is an • artiste of a
different class. She performs the most astonishing feats
with a grace and elegance, which make them appear little
more than commonplace. Last evening she leaped through
25 balloons without a single miss, and this was followed
immediately after by leaping over five banners upwards of
three yards wide with the utmost ease. Those who have not
yet witnessed the extraordinary performance of Miss Ella
should do so at once. We have never seen them equalled
by one so young. The programme is an excellent one, Mr.
Pablo Fanque's company is a talented one, and richly de-
serving of the support which they are receiving.
REWARDS FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE.—We have no-
ticed with great satisfaction that the exclusive system is no
longer followed, by which " officers receiving rewards for
distinguished services" were selected from among the general
officers only. The army has seen with great satisfaction
that Colonels Lovell, Colin Campbell, Cloete, Markham,
and Eyre ; Lieutenant-Colonels Simmonds, Michel, and
Franks, Major Wright, Ensign Macdonald, and Quarter-
masters Murray and Edwards, share in some small degree
the rewards which were so long conferred on generals only,
with two solitary exceptions. It is undoubted that in the
junior grades of the army there have been, and are, very
many officers who most highly distinguished themselves, but
whose services hitherto have received nothing more than
empty praises, and sometimes not even that. There are
distinguished services which demand reward almost as much
as those performed in the field and under fire, which call
forth the energies of mind and body, and try the qualities
of a true soldier to the uttermost. Major Wright's is a
case in point; and few will deny that the moral and physi-
cal courage of the officer, and all the high qualities of pre-
sence of mind and cool, collected, controlling commandin danger
and difficulty, were eminently displayed by him at the wreck
in Simon's Bay. We think that, while the decorations of
the Bath are most properly reserved for services under fire,
still that there ought to be means for rewarding services out
of the field; and such means, we rejoice to observe, are now
at hand, and at last are rightly conferred.—Naval and Ali-
tary Gazette.