Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-01-14 00:00:00

THE RUSSIANS IN, CHINA.

HeraldA letter from Odessa, in. the Levont Hof
the 4th instant,. says
" The Chinese Government has addressed a note to
the cabinet of St. Petersburg, in which it demands, that
all the country on the Amoor now occupied by Russia be
immediately evacuated, as no legal authorisation exists
from his Celestial Majesty. for such occupation. The
courier who brought this intelligence also announced
that the Russian mission at Pekin had been
placed under surveillance. Tho only answer the
Russian Government gave to this demand was an order
for the levy of an army of 60,000 men from the Govern-
ments of Orenburg and Irkoutsk, which is to be despatched
without delay to Manciaria, on the frontiers of China.
A division of the army, 2.0,000 strong, had proceeded
from Astrakan to occupy Kokhan and Boliara, so as to
secure the road for the expeditionary army. It was
rumoured in Odessa that this corps already occupies the
two latter places. General Mouravieff will have under
his orders 80,000 regular troops, besides the Cossack
and Tartar militia, which, when required, can be raised
to 60,000 men. Russia' is certainly resolved to act
energetically in this invasion!'

• ANOTHER SILVER PLATE AOSEERT IN WAKEFIELD.
—The family of Mr. Fawcett, of Thornhill- street,
Wakefield, left home to go to chapel a little before six
o'clock on Sunday evening last. On their return at eight
o'clock they found that the,house had been broken into
during their absence, the promises ransacked, the drawers
and boxes forced open, and a quantity of silver plate,
and £25 in money, stolen. An entrance had been effected
by means of skeleton keys. There is evidently a, gang
of housebreakers in the town, which, for, the present,
manages to elude the vigilance of the police.
A FINE EXAMPLE.—A battery of 14 guns, at
Shirley, near Southampton, the property. of Mr. Water-
man, has been offered by him to the corporation of
Southampton for the defence of the town, or to be
used for practice by an artillery corps. The guns
are mounted as field-pieces, and have two am-
munition carts attached to them. With the carriages
each gun weighs 8 cwt., and is capable of carrying
a 311 b. shot the distance of a mile. They have been
tested by artillery officers from the camp at Aldersbott,
and pronounced highly serviceable. Mr. -Waterman,
though of limited means, has expended the sum of L4O
in powder, by firing salutes on coronation days,' birth-
days of the members of the royal family,' and other
periods of rejoicing.
IMPORTANT DECISION.—The question of the eligi-
bility of a Quaker to act as foreman of a grand jury
has been xaised at Waterford • Quarter Sessions,
When Mr. S. Harris was called as foreman, Mr.
Barron, Crown, solicitor, objected on the ground t.IW t 4
gentleman being a member of the Friends Society it was
illegal for him to act in such capacity, as he would have
to administer oaths which was incompatible with his re-
ligious scruples. The chairman held the objection was
valid, and directed to have the next gentleman on the
list sworn in as foreman, Mr. Harris to be affirmed with
the general body of jurors. In the case of Mr. T. S.
Harvey, who was objected to on the same grounds, a
similar decision was made.—Clonniel Chronicle.

CQUAT. AZITD 'OFFICIAL' INTELLIGENCEj

On Thursday morning the Queen and Prince Consort
walked in the grounde of Windsor Castle. -
His Royal ighness the Prince of. Wales,- attended;
Ly Major-General the Hon. R. Bruce and Captain Grey,-
went to Claremont.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duchesi of Cambridge-
and Princess Mary toekleave of her Majesty, and pro-
ceeded from the Castle to Kew, attended by Lady Geral-
dine Somerset and Lientenan,-Colonel Purves.
The following visitors also took their departure :
The Marquis and Maxchioncss of Westminster and Lady
Theodora Grosvencr, the Earl and Countess Stanhope,,
the Earl and Countess Cowley., and Lady Sophia Wel-,
lesley, Viscount Palmerston, Lord Waterpark, Lieut..-
General the Right Hon. J. and Lady Alice Peel; and:
Mi. Gibbs.
The Earl and Countess of Clarendon left the Grove,
n'ar Watford, on Thursday for. Windsor Castle, on a
visit to her Majesty.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales joined his
old friends, the Buckinghamshire farmers, in a capital
day's hunt on Tuesday last. The meet was at Salt-hill,,
near Slough ; the field large, and hares plentiful.
On Thursday two deputations—one on the subject of
burial fees in the metropolis,, and the other respecting
local claims on ecclesiastical_property—had interviews
with Sir G. C. Lewis, at the Home Office.
The first court ball of the season in Paris was given
on Wednesday night,, at the Tuilleries, and comprised
all the rank and fashion or the capital. The arrange-
ments were of the most brilliant description.

THE DEAN OF CARLISLE ON TEETOTALISM.—At a
temperance meeting held on Wednesday, at Carlisle,
the Right Hon. the Dean spoke strongly in favour
of teetotalism. "Whitby was , once," he said;
" a seaport abounding with drunken -sailors.. For:
three years the curate laboured without any ap-
parent result. He.' preached and lectured -assiduously,
but . he never could get the men to . attend. , At.
length he began to visit their homes of au evening when
the men were in, and then he -found that the cause of
their absence was drink. He conversed and reasoned.
with them, became himself a teetotaller, and persuaded
others to join him, and now a gteat reformation had
taken place in the town, and the people were more
orderly and more comfortable in their homes." •
THE DECIMAL COINAGE COMMISSION.—On Wednes-
day was published a blue-book of 250 pages, containing
an app.endit to the first report of the Decimal Coinage
Commissioners. .It includes the evidence of sundry
witnesses, answers to circular queries from various
countries, answers to Lord Overstone's questions by Mr.
J. H. Alelandet, Professor Bellow, Lieutenant-General
Pasley, . K. C. 8., R. E., and • Mr. T. Ratbbone ; a
letter from Professor De Morgan jMay, 1857), and a
list of books and pamphlets on decimal coinage. The
condemnation of the system of decimal coinage by the
commission is now matter of history.
• THE RACES OF NEW ZEALAND.—In all conquests,,
whether by the mind or the sword, which have termi-
nated in good to the weaker party, the conquerors have
invariably amalgamated with the conquered ; and this is
most necessary among the New Zealanders, as their
rapid decrease is much aggravated by breeding in and
in. It is, therefore, satisfactory to find that Cau-
casian blood already•flows iu the. veins of two thou-
sand of the native population. The late Reverend
Mr. Lawry, the venerable superintendent of the Wea-
.leyan missions in the South Seas, states that
"the New Zealanders are melting away ;" but, he
he observes, "they are not lost, they are merging into
another and a better class. In this process there.lacketh
not sin, but Providence will ever rule this, and.bring
forth a fine new race of civilised mixed people, which
shall be better for the world, better for the church, and
better for the new race." A large proportion of
thsese half-castes are New Zealanders in language
and manners, and they . are singularly free from
scrofula, the diseased taint in the Maori blood.. Physi-
cally, they area noble and beautiful race, and they
only require education to develop the force and power
.of their minds. In the third generation, the nut-brown
akin, the black eye, and the raven hair generally dis-
appear. This amalgamation is solely due to European
men and Maori women, only five. European women
having had children by Maori men. Such, however, is
the custom in all countries where two races come
together in different degrees of civilisation ;
.the Franks
in Gaul, and the Normans in England, wedded the
daughters of the conquered, but few of the daughters of
the invaders condescended to merge into the class of the
vanquished. As the Anglo-Saxon settlers in New Zea-
land must soon outnumber the Aborigines, the features
of the Maori.race will disappear from among• the half-
castes, although traces of their blood will occasionally
be seen in families after many generations: Haughty
Spaniards in South America boast of their descent from
the Incas; two of Montezuma's children, founded
noble Spanish houses ; Gareilaso, . the historian's
epitaph at Cordova records that kis mother was sister to
the last native Emperor of Peru ; and respectable Vir-
ginian families are proud in tracing a. connection with
the ancient rulers of the country.- The same feeling in
a few generations will develop itself in New Zealand,
and settlers will yet boast Of having in their veins the
blood of Hongi, Potatau. Rauparaha, Heke, Walker
Nene, Rangilmetaa, Te Heu loleu4. Kawiti, and other
Maori warriors.—The Story of New Zealand. .
. A.BATCH OF CENTENARIANS.—The following is a,hst
of the names of persons 100 years-of. age and upwards
who have died in the United States during the year
1859 :—February 5, Philip Jessee, Virginia, 129 ; Bth,
Clesar (coloured), Louisiana, 138 ; Candar,
Now Jersey.. 103 ; 18th, Zelphy Sdhanck, New Jersey,
119•; 18th, Nancy, a slave, Alabama, 100, 22nd, Sarah
Mallory (coloured), Virginia, 120 ; and. Hannah Phillips,
New Jersey, 118 ; 27th, Thomas Sweeny, Pennsylvania,
122 ; March 14th, Mary Shauguessey, Massachusetts,
112; 17th, Elizabeth Carter, South. Carolina, 101; 29th,
Phoebe Christian (coloured), Ohio, 118; April 25th,
Polly Boston (coloured), Maryland, 109, and John Dick-
son, Ohio, 110; June 22, Virginia Ford (coloured),
Washington, 120; July 14, Anna Pope, Massachusetts,
105; 16th, Sarah W. Hughes, Mississippi, 113; August
17, Susannah Hervey, Rhode Island, 100; 20th, James
Kean, Pennsylvania, 106; 25th, William Owen, Virgi-
nia, 100; September 24,Williarn Sims, New York, 102;
28th, Elizabeth Gemmel, Georgia, 116; October 12, J.
Ultinger, Teuessee, 104; November 1, John Wilson,
Maine, 103; 17th, Phillis, a slave, 100; December 17,
George Woodhouse (coloured), Virginia, 120 ; 25th,
Mrs. Greenly (coloured), Pennsylyania, 100.—New York
Herald.