Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-27 00:00:00

THE COURT, &c,

• -
WINDSOR, Tuesday.—There was no addition to the
royal dinner party yesterday. The Queen, with Prince
Arthur and Prince Leopold, walked in the Home Park,
and visited her royal highness the Duchess of Kent at
Frogmore. His Royal Highness the Prince Consort
went out shooting. Princess Alice, Princess Helena, and
Princess Louisa rode in the riding house. The Duke of
Nemours visited her Majesty at the Castle.

THE FRENCH GOVERNESS IN THE ROYAL FAMILY.
Madame Louise Rollande de la Sange, who has for more
than twelve years filled the office of French governess in
the Royal circle, has just retired; bearing from the Palace
a load of gratitude and favour. It is well known that
the Queen and her children have parted from this lady
with real regret ; and we feel sure that the public generally
will follow her into her retirement with the best of good
wishes.

THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE NAPOLEON.—The bar-
barians of Eastern India, offered annually a virgin's
blood to the Goddess of Evil. Seven maidens formed
the yearly oblation of the Grecian Islanders to their
divinity. But what were these in comparison with the
Iphigenias and Andromedas of modem •diplomacy ?
They are chained to the stake, buried in foul labyrinths,
delivered into the maw of monsters, bound hand and
foot on the altar of policy ; and the last victim has
been Clotilde of Savoy. Never, in history or in
fable, was consummated a more ruthless sacrifice.
That poor girl, now in her sixteenth year, saw
the French Emperor's cousin for the first time
last Monday ; next Sunday she is to be his wife.
Her hUsband was only named to her after she had been
irrevocably promised to him ; she, a child, helpless in
the coarse hands of ambition, is made the Serena of an
unholy alliance, and is placed, as a bribe and a tribute,
at the feet of a Bonaparte who has already made for
himself in Paris the reputation of an Imperial Beckford.
Sorrow for her that she dwells in the frigid zone of
'society—that upon those lofty altitudes affection has no
life and humanity no sway ; she is but wax that seals a
treaty, ink that marks a frontier, a slave sold as the
price of a protocol and a handful of bayonets. Such is
the morality, such the nature, such the humiliation of
Royal Europe. The girl's hand, said by foolish but fond
traditions to bear on its palm an outline of the White
Cross of Savoy, is passed into that of a stranger ;
and, if the reports be authentic, she submits as a
menial to her lord, although not, perhaps, without a
secret shudder. But the world cannot be expected to
sympathise with more than a passing emotion in her
disgrace. It is true that, before reaching womanhood,
she is thrust into the arms of a stranger ; but hers is the
fortune of a Princess. She is not the first damsel of
Royal blood whose bridal veil has been woven of tears,
and -whose nuptial wreath has been a crown of thorns.
She passes from her home into her prison; and when
another scene opens to her eyes who knows of what
colour it may be ? Yet she must suffer the penalty of
being a King's daughter ; she is not married, but bar-
gained away'.; her father—to his shame—after negotiating
a partnership of ambition with the French ruler, has
'thrown his Clotilde in as a bonus. What may 'be her
-vicissitudes, her ignominy, her regrets, it is now too late
to inquire. The unnatural immolation will have been
completed next Sunday, exactly a fortnight after the
youthful Princess was first stared at by the general
officer, of Imperial extraction, who wore white plumes
in the Crimea—who sprang from sordid obscurity—who
was raised from nothingness by his parvenu relative's
successful piracy—who naturahsed in France the gro-
tesque luxuries of Constantinople—and who then, for a
certain fixed consideration, became the betrothed of Clotilde,
who wears eight hundred years of ancestry upon her brow.
To Europe the question is, why has this infamous
barter taken place? It is not to be believed that Victor
Emmanuel has eaten dirt disinterestedly, or that his
child has been wedded, like Catherine of Russia, to a
martinet imbecile without a stipulation. "My blood
shall never mingle in the Courts of Kings," said
Napoleon the Great,—although he afterwards thought it
politic to take a bride whose Danubian beauty identified
her with a family of Emperors. But he had genius, was
popular in France, had acquired glory for himself and his
soldiers ; he could have dispensed with " high connec-
tions." Louis Napoleon, however, as he came to Queen
Victoria for a character, and was forced to marry the
daughter of a Spanish Duchess after soliciting a score of
Princesses in vain, goes to Turin for prestige. The
Pope has not yet crowned him; he is still a monarch
unconsecrated ; what, then, must he do ? It is not
enough to be a great contractor for the rebeildin,g of
Paris, or an irresponsible Admiralty Lord excavating
docks and launching three-deckers, or a mute keeping
watch over silence amid the moral ruins of France;
in a word, it suffices not for Louis Napoleon that
he should be a crownless Emperor without a halo,
without claim to a high place in history, without
a trace of his uncle's fame except that which he has
borrowed and abused. Bonaparte, therefore, must be a
conqueror. If he cannot win France to his dynasty, he
may strike terror into Europe. Anglers of his class,
however, fish in shallow streams. He saw that Victor
Emmanuel panted for a position above his merits—that
he appeared weary of the family left him by a wife whose
death-bed was one of melancholy—that he was ready to
be allured by profligate political schemes—and that the
chimera of a Savoyard throne on the Seven Hills might
dazzle him out of his self-respect, his conscience, and his
natural feelings. We can well believe, however, that the
intrigue was not one of recent origin ; it must have cost
some pangs to a prince of ancient Italian blood ; even
Victor Emmanuel could not prostrate himself in this
Siamese attitude without a struggle and a show of reluc-
tance. But egotism has triumphed'; the family compact
between France and Piedmont is signed; the political
convention, as a matter of course, will fellow ; and the
Italian Princess, almost before blooming into girlhood,
is signed away to a Mephistopheles among the European
Powers. Italy, as might have been expected, views this mar-
riage with apprehension ; the Lombards dread a French
instead of an Austrian rule ; Naples remembers the dis-
appointments of Murat's reign; Rome understands well
enough what is meant by an occupation of scarlet
trousers and Algerian turbans, a usurpation of Manielukes
and Ottoman Janissaries. Bat they all perceive how
near to this revolution they are drawn by the new mar-
riage ala Mode at Turin. Henceforth, Victor Emmanuel
and Louis Napoleon are brothers ; but they both hope
that laurels will bud under the lily-garland, and that the
sacerdotal benediction will be drowned before long in
shouts of mutual victory. No statesman can view this
marriage in a milder light. The Prince and Princess at
the altar will resemble plenipotentiaries negotiating an
alliance ; their retinues, by an imaginative eye, might
be transfigured into squadrons and convoys ; and
the hour in which Clotilde is saluted by the cannon
of Paris, may fix the date at which the hordes
of a rench invasion will swarm over the Alps.
There are now upon the thrones of Europe two
Sovereign Queens, three Emperors, and thirteen Kings,
in addition to a Sultan, a Pope, with an ante-chamber
full of reigning Princes and Grand Dukes. Surely, then,
the heiress of Savoy might have been bestowed upon a
less equivocal pretender. Happier for her to have pre-
sided over the toy-Court of Reuss-Schleiz, or to have
been waited on by the five maids of honour composing
the entourage of Schwarzbourg, Sonderhausen, than to
have worn the chain of a Mediterranean Soulouque and
to hazard a life of abasement for a few years of adula-
tion. She goes, however, like Briseis from the tent of
Achilles ; she may be the Helen of a continental war ;
her finger, bearing the Bonaparte ring, is an omen seen
through a cloud ; her union with Prince Napoleon, after
fourteen days of acquaintance, indicates the work that
is in hand. Italy, loaded with fetters, blindly seeks a
deliverer ' • and Piedmont, in her name, imitates the
pagans of antiquity. A virgin Princess, manacled with
golden bracelets, stripped of her hereditary pride, and
doing bare-footed penance for the sins of her nation, is
bound to the rock of St. Helena, and the world looks
aghast ; not only because so hideous a ceremony is to
take place, but because it forebodes a conspiracy against
the peace of Europe. Not without a reward has Victor
Emmanuel abandoned at once himself, his child, and the
honour of his people.

ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN RAILROADS.—A
statement has just been presented of some of the prin-
cipal railway companies. That of the Erie is to the 30th
September, 1858, and shows an actual deficit of £140,000.
The total cost of this line has been £7,530,000, repre-
sented by £2,200,000 subscribed stock, £5,000,000
mortgaged bonds, and £330,000 debts for interest, &c.
The Panama statement for the year shows a balance of
£106,000 after paying 12 per cent. to the shareholders,
appropriating £lO,OOO to the sinking fund. The survey
of the Atlantic and Great Western line, which is intended
to complete a new and unbroken broad gauge route from
New York to St. Louis, by the construction of a link of
378 miles between the New York and Erie and the
Western roads, had been completed by Mr. Kennard, of
London, and very favourably reported upon. There are
two other routes to the West, both of which pay largely,
although they have disadvantages of elevation and of
interruption of gauge, from which the new line will be
free. The opposition to its construction has therefore
been severe, but the statements brought against it do not
appear to have been borne out.---Titn City Article.

POACHING AFFRAY, AT SHELFORD,
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

A poaching affray, of a most violent character, took
place early on Tuesday morning, at Shelford, in the
preserves of the Earl of Chesterfield, seven miles from
Nottingham. It appears that, about one o'clock that
morning, six game-keepers were on the watch in the
above grounds, when they discovered a number of nets,
near to which were about twenty poachers. The keepers
courageously attempted to capture some of the men, when a
regular melee took place. Life preservers, loaded sticks, and
other dangerous weapons were used by the poachers. The
keepers let loose their dogs, when some of the poachers
shouted out, " Stab them," and three dogs were shortly
after seriously wounded. The scuffle between the poachers
and keepers was terrible, and one of the latter, named
Woodward, was fearfully wounded. Some of the poachers
also received dangerous wounds. One of them, named
Ward, received some severe blows on the head, and
was captured. The keepers also succeeded in taking
another of the poachers, named Woolaston alias Cur-
zons. Shortly afterwards the poachers took to flight.
The captured men were on Tuesday, taken before
Mr. R. Birkin, a county magistrate, and, after a
short private examination, was remanded until Satur-
day. The poachers were disguised in slouched
hats, and other kinds of wearing apparel. The
police are actively engaged, endeavouring to secure more
of the men. The keepers state that the wounded poacher,
Ward, received his wound from the hands of his own
party, it having been intended for one of the keepers,
who eluded it, and the weapon fell with terrific violence
upon the head of the captured poacher. Up to half-
past four that afternoon he had not been able to speak,
and it is expected he will not recover.

WBSTIIINSTER ABBEY.—A minor canonry in the Abbey
has become vacant by the death of the Rev. Dr. Waters.
It has been stated that it is likely to be conferred upon
the minister of one of the district churches of St. Martin-
in-the-Fields, an appointment which, if made, will
certainly not diminish the confidence which the Dean and
Canons of Westminster have inspired in the public mind
by their selection of minor canons for many years past.
A more efficient body could not be found in any of our
cathedral or collegiate churches.—Tinies.

AUSTRALIA.-the estimated population of South Aus-
tralia, at the end of 1856, amounted to 104,708 souls,
namely, 53,086 males, and 51,622 females. In 1856 there
were 4,488 births, 1,147 deaths, and 1,172 marriages.
The number of emigrants were 5,577, and of immigrants
15,418. There were 147 schools, and 6,833 scholars.
The revenue of the colony amounted to £748,291, and
the expenditure to £860,883. 430 vessels of 113,661
tons entered inwards, and 437 of 116,729 tons cleaed
outwards. Seven vessels of 474 tons were built,
and 18 of 1,850 tons were registered in 1856.
The imports were valued at £1,366,529, and the
exports at £1,665,740. The imports from the United
Kingdom amounted to £855,722, and the exports thither
to £633,380. About 25,399 square miles of land were
leased, and the amount received. was £14,429. 203,423
acres of land were under crop, of whioh 162,011 were
under wheat,. Prices ranged as follows (in 1856), viz.:—

Wheat, 6s to 9s 6d per bushel; barley, 3s. 6d to 5s 6d ;
oats, 4s 6d to 7s ; apples, 10d to is 6d per lb ; grapes, 3s
to is 6d per lb ; and peaches, 9d to is 3d per doz. There
were 22,660 horses, 272,460 horned heists, 1,962,460 sheep
and lambs, 27,594 pigs, and 1,677 goats. The number of
mines was 58 (only one gold). Domestic servants
could earn £4O to £5O a-year, with board and lodging
(females, £lO to £2O), and predial servants £4O to
£6O (married couples) and single men £35 to £5O.
Turning to the interesting, although small colony
of Western Australia, it is found that the popula-
tion in 1856 was 13,391, there were 355 births, 96
deaths, and 99 marriages. The number of schools was
12, and of scholars 522. The revenue amounted
to £51,170, and the expenditure to £46.990. 112 ships,
of .26,681 tons, entered the colony in 1856, while 112, of
26,604 tons, cleared out. The value of the imports was
£1122,938, and of the exports £44,740. 18,063 acres of
land were under crop, and the live stock included 5,408
horses, 23,207 horned cattle, 177,717 sheep, 6,247 swine,
and 1,258 goats. The average rate of wages was, of do-
mestic helps, £lO to £l5 a year; of predial, £l2 to £4O ;
arpenters earned 8s a-day, painters Bs, sawyers 10s, and
blacksmiths 10s.

LIFE BOLT EXPENSES.-During the past year the
-Royal National Life-boat Institution has incurred the
following expenses, on either additional new life-boat
stations, or the replacing of old boats, transporting
carriages, and houses, by new ones-Norfolk- Cromer,
2761. 16s. "51 ; Mundesley, 2231. 9s. sd. ; Bacton, 377/.
lls. 11d.; Palling, 272/. Ws. 6d. ; Winterton, 4001. 6s.
11d.; Yarmouth (two boats), 859/. 3s. 53. Suffolk-
-Lowestoft, 153/. 14s. 6d. ; Southwold, 127/. 19s. Ber-
wick, 73/.4 l3oulmer, 73/.; Alnwortb, 411.; Whitburn,
2471. ls. : Hornsea, 44/. 12s. ; Exmouth, 1401. ls. ;
Appledore, 441. 12s. ' • Aberdovey, 138/. 3s. Id ; Rhyl,
52/. 17s. ; Penmon, 72/. 15s. ; Fleetwood, 140/. Is. ;
Fraserburgh, 255/. 2s. 2d. ; Lossiemouth, 140/. Is.
Ireland-Newcastle County Down, 282/. 75.; Dundalk,
1911. ls. ; Kilmore, 140/. is. ; Carnsore, 1871.
.Bs. ; Tramore, 822/. 18s. 9d. ; Dungarvan' 1911.
ls; and Ardmore, 81/. 1 Is. sd. The Institution has also
,expended on the repairs, stores, alterations, and inspec-
tion of its numerous life-boats, boat-houses, and trans-
porting carriages, 2,714/. ss. 3d., making altogether a
total of 8,265/7 3s. 9d. It has also granted, during the
same period, 9521. as awards for saving 427 persons from

64 wrecks on our coasts. A. most satisfactory result, and
clearly showing how much has been accomplished by the
well-directed efforts which the Life-boat Institution has
brought to bear on this humane cause. This great and
national work has, however, only been accomplished by
involving the society in a debt of 3,0471, and an ex-
penditure of 1,0001. from its small reserved capital.
Impelled by every feeling which we hold dear, to save a
fellow creature from an appalling death by shipwreck,
one would suppose that the National Life-boat Institu-
tion had claims which came home to the hearts of every
one and there pleaded for support and sympathy ; and
most particularly does this apply to the United
Kindom, which is so much indebted for so large a
portion of its greatness and prosperity to its hardy seamen.
In respect, then, of the Life-boat Institution, its objects
being so truly national and philanthropic, we do not
hesitate to recommend it earnestly, and on all occasions,
to the support of those who are able to render it. That
kelp was never more needed than at present, when,
through the extraordinary exertions the society has made
within the past few years, it has now eighty-one life-boats
under its management. To maintain these boats in a
state of thorough efficiency, a large permanent annual
income is absolutely needed, if its humane mission is to
be perpetuated. We feel assured that after this plain
statement of facts relative to one of our most useful
societies, we shall soon have the pleasure to report a very
large increase to its permanent income.

THE INTERESTIN6 BALLET GIRL.—We have only just
begun to forget the case of the interesting Scotch girl
when we have a somewhat similar case filling the papers
—that oi the interesting ballet girl. With all its features
of horrid moral deformity, it is a sad, a pitiful story, and
without any effort will easily point a moral or adorn a
tale ; some thoughts are forced upon me as I write.
What a sorry figure does a certain gentleman—manao•er,
lessee, newspaper proprietor, hotel keeper. &c.,—cut, after
having come forward with a subscription for the model
of the heroine of the ballet, the Pamela of the stage.
Hearing of the struggles to prevent her fall, he comes
forward with an offer of an engagement and a sub-
scription, hoping that the Dean of Carlisle will now
be convinced that there are virtuous women on the
stage (as if he ever said there were not). It is re-
markable what follow-my-leaders the English are in such
matters. A case of fictitious attempt at suicide appears,
the magistrate commiserates the case, gives the prisoner
a half sovereign out of the poor-box, and has no doubt
that the press will mention the case. Forthwith A.B.C.
and all the rest of the alphabet send subscriptions, and
ultimately a very large amount of money is rolled
together for what is possibly a sham after all. Look how
the money rolled in for Miss Johnson, the cutler's
daughter, here ; and was all the truth on her side ? I
can only say that there are in London, to my personal
knowledge, several respectable tradesmen and merchants
who utterly disbelieve the statements against Mr. Johnson
—statements which per se are incredible. Ido not write at
random when I say, we may yet hear another side of this
story. As to the ballet girl, she has shown herself artful
and wicked : but I regret to add, that inquiries which I
have made of several people intimately mixed up with
the management of theatres, confirms my previous
impression, that her case only differs from the rule in
some of its details. Painful it is to learn that full one-
half of the girls who are brought forward in that volup-
tuous entertainment, the ballet, are justly chargeable
with the grossest immorality, and that of the other half
suspicion of similar conduct is not without good grounds.
The temptation to immorality on the part of tlecorp
de ballet are not equalled by those of anyi
guinea a week,
other sphere of
s
life. The very highest pay is but
awnhdiltehioslils only
rest
ly for the
a
e efroneltraorwies(s ay eight young women),
varying from 10s. to
as low as 6s a week; and this, of course, is only during
the season. Let any one consider the friendless position
of many of these girls, the beauty of most of them, the
atmosphere in which they the hours which they keep,
awnogneldserwf wonderful
eannodugsahy
toifmake
mitbee
ep.hatAsthteo
trheseuletaseshootedjabnee
Newell, it contains ample materials of truth to be mixed
up with a good deal of imagination, and for the whole to
be produced, "price one penny," for the lovers of such
lieuteetratupo.o. A day
i or
two hence we shall doubtless have
k‘__ ury Times London correspondent.