Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-11-09 00:00:00

THE NEGRO INSURRECTION

The reporter of the New York Herald gives an ac-
count of an interview with Captain Brown, the leader
of the recent attempted insurrection. Brown refused
to give any account of who were his accomplices, and
said finally

I have nothing to say, only that I claim to be here in
carrying out a measure I believe perfectly justifiable,
and not to act the part of an incendiary or ruffian, but
to aid those suffering great wrong. I wish to say,
furthermore, that you had better—all you people at
the South—prepare yourself for a settlement of that
question that must come up for settlement sooner than
you are prepared for it. The sooner you are prepared
the better. You may dispose of me very easily. lam
nearly disposed of now ; but this question is still to be
settled—this negro question I mean ; the end of that is
not yet. These wounds were inflicted upon me—both
sabre cuts on my head, and bayonet stabs in different
parts of my body—some minutes after I hal ceased
fighting and had consented to a surrender, for the benefit

a others, not for my own. (This statement was ve-
hemently denied by all around.) I believe' the major
(meaning Lieut. J. B. Stuart, of the United States
cavalry) would not have been alive ; I could have
killed him just as easy as a mosquito when he came in,
but I supposed he came in only to receive our surrender..
There had been loud and long calls of " Surrender "
from us—as loud as men could yell—but in the con-
fusion and excitement I suppose we were not heard. I
do not think the major, or any one, meant to butcher
us after we had surrendered.
An officer here stated that the orders to the marines
were not to shoot anybody; but when they were fired
upon by Brown's men, and one of them killed, they
were obliged to return the compliment.

Mr. Brown insisted that the inarines fired first.

PILGRIMAGE TO MEccA.—A recent publication of the
Ministry of Algeria and the Colonies makes some curious
statements relating to the pilgrimages to Mecca during
the present year. The ceremonies at Mecca terminated
on the 11th of last month in the presence of about
50,000 pilgrims, of whom 17,850 had come by sea, and
32,150 by land. In 1858 there were 160,000 pilgrims
in 1857, 140,000 ; and in 1866, 120,000. This great
decrease in the number in 1859 is owing, the natives
declare, to the events of Djeddah last year, and also
to the dread of the cholera, which made extensive
ravages in 1858. As soon as the pilgrim sets
foot on the sacred soil of Mecca, he must put on
two pieces of white cloth, one tied round the loins
with ends hanging down to the middle of the leg, while
the other is thrown over the shoulders so as to leave
the right arm free. He must go bare-headed and wear
sandals. As long as he wears this garment he is
bound to lead a pure and regular life. At Mecca he-
begins the ceremonies under the direction of a guide.
They are as follow :--1, visiting the temple and going
seven times round the Kaaba, starting from the Black
Stone, which he must kiss or touch in completing each cir-
cuit ; 2, drinking the water of the well of Zem Zein, at
which, says tradition, Hagar and Ishmael quenched their
thirst ; 3, praying at the Station of Abraham, marked
by a stone, on which he is said to have stood when he
went to sacrifice his son; 4, stopping and praying
at the place called El Madjen, the spot where
Solomon stood to see mortar mixed for building the
temple ; 5, running seven times between Mouna Safa
and Merwa, within the limits of they city, in com-
memoration of Hagar's anxious search for water for her-
self and her son; 6, repairing on the 9th day of the month
to Mount Ararat, about 12 miles from Mecca, after
morning prayer. Mahommedan tradition says, that on
this hill Adam built a temple and Mahomet performed
his devotions. 7, on the following day the pilgrims all
go in a body to the Valley of Mouna and there sacrifice
propitiatory victims ; they also cut their hair and nails,
devoutly burying the portions cut off. After remaining
two days at Mouna they again visit the Temple of
Mecca, and then prepare for their departure.

THE FIRE AT THE PARAFFIN LIGHT COMPANY'S

—lt will be remembered that about a month ago a fire_
broke out upon the premises of the Patent'Paraffin Light
Company in Bucklersbury,. and that, in accordance with
the, desire expressed by a deputation of inhabitants (on
behalf of whom Mr. Hubbard, solicitor, whose offices
adjoin the Paraffin Company's acted as spokesman),
requested Mr. Serjeant Payne, the City coroner, to hold
an inquest upon the fire, and at the same time directed
the City solicitor to attend and watch the proceedings.
The coroner held an inquest accordingly, and Mr.
Pearson, City solicitor, now attended at the Mansion
House to report the result, Mr. Hubbard being also
fire were read,
present on behalf of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood,
and Mr. Tindal Atkinson (instru.lted by Mr. T. H.
Smith, Frederick's-place, Old Jewry), on behalf of the
Patent Paraffin Light Company. The Lord Mayor
inquired of Mr. Pearson what had been the result of the
tinhqeuleasttte?r
beingT hto
The summing u
the
e ewas accidental,
but that there had been great neglect and an absence
of proper precautions, and that paraffin oil could not
ffc tp thatan d
the the
verdict
be stored in large quantities without danger. Mr. At-
kinson said paraffin oil had recently come into extensive
use as a cheap and brilliantly burning oil, and it could
not be the wish, either of his lordship or the city solici-
tor, to fetter the freedom of trade in any way while it was
carried on consistently with the safety of the public. His
client was quite ready to adopt any suggestion that could
be made so as to ensure safety in the conduct of his
business. Lord Mayor : Then I will make a suggestion
at once, which' ought to be satisfactory both to him and
his neighbours. That is, that he shall only store the
oil in small quantities, and shall keep it in a fire-proof
building. Suggestions were also made with regard to
using a Davy lamp in the fire-proof room when the oil
was being handled for purposes of sale. His lordship
objected to anything in the matter which might prove
unnecessarily prejudicial to the interests of trade. In
the end an adjournment was ordered to see it the pro-
posed arrangements, when fully carried out, were quite
f satisfactory to all parties concerned.

THE ROMANTIC BALLADS OF SCOTLAND.

In one of his recently published Elinbm-gh Papers;
Mr. Robert Chambers challenges the authenticity of the

romantic ballads of Scotland first published in the
Percy and Herd collection, and endeavours to show
that, instead of being traditionary lyrics handed darn
from a remote period, they are all of comparativel
modern composition, and that in all probability som
the best of them were written by Lady War ,
of Pitreave, who died in 1727. -On this question
do
Professor Aytoun has joined issue with Mr. Cham-
bers, and in an address delivered to the members of
the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh, on Fri-
day last, he stood up for the antiquity of the
ballads in dispute, and claimed for them an origin
at least as remote as the Danish Invasions
and occupations of Scotland. The learned professor,.
in his address, said that Mr. Chambers maintained,
or what was very much the same thing, insinuated
that several of the very finest of the Scotch ballads be-
longing to the romantic class, including " Sir Patrick
Spens," "Gil Morrice," "Edward, Edward," "young
Waters," "Mary Hamilton," and others, were of modern
composition. His principal reasons for coming to that con-
clusion appeared to be these :—First, that no very ancient
MS. of these ballads was known to exist; secondly,
that they were too polished in diction and too elegant
in style to be traditionary popular ballads; and, thirdly,
that they bore a suspicious resemblance to one another,
from the repetition of sundry images and stereotyped
phrases, which Mr. Chambers thought might be taken as
a presumption that they were all written by the same
hand. He (Professor Aytoun) thought he could dis-
pose of the first objection by this simple remark, that
they were here dealing with traditionary poetry deli-
vered not in writing, but by recitation, from one gene-
ration to another, under circumstances precisely similar
to the circulation of the Homeric poems, which were
current in Greece about 400 years before they -
committed to writing under the direction of Pisistratus.
His second objection, regarding polished diction and
elegance of style, amounted simply to this, that he
would reject the best ballads because they were so very
good. He had given them specimens of ballads which
he believed to be genuine because they were bad. Now,
every one who knew anything about Scotch ballads
must, be aware that they differed marvellously in
quality ; some were so poor, so prosaic, so garrulous,
that he (Professor Aytoun) could hardly bring himself
to admit them to his collection ; but,:because there were
bad ballads in our traditional lore, was it a logical se-
quence that there should be no good ones ? He denied,
moreover, that any of the Scottish ballads exhibited those
graces or rather peculiarities of style which corresponded
with the ballad literature of the period when Mr Cham-
bers s:r)posed them to have been written_ They were
not one whit more polished—indeed, they were less so—
than the poetry of Robert Burns ; and was it necessary
to conclude that the composers of these fine old ballads
were men of lower social rank and less intelligent than
he was ? The third objection, as to resemblances
and the recurrence of images and lines, was the weakest
of all. These resemblances and recurrences where the
unavoidable result of oral recitation, and were a con-
spicuous feature in the ballad poetry of every country.
With regard to the claims of Lady Wardlaw, the autho-
ress of "Hardyknute," he (Professor Aytoun) thought
Mr. Chambers had not been able to rest on any strong
foundation the pretensions urged in her behalf as the
writer of " Sir Patrick Spens," and other ballads, not-
withstanding that one of her grandchildren had writ-
ten of her, " sh 6 was a woman of elegant accom-
plishments, who wrote other poems, and practised
drawing, and cutting paper with her scissors. The
fact was, said the Professor, that several of the romantic
Scotch ballads, the authenticity of which had been
so ruthlessly hallenged, had their exact counterpart
in the Norse minstrelsy. He proceeded to contrast
passages from the Scotch ballad "Edward, Edward,"
and from a Scandinavian ballad, as showing a striking
resemblance, both in subject and style. He said that
the ballads of " Lord Ronald," "Sweet Willie and
Fair Annie," " Clerk Saunders," and the fatuous comic
ballad of "Our Gudeman," had all Scandinavian coun-
terparts as exact, and even more so, as those he had
read. He submitted, therefore; that he had made out
not only a strong but a satisfactory case in maintain-
ing that the people of Scotland were indebted to the
old Norse settlers for a large share of their popular tra-
ditions and poetry, which gave a keynote to their own
purely native historical ballads, of noble composition,
which it could never have entered into the soul of the
paper-clipping lady of Pitreave to have conceived,

THE COMPASSES AFFECTED BY THE NATURE OF THE
CARGO.—An instance of this has just occurred. A
Prussian ship Burgomeister, leaving .Glasgow with' a
cargo consisting chiefly of large cast-iron pipes, the
captain found the compasses in error. On being tested
at Garelochhead, it was found that the cargo had in-
fluenced the compasses to the extent of no less than
thirty degrees. It is important, therefore, that the
compasses of all vessels, loaded to any great extent with
iron, should be carefully examined before going to sea.
We are informed that Mr. R. E. Pinhey, a gentle-
man in the Peninsular and Oriental Company's ser-
vice, has invented an instrument for ascertaining
and correcting the local errors to 'which compasses
are particularly liable on board iron ships. A chrono-
meter box is hung upon jimballs, and having over its
top a dumb-card (similar to Friend's pelorus) and an
equatorial, or sun-dial, which, by means of a radua-
tion, are at the'side, can be adjusted to the latitude of
the place.. The -observer, with a watch set at the
apparent time, or time of the ship, causes the
shadow of the dial to fall on the part of the in-
strument representing the time. One portion of the
cross will then be in the direction of the true meridian
of the place ; consequently all true bearings can ho ascer-
tained at once—all magnetic bearings, by applying
the known variation for the place of observation.. The
instrument may be used in any part of the ship, the
only adjustment required being to put the lubber line
towards the ship's head, then, by placing the dumb-
card to correspond with the meridian, or the magnetic
meridian, as may he desired, the difference between its
indication and that of the compasses on bOard will. be
ees et
abovelTrs::
compass
be,
m hasplaislads bcPoeerie:atiporr:
aCthial
the errors for wl7trii,lcehssoaaililetlhoosfv
ipjnoo ap-
pointed Liverpool. p Campbell,oo l. agent for

ANlEutex-s CIVILIZATION.--HORRIBLE STORY.---7-Only
choice spirits even among the sons of lEsculapius would
rank the honour of tying the subclavian for aneurism so
high as Dr. John D. Poster and Dr. Choppin, two house-
surgeons at the Charity Hospital, New Orleans. These
surgeons have contested -the honour by- wager of .battlp :

" On Saturday morning," says an American paper, " the
_wife of a man who was afflicted with aneurism, and was
at the Charity Hospital, applied to have a dangerous
operation (that of tying the subclavian artery) performed
by Dr. Choppin. Ile agreed to do it if the man left the
hospital and Caine t 9 his infirmary. This the man desired
to do, but on asking the deputy clerk for his 'discharge
he -was informed-that Dr. Foster had.left.instru.etious that
he should not be permitted to go out of the hospital.
The man waited at the gate until Dr. Choppiri came, who
told him he could leave if he chose, as a matter of
course, for they had no right to . detain him in the
hospital as if he was a prisoner. ' The man then went
Out." Then commenced a scene disgraceful to relate—
a scene of mingled cowardice, bloodshed, and brutality.
The medical art had-mot softened their_waye, and had
suffered the disputants to remain as savages. These
two physicians met on the steps of the hospital;
two angry sentences passed ; then commenced the
wager of battle, in the pagan fashion of those
region,
strucka and
an prising d
back down the his
sideleft
parts. While Dr. Choppin was cocking his pistol
Dr. Foster, .who had a self-cocking revolver, shot him
in the. left side of the Beek. The ball cut the external
jugular vein, and
paralysed his arm for a moment,
uy wounding
jwe
uas
hand,
aslt 1
i nearly
io over
g e rh
andt his
e ten
hip.p feet.
Dlr. to.
c
sendingisto
D. F
hi
nihr goo off,ih
t staggeringpponsetsrli
then
hhentn shot him again, the
ballentering the
fired, left,b uitlia thecr balldrew his other l
"Der-
ringer" and fi
iron gate-post. Immediatelythrowing away the pistol, he
drew a bowie knife, and dared Dr. Foster to fight with_
knives. Dr. Foster fired again an ineffectual ball. Dr.
Choppin was then advancing upon him knife in hand,
r
and Dr. Foster slowly retiring with his revolver levelled,
when the students interposed. Dr. Foster was arrested.
It was not known. whether the ball entering the iliac
region of 'Dr. Choppin had wounded the membranes of
out at his side
glanced off the
the abdomen. What a picture of society in New Or-
leans ! Two physicians who visit their patients revolver
at hand, and make their rounds in the war& armed with
loaded pistols !—Lancet. . ~

FRIDAY

On Friday next, the 11th instant, at
Brokers' Office

vivo o'clock, at the

150 Bales JUTE, K Diamond GS&Co 3,
just landed ex Peerless, Albert Dock. Apply to
T. and H. LITTLEDALE and CO., Brok

On. Friday next, the 11th instant, at Twelve o'clock, at the
Brokers' Office, 2, Dale-street,
139 Bales Bombay HEMP.
BROWNE, HUNTER. & VO., Brokers.

Apply to

On account of whom it may concern.
y next, the 11th instant, at One o'clock, at the
Brokers' Office, 2, Dale-street,
400 Bales Surat COTTON, all faults,
just landed ex Sovereign of the Seas, from Bombay. Apply to
BROWNS, HUNTER, & CO., Brokers.

Frida: