The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-01-21 00:00:00

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the Legislative Body, bad died. We deeply lament these
disastrous interruptions of the public repose; but we feel
no alarm whatever for the independence of Greece, which,
were it really in danger, would have no braver supporters
than they who are now unhappily engaged in factious dis-
putes with the Executive Authorities. Still, these dissen-
sions are productive of evils of great magnitude. The Turks,
considering the Greeks as a divided people, will probably
be induced to make another attempt to subjugate them.
We have no doubt that the fifth campaign will end like all
its predecessors, with disgrace to the Ottoman arms; but
we had rather, for the sake of humanity, that it were not
begun ; and, if the turbulent spirit of the Greek chieftains
could be repressed, we think it would not. The Executive
Authorities must act with vigour and severity against the
rebels. CorocoraoNt has been pardoned before, in grati-
tude for his early services in the patriotic cause. The
public safety will now require that he should be deprived
of all power to offend again.
Yesterday we received private letters from Buenos Apes
dated the Bth of November. They relate principally to
the recognition of the independence of the new American
States. The meeting of the General Congress of the
United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata was originally fixed
for the Ist of January, but the day had been sines changed
to the Ist of December, when it was intended that business
of an urgent and important nature was to be submitted to
their consideration. The public curiosity was wound up to
a high pitch, as the Executive Government kept secret what
was to be the subject of the deliberations of the Congress.
It was known, however, that the last despatches received
by our Consu'-General, Mr. PA alsit, had communicated
the decision of the British Government as to the question
of recognition, and it was believed that he was furnished
with his credentials as Minister from this country, and
with instructions to negociate a commercial treaty with the
General Government of the United Provinces. The Bri-
tish Merchants at Berens-a Ayres feel the warmest gratitude
tohis blarisrv's Ministers for the protection they will
henceforth enjoy. Every attention is shown to their in-
terests, spiritual as well as temporal. A Chaplain was to
be added immediately to the new Minister's establishment.
By the same conveyance we have received the following
extract of a letter from Arequipa, dated the 31st of
August. It does not actually conarm the accounts we
have given of the sanguinary battle on the plains of Jauja,
but it tends strongly to corroborate the fact. There can be
very little doubt that CANTARAC was making his way as
fast as he could into the interior. It will be observe', that
the writer alludes to " rumours of further misfortunes."
The second action was probably th.tt which terminated in
the complete overthrow of the Royalists, as stated in the
lespateh we published on Wednesday :

AREQUIPA., AUGUST 31.

Bolivar ban had a meeting with Cantarac, and the result of an
action, which the latter says " he should have gained but that his
,mope ran away," was his retreat from the field of battle 40 leagues
earer to Cusco, to which point every man the Spaniards can
muster is pressing forward with forced levies in every direction.
The general eonfuslon fully denotes the dread in which they stand
if the Libertador. Some rumours are afloat to-day of further
nisfortunes sustained by the Spaniards, ant', from the silence
•bserved, I should not wonder if Bolivar had given them a second
lefeat.

It will be seen by our extracts to-day from the Kings-
,,,re Royal Gus.:lk, that it is intended by the colonists of
Jamaica to come into our money market for a loan on the
•relit of the island. The proceeds are to be applied, amongst
Alter public improvements, to the increase of churches,
and the melioration of the gaols and workhouses. Another,
and as it seems to us, a still more important object, is the
inducement of the emigration of families from the United
Kingdom to be settled in the middle of the islaud, in order
:o lay the foundation of a larger white population, and cut
Jff the retreat of runaways into the woods and fastnesses of
:he interior. There can be little doubt, in the present su-
perabundance of capital, that the colonists will be able to
supply their wants on reasonable terms.

Although our warnings may have considerably abated
the absurd rage for mining speculations, it is still strong
enough to make us blush for the simple credulity of our
countrymen ; and to induce us to persevere in exposing the
ruinous infatuation that is now abroad, and saving, as far
as we are able to save, those who have not yet become the
dupes of it.
We really seem, on a sudden, to be whirled back a
century or two, and to live at a period when wisdom was
in its infancy, instead of living, as we do, in an age when
fraud has well nigh exhausted its stratagems, and experience,
in the way of deception, has left us nothing to learn. But
the world was a blockhead from the Lginning, and we fear
it will so continue to the end of the chapter. In the mean
time, we shall go on to address ourselves to the " thinking
public," and to see whether there is anything in these
mining projects which can at all justify the avidity with
which they are sought after.
From a variety of circumstances, which we have not
leisure to detail at length, there arises a very strong pre-
sumption, that the projectors of these various Mining
Companies have actually no mines in their posses:* ,n! !
that they have, as yet, to send out agents to South
_lmer;ca, to commence their geological survey, for not an
acre of earth, or an ounce of ore, have they at present in
occupation!!! What, then, we would ask, have the sub-
scribers, in the shape of value received, for the immense
sums which have found their way into the pockets of those
who first broached these attractive schemes? The share-
holders must have at least presumed, on paying down their
deposits, that they were part p.roprieturs of a mine some-
where; they never could suspect that they had parted with
their solid cash to become joint-holders of a hug or moon-
shine! On the contrary, they conceived themselves about
to realize the pastime of their infancy, and that they
I should speedily say in good truth—

•' Here we are, on TOM T►CKLER'a ground,
Picking up gold and silver!"
It never certainly could ca car to them to suspect for a
moment that the ground was as yet covered with high
grass in which their shares were buried ; and that the
risbes out of which the profits of their capital was to be
returned, had to more of tangible existence its the bed of
the earth than in the bed of the ocean ! We are disposed
to speak with all due respect of many whose names are at-
tached to these speculations ;—we have done so already;
but we shall never be restrained from putting the puldie on
their gu..3 against delusive and ruincits zchemes of wealth,
from any undue courtesy towards the individuals with whom
they originated. If our representation of facts is incorrect, let
those whose interest it it; to support the credit and staLiiity
of their schemes disprove them. iVe affirm that these mines,.
the shares of which are selling at this madly-advanced pice,
have no existence. if this assertion exceeds Tie truth. 74'
they do exist, and if the quantity of the precious metals to
be produced from them has been at all ascertained by any

BRITISH PR]

THE

one person skilled in the art of mining, let the fact be
averted on authority, and we will most willingly withdraw
our statement. In the meanwhile, let the adventurers
pause till they are better informed. If they have a favour-
able opinion of the future prosperity of South America—an
opinion, by the way, in which we think they are abun-
dantly supported—surely their safest and most prudent in-
vestment is South American stock, which puts them im-
mediately in the receipt of an interest of five or six per
cent. ; while the mines, even when reduced into possession,
will yield no return for four or five years at least, and the
greater likelihood is, that not one in ten of them will ever
yield any return at all : or they may find investments in
canals, rail-ways, and other commercial and highly pro-
ductive improvements, going on iu their own country, in
which their capital would be to the full as eligibly em-
barked as in the Independent States of Mexico or Colotn-
bia. A very great advantage, no doubt, belongs to
any speculation of the kind we arc speaking of, that
is to be carried on in the vicinity of coal and iron
mines, and which advantage excepts the Cilium Min-
ing Company from the general scope of our remarks :
we advert to this circunastanca, because we know, from
the authority of one who left Colombia within the last
twelve months, that, previous to his departure, iron was
selling in the principal towns in that State, at a price ex-
ceeding one dialing. per lb., and, consequently. the superior
advantage which those mines must possess, which are con-
tiguous to iron and coal, are manifest.

We believe a Peruvian mine speculation has either just
started, or is about to start ; and so long as the drafts on
public credulity are duly honoured, so long, we may be
sure, will they continue to be drawn.
We have much more to say on this prolific subject, and
shall bring it again under the public attention in a day or
two.

There were but trifling fluctuations in the Stock Market
yesterday: Consols opened, for money, at 94 ; they went
down to 934, and closed at 944. The time prices during
the day were 914 HI. The Mines were very heavy in the
early part of the day ; towards the conclusion of the market
they improved in a trifling degree.
No less than twelve Hatnburgh mails are now due, to the
great inconvenience of merchants who correspond with the
north of Europe, and who trust solely to the Hamburgh
packets for the transmission of their letters.
Letters were yesterday received from Mexico, dated the
30th of November :—They state that tranquillity continued
in all the Provinces, and that business was improving.
These letters are silent as to the battle said to have been
fought subsequent to that of Junin.
RIO JANEIRO.—By the ship Hope, Captain Dungan,
arrived at this port on Saturday in torty-six days from Rio
Janeiro, we have a continuation of unfavourable accouuts
respecting the state of the markets there. The ship At-
lantic, of Norfolk, arrived on the 23d October, with 3.000
barrels flour, which could not be sold; the brig Belvidera,
of Philadelphia, via Pernambuco, with 1,300 barrels of
flour, seeking for a market; the ship Liverpool, on the
24th October, from Norfolk, with 3,500 barrels, landing:
ship Hamlet, from Norfolk, on the 31st, with 3,000 bar-
rels. These are in addition to the vessels and cargoes re-
ported by the Robert at this port; besides, there were seve-
ral large cargoes daily expected from the United States,
some parcels from Liverpool, and wheat from Antwerp.
T here were in store two cargoes of wheat, about 6,000 bar-
rels Hamburg!' flour, and 4 or 5,000 barrels of ether flour,
the price about six inilrcas, long credit. The port of Rio
was also overstocked with wings and brandies.—Ballimore
Paper.
The Society for Promotink Christian Knowledge dis-
tributed in the last ten years 1,034,000 Bibles and Testa-
ments, and nearly two millions of Common Prayer and
°tiler religious bound books.
The Society jrl the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts expe9itled last year 23,733/. 3s. Stl..: its estimate for
the p-resent year is 213,775/., of which 15,5001. will be by
grant from Parliament.
After the Lecture, on Wednesday evening, at the Me-
chanics' Institution, the President (Dr. Birkbeck) read a
letter from Sir Francis Burdett to the Institution, in which
the worthy Baronet observed, that he considered it (die
Mechanics' Institution) the best calculated to advance the
condition of the people—the working classes—of anything
that had been hit upon up to the present time, and con-
cluded by directing his name to be put down for 1,0001.
The Baronet presence-1 1001. to the Institution on a previous
occasion.

A meeting took place late on Saturday evening week, on
the bowling-green at the back of the Derby Arms, in
Macclesfield, between an officer in his Majesty's service,
to wit, an exciseman, and a gentleman following the calling
of a silk- throwsttr. The dispute arose out of some want
of courtesy on the part of the gauger towards the landlady
of the inn, which was indignantly resented by the sqft silk-
man. The preliminaries were instantly arranged—the
marking irons procured, and loaded with ball, and, by
the light of the moon, these truculent worthies took their
stations for the laudable purpose of blowing each other's
brains out (if they had any). The seconds, however, to
prevent the possibility of such a catastrophe, bad pru-
dently abstracted the balls. The heroes fired, and of course
missed; the matter was then accommodated, and the par-
ties retired from the ground, with their honour untarnished
and their faces tnarvellously blanched by the contemplation
of the serious consequences that might have ensued.
On Thursday last Mr. Flanagan, of Sligo, attended a
bench of Magistrates, held at Ardee, and having com-
plained in strong terms that a licence was refused to a
publican, named Owen M'Kittrick, he pledged himself to
have a criminal information filed against the Magistrates of
the county of Louth, for refusing said licence. Mr. Fla-
nagan was immediately ordered into the custody of the
Sheriff, and an order was made to have him committed to
the gaol of the county for one month ! Lord Roden was
one of the Magistrates on the bench.—Dub/in Morning
Post.
We are credibly informed, that in the course of the
month of Decembi r last a greater quantity of grain has
been shipped at this port than during any former season.
This may in a great measure be attributed to the increasing
demand of the licensed distillers for barley, in consequence
of the judicious modification of the duty on spirits.—
Mentrsse Chronicle.

HynaoPHOßlA.—(From the Liverpool Courier of Wed.
nesday.)—A melancholy case of death from hydrophobia
occurred in this town last week. A short time ago the
dog in a respectable family alarmed the house by making
a ♦ery disagreeable noise in the. course of the night. The
mistress arose front her bed, proceeded down stairs, and
attempted to pacify the animal, but he sprang at her, and
attempted to bite her, happily, however, without effecting
his object. Her son came to her assistance, but the dog
seized hold on him, and bit him severely in the hand.
His brother and a youth, who came to aid the others,
were also bitten in several places by the infuriated animal.
Assistance was obtained from the street, and the dog was
finally accused, anti put into a bag, in which he was
found, shortly afterwards, dead. All the individuals pro-
ceeded the same night to a surgeon, who cut out the places
where the dog had lacerated them, the parts healed up,
and the matter was forgotten. Oa Wednesday last, how-
ever, the person alto had been first bitten was seized with
indisposition ; symptoms of hydrophobia speedily mani-
fested themselves, and the unfortunate man, notwithstand-
ing all the remedies employed by his medical attendants,
expired on Friday night.
On Sunday last, Jean Annan, and old woman who lived
in the village of l'itlessie, Fifeshire, in a house by herself,
having fai:ed to make her appearance at the usual time, her
neighbours broke open her door, and, dreadful to relate,
found her body lying on the hearth, burnt in the most
shocking manner. It is supposed that she had fallen upon
the fire, and bad not been able to extinguish t'•_ flames.
A detachment belonging to the East India Company's
perei.e emittsrkral at liiiling•gate yesterday for llravesend,
1 on its route to Chatham.