The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-21 00:00:00

THE S UN, LONDON, FRI DAY MORN ENG, NOVEMBER 21, 1845.

me iced a subscription for a testimonial to Mr. Waghom,
which promises to be liberally supported."
Want of 'space alone prevents us from giving further
extracts from this most amusing book, in which the City,
and all connected with it, are reflected as in a mirror,and
which will henceforth be an entertaining remembrancer
for those who are acquainted with City life—a manual of
useful information for those who are desirous of being
initiated into its mysteries, and an agreeable book for the
winter's evening for all who, having heard of the mames
of stocks, and shares, and City localities, and City
people, would wish to know something further about
them.

quell, coming to look on, one of their number addressed
some words of consolation to these poor women. Within
twenty-foui hours, not only this imprudent individual, but
all those around him, had disappeared.
" The falling of a wall in the midst of the nuns injured
many, and killed eight of them outright. Aninth and tenth
soon after perished.
" These ten bodies were carried of by the people, and
hidden, where all the efforts of the Russian authorities failed

TEMPLETON IN AMERICA.

Our, old friend Templeton is creating quite a furore in
America. The New York Herald, which devotes more
than a column to the account of his debut, speaks of him
as the greatest tenor singer that has ever appeared. It
appears that the house was crowded to suffocation, and
that the audience were so enthusiastic, that Templeton
felt bound, at the conclusion of the performance, to return
them especial thanks, which he did in a neat speech, for
the magnificent reception they had given him. He re-
peated his entertainment on the following evening, and
the following is the critique of the New York Tribune:—
" On Friday evening, Templeton—the all-accomplished
Templeton—presented us with a romance which might have
flowed from the pen of Scott. Never was the history of the
beautiful and illustrious Mary, Queen of Scots,' listened to
with sympathy more profound, and never was it our lot to
hear the details of history more attractively handled. The
whole entertainment fell on our ears more like a brilliant
poem than a grave matter of historical interest. The songs
were sung as only Templeton could sing them. Did our
space permit we would instance many additional triumphs of
this truly great vocalist ; but it is impossible to pass in
silence the effect produced by the humorous and eccen-
tric ' Jolly Beggars'—the production, it is well known, of
King James, who is himself the hero of the ballap—which
was enthusiastically encored. Not inferior to this was the
inspiring and original strain, Put off, put off,' which also
met, as it merited, a warm encore. ' Scots wha hae ' was in-
troduced with singular felicity, and, as usual, commanded
thunders of applause. Between the parts Templeton again
charmed us with his magnificent I love her, how I love
her;' and, at the conclusion, after describing with deep
pathos the last days of the ill-fated Mary, he struck a su-
blime chord of sorrow in All is lost,' which he delivered
with an effect perfectly thrilling. The house was even more
densely crowded than usual."

to discover them.
" About this period, several monks of St. Bazilius were
brought to the same convent. Their treatment is described
as having been more barbarous than even that of the nuns.
Four of these men, Zawecki, Komar, Zilewicz, and Buck-
zynaki by name, all upwards of seventy years of age, were
at last, in the full severity of winter, stripped and placed
under a pump, where as the water was poured over them it
gradually congealed into a mass of ice, and froze them to
death ; another, named Abbe Laudanski, aged and infirm,
whilst staggering beneath a load of firewood, was struck upon
the head with such violence by a drunken deacon that his
skull was fractured, and he died upon the spot.
" It must here be explained that all the lower, or white
clergy in the Russian Church are very ignorant anddepraved,
and that the deacons are the lowest among them.
" In the present instance, however, the refusal of the great
bulk of the Bazilian clergy to pass over to the Russian Church
had obliged it, in these forcibly-converted provinces, to fill
up those gaps in the lower ranks of its hierarchy with boors
of the most illiterate and dissolute character. _

DICTIONARY of _DATES and UNIVERSAL
REFERENCE, RELATING to ALL AGES and
NATIONS. By Joseph Haydn. Third Edition. To
which is added a copious Index of Leading Names.
The author tells us in his preface that his " design has
been to attempt the compression of the greatest body of
general information that has ever appeared, and to pro-
duce a book of reference, whose extensive usefulness may
render its possession material to every individual." In
this design he has completely succeeded. The work
contains fifteen thousand articles, alphabetically ar-
ranged, and is a resume of universal history. There is
not a remarkable occurrence, ancient or modern,
whether relating to arts or arms, to science or literature,
but what is here chronicled, its date given, and its salient
features described. It is the Directory of History. No
house can be said to be properly furnished in which the
" Dictionary of Dates" is not found ; and our advice to
all who are engaged in the pursuit of knowledge is, if
you are so poor that you can only afford to purchase
one book, let that book be the"" Dictionary of Dates ;"
for it is a library in itself, and will save the necessity of
purchasing many most expensive works.

"It happened that one of these surviving monks of St.
Bazilius succeeded in making his escape ; and Samiasko,
irritated at this incident, resolved to conquer the obstinacy
of the nuns, and publishing that they were about to read
their recantation, caused them to be forcibly led by the sol-
diery to the portals of the Russian church. The curiosity
which this announcement caused, led the whole population'of
the city of Polock to assemble; notwithstanding the ex-
amples which had been made of those who had expressed
their sympathy with the sufferers.
"The apostate bishop, in his episcopal garments, advanced
towards the nuns, and bidding the soldiers leave his dear
sisters at liberty, spoke to them with paternal kindness, and
offering his hand to their superior, prepared to lead her into
the church. Irene Mieceslas then seizing one of the hatchets
used by the carpenters who had been working at the repara-
tion of the church, called out to all her nuns to kneel, and
addressing Semiasko, told him, ' After having been their
shepherd, to become.the executioner of those whom he had
not already done to death, and to strike off their heads before
the threshold of that temple, which their footsteps would
never voluntarily cross.'
"So galling was the provocation of this rebuke to the
Russian bishop, that unable to contain himself, he struck the
superior on the face, and then flung the axe indignantly from
him. It chanced in falling to wound one of the nuns in the
toot; and a moment after the superior having put her hand
to her mouth, which was filled with blood, drew tout one of
her shattered teeth, and holding it up to him said, Take it,
it will earn you some fresh order from the Emperor.'
" Such was the effect of this scene, that nothing could re-
strain the enthusiasm of the people; and as the nuns were
led back by the soldiery, the crowd followed them, singing
with one accord Hallelujahs and Te Deums.
" Such, notwithstanding all the repressive terrors of the
Russian authorities, became the feeling of the population of
the city of Polock, that it was found unsafe to continue
the persecution of the nuns within its walls, and they were
ordered to be removed to the borough of Medzioly, in the
province of Minsk.
" This public defeat of the Russian bishop and authorities
was, however, revenged on these poor women by an act of
such diabolical malignity as only the most undeniable evi-
dence can render credible. _ _

TEXAS.
ST. JOSEPH'S ISLAND.
(From a Correspondent of the Tribune.)
St. Joseph's Island is one of the many places in Texas
which is now engaging the public attention, and as I have
had an opportunity of spending a few weeks upon it, I will
give you a short account of this celebrated spot:—
" It is situated on the coast of Texas, in latitude 28 deg.,
and about 140 miles south-west of Galveston. The sheet of
water between it and the main land is called Aransas Bay,
into which a river of the same name floe vs, and also the San
Antonio. The island is long and narrow, being about forty
miles in length, and varying from two to six in width.
With certain winds, and certain stages of the tide, it is
divided into two portions, one being about eighteen, and the
other twenty-four miles in length. This strip of land is
a mere sand-bar, which has been formed by deposition
from currents of water freighted with sicilious matter.
The oceanic currents run in this direction strongly, and
bring with them great quantities of drift-wood. These
trees and branches having affected a lodgment, become en-
tangled and intertwined together, and form a strong net-
work, which binds the whole together. The land is making
gradually out in the direction of the sea, because this drift-
wood is constantly lodging on the shore, and serves to catch
and hold the aqueous deposites. The soil is very poor, being
composed of, fine sand with little or no proportion of calca-
reous matter or vegetable mould, and is unfit for vegetation
in its present state. There is not a tree, o:r even a bush upon
its surface. Owing to the decompositic mof the materials
which have been brought by the curren ts, such as shells
And sea-weeds, and the effects which have been produced by
'wild beasts and birds, the surface soil has sufficient strength
to produce some grasses. This surface soil is very thin,
and the grasses are high and coarse. Some portions are
covered with the musquit grass, which is quite
celebrated, its nutriment being nearly equal in quantity and
quality to that of some of our coarse grains. The mustangs,
`or wild horses, feed upon this grass, and prefer it to any
other. The island is very level ; some parts are subject to
'overflows, and in no place does the land attain to the height
"of thirty feet above the sea. There is a ridge ,of sand hills
'along the coast, which are abrupt on the side of the water, but
`slope off gradually in the other direction. As you approach
the coast, this ridge has the appearance of being a forest ; but
as you come nearer you discern naught but barren sand-hills,
and feel satisfied that distance lends enchantment to the
view ' as well in Texas as elsewhere. Plenty of water is
obtained in every part of the island by digging a few feet;
but it is as poor as it is abundant, being very brackish. The
enterprising inhabitants have not brought the croton to St.
Joseph's. We brought some out in the vessel, and it tasted
very fine. Why should it not? What the population of this
island will be at the next census, I am wholly unable to say.
It may be double or treble its present number, and not be very
great then, for at present there are but two families upon it.
The climate is healthy and delightful at this season. In
consequence of the little rain which falls, its speedy perco-
lation through the 15round, and the intense heat which the
sand attains, there is a constant current of air from the sea,
which is very refreshing. The days are warm, and the nights
are cool. Thick clothing is worn mostly at present. The
beech excels even the far-famed Rockaway for its fine bath-
ing. This has been quite a fashionable resort this season for
people from the north, but I believe the fever is confined prin-
cipally to the military profession. They are not so selfish as to
Swish to monopolise it themselves, so come on and try it your-
pelf. There is the greatest abundance of game, of all
sorts. It is very common, in going from six to ten miles
on any part of the island, to see from one hundred to two
.hundred deer grazing. They are quite tame and easily ob-
tained. Wish I could send you a quarter of venison. Grey-
hounds would be invaluable here. There is the greatest
abundance of wild geese, ducks, plover,. snipe, rail, and sand-
hill cranes, and they are such fine ones, that
' Those now shoot, who never shot before,
And those who always shoot, new shoot the more.'
"Our greatest annoyance is the rattle-snake, which abounds
in the greatest profusion. But these will eventually give
place to man. We have plenty of fine fish in Aransas Bay,
which, by-the-by, is a beautiful sheet of water, but its na-
vigation is interrupted by sand bars. Vessels of lighter
draught than seven feet can pass the bar, and go as far as
Shell Island, some ten miles. The channel is very winding
and intricate, and well adapted for wrecking of small craft."
NEWS FROM TEXAS.
The Alabama arrived at New Orleans on. the 16th, with
advices from Aransas Bay to the 12th inst.
Aniong other documents, we have received the following
letter from our correspondent, who is now safely in camp:—
"St. Joseph's Island, Texas, Oct. 10, 1845.
" The present position of our country with respect to our
southern neighbour is peculiar, and as we are: yet young in
diplomacy, it is presumed that many new questions of prac-
tice and policy must arise, on the settlement of which will
depend, not only our own future conduct, but. whose deci-
sion may have no small effect in modifying those interna-
tional rules which civilised nations have acknowledged to be
their governing laws. Hence every eye must be directed
hither with unusual interest, for Americans feel that the
time is now at hand for their country to assert her influence
among the nations, and whether or not a hostile gun shall be
fired, they look with patriotic pride upon the spectacle of
firmness and vigour she now presents.

THE RAILWAY SHAREHOLDERS' POCKET-

BOOK AND .ALMANAC for 1846.

This will be found a convenient booli for persons inte-
rested in railway property. Ia addition to the matter
usually published in almanacs, it contains a list of autho-
rised railways, comprising the names of the chairman,
secretary, and engineer, tables for calculating the value
of shares and commissions, and a diary for entering the
sale or purchase of railway shares. The tables have
been prepared expressly for the work; they are warranted
by the publisher mathematically correct, and will afford
means of ascertaining with facility the amount of
brokers' commissions on any number of shares, and also
the price of any number of shares at any given rate.
Te the work is prefixed a little elegant map of England,
with all the lines of railway completed, and many of
those proposed for consideration in the ensuing session.
It is to be regretted that those who have the arrange-
ment of minor details in publications of this kind do
not bestow a little more care in order to make them
correct. The following instance in proof we give as a
specimen of the grossest negligence :—ln the list of her
Majesty's Ministers we find the name of Lord Geo.
Somerset, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said
to be "of the Cabinet," and only three lines further
down is Lord G. Somerset, Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster, "not of the Cabinet."

THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT
AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHIL4CH.
The following is extracted from a new work; entitled
"Eastern Europe and the Emperor Nicholas," by the
author of " Revelations of Russia." The descriptions
are, we hope and believe, grievously overcharged:--

" When the Russian soldiern, and the newly-made deacons
had been rendered drunk with brandy, all these helpless nuns
were turned out amongst them as incurably obstinate, to
treat as they thought fit. Then commenced a scene worthy
of pandemonium—the shrieks and prayers of the victims
mingling with the oaths, blasphemies, and ribaldry of the
crowd, to whose brutal lust they were abandoned.
"When the fury of these demons in human form had been
exhausted, it was discovered that two of these unfortunate
females were quite dead. The skull of one had been crushed
by the stamping on the temples of an iron-plated heel. The
other was trampled into such a mass of mud and gore, that
even its human character was scarcely recognizable. Eight
others had one or several bones or limbs broken, or their
eyes torn or trodden out. Of the whole number, the supe-
rior, a woman of iron frame as well as indomitable resolution,
fared the best; but she was not allowed to attend or console
her mutilated sisters except on the condition of apostacv.
" They were afterwards marched out of Polock by night on
foot, and chained two by two,—even those whose eyes had
been torn out, and whose hideous wounds were festering.
Those whose legs were broken, or who were lamed, were
sent forward in carts under the care of Cossacks.

" In the City of Minsk, in 1837, there still existed a con-
vent of humble nuns of the order of St. Bazilius. Their
time, like that of the Sisters of Charity,' was divided be-
tween their religious duties, attendance on the sick, and the
education of poor children.
" Far and wide through the surrounding country, the
suffering and needy had learned to bless their unassuming
benevolence, and people of all ranks regarded with venera-
tion a community, distinguished not by by ascetic practices,
but through its active and unwearying philanthropy.
" The very popularity of this order, and the estimation in
which it was held, marked it out for a persecution, so atro-
cious that I know of nothing more harrowing in times ancient
or modem.

" The cruelties of Nero, Domitian, and Caligula, the most
virulent religious persecution of past centuries, and the hor-
rors of the French revolution, rarely equalled in degree the
barbarities practised on those harmless women, and sink into
insignificance beside them, when the long protraction of seven
years of suffering is considered.
"All the details of this inhuman;persecution might have re-
mained either utterly unknown beyond the Russian /frontier,
or merged in vague rumours of cruel treatment, but for the
providential escape of four of the sufferers.
" Between 1837 and 1845, 44 nuns perished at the hands
of the Russian despotism, out of 58 devoted to duties whose
fulfilment appeals so directly to all human sympathies, that
a religious sisterhood analogous to their own had been spared
even during the French reign of terror, which so pitilessly
swept away all social landmarks. Of the 14 that remained,
eight had either had their eyes torn out or their limbs
broken, and of the other six only four had strength to at-
tempt, or fortune to effect, their escape. A few more
months and the whole surviving 14, at last doomed to
Siberia, might have been expiring on that weary road,
which the ten unhappy creatures left behind by the fugitives,
are at this moment being dragged or driven over, all lamed,
blind, or ailing.
"Nothing in that case would ever have reached our ear of
the incredible sufferings of these poor victims, whose fate,
would silently have contributed to swell those statistics of
proselytism which the Russian Government gives periodically
to Europe, and which Nicholas has commemorated by the
famous medal inscribed with the motto, Separated by vio-
lence, and reunited by love.'
"Of the four fugitives, two—the sister Wawrzecka and
Irena Macrina Minceslas (Mieczyslaska)—succeeded in reach-
ing Posen in Prussian Poland, where the Roman Catholic
archbishop, having taken down their circumstantial deposi-
tion of the facts about to be narrated, sealed it with the arms
of the archbishopric, and forwarded the document to Rome.
" An order consequently arrived for the superior to repair
to Rome by way of Paris, in which city she took up her
abode till the 10th of October last, under the same roof with
one near and dear to the author.

" A gentleman of Polock, M. Walenkiowitch, having or-
dered a funeral service to be read for these victims, was
seized in the middle of the night and sent to Siberia, his
property being confiscated. A monastery of Dominican
monks, in another part of the country, having ventured to
pray for them, was immediately dispersed.
" On reaching Medzioly, the nuns were again immured in
a convent of the black sisterhood, and divided into four
parties. Here they were put into sacks, and towed after boats
in the water, which was allowed to rise to their mouth and
nose. Three more of their number perished in this manner,
either of cold, or fear, or drowned, by incessant immersion.
The inhabitants of Medzioly carried off their bodies in the
night, as the earthly coil of holy martyrs which men would
some day venerate and hold precious.
"After two more years' captivity of the 58 nuns (34 from
Minsk, 14 from Vitepsk, and 10 from Polock) only 14 sur-
vived, and of these eight were either lame or blinded.
"The superior, Irena Miesceslas, who had fared the best,
had an open wound, from which she was obliged to extract
with her fingers the carious bones, and which afterwards be-
coming filled with worms, from want of dressing, caused her
intense agony.
" At length some relaxation of vigilance having opened
a prospect of escape, this courageous woman persuaded
three of her companions to attempt it with her. In this
enterprise these four women all succeeded, enfeebled by
disease as they were, and without money or passports, at a
distance of between 200 and 300 miles from the Austrian and
Prussian frontiers. _ .

"At the commencement of the present year, profiting by
the scene of riot and drunkenness to which the saint's-day
of the protopope of the convent had given occasion, they
effected their escape. Leaping down a high wall into the
snow they alighted in safety, and immediately fell on their
knees in thanksgiving. They then separated, to facilitate
their flight. The superior, in the midst of all the severity
of the season, was driven to hide for days together in the
woods, without other food than berries, or anything to
quench her thirst but the snow. Once, driven to ex,tremity,
she knocked at the door of a wealthy-looking house, and
being received with veneration by its owner, was provided
with money, provisions, and a correct map of her route.
She crossed the frontier disguised as a shepherd; but even
then was not in security, as the cowardly Government of
Prussia gives up even its own subjects to the Czar.
"It was not until she had reached Posen, in the midst
of a Polish population, that she felt in security; and here she
had unobtrusively withdrawn to a convent of the Sisters of
Charity, but she was considered too precious, as a living tes-
timony of the horrors daily perpetrated in that Golgotha
which the frontier of Russia encircles, to be left in her retire-
ment. With her scars, wounds, and personal evidence, she
has been wisely forwarded to Paris, where a deputation re-
cently waited on her, to express their sympathy with her
cruel treatment. In Posen she was joined by the sister
Wawrzecka, and , shortly afterwards learned that the other
two had, in like manner, escaped the pursuit of the Russian
authorities, and been safely forwarded by the zeal of the in-
habitants to the Austrian frontier."

" Here she was led to give all the sad details of her harrow-
ing story, whilst the scars which mark her body added their
dumb eloquence to her recital.
" Irena Mieceslas had been thirty years renowned :for her
charity and benevolence throughout the Government of
Minsk, as head of the Bazilian convent, consisting of 34 nuns,
in the city of that name. It will be hence at once per-
ceived that she is advancing into the vale of years. The
aspect of her countenance, according to the portrait which the
writer has before him, is at once noble and indicative of deter-
mination. It derives the first expression from the position
of the eyes, which is such as we rarely meet with out of the
Scandinavian or Anglo-Norman race—viz., obliqued upwards
from the outward corners, that is to say, in a direction pre-
cisely contrary to the eyes of the feline species, of all Mongo-
lian races, and of many of the inhabitants of southern coun-
tries. The finely-chiselled corners of her mouth seems to mark
a decision of temper, of which she has given the most heroic
proofs in her conduct.
" The substance of her narrative, which the other three
sisters corroborate in the minutest particulars, is to the fol-

" But you do not ask for political letters from Texas ; you
would rather hear of the ' dreadful marches,' of war's
alarms,' and all the pomp and circumstance of which the
country beyond the Nueces is soon to be the theatre. Of
course, everything communicated with reference to the
movements of an army is mere speculation, entitled to con-
fidence no further than :as the views of an actual looker-on.
He who claims greater authority for his revelations is an
impostor; as the nature of his orders is first published to the
world in the act of a good general. That these orders will
be judicious, we have a guarantee in the elevated character of
our Administration, which many thinking men believe is the
very definition of what is demanded by the present crisis.
"It is known that this camp is a sort of half-way house for
the troops in transitu. Arrivals and departures have been the
exciting incidents for weeks, but in a short time this place
must be shorn of its honours as a scene of interest, and will
very soon be degraded to the ignoble rank of a mere depot
of stores and supplies. Henceforth look to the disputed
territory' for the true seat of war.
"The United States ship Lexington arrived on the 4th, with
detachments of the Ist and 2d Artillery. Yesterday the
steam-ship Alabama smeared off this island; she brought
from New Orleans five cdmpanies of the sth, two of the Bth,
and one of the 7th Infantry. All the troops now here, it is
understood, move to Corpus Christi in a day or two, and

lowing effect :
" The Emperor Nicholas, having profited by his influence
and privileges in nominating corrupt and ambitious tools to
the bishopric of the Bazilian communion (that is say, the
Roman Catholics with Greek forms), amongst these Semi-
asko, the bishop of the diocese in which the convent of these
poor nuns was situated, bad apostatized to the Greek from
the Latin church. Finding that the great mass of the clergy,
and the whole of their congregation, refused to follow the ex-
amples of their chiefs, Nicholas ordered forcible means to be
resorted to, and set on foot a persecution, which caused the
females of this religious association great alarm, and induced
them to use the private influence of their friends in the Rus-
sian capital, to be allowed to retire from the convent into the
bosoms of their families.' _ .

" This boon the Emperor refused, referring them to their
apostate bishop.
" Semiasko, after vainly using all his persuasive powers
with this community, to induce them to pass over to the
Russian Church, showed them alike the threats and promises
he was empowered to make in the name of Nicholas, and
the awful signature appended to a document which com-
manded him to adopt such measures as the interests of
religion might require, to oblige all recusants to reform.
Finding their determination unshakable, he left them three
months to consider the matter; and then, detaching from
his breast one of the numerous orders with which the Em-
peror had rewarded his apostacy, he attempted to pin it on
the bosom of the superior, to whom he held out a dazzling
prospect of honours and rewards.
" These women, it must be remembered, in their devout
belief, now saw in their former pastor only an impious se-
ceder from the faith of their fathers. Irnallieceslas, there-
fore, spurning this temptation, said tauntingly to the bishop,
' Keep it, keep it ; it would ill accord with the humble cross
which marks my order, and with you it serves to hide a
breast beneath which there beats the heart of an apostate !'
" These nuns had been fortified in their resolution by the
exhortation of their confessor, a weak, but probably well-
meaning man, named Michalewitch.
"As the persecution became more rigorous around him,
between the threats and the promises of his bishop, he was
influenced to desert to the Russian communion, and he was
afterwards frequently obliged to take his seat as member of
the tribunal which attempted to subdue the obstinacy of
11 these women. It is, however, probable that he yielded.more
to terror than seduction, for be strove apparently to
bury his remorse in incessant intoxication ; and in this
condition he afterwards fell into a pool of water, where he
was drowned.
" Three days after the insulting refusal of the superior to
apostatize, Semiasko came with a detachment of soldiers to
turn the sisters out of the convent. Such was the violence
employed, and the terror inspired by the account of uni-
versal persecution, that a sick nun of their number fell and
expired upon the pavement of the chapel.
"The remainder were heavily ironed, hand and foot, and
marched to Vitepsk, where they were placed in a Russian
convent of 'black sisters.'
" These black sisterhoods, which may, in some measure be
compared to our penitentiaries, are places of refuge for the
widows of private solders, and receptacles for the most dis-

then-Here endeth epistle No. 1."
(From N. 0. Picayune, Oct. 16.)
The troops stationed at Corpus Christi and St. Joseph's
Island were all well. No movement has yet been made
upon the Nueces. The Flying Artillery, under Major Ring-
gold, were at St. Joseph's Island, but about to proceed to join
the main body of the forces. At Corpus Christi business was
extremely brisk.
We have seen letters dated the 10th inst., which state that

the Indians lately made an attack upon a settlement on Mis-
sion river, and killed and drove off all the cattle. The inha-
bitants were so fortunate as to escape. The attack is sup-
posed to have been instigated by a desire to avenge the late
cowardly, attempt upon the life of Castro, who lately guided
Col. Cook, the Texan Secretary of War, to Corpus Christi,
and of whom our correspondent spoke so favourably. •
A bloodless duel came off recently on the beach of St.
Joseph's Island, or rather a hoax in the guise of a duel,
there having been an understanding between the friends of
the principals that no harm should be done. One of the prin-
cipals is said to have gone off under the full impression that
he has killed his adversary. •
The United States store-ship Lexington and the mail
schooner On-kah-y-e sailed from Aransas on the 7th
inst. The schooner Piedmont, of Waldborough, Me., had
arrived at Aransas from New York, with United States
troops and stores. The steam-boat White Wing has been
sold to the United States Government. For the want of
warehouses, the schooners Cornelia and T. F. Hunt have been
converted into temporary store-ships. The steam-schooner
Augusta, and the steam-boat Monmouth, are still em-
ployed by the Government as lighters. The Monmouth and
the schooner Wm. Bryan were shortly to leave for this port
for repairs. The schooners Josephine, Henry Plantagenet,
and the Emma, arrived at Aransas on the sth, Bth, and. 10th
respectively, from this port. The schooners Two Friends
and Roselle sailed for this port on the 10th, the schooner
President, of New York, on the 11th, and the schooner
Fame on the Bth inst. The schooners H. L. Kinney and
Orange Branch were shortly to sail for Galveston.

THE OREGON QUESTION.
(From the New York Journal of Commerce.)
We fear our fellow-citizens are not sufficiently aware of the
precarious state of our foreign relations. It is well under-
stood that the Oregon negotiation is making no progress—
the claims of the two parties being irreconcileable, and
neither being disposed to yield. Meanwhile another session
of Congress is approaching, and it is more than probable that
the House of Representatives will vote to give England notice
of our wish to terminate the joint occupancy of Oregon at
the end of a year, according to the treaty. Neither will it
surprise us if the Senate concur. In this case we have little
doubt that England will consider the negotiation at an end.
Not that she would call in question our right to terminate
the joint occupancy by giving the required notice, nor that
the giving of such notice would be in itself any ground of
offence. It is not the act itself, but the circumstances and
implications of it, which would make it offitnsive. England
would construe it as a virtual abandonment of negotiation,
and an appeal to the power of the strongest.
There is a great deal of senseless declamation about our
rights to " the whole of Oregon," and it generally comes from
men as ignorant as they are stupid. What do they know
about our claims to the whole of Oregon? Perhaps they
have read an article in their country newspaper which told
them we had as gcod a right to Oregon as to Massachusetts;
and perhaps they dreamed it. But we venture to say that
not one in a thousand of these noisy declaimers has ex-
amined the subject, or understands its merits. It is in truth
a subject of great difficulty. The evidence" even as far
south as the Columbia River, is not all on one side! by a great
deal. And when we come to latitude 49, the claim of Ens-
rreaenmodfailltnhsethbneuegtnoeatixatto:t negotiation.
land is better than our own. There is no doubt of this ;
any disinterested man acquainted with the case would say
srl oenf
the
hs
refuse
And
firstrhe
teperlreaecniesc,
eaw. an delicate
willh,eh ra tnot
concede;
alternative
abandonment of the territory by Great Britain, or war?
We know of no other alternative.
ftu
Now we are certain that Great Britain never will abandon
the entire territory to us—we mean, up to 54, 40, the Rus-
' piau boundary-Kan what will. at cau,n9t do it without

orderly prostitutes.
" Here the 33 nuns of St. Bazilius, from Minsk, met with
14 more of their order, transferred from another convent to
this abode, where for two years they were kept at hard la-
bour, chained in couples, and exposed to all the malignity of
the depraved associates with whom these women of gentle
birth were thus forcibly mingled.
"In 1839, all other efforts having failed to shake their
resolution, they were transferred to another Russian convent
of black sisters, in the city of Polock. Here they met with
ten more nonconformist nuns of the same order. The whole
number of these women, 57, were now brought up twice a
week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, before a commission of
the Russian -Authorities and clergy, and flogged before them,
receiving 50 strokes a piece.
"This was continued for months together, till the wounds
upon their backs was an open sore, and that pieces of the
scabs, ar3d then of the raw flesh, adhered to the instruments
of torture. Three of their number died beneath this in-
fliction.

"`They were then fed on salt herrings, and refused drink
(a favourite Russian mode of torture), except on the condi-
tion of apostacy. This punishment, which it appears they
found the most difficult to bear, was superseded by a system
of starvation. They were only fed once, every other day,
and driven to eat nettles and the f.sdder of the convent
cattle.

" They were employed to dig out clay, and not under-
standing how to conduct an exc.P.-vation, the earth fell in, and
buried live of their number. With incredible barbarity the
Russian authorities not only refused to dig them out, but pre-
vented the nuns from attempting to extricate their com-
panions. They perished in this self-dug grave.
"The next labour in which the survivors were employed,
was to tact the masons in constructing a palace for the rene-
pole tishop.
• 1,4 591310 of the geno7l whim iopiet 119 terrors

dishonour. What can have put it into the heads of our
negotiators to make such a demand? Have we not again
and again offered to adopt latitude 49? and long since the
Euestion would have been settled on that basis, had not
ngland refused. If we rightly understand the case, she
might possibly consent to that boundary now, as far west
as the Pacific Ocean, retaining to herself the whole of Van-
couver's Island, which extends about half a degree below
latitude 49. The right of navigating Columbia River would
be of no importance to her, if latitude 49 were adopted as the
boundary.
If the question can be adjusted on this basis—namely, by
extending our present boundary, as fixed by the Ashburton
treaty, east of the Rocky Mountains, to the Pacific Ocean, we
contend that our Government is guilty of a gross dereliction
of duty in not accepting the compromise, and thus putting an
end to this last boundary dispute which we can ever have
with England. Perhaps we are mistaken in the extent of
concession which England is prepared t o make by way of com-
promise ; but latitude 49 has been openly advocated by some
of the more moderate English papers, including the Examiner,
as the proper boundary, and there is every reason to believe that
the British Government is disposed to meet us on what it
deems liberal terms. Although conscious of her power,
England does not want war with any nation—and least of
all, perhaps, with the United States, whom she can use to
much better advantage by trading with her than by fighting
her. England does not want war; but she will have it, and
we shall have it, as surely as we undertake to grasp the
whole of Oregon, to latitude SC 40, or above latitude 49.
The conviction is strong in England that she " has rights"
to Oregon ; and although they are admitted to be imper-
fect, speaking of Oregon as a whole, yet they are too valid
to be wholly abandoned, or to be wrested from her by any
other Power.

England is the last nation in the world that we ought to
desire to measure strength with, especially at a point so re-
mote from even the frontiers of civilisation, and so accessible
to her fleets. Although it may be an unpleasant confession
to make, it is nevertheless true, that for many years to come,
whatever Power commands the ocean can command Oregon ;
or, at least, all the points of it accessible to navigation. A
march across the country with an army of any considerable
magnitude would be an achievement more difficult to be ac-
complished than Hannibal's passage of the Alps ; and when
they had reached their destination it would be equally diffi-
cult to maintain them. England, in case of a war about
Oregon, or a discontinuance of the joint occupancy,
would immediately fortify Cape Disappointment, at the
north side of the mouth of Columbia River, and
that would be the end of our communication with the
Oregon by sea. Our pot-valiant heroes do not know what
they are talking about, when they propose so summarily to
drive John Bull into the Pacific. We here take it for
granted that we could have all our resources at command,
and should not require them at home to defend our altars and
our hearths. But even this could not be expected. If we
have trebled our population, and more than trebled our re-
sources since the war of 1812, so has England vastly in-
creased her available strength. She is completely ready
fora conflict—with us or any other Power. We are not ready,
and never shall be, till the horrors of war at our own doors
compel us to buckle on the harness. We say these things in
the hope of cooling the ardour of some of our hot-brained
" patriots," who appear (on paper) to desire nothing so much
as blood and carnage. We advise such men to be quiet. They
may have a chance to display their valour sooner than they
expect it. The state of public opinion is such, especially
at the west, that the President and his Cabinet may be
tempted to go farther in insisting upon doubtful rights in the
case of Oregon, than their own judgment would dictate.
There is, however, danger in the other direction. When men
form opinions unsustained by proper evidence, they are very
apt to part with them when they discover their error. It
may be very popular now to make unreasonable demands,
and insist upon them ; but will it be so, if it should appear
that these unreasonable demands have brought the nation
to a position which it cannot maintain, and from which it
cannot recede with honour? It is the part of true wisdom
to anticipate events, and so to steer the ship of State as to
avoid disasters on either hand. We feel a great degree of con-
fidence in the:present Administration, yet we confess we are
not without anxiety on the subject of which we are speaking.
We wish to see the Oregon question either left where it is, under
the belief that time will strengthen our cause, or else brought
to a speedy and final adjustment. The territory really in dis-
pute, i.e., the territory North of Columbia River, west of the
north branch of the same, and south of latitude 49, is of
little value, consisting chiefly of mountains or barren plains.
One month's war expenses, to say nothing of human life,
would be too much to give for the whole of it. We have
hundreds of millions of acres of better land, 1,000 or 2,000
miles nearer home, which goes abegging for want of occu-
pants. Much of it is the finest land which man ever set his
eyes on, not excepting the Garden of Eden. Now we admit
this is no good reason for relinquishing territory clearly our
own, but it is a reason against endangering the peace of the
country by insisting upon the possession of poor land at the
ends of the earth which is not our own, or of which our title
is so very doubtful that we dare not submit the question to
arbitration.
A vast extent of fertile land on our south-western fron-
tier has just been annexed to us, most of which is un-
occupied, except by Indians and wild beasts ; and if we
want niore further off, we can purchase it more cheaply. of
Mexico than we can knock it out of John Bull's brains.
As Mexico has concluded not to fight us, she must come
to an understanding with us on the subject of boun-
daries. Upper California is already in revolt, and she may
be willing, for a suitable pecuniary consideration, to set it
off to us, fixing her northern boundary at latitude 36, in-
stead of 42. This would give us the finest harbour on the
western coast—viz., San Francisco, and along with it some
excellent land. The river Sacramento, which empties into
the bay of San Francisco, takes its rise in Oregon—and,
in fact, for the best part of Oregon, San ;Francisco is the
natural outlet. If Upper California were ours, we need not
care if Columbia River were our northern boundary. We
should still have ten degrees of latitude on the Pacific, and
a really fine country, instead of mountains, rocks, and bar-
ren sands.

The forthcoming message of the President will be awaited
with special interest, on account of its bearing upon the
Oregon dispute. We hope it will be such as to promote
pacific results.

POOR-LAW CHARITY and PRISON

CHARITY.

A poor Irish woman named Fox, who had supported her
family decently for twelve years by keeping a stall in the
street at Holborn-bars, was run over by a cab in September
last, an accident by which her leg was broken. Being thus
suddenly deprived of the power of earning a livelihood, she
made her case known to the authorities of the union, and
was visited, as a matter of course, by the surgeon and the
relieving officer. The medical gentleman, she declares, per-
formed his professional duties to the end most humanely, as
well as skilfully; but the relieving officer told her that her
case was an infirmary case, and that unless she consented to
take up her abode in the workhouse he could do nothing for
her. She informed him that she would willingly do as he
suggested if he would be so good as to assist, in the mean-
while, in preserving her furniture and the few articles she
used in her business, and she assured him that, without some
aid of the kind, she and her family must be thrown destitute
upon the street upon her recovery. To this appeal the re-
lieving officer turned a deaf ear. He would have nothing to
do with her goods, and, handing her the sum of eighteenpence,
desired her not to apply to the authorities again, as not a
farthing more would be forthcoming Not supposing it pos-
sible that the parochial liberality would be so cramped in a
case of such extremity, the patient applied a second time for
a modicum of aid, and sent her son to plead the ruse of the
family, but he returned empty-handed, and so well bullied,
that he was afraid, notwithstanding the deplorable condition
of his parent, to make another experiment upon the justice
or humanity, or whatever else it is called, of the party in
power. Furthermore, when she recovered sufficiently to be
able to resume her former avocation, she made a last appeal
to the union for assistance in furnishing her stall, the con-
tents of which had been disposed of in her necessity ; but
the answer had gone forth—she was to have nothing, and
thus the mother of a family, with a fractured limb, which
confined her to her bed for a period of about six weeks, was
got rid of at the small price of eighteenpence.
So much for poor-law charity !
We turn with pleasure to the other side of the picture, to
which what we have stated presents a disgusting contrast :
At the time the accident occurred to the mother, the
daughter had been committed to Bridewell Hospital for a
misdemeanour, in which (as it afterwards appeared) she be-
, came very innocently involved. The former wrote to the
latter some time aftewards, describing in a very feeling man-
ner the distress to which she was reduced by the refusal of
the union to give her any relief unless upon the condition of
a sacrifice of all those necessaries in which her future comfort
depended, and, above all, deploring the want of her daughter's
help at such a time to dress her wound, and administer to
her other necessities. This letter underwent, according to
the arrangements of the prison, the inspection of the Governor
of the prison (Captain Kincaid), and the melancholy tale,
which failed to awaken either the sympathies or the conside-
ration of the poor-law authorities, immediately found both in
him ; for it appears that, without the slightest delay, he sent
to ascertain the truth of the statement, and, having ascer-
tained it, he represented the case to the committing magis-
trate, obtained the daughter's discharge, and sent her home
to attend upon her mother, provided with the means of ade-
quately administering to her wants. Upon more strict in-
quiry, Captain Kincaid found the case to be one of real
charity, aad he continued to give personally, or to send, relief
to the family every week down to the day when she was
enabled to go to her stall, which, her benefactor knowing
that the parochial authorities had thrown up the case of
misery with contempt, supplied her with the means of fur-
nishing, and there she now sits daily, within ten yards of the
corner of Gray's Inn-lane, by the aide of a lamp-post, called
llolbom-bar.

----.
The case thus simply detailed is one in which individual
charity ought not to have been taxed. It is impossible not
to see that the humane part taken by Captain Kincaid on
this occasion was precisely that which ought to have been
taken by the authorities of the union, both in the nature and the
extent of the relief, and people cannot therefore understandwhat
the hearts of those worthies can be made of, seeing that, indivi-
dually, it would have cost them nothing to try, for once, the
experiment of humanity; but Alderman Farebrother, who
speaks out upon occasions on which the defects of the heart
are conspicuous more frequently than most of his brethren,
said, with striking truth some time ago, that the great ob-
ject of the unions seemed to be not the relief of the poor, but
how to relieve the parishes of the poor. Had the poor crea-
ture who thus, by a providential accident, fell into the hands
of the benevolent Governor of Bridewell, accepted the relief
which the relieving• officer offered, she and her whole family
would, in all probability, have become paupers for life. She
refused the boon, and may never be again in a condition to
require the generous contribution of the authorities.

OPENING OF THE PORTS.-011 Wednesdays meet-
ing of the Chamber of Commerce of Newcastle-on-Tyne,
tl -on-Tyne,
e,
was held in the Council Chamber of that "to consider
the propriety of addressing her Majesty's Ministers on the
subject of the corn-laws." Thomas Wilson,
Mr. Pollard, corn-
ilson,Esq., Vice-Pre-
sident of the Chamber, was in the a
memorial
to the Prime
Minister, entreating him °
merchant, moved the adoption of
advise her Majesty, in Council,
to open the ports for the admission of foreign grain duty
free. Mr. Alderman Brockett seconded the motion. Mr.
Armstrong spoke against the motion at considerable length,
and was replied to by Mr. Stephen Lowrey and Mr. Charles
Rayner, after which the motion was affirmed by a large
majority. The memorial was then signed by the Chairman
on behalf of the Chamber, after which the meeting broke up.
LADY HESTER STANHOPES MEMOIRS.----A second
edition of this remarkable work has just appeared. " These
volumes (observes the Quarterly Review), consists of anec-
dotes related by Lady Stanhope, opinions expressed by her,
letters written by her, during e several residences of her
physician under her roof, and to him, in that confidential
capacity, all communicated by her. The nature of such a
book is unavoidably such as to give it extraordinary at-
tractions. These volumes are such as no one who takes
them up can easily lay down. The character of the prin-
cipal personage is one of no ordinary interest. She was the
daughter of Mr. Pitt's favourite sister, and lived with him
for the last years of his eventful life. Before her he freely
unbent himself; and as she remembered much that had
passed in his society, the principal charm of these volumes
is derived from their constant reference to the habits of that
great man. Nor can anything be well conceived more at-
tractive than his simple, amiable character, as it appears in
these pages. He is hardly ever mentioned that he does not
Xise itt cux CAteCM."