The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-04-23 00:00:00

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LADY FLORA. HASTINGS.

(From the Leeds Intelligence.r.)
Our seventh page contains a copy of a correspond-
ence which has passed between the Marquis of Has-
tings and Lord Melbourne, and the Marchioness of
Hastings and the same noble lord, with regard to the
scandalous charge trumped up in the Queen's Court
against the Lady Flora Hastings, the noble marchion-
ess's daughter, and the marquis's sister; and, painful
as is the subject, we feel it to be our duty to direct the
reader's attention to it. If virtue and propriety are
not to be found in high places, where example ought to
be set, where shall we expect to find them ? And if
the court go free of the censure of the moralist, when
offending, it is a mockery to complain of the vices
found in a lower stage of society.
We remember that when Lord Melbourne was in-
volved in an unpleasant legal proceeding for trim con.,
the organs of the ministry denounced the whole affair
as a tory trick. There was no truth in the tale, they
contended, but the brother of the plaintiff being a tory,
it followed, in the estimation of the candid whig wri-
ters, that the noble lord was at the bottom of the pro-
ceeding—that his object was to turn Lord Melbourne
out of office—and that he had no objection to bring
about that end by the infamous subornation of per-
.

jury.
Of course the imputation was as false as discredita-
ble to its authors. On the present occasion, however,
no such defence can be even colourably set up. The
Marquis of Hastings is not only a whig himself, but
belongs to an old whig family : therefore he may be
supposed to have had the ear of Lord Melbourne.
And what is the result of his appeal to the Premier
for justice ? A shuffling excuse—that is all. A lady
of unspotted character has been outraged; her calum-
niators are known ; they are in close attendance upon
the Queen, having been placed there by Lord Mel-
bourne ; the falsehood of the charge is admitted ; yet
the authors of it are retained in their situations as if
nothing has happened, notwithstanding the wrong done
to her Majesty as well as to Lady Flora Hastings.
Lord Melbourne pleads ettiquette and want of prece-
dent. The Marquis of Hastings tells him that if there
is no precedent it is time to set one; and the world at
large will be of his way of thinking. Now mark the
contrast. If the husband of either of the ladies re-
ferred to had voted against ministers in either house of
parliament, there would have been an instant change at
Court, without reference to ettiquette or precedent !
The fact is, that the Queen has not the appointment of
her own household, under the reign of the liberal
Whigs, and more's the pity; the persons surrounding
her Majesty are partizans, or the near connexions of
partizans ; and they are placed there by Lord Mel-
bourne for the purpose of controlling the Crown and
keeping at a distance all persons whose advice might
lead her Majesty to arrive at correct political conclu-
sions, It must be confessed that, in this respect, Lord
Melbourne's purpose is answered to admiration. Not
only is her Majesty in leading-strings, but even her
public drawing-rooms are deserted by all but the de-
pendents of the ministry. On this head some pain-
fully-interesting details may be seen in another part of
t its sheet.
The Queen is not to blame in the matter of Lady
Flora. She appears to have made all the reparation in
her power ; and the conduct of the Duchess of Kent
hagL ,6en 9,11 that becomes a mother and a princess.
N ... • . - with the Ducheis for obvious Tea-
. • -1; ...°9r: withdrawn, as Leirditastiiigs lip2self
( . would ialo advantage oiler

Ic'/"~' f

..~ ,1

absence and attribute it, after all to guilt; by remain-
ing, she secures her reputation at the expense of her
feelings and those of her family ;—on that point Lord
Melbourne has much to answer for, and public opi-
nion, sooner or later, he and his apologists may be cer-
tain, will exact it to the uttermost. His bearing in this
matter shows him to be devoid of all sensibility save
that which is connected with his care of place.
It is time that the Queen, at least, were rescued from
the shameful durance in which she is held. A writer
in the Morning Post thus trenchantly deals with the
Premier :
" 1. His answer to Lady Hastings' first letter, written in
the Queen's name, has all the guilt, morally speaking, of the
vilest treason. If the Queen herself desired him to make
such a reply (which God forbid that we believe should be the
case,) it was his plain duty, on his allegiance, to have ad-
vised her Majesty that such an answer, to such a mother, on
such a subject, would chill every feeling of love and loyalty
which her people delight to cherish towards her—would show
her to the world as one utterly incapable to sympathise with
the noble, the pure, the generous, the compassionate affec-
tions of the human heart—to feel, in short, as every one of
her subjects, high and low, rich and poor, have felt on learn-
ing these deplorable events at Buckingham; Palace. If, on
the contrary, he used his own unconstitutional influence to
force or wheedle instructions for such a letter from the
Queen, (and this all England will believe,) his suite is ten-
fold.
"2. As for his answer to Lady Hastings' second letter,
there is only one thing said, or to be said. The man who
could write it deserves to be kicked and spit upon by every
nzot her's son in the three kingdoms.
" I cannot help adding a few questions to which the
Queen's subjects have a right, on her behalf and on their
own, to demand a prompt reply.
"IS THE QUEEN SAFE ? Is her life, her honour, her
character safe, whilst people such as I have named remain
about her?
" 1. The Doctor. If he BELIEVED the slander he uttered,
what must be his professional rashness and ignorance ? If
he did not believe it, what must be the nature of the man ?
On the first supposition, ought he, as a physician, to be
trusted with her Majesty'i life ? On the second, in great
measure, with her majesty's honour ? Answer that, on your
head, my Lord " Precedent" Melbourne!
"2. The Ladies ! If they, too, believed the slander in
their hearts, what an exhibition f charity, decency, and
discretion was theirs ! To carry such tidings to the maiden
ears of a Queen, just nineteen years of age !—when that
Queen had a mother—when their suspected equal had a
mother—either of whom would have withdrawn the supposed
unhappy object of their virtuous scorn, without public
scandal and needless indignity, from the presence where their
pure eyes could not abide to behold her ! Oh ! uncliristian,
unwomanly, indecent, meddling, scandal-mongers, even if
ye believed your own story ! .
" OUGHT WOMEN WITH SUCH TONGUES AS THEIRS
TO BE LEFT ROUND THE QUEEN ?—Remember Marie An-
toinette ! and the slanders which dogged her to the scaffold !
" But, what if they believed it not, and only caught at the
lie, in all the joy of court malice, to wreak their spite on
the Duchess of Kent and her household, to aggravate the
variance v4ich (it is useless to conceal the fact) their arts
and their ilatrons have already succeeded in raising between
their sovereign and her parent. Then, and in that case, I
ask, ought such persons to be endured in any female society
above the vilest ? How much less in the presence of our
Queen?
" God grant her Majesty's eyes may be opened, her false
flatterers unmasked, her true friends made known to her."

LIVERPOOL MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.

LECTURES ON ANIMAL MECHANICS.

T. Rymer Jones, Esq. Professor of Anatomy, King's College
London, commenced a course of lectures on this subject on
Wednesday evening. We were gratified to behold such a
numerous attendance, and doubt not, from the satisfaction
evinced by the audience, that the succeeding lectures will be
still better attended.
Amongst the various subjects brought beneath our notice
there are few, notwithstanding its importance, so little at-
tended to as the structure of the animal world. There is
this difference between the works of creation and those of
mankind :--all effects of human skill are indicated by degrees
of comparison, as being more or less adapted to the purposes
for which they were intended, but in the works of nature,
from the simplest forms of being to those which are the most
highly organized, there are no such degrees of comparison in
existence. Perfection is stamped upon every part of animal
organization.
Locomotion is strictly a mechanical science. We are
aware that to remove an animal from one place to another
will require the exercise of certain forces and powers. We
possess in ourselves locomotive organs of the most perfect
description, but human ingenuity and art has succeeded in
still further enlarging our powers of this description, and by
a variety of ingenious contrivances enabled us to move through
elements, for the traversing of which, man was not originally
intended. But let not man imagine that all these inventions,
on which he prides himself so much, have originated with
him ; on the contrary, we shall find that when we inspect the
animal kingdom, however cursorily, that many of the inven-
tions which are looked upon at the present day as the emana-
tions of human genius have existed from the creation to the
present hour.
If you consider the extensive distribution of the animal
world, the variety of circumstances under which creatures
are destined to live, and the different elements which they
inhabit, you will perceive at once that to enable them to move
from place to place very opposite contrivances are required
in diffeient cases. You will know that the different lakes
and the mighty ocean itself swarm with thousands of beings,
many of them so minute as to escape our observation, yet
we have succeeded in ascertaining most of the points con-
nected with their existence. The air, the leaves, the grass of
the field, and the soil to a considerable depth below the sur-
face of the earth, have their different animals adapted to
them, all peculiarly qualified to move through the media in
which they are placed. If any one views a drop of putrid
water through a microscope he will find it inhabited by mil-
lions of living beings, many of them not exceeding in size the
thirty thousandth part of an inch. If he watch these minute
beings more attentively, he will observe that the little drop
of water which forms their little world is freely traversed by
them in every direction, that they skim from place to place
in a graceful and rapid manner, and, that, notwithstanding
the numerous population of the drop of water, that they
avoid each other with the utmost facility, and never interfere
with each others movements. I ask any one acquainted with
mechanics, how are bodies such as these to be put in motion ?
What is the mode adopted by nature to endow these beings
with the motions which they exhibit. The animalcule e in a
drop of water are so many rolling bodies, the surface of which
is crowded over with millions of microscopic hairs, so minute
that words would fail to give an idea of their size, but every
hair is under the perfect control of the little beings, by which
they use as oars, so that their motion through the water is
easily and beautifully effected. But this is not the only mode
employed in giving movement to the little creatures which
we are considering. We find gelatinous animalculw, which
can convert their bodies to any form necessary for their move-
ment. The hairs, or cilia as they are called, instead of sur-
rounding the whole of the body, are in some cases so attached
as to form spiral wheels, which are comparable to the paddles
of our steam-boats, but of more beautiful and perfect con-
trivance. The wheel animalcules afford instances of this ar-
rangement, and so exactly do the movements of these hairs
resemble the revolution of a wheel, that our forefathers sup-
posed that they really were wheels. When these cilia are
put into motion the animalcule moves in any direction it
pleases, and can avoid coming in contact with the little crea-
tures with which it is associated. The cilia of the wheel ani-
malculw, unlike the inventions of human ingenuity, which
generally serve one purpose only, enable it to obtain its food
by causing currents in the water, so as to bring its prey within
its reach.
Amongst the various gelatinous bodies met with in the
ocean, that called the " girdle of Venus" is one of the most
remarkable. It is found in the Mediterranean, about 6 feet
long, in the form of a riband. In the daytime it appears of
a greenish hue, as it pursues its way through the water • and
in the night it emits a phosphorescent light, by which its
track can be seen by mariners many fathoms beneath the
surface of the ocean. Along the whole length of its back
are placed thousands of hairs, which act as oars to urge the
creature onwards in a continuous and undulating line. But
there are some of those gelatinous masses which can sail
upon the surface of the waters, by means of instruments
adapted to such a mode of progress. The belemnite is an
instance of this kind of locomotion. It can raise itself from
the bottom of the ocean to the surface, and, when it arrives
there, erect its sail, by which it is enabled to make its way
along the surface of the ocean. There is another gelatinous
mass of the same class, called by sailors " the Portuguese
man-of-war," which is likewise furnished with a sail. It
consists of a bladder, upon the top of which is placed a sail ;
from the bottom of the bladder hang down several greenish-
coloured appendages, which are the instruments by which it
obtains its food. It possesses the power of secreting air,
with which it distends its little bladder, and then becoming
lighter than the water, it rises to the top of the ocean, upon
the principle of a balloon ; and when in this situation, its
little sail comes into play. The paper nautilus is familiar to
us all, as being furnished with a shell of beautiful construc-
tion, in which it sails on the surface of the ocean. It has
nothing to do but to raise its membranous sails, and the
wind wafts it along. There are besides five moveable arms,
which hang over the sides of the boat, and serve as so many
oars to urge it on its course. The pearly nautilus is another
of this description of animals. Until lately the animal was
unknown, although its shells were found. The fact is, that
this is a nautilus which is so protected by nature, and is en-
abled to escape Iso precipitately from human observation,
that by the merest accident only one of them was captured.
This creature can swim at the top of the sea, and sink sud-
denly when alarmed. Its shell is divided into a number of
compartments, communicating with each other by means of
a pipe running through them from the margin to the extre-
mity. When the creature wishes to rise, it fills these cham-
bers with air, by which, becoming specifically lighter than
the water, it is enabled to ascend to the surface ; and, when
alarmed, by withdrawing its body it condenses the air, and
sinks to the bottom instantly,
Brit to leave these modes of progression, which are only
to be met with in the humblest and least-known forms of
animal life, let us examine some which are not less curious.
Throughout nature there are various animals called officers
of police, and not amongst the least important are the sca-
vengers for the removal of putrid matter, and the prevention
of its accumulation. We know that in hot countries
animals of this kind abide. The banks of rivers are in-
fested with alligators and crocodiles. The deserts are in-
habited by hyaenas destined to take away garbage, and the
vultures prowl about for similar purposes. There are sca-
vengers likewise for the ocean, amongst which the star-fish
must be ranked. Star-fish are literally stomachs contained
in bags. The problem to be solved is, how are these bags
removed from place to place. The outward forms of the
coverings of these creatures will be found to vary materially,
and their mechanical contrivances must vary with their out-
word forms. The gorgonocephalus, or head of Medusa, is
the simplest form of star-fish with which we are acquainted.
It has a great number of fibrous appendages, which are ca-
pable of acting as legs, or of attaching it to any vegetable
which may be in its vicinity ; but we meet with round star-
fish without any of these appendages. Natural history does
not furnish a more pleasing spectacle than that presented by
a common star-fish when placed in a glass jar full of sea-
water. The star-fish has a number of small feet, with which
it can climb to the top of the jar, or move about in it in any
direction. Its legs are similar to the common suckers used
by schoolboys. If we examine the interior structure of the
star-fish, we shall be as much amazed at the simplicity as
the perfection of the arrangement. We shall find that every
foot is formed by means of a bladder within the star-fish.
When the creature attaches itself, this bladder is flaccid ;
and, by dilating it, the creature is enabled to obtain a secure
footing, by means of the pressure of the atmosphere. Again,
in the globular forms of the sea-urchin, you will find this
form to exist, so that, by means of these suckers, these crea-
tures can roll themselves up the sides of a rock, and drag
themselves into places where we should hardly suppose them
capable of penetrating.
Insects foim an extensive division of the animal kingdom.
They are diffused over every part of the world, and exist un-
der a variety of circumstances. The power which insects
possess of moving from place to place, is well deserving of our
attention. The most common appendage to the foot of an
insect, is the instrument by means of which it makes its way
along a tolerably rough surface. It resembles a pair of hooks,
something like those made use of in removing packages of
cotton wool from one place to another. Now these hooks are
the rudest formi of prehensiv,e organs which we dareimagine.-
The comraba. loust! tnstead of .hookti of cletcriPtioh, is
furnished with a put of pincerri, resembling the mandibles of

the lobster; with these pincers it can take hold of the stems
of the hair with the utmost possible facility, and thus make
its way under circumstances in which no other insect would
be enabled to do so. The common house fly is able to walk
upon the ceiling, with its head downwards. If we magnify
the foot of the house fly, we shall find that, besides the hooks
possessed by ordinary insects, it is provided with a pair of
membranous flaps or suckers, to take hold of any surface
with. It is by no means uncommon for these creatures,
when enfeebled by cold weather, to be incapable of detaching
these suckers from the surface to which they may have been
affixed, and they necessarily perish from their inability to
overcome the atmospheric pressure, which, under favourable
circumstances is so conducive to their welfare. But there
are insects which not only are able to climb as the house fly,
but are adapted to burrow beneath the surface of the ground,
precisely as the mole does amongst quadrupeds. Now by
what contrivance in the structure of the leg of an insect can
you convert it into a digging animal, so as to enable it to
clear away the earth with facility ? The mole cricket is
one of the most striking examples of this species of insect.
The two first legs are converted into rakes of immense
power, by means of which it can scratch its way and bury
itself in a manner which must appear marvellous to those who
watch the movements of the creature.
With all his ingenuity, man has not been able to wend his
way through the atmosphere by strictly mechanical means ;
and, although at the present day individuals are endeavour-
ing to accomplish that feat, there is little doubt that their
efforts will be futile, for however fertile the ingenuity of these
later years may have been in producing discoveries, the power
of flying has never been approximated. The rapidity of the
movement, and the strength of wing in all creatures destined
to move through the air must be proportionate to the weight
to be raised and carried along. Many of you may have ob-
served a dragon fly in pursuit of its prey You may have
seen it for hours together moving about the surface of a pond
pursuing and capturing the insects on which it feeds, but
perhaps you have not observed the perfection of its flight. It
is not only able like a bird to fly directly forward, but it is
capable of flying backwards as well as forwards, sideways and
downwards without turning during its flight, so beautifully
are its wings contrived. The swallow is not to be compared
to the dragon fly in its means of flight. An instance is re-
lated of a swallow pursuing a dragonfly, but it could not cap-
ture it, for whichever way the swallow turned itself, the
dragon fiy without turning was able to advance or recede as
circumstances might require, and after a long chase, it ap-
peared that the bird was not capable of gaining upon the in-
sect, or of coming nearer to the accomplishment of its
wishes. The house fly has been calculated to fly at the rate
of seventy-five feet in a second of time with the same num-
ber of strokes of its wings. Is there any thing in human
practice like this ! A fly thus will pass over three quarters of
a mile in a minute, whilst the fleetest race horse has not been
able to run more than one mile in the same period. And ob-
serve the difference between their strength. If the insect was
to increase in power with its relative bulk, and to grow to the
size of a race horse. the world itself would be unable to sus-
tain it or to resist its ravages. The common stag beetle is
endowed with huge wings. Suppose this insect were in-
creased to the size of the tiger and leopard, and that its
powers increased in the same ratio as its bulk, we should
have a monster such as human invention never imagined.
Where is the animal alive that can resist such devastators
as these creatures would be, and yet so perfect is the mechan-
ism with which they are provided to enable them to fly, so
perfect indeed, that ifit was not enacted by a law of nature that
they~ should not exceed certain bounds in bulk, they would
depopulate the earth.
Why are insects furnished with wings? Insects are not,
properly speaking, made to fly because life is dependent upon
their possessing that faculty. The ephemeris will live for
three years under water, in the form of a grub. It obtains
its wings, leaves the waters in which it has survived so long,
and in an hour its existence ceases. Is there any particular
wisdom displayed in thus furnishing this creature with the
means of flight ? If it were not the case, we should find the
race confined to one particular locality, instead of being
widely disseminated, which its brief hour of flight accom-
plishes. The grub of the dragon fly urges itself through the
water by discharging a stream of water from a bag situated
in its hinder parts. Human mechanics have vainly endea-
voured to bring this species of locomotion to perfection in
steam-boats. We thus see that even in insects there are me-
chanical laws, which are carried into effect upon such prin-
ciples as to adapt these beings most admirably for the cir-
cumstances in which they are placed, and that in some cases,
especially as regards the power of flight, the proudest achieve-
ments of human ingenuity have fallen far short of what the
Celestial Mechanic formed long before the human attention
was directed to the subject.
This lecture was illustrated throughout by a beautiful and
exceedingly numerous collection of diagrams, as well as by a
number of specimens of shell fish, birds, &c. The next lec-
ture takes place to-morrow evening, when the structure artd
mechanism of the internal skeleton of vertebrate animals
will be considered.

CONSTABULARY FORCE FOR THE COUNTIES
OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

A Commission was appointed by the late King, for the pur.
pose of inquiring as to the best means of establishing an effici.
ent Constabulary Force in the Counties of England and Wales
especially with a view to the prevention of offences, and also
with regard to any proceedings before trial, by which the de-
tection and apprehension of criminals may be rendered more
certain ; and also for inquiring as to any public services which
may be obtained from such a force, either in the preservation
of the peace or the due protection of property, &c., &c. The
Commission was renewed on the accession of Her Majesty,
and consists of three members—the Chief Commissioner of
the Metropolitan Police, one of the Poor-law Commission-
ers, and the Secretary of that Board. On a former occasion
we stated that their First Report had just been laid before
both Houses of Parliament, and at the same time published
the plan, consisting of seven propositions, which they recom-
mend to her Majesty's Government for carrying their views
into effect. Before noticing the details of the Inquiry, which
are full of interest, we will give their chief reasons for recom-
mending the establishment of a general Constabulary Force
for England and Wales. These are also seven in number,
and are as follows :-
1. That it is essential for the efficacy and attainment of all
compatible services from a .constabulary force,—first, that
the constables should be trained, or appointed from a trained
force ; secondly, that neither by appointment nor otherwise
should they be privately connected with the district in which
they act; thirdly, that they should at periods be changed
from district to district ; fourthly, that whilst they should act
under local direction for the performance of various local and
administrative duties, for the repression of the practices of
migratory depredators, vagrancy, and offences.which concern
the community at large more than the particular locality, the--
must act under general rules and principles, and in subordi
nation to general directions from one general and responsibl
executive authority.
2. That such a trained and moveable force, under genera
and responsible direction, will produce greater advantages
than at least double the number of untrained, irremoveable
constables, acting more expensively under separate, inde-
pendent, and voluntary, or untrained and irresponsible
direction.
3. That the expense of a general and uniform force, which
we believe would be adequate to the attainment of these ob-
jects, would be under half a million sterling per annum.
4. That the saving from the service of such a force would
be considerable ; that, independently of the saving to indi-
viduals of the greater proportion of the money or produce
now taken by habitual depredators, there would be much
saving eflected on upwards of two millions of money, now
expended chiefly in the cost of repression and of punishment
in various ways, amongst others in the maintenance of delin-
quents in gaols, in transports, and in penal colonies, as well
as in the prevention of frauds upon the revenge.
5. That much time, which we cannot accurately determine,
would be required to obtain proper persons and fit them by
training for the proper discharge of their duties, and to or-
ganise an efficient trained force.
6. That the only available district or trained force that
can at present be obtained is the new Metropolitan Police
force.
7. That in the great majority of instances, or nearly all,
of the successful trial of a paid constabulary force, have been
instances where trained men have been obtained from the
Metropolitan Police Force, comprehending about 200 in-
stances in towns and rural districts.
The first point the Commissioners endeavoured to ascertain
was the extent of depredation to be guarded against, and at
the beginning of the inquiry it became evident that the re-
turns hitherto made of the number of persons prosecuted or
convicted cannot be relied on as correct indications of crime
in any given district. In proof of this they state :
In two instances, where crime was remarkably frequent,
where the only real security of the subject consisted in his
own power of self-defence, and where, as we have good rea-
son to believe, from the defective state of the constabulary
force, there was no pursuit or apprehension, the gaols being
empty, the judges were, according to custom, presented at
the assizes with white gloves, as emblems of the purity of
the districts. In other instances, where, from the increased
efficiency of the constables, or from increased facilities of
prosecution, there has been an increased number of cases on
the calendar, it is common to hear this increase of crime, and
as the ground of alarm. The answers to the questions put
by us, to ascertain the state of the information possessed, as
well as the state of the fact, show that there is in general no
recorded information upon the subject on which any reliance
for exactitude can be placed.
In order, however, to form the most correct estimate of
the amount of one species of crime, and to show how very
few are convicted, as compared with the number of offenders,
they formed a comparison of the number of forged notes pre-
sented to the Bank of England, with the number of prose-
cutions and convictions, and the result was, that for a period
of 18 years, ending with the year 1823, the number of forged
notes presented to the Bank of England was 263,990 ; the
convictions 1574, or one in 167, and the proportion of exe-
cutions to crimes committed was as 1 to 1003, or more than
a thousand chances of escape (or minor punishment) to one
of suffering the last penalty of the law ; and that 166 acts of
forgery, or uttering, out of 167, were committed with impu-
nity. The greatest number of forged notes presented to the
Bank of England was in the year 1817, being not less than
3180, and the proportion of convictions was lin 243. After
the act for restoring cash payments, and small notes were
abolished, the decrease of this species of crime was most re-
markable, the number of forged notes presented being only
1648, in 1823, and the convictions 6: in 1827 they were re-
spectively 267 and 3.
The commissioners found equal difficulty in ascertaining
the number of habitual depredators with that of ascertaining,
except in this instance, the proportion of offences to convic-
tions. The answers from the county magistrates, gaolers,
and others, were most unsatisfactory. The ordinary tenor
of the greater proportion of answers was, " a few"—` we
cannot ascertain." " There may be persons of this descrip-
tion, but we have no means of ascertaining their number.,
In order to form some criterion, therefore, as to the propor-
tion of persons who live by habitual depredation, the com-
missioners had recourse to the following plan :
" With a view to make some approximation to a tolerably
correct estimate of the amount of crime actually committed,
as compared with the prosecutions within particular districts,
we have directed an enumeration to be made by the Metro-
politan Police, of the number and description of persons
known to them as being addicted to habitual delinquency or
breaches of the law. We have obtained similar enumerations
from Liverpool, Bristol, Bath, Hull, and Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, where the police is organized and conducted on the
same plan as the Metropolitan Police. Before the means of
making such estimates were obtained by the organization of
such an agency more or less closely observant of the classes
in question, and therefore enabled to give more or less accu-
rate particulars with relation to them, one of the Commission-
ers who had then paid attention to the subject, endeavoured
to determine the number of common thieves who were at
large in the metropolis. The course taken was to endeavour
to ascertain the following points :—First, the average dura-
tion of the career of common thieves or habitual depredators
before their permanent removal from the field of depredation,
by transportation, deaths, or other means. Secondly, the
number of habitual depredators who annually pass through
the gaols, ane are permanently removed from the field of de-
predation by such means. Upon the first of these points, it
was estimated in 1830; on the information of governors of
prisons, attorneys practising in criminal courts, and other
persons conversant with the habits of the criminal popula-
tion in the metropolis, that the average career of impunity to
common thieves was not less than six years. On the second
point it was estimated that the total number of habitual de-
predators annually tried in the Crown Courts of the metro-
polis, was in round numbers IWO : hence it followed that the
number of common thieves at large in the metropolis, from
which the annual supply of 1000 convicts was made without
apparent diminution, could not be less than 6000. In the
• year 1834 an estimate was made of the number of common
'ttieyes in the metropolis known to the Metropolitan_Polie,e.
The total number .tlain known to them wait:s2lo. -Upon a

more close enumeration made in the year 1837, the number
was returned as 6407."
The following is the proportion of known bad characters
to the population of the six large towns to which they ex-
tended their inquiry :—London Metropolitan Police District,
1 in 89 ; Liverpool, 1 in 45 ; Bristol, 1 in 31 ' • Bath, 1 in 37
Hull, 1 in 64 ; and Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1 in 27 ; but this list

includes three classes :
" 1. Persons who have no visible means of subsistence, and
who are believed to live wholly by violation of the law, as by
habitual depredation, by fraud, by prostitution, &c. 11. Per-
sons following some ostensible and legal occupation, but who
ere known to have committed an offence, and are believed to
augment their gains by habitual or occasional violation of the
law. 111. Persons not known to have committed any offences,
but known as associates of the above classes. and otherwise
deemed to be suspicious characters."
The number of common thieves in the metropolis was esti-
mated not long ago at 30,000, and, according to Mr. Colqu-
houn, the Magistrate of the Thames Police, the number of
depredators and prostitutes amounted in his time to 50,000,
an estimate proved to be enormously extravagant. In a re-
cent address published by a voluntary association for the
suppression of prostitution, the number of persons of that
description in the metropolis was stated to be not less than
80,000, while " the actual enumeration shows that at this
time the number living amidst nearly a million and a half of
the population does not exceed 7000.
The next point of enquiry was the proportion of vagrant
thieves who constitue the most prominent body of delinquents
in the rural districts—those who seek alms as mendicants,
and those who travel from town to town, and from fair to
fair, and who snake incursions from the provincial towns
upon the adjacent rural districts. From persons of this class
confessions were obtained setting forth in detail their previous
career of depredation, and the description of their associates.
The following extract is from a statement made by a prisoner
in Salford gaol, aged 21, the son of honest parents in Man-
chester. The gypsies come in for their share of the blame,
and the unfortunate Irish are not forgotten. Even this
scamp traces the sources of his crimes to Irish blood :
" For the last four years, up to 1839, I have travelled'
for a maintenance. I carried a covered hawker's basket,
with an oil-case on the top, with cutlery, braces, trinkets,
Birmingham fancy goods, buttons, pearl,. bone, and wood.
This pack was not what I and others chiefly depended on ;
it was the excuse for travelling ; and also sometimes to fall
hack upon in case we could do no business of other kinds.
The value of the contents would vary from £2 to £4. I
have sold silk goods stolen,' bought of the shop-lifters ;
there are these in all towns, small as well as large. They
will not sell to any unless they know them ; if they supposed
a man to be a traveller,' they would come up to him and
say, perhaps, Will you stand for some handkerchiefs, rib-
bon, anything in silver, or gold, or wearing apparel ? ' There
are ring-stealers, on pretence of buying them. Needle-steal-
ers from drapers' shops buy 100, and steal a couple of thou-
sand.' There are cant words for everything you use or do.
I have seen some old cant in print, but it is nothing to the
cant now used. There are three sorts of cant, the gipsies',
the beggars' (such as pretended sailors and others), and the
thieves'. The cants are distinct in many words, and alike in
others. A stranger to the cant words could not understand
the gipsies or others, save a few words here and there. The
gipsies have a cant word for every word they speak: The
vagrant cant is a lower style than the thieves ; they use it to
tell one another what they get at different houses ; they are
not always thieves, they will not push themselves forward to
steal, and one-half of them, if they saw another stealing,
would tell of him, and yet, if they could do it themselves
they would. The gipsies are the worst of thieves • they live
by fortune-telling ; they make rings out of brass buttons and
pewter, and the wives sell them as gold and silver ; they have
tiles and other instruments for cutting them out ; the metal
ones are cast ; many of them make bad money. They will
coin the money in lanes, or buy it of the dealers in towns in
the rough, and make it up themselves. This is extensively
done, most `up' the country, the south and west of Eng-
land; more round Sussex, Essex, Kent, Surry, Northamp-
ton. They have no religion ; are heavy cursers ; go in fami-
lies ' • never marry ; many of them are sheep stealers. The
two families of the Boslems and Smith, about sixty in each ;
are about Nottingham and Derbyshire ; hardly an assize or
sessions but some of this set are had up ; in winter they live
in towns, if very severe. They will be in one tent when out ;
as soon as old enough they pair,' and if they don't like
each other, after a fight the woman will go down to her own
tribe again, and the man selects another woman. Play cards
and drink the Sundays. Travellers' will not do busi-
ness' on Sundays. There are some who will rob houses at
chapel-time on that day, because they cannot get in at others.
I know two sent from Leicester last March for a robbery on
Sunday night. One got fifteen, the other ten years. Amongst
thieves there are several kinds. Ist. Those confined to pick-
ing pockets have boys to work for them, and close round
them, that no one shall see them. This is very gainful : large
towns furnish them, and they frequent all fairs, wakes, and
races. They travel various ways, some with spring and
covered carts. ' Muffling' the cart is of use only when
there is no watchmen : the wheels and horses' feet are all
clothed. I have not heard of its being done this long time.
2. Robbers of the person with violence, mostly three to-
gether, two hold the man, and the third rifle his pockets.
All three will, most probably, be behind when the attack is
made, and one will put his arms ro and him, or he will
hit him from ;behind with a stone in a handkerchief, or a
heavy stick, to stun or drop' him, and when the plun-
der is got, throw him out of the way. If a man is in
a gig, one will hold the horse and cut the reins. A
horseman will do well to take to the fields, but in a gig a
man has only the chance of self-defence ; few travellers'
i. e. thieves, will venture their lives if a pistol is shown. Few
travellers' are confined to one kind of robbing ; in some
places you will see the same persons with boys picking
pockets, and others with a three-thimble, gambling at fairs
and races ; it would be a good thing to stop it universally ;
they are thieves to a man ; it would draw them to other
things. * *
" Take one with another, Manchester is the worst town in
England for a thief; I have heard the names of and
the other side of London. Liverpool is a better place
for a thief than Manchester, it he be a stranger. If you say
in any other part of England that you are from Manchester,
you are at once supposed to be a thief ; it is the same with
London, Birmingham, and Liverpool ; but they say that
Manchester and Birmingham turn out more thieves than
London and Liverpool. The Manchester and Liverpool are
reckoned the most expert; they are thought to be .or Irish
parents, and to have most cunning. In fact, I'll be bound
to say, that three parts of those who are travelling now
throughout the kingdom have Irish blood in them, either
father, mother, or grandmother.
" I should think there are some thousands of ' travellers'
in England, not to mention Ireland and Scotland ; there are
more in Scotland than Ireland (Ireland is too poor, unless
in large towns). I have seen 150 of different sorts at one
_ place.
ie

CIIINESE MANNERS.-Mr. Medhurst gives the following
account of one Chinese peasant's visit to another :—" Com-
plimentary cards are presented, and polite answers returned,
all vying with each other in the display of humility and con-
descension. On the arrival of the guest considerable difficulty
is found in arranging who shall make the lowest bow, or first
enter the door, or take the highest seat, or assume presidency
at table, though the host generally contrives to place his
guest in the most elevated position. When conversation
commences, the mutual assent to every proposition, the scru-
pulous avoiding of all contradiction, and the entire absence
of every offensive expression or melancholy allusion, show
what a sense these people entertain of politeness."

RUSTIC, CONTRASTED WITH TOWN, POVERTY.—TO be
born poor as the spirit of poverty herself, is sufficiently bad ;
but far worse is it to be thus born in the bottom of some
noisome ally of a vast town, where a single ray of sunlight
never falls, nor a glimpse of the sky itself is ever caught,
beyond what may be afforded by that small dusky section of
it which seems to lie like a dirty ceiling on the chimney tops,
and even then cannot be seen, unless (to speak like a geome-
trician) by raising the face to a horizontal position, and the
eyes perpendicularly. Fresh air, fields, rivers, clouds, and
sunshine, redeem half the miseries of want, and make a
happy, joyful being of him who, in any other sense, cannot
call one single atom of the world his own.—" Collin Clink,"
in Bentley's Miscellany.

DISCOVERY OF AN ABORIGINAL RACE OF NATIVES
NEW SOUTH WALES.—We learn by the Tasmanian and
Austral-Asiatic Review of October 19, 11138, that " A most
interesting discovery has just been made by a gentleman be-
longing to Sydney, of a race of natives inhabiting the banks
of Thorn's River, (a river lying between the Rig River and
Moreton Bay, navigable upwards of sixty miles inland,) in-
comparably superior to the Aborigines of other parts of the
territories, both in intellect and personal appearance, and
much further advanced in civilization. Our informant, who
visited the place in search of good cedar grounds, informs us
that they inhabit villages of from twenty to fifty houses in
extent, each house capable of containing from twelve to fifteen
individuals. Three of these villages our informant encoun-
tered in his progress, the largest of which must have con-
tained 400 inhabitants. The houses, which are very ingeni-
ously constructed, are in the form of a horse-shoe, with a
low porch in front of each ; the walls are constructed of slahs
driven into the earth, and ingeniously interwoven with wattles,
so as to be impervious to the rain ; the roofs of the houses are
covered with tea-tree bark, and so strongly is the whole fabric
put together that the weight of several individuals on the roof
is insufficient to injure it." As we anticipate being shortly
in possession of particulars relative to the above discover,
we shall not fail to lay them before our readers.—Mirror.
FASCINATION OF THE RATTLESNAKE.—" When I was a
boy 13 years old," says Mr. Willard, " my father sent me into
the field, to mow some briers. I had not long been employed
when I discovered a large rattlesnake, and looked round for
something to kill him ; but not readily discovering a weapon,
my curiosity led me to view him. He lay coiled up, with his
tail erect, and making the usual singing noise with his rattles.
I had viewed him but a short time-when the most vivid and
lively colours that imagination can paint, and far beyond the
powers of the pencil to imitate, among which yellow was the
most predominate, and the whole drawn into a bewitching
variety of gay and pleasing forms, were presented to my
eyes ; at the same time my ears were enchanted with the
most rapturous strains of music, wild, lively, complicated,
and harmonious, in the highest degree melodious, captivating,
and enchanting, far beyond anything I ever heard before or
since, and indeed far exceeding what my imagination in any
other situation could have conceived. I felt myself irresistibly
drawn towards the hated reptile ; and, as I had been often
used to seeing and killing rattlesnakes, and my senses were
so absorbed by the gay vision and rapturous music, I was not
for some time apprehensive of much danger ; but suddenly
recollecting what I had heard the Indians relate (but what I
had never before believed) of, the fascinating powers of these
serpents, I turned with horror from the dangerous scene ;
but it was not without the most violent efforts that I was
able to extricate myself. All the exertions that I could make,
with my whole strength, were hardly sufficient to carry me
from the scene of horror, yet pleasing enchantment ; and
while I forcibly dragged off my body, my head seemed to be
irresistibly drawn to the enchanter by an invisible power.
And I fully believe that in a few moments longer, it would
have been wholly out of my power to make an exertion
sufficient to get away.—Peter Pilgrim.
POPISH INTOLERANCE.—DANGER OF INTERMARRIAGES.
—The intermarriages of protestant females with members of
the Church of Rome, is an evil which cannot be too strongly
deprecated. Seldom a day passes that does not, in some part
of this unhappy country, exhibit a practical illustration of
the misery and heartburnings that arise from this unhallowed
compact. The following, which has been communicated to
us on good authority, shows that length of time cannot pro-
mise a respite from persecution to the deluded female of the
reformed faith, who places herself under the protection of a
papist husband :—ln a certain town, not twenty miles from
Buncrana, a man, who fills the situation of clerk of the petit
sessions, happened, some fifteen or sixteen years ago, to get
married to a protestant. Previous to this the arrangements
entered into by the parties were, that he should allow her to
go to her own place of worship, and that the one should not
interfere with the other in religious matters; however,
shortly after they had got married, instigated, no doubt, by
the priest, he endeavoured to induce her to go to mass, which
she as strenuously resisted, urging upon him the agreement
entered into ; he, however, was deaf to all remonstrance, and
when he could not persuade her to accompany him to the
mass-house, he persisted in his refusal to allow her to go to
any other place of worship. The poor woman thus deprived
of religious instruction was anxious to read and improve her
mind at home, and for this purpose had borrowed from a
female neighbour a volume of family sermons ; this book,
however, her persecutor recently discovered, and having
ascertained who was the owner of it, lie took it to her house,
and after upbraiding her for lending it to his wife, took the
tongs, and having stirred up the fire, -deposited the book in
the flames. The owner as-it might be expected, hastened to
its rescue, and succeeded inriaT4pg it out before itwas totally
consumed.—Zondthic rr -Sehttiset.- • • •• .*