Star.
London, England, 1829-11-25 00:00:00

FACTS AND FANCIES.

TILE KING AND HIS MINISTERS.--." Dispatches
from his 111AJEWTY, at the Royal Lodge in Windsor
Park, for the Duke of WELLINGTON, were received in
town yesterday morning. They were forwarded imme-
diately to His Grace, at the residence of Mr. PEEL, in
Norfolk." So said the Papers of Tuesday, but they
gave the intelligence without one single comment. It
is well for the Nation, that at a crisis like the present,
when, notwithstanding the deplorable position of affairs,
and the calamitous condition of the people, the Ministers
of State are solely occupied in shooting excursions—the
anxiety of our beloved Monarch for the welfare of
the country, and his parental solicitude for the prospe-
rity of his subjects, are not only unabated, hut as unre-
mitting as in the most vigorous period of his life. His
servants, indeed, regardless of the accumulated misery
and disgrace to which they have succeeded in reducing
this once mighty empire, seem to have locked up the
Cabinet, put the keys in their pockets, and set off
pleasure-hunting—or recruiting—in various quarters ;
whilst their too long indulgent Master—though occupied,
even in his Royal retirement, by State-Affairs—when he
requires their attendance, has to send messengers all
over the kingdom in pursuit of them. It is rumoured,
however, in well informed circles, that the Duke may,
in a very short time, be at full leisure to pursue the sports
of the field without dreading any such irksome inter-
ruption to his amusements ; and some ultra-politicians
even go so far as to say that His Grace having had some
not-to-be-mistaken intimations of the nature of the Dis-
patehes in question, had proceeded to Stowe Hall that
he might there receive the signification of His MA-
JESTY'S pleasure, and have the soothing support of his
devoted colleague's friendly advice and consolation, to
reconcile him to his destiny, and enable him with be-
coming resignation, to bid
" A loog farewell to all his greatness'!"
DOINGS IN DOWNING-STREET.—In addition to the
fact of the present Premier's furniture being removed
from the official residence of the Minister in Downing-
street to the private mansion of his Grace the Duke
of WELLINGTON in Piccadilly ; it is said to be
positively arranged that the Earl of BATHURST
is to occupy the vacated premises--but whe-
ther he succeeds to the official station as well
as the official swelling of the Noble First Lord,
we believe, is not yet quite decided. Lord BATHURST
may not possess very brilliant talents; but he enjoys the
reputation of an honest, well-meaning, and unambitious
statesman; and if he cannot advance the national glory
by the energies of his mind or the expansion of his poli-
tical views,—at least he will never endanger the nation's
safety by his obstinate hardihood, nor her honour by an
alternate display of intemperate rashness and phlegmatic
indifference. " Come what come may,"—a more inca-
pable—a more intractable—a more incompetent Minister
than the gentleman who is now " moving his furniture,"
never occupied the official residence in Downing-street.

THE SIAMESE YOUTHS.

The announcement of a spectacle, in which some un.
accountable caprice of nature is said to be developed in
the monstrous mal-formation of the human body, so fre-
quentlyexcites repulsive, and at times disgusting notions,
that, notwithstanding the favourable representations
which had been made of the personal appearance of the
SIAMESE YOUTHS, we attended the private exhibition
of this most extraordinary phenomenon on Tuesday, with
no great prepossession in its favour. We are bound,
however, to acknowledge, that so far from being
even in the slightest degree objectionable, the
Exhibition is calculated to awaken feelings of
deep reflection upon the inscrutable mysteries
of Pao v It:mace, and to remind men that they
" are fearfully and wonderfully made ;" whilst, notwith-
standing the monstrosity of their corporeal union, the
otherwise perfect formation of the respective bodies of the
twins—the natural gracefulness of their movements—and
the serenity and cheerfulness of their dispositions, attach
an almost melancholy interest to the display of this
unprecedented physical curiosity. There is nothing
in the exhibition which the most delicate mind
may not contemplate,—or from which the observer
of nature in her ever varying moods may not
acquire instruction. The full-length descriptions of our
morning contemporaries have left us little to add to the
minute details of the personal appearance of the youths,
who were visited during the day by Sir ASTLEY COOPER,
Sir ANTHONY CARLISLE, Mr.THOMAS, Mr. BROOKES,
and in fact, all the most eminent members of the faculty;
and we now subjoin the result of Sir ANTH. CARLISLE'S
inspection, communicated to the Editor of the Times :
" The boys were dressed in the garments of their own
country, and no parts of their persons exposed save the
front aspect of the living band which connects them
together, it being placed immediately below their re-
spective breast-bones. This joining part presents a
surface of natural and healthy skin, and to the feel it
seems to include an extension from each of the carti-
lages which terminate the breast-bones. The entire
band admits four fingers to pass freely behind it, when
the boys stand shoulder to shoulder, Lad its width and
thickness allow the thumb to meet the fingers on the
front aspect. The vestiges of one common navel are
visible at the lower and middle part of the band. When
either of the boys was desired to cough, it became evi-
dent to the person grasping the band, that a ruptural
protrusion was forced into the band next the individual
who coughed, and a middle shut space of more than an
inch remained of those rupture sacs. These facts are
of importance, because in the event of death to one of
the twins, the life of the remaining brother might be
preserved by a prompt and skilful separation or the dead
individual. The pulse of the boy on the right side
was 87 beats in a minute, that of the one on tho left 82;
but as they had not before seen a stop-watch, and were
much agitated by observing its movements, it is probable
that moral excitement had some influence on the fre-
quency of their pulses. Their general aspect was alike,
and their teeth of similar character : they were cheerful,
apparently in equal good health, and evidently unac-
customed to petty restraints. There is nothing disgust-
ing or even indecorous in the exhibition of these curious
persons; they do not deserve to be regarded as monsters,
since their slender union is but one of the many instances
which happen to the whole animal creation.
" lf, indeed, Nature bad not carefully provided against
its frequency to the human race, the occasional appear-
ance of united twins would give rise to many legal per-
plexities."

CHURCH Rzroam.—The Southern Reporter states,
that amongst those who have expressed their warm and
entire concurrence with the objects of the Cork Church
Reform Committee, and their determination to forward
them in Parliament, are some of the moat able and influ-
ential individuals in the empire. The effect of the com-
inunications received by the Committee, is to induce them
to persevere in the work they have undertaken, firmly
and coolly.