The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-14 00:00:00

THE NIGER EXPEDITION.

(From a Portsmouth Paper.)
The Horatio transport has arrived at Portsmouth, from
Ascension, which she left on the 27th of October, with inva-
lids from the African squadron. She brings sad accounts
of the disastrous effects of the climate on the crews compo-
sing the Niger expedition, no less than one-third of them
having invalided, of whom about 22 have died. The Saudon,
on quitting the Nun river, with thirty-six invalids on board,
fell in with the Dolphin, and transferred them to that ship.
Eight of these died on board the Dolphin ; and with the re-
mainder she proceeded to Ascension, where they were put on
board the Horatio, and have returned home. The havoc
made by the climate on the crews had greatly disheartened
the expedition, and it was considered doubtful whether it
could proceed. It is somewhat singular that the blacks who
went from England with the expedition were the first to fall a
prey to sickness on entering the river. The former accounts
received from the expedition mentioned that the steamers
entered the Nun river on the 13th of August. We now learn
that this river is two miles wide, and that it is thought to be
the chief of the many mouths of the Niger. The vessels,
with the Amelia tender, did not do more than about a dozen
miles, until the 206, on which day they did about thirty;
the 21st, thirty miles more ; the 22nd, being Sunday, they
rested ' • the 23d was wasted in looking after the Wilberforce,
which had gone up (without Captain Trotter's knowledge)
by a different channel. The 24th, they did twenty miles;
the 25th, twenty-five miles ; and on the evening of the 26th
they all four arrived at the island of Ebor, 130 miles up the
river, according to its course. The river here is about two
hundred yards wide, and of good depth, the banks to the
water's edge covered with vegetation, with the cotton, um-
brella, palm, bamboo, and many other trees, of the kind.
The depth of the water varies from thirteen fathoms down to
very shallow indeed, the current against them going up about
two miles an hour. Thus far up the river its width varies
from one hundred yards to a mile and a half. The next
thirty or forty miles they saw very few huts indeed.
They next thirty or forty miles they paesed several villages,
than (for some miles) fewer inhabitants again, and latterly
none. The town of Ebor is very large, not on the main
river, but up a creek. The king went on board the Albert,
dressed like a mountebank, red coat, &c. The natives are
quite peaceful towards them ; indeed, they were fearful of
them ; they had provided them with vegetables and some
bullocks on the day the last letter was dated—viz., the 18th
of September. They have very large canoes, carrying forty
or fifty men each.

The following is an extract of a letter, dated Mount Stir-
ling, close to the confluence of the Niger and the Tchadda,
September 18, 1811, her Majesty's ship Amelia, tender (this
point is 300 miles from the sea, and being above the delta of
several rivers, is comparatively healthy:) _

" The pestilence Iras broken out ; -fifty or sixty are ill in
the squadron ; ten or twelve have died, and many more will
die, I fear. The Soudan takes the sick out of the river; the
Wilberforce goes up the Tchadda ; the Albert, with Captain
Trotter and Captain Bird Allen, goes up the Niger. Mr.
Horatio Coltman, acting assistant surgeon of the Soudan, is
left in the medical charge of the Amelia, and the settlement
which is forming on shore here by the society, under Mr.
Carr. Mr. Nightingale, assistant surgeon of the Albert, is
dead, and also Mr. Marshall, acting surgeon of the Soudan."
(From the Shipping Gazelle.)

Prior to the flailing of the Niger expedition, we expressed
an opinion that the adventure would terminate without the
attainment of the results that were promised. We have now,
however, obtained information which puts an end to all
speculation on the subject :—" The expedition is a failure ;
and the vessels may be expected home early in spring, if
not before." Advices, upon which we can place reliance,
inform us, that on the 18th of September, the expedition
was at the confluence of the Niger and Tchadda ; that up to
that period seven individuals had been taken off by fever ;
that between seventy and eighty others were under the influ-
ence of the discaee • and that one of the vessels, the Saudan,
had been despatched with the sick to Fernando Po and
Ascension. The attempt had been made at the wrong season
of the year; the boats can make no progress up a falling
river; and its banks are loaded with decayed matter, which
throws off a malaria that is dreadful to inhale.

AIIERICAN BREAKFASTS.—This morning I again took
say place at the breakfast table, to see, with renewed admi-
ration, the galloping system. What I most envied, but in
vain attempted to imitate, was the marvellous skill evinced
by the natives in swallowing large quantities of iced milk and
oatmeal porridge. " Scotia, my own, my native land!" thou
are famed in verse and prose for thy breakfasts; but even
thou must hide thy diminished head before the accumulated
glories of the morning repast at Tremont House ; where, in
addition to the aforesaid porrige, are displayed tea, coffee,
omelets, beefsteaks, muttonchops, veal cutlets, kippered sal-
mon, various kinds of fresh fish, ham, eggs, cakes, rolls,
muffins, toast, &c.,. &c., ad infinitum:—Col. Maxwell's
Run through the United States.

EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE

BiovoNNL, D

3.--There is one of the refugees Who

has at last succeeded in reaching the French- territory, the
history of whose escape is of so rotnalitic a nature, and
so well illustrates the superiority of female courage and re-
solution in the hour of danger, that I cannot resist the temp-

tation of making it almost t

of this conimuni-

cation. His name is Barbero Quintero, and about twenty-
He was well known in the city of Vittoria,

five years el(

and was appointed secretary of the junta formed for the pur-
pose of arming and defending the province of Alva, and was
employed by Montes de Oca in drawing up documents con-
nected with the defence of the city. After the resolution
come to by the junta, not to defend the city, Quintero saw
that all was over, and resolved to fly. He endured many
difficulties, and was at length captured at Goyzueta, and de-
livered up to the chief, and, after a few days was informed
that there was no hope fur the life of one who had held such
close relation with the chief of the rebels.

When the tidings of his danger reached his wife, she at
once formed the determination of saving, or of perishing
with, one on whom she Boated to desperation.
. .

The cell in which Quintero was confined was small and
narrow. Tue door was always left open, and a sentinel was
placed at the entrance in order to keep the prisoner con-
stantly in sight ; another was stationed at the outer gate,
and a third kept guard at the street door. To reach this
dungeon, it was necessary to pass these three doors, one of
which was of iron bars. The prisoner had been forbidden
to hold communication with any person whatever; and his
wife's application to see and visit him had been sternly re-
fused. The poor young woman went to the prison door
several timesevery day with her baby in her arms, and as often
returned after vain supplications for admittance, with a
heart breaking in anguish. The only person allowed to
enter the cell where the prisoner was confined was a young
girl, who brought him his meals, and only twenty minutes
was allowed for dinner and supper. The former meal was
taken at midday, and the latter in the evening. At seven
o'clock in the evening of the 21st Nov., a young female came
to the outer door of the prison, with a basket under her
arin, which was partially concealed under a large coarse shawl
flung across her shoulders ; a red kerchief was bound about
her head, in the fashion of an Alva peasant girl, and her dress
that of the criadas, or servant girls of Vittoria. She de-
manded permission, in the usual manner, to enter with the
prisoner's supper. The sentinel at the gate referred her to
the serjeant of the guard. Fortunately the company which
had previously been on duty was changed the same day, and
the general orders for their guidance referred only to the ad-
mission twice a day of the bearer of the prisoner's meals, but
did not give any specific description of the personal appear-
ance of the bearer. After undergoing the coarse jests and
brutal allusions of the soldiers of the guard on her selection
of so advanced an hour, when night had already commenced,
to visit the prisoner, she was allowed to enter, and was suc-
cessively passed from one sentinel to the other until' she
reached the cell of the captive. By some awkwardness, or
more probably by design, she threw down the small iron
lamp which was suspended from the door-frame, and by
means of which the soldier stationed at the entrance, which
was always left open, might have a partial view of his charge.
The moment they were left in darkness, and whilst the
sentinel proceeded to the second gate to light the lamp, she
addressed the young man—" My beloved Eulogio, lose not a
moment, throw off your coat, put on my clothes, whilst I
bind this handkerchief about your head ; take this basket, in
which my bab- as) 1, and fl • for the

, y is asieel., giy; fly, love of God !
You will give the child to an old woman whom you will find
waiting at the Bilboa gate. Provided that you and my child
are out of all danger, I am ready to suffer death in your place.
Speak not a word ; every moment is precious. You only lose
time by attempting to resist, or refuse, for I have come here
with a determination which neither you nor any one else can
change. Farewell ! If I escape unharmed, and I do not
think the Regent will shoot me for my love for my husband,
we will meet again ; if not, Eulogio, think of me when I shall
be in the grave, and love our child—the poor baby is not
more than six weeks old. Hush ! Speak not, the sentinel is
here with the lamp."

Quintero made an effort to change her resolution, but she
would listen to no argument. He did as she requested, and
in the course of a few minutes he had put on her gown, shawl
and handkerchief, and she wrapped herself up in his cloak.
In order to prevent any suspicion on the part of the soldiers
at the gate, they remained together the usual time allowed
for the repast, and Eulogio then took up the basket, covered
it with his shawl, and then passed the sentinel. As he was
proceeding towards the outer gate the child awoke, and, to
Prevent its cries from being heard, the father began to sing,
in a loud voice, an old Basque ballad. Providence, however,
decreed that the interruption should not be noticed, and he
at length succeeded in reaching the street. He at once pro-
ceeded to the gate indicated ; found there the old woman,
whom he recognised as having been his wife's nurse ; gave
the child to her, and, without a moment's delay, made for
the mountains. Eight days he remained wandering amongst
those tremendous passes, with no clothing but his pantaloons
and shirt, and his feet and hands torn by the brushwood in
which he was obliged, from time to time, to conceal himself
from the parties of military whom he was constantly encoun-
tering. He had not less than 24 leagues to travel before he
could reach the frontier, and his food, during the whole of
the painful journey, was a morsel of bread and a drattliht of
water or cider, given him by the poor peasants near whose
habitations he found himself, and who, though knowing he
was flying from the avenger, never once thought of betraying
him.

On reaching, in a state of dreadful exhaustion, the Bidas-
soa, he found that the left bank was occupied in every part
by Spanish soldiers, who had even seized the boats to hinder
the refugees from crossing. Being in a state of desperation,
he plunged into the river, careless whether he was shot or
drowned. As if some superior will had decreed that the
noble and heroic act, prompted by pure conjugal love, should
not pass without its due reward, Quintero succeeded in gain-
ing the opposite bank, the part he had selected being ford-
able, the water reaching only to his middle ; neither was he
seen by the Spaniards.

On arriving on the French territory he knelt down, and,
in the enthusiastic fervour of his gratitude, returned thanks
to Heaven for his safety. He arrived in Bayonne the day
before yesterday.

Up to two o'clock yesterday he had received no account of
his wife, and he continues, as yet, in a state of indescribable
anxiety as to her fate. There can be no doubt, however, of
her ultimate safety, and of her speedy reunion with the ob-
ject of her love. Martin Zurbano himself could not find it
in his heart to do otherwise than reward such an act of noble
fidelity.

The young lady who has thus distinguished herself belongs
to an ancient and respectable family in Guipuscoa. She is
young, beautiful, as are the greater part of the females of her
native province, of the middle size, slight, and exquisitely
formed in her person.

She has beet; married something more than a year, and her
child is not more than two months old.

THE MYSTERY OF MESMERISM AND SOM.
NAMBULISM EXPLAINED.

Animal magnetism has for some years amused and bewil-
dered the lovers of the marvellous. Ridiculed as a mere
illusion or delusion, it has nevertheless perplexed-the scien-
tific ; its effects are too palpable to be denied ; but any
rational solution of the cause or causes in which they have
originated nas hitherto eluded detection. The honour of
unveiling this mystery was reserved for Mr. James Braid, an
eminent surgeon in Manchester, who, having witnessed the
recent experiments of Monsieur Lafontaine, in the Athe-
naeum of that town, determined, if possible, to bring the
system to the test of physiological and anatomical principles.
This gentleman, having satisfied his own mind that he could
produce the phenomena without personal contact, and even
induce sleep when in a different room from the person to be
thrown into a state of somnolency, announced a public lec-
ture on the subject, which he delivered at the Manchester
Athenaeum on Saturday last, before several hundred persons.
Mr. Braid first placed on a table a common black wine
bottle, in the mouth of which was a cork having a plated top.
The individual on whom the experiment was to be performed
was seated on a chair, and directed to gaze intently at the
cork without winking or averting the eyes. The cork was
about two feet from the person operated upon, whose head
was inclined backwards, forming with the object an angle of
about forty-five degrees. In this position he remained for
about five minutes, when profound sleep was produced.
The second experiment was completed in the same time.
In the third case a bandage was placed round the head, for
the purpose of retaining in an immovable position a common
bottle cork, a little above the root of the nose, as the object
to be gazed at, and in about four minutes a complete state of
somnolency ensued. In this case was proved the inability of
the patient to open the eyelids, although consciousness was
in no respect suspended, as he was able to reply distinctly to
any question. The fourth experiment failed, either through
the noise that prevailed, or owing to the person not fixing
his gaze continuously on the object. The fifth was success-
ful, and although the party made a desperate effort to open
his eyes, so much as to agitate his whole frame, they re-
mained as though hermetically sealed ; when Mr. Brand
took from his pocket a wooden ruler, and drew the end of it
gently over the eyelid of both eyes, when the spell was bro-
ken, and the sense of sight restored with perfect ease. These
experiments fully demonstrated that the phenomena were
perfectly independent of animal magnetism, as in no one in-
stance was there the least approach to personal contact or
any manipulation.
Having thus convinced the audience that sleep could be
produced without pressure of the thumbs or waving of the
hands, as employed by Monsieur Lafontaine, Mr. Braid pro-
ceeded to explain the rationale of his discovery.
The artificial mode of producing sleep is to fatigue the rec-
tos and levator muscle of the eye, which is effected by a con-
tinuously strained and intent gaze at an object viewed under
an acute angle. Under such circumstances, the irritability
of those muscles becomes exhausted, as well as the irritability
of the optic nerve; giddiness ensues, a mist rises up before
the eye, and Sleep ensues. Congestion is induced in the
eyes, and carried from them to the optic and muscular nerves
of the eye, and owing to their proximity to the origin of the
nerves of respiration and circulation, affect them through
sympathy, and enfeeble the action of the heart and lungs.
The heart thus acting feebly, is unable to propel the blood
with sufficient force to the extremities, and hence their cold-
ness. The blood consequently is accumulated in the region
of the heart, and it is thus stimulated ; and in order to remove
the inordinate load, it is compelled to increase the frequency
of its contractions, in order to compensate for the feebleness
of its efforts. The brain, head, and face now become con-
gested in consequence, and varied phenomena, resulting from
irregularity in the circulation of that important organ, the
brain, follow. The inability to raise the upper eyelid Mr.
Braid accounts for on the principle of temporary paralysis of
the levator muscles, owing to excessive and long-continued
exertion at the commencement of the operation.

ROYAL RECEIPT FOR GAINING THE AFFECTIONS OF
SUBJECTS.—" The king (Frederick William 1.) wished every
one who spoke to him to look him plump in the face, as he
was sure that he could read in a person's eyes whether he
was speaking the truth. Hence, he was very angry when any
one who saw him coming got out of his way. A dancing-
master, to avoid meeting him one day, scampered off as fast
as his legs would carry
and rail into a house. The king
sent a page to call him back, inquired minutely who and what
he was, and, to make sure that he was what he represented
himself to be, he made him dance a sarabande on the spot.
Another French dancing-master fared rather worse. Riding
along Broad-street on horseback, he met the king, and gal-
lopped away without heeding his majesty's call. The king
sent his page after him; he overtook him at last, and found
him in a hay-loft, outside the Copenick gate. When taken
before the king, he gave himself out to be a traveller for a
commercial house at Marseilles; and as this was ascertained
to be a falsehood, his majesty sent him to wheel rubbish for a
month at St. Peter's church, which was then building. A Jew
pedler, who expected no good from a meeting in a narrow
street, tried to get out of the way. The king overtook
him. Why do you run away ! he asked. ' Because I
was afraid,' replied the trembling Jew. ' You ought not to
fear me ; you ought to love me,' replied the king, at the
time giving him a taste of his Spanish cane. Sometimes,
for a change, his majesty carried long knotty sticks of white
thorn, two of which sceptres of his own growing are pre-
served in the Museum of Berlin. Others, who had the
courage to face the king, sometimes made their fortune. One
day he stopped a candidate of divinity in the street, and, on
learning that he was a native of i
Berlin, told him that the
Berlin people were good for nothing. ' That s the rule, to
be sure,' replied the candidate, 'but I know two Berlin boys
who are exceptions.' And who are they ? Your majesty
and myself,' replied the candidate. The king desired him
to call the following day at the palace, and, .
immedi-
ately reason,
on further examination, to be satisfied with him, he
gave him a living."—Campbell's Frederick the Great
and his Times.

ADE WITH THE BRITISH COLONIES

(Franz the Journal of Commer

Every day's experience point:
.blish free trod

attempting to c

s to the perilous nature of
Le with foreign countries, be-

fore that principle has been carried out in the instance of our
own colonies ; and even when that consummation shall have
been effected, it is probable, highly probable, that the altered

circumstances of

hall h;;ve made in the intermediate pe-
ler the adoption of the principle itself of very
I value to either England or her rivals. Without
rig to see so far and so distinctly down the long
vista of prospective history, we are yet enabled to perceive,
that circumstances are daily-occurring in our commercial in-
tercourse with foreign countries that give a sudden check to
our theories, that stop, like the sparring pugilist, our play-
ful tentative efforts to conciliate, and seduce the adversary
into the experiment of fair play and reciprocity. And while
these repulsive movements are the only indications of atten-
tion to our liberal doctrines, does it not appear premature to
preach or to press them ? We shall presently mention a re-
cent instance,on the part of France, in which her hostility
to free trade with England is so strongly marked, that it
must unavoidably either call for explanation, or be set down
to the account of French antipathy to equal international
barter. However, we shall previously state a few important
facts, which we believe to be incontrovertible, for the purpose
of showing, that whether free trade with foreign countries be
requisite, primarily or remotely—whether the principle be
sound in policy, or even absolutely practicable—at present it
is not probable that almost any nation in Europe or in Ame-
rica, will entertain it. Whence it follows, that England
would act a more wise part, pursue a policy more likely to
be attended with a proximate benefit to her drooping and dis-
pirited manufacturers, by pushing her colonial trade and
commerce, by fostering, cherishing, protecting her colonies,
by employing their produce in preference to that raised by
the hand of the stranger—perhaps the enemy—by extending
true parental affection to her children, whom she is bound,
exclusive of the bonds of kindred, to maintain in their ap-
prenticeship, if she expects that a sincere friendship shall
continue when they shall acquire independence. The sun never
wholly sets on the broad realms of Queen Victoria : she pos-
sesses within her rule every latitude and longitude, from the
frigid region of the polar seas to the burning soil where lati-
tude is not counted. Let her extend, then, in the first in-
stance, these millions of subjects the commercial advantages
which the parent state enjoys; let the enactments of each
colonial council be mere echoes of-those of the senate of the
empire ; let all mercantile restrictions by which our isles in
the west, our provinces in the east, are bound and fettered,
be got rid of, like the chains from slavery ; let no commercial
distinction exist between England and her colonies, but let
the system be at once reduced to that of a coasting trade.
It is vain, as we shall presently point out, to look for reci-
procal dealings with foreigners, while we deny it to our own
countrymen, only because they dwell in a different latitude,
and are more distant from the seat of government, and find
greater difficulty therefore in knocking at the gates of the
citadel, in laying their grievances before the throne. Our
colonists are increasing in a greater ratio than our domestic
population ; they have a two-fold source of rapid growth,
immigration, which detracts from England while it adds to
the colony, and the natural cause which alone is left to the
original parent. This rapidly growing colonial population
being of British origin, not only carries along with it a ne-
cessity, the only real source of demand, for British manufac-
tures, but what is of paramount value, ~vlvat confers on
colonization an equivalent for the abstraction of strength
from the parent state, the language of Britain, by which the
channels of commerce are kept more freely open, kindred
feelings kept more actively alive, and government and laws
introduced with a still greater facility and clearness. The
trade which England has so long maintained with America,
but which now undoubtedly exhibits symptoms of a very
rapid decline, originated in colonial connection, was continued
from the similarity of necessities between the colonists and
and the parent state, and is mainly indebted for its great
age to the permanent establishment of the English language
in the United States.

Foreign countries, the immense

which t

riod, will

But the dependence of America on England has attained
its maturity ; having long since rejected parental authority
and influence in all legislative affairs, the period has now ar-
rived when her manufactures so nearly resemble those of the
parent state in quality, variety, and extent, that all ancient
relationship will soon be forgotten, those ties that kept the
recollection alive being so near their severance. The proof
of these assertions are before us, in the very elaborate re-
turns, which the Americans demand every ten years, of the
progress of population, c9rnmerce, and manufactures—in
fact, few nations in the world are so fully possessed of au-
thentic information of their actual physical force, and com-
mercial prosperity, during every moment of their existence,
as our unnatural children of the United States. By these re-
turns we are assured that the woollen trade has become the
most important of the domestic manufactures, and that the
improvements in machinery have completely superseded the
system of household industry amongst all, save the aottager's
families in back settlements, or where amusement and some
improvement in pecuniary circumstances are combined;
similar success has attended their efforts in the growth and
manufacture of silk, so that in those, as it might be shown
in others, such as the iron and coal trades, the Americans
cannot continue to carry on a trade of the same description
and to the same extent as hitherto, much less can she enter
into a free unrestricted exchange of commodities with Eng-
land, having from her customer become her competitor. But
whether she will make the attempt or not—and we feel con-
vinced she will not—the negociation is not likely to be im-
mediately entered upon, and the conclusion might be ruin-
ously remote.
_ _

Let America then be taken as an example, and although
one instance is insufficient to allow of a conclusive induction,
yet, with few exception, similar reasoning may be applied
to our commercial position with respect to the states or cen-
tral Europe, which are all providing themselves, as the co-
lumns of this journal weekly demonstrate, with an armour
impenetrable to any assaults of British diplomacy, however
sharp the weapons of the commission,—and as to France,
liberal France, her recent attempt, for we cannot imagine
that our government will permit the petty trick to be success-
ful,—most unequivocally developes her views. Within the
last few days much agitation has been created in Paris by a
new anti-English regulation : it was the practice, one which
has never until now (1841) been objected to, to send English
books to France, in what is called cloth binding—this week,
however, books so bound or covered were seized at Boulogne,
deprived of their English manufactured dresses, and sent in
this denuded state up to Paris, while the cloth binding was
honourably and liberally returned to the English merchant.
The bibliopolists in Paris have represented the hardship and
meanness to the highest authorities, and, to prove that the
conduct did not meet with an indignant reception from the
ministers, it is still under discussion I Is it not extraordinary
that France should be guilty of such an hostile proceeding
just when we anticipate an , interchange of tariff regulations ?
Is it not passing strange that the occasion seized on for
abruptly dissolving friendship was connected with literature,
Guizot and Lamartine are ministers of France? We repeat
then the suggestion to which the recent unkindness in the
French ports has given rise,—that a reciprocal trade—an
equivalent traffic—counterbalancing tarifl's—commerce unim-
paired by prohibitions or protections with foreign lands—
need not be entertained by England until she is placed in a
positiort.to require it, and places herself in an attitude to de-
mand it ; and this can only be accomplished by putting her
wide extended colonies on the unfettered footing of a free,
home, or coasting trade.

THE SUPERSTITIONS OF POPERY

(From the Dublin Evening Mail.)

We do not seek to raise the cry of "No Popery" against
either the persons or the privileges of our fellow subjects who
think fit to adhere to the Italian Church ; but, as loudly as
the press can speak, we do, and ever shall, exclaim " No Po-
pery," as against the debasing, enslaving, and brutalising su-
perstitions which that church fosters and encourages. So
far as the Bishop of Rome claims to interfere in our national
concerns, we stand upon this ground, and we take up this
cry, utterly despising the cant of the day, which stigmatises
every expression of Protestant feeling as bigotry and intoler-
ance. Every freeman ought to be a bigot in his reverence for
freedom; every freeman ought to be intolerant of any inter-
ference with his liberty ; and every man of common sense
ought in an equal degree to be bigoted—if the cant phrase is
to be continually rung in our ears—in his love of truth, and
as intolerant as ever he can be in his resistance to the impo-
sition of falsehood.

We take up Lord Shrewsbury's pamphlet, and we ask is
this Popery, or is it not ? It answers for itself, that it is the
Popery of the leading Roman Catholics of England, being in
the form of a letter dressed by the head of the ancient and
noble house of Talbot, the premier earl of England, to Mr.
A. Phillips, the most zealous and conspicuous layman of that
persuasion in the country. And what is it that these lead-
ing Romanists want the world to believe ? Why this,—that
there are now, in the south of Austria, two female Cavanaghs,
one of whom has neither eaten, drunk, nor slept for eight
years and a half, and both of whose bodies exhibit the wounds
of the Saviour, flowing with blood of such preternatural qua-
lity, that it neither trickles downward nor stains their linen ;
that these wounds duly bleed on Fridays, in sympathy with
those inflicted on the body of our blessed Lord eighteen hun-
dred and forty-one years ago; and that whenever the conse-
crated elements are borne past the houses where they reside,
they are affected as the needle would be by the magnet, turning
towards and following the host, although separated from it
by stone walls and closed windows, and not .informed of its
being carried past, otherwise than by their own supernatural
perceptions.

Surely, the reader will exclaim, this must be a mistake.
It cannot surely be possible that such an affront could be
offered to the common sense of the world by men of rank
and education. It is but the other day that we received a
letter from a correspondent, which we published at the time,
asking, nearly in these words, if it could be possible that the
world could contain madmen so besotted as to insult the
common sense of mankind by these nonsensical and blasphe-
mous falsehoods ?

There is no mistake in the matter ; it is the fact that Lord
Shrewsbury and Mr. Ambrose Philips have put forward these
statements, of the truth of which they seem perfectly satis•
fled, and that they boldly rely on them as evidence of the
truth of their religion. That human nature should be so
stultified is lamentable enough ' • but it is more lamentable,
it is irritating and offensive, to have those desperate absurdi-
ties offered, as they are, by way of inducement to the people
of England to return into the condition of slaves to the Papal
see. It is as if Lord Shrewsbury in express terms said—
You ought to give up your liberties because you have no right
to the exercise of your understanding ; be fools in order that
you may become slaves—believe this nonsense, and be recon-
ciled to your lord the Pope. Such a proposal, made to any
one possessing the feelings of a free Englishman, would pro-
bably be answered by a kick ; but men can say to the public
what they would not be suffered to say to individuals, and
the insulted public can only show its sense of wrong through
the usual organs of opinion. On these organs we think a
duty has devolved to resent the insult offered to the sense
and spirit of the country—we use the language of our corres-
pondent, Mr. Gordon—by this attempt to revive among us
the worst superstitions of the tenth century.

We say "no Popery" to the proposal': and we tell the
superstitious peer and commoner that if they were desirous
of seeing the " no Popery" spirit of the seventeenth century
raised again in all its sternness, they could not take a better
method to elicit it than by thus affronting the common sense
of the people of England, who, if they are proud and jealous
of anything on earth, are so of this very quality which these
doating enthusiasts have so flagrantly outraged.
But everything has its value, more or less, or in one or
other point of view • and we believe even this monstrous de-
monstration not without its own use, showing us to what
lengths Popery is capable of carrying the mind : it testifies
powerfully to the wisdom of the British nation,' which does
not permit any one professing a creed so full of danger to
whatever most dignifies and ennobles the reasonable being,
to fill the throne of these realms. A sad day indeed it would
be for England, and a melancholy epoch in the progress of
knowledge and freedom, if it should come to pass that the
superstitions of Alton Towers and Grace Dieu Priory—the
seats respectively of Lord Shrewsbury and his correspondent
—should cast their blighting shadows over the halls of Wind-
sor. But, before that day comes, twenty millions of thinking
Protestants must have changed their minds or lost their lives.
But, after all, the apologetic spirit of the times may prompt
the reader to ask—ls this Popery ?Is Popery really charge-
able with this outrage on reason and the senses ? We put it
to any one who has ever been in Austria or Italy to answer.
It is Popery—mature Popery—Popery in the very aspect
which it invariably has assumed—and till the end of the sys-
tem, will assume—wherever the sense and spirit of mankind
do not keep it down, as fortunately hitherto .we have been
able to keep it down here.

The Cliffs at Freshwater have fallen seaward so much,
that the great oblect of curiosity, the celebrated Freshwater
Cave, is obliterated.—Harnpshire Telegraph.

BANK OF ENGLAND

The usual average return of the Liabilities and assets of
the Bank of England, according to the old system, and em-
bracing the period from the 14th of September to the ith of
December, both inclusive, appeared in Friday night's Gazette.
This return gives the following results, viz.:—
That the average of the 13 weeks ending the ith December,
as compared- with the averge of the 13 weeks ending the 14th
of September, shows

A decrease in the circulation of
A decrease in the deposits of
And a decrease in the stock of bullion of

Wherefore it appears that the decrease in the liabilities is
£1,192,000, and this represents the decrease in the total
quantity of money in the 13 weeks ending the 7th of De-
cember, as 'compared with the 13 weeks ending the 14th of
September, in so far as regards the administration of • the
currency by the Bank of England.
The yearly comparison is as follows :—The average of the
13 weeks ending the 7th of December, 1841, as compared with
the average of the 13 weeks ending the Bth of December,
1840, shows

An increase in the circulation of 526,069
An increase in the deposits of
An increase in the stock of bullion of 975,000
Wherefore it appears that the increase in the liabilities is
£1,558,000, and this represents the increase in the total quan-
tity of money in the 13 weeks ending the 7th of December,
1841, as compared with the 13 weeks ending the Bth of De-
cember, 1840, in so far as regards the administration of the
currency by the Bank of England.
The variations in the stock of bullion have taken place in
the following manner and proportions :-
In the four weeks ending the 30th March, 1841,
as compared with the four weeks ending the £
29th of December, 1840, there is an increase of 855,000
In the four weeks ending the 22d of June, as
compared with the four weeks ending the 23d of
March, there is an increase of
In the four weeks ending the 14th of September,
as compared with the four weeks ending the
15th of June, there is a decrease of
In the four weeks ending the 7th of December, as
. compared with the four weeks ending the 7th
of September, there is a decrease of 16,000
The changes and fluctuations in the circulation will ap-
pear from the following statement :-
In the four weeks ending March 30, 1841, as com-
pared with the four weeks ending Dec. 29, 1810,
there is an increase of
In the four weeks ending June 22, as compared
with the four weeks ending March 23, there is
an increase of
In the four weeks ending Sept. 14, as compared
with the four weeks ending June 15, there is an
increase of
In the four weeks ending Dec. 7, as compared
with the four weeks ending Sept. 7.. there is a
decrease of . . 975,000
The following are the changes and fluctuations that have
taken place in the deposits :-
In the four weeks ending March 30,1841, as com-
pared with the four weeks ending Dec. 29, 1840,
there is a decrease of
In the four weeks ending June 22, as compared
with the four weeks ending March 23, there is
a decrease of
In the four weeks ending Sept. 14, as compared
with the four weeks ending June 15, there is an
increase of
In the four weeks ending Dee. 7, as compared with
the four weeks ending Sept. 7, there is a de-
crease of
The changes and fluctuations in the securities will appear
from the following statement :-
In the four weeks ending March 30, 1841, as com-
pared with the four weeks ending Dec. 29, 1840, £
there is a decrease of
In the four weeks ending June 22, as compared
with the four weeks ending March 23, there is
a decrease of
In the four weeks ending Sept. 14, as compared
with the four weeks ending June 15, there is an
increase of
In the four weeks ending Dec. 7, as compared
with the four weeks ending Sept. 7, there is a
decrease of . / 1,167,000
As far as this present defective state of the returns will
permit of a coMparison between the averages of the old and
new system, there appears to be a considerable increase
in the stock of bullion held by the Bank of England during
the last month.

575,000

426,000

536,000

55,000

882,000

1,154,000

78,000

312,000

702,000